chapter 56
The Clef Entertainment office was in chaos.
The incessantly ringing phones tormented the employees’ ears. Regardless of team or department, every staff member was grappling with a handset.
“No, we’re not hiding anything! We’re in the process of verifying the facts… Hello? Hello!”
“Yes, Clef Entertainment PR… Ah, Reporter Kim, why are you acting like this too, seriously!”
“Hello! No, when did I raise my voice? Huh? No, please don’t swear! We’re checking if the people in the video are really our artists… Hello? Ah, what the hell is this?!”
The root of the problem was a short video uploaded to YouTube.
The scene of the clash between Kang Ian and Jeong Jeyun.
To be precise, a 20-second video that made it look like Kang Ian was the sole aggressor.
The video, uploaded by an anonymous channel, had clear malicious intent.
The moment Kang Ian rushed at Jeong Jeyun, the screen shook violently, then cut to a black screen with only swear words audible.
And only Kang Ian’s voice at that.
Jeong Jeyun’s voice or the sounds of people around them trying to intervene were completely absent.
But that didn’t matter.
The public and reporters, pouncing on this new prey, sharply criticized Lumis.
[Title: Is it okay for a senior to hit a junior? The problematic hierarchy among idols going too far]
[Title: The ugly truth behind the glamorous stage… The dark shadow of K-POP]
[Title: Assault controversy between idol groups… “We are verifying the details”]
[Title: Lumis’ Kang Ian suspected of assaulting Beat Twelve’s Jeong Jeyun… Agency “Verifying the facts”]
- No wonder he seemed aggressive even during the mini-games. It’s not that he didn’t get popular, they just hid it lol. As expected, the ‘Runt Panel’ is always fun, right?
- Kick out the thug idol!!
- But isn’t the editing too clever? I think we should stay neutral for now.
└ You can see who threw the first punch, why do we need neutrality?
└ Listen to this guy talking about neutrality lolol
└ Go practice carbon neutrality instead lolol
└ But we should still hear Kang Ian’s side too. - His aegyo concept was disgusting, and now his true colors are out lololol
- Finally, we get rid of that guy we hate seeing? Sweet lolololol
└ He’ll probably disintegrate into thin air soon lololol - Jinhoon’s mysterious 1 loss lololol
Han Sujin, the head of the PR team, gritted her teeth as she looked at the online articles and malicious comments on the monitor.
“First, tell the kids not to look at SNS or the internet. If reporters contact you, say we are verifying the facts.”
After giving urgent instructions, she hurried straight to the meeting room.
When she opened the door, the gloomy expressions of the already arrived staff met her.
“Sorry I’m late. We were inundated with calls from reporters…”
“Ah, you’re here?”
Yoon Taejin, who had been staring out the window, turned his head listlessly.
The dark circles under his eyes were especially pronounced.
“CEO… Did you get any sleep?”
Surprised to see Yoon Taejin, who looked like he’d aged overnight, Han Sujin asked with a worried face.
“Yeah, sort of…”
Yoon Taejin waved his hand vaguely and sank deep into his chair. All he could do was sigh.
‘Who on earth…’
It was clearly a matter that had been settled with Vista.
It wasn’t a one-sided assault but a mutual clash.
They had even reached an agreement to keep quiet, as a rookie group getting into controversy from debut was unacceptable.
They had also sufficiently explained the situation to the production staff.
‘But why now, of all times…’
Yoon Taejin picked up his tablet and replayed the problematic video.
Even though he had watched it repeatedly several times, new questions arose each time.
“Doesn’t it obviously look edited? Jeyun’s voice is cut off, and only Ian’s swearing is heard. Plus, the angle is cleverly chosen to make it look like Ian threw a punch or something.”
Han Sujin tapped the table in frustration.
“Is that what’s important?”
Yoon Taejin pressed hard on his temples.
But the truth is Jeong Jeyun provoked him first!
Jeyun also grabbed him by the collar!
Do you know how much he’s been bothering Lumis all this time!
What use were such facts?
All the public needed was prey to tear down.
Pandora’s box was already open.
Containing the catastrophe that had escaped the box was the priority.
If they handled it ambiguously, it wouldn’t just end with being removed from RE:VIVAL; Lumis could face a disbandment ending.
“What if… we ask Vista to request a correction? Or maybe ask Jeyun to post something on SNS…”
“Are you crazy?”
Whether it was naive or ignorant of how the world works.
Yoon Taejin frowned at manager Choi Eunbi’s pathetic suggestion.
Vista was maintaining a strict silence.
They probably thought there was no need to stir up trouble, since they were in the victim’s position anyway.
“It’s not necessarily impossible… I heard Ian and Jeyun were originally friends.”
“Friends?”
“They went to different schools but… had overlapping friends, I think?”
“No, wait. Weren’t they said to not get along since their trainee days?”
“That’s true but… I just thought it was a rivalry? Something like that.”
‘Friends?’
Roo-ha, who had been listening quietly from the corner, sharpened his gaze.
Was that why Kang Ian’s reaction had been so particularly intense?
‘This smells fishy…’
Could there be some hidden past between the two?
“And, Manager Lim Jonghyuk also apologized to us.”
“What? Why would Jonghyuk?”
“At first, I heard Ian grabbed the collar first, so I apologized, but later he came back to me. The Beat Twelve members said that Jeyun started the argument first, and he said he was sorry…”
So that’s why Vista remained silent.
Because they couldn’t exactly claim to be pure victims.
“……”
Roo-ha, who had been narrowing his eyes, looked at Choi Eunbi with a somewhat surprised gaze.
