Save a Failed Idol's Life

Chapter 174:

“You don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to. But you have to tell the company when the manager comes. There’s a problem with your future activities…”

Hwijin spoke softly, but no one answered.

“This is really shitty.”

One of the members who had been silent all along threw the cushion he was holding onto the sofa and went into his room.

“Let’s talk again when the manager comes.”

As they went into their rooms one by one, as if they had nothing more to say, Naru’s face turned pale.

“Naru.”

It was a look that couldn’t be ignored at a glance. There was something wrong for sure. Hwijin felt a shock in his heart and tried to calm himself down as he asked.

“You look really bad… Do you want to rest in your room?”

As Hwijin reached out to support Naru’s shoulder, Naru shrugged him off and slapped his hand away.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me!”

He didn’t look fine at all. Was Naru the one who leaked the contract? Hwijin answered with a feeling that he knew this was coming.

“Your face is too pale right now. You may think you’re fine, but you don’t look fine at all. You should rest a little.”

Honestly, no one here thought that Naru didn’t get any favors from the production team.

There were four or five members who got a noticeable push from the first episode.

Naru, Chanhyung, Sunghyun, and two foreign members. In Jun’s case, his agency participated in the production support, so not only Jun but also Toru who came out with him got a lot of push. Toru was eliminated in the third round and only Jun survived.

If we exclude the two foreigners who didn’t have any insiders in Korea to leak anything… It was either Naru, Chanhyung, or Sunghyun.

While Hwijin was thinking of the possibilities in his head, Chanhyung cursed and tore his hair.

“Why don’t I just get lost? I’m the one who made the atmosphere shitty, right? I’m trash.”

He grabbed his phone and coat and was about to leave the dorm. Hwijin was startled and got up from his seat to stop him.

“Let’s talk when the manager comes. You’re too worked up right now. What if you go out and…”

“What if what? Are you afraid I’ll go around punching people?”

“No, that’s not it! I’m just worried that you might get into a situation that you’ll regret later. You’re too flustered right now.”

Hwijin felt dizzy, wondering what sin he had committed to be in this position. But he couldn’t just stand by and leave him alone.

“Ha… That’s funny. You’re going to kick me out anyway. What does it matter if I’m gone by tomorrow when the withdrawal article comes out? You’re so nice, pretending to care about me when you’re just afraid I’ll splash shit on you.”

He wasn’t wrong. Hwijin had endured a long life of obscurity and sometimes felt that his popularity was like a dream. He was very lucky.

It was the same for the other guys, but for Hwijin, Floss was the golden thread that changed his life. He had joked about wanting to escape, but it was only a joke based on envy.

It was inevitable that the contract period would end and they would disband. But he didn’t want to scatter in the worst way possible.

“Just calm down a bit. Let’s talk to the manager when he comes…”

“What’s there to talk about? Will it change the fact that I hit people? Do you think the company will shield me and keep me?”

Hwijin couldn’t argue. If there was no video evidence, he could have dismissed it as a minor “misunderstanding” with a childhood friend, as a common repertoire.

But Chanhyung had two very clear pieces of evidence. And one of them was very recent.

He was wrong to lash out first and then try to fix it when it seemed hopeless. It was extremely ungrateful, but Hwijin was ten years older than the other members.

There was no point in getting emotional in this situation.

It was already announced that a bomb would go off regarding their appearance on the My Idol stage, and no one knew who was hiding what secret. Trust had been broken long ago.

No. From the beginning, they were a team that gathered only for business, not trust. Maybe it was foolish to expect anything else.

“Still, you have to talk to the manager. What do you want to do from now on?”

Leaving Floss wouldn’t end his life. Even if he retired from being an idol and became a normal person, today’s controversy would follow Chanhyung forever.

Apart from being disappointed in Chanhyung personally, he had to stop him from running away and causing another accident.

“Why do you care? Are you trying to act like a nice brother until the end, pretending to be worried and hypocritical? Or what, do you have some secret that you can’t afford to be exposed?”

“What are you talking about? Why did the conversation suddenly turn like that?”

Hwijin was startled by the sudden spark and let go of Chanhyung’s wrist.

“It doesn’t matter, right? Even if Floss fails, it won’t affect you. Just mind your own business and cover for yourself.”

As Chanhyung pushed Hwijin away and slammed the door open to leave the house, that’s when.

Ding-.

A cheerful text message alert rang out. Was it from the manager? Hwijin quickly checked his phone screen.

“…?”

But to his surprise, there was no message or any notification at all.

What? Hwijin asked, bewildered and clueless.

“Who sent you a text?”

Sunghyun, who was sitting on the far left of the sofa, dropped his phone.

“What? Why did you drop your phone?”

Pposili, who was sitting next to Sunghyun, reached out to pick up Sunghyun’s phone.

“Don’t touch it!”

Sunghyun threw himself and snatched his phone back, as if he had seen a ghost.

“What are you hiding, freaking out like that?”

Pposili stretched his hand toward Sunghyun, suspicious.

“Let me see. What text did you get? Show us too.”

Naru had gone into his room earlier, and the only ones in the living room were Jinhyung, Hwijin, Sunghyun, and Pposili.

“Why, why me?”

“You’re acting shady. What are you hiding?”

