Chapter 121
Chapter 121
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Disturbance
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After finishing at the salon, we headed to the practice room for our fan meeting rehearsal.
The manager, worried that our new concept might leak, had us press our hats down firmly so that not even a single strand of hair was visible.
“Hyung, can we take off our hats now?”
As soon as the manager nodded, we all threw off our hats as if we’d been waiting for the signal.
In the practice room mirror, I could see our brilliant blond hair flying around.
“I think it’ll be hard to tell us apart from behind.”
“You’re right.”
Currently, all the members of RE-V had hairstyles that were subtly different yet seemingly the same.
“The fans will be able to tell you all apart.”
“They will?”
Jung Eun-woo lifted a lock of his hair at the manager’s words.
“Yes.”
The manager’s reply was concise and firm.
“Think about it. Fans can recognize you just by the sound of your voice or the way you stand. There’s no way they won’t be able to tell you apart just because of your hair color. Maybe someone who isn’t into celebrities wouldn’t know, but we’re not even a large group.”
He had a point.
It was unlikely that fans who could identify who was speaking just by their voice would be confused by a simple hair color change.
Besides, our hair colors weren’t exactly identical.
Some were a bit brighter, others had a more yellowish tint; the color was designed to suit each individual.
“Alright. Let’s hurry up and practice, then we can go. You all need to rest.”
“Okay.”
We began practicing the performances for the fan meeting.
Since it was a fan meeting and not a concert, we didn't have that many songs to prepare.
‘LIKE’ for the opening, ‘OWN’ and ‘MESS’ in the middle, and finally ‘Wings’, a B-side from our latest album.
For ‘LIKE’, only our entrance formation changed; the choreography was the same. And ‘Wings’ was a ballad.
That meant we only really needed to prepare for ‘OWN’ and ‘MESS’.
Even then, the choreography wasn’t changing, just some of the formations.
“Here, you move this way. And here, you can move freely. Yes.”
Thanks to that, the practice wasn’t difficult.
“It could have been confusing, but you all memorized it so well.”
The choreographer showered us with praise.
“Thank you.”
“As expected from survival show contestants, you’re on another level.”
On RED CUBE, we not only had to memorize choreography in a short amount of time, but parts would also suddenly get switched, forcing us to change our formations right before going on stage.
‘It’s only because we went through such extremes that this is even possible.’
“I think we can end practice here for today.”
A smile spread across the members’ faces at the choreographer’s words.
I felt the same way.
Finishing practice early meant we could go back to the dorm and rest.
“You all worked hard.”
“You worked hard, too.”
To head back to the dorm, we once again hid our hair under our hats, just as we had on the way here.
“Everyone covered up properly?”
Only after checking each of us to make sure no hair was peeking out did the manager nod in satisfaction.
***
Returning to the dorm, I immediately showered, changed, and came out to the living room.
“They said our blankets and hand cream are already ready.”
Haru held out his phone to me.
The screen showed a photo of boxes stacked up in a corner of the company building.
“That was fast.”
“It definitely seems faster since we’re going through the company. They said they’ve already contracted the snack company too.”
“Everything’s moving along smoothly.”
Everyone leaned back on the sofa with relaxed expressions.
“I wish it could stay like this forever.”
“I know. I feel like I’ve finally reached a stable period in my life.”
Lee Ho-jun’s words about a “stable period in his life” deeply resonated with me.
‘This is the first time I’ve lived such a peaceful life.’
I had worked myself to the bone, and now I was not only receiving just compensation for my labor but was also loved by many.
There could be no better life than this.
“Haru.”
“Yeah?”
“About us going to your house after this promotion ends.”
“Yeah. Huh? Don’t tell me you’re trying to cancel?”
Haru sat up, a wave of anxiety washing over him.
“That’s not it.”
At Park Ji-ham’s reply, Haru lay back down.
“Okay, good. So, what’s up?”
“Since we’ve gotten paid and all, I think it’s only right that we pay for our own plane tickets.”
“Ji-ham.”
“Yeah.”
“This is the first time I’m saying this so bluntly, but my family’s rich.”
“I had a feeling.”
While I stared at Haru with a stunned, blank expression, Park Ji-ham remained calm.
I glanced over at Jung Eun-woo and Lee Ho-jun.
Their expressions were no different from mine.
“What is this conversation?”
“You said before that you went to an international school. The tuition for those is insane. Of course I figured you came from a wealthy family.”
Only then did I remember Haru mentioning he’d attended an international school at the restaurant we visited after our performance in the US.
‘Right. I’ve heard somewhere that international school tuition is expensive.’
Since Haru never received any help from his family and didn’t contact them often, I had never made the connection.
“Then we should at least bring a gift. Tell me, what kind of gifts do people usually bring when they visit a friend’s house in Japan?”
