Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 220 Too Personal (2)

After thawing our frozen bodies in the cold weather, we enjoyed some delicious food and moderate drinking.

Then we had a short hot spring bath and everyone was in a good mood.

Only Kyunghwa and I, who were weak to alcohol, went to the indoor garden to cool our faces, while the rest of the members headed to the ping-pong hall.

“What’s the reward for winning this?”

“I don’t know.”

“Should we make a bet that the losing team buys drinks?”

We split into teams of three and Kyunghwa and I went to the garden. The indoor garden had a roof that was open, so the snow that piled up from above covered the garden.

“Are you cold?”

I was fine with the warm coat that the ryokan gave us, but Kyunghwa was silent.

“No, I’m fine.”

Kyunghwa nodded briefly and looked down at the snow for a long time.

“…”

After an awkward silence, I opened my mouth first.

“I’m really sorry.”

“What? I get nervous when you say you’re sorry.”

When I tried to be careful, Kyunghwa opened his eyes thinly and looked at me.

“I saw the text from your father yesterday. I didn’t mean to look…”

Then Kyunghwa twisted his face and grabbed my collar.

“What? What did you see? How did you see someone else’s text?”

He reacted more violently than I thought, and I stepped back and answered.

“I didn’t mean to. You were holding your phone in your hand and I tried to plug it into the charger, but your fingerprint was recognized and the screen turned on.”

“You want me to believe that?”

Whether he believed it or not, the content was important now. I went straight to the point.

“I can’t help it if you don’t believe me. I’m sorry for seeing something personal. But I’m worried about what’s going on… Is there something wrong at home?”

When I looked straight into Kyunghwa’s eyes, he turned his eyes to the other side.

“It’s none of your business. I’ll make sure it doesn’t affect the team activity.”

None of my business. Where is the leader who doesn’t care about a member who is as important as a pillar of our house? I said right away.

“You look very dangerous right now. If there’s anything I can do to help, I’ll help you.”

Then Kyunghwa glared at me with a look of great injury to his pride.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of my own business.”

He was so angry that it seemed to have the opposite effect.

Ah… That’s really…

Kyunghwa pushed me away and crossed the hallway and went inside, leaving me alone in the garden.

I scratched my head and followed Kyunghwa, but I couldn’t find a chance to talk to him.

In the end, I went to bed without solving anything.

Four people in each room.

It was the same room assignment as yesterday. Seong-won was on my right, Yi-jun was on my left. And Yu-geon was lying on the far left.

As I tossed and turned in bed, worrying about Kyunghwa, Yi-jun whispered softly.

“Why are you tossing and turning?”

I gestured to Yi-jun to come out with me. He followed me with a curious expression.

I didn’t know, but I thought he might know something more than me, since we shared a room for a long time.

And sure enough.

“Ah… Kyunghwa’s father is a trash, you know.”

Yi-jun said with a calm expression.

“Hey. Don’t talk about someone’s parents like that.”

“Well, but it’s true.”

He said that Kyunghwa had been sending money to his father for a long time.

“He calls almost every month and asks for money, and when he gets it, he loses it on stocks and gambling. I told him to just block him, but he said he can’t because his mother is in the hospital. He said there’s no one to take care of his mother if not his father.”

It was exactly the same as the phone call I heard that day.

It was all about money. The hospital bills, not to mention hiring a caregiver, were not cheap. Even if I wanted to help him, he would refuse, saying, ‘Who are you?’

Hmm… I swallowed a sigh and realized something important.

‘But… Where did Kyunghwa get the money to send?’

As far as I knew, Climax had never received a settlement.

They gave us some money to live on, but it wasn’t enough to pay for the hospital or send home.

‘He said he lives better on the allowance his grandmother gives him.’

I had a bad feeling about where Kyunghwa got the money, and I sent Yi-jun back to the room first and went to the lobby where there was a vending machine to drink some ion drink.

Someone was holding a phone at the end of the hallway.

“Ah, yes. I’m sorry. Vice Chairman. Everyone is doing well and there’s nothing to worry about. Ah, yes. Kyunghwa is fine too.”

What? He was the manager who had been working with me as a vague member of the composition team, but now he was assigned to work exclusively for Swift.

The only person he could call Vice Chairman was… Ahn Jung-hee, maybe?

I listened to the conversation for a moment and heard a familiar woman’s voice from the other end of the phone.

“Really? Well, that’s a relief. I was surprised that someone came to the company. Tell Kyunghwa not to do this again.”

‘…?’

As I listened, I got the gist of the situation.

Kyunghwa’s father had really gone to see the ‘Vice Chairman’ himself and caused a scene at the company, and the Vice Chairman was Ahn Jung-hee.

‘Wait a minute…’

The puzzle pieces fell into place.

There was an obvious reason why Kyunghwa was getting money from Ahn Jung-hee.

Cheon Ise, the jerk I had possessed.

He asked him to lead the team instead of his son who was unpredictable. And to keep the kids from running away…

Why didn’t I think of this before? The reason why Climax had been able to survive for five years, albeit in a precarious state.

