The Conditions for Becoming a Gentle Idol Leader — Chapter 89

"Hello……."

At this hour, carrying all your things out with you… did she get forced out? They probably wouldn’t offer severance if they could avoid it. Or was this just a normal resignation?

"Well, I ended up leaving the company. I was in such a rush packing and saying good-bye that I barely had time to think."

Bae So-jin looked uncomfortable even being face-to-face with Go Young-in. Well, it wasn’t as though the two of them were close enough to have a friendly conversation in the first place.

"I hadn’t been told separately about it…… If I’d known, I would’ve gone to say good-bye too. Thank you for everything up to now."

He didn’t have much more to say. He’d planned to offer a polite farewell and send her off.

"Um, aren’t you going to ask me something besides that?"

If Bae So-jin hadn’t asked such a strange question. She wore a complicated expression, tangled with all sorts of meanings.

For a moment, awkward silence settled between them.

Setting aside his curiosity about what had happened, Go Young-in didn’t actually have anything he wanted to ask her. It wasn’t ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠exactly a conversation topic that interested him.

It seemed even she hadn’t planned to bring this up. Bae So-jin, chiding herself for being too loose-lipped, hesitated while watching Go Young-in’s reaction, then let the end of her sentence trail off.

"Or maybe……."

"Go ahead."

She let out a small sigh and asked,

"You already know, don’t you?"

Know what, exactly? Before Go Young-in could even sink into confusion, a thunderbolt exploded from Bae So-jin’s mouth.

"Whether that son of a bitch Cheon Sa-yoon told you or not."

…What the hell. Who did she just call a son of a bitch?

So Cheon Sa-yoon’s insane temperament had been exposed? His lips went dry in an instant.

No wonder they were always hanging around together.

That lunatic. So he should’ve kept it together when he was outside, huh? How had he found out?

He’d vaguely prepared himself for the possibility of not being able to hide it forever, but he hadn’t expected to get caught this soon.

And if it had been discovered by someone who wasn’t even part of the same company, then either Cheon Sa-yoon was close enough to let his real personality show… or they met often… or perhaps…….

He’d felt it even when that photo of him and Bae So-jin had surfaced: Cheon Sa-yoon sometimes acted like it wouldn’t matter even if everyone found out exactly what kind of things he was doing.

Though it was hard to be completely certain when he’d brought staff along. Still, he really was impossible to read.

As for the way she called him a son of a bitch, it didn’t look like Bae So-jin thought much of Cheon Sa-yoon at all.

"I’m not sure what you mean……."

Go Young-in denied it for now. On the surface, he should look like someone who’d just heard something totally out of the blue. Cheon Sa-yoon was the one deceiving people; he wasn’t the one deceiving them. And yet a pointless sense of guilt kept rising in him.

"You really don’t know? At least if you’re the group leader, shouldn’t you know what your members are running around doing? How can you not know anything?"

"Ah, I’m sorry."

The apology slipped out on instinct. He didn’t know the exact details, but it was obvious she was upset because of Cheon Sa-yoon.

After ranting and snapping at him for a long while, Bae So-jin finally wore herself out and fell silent.

Awkward silence returned. So, had she finished saying everything she wanted?

"I’m sorry……. I was taking out my frustration on you. There’s ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠no way that bastard would’ve told you."

What, what. What exactly hadn’t he told him?

Go Young-in stood straight-faced, trying to remain as calm as possible. Barely after one controversy had been put to bed, now this…….

Bae So-jin stared at him intently, then looked around.

After confirming no one was nearby, she set the luggage she’d been carrying on the floor and lowered her voice.

"That bastard definitely acts cute and kind in front of you, right?"

Damn it. How the hell was he supposed to cover for that? In what universe was he meant to defend someone like Cheon Sa-yoon?

"Sa-yoon is always… the obedient, well-behaved little brother."

He nearly bit his tongue off saying that one line. Without question, it was the most insincere bullshit he had ever spoken in his life.

