Chapter 15
[Successful Persuasion to Publicize Stalker Incident! (1/1)]
[Daily Quest Success!]
...This is the shortest record ever.
Daily quest success window that came up less than an hour after arrival.
...Why are these people so angry?
I felt more bewildered than happy.
I frowned and wet my lips.
'Is this a trick?'
People in this industry don't hesitate to say two things with one mouth.
Even after checking the daily quest completion window, I still felt uneasy.
And a few hours later, as soon as the sun rose, we gathered in the conference room.
"Are you still feeling unwell?"
Shin Yeon-woo put the back of his hand on my forehead, as if his anxiety was showing on his face.
"I don't have a fever anymore."
"I'm all better."
[Life remaining 23:57:43]
After completing the daily quest, my life was immediately filled. Thanks to that, the high fever penalty disappeared, and thanks to a good night's sleep, my physical condition wasn't bad.
But somehow, I felt tired.
'...I never imagined this kind of development.'
It was enough for Choi Sung-jun to suspect that I was related to the team leader.
"It's a good thing that our Yoo-hyun is good at sports! If you had done something wrong, you would have both gotten seriously hurt!! Especially this face!! This... This pretty face, if it had gotten a scratch!! Oh?! That bastard would die and I would die!!!"
The team leader put her palm under my face and got angry.
I quietly grabbed the team leader's hand and put it down. The team leader didn't care and kicked the chair with the rookie development team and continued to speak passionately.
Since the manager was away on a business trip overseas, the conference room was filled with the tightly-knit rookie development team.
"That's right!! This is almost attempted murder! They even gave Kim Eden drugs!"
"Do you see this? My hands are shaking because I think Yoo-hyun might have a wound on his face. How many people almost died because of that bastard?"
"That's right, we can't just leave it alone!! This is a real death sentence!!"
It's dizzying.
Is there no one in their right mind?
"The police said it's hard to arrest because there's no evidence."
An employee who had been to the police station since early morning sighed deeply.
The team leader banged her desk and got angry.
"What? How can there be no CCTV in the park?!"
"If we take a hard line from the beginning, the same thing won't happen again!"
I agree with them.
...Of course, the reactions are a bit excessive. I suppressed my strange feeling and slowly brought out the words I had prepared.
"There is evidence."
"?"
The conference room, which had been noisy for a moment, became quiet and I paid attention.
I took out the items I had brought.
"What is this?"
"The stalker's smartphone and Kim Eden's blood test results."
"!"
And for a while, no one blinked and time seemed to have stopped.
The moment the team leader's mouth opened wide and a sigh flowed out-
The conference room was turned upside down.
***
A provocative news title was posted on the main page of a portal site.
「TP rookie M8 (M8) injured by sasaeng fan's stabbing rampage before debut」
There was an incident where member A of TP Entertainment's artist M8 (M8) was injured by a sasaeng fan Kim ssi (23) of the same team member B's stabbing rampage.
.....
After giving sleeping pills to B, the perpetrator, Kim ssi, attempted to injure part of B's body using scissors as a weapon. A ssi, who happened to witness the scene, prevented major casualties, but Kim ssi's subsequent rampage left A ssi with a 3cm-long abrasion on his arm.
A TP Entertainment official announced legal action, submitting evidence such as the perpetrator's smartphone containing footage of the crime scene.
The perpetrator, Kim ssi, stated that she had been stalking B for the past year and committed the crime because she got angry when the victim did not accept her gift.
TP Entertainment responded by saying, "She's a stalker, not a fan," and "Please punish her severely."
After the article broke, it received more attention than expected.
— Please, I hope he's not that hurt ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ I was just waiting for their debut day, you fucking sasaengs
—TP is so annoying, it's hilariousㅋㅋㅋ 'She's a stalker, not a fan'ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└They responded well, they should nipped up the Sasaeng from the beginning
Of course, there was ridicule and criticism.
—Noise marketing was successfulㅋ Is it better now?
└They said he was hurt, r u looking 4 a fight?
—Legendary groupㅋㅋㅋㅋ Class that was on the social page even before debut
└Yeah, your kids are doing well^^ The drug dealer is doing well after ruining the group?
