296. Scandal (23)

For over a week since that day, I couldn’t even take a single step outside my house.

More accurately, it might be closer to the fact that I had no reason to go out.

While unnie was around… I couldn’t possibly muster the courage to go meet him, and I didn’t really have a chance to go meet Hinami either.

…this crazy bitch had somehow moved downstairs without shame, occasionally coming up just to bring me food before flitting back out.

Does anyone think I want to be stuck here alone?

Is she showing off, or what?

Anyway, because the agency kept earnestly begging me to please do nothing and just stay put, I really did nothing and stayed cooped up in my room.

I didn’t exactly feel like obeying them, but… they confiscated all my social media accounts.

I didn’t expect them to change the passwords immediately just because I pulled one minor prank.

Even if they were company-owned accounts, I never thought they’d block the IDs under my name so quickly.

While waiting for the incident to be buried like that, the world…

Hadn’t changed one bit.

-Chilling ‘That Idol’ Past Photos.jpg

-Grinning That Idol’s High School Days Story.txt

The internet was a lawless zone, and Seoyoung unnie was having every single detail of her life torn apart and devoured by a pack of wolves.

To the point where the agency’s claims of protecting their artist felt utterly hollow, slightly lower-quality media outlets even churned out articles spreading rumors.

She wasn’t just being cursed at for smoking marijuana anymore; she was now being treated like a crazy bitch who did drugs, orgies, and even entertained clients.

In this situation, what on earth was the agency expecting by doing nothing?

Now that things had gotten this far, they couldn’t bury it, but… they could have certainly put out most of the fire.

Knowing our company, they should have been perfectly capable of that.

But looking at the current situation, it felt like nothing would end until Seoyoung unnie was dead.

…Maybe.

They might actually be waiting for her to die.

The more I thought about how I could have been in her place,

the more disgusting this world felt.

If it were up to me, I’d have left a string of curses on Instagram, but right now, I had no SNS other than a newly created empty account.

As stress piled up, and in this situation where I couldn’t even meet him to release it, I was gradually becoming worn out.

“Hm…?”

The phone rang.

…It wasn’t from him,

not from Hinami,

not from my biological sister,

but a call from that unnie who was currently receiving the most hate in Korea.

Seeing it, I felt a sense of unease and quickly grabbed my phone, bringing it to my ear.

-Jia-ya.

“Ah, Seoyoung unnie….”

As soon as I answered, the indifferent voice of my colleague and unnie, whom I wasn’t particularly close to, reached my ears.

She didn’t sound like she was crying, nor did she sound angry.

A hollow voice, as if she had given up on everything.

It felt so chillingly eerie that I urgently called out the unnie’s name in response, but

-Should I die?

“What…?”

-I feel like dying would be better. …Everyone seems to think so too.

The chilling eeriness emanating from the receiver froze my tongue,

and upon hearing the shocking words from my colleague and senior, my breath caught, leaving me unable to utter a single word.

-…What am I supposed to do if you shut your mouth too? It’s a joke, just a joke.

“…Ah, that. A joke like that right now….”

Seeing my reaction, Seoyoung unnie chuckled, giving me a sliver of breathing room, but

-Half of it is true, though.

She tightened her grip, silencing me so I couldn’t answer,

and chuckled hollowly, making cold sweat trickle down my stiffening body.

-…Ha. Fuck. How did my life end up like this.

“……”

-Everyone seems to want me dead… and so does the agency. Otherwise, there’s no reason they’d leave me alone at home without any intervention. The articles are fucked up too.

And then.

Gradually injecting anger into that hollow voice.

Seoyoung unnie let out an incredulous laugh and vented her frustrations to me,

-Our company is really scary, isn’t it? …I never thought they’d cut me loose this quickly.

“……”

-It pisses me off so much that I can’t just die. …Seriously, it feels like everything would be buried and resolved if only I died.

After hearing Seoyoung unnie’s voice, spitting out her anger and saying she couldn’t die feeling so wronged,

“…You…, you can’t die. Unnie.”

I finally managed to move my frozen tongue and speak to Seoyoung unnie,

-It’s okay, I’m not dying. …Why should I have to die? Smoking a little marijuana isn’t a crime punishable by death, is it?

“…Yeah.”

Seoyoung unnie continued speaking with such confidence,

-Just because I’m an idol doesn’t mean I can’t date guys. …Right?

“….”

…She dragged me into the same charge.

She gripped my conscience so tightly that I couldn’t possibly refute her words.

-…Anyway, seeing how our agency operates, it looks like they’re trying to cut me loose, so I decided to call. I figured you and Hinami might be in danger too if you got caught up.

“…Yeah.”

-Oh, and one more thing. Before I hang up, can I ask a favor?

“What is it?”

-Report me to the police.

After making it impossible for me to back out like that.

She asked for something I absolutely couldn’t agree to under normal circumstances.

-Make a fake call saying goodbye, pretend I hinted at suicide… report me. …I think I need to put on a show like this to get less hate.

