Finding the Evidence Tonight
"Trainee Ha Ye-chan?"
When they reached the floor where the staff were staying, an untimely sense of bustle hung in the air.
Writer Kim Sang-hee, who had been pacing the hallway with a dark expression, spotted Ye-chan and hurried over.
"Good heavens, why are you so pale? Are you all right?"
"Huff, huff. I'm fine. Is Hwi-gyum inside?"
At Ye-chan's question, Kim Sang-hee furrowed her brow as if the situation were awkward. After glancing around, she whispered quickly.
"Trainee Ha Ye-chan, I understand you want to look out for your teammate, but it would be better not to step in right now."
Ye-chan had thought the same thing.
In moments of important choice, when emotion and reason collided, Ye-chan usually sided with reason. Through the resets, he had tried different choices in the same situations and found that approach far more efficient and stable for reaching his goals. After he could no longer use resets, that tendency only grew stronger. With no way to rewind, he tried to think and act more carefully with every single moment.
But suddenly, another thought struck him.
Now he could never know what would have happened if he had chosen differently in the same situation. Whether it would have been better or worse—everything would remain only in the realm of imagination.
Was staying still really the best option?
Was there truly no way to prove Woo Hwi-gyum's innocence?
If he stayed still like this, could he be certain he would not regret it?
Ye-chan thought quickly and reached his answer. I'll choose the side I want to give my all to right now. If he could not know which would turn out better, then choosing the one that left him with less regret was the right call, was it not?
Instead of answering, Ye-chan simply grinned and stretched out his hand to grasp the doorknob.
"So this school violence committee notice is real, but the violence the tipster described never happened? Is that correct?"
"……Yes."
The main PD let out a deep sigh. He glanced at Woo Hwi-gyum's face and found the same unreadable blank expression even in a situation like this. His fans say they like that look… but honestly, he looks a bit scary, doesn't he? No matter how he looked at it, those eyes were not just cool—they were ice-cold.
The staff standing nearby had jumped up insisting it could not be true, but the moment the main PD had seen the exposé post, his first thought had been, He looks like the type who could do it.If a school violence committee actually convened, doesn't that mean something was wrong?
Sensing the main PD's lukewarm attitude, the writer standing behind him jabbed him repeatedly in the back. It was the writer who had been assigned to Woo Hwi-gyum's team for both the previous performance and this one. The main PD had no choice but to continue the questions.
"Then is there any way to prove what Trainee Woo Hwi-gyum is saying? Classmates from the same school, recordings, SNS screenshots, anything like that?"
"I dropped out, so I don't have any friends I keep in touch with. I don't use SNS either……."
He trailed off. The main PD pressed a hand to his forehead. Isn't just dropping him the answer here? Ha, but the problem is this kid's popular, so we can't just send him packing. Just when the program had finally caught an upward wave, something this messy had blown up.
Sensing that the main PD had lost his drive, the writer stepped in.
"Trainee Hwi-gyum, I'm not asking this because I don't trust you—it's purely for the absolute worst-case scenario. You weren't forced to transfer from your previous school, right?"
"No."
"Good. Then that's settled."
To the main PD, the young man still sounded spineless, and his brow furrowed, but the writer's eyes seemed to see something different. They were full of sympathy as she looked at Woo Hwi-gyum.
"Ha, so what do we do about this? The performance is the day after tomorrow……."
Sending him home carried considerable risk; keeping him carried just as much. The PD sighed and spoke.
"Trainee Woo Hwi-gyum, you're not thinking of dropping out, are you?"
"PD-nim!"
The writer shouted before Woo Hwi-gyum could even open his mouth.
"No, it's not that I want Trainee Woo Hwi-gyum to drop out either. But we still have to ask for his own opinion, don't we? What do you think?"
"I…… want to continue."
Oh, look at this kid? Unlike before, his expression was firm. It was the steadiest answer he had given so far.
"Then how about sitting out just this one performance?"
"PD-nim, seriously!"
"Writer Lee, quiet down for a second! If it's a false tip like Trainee Woo Hwi-gyum says, then with a little time it should die down. But the performance is happening before that."
Looking just as frustrated as everyone else, the PD continued.
"Viewers and reporters are going to tear into him out there. This isn't just for our show—it's for Trainee Woo Hwi-gyum too. And his teammates would take unnecessary damage, wouldn't they? So the idea is he sits this one out and rejoins afterward."
"But……."
"You know this too, Writer Lee. Once the public gets a good bite and starts ripping, even if it turns out later that it wasn't true, do they ever apologize? They're too embarrassed, so they just trash him even harder. Sure, not everyone is like that, but dealing with those kinds of people means the fans and Trainee Woo Hwi-gyum himself go through hell. Better to step out of the spotlight for a bit."
The writer could not argue and pressed her lips shut. Woo Hwi-gyum also seemed to be wrestling with the main PD's proposal, his brows knitting.
But someone answered before Woo Hwi-gyum could.
"I don't think that's the right call."
At the sudden voice cutting in, every gaze in the room snapped toward the door. There stood Ha Ye-chan, breathing hard, looking completely unapologetic.
"Wait, how did Trainee Ha Ye-chan even get in here……."
The words This crazy bastard again? were written all over the main PD's face. Ye-chan, rising to the audience's expectations, strode brazenly into the center of the room. The door that had been wide open was quietly closed by Writer Kim Sang-hee, who had been standing outside.