Break time during practice.
I leaned back on the sofa and checked the comments while quickly pulling down my smartphone.
It was a brand new device with no broken parts.
— Please, take this, please!!
I had no choice but to take it because Kim Eden was trying to take off my pants while clinging to my leg, but the latest smartphone that was handed to me was quite burdensome.
Judging from his usual attire, his family seemed to be well off, but even so, it wasn't a gift that could be given lightly at a young age.
'I should buy him something when I get my first paycheck.'
I was about to click my tongue and close the comment window when a palm suddenly popped out and blocked my view.
I looked up at the owner of the hand, taking my eyes off the smartphone.
Choi Sung-jun was standing there, frowning, sweat dripping down his forehead.
Choi Sung-jun let out a long sigh and plopped down next to me.
"What are you looking for?"
It's exactly what you used to do back in the days of Tighten. I shrugged my shoulders.
"By the way, when did you get that evidence?"
Choi Sung-jun asked, burying himself in the sofa.
After encountering sasaengs for years, I naturally learned something.
Even after being caught committing a crime, the woman's priority was destroying evidence rather than running away.
Commemoration and record.
It was clear what the woman's gaze was directed at.
"I just happened to find it."
But there's no way I could leave that out.
Choi Sung-jun chuckled and shook his head.
"In the midst of all that craziness. That's really amazing."
When I checked later, the woman's smartphone contained thousands of pieces of evidence from her stalking him for nearly a year, excluding the footage of the crime scene at the time.
"Still, it's surprising."
Choi Sung-jun, who was blankly staring at the ceiling, spoke softly.
"I thought they'd just quietly bury it."
Choi Sung-jun felt unfamiliar with TP's response.
Maybe he was reminiscing about his time as a trainee at UJ. They say that the guys who were members like Choi Sung-jun were always getting into trouble since they were trainees, so he must have been through a lot already.
"Of course, I'm the same."
Not knowing what would happen at the company, I took various precautions, such as having Kim Eden and I go to the hospital separately to get a blood test.
After that, the investigation progressed so quickly that I didn't even need to come forward.
'No, it was rather excessive.'
My eyes naturally closed tightly when I recalled the company's reaction at the time.
But I still feel a little uneasy.
'I guess it's better not to read the comments, like Choi Sung-jun said.'
In fact, what some of the comments say is not wrong.
[570,000 Views]
After the stalker incident article was posted, the number of teaser views doubled.
Considering that the number of teaser views for new groups from other agencies recently exceeded 100,000, this is a very high number.
Anyway, Kim E-den is safe, and as the number of teaser views increases, the possibility of succeeding in the main quest increases, so it's all good luck...
'Still, it feels dirty to get attention this way.'
It's strangely frustrating to feel like things are going smoothly when I succeed in this kind of shitty quest.
"Then why did you suddenly run away then?"
Shin Yeon-woo, who was lying on the floor of the practice room, basking in the air conditioning, walked over and leaned against the sofa, asking. As Shin Yeon-woo came over, the youngest members also came closer.
"Do you have a hunch?! Oh!! Is this some kind of superpower?!"
"Hey, where in the world are there superpowers? My hyung just loves me too much. It's telepathy."
Neither of them.
'Here we go again.'
Kang Se-hyun and Kim E-den started arguing.
After that day, Kim E-den often stared blankly into space for a while, and the members and staff looked at him with concern, but that was only for a short while.
Whenever I tried to use my right hand, Kim E-den started rushing at me, saying he would do it himself.
He said that I shouldn't let the wound get worse. It wasn't a wound that would get worse in the first place.
Then one time, he offered to give me water and spilled it on my clothes.
He cried, saying that he was sorry that I got wet and that he was the one who got it worse.
I thought he would be less annoying now, but he changed his direction.
"You just grabbed the scissors like this! And you snatched it in an instant. Wow, that was so cool...!!"
Kim E-den, who hadn't gotten tired of the story of bravery he had repeated dozens of times, continued to tell me again, even adding flashy gestures.
'It was a little embarrassing at first.'
