Chapter 175
Chapter 175
Translator: Penny
Chapter 175
I stared down at the staff member with a "go ahead, say what you want" expression. The staff member forced an awkward smile.
"As you know, our Operations Team usually conducts very thorough checks. We're well aware of the dangers of allergies."
As if I'd believe that after you shoved a cherry cake in front of someone with a cherry allergy.
"But the person who usually handles the cakes went on vacation this week. We have a regular supplier, but the employee who brought the cake today insisted on taking charge of this one..."
The staff member trailed off, glancing around as if searching for the employee who had brought the cake.
"Did anyone even mention that one of the members has a cherry allergy?"
Ryu Jaehee suddenly interjected with a question. The employee nodded vigorously, fearing he might catch flak.
"Absolutely. That was the first thing we were strongly urged about. Even canned cherries are forbidden."
"Then why did they bring a Cherry Cake? Isn't that grounds for disciplinary action?"
Disciplinary action? They could be fired and no one would bat an eye. But the employee's response was quite unexpected.
"They'll probably just let it slide."
"Let it slide? Is that employee the CEO's son? Wait, come to think of it, the CEO isn't even married, is he?"
"Well... he's the Planning Director's nephew."
"Nephew?"
Not getting fired after this? This company is the ultimate nepotism kingdom. Jaehee let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity of the situation.
"Wait a minute... if he's the Planning Director's nephew..."
If things went well, this was an opportunity to take down one of LnL's biggest corrupt figures—the Planning Director himself.
"Jaehee, should we file an attempted murder charge?"
"If we file an attempted murder charge over something like this, the public will immediately turn against us. They'll say we're trying to ruin someone's life over a mistake anyone could make at work, and our group's image will take a hit."
"But technically, it was attempted murder, right?"
"It's good to teach them a lesson right now, but we need to consider the backlash too. That's what I mean."
Ryu Jaehee's sharp words made Seo Yehyeon click his tongue, glancing back and forth between Ryu Jaehee and me.
"Who's the older brother here?"
"Of course I'm the hyung. Stop talking like you're getting old and hurry up and find the cake box, hyung."
I searched for the cake box to check for a store logo, but it had already been cleared away, vanished without a trace.
"Wow, they even cleaned up the cake box already? Were they always this meticulous?"
"Why else would they bring it out just four minutes before the live broadcast? They knew if they brought it earlier, it would definitely get swapped out. I even predicted they'd get rid of the cake box."
I let out a frustrated chuckle, and Ryu Jaehee patted my back lightly.
"That's why I told you to leave it alone, hyung. If they'd cleaned it up, it would have become something only we knew, which would have been a real headache. But now that it's an issue, they can't hide it even if they try."
Ryu Jaehee had planned this all along. If it were just a matter between us, we'd be the only ones pissed off, complaining to the agency until it fizzled out. But once the fans found out, the scale of the protest would be entirely different.
I just felt bad that the fans had to stress and worry over such a ridiculous matter.
"They can't just brush this off with a simple apology letter, not after this."
Now that the issue had blown up, the agency couldn't simply bury it and move on.
"Still, if we let this slide, we'll just look like pushovers. Let's go trash the CEO's office, Kid."
I draped my arm casually over Ryu Jaehee's shoulder.
The very next day, Jaehee and I stormed into the CEO's office unannounced. This was only possible because we'd been with the agency since its Dirt-Poor Agency days, when the staff size was barely larger than the number of members.
Gyeon Hajun had a personal schedule, and bringing Seo Yehyeon and Kim Dobin along wouldn't be particularly helpful, so he didn't take them.
"CEO, because of the Planning Director's nephew, our youngest member nearly had to be rushed to the hospital during a live broadcast!"
"That's right! He brought a cherry cake, and the whole thing was broadcast live. If we don't handle this properly, LnL could be branded as incapable of even supporting its artists properly!"
"How can our company ever grow if we don't eradicate this pervasive culture of nepotism and parachute hires? LnL has become a major player now—we need to shed this small-time mentality! How can it be acceptable that a parachute hire nearly killed one of our artists?!"
I slammed my fist on the desk, raising my voice in protest. The CEO, looking as if his soul had been sucked out, nodded weakly and murmured, "Alright, Eden... you'll break the desk... Yes! Even if he's Director Kim's nephew, we can't overlook this mistake."
Realizing the gravity of the situation, the CEO readily sided with us over the Planning Director.
While I was pouring out my frustrations with fiery passion, Ryu Jaehee, who had been calmly adding only a few words here and there, subtly raised his hand.
"Just a moment, CEO."
Though I felt a vague unease listening to Jaehee's words, I didn't stop him, figuring there was no harm in letting him speak.
After our CEO meeting-turned-meltdown concluded, we left the CEO's Office and walked down the hallway. I asked, "But are you sure about that?"
Ryu Jaehee shrugged.
