Just before I contacted Kim Jaeyeon to ask him to look into Yoon Heeun, I scoured everywhere I could on my phone, searching as much as I could within my limits.
[Seong Jiwon quit, fuckㅋㅋㅋㅋ this is fucking disgusting, pretending not to know anything, ugh, fuckㅠ]
[Seong Jiwon should’ve run off to the army with Today~~ If you realized after six years of training that it wasn’t working out, you should’ve just lived as a regular person instead of shoving yourself in and causing trouble for the others, what the fuck is that]
[Seong’s fans (ㅋㅋ) trying to sell his personality, it’s just sad, really sad, and in the middle of all this, Daepaseong is just covering their eyes and ears…ㅋㅋ]
These people thought that if they envied, hated, and trampled someone, they would elevate themselves.
Give them a tiniest excuse, and they would pounce like a pack of beasts, tearing into you.
And the most annoying part was that their target was Seong Jiwon, who was nothing but diligent and kind.
Honestly, with someone like Seong Jiwon, it makes sense to sell his personality.
Anyone who had talked to Seong Jiwon or spent just a few days with him would know.
Even if you didn’t want to, your jaded heart, bit by bit, would get a little cleaner.
Especially now that I was living as his roommate, I was realizing it even more.
Next, I searched for Prove, but nothing related to Yoon Heeun came up.
Maybe it was the power of a big agency, or maybe they were just scrubbing things clean as hell.
Clicking my tongue, I tried combining different keywords, but when I couldn’t find anything satisfying, I paused to think and tried setting a time range.
[I heard he’s been trying to fill his need for validation with gaslighting since his trainee days… a dog won’t change its spots…
└(This tweet is unavailable)
└└Yeahㅋㅋㅋ I just feel bad for the kids debuting with himㅋㅋ]
Finally, I found a few tweets from years ago that seemed promising, and I let out a small laugh.
Yeah. Once you get dirty, there’s no getting back to clean.
After confirming there was nothing else worth seeing, I deleted Yoon Heeun and typed in the agency’s name.
As I scrolled through articles, communities, and SNS, one keyword stood out.
[Is it true ㅍㅇㅂ has a blacklist??ㅋㅋㅋI believed it after that leak last time, but their management is fucking shitㅋㅋㅋ[1]
└Fuckㅠ this agency is legendary for leechingㅠ]
Come to think of it, I’d heard some agencies kept lists to monitor over-the-line fans or sasaengs.
I changed the keyword again and reset the time range.
Then, I found a post from long ago.
[Let’s not consume this person’s photos… Let’s protect our precious Prove kids’ privacy…
└Shouldn’t we stop dragging around hommas who didn’t even make the blacklist and beating them up? Let’s not consume, ffs]
[Fuck but their photos are fucking good though]
After reading a few more posts with that nasty vibe seeping through the words, I got a rough sense of what was going on at the time.
Apparently, Prove’s agency’s blacklist had been leaked by accident, and it caused a huge stir among fans.
But something was off.
All the hommas who had posted airport previews the day before the blacklist allegedly leaked were included on the list.[2]
Except for one.
Ah~. This is fucking hilarious.
I summarized my findings and sent them to Kim Jaeyeon, asking him to look into it.
He was a paparazzi, after all, so I figured he’d know at least one person at Prove’s agency, or at worst, could sweet-talk a part-timer into spilling.
If he could get the blacklist, it’d be easy to compare and find out.
But even after understanding what I meant, Kim Jaeyeon added a useless question.
– But why are you doing this?
“…”
– Can you even call them rivals now? Prove’s losing anyway. Or is it because you think they’re the ones spreading rumors about Seong Jiwon?
Of course, I ignored him.
And just now, Kim Jaeyeon called and told me three things:
- Yoon Heeun had dated several sasaengs.
- He was probably still meeting with a sasaeng.
- But he couldn’t say for sure who it was.
He said the person I’d mentioned was suspicious, but he needed more time.
Since the blacklist was a sensitive issue, Kim Jaeyeon grumbled that it was hard to get his hands on it.
I gave him a genuine compliment.
“How could you still make a living doing this then?”
– …Well, I manage to scrape by somehow.
I could hear him grinding his teeth here and there, but Kim Jaeyeon still gave me a pretty detailed report of what he had found so far.