‘Ah…’

No wonder Kyunghwa had been resentful of Cheon Ise all this time.

Before I possessed him, Cheon Ise was nothing but a trash who was born with a silver spoon and lived as he pleased.

He was from a different world than him, who had parents who took away everything he had, let alone being grateful.

And he was taking care of that trash’s back and getting money for it… This was something that might backfire if I stepped in now.

‘What do I do?’

I knew the truth, but it became harder to touch. How could I solve this without hurting Kyunghwa’s pride? I racked my brain, but I couldn’t find an answer.

‘For now… let’s sleep and think again.’

My head was too tired to think. I decided to rest and went to my room.

The trip that seemed long was now coming to an end.

“Hello! I’m Kang Yu-geon, your guide for today! It’s cold, but we have a lot of courses to go around today, so let’s all cheer up and follow me!”

The tour started with a much more spirited atmosphere than the one in Okinawa, and most of it was about food.

‘It’s only natural, since Hokkaido is famous for its specialties.’

Basically, the dairy industry was developed, so there were a lot of dairy products and snacks made from them. There was also a famous brewery to visit, and they were also famous for livestock, so we went to eat steak.

We ate and digested and ate and digested, and the day passed by in a flash.

“Wow, I feel like I’m being fattened up.”

Naru complained, but Seon-woo next to him had a happy expression on his face.

Yeah, enjoy it while you can… You’ll start a diet plan as soon as you get back.

I was worried about Kyunghwa, but he seemed to be aware of it and pulled himself together.

‘Well… the shooting seems to be going well, so that’s good.’

When would be a good time to talk to him properly? I was now at the point where I had to watch Kyunghwa’s mood.

Time flew by, and the schedule was almost over.

“Wow, I ate way too much.”

Hwijin was whining with his stomach wrapped. I wondered if I had filled the tour with too much food.

‘But I won’t have a chance to come back with these people, so I should eat everything I can.’

It was a good choice after all. I finished my mental victory and finished the last course, the ranch experience, and headed to the airport with everyone.

As we entered the terminal to check in for the flight to Korea.

Someone called Kyunghwa’s name.

“Kyunghwa-!”

Everyone’s eyes turned to the direction of the sturdy middle-aged man’s voice.

“What?”

“Did you just call Kyunghwa hyung?”

Everyone was shaken by the appearance of the unknown middle-aged man, and Kyunghwa’s expression changed to contemplation.

“Why are you here?”

Kyunghwa walked up to the middle-aged man and grabbed his wrist. He looked vaguely weak and resembled Kyunghwa.

‘Could it be… Kyunghwa’s father?’

How did he find him here? I was too surprised to open my mouth.

Kyunghwa dragged him out of the airport, holding his wrist and shouting.

“What are you doing? You don’t answer the phone. You don’t read the texts. Is that how I taught you? You act like you don’t have parents because you’re doing well?”

“Be quiet!”

The two disappeared into a place where no one could see them after a brief commotion.

“What do we do now?”

Seon-woo looked at me anxiously, unable to sit still. Everyone’s eyes automatically turned to me.

But I don’t have any good ideas… Well, I do, but… Yeah, this is natural now.

“Let’s wait for a while. He seems to be Kyunghwa’s father. If he doesn’t come back after waiting, we’ll go look for him then.”

And of course, Kyunghwa didn’t come back.

As time passed, we all scattered and started looking for him, but we couldn’t find Kyunghwa.

“What are we going to do? We have to go inside soon.”

The departure time was approaching quickly. The other members might not care, but Seon-woo had an MC recording schedule tomorrow and couldn’t miss the flight.

“You guys go ahead.”

We decided to send the six of them to Korea first and leave only me and a manager behind. Then Yi-jun intervened.

“If you’re staying because of Kyunghwa hyung, I’ll stay too.”

Yeah. Yi-jun was the closest to Kyunghwa, and I thought he would be helpful.

I was worried about the song work that was scheduled, but… What does it matter now? Kyunghwa is more important.

I moved out of the airport with Yi-jun again.

After about 30 minutes of wandering, we found Kyunghwa’s father smoking a cigarette at the smoking booth outside the airport.

I had a lot to say, but finding Kyunghwa was the priority.

“Hello, are you Kyunghwa’s father?”

As I opened the door to the smoking booth, I wondered what kind of poison he was smoking. The smell made my head spin.

“Oh, well, nice to meet you! Ise! Help me out. My son suddenly changed and went crazy.”

Went crazy? He just said he would stop pouring water into a leaky jar. How can a parent say that? I frowned.

“Let’s go inside and talk for a bit.”

The conversation didn’t seem to end quickly. Kyunghwa would probably punch me in the face when he found out.

But this was something that adults had to solve. Of course, I was also twenty-five on paper.

I immediately contacted the new manager and asked him to get some paper and a pen and bring them to the cafe in the airport.

We needed a clear agreement to avoid any interference with our future activities.

We had to make sure he couldn’t bother our eldest son using blood ties.