Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Live Broadcast
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“A statement?”
“Yes. Broadcasts like these tend to have no boundaries, so people say provocative things. You never know what they'll say to get popular. And Yoon-seul, you don't even have an agency right now.”
I felt disgusted by the situation, having to write a statement when I hadn't done anything wrong.
‘I’m so sick of this. What did I do to deserve being put in these situations over and over again?’
I really didn't understand.
‘Can’t they just leave me alone?’
[Seo Yoon-seul? Why is his name popping up so much? I don't know. I only found out he left RED CUBE after seeing it on the show. We lost touch a long time ago. We only hear about each other through broadcasts or news articles now. I think he blocked me... The company probably told him to. How should I put it? He's not the type to block me himself, even after everything that happened. He's a bit clueless, you know.]
At that moment, the conversation turned to me.
[Why else would he go live to clarify things and say that? That I treated him well. Well, it is true. He's so naive that if you're just a little nice to him, he'll do whatever you say. So yeah, I was a little nice to him.]
I felt as if I’d been hit over the head with something blunt.
‘What is he saying right now?’
[I'm telling you, he's really naive. I'd be a little nice to him, and he'd think it was genuine, saying things like, ‘You’re a really good person, hyung.’ It was hard for me to hold back my laughter.]
My hands trembled with a sense of betrayal.
My knuckles tingled, the back of my neck grew stiff, and my eyes felt dry.
‘He’s talking as if being nice to me was just some kind of game.’
[The GANGSTER-M guys were generally naive, so it was easy to be their leader. I guess it made me feel like a good person for a while, too.]
This was blatant mockery.
He was dismissing the fact that I had followed him well, chalking it up to me being a fool, someone easy to deceive.
[Guilt? Why would I feel guilty? One of them went down because he was dating, and the other one screwed up his own life by doing drugs and alcohol as a minor. What did I do? I guess I do feel a little sorry for Seo Yoon-seul, though. He’s just trying to live his life diligently.]
Park Su-hyeol said, then burst out laughing.
‘Is this situation funny to him? How can he laugh while reminiscing about that time?’
I worked so hard to become an idol.
Even when I wanted to hang out with my friends, I held it in and headed to the practice room.
I never complained because this was the path I had chosen.
Whenever a friend or an older trainee I practiced with debuted, I grew anxious. Seeing others quit and go home filled me with the fear that it could be my future.
It got even worse after I moved from a major agency to LM Entertainment.
Practice after practice.
I focused solely on practicing, with my eyes set on debuting.
After enduring that for years, I finally succeeded in debuting.
‘We were lucky enough to gain popularity right after our debut, but who was it that brought it all down?’
Park Su-hyeol should have felt guilty.
If he were human, that would be the right thing to do.
Because the starting point of GANGSTER-M's downfall was, indeed, Park Su-hyeol.
When the leader we relied on disappeared, we couldn't stick together and ended up drifting apart.
The youngest member's drug use, Yoo Jin-hyung's premarital pregnancy—perhaps they could have been prevented.
After Park Su-hyeol left, none of us could stand being in the dorm.
[Well. It would be nice if he did well, I guess.]
It didn't feel sincere in the slightest.
He was just saying it.
If he meant it, he wouldn't talk like that.
‘So this was Park Su-hyeol’s true self. I thought it couldn’t get any worse, but I was wrong.’
Even the few good memories I had left were completely shattered.
[Let's stop talking about him now. Let's talk about me. About me. Huh? I'm the one who turned on the broadcast, so it's no fun if we only talk about him. And if you're curious about him, just watch RED CUBE. He seems to be working hard. Honestly, neither he nor I made any money. People think we all got paid hundreds of millions, but we didn't even make a million won a month. Just enough for food, really. After all that hardship. If I'd really gotten paid hundreds of millions, I'd have bought a building in the countryside and be living off the rent. Why would I be sitting here running my mouth like this? Ah, just thinking about it again is annoying.]
I could feel the writer's eyes darting between me and the video.
“Are you okay?”
The writer asked cautiously.
“I was just a little surprised, that's all.”
I saw the PD quietly turn off the video.
“I heard the news and called you in just in case, but it was a pointless thing to do. I’m sorry.”
The PD said, shaking his head.
“You must be very shocked. Have a glass of water and then head back.”
The PD gently patted my shoulder as if to comfort me.
Honestly, it wasn't comforting at all.
“Okay.”
I didn't want to go back just yet.
Not only would it be difficult to pretend nothing was wrong, but I also wanted to see what else Park Su-hyeol would say.
But I couldn't do that.
‘If I’m the only one missing, it’ll cause all sorts of talk. Things are noisy enough as it is. Let’s not add to it.’
They wouldn't openly show my absence on the broadcast, but people wouldn't stay quiet.
Even on shows like the Chuseok idol specials, if someone was gone for a while, even if they weren't on camera much, social media would buzz with questions about where they went.
[Where'd Seo Yoon-seul go? I can't see him anywhere. Did something happen?]
