The Toxic Member Has Returned! Chapter 124
Most of the people Kim Chunyong met after returning were those who had, directly or indirectly, been connected to him in some way.
The TOJ members, of course, as well as the people at AG, the trainees who had appeared on
Even Choi Geonyeong, whom he had run into on the streets of Hongdae.
And among all those he had met, Jo Taeuk was special to Kim Chunyong.
“Did you just grab your assigned artist by the collar? What on earth do you think you’re doing!”
“Let go. I said let go! Fuck, do you know what that bastard said to me? Seriously, this is—!”
“What on earth did Chunyong say… Ugh, you reek of alcohol!”
In the sense that the depth of the negative emotions he held in his heart was on an entirely different level from the others.
It was a different kind of feeling even from Liu Wei, with whom Kim Chunyong had parted on bad terms before.
Liu Wei? Of course he hated him.
He was irritating, hateful. Just seeing him made his fists clench.
After all, it was an objective fact that Liu Wei had played a major role alongside Kim Chunyong in sending Arrows downhill, without even needing to examine it closely.
However, in the end, Kim Chunyong had only known Liu Wei for a little over three years.
He had cursed the guy who left for China over and over whenever he drank, but the saying that time was medicine did not exist for nothing.
One year, two years, three years. His anger thinned and blurred.
Well, when they met again and the guy acted like an asshole, their relationship ended up completely ruined anyway, but still.
Jo Taeuk, however, was different.
“Rex? Well, at first, since I dragged him around with me, a lot of pretty girls came along, and things worked out smoothly in all sorts of ways, so it was nice. But now he’s just annoying. Fuck, his image is filthy too. What the hell is Rextrash, seriously? Damn it, it’s ridiculous that I have to take care of him and his group too, now… I’ve squeezed enough honey out of this, so maybe I should try changing jobs.”
People feel anger more easily toward someone they fell out with because of some incident than toward someone they hated from the beginning.
Was “fell out” the right way to put it? Well.
“...
Rex. Can’t you read the situation? That kind of thing is only cute once or twice in the beginning. Did you think I kept taking you around to comfort you even years after the accident? Ha, fuck. This is why stupid kids are….”
In Kim Chunyong’s case, perhaps it was more accurate to call it a sense of betrayal.
“Ah, Jaeha hyung, I’m really okay. My throat just got blocked for a second.”
“Mm, if you say you’re okay, that’s a relief, but… can you explain what happened? I’m a bit… taken aback.”
“...
Well.”
Kim Chunyong quietly groaned as he read the confusion and anger contained beneath Son Jaeha’s hazy black eyes.
If Jo Taeuk, who was over there in something that was almost a scuffle with Yu Hobin, had only acted that way toward Kim Chunyong, things would not have gone this far.
“Hyung, didn’t you follow Siu to his schedule today? I think he’ll be alone. Still, Siu is young….”
“Well, he’ll manage on his own. How many years have you guys been doing this? Do I have to take care of every little thing?”
“...
Then how is Siu getting home after work? Did the company assign someone else to him?”
“Uh, who knows? I didn’t get any separate call about it… Maybe he’ll take a taxi or something.”
But some experiences remained all too vividly in one’s head….
“Mr. Rex. First, you should contact your agency. That way their legal team and your personal lawyer can come.”
“...
They won’t come.”
“What?”
“I said they won’t come.”
No one.
Someone who had returned drenched in regret and guilt absolutely did not want to repeat that memory.
Kim Chunyong took Son Jaeha’s offered hand and stood up, his sharp eyes gleaming as he quietly opened his mouth.
Three pairs of eyes, each containing different emotions, fixed on him.
“...
When I came here, he had the beer the production team gave us, saying the adult members could drink it if we wanted.”
“Fuck, what? What the hell is he saying right now….”
“Ah, you mean the ones Writer Lee gave Yuchan hyung earlier. Yeah. None of us touched them, so we moved them to the back.”
As Son Jaeha nodded with a grave expression and Jo Taeuk’s face twisted horribly.
