Damn Idol Episode 51
Well, I understand.
People had always poured their distrust onto me.
And whenever that distrust failed to take hold, they poured out an incomprehensible hatred instead.
It was probably jealousy toward a talent that seemed impossible.
At first, I felt it was unfair, but now I think it is something I have to bear.
I have lived my life using the cheat code of being unrestricted by time, after all.
Though I never once wished for it.
In any case, once enough time passes, everyone will come to understand.
Even if all that comes out is a remix of
Anyway, judging by the atmosphere,
But since it would not count toward album sales, I did not feel particularly moved.
Besides, what I needed to worry about now was not
It was called……..
Even though I had opposed it so vehemently, the song had ended up with this title because of that blasted majority vote.
They were singing “Uptown Funk” in Seoul, so… Seoul Town Funk?
It was the worst naming sense imaginable.
Besides, this was Pocheon.
If they wanted to include the geographical characteristics, wouldn’t Pocheon Town Funk be more appropriate?
I had let it slide because they said we would not be able to release it as a song.
“Han Sion.”
“Yeah.”
“Come downstairs. They want you in the dance studio.”
I nodded at Gu Taehwan, who had come up to the second floor.
Right. Let’s practice.
Whether it was Seoul Town or Pocheon Town, perfecting the stage was more important.
When I went down to the first floor, I saw something strange.
The members of Sedalbaegil were gathered in a huddle in front of the dormitory entrance, all of them looking extremely uncomfortable.
When I came down, they seemed to flinch and watch me carefully.
“What are you all doing there?”
I was about to look outside to see what was going on when Iion suddenly blocked me with his body.
“W-wait a second.”
What was this about?
In the meantime, the writer stationed on the first floor of the dormitory hurried over and grabbed my shoulder.
“Sion. Don’t go outside.”
Something was strange.
There was definitely concern in the writer’s voice.
But while he was worried about me, he also seemed concerned about the stationary camera.
It was the kind of situation where, despite something happening that was enough to worry about me, he would also think that it could be used on the broadcast……
“Ah.”
I knew what it was.
“Is my great-uncle here?”
The members of Sedalbaegil flinched.
I must have guessed correctly.
Well, from that man’s perspective, today was his only chance.
As it happened, Choi Jiun, my lawyer, had contacted me yesterday.
Tomorrow was the final sentencing date at family court, and I would become the guardian without any disagreement.
He had arranged things so that an appeal would be impossible, but he had also said that if they filed a desperate appeal anyway, he would handle that cleanly as well.
I had been through this countless times, so I had nodded without much thought. But thinking about it, this was Korea.
Until now, I had been living in the United States, so my relatives could not have considered coming to find me in person.
Even if they boarded a flight to the United States, they would not know where in the country I was.
But things were different now.
I was in Korea, appearing on an audition program.
There were several staff members stationed here, and countless people involved with the program.
It would not have taken long for them to find out the location of the dormitory.
My great-uncle, having obtained that information, had been unable to hold himself back and had rushed to Pocheon.
Several billion won was about to slip through his fingers right before his eyes.
But what could he possibly accomplish by meeting me?
Ah, had he come hoping to get some crumbs?
He had given up on becoming my guardian because a top-tier lawyer from a major law firm was handling the case, but perhaps he thought he could at least get a few pennies out of it.
What did they call that in Korean?
A ppoji? A kickback?
“I’ll talk to him. We need to practice, so we can’t let him keep causing a disturbance.”
“But……”
I could feel the writer’s eyes trembling.
He was conflicted.
He felt sorry for me, but he also wanted to film it with the cameras.
He must not have been very experienced yet.
He was still relatively untainted.
“If something happens, could you film it with the camera?”
“Huh?”
“If he spreads any false rumors, we’ll have to make it public.”
“……”
But absurdly enough, the writer had not been conflicted at all. He had simply been worried about me.
When I stepped outside, I found that the cameras were already rolling.
One of the camera directors must have discreetly adjusted the stationary camera that had been set up to capture the dormitory’s exterior.
Whether he knew he was being filmed or not, my great-uncle was screaming, his face bright red.
The burly staff members were trying to restrain him, but he was floundering helplessly. The power of money really was something.
Then my great-uncle spotted me.
“Y-you! You bastard who doesn’t even know his own parents! What I did for your father……”
His tongue was somewhat twisted. Had he been drinking?
The moment I approached my great-uncle while thinking that, I understood why he had come all the way to Pocheon.
He had not come hoping for a last-minute reversal in the legal battle.
Nor had he come to ingratiate himself with me and get some crumbs.
He had simply come because he was angry.
“Whoa!”
“Grab him!”
He swung his palm at me without warning.
I nearly got hit by the unexpected attack, but fortunately, I managed to dodge it.
Was he an idiot?
Did he not know that behaving like this in front of everyone would reduce his chance of becoming my guardian to zero percent?
What if I let him hit me and then reported him to the police?
I almost let out a derisive laugh at the absurdity of it all, but managed to hold it back.
It would look strange if I laughed.
Right. Let’s act.
“What on earth do you want from me?! You! Have you ever even come to the hospital once?!”
“You ungrateful little bastard!”
This was unrelated, but my acting skills were not bad.
I had even appeared in a movie before.
Of course, I had not taken up acting for money, but for an album.
Before Eminem appeared in <8 Mile>, he had been condemned by parents across the United States.
They had even held protests demanding that his songs be banned because he exerted a negative influence on students.
But when the semi-autobiographical film <8 Mile> became a nationwide hit, the situation changed.
People sympathized with the pain hidden behind his lyrics and became absorbed in the story.
