Chapter 532
Chapter 532
TeSTAR’s dorm, after they finished watching the episode of Please Have Just One Drink featuring the ‘Same-age Group.’
“Drinking like an elephant…”
“…….”
“…….”
Bae Se-jin, who had never even seen the program before, seemed momentarily speechless at the revealed reality(?), but soon muttered as if trying to stay calm and composed.
“Right, it was for the shoot…”
But it looked like he was about to blow a fuse again.
“But still, why were you asking for another drink there?!”
Ah. Like that.
I responded calmly, without a change in expression.
“It’s a broadcast. I only said it because I thought they wouldn’t actually give me one.”
“…You were in a state to think that at the time?”
“Of course.”
“…A-hyun!”
“Ye-yes…!?”
“Is what he’s saying the truth?”
“That’s……”
Seon A-hyun was sweating profusely, torn between his conscience and friendship, while Cha Yu-jin was showing indirect confidence in his alcohol tolerance, saying he should have gone instead. The living room was a total mess.
Just then, Ryu Cheong-woo, who had been quietly checking his smartphone, spoke up.
“Guys. I just got a message from the company.”
“Huh?”
At the mention of ‘the company,’ everyone immediately shut up and turned their gaze toward Ryu Cheong-woo.
Since we had just entered a promotion period, handling any issues quickly was a matter of life and death.
“Is it urgent?”
“Hmm… I’m not sure.”
Ryu Cheong-woo had an ambiguous expression.
“It’s hard to judge. Do you want to see for yourselves?”
Since he was showing it so readily, it probably wasn’t a case of us getting criticized.
After lowering my internal alarm level, I focused on the smartphone screen he turned toward us.
On the screen was an article from an internet news outlet notorious for reporting entertainment rumors without hesitation.
At first, I thought it was a rumor about us, but…
[Wonder Hall’s Monster Rookie Iter, Staff Recording Leaked… “Overthrow TeSTAR”]
“…??”
The name written there was Iter.
‘What?’
Is this a win for us?
But… an ‘Overthrow TeSTAR recording’?
“What is ‘Overthrow’? Burn?”
“It means to make them fail and disappear.”
“Oh~”
Summarizing the article while listening to Bae Se-jin’s voice providing a rather aggressive interpretation in the background…
The mentions were so blatant that there was no room for excuses. They’d have to bow their heads in apology.
‘Oh boy.’
It seemed like something said by three or four people from Iter’s planning or management team in a private setting had been leaked.
Well, isn’t it obvious? A rival group from another company that you’re wary of and hate to see is great fodder for conversation over drinks.
=======================
…In response, netizens commented, “It seems like rookies who are just debuting would be easily influenced,” “I heard Wonder Hall was conscious of TeSTAR, and it turns out it was true,” etc….
=======================
And the netizen reaction was practically a sentence to hellfire.
I quickly started checking the current public opinion on my own smartphone.
In the meantime, Seon A-hyun cautiously offered a gentle hypothesis.
“U-um, but… is there no proof that those recordings are actually them…?”
“Hmm~ that’s true, but.”
The sentence that would have followed Keun Se-jin’s words was likely, ‘Honestly, it wouldn’t be surprising even if it were true.’
Just looking at what Wonder Hall had done regarding TeSTAR so far, I could vividly imagine the atmosphere inside their company.
‘Found it.’
And I finally discovered the source of this incident.
It was this.
“It’s not a recording.”
“Huh??”
“It’s a conversation between staff members that was in Iter’s own self-produced content.”
Kim Rae-bin was also appalled.
“You mean they publicly posted such malicious remarks on WeTube?”
“No. It looks like they tried to remove it…”
“Looks like?”
“They just did a poor job of it.”
It was the risk of cheap outsourcing.
Suppose there’s a fun piece of footage that’s too good not to use.
But what if, by chance, sounds that shouldn’t be made public were accidentally caught in the background?
‘You just try to edit those sounds out.’
Usually, removing the sound through a program and layering BGM over it worked well enough.
This time, a ‘mistake during the process’ and ‘persistent digging’ by fans happened to align perfectly, causing the explosion. From Wonder Hall’s perspective, it was like being struck by a bolt of lightning from a clear sky.
“Ah…”
As the guys guessed the situation, expressions that were hard to describe crossed their faces.
A description like ‘So that can actually happen’ would be fitting.
“But why did the rumor spread that it was a recording? The source is completely different.”
It was a valid question.
