— Think carefully. Whether you’ll stop this with money, or reject my offer and end your career as a celebrity.
Click.
As the cold, despicable voice vanished and the call ended, Harin let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
She never wanted to take a call like this.
[Answer the phone. If you ignore me, you won’t even be able to imagine what will happen.]
This was the text she received after she ignored the calls.
Once she saw this message, she had no choice but to answer.
For the past week, she had been able to ignore the threatening texts.
[Your parents ran away. Pay back the 800 million won debt they left immediately. Otherwise, you won’t be able to show your face in public.]
[The mother borrowed money and didn’t pay it back, and the father gambled it all away. And the bitch of a daughter is living the high life while pretending her parents don’t exist. Should I publish an article about your dysfunctional family?]
[You little bitch, let’s see how long you can hold out.]
Threatening messages arrived several times a day.
But she couldn’t say a word.
She had cut ties with her family five years ago; how was she supposed to pay back any money?
‘Why should I?’
She couldn’t just block the number blindly.
She was terrified of what would happen if she actually found her name appearing on the internet or in the news.
[Harin’s singing ability transcends the level of a girl group.]
[Luna Prism member Harin reborn as the Goddess of OSTs]
[Spotlight on the fandom phenomenon of fans watching dramas just to hear Harin’s OSTs]
When she searched her name, only things like this appeared.
She couldn’t let words like “parents’ debt,” “gambling,” and “dysfunctional” be mixed in among these articles.
Trembling with anxiety, she finally took the threatening call.
She thought about telling her agency, but she quickly dismissed the idea.
She wanted to break away from her current agency, the one that had allowed her to debut, no matter what.
The “seven-year jinx,” where girl groups disband instead of renewing their contracts after seven years, was fast approaching.
‘After everything I went through to get here… after everything I’ve endured until now…’
SOME Entertainment might be one of the top three large agencies in the country, but that was merely an external image.
Whenever she tried to voice her opinion, even slightly, verbal abuse would fly her way, leaving her frozen and unable to move.
Harin had worked herself to death to avoid such experiences.
She had grown enough that the company no longer made excessive demands, but the pressure from the agency CEO and the other Luna Prism members, who couldn’t function without her, caused her immense stress.
“Are you ready? We’re leaving in five minutes, so come out now.”
After a knock, the door to the dorm opened, and her road manager, Kim Seok-cheol, spoke.
“Ah… okay, Oppa.”
Harin flinched but tried her best to answer calmly.
She awkwardly slid the phone she had been gripping into her pocket, and the manager watched her do so.
Harin, preoccupied with calming her heart, didn’t notice that his gaze was that of an observer, different from usual.
“My favorite singer! Harin, welcome. Manager, welcome as well.”
K welcomed Harin with open arms as she entered the recording studio.
He had recorded with countless singers, but those who understood and sang his songs as well as Harin did were few and far between.
Naturally, he couldn’t help but feel excited and joyful about today’s work.
“Please take good care of our Harin today. By the way, who is this…?”
The manager, bowing 90 degrees, asked while pointing to the tall man standing next to K.
“Hello. I’m Lee Hyeonwook, a reporter from KCN Broadcasting. I’m a fan of Harin, so I shamelessly asked K, who I’m close with, for a favor. Hello, Harin?”
“Yes. Hello?”
Harin greeted Lee Hyeonwook with a gentle smile as she shook hands with him.
“It’s my wish to hear Harin singing in person, so I came, but if I make you uncomfortable, I’ll wait outside. Please feel free to tell me.”
“Then, for a moment…”
It was just as Harin’s manager, Kim Seokcheol, was about to ask him to leave.
“I’m fine. It’s nice to have a fan listening to my song. It gives me strength while recording.”
Strangely, Harin didn’t find the man called Reporter Lee Hyeonwook uncomfortable.
In fact, would it be ridiculous to say that she felt a helping hand being extended through the way he looked at her?
“Is your condition okay today? I barely slept last night thinking about hearing you sing my song, Harin.”
“Haha. I’ll work hard, so please don’t put too much pressure on me, Composer-nim.”
“Just do what you always do. I know you always work hard even if I tell you not to.”
A surge of emotion hit her.
Harin’s heart wavered at K’s praise.
Hadn’t she been tired of hearing that she needed to do better, that there were countless kids better than her, and that they were climbing up even while she slept?
Unaware that it was gaslighting from the agency, Harin had often pushed herself to the limit, trying to stay sharp.
Even now, having reached a certain level of stardom, the company had not changed its attitude.
[You think it’s your world now because you’ve become a bit famous and people are sucking up to you? Not a chance. The moment you get a scratch on you, those people will be the first to tear you apart, so never let your guard down.]
Thinking about it, those words seemed correct.
Even the members she worked with seemed to be wary of her, and didn’t they get prickly whenever she did slightly better?
That was why she found it harder to open her heart to words like “you’re pretty” or “you’re doing great.”
But K was different.
He was someone who recognized her hard work.
The feeling of having one’s effort acknowledged was an indescribable emotion.
‘As expected, the situation doesn’t look good.’
I intuited it the moment I saw Harin’s face.
Not only was her expression somehow dark, but there was a manager trying to kick me out and an artist stopping him.
The fact that these two weren’t in sync allowed for the reasonable deduction that either the artist was extremely sensitive or the manager was monitoring her.
