“What…?”
At words that defied everyone’s expectations, the manager sprang to his feet and rattled off like a machine gun.
“Cheonghyeon, since it seems you don’t remember, I’ll tell you. You were really bad at studying. Not just school grades—whether it was choreography or singing, no matter what we taught you, you were slow to pick it up. Only, our Cheonghyeon had incredible perseverance! If not for that, even debuting would have been hard. Are you talking about the civil service exam, by any chance? But that’s extremely difficult, too. Especially for a kid like our Hyeoni who often gets spelling wrong. There are even cases where people who graduated from good universities fail the Grade-9 exam over and over….”
Oh, this bastard?
Isaac shot the manager a look of disbelief.
If Gi Cheonghyeon had really been a bullying victim, the manager was the worst of them all.
And the stupid one was the former Gi Cheonghyeon!
Among the princes, Isaac had been on the clever side, but he couldn’t exactly say that… seriously.
President Hyun-gwang nodded along to the manager’s words even as he mulled over how to put things more gently. Seeing that, a sigh almost escaped him of its own accord.
So the kid really had been dim? He’d thought it odd there wasn’t a single callus of the kind that naturally forms when you hold a pen often.
Isaac let out a deep sigh and cut the manager off.
“My memory isn’t intact, so I misspoke. What I meant was, at the very least, I want to leave the entertainment industry. I’m tired of being a celebrity.”
When the manager grew teary again and moved to hug him, Isaac twisted his shoulder and subtly avoided it.
“Here, the IV. Haha.”
Seeing the IV lines hanging from that thin wrist, the manager straightened up awkwardly. But he accepted a hug just fine earlier, didn’t he…?
Leaving the crestfallen manager behind, Hyun-gwang opened his mouth.
“If that’s what you want, we can terminate anytime. It’s just… public sentiment toward East is really bad right now. If we end it now, there will definitely be talk. There’s a variety show already booked, too. Could you keep going until the contract ends? I promise we won’t push you to work hard. Think of this year as a preparation period for entering ordinary society.”
Well, that was the expected outcome. But wait, the public sentiment is bad?
‘Why is public sentiment bad? What happened?’
When Cheonghyeon made a face that demanded an explanation, the president took out a tablet and showed him a community page on a portal site.
“Ha. It’s a mess. Didn’t the agency respond to these articles?”
At Cheonghyeon’s sharp reaction, both Hyun-gwang and Changsik flinched and answered, haltingly, as if making excuses.
“We did, but the article was so detailed that people don’t really believe the official position. And at the company level, we phrased things vaguely in case the members really were perpetrators.”
“Do I have a personal social media account?”
“You do. Would you post even a single line? The agency will also squash it again by saying there’s absolutely no bullying or discord, but it still hits differently when the person himself speaks.”
“Fine by me.”
Cheonghyeon immediately took his phone, snapped a selfie, and wrote a post.
(Photo)
Hello, this is Gi Cheonghyeon.
You were really startled, weren’t you? I’m sorry to have worried you. First, I want to clear up a misunderstanding. I was admitted to the hospital due to a simple condition issue, and there was absolutely nothing that should have given you cause for concern.
What’s more, when I was ill, the members worried about me the most.
On the day of the party, my stomach wasn’t feeling well. So I had already asked the members and company folks ahead of time not to give me food or alcohol, which I think led to a bit of misunderstanding.
I hope this clears things up!! Thank you to everyone who worried about me.
It’s late—have a good night. I’m healthy now. 🙂
Even though it was dawn, once Cheonghyeon’s post went up, East’s fans copied it to communities and various social media.
[Do you seriously think it was just a “condition issue”… what schedule did that guy even have?]
└ Ah ffs…
└ True…
└ You’re worse
[Didn’t the company take over Gi Cheonghyeon’s account? There isn’t a single spelling mistake]
└ He could’ve run it through a spell-checker!!!!! You meanie!!!!! ㅠㅠ
└ lmao ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Of course there were still some who doubted, but the mood gradually reversed. Posts and comments attacking the other three members were being quietly deleted. In the midst of that, one comment caught Cheonghyeon’s eye.
[So is Gi Cheonghyeon going on Our Love Playlist??? Since he’s sick, will another member go instead???]
└ Oh crap…
└ Hul
└ Isn’t that not okay…? It was already CH’s to do
└ What are you talking about? lol Even when the kid’s sick, do we have to stop your oppa from going on the show? It’s okay for CH??
└ Agree with the comment above—I’m a different group’s fan, but East’s fans are really something lol
“President, what is Our Love Playlist?”
Our Love Playlist
For short: Ou-yeon-ri.
As soon as word spread about this pilot variety show, idol-land was turned completely upside down. Each episode assigns a song, and the cast has a romance fitting that song. The concept was fluttery and perfect for the coming spring, but the fact that the entire cast would be pretty and handsome idols and young actors was the worst possible news for fans.
Fans went on all-out fax and email barrages, fiercely protesting to agencies that if their singer went on that program, it’d be: you die, I live.
They thought that after a little time, the fans will quiet down. But the fans’ fervor exceeded all expectations. Firepower that should have been poured into year-end awards voting was concentrated on protesting the companies.
