The Toxic Member Is Back! Episode 183
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To be honest, I’d thought Yeonu-hyung was strange long before I returned.
The perfectionism that, to other people, looked almost impossible. The way that, despite that, he was more serious than anyone could imagine when it came to drinking—his one realm of self-destruction.
“Rex, you know… if you were just a little smarter about it, there’d be fewer articles like that.”
“Smarter? I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Really? That’s too bad. Did alcohol make you too stupid? I remember you not being quite that bad originally.”
“Well, sure. Even if you say that, hyung, what can I do if I’m already stupid?”
“Who knows. That doesn’t mean it stops being a shame.”
And on top of that, his enigmatic way of speaking, as if he always knew everything.
But the reason I’d thought Yeonu-hyung wasn’t the same kind as me back during
Even Sledix, called the indomitable top tier of male idols, definitely had moments where they wavered.
Because of the other members, not Yeonu-hyung.
Minor discord rumors, suspicions of speculation that arose as the group grew and the members’ settlement payments got bigger.
And dating rumors that made you wonder, Is this for real?
Of course, most of them were dealt with quickly, and nothing as horrific as Arrows being torn apart because of me and Liu Wei happened, but…‘If Yeonu-hyung had known about that, he would’ve stopped it beforehand. Because that’s the kind of person he is.’The Jeong Yeonu I knew definitely would have.
No matter what happened, he wouldn’t have forgiven anything that blocked his or the group’s path forward.
But the moment I heard from X about the “other guys,” I had to revise my clumsy judgment.
What if even that had fallen within his expectations?
What if he had known all along and simply left it alone?‘He was someone who drank with and kept ties with a guy like me, who got saddled with a nickname like Rextrash, so I thought that even if he was weird and scary, he wasn’t a bad person….’Things were different now.
From now on, I needed certainty, not guesses.
No—whether he was weird and scary but not a bad person or whatever the hell else.
The moment he became a candidate for someone who might have hurt my family, I had to take back every one of those ridiculous thoughts.
“Hoo….”
Pressing my fingers hard against my throbbing temples, I tried to relax my clenched jaw as much as possible.
For now, it was fine.
For now.
Since Yeonu-hyung had helped me with the An Taei matter before, I could easily approach him under the pretext of repaying him for that.
Besides, that was one of the good opportunities to check whether Yeonu-hyung belonged to the category of those “other guys.”
Instead of declaring, This is the person! right away, I’d take my time and cross-check.
“…….”
I turned on the silver smartwatch lightly clinking against my wrist and checked the message I’d sent in the morning.[Kim Chunyong: Our group is making a comeback with a repackage album soon][Kim Chunyong: I think it’d be good if I gave you what I said I’d give you when we meet then ^^][Kim Chunyong: Would it be okay to see you at the Mumu Day pre-recording?]
There hadn’t been a reply yet, but he was the one who’d kept urging me about when exactly I’d give him that “repayment.”
He’d definitely send back a reply full of smiling emoticons, saying, [Sounds good ^^]
“Haha….”
To think that now that I’d come back like this, I was the one deliberately seeking out the person I’d thought it would be best not to run into.
What kind of unfunny joke was this?
“Chunyong, hyung… are you… ti, red too?”
And while I let out that hollow laugh, a quiet voice came from the seat beside me in the car speeding toward the salon.
In other words, from our youngest, who had climbed into the van at a pace so slow it was almost like he was crawling.
“Ah, Siu. No, I’m not tired. I’m just… excited for our album.”
“I, seee… Me too. It is a little hard… though.”
Even though he was still growing, his eyes were full of fatigue, probably because of how packed our schedule had become recently.
Well.
Now that things had come to this, there wasn’t just one or two things making my head complicated.
The accident that happened to me and my family might have been intentional, and behind it were the “other guys” in the same situation as me.
So whatever else anyone said, I was also listed among the victims.
Leaving aside the matter of intent, I had lost my family against my will.
But still….
“…
Siu, do you want to sleep a little? I think it’ll take about fifteen minutes before we get to the salon.”
“Uh… today, I’m… first in line to get makeup… so if I sleep, then….”
“I’ll tell them and switch the order for you. I’m fourth. Get some sleep. I’ll wake you after my turn’s over.”
Did that justify the things I’d done afterward?
“If Chunyong-hyung says so… then. I’ll sleep… just a little….”
I groaned inwardly as I watched Siu bury his face into a neck pillow with a black cat drawn on it and soon fall quietly asleep.
Even if that incident had happened, I should have moved forward together with our members.
Instead of constantly creating reasons to apologize to someone and tormenting myself while drowning in self-pity, I should have found a way to overcome it.
The accident that happened to me was an issue with someone else, but cleaning up what I did afterward and atoning to the members was entirely my own problem.
I couldn’t just get drunk on the idea that once I found that one bastard and wrecked him, everything would be even.
That was that, and this was this.
At the end of my resolute gaze, the faces of the other members, including Siu, came into view.
“Ah, mm. Mm, mm….”
Yuchan-hyung, carefully taking care of his throat from early in the morning, enjoying the fact that the dream he had chased for so long was still ongoing.
