Chapter 74
Chapter 74
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: A Secret Debut Party
-----------------------------------------------------------------
After the video call fan sign ended and we got in the car, Park Ji-ham didn't look well.
He was breaking out in a cold sweat, his lower lip bitten tight.
“Ji-ham, are you okay? You look terrible.”
“I’m fine. Really, I am, so don’t worry.”
He tried to act fine, but his complexion was awful.
“No way. You don’t look fine at all. What happened?”
At my question, the manager cautiously approached and spoke up.
“One of the fans suddenly started screaming at Ji-ham, asking why he couldn't remember her. I thought she was crazy.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Hah… It’s tricky to make an issue of it, but it’s also hard to just let it go. We’ll give her a warning, but I doubt that’ll solve anything…”
As if he had a headache, the manager pressed a hand to his forehead.
“Anyway, let’s get going.”
The car started, and we quickly left the company parking lot.
The situation, as I’d just heard from the manager, was this.
A fan had kept pressing Park Ji-ham about why he didn't remember her, and it had escalated.
“Why won’t you look at me? You know how much I cherish and love you.”
It had turned into stalking, like following his personal schedule or waiting in front of his house.
Park Ji-ham was extremely stressed about it, but he’d learned from his previous agency that telling the company wouldn't change anything.
So this time, too, he’d thought it would be fine and hadn't said anything to the manager or the members.
‘At that point, she’s not a fan, she’s a stalker. I suspected something like this when I heard about his vocal cord nodules, but this is too much.’
“Ji-ham.”
“Yes.”
“That person has been put on the blacklist, by the way.”
“The blacklist?”
Since he was driving, the manager kept his eyes on the road as he continued talking to Park Ji-ham.
“Yeah. Even if she wins a spot for a video call or in-person fan sign, she’ll be banned from participating.”
“Is that possible?”
“Of course. You have to nip stalker fans in the bud. If it becomes a bigger problem later, it’ll just be a headache for us, so we have to manage it properly. They’re not even fans. When people like that run wild, they just muddy the waters.”
Only then did Park Ji-ham seem to calm down a little.
“You have a schedule in the afternoon tomorrow, so sleep in a bit. Get some good rest, okay?”
“Okay.”
“And no late-night snacks or drinking.”
The manager, worried we might throw a debut celebration party tonight, hammered the point home once more.
“Hyung, you don’t trust us?”
At Haru's question, the manager smacked his lips once and then nodded.
It meant he wouldn't repeat himself and would trust us.
In reality, however, the manager was being completely fooled.
‘We’d already decided to throw a party to celebrate our debut.’
While we were waiting in the dressing room after our performance, the manager had stepped out for a moment to take a call.
“Since the manager’s gone, how about we have a celebration party tonight?”
Haru had subtly suggested.
Caught up in the joy of finishing our debut stage, we had all reacted positively without a second thought.
But now, everyone kept their mouths shut.
No manager in the world would be pleased to hear that we were planning to eat late-night snacks and have fun on our own during a promotion period.
“We’re here.”
Just then, we arrived at our dorm.
“Go on in and rest.”
“Okay.”
After giving the manager a harmless smile, we took the elevator up to our dorm.
“The delivery?”
“Already ordered.”
Lee Ho-jun answered Jung Eun-woo’s question.
Lee Ho-jun, sitting at the very back, had been pretending to fiddle with his phone while ordering food.
Thanks to him, when the elevator doors opened, we could see the delivery food waiting in front of our dorm.
* * *
[I found out who it is. It’s her. If you listen to the voice, it’s exactly the same. To put it simply, she’s been a fan since First Love’s debut, right? She liked all the members, but her favorite seemed to be Ji-ham. It was to the point where Ji-ham knew her face and name. Maybe because of that, she had this insane sense of superiority. It’s no exaggeration to say she made it hard for new fans to join. Whenever a late fan showed up, she’d boss them around like she was the company CEO or something. She was especially awful to fans whose favorite was Ji-ham, to the point where we were embarrassed. Then she suddenly devolved into a stalker. (Video edited to only include the audio of her screaming at Park Ji-ham)]
↳Did I hear that right? Did she really tell Ji-ham she’d kill herself if he didn’t look at her? Is this for real?
↳That’s one of the milder things. There’s way worse. Because of her, I had to mute the audio on all my videos. She was always shouting weird stuff.
↳I’m so creeped out I just covered my mouth. My hair is standing on end.
