Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: TrueDetective
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: 9. Even the Heavenly Demon Must Do Fan Service (4)
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We were sitting side by side in the CEO's office at Kichi headquarters.
Because the Heavenly Demon had cheerfully replied, "Sure!" to the CEO's offer to tell us everything.
The CEO spoke with a beaming smile.
"Would you like something to drink?"
"This seat will have mixed coffee."
Every time I saw the Heavenly Demon acting like that, I wished he were just an actor the CEO had hired.
"And you, Mr. So?"
"I'm good, thanks."
"Wise choice. You're not immune to all poisons like this seat."
The CEO requested a mixed coffee from his secretary and chuckled softly.
"Are you worried I might slip poison into the coffee?"
"Better to be cautious with anything."
"I've lost quite a bit of your trust, haven't I?"
The CEO seemed to ponder something for a moment before turning to me.
"Honestly, I have no idea why you've lost so much trust in me. If there's anything you've been wondering about, feel free to ask now."
I stared silently at the CEO for a moment.
What kind of scheme is this...
It's probably right to assume it's a scheme.
There's no way he's really planning to spill everything.
Maybe, since you're going to learn the truth through Shin Tae-eul anyway, he's preempting it to win the Heavenly Demon's trust.
If that's the case, I should start with this.
"Did you really summon the Heavenly Demon?"
The CEO's expression grew peculiar.
"Did Tae-eul say that?"
Is he planning to dodge the question?
Instead of pressing him, I quietly listened to what the CEO said next.
"I don't know why Tae-eul thinks that, but... I didn't summon Heavenly Demon-nim."
"Then what about those ancient books at your house?"
"You heard about that too. I was hoping to keep it under wraps that you ransacked my place."
"Shin Tae-eul said there was a massive amount."
"You're right. I've been collecting books related to Heavenly Demon-nim for a very long time. But ultimately..."
The CEO spoke in a steady, unwavering voice.
"It's because I'm a Cheonppu."
"..."
"You don't know what a Cheonppu is? It means a fan who uses the Heavenly Demon as their profile picture..."
"No, I know what it means."
"See? I told you it might be because I'm a Cheonppu."
The Heavenly Demon sipped his mixed coffee and chimed in with an irritating quip.
The CEO had been suspiciously loaded with cash and a total wuxia nut from the start.
If he was really a Cheonppu collecting those books, it wouldn't be all that strange.
But if the CEO didn't summon him, then where the hell did the Heavenly Demon drop in from?
"Then the Gupailbang choreography being an internal energy cultivation method..."
"That really is an internal energy cultivation method."
This one's true too?
"I picked it up while collecting books related to Heavenly Demon-nim."
"Then why make the members cultivate internal energy?"
"Have you forgotten, Mr. So?"
The CEO's expression was deadly serious.
"I'm dead serious about wuxia. Naturally, that extends to wuxia idols. What's so weird about having wuxia idols cultivate internal energy?"
He was so brazen about it that I had nothing to say.
"...So you really meant to turn them into actual wuxia idols?"
"Of course. You think I went around hunting down those names just for kicks?"
If their real names all coming from wuxia novels was purely for the wuxia idol concept, I had no comeback.
"It was presumptuous of me to have you cultivate internal energy. But what's the harm in building internal energy?"
I couldn't really argue with that either.
"Then why did those guys quit?"
The CEO, who had been answering fluidly, went silent for the first time.
After a brief pause, he spoke in a heavy tone.
"They developed... defects that made it impossible for them to continue as idols."
"What kind of defects?"
"I can't tell you that. The reason they quit so suddenly was because they didn't want anyone finding out about those defects."
Another secret, huh...
Tae-geuk had dodged the question too, saying he had no right to talk about it.
Instead of digging further into the defects, I asked about something else.
"Some weirdo in a mask attacked us in Japan."
"I'm truly sorry about that. Tae-eul had done something to you, Mr. So, so I asked him to stay away from you. I never imagined it'd spill over to Heavenly Demon-nim..."
"He was one of our members, right?"
The CEO didn't answer right away this time either.
He hesitated for a moment before murmuring softly.
"That kid... is my son."
...What did I just hear?
His son?
The CEO has a son?
"This seat saw it coming."
"You saw it coming?!"
"K-reps always have some hidden spawn."
