Chapter 416
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 416
It was May. Spring was in full bloom, and the leaves swaying in the breeze were reaching their peak of vibrant green. However, in the world of K-pop, a fierce typhoon was raging, completely at odds with the season.
A few weeks prior, Black Call had finally broken their long hiatus and made their comeback.
【BLACKCALL - ‘Blackout’ Official MV】
The music video, which had already easily surpassed hundreds of millions of views, began on a seemingly endless highway in a foreign land. The footage, rendered with low saturation and a hazy, blurred effect, painted a picture of strange gloom.
【Na na na na na na】
A Mustang Fastback tore through the deep night. An unsettling harmony composed of tritones drifted out from the car radio.
Then, the camera zoomed in on Ju Woo-seong, seated in the driver’s seat and wearing a thin black leather jacket. Letting out a small sigh, he slammed on the brakes, stepped out of the car, and rummaged through his jacket pockets.
【Na na na na na na】
All the while, the radio's volume continued to swell. The heavy thrum of drums beneath the harmony mixed with static, spreading through the air.
Pulling a Zippo lighter engraved with a ranunculus from his pocket, Ju Woo-seong flicked the lid open with a sharp snap.
Ting, click—.
【Na na na na na na—】
Simultaneously, the screen captured Ju Woo-seong tossing the lighter into the driver’s seat in slow motion. As flames instantly erupted from the vehicle, a dark silhouette flickered behind him before vanishing. The camera angle then shifted to the passenger seat.
A skeleton, wearing a crooked crown adorned with various jewels, trembled within the inferno. Its jaw suddenly unhinged, and the lyrics poured out.
【It’s getting on my nerves】
As the skeleton’s lips curled into a grotesque smirk, Chae Jeong-woo’s face overlapped with it.
【I can’t stop thinking about you】
Amidst hexagonal dice floating toward the ceiling and a roulette wheel spinning frantically, Chae Jeong-woo lightly flipped a chip in his right hand, caught it, and tossed it toward the section of the betting table marked ‘BLACK.’
Standing beside him, Jeon Sae-young, Lee Han-ju, and Lee Beom-hyun exchanged glances, their expressions heavy with meaning.
【I want to push you until you have no room to breathe
I take your trembling hand and ask, Are you mine?】
Boom! At the moment the drums thundered again, the scene shifted. Ju Woo-seong walked unsteadily, brushing back his bangs, as the Mustang Fastback’s engine exploded into a ball of fire behind him.
【When you step on my heart
Our lips will overlap】
With the black smoke as his backdrop, Ju Woo-seong swung his booted feet to the funky rhythm, grinning like an innocent child.
【…—Then it’s blackout】
His honey-blonde hair was dyed crimson by the reflection of the flames. The title card slammed onto a pitch-black background, bringing the music video to an end.
《Black Call’s New Song Rankings Soar Without a Ceiling, Entering Billboard at #29》
《Overseas Hot 100: #29 -> #17 -> #10?! Domestic Charts Already All-Killed!》
《Black Call Records Consecutive Top Rankings on US Billboard Main Charts》
《The Reason Overseas Fans Were Shocked After Hearing Black Call’s Song!》
With their new album, Black Call was shattering every K-pop record in existence.
[Black Call is just being Black Call.
Everyone’s like, “Whoa~ Black Call’s new song hit the Hot 100 again~” and just moving on like it’s totally normal lol.]
[Guys, the Blackout MV isn’t CG... Black Call’s class, actually burning a car worth over a hundred million won..........]
[Is that car really worth that much? -> Are these guys rotting in money? -> Well, Black Call is rotting in money.
└The natural flow of thought lolololol]
[Did you see the behind-the-scenes? Ju Woo-seong actually went “Hot! Hot!” while filming, but as soon as the camera rolled, he acted like it was nothing. Fucking cute lol.
└Ah, our Ju-seong is a pro among pros lol.]
While one side was busy celebrating Black Call’s grand return like a festival, a different atmosphere was brewing elsewhere.
《WH’s Q1 Earnings Managed to Recover, but Failed to Meet Market Expectations Compared to the Previous Period—….》
Articles regarding WH Entertainment’s first-quarter performance began to surface, carrying an ominous tone.
《…—As Black Call’s comeback, originally expected in Q1, was pushed to Q2, WH Entertainment’s Q1 revenue failed to exceed market expectations… (Omitted) … Meanwhile, a representative from WH Entertainment stated, ‘We will continue to pursue active promotions and innovation moving forward’—….》
Though it was merely a standard quarterly revenue report, every word felt threatening to the fans.
[Active promotions…. Innovation….