↳Ji-ham must have been so scared. How can a person do something like that?
[So it really was her. You said she was a bitch to late fans, right? I was one of her victims. It was during Ji-ham’s third year after debut, so about the year before last, when I happened to discover him. It was my first time liking an idol, so I went to an offline event half nervous, half excited. Contrary to my worries, everyone was so nice to me, so I relaxed a lot. But then that problematic girl came up to me. She started talking in this condescending tone. “Who’s your bias?” She just spoke informally right off the bat, and it was so annoying. But I put up with it. It was my first day meeting Ji-ham… lol. That seems to have been my biggest mistake. I guess she thought I was a pushover, because from then on, she criticized everything about me from head to toe. smh. Thinking back on it now, it’s still unbelievable.]
↳? Even Ji-ham’s parents don’t act that entitled, so who does she think she is?
↳LOLOLOL you said exactly what I wanted to say. I went to the barbecue restaurant Ji-ham’s parents run, and they gave us freebies and took care of us the whole time. I felt so bad I thought I could never go back, but some girl who’s a complete stranger to Ji-ham acts like that? Why? Who are you? You’d think she raised Ji-ham herself.
↳You too? I left the fandom because of her, lol. She grabbed me by the hair once. She’s definitely crazy. The reason she grabbed my hair is hilarious, too. Because Ji-ham looked in my direction and smiled. She disappeared after that, so I thought she’d given up, but I guess not.
↳???? Isn’t that delusional at this point? Is she in a one-sided relationship with Ji-ham in her head? There’s no way she’s normal. People like her always end up committing crimes later.
↳Reading this thread is making my head spin. She seems dangerous…? What she’s doing now isn’t a parasocial relationship, it’s just straight-up stalking. I can’t imagine how shocked Ji-ham must have been today. And he still had to pretend nothing was wrong and talk to the fans with a smile.
[There’s a weird video going around and posts speculating it’s me, but it’s not. It’s a misunderstanding. Our voices might be similar, but it’s not me. I became a fan in Ji-ham’s fourth year after debut. (Screenshot of the date the SNS account was created)]
↳? What are we supposed to see here? You could’ve just made a new account and started using it. Do you think we’re idiots?
↳LOLOL I’m so baffled that she posted something completely useless as proof.
↳That’s even more suspicious. The person I posted about deleted her main account around that time.
↳Wow. She dug her own grave.
↳LOLOL she basically outed herself.
↳People like her are really something else. Acting all bold in front of Park Ji-ham but then pretending it wasn’t her on social media because she’s scared of getting criticized. Even if you aren’t that person, you haven’t done anything right. If you really liked him, you couldn’t act like that.
↳No. Why is everyone doing this to me? Did I do something that wrong? I can’t breathe because of you all. I’m scared.
↳Yep. That’s exactly how Ji-ham has felt because of you. I’m so glad you finally get to feel it for yourself.
The controversy didn't die down easily.
[Notice.
During video call fan signs, any words or actions that hurt the artist will result in immediate termination of the call without warning. Please be advised.]
Amid the commotion, an official notice regarding video call fan signs was uploaded to RE-V’s official account.
↳Thank you.
↳Wow, that was fast. Which direction should I bow in?
↳This is actually great. I’m only going to say nice things to the boys anyway.
Fans who saw the notice cheered.
[Terminated without warning? Wow. What’s the standard? Does the call just end if the idol feels bad? I’m paying for this with my own money. Isn’t this the agency abusing its power? This is ridiculous.]
↳Do you think the agency is stupid? And like you said, it’s how they make money, so why would they end a call over nothing? Were you planning on saying something nasty to the members? Like telling them to lose weight or improve their skills?
↳I can’t even say that? That’s not criticism, it’s a critique. Idols are supposed to manage their appearance. Isn’t it their duty to maintain the looks that I liked in the first place?
↳…You think paying money gives you the right to say whatever you want? It’s because of people like you that the world never changes. No wonder the agency posted a notice like that. I completely get it now. They manage themselves just fine without you telling them to. If you’re a fan, you should trust and support them.
↳You really think that’s valid criticism? I don’t get it. It just looks like you’re trying to boost your own ego by putting the members down. There are so many weirdos out there.
Thanks to the notice, the debate seemed to die down a bit, but it didn't disappear completely.
While the arguments were still ongoing, a notification for a RE-V live stream popped up.
[RE-V – A Small Debut Party at Our Dorm.]