Chapter 58

Chapter 58

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

Episode 58: Liars.

“Team Leader Seon, Jin Yeoreum knew everything about the conversation and the deal you had with Manager Seok.”

Her following words left me speechless for a moment.

The first thought that came to mind from this shocking information was that I needed to deny it.

If not that, I should feign ignorance.

I don’t know anything about it. It never happened. I was really trying to scout her.

That’s what I should say.

That’s how I tried to start speaking.

The ugly lies that continued from the moment I decided to lie to Jin Yeoreum.

“….”

Yoon Haneul looked at me with calm and indifferent eyes.

From that gaze, I realized her words were far from a mere guess.

It seemed that, as Yoon Haneul said, Jin Yeoreum really knew I had deceived her.

I accepted defeat.

All that remained was pure curiosity.

“…How did she find out?”

Yoon Haneul clasped her hands behind her back and leaned against the wall before speaking.

“Didn’t you find it strange that the only person attached to Yeoreum was Manager Seok? Especially since she’s the precious daughter of Jinkang.”

I immediately understood the reason from those words.

“She knew from the beginning that Manager Seok approached me to make a deal.”

“That’s right. There are people constantly monitoring Manager Seok. Well, their main job isn’t to monitor Manager Seok, but to monitor Yeoreum. Still, they report such special matters to Yeoreum.”

“Both Manager Seok and I overlooked the fact that Yeoreum had such personnel.”

Indeed, it was a bit odd that Jin Baek-ho, who seemed to cherish his daughter so much, had only Manager Seok by her side.

It was too late a realization, though.

Yoon Haneul looked at me and shook her head before speaking.

“Their intention wasn’t to prevent Yeoreum from being deceived out of some noble thought. They saw Manager Seok as a dog trying to deceive its master. They might be called loyalists, but they are Chairman Jin Baek-ho’s loyalists, not Yeoreum’s.”

I realized I had jumped into a complex game with a too-light heart.

Even now, I had to grasp the situation and prepare.

For the possible blade Jin Yeoreum might wield against me for deceiving her.

“I have something I want to ask.”

“Yes, please go ahead.”

“Then why are you leaving me, who deceived Yeoreum, alone? And why does the conclusion end with her leaving the orphanage?”

The only variable was me.

Even so, I couldn’t understand why my involvement led to Yeoreum leaving the orphanage to study abroad.

“If there’s someone who tried to scout her under false pretenses and deceive her, shouldn’t that person be punished? Not just a letter saying she’s going to study abroad.”

While speaking, a thought occurred to me.

Maybe Yoon Haneul brought this up to forewarn me of that ‘punishment.’

“…Or are you telling me about that punishment now?”

Yoon Haneul tilted her head at my words and then burst into her characteristic refreshing laughter.

“Hehe, Team Leader Seon. Why are you thinking such scary thoughts? Yeoreum would never do that, right? She’s too fragile and delicate, with too much self-awareness and guilt, trying to bear everything by herself. That pushover wouldn’t do that.”

I had felt it while watching Jin Yeoreum over the past time.

She was far from the arrogant image of a chaebol third generation committing corruption and trying to evade it that I had vaguely thought of in the previous round.

“She could still get angry. Yeoreum is human, after all. But that’s a wrong assumption. That premise is based on the lie by Team Leader Seon and Manager Seok being unpleasant to Yeoreum.”

“It wasn’t unpleasant?”

Yoon Haneul stretched out her hand to make a V sign, then folded one finger and said.

“First of all, Manager Seok’s lie was for Yeoreum. Who would feel bad about someone spending their own money to make Yeoreum feel better?”

“There are people who hate such arbitrary actions themselves.”

From a master’s perspective, it wasn’t good for a tool to have self-awareness, even if it was favorable.

“There might be such people somewhere, but Yeoreum isn’t twisted like that. Besides, Manager Seok’s embarrassing confession about considering her like a daughter is a bonus. How could she hate such a person?”

“Then, what about me?”

Yoon Haneul folded her remaining index finger and said.

