The Lie Detector (2)
Ji-iiing!
The lie detector vibrated.
“Hey! I think this thing is really broken! The lie detector’s the liar!”
Woo Cheong snatched his hand away and ran off with a peal of laughter, joining the chaos. Then, putting on a pitiful expression, he asked, “PD-nim! Can’t I steal a bite from the hyungs?”
“No, you can’t.”
“Then what about grilling the hyungs for us?”
“That’s fine.”
Woo Cheong trudged over to Neoul with a mournful face. “The PD said it’s okay to roast the hyungs over a fire.”
“……?”
“But I’m good Cheong, so I’ll grill marshmallows instead of the hyungs.”
Woo Cheong toasted a marshmallow to a perfect golden brown and handed it to Neoul. He even snatched away the one Yeo Do-bin had been awkwardly trying to roast and, without burning it, cooked everything evenly until it was nicely browned. The other contestants swarmed over and lined up in a hurry.
By then, the lie detector’s turn had come around to Kim Ji-rok. PD Seok O-young asked the same first question as before.
“If I debut, I am confident I won’t cause any controversy during my contract period!”
“Of course. I’m perfectly confident. Don’t worry.”
Ji-iiing!
“Huh…?”
Up until now, the first question had come back as true every time for the other contestants, but only when it was Kim Ji-rok’s turn did the vibration blare out violently with the meaning lie.
PD Seok O-young drew the next question from the box and read it aloud.
“I think of fans as ATMs.”
“No! No, that’s not it! It isn’t! Really!”
What the hell! Why are my questions like this and nobody else’s?!
Kim Ji-rok, incredulous and rattled, waved his free hand wildly in protest.
Ji-iiing!
It was judged to be a lie.
“Huh?! Something’s wrong here. I really don’t think that way! No, seriously! Wow...! This thing really does seem broken.”
He hurriedly pulled his hand away and mashed at the buttons here and there.
“Hey, you can’t just press whatever you want!”
A staff member stopped him, tugged his hand back, and placed it properly on the lie detector. With one question left, the staff member pressed start again and stepped aside.
“It’s not broken. We checked it beforehand, too. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. It isn’t a hundred percent accurate anyway. It’s just for fun.”
PD Seok O-young spoke amiably, then stared straight at Kim Ji-rok and asked the third question.
“I have intentionally caused harm to another person.”
“……What?”
Kim Ji-rok’s brows pulled together slightly.
What was this? The second question had just been a random draw, but why did the last one come out like this too? Could Seok O-young PD have somehow caught on to what happened with Myeong I-dam?
No way. There was no evidence, nothing at all.
Kim Ji-rok put on a flustered face, as though it were an absurd question.
“No. Why would I do something like that?”
Ch-ch-ch-chk— A tense electronic hum rang out at regular intervals.
You piece of scrap metal. Answer properly. Hm?
Suppressing the anger that kept creeping up, Kim Ji-rok slapped his palm down hard on the lie detector.
Pajijijik—!
“Agh!”
A sharp electric shock tore through Kim Ji-rok’s hand.
He screamed, not at the vibration this time but at the shock itself, and toppled backward in a violent jolt. The cry was so loud that even the production crew and the other contestants turned to stare, startled.
Kim Ji-rok yanked his hand away as though he’d been thrown off the machine and clutched his palm, which felt numb all the way to the bone.
“Contestant Kim Ji-rok, are you all right?”
PD Seok O-young asked in alarm.
“You did it on purpose... You did it on purp—”
Snapping fully awake, Kim Ji-rok muttered and glared at the staff member who had been handling the machine. The staff member rushed over, picked up the lie detector, and checked it.
“Oh dear. It was on electric mode. It looks like it changed when the contestant pressed all the buttons just now. I should have checked again properly. I’m sorry.”
The staff member bowed and apologized. But buried in that apology was the implication that this wouldn’t have happened if Kim Ji-rok hadn’t gone pressing buttons at random in the first place.