"If he sits out now, even if he explains everything later, people will keep saying he stepped away because something was actually wrong."
"Well, once something like this goes public, isn't that already set in stone?"
The exhausted main PD seemed to have decided not to make an issue of Ye-chan barging in. Ye-chan firmly shook his head.
"If we clear it up as fast and accurately as possible and stay right here with our heads held high, it'll die down better, won't it?"
"We'd love that too. But there's no evidence, is there?"
Since Ye-chan's appearance, the main PD had completely given up on hiding how thoroughly done he was; he waved a hand dismissively.
"We'll find the evidence."
Ye-chan pointed first at himself, then at Woo Hwi-gyum.
"Me and him."
Without waiting for a reply, Ye-chan checked the clock on the wall and continued.
"By the end of today."
The clock pointed to two in the morning. The main PD's mouth fell open as he quickly checked the time himself. Beside him, the writer blinked in panic and carefully asked,
"Um, Trainee Ye-chan. You do know the performance is tomorrow, right?"
"That's exactly why we have to settle it today."
"What I mean is, you know today is the last day you can practice, right?"
"Of course. But we've practiced plenty already, and this is more important right now."
"Ah, ah, but today is the last day……."
Trailing off awkwardly, the writer snuck a sidelong glance at Woo Hwi-gyum. Ye-chan decided to play the oblivious one.
"Ah, so if we leave Hwi-gyum out, today becomes the first and last day they can practice that version. Is that what you mean?"
"Aigoo……."
The writer groaned and pressed her forehead. The main PD, finally collecting himself, leaned forward.
"Do the other teammates feel the same way?"
"I didn't ask, so I don't know."
"Huh. Pretty bold, aren't you."
Muttering about how cheeky kids were these days, the main PD shrugged.
"We're heading out right now, so could you pass the word to the teammates for us? Tell them if they want to practice a version without Hwi-gyum and me, that's fine."
"Why you too……!"
Woo Hwi-gyum, who had not managed a single word since Ye-chan barged in, urgently grabbed Ye-chan's arm. Ye-chan turned to look at him.
"We've all practiced a lot together. We solve this, come back, and just perform the way we practiced."
Ye-chan's voice was firm.
"But if it goes wrong……."
"If we've already stirred things up this much," Ye-chan said, still held by the arm as he leisurely surveyed the room, "then we have to take that level of risk."
He met the main PD's eyes as if asking, Right?
The main PD lowered his head, then his shoulders began to shake. Is he pissed?
"Puhahaha!"
Ye-chan watched the main PD's expression for a moment. Before long, a hearty laugh filled the entire room. He laughed so hard he threw his head back, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.
"Wow, this kid is seriously something else. Are you filming a youth drama? Hahaha, but this is actually fun. All right, I'll talk to the teammates myself."
Wiping his tears, the main PD stood and clapped a hand on both Ye-chan's and Woo Hwi-gyum's shoulders.
"Truth is, I really like stuff like friendship and hard work—that's why I planned Choose My Prince. What? Both of you look like you don't believe me? Haha, anyway, good luck to both of you. Guhyeong! Give these two a ride!"
At the main PD's words, one of the staff grabbed a car key and came over. Ye-chan was not the type to refuse a free favor.
"Then we'll take you up on that."
As Ye-chan bowed his head, the main PD's booming laughter rang out again behind him.
"Uh, a bit late for introductions, but I'm FD Park Guhyeong."
"Ha Ye-chan. Looking forward to working with you today."
"Woo Hwi-gyum…… Thank you."
Only after they left the building and reached the parked car did the three of them properly introduce themselves. Park Guhyeong was a large man with an easygoing look, and he showed no particular irritation at having to drive at this ungodly hour.
"Shall we get in? There's a lot of stuff in the passenger seat, so both of you can sit in the back."
It was a staff transport car, packed with gear. Once the three of them had squeezed into the small compact, Ye-chan stated the destination.
"Woo Hwi-gyum, first let's go to the school you attended. Gwangju, right?"
"……Gyeonggi-do Gwangju?"
Park Guhyeong's hands, which had been working the navigation, paused. Meeting his eyes through the rearview mirror, Ye-chan gave a bitter smile.
"Gwangju Metropolitan City."
"Ah, I see. Please make sure your seatbelts are fastened……."
With faintly trembling hands, Park Guhyeong typed in the school name Woo Hwi-gyum gave him and started driving. Ye-chan turned toward Woo Hwi-gyum in the seat beside him.
"From now on we're going to search SNS for your old classmates. We know the school name. Do you remember any names? Homeroom teacher's name too."
After digging through his memory for a moment, Woo Hwi-gyum recalled several names, and Ye-chan typed them one by one into a notes app.
"I'll show you how to search, so watch what I do and then look yourself."
"Okay."
"If you find Ji Chan-su, call me."
While Woo Hwi-gyum, having learned the method from Ye-chan, fumbled through searching for his old classmates, Ye-chan logged into anonymous communities and checked the overall mood. Given the nature of the 'evidence,' the atmosphere of belief is pretty strong. Still, it hasn't heated up too badly yet.
With a grim expression, Ye-chan began scrolling. Focus on sites that are a bit past their prime or more minor…….
As he entered the listed names one after another into the search bar, Ye-chan's hands suddenly stopped. Bingo.
The vague answer was beginning to take shape.