Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: TrueDetective
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: 10. Heavenly Demon, Are You Perhaps... Something? (1)
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What I was aiming for was for none of the Gupailbang members to renew their contracts.
To move to a new agency with Kichi.
Sure, if we switched agencies, we wouldn't be able to use the group name Gupailbang anymore.
But what if we started an agency that kept the Gupailbang unit together?
"What’s an agency?"
"It’s like a sect."
"You’re going to start a sect?"
"Yes."
Even just to convince the members, it’d be best if I started the agency myself.
There are plenty of celebrities who leave their agency with a manager they get along with and set up a one-man agency.
"Do you have the money?"
"No."
"You’re awfully bold."
"Heavenly Demon."
I flashed a grin at the Heavenly Demon.
"We might not have money right now, but do we lack power? With thirteen martial artists at our side, the possibilities are endless."
"You... your eyes have gone mad."
The issue was whether they’d trust me enough to leave the company.
The Heavenly Demon said he’d help me, and since Taeguk knew about the excommunicated disciples’ situation, there was no reason for him to stay at Kichi either.
If the Heavenly Demon and Taeguk didn’t renew, Jaha would hesitate too.
Convincing Jaha wouldn’t be hard, but the Alliance Leader, Baek Na-han, and Namgoong Jun.
I had no idea how those three would react to a proposal to leave Kichi.
If the Masked Expert was the CEO’s son rather than the Alliance Leader or Na-han, those two would be the last ones to convince.
‘Then that leaves Namgoong Jun...’
"Heavenly Demon, what about Namgoong Jun?"
"What about him?"
"His internal energy level."
"That Namgung kid has some internal energy, but it’s very faint. It looked like he’d only just started cultivating it."
If that was true, it was strange.
Sure, he was the last one to join Gupailbang.
Namgoong Jun had been a long-term trainee at Kichi.
He’d trained for at least five years aiming to join Gupailbang.
That amount of practice wasn’t any less than the other members.
Yet his body showed he’d only recently begun cultivating internal energy?
"We need to confirm if he’s really Namgoong Jun first."
"You do something like a paternity test?"
How much morning drama has he been watching?
But it wasn’t nonsense.
"If it’s someone else wearing Namgoong Jun’s face, a paternity test would reveal it."
"Intriguing."
"But we won’t use that method right away."
"Why not?"
"Because we’re idols. Idols where even the smallest things get turned into articles. We’re already a mess of a group—if word gets out we did a paternity test, who knows what rumors will fly."
"Then..."
"Let’s talk to him first."
"If I hold a blade to his throat, he’ll spill everything."
"......"
The fact that I was tempted for a moment was proof I’d been tainted by Central Plains thinking.
"There’s something else that’s bothering me."
"What?"
"Do you know what blood donation is?"
"I do. They give you Choco Pie, right?"
...Did he try it just for the Choco Pie?
"Before you arrived, Heavenly Demon, we filmed an ad encouraging blood donations."
"And?"
"For the blood drive, not just me but all the members donated. Namgoong Jun’s blood type is supposed to be RH-O. When he donated, it was RH-O too. It’s hard to fake that. Plus, his profile just lists it as O-type anyway."
"What’s a blood type?"
He knows MBTI but not blood types.
"Anyway, the point is, the current Namgoong Jun might really be him. So rough methods are out. Right now, priority is gaining their trust and nixing the renewals."
"What if he really isn’t Namgoong Jun?"
"Then we’d have the question of where the real one went... but that’d actually be good for our plan."
"Good?"
"Namgoong Jun is a rookie who hasn’t even signed his contract yet. Terminating would take forever. But if the one performing isn’t Namgoong Jun?"
"The contract would be invalid, so he could leave immediately."
"Exactly. Sure, they could make an issue of him impersonating Namgoong Jun. But the CEO wouldn’t want to air that."
"Why?"
