Chapter 75
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 75
[“So, CEO Kim Weisu forged the consent of a legal guardian to sign an exclusive contract with the minor Jeong Da-jun. Is that correct?”]
[“That… is correct.”]
As the recording echoed through the office, the CEO’s jaw dropped. He clearly hadn’t expected me to settle everything in three days—no, two.
“Did you… really go there and get this yourself?”
“Yes.”
I nodded and handed over the original contract termination notice.
“This should wrap everything up.”
“Where on earth did you get this…!”
“They just gave it to me.”
Stunned that I’d obtained it so easily, the CEO looked back and forth between the notice and me.
I had left Jeong Da-jun outside on purpose. The moment I’d stepped into the lobby, he’d jumped up as if he’d been waiting for me, looking excessively tearful. I wouldn’t be able to say what I needed to say if he were in the room.
“My part ends here. Please handle the rest yourself, CEO.”
“…….”
“I’ll be expecting a better response next time.”
I cleaned up this mess, so you’d better handle the next one yourself.
The power dynamic between us had completely flipped. Still, he must have had a shred of conscience left somewhere deep in the abyss of his soul, as he simply nodded in agreement.
But I didn’t stop there.
“Is the renewal ready?”
“Well, that’s….”
He didn’t prepare it.
He really didn’t think I’d pull it off.
My expression hardened instantly.
If I hadn’t succeeded and the company had to pay the penalty for Da-jun’s contract, he definitely wouldn’t have given us our settlement payments. In fact, he probably would have used that as an excuse to void the current renewal and corner us.
What a world.
I deliberately stayed silent. When you stare at someone in silence, they naturally start looking for excuses.
“Well, since Da-jun’s… Da-jun’s situation wasn’t fully resolved yet….”
“CEO.”
I weighed my options for a moment. Should I actually go through the hassle of finding a new agency, or should I coax this CEO into being useful?
“You see….”
My style was the latter.
In that regard, this agency wasn’t half bad since they mostly left us alone. It made them easy to manipulate.
“While talking to Weisu Ent and looking over the contracts… something occurred to me.”
“Y-yes?”
“When I first renewed, I had that penalty clause added to the contract. Do you remember?”
‘Make them pay me back double the investment put into The Dawn so far.’
‘Fine. We’ll set the penalty at double the investment.’
The clause stating that the penalty for breach would be twice the investment.
It had long since become a useless clause after our last promotions ended, but it was still a valid card I could play.
“I remember.”
“I was thinking about it, and from an outsider’s perspective, that could look like an unfair contract….”
The CEO’s eyes wavered. He looked like he was thinking, ‘No way.’ I offered a thin smile.
That’s right.
It was a trap from the very beginning.
The CEO probably accepted it thinking it was just the bravado of a rookie idol. But he’d messed with the wrong person.
If a clause like that leaked, the company would be branded as one that ‘imposed ridiculous conditions on its idols,’ and the CEO would be caught in the snare of an unfair contract.
If he wanted to avoid that, he had no choice but to follow my lead, even if it felt like blackmail.
It’s time to apply some pressure.
The CEO probably never imagined this. He wouldn’t have expected a twenty-three-year-old idol, a total novice in society, to be this shameless and bold.
Any other normal, sensible person wouldn’t want to drag themselves through the mud by bringing up such a clause.
But his opponent was me.
I’m Seo Ho-yun, an expert in mud-slinging dogfights. If I’m going down, I’m taking everyone with me.
I leaned back leisurely against the sofa. While pretending to be worried about a potential leak, I subtly emphasized my words to pressure him.
“I’d like to make sure it doesn’t leak outside. You can manage that, right, CEO?”
“…….”
“I want to stay with Daepasung for as long as possible. With a good Daepasung that can protect its artists.”
The CEO wasn’t stupid; he knew exactly what I meant. My words were laced with the implication that he’d better behave if he didn’t want to be screwed. He pressed a hand to his forehead but nodded obediently.
“Seo Ho-yun….”
“Yes?”
“……Never mind.”
The CEO let out a long sigh. I could hear him muttering, “I picked the wrong fight.”
You’re just realizing that now?
I stood up, pretending not to hear.
“Thank you. I’ll be going now.”
When I opened the door to the CEO’s office, Jeong Da-jun, who still hadn’t heard the news, was standing there looking incredibly tense. He stammered and bowed deeply to the CEO. The CEO, who had been lost in thought, suddenly stood up with a bright smile.