“Well, I’m not sure how you took them, but when I told you that someone who had to drive tomorrow shouldn’t be doing this….”
Kim Chunyong lightly kicked the crumpled beer can rolling near his feet and put on a heartbroken expression.
“...
This happened.”
Of course, it was an explanation entirely different from the actual sequence of events.
“Ah, hyungnim! So you were here. Yes. I was looking for you for ages, wondering where you went. Did you take what I told you about?”
“Uh, Chunyong. Thanks, seriously. It’s my first schedule, so you have no idea how nervous I was. You knew too, that’s why you told me, right? At times like this, one can of beer, just, huh? It clears your head right up, I’m telling you.”
“...
Ah, I know. Of course.”
It had been Kim Chunyong who told Jo Taeuk where the beer was, and the conversation they had shared just before Jo Taeuk grabbed him by the collar had not been like that either.
Jo Taeuk envied people who were successful, popular, and had others naturally gather around them without needing to do anything.
Which meant, in other words, that he himself was not such a person.
“Being popular in school doesn’t mean shit. Look at me. Who are the kids drinking with me right now? How much does the alcohol I’m drinking cost? While those bastards are bowing and scraping to their bosses, I’m out here having fun like this!”
“I get it, hyung, so. First, calm down a little….”
“...
Rex, are you looking down on me too? Huh? Are you fucking looking down on me because I’m your errand boy, taking care of your shit?”
Through a series of experiences, Kim Chunyong already knew the truth, and after properly confirming the drawback of the [Overlap F] skill he had gained through skill synthesis….
“Well, doing it this way is good for both you and me, hyungnim!”
“Hm? What’s that supposed to mean? Kid, explain it so I can understand.”
“I mean, well. You’re going to keep helping TOJ from now on, run our ‘errands,’ and take care of all sorts of miscellaneous tasks, aren’t you?”
“…….”
“So I thought I should make a good impression on the hyungnim who’ll be running our ‘errands’ from now on—ack!”…
He had very slightly pressed Jo Taeuk’s trigger, something few people besides the person himself would know.
‘It only said Charm -10%, so I didn’t think he’d suddenly grab me by the collar. But as a result… I guess it worked out.’
While Kim Chunyong thought that, Jo Taeuk’s face had turned bright red and he was shouting wildly.
“That red-haired bastard must be kidding me right now. What? You stopped me? I took the beer meant for my assigned artists without saying anything and drank it by myself?”
“…….”
“Ha, haha. Sunbae-nim. Uh, Mr. Jaeha. Listen to me. Do you know who told me where the alcohol was? It was that guy! No matter how out of it I’ve been living, would I do something like this without thinking? Huh?”
“…….”
However, neither of the two answered Jo Taeuk’s words.
Son Jaeha had completely looked away and was only patting Kim Chunyong on the back, while Yu Hobin was rubbing his face with his hand, looking horrified.
“Wait, a sec… Huh? Huh?”
Jo Taeuk’s red face turned white, and in the end became ashen.
Because only then did he realize why no one believed him.
The smell of alcohol wafting off him because his body did not handle alcohol well. And the location of the scene where he had drunk it.
And even what he had just impulsively done to Kim Chunyong.
“…….”
Kim Chunyong, who had been silently watching him, chewed over each word before spitting them out.
“Wow. Manager hyung. You’re drunk right now….”
“…….”
“It seems like you don’t even really know what you’re saying.”
Those were words only one person among the four present knew.
They were not meant to provoke Jo Taeuk or make him angry using the [Overlap F] skill….
“Hyung, hyung? What are you talking about? The club and the alcohol, clearly! You were the one who first….”
“...
Oh dear. He’s drunk right now, so he doesn’t even know what he’s saying. I’m truly sorry!”
They were words that released the anger he had kept buried in his heart for a long time.
“I’m truly sorry. If I had approached him a little more carefully, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“No, Mr. Chunyong. ...
If I hadn’t left my post, you wouldn’t have had to go through this.”
Yu Hobin, who had been rubbing his face for quite some time, soon approached Jo Taeuk, who was bouncing his leg and biting his lip, and muttered in a low voice.