"To make it public, they’d have to admit Namgoong Jun went missing. No CEO wants to be the one who didn’t notice an artist vanished."
"Hmm."
The Heavenly Demon tapped his lower lip with a finger and furrowed his brow.
"If the current one’s a fake, where’d the original disappear to?"
"The most likely guess right now is he got scared like the excommunicated disciples when their bodies vanished and went into hiding."
"And the current one showed up right when the original vanished?"
"That’s how it lines up. Speculating among ourselves won’t help. We need to get the story out of Namgoong Jun."
"Then..."
The Heavenly Demon stopped tapping his lip and grinned.
"Time for me to step in."
* * *
"You Namgung kid. Have you had any troubles lately?"
I wondered what he’d do since it was his turn to step up.
The Heavenly Demon called Namgoong Jun and started something like a counseling session.
Perhaps intimidated by the Heavenly Demon’s overbearing demeanor, Namgoong Jun knelt on the floor under the bed without being told to.
"Troubles...?"
"Yeah."
Namgoong Jun seemed quite flustered about why the Heavenly Demon had suddenly called him for this.
"Suddenly...?"
"You know I taught Jaha that dance."
"Ah, yes."
"You’re my member too. If you’re lacking anything, I’ll help."
Namgoong Jun, who was three months senior to the Heavenly Demon, seemed to suffer a brief cognitive dissonance at hearing this from a junior.
But then he seemed to realize Jaha was an even more distant senior to the Heavenly Demon and nodded in understanding.
"You don’t seem like the type, but you quietly look after everyone."
"What can I do? Debuting solo got too late."
"?"
"So, any troubles?"
When the Heavenly Demon asked again, Namgoong Jun pondered a bit before cautiously opening his mouth.
"Um... is what the excommunicated disciples said at the fanmeet true? That we’re coming back as a full group soon...?"
"You’re asking me, not the CEO?"
"Ah, oops. You don’t know either? I thought you did since you’re close to them."
Jaha and the Alliance Leader had asked about it too.
The Heavenly Demon and I had decided to push it all onto the CEO.
"I don’t know much either. The CEO will decide when the time comes."
"I see..."
As Namgoong Jun’s expression darkened, the Heavenly Demon raised one eyebrow.
"What’s bothering you?"
At the Heavenly Demon’s question, Namgoong Jun hesitated and glanced at me.
I gestured for him to speak freely, and only then did he answer haltingly.
"You know too... I’m a bit of an outsider in the group..."
"You’re worried you’ll get buried if the excommunicated disciples come back."
"Yeah... pretty much."
Lately, his relationship with Jaha seemed improved, so I hadn’t paid attention, but he’d been worrying about that.
Namgoong Jun bowed his head, his face deeply shadowed.
"I get asked who my closest member is a lot, but I can’t answer. Fans notice that stuff the most..."
"That’s it, huh."
"What do you mean?"
"I’ll fix it for you."
"...Fix what?"
The Heavenly Demon spoke gravely.
"If anyone asks, say your bestie is me. I’ll say you’re mine too."
"Huh? What about senior Jaha then?"
"Why’s he coming up here?"
"You two have been hanging out lately, right?"
"He’s just my disciple."
As Namgoong Jun made a strange face, the Heavenly Demon continued.
"You said last time you wanted to emulate me."
"Ah, yes. That was sincere."
"Stick with me for a while. Pretending to be close to me won’t hurt you."
"That’s... true, but..."
The Heavenly Demon was a member whose popularity was skyrocketing.
From debut to the recent U-Live, nothing hadn’t been a hot topic, so even normies knew him well.
And in that time, he’d gained a fanatic... no, core fandom called the "Heavenly Demon Divine Cult."
Namgoong Jun was too late to build chemistry with the originals, but with the Heavenly Demon, it was different.
Both were late additions, so it was plausible they’d gotten close.
The Heavenly Demon’s character was so intense that naming Namgoong Jun as his close member would make fans think there was something special about him.