“Ah, damn. The roots, the roots! I’m telling you, my roots grew out again. Do they really not sell some kind of medicine that makes your hair grow out blond? Huh? Hobin-hyung, what do I do about this!”
Hwaseong, a born idol who looked like he was just whining to our manager Hobin-hyung, but was actually working hard to maintain a perfect appearance.
“Mmm, Logan. You don’t have to be too nervous. Your song was already included in the album for ‘Boyhood Ending,’ too.”
“Oh, I know. But… this is a song I made entirely by myself. When I think about that, I get so nervous about it being released…!”
Jaeha-hyung, encouraging a member with a gentle, warm smile, and Logan, who was breathing new energy into ToZ.
Everyone was working hard.
They were doing their best within the situation they’d been given.
So it was only right that I throw everything I had into the things I had to do, too.
“We’ve arrived at the salon. Then we’ll start in order with Siu-ssi….”
“Ah, I’ll go in first. I switched places with Siu.”
“Oh, yes. Understood. Then let’s go.”
I slowly made my way into the salon for today’s schedule and smiled slightly with a solemn expression.
First place with this repackage album.
Winning Rookie of the Year at the year-end awards ceremony.
And the newly added task of finding the “other guy.”
Whether it was Yeonu-hyung or someone else, I still didn’t have a grasp on the trail yet, but….
“Today is the final additional shoot for the music video, right? Then, like before, I’ll make it a bit intense….”
“Yes. Please make it really, truly, completely scary!”
“U-umm. Yes, I understand…!”
Once I find you, you’re dead for real, both physically and mentally, you bastard.
* * *
Whether it was thanks to busy Kim Chunyong’s solemn resolve, or whether it had been fated to happen that way from the start.
Interest in ToZ’s repackage album and its song was steadily piling up.
As the actions he had taken to resolve the problems he faced, and the connections he had formed along the way, created an unexpected butterfly effect.
- “…
Wiz, your repackage promotions this time were truly impressive. I’ll connect this to the main theme of our program today and ask you a question. After debuting and promoting continuously, was there anything you found a little disappointing, or something you wished you’d done better?”
- “Ah, I’ll answer!”
- “Oh, Taei-ssi. Yes. What would that be?”
- “I had a little trouble with communication between people… and there was something that made me think I shouldn’t do things that way going forward.”
- “Eh, Taei-ssi did? With such a bright personality, I wouldn’t have expected that.”
A truly….
- “Haha, yes. Me! I was foolish. I shouldn’t have acted like that. But because of that, I guess I started thinking a little differently… or maybe I should say I wanted to act differently.”
- “It sounds like you’ve reached some sort of conclusion. So, how would you like to do things next time?”
- “I’m thinking of approaching it in a slightly different way. For example… Chunyong, ToZ members! I’ll be cheering for your next album. Fighting!”
- “Eh? Eh? Just now, who did you mention….”
- “Commercials! We’ll listen to some commercials and be right back!”
Unexpected…[Whoa, they said ToZ and Wiz got close while filming ChemiCaU, and I think it’s actually true? Wiz fans who were swaying public opinion back then saying there’d been some huge fight are humbled lololol][⎿Hey, hey, they have a fandom name now too, Witch or whatever… But the humbled part is real][⎿ToZ’s repackage was already getting whispered about like crazy, and An Taei is really setting the fire properly. Now even the Witches who were gritting their teeth and pretending not to know have to talk about ToZ ㅠ][On today’s radio, #Taei even thought of his friends from another group ㅠㅠ Looks like ChemiCaU was really fun… Following our Taei’s opinion, fighting to the #ToZ folks’ repackage too][⎿Why is a Witch going out of their way to hype another team? Take the post down, wtf][⎿Are we supposed to say our kid can’t even make friends now? That mindset is seriously fucking weird. People like you are the ones isolating the kids]
Butterfly effect….[Neulbom Mir @NBML__0412(photo)(photo)
There’s a repackage album that even other idol groups are looking forward to? If the individual teaser image for today’s member #Chunyong is released, I’ll choose winners and send out two copies of ToZ’s ‘Another Clover’ album♡][⎿The way you forced that connection is insane][Wow, but it’s true that when kids who debuted around the same time say one thing, the buzz shoots way up. This is no joke][⎿Even without that, ToZ’s debut album quality was good, so I thought they’d do well… but the real-time trend ranking right now is crazy][Real-Time SNS Trends
– Trending around you
1. Sledix this time
2. An Taei ToZ3. #ToZ
4. What’s Oje’s relationship with An Taei ]
As it continued to unfold.
A popular member of another group, one that had been mentioned as their rival, openly brought up their name on the radio?
For SNS and online communities already burning up over the incredible idol lineup for the second half of the year, there couldn’t have been a better bombshell.
It blazed.
Blazed.[ToZ @Targetofzenon_AG(photo)(photo)ToZ 1st Repackage Album - ‘ Another Clover’ Concept Photo (Chunyong/Logan)]
And the final individual concept photos for ToZ’s ‘Another Clover’ album, which were uploaded that very night right on time….[Moon Yunha really is a sick bastard
(in a good way)…]
They were more than enough to pour the final oil on the fire ahead of the release of ToZ’s repackage album and music video.