“That’s the beginning of everything. The reason Yeoreum accepted the scout offer is because of Team Leader Seon. And because of Yeoreum’s playful nature.”

“Playful nature? Yeoreum didn’t seem like that. She seemed more serious.”

“In certain situations, Yeoreum also acts like that.”

“What kind of situations are those?”

“When she’s being swayed.”

Yoon Haneul straightened up from the wall and looked at me directly.

“She understood Manager Seok’s intentions and knew Team Leader Seon was doing things for Han Gyeoul and Yu Gaeul. But Yeoreum wanted to mess with you a bit. She doesn’t like being swayed by situations. So she agreed to become an idol even though she had no intention of actually doing it.”

Listening to her story, it seemed I had been playing into Jin Yeoreum’s hands from the beginning.

Just a brief moment of amusement.

“The real story started from there. You actually intended to make Yeoreum an idol.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

“You said you received a report on what Manager Seok went through, right? Yeoreum also heard that story. She knew you were genuinely determined to make her an idol.”

“….”

It was a misunderstanding.

It was a makeshift lie to deceive Seok Hyun-woo.

There was no sincerity in that statement. I only attached a plausible excuse to take photos of Jin Yeoreum.

But it seemed Jin Yeoreum didn’t take it that way.

“Yeoreum was greatly surprised. She thought you’d apologize within a day, or even on the spot, saying it was a rude comment and that it would be dismissed. But then you actually decided to recruit her, and things got complicated.”

I tried to deceive Jin Yeoreum. Jin Yeoreum also tried to deceive me.

As a result, we were both deceiving each other.

The lies piled up, leading us to misunderstand each other’s intentions completely.

“The reason I asked you to date me was because of this. I volunteered to find out if you were sincere after hearing the whole story. To be honest, it seemed fun too. Hehe.”

It seemed it wasn’t a pure confession after all.

Now I understood Yoon Haneul.

“…And although we didn’t end up dating, I judged that you were sincere about recruiting Yeoreum. The Team Leader Seon I saw wasn’t someone who lied about such things.”

“It’s an overestimation.”

It was really an overestimation.

I had only repeated lies to use them.

Yoon Haneul shook her head at my honest confession and said.

“This wasn’t just my judgment. Yeoreum also started to believe that the scouting was sincere while talking with you. And she recently seemed to be seriously considering the future as an idol.”

The outcome of that thought was obvious.

Debuting as an idol was a gamble for her.

A gamble with very low odds.

I didn’t fully understand the basis and gaps in judgment yet, but given the current situation, it seemed that the result led to studying abroad.

She had given up on becoming an idol.

“Yeoreum told me she didn’t want to be an idol after sorting out her thoughts. She said that even if she debuted, she would only receive cold stares and criticism, calling herself a national dislike.”

It was the right judgment.

Even if there were a chance of success, she would have to endure purgatory-like human scrutiny.

There was no reason to endure such pain.

Jin Yeoreum gave up on being an idol.

I deceived her with lies, but it seemed I hadn’t incurred her resentment yet and avoided forcibly recruiting her.

Since I had taken the photos, I could stir up controversy later, when the scandal would break out.

Of course, I would need to manipulate it so that it wouldn’t seem like I leaked the photos for the controversy…

In any case, it wasn’t perfect, but given the constant variables, the outcome wasn’t bad.

Yes, it worked out for me. I no longer needed to pay attention to Jin Yeoreum.

As I steadied my mind, Yoon Haneul spoke with her characteristic refreshing tone, yet with a fragile wistfulness.

“But I don’t think so. Because, you see, Yeoreum with Team Leader Seon…”

Yoon Haneul’s lips parted, and a single word split the space between us.

The short distance of less than a meter felt incredibly far.

And Yoon Haneul’s words, crossing that distance, felt distant.

After those words, as if she had said everything she needed to, Yoon Haneul disappeared.

Yet, I couldn’t leave that spot.

Her last words echoed in my mind.

I opened the quest reward window.

The ‘Receive Messages Anywhere’ reward I received two days ago was available for use.

“Use.”

I used it.

Hoping it wasn’t too late.