Episode 142. Fourth Round: Emergency Countermeasures Meeting (3)
Perhaps because it had become a news story, the incident was resolved at a rapid pace.
First, UA swiftly concluded the internal audit that had been dragging on sluggishly. They also began large-scale work to supplement company regulations.
I heard all this news directly from the UA people. I had politely declined, but the CEO and several employees came to visit me in the hospital regardless.
“I’m truly sorry, Iwol. I have no face to show you.”
Lying down and receiving his bowed apology was so awkward I felt like dying.
Still, I didn’t say it was okay. Because if they had properly vetted Yu Hansu from the start, or if they had endured the discomfort and kicked him out when there were problems with me, this wouldn’t have happened.
After that, the CEO spoke at quite some length.
“You were so capable that the people at the company and I got excessively greedy. We shouldn’t have done that, but we piled too much burden on you.”
“The company should have been a place you could trust, but it wasn’t, right? I’m ashamed that we couldn’t give you trust, and on the other hand, I think this has become an opportunity to look back on whether we even have the capacity to give that trust. I’m sorry in many ways.”
Even from the hospital room, I could see how badly UA was being beaten up both inside and outside the industry.
Calls ranged from demanding a public apology to saying a special law needed to be passed to abolish unreasonable practices. The small ball I had set flying was now striking UA like hail.
So I had more or less expected them to come out with a humble attitude, but…….
“Right now, we’re accepting requests for department transfers within the company. It won’t be composed of just volunteers—people like Jugyeong or planning team members who worked well with you, we’ll actively assign them to you at the company level.”
“We’re thinking of regularly creating opportunities for consultation. It seems the management team has only been taking care of contract and treatment-related matters until now. We’ll broaden the scope of what the company takes care of and minimize your discomfort.”
“Don’t worry too much about self-produced content from now on. We’ll hire separate personnel for that. If there’s a staffing composition or requirements you want, we’ll accommodate them as much as possible.”
……I was bewildered because I could feel his sincerity beyond just a humble attitude.
There were many other follow-up measures besides those.
It was decided that the manager would unconditionally pick me up when moving for idol-related matters like going to the practice room—as an aside, I heard the manager had received a pay cut because of this incident—and when members planned concepts or worked, UA would pay them an idea fee.
As I was trying to find something to say in the face of benefits pouring down like a thunderbolt, the CEO asked.
“Could you give us just one more chance?”
Chance or no chance, I was fated to achieve the final KPI here anyway, so if conditions improved, I had nothing to do but be grateful.
Ultimately, the goal was supposedly for us to not work except when attending planning meetings or composition meetings. I thought about how nice it would have been if it had been like this from the start, but I decided to think positively that a bright future was waiting.
Yu Hansu was alternating between the front page of the entertainment section and the front page of the social section almost every other day.
In entertainment news, he was a twisted authority figure who habitually abused his power against idols and industry officials; in social news, he was a criminal who had inflicted injury on a young idol. He was hot news day after day.
I occasionally saw articles saying Yu Hansu was complaining of severe headaches.
I was at least getting painkillers, but the thought that that man had no wounds and couldn’t receive any treatment made me feel bright and refreshed.
The heartening news wasn’t limited to this.
Industry officials who had gained courage after seeing Nyuri’s revelations were coming forward one by one to report Yu Hansu’s atrocities, and the term “Yu Hansu Gate” was even being coined.
≫ “They say the evidence submitted by the victim, Mr. K, alone amounts to hundreds of pieces, making it seem difficult to avoid a prison sentence”—did I read that right?
ㄴ If he got sworn at hundreds of times, he should have said something, aigoo Iwol……
≫ YHS revelation again (same company junior’s POV, verified O)
This bastard is endless no matter how many waves you dig up
ㄴ But what he did is so fucking malicious……. If he bullied people deliberately, the people below wouldn’t have been able to endure it mentally
ㄴ Real talk, having your achievements stolen and being verbally abused, that’s all gaslighting. If it were me, I wouldn’t have lasted three months and would have quit
≫ Wow but it’s chilling that he collected all of that one by one
The victim must have been planning to report it too, huh? lolololol
ㄴ If my boss was that crazy fuck, I’d report it too, fucker
ㄴ Is that bastard a psycho?
In the midst of this storm, I, the original whistleblower and the one who had suffered the most damage, was…….
“There are colleagues who remember when the violence occurred?”
“Yes, my members.”
“I had delivered the evidence items to an employee, but they are currently lost, so only photos remain.”
“That’s correct.”
……I enjoyed the luxury of proving the facts of the damage with police officers in a private room.
As the matter grew bigger, they had asked for my understanding about whether they could come to the hospital room for a speedy investigation, and I too wanted to avoid dragging out the investigation, so I accepted immediately.
“Did this kind of assault or threat continue consistently?”
“Physical contact like hitting my shoulders or head happened almost every time, and threatening remarks worsened after the PD transferred departments.”
“Were the acts of cruelty mainly through phone calls or messenger?”