This was content that Wonder Hall had released themselves.
In a sense, it was more credible than a secret recording, so why label it a recording…?
“The person who posted it did that on purpose.”
It meant the person who spread it intentionally chose a more provocative word and was eager to blow this controversy out of proportion.
Man… they’re really working hard.
‘It looks like someone started a reverse viral campaign against Iter.’
Is it the side competing with Iter for the Rookie of the Year award? I briefly theorized while scrolling through my smartphone screen.
“Moon-dae, what’s the atmosphere on the internet like right now?”
Well….
Yeah. It’s a total hellfire.
“It’s a major controversy.”
“I see….”
Ryu Cheong-woo couldn’t find words, and the others looked somewhat dazed.
It was their first time seeing such a rare situation where a shameless competitor tripped over their own feet, so they didn’t know how to react.
Keun Se-jin rubbed the back of his neck and summarized the situation in a bewildered tone.
“For now… we do have to meet the Iter people, right? There’s one episode of True Competition left.”
“That’s right.”
True Competition. A public broadcast singer survival program that had finished its first half and now had the second half remaining.
Thanks to TeSTAR, the production team had managed to recruit participants and generate buzz, so they were extremely favorable toward us.
‘Though we gained a lot too by breaking into public broadcasting.’
For instance, we had comfortably appeared on several popular programs run by WeTube channels under the public broadcasting station.
However, since TeSTAR was busy with promotions now, we were planning to appear in only one episode of the second half and then gracefully withdraw…
“We’ll… meet Iter there.”
Exactly.
Iter was also appearing on that show.
A meeting between the party involved in the controversy and the victim.
No matter how favorable they were to TeSTAR, there was no way a variety show would pass up this editing bait.
“…….”
“…….”
“…Um, let’s all be careful during the interviews!”
“Yeah…!”
Let’s avoid getting entangled as much as possible.
Ryu Cheong-woo checked with us just in case.
“Is there any chance Iter might not show up and drop out?”
“Absolutely not.”
If they dropped out for no reason, it would only spark more controversy, with people saying it’s because they have a guilty conscience. Besides, with TeSTAR already leaving, I doubt the PD would let another team drop out.
Ah, are you wondering if TeSTAR has any intention of adding fuel to the fire and finishing them off?
Aren’t we going to serve justice?
‘Nope. Not doing it.’
You’re a fool if you do something like that openly.
As a rule, a powerful person who makes a fuss about being a victim tends to invite resentment. When you’re winning, hold your tongue.
In times like this, the right answer is to keep your mouth shut and only feel refreshed on the inside that these bastards finally got what was coming to them.
“Good. Then let’s be careful and finish it well until the end.”
“Yes!”
That settled it.
“Alright~ then shall we head in for the day?”
“Sure….”
Recalling the schedule that would start at dawn tomorrow, we moved in perfect order to our respective rooms.
‘Oh.’
Thanks to this, the fact that I drank about a liter of Andong Soju on the broadcast was just glossed over. It was an unexpected help.
‘Thanks.’
Self-destruction. If only everyone here were the type to blow themselves up like this, my job would be ten times easier.
Of course, the people at Wonder Hall aren’t that stupid, so they won’t just stay in this self-destructed state. They’ll try to fix it.
As I lay in bed, I conducted monitoring once more and made a light prediction.
‘In a few days, when things calm down a bit, they’ll try to quietly clean it up.’
It was an expectation based on the strengths of the Wonder Hall people, who were damn good at media play.
And a while later.
As expected, things proceeded accordingly.
Wonder Hall released a statement saying that all the staff members involved in the controversy had been removed from Iter’s dedicated team.
Of course, they vaguely brushed off why those staff members did what they did as a personal issue, but isn’t that the industry standard?
However, seeing reactions like ‘They seem to have a guilty conscience’ and ‘Yeah, I don’t believe it’ running rampant, it was clear that the elite rookie image Wonder Hall wanted to push had been shattered.
The agency had lost its credibility.
‘Is this a double hit?’
Since I had already shaken their image once before by linking Spacer with Iter, this seemed to be the finishing blow.
Iter probably won’t make a comeback for a while after the second half of True Competition and will keep a low profile.
‘Then next year might be quite comfortable.’
From now on, wouldn’t they be the ones more anxious to avoid getting entangled with us?
However, the topic of True Competition, which we had already considered, had naturally come up among netizens.
They seemed ready to count down the days.
