The most important step to winning was to read your opponent’s mind.
Therefore, I had to think constantly.
What is Kang Hyukwoo thinking right now? What does he want most, and what does he fear most?
‘Other people may not be able to, but I can see right through him.’
Kang Hyukwoo desired three things: the growth of a new group to replace Prism, the success of his dirty business ventures, and Han Seungbeom, who was currently at the peak of popularity and only a few years away from the expiration of his contract with his current agency.
He was a greedy bastard, so there were a lot of things he wanted, but those were the three main things.
‘And what he fears the most…….’
What Kang Hyukwoo had feared since long ago was none other than the existence of Choi Jeokhyeon.
Choi Jeokhyeon possessed traits that would instill fear in any normal person: shallow social skills and impulsiveness stemming from an abnormal family environment, the power he had amassed through his unparalleled wealth, and a lunatic tendency to be trapped in the world he created, treating other humans as anything but equals.
However, in Kang Hyukwoo’s case, there were many instances where he was hostile toward me, and since Choi Jeokhyeon had a friendly relationship with me, it seemed he harbored several times stronger wariness than others.
“If you tell any nonsense to that person, all the members of Prism will be held responsible for it. Do you understand?”
Seeing him puff himself up and throw out threats made it all too obvious that he was scared, so much so that I couldn’t possibly pretend not to notice. He seemed completely unaware of it himself, though.
‘He must have hated having to watch Choi Jeokhyeon’s reactions when all he wanted was to act as he pleased.’
After Kang Hyukwoo became aware of Choi Jeokhyeon’s existence, he could no longer provoke me, and during that time, Prism was able to carry out its activities freely and achieve the success we had aimed for.
However, things began to change after the incident where a journalist who had been slandering me committed suicide.
‘After the journalist incident, that bastard must have been happier than anyone to see the distance grow between me and Choi Jeokhyeon.’
Somehow, Kang Hyukwoo noticed that the frequency of my contact with Choi Jeokhyeon had significantly decreased after our big argument, and he started testing the waters by subtly changing his attitude and pressuring the members. At that time, I couldn’t let Choi Jeokhyeon off hook just for the sake of winning the power struggle, and Choi Jeokhyeon, in his own way, was randomly attacking people, creating confusion in Kang Hyukwoo’s judgment. So, I decided to observe the situation for the time being.
Amid the intense battle of wits caused by Choi Jeokhyeon’s unintentional eccentric behavior, it was Kang Hyukwoo who took the first step to confront the situation.
He attacked me by breaking a scandal involving my father through a reporter.
“
Honestly, you’re just a nuisance now. You’re only harming the group’s image.
“
Yeah, the very first incident that made those words come out of Jo Inchan’s mouth.
And when Kang Hyukwoo first blew up the scandal about my father, Choi Jeokhyeon…..
“…Wouldn’t it be better if you didn’t have a father like that? I’ve never liked him from the start … Honestly, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to just erase him from your sight once and for all using this occasion.”
“It’s alright. Even if your father is socially ostracized, I’ll perfectly take his place. Let’s erase him completely and start fresh from the beginning. Please bear with the pain until then, even if it’s a little hard. There are hardly any celebrities whose careers are ruined by their parents’ debt issues, so I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
He smiled brightly, as if he was truly happy, and expressed his joy.
And even as the scandal spread widely and became the talk of the town, no action was taken. At the time, I didn’t think for a second that he should naturally help me resolve it, and since I had already lost even the slightest bit of affection I had left for my father, I wasn’t angry at his words. However, I remembered being quite shocked.
The idea that the damn lunatic would let the scandal fester for my sake was probably something that, aside from me who had been exposed to him for a long time, most people, including Kang Hyukwoo, wouldn’t been able to understand.
“That person’s way of thinking is disgusting.”
Or perhaps someone who had watched me very closely, like Seo Yuseong, would be able to figure it out.
“He’s reaping what he’s sown, so whether he’s being stoned or stabbed, let Father face whatever consequences come his way. And you, brother, stop being swayed by emotions and make it clear to the public where the line stands between our father and us.”
But that Seo Yuseong also had an unusual way of thinking, so he couldn’t be of much help.
Anyway, Kang Hyukwoo, who never expected that the scandal he triggered would accidentally please Choi Jeokhyeon, came up with this hypothesis while observing the calm Choi Jeokhyeon: “
Seo Yutae was just a toy for him, so perhaps I was worrying too much”
.
And that hypothesis must have stuck with him until now.
‘Choi Jeokhyeon wasn’t in his right mind because of my body disappearing, so he probably didn’t even properly show up at the funeral … when the second scandal blew up, he was overseas due to an urgent matter. I was the one who kicked him out of the country, though. Since Kang Hyukwoo had no way of knowing the promise Choi Jeokhyeon and I made, it must have seemed suspicious that Choi Jeokhyeon didn’t impose any sanctions after my death.’
In reality, if you objectively look at the actions Choi Jeokhyeon took, it really seemed like the relationship between us was strained. Taking all these various situations into account, Kang Hyukwoo began his second gamble.
‘How dare you create someone who imitates me? And in front of the members?’
And this time, his gamble would fail.
The truth was that, from the beginning until now, Choi Jeokhyeon had never once turned his back on me.
Whether Choi Jeokhyeon had maintained a friendly relationship with me just before my death, how much he knew about what he had done, and what Choi Jeokhyeon thought about it—I could bet that he must have agonized over it to the point of losing all his hair. But to make such a choice in a gamble with a 50% chance was just plain stupidity.
‘He must have been so focused on the goal of making the rookie group a success that he couldn’t properly assess the magnitude of the risk.’
It was only natural for a person’s judgment to become clouded when what they desire was right in front of them, so I could understand that. However, what was unfortunate was that he had the audacity to show that stupidity in front of me.