Shut up, don’t do anything.]
[Fuck, I’m biting my nails like a nutcracker right now.]
Sure enough.
It didn’t take long for WH Entertainment to appear, ready to screw over the fans once again, staying true to their track record of backstabbing.
《NEXT STEP》
They announced the debut of a ‘rookie’ boy group to follow in the footsteps of Black Call, High Five, and The Dawn.
Posters featuring only the silhouettes of seven members under the slogan ‘NEXT STEP’ covered every corner of Seoul.
Even though no concrete information had been released, rumors about which trainees were confirmed for the lineup spread like wildfire among WH Entertainment stans.
[AH!!!!!!!! Finally, our Ggun-ie is coming out of the jewelry box!]
[Omg, a new idol... What is this? I can smell the WH scent from the Rookies’ profiles...... I love it...]
[What the hell, are the Rookies’ visuals for real? Is this real life? So good.]
[Did they go all out on marketing this time? They’re appearing everywhere.]
Promotional videos for the rookie boy group even started appearing as Nutube ads.
[I want to stop seeing this now…… Chill with the marketing….]
[I’ve seen it so much I can mimic all their poses T_T lol.]
So much capital was poured in that even people with zero interest in idols became aware that WH Entertainment was debuting a new group.
The ones most enraged by this were the existing fandoms.
[Fuck off.]
Perhaps because the timing was so poor, both Bloy and Ha-i-ri lamented the agency’s behavior of churning out group after group of the same gender. However, the anger of the Noeuls reached the heavens.
[Seriously, fuck off. All the executives should just die.]
[Fine... I’m happy for the kids who practiced hard to debut... I’ll support them personally..... But you shouldn’t mess with the existing idols, you pieces of shit T_T]
[Has the CEO gone senile? Get lost.]
While Black Call and High Five were actively continuing their group activities, The Dawn had been radio silent since their concert tour in February.
Kim Seong-hyeon and Seong Ji-won occasionally did live broadcasts with content like ‘Let’s have dinner together! feat. Da-jun’s cooking’ or ‘Let’s support Da-jun’s MC activities together!’, but even those were becoming less frequent.
[I heard WH told The Dawn to cut back on the lives.]
[Yeah, I heard that too. Plus, the original Daepasung staff is being drastically downsized lol.
└This is WH’s ‘innovation.’
└Ah, fuck, this makes me so mad lol.]
[Fangirls are back at it with their delusions.. Why would the company ban lives? They do them when they feel like it lol. Didn’t that group that got absorbed just do whatever they wanted? They were so proud of being ‘rebels who love their fans’ lol. Just admit it, your oppas have dead fish eyes now and don’t want to do lives.
└Typing sounds... Typing sounds... Enter!
└Damn, you really packed in the word count lol. Is this a writing contest?]
Then, a bombshell dropped.
[I heard Kang Yi-chae went back to the US.]
A bolt from the blue struck The Dawn’s fans.
[????]
[Look at this idiot believing a lie.]
[What kind of nonsense is this now lol... Hey... if you’re gonna be a nuisance, go make fake news on Nutube.]
However, the rumor wasn’t baseless. Evidence of Kang Yi-chae’s departure began to surface one after another.
[Title: It’s true that K.Y.C. went back to the US.
My friend works at the airline and confirmed it.
He booked a one-way ticket to the US and left.
└Isn’t this a reportable privacy violation?;;
└There are so many crazies. He’s on vacation, why would you check that;;
└└Kang Yi-chae is the crazy one for abandoning his group and running away.
└└? Yi-chae loves being an idol, what kind of bullshit is this?
└└He’s resting after doing everything he needed to do. How is that running away?]
[Title: Kang Yi-chae abandoned the group? lololol??
Even when he’s busy, Yi-chae comes to Pop-Pop regularly to check in on fans...... lol.
Don’t you know his famous fansign video?
When asked how he likes being an idol, he smiled and said he’s really happy and having fun... It went viral because he looked so genuinely happy...
I guarantee you, he could never give up the idol life.
└Every single word is so pitiful T_T If you look at the times he sends Pop-Pops.. it’s obvious he’s in the US..
└But separately, Kang Yi-chae is smart.
If he breaks the contract and runs, he has to pay the penalty, so he’s probably just trying to enjoy himself like this~ Since Pop-Pop is the only regular service that can be refunded, he’s being nice lol.
└└Let’s go, you piece of shit, I’ll fight you.]
[Title: My friends have all quietly left the fandom.
Everyone’s keeping it hush-hush, but it’s true the Noeuls are all leaving..
