The Idol Who Wants to Run Away from Her Uncle Fan's Obsession (1)
On Sunday they held a modest celebration party at the dormitory to mark their music-show appearance.
Calling it a party was generous. They simply ordered a few dishes they had been craving and talked while they ate.
Alcohol was forbidden—especially during the promotion period.
Harin seemed to have done a clean job of covering for the other members what had happened when she was left alone in the PD's office.
“Nothing really happened. Siljang was there the whole time. I just had to suck up a little.”
…That was the tone she struck.
From the position of someone who knew the truth, the words stung, yet Harin laid the iron plate down so naturally that the others bought it completely.
They had agreed to keep everything secret from the rest of the members: the pitch she had made to Park Dong-chul, the matter of sponsorship, and even the fact that the two of them were now dating.
There was nothing to gain by letting them know.
As for sponsorship… if a concrete proposal ever actually arrived, they would have to bring it up then.
For the time being, though, Harin and he had sealed their lips.
Since they had decided that, it would have been nice if she had not made it so obvious….
“Siljang. Try this.”
For some reason Harin stayed in the seat right beside him the entire party and kept doing exactly that.
“This is really good. Dip it in the sauce like this… just try one bite.”
“O-okay. Thanks.”
…Isn't that way too obvious, Harin?
Of course he liked it, but still.
The other members chatted among themselves yet kept stealing glances their way.
They said nothing, yet the atmosphere was one hundred percent that they had already caught on.
Especially Sarang, who had been staring holes through them, finally approached Harin.
“Harin unnie! Aren't you taking care of Siljang a little too much? Me too~ take care of me too, okay?”
“Huh? Ah…. O-okay. Sarang, you eat this too.”
Harin.
She answered so awkwardly it hurt to watch.
“Thanks~. I love you, unnie~!”
“U… uh-huh.”
Even while laying on the aegyo, Sarang kept studying Harin's face, clearly hunting for any scrap of evidence she could use.
It was so nerve-wracking he could barely swallow the food. Damn it.
He snuck a look at the others' reactions as well.
Eunchae was…… stuffing a cheese ball into her mouth and glued to her phone again, typing messages with fierce concentration.
Se-a… that one was just holding food up and taking pictures.
While he was carefully reading the room, Harin tapped his shoulder from beside him.
“…Siljang. Siljang?”
“Uh, yeah. Ah. Sorry.”
“Are you okay? You still look tired.”
“I'm fine. I slept properly this morning. Me not sleeping well isn't exactly new.”
“…I'm always grateful.”
Hearing something like that… inevitably made him feel good.
“Manager?”
This time it was Eunchae. Still staring at her phone, she called him.
“Yeah?”
“What's our schedule this week?”
“Tomorrow is regular practice. Tuesday… nothing special. Wednesday we have a regional event….”
“Um. On Tuesday I'm going home for a bit.”
“Home?”
She meant her family home.
Eunchae's hometown was not in the capital region, so the distance was considerable. If she went, she would definitely stay overnight.
But why specifically Tuesday…….
Ah.
A line he had overheard in the bathroom floated back up.
—Tuesday evening with Bu Ra-jang.
So it was because of that after all…….
Eunchae still seemed to be under blackmail. She never let it show to him or the others, but….
With so many photos and videos already taken, shaking her around would be child's play.
Those Venus directors—not even a transaction, just outright blackmail.
He could not accept that, not even on his own authority.
Remembering the scream Eunchae had let out that day only made it worse.
Tuesday……. Sepia had no schedule either, so he himself had nothing special planned.
Then he would tail Eunchae. Catch them in the act of blackmailing her—record it, gather whatever leverage he needed—and force them to stop.
“…Okay. Got it.”
“Thank you.”
Eunchae gave a half-hearted nod of thanks and kept her eyes locked on the phone screen.
Soon that, too, would be finished.
“Huh? Oppa! Then me too! Can I make plans with my friends? On Tuesday.”
This time Se-a raised her hand, sauce still smeared around her mouth.
“You too, Se-a?”
“The schedule's free anyway… and Eunchae unnie won't be here, so how about we all get some personal time?”
It made sense, yet …why did it feel so uneasy?
“…Hah. Fine. Just don't cause any trouble.”
“Yes! I gotta text them right away~.”
That left….
“…Siljang.”
Harin was looking at him with a strange light in her eyes.
And Sarang was looking at the two of them with sparkling eyes again.
Grinning, she teased them in an exaggerated, theatrical tone.
“Ah~. Should I make a schedule too~? Huh?”
Of course he had no intention of letting the teasing continue.
“You two need to practice.”
“Huh~? Again?”
“Yeah. Are you just going to play because you have free time?”
“If Siljang thinks practice is necessary, I'm fine with it.”
“Harin unnie~. Don't be like that—let's go hang out just the two of us. Okay?”
“No. He said to practice.”
Sharp as ever. Well done, Harin.
“Tch. Yes~ yes~ I understand~.”
Sarang pouted and answered.
There were a few sticking points, but the schedule was set.
It should have proceeded exactly according to that schedule…….
“…I'm counting on you, Jeon Siljang.”
Monday morning.