“Da-jun.”
“Y-yes?”
“Everything’s been settled, thanks to Ho-yun. And….”
The CEO hesitated, glancing at me.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t trust you.”
“C-CEO?”
“You weren’t lying, but I was in such a rush that I failed to see the big picture. If the head of an agency doesn’t trust his artist, who will be the first to protect them?”
Look at that quick pivot….
I clicked my tongue inwardly as I watched the CEO spout sweet nothings. I knew such behavior was necessary for survival, but seeing it in person was truly pathetic and gross.
…Whatever, I’m not one to talk.
“I’m truly sorry.”
“……O-oh, no, it’s okay.”
In a situation like this, it would be better to just say ‘I understand’ and brazenly accept the apology, but the soft-hearted Jeong Da-jun kept denying it. Well, that wasn’t my problem.
“Work hard.”
“Yes, thank you. But there’s a limit to how hard we can work on our own.”
Give us more money.
“……If there’s anything you need, I’ll provide as much support as possible.”
The CEO would likely just watch us without saying much from now on. As expected, you have to throw a fit every once in a while so people don’t think you’re an easy target. I smiled broadly, quite satisfied with the outcome.
[Choices:
—CEO! Hang in there! You have… us!
—Then Ho-yunie and Da-junie will go work hard now! >.<
—Ayy, yo- man! Thank you for all of that!]
The system window never missed a chance to be annoying.
“Theeen~ Ho-yunie and Da-junie will go work hard now!”
“……R-right! Good luck to The Dawn, the rising stars of our agency!”
“Fighting!”
The two snakes smiled at each other before turning to leave.
One had a face like he’d chewed on a bitter pill, and the other wore the smile of a victor.
The victor, naturally, was me.
* * *
“To celebrate the successful conclusion of Da-jun’s incident~!”
“And to celebrate the contract renewal!”
“Celebrate~!!”
To mark the end of Jeong Da-jun’s double contract mess, we spread newspapers in the middle of the dorm and laid out the chicken we’d ordered. I’d slipped some alcohol onto the table, but naturally, Da-jun only got cola.
“You guys did great on B-Live yesterday.”
“Was it okay?”
Seong Ji-won smiled, his eyes crinkling. Kang Yi-chae chimed in from the side.
“We tried to keep it fun and upbeat, but Seong-hyeon Hyung was so worried. So we quickly pivoted to a ramen mukbang. You don’t have to talk if you’re eating.”
“Good call. Nice work.”
“Could we ever compare to Seo Ho-yun?”
Fortunately, no one else had found out about the incident. No rumors had spread, and no articles had broken.
The fans were already getting tired because there had been so many controversies this year. At times like this, it was better to only show them the good things.
It’s best to let it pass quietly.
In fact, if possible, I wanted to live like that for everything—as if I were barely there.
I was grumbling to myself while picking up a piece of chicken when Kim Seong-hyeon asked curiously.
“How did you even do it? I heard even the CEO couldn’t handle it….”
I leaked to the paparazzi Kim Jae-yeon that Seo Ho-yun was interested in the contract, borrowed luxury clothes from Ju Woo-seong to create the image of a thoughtless idol, bought confession tea leaves from the Item Shop, slipped them into his water, and made him spill all his secrets.
Wow!
If I actually said that out loud, I’d sound like a total lunatic!
Since I couldn’t tell the truth, I just brushed it off.
“I just got lucky, I guess.”
“Da-jun said you went in there acting like a completely different person.”
“Well…. things happened.”
I just shrugged at Seong Ji-won’s comment and changed the subject.
“Did you guys renew your contracts okay?”
“Yeah. We all signed.”
“I’m glad the profit split went up.”
Yes, mm. Satisfying.
Since I had already renewed, I didn’t go when the members gathered to sign. The manager had made up an excuse that I’d already signed a pre-negotiated contract when I went to see the CEO about Da-jun’s matter.
No matter how much I’d adjusted things for them, they might have felt betrayed if they knew I’d renewed first on my own. Originally, I’d planned to keep those better terms only for myself.
The reason I changed my mind was….
Well, just because.
I was chewing on my chicken, trying to clear my head, when Seong Ji-won suddenly spoke up.
“You could have just done it for yourself. Thank you so much.”
“……Hm?”
“Oh, right! Hyung, you’d already renewed. It must have been such a hassle to go back to the CEO and talk to him again. Thank you so, so much!!”
