The Conditions for Becoming a Gentle Idol Leader - Chapter 75
That damned bastard... was he planning to keep this up until I said something first?
“……”
Starting the conversation first wasn’t difficult. Go Young-in did have questions for Cheon Sa-yoon. He just didn’t want to ask what had happened.
He lightly bit the inside of his lower lip. He wasn’t curious, and even if he did find out, what had already happened was already done...
Clause 2 | A gentle idol leader talks to members often, even if only briefly.
At that, his mouth, which had stayed shut all this time, had no choice but to open.
“Sa-yoon.”
Only then did Cheon Sa-yoon answer the call with a smooth smile.
“You’re late.”
“I was nearby. I’d been called away.”
Well, that figures. He didn’t know what Sa-yoon had said to Jeong Hae, but given the bastard’s personality, there was no way it had been anything nice.
“You didn’t get scolded, did you?”
“Of course not. If anything, they said I’d had a hard time listening to all that weird nonsense, and they even gave me a few things to take with me.”
How exactly had he sweet-talked them into that reaction? Then again, Young-in had been keeping an eye on the members, and he’d only happened to catch Sa-yoon talking to Jeong Hae. Everyone else had been too busy running around to spare a glance at who was speaking to whom in some corner.
So that too had clearly gone smoothly because Cheon Sa-yoon had talked his way through it somehow.
“Oh, right.”
Then, as if it had just occurred to him, Cheon Sa-yoon suddenly asked an unrelated question.
“Do you want me to apologize?”
“……”
“Usually, in situations like this, you’re supposed to apologize, right?”
Apologize for what? Young-in couldn’t see any reason why Sa-yoon should apologize to him.
He slowly shook his head.
He wasn’t angry at Cheon Sa-yoon, and he didn’t want someone else’s guilt dumped onto him either. Besides, Sa-yoon didn’t seem like the type to offer a sincere apology in the first place.
“I figured you’d say that, hyung,”
The one who had been smiling all this time changed expressions in a blink, letting his face go slack as if he were at a loss.
“Still, I should. Sorry.”
Judging by his face and tone, he almost seemed genuinely sorry. Young-in had been through this sort of fake, poisonous sweetness from Cheon Sa-yoon more than once, so it didn’t move him at all.
“I really mean it.”
“Yeah.”
Clause 28 | A gentle idol leader offers warm words and actions to members.
“It’s fine. If I believe you, you don’t have to say any more.”
“Okay.”
“Yeah, go rest. That must’ve come out of nowhere today.”
Keeping the conversation going with Jeong Hae was becoming a chore. He had nothing else to say, and the silence itself was starting to feel oppressive.
After awkwardly wrapping up his conversation with Cheon Sa-yoon, he resumed what he’d been doing. Right—he’d been trying to look at his memo.
Settling back into his seat, Go Young-in fidgeted with his phone, which had only just come back to life after being plugged into the charger.
Sure enough, there were piles of missed calls. He was in the middle of checking and replying to the agency’s messages one by one when—
“Hyung.”
Before he could even notice the presence drawing closer, a hand intruded and gently covered the phone screen.
He stared blankly at the back of the hand blocking his display and the arm stretching out from it, then quickly came to his senses.
...When did he get this close?
Cheon Sa-yoon, who had somehow come right up to him, asked with total composure,
“I wanted to ask you something.”
It was a random question that didn’t fit the situation at all. Sa-yoon had been watching Go Young-in intently for some time now.
“What is it?”
Cheon Sa-yoon seemed to have been waiting for that, putting on a ridiculously shy look before showing an expression so pleasantly self-satisfied it was almost irritating.
“How do you feel?”
“...Huh? Right now?”
“Yes.”
If anyone else had asked, he would have simply said how he felt and left it at that. But because it was Cheon Sa-yoon asking, something about it felt unsettling.
“Why would you ask that?”
“I asked because I’m curious, obviously.”
“You’re really curious about that...?”
Sa-yoon had acted weird more than once, so there was no way Young-in could take him at face value.
Perhaps sensing his distrust, Cheon Sa-yoon gave him a benign smile and added,
“Young-in hyung.”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t lie.”
That, too, sounded utterly untrustworthy....
More than anything, he didn’t understand why he was even asking this.
“I really don’t.”
Resting his face on one hand, Cheon Sa-yoon let his brows droop and made a pitiful little sound, pretending to be hurt.
Right. As if I’ve ever understood Cheon Sa-yoon.
“My feelings... I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it.”
Maybe it wasn’t the answer he wanted, because Cheon Sa-yoon, who had stayed silent without even blinking, finally spoke again.
“Really? Hmm. Okay.”
By then, the smile had vanished from Cheon Sa-yoon’s face.
It was as bland a reply as the question had been.
The next day, the reaction was even noisier.
From the moment morning came, not only related articles but all kinds of edited clips and screenshots began to spread.
It was more than just a matter of fans gossiping among themselves. The fact that it was a live broadcast, the serious social issue of school violence, and the unusual circumstance of the perpetrator and victim meeting at the same filming site as celebrities, with the perpetrator even admitting fault directly during a broadcast mishap—each of those factors made the story impossible to ignore.
The public wanted a response, and they wanted the truth, fast.
Even if you only went into the video-sharing platform NewTube, related clips were boldly sitting in the upper ranks of the real-time trending videos.
They were the kind of videos cyber vultures uploaded just to milk views for money.
No replay had been uploaded yet, and no proper statement had come from either the broadcaster or the agency, but the matter was already swelling far beyond control.
After finishing practice early that morning, Go Young-in was called into a conference room.
In the middle of a meeting about how to handle the issue, Deluxe Music—the company representing Jeong Hae—was the first to release an official statement in the news.