Thanks to that, the OST “Lose Yourself” stayed at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for twelve weeks, and he even won both a Grammy and an Oscar.
Inspired by that, I had once tried producing a Hollywood movie containing my own story……
Ah, this was not the time to be thinking about such things.
“You fucking bastard! You ungrateful son of a bitch, lower than a dog!”
When had he ever shown me any kindness for him to keep calling me ungrateful?
I really wanted to smack him in the back of the head just once.
The situation was eventually brought under control when Producer Gang Seogu came running over.
The staff had no idea what to do because he was both a civilian and a participant’s relative, so they had been running around in confusion. But Producer Gang had called the police without hesitation.
As my great-uncle was being arrested for causing a disturbance, I approached him and whispered in his ear.
“I looked into your situation because of the guardianship case. You made quite a mess of things at work, didn’t you?”
“……!”
“It’s a good job. If you want to retire with your pension, even though you won’t get a single penny from this, you should watch yourself.”
It was not a bluff. It was true.
Perhaps the alcohol had started to wear off, or perhaps it was because of all the police who had rushed over.
As I watched my great-uncle keep his mouth firmly shut while his eyes trembled, I shed tears.
It was truly so sad.
Why did no one suspect that this man had driven drunk all the way to Pocheon?
I would have to casually ask Producer Gang to look into it a little later.
* * *
“Da-dan, da-dan, daaan, daaan, two—
three!”
The choreography trainer, who had been marking the key beats with his mouth, furrowed his brow.
It was painfully obvious that the members were unable to concentrate at all.
But instead of spewing sharp words at them, the trainer glanced at me and let out a deep sigh.
Why was he looking at me as though I were the culprit?
I had not made a single mistake and had been concentrating diligently.
“If you’re not going to focus, you’d be better off going back to the dormitory and resting.”
“……
We’re sorry.”
“I’m going to step out for some air, so get your heads in the game while I’m gone.”
As he stepped away, it seemed he had been instructed to let the cameras capture a scene of me and the members speaking candidly.
His acting was awkward.
That was what I thought, but judging by the members scattered around the room and sneaking glances at me, they must have been intensely curious.
Well, other people’s tales of misfortune were always several times more entertaining than their tales of success.
“Come over here for a minute.”
At my words, all four members came over and sat down.
“I’ll tell you about it, so let’s all focus. We only have two days left before our performance.”
“No, Sion. You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.”
I shrugged at Iion’s words.
It was something they would find out eventually.
Producer Gang Seogu was probably also thinking about when to reveal my story.
Once he had created every possible issue through my abilities, he would probably add an emotional angle to it.
“No. It was something I had to talk about eventually. Hmm, how should I put it……”
After making a hesitant start, I continued.
“I was in a traffic accident a few months ago.”
The accident had occurred on December 7, 2016, and it was now March 22, 2017, so it really had been a few months ago.
I then explained what had happened to me in a dry voice.
There had been a traffic accident, my parents had fallen into comas, and they had recently been declared to be in a persistent vegetative state.
I intentionally went as far as mentioning Choi Jiun, my lawyer.
“I didn’t want to entrust my parents’ money to those people. So I looked into law firms.”
Once this story came to light, there would be people who suspected me.
A twenty-year-old had hired a lawyer immediately after a traffic accident and taken control of his assets.
There would even be people claiming that I was a psychopath who had caused the accident after consulting with a lawyer beforehand.
The four people hearing this story would be useful in that situation.
Even if each of them passed it on to only two or three people, that would make ten people, and the story would spread quickly through the mouths of those ten.
“That’s what happened.”
When I finished the entire story, the faces of the Sedalbaegil members were filled with bewilderment.
Well, a persistent vegetative state was probably something they had only ever seen in dramas.
My parents’ case had even bewildered the doctors at the hospital.
They had been in an accident severe enough that they should have died, yet they had quickly stabilized and simply failed to wake up for no discernible reason.
It must have seemed strange to people who did not know demons existed.
“Are you…… okay?”
I nodded at Gu Taehwan’s question.
“Physically, I’m completely fine, and mentally, I’m fine too. Honestly, I think I’m okay because it still doesn’t feel real.”
“……”
“So you don’t have to worry too much. I believe they’ll wake up someday.”
“They’ll…… definitely wake up.”
“I believe that too.”
After a fairly long silence, Iion was the first to speak.
“Sion. Did you appear on this show so your parents could hear your songs in the hospital?”
“That’s more or less it. That’s also why I want to debut as quickly as possible.”
“I see……”
“Now can we focus on practice? If we ruin this stage, my dream will be one step farther away.”
At my words, the members nodded with determined expressions and stood up.
“Later…… wouldn’t it be nice if we all went to visit them together?”
“If we reach number one on the charts and go together, I think that would be great.”
“I’m in favor.”
I was a little taken aback by what the members said.
I was not sure whether these people really needed to visit my parents.
Besides, if we were talking about number one, it seemed likely to happen within a few days……
Of course, as a socially capable person, I did not say any of that out loud.
Well, it was probably just consolation mixed with empty words.
“Ah! Come to think of it, won’t
At least Choe Jaeseong was young, so his mind seemed to work the fastest.
“Ah, right. The full version of that song was really good.”
“We all gave interviews like that during the selection round. We said we wanted to hear the chorus of
“Ah, right. I was singing along in my head, and then the song suddenly cut off.”
“Seoul Town Funk would be number one too if we could just register it as a digital single!”
The members were talking excitedly about things like that when the door opened and the trainer came in.
“Everyone looks much better now. Think you can work hard?”
“We can work hard!”
The trainer gave a small laugh and clapped his hands.
Practice resumed.
This practice session was quite satisfying.