Chapter 113: Beautiful Person (4)

Q. I heard your recent stage outfit was sponsored by Mark Ross.

A. That’s right. Mark Ross happily allowed it.

Q. Do you usually like designer items?

A. I just respect the craftsmanship that luxury brands work hard to maintain

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Q. You got your latest song from Lee Kwon Woo. Lee Kwon Woo is famous for not giving a song to someone if he doesn’t want to, no matter how great of a singer they may be. How do you feel about having received it when other singers could not?

A. I think Lee Kwon Woo sunbae’s song fits me well. I’m thankful that, after giving it a lot of consideration, he decided to give me the song.

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Meeting with Kang Do Wook, the hottest star right now, left a deep impression.

In short, I could see what ‘success’ was from this experience. Even when he was saying his goodbye on his way out, the designer earrings from Allen Sandro glistened in his ears.

“Wow, this is totally…”

Manager Oh Baek Ho, who read the full article, practically threw his mouse away, making a ‘clack’ sound.

Standing next to Manager Oh Baek Ho, Gu Chul Min hung his head, unsure of what to do. Do Wook sat on the sofa in the living room and was looking through the article comments and community reactions on his cell phone.

The Fan Marketing Team stepped in to take care of it, but Do Wook’s name, which had now appeared in the trending search words, showed no signs of diminishing.

For now, it said ‘Kang Do Wook’, so people kept clicking on it.

If you clicked on ‘Kang Do Wook’, the first article that appeared was the ‘News Patch’ reporter Choi Sung Jun’s interview. More and more people started to read the article and argue in the comments.

“From start to finish, this bastard purposely dragged Do Wook through the mud. That bastard.”

Oh Baek Ho’s expression became menacing like no other.

“You were right there, what were you doing instead of putting a stop to this, punk?!”

“Ah…I didn’t know it’d be written like this…”

“What did I teach you? I told you to be careful of reporters. If the reporter changed halfway through, you should have reported it to me on time.”

“I’m sorry. I have no excuse.”

With his face white as a sheet, Gu Chul Min bent his hips in a deep bow.

Looking at Gu Chul Min bow, Manager Oh Baek Ho shook his head, then asked Do Wook, who was sitting on the sofa with a hardened expression.

“Do Wook…you didn’t really talk like this, right?”

The article was completely ridiculous, but now that the Fan Marketing Team had told them to take down the article, what was most important was whether or not Do Wook had given them even the slightest reason to write the article in this way.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yeah, there’s no way you would have.”

Manager Oh Baek Ho nodded his head.

However, most people seemed to fully believe the article already. In the first place, people are always more interested in, agree with, and comment more on things that criticize someone than things that praise someone.

There were so many reporters who were taking advantage of that.

-I didn’t know, but I guess he’s a little arrogant? I can feel the reporter’s anger from the article haha

-I can’t trust this trash journalist bastard. Do Wook wouldn’t talk like this

-Trash journalist, take down the article

-Kang Do Wook, are you paying people to be stans? I guess he really did make a lot of money *nod* *nod*

-I guess it was a golden spoon…I thought he had worked hard

-What does that make the other singers who couldn’t get a song from Lee Kwon Woo lol

-He’s really obsessed with luxury goods LOL

-How unexpected…I really liked you Do Wook…I’m disappointed T.T

Truly the article, as well as the comments, went in a direction outside their wildest imaginations. It was the definition of ‘creating controversy’.

As Do Wook scrolled through the comments, he suddenly remembered what Lee Jin Ri had said when they were eating together.

She had said people would even accuse you of harming the environment for just breathing out carbon dioxide.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Lee Jin Ri, who was quite used to malicious comments, was joking kind of nonchalantly. Do Wook didn’t fully understand how Lee Jin Ri felt, but he could deeply relate to some of it.

It was true that it was unfair, but he expected this might happen to a certain degree.

‘It only takes one time for your image. Maybe I was too complacent…’

Do Wook’s expression darkened.

Honestly, there were too many ambiguous parts to clarify it in a positive way. He hadn’t put words in his mouth, he had simply edited it cleverly.

Creating a stir for no reason may cause things to get heated. While you’re trying to clarify, people who weren’t even aware of the situation will find out. It was also an issue that would die down after a few days anyways.

‘Still…an image as someone who easily overlooks things might solidify.’

This was the part the other employees from the company, as well as Do Wook, were worried about.