I've given up now. I'll just leave him be until he gets tired and he'll take care of himself.
"Okay, let's start practicing again. There's not much left now."
Just then, Choi Sung-jun called the end of break time and we immersed ourselves in practicing again.
It was two weeks before debut.
***
The college student opened her eyes when the sun was high in the sky and it was getting dark again.
After the final exams, she drank and played until dawn, and it had already been a week since day and night had changed.
But she was getting tired of this too.
She tried to forget about it by doing assignments and studying for exams during the semester and doing various group activities, but when vacation came and she had more time, it kept popping up.
Even though it had already been eight months.
'Do whatever you want, so listen carefully to this, you piece of shit.'
From the time she was a high school student to the time she became a college student, she had been a fan for a whole five years.
Her old favorite, who pretended not to listen no matter how much she told him to upload selfies more often and communicate more often.
After a hundred years, he suddenly admitted to the group discord after attending a live broadcast.
As soon as she became an adult, she did a lot of part time jobs just to buy a camera, and her account, which she had worked hard to raise, became meaningless in an instant.
She ground her teeth in anger.
'I'm never fangirling again.'
What should I do now? At one time, she could just quickly scroll through her SNS timeline for half a day.
But she didn't want to see her kids getting beat up by other people, so it's already been half a year since she had been on SNS.
She doesn't know what to do after quitting the fandom. She already watched all the dramas worth watching, and she has no talent for games.
She was lying on the bed, fiddling with her smartphone. At that moment, a KakaoTalk alarm sounded.
—Hey, Mpal's music video is coming up. It's so cool. It's your style!!! Especially the face!!!!
She was her real-life fanmate who quit the fandom together with her after drinking together yesterday.
"Ah~ I'm not an idiot!"
No matter how much she passionately argued that she wasn't an idiot, her friend just laughed.
Of course, her old favorite was famous for his visuals. But the reason she became a fan was different.
'First of all, he's good on stage, he's good at singing, he's cute, he's handsome, and he's fucking handsome...... Fck Fck!!'
She kicked the blanket.
'Who doesn't know that the male idol's face has died out these days. It must be juicy again.'
[it originally means squeezing fruits or vegetables to get juice, and thesedays it also means trying so hard to find someone's attraction even though he/she is so ugly (as a slang)]
Judging from the fact that there were a lot of sasaengs and other media plays even before debut, it seems like TP is also quite greedy for Clicker's empty spot. She wasn't particularly attracted to them, but she thought of her friend who had been practically begging her to watch just one teaser.
'Well, let's take a look.'
Video link sent to the chat room.
[M8 - 'OPENING' M/V]
The thumbnail was of the five members sitting on a wall under a blue sky.
She let out a snicker as she roughly scanned the profile her friend had sent her.
'Why is there 8 in the group name, but there are only 5 members?'
'There were originally 8, but 3 of them were kicked out of this team.'
The college student lightly clicked on the link, mocking herself.
The video started with five boys lying on the floor in a pure white castle.
One boy with a puppy-like face got up, rubbing his eyes.
The boy picked up a telescope lying on the floor and looked out the window.
The sun was rising beyond the horizon, and the orange-tinted amusement park was as quiet as if it had closed.
As if he had found something, the boy woke up the sleeping boys.
And then, one boy opened his eyes with his green eyelashes fluttering.
"Aah!"
For a moment, her hands gave out and she dropped her smartphone.
'Oh no.'
She could tell right away. Something was wrong.
She hurriedly put her smartphone back down and laid down on the bed to adjust her posture.
Even though she dropped it, the screen continued to play the video without stopping.
"...Holly F*ck."
Big, clear eyes, a strong nose, a sharp jawline, and pretty lips that looked like they were drawn with care.
The nameless handsome man stretched and smiled faintly.
The face that had been the epitome of a cold handsome man until he opened his eyes suddenly turned into a warm handsome man in the moment he smiled.
She trembled her fingertips and repeatedly pressed the pause button, then looked at the face in the still image with a shocked face.
'This is a really f*cking crazy face.'
It was the scene of a college student who had been a fan for 5 years and had said she would never be a fan again.
—