Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: TrueDetective
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: 14. Virtue Among Virtues (5)
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“So… what’s this story you wanted to talk about?”
Me, Uchi, and even Lion Rep.
The three of us had slipped into a café near the dorm.
Lion Rep and I were civilians, and Uchi…
Sorry to say it like this, but since he was a flop idol, no one recognized him, making it easy to chat.
“Actually, something happened recently with your rep…”
“Did you fight with your rep again?”
“We didn’t fight! And uh, he’s not our rep.”
“If he’s not your rep, then who else is your rep?”
Uchi eyed my face with an anxious look.
The way he was watching me more than necessary…
“No way, our rep?”
Uchi flinched but didn’t deny it.
“Ah, I told you earlier. It’s about your rep.”
“You… you’re in contact with our rep?”
“Not directly.”
“Then?”
“Th-that teacher Namgung Ryeo is the middleman…”
Namgung Ryeo Teacher coming up here?
“But…”
Uchi hesitated, glancing at Lion Rep.
“Who’s this person, coming along? …Sir?”
It seemed like there was some issue with our rep.
If I said Lion Rep knew our rep, he’d probably faint, so I had to brush it off vaguely.
“My future rep.”
“What?”
Uchi panicked, but Lion Rep chuckled softly, amused.
He must’ve liked me calling him my future rep, because Lion Rep played along.
“I’m a headhunter here to scout So-i. So speak freely.”
“Ah… I thought you were that Wihwa Jin guy’s sister for a sec…”
“Uchi.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t cross the line.”
“?”
Lion Rep didn’t like hearing he resembled the Heavenly Demon either.
Uchi looked confused, but figuring a headhunter scouting me wouldn’t snitch to Kichi Rep, he continued.
“Anyway, your rep is weird. Keeps giving strange orders.”
“Strange orders?”
“Well…”
Uchi gulped a few times before finally spilling it.
“The provocation on U-Live yesterday? That was all your rep’s doing!”
I scowled at Uchi’s words.
But it was because I couldn’t understand why he’d order something like that.
Lion Rep, who scowled at the same time, had a different expression.
Like he’d heard something he shouldn’t have.
Lion Rep asked Uchi with a coldly sunken face.
“Sa Rep… told you to stream all night?”
Uchi cowered a bit, then realized the anger wasn’t at him and barely replied.
“W-well, technically Teacher Namgung Ryeo passed it on, but still, no matter how I think about it, it’s too weird why he’d order that…”
“So-i.”
Lion Rep cut Uchi off, standing up as he spoke.
“Sorry, but I’ll head out first.”
“You’re leaving?”
“Talk like this is awkward with me here.”
It wasn’t wrong, per se.
But was it my imagination that he seemed to be suppressing anger?
Lion Rep gave Uchi a slight smile and left the café.
I watched his back for a moment, then turned to Uchi.
“Hmm.”
“W-why are you looking at me like that?”
“You follow orders blindly, then suddenly act suspicious.”
My words hit the mark; Uchi struggled for words, then mumbled in a shrinking voice.
“This happened before too…”
“Before? What’d he order then?”
“…He told me to start a fandom war.”
“Fandom war? When?”
“When there was that controversy about kicking out those two from Wihwa…”
“…”
I’d thought the fandom fight broke out at a perfect time.
Had the rep orchestrated it?
But he could’ve handled that level of scheme himself without using Uchi, so why…
“You. Get something from the rep?”
“Wh-what?”
“He must’ve promised you something, or you wouldn’t obey so meekly.”
“Well…”
Since he couldn’t speak up easily, it must be something deeply tied to me.
After hesitating, what came out of Uchi’s mouth was enough to leave me dumbfounded.
“When my Green Wood contract ends, Kichi will take me in…”
“What?”
“My contract ends this year! No renewal. A big agency like Kichi taking in a flop idol group? Didn’t matter anyway.”
Uchi thought I was appalled at him using the fandom and members for his own advancement and tried justifying it.
But even if Uchi was spineless, blindly obeying whoever—Lamang Rep or Kichi Rep—I didn’t feel like mocking him.
I knew how cutthroat this industry was.
I knew how miserably he’d lived as a flop.
So.
“You join Kichi, you’re dead.”
I couldn’t let him ruin his life twice.
Uchi paled at my words.
“N-no, hey! I’m spilling everything because I was afraid you’d do this! Why scare me? I’m already terrified… And you said good things about me to your rep!”
“…”
Instead of asking ‘Me?’, I stayed silent.
I got why Uchi suddenly came to me.
He’d obeyed blindly, but reflecting on it…
All the orders were inexplicable, leaving him uneasy.
And he couldn’t be sure our rep would keep his promise.
So he came to me for confirmation.
Thinking I was the rep’s closest confidant, I’d know.
‘He dropped hints it was my request to keep Uchi quiet.’
If he thought Uchi was tight-lipped like the Gupailbang members, the rep misjudged.
Uchi was more timid and suspicious than imagined; he couldn’t help but check like this.
“Next time, don’t follow the rep’s orders.”
“What? I-is that okay?”
“It’s fine. I’ll talk to the rep for you.”
