Chapter 578
Chapter 578
The emotions people felt while watching a concert without me.
They came pouring in.
Anger, emptiness, regret.
The audience's disappointment over a member suddenly missing from a long-awaited concert was exactly as expected.
But one thing was different.
Me.
The sense of betrayal—the feeling that Park Moon-dae had deceptively ruined this important moment—was nowhere to be found.
And the reason for that was taken as a given in every post.
It was because TeSTAR’s Park Moon-dae hadn't lived his life that way.
Every time I scrolled down, all sorts of past instances were being shared and quoted at random.
Park Moon-dae, who cries the most at concerts; Park Moon-dae, who stubbornly finished his solo stage with a straight face even with injured ribs; Park Moon-dae, who does a celebratory live broadcast after every concert, excitedly chatting about how the setlist came together...
Everything they had experienced became evidence.
I thought my desertion would be contrasted with Park Moon-dae’s past actions and lead to more criticism, but it was the opposite.
My track record became my guarantee.
It made them naturally assume that it wasn't that I didn't do the concert, but that I couldn't.
Park Moon-dae was on their side.
“…….”
I read the posts filled with worry, confusion, anger, and anxiety in a trance.
Stories that naturally assumed, in their subconscious, that I must have had a life-altering reason for not showing up.
Whew.
A heat rose from beneath my breath, vibrating through my limbs.
Whether it was a thrill or goosebumps, I stared at them blankly.
But I soon snapped back to reality.
‘No.’
This public opinion only exists because they don't know the exact circumstances.
I don't know what Ryu Cheong-woo said, but if he said something vague like, ‘Moon-dae couldn't be here today due to an urgent personal matter’...
‘...They don't know why I really left.’
Then the moment they find out the truth, the sense of betrayal will be even greater.
Much greater.
“…….”
I gripped my smartphone so hard it felt like it might break.
My mind raced.
An excuse. An excuse.
‘Is saying I’m sick the best way?’
Saying I collapsed would be the smoothest path with the fewest side effects. Because then, I simply couldn't have gone up. If it were that... they might continue to understand me as they do now.
But I soon realized that was realistically impossible.
‘Eyewitness accounts will definitely surface.’
The moment I boarded the rescue vehicle in my stage outfit without even wearing a mask, it was over.
They will come out, without a doubt.
It was something I already knew.
Furthermore, if I wanted to use the "I'm sick" excuse, I would have to skip today’s concert as well or at least pretend to be ill.
That would be true deception.
“…….”
The heat that had been surging up cooled down chillingly.
I closed my eyes as I looked at those incredibly supportive posts.
It felt like a waste.
‘You shameless bastard.’
It was ridiculous that I was sitting here worrying about getting cursed at when I should be racking my brain over how to compensate them for the ticket prices and wasted time.
‘Get it together.’
I opened my eyes again and searched.
First, I had to check what official reason was given for my desertion of the concert.
Looking at the posts uploaded around the start of the concert, it was laid bare.
In the video, Ryu Cheong-woo explained the situation with a gentle expression and a calm tone.
As I predicted, instead of lying, he wrapped up the explanation by saying something like, “Moon-dae is currently in a situation where he cannot take the stage. We are sorry.”
It was as if he didn't want to dwell too deeply on bad news in the middle of a concert that should be enjoyable.
It was a wise decision.
I also confirmed that, as expected, he hadn't given specific details about my situation.
“…….”
I stared blankly at the concert footage without me, then soon snapped out of it and moved the screen again.
‘Let’s check the refund policy too.’
I was just about to move to the company’s official social media account.
A new related post popped up on the page I reflexively refreshed.
‘Hm?’
It was a popular post I hadn't seen earlier because it hadn't been caught by the "concert" keyword.
The timing was around when I fell asleep.
The content, which had been posted around midnight yesterday and had an enormous number of shares, was...
“……!”
Clatter.
The cot made a loud noise at my sudden movement.
And it seemed the owner of this hospital room heard it too.
