Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: This Life is Space Star 20
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Lemon Entertainment PR Team.
With the collab track Something with Jang Sowon set for release soon, the PR team at Lemon Entertainment was buzzing with activity.
“Is our kids in the music video?”
“Which one, Something? It’s not the title track, so no.”
“Too bad.”
“Even if they made one, they would’ve only featured their own artists anyway.”
“True. Seunghee?”
“……Yes?”
A voice came from the corner of the cubicle. The person peeking out looked like they hadn’t slept for days, eyes hollow.
“Did you call me?”
“How’s the video for the company YouTube channel coming along?”
“Yes.”
She replied.
“The footage of working on the track with Jang Sowon that Jiho gave us is mostly edited. Just need to add subtitles now.”
“Okay. Upload it as soon as it’s ready.”
The PR team leader turned their gaze.
“You set up the group’s official Twitter and SNS accounts, right?”
“Yes, we did.”
“For now, just post promo phrases about the digital single, and if the response is good, we can upload some practice videos we’ve shot. Might convert some people who check out the song into fans.”
“Yes.”
“Strike while the iron’s hot.”
That was Lemon Entertainment PR team’s motto.
“We’ve got all the press releases ready to distribute.”
“Team leader, you think it’ll work if we just send ours out?”
“Why?”
“No reason. I heard Hwayi isn’t doing any promo at all. We’re the ones hyping a non-title track number three, and we’re more enthusiastic.”
“Why not?”
“They’re a weird company, seriously.”
“Yeah. Reporters at a drinking session the other day said the same.”
“What’d they say?”
“Hwayi Entertainment sucks at handling stuff. Other companies at least pretend to respond when something blows up, but they just sit there. By the time they react to whatever the reporters dig up, it’s already a full-blown mess.”
“Didn’t that tank Sugarfish too?”
“Exactly.”
“But it makes sense—they’ve got Girls on Top as their main group. I heard they cut Jang Sowon’s album budget, so she’s just dropping a single.”
The team leader clapped to refocus the suddenly chaotic atmosphere.
“Alright, enough chit-chat. Let’s finalize the press release for tomorrow morning…….”
“Team leader!”
A PR staffer monitoring the internet shouted.
“Team leader, I don’t think we can do promo tomorrow.”
“What?”
“Look online.”
“Online where?”
“Anywhere.”
Anywhere?
It sounded vague, but their expression was so grave the team leader pulled out their smartphone without argument.
Entertainment news portal.
The moment they saw the top headline, they furrowed their brow.
Now they knew why Hwayi Entertainment was staying silent.
No, they had no choice but to stay silent.
-Popular Boy Group ‘Sixty Seconds’ Leaked Rude Remarks Recording ‘Shocking’
-Recording Reveals Member Juwan Dating ‘Girls on Top’ Joo Hana—Shock
-KM Entertainment Silent ‘Assessing Situation’
A massive scandal had erupted.
* * *
-Sixty Seconds ‘Rude Remarks’ Recording Fallout.. Agency “Verifying Facts”
[Popular boy group ‘Sixty Seconds’ is embroiled in an unprecedented controversy.
It stems from a rude remarks recording uploaded to an online forum this morning. A user named ‘Wangbam Bangbang,’ claiming to be an anonymous insider, posted a roughly one-minute audio clip.
The recording appears to be from inside a vehicle transporting Sixty Seconds members to a shoot. It captures them gossiping about fellow celebrities, crude jokes, and profanity. It spread rapidly on SNS, igniting communities everywhere.
Netizens are reacting with comments like ‘Sixty Seconds’ personalities are insane,’ ‘Stuff no human should say,’ ‘These kids have no manners,’ and boards for all their upcoming shows are flooded with demands for them to step down.
Sixty Seconds’ agency KM Entertainment stated, “We are verifying the facts and cannot confirm if the recording is genuinely from our members. We may take legal action against baseless malicious comments.”]
The comment section, nearing 5,000, was brutal.
-Crazy bastards, thought my ears were rotting listening to it
-What fact-checking lololol members called by full name voices clear as day, total denial lololol they’re screwed
-Don’t care about stepping down, kick these guys out of the industry
-Been a fan for 4 years fml
-Joo Hana who stayed quiet got dragged in lololol how many people did one recording screw over
The incident was straightforward.
Sixty Seconds.
A top-tier boy group.
Produced by KM Entertainment—one of the big four agencies—Sixty Seconds maximized unique music and hip vibes.
Grown under producer Heo Kangmin, aka the idol factory, they generated buzz from debut and rivaled TNT for top boy group popularity.
