Staring at his clenched fist for a long time, he suddenly recalled his past days as a prince.
Six years ago, upon ascending the throne, Crown Prince Jeremy killed all the princes and princesses beneath him. All but one: the thirteenth prince, Isaac Pelkins.
Isaac had clenched his fist like this back then too. The only difference was that now he was lying comfortably on a bed, whereas then he’d been trembling beneath a reception-room chair.
“Come to think of it, the real ‘Isaac’ survived because his body was switched with mine. If he’d been born in his own body, his presence would have been strong. That man would never have killed him.”
Lost in thoughts of the past, he gradually began to remember what he’d wanted. Isaac was completely different from Cheonghyeon, who was starved for attention.
He simply wanted to cast off the duties of royalty and live at ease like the empire’s administrators, drawing a monthly stipend. That wish had grown even more earnest when his elder brother, then the crown prince, slaughtered the royal family.
Rather than inside the whirlpool of power where blood and flesh flew, he wanted to be outside it, taking his ease on the state’s dime.
He had survived thanks to his faint presence, while that kid, deprived of attention, chose death.
Isaac wanted to live as he had when he was a prince: receiving no one’s attention and living an ordinary life.
“How much time is left on the contract?”
He’d debuted at nineteen, it was a seven-year contract, and they’d agreed to count the two years he spent in the army, so this year was the last.
Here, you take an exam called the CSAT (College Scholastic Ability Test) and enter university. Do they not have donation-based admissions? Imperial administrators seem similar to civil servants here… Maybe he didn’t even need to go to college.
He scratched the back of his neck as the calculations grew complicated. Since there was still contract time left, it’d be a bit much to attend a cram school while working.
Should he hire a tutor and study here and there? At least it was a relief he’d already finished his military service.
As he diligently set up plans, a bitter taste rose. It was fortunate for him, but for Gi Cheonghyeon himself, going to the army at a time when he should have been under the brightest spotlight could hardly have been good.
What kind of crazy president sends an actively promoting idol off to the army? One who was only three years past debut, at that.
In truth, though Isaac and the reapers didn’t know it, the president cherished Cheonghyeon quite a bit. And sending him to the army had been a big gamble in its own right.
There had been a time when a hugely popular actor was exposed for using tricks to evade military service, and public opinion went up in flames. Idols, too, couldn’t escape the public’s sharp gaze then.
Idols who were using tricks to delay enlistment were climbing the real-time trending lists almost daily. Other agencies even ran comment operations to keep groups with a member postponing enlistment in check.
At that time, by sending the conspicuously low-presence Cheonghyeon to the army, the president wanted to focus the public’s gaze on him and improve his image.
What’s more, because Cheonghyeon had U.S. citizenship, it seemed certain even better public opinion would form. But even when an article went out, people were lukewarm, and no one paid attention.
When Cheonghyeon was discharged and returned, it only occasionally showed up on forums as “The idol who quietly did his military service.jpg.”
Back then, Cheonghyeon had also wanted to enlist, expecting he could build friendships with peers his own age, and just then the other members were focusing on their solo activities, so the various give-and-take lined up and he enlisted, but it was a choice that failed magnificently.
And Isaac, who had no way of knowing this, could only grind his teeth at the president he didn’t even know the face of, feeling sorry for Cheonghyeon, who would by now be occupying Isaac’s body.
Creak.
As he was deep in thought like that, the door eased open.
“Aaagh! Hyun-ah! Doctor— no, nurse…!”
Seeing his eyes wide open, a man rushed over screaming and hit the nurse call. Isaac quietly shut his eyes.
He didn’t know who it was, but it didn’t seem to be family. He didn’t know whether the man was trustworthy or not, and there was no need to act like a lunatic going on about souls being swapped.
If he wasn’t family, they’d soon part ways. He ought at least to imprint a good image and go. If he were branded, after a suicide attempt, as a celebrity who’d gone mad and whose contract renewal fell through, it would be hard for him to live an ordinary life even outside the entertainment industry.
“Cheonghyeon, the members say they’ll be here soon. Why did you close your eyes again? Are you tired? I called both the nurse and the doctor. Should I tell them to leave for now?”
Among the man’s noisy chatter, the word “members” lodged in his ear. Ah, then this person was the manager?
“Manager.”
When Isaac called softly, Changsik was flustered. The kid who usually tugged at his collar and only whispered, “Excuse me,” was now looking him straight in the eye and calling to him.
Whatever had gone wrong had gone very, very wrong.
When the manager’s eyes went wide and he looked about to rattle off something again, Isaac quickly got in first.
“Tell the members not to come.”
The moment he heard Isaac’s curt words, the manager’s face went chalk-white. Don’t tell me the discord rumors were true?
When Cheonghyeon collapsed, the manager had been the first to find him. The kid who kept time like a knife still hadn’t come out even after an hour, so he’d gone up to the room and found sleeping pills scattered here and there and Cheonghyeon sprawled out, unconscious.