“……”

-If you don’t report me, I might actually die, so hurry, okay? And if you happen to record this and leak it somewhere, it’ll be a disaster, alright?

“Besides, neither you nor I have phones that can record.”

-True. …That must be why you called me back then too. Puhuhuhu…

Seoyoung unnie chuckled heartily in a surprisingly bold voice for someone receiving so much hate,

then hung up abruptly.

She immediately left me a message that would serve as evidence.

-Thanks.

…I,

saw it and immediately reported it to the police.

Before long, articles about Seoyoung unnie being found at her home flooded every site.

Of course, the unnie was perfectly fine, without a scratch.

…And coincidentally, the pseudo-will left on her desk

was also accidentally leaked to the press.

**

“That’s scary.”

“I was scared too.”

After making sure Hinami was asleep, I was about to head to bed myself when Haeun started fussing about a strange article, startling me.

So I quickly contacted my sister-in-law, only to be surprised again by her overly calm response.

…So this is the kind of thing you have to pull off to call it a real ‘incident’.

I had worried every day while looking at the internet, wondering if that woman would make an extreme choice, but I never imagined she’d resolve it like this.

“I find you scarier.”

“…That’s not something you should say, unnie.”

However, perhaps because she didn’t find her sister’s voice trustworthy at all, Haeun yelled at her to come down immediately and pulled Ye-eun back into the room.

Maybe it’s because even if you dislike her, she’s still your sister.

Then again, if she thought her own sister might attempt suicide after that woman, it’s understandable she’d be worried.

You can overcome the living, but you can never overcome the dead.

“But won’t this cause problems with the contract?”

“Probably. …But would they sue over something like this?”

“…It’d be difficult, right? Probably.”

“I suppose so.”

Similarly, humans can beat up the living, but they find it hard to beat up someone who almost died – that’s human nature.

A suicide attempt… according to my sister-in-law, the media and the public were all hooked by the suicide show, and the people who were cursing her instantly changed their tune, now cursing the public.

Of course, there was plenty of criticism for the agency’s poor management too.

She hadn’t lit charcoal briquettes in her room, nor had she overdosed on sleeping pills; she was simply found calmly at home after writing a will and sending a message hinting at suicide to Jia.

Even amidst the revelation that ‘someone almost died,’ there were so many people calling it a show that a backlash occurred, completely flipping public opinion.

For some reason, the full text of the revealed will was also incredibly compelling.

“If people still demand fines or whatever after seeing this… public opinion could get pretty severe.”

“…I think so too.”

Sincere affection for her fans, resentment towards the agency that wouldn’t protect her, and a generous ladleful of emotional writing.

There was even a brief mention of the ex-boyfriend who gave her the marijuana, but the way emotions and focus were deliberately excluded seemed quite meticulous.

Regardless of right or wrong, not many people would feel like cursing after reading something like that.

When you think about it, she was already taking a disproportionate amount of hate for her mistakes.

Of course, I don’t think flipping public opinion with such a risky method is the best way, but…

Honestly, it was still satisfying.

There’s nothing more refreshing than causing chaos against someone who makes you want to fucking die.

…Just like when I made that person in front of me submit.

“So, what happens to your group if things stay this way?”

“I don’t know. Won’t it work out somehow? …I’ve turned off my phone for now, though.”

“Right now… it would be awkward to receive calls anyway.”

“…Still, if public opinion stays like this, maybe we can terminate the contract? It doesn’t seem like we’ll sell much as a group anymore anyway.”

“That’s true.”

Of course, while it was satisfying, this wasn’t exactly good news for her group.

Being an idol is ultimately a job that sells positive emotions, and with one member involved in a drug scandal, let alone staging a suicide attempt, their positive image was practically gone.

It made me wonder if a comeback was even possible.

Wouldn’t it be better to pursue a solo career?

The group’s image took a hit, but the individuals are fine.

“…Do you, my brother-in-law, want me to quit being an idol?”

“…No.”

However.

Purely out of selfish personal desire.

I hoped they wouldn’t quit being idols.

Without adding any ifs, ands, or buts.

“Why?”

“…It would be too much of a waste to quit over something like this.”

…Because that made things more interesting.

It seems I prefer living a loud, chaotic life rather than a quiet, peaceful one.

Maybe I’m the type of person who likes living noisily, even if it’s dangerous.

If she really quit and retired from the industry.

“That’s right, Ye-eun, you can’t quit your job.”

“…Unnie?”

“You didn’t buy this house with cash upfront, you idiot.”

…To the unnie who’s still relentlessly nagging her sister.

Because she’d undoubtedly get steamrolled without being able to utter a peep.

Seo Ye-eun, cooped up in her room these days…

Honestly, wasn’t very appealing.

“…I’m not quitting even if you don’t say that, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Right. Work even harder. Honestly, there’s no job that makes more money than being a celebrity.”

“….”

The Seo Jia I know,

was more attractive the more arrogant and bitchy she was outside her bed.

…Of course.

Not just bitchy, but so overwhelmingly so that she was impossible to defeat.

She was a lovable woman.