Damn Idol Episode 141
Album 1
3. Revenge
I am someone who lives with countless cases of PTSD and trauma.
The things that happened on a timeline only I remember torment me, trample me, and then one day, they disappear.
But most of that is an illusion.
You believe they've disappeared, but given the chance, they pop out of nowhere and talk to you.
Asking if you remember that moment.
Like right now.
BANG! BANG!
“Wh-what do I do?”
“…….”
“S-should I go out?”
Looking at Onsaemiro, who is panicking and doesn't even realize he's crying, a moment from the past comes to mind.
“…….”
I don't want to think about it.
But my thoughts won't stop.……
It was when I was rapping in New York.
In that iteration, I challenged myself with a rap duo.
Rap duos had disappeared from the major market quite a while ago, but I didn't think I could sell 200 million albums rapping alone.
So I carefully decided on a friend to make music with.
Robin Chase.
A Black guy who was always embarrassed about having a white-sounding name.
He wasn't educated, so he lacked knowledge, but he was born with wisdom.
A friend who really liked me.
We achieved great success as a duo, and people started calling us 'Rush Hour'.
It was the title of an old movie that was a huge hit in North America.
Starring the Asian Cheng Long and the Black Chris Tucker.
Our popularity was enough to surprise even me.
Our first album went Diamond (10 million copies), and we snatched a Grammy.
And this wasn't after spending many iterations with Robin—it was our very first one.
For the first time, I started to see hope for 200 million albums.
If things just kept going like this, everything would work out.
But a problem occurred with Robin.
It was because of his parents and relatives.
It was common for a successful Black man to support the community where he spent his childhood, but those receiving it shouldn't take it for granted.
But they took it for granted and demanded more.
The wise Robin thought that his success had actually stolen their happiness.
He judged that while they might become affluent in the short term, it was a path that would eventually ruin everyone.
“It'd be better to establish a local scholarship foundation and sponsor them through the system.”
So he turned his back on the community…….
-Bang!
He was shot and died.
When he said his cousins had come to the hotel with complaints, I recall the look Robin gave me.
“What should I do? Sion.”
I can't remember what I said at the time.
I think I probably told him to state his opinion confidently.
I shouldn't have done that.
I should have called security or gone out with him instead.
In the next iteration, I went straight to Robin and formed a duo again, but we weren't like before.
“Why on earth do you treat me helping my family like it's a sin?”
My obsessive actions, born from fear that the same thing would happen, caused our relationship to drift apart.
At some point, Robin gave up trying to understand me.
We couldn't be friends; we became business partners.
The album released like that barely went Platinum (1 million copies).
“This is an amazing achievement! Why are you acting like this!”
Because the Robin in my memory was someone who shone far brighter and was far more talented than this.
After that, I didn't go find Robin again.
It was something from a timeline I'd completely forgotten, but now it had awakened again.
Onsaemiro's eyes overlapped with Robin's.
BANG! BANG!
-Open the door!
Then I saw Onsaemiro, caught in panic, trying to open the door without realizing it.
“You can't open it.”
The moment I grabbed Onsaemiro and spat out those words, my reason, which had been caught in past thoughts, returned to reality.
Let's organize this.
It's 4:30 in the morning, and Onsaemiro's parents are in front of our dorm door.
The security guard and manager who usually manage entry are at the shop.
Because today we have to stop by the shop early in the morning to handle the music show schedule.
My and Onsaemiro's return to the dorm was purely by chance.
Onsaemiro had left behind a choker he'd been wearing since practice and had come to get it.
It was part of the stage outfit, but Onsaemiro, who had never worn accessories in his life, felt quite uncomfortable.
He said it felt like his vocal cords were slightly pressed, like the song changed.
So to get used to it, he started wearing the stage outfit early and got accustomed to it.
It's not like the stylist didn't have the same product, but inevitably it feels a bit different from the one he always wore.
When he realized he'd left it behind, I, who could drive, came with him.
That's how we came inside the dorm, but.
BANG! BANG!
-Open the door, you bastard!
-Onsaemiro!
Suddenly, I ran into Onsaemiro's parents.
'Is this a coincidence?'
The chances are high it's a coincidence.
But it could also be someone's intention.
Because it just had to be today.
“Onsaemiro.”
“Yeah…… yeah.”
“Listen carefully. I've guessed the situation, so I'll only ask for the conclusion.”
Without even waiting for an answer, I continued.
“Do you want to help your parents? Financially? And emotionally?”
“……I don't really know.”
“Let's say you have a billion won. How much do you want to give them?”
“……A hundred million. No, fifty million.”
“Again, let's say you have ten billion. How much do you want to give them?”
“……Less than a hundred million.”
“Assume you give them a hundred million in cash. Then how do you want to deliver it? Will you go give it yourself? Or through the manager?”
“The manager.”
The answer came out.
“Go to the living room. Turn the audio up as loud as possible, put on your accessories, and practice the music show stage.”
“What?”
“If you don't make a mistake even in this chaos, you'll never make a mistake on stage.”
“You want me to practice now……?”
“Don't share it with your parents, don't bestow it upon them. Make a donation.”
