After finishing the conversation with the junior, when we returned to the Lucky Center, the main PD was working with tears in his eyes. It was quite late, but it seemed like he had no choice but to stay and handle the situation, which had grown out of control.
It’s no wonder, considering that broadcasting station officials were already gathering opinions to have Woo Kangwon leave after he caused a major accident, and reporters were calling hundreds of times, it must have been too much for him to handle.
“The PD looks like he’s having a hard time. Shouldn’t we try to help in some way?”
“No need. Don’t worry about useless things and just go to sleep.”
I dragged Woo Kangwon into the room, leaving PD alone with his suffering.
The next day, the tables were turned. An apology from the junior was posted.
The apology included that Woo Kangwon had never assaulted his junior, that the conversation in the recording was simply an apology for retiring while leaving behind the juniors he had lived with, and that he apologized for deceiving the public by spreading false information.
In response, Woo Kangwon and his agency posted a statement saying that he personally met with his junior to resolve their differences, and they asked that no further mention be made of the incident.
The production team seemed unable to understand the main PD’s decision to avoid kicking Woo Kangwon out right away, but now that the incident had been resolved, they praised the main PD, saying that he indeed had foresight. Seriously, those f**kers.
As the misunderstanding about Woo Kangwon was cleared up, the public showed a variety of reactions.
— Thank goodness. The atmosphere was so bad that I couldn’t speak up, but I’ve trusted Woo Kangwon from the start. Every trainee on the show has been praising him non-stop, saying how kind he is, yet I don’t understand what made people suddenly ganged up on him and cursed him like they wanted to kill him.
— When I posted a rebuttal to each and every one of the expose posts, saying that our Kangwon couldn’t have done such a thing, people called me an abuser supporter and started attacking me, but seeing how quickly public opinion flipped is seriously creepy lol. Yeah, whatever, I’ve already compiled everything to PDFs~
— What are the Wreckers who were bashing Woo Kangwon going to do now? They caused the whole mess, and now they’ll probably just post videos blaming the junior and wrap it up with some self-diss lol. I can already predict it.
—Kangwon-ah, you’ve been through a lot.
Most of the posts were supportive of Woo Kangwon, now that the misunderstanding had been cleared.
— How much money did the victim get paid to tuck his tail and run? lol
— I’m an employee of Woo Kangwon’s agency. He met with the victim and they reached a settlement. Hegave them quite a bit of money and made sure to interfere with every detail of the apology statement, telling them exactly what to write.
└ Ah seriously, what is this bullsh*t hahahahaha I’m the real insider here, and you guys are just making stuff up. They met privately and settled things through a conversation~ Do you really want to ruin someone’s life with lies? Stop being delusional and focus on your own life.
Posts pouring out negative comments about Woo Kangwon.
— Hubae, show your face and apologize. I’ll make sure you can’t continue your career as an athlete lol.
— You should be ashamed of yourself. You tried to ruin someone’s life, and now you’re just posting an apology statement and calling it done?
— Hubae-ya, if I get sued by Woo Kangwon, you’ll pay the settlement on my behalf. Got it?
There were also some posts that strongly attacked the junior who spread false information.
The people who were throwing excessive criticism at the junior weren’t Woo Kangwon’s acquaintances or fans. They knew that Woo Kangwon still cared for his junior and didn’t want the situation to escalate, so they decided to break the chain of hatred at this point.
The people who continued to pour out provocative words without regard to Woo Kangwon’s request were not those who had his best interests at heart after all. Seeing them, Woo Kangwon smiled bitterly, figuring out that they were just people who needed to release their stress by attacking someone.
[I am a junior of Trainee Woo Kangwon.]
The faint doubts that remained were completely dispelled after posts from other juniors were shared. They wrote that “
Woo Kangwon was very considerate toward his juniors and was not the type of person to resort to corporal punishment
“, strongly defending his character.