“There’s nothing like that.”
“Nothing?”
“Yeah. Who brings a gift when they go to a friend’s house?”
“We do in Korea.”
Haru nodded with a small “Ah.”
“I think I’ve heard of that. But it’s really not like that in Japan. So you can just come comfortably.”
Deciding he wouldn’t get anywhere with this conversation, Park Ji-ham shook his head and picked up his phone.
It seemed he had opted to search for it himself.
“It’s mostly similar. Korean traditional items…”
“My parents would love any Korean traditional items.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. We added a lot of traditional Korean elements to our ‘When the Red Moon Rises’ performance, right? They said they naturally became interested because of that.”
It was true that many foreigners who became our fans after seeing our US performance had also grown interested in traditional Korean patterns and dances.
I had even seen stories about how sales of items like framed paintings or fabrics with the Sun, Moon, and Five Peaks motif had suddenly surged.
‘That’s why some fans have started calling us ‘cultural guardians’.’
“Then I should narrow down the gift options to traditional Korean things.”
Park Ji-ham’s fingers moved busily.
He seemed to be making a gift list in his phone’s notepad.
“Huh?”
Suddenly, a surprised sound escaped Park Ji-ham’s lips.
“What’s wrong?”
“Did something happen?”
Haru and Jung Eun-woo asked at the same time.
“An article about Zero to the Boy just came out.”
“What kind of article?”
“They’re going to sue their agency over an unjust contract.”
For a moment, the thought of checking my own phone didn’t even cross my mind. I stood up and strode over to Park Ji-ham.
Then, I read the article.
[Zero to the Boy, Unjust Contract?]
[Zero to the Boy Makes Official Statement on Unjust Contract.]
[Zero to the Boy Releases Audio Recordings of Manager's Verbal Abuse, What is LM's Stance?]
[LM: "Unjust Contract is Absurd. This is a Ploy by a Third Party to Poach Zero to the Boy."]
The situation had blown up faster than I expected.
“They were so scared, but they acted fast.”
Something must have happened in the waiting room that day.
‘Otherwise, there’s no way they would have changed so drastically in such a short time.’
Honestly, I wanted to ignore it, but it was complicated.
↳Wow. This manager’s issues are finally blowing up.
↳He’s always been famous for this. He was just as bad when he was GANGSTER-M’s manager.
↳LOL, this is only coming out now? That's ridiculous. When they were promoting as GANGSTER-M, we tried so hard to get this out.
↳??? It's only blowing up now? The fans already knew all of this. There’s even that video of him yelling during Seo Yoon-seul’s live stream. That manager has always been like that, and the company knew but let it slide.
My name kept getting mentioned.
‘I expected this, but I never thought it would happen so quickly.’
I felt I needed to listen to the recording Zero to the Boy had released.
I took out my phone and opened social media.
Even without searching for Zero to the Boy, related posts filled my feed.
[I was so angry listening to the Zero to the Boy recording. Wow. He threw away gifts from fans? And then he said, ‘So what? You wouldn’t even get this stuff without your company. Do you think you could even exist without the company? Huh? Without the company, you’re nothing, and your fans are nothing.’ What kind of garbage is that? Without artists, there’s no entertainment company. You can hear the hurt in the kids’ voices. What are they doing to these kids who are still minors?]
↳Seriously, the first thing that came out of my mouth was a curse word.
↳What, is he trying to play some kind of school bully?
↳I don’t get the agency either. Why haven’t they fired a manager like that??
Thankfully, it seemed like Zero to the Boy had deliberately hidden any mention of me.
‘With most people already aware that Zero to the Boy’s manager was my former manager, I want to avoid adding any more fuel to the fire.’
It wasn’t like I had caused any social controversy, but I didn’t want to get deeply involved in something unpleasant right before our next promotion.
[I feel so bad for Zero to the Boy. They didn’t even plan to release it, but they got caught seeking legal advice, and the agency was about to ditch them first, so they had no choice but to release the recording and the contract.]
↳At this point, I hope the agency goes bankrupt.
↳Huh? So the kids didn’t decide to release it themselves???
↳That’s what the initial articles said, along with a handwritten letter from Zero to the Boy. But the agency must have paid them off because all those articles are gone now.
‘So that’s what happened.’
Now I felt like I finally understood the whole picture.
‘Zero to the Boy didn’t fire the first shot. They were attacked and had no choice but to reveal everything to survive.’
Truly, some things never change.
‘Zero to the Boy has a smaller fanbase than GANGSTER-M and they’re practically rookies, so the company probably thought they could just bury them.’
Our music show pre-recording and music video release were scheduled for tomorrow.
‘To think this would happen right after I thought I’d found a stable period in my life. I feel like a fool for ever saying that.’