“……Uh?”
What were they talking about?
I swallowed what I was chewing and looked around at the members. My expression must have been strange because the members, who had been acting normal, now looked back at me with confusion.
“Ho-yun, what is it?”
“……Did you guys already know?”
“Know what?”
“That I… already changed my contract….”
My voice trailed off, feeling slightly embarrassed. At that, even more question marks appeared on the members’ faces.
“Huh?”
“Of course we knew…?”
“Was that a secret?!”
What on earth……?
Kim Seong-hyeon tilted his head and asked.
“Did you seriously think we didn’t know?”
“……Of course.”
“Wahahaha! What is this situation?!”
While everyone else was stunned, only Kang Yi-chae was clutching his stomach and laughing.
“Wait, are you guys serious? For real? Since when did you know?”
“Since about five months ago…? We guessed when we saw you going up to the office alone. The manager was acting all fidgety, too….”
“Then why didn’t you say anything?!”
“I mean, did we… have to?”
Don’t members usually get furious if only one person in the group renews their contract?
I would have been pissed.
“Aren’t you mad?”
“Mad~?”
As I stammered, unable to understand the disconnect in our conversation, Kang Yi-chae, still cackling, wiped a tear and grabbed my shoulder.
“Ho-yun Hyung, we all knew, but we didn’t care…. No, we actually thought it was only natural.”
“What do you mean?”
“We all know how hard you’ve worked. How many things have you resolved for us over the past six months?”
Everyone nodded vigorously at Kang Yi-chae’s words. It was a unanimous agreement. Seong Ji-won carefully added his opinion.
“Honestly, Ho-yun, you deserve more. Your settlement ratio should be even better than ours. If anything, we feel sorry….”
Ding!
[Shocking! A Living Buddha Exists!]
I’d never heard anything like that in my life.
I just stared at them, my mouth hanging open like an idiot.
“Oh, right!”
Kang Yi-chae seemed to remember something while pouring cola and suddenly snapped his fingers. He laughed and shouted at me.
“No way, Hyung! Was that why you were acting so cautious when you brought up the settlement last time?”
“…….”
“Heol, I think it’s true!”
Kang Yi-chae, who had said he was ‘disgusted by people made ugly by money,’ giggled and hovered in front of me.
“No wonder you were acting so shifty~! I’m not disgusted by you, Hyung~.”
“Please, just get lost.”
He teased me relentlessly. This brat, seriously. The other members asked with curious faces.
“Seo Ho-yun was acting cautious?”
“Did Hyung really do that?”
“Ho-yun…. Why were you acting so nice?”
“It’s because he’s secretly soft-hearted.”
These crazy bastards….
I was dazed as I watched the members burst into laughter. These guys, their bar for a ‘nice person’ had become way too low lately.
“Hyung, Hyung, Hyung.”
I was slumped on the sofa, feeling drained, when Jeong Da-jun came over and started acting up. Feeling awkward for no reason, I grabbed the strings of his hoodie and pulled.
“Hey, you. Come here.”
“What is it?”
“This soft-hearted Hyung will listen to all your worries.”
The big incident was resolved. All that was left was to progress through Jeong Da-jun’s scenario. Da-jun blinked his eyes wide, then sat on the edge of the sofa and thought about it.
“Hmm…. There is one thing.”
“Right! Tell me!”
I sat up straight, putting on a dependable expression. Da-jun rubbed his nose sheepishly.
“I’ve really been liking hamsters lately. But since we’re busy with promotions, I wouldn’t be able to take good care of one, right? …I guess I’ll just have to settle for Nutube. Yeah, that’s for the best.”
“Get out.”
“Eh? You said you’d listen!”
“Just get out. Don’t come back home.”
“That’s so mean!”
Jeong Da-jun whined and clung to me.
No, I don’t need what Jeong Da-jun wants; I need to complete the Main Scenario.
I was about to tell him to just raise an imaginary hamster like Kang Yi-chae and pushed his forehead away out of annoyance, when his eyes suddenly sparkled with a restless light.
“Wait, home?”
“…….”
“I have one!! A favor!!”
“……What.”
“I want to go to your house, Hyung!!”
I gave him a cold stare, but the members who had been chatting nearby caught that perfectly. Like hyenas spotting prey, their eyes lit up.
“I want to go too!”
“Me too!!”
These punks….
Their faces clearly showed they were just looking for more things to tease me about.