“Mr. Taeuk.”
“…….”
“You’ve been drinking, so I think it would be best for you to go straight home. I’ll wrap up TOJ’s schedule this time.”
“Go, go home means….”
“You haven’t even stamped the contract yet, so there shouldn’t be any issue.”
Hobin’s words were calm, made up mostly of businesslike sentences that contained no emotion.
However.
“...
Though you won’t be able to work in this industry again.”
Even Hobin found it difficult to completely hide the disgust mixed into his expression.
“…….”
Taeuk, who had not been drunk in the first place and whose face had merely reddened from anger, looked around with a devastated expression.
There was no one here who would defend him or protect him.
No one.
Just like Rextrash, Kim Chunyong, who had spun around and around in his chair during the emergency arrest, unable to think of calling anyone.
“U-uaaah….”
“…….”
It was only natural that countless emotions crossed Kim Chunyong’s mind.
‘Maybe things could have been different from now.’
If Taeuk had truly been someone who cared for TOJ.
If, at the very least, during the emergency arrest, he had not turned away from Kim Chunyong by saying, “It has nothing to do with me.”
All of this might have been different.
Yu Hobin and Son Jaeha would never have had to see Jo Taeuk hit rock bottom, and Kim Chunyong would never have drawn up a plan like this in the first place.
But some experiences had a tendency to remain all too vividly in a person’s head….
“Um, Manager hyung.”
Kim Chunyong touched the corners of his mouth, which had lowered before he knew it, a few times, then walked toward Jo Taeuk with clean, uncluttered steps.
“Ah, you’re not anymore, so I guess I should call you Taeuk hyung. Haha….”
“…….”
Jo Taeuk’s eyes were filled with anger, but unfortunately, he was a pathetic human being who did not even have the courage to release it in this situation.
A pathetic human being who, unless influenced by someone else’s skill, would continue clinging to people like a leech and subtly sucking their blood.
Kim Chunyong handed Taeuk the bit of cash he had put in his pocket earlier and said quietly.
“Use this for taxi fare. Get home safely.”
“…….”
“...
Let’s never see each other again.”
Jo Taeuk would never know what those words meant to Kim Chunyong.
And Kim Chunyong had no reason to tell him.
Because there were relationships that had to end that way.
There was no need to scratch open a wound that had been sealed again with difficulty, nor to untangle threads that had been sewn wrong.
At least, not now.
Not in this moment, when Kim Chunyong existed not as Rextrash, but as Kim Chunyong.
* * *
Vroooom—
“…….”
I stood there for a long while, watching until the rear lights of the taxi leaving the set blurred into the distance.
Well. What I was thinking right now was….
I felt empty, but also refreshed. I didn’t know why, but I felt a little sad too, maybe?
“...
Hoo!”
No, I didn’t have the energy to spend emotions on someone I would never see again.
I was busy until debut, I’m telling you.
I lightly pressed my cheeks with both hands, then turned my gaze toward the two people talking about something behind me.
“First, I’ve already informed the company. It should be fine. Once he’s on the blacklist, it’ll be difficult for him to approach other places too.”
“Yes. Then now, the problem is what to do about the next schedule….”
“...
About that.”
As I had expected, it seemed Jaeha hyung had brought up whether Hobin hyung could become our manager.
Jaeha hyung, nice.
I lightly swept my tongue over my lips and moved toward them.
“Um, both of you worked really hard.”
“...
Ah.”
“Let’s go somewhere with a lot of people for a bit and clear our heads, okay? Because I want to!”
At my words, a moment of puzzlement passed through Jaeha hyung’s eyes, but soon he took Hobin hyung by the arm and said in a gentle voice.
“...
Hobin hyung, come with us.”
“Pardon? I, um….”
“Come on. Don’t be like that.”
I seized Hobin hyung’s other arm with a playful expression.
“Let’s eat something good, and have a ‘real’ catch-up, okay?”
Now that we had completely dealt with the problematic manager, there was only one thing left to do.
We had to make the new manager, whose heart was clearly wavering, completely make up his mind.