Until yesterday.
The issue: their vehicle talk—profanity, crude jokes, gossip—leaked.
That alone might prompt a “So what?” but the content was shockingly vile.
Even the opening line made us all bail.
Stuff too filthy to repeat.
Korea was ablaze.
Sixty Seconds became public enemy number one, halting activities, fandom shattered.
One member barely escaped with milder remarks, but online they’re all lumped as the same trash.
Articles and savage comments pouring in every minute terrified even us bystanders.
Reading the news in the dorm, we all thought the same.
‘You haven’t seen nothing yet. In showbiz, a car chat spreads to the whole set by next day.’
Yoon Seok-hwan’s foresight had warned us.
“Section Chief was right to chew us out.”
“Dodged a bullet. We could’ve ended up like that.”
“What nonsense.”
Ri-hyeok shot back.
“No way we’d spew crap that dirty, even at our worst. Just reading the text makes me dizzy.”
“True.”
I replied.
“We’re pretty polite for our age, overall.”
“Hyung, nobody says ‘peers our age’ anymore.”
Oh.
“Seriously, Woojoo hyung. We’d be toast without you.”
“Yeah. Nobody’d play with a geezer, but these young kids hang out with you.”
Ignoring the dongsaengs’ teasing, I scrolled through articles on my smartphone.
Doomed.
A hollow laugh escaped.
First college entrance exam day, now this—divine prank?
Massive scandal day before album release.
PR team’s hard work probably shredded by now.
Promo meaningless in this mess.
Oh well.
Call it an honorable death.
At least we have an excuse for flopping.
* * *
Album release day.
Sixty Seconds still dominated real-time searches.
-Sixty Seconds recording
-Juwan Baek Yujin
-Juwan Joo Hana
-Baek Yujin Joo Hana
Somehow, more eyes on member Juwan’s dating rumors with girl group members than the recording itself.
Media and netizens fixated weirdly.
-‘Fans are my boyfriends’ Joo Hana Past Remarks Spotlighted
-Baek Yujin Side ‘Dating Juwan? No. Legal Action’
-Girls on Top Comeback in Jeopardy
With Juwan naming Baek Yujin and Joo Hana as girlfriends, they were under fire, drawing all attention.
Media gossiped about girl group idols’ private lives.
Communities flooded with malicious edits seizing the moment; some deleted posts after legal threats.
Rumors of more explosive uncut audio pushed ‘full recording’ to trends. Total chaos.
That’s when netizens started questioning the leaker.
Soon, the culprit emerged.
Not a vengeful manager or stylist as rumored.
A vehicle mechanic.
Here’s what happened.
Post-schedule, manager spotted vehicle issue, took it in.
Mechanic fixing the celeb-looking SUV curiously copied the black box memory.
Shared with friends in shock, one posted to a forum for laughs.
Revealed when the mechanic turned himself in.
“Man, zero articles on Jang Sowon sunbae.”
Front page to page 12 plastered with Sixty Seconds, we muttered in dismay.
I switched laptop to music site Mango.
-February 3rd
Jang Sowon’s album drops in 5 minutes at noon.
One minute to go.
After frantic refreshing, we downloaded the second it hit.
Grabbed all three tracks from Jang Sowon’s single Wishful Thinking, clicked with bated breath.
Something.
First, the album art: back view of a couple at a bus stop.
Sharing one earbud each.
Soft beige pastel background.
Their gaze fixed on a blue sky sketched like colored pencils.
[Jang Sowon X New Black - Something]
Composed by: Jang Sowon, Woojoo
Lyricist: Jang Sowon
Seeing my name in composition made me grin.
Our song for real.
Acoustic guitar kicked in—we gasped.
Underestimated mixing and mastering big time.
Final take we recorded vs. this? Worlds apart.
Like subtle facial differences changing a whole impression, Something was polished perfection.
Engineers’ genius hit home.
I closed eyes, immersed.
Truly great.
Ticklish yet nostalgic somehow.
Fresh and warm.
My take.
Grasping your hand that slips away
I’ll close the gap between us
Jang Sowon’s sweet chorus had me smiling.
Song quality nailed.
We listened entranced till end.
Our voices, yet surreal.
Emotional, recalling the process, chest tight.
Yeah, this is it.
Our song’s out in the world.
With Sixty Seconds sucking everything into its black hole, we focused solely on New Black’s debut track.
Album release day.
Title ‘Boy, and Girl’ barely scraped top 90.
Other tracks missed charts.
But none of us were disappointed.