Bae So-jin stared at him. Her look was plainly suspicious. Go Young-in, feeling like he’d stabbed himself in the foot for no reason, gave a faint smile and met her eyes.

She wasn’t even testing the waters. Bae So-jin really did know everything. She seemed to think he wouldn’t know, but he knew the facts far too well. Too well, to the point of exhaustion.

"Really……? Then you truly don’t know what happened between him and me?"

"We decided not to interfere in each other’s private lives."

He’d never had any such conversation with her, and he wasn’t curious either. Keep your face under control. Keep it under control.

Go Young-in wasn’t even sure what his expression looked like right now.

He tried to relax the muscles in his face as naturally as possible, worried he might be stiffening up, but it didn’t help. Damn it, if this were something he could control, he’d at least have considered learning how to act.

"That’s enough, then."

For some reason, Bae So-jin seemed relieved. If that was the case, wouldn’t it have been better not to ask in the first place? If he really had been ignorant, all it did was leave him feeling vaguely uneasy.

"Were you surprised? I just suddenly started swearing……."

"It’s all right."

Obviously it isn’t, he thought, burying the real answer deep inside.

"Honestly, I figured that even if I told the truth, it wouldn’t matter. The members trust each other so much that there was no way anyone would believe me. And they didn’t. But I thought you might listen, so before I knew it……."

Me?

Go Young-in couldn’t understand what she was basing that on. They weren’t even close enough for her to place that much trust in him.

"Me?"

"You helped me last time, Young-in."

"Ah, I did……."

When had he helped her? They hadn’t even spoken that much, so hadn’t she mixed him up with someone else?

Bae So-jin nodded hard and lowered her eyes.

"The last time, in front of that producer… you spoke up for me."

So she meant the time he’d said one thing when she’d been getting chewed out by the producer. It was surprising she remembered that at all. He’d only said something because watching everyone gang up on one person had made him uncomfortable.

Maybe even that had been an unconscious reaction.

"That’s why I thought I’d tell you, just in case. I don’t want you getting stabbed in the back like I did."

Bae So-jin’s expression wasn’t just one of simple resentment; she looked genuinely sickened. At the same time, she also seemed truly concerned for Go Young-in.

What the hell had Cheon Sa-yoon done to make her talk about being stabbed in the back?

"Judging from your reaction, it seems you don’t know who Cheon Sa-yoon really is, so be careful. You never know when he’ll stab you in the back."

Bae So-jin took a light breath, then began to lay out, one by one, the things she’d seen Cheon Sa-yoon do over the years.

"You know that Ju Dong-yun ended up with nothing because Cheon Sa-yoon drove a wedge between Department Director Nam Ki-hyuk and the head of the Global Marketing Division, right?"

Hm, he didn’t know that. So he’d gone that far just because he felt awful about it? Or maybe that was exactly what Cheon Sa-yoon would do.

Go Young-in hadn’t known the exact reason Ju Dong-yun had been demoted, but now he’d found out by accident.

Regardless of how Go Young-in reacted, Bae So-jin kept talking.

According to her, there had been a power struggle for years between the Global Marketing Division, where Ju Dong-yun worked, and Department Director Nam Ki-hyuk over the next-generation platform build-out based on the metaverse service that had become an idol entertainment hot topic, and the expansion of the so-called NFT business—cryptocurrency, more or less.

In other words, it had been a fight over who got the bigger piece of the pie, and Cheon Sa-yoon had apparently chosen a side and stirred the pot quite a bit.

The head of the Global Marketing Division had originally favored Ju Dong-yun because they were from the same hometown, but after ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠being pushed down by Nam Ki-hyuk thanks to Cheon Sa-yoon’s behind-the-scenes scheming, he’d apparently been so offended that he didn’t even give Ju Dong-yun ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an invitation to his younger daughter’s wedding from the department.

And Ju Dong-yun, in a fit of pique, had retaliated by seeing the invitation Bae So-jin received, showing up anyway, eating the buffet after tossing in a pathetic thousand won as a congratulatory gift, and then bolting.