Perhaps they were afraid that Woo Kangwon, who lost his chance to debut, would reveal the truth in a fit of anger. Although they were accomplices in the match-fixing, they were not accomplices in this lie.
[#WooKangwon_Let’s_Debut]
[#Kangwon-ah__I’m_Sorry]
In the end, the public’s reaction shifted towards sympathizing with and supporting Woo Kangwon, and hashtags encouraging people to vote as an apology for the misunderstanding began to circulate.
“If you’re going to change your attitude like this, then don’t bother to curse at him in the first place! What’s the point of the votes? He’s already been hurt enough, there’s no point in giving medicine after giving poison.”
Do Yuda, relieved that everything had finally been resolved, sobbed uncontrollably and clung to Woo Kangwon. Woo Kangwon, who had been holding back his own emotions, finally relaxed and patted Do Yuda’s back soothingly in silence.
And there I was, squished between their passionate hug, completely clueless about what was going on.
‘Why the hell am I here?’
Save me, anyone.
Anyway, I was only able to escape from between them after Do Yuda, exhausted from crying, fell asleep clinging to Woo Kangwon’s back.
‘Well, I guess I should be thankful that everything ended well.’
I looked at my roommates, who looked no different than usual, and thought that everything had finally returned to normal.
“…….”
When I looked out the window, the stars were densely scattered across the sky. Since the filming location was quite far from the city, I could see the stars clearly.
I turned my head and looked down at the digital clock at my feet.
[4:47]
.
Since it was at a time when everyone was asleep, only the ticking sound of the wall clock, the sound of leaves rustling in the wind, and Do Yuda’s sleeptalking could be heard.
My body shivered in the cold night air.
“What are you doing?”
I was rubbing my arm to warm it up when I suddenly heard a voice behind me. It was the voice of one of my roommates, so I wasn’t surprised.
“Lee Hwayoung … what are you doing still awake at this hour?”
“I was sleeping, I just woke up. What time is it?”
“4:48.”
“If you’re going to look at the clock like that, why don’t you just sleep?”
“No reason.”
When I gave a half-hearted reply, Lee Hwayoung immediately frowned. He frowned so often that I thought he might soon get wrinkles around that area.
“Haha, hahaha.”
“…….”
As I laughed while thinking about that, Lee Hwayoung glared at me even more fiercely, and then opened his mouth.
“You, if you keep doing this.…”
“Why did you pick Woo Kangwon-hyung up that day? It wasn’t like you happened to be outside for your treatment. It’s surprising you helped, considering your personality.”
I cut off Lee Hwayoung’s nagging and asked him what had been bothering me the whole time.
“Get in!”
Lee Hwayoung was the one who stormed out and brought Woo Kangwon back while everyone else was hesitating. And that fact was enough to surprise me greatly.
‘Lee Hwayoung had no reason to help Woo Kangwon at all.’
I thought Lee Hwayoung would not getting along with Woo Kangwon. After the team rankings were announced, didn’t Lee Hwayoung openly pour out negative words towards Woo Kangwon? He seemed so irritated back then, so I thought Woo Kangwon had completely fallen out of his good graces.
‘I thought it might be hard to debut the two of them together….’
But Lee Hwayoung helped Woo Kangwon, who was in crisis, without a moment’s hesitation. He even went as far as to hide him so that the production team wouldn’t get their hands on him. Who would have thought that the guy who had yelled so loudly would step up like that?
Perhaps he was annoyed that I had cut off his words, as Lee Hwayoung was silent for a moment with a pouty expression on his face. However, when I waited until the end, he finally began to answer.
“…If I left it as it was, it was obvious who would have to clean up the mess, so I couldn’t just sit still. I also didn’t like the production team.”
I froze, my eyes wide open and mouth agape, at that answer. I felt like my fatigue had disappeared, crushed by surprise.
“You went there just for that reason?”
Seeing my face, which was almost in shock, Lee Hwayoung clicked his tongue and added a few more words.
“We promised to do the fourth mission together, so it would be troublesome if you’re already exhausted … there were a few things that bothered me too.”