‘They’re really finding this interesting.’
Well, it’s not like it’s the first or second time they’ve changed their stance to bash TeSTAR, so I shouldn’t get ahead of myself thinking ‘The public is on our side!’
‘Let’s just do our job well.’
In the idol world where machinations are rampant, clumsy tricks don’t survive. If you just engrave that into your head, you’re halfway there.
I had already decided from the start to just enjoy this massive gain.
“Moon-dae, your outfit!”
“Yes.”
I continued my schedule with the company staff. For some reason, they seemed energetic.
‘Come to think of it, as much as we think this is a huge win, the atmosphere over there must be pretty bad.’
And this guess was, of course, correct.
“Whew….”
Inside the waiting room of True Competition, which was filled with tension and gloom.
The leader of Iter clenched and unclenched his hands, trying hard not to be conscious of his surroundings.
His hands were cold.
‘I’m so nervous…….’
It could be seen as natural since they were about to meet a huge senior, but the situation was a bit different now.
It was because they were meeting that huge senior, the artist who won the Grand Prize last year, in an awkward situation after being hammered by public opinion for supposedly badmouthing them.
‘How did it come to this?’
TeSTAR.
Exchanging signed CDs with those great seniors felt like a very long time ago.
The leader of Iter stood up with a forced smile to avoid looking as nervous as possible.
The manager immediately comforted them with a voice full of worry.
“Don’t worry about anything. Just greet them, and the Chief will take care of everything, so just do as planned.”
“Yes. Understood!”
Even as he answered vigorously, he felt a lump in his throat for some reason.
It was because he could feel that they were being cared for, and at the same time, he felt the absence of several people who used to back up those words.
They were the people who could no longer be seen because of this ‘Overthrow TeSTAR controversy.’
Most of them had been fired. It was something that happened in just a few days, like a lie.
The leader of Iter bit his lip and thought.
‘Did those hyungs and nuna really do something that wrong…?’
The employees seemed to have been struggling with the group’s direction lately.
So it seemed like they had made those remarks in the heat of the moment, but usually, they only told them to aim for TeSTAR.
He also remembered how, even after those controversial words, they had asked if the members had heard and told them not to worry, saying, ‘I said that because I’ve been deeply troubled lately.’
When that conversation was first revealed to the public, he was just scared, but listening to the content slowly again now, it wasn’t even profanity.
‘It wasn’t like it was a personal attack.’
Honestly, couldn’t staff members mention competitors in a private setting? It’s not like they circulated a public document.
The side that somehow restored a conversation that had been completely deleted for a program just to tear them down was the abnormal one.
Besides, didn’t the public usually say even more blatant things to celebrities?
‘But to have everyone fired like this…….’
Seeing the employees who had done their best to take care of them leave their jobs in tears was a huge shock to the Iter members.
At that time, he thought once again that the public was scary.
And now….
“…….”
The Iter leader thought of their wiki’s ‘Incidents and Controversies’ tab, which he had secretly looked up on his laptop.
More than half were issues involving TeSTAR.
And even this conversation he heard after the incident broke out.
The employees used to whisper to each other as if venting, saying that TeSTAR’s company must have moved based on the circumstances.
It was ‘suppressing rookies.’
They seemed to restrain themselves when the Iter members were around, but gaps were bound to appear when the people around them were being replaced.
That’s why the Iter leader came to think like this.
‘What did we do that was so wrong?’
The employees often said, ‘In this industry, there are no seniors or juniors when it comes to rising,’ but wasn’t this too harsh?
TeSTAR is such a successful idol in their prime, so why would they go this far against people who just debuted?
For some reason, the words the employees had urged them with right before their first meeting with TeSTAR came to mind.
The leader of Iter felt like he was finally starting to understand, bit by bit, why they had said such things.
So a while later, the moment he went to TeSTAR’s waiting room to greet them. Seeing their relaxed appearance, this thought occurred to him.
“Hello, seniors!”
—I just wish they would disappear.
If only that group didn’t exist, all the problems and suffocating controversies that had occurred since their debut would not have existed.
No, it felt like all this pressure would vanish even now.
The Iter leader thought that for a moment as he looked at TeSTAR. However, he gritted his teeth and tried to keep his expression as polite as ever.
To never give them an opening to find fault with.
And Park Moon-dae thought:
‘Look at this punk’s eyes.’
To repeat, in the idol world where machinations are rampant, the clumsy do not survive. Because they’ve already been caught.