Keun-dal tossed and turned.
“Hyung... are you awa...?”
He poked his head out, seemingly woken by the sound of me sitting up, then shut his mouth as soon as he saw the smartphone screen in my hand.
“…….”
Of course, under my gaze, he couldn't hold out for long before a confession spilled out.
“I didn't post that!”
Then who?
“But... I did agree to the post your company was putting up.”
“…!”
“I got a phone call.”
“From whom?”
A bright answer came back.
“Lee Se-jin-nim!”
“Yes, yes, thank you so much. Then we’ll proceed as discussed. ...Oh, not at all. Please take care of yourself~”
Lee Se-jin carefully finished the call with Keun-dal and hung up.
‘He’s not slow on the uptake.’
It was a relief that he was so cooperative despite likely being in a state of shock so soon after being rescued.
He stretched and mentally rehearsed his final task before going to sleep one more time.
Now then...
“Hyung, everything’s settled, right?”
“Yeah.”
Ryu Cheong-woo, who was still on the phone with the company, nodded slightly.
Park Moon-dae’s worries were only half right.
Immediately after the concert, it was true that Ryu Cheong-woo had explained the situation to the horrified company and mediated the conflict.
However, the situation changed after Lee Se-jin received a reply from Park Moon-dae, who had rescued Keun-dal.
Ryu Cheong-woo had been holding the company back from releasing an official statement to handle the situation until now.
Because...
“Then I’ll send the email as is.”
It was because Lee Se-jin had prepared something else.
The days before his debut, when he wasn't so familiar with the nature of the internet, were already a distant memory.
As long as he continued to monitor feedback after debuting, it was a field he couldn't help but become intimately familiar with.
He now understood that ecosystem well enough to grasp specifically how skillfully Park Moon-dae had handled his own school violence controversy back during Idol Inc.
Furthermore, he was an even faster learner in fields where he had innate talent.
Public opinion wars.
‘The atmosphere and the justification are just as important here.’
Even as the stage changed from a classroom to a practice room, and from a practice room to a filming set, Lee Se-jin’s specialty had never lost its luster.
He had been racking his brain from the moment he received the long text from Park Moon-dae about the situation.
Stopping the company from trying to silence the eyewitness accounts from the rescuers and claiming Park Moon-dae had collapsed and gone to the hospital was part of that.
Of course, Lee Se-jin understood why that suggestion had come up.
‘They think the audience needs to feel sympathy and empathy for the reason Moon-dae couldn't make it to the concert...’
But empathy is such an ambiguous emotion, isn't it?
Even in a space where only a few dozen teenagers stay together, opinions on whether to empathize or not can easily diverge.
And yet, they were trying to explain it so that countless people would all willingly support him emotionally? In Lee Se-jin’s opinion, that was a reckless attempt.
‘It can’t be maintained in the long run.’
That was why Lee Se-jin didn't agree with the company.
There was no need for that when there was a foolproof method.
What was needed wasn't empathy, but...
‘Hierarchy.’
Up and down.
He had to make it so that people couldn't bring themselves to complain after hearing the reason for Park Moon-dae’s absence.
My inconvenience is nothing, Park Moon-dae’s absence was truly necessary. He had to make them evaluate the situation so they would willingly acknowledge that.
And he already knew the one justification that trumped everything else.
‘A human life is paramount.’
Saving a person could win out in almost any value judgment.
And Park Moon-dae happened to be in exactly that situation.
He hadn't just run out because he was worried about a relative’s death.
‘Moon-dae was helpful.’
He had to emphasize that Moon-dae was actually necessary for saving that person’s life.
That was why Lee Se-jin had asked about the current situation over and over again as soon as he successfully connected with Park Moon-dae, grasping the clear picture.
Then, all that was left was to reconstruct the event around the facts he wanted to make known.
[TeSTAR’s Park Moon-dae misses concert to rescue missing person... “Faithfully cooperated as the last witness”]
If he added the details that reporters confirmed by calling the rescuers in question...