I hung up and took a shower while I organized my thoughts.
Still, I was starting to get a clearer picture of Yoon Heeun.
With nothing else to do for now, I flopped onto the bed and tried to sleep.
When I opened my eyes again, sunlight was streaming in.
The other members were already up and making a racket outside.
I tore open a red ginseng stick, tossed it in my mouth, and moved lazily.
“Looks like the air conditioner’s broken!!”
“Is this a sauna or what?”
Everyone was huddled outside the guesthouse, and I realized it was because the air conditioner wasn’t working well, so they’d gone out hoping for a breeze.
As I pulled my cap down, I made eye contact with Kang Ichae.
He was poking Jeong Dajun’s cheek and teasing him as Dajun whined about the heat.
Ichae then grinned at me.
I sat on a bench and waited for the van.
Then, Seong Jiwon, who’d been near Jeong Dajun and Kang Ichae, walked slowly over to me and said,
“You really don’t get bothered by the heat.”
He plopped down next to me and slumped over.
We hadn’t been outside long, but his skin was already turning red.
“Ah… I need to call my grandma.”
“Then do it.”
“Yeah. I should… Ah…?”
“What?”
“…Where’s my phone?”
Watching Seong Jiwon rummage through his pockets without even lifting his head, I could only sighed.
I asked where he’d slept and went into the guesthouse.
I opened the door to the place he’d mentioned and spotted his phone by the bed.
At that moment, I suddenly remembered the tip from Lea Purple’s maknae and Kang Ichae that Yoon Heeun kept contacting Seong Jiwon.
Should I just let it go for the sake of a fellow group member’s privacy?
That thought didn’t even last three seconds.
I was surprised I held that long.
I unlocked the phone with practiced ease.
Seong Jiwon’s and Kim Seonghyeon’s phones were used by the maknaes for game events, so I could unlock their patterns with my eyes closed.
Raising an eyebrow, I tapped the chat app without hesitation.
At the very top was Yoon Heeun’s chat, and below that, a chat previewed with “Grandma, I miss you so much too!!ㅎㅎ.”
“Hmm.”
I opened Yoon Heeun’s chat, scrolled to the top, and checked through it.
It was a sight to behold.
After the parts about a “5 p.m. curfew” and “roommate’s too strict, can’t do it”—
– Yoon Heeun: Come to this addressㅋㅋ
– Seong Jiwon: I’m sorry
– Yoon Heeun: Let’s drink togetherㅋ
– Seong Jiwon: I’m sorry
– Yoon Heeun: When are you free?
– Seong Jiwon: I’m sorry
If he’d gone, there were traps that could’ve landed him in a scandal with photos that would ruin his idol career.
But Seong Jiwon’s replies were the same every time, like Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V.
Yoon Heeun seemed to be getting angrier, his tone turning threatening.
– Yoon Heeun: You’re really making it obvious you’re annoyed with your sunbae, huh?
But Seong Jiwon ignored him.
Seong Jiwon…
Watching Seong Jiwon’s ironclad wall over the past few weeks, I couldn’t help but be impressed.
When he didn’t even reply anymore, Yoon Heeun got a bit more blatant.
– Yoon Heeun: Do you know what I might do?ㅋㅋ
– Yoon Heeun: Rumors spread fast, not just in the industry but among fans too
– Yoon Heeun: You wouldn’t want your members or family who trusted you to see this kind of thing
– Yoon Heeun: Wouldn’t you feel bad for the people who supported you?
After a long silence, Seong Jiwon finally replied hours later.
– Seong Jiwon: I hope these message logs get spread around too
…Savage.
That was the last message from Yoon Heeun.
And in reality, rumors about Seong Jiwon were starting to trickle out.
Just look at the comments about his former agency on the radio.
I was about to turn off the phone and stop my thoughts there when a more urgent voice reached my ears.
“Seo Hoyun!!”
Seong Jiwon, his face still red from the sun, was standing at the door, catching his breath.
“What?”
“Uh…”
Seong Jiwon’s gaze landed on the phone.
“…Wait, did you see??”
I tried to play dumb, but since I’d been caught, I couldn’t just let it go.
“What, Yoon Heeun?”
I’d gone through every bit, from start to finish.
“You saw it…?”
Seong Jiwon hesitated at the door, not daring to come closer.
“You… you knew everything?”