In the middle of the downtrodden atmosphere, Manager Oh Baek Ho’s cell phone rang.

It was a call from Assistant Manager Do Ra Hee. Manager Oh quickly picked up the cell phone.

“Yes. How did it go?”

Gu Chul Min and Do Wook focused on the content of Manager Oh Baek Ho’s conversation. They could hear Assistant Manager Do Ra Hee’s high-pitched voice through the phone.

“Ah. Ok. I understand. Yes, thank you for your hard work.”

As soon as Manager Oh Baek Ho got off the phone, Gu Chul Min asked how it went. He didn’t even give Manager Oh Baek Ho a second to breathe.

Gu Chul Min hadn’t worked with Do Wook for long, but he knew well how caring Do Wook was. This kind of controversy was a daily occurrence for celebrities, but Gu Chul Min felt wronged, as if it were happening to him.

It might have been different were it someone else, but Do Wook had modesty. As Do Wook’s road manager and one who spent all day with him driving him around, he knew that better than anyone else despite being new to the company.

“What did she say?!”

“You punk. You have been on top of things like this during the interview. It might turn into a bigger issue if the article is taken down, so for now, they decided to release a redaction. They were told KK will never interview with them again if they don’t.”

Do Wook silently nodded his head at what Manager Oh Baek Ho said.

KK and Do Wook had now risen to a certain status. It wasn’t to the point that they could fight back against the press, but this level of tug of war was possible.

“They said they’ll discuss the redaction with us before they publish it so…Let’s wait for now.”

“Ok.”

Manager Oh Baek Ho, who was nodding his head, spoke with difficulty. Do Wook, on the other hand, was thinking about whether it was something that would be resolved just by waiting.

Even if they released a redaction, people would snidely ask if it was edited because the agency contacted them.

“…By the way, Do Wook…”

“Yes? Please go ahead.”

“I think this image might still linger even if a redaction is published.”

Gu Chul Min frowned at Manager Oh Baek Ho’s words.

“That’d be a big problem wouldn’t it?”

Do Wook thought he knew what Manager Oh Baek Ho was trying to say. Do Wook was also considering that just now.

“I’m thinking of revealing THAT.”

That was exactly what Do Wook was thinking.

“I did consider that too…”

Do Wook spoke vaguely as if he were opposed to it. Gu Chul Min, who didn’t know what ‘that’ was, wanted to ask what it was, but was not able to bring it up because of the atmosphere.

“But it seems too obvious that we’re using it to fix this situation…”

“I understand how you feel, but nothing good will come out of holding on to this image. We have to resolve it quickly and get rid of it for good.”

Manager Oh Baek Ho was right.

“That’s probably the most assured way.”

“Yeah.”

Do Wook agreed. In fact, it was an opportunity to make his image better.

“Then, please go ahead with it. Also, Baek Ho. Could you also look into Reporter Choi Sung Jun a little?”

“Team Leader Lee had already looked into it and he was the local news reporter for the Seoul Newspaper. Looks like he had recently moved to News Patch.”

“Why would a local news reporter…”

Entertainment reporters were honestly considered lower in their professionalism than local and political reporters. A greater doubt arose in Do Wook’s heart.

“They probably offered him more money. Anyways, there wasn’t much more information than that.”

Manager Oh Baek Ho clicked his tongue as he answered.

Do Wook kept trying to figure out who Reporter Choi Sung Jun was. He felt like it would nag at him until he knew exactly who he was.

***

The very next day, the interview article was released. The article was corrected.

It was posted along with an explanation that the full text was posted because it could be misleading otherwise.

Q. I heard your recent stage outfit was sponsored by Mark Ross.

A. That’s right. Thankfully, Mark Ross happily allowed it. I’m also thankful to stylist Han Jung Ah who worked hard on the outfit to put together a good performance.

Q. Do you usually like designer items?

A. It’s hard to say I like designer items. As long as it looks good, I’m not picky. I just respect the craftsmanship that luxury brands work hard to maintain.

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Q. You got your latest song from Lee Kwon Woo. Lee Kwon Woo is famous for not giving a song to someone if he doesn’t want to, no matter how great of a singer they may be. How do you feel about having received it when other singers could not?

A. It’s truly an honor to have received a song from Lee Kwon Woo. It would have been impossible for me to meet him if it wasn’t for the help from Kim Woo Yeon, who was also my instructor. I think that’s why he thought positively of me. I also think the song ‘Please Don’t Go’ fits me very well. I want to thank him again for deciding to give me the song after giving it a lot of consideration.

