The Malicious Member Has Returned! Chapter 122
As I approached him, the manager—who had worn a puzzled expression—quickly changed his face to greet me.
“…
Yo, Chunyong. What brings you here, coming all the way to find me? Well, you’re always welcome. I’m your manager now, yeah!”
It seemed that, for now, I was still classified as someone who needed to make a good impression on him.
Well. From this hyung’s perspective, we’d only met two days ago, so it was only natural.
“No, well. We greeted each other earlier but didn’t really get to talk much….”
“Ah, so you came because you wanted to get close!”
No.
As if.
“Yeah, well.”
I forced the corners of my mouth up and quietly sorted out the situation.
First, I needed to find out what conversation had taken place to make Hobin-hyung’s expression turn like that.
But while this hyung was loose-lipped, he wasn’t the type to tell everything to someone he didn’t like.
I loathed getting close to him, conversation was even worse, and he was someone I’d want to disinfect if so much as a fingertip touched him, but.
Still, to hear his story, I needed to earn at least a minimum of his goodwill, that was it.
“Haha….”
I stuffed back the laugh that had burst out on its own and dredged up old memories that weren’t very pleasant.
So, in my memories, this manager hyung….
He envied those who were successful, popular, and always had people following them without even trying.
“Hey, Rex. What was it. Have you gotten close to the Sledix leader? Hey, what’s he like?”
“That hyung? Well, we’re just so-so close. If we’re at the club on the same day we drink together, if not then we don’t…. He takes good care of himself. We don’t run into each other often.”
“…Haha! Well, I mean. Someone doing that well would never even glance at people like us, right? How unlucky, am I right?”
“Is… is that so…?”
For example, someone like Yeonwoo-hyung.
Then, I just had to treat him as if I were that kind of person.
“The thing is, uh.”
“Hm…?”
Before the manager hyung could continue, I quickly struck a pose, propping one leg up and swaying.
And I lowered my voice as gruffly as possible, and made my hand gestures slightly sleazy.
As a bonus, I shook my head every few seconds as if I had some kind of secret.
The finishing touch was the way I spoke.
“…I was really looking forward to getting close to someone like you, hyungnim. You know what I mean? Tsk… kids these days are so boring.”
…Damn.
Even though I was the one saying it, it was so much like a high school back-alley thug that it gave me goosebumps.
But because of my looks, doing this came so naturally.
“…….”
At my attitude that changed in an instant, the hyung’s small eyes opened wide, nearly doubling in size.
Inside those pupils, I could see agony trying to grasp the situation, confusion. And slight disbelief.
“Wha, what the. Shit.”
And….
“…Hey, you jerk. You should’ve said so earlier! What’s so hard about getting close? Hyungnim and dongsaeng, it happens in no time.”
Relief that I was exactly the type of person he had thought.
“Wahaha, come here. I’ll speak comfortably, Chunyong?”
“Of course. Speak comfortably, hyungnim. Ah, I wanted to say it quickly too, but I had to watch the atmosphere because of the filming set.”
“I understand, I get it. You smoke? Do you smoke? Ah, you’re an idol so you probably don’t, huh.”
The manager hyung, who had instantly draped his arm around my neck, started chattering about this and that, excited about something.
“Hey, it’s my first time being an idol manager so I was really nervous.”
The kids are so picky that I was worried, but thank goodness you’re here; isn’t filming annoying; there was a pretty person among the staff here; etc., etc.
“…….”
Ugh, disgusting.
Still, I played along using several behaviors I’d seen from low-quality drinking buddies in the past.
“…It’s not easy, but where in the world is anything easy? You just gotta do your best. But hyungnim, you’re already doing great!”
“Kya… you’re a really good guy? Man, that puts my mind at ease.”
Even though our conversation hadn’t been long, the manager hyung already seemed to think of me as one of his people.
It was bittersweet that the big data I’d accumulated living as Rex Trash was being used in this way, but.
No, let’s just think that good is good for now.
Maintaining that servile, rotten thug expression to the maximum, I rubbed both palms together toward the manager hyung.
“Uhh, hyungnim. But I have something I’m curious about.”
“Yeah, yeah, ask me. What should I tell you? An actress I worked with before? Hey, don’t even get me started. She was so fucking pretty that….”
Ugh, disgusting.
But I had to endure it.
To properly get what I wanted, to properly kick this guy out.…
Right now, there was nothing I couldn’t do!
“Yeees, I’m really curious about that too! That, you know. That person who followed you to train, was his name Hobin? That person.”
“…Tsk, why that guy?”
“No, his expression suddenly soured earlier. I was wondering if something happened.”
“Why are you curious about something like that, sheesh….”
At my question, the manager hyung’s topic suddenly drifted, and he shrugged with a rather displeased face.
Ha, what a bother.
With a sleazy expression and a slightly fawning posture, I muttered.
To put it simply, a sycophant-like posture?
“…Also, it seemed like hyungnim was worried about that too! My eyes kept going over there for some reason? Ah, I’m too weak-hearted to be manly… I wish I could be as cool as hyungnim.”
When I tucked my tail firmly in front of him, a confident smile rose on the manager hyung’s face again.
“Well… if you’re always practicing in the practice room, that could happen. Ah, me. This is classified information so it’s a bit iffy to go around talking about it everywhere….”
The manager hyung removed his arm from around my neck, took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and leisurely chose his words.
“Hoo… the thing is. You know LadySwan, right? Your seniors. Well, they did flop.”