The rumors online, the shit Yoon Heeun was pulling behind the scenes.
Even without the object, Seong Jiwon seemed to know what I meant.
“You mean the rumors, right?”
He gave a sheepish smile.
“How could I not? No matter what set I go to, everyone’s whispering and staring at me.”
I crossed my arms, forcing myself to stay calm despite the anger boiling inside.
“And you’re just okay with that?”
“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me, but it’s not like this is the first time.”
Mumbling, Seong Jiwon paused for a moment.
“…But it helps a bit when you get mad for me.”
A twinge shot up the back of my neck.
This stupidly kind bastard.
“Why are you so soft?”
“…Huh?”
“If it were me, I’d be fucking pissed, you know?”
I wanted to grab him by the collar and shake him out of frustration, but considering who he was, I held back.
“…Hoyun, you—.”
Just as Seong Jiwon frowned slightly and called my name, a loud voice rang out.
“Hey guys! Did you sleep well?!”
Just from the voice, it was obviously the manager.
I jerked my chin at Seong Jiwon and asked,
“What?”
“…Ah, nothing. Let’s go.”
Seong Jiwon looked me up and down, then as soon as our eyes met, he headed outside.
I quietly followed.
If we kept talking, I felt like I’d end up saying something I shouldn’t.
“Why does Jiwon-hyung look like that? Is he dead?!”
“If you shake him any more, he really might die.”
The maknae was shaking the sprawled-out Seong Jiwon in the van.
Watching that, I clicked my tongue inwardly.
Seong Jiwon, I’m not letting this go.
I always pay back double.
Sorry, but unlike Seong Jiwon, I hold a fucking grudge.
***
The next day, Kim Jaeyeon managed to get the blacklist faster than I expected.
And there wasn’t just one list.
Seong Jiwon happened to be out for a personal schedule, Kang Ichae was in the studio, and Kim Seonghyeon and Jeong Dajun were making a racket watching TV together outside.
I gathered up all the Prove or Yoon Heeun homma lists, blacklists, and various rumors floating around online and compared them.
Sure enough, there was someone who kept being left out.
– Kim Jaeyeon: This seems to be the person connected to Yoon Heeun
Below the photos of the list, Jaeyeon’s texts kept coming.
He also pointed out the account I’d been suspicious of.
– Kim Jaeyeon: I found not just this account but also a public private account, but there were rumors about not just Seong Jiwon but other idols too, and there wasn’t any clear evidence.
– Kim Jaeyeon: The fastest way would be to find something like a lovestagram, but I don’t know if there is one. I’ll have to look.
– Kim Jaeyeon: It’ll probably take a few months, but if you want, I could try hacking.
– Me: ㄴ
– Kim Jaeyeon: Seriously, you never change…
I didn’t want to risk getting slapped with handcuffs by breaking into someone’s account over a few months.
Besides, even if I did, it felt wrong to just expose a regular person’s account like it was nothing.
If I’m going to do it, it better make a pretty picture.
First, I opened the Item Shop window.
I checked carefully from top to bottom, but there was nothing useful.
Clicking my tongue, I called up the system window.
“Hey.”
[Kyuu~~? ₍⑅ᐢ..ᐢ₎]
“Say it straight before I really get mad.”
[Yes…]
Seeing the thing immediately revert to normal, I spoke again.
“Got any quests?”
The cutesy act was nothing now, and I didn’t even feel embarrassed anymore.
[Hmm, there’s actually one that fits perfectly…]
“Give it. Give it first, then talk.”
[You won’t regret it?]
Me?
Regret?
[You sure?]
I smirked and gestured, and the system window blinked a few times before tossing me a quest.
And as I read it, my expression slowly hardened.
“…Seriously?”
Next to the system window, the quest window glowed softly.
[Quest received: Express affection to a designated close person.
Express affection to a close person around you and gain their trust to build a stronger relationship.
Number of affectionate expressions: 0/5
If successful: Obtain the Pandora’s Box item
If failed: Rumors about Seong Jiwon will be released to the media
※A close person is one of the people around you.]
No matter how you looked at it, wasn’t this just trying to screw me over?
[1] Prove’s name in Korean is 프오브. You strip out the vowels, and you getㅍㅇㅂ.
[2] Hommas are like the fans that run fansites dedicated to idols.