Usually, it’s not common to publish a retraction like this, but Reporter Choi Sung Jun accepted HIT Entertainment’s request surprisingly easily.

On the contrary, it was the back end office workers who said it might be difficult.

Anyways, when the full text was released, the overall reaction of the comments changed to advocating for Do Wook.

“Oh, look at this. ‘I knew this was the case. It’s night and day, tisk tisk! Please write a good article!’ Like this.”

“What’s with your tone…”

“You have to read it like this~!”

Jung Yoon Ki burst out laughing as An Hyung Seo read the comments in a lively way.

“Man, seriously, even I was feeling wronged. What a relief.”

The members who were nearby nodded their heads at what Jung Yoon Ki said. The members also felt so wronged that Do Wook was being criticized, portrayed completely differently than the Do Wook they knew.

“There are also reactions saying the redaction was forced because he was being criticized by fans…”

Ahn Hyung Seo sighed when Suk Ji Hoon said that.

After the interview article was published, the fans methodically gathered together and sent hundreds of protest emails. The ‘News Patch’ newspaper agency’s bulletin boards were also plastered with protests.

“It’s ok. I heard THAT article is going to be released anyways.”

“Yes.”

Do Wook nodded his head to what Jung Yoon Ki said.

“Don’t worry and go have a good performance.”

“I’m not. Worried, that is.”

The members had reassured expressions at Do Wook’s words. Do Wook had a performance scheduled for ‘Youth Hope Concert’ today held in Seoul.

With the encouragement from the members, Do Wook left the dormitory for the performance.

***

The article released by HIT Entertainment was none other than an article about Do Wook’s donations.

In fact, from the moment he started getting royalty money in his personal bank account, Do Wook began donating about 5% of its profits to organizations for teenagers.

In particular, he had donated the largest amount of money to organizations that conducted campaigns related to the eradication of school violence.

This was something even the members weren’t aware of.

Manager Oh Baek Ho and the company’s Finance Team that processed the donations were the only ones who knew.

Do Wook felt that there was a reason he was given a second chance. It wasn’t an opportunity that was easily given to just anyone. Even if there wasn’t a meaning behind it, he could just give it a meaning.

Do Wook planned on doing everything in his power, and donating was one of them.

He thought this was the best thing he could do right now for those who were still suffering from the same reason he had.

‘I wasn’t planning on revealing it like this, but…’

Do Wook thought as he looked at the published article.

Gu Chul Min was driving towards the venue in front of City Hall.

They had purposely included that he was particularly very interested in eradicating school violence, to which people had commented that school violence was severe these days and truly needed a lot of attention.

‘Yeah…If I can gather at least this kind of interest, that’s a relief.’

At that moment, Do Wook’s cell phone rang.

It was a number he didn’t know. Extreme fans tended to find out Do Wook’s number and call him, so he usually didn’t answer the phone.

Still, he accepted the call, planning to at least answer before hanging up.

“Hello?”

-Ah, is this Kang Do Wook?

However, it was a man’s voice. A voice he had heard not long ago too. Do Wook recognized who the man was before the person even identified themselves.

“Yes, this is he. Hello Mr. Reporter.”

It was Reporter Choi Sung Jun.

-Hello. Do you have time to talk right now?

“Yes, I do. Please go ahead.”

-I’m…sorry.

Do Wook didn’t know he’d call him personally to apologize.

-There’s a misunderstanding. I didn’t mean to publish the article like that. Also…I heard that you donate to organizations dedicated to eradicating school violence…

At that moment, Do Wook was able to remember who Reporter Choi Sung Jun was.

Do Wook wasn’t the only one Seo Kang Jun harassed. In high school, there was another victim. In the past, that victim revealed Seo Kang Jun’s atrocities, but they were all concluded as false and only the victim was condemned instead.

‘Reporter Choi Sung Jun. That’s right…I knew his name sounded familiar. Even the fact that he’s a reporter…’

Choi Sung Jun was that victim’s older brother.

‘The victim’s biological brother who tried to expose Seo Kang Jun’s acts of violence!’

Do Wook asked Choi Sung Jun,

“Yes, that’s right. Mr. Reporter. By chance….are you available?

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Next chapter: Do Wook has to interact with someone who has wronged him. How will it go?