Chapter 143
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 143
[Title: Does Seo Ho-yun smoke?]
A post on an anonymous online community spread rapidly.
[This is from last year, right? A screenshot from the rural self-produced content lol
This is Seo Ho-yun, right? And this looks like the cigarette.]
The image in the post appeared to be a screenshot from their past self-produced rural content video.
Jeong Da-jun and Kang Yi-chae were excitedly flopping onto an outdoor wooden platform, and next to them, Seong Ji-won was unpacking their luggage. Behind them, through a slightly ajar paper-paned door, someone could be seen holding something in their hand.
Below that, alongside a heavily magnified and pixelated photo of the gap in the door, was a captured image of Seo Ho-yun in the outfit he wore before changing into the T-shirt Kang Yi-chae had given him. The suspected cigarette brand was also mentioned.
[Title: Looks like it’s him
(Photo)
The manager quickly takes it away lol
Ah, it’s been a while since a scandal broke~]
In truth, while idols needed to be careful since they sold dreams and hope and were role models for children, and while it could be an issue in terms of a singer’s self-management, it was surprisingly common for idols to get caught smoking.
However, haters, who would latch onto any little thing and refuse to let go, jumped at the chance, attracting all sorts of trolls.
[lmao I knew it]
[Why is everyone so surprised..? lol Isn’t it obvious? He’s probably been smoking since he was a minor~]
[What about your throat? What about your throat? What about your throat?]
Besides such blatant insults, there were also many posts that feigned concern while subtly getting under one’s skin.
[Title: About Seo Ho-yun smoking
Of course, I think it’s fine if you’re an adult?
But Seo Ho-yun is an idol and a vocalist, isn’t he..? lol
I liked him, but I’m a little disappointed that he doesn’t seem to take care of himself...ㅜ]
The Noeul, however, didn’t consider it a big deal.
How could they turn their backs on Seo Ho-yun, who, despite his obviously difficult personality, always did his absolute best for his fans?
The daily private messages, the steady stream of selfies he uploaded, the way he would always say things like, “Make sure you eat well,” or “Hope you have a great day,” with a gentle smile at every opportunity (even during the filming of Shining Star)—it was impossible for a core fandom not to form.
[What????? Seo Ho-yun smokes??]
So when the post about Seo Ho-yun smoking appeared, the Noeul came running just as frantically, but for a completely different reason.
[I came running as fast as I could]
[Hurry hurry hurry]
It wasn't out of anger at the smoking rumor.
[Show us the picture, now!!!!!]
It was because they wanted to see it.
The saying “like singer, like fan” didn’t exist for nothing.
It wasn’t exactly something to be proud of, so they couldn’t say it publicly, but the Noeul who had rushed over with fluttering hearts and pounding chests from their private accounts felt their excitement completely deflate at the sight of a blurry, 144p-quality screenshot of him holding a mere cigarette pack.
[Ah~~ What the hell]
[Guys, if you’re going to start a smoking rumor, huh? The least you could do is show a picture of him actually smoking. So rude.]
[I was getting so hyped to make it my phone background, but ugh… what a letdown.]
These were fans who had overcome every kind of adversity. This was something they could brush off with a snort.
Even when he was playing the role of the chain-smoking Lee Jeong-hun PD, they had never seen the real Seo Ho-yun with a cigarette to his lips.
As their inflated expectations fizzled out, the slightly saddened Noeul began chatting amongst themselves again.
[For starters, I smoke two packs a day whenever a comeback teaser drops
Because I’m sad that man will never be mine
└ I know, right? It’s standard procedure to chug soju whenever that bastard comes on Pop-Pop acting all polite.]
[People still call this a scandal? These kids have only tasted the mild side of K-Pop.]
[If it were Jeong Da-jun or Seong Ji-won, I might have been a little shocked (and Kim Seong-hyeon already said he hates the smell)
But Seo Ho-yun?
I’d roll out the red carpet and say, ‘We’ve been waiting for you.’
└ Kang Yi-chae: It’s more surprising that he doesn’t smoke.
└└ LMAO ahhhhhhhhhh hahahahahahaha]
However, the Seo Ho-yun smoking incident died down much faster than expected.
