Chapter 194

Chapter 194

Raise Three Idols Well And They’ll Launch a Confession Attack.

Episode 194: If You All Roll Around In Bed Together, It’ll Work Out Somehow

Munching on the default carrot snacks and sipping her beer, Oh Yoori asked me as I freaked out.

“So, what got you fucked this time? Are you about to get fired? Need me to introduce a lawyer?”

“…Honestly, getting fired would be a relief.”

With only a month left on the contract, I told her about Gaeul, Gyeoul, and Yeoreum—who, instead of moving on from our old promises, now seemed dead set on marrying me.

After hearing it all and realizing this was a full-blown crisis, Oh Yoori told me,

“Director Seon. You know something?”

“What?”

“It’s not just the girls whose contracts are ending. Mine is too.”

“Right, we timed everyone’s renewals together.”

“Then doesn’t that mean whatever those girls do to you now… has nothing to do with me?”

What the hell is she saying?

Is she having some kind of late-onset edgelord phase?

“What? How is that your takeaway? You’re part of Girl Revolution, so this mess affects you too! It’s not me that’s screwed, it’s us! Or do you want a taste of scandal?”

“Eh? Even if a scandal breaks now, I’ll just finish my contract, bounce from TwoBear, and focus on acting. That’s it.”

…Wait, huh?

Hold on. If a scandal broke now… what would happen to Oh Yoori?

Oh Yoori had exploded in the acting world, hitting S-rank potential, and spent the last five years cementing her place as a true actor-idol.

She didn’t just stop at idol gigs—she went into indie film, and even won Best Actress at one of the world’s top 3 film festivals, the Heavens Film Festival. Her acting status now strangely overshadowed her idol identity.

So if a scandal breaks involving Girl Revolution while her career’s this rock-solid?

She could easily claim it had nothing to do with her, move to a new agency, or even leak our scandal first just to cut ties cleanly.

Either way, her future income was untouched.

That’s right. I was the one fucked—not her.

Maybe she noticed I’d reached that conclusion—because she nodded and stood up.

“Anyway, good luck. I’ve got prep for my next project, so I’m out.”

“W-Wait! You can’t just ditch me like that!”

I clung to her like a loser.

“From my side, I’ve done enough. You know how much hell I’ve been through the past five years, right? It feels great that it’s finally someone else’s problem.”

“Think rationally… yeah, rationally, Yoori. Even if you leave, getting wrapped in a scandal and having people talk—how is that good for anyone? That’s like throwing away one of your two biggest weapons: acting and being an idol.”

“My weapon’s not going anywhere. Girl Revolution might be, but I’ll still be here. If I feel like it later, maybe I’ll dabble in a solo career.”

Mmhmm… that’s cold, hard logic if I’ve ever seen it.

“…I get it. We’ve been through a lot. But what happened to the bond we built in all that mess? How many times did we sit here with a beer and hold emergency strategy sessions to block scandals from hitting Girl Revolution? What about friendship? Teamwork? Loyalty? Camaraderie? We were good together!”

Honestly, most of our plans didn’t even work out—but I knew that if we hadn’t at least tried, a scandal with one of the girls would’ve hit the front page ages ago.

Still, we hyped each other up and did our best to hold the line.

And this same partner, watching me beg, just smiled brightly and said,

“Aww, you know how I am. It was all for survival. We were just business partners, remember? Contract’s done, so let’s go our separate ways.”

“You can’t! You can’t leave me like this!”

“Oh, come on, Director Seon. Not very professional of you. At this point, just man up and go, ‘I’m dating all three of you!’ and be done with it. If you all roll around in bed together, something’ll work out, right?”

“…You get your ID and suddenly you’re unhinged. Do you think that’s even possible? Those girls are seriously pure-hearted.”

“…Pure?”

“…”

Meeting Oh Yoori’s flat stare, I added carefully,

“With just a bit of impurity…?”

“…”

…Or not. Whatever.

With a deep sigh, Oh Yoori sat back down, ordered another beer for me, and asked,

“…So how exactly did it come to this?”