“…Of course I know, how could I not.”
“Right. That guy, I heard he was LadySwan’s manager. He was waiting to run around on-site again when LadySwan made their comeback, or something.”
I already knew this much, and it was something that could be inferred from the information I had.
It was merely unpleasant and annoying to hear it spoken so contemptuously from this guy’s mouth.
“But, I saw earlier he was hovering around you and sizing things up. Yeah. You know what I mean? Since it looks like you guys will do well, he was trying to switch sides now. Tsk, how pathetic.”
He was the pathetic one.
I endured the vomit threatening to shoot to the sky with superhuman strength and silently waited for his words to continue.
I can’t hit him.
I can’t throw a punch.
The fist I held back even against Liu Wei—I couldn’t use on someone like this.
“Anyway, now that I’m your manager, how could that be possible? So I told him to give up, and gave him some bits and pieces I’d heard here and there.”
“…Ah, really? What was it? You have all that kind of information too, that’s no joke?”
“Wahaha, I just… here and there, I have a lot of connections, that’s all!”
His mouth, swollen with pride at my praise, didn’t know when to stop.
Just like people who say even more provocative and vulgar things to get attention at drinking parties.
“Soon, Music Days is doing an idol survival show as your follow-up.”
And.
Finally….
“But, it’s a survival show targeting existing idols, not trainees.”
The story that made this dog-like behavior worthwhile began to flow from that chatterbox’s mouth.
“…….”
The moment those words came out, one thing came to mind.
[Once Again, Toward That Summit! Music Days Girl Group Survival,
[
[
Since I already knew about it, grasping the context wasn’t difficult.
“…Aha. Among the potential cast there, I suppose LadySwan is included?”
“Yes! Wow, Chunyong. You’re smart despite your looks? You catch on quick, man.”
“Haha… well, not as much as hyungnim.”
“You rascal, buttering me up. Well, anyway… so, I told him not to covet our TOJ friends for no reason, and to go support the LadySwan schedule he’d wanted so much.”
So that was it.
So that was why Hobin-hyung had made that expression earlier.
Regardless of what I would do after this, it was natural to be angry.
Really, I was the acknowledged trash, Rex Trash, but….
This guy was on a completely different level, wasn’t he?
He himself was only thinking of using us, yet he was selling out the seniors’ names when it wasn’t even confirmed they’d appear?
No. Can’t hit him. Endure it, Kim Chunyong.
I hid my tightly clenched fist so it wouldn’t show and muttered with an indifferent face.
“Well… if that’s the case, he must be happier to go back. Since they’re the celebrities he liked enough to wait so long for.”
“Right, right. But, no matter how I look at it, that guy seems to have liked LadySwan as women. Fuck, it’s creepy as hell. Does he think he can actually date them just because of that….”
He was the one who became a manager thinking he could date celebrities and get close to them. What the hell was he saying?
The emotions I’d been holding back suddenly surged up.
Even though he’d used me like that.
Even though he said at first he was trying to comfort me, while someone like me wasn’t even in his sights. Like that.
“…It looks like filming is about to start soon. I’ll head back to my place now, hyungnim. See you later.”
“Huh…? Hm, well. Yeah, yeah. See you later.”
He seemed quite bewildered by the sudden situation as I abruptly cut off the conversation and turned around, but it was none of my concern.
Good job holding back, me.
“Hoo….”
I touched my cheek, which had gone cold, and slowly moved my steps toward the campsite.
With things having come to this, simply earning Hobin-hyung’s goodwill wasn’t enough to tear the manager hyung away.
I needed a more certain method.
A certain method to turn Hobin-hyung’s heart and completely scratch that hyung’s insides.…
Should I ask X a bit more about how to utilize the [Overlap F] skill? Or should I look in a different direction?
Just as I was wandering behind the camper with a stiff face due to my worries.
“—Chunyong.”
One of the windows in the camper opened, and a soft voice came from inside.
“…Jaeha-hyung?”
“I saw you talking with the manager, so I was just staying here….”
Jaeha-hyung rested his arm on the window frame, lightly propped his chin, and continued with a gentle smile.
“Well, you seemed to have a lot on your mind.”
That face of his was one I knew.
If it were the past, I would have been slightly flustered by that somewhat enigmatic yet affectionate expression.
But for some reason, now it just felt like he was truly only worried about me.
No.
This was because I had seen what kind of burden Jaeha-hyung had been carrying.
That was why I absolutely couldn’t leave alone that person who had been using Jaeha-hyung.
“…Ah.”
Suddenly, something flashed through my inadequate brain.
Something that I couldn’t do alone, but might be possible if someone who already knew Hobin-hyung helped.
Of course, since Jaeha-hyung had done so much until now, I wasn’t planning to ask too much of him.
This was, so to speak….
Like when we were cooking earlier, it was like me doing the cutting and Jaeha-hyung adding the MSG.
I’m not lying; I was pretty good at cutting.
I stealthily approached where hyung was and spoke in a small voice.
“Jaeha-hyung. You know….”
Jaeha-hyung’s eyes, having heard everything I said, were tinged with curiosity.
“Hm, I’ll try talking to him. I’ve been at our agency for a long time, so it’s fitting that I be the one to say this kind of thing.”
“…Haha. Thank you, hyung.”
I smiled widely at Jaeha-hyung and lightly shrugged my shoulders.
Hyung, that guy who came calling himself a manager is someone who will only make you suffer.…
I’m planning to take care of him before that happens.
So just trust me, okay?