The atmosphere completely flipped when one netizen brought up a different variety show that had been filmed at the same location as The Dawn’s self-produced content.
[Title: I don’t think those cigarettes are Seo Ho-yun’s
A variety show called ‘Hometown Home Cooking’ filmed at the same place before the rural self-produced content, so I looked it up.
Below is a magnified screenshot from that show.
(crumpled_cigarette_pack_between_LPs.jpg)
It’s hidden inside so it’s hard to see,
but if you capture the scene where they lift a few LPs to play a song, you can glimpse it in the corner.
Doesn’t this look exactly the same as the one from the leaked Seo Ho-yun smoking photo??
└ Whoa, you’re right.
└ Holy shit, how the hell do you even find this stuff???]
Following this post, another one refuting the Seo Ho-yun smoking rumor was uploaded shortly after.
[Title: Proof that it’s not Seo Ho-yun’s cigarette (Photo attached)
I compared the photos from Hometown Home Cooking and The Dawn’s rural self-produced content.
(cigarette_pack_magnified.jpg)
The brand, the location it was found, and the marks are identical.
Hometown Home Cooking broadcast: July 19th
The Dawn’s rural self-produced content: July 21st
Also, if you zoom in on The Dawn’s manager who appears briefly after the rural healing segment, he’s holding the same cigarettes.
A staff member or cast member from Hometown Home Cooking probably left it behind, and the reason Seo Ho-yun was holding it was likely to hand it over to the manager to avoid any trouble. ㅇㅇ
└ Wow, what a wild fantasy.
└└ ?I think they’re right, though.
└└ The person above just wants to hate on him even when there’s evidence lol
└ Hey, if this is true, I feel so bad for SHY ㅠㅠ]
The story spread quickly, and a staff member from Hometown Home Cooking at the time posted on their Starstagram, clarifying that the cigarettes were theirs. With that, the incident was closed.
[lol Where did all the haters go now? lol]
[This is seriously ridiculous..]
Everyone just laughed it off like a passing issue.
[Ho-yun~ We’ll support you no matter what you do.
└ What if he starts dating?
└└ Seo Ho-yun is already dating.
└└ Huh??
└└ Me ♡
└└ Damn...]
But not long after, another reaction surfaced.
[Hey, but where did that first cigarette screenshot even come from? I’ve rewatched the official video a million times and it’s not there??]
No matter how many times people scoured the rural self-produced content video uploaded to Nutube to find the screenshot, the scene itself simply didn’t exist.
[....? Huh?]
Only then did the Noeul react with alarm.
They could coolly overlook a smoking incident, but if it was a leak, that was a different story.
[Is this screenshot from an unreleased clip? Does that mean it was leaked from Daepasung?
└ ????]
No matter how many times they replayed the video, cutting it down to the second, they couldn't find a frame that perfectly matched the photo posted online.
[Ah, fuck.]
The Noeul’s bewilderment slowly turned to rage.
[Looks like there’s a leaker at Daepasung.]
This was not an issue they could let slide.
Just then, various suspicious incidents from the past began to resurface among the fans.
[Ah lol fuck, could the same person be responsible for the ‘Second Chance’ song leak last year?]
[The members never show it, but they get a lot of calls from sasaengs during their B-Lives... Did they sell their phone numbers too??]
[I’m so fucking pissed...]
The keywords ‘Leaker’ and ‘Daepasung’ instantly shot up the real-time trends.
Back during the Second Chance leak, they had been nobodies with low recognition, so it had been swept under the rug. But not now.
In addition to mass-trending hashtags, a flood of posts demanding an official statement from Daepasung went up.
As the situation escalated, Daepasung could no longer remain silent.
[The Dawn’s ‘Second Chance’ Song Leak Constitutes Copyright Infringement… Daepasung Entertainment ‘Has Requested an Immediate Investigation’]
It was very late, but it was a sign they were at least trying to do something. While the scandal erupted outside, the inside of Daepasung Entertainment was also in an uproar.
The Planning Office was in the worst state.
This was because it was the department that managed all of the company’s data.
After the CEO had given them a thorough lashing, the atmosphere in the Planning Office was grim.
“Hey, who… who’s looked at the rural content data recently?”
As Lee Ji-hyeon’s senior’s face turned deathly pale, she herself was lost in a different thought.
