Episode 124. Rumors (3)
"Thank you for your concern, PD-nim."
I expressed my gratitude to Yu Hansu as if I were truly touched.
"But I don't think you need to worry too much."
— Ah, how could I not? I've known you for so long.
Well, well.
Happy? Are you happy?
"No, I'm really fine. The company said they might be able to trace the IP on the internal whistleblower post. Apparently, there's a record from when the network was installed."
Still happy? Huh? You son of a bitch.
Sure enough, there was nothing but silence on the other end of the line.
This bastard. I had my suspicions, but it seems he really did post that shit about me on the company board.
The call disconnected. Now Yu Hansu would be rushing to the office to verify whether my words were true.
'He'll probably call soon asking if I didn't know spreading false information is a felony.'
Despite feeling a bit satisfied, a sigh escaped me.
The phone call alone seemed to drain all my energy, so I crouched down on the stair landing for a moment and took a deep breath.
For now, the company issue could be explained to some extent, and as for my family…….
If someone had dug into their personal information, they would probably deny their relationship with me on their own. Those people would draw the line immediately, saying they'd cut ties with me long ago rather than be associated with me.
What remained was the school issue.
Honestly, I wasn't confident about this part. Even if I claimed innocence, there was no one to prove it.
I should have gotten along better with my classmates. I shouldn't have lived my life alone.
But isn't that also a complacent thought of trying to use people as means?
As expected, a bastard like me is meant to live alone. Still, I should have gotten along better with my classmates…….
"I've lived my life wrong."
I hadn't thought I was living particularly well before either, but today it had been solidified.
My life is trash. Hopeless trash at that.
"Still, if I want to be recycled, I have to work hard……"
I moved my feet with difficulty. It was time to muster my strength for a life that would be sorted for recycling.
* * *
Even after returning to the practice room, I couldn't practice for long.
With all sorts of controversies erupting at once, there was more than one or two things I needed to sort out. Thanks to that, I ended up leaving early for the second time since the nosebleed incident.
When I returned to the dorm, inside the carrier were report cards the System had newly issued. I fiddled with the edge of the innocent CSAT report card a few times.
I had also transferred to my laptop the screenshots I had taken just in case when my college acceptance was canceled.
What was the Hanpyeong Industries incident report format again?
I had only ever received incident reports, never written one, so my memory was hazy.
First, I wrote that I was sorry for causing concern to the fans, and that I was sorry the statement was delayed due to the time needed to organize the content…….
I hurriedly wrote a draft and reread the same text several times.
With just a few rounds of proxy-stanning Spark, I could distinguish what should and shouldn't be written in a clarification statement. Thanks to that, proofreading was easy.
The finalized materials were generally clean. I could provide witnesses if asked.
Except for the parts related to school life.
There was no way to handle this part. It was true I hadn't received special treatment, but it was difficult to prove I had missed group activities due to money, and while I hadn't particularly ignored anyone, my relationships with classmates weren't good either.
'This is why it's scary when someone who only knows one side gets involved.'
I thought for a long time about how to overcome this difficult situation.
And in the end, having found no solution, I banged my head against the dining table.
What turned this situation around was a single phone call.
"Manager-nim?"
The caller was my manager.
Worried that something else I didn't know about had blown up in the meantime, I wedged the phone between my shoulder and ear and turned my laptop back on from sleep mode.
Fortunately, the forums were still stuck at the level of "Classmate Exposes Kim Iwol's Fucked-Up Personality."
However, the owner of the voice was an unexpected person.
— Hyung, it's Seongbin.
"Seongbin? What's up?"
Looking at the clock, it was still the middle of practice time.
Jeong Seongbin called me in the middle of practice? This meant it was a huge deal.
I racked my brain fiercely, wondering what fresh scandal was brewing now.
And then I gave up.
How would I know what controversy had erupted where? At least I had lived with a clear conscience, so I just had to refute it.
I calmly waited for Jeong Seongbin to speak.
— Did you happen to see the post uploaded to the internet?
"Internet? You mean 'Collection of Quotes from Kim Iwol from Someone Who Knows His Usual Conduct'?"
— No, not that!
This is the hottest thing right now. There are tons of comments.
Jeong Seongbin spoke to me as I rubbed my sore eyes and refreshed the page.
— A classmate of yours posted something, hyung!
It was true.
There before my eyes, a post reading "I'm Iwol's classmate. To clear up the misunderstandings about Iwol……" was visible.
* * *
The post's title was quite long. It said the writer was posting to clear up misunderstandings about me.
I hung up, saying I'd read the post first and call back. Then I scrolled through the lengthy post.
≫ I'm Iwol's classmate. I'm writing to clear up the misunderstandings about Iwol. (Verification attached)
Hello. I was the class president of the same class as Iwol in 12th grade.
Hearing that Iwol is receiving various misunderstandings, I wanted to speak honestly about the Iwol I saw, so I'm writing this.
