Chapter 173: Chapter 173

The final broadcast aired, and the program wrapped up more smoothly than expected.

Although it was largely due to Kim Heeyeon’s adept handling, the fact that an idol who had endured their parents’ accident, continued working steadfastly for over a year, and even won first place in the competition deeply moved the public.

A flood of sympathetic opinions poured out in an instant.

[Congratulationsㅠㅠ I cried watching the final remarksㅠㅠ]

[Truly an amazing young man. I support you.]

[I heard he was with his parents when they passed away… That young kid went through so much. I’ll support youㅠㅠ]

[Did they bring this up now to get sympathy votes? The agency is really good at their job.]

[Squeezing out a tragic backstoryㅋㅋ]

Of course, as much attention as there was, negative comments also overflowed.

The increasingly sensitive Noeuls ground their teeth every time an article popped up.

[Please stop posting articles about this!!!! Respect Daepaseong’s privacy, seriously… fucking annoying]

[I get so tired every time this comes up… My friends keep reaching out because they know I like Hoyun, and I don’t even want to respond anymore. I wish they’d stop pretending to know me.]

[Seriously, I want to chop off the heads of those who suddenly act like they know everything and leave pity comments. What do they even know?]

But as for me, I calmly acknowledged and moved past the malicious comments while munching on the apple Seong Jiwon had cut for me.

After all, it was something I had orchestrated.

Moreover, there was an added benefit, so it was all good.

[Oh? How did our view count go up so much?]

[Hey;; Seo Hoyun’s fancam views are legendary right now]

[??? What’s up with Stardust’s stage?]

As my family situation became known, the views on The Dawn-related videos on YouTube skyrocketed exponentially.

Several songs climbed the real-time music charts, and my final remarks were clipped and circulated on SNS and various communities.

It was important to strike while the iron was hot, but pushing this narrative too far could tarnish my image.

I was used to getting cursed at, but I couldn’t let it affect The Dawn.

Since it was vacation time anyway, I chose to stay low-key rather than show my face to the public.

After all, the plan to spend my vacation with Seo Hojin fell through.

“Jeong Dajun.”

On the day I met Seo Hojin, I gathered every petal from the bouquet he gave me and brought them back to the dorm.

As soon as I entered the living room and saw Jeong Dajun, I was about to say something…

“Yes, yes?!”

Seeing him fluster around like a puppy needing to pee, I wondered what I could even say to someone fourteen years younger than me.

“…No, it’s fine.”

Seeing his face made me unable to speak.

Narrow-minded as I was, I deliberately exuded a rough aura, sighing repeatedly before retreating to my room.

I thought I might as well catch up on my lack of sleep.

“Haa…”

But sleep didn’t come easily.

It had been like that recently

My roommate, Kang Ichae, hadn’t shown his face in the room lately, and, according to the members, he had practically moved into the company’s studio.

Thanks to that, I could hide my condition, but I wasn’t sure if I should consider that fortunate.

I knew I couldn’t leave things as they were with Kang Ichae, but I kept postponing dealing with it, using Seo Hojin as an excuse.

Thus, all I did was fiddle with my phone, picking it up, and then putting it down repeatedly.

Seriously, what a mess.

I didn’t want to see his face, but asking me to contact him—what was that about?

I would have preferred to be swamped with work to clear my mind, but the company seemed to have postponed everything, including the concerts and reality shows, with no updates at all.

My phone kept buzzing, but it was all pointless messages.

Kang Yeonhu, Jeong Wonha, and others.

People I barely knew kept texting me, but the one number I was waiting for—Seo Hojin’s—remained silent.

In the end, I spent my nights tossing and turning in bed with my phone in my hand, staying awake all night.

What am I supposed to do?

A few days passed like that, and just as I was about to doze off…

Bzzzz.

The sound of my phone vibrating woke me up.

I sprung up and answered the call.

“Hello?”

– “Hey, come out.”

It wasn’t the voice I was hoping for.