That crazy bastard….
Not the leaker.
Seo Ho-yun, that absolute madman….
She meant Seo Ho-yun.
He hadn’t given her the details, but that day, Seo Ho-yun had asked her to secretly hand over the rural healing program data. Afterward, he had told her not to touch it at all and to pass off the task of a data hard drive dump to a few specific seniors.
“You’re not… you’re not doing anything strange, are you?”
“Of course not. Don’t you trust me?”
She didn’t.
Although she clutched the hardbound book he had given her tightly to her chest, she couldn’t erase the suspicion from her eyes. Seo Ho-yun’s eyes curved into crescents as he placated her.
“Are you nervous? All you have to do, Ms. Lee Ji-hyeon, is pretend you don’t know anything.”
“……”
“Think of it simply. Just relax.”
Then, he leaned in slightly.
“We never met today.”
It was his way of telling her to just do as he said, then shut her mouth, close her eyes, and cover her ears.
His words allowed Lee Ji-hyeon to guess what was happening without having to think too hard.
“Haa, this is driving me crazy. What on earth….”
This entire board was set by Seo Ho-yun.
He wanted to catch the leaker and crush the Planning Office’s morale, but dredging up old incidents wouldn’t be effective. So, he had manufactured a new incident to light the fuse.
In other words, Seo Ho-yun had spread the rumor himself, because he wanted to.
On his own birthday, no less.
Of course, the company would never imagine he’d make such a self-sabotaging move, so Seo Ho-yun wasn’t even on the list of suspects.
She wanted to grab anyone and ask them where in the world you could find an idol who would spread a rumor about himself smoking just to turn his own company upside down.
…There’s one right here.
For Seo Ho-yun, it was more than possible.
“I need to report to the CEO first, so let’s talk again later. Alright?”
“…Yes.”
But Lee Ji-hyeon couldn’t see what would happen next.
Even if the smoking incident ignited the issue of the song and phone number leaks, how would that lead to a complete overhaul of the Planning Team?
In the first place, even if he lit the fuse, if he couldn’t find the leaker, it would just tarnish their image a little and wouldn’t even work as noise marketing. It would end up as nothing more than a clumsy, bad move.
“Then I’ll… get back to work.”
Lee Ji-hyeon cautiously glanced around before turning away.
In any case, it wasn’t her place to worry about a madman.
.
.
.
“Hurry up and cough it up.”
[You thug….]
At that moment, I was relentlessly chewing out the System Window for the first time in a while.
[A quest has arrived!
Complete 10 events in Japan!
Success: 5,000 Points
Failure: (There isn’t one. I tried my best.)]
[I’m the best, right? hehe]
Before leaving for Japan—that is, before I met Lee Ji-hyeon—a quest like this had appeared after a long time.
As if reflecting on its past antics, the System Window had brought a quest with pretty good conditions, but I was more interested in an item in the Item Shop.
[May I See You in My Dreams ><
Allows you to influence a designated target’s dream. May the fans continue to think of The Dawn─.
─…No.
This is giving me a reality check. Just use it however you want.
Yes, this is an item that lets you, Seo Ho-yun, pull all sorts of shenanigans.
But it’s expensive, so I recommend you don’t even think about it.
Points: 20,000
*Additional points may be charged depending on the dream’s content.]
It meant the minimum required points were 20,000. I couldn’t afford it right now because I had wasted a ton of points messing with Yun Hee-eon last time.
[What’s the point of looking at this again?]
[You can’t afford it anyway.]
“Why can’t I?”
[…Excuse me?]
The System Window sounded utterly bewildered.
There was a time, once.
I had been grumbling in my usual passing manner about how hard it was to save up points from quests, but how quickly they were spent.
For once, the System Window had answered earnestly.
It said that while there was a price, it was possible to borrow points.
[No.]
Then, as if it suddenly realized something, it spammed multiple system windows.
[Don’t take out a loan.]
[Seriously.]
[It’s a totally]
[bad idea.]
[It’s a huge loss, I’m telling you.]
[You’ll regret it!]
“Yeah, I’m doing it.”
I grinned at the system’s question.
Expanding the board with Kim Jae-yeon’s help had been a pretty good call.