"...Is that morning soap opera talk?"
"CEO, your boy could turn out to be the chaebol heir's bastard too."
Ignoring the Heavenly Demon's nonsense, I asked as calmly as I could.
"You have a son? I thought you were unmarried."
"I never married. I raised the child on my own."
With that, the CEO actually pulled out a photo of the kid from his wallet.
It was from when he was young, but the resemblance was so striking you could tell at a glance it was the CEO's son.
He really has a son...
"Why didn't you ever mention... Wait, you raised your son to be an assassin?"
"No way. As Heavenly Demon-nim knows, I never learned any martial arts."
Never learned martial arts?
I'd taken it for granted that the CEO was some peerless master too.
The Heavenly Demon nodded, affirming the CEO's claim.
"Right. You and that manager punk—both clueless villagers without a speck of internal energy."
"My kid used to sneak into my library all the time when he was little and apparently trained on his own... Then one day, he started wearing a mask and running with this weird concept. I thought it was cute and let him be, and that's how it turned out."
Is that something you can just sum up as "that's how it turned out"?
"The Zhongnan Sect guy said he was like your right-hand man."
"Right-hand man? He's beyond my control. He's just a kid who dives at anyone with internal energy."
So he was just a son who'd grown up under a wuxia-obsessed dad and turned into an assassin-concept nut.
Since even I didn't know about the son, Shin Tae-eul had no reason to know either—so he'd naturally suspect the members with internal energy.
Assuming the CEO wasn't lying, that is.
Deep down, I wanted to just take the CEO at his word.
CEO's a Cheonppu, Masked Expert's his assassin-concept son.
Summoning was someone else's doing.
If it ended there, at least I wouldn't have to suspect the CEO or the members anymore.
I'd been with Kichi for eight years, after all.
Of course I'd want to believe it wasn't the CEO's fault.
But the story was just too damn convenient—too easy to believe.
"You can't just take my word for it right away. Tae-eul must be weighing on your mind."
As if he'd read my thoughts, the CEO spoke slowly.
"I get wanting to believe those poor kids out of pity, but..."
The CEO trailed off for a moment.
Then he finished in a tone that sounded a bit like a scolding.
"Those guys already quit, Mr. So. Don't forget—you're the manager of Gupailbang."
* * *
I returned to the dorm with the Heavenly Demon and sank into thought.
It'd be great if the CEO really was just some wuxia maniac, like he claimed.
The sudden emergence of a son, fine.
But his story was too flimsy, and he didn't even bother hiding the holes.
Whether it was true or not probably didn't matter to the CEO.
He'd made me a "proposal."
Believe him instead of Shin Tae-eul.
If I dropped the suspicions here, nothing more would happen.
In the best light, the CEO still held some goodwill toward me.
In the worst, it was a threat.
The Heavenly Demon said the CEO was a bumpkin without a drop of internal energy.
But powerless? No—powerless in fighting, maybe, but not in money.
He was the one paying my salary, after all.
The fact that he'd gone to the trouble of spinning those lies meant he clearly still wanted me under his thumb.
"What does the CEO plan to do by summoning Shin Tae-eul... those kids?"
"This seat would summon them and wipe them out."
His Cheonppu and drama talk in front of the CEO must've been an act.
The Heavenly Demon clearly didn't trust him much either.
But wipe them out?
"This is twenty-first-century Korea, not the Central Plains."
"Or maybe it's to make a point to you."
"To me?"
The Heavenly Demon clicked his tongue curtly.
"You're shielding those excommunicated disciples, so he prodded to see."
"You're saying he's using those kids to make me fall in line?"
"Why post that message if he figured you wouldn't show at the fanmeet? Behave like you used to, and the CEO won't touch the ex-disciples again."
It didn't add up.
The CEO did cherish his own people, sure.
But what reason did he have to cling to me this hard? Lying, even resorting to hostage threats?
If the CEO really summoned the Heavenly Demon, why not just tell him so?
And why hadn't the Heavenly Demon used his Magic Eye on the CEO?
The Heavenly Demon looked at me and smirked.
"You're not planning to play along with what the CEO wants, right?"
"Of course not. No intention of stopping here."
"This seat recognized your rebellious streak from the start."
"And I promised to find a way to send you back. Can't back out now."