Kim Ji-rok only grew angrier, but with the staff member apologizing and everyone watching, he couldn’t throw a fit. So he accepted the apology.
“It’s fine. I just got startled, that’s all...”
He got up, brushed the dirt off his clothes, and mumbled incoherently.
“But I do have hyperhidrosis. I heard lie detectors come up true more often if your hands are dry, and false more often if they’re sweaty. I’m really not lying. It probably came out wrong because my palms were sweating.”
Having made up his excuse, Kim Ji-rok returned to his seat.
The staff member switched the lie detector back to vibration mode and set it on the desk again.
PD Seok O-young narrowed his eyes and watched Kim Ji-rok. Back in his seat, Kim Ji-rok flexed and unflexed his fists, carefully hiding his disgust.
Last night, PD Seok O-young had received a call from Myeong I-dam’s side.
Kim Ji-rok had targeted Gal Neoul and poured an ethylene glycol solution into the water.
At the time they hadn’t known what had been mixed into the water, but they had witnessed Kim Ji-rok’s suspicious behavior and said that they had followed him later, too late to stop him.
They had planned to pretend to drink the water, spit it out, and act sick in order to force Kim Ji-rok out, but they had accidentally swallowed it.
We don’t want this to stop or delay the program. And we don’t want the attention that should have gone to the contestants to shift onto me, someone who has already left.
Myeong I-dam seemed worried that if the incident became a huge issue, it might harm the other contestants.
We’re going to reveal it after the final. My newly signed agency connected me with a lawyer and a journalist. I’ll make sure the program isn’t hurt, so please keep a close eye on Kim Ji-rok. Please make sure nothing like this happens again.
After that, a lock was put on the supply room door, so that no one except the production team and staff could enter.
The same went for every other space outside the supply room. Only the bathrooms were left open beyond the filming set. Food and water brought in from outside were also checked and managed thoroughly.
In addition, the contestants’ freedom was tightened further so they could only move between the practice rooms and the dorms at fixed times.
How can someone do something like that while wearing a human skin?
To be perfectly honest, PD Seok O-young did not think of himself as a clean man.
If it helped ratings, he would manipulate the edit without hesitation. He had also exaggerated a contestant’s mistake on purpose, or blown up a trivial dispute that could have been cut into a major conflict.
And yet even Seok O-young PD was getting sick of Kim Ji-rok’s malice.
He must have known someone could die from drinking antifreeze, so how... No, did he really intend to kill Gal Neoul?
As soon as he had heard Myeong I-dam’s account last night, Seok O-young had wanted to remove Kim Ji-rok from the show.
But if Kim Ji-rok were eliminated now, the contestants on his team would have to redistribute the parts left vacant by his departure and revise their blocking and choreography as well.
With the final stage so close, the burden would be immense and the damage severe.
Myeong I-dam did not want the other contestants to suffer because of this incident. Respecting that wish, PD Seok O-young decided to watch the situation for a little while.
Still, if even the slightest bad sign appeared, he was ready to act immediately.
I can’t forgive him for pulling something like this on my program.
How ridiculous must he have thought the PD and the production team were to pull off such a massive stunt? The more he thought about it, the hotter his anger burned.
His popularity has been going up lately, and his evaluations have improved a lot. I can’t let someone like that make the Top 7.
If the issue blew up after the final, it would be a hassle to remove Kim Ji-rok and fill his place with a new member.
Fine. Let’s see who’s more vicious.
A crooked smile tugged at the corner of PD Seok O-young’s mouth.
The other contestants’ truth game went smoothly. Baek Gi-yeom, Logan, and Daiki all won marshmallows.
The tenth-place contestant, Choi Liam, was the only one besides Kim Ji-rok whose first answer was judged false.
“Liam Choi! What kind of controversy are you trying to cause?”
Logan asked playfully around a marshmallow held in his mouth. Choi Liam only gave a small shrug.