"Hyung, people don't just have one side. I mean, I'm the one who shoved a cherry cake in front of someone with a cherry allergy. As the victim, I think I'm justified in being suspicious, right? Besides, as long as they don't fall for the trap, they won't lose anything, so there's no real problem."
"I really hope they take the bait. Judging by how our CEO operates, it'll probably take him about ten years to find the leaker."
"The leaker will probably retire first."
Ryu Jaehee chuckled. As he left the agency building, he glanced up at the sky.
Perfect weather to get rid of someone.
GreatDetectiveBaekmong @adjflk55
Cherry Cake is the quintessential seasonal cake, lol.
And they're not even a specialty lettering cake shop, ᄒ.
(Cafe Rogiel Instagram screenshot)
5163 shares 2843 retweets 7813 likes
Dream♥Daydream @revedream
Honestly, the quality at DoXido was excessive, but at least they wrote the lettering clearly enough to read.
And they didn't even send a Cherry Cake, OMG.
3415 shares 254 retweets 4003 likes
The internet's information-gathering power is truly remarkable. Less than a day after the live broadcast, they've already tracked down the cake shop.
It's been a while since a Search Quest felt this thrilling. The cake shop's official statement was posted within two days.
◎caferogiel
(Photo)
♡⌕⇗
Liked by puppymoon and several others.
Hello, this is Cafe Rogiel. As the misunderstanding has escalated to the point of disrupting our business, we are issuing this statement to clarify our position.
Cherry Cake is our signature seasonal cake. We prepared it for promotional purposes, and we swear there was absolutely no malicious intent behind it.
Contrary to the DMs and comments accusing me of being an anti-fan of a certain group, I am not a fan of that group and was therefore unaware that one of its members has a cherry allergy. Furthermore, we received only a request from the agency for a cake, with no mention whatsoever of any allergies. We want to make this perfectly clear.
I will be filing lawsuits without leniency against all malicious comments, malicious DMs, rumors about my career, and rumors about my private life.
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day_dream Isn't this LnL's fault for not providing allergy warnings?
ujiiii__ Please also explain the cake's quality. It looked nothing like the Instagram photos during the live stream ^^
kimyj97 The agency is the problem. Their fans should stop attacking innocent businesses and go after the agency first.
chux.x The cake got ruined halfway through the live stream, so it couldn't even be properly promoted. It's so unfair that you're getting all this hate because of Trash LnL's mistake...
It's obvious that after Yuje's LnL allergy flared up, he's only been receiving plain milk or cream cheese cakes without any fruit. I can't believe the agency didn't check this beforehand. If they had shared DMs or call recordings related to the cake order as evidence, it would have cleared things up.
HugeHamzziYuje @hugehamzziiUJ
Reve's anniversary cakes have always been from Do O City, right?
It's strange that they suddenly got a cake from some random place. If the store is truly innocent, they could just post screenshots of their chat logs with the agency staff regarding the cake order. The fact that they're refusing to do so is suspicious.
HugeHamzziYuje @hugehamzziiUJ
Judging by their follower count, it doesn't seem like a famous bakery. There's a 99.999999% chance the owner is a friend or acquaintance of one of the staff members.
goodreve
I don't care about anything else, let's just beat down LnL first.
Mass Faxing Campaign
02-xxxx-xxxx
#LnLTakeProperCareofYourArtists
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Public opinion was increasingly turning against the agency.
I even heard from Manager Hyung that the mass faxing and email campaigns had caused such chaos that it was disrupting the agency's operations.
"I heard from the Operations Team that it was the employee's girlfriend's shop," Kim Dobin said, bringing us the latest news. "They overheard him arguing on the phone, asking why he had to write a statement that put him in such a difficult position."
"Wow, so he risked our youngest member's life and used us to promote his girlfriend's shop? That's impressive," I said sarcastically.
"But here's the scarier part: he still hasn't been fired."
Kim Dobin's added remark made Gyeon Hajun and Seo Yehyeon's expressions twist in anger.
"Isn't this crossing the line?"
"I asked them to hold off on the termination," Ryu Jaehee said, stopping the two from getting up. "Let me explain."
The Cherry Cake incident alone wasn't enough to fire the Planning Director. Though they'd faced backlash from fans, it hadn't escalated to a full-blown boycott, so the company hadn't suffered significant financial losses.
To hold the Planning Director accountable, they needed proof that the "parachute hire" he'd pushed through had caused substantial harm to the company. And we suspected that this "parachute hire" was the leaker.
The Planning and Operations Team was the first team in the A&R Department to receive the music files.
"We have strong suspicions but no hard evidence. Let's leave him alone for now and trigger the trap first. That should confirm things."
Ryu Jaehee was right—people rarely do just one thing.
If he was wrong, too bad. Who told him to get Cherry Cake sponsored from his girlfriend's shop and piss everyone off?
I tossed the USB, which would serve as the trap, lightly into the air and caught it before standing up.
"Alright, let's go see if our suspicions are correct."
📝 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