“What about that person?”
“The contact has been lost. He seems to be traveling around a lot these days.”
Well, it seemed like he still wasn’t entirely sure.
When I possessed Han Seungbeom’s body and immediately used my abilities on Kang Hyukwoo, I overheard a conversation where he was looking out for Choi Jeokhyeon. But what’s the point of just being cautious? You should also behave properly.
So, I contacted Choi Jeokhyeon to counter Kang Hyukwoo’s stupid move.
“Hey, if you have time, help me out a bit.”
As soon as he picked up the phone, I immediately said that, and then, with a soft greeting of
“Hello, Yutae-ya
“, he burst into a laugh before dropping a bombshell.
“I’m a bit busy. I have to go set something on fire. If I just have someone do it for me without getting caught, it should be fine, right? I’ll also make sure to provide a solid alibi.”
“…..No! Don’t do that!”
“Why? There are plenty of people in this world who deserve to die. Like a man who can’t even take responsibility for his own children. Or someone who ruined his family by cheating. Or Kang Hyukwoo.”
“You’re dragging other people into this, you crazy bastard!”
“I think that’s unavoidable.”
“Argh!”
Maybe he lost his mind after the guy who imitated me showed up, but Choi Jeokhyeon was going completely berserk.
‘Yeah, it’s because he’s this kind of bastard that I didn’t want to get him involved.’
I had to completely completely exhaust myself trying to calm him down by desperately persuading him. Only after he had calmed down to some extent did Choi Jeokhyeon ask me.
“So, how are you going to get rid of it? I absolutely can’t just leave it alone.”
“Let me borrow your SNS account. I’ll double your followers, so consider that the fee for using your account.”
“You don’t have to worry about any usage fees. The company’s PR team manages it, so I’m not really interested in it anyway. You can use it if you need it. Why do you ask?”
“You asked me to get that copycat out of your sight. I’m going to post unreleased footage from when I was active with Prism on your account.”
“Is that really enough?”
I answered his question in a very natural manner.
“Why bother getting into an ugly fight? It’s beneath us. It’s not that hard to instantly diminish the value of a counterfeit.”
“…What do you mean?”
“It seems like Kang Hyukwoo is under a great delusion. The success of Prism wasn’t something he achieved through his own abilities, but rather something that was possible because the members of Prism are exceptional.”
“…….”
“No matter how good the company’s production or the imitation is, in the end, what matters is the core. The same goes for ‘Seo Yutae’.”
‘You can’t talk about Seo Yutae without mentioning his skills.’
It was something that the entire public knew, and because of that, Seo Yutae was a one-of-a-kind existence.
So, what I had to do was simple.
“There’s nothing else needed to define Seo Yutae. It’s enough to just give the public a little reminder of what kind of person Seo Yutae is.”
All I had to do was remind them of what kind of person the one they loved and admired so much truly was.
“A fake can never beat the real thing.”
In fact, the content of the video I mentioned to Choi Jeokhyeon seemed so trivial that it looked like nothing special at first glance.
[“The ‘second Seo Yutae’ has already appeared for the tenth time. How do you feel, Yutae-ya?”]
The video began with Choi Jeokhyeon, who visited the practice room, reciting the headline of the article and teasing me.
[“…Again?”]
[“Yeah. Center of a Charisma Concept’s Group.”]
Then, in the video, I sneered and gazed at the camera, the direction where Choi Jeokhyeon was. After nodding my head slightly, I smirked and spoke.
[“What’s the point of copying me? People will only see me anyway.”]
[“…….”]
[“A fake can never beat the real thing.”]
The rest of the video was just me dancing to a random song that Choi Jeokhyeon played while chatting casually.
But that was enough.
Overwhelming skills and a star quality that magnetized the public. Everything that defined Seo Yutae was already fully revealed in that short practice video.
‘Just by uploading that video, Choi Jeokhyeon essentially sent the message to the public, This is the real Seo Yutae. Kang Hyukwoo will never be able to ignore that.’
I had no intention of letting Choi Jeokhyeon deal with Kang Hyukwoo himself. I didn’t want Choi Jeokhyeon to commit immoral acts on my behalf, and his methods would clearly drag in ordinary people, as well as the members of Prism.
So, the method I chose was to use Choi Jeokhyeon to psychologically pressure Kang Hyukwoo.
I felt like Choi Jeokhyeon was being treated like a walking time bomb. But since it was pretty much true in reality, I guess it was fair enough.
Even if you didn’t actually plan to use a weapon, simply flaunting its possession could give you a huge advantage in psychological warfare.
‘And Choi Jeokhyeon is the one Kang Hyukwoo fears the most out of the weapons I have.’
If Choi Jeokhyeon implicitly showed that he was uncomfortable, Kang Hyukwoo had no choice but to stop the concept of imitating me, as he would be wary of Choi Jeokhyeon’s reaction.
But there was a big problem with that.
Since they had created such a hype around the new center as ‘
The Second Seo Yutae
‘, the public would be eagerly anticipating just how much the center resembled him. If they made it as if it never happened in the current situation, RH Entertainment would be no different from toying with the public—that was the problem.
What else could be more unattractive than people who were stirring up so much drama and then chickening out?
Image is everything in the idol industry.
If you show such an unattractive appearance from the very beginning, everything will fall apart.
‘If the center stops imitating me, the public will assume that he watched the original’s video, thought ‘Seo Yutae is someone I can never match’, and gave up on that concept out of fear.’
I smiled as I scrolled through the SNS that had been thrown into chaos as soon as the video was uploaded.
So, which side is cornered now?
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Translator’s Corner:
Merry christmas, everyone! Enjoy a happy chapter as xmas gift~