Finally, it was Baek Yuri’s turn to place his hand on the toy-like machine.
Baek Yuri made it safely through the landmine of the first question. PD Seok O-young drew the last remaining slip of paper from the bottom of the box.
“I do have a nickname given to me by the passengers that I don’t like! Do I?”
“No. I like all of them. Even if you called me rabbit poop, I’d like it. I mean that.”
Baek Yuri spoke seriously and then waited for the result with a smile.
“Even so, rabbit poop is a bit...”
“Yuri-hyung, you’re okay with it, right?”
Baek Gi-yeom and Woo Cheong murmured to each other.
Ding-dong~
A clear chime rang out.
“Wow. He means it.”
“Seriously?”
“...I don’t think even fans would like rabbit poop, though.”
After Baek Gi-yeom and Woo Cheong, even Lee Gal-chae chimed in. No matter what the others muttered, Baek Yuri spoke his sincere feelings toward the camera.
“Um... I’m still not fully used to them, so they do feel a little awkward, but nicknames carry the affection of the people who made them and the people who call them, don’t they?”
When Baek Yuri had debuted several years ago as the youngest member of the group Clear, he only had one nickname: rabbit. But after appearing on Idol Travel, his recognition rose and his fans multiplied far beyond expectation, and now he had been given a great many nicknames.
PD Seok O-young checked the memo handed over by the writer and said, “Contestant Baek Yuri’s nicknames include ‘White Rabbit’ and ‘White Swan’... ‘Soft Tofu Baek-seonsaeng’ is what, exactly...? There’s also ‘Mashi-Rabbit,’ which combines marshmallow and rabbit, and ‘BaekTokkki,’ which combines viciousness and rabbit... There really are a lot.”
At the nickname Soft Tofu Baek-seonsaeng, Baek Yuri shot a glance at Neoul. Since Neoul had been calling him “Rabbit-seonsaeng” and “Baek Yuri-seonsaeng” so often, it seemed he had ended up with even a few nicknames that felt rather odd for an idol.
“Well, yes. The passengers have gone so far as to say, ‘The rabbit sings well,’ after seeing Contestant Baek Yuri, so he’s long been known on Idol Travel for having a rabbit-like appearance all his own. Here is the question.”
Since it was the final question of the final round, PD Seok O-young asked a teasing one.
“I’m actually not a person at all, but a rabbit disguised as one!”
“……What?”
“Contestant Baek Yuri. Please answer with ‘yes’ or ‘no’!”
The staff member pressed start.
The PD had tossed it out as a joke, but for Baek Yuri, who might conceivably be a reincarnated rabbit, it was a rather difficult question indeed.
Neoul, who had been eating a s’more made by sandwiching a grilled marshmallow between biscuits, suddenly turned his head and stared at Baek Yuri.
Feeling that gaze, Baek Yuri’s eyes darted back and forth.
“No.”
Ignoring the prickling stare he seemed to feel from somewhere, Baek Yuri stared straight at the camera and held firm. He didn’t look back, but he thought he knew where the gaze was coming from.
Ji-iiing!
The lie detector vibrated.
“It’s been judged false. Contestant Baek Yuri’s true identity was a rabbit!”
Baek Gi-yeom and the other contestants burst into laughter, but Baek Yuri couldn’t quite bring himself to join in. Still, so as not to break the mood, he made a token effort to laugh along.
“......”
So that’s how it is. Goodness. I was a rabbit.
Baek Yuri pulled his hand free from the obnoxious lie detector and muttered inwardly. The stare piercing his face only grew sharper.
“I should be a person, or human, or a human... that’s right...”
Probably...
Baek Yuri spoke with a wistful air and returned to his seat.
Neoul swallowed the s’more that had filled his mouth and thought, Rabbit-seonsaeng is a rabbit disguised as a person?
PD Seok O-young had said beforehand that the lie detector was not completely accurate and should only be enjoyed for fun.