.
.
.
'Class president?'
I remember. A sociable and active guy—we at least exchanged greetings.
He loved soccer so much that not only did he play every lunch break, but whenever they were short on people, he would always call for me.
≫ The Iwol I observed in the same class was absolutely not the type to thoughtlessly disregard friends.
Rather, he was good at sports and popular among us, just an ordinary friend who enjoyed soccer together every lunch break.
When I injured my ankle and had a cast, it was Iwol who carried my bag to the bus stop every day after school.
Right. This guy had fallen during soccer and completely stretched his ankle ligaments.
When persuading Gang Giyeon to go to the hospital even though his ankle hurt, the guy's face had been blurry back then, but now it was gradually becoming clearer.
≫ It's also not true that he received special treatment.
The Iwol I knew always got good grades. Other friends also knew that Iwol's grades were top of the school. Even when we were attending school, there were no students who complained that Iwol received special treatment.
The post was truly long. Probably the comments had things like "TL;DR please" and "Didn't read, too long."
But for some reason, I couldn't just read it and move on. Each and every character was captured in my eyes.
≫ Iwol was always a diligent friend, and I believe he still is.
As a friend who works hard, I would be grateful if you could support him a lot.
Below were graduation albums, group photos, several text messages exchanged between me and the guy, and screenshots from the group chat where several classmates chimed in with "You guys remember Kim Han?" and so on.
My phone vibrated once more. A text had come from Jeong Seongbin.
It said to call him as soon as I finished reading the post.
I should call.
I should, but…….
When I closed the community window, the SNS window I had opened previously appeared.
The search I had done for my name to know what the fans were most worried about had regenerated.
≫ Kim Iwol, don't be discouraged
No matter what anyone says, you're fucking doing great
≫ Ah, fuck, our kid wasn't a pretentious bastard
Leave Iwol alone, please
≫ Sparkler knows best that Iwol works hard
I hope he never blames himself
This, again, made me feel incredibly strange. My mind went blank for a moment.
How would I ever repay all this gratitude? It felt like I had accumulated debts worth thirty thousand truckloads.
I immediately called the manager's phone. Jeong Seongbin picked up right away.
"Why are you picking up so fast? What about your practice?"
— Is practice important right now?!
"Of course it is. I'm dying over the fact that even I'm missing—are you just monitoring the internet instead of practicing with everyone?"
— Ah, I don't know. We can fix all this, right?!
From behind, I could hear Lee Cheonghyeon asking loudly.
"Yeah. Let's clean this up neatly and finish it today."
* * *
"Hey, it's my first time getting this much attention online."
"Happy? Are you happy?"
Baek Haewon glanced at her older brother, Baek Haein, who was glued to his phone and wouldn't let go.
Still, she had to acknowledge that thanks to that gentleman, the negative public opinion toward Kim Iwol had subsided considerably.
'No, if they were this close, he shouldn't have just said they were classmates—he should have told me earlier......!'
She had told him to stop exaggerating when he said they were in the same class and played soccer together, but she hadn't imagined he was close enough to Kim Iwol to have episodes together.
'No wonder Mom talked all day about some handsome friend when that bastard broke his leg.'
Her mother probably hadn't known that friend would become an idol in the future. Baek Haewon resented herself for not riding along in Mom's car to Hoyeon High School back then.
"So? What's the reaction?"
Baek Haein asked. His words were spiteful, but his expression was worried.
Indeed, Baek Haein had been really surprised when he first heard the news from Baek Haewon.
'Kim Han has a bad attitude? Hey, they say celebrities get a lot of false rumors, so I guess it's true.'
'Ha, our kid has a tender heart too...... These bastards.......'
'Not that he has a tender heart.'
'Shut up.'
Grumbling all the while, Baek Haein wrote the clarification post diligently. Beside him, Baek Haewon filtered out sentences that shouldn't be included in the statement from time to time.
'What you need to write is the part about Iwol not receiving special treatment. You're the only one who can prove this.'
'But if we're classmates, everyone knows he studied well. The first poster probably wasn't from our grade or wrote fiction.'
'Isn't it XXX?'
Anyway, all the attention seekers should be hung upside down from the ceiling. Baek Haewon felt her head growing hot with anger.
"Ah, it came up when we were talking in the group chat this time."
"What?"
"You know, how they said he studied well."
"Right."
"I mentioned it before too, about why he suddenly changed his career path to idol...... that kind of thing?"
Come to think of it, they said he was top of the school. When she first heard that, she had only focused on "Our Iwol didn't receive special treatment!" but thinking about it now, it was quite an amazing feat.
"He studied that well?"
"I told you he did! His school grades weren't quite at that level, but he was always first on the mock exams. That's why he was assigned a self-study room."
Baek Haein dropped a bombshell with an unconcerned face. Then he went ballistic, saying, "Hey, who's telling people not to blindly take my side in my post? Can't you report this guy?!"