He blew off the Lunar New Year pilot variety show, which had been Cheonghyeon’s only schedule, and headed straight to the hospital, but somehow an article popped up titled <[Breaking] East’s Cheonghyeon Attempts Suicide Due to Discord Among Members?>
It even included a photo of a young man being piggybacked into an ambulance behind the manager coming down from the dorm. The face wasn’t visible, but at that hour the other three members besides Cheonghyeon had schedules, so the man in the photo was taken as certainly being Cheonghyeon, and the comment section went up in flames.
The agency immediately put out a counter-article calling it groundless, and the general public quieted down, but the problem was the fans.
Thinking of how Cheonghyeon had always hovered on the fringe within the group, the fans grew even more anxious. Amid countless rumors and baiting, East’s fandom blazing, and other fandoms slyly tossing on logs as they watched, the online communities became utter pandemonium.
[ What’s with Hyeoni?? Did the kids really bully him? ]
└ With their personalities, would they have bullied him? Quit with the headcanon;
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[ But why are the members saying nothing?? Usually when something like this becomes an issue, shouldn’t they step up themselves and say it isn’t true?? Can’t they even post a single line on Insta like, “We don’t know what’s going on either, but there’s absolutely no bullying”? Do they not know the fan café Seuns and everything is in total chaos right now lolol I thought we’d trend for the grand prize, but seeing us trend as a bullying-idol makes my heart sink ]
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└ Do the members have to soothe you just because you’re anxious? Are you kindergarteners?
└ “Bullying,” my ass lol Go read the agency’s official position
└ To the comment above: the agency said it wasn’t a suicide attempt; they never said it wasn’t bullying
[ The article’s content really rips my heart…. ㅜㅜㅜㅜ I don’t want to suspect the members, but are the bullying rumors true? ]
(Article capture)
On December 31, the group East won the grand prize. Then on January 1, officials from Global Semicol Entertainment and the members of East all gathered for a party. It was a place to celebrate their journey and rejoice in the honor of the prize. However, one member was an exception. This is the testimony of one person who was present.
“Throughout the party, Mr. Gi Cheonghyeon did not look at all like the star of the grand prize. At first they celebrated together, but once everyone got a bit tipsy, they treated Mr. Cheonghyeon as if he didn’t exist. Even when he was sitting among the members, they’d, for example, heap food only on the three other members. When they passed around drinks, they skipped Mr. Cheonghyeon alone. The members seemed to take that situation as only natural. Then Mr. Cheonghyeon tidied up the place where he’d been sitting and left…. No one stopped him. I stayed to the end, and even after Mr. Cheonghyeon left, no one looked for him.”
└ Even without that kind of fluff, would StarShot have written an article like that with no source?
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└ That’s a bit lol Were you there? Blur out the members’ names, you idiot
└ But how many years have they been around—who would be dumb enough to bully someone openly?
└ For real; they were probably just busy thanking people, eating, and chatting
└ Why do the eating and chatting while excluding just one person on a good day lol it reeks
└ That member is hiding behind the others and not showing up. From the article it looks like GCH is getting shunned by the whole company
[ Don’t start blaming the other members now~ ^^ Weren’t you fans the ones who always went quiet only during CH’s parts at concerts? You’re the perpetrators. Now that you think the kid might be in danger, you’re sitting here beating up on the members ]
└ Fr lol Start by smashing your head down, @Haetgong-nim, the named fan with 12k followers who coined “Ghost-hyeon” to mock Cheonghyeon
└ Let’s not bring up private individuals… ㅜ
└ But Haetgong should apologize
└ Was Haetgong the only one who used it? You all used it too, and now you’re dumping it on one person—amazing
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└ How many times have fansite masters gone to fansigns and then not even gotten GCH’s autograph before leaving??? And you’re talking like they’re ordinary bystanders. The fans are the perpetrators
└ They said the fansite masters forgot because they were focused on their own faves… and that the fan managers in the back didn’t tell them to go get the autograph
└ At a fansign where people pay at least 300 each and there are only four members, who the hell “forgets” that—what they did was thoroughly exclude the kid lol That idol, that fandom;;
└ What are the fan managers even supposed to say?? “Please also go get Cheonghyeon’s autograph”?
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└ ㅂㅁㄱ
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There had been rumors of bullying and discord before as well, but the manager and the company never thought Cheonghyeon was being bullied. On the contrary, when the manager forgot him, the members took gentle care of him, and Cheonghyeon cherished and liked the members in turn.
He showed no sign of discomfort at all. When he had no schedule and was at the dorm, he would wait for another member to come so they could eat together.
That was why, as soon as Cheonghyeon woke up, they called the members. But for the person concerned to reject the members’ visit the moment he opened his eyes…
Could those punks really have been tormenting Cheonghyeon out of the company’s sight? In any case, something had clearly happened at the wrap party.
Isaac had only told them not to come because awkwardness, with a dash of resentment, was piled on top but to the manager, Isaac’s words could only sound like the last dying cry of a wounded beast.
The celebrity I look after was bullied and attempted suicide…? Since when? For six years? Is that why he insisted on going to the army while promoting? No, the president proposed that first. Then the president knew? An enlistment to escape…?
As the panicked manager muttered blankly, the medical staff arrived just then, and Isaac sighed and asked a favor.
“I’m fine, so please see to this person first.”
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