“Yes. Or he would often call me to conference rooms or the rooftop where there was no CCTV.”
And every time I opened my mouth, I could see the investigators’ complexions growing worse.
“There is CCTV going toward the conference rooms or emergency stair areas, right? We’ll need to look at that.”
“I wrote down the dates and times in my diary. I recorded all my movement times for work, so…….”
“Oh my, you did well.”
The typing of the person recording the conversation grew faster and faster.
When the time for exposing Yu Hansu’s atrocities came to a temporary close, the police officer asked.
“This is something I have to ask as a matter of procedure, but if the perpetrator’s side requests a settlement, would you be willing to consider it?”
If it were a situation where I needed treatment money and couldn’t endure a long legal battle, that would be one thing.
With UA covering all the costs, I had no intention of making such a sucker’s choice.
“I…….”
Just as I was trying to soften the words “I want to see Yu Hansu get blacklisted from the industry!”, the hospital room door opened noisily. Because I was lying down, I couldn’t tell who had entered.
“Are you Gim Iwol’s guardian?”
The police officer asked, looking toward the source of the sound.
‘Those people wouldn’t come now, would they?’
The officer alternated looking between my face and the door.
Then the unknown visitor opened her mouth.
“I am Hansu’s mother.”
“Pfft.”
I had only been breathing air, yet I choked. I covered my mouth and tried to hold back my coughing.
“Just a moment, you can’t come in here like this.”
One police officer stood up and disappeared from sight. It seemed he was trying to send Yu Hansu’s mother out.
How can there be such drama-like scenes? Honestly, if Gang Giyeon jumped out from under the bed and said “This was all a hidden camera prank!”, I would have believed it.
The visitor was adamant. She didn’t back down even when told she couldn’t do this here.
“You have to go through proper procedures to talk—how can you act so unreasonably like this?”
“That’s why I came to sincerely apologize…….”
“That’s only possible if the party concerned wants it, ma’am. And this is a hospital. Can’t you see the victim is a patient? Please go out and talk first.”
“Do you think I’d do this if I weren’t so frustrated? Don’t you have children, sir?”
The manager, who had stepped away for the investigation, returned, and the old woman was forced out of the hospital room by two men.
But nothing much changed. The commotion continued outside in the hallway as well.
“Does this happen often?”
“It happens not infrequently…….”
“It must be hard…….”
The remaining police officer and I waited for the situation to calm down with pale, exhausted faces.
But contrary to our hopes, the atmosphere refused to settle down easily.
The old woman repeatedly lamented how Yu Hansu was a young man with such a bright future and the pride of the family, and how serving a prison sentence because of a momentary impulse would leave a great blemish on a person’s life.
Must be nice for Yu Hansu, fuck. Even if you stab someone, your family takes your side.
There are those who got hit in the head and couldn’t even get a guardian’s signature because no one wanted to get involved.
Just as I was starting to boil over with anger, I heard the manager’s voice.
“The child can’t even get up and sit because of your son—shouldn’t you not be doing this? How can you be this selfish?”
The manager shouted.
I couldn’t see, but I knew. That the manager was extremely agitated emotionally.
‘She had been incredibly calm when I first woke up.’
Perhaps that calm response back then had been for my sake too. So that I, who had just had an accident, wouldn’t be startled.
“Excuse me, could I ask you to proceed with the confirmation that I will not settle?”
“Will you do that?”
Normally, I would have let that person into the hospital room because I wouldn’t want to bother other people at the hospital.
I might have thought that since the one who sinned was Yu Hansu and not his mother, I should at least hear her out, and I might have considered settling out of pity for an elder who came to apologize on behalf of her child.
But I decided not to sympathize with them anymore.
Because there were people who had suffered emotionally for days because of my affairs and who took my side.
“Yes. I will proceed with absolutely no leniency whatsoever.”
He can clean up his own sins. Just like that day when the data was stolen in the conference room.
And so, the long ill-fated relationship between Yu Hansu and me came to an end.
* * *
While UA and I were putting out the fire offline, many things were happening online.
I grabbed the back of my neck looking at UA’s “Apology_Final.jpg,” but anyway, it was a relief that a revised version had been uploaded.
Spark, which showed a good performance despite experiencing these problems inside the agency, received favorable reviews and went viral.
≫ The company is a mess but it’s amazing the kids accomplished this much
ㄴ Teams that had worse stages than Spark should look back at themselves with some conscience
ㄴ But the fact that there weren’t many teams with better stages than Spark…… (no comment)
≫ In other words, doesn’t this mean they can do this much with just the members?
Are they going to start their own company later? lolololol
ㄴ Day 1 of praying for Spark Company establishment
≫ Spark is truly the miracle of this generation’s X Companies
ㄴ UA isn’t quite at J Company level lol
ㄴ From now on, UA joins the ranks of X Companies too
ㄴ Look at the state of how work is done; looks like you can’t help but call it J Company
Among these, I became the biggest beneficiary.
After the Position Competition aired, public sympathy toward me grew unprecedentedly.