I needed to ship the Heavenly Demon back to the Central Plains ASAP and reclaim my peaceful daily life.
The Heavenly Demon snickered.
"Can't even manage your own shit, but nosy as hell."
"Anyway, I need to talk to Shin Tae-eul again."
"Manager. The CEO's nuts, but... that Zhongnan Sect punk has a glint of madness in his eyes. No telling what he'll pull."
"...He won't show up at the fanmeet, right?"
"It's an obvious trap—no way he'd walk right in."
The Heavenly Demon didn't stop there.
"But if he does show up at the fanmeet anyway..."
The Heavenly Demon suddenly looked at me with pity.
"What?"
"Nah. Just... seems like there's no one around you worth trusting."
That includes you, Heavenly Demon.
* * *
Today was August 8th.
The Heavenly Demon's fabricated birthday—and the "Murim Public Offenders" fanmeet.
Ja-ha had suggested a surprise party and pretending we didn't know it was his birthday.
But the signing session had started, and every fan sitting in front of the Heavenly Demon was wishing him happy birthday, so it felt pretty pointless.
The fanmeet lineup: signing session, talk show, performance stage.
As boxes of cup ramen—birthday gifts from fans—piled up by type, the ex-members still hadn't shown.
'Yeah, better if they don't come.'
The fans seemed to be hoping for a full Gupailbang reunion, but if they ended up disappointed, that'd be on the CEO, not the kids.
Ja-ha either forgot Shin Tae-eul might show or was deliberately ignoring it.
He was chatting with the fan in front of him in his usual affable tone.
"Noona, you've packed on even more muscle since last time?"
"You bet. Hitting 600 on the big three now."
"Insane. My three meals a day total 600 calories."
"Hehe, you're adorable. Wanna feel the bicep?"
"Sure thing~"
I used to think all idol fanmeets involved that kind of banter.
Now I knew other idols' fanmeets weren't like this.
Realizing the Beggar Clan Disciples kept up that physique by building internal energy through Gupailbang choreography felt kinda weird.
"Namua Amitabul."
"Namua Amitabul."
"I'm a young man three years into my Shaolin fandom, still plagued by worldly desires for your cuteness—what should I do?"
"..."
"My training was lacking. I'll go build more virtue."
"Namua Amitabul."
...The Shaolin fans weren't having normal fanmeet convos either.
"Hwajin, happy birthday! You'll all be idols for a thousand years, right?"
"This seat has no issue with a thousand years, but the other members will need to step up their game."
"Hwajin's concept cracks me up."
"But you—think you can fan for a thousand years?"
"Totally! I'm confident!"
"With that scrawny frame?"
"Scrawny? First Beggar Clan Disciple to hear that one."
The Heavenly Demon, just one month in, was landing more idol-like lines than the six-year vets of Gupailbang.
The Heavenly Demon's lines got great reactions.
Probably the sincerity shining through.
For him, being an idol forever wasn't impossible, and by his standards, all Beggar Clan Disciples looked frail anyway.
"O... Ooooh...! Hea-Hea-Heavenly Demon-nim...!! It's an honor... such an honor to meet you!! Happy birthday!!"
There were weirdly a lot of fanatic types.
"Sure. What flavor cup ramen is that?"
The Heavenly Demon seemed right at home with the zealots, only caring about the ramen brands.
"Please move to the side~"
After shooing away a fanatic who refused to budge from in front of the Heavenly Demon, a particularly burly, quiet Beggar Clan Disciple took a seat.
He was decked out in a pink tracksuit with the hood pulled low and a mask on, silently holding out a copy of the Murim Public Offenders album—with a yellow sticky note attached.
Probably had a question pre-written on it.
But Gupailbang fanmeets banned sticky-note questions.
I approached the Beggar Clan Disciple and peeled the sticky note off the album.
"Sorry, no sticky notes allowed. Signature only, please."
I'd expected him to look aggrieved or annoyed at having it taken, but he just nodded like it was no big deal.
'What the...?'
Something felt off, so I checked the sticky note.
[Midnight, Yongsan Sauna]
"..."
Only one guy would pick a damn sauna as a meetup spot.
The Heavenly Demon's voice transmission echoed in my head.
[The Zhongnan Sect punk really is this seat's fan, huh.]
Shin Tae-eul had come to the fanmeet.
...Dressed as a fan.