‘Things that bothered you?’
I replayed the words Lee Hwayoung had said in a low voice in my mind.
“Ah.”
And I knew the answer.
“You, were you also a little bothered by what you said when the competition results were announced?”
“…Be quiet.”
“You were particularly harsh to Woo Kangwon-hyung that day.”
“Woo Kangwon couldn’t live up to your expectations. He lost his focus and ended up failing to fulfill his role.”
“That’s why you were so mad … but after the scandal broke and you found out the reason why hyung was acting strange, you started to feel a little bad about it, didn’t you?”
“…….”
Lee Hwayoung jerked his head away at my question.
Perhaps it was because it would hurt his pride to admit it, but he also didn’t want to lie to deny it.
‘He’s really still a child.’
“Hahaha.”
I laughed out loud again at his behavior, and Lee Hwayoung raised one eyebrow, giving me a suspicious look.
“…Have you been drinking?”
“I haven’t.”
It was a bit unfair of him to accuse me of drunkenness just because I had laughed a few times.
I rested my chin on my hand and smiled with contentment, “I never thought you would have such a heart. I guess I should say I’m proud of you.”
“…..What exactly do you see me as?”
“A childish young master.”
“….Forget it. I’m not talking anymore.”
‘So, even this brat has some affection in him, after all.’
It was a good sign that the guy who had only focused on himself started showing interest in others. The fact that the trigger was me wasn’t all that important.
‘The only older person who could tolerate Lee Hwayoung’s rudeness is Woo Kangwon … I was hoping they could build a bond somehow, but I never expected it would turn out this way.’
Lee Hwayoung might have been clumsy, but he wasn’t a bad person.
I was able to realize that through this incident. And the rest of the members would have realized it as well.
‘Now, the pieces are starting to fit together.’
That was the first step. It felt like we were taking the first step towards becoming a proper group.
That guy glanced at my expression and sighed. He must have read what I was thinking.
“It doesn’t mean that I’m happy to debut with him. I don’t like it, but it’s inevitable that Woo Kangwon will debut in the end.”
“It’s not set in stone yet. His ranking also dropped not long ago.”
I spoke while looking at Woo Kangwon’s face, who was sleeping so peacefully even though he was being crushed by Do Yuda. Then, Lee Hwayoung also shifted his gaze towards Woo Kangwon and quietly said,
“No, Woo Kangwon will debut.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s someone you like. You wouldn’t care about someone who wouldn’t make it into the debut lineup.”
“What exactly do you see me as? I’m not a god.”
“Han Seungbeom.”
“Forget it. Let’s stop talking.”
As I shook my head and said that, Lee Hwayoung smiled lightly with the tip of his nose. As soon as I saw that expression, I recalled someone’s face and unconsciously spoke.
“You really do resemble someone I know.”
“Seo Yutae?”
Lee Hwayoung immediately said a name. It seemed like he was getting tired of hearing it so many times from Cha Woon and the others.
‘That’s me.’
I shook my head and denied it. Then, I said playfully, “No, there’s another young master who’s just as childish as you.”
“…….”
Lee Hwayoung gave me a subtle look at my words. He didn’t seem to understand what I was saying.
But whether he understood or not, it was none of my concern.
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Translator’s Corner:
Uh …. I’m crazy … since I’m already on it, here’s another chapter.
Oh wow it’s been 19 hours after I last ate and only now I started feeling hungry. My stress level from having to do false bullying scandal arc is no joke … I hate false bullying scandal …. like I could tolerate false murder but not bullying and assault ??????? Dead people cant talk so it’s other person who makes the accusation, but why would you lie that someone harrased you??? omg I’m getting upset again
OKAY NOW THIS IS REALLY THE LAST. I’m going to go look for foods, sleep, and rest for 24 hours I wont fall to temptation again.
Oh and this is the last chapter for this arc! (I really did the arc in one day), next chapter will be something you like (actually its me. i like it)