Hearing it like this made the whole thing even more of a mess.

From that alone, it didn’t sound like Cheon Sa-yoon had done anything especially rotten as a person. Company politics existed everywhere, and as long as he hadn’t been exposed during the process, well…

Just as he was thinking that, Bae So-jin brought up a new topic. Since they’d gotten this far, she seemed determined to lay everything out.

"And the one who approached me first while I was stuck in the middle of all that and having a hard time was that bastard Cheon Sa-yoon."

…….

I feel like I just heard something I shouldn’t have.

"Funny, right?"

No. Far from funny, I feel like crying. This is insane.

"Everyone said I was crazy, that delusion is a disease, and that I was making things up. They told me to cut it out. To say something that made sense."

Bae So-jin, who’d been whispering in a low voice until then, grew more and more agitated as she spoke, until she could no longer hide it and her voice rose.

Go Young-in glanced around. Should they move somewhere else? Damn it, he hadn’t expected to hear a story this explosive.

Given the subject matter, he couldn’t help feeling conscious of their surroundings.

"So-jin, first calm down, and maybe we should move,"

"Do I look like I’m in any state to calm down right now?"

"……."

"He never once denied it when I treated him like a boyfriend, or even when I told him I loved him. He didn’t even refuse when I said we should meet up alone and go on a date! And now you’re telling me that was all in my head?"

Bae So-jin was a live grenade at this point. If those exact words went up on the internet, there’d be another scandal, wouldn’t there? A “controversy group” reputation from the previous round… not exactly, but still. At this rate, they were about to earn the same kind of nickname again.

"Young-in, do you think I imagined it too?"

Bae So-jin glared at him, eyes wide. Historically, there had never been anything good about adding your own opinion to someone’s gossip. Go Young-in remained silent.

"You wouldn’t know…… He must’ve been perfectly proper inside the group, right? I really thought he was the kindest, most considerate person there was…… Well, I guess most con artists look completely normal on the outside."

No, seriously? She sounded so certain that it made it feel as though the two of them had really been something special.

Cheon Sa-yoon, that damned bastard. He acted like he was always in control, so what the hell had he been doing out there?

"And do you know this……? Young-in, that thing with your past, Cheon Sa-yoon already knew about it from way back?"

Hm. It did seem that way. Several executives who’d been at the company for years had said that even if they didn’t know the full details, they knew about the school violence incident. So for Cheon Sa-yoon, who was close with staff members, it wouldn’t have been strange if he knew too.

"He knew everything and pretended not to know, using it to his advantage. He was just playing with people."

It would’ve been a relief if that was all he did. Bae So-jin sneered.

"That bastard would exploit you down to the bone even if you were family. He doesn’t have a shred of compassion."

As if getting the words out had only made her angrier, Bae So-jin began blurting out more than necessary.

"Aren’t you angry? You’ve been suffering over something that wasn’t even your fault, Young-in."

He didn’t know why she was suddenly like this. Angry? How could he be, really? Even if he had been wronged, he didn’t want to rip open something that had already gone quiet and start poking at it again.

For Go Young-in, the whole thing felt absurd simply because the conversation had veered in this direction all of a sudden.

More than the content of the conversation, he wanted to know why she was telling him all this in the first place, and how she’d found out the details between him and Son Jeong-hoon when Cheon Sa-yoon wasn’t even a fellow student from the same school.

Unfortunately, Bae So-jin didn’t seem to know the reason either.

"I just couldn’t understand it, so I asked him. Why he would go that far."

Huh, that part was a little interesting.

"That guy didn’t do it because he had some noble, righteous thought like wanting to help you! Cheon Sa-yoon just—"

"What are you talking about?"

Something cold touched the side of his neck all at once.

What. Rolling his eyes downward, he saw first a neatly trimmed thumbnail resting on a clearly jointed finger.

It was a hand holding a drink can.

Cheon Sa-yoon had appeared without a sound, both hands carrying familiar cans of drink, his eyes round with apparent innocence.

A heavy silence spread between the three of them.