It was a surprisingly cooperative attitude compared to everything she’d just said.

Despite all that talk, she clearly had every intention of helping.

Oh Yoori poured the freshly served beer into my glass and said,

“Clearly, thanks to your chaotic antics, the girls’ romantic feelings all evaporated, and they started seeing you as just a good friend, right? That’s been the vibe for a while now, hasn’t it? Even from where I sit, it looks like they see you more like family than anything else.”

As I let go of Yoori’s sleeve and raised the beer for a sip, she expertly clinked her glass against mine and continued.

“Didn’t they say stuff like, ‘Since the contract’s almost up, let’s start dating now,’ or ‘I want to introduce you to my family,’ or ‘Where should our newlywed house be?’ These were girls who, just two days ago, saw you as a friend. So what the hell did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything special. Just showed up on some variety shows, and did some planning for the concert. I didn’t even meet with the girls during that time.”

Yoori blinked in disbelief and asked again,

“Then how does the way they see you shift back to romantic? All at once, too.”

“We were tricked.”

“…What?”

“We were being played by those girls.”

I laid out the truth I had uncovered.

“What do you mean? The whole ‘showing your ugly side’ plan—it definitely worked, didn’t it?”

“The ugly side? The cringe moments? I was putting in effort. Based on how they reacted, I thought it was working. Honestly, when they sighed and said, ‘Can’t you go back to how you used to be?’ I almost cheered inside. But you know what? Even that was acting.”

Yoori swallowed nervously and asked again,

“What do you mean by that?”

“They saw right through our plan. The whole ‘let’s break the illusion so they stop liking me’ strategy? They knew. So they pretended—faked like they were losing interest on purpose.”

“What would they even get out of that?”

I downed the entire glass in one go and said,

“Time with me.”

“…Ah.”

Oh Yoori let out a small gasp and spoke in awe.

“Holy shit… So originally, you gave up all your days off to hang out with those three in order to break their romantic image of you. But once they realized that tactic worked, they figured if they kept acting like it was working, they’d get more personal time with you. So then…”

Yoori shivered, rubbing her arms, as if creeped out by the fact that teammates of nearly seven years had kept this truth hidden—and something else came to her.

“Wait, but even with all that, your behavior was seriously off-putting. Maybe they’ve adjusted enough now to fake their reactions, but at the start, the disgust they showed was real, wasn’t it? If you think about it that way, their reactions now could still be rooted in actual negativity…”

“No. That’s not it.”

At my firm denial, Yoori shook her head and said,

“No, I think I’ve got this one right. You’re looking at someone with some of the top-tier acting talent in this country. And from my professional perspective—if every reaction was an act, you couldn’t keep it that consistent. Emotions naturally change based on stimuli. If you kept doing things that turned them off, their reactions should’ve gradually changed too—either becoming more extreme or more indifferent. But looking back… their reactions were too consistent. Which means they were mimicking their early responses—intentionally reenacting them.”

I summed up her theory.

“So… because their reactions matched the early ones, the acting must’ve started later. Which means they did originally find me off-putting. So the plan wasn’t a total failure?”

“Exactly. If we keep pushing that negative perception, it could force them to face reality and maybe even break things off more easily…”

“Unfortunately, that whole theory is wrong from the start.”

“Wait, why…?”

I revealed the truth I only realized today while talking with them.

“Their reactions—from the beginning to the end—were all acting.”

“…”

“From the very start, the girls never disliked me. Not even once.”

“…”

The soundproofed room in this private bar suddenly felt too quiet.

Oh Yoori broke the silence, wearing a face of sheer disbelief.

“Okay, fine. Let’s say I can maybe, maybe believe Gaeul and Yeoreum pulled that off. But Gyeoul? Are you saying she acted too?”

I silently nodded.

After confirming my unwavering nod, Yoori stared blankly at her beer for a long moment, then finally spoke with more sincerity than ever before,

“…Okay, what the fuck—that’s terrifying.”