Every fan café was flooded with posts titled, “We. Oppose. Appearance. On Ou-yeon-ri,” and whenever they flagged, fans encouraged each other by invoking the worst-case scenario: our noona and your oppa filming the show and then, come January 1 of the next year, a dating scandal breaks.
Thus, both the big agencies and the medium/smaller agencies with solid fanbases all refused to appear. Let a bunch of flop-idols get together.
If they do it, it’ll flop on its own. The fans seized victory and raised a toast. They vowed not to watch the show.
If Season 1 did too well and there was a Season 2, then they truly wouldn’t be able to avoid it.
They thought it would end there… but when senior PDs saw PD Son, who was in charge of Ou-yeon-ri, struggling, they stepped in.
No matter if viewers are kings, how dare they try to kill the program?
The veteran PDs pressured agencies by specifying groups in advance and insisting at least one member be conscripted no matter what. Agencies were truly caught between a rock and a hard place, between fans and the broadcaster.
Just as the atmosphere was heating up more and more, a post went up on East’s fan café.
- About Ou-yeon-ri… what about Cheonghyeon??
Looks like only Cheonghyeon did his military service, and he has zero solo activities… Hando is doing radio, Sikyung said he’s super busy with composing and lyrics, and Yunwoo is set to do a cameo in a film this winter after the album ends. But only Cheonghyeon has nothing lined up after this album ㅜㅜ If this is a problem I’ll delete!!
Fans quickly grasped the subtext. If someone has to go anyway, anyone but our oppa!
That post united the fans of Hando, Yunwoo, and Sikyung. On East’s fan café, the posts titled “We Oppose Appearance on Ou-yeon-ri” gradually disappeared. In their place, they uploaded photos of Cheonghyeon with heart-fluttering famous lines and added comments about how he’d suit a drama quite well.
Of course, if it were a real drama and not Ou-yeon-ri, they wouldn’t stand for it.
Having found a convenient sacrificial lamb, East’s fans even announced they were withdrawing from the fan alliance that opposed Ou-yeon-ri. Only then did other fans catch on.
Right. If someone has to go anyway, then they’d rather…
Realizing it was something they couldn’t avoid, every fandom began looking for their own group’s “Gi Cheonghyeon.”
Fans also knew that the broadcaster had begun applying pressure. Everyone could tell that if they kept protesting here, their own singer would be cursed and face disadvantages, so it was about time to put someone forward.
And so the rough cast was assembled. The Lunar New Year pilot variety that Cheonghyeon had been set to do was this very Our Love Playlist.
“I found idol fans terrifying.”
“Where’s colder than that place? I worked at a big corporation for two years before switching to PD, and those fans are more ruthless than the HR team there.”
Of course, there were cast changes in the middle for Ou-yeon-ri as well.
StarShot, ever the purveyor of surprise dating scoops, ran an article that actor Yang Dohyeon, last year’s drama acting award winner and Ko Yeonhee, a top-member of the top girl group AKA, were dating.
Yang Dohyeon’s and Ko Yeonhee’s agencies immediately denied it, but then why were two people with no clear connection driving to the Han River together? The dating rumor burned hot.
And there were people who didn’t miss this chance: the fans of Yoon Song-i from AKA, who had been set to appear on Ou-yeon-ri.
[So Ko Yeonhee’s not going on Ou-yeon-ri because she’s busy dating lol. Makes sense—why would Song-i go when she’s the busiest doing all the team’s songwriting and composing?]
└ +1 so true ㅜㅜ
└ +1+1+1 Imagine how anxious the agency was… the one with the most free time is dating, so they had to send the busiest one instead… ^^
[Celebs all know who’s dating whom among themselves lol. What if the moment Gi Cheonghyeon saw Ko Yeonhee he went, “Uh? She’s dating Dohyeon-hyung. Can she be on this show?” Maybe that’s why they couldn’t send her?]
└ FR
└ This is it
└ Ep.1 bait S-tier
[But seriously, no shame—this isn’t the first time Song-i’s covered for other members’ screwups, and she’s covering again this time in case the show made it obvious she was dating lol ah f—ing hell]
└ I wondered why they were sending a kid who sleeps 2 hours a day from composing—she says the off-season’s even more tiring—to some random variety ㅠㅠ
[Song-i queen… what even are you?]
└ How long does Yoon Song-i have to keep cleaning up after other members?
└ If the dating rumor isn’t true, then Ko Yeonhee should go lol
Yoon Song-i’s fans, as if to avenge the time when picking Ou-yeon-ri’s cast had gotten her shunned within the fandom, flooded the threads with comments.
As the mood shifted from the dating rumor to the longstanding internal unequal treatment within the group and began to overheat, the agency finally announced that Yeonhee would appear on Ou-yeon-ri.
They added that having Song-i appear on Ou-yeon-ri had only been meant as a way to try a “virtual romance” to gain more inspiration while writing and composing, and there had never been any intent to substitute for another member.
Thus the final lineup for Ou-yeon-ri was decided. Ko Yeonhee’s fans, who had briefly lost their heads, realized their mistake but it was already decided.
The one saving grace was that the guy slated as her counterpart, this Gi Cheonghyeon, had no boldness and could barely even speak to female celebrities. He had no presence, either. As long as he didn’t take a fancy to Yeonhee and start creeping on her…
Hey! Make sure you sound like you’re reading the script!
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