≫ What I became sure of after watching last week’s broadcast is
Our kid really does have low self-esteem
It was so heartbreaking when he asked if they wanted to perform with a different team instead of himself while on stage with the three BLY main vocals
But the fact that Iwol took all the difficult parts too (this post isn’t written to disparage BLY, I’ll ignore bullshit)—like, it’s not as if Iwol was a UA trainee for nothing…… even if his form dropped a bit, UA is a ballad powerhouse……
He might be a bit awkward at dancing, but his singing is at other groups’ main vocal level, and not being able to dance well is natural considering his short trainee period
On top of that, the fact that while working, planning, and monitoring all this time he was even pushed around is really too much……
From today, if anyone calls Iwol stiff I’ll kill them all, real talk
ㄴ Spark’s main vocal line is just ex-idols so that’s why, but Iwol sings well too, yes. There are quite a few times when I think “this part is nice?” and it’s Iwol
ㄴ When other kids said Iwol was always in the practice room, I just thought it was admirable, but the fact that it was all because of gaslighting is f*ck…… f*ck I’m pissed and tearing up
≫ All those bastards who yapped about Kim Pep’s personality and called him stiff, bash all their heads in
Especially those certain fandom^^ antis^^^ haters^^^^ who giggled while rowing the same boat back then
Is it that good to beat my kid up like that just to push your oppas higher?
A kid who split 24 hours a day into pieces and lived like 48 hours alone—isn’t it amazing he accomplished this much?
The humor^＾ in how now that everything’s been exposed, it’s all facts so they have nothing to say and are all shutting up
Yeah, keep shutting up like that forever. If I see you grab my kid’s hair and talk shit one more time, I’ll really kill you all
ㄴ Kill them all 2222222222
ㄴ Kill them all 33333333333333333
ㄴ The level of saying “that singer, that fandom”; the way they talk, their social skills are all dead, right?
└ You’re the one who barked up the wrong tree with the comment above, and now you’re acting like you’ve got amazing social skills all by yourself lololololol Live in reality a little, you XXㅠ
≫ All this time I thought I was going to die from sheer injustice because of hate posts, forced hate, and trolls
What do you people even know? Nobody knew he was doing that where the kid couldn’t see, so what do you know, judging only by what showed on the outside? Seriously.
Kim Iwol, from now on, live looking only at pretty things with those pretty eyes of yours
└ Iwol, don’t look at stuff like that, it’s nasty, nasty
≫ Iwol, if you keep this up, you’ll never be able to become anything but the strongest idol
Since everyone spoils you and calls you pretty, you really think the whole wide world is beneath your feet, don’t you?
That’s right, everything you say is correct and it all belongs to you
From now on, live your whole life doing whatever you want, okay, okay, I love you to death
└ I love you
└ I love you, I love you, I love you
└ I love you, Iwol!!!!!!!!!!
└ Spark, I love youㅜㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅜㅜㅠㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅠㅜㅠㅠㅠ
└ I love you♡
└ Spark, walk only on a path of flames♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
Before I knew it, I had become a strong idol who had kept working steadfastly even while being gaslit into having his skills put down.
My fingers nearly caught fire posting on Bubblepop, “Everyone, I’m really okay, and the work was fun too! The company said they’ll be helping me a lot more now! Don’t worry! And thank you so much for all the praise!”
There was also a movement to dig Yu Hansu, who had nearly been ousted from the industry, all the way up from the bottom and float him to the surface.
Someone had combed through Yu Hansu’s SNS. Though since it was public, it was hard to even call it combing through.
≫ What is producing, in the end?
To the question of a junior I cherished, I.
After thinking for a long while, answered like this.
.
Isn’t it the creation of life?
The creation of life?
.
That junior probably doesn’t know yet.
The true meaning of my words.
How noble the value of this profession is.
How much effort a producer.
Must put in to give birth to a single life.
.
Every day, I.
Create a single world that the one trying to be born must destroy.
Thinking of Demian.
≫ Did you see the repost of that Yu Three-Letters XXX’s SNS post?
The cringe is seriously legendary, he honestly seems like a total bottom-tier social misfit;;;;
└ “Demian,” my ass lol Did he even read it?
≫ Ugh, every single thing that comes up is sooooo disgusting
There’s seriously no end in sight, it just keeps coming
≫ Ugh, crazy bastard
Didn’t even know his place…… Well, if he had, he wouldn’t have done something like that
As a result, Yu Hansu’s melancholy-soaked photos and posts filled with his mortifying ego spread far and wide across the country.
In the end, Yu Hansu could no longer hold his head up in Korea. The trial was still ongoing, but since a prison sentence seemed certain, it would be better for his personal safety to buy masks in bulk once he got out.
‘Then does that mean I don’t have…… a superior now?’
Yu Hansu was done for, and they said they’d form a separate team for me.
And since they said from now on, the members only needed to give their opinions when they wanted to, it was practically the same as having no superior above me!
At last, after around ten years of working life.
I had gained a workplace without a superior.
My heart pounded. That day, I fell asleep with an extremely peaceful mind.