But in Neoul’s eyes, given how the stinking Kim Ji-rok had been judged pure falsehood across the board, it seemed to boast a rather high degree of accuracy.
Could Baek Yuri-seonsaeng have been deceiving me all along?
Maybe his memories as a rabbit had already returned, and he had simply been acting as though they hadn’t. The promise that he would remove his liver once his memory returned might have been nothing more than a false pledge to smooth things over and throw Neoul’s judgment into disarray.
If Baek Yuri’s memories had come back and he had gone on pretending forever that they had not, insisting that he was not a rabbit, Neoul would have no way of knowing.
Neoul stared fixedly at the lie detector. What if he made it do this about ten more times and checked whether it gave the same answer? Wouldn’t the truth be confirmed by then?
But just as Neoul was about to rise from his seat, an assistant director hurriedly whisked the lie detector away.
The campfire concluded with a simple interview. There was only one question.
[Q. What kind of idol do you want to become if you debut?]
The interview was scheduled to be released after the final competition, just before the announcement of the final rankings.
* * *
Won Hasin was at the company, dealing with work. He had spoken with Myeong I-dam about the road ahead, and they had decided that debuting as part of a group would be better than going solo.
Won Hasin thought back to several of the self-composed songs Myeong I-dam had played for him.
His individuality is strong, which is good, and with just a little polishing they were more than good enough.
They were completely the opposite of Wild With’s composing style.
Myeong I-dam’s vocal style, as seen through the broadcast, and his self-composed songs seemed well suited to solo work. But once Won Hasin understood his true composing style, it seemed he would create even greater synergy as part of a group.
And I’ve already been planning to debut some trainees around next spring of the year after next...
The trainees were all still minors. Three were in the second year of high school, and one was in the first year. By the year after next, H.A.D’s youngest group, Luma, would be entering its fourth year, so the timing would be just right.
Those were the very trainees who had originally been planned as a four-member group, until they had tried to lure Gal Neoul in and debut him as a fifth member. But since Gal Neoul had no such intention...
Thinking it over, their visuals would also match Myeong I-dam much better and blend well with the existing trainees.
Unlike the trendier H.A.D trainees, Gal Neoul had an almost sculptural, textbook-handsome face.
He stands out too much on his own.
Myeong I-dam was currently twenty-one and would be twenty-three by the year after next.
That works. For a dependable eldest-brother position, Myeong I-dam is far better than Gal Neoul.
Gal Neoul didn’t seem like the type who would steadily guide his four baby-bird younger brothers. If anything, the younger members would probably need to keep a tight grip on him so he didn’t suddenly do something unpredictable.
In fact, from a distance, Gal Neoul was doing quite well in the survival show and advancing splendidly. Won Hasin thought he didn’t suit the role of leader, but if he were actually told to do it, he might perform admirably. And yet...
He still feels oddly unnerving. Like a child left by the water’s edge.
Gal Neoul’s strengths were his immediate drive to act without lingering hesitation and the momentum to search for the next thing to do.
But in situations that required caution, that could sometimes become a weakness.
Well, he’ll manage on his own.
Coming to land, deciding to search for the reincarnated rabbit, choosing to debut through a survival show. All of it had been Gal Neoul’s choice, and Gal Neoul’s burden to bear.
Then there came a knock on the office door. Won Hasin set aside the documents on Myeong I-dam and looked up.
“Oh. Come in.”
Secretary Song opened the door and came in with precise, straight-backed steps.
“Representative. It appears that Shaman Jo Geum-young has come to see you. Shall I bring her in?”
“What, who?!”
Won Hasin shot up from his chair and shouted.
Shaman-nim is here?
He had dropped her off at the Eulwangri house, only for her to vanish one day out of the blue, and he had been wondering where on earth an ailing body could possibly have gone. Was she feeling better now?
“Shaman Jo Geum-young has...”
“Bring her in! Bring her in now!”