Summoned to the president's office, he had to listen to the man say those words with his head bowed deeply.
“This time too… is it sales work?”
“…Yes.”
The president, who normally spoke with complete confidence even while assigning sales, looked particularly pathetic today.
Powerless.
Even anxious.
It could only mean there was some deep personal circumstance.
“May I ask… what kind of sales it is?”
“…….”
“Music shows again? Or….”
“This sales is… my personal sales.”
“…What? Then Sepia…….”
“It has nothing to do with Sepia's activities. That's why I'm asking you like this.”
Of course it was rare for a president to bow his head and plead with a subordinate.
If it were company business he could simply give an order.
It had been that way with Harin, and with Eunchae.
He had asked for opinions, yet it had been practically forced.
Now, however, the president was bowing deeply and asking him.
That meant this was not work.
It was literally sales meant to achieve the president's personal goal.
“…Could I hear the details of the circumstances?”
He would listen first, at least.
“The detailed circumstances… are hard for me to say myself. Could you hear them from this person?”
The president held out a business card.
He took it and looked at the company and the name.
Nara Investment Securities
Department Head Han Myeong-su
Even though it was a name he had never seen before, he already had a good idea who it was.
“Siljang. It's been a while… no, not really. We saw each other at the music show.”
“Nice to meet you. I'm Jeon Hogu, Siljang in charge of Sepia. This is the first time greeting you formally.”
He bowed to the elderly man in a suit seated in a quiet corner of the café and held out his own business card.
“Haha. No need to be so formal. Still, I'll take it for now.”
The man accepted the card and neatly tucked it into his wallet.
Inside the wallet was a photograph that was hard to believe belonged to a man in his fifties.
Sarang's photocards.
Limited-edition ones, complete with her signature.
It felt almost new again—he really was a true fan.
Online name: Sarang♡Forever.
One of the presidents of Sepia's fan club, and an enormous superfan of Sarang.
But he had not come here today in the capacity of a fan.
Department Head Han Myeong-su of Nara Investment Securities.
That was this man's real profession.
Today he was meeting him here under that title.
“Is the company all right? It's still early….”
The time was four in the afternoon—still early to leave work.
“It's fine. The market closed for the day, and I reported it to the company in advance.”
“Is that… so.”
“I met the president earlier as well… his expression was certainly not good. I remember him as a man with real charisma; he never used to give off that kind of feeling.”
“…He does seem to be having a hard time.”
“From a business perspective, receiving this kind of 'attack' inevitably causes mental suffering.”
“'Attack'… you say.”
“It is an 'attack'. Clearly. Openly aiming for management rights. The shares secured in today's market were enormous. Even though the stock price hit the upper limit….”
Sarang♡Forever-nim… no, Department Head Han Myeong-su took out a tablet and showed him the screen.
It was their agency's stock chart.
Red candles rose one after another in a clear upward trend.
“People even started saying it was stock manipulation… but the investigation confirmed that a collecting force—no, not even a force. A single individual investor is gathering the shares. The major-shareholder list has already changed.”
“One person?”
“Yes. ……What's surprising is that it's a man in his twenties with almost no stock-trading experience.”
A man in his twenties?
He had no idea who it could be.
Some chaebol family's youngest son, maybe?
Why would someone like that go after the president of a mid-tier entertainment company….
“Is that person aiming for the president's seat?”
“As of now, that appears to be the case.”
“Why on earth…….”
“I don't know the reason or the purpose……. Anyway, because of the shares that person secured today, the president has lost his position as major shareholder. That individual seems to have already locked up most of the free-floating stock. Of course….”
Department Head Han Myeong-su flipped the tablet screen.
A table labeled Holdings appeared.
“We've also secured about eight percent on our side. Enough to serve as a casting vote.”
“What?”
He did not understand easily; stocks were not his field.
“Simply put: depending on which side I attach my voting rights to, the president could change.”
He still did not grasp the detailed mechanics.
But he was beginning to understand why Department Head Han Myeong-su had visited the president and then called him.
“So Department Head… you can decide whether the president changes or not.”
“Pretty much, yes.”
Phew.
He had not given a definite answer, yet it was still a relief.
He had not known this man for only a day or two. The man had been a fan since the earliest days of Sepia's activities; he had properly known him for more than three years.
At the very least, this person would not harm Sepia. …He had that much trust.
“Of course the company is telling me to sell high to the other side for profit……. But if I cast a different vote and simply present appropriate grounds, it doesn't really matter.”
“Our president… has no method left except securing Department Head's heart.”
“Haha. It turns out that way.”
Han Myeong-su laughed, but his eyes did not smile.
So those were the eyes of a man who moved money.
Completely different from the eyes he had always shown as Sarang's fan.
Enough to inspire fear.
“So…… I'd like to make a proposal to you, Siljang.”
A proposal.
By now it was so obvious what he would say that his head naturally drooped.
The president had also called it “sales.”
Surely Sarang…….
“I want to… go on a date with Sarang-ssi.”
“…What?”
He raised his head and looked at Han Myeong-su's face again.
It was no longer Department Head Han Myeong-su.
It was Sarang♡Forever.