Only then did color return to Uchi’s face.
He’d said it didn’t matter since they were flops, but clearly his heart wasn’t in it.
“But in return.”
“In return?”
“If the rep orders anything from now on. Tell me first.”
If the rep was using Uchi…
I’d use him plenty too.
* * *
After sending Uchi off and returning to the dorm, Jaha was watching TV in the living room.
Jaha burst out laughing the moment our eyes met.
“You gonna laugh every time you see my face?”
“But every time I see it, I remember Shin Tae-eul’s a eunuch.”
If I’d known Jaha would obsess over that, I should’ve just said one body part was missing.
“But what’s that guy up to lately? He must’ve seen the U-Live, so why no contact?”
“Actually, haven’t heard from him lately.”
“Why?”
“No idea. He’s so elusive…”
At the restaurant, on the dorm roof.
Shin Tae-eul popped up out of nowhere, so no contact didn’t worry me much.
“But why are you alone?”
“Jun-i said he’s going back home, so I sent him off with Dang Sa-cheon.”
“Suddenly to his family home? The kid who hates home and lives in the dorm—what’s up?”
You knew he hated his family home too?
Jaha seemed more interested in Namgung Jun than he let on.
“What about Heavenly Demon hyung?”
“Not back yet?”
“Yeah. It’s just me in the dorm.”
He left ages ago—what was he doing?
I glanced at the TV screen and saw a familiar face.
“Watching the Alliance Leader drama?”
“Ilgeom hyung asked me to monitor it.”
“He doesn’t usually ask favors like that.”
“Final episode soon, so he’s stressed, I guess.”
In the drama, the Alliance Leader stood in the rain.
Watching him act for a bit, a news flash popped up over the drama.
-Hatless torso found in Han River
-Identity confirmation underway
“Whoa, scary.”
“Stuff like that still happens.”
“Han River—that’s right nearby, right?”
Curious about the breaking news, Jaha switched to the news channel.
-Death estimated between 4 and 6 a.m. today.
“Oh, they’re talking about it here too.”
I left Jaha glued to the news and headed to my room without a thought.
But the next news line froze me in place.
-The body found… was a male in pink tracksuit?
-Genitals mutilated, pointing to a grudge killing…
“…What?”
Jaha spat out in an icy voice.
“What… is this?”
I was just as stunned.
Jaha stared holes through the screen, then suddenly burst laughing.
“What a hilarious coincidence! How is this possible? There’s another guy like Shin Tae-eul in the world.”
I couldn’t respond.
Jaha didn’t wait for me.
The smile vanished from his face in an instant; he muttered like a madman.
“I must be crazy. A person died, and here I am. Was I too thoughtless just now? No, but it matches what you said about Shin Tae-eul exactly. It’s weird, right? Weird, isn’t it? Hyung, you don’t think it’s weird?”
Jaha looked at me like he’d burst into tears any second.
“Hyung… say something.”
“…”
I was pondering if the body on the news was really Shin Tae-eul.
A decapitated corpse.
No matter how I thought about it, suspicious.
Someone deliberately cut off the head to hide the identity, obviously.
‘But if it’s not Shin Tae-eul…’
Then who the hell was the body?
Just then, an intense plum blossom scent filled the dorm.
Crimson-black plum blossoms surged from Jaha, as if to devour him.
“Hyung, I feel weird…”
Before I could act, the one who stepped up and knocked Jaha out with a strike to the neck was the Heavenly Demon, back at just the right time.
He caught the collapsing Jaha with one arm and gave me an inevitable look.
“If I’d left him, he’d have fallen into qi deviation.”
In this situation, what do you say?
I swallowed dryly and replied softly.
“…Well done.”
The Heavenly Demon raised one eyebrow, as if my response was unexpected.
But something was off about the Heavenly Demon.
He was wavering wildly…
My head spun, stomach churned.
Why was the floor rippling?
The Heavenly Demon clicked his tongue softly.
“If you pass out too, it’ll be trouble.”
“…Understood.”
Propping myself on the sofa, I watched the news to the end.
The estimated time of death came up again.
Between 4 and 6 a.m.
While we were laughing and chatting on U-Live.
‘Wait…’
Was it coincidence that the death time overlapped with the stream?
The one who made us stream till dawn was none other than Saibi.
Our rep.
* * *
Kichi’s rep, Saibi, gazed at the Han River from the dorm rooftop.
Sirens from police cars and chaotic vibes carried on the air.
Things had gone wrong already. Time to clean up.
Then, footsteps approached from behind.
Saibi spoke without turning.
“Our security guy is terrible at managing visitors.”
“The guard’s working diligently, so don’t say that, Sa Rep.”
Lion Rep landed lightly behind Saibi.
“The body’s been found.”
“I saw the news.”
Lion Rep fell silent, as if catching his breath.
After a brief pause, a whisper came from Lion Rep.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Not your style, Sa Rep. Something so public.”
Only then did Saibi turn.
Dusk was falling, yet Lion Rep’s eyes gleamed red.
“You’re misunderstanding, Yang Rep.”
“Misunderstanding?”
Saibi sighed softly and said.
“I didn’t kill him…”