“Who’s hiding? Who said I’m hiding? Who shows their messages to others?”

In the tense situation, Youngchan was determined to check the message, and Sunghyun was adamant not to.

“You don’t have to show us, but at least tell us where the message came from…”

Hwijin, who was caught in the middle, tried to mediate with a compromise, but Sunghyun wouldn’t budge.

“Why me?”

“What?”

“Are you all crazy? Why do you want to see someone else’s message? Don’t you know what privacy is?”

Sunghyun clenched his phone, ready to delete the message, and Jinhyung asked him, doubtful.

“We’re all anxious right now. If you have nothing to hide, just show us.”

“Why do I have to do that!”

Naru was locked in his room, and Chanhyung had left. Hwijin felt like he was losing his mind in the midst of the fight in the living room. Youngchan rushed to Sunghyun and finally snatched his phone.

“No! Don’t look!”

Despite Sunghyun’s desperate scream, Jinhyung took the phone from Pposili and checked the message.

[Sender: (Unregistered user)]

[(Picture)]

It was a picture of the first page of Sunghyun’s pre-contract.

“Was it you? The one who signed that contract.”

Pposili’s cold voice echoed in the living room. Sunghyun stuttered for a while, unable to answer, then shouted in resentment.

“I didn’t write it alone! Oh-chan, that bastard, wrote it too! Why are you giving me shit! He’s the one who caused the accident!”

Hwijin barely held back the feeling that his head was about to explode.

“Youngchan expressed his boiling anger, saying, ‘X… Are you from the same agency as that jerk, Oh Chanhyung? I’ve worked hard and now I’m nobody. I’m nobody.'”

Suddenly, Hwijin asked Sunghyun, as if something had occurred to him.

“Do you know who else signed the contract besides you?”

“I don’t know the details! Our company had three people sign it, and there were almost ten more from other companies, but how would I know? It’s not like we changed the rankings, but they’re making such a fuss about it!”

As soon as Sunghyun exposed the truth, a cold silence fell over the living room again.

Who would believe me, even if I didn’t touch the rankings?

The problem was not just a simple member dropout. There were several other debut members who had signed separate contracts besides Chanhyung and Sunghyun.

“Damn it. We’re all screwed.”

Jinhyung clenched his fists and sank onto the sofa.

Manipulative bastard.

A short but powerful word popped into everyone’s mind.

“Achoo!”

I suddenly felt a chill as a gust of wind blew in from somewhere. I thought I would be fine since I had the heater on and the blanket over me, even though it was winter.

I sniffled as I let out an involuntary sneeze. Kyunghwa clicked her tongue and handed me a tissue.

“Go blow your nose.”

I took the tissue and quickly wiped my face, then tossed it into the trash can with a nod.

“Come on, it’s not that bad. Just press the record button.”

As I lowered my head sheepishly, Kyunghwa pressed the button on the selfie stick as if he knew what I was feeling.

“Hello, Rise fans! We finally made it! I think we drove for about 20 minutes. Let’s go inside and greet the director, and register as students. I’ll be back soon!”

“Let’s go together!”

“Wow!”

It was honestly hilarious to see the five of them struggling to fit into one screen.

I had no idea what Pposili was thinking, but he seemed to be having fun, sticking out his tongue and running around everyone.

“Wow, this place is really spacious. Even the big dogs can run around for a long time!”

The place we arrived at, along with Kyunghwa’s natural reaction, was none other than the Dog Adventure Park.

What kind of place is this, you ask? Well, it’s not just a place where dogs can run and play, but also a place where they can experience things like dog agility.

They said they open a swimming pool in the summer, but of course it’s closed now since it’s winter. Today, we made a reservation and visited to try out the basic agility course.

‘But he’s not even a real dog… How did this happen…’

How did we end up here, you wonder? Well…

The public opinion was that I hadn’t shown much of my dog, except for the occasional appearances on TV as a celebrity who raised a dog in my accommodation.

‘Well, it’s not even a real dog, it’s just an interface…’

They might be worried about whether the puppy was living a happy and colorful life, but this was not a real puppy.

I couldn’t reveal the truth, and I was in trouble. So we decided to use the holiday that came up to try something new.

It was a bit random, but thanks to Yi-jun’s enthusiastic suggestion, we came here, the Dog Adventure Park.

‘Let’s just film quickly and go back.’

I gripped the leash firmly in my hand and entered the indoor area. The staff who had been waiting for us after receiving our contact greeted us with bright smiles.

“Hello, thank you for coming today and nice to meet you!”

As the staff greeted us, Pposili wagged his fluffy tail like a furball and barked briefly.

“Woof!”

“Oh, our friend has such a pretty tail~. What’s his name?”

Seon-woo, who was standing closest to the staff, reflexively answered without a chance to stop himself.

“Ah, Seon-woo!”

“Seon-woo~, your name is pretty too.”

“No, that’s this guy’s name and the dog’s name is Pposili.”

“Oh.”

Seon-woo was embarrassed and didn’t know what to do. Meanwhile, I checked the time and asked the staff where to put our luggage.

The scheduled filming time was from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. We had to finish the experience quickly within an hour to avoid colliding with the general visitors.

“Well, shall we start then?”

Click, I unhooked the leash and Pposili lifted his sharp snout to the sky with shining eyes.

“Woof!”