Feeling deflated, I lay back down and wiped the slight sweat from my forehead.

“Who is this?”

– “Do you want to die? Come out quickly. You promised to treat us.”

It was Lim Hyeonsu.

Judging by the laughter in the background, she seemed to have already had a drink.

I wasn’t in the mood, but a promise was a promise, so I reluctantly put on some clothes and headed to the location she texted me.

As I entered the place, taking off my earphones, I saw some familiar backs of heads.

Joo Woosung, Kim Heeyeon, and Lim Hyeonsu.

“Wow!!!”

They were the group that enjoyed teasing me the most.

“Kyaa!! Seo Hoyun is here!”

And they were already quite tipsy.

Fortunately, it seemed they had rented out the whole place as the other tables were empty.

What time is it…?

I sighed softly and sat next to Joo Woosung.

“When is this gathering going to end?”

“It’s already a regular thing. Remember we even sent a coffee truck to your drama shoot? We’re thinking of creating a group fund.”

“How much should we pitch in?”

“Fifty thousand won each.”

“What’s fifty thousand won? It should be at least a hundred thousand won to maintain face.”

“Then let’s do that~!!”

For a group including a famous idol, a composer, and a PD, the amount seemed rather modest.

“Are you going to drink?”

“No.”

I knew I wasn’t in great shape.

Drinking with this group could lead to who knows what, so I declined.

“Alright, we’ll drink then. Something expensive.”

But the table was only filled with a few bottles of beer and soju.

I took the beer bottle from Kim Heeyeon, who was looking around for an opener, and opened it with a spoon.

“Wow, that’s so cool?”

Ignoring Joo Woosung, who was muttering with ears turning red, I poured beer into Kim Heeyeon’s glass with the perfect ratio of foam to beer and smirked.

“Thank you for your hard work on the program, PD Kim.”

This was my social life.

Even if it was an ex-girlfriend, I had to be polite if needed.

“Wow~~! Thank you. Seo Hoyun, you worked really hard too!!”

She’s drunk…

“Seo Hoyun! The Dawn being number one is honestly awesome!!”

“They’re amazing!! Damn!! The last ‘Stardust’ song was perfectly done. Kang Ichae, that guy!”

“Hey, he doesn’t even need to go to California!”

“So fucking annoying!”

They’re drunk…

Lim Hyeonsu excitedly joined in on Kim Heeyeon’s words.

Then she squinted at me with a smirk.

“Hey, can you tell Kang Ichae that I want to see my student too?”

“No.”

I immediately shut down any potential scandal.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen Kang Ichae myself, so it wouldn’t be easy to deliver the message anyway.

I munched on the peanuts set up as basic snacks and asked Joo Woosung.

“When did they start?”

“Around three hours ago…”

It seemed Joo Woosung was the most sober.

I was genuinely surprised.

As far as I knew, Kim Heeyeon was a heavy drinker.

In an instant, as they were deep in conversation, Kim Heeyeon and Lim Hyeonsu suddenly shifted the topic and started talking about Joo Woosung.

“Ha, even before the stage, our Joo Woosung was boasting how The Dawn’s skills would make them number one. He was always so restless!”

“He said it so often that the mentors got tired of hearing it. Even Chae Jeongwoo and Han Chaeri!”

“Grrr, to be acknowledged by someone like Joo Woosung from Black Call, you must be number one!”

“Ahaha.”

Not really, I used everything available to secure the first place.

I wet my dry mouth with water instead of beer and gave a sheepish smile.

After saying all they wanted, the two troublemakers stood up with satisfied expressions.

“Heeyeon-ah, let’s go for the next round!”

“Sure, Hyeonsu~!”

“Kyaa~. Let’s go, Heeyeon~.”

They were so excited, humming songs as they left the place, completely oblivious to my disapproving glare.

“That bastard, he ignored all my calls but ran over as soon as Heeyeon-noona called….”

Joo Woosung, who had been quietly drinking, muttered under his breath.

“Are you drunk?”