The choice Park Moon-dae was forced into becomes ‘Concert vs. Saving a Life.’
In this case, choosing the concert would instead make him a piece of trash who only cares about his own work, and Park Moon-dae becomes someone who made the obvious choice.
The atmosphere flows in a way that makes it extremely difficult to criticize Park Moon-dae.
‘Hmm~ nice.’
Lee Se-jin grinned.
Well, it was the simple truth anyway.
‘That person even said himself that he lived thanks to Park Moon-dae.’
Furthermore, releasing an official report with this layer of protection had the effect of drawing a line.
There was no need to appeal to emotion by announcing how close an acquaintance he was, or if they were sworn brothers.
Because this was a matter where one must help regardless, even if it were just a coworker. How close they were was beside the point.
The focus was placed on Park Moon-dae’s circumstances for missing the concert, and Ryu Gun-woo’s personal information slightly bypassed the center of attention.
‘Exactly~ Me too!’
And so, the situation was concluded.
Lee Se-jin smiled genially and was finally able to go to bed for tomorrow’s concert.
...With a strange, nostalgic feeling, as if he were repaying a very old favor.
“…….”
I pressed my brow.
Around 6:40 AM. Lee Se-jin, who called first, answered my question of “What on earth happened?” like that.
‘This slippery bastard.’
Just look at how he set the stage. It’s obvious to anyone that he did this after considering every little thing.
He must have racked his brain the moment the concert ended.
Thinking about that, it was... really something.
I closed my eyes as I looked at the articles that cleanly excluded everything I had been worried about.
He played it off a few more times. Then, as if noticing my voice had lightened, he asked back comfortably.
It felt like there was an unspoken ‘Without anything weighing on your mind’ attached to the end.
“…….”
I finished my recollection and picked up my smartphone again.
It’s not that there were no people cursing me despite the consideration the members had shown.
The fact that I missed the concert in real-time was an undeniable truth.
But these were just the kinds of opinions that would pop up regardless of what controversy broke out.
I suddenly realized.
‘Right.’
That’s how it was.
At some point, I had started looking too deep into the undercurrents, and before I knew it, I had begun to think that this was what people truly felt.
I had reflexively judged that if you stripped away politeness and morality, these were the emotions that remained.
But just because an expression is provocative and shocking doesn't mean it’s the truth.
I tapped the smartphone screen.
‘There are just... some bastards like this, I guess.’
Sometimes I might refer to them to set a stage, but it was ridiculous to actually be influenced by them.
Because this was just a trend, just a reaction.
‘It doesn't matter if I just know they exist.’
I abandoned that page without regret and returned to the social media I had been looking at.
New stories created by people with my photo as their profile picture came pouring in.
Predictions that seemed natural, devoid of anxiety.
“…….”
Do you know what?
I used to think that gaining years of experience was a burdensome thing.
It meant the things you could do decreased, and people could roughly predict the group’s range of action, so they weren't easily surprised.
It becomes increasingly difficult to receive fresh interest.
So I thought the disadvantages overwhelmingly outweighed the advantages...
But in fact, there was an irreplaceable advantage that I just hadn't felt.
‘Was it this?’
It was trust.
If you’ve been active and doing well until now, even that falls within people’s range of prediction. That expectation suppresses anxiety and supports belief.
‘Right.’
So... I’ll have to pay that back too.
I turned the page again.
What popped up this time was my Wiki.
On the profile, which was tagged with ‘Cannot be edited by users who have not been registered for more than 15 days,’ another page had stubbornly been attached.
But it was fine.
‘It can be attached.’
I’ve become the fourth member of this team to have that page separated and attached.
And just as those guys did every time, it was now time for me to make up for it.
So that the controversy would be pushed off the table.
“Keun-dal.”
“Yes?”
“About today’s concert. They’re streaming it too.”
“…….”
“If you have nothing to do in the hospital... watch it.”
“…! Yes!”
I stood up from my seat.
For today’s concert.