Chapter 161
Chapter 161
Translator: Penny
Chapter 161
After swiftly reading the short post, Ms. Kwon's older brother stroked his chin and muttered, "I think I know who wrote this..."
How could he not? He was the very person who had overheard Yoon Eden's lines in that exposé, and the one who had provoked Yoon Eden to utter them in the first place.
Though he had spoken to Yoon Eden, his classmate, only a handful of times as he had told his younger sister, those conversations remained vividly etched in his memory even years later.
Here, take this.
Uh, uh? Why are you giving this to me...?
It's your bread, since you paid for it. Just think of Huigwang doing you a favor at the cafeteria. Wow, Huigwang's so nice—running errands for all his classmates.
"Hey, Eden... Jeong Huigwang is glaring at you like crazy right now..."
"So what if he's glaring? Ah, tell me if that bastard tries to shake you down again. The nerve of that little shit, acting all high and mighty just because he's got Seong Jinhyuk backing him up, stirring up trouble in class."
"Uh... Oh, Eden, here, have this bread."
"Huh? Really? Why? Don't tell me Witan isn't your type? Should I tell Jeong Huigwang to get you the bread you actually want?"
"No, it's okay. That's too much... I just wanted to thank you for sticking up for me."
"Thanks, I'll enjoy it. I was starving anyway—the school lunch was total garbage today. Appreciate it."
"Whoa, Dark Knight Yoon Eden! Shakedownception level: legendary. Shaking down the jerk who shook down others, then taking the bread he bought with their money."
"What are you talking about? Woojin gave it to me. And hey, Huigwang isn't the Joker, okay? Maybe one of the Joker's goons from the Other Side, but not the Joker himself."
"Well, you're no Batman either. Batman's way more muscular and handsome than you."
"I fucking hate Kim Yuseon."
He scratched the back of his head. He hated how the wrong person was suffering while the real jerk got off scot-free.
"If I want to post a rebuttal, where should I put it so lots of people will see it?"
"Wait, Oppa. I'll lend you my account. Post it here."
He started typing on the phone his sister handed him, eager to repay the kindness he'd received in the past.
"The rebuttal post is up!" Ryu Jaehee shouted excitedly. I immediately checked the post.
Yoon Eden's School Bullying Allegations: A Clarification
As a classmate and one of the parties involved in this incident, I'm posting this clarification because the accuser seems to have omitted crucial context from their original post.
Whether the accuser is the person they claim to be, I can't say. But back in our second year at Seonmun High School, Class 3, there was a student who extorted money from classmates. I was one of the victims. Eden was the only one who stood up for us when the extortion continued. The money Eden took from that student was never his own; it was money stolen from other classmates...
(...)
Finally, O Hee O, let's live with at least a shred of conscience.
Seeing the rebuttal post, uploaded with verification from the graduation album and the second-year Class 3 group photo, gave me a strange feeling.
It was as if I'd finally confirmed that good deeds always come back in some form.
The real name mentioned at the end—even though only one character was revealed—was the perfect finishing touch to the post.
See that? Justice prevails, you fucking bastard.
I glared at the still-undeleted exposé post, despite the rebuttal.
This guy's talking out of both sides of his mouth? Should I call him again and give him another piece of my mind? I stared down at my phone, lost in thought, when it suddenly dawned on me.
"Wait a minute... my phone automatically records calls, doesn't it?"
After all, my Galaxy phone had automatic call recording. Ah, this isn't exactly a Galaxy ad.
Ryu Jaehee gestured for me to play the recording immediately as I held up my phone.
The members huddled together to listen to the recording, each offering a brief comment afterward.
"Is this the writer's friend? Would Eden get upset if we called him a friend? Anyway, his mindset is truly disgusting. Posting anonymous, fabricated stories online just to watch someone's life fall apart."
"Um... Jun-a... it's not exactly fabricated, since I did say those things..."
"But omitting his own actions and only including your words to frame an innocent person as a bully—that's manipulation, plain and simple."
"But if this goes public, won't it only reinforce the rumors about Eden Hyung being a bully...?"
"Exactly! Yoon Eden, why do you always start phone calls like that? 'Hello, is this so-and-so?' Isn't that the standard way to begin a call?"
"I do that when I'm talking to someone I don't know."
"Hmm, it's tricky releasing the recording as is. Hyung's tone and the content... it's a bit too easy to pick apart."
Instead of arguing with our magnificent youngest member, Ryu Jaehee, I defended myself.
"But I didn't swear or use any harsh language. I tried to be as polite as possible."
"This?" Seo Yehyeon asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.
I shrugged. "Okay, I might have gotten a little worked up at the end."
"No, as I just said, your opening line was already a disaster."
Seo Yehyeon kept making absurd jabs, but I decided to let it slide, feeling good about the kindness I'd received.
"What if we just upload Eden's part?"
Despite Gyeon Hajun's earnest question, Ryu Jaehee shook his head firmly.
"We can't rule out the possibility that they have the full recording. If we only upload our side's edited version, it could backfire badly. It's cleaner and safer to upload the entire recording."
Just as the consensus was leaning toward not uploading anything at all, a text message arrived from Manager Hyung.
[ Manager Hyung - Public opinion has flipped. Write a statement ASAP. ] 1:32 PM
[ Manager Hyung: Don't post it right away. Send it to the Operations Team for review first, okay? ] 1:33 PM
Nice! Finally, I can resume the Weekly Quest!
By posting a statement today and writing daily articles starting tomorrow, I could avoid the penalty for failing to complete the Weekly Quest.