“Boss, Deluxe Music just contacted us. They’re saying they want to settle it through discussion. They say they want to apologize to Young-in...”
Unfortunately, with no clear evidence, what they were really saying was that they wanted to settle things as best they could and apologize only for the verbal slip-up.
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
Kwon Dae-do, the head of Double D Entertainment, let out a derisive snort, as if it were the least funny thing he’d ever heard.
That said, it wasn’t as though this side had indisputable evidence either. That was the problem. Since Go Young-in could barely remember anything, he couldn’t give his CEO a proper answer when asked.
Fortunately, Kyeon In-woo, who had followed along on the grounds that they were classmates, had come into the conference room too, so the conversation was able to move forward somehow.
“At least we need to know the basic facts if we’re going to find a compromise...”
“No, I’m saying don’t compromise or anything—just leave him alone!”
“That’s one way to put it, but he didn’t exactly do anything directly, and there’s no solid proof, so it’s tricky.”
In truth, unless there was an actual eyewitness, Jeong Hae was the only one who really knew the full extent of what had happened.
Kyeon In-woo only knew that there had been school violence; he didn’t know the details of what had happened between Jeong Hae and Go Young-in, so there was nothing to be done.
In the end, Young-in’s own testimony mattered most, and for some reason, In-woo was more defensive about that than Young-in himself.
“He already admitted it with his own mouth, so why are you trying to drag out testimony from a guy who doesn’t even remember?!”
“Hey, hey. It’s not dragging him out, all right? You think we’re comfortable with this? We still need to know the basics—”
“Boss, come on! Young-in doesn’t say it, but he’s under a ton of psychological stress right now, okay? Just look at how dead his face is. The guy already barely sleeps, and now he’s gone days without eating properly too.”
Kyeon In-woo was working himself into a fury, making up his own psychological state for him as he went. And his face had always looked like this.
“I understand where In-woo is coming from, too.”
The one who had been listening quietly, Team Leader Kang Ba-da, finally cut in.
“If we need additional testimony, we can look for his schoolmates. The perpetrator has already confessed directly, so do we really need to make Young-in dig up painful memories?”
Kang Ba-da looked at Go Young-in with concern before speaking again.
“Young-in, what do you want to do?”
“Ah, right. The opinion of the person involved matters most. I’ll do whatever Young-in says.”
At Kang Ba-da’s words, Kwon Dae-do agreed and asked for his opinion.
Go Young-in slowly closed his eyes and opened them again.
It was a difficult issue. If you left out the details, it was just another audio accident, and in the normal course of things it should have remained unrelated to them.
Was it right to drag this back into the light? Regardless of whether he was the victim or the perpetrator, if the first thing people thought of when they saw the words school violence was his name, that wouldn’t be good for the group’s image either.
Once you got saddled with a pitiful image, there was no recovering from it, so it would be dangerous to get carried away by public sympathy.
Idol work was all about image warfare.
Clause 32 | A perfect idol must be skilled at managing their expressions.
Yes. It seemed best to let this pass as quietly as possible.
“Then let’s just settle—”
Mid-sentence, a sharp pain shot through his right forearm. Glancing sideways, he saw Kyeon In-woo, seated beside him, clamping down hard on his upper arm with clenched teeth.
“Mmph...”
“In-woo. That hurts.”
“……”
Apparently dissatisfied with something again, In-woo yanked his hand away at once and glared at the arm he’d been holding, his face twisted in a scowl. He was clearly holding back a string of curses. Judging by everyone else’s reactions, they all wore strange expressions too, like they’d just heard something they weren’t supposed to hear.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“No, not at all. Do whatever you want, Go Young-in.”
He said that, but his expression looked like the exact opposite.
When Young-in silently stared at him, Kwon Dae-do scratched the back of his head and spoke carefully.
“Uh, what was it. Really? You’re seriously just going to take an apology and call it done?”
“What?”
Clause 40 | A perfect idol must always be careful of careless answers.
He hadn’t explained himself clearly enough. That was a little unfair. He had definitely meant to say it, but Kyeon In-woo had cut him off halfway through. Go Young-in quickly shook his head. Staying quiet and accepting an apology weren’t the same thing. Besides, he was tired. It wasn’t a topic he wanted to keep dragging up.
“No. I don’t intend to take one.”
Only then did Kwon Dae-do’s face finally relax.
“Good! That’s settled, then. We’ll handle the rest ourselves, so you should get some rest in the meantime. And stay away from the practice room! If you keep this up, Young-in, you’re going to die young.”
“That’s right, Young-in. Take a good long break for a while. If anything, I’d like you to see a counselor, but... you still don’t want to, huh?”
Clause 32 | A perfect idol must be skilled at managing their expressions.
“……”
“I’m worried, that’s all. Like In-woo said, you look terrible, and last time you said you were fine and still didn’t go.”
Go Young-in rubbed one cheek lightly. His cheek felt raw on the inside for the first time in a while. The more they pressed him, the more burdened and nauseous he felt.
It was awkward to flat-out refuse when it was Kang Ba-da of all people recommending counseling—someone who had helped him so much from the moment he was cast right through to his debut.
Before Young-in could answer, Kyeon In-woo asked Kang Ba-da first,
“What is it, anyway? A hospital?”
“No. Not exactly. There’s a private counselor connected to the company.”
“Oh. Really? Then whatever.”
After a brief exchange with Kang Ba-da, Kyeon In-woo didn’t seem particularly inclined to stop it either. After hearing her explanation, he folded his arms and watched the situation without any intention of interfering.
Am I the weird one?
Apparently, the only person in that room who thought it was fine not to get counseling was him.
Still, since he knew there was no point in going, he just nodded twice and let it go.