The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

Chapter 159

The live broadcast was over. Though we had originally planned the broadcast to be one hour and thirty minutes long, it went on for a bit longer than we planned and stopped two hours later. Though I clearly remembered what happened in the first hour, the last hour was a haze.

It was because my members began to say anything on their minds after Woon responded awkwardly to the chatrooms question about Hwang Jun-Kyul, and they wanted to take the viewers mind elsewhere.

It seems pretty ineffective though. Their actions appeared pointless.

Haa. Good work you guys.

Yeah, you all worked hard.

Dont think too badly about todays broadcast~

After we returned to the waiting room, we each said a word of encouragement to each other as comfort. Yet, Woon remained quiet till the end.

Woon?

Woon hyung?

Lee Woon.

Though Yeon-Hoon, Dong-Jun, and Do-Seung each called him, Woon didnt say a word and kept his head low. It seemed he was still out of it after seeing that comment from the chatroom or perhaps, he was sorry to have broken our vow of silence about this topic. Considering Woons personality, it was probably more the latter.

Woon. I slowly approached Woon. I clutched his knees and quietly looked at Woons head. Because his face was covered by his hair, I couldnt see his expression properly.

He’s crying? Yet, I could see tears hanging from his eyes. He wasnt crying because he was happy or sad. Both his eyes were red, and the edges of his mouth were fixed in place. He was crying because he felt so angry about the situation.

I put more force into my hands. I could understand what he was feeling. He probably thought Hwang Jun-Kyuls trick to replace him was all behind him and in the past. It probably made him angry that he injured his leg and couldnt debut because of that, but considering Woon, he probably tried to think positively of the situation and overcome it.

Yet, what he thought he had overcome now kept coming back to haunt him. It popped out when he least expected it and disturbed him. Yet, I couldnt simply tell him that I understood how he felt as if I knew everything. Acting as if I perfectly knew what he was feeling could actually hurt him instead and disrespect him. I wondered what I could say to comfort him.

Woon. It was then Do-Seung came over and crouched over Woon just like me. At Do-Seungs call, Woon raised his head. The tears in his eyes looked as if it was going to burst any moment. Do-Seung looked intently at Woon, and it was then, I realized that it wasnt my place to intervene and moved away from the area.

Do you remember that time? You know when we were informed that our time as trainees of YM Entertainment was over? Do-Seung asked and began to say things only he and Woon were aware of.

That day, I sat by the emergency stairs and was crying my heart out. I felt things were so unfair, but do you remember what you told me then?

Woon calmly looked down at Do-Seung. Though his lips were still stiffened in place, his expression seemed to have loosened up more than before.

You said we will do better than them. You said we should just wait out five more years.

Woon nodded lightly to Do-Seungs words.

Do-Seung continued, You said that those guys were fated to fail anyways from all their evil deeds. It was as if Woon had been able to tell the future precisely in the past.

And look at us now. We didnt debut yetbut honestly, our situation is better than Vision.

Woon slowly nodded at Do-Seungs words.

You were so strong and resolute then. So, even now, you will be able to quickly overcome this, Do-Seung said. Hearing this, the edge of Woons mouth began to wiggle. Then, he hugged Do-Seungs head and spoke.

Yeahwe can quickly overcome thisAnd we will do better than them, Woon murmured and finally let the tears collecting in his eyes drop. For a while, the waiting room filled with Woons cries. Yet, his cries didnt sound sad or regretful.

As if he just released all the emotions he had been keeping locked up, it felt like he was just letting everything go. There was a refreshing feeling about it and when Woon was able to organize his emotions a bit, he said, HaaGive me a tissue.

Ah, yeah.

Perhaps, Woon cried too hard but his face was bright red.

Sorry you guysthe mood became ruined because of me, Woon said.

Come on~ Whats wrong with that~ Dong-Jun plopped next to Woons side and tried to act brighter than usual to ease Woons worries.

Yeah, Woon. Its fine. You really went through so much, Yeon-Hoon said and took a seat besides Woon.

You are also crying now?

No. Im not crying. Im really not Perhaps, Yeon-Hoon was moved by Woons crying but his eyes also looked teary. Its just that you twoare so cool and impressivehmm.

Yeon-Hoon raised his head towards the ceiling to prevent his tears from streaming down. Woon burst into laughter seeing this.

Whatwhy are you laughing!

No, its just that you are so cute.

No, Im notIm so sad right now

Here, have this tissue.

Thank you.