I had seen countless celebrities while grinding under Kim Dusik as a culture reporter.
I could tell at a glance if a celebrity had a sensitive or strange personality.
Harin was not that kind of celebrity.
‘It’s obvious the manager is the problem; he’s fidgeting.’
Kim Seokcheol was anxious.
The company had told him to make sure no strangers ever got near Harin, but he hadn’t expected a variable like this.
Were the fans she brushed past during transit the same as a fan appearing in the recording studio? Moreover, he was a reporter.
[You must never leave Harin alone. Always be careful that she doesn’t mix with other people!]
The manager’s ears were practically ringing from the head of department’s nagging.
While he didn’t know the detailed circumstances, he could feel that Harin was currently not on great terms with the company.
Above all, it was impossible not to notice Harin’s anxious expression.
In truth, how many stars did SOME Entertainment actually take care of humanely? Still, it was shocking that they didn’t treat Harin well, even though she made the company a lot of money.
He felt frustrated by his own position—unable to reach out to Harin, yet unable to stand by the head of department to make things harder for her.
“Manager. Please sit and have some of this. It’s distracting having you pace around. I think it’ll be a hindrance when Harin-ssi records…”
Kim Seokcheol looked at the green juice handed to him by Composer K.
“I’ve been drinking this lately, and it’s very good for the body. You should try some, Manager.”
His throat had been dry anyway, so Kim Seok-cheol downed the green juice pouch with the straw in one go.
Soon, the music began to flow, and Harin’s voice, which was always pleasant to hear, filled the room.
“Harin-ssi, that’s good. Shall we try the ‘Our meeting~’ part again, but with a slightly more flowing feeling?”
Harin nodded at K’s direction.
As several recordings continued and the atmosphere of the studio remained normal, Kim Seokcheol gradually regained his peace of mind… no, his peace was shattered.
Gurgle.
Suddenly, a strong sensation of explosive diarrhea surged up.
He could endure it until the first wave passed. A very brief peace followed, and when the second wave hit, he contemplated whether he should sit with his heels pressed against his buttocks.
“Manager, why don’t you go to the restroom?”
“Pardon?”
“I can hear everything. Go to the restroom.”
K spoke up.
“I’m fine. I have to keep an eye on our Harin.”
“Doesn’t Harin do well on her own?”
“Still, a manager must always be present.”
“…Then are you going to shit yourself right here?”
As soon as K finished speaking, the second wave was reaching its climax.
Harin’s song was still flowing beautifully, but Kim Seokcheol could no longer hear it.
‘Will it be okay? It’ll be okay, right? What could possibly happen while she’s singing?’
Kim Seokcheol had a premonition.
If he pushed through this and a third wave came, he might actually shit himself, just as K said.
“Then, I’ll be right ba—”
Before he could even finish the word “back,” the manager bolted out of the recording studio.
Only after confirming that the studio door was completely closed did K stop the music and nod at me.
I pressed the button connected to the recording booth.
“Harin-ssi. The manager went to the bathroom. So tell me quickly. Is something wrong?”
“…”
Harin was startled.
She thought she was working professionally, barely managing to calm her heart, but the fact that her heart fluttered at a single question from Reporter Lee Hyeonwook asking if something was wrong…
The fact that tears suddenly streamed down her face when she thought she was hiding it well…
Above all, the realization that she felt relieved that the manager was gone.
At K’s house.
I called Myeongjin.
“So you’re saying Harin, a member of Luna Prism, is being blackmailed? And she can’t even report it because she doesn’t want to renew her contract with the agency?”
Myeongjin understood my explanation instantly.
In the recording studio, while the manager was in the bathroom, Harin had quickly conveyed her situation.
At that time, we shared contact information and exchanged more detailed information via text.
For example, the phone number that had been sending threatening texts and making calls to Harin, and the contact information of her parents that Harin had blocked.
“Those bastards at SOME Entertainment. You went through it during a previous incident, so why are you getting involved with SOME Entertainment again?”
Myeongjin scolded K.
“Because it has to be Harin’s vocals!”
K replied grumpily, but having heard her in the studio, I could see why K had chosen Harin.
“Hyung, please. Please save Harin.”
K was agitated along with Harin’s anxious heart.
Perhaps it was natural, as he had also been blackmailed in the past.
“Harin’s parents’ debt is 800 million won. But since she’s been out of contact for over five years, we need to verify if it’s true.”
I told them the story I heard from Harin about how she suffered because of her father’s gambling addiction and her mother’s vanity.
Sighs from K and Myeongjin followed intermittently.
“I’d cut ties with my parents too. It’s not like pouring water into a bottomless pit. No matter how much money Harin makes, could she possibly handle all that?”
I recalled the notes in my reporting notebook.
[December 31, 20XX. Luna Prism member Harin commits suicide due to depression after suffering from sponsor rumors.]
[Instructions from Senior Kim Dusik to write the article more provocatively. I feel like I shouldn’t…]
I thought I would hear about sponsor rumors from Harin in the studio.
However, what came out of Harin’s mouth was an unexpected debt issue.
To clarify the direction of my investigation, I hesitated for a moment and then sent a text to Harin.
[Harin-ssi. By any chance, did the CEO ever call you out at night in the past? I know it’s a difficult story, but I will help you, so I would appreciate it if you could tell me.]
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