“Look at this air. Alcohol is literally floating around. How can anyone not get drunk?”

“Really?”

“I want some kimchi fried rice….”

I thought he was sober, but seeing him talk nonsense, I guess not.

“So, Joo Woosung, did you really praise me that much?”

“Gack.”

Joo Woosung, who was drinking beer straight from the bottle, choked at my words.

His reaction was so funny that I chuckled, and he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand while glaring at me.

“Once you bite, you never let go, huh, you brat.”

“Of course.”

“I wasn’t just praising you but your entire group.”

Joo Woosung, seemingly having given up and thinking he would get nagged by me anyway, decided to be honest.

“Han Chaeri and I went to see you guys. We realized you were number one in terms of skills.”

“Thank you.”

“But honestly, I thought you’d come in second.”

To be honest, I would have been satisfied with second place if it weren’t for the penalties.

“Honestly, you were lagging behind in both capital and fandom.”

“True.”

But I had done too much to turn back.

I hated spending time regretting the past, and it was way better to do what I could now.

In the end, I even sold out my family.

At this point, there was nothing left I couldn’t do.

I’ll probably do more from now on.

Well, it’s not surprising anymore.

I could easily predict what words would come next.

You’ve been through a lot, sorry to hear that, or something like that.

“I knew you wouldn’t win—”

So, what should I reply with?

It’s no big deal, don’t worry about it, if I say something like that…

“—until you spread your personal affairs yourself.”

…Would that work, I wondered.

“What did you just say?”

Just now, what did Joo Woosung say?

How on earth… Kim Jaeyeon? No, no way.

I was so caught off guard by Joo Woosung’s words that I couldn’t even make an excuse, and he sipped his drink with a casual expression.

“It’s you, right?”

“Where did you hear something like that?”

“…Ah.”

Joo Woosung, who had slightly raised the corners of his mouth, opened a new bottle of soju and poured it into his beer glass.

“No, I didn’t hear anything. Actually, no one knows.”

“…”

“But you know, you get a feeling.”

Joo Woosung downed his drink in one go and bit into a piece of squid.

“You know, I’ve learned a lot in my years in the entertainment industry. Once a rumor starts to spread, it spreads uncontrollably fast, but usually, no matter how much of a jerk someone is, it surprisingly doesn’t come to the public’s attention.”

On that point, I agreed as well.

As a PD, I had seen countless irredeemable scumbags, but in front of the public, they maintained a pure and innocent image.

“That’s probably why I can still manage my image and be here despite dating so much. I realized that much.”

“…”

“There aren’t many scandals that blow up without reason.”

Dating, assaults, power trips, drugs… whatever it was.

Smoke could indeed rise from a chimney without fire.

But most of the time, it’s usually someone with a motive or a third party who leaks it for revenge or fun.

“Your family issues are the same. If it were meant to spread, it would have been talked about a long time ago. But the timing is just too perfect.”

Since when had Joo Woosung been figuring me out?

After I threatened him?

When Kim Seonghyeon was misrepresented in Shining Star Season 1?

When Today suddenly got screwed over?

Or—

…There are too many.

Joo Woosung spoke with an apologetic expression but with a strange certainty in his eyes.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

No one had noticed until now, but Joo Woosung was the first to figure it out.

Even drunk, his face was annoyingly sharp, and I rubbed my eyes.

Joo Woosung is impressive.

“Why? What are you trying to say?”

I hadn’t admitted it directly, but it was as good as acknowledging it.

“It really was you, huh.”

“Did you take a guess without being for sure?”

“Why did you do it?”

“To be number one.”

Joo Woosung stared at me for a while in silence.

“…Do you not regret doing such things?”

“Not really.”

If I were going to regret it, I wouldn’t have started in the first place.

I poured a mix of beer and soju into Joo Woosung’s glass and laughed.

“I’d do it again if I could go back.”

No matter how many times I went back, the result would be the same.

When I said that, Joo Woosung looked at me, paused slightly, and took a deep breath.

“Crazy bastard…”