Yeon-Hoon blotted his teary eyes with the tissue. I worried about our teams mood after the comment with Hwang Jun-Kyul, but

Its fine. As I thought, our bond wasnt so weak that it would be broken down by something like this. I pulled out the phone at the corner of the sofa.

Where is Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna?

Wont they come soon?

If they dont come even ten minutes later, I will give them a call!

While waiting for Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna to come, we decided to have our individual rest times.

I wonder what happened afterwards. I quickly went to check what sorts of events cascaded after Woons awkward pause on live broadcast.

? Yet, things were moving much more rapidly than I expected. Wait It was shocking to the point that I even gasped out loud without meaning to. All sorts of stories were coming out about Woon and Hwang Jun-Kyul and even Do-Seung and Yoon Dong-Hyuk.

The situationis already concluded? In the period where we came back from our live broadcast, cried, and comforted each other, the situation was already wrapped up. The crucial reason was because of the posts on NacePann with evidence attached to them. Perhaps, Woon and Do-Seung also checked the situation, but they were murmuring to themselves.

Huh? Whatis this? Woon suddenly said.

Why did my teacher suddenlycontact me? Do-Seung asked.

They seemed to have caught the general situation with a couple of searches.

Whaat! What in the world! Woon even gasped while looking at his phone. Isnt this a post written byHyun-Jung?

I think Mr. Sung-Joon made this post

The two seemed to know who the writer behind these posts were immediately. I understood why Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna didnt come back yet then.

They are probably reporting to the company on their phones right now. They were most likely coming up with the direction we should take in response to the incidents that occurred.

Bang!

And just at this perfect timing, the door opened and Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna came inside the room.

Hello everyone. Thank goodness you are all here.

You all did a great job on the broadcast!

Butwe have to quickly discuss with you all about something right now

Can we do a briefing?

Though Woon, Do-Seung, and I were aware of the situation through searching on the internet, Yeon-Hoon and Dong-Jun appeared completely startled by what was happening.

Huh?

Whats happening?

They looked like they had no idea what was going on.

***

While Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk were approaching their doom, this incident was spreading out from entertainment news to even social and more public news forms.

These young kids only learned bad things while growing up

Hahaha they are seriously meeting their doom

So, who are these guys?

Its not just in dramas that trainees are at each others throats

There were various factors why this was becoming such big news. First, there was the fact that a truth that had been hidden in the past was finally being revealed. Then, there was the plagiarism issue that Koreans were particularly sensitive about. And finally, there was a clear evil and good in the story and a dramatic transformation of the weak to the strong.

Wow, a seriously big issue blew up ahaha 𝑙𝘪𝑏𝓇ℯ𝑎𝒹.𝒸𝘰𝓂

The incident with Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk quickly spread across not just to a minority group of people who liked idols but also to men and women across the public. And with this, it wasnt just Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk who were affected.

The idol group, Visions image and name became tarnished and after getting a quick whiff of the general situation, YM Entertainment made an official notice within just one hour that they were discussing the expellment of the two artists.

At first, they wanted to get a general sense of the public sentiments and said they were going through an internal inspection, but as they noticed that the public was responding worse than they expected, they cut off relations with the two. Yet, their behavior didnt appear to improve Vision and YM Entertainments image in the slightest.

Hahaha they tried to escape unscathed but failed

Arent you ashamed of yourselvesYou are all adults but acting so immorally

The public didnt become deceived by the companys shady actions. Though the ones most at fault were Hwang Jun-Kyul and Yoon Dong-Hyuk, it was clear the company also shared blame for burying the incident. Thus, the public raged at Vision and the YM Entertainment. Perhaps, all this had a trickle-down effect, but Siren, who had only recognition in the idol fandom, instantly also gained public recognition.

Who is Siren?

Wow, if it was me, I wouldve just quit and dropped out of the business altogether; he persevered so hard

Hahaha I respect them

Though it wasnt our intention, we were clearly enjoying the effects of noise marketing.

But thisis dangerous Though it was great marketing, there were also people who were feeling a sense of danger. Sirens youngest member, Bong Tae-Yoon sat alone in the dormitory and watched the situation progressing. He searched through articles about Siren, watched the Nutube videos, TikTak videos, and other social media sites.

Comments kept pouring one after the other as if they were getting mass-produced from factories. Most of the comments were pitying Siren as victims, paying their condolences and were angry, sad, and happy that they were finally enjoying success. For a group that hadnt even debuted yet, this was a very big opportunity and simultaneously, a very dangerous situation.

I think its about time to put a break to all this

New novel chapters are published on 𝙡𝙞𝓫𝙧𝙚𝓪𝒅.𝒄𝒐𝓶