"Don't release the full recording. Just soften the tone of the conversation in the statement. If they claim it's a lie, then threaten to release the recording file. That'll be more effective."
As I hummed and opened my notepad, Seo Yehyeon offered his advice. Instead of arguing, I nodded cheerfully.
Starting today, I could finally sleep soundly with my feet stretched out.
As soon as the rebuttal and Yoon Eden's statement were posted, public opinion immediately flipped.
The rebuttal's account of events was far more accurate than the original exposé. The inclusion of real names at the end also played a significant role.
The author of the exposé stubbornly refused to delete their post, but their identity was eventually exposed using just a single initial and their high school.
- Logic jump is insane ㅋㅋㅋ He extorted money and then returned it to the original owner, and now he's claiming he was the one being extorted? ㅋㅋ What kind of shameless bastard is this? ㅋㅋㅋ
- It's not victim-perpetrator, it's perpetrator-perpetrator getting a taste of their own medicine.
- I thought he was a loser and sided with him out of sympathy, but finding out he was a bully feels like a huge betrayal.
- Looks like it's headed for a delete-and-run ending ㅋㅋ
With the revelation that the real bully was the author themselves, the exposé was deleted exactly as the comments had predicted.
"See? I told you all the Vibe Sommeliers would disappear."
"I firmly believed our Eden wouldn't be like that~"
"But seriously, how many bullies did he beat up to earn the nickname 'Dark Knight'...?"
On Air: Nostalgia Trip with the Peer Group
After a long hiatus, Daydream's phone buzzed with an OA Live notification. The content featured Gyeon Hajun and Yoon Eden sharing stories from their trainee days.
While they couldn't reveal too much due to their former agency being Newborn and their debut team members now being KICKS, the duo's casual reminiscences about their shared memories proved surprisingly entertaining.
"When we were hungry, we'd sneak out to the emergency stairs and eat cup ramen together."
"Right! And when staff members came by, we'd pretend to be taking out the trash and hurry down the stairs."
And in the middle of all that, I was so worried about the noodles getting soggy that I was slurping them down as I ran down the stairs. I choked and started coughing, and you, Jun, patted me on the back, accidentally splashing ramen broth all over your clothes.
Ah, I remember now. That really happened.
And of course, I was wearing a white shirt, so the Trainer caught me eating ramen right away.
Even though we didn't go to the same high school, we spent our entire high school years together in the practice room... Back then, Eden was incredibly diligent and worked so hard. He always said he wanted to be proud of himself even after debuting. That's why I thought the recent bullying rumors were completely absurd. The Eden I know would never do something like that.
Ugh, this is so embarrassing...
- I've never seen Hajun talk so much before.
- ㄹㅇ Hajun sounds so genuine when he's like this.
As they reminisced about old times, Eden smiled awkwardly at the camera as the broadcast neared its end.
Thank you for believing in me. I'll continue to work hard to never disappoint our Daydream members.
Eden bowed deeply, causing everyone in the chat to burst into tears.
-Why are you thanking us for something so obvious? Of course fans believe in their idols! Who else would we trust?
-We'll never be disappointed! Even if you get artist's disease, we'll give you a pass at least once.
-If our Eden says it, I'd believe him even if he claimed soybeans could be used to make meju!
-Wait, isn't meju traditionally made with soybeans, not red beans...?
Dream of me. Goodbye.
-Why the group greeting all of a sudden?
-He must be genuinely grateful. He only does that awkward solo greeting once in a blue moon.
-Eden, dream of Daydream too!
In any case, it was a successful explanation.
"That bastard Jeong Huigwang got his personal info leaked and got kicked out of his group. Seong Jinhyuk hates losing face more than anything. His Facebook got hacked too, so he's basically an outcast at university now. Honestly, anyone who posts such fabricated stories is just creepy—I wouldn't want to be around them anyway."
I grinned, satisfied as I listened to Kim Yuseon's report. It was a fitting end for him.
Based on my observations of past incidents and the System's behavior, I'd noticed a pattern:
The System only pushed me with quests when I needed to actively intervene. If a situation would resolve itself without my intervention, it wouldn't bother issuing a quest.
This meant the Jeong Huigwang incident would have resolved itself even if I'd stayed out of it.
And as the System had predicted, the only real impact of this fabricated exposé on me was this:
I never dreamed my damn agency would wait a whole day to release their statement!
According to my original plan, I would have uploaded my statement on the same day the rebuttal was posted, then posted daily FROM articles starting the next day, successfully completing my Weekly Quest quota.
However, this utterly ruthless System counted upload dates rather than the number of posts to prevent the loophole of uploading everything in one day. Since my statement was delayed by a day on the official Fan Cafe, I failed to meet the requirement of posting at least four times a week on the Fan Cafe's FROM Board.
As a result, I was facing a Penalty.
The time changed from 11:59 PM to 12:00 AM, and the Status Window I saw every Monday at midnight flickered before my eyes.
☀ Initiating Weekly Quest settlement.
⚠ Less than four Weekly Quests completed. A random Penalty will be applied.
Penalty: Personality Inversion for 24 hours.
📝 Translator’s Note:
You may notice that certain lines or phrases in this novel appear both in their original Korean (or Hanja) form and in English translation.
This is intentional — these phrases are classical idioms, divine titles, or poetic expressions that carry layered meanings.
To preserve their original tone and authenticity, the raw text has been kept for reference, while the English interpretation is provided right before or after it. This helps convey both the literal and cultural nuance of the original work.
but if you guys dont want tha raw for future chapters or my future other novels u can just text me on discord and say so discord name Mr.Penny