“……!”
“If you hate that word, think of it as charity. Listen carefully. No welfare organization in the world extorts money from donors by threatening them. They appeal, they implore.”
“…….”
“Hold the initiative. Let them know that to get even one more won from you, they have to show you a good side.”
“…….”
“To do that, you have to succeed. You can't make mistakes, and you can't show a weak emotional side. So go practice.”
I sent Onsaemiro to the living room.
A long silence passed before music started to be heard, and the sounds of steps and singing could be heard.
Listening to that sound, I went outside.
When I came out, Onsaemiro's parents flinched in surprise before rushing at me like a pair of rabid dogs.
Looking back, I had given Onsaemiro an unusually large number of opportunities.
Especially when we were doing Coming Up Next.
If it had been the usual me, I would have made the other person submit somehow, but I didn't.
At the time, I thought I was letting it slide because it was a one-time project team.
But looking back, I don't think that was it.
I must have been unconsciously overlapping Onsaemiro with Robin.
That doesn't mean I think of this as a chance to correct past mistakes.
Because Onsaemiro and Robin are different people.
“Hello. Onsaemiro's parents.”
But I can handle it more wisely.
“There are two choices. Would you like to hear them?”
Shall we give it a shot?
“The first is ending with the money you received from Lion Entertainment, and the second is receiving money from both Lion Entertainment and us.”
Why hesitate?
It's easy.
“You don't need to worry. Money is everything in the world, right?”
* * *
6:30 in the morning.
The fans who had won the lottery for Sae Dalbaekil's historic first music show pre-recording were half excited, half anxious.
The excitement was, of course, about Sae Dalbaekil's stage.
Aside from Coming Up Next, Sae Dalbaekil had never really put on a proper stage.
They had several songs that reached number one on the music charts, and several blockbuster songs that created issues, after all.
Moreover, strictly speaking, the Sae Dalbaekil of Coming Up Next and the current Sae Dalbaekil are groups of different natures.
Therefore, today's pre-recording was the first of the first in Sae Dalbaekil's history.
There was no way the Titi witnessing this historic moment couldn't be excited.
But separately from this, there was anxiety.
Was it really okay to come to the pre-recording like this?
'Is saying "like this" too much?'
We were emphatically told not to bring anything.
Usually, if you do something the agency tells you not to do at a pre-recording, you get kicked out.
It meant you could come all the way to the broadcasting station at the crack of dawn and then end up going home after raising your voice with the fan manager.
So they had come as told, but they didn't know what they'd be able to do like this.
It was the moment the fans were murmuring with such thoughts.
Quite a number of men appeared at the designated headcount location, grunting as they carried something in a huge box.
“We'll do the headcount first.”
Under the lead of a man who was quite old to be a fan manager, the headcount was carried out in an instant.
At the same time, staff began distributing items to those who had finished the headcount.
First, a 500ml bottled water.
It seemed to be distributed to match the hot September weather even at dawn, but the bottled water looked familiar somehow.
“Ah, this!”
It was the water brand that Sae Dalbaekil had ambush-advertised during their stream.
Even looking at the label, Sae Dalbaekil's faces were on it.
If this is the case, it's not PPL, they're full advertising models……?
But that wasn't it.
“It was specially provided by the water company.”
Sae Dalbaekil's streaming broadcast had become quite a hot topic because of the issue with their first album release.
And along with that, what had become an issue was Sae Dalbaekil's mid-stream advertisement.
It had an atmosphere of being widely exported as a meme, but the water company was extremely pleased.
Next, what was distributed were folding chairs, batteries, and light stick sockets.
'But we don't even have light sticks……?'
But no.
What was provided next was the light stick.
Like the symbol on Sae Dalbaekil's YouTube channel, three circles of different sizes were intertwined, and the body color was deep blue.
The design wasn't particularly special.
But it had a clean, luxurious feel, so they were satisfied.
But it didn't end here.
A fan considering the season, a small eco-bag, and a card clip that could hold photocards.
And…….
It was five broadcast photocards with the words 'Special 2017' written in the top left corner.
Considering the currently released photocards were '2017', '2007', '1997', '???', this was a first reveal.
The photos were unfamiliar faces in familiar outfits.
It turned out to be a version where they had swapped and worn each other's 2017 photocard outfits.
'Wh-what a steal.'
'They're giving out this much……?'
While the fans were sharing such sentiments, the headcount ended.
“Please gather back here by nine o'clock. If you don't have the numbered wristband, you can't enter.”
And so free time came, and what the fans had to do was obvious.
SNS.
It had just passed 7 AM, but there would be many waiting because they were curious about Sae Dalbaekil's pre-recording.
But those who connected to the internet with such thoughts were bewildered.
Usually, the news section of portal sites they just skimmed through was plastered with the names 'Sae Dalbaekil' and 'Han Sion'.
It wasn't even the entertainment section.
Society, culture, realtime trending, and so on—various things.
'Wh-what happened?'
Knowing that this sort of thing was usually not good news, the fans quickly clicked the articles.
And they were shocked.
The issue that started with MBN's exclusive article was spreading.