↳Isn't it that day? The day Park Su-hyeol started his personal broadcast.
↳Ah, that could be it. If you roughly calculate the broadcast date, it seems to match. The production team probably saw the stream, freaked out, and called him in. Worried it would cause problems for the show.
↳Wow. If this is true, imagine how scared he must have been.
↳Why scared? If you didn't do anything wrong, you have nothing to be scared of. Doesn't that mean he's the one with the problem?
↳There's always one of these people. If someone like Park Su-hyeol goes crazy and starts lying, Yoon-seul has to run around proving it's not true. Just like before. You know how tiring that is. Yoon-seul, especially, has suffered so much from one misunderstanding and was just starting to breathe again. Imagine that nightmare starting all over. How terrifying would that be?
I could already picture the kinds of posts that would appear, so I forced myself to walk back.
When I returned to my seat, Lee Ho-jun and Jung Eun-woo quickly approached me.
“Is something wrong?”
“It was nothing. A former member of my group started a live broadcast or something. I think they just called me in to check on it.”
“Ah.”
The atmosphere instantly grew somber, so I quickly forced a smile.
“In the end, it wasn't a problem, so it's fine. And I always knew something like this would happen eventually.”
“Okay. That’s a relief. We have to be on the move starting tomorrow, so let's eat up.”
I could tell the two of them were deliberately offering me things to try and lift my spirits.
Their kindness was palpable, and my sunken mood seemed to lift, even if just a little.
* * *
With Park Su-hyeol’s sudden debut on Paprika TV, social media was set ablaze.
[What the? What's Gangster Balloon 1 suddenly doing...? Is he trying to become a streamer now? No, seriously, what's with him? His attitude showed zero remorse, and for a second, I thought I was mistaken and Park Su-hyeol hadn't done anything wrong. I thought the world was deceiving me.]
↳So I wasn't the only one baffled. I seriously thought I was dreaming or something.
↳I mean, I figured he'd show his face eventually, right? But I never expected it to be now.
↳I bet he's already out of money.
↳He's still live, but he's saying he never made any money with GANGSTER-M in the first place. He asked if we thought getting paid was that easy.
[Park Su-hyeol Live Summary - In Progress
Admits to school violence, says it was a youthful mistake. But he reached an amicable settlement with the victim and was forgiven. So no one else is in a position to judge.
Doesn't feel sorry for GANGSTER-M. Says they could have done well without him, but the ones who got pregnant before marriage and did drugs were the problem. Says he might feel a little sorry for Seo Yoon-seul.
Confirms Seo Yoon-seul is nice. Park Su-hyeol spoke like he was talking about a subordinate way below him, but it was basically an admission that Yoon-seul is a good person.
Says there are a lot of misunderstandings about payment, claims he never even got paid.
Says idols secretly date a lot, and he got asked for his number a lot too. But the company found out and took his phone. He finds it amazing that Yoo Jin-hyung managed to date and even get married amidst all that.]
↳Thanks for this detailed summary lol. Now I don't have to watch the past broadcast.
↳FR. I was curious but didn't want to watch the stream. But now I'm suddenly curious about Seo Yoon-seul's fortune.
↳Fortune lolololol. Now that you mention it, I'm really curious. Someone tell us.
↳Current update. He says he'd never be an idol again, even if asked. Says it's not cost-effective. And apparently, Yoo Jin-hyung contacted him, saying he didn't think he really wouldn't come to the wedding. This is the most shocking part. He revealed all the texts Yoo Jin-hyung sent, saying he was embarrassed because he thought all the members would come but no one did lolololol. I'm more embarrassed.
↳The audacity.
[I feel so bad for Seo Yoon-seul. How can one person's life get so twisted? He hasn't done anything wrong. It's legendary how his life was ruined by the people around him. Hey, Gangster Balloon. If you're going to deflate and fly away, then just don't show up again. Why are you raining on the parade of a member who's trying to live diligently?]
↳That's what I'm saying lol. I really hate him.
↳Seo Yoon-seul is so pitiful, right? But his fans are pitiful too. If I were his fan...? Just thinking about it makes me not even want to go on social media.
↳Thank you so much for understanding how we feel. Honestly, if Park Su-hyeol had said something worse, we could at least get angry and say, 'Don't even bring it up!' But it's not even that... We just wish he wasn't mentioned at all, but we can't control it, so it's really upsetting. We're always just apologizing to each other.
[Yoon-seul is the first celebrity I ever liked. I honestly wouldn't care if Yoon-seul dated or even quit being an idol later if he didn't want to do it anymore. But I just really want him to be happy. I just want him to be happy, but is that really so difficult? Ugh... Please, just leave our Yoon-seul alone. While other idols' fans are writing things like, 'Please look upon him kindly,' our kid is the only one with things like, 'Please don't hate him too much.' How do you think a fan feels seeing that? It just brings me to tears. I cried so much I thought I had no tears left, but I was wrong.]
Fortunately, Seo Yoon-seul wasn't being lumped in with him and was riding a wave of public sympathy.