It was a no-lose for Namgoong Jun.
It was surprising the Heavenly Demon suggested it himself.
That way, they’d spend more time together to fake closeness.
Easier to observe.
But Namgoong Jun rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"If we do that... you don’t gain anything, do you...?"
"How can you be so naive and be an idol?"
The Heavenly Demon’s mind was already a whirlwind of schemes like the Central Plains.
"I wouldn’t suggest it if there wasn’t something in it for me."
"R-Really? I don’t know what it is, but if you gain from it... I’m in."
"Good, smart choice. Then you know what to do now, right?"
"Ah... should we do a U-Live together?"
The Heavenly Demon smirked at Namgoong Jun’s words.
"That’s just BGM fodder."
"You even know ‘BGM’??"
"What you’ll do with me is this."
He showed Namgoong Jun a smartphone screen he’d prepared in advance, and Namgoong Jun’s eyes widened.
* * *
"......?"
Wuxia10fan, who’d entered Witaxi after a new post notification, doubted his eyes.
He rubbed them, thinking he’d seen wrong, and checked the phone screen again.
Nothing had changed.
"...What the hell is this."
The new post on Witaxi was a photo of the Heavenly Demon and Namgoong Jun.
Not just any photo.
A four-panel instant photo.
The two wearing matching heart-shaped colored sunglasses.
Posing with the unbeatable heart poses in a four-shot photo.
‘No way, these guys... got to four-shots already?!’
He hurriedly opened Twitter, and sure enough, photos of the two spotted by fans were going viral with retweets.
Judging by the buildings in the background, the location was probably Hongdae.
One photo showed them noticing the camera and throwing up peace signs.
[They came armed with masks and hats]
[What’s the point? Who else in Korea has long hair like that besides Huijin lololol]
[I thought it was a tall woman at first]
[Huijin’s 192cm lololol]
The Witaxi four-shot was spreading across Twitter amid all sorts of fuss.
Maybe because the combo was so unexpected.
He thought the four-shot hype would die in an hour or two, but it burned on for much longer.
Surprisingly, solo shots of Namgoong Jun were blowing up too.
[Jaha no Namgoong Jun???]
[This combo is so random it’s wild]
[Did they get close cuz he joined late? Are they really bros??]
[Huijin looks better than in his photocard lololol]
[Namgoong Jun looks kinda cute like this]
[Isn’t he super shy? How’d he get close to Heavenly Demon?]
[But doesn’t Namgoong Jun look burdened lololol]
[Heavenly Demon took four-shots with Namgoong Jun???]
Newcomers kept posting on the same topic, so real-time trends naturally featured ‘Heavenly Demon’, ‘Four-shot’, and ‘Namgoong Jun’.
‘A solo Jun shot with over 1,000 hearts... first time ever...!’
It’d been ages since Namgoong Jun got this much attention since debuting in Gupailbang.
Usually, pairing with a popular member buries the unpopular one.
But the Heavenly Demon’s unique personality sparked curiosity about the member ‘Namgoong Jun’ who did four-shots with him.
‘But there’s been no talk of these two being close till now...’
Wuxia10fan suddenly felt uneasy.
The recent hot topic among Beggar Clan fans was the mentor-disciple chemistry between Heavenly Demon and Joo Ja-ha.
Why was that a problem?
Huashan Sect fandom couldn’t stand any other member outshining Joo Ja-ha.
They’d stayed quiet even when the CEO blatantly pushed Heavenly Demon because their fave Joo Ja-ha seemed to respect him.
But this four-shot flaunting friendship with Namgoong Jun instead?
It was enough to set off the Huashan Sect hotheads who thought they were ‘putting up with it’.
Sure enough.
Less than a day after the four-shot dropped, posts like this started flooding communities.
[Gupailbang Heavenly Demon Huijin Dropping Evidence.jpg]