Look at the reaction now.
See? Everything has its use.
At the time, there were no cameras installed in the room yet. But outside, they had been filming the members’ reactions from the moment the van arrived at the location.
The person editing the self-produced content video had, with a hawk’s eye, cut the part with the cigarette pack and reported it separately only to the Planning Team Leader and Lee Ji-hyeon, who was practically The Dawn’s dedicated staff member. The Dawn had also been given a heads-up. The video was later uploaded to Nutube with that part edited out.
Recalling that memory, I had formulated a plan in an instant.
I asked Lee Ji-hyeon for the data, dug through the old files to spread the screenshot from the unreleased footage, and succeeded in flipping the narrative into a Daepasung leak rumor through Kim Jae-yeon.
I had started the engine for the Planning Office overhaul; now, all I had to do was step on the gas.
I wanted to catch the leaker to create the perfect picture, and for that, this item seemed to be the most cost-effective.
[How is that the first thing you think of?? Don’t people usually try to save what they have?]
“For office workers, an overdraft account is standard.”
I retorted lightly and was about to hurry the system along, but the damn thing asked persistently.
[You know you can’t use that item if you don’t know who the target is, right?]
“You think I’d be doing this if I didn’t know?”
[…How in the world do you know?]
“I already threw out some bait last year.”
I lay back on the sofa, crossed my legs, and crunched on a lollipop.
From the time of the Second Chance leak (that is, when I was busy puking my guts out in the bathroom), I had suspected the culprit was an insider.
My suspicion deepened after the sasaeng call incident, so I deliberately set a trap.
“I changed my phone number, narrowed it down to a few suspects, and only shared my new number with them.”
[What??]
“It didn’t take long for the calls to start coming in. My info had been sold.”
The motive for the leak wasn’t very clear.
It was just some pathetic loser who got a kick out of spilling secrets or was satisfied with a small payment.
And that pathetic loser was in the Planning Team.
But when I tried to catch them with evidence, they must have been laying low recently, because it was incredibly hard to find anything.
No matter how much I used the data from Lee Ji-hyeon to blow up the smoking incident and connect it to the Second Chance leak and the sasaeng calls…
It’s not enough.
The company clearly wouldn’t move easily.
Most companies were conservative, and they were more eager to hide bad news than to cut it out, even if they knew it would get worse later.
In other words, unless I caught the leaker myself and shoved them in the CEO’s face, he wouldn’t readily overhaul the Planning Office.
It’s all about timing.
Rather than wait for a sluggish investigation, I had to catch the leaker now, while the external pressure was intense, and restructure the Planning Office.
And just as I was thinking that, this item had caught my eye.
[You psycho….]
[Are you really going to do it??]
“Yeah, you bastard. Don’t make me say it twice.”
When it became clear I had no intention of changing my mind, a bit of static flickered across the system window before it displayed something.
[……Fine, then I’ll at least list the side effects of the loan system.]
“Go on.”
[High fever, muscle aches, chills.]
I had expected that much.
It had been the same during the song leak.
I watched with an indifferent gaze, but as the list continued to scroll on and on, I was momentarily speechless.
[…A cough that makes you think you’re about to die,
A severe headache, as if someone is splitting your skull from behind,
Loss of appetite, making you want to vomit at the sight or smell of anything,
Coughing up blood due to bronchial mucosal hemorrhage,
Damage to nasal blood vessels, causing nosebleeds about once an hour….]
“……This description sounds deliberately malicious.”
[Are you really going to do it? This is nothing compared to last time, I’m telling you!]
I raised my eyes and scanned the list of side effects again.
It was absolutely endless.
After a moment of thought, I nodded.
“Give me the loan.”
I’ve come this far. I can’t stop now.
[Ah, seriously…. This is so over the top….]
The System Window muttered for a long time as it brought up the message window. I immediately used the borrowed points to purchase the item.
[You have purchased ‘May I See You in My Dreams’!]
[Don’t you dare regret this.]
“Why would I regret it?”
.
.
.
But exactly one hour later.
“……Cough, cough! Kegh!”
…That is, after I had coughed up blood three times in the bathroom,
“Fuuuuck.”
I was beginning to regret not listening to the System Window for the first time.