I really liked them too, but I’m debating whether to quit T_T I have a real life to live.. The members must know this trend, so it’s disappointing they don’t do lives. Honestly, I’m exhausted..
Is there anyone else like me here?
└Miss, if you’re going to try and manipulate public opinion, at least delete your post history first.
└└Lolololol, what’s with the polite comment?
└└I burst out laughing when I saw the past posts about WH Rookies lol.
└Wow, seeing this kind of sabotage makes me want to stan even harder.
└└Same. I want to see how far they’ll go.]
Of course, there were those who welcomed the current situation with interest.
[Why? The new boy group is young and great though? Hahaha?]
[Look at those fans already trying to gatekeep. Yeah, I’m not stanning ‘used’ idols who can’t even win a Grand Prize~ (Emoji with both hands up)]
[If you’re gonna stan an idol, you gotta pick one who has at least 10 years left before the military T_T]
[Black Call went to Billboard even with the military looming, so they’re good for a few more years.. High Five can hang in there for a year or two.. But The Dawn, who didn’t even win a Grand Prize, is just a rag now T_T]
Despite the countless inflammatory posts, there was nothing the Noeuls could do. Even when they sent protests to WH Entertainment, the response was, as always, silence.
[Whew…… Reading the hate comments makes my heart race and my hands shake T_T
└To say that, you seemed to be winning those keyboard wars pretty well in the screenshots....
└You... for someone who was shaking, you tore them apart quite well...]
Everyone had reached their limit to just laugh it off as mere sabotage. Finally, as fans were filling their private SNS accounts with repetitive sentences like ‘This is seriously so fucking shitty, so fucking shitty, fuck’ and ‘I’m going to blow up the WH building one day,’ new news about Seo Ho-yun arrived.
《Seo Ho-yun as a Genius Prosecutor in ‘Despicable Trial,’ First Still Cuts Released》
《…—‘Despicable Trial’ is a crime action film directed by Kim Je-hyeok, who has drawn the largest audiences in Korean film history. Here, Seo Ho-yun takes on the role of ‘Kang Ki-young,’ a prosecutor deeply colluded with the chaebol world—….》
Seeing this, the Noeuls felt their blood boil, wondering if WH Entertainment was really trying to pick a fight. At the same time, they wanted to grab Seo Ho-yun by the neck and shake him, telling him this wasn’t the time to be calmly filming a movie.
[Ho-yun-ah~ Good luck with filming and stay healthy! ♡♡♡]
However, the Noeuls chose to suppress their roiling emotions and support Seo Ho-yun.
They trusted him.
Though he didn’t express it often, they believed in the sincerity they caught glimpses of in his expressions and the words he shared with them.
[We’ll wait... ㅎㅎ]
Above all, the Noeuls were strong.
[Until the enemy’s corpse floats down the river.....]
* * *
‘Oh, this song is actually really good.’
Shin Hee-chan, listening to Black Call’s new song through his Bluetooth earbuds while looking out the bus window, let out a small exclamation of admiration.
His face was becoming more recognizable as his recently concluded web drama became a hit, but he still used public transportation. He felt that as long as he wore a hat and a mask, it was still manageable.
Arriving at the set of Despicable Trial, where filming had recently begun, Shin Hee-chan first checked in with his manager before greeting the staff as he moved.
“Hello!”
“Hee-chan, hey there~.”
The staff responded kindly to Shin Hee-chan, who was trying his best to be amiable.
‘I have to work hard.’
His role in this project was a rookie prosecution investigator—a character who was clumsy because he was newly assigned to the Prosecutor’s Office but burned with a sense of justice.
For Shin Hee-chan, who was still a fledgling rookie in the film world, this was a precious opportunity that might not come again. His manager and CEO had both urged him repeatedly.
“Hee-chan, you have to be really careful on set.”
And to always be polite.
The film already featured a cast full of veteran actors. If a relative newcomer like him acted arrogant and got caught up in even a minor issue, there was no telling how things would spiral.
“Still, since one of the supporting actors is an idol… it won’t be too bad.”
They had added that as well.
But that was a huge misconception on the CEO’s part.
‘CEO….’
Based on what Shin Hee-chan had observed over the past few weeks, that idol was anything but ordinary.
‘…It’s only “okay” if they’re just “somewhat” good!’
Wiping away a stray tear, Shin Hee-chan took a cautious step forward. At that moment, a voice so sharp it made him flinch pierced his ears.
“So what?”
In the middle of several cameras stood a man, leaning at a provocatively crooked angle with a sneer on his lips.
“Is it my fault I like money?”
It was Seo Ho-yun, looking as if he had completely transformed into the ‘corrupt prosecutor’ himself.