He thought all she did since coming to work was exclaim things like, “Roo-ha, no!”, “Roo-ha, stop!”, “Stay still!”, “So cute!”, “Oh my, so pretty~”—basically, being an exclamation-spewing maniac. But occasionally, she surprised people like this.
“Hmm…”
On the other hand, Yoon Taejin’s expression grew darker.
Something didn’t add up.
According to the spy(?), Han Jinseo, Jeong Jeyun, Im Jaehoon, Kang Yoonseok, and even Lim Jonghyuk were all in cahoots.
‘Was there any need for them to reveal information unfavorable to Jeong Jeyun?’
He turned his gaze towards Im Jaehoon.
Even in this serious situation, he was typing on his phone under the table with a sly smile.
Rrrrr-
Roo-ha’s phone vibrated.
It was Park Miso.
Rolling her short legs quickly, she swiftly slipped out of the meeting room.
She heard Im Jaehoon’s sharp voice, “Why is he here?”, but Roo-ha paid no mind.
“Yo~”
— Yo? Is now the time to be so nonchalant?
“Why?”
— Haven’t you seen the articles? All hell’s breaking loose!
“Hell’s breaking loose?”
— …It’s breaking loose! Okay!? That’s not the point!
“I saw them.”
— You saw? You saw them and you’re that calm?
“Because it’s not the truth.”
— No, hey… Sigh.
After a brief silence, Park Miso let out a deep sigh.
— So, what are you going to do now? You have to do something.
“The company will handle it.”
— The company? Yoon Taejin? Really? Will he do a good job?
‘Hmm…’
Well, it wasn’t a wrong thing to say, but what could they do?
This is what companies are for—to handle and resolve such situations.
“Hmm…”
— Ugh! This is frustrating! Aren’t you the producer? You said you’d make Lumis successful! Then take it a bit more seriously! Okay, first, don’t issue a statement yet! Start by verifying the facts! And that bastard Jeong Jeyun, you said he was suspicious, right? Dig into him! Use your connections, dig up his past, get something on him!
“I’m not a reporter? How am I supposed to know that…”
Wait a minute?
That line sounds really familiar…
— You love movies and dramas so much, how don’t you know? Search through his SNS, get his school records or something!
“Hey, that’s all illegal…”
Oops! Right, I have an expert!
Roo-ha’s lips curled into a smile.
“Keukeukeu. Sorry, sorry. I almost made a huge mistake, forgetting I have an expert right beside me!”
— What? Why? Don’t tell me…
“I heard Kang Ian and Jeong Jeyun were friends in their school days. If we dig into that part, we might find something.”
— Ah, are you crazy!!! Hey, you crazy ba…!
Click.
He ignored the stream of curses coming through the speaker and hung up.
‘If it’s Park Miso, she’ll dig something up.’
Given she was once a famous ‘home-master’ (homepage master), a fanatic who was obsessed with online communities back in the day, she would either scour the communities or ‘break into his house’—she’d find something.
Roo-ha fixed his expression and turned back towards the meeting room.
“E-Executive! That’s a bit too extreme!”
Han Sujin’s sharp voice spilled out through the crack in the open door.
“Then what? Just sit back and watch? The public isn’t that easy to deal with these days. This isn’t something that will just quietly blow over with a vague self-reflection period!”
It was Im Jaehoon’s voice.
“That’s not what I meant! We need to first confirm the facts clearly…”
“That’s enough!”
“Executive! Please think about the kids’ position too!”
“It’s because I’m thinking about the kids’ position that I’m doing this!”
“Calm down!”
“Team Leader!”
The staff tried to calm down the agitated Han Sujin.
‘What’s going on?’
In that short time, something had happened, and the atmosphere in the meeting room was heated.
“I’ll handle it myself, so you all just remember that!”
“E-Executive!”
Bam—
The door opened roughly, revealing Im Jaehoon.
“What’s this.”
He glanced at Roo-ha as if he’d seen something disgusting and left the meeting room.
Roo-ha quickly entered the meeting room.
“What happened?”
He asked quietly.
“That bastard Im Jaehoon…”
Yoon Taejin was trembling.
“Why? What did he do?”
“Sigh…”
After briefly checking their surroundings, Yoon Taejin explained in a low voice.
“He suggested holding a press conference.”
“A press conference?”
Roo-ha’s eyes narrowed.
‘He’s insane.’
In this industry, ‘assault’ is one of the most sensitive issues.
Usually, the norm is to issue a clarifying statement or take a period of self-reflection. Holding a press conference without even properly stating their position?
‘That’s practically admitting to the assault, isn’t it?’
Ah, of course, it’s true that Kang Ian grabbed the collar first.
But he had his reasons, didn’t he?
Violence can’t be justified, but at least he deserves a chance to explain, right?
And you won’t even give him that chance?
‘This son of a bitch…’
Roo-ha intuited what they were aiming for.
They were determined to bury Lumis outright.
Lumis’s unexpected strong performance, plus the rapidly rising online votes fueled by Jinhoon’s popularity…
The results weren’t out yet, but seeing them go this far, he could pretty much guess.
‘Kang Yoonseok must have told him.’
This confirmed two things.
Im Jaehoon was an irredeemable bastard.
And Lumis was dominating the online vote.
“Are you, are you out of your mind?!”
Han Sujin shouted angrily.
“CEO! Look at this!”
She held out her phone with a trembling hand.
[Exclusive] Clef Entertainment “Admits to assault by Lumis member Kang Ian, plans official apology press conference.”
‘This bastard… He had it all prepared already?’
The article was out before they even had time to prepare.
‘You son of a bitch…’
