The Toxic Member Has Returned! Episode 244
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Thanks to the bomb X had dropped on me, my lunch with my family—my first in a long while—was pushed back amid chaos.
“Gim Chunyong, if you’re on your phone during dinner too... you better watch yourself.”
“Y-yeah….”
“And finish everything in front of you before dinner. Got it? Have some respect for Mom’s sincerity, you punk.”
“Ah, I said I got it….”
I nodded like crazy at Bomi noona, who had grown even scarier along with the stress of the coming new semester, pushed my bangs back from my forehead, and let out a low sigh.
Well, it’s not like I didn’t want to focus on my meal.
“Bomi, stop pestering Chunyong and come have some apple. Apple.”
“Ah, coming.”
“Oh my god, unnie. Choe Gaon is on. You should be grateful Dad called you over? It helps to be honest about liking idols at times like this, right?”
“Ah, I already saw it though…!”
After the rest of my family huddled together in front of the living room TV with a fruit plate, excluding me, I was finally—belatedly—able to start putting the food piled high in my bowl into my mouth one by one.
- X: Look quick lololololol
- X: Ah~ this is so fun
- X: If I’d known I was this good, I would’ve done it sooner! I was just watching the company’s mood for nothing all this time!
- X: Pfft, ignoring all the calls from the engineering team and HR right now -3-
- X: Bus is leaving, iguya iguya
- X: I do just fine without you guys lololololol
Whether my meal was delayed or not, X was burning with impatience to show off what it had accomplished.
Calling itself a genius, claiming this was another new masterpiece, boasting about scoring a point against the internal union, and on and on.
Still, seeing it this confident, the state of things couldn’t be so bad that it’d be embarrassing to show me.
“Then let’s see….”
My hand tapped the Status Window first to see the achievement X had been boasting about so much, and Pandora’s box was opened.
[Status Window]
Name: Gim Chunyong
Yongguri (Main Dancer of Idol Group ToZ and my lackey)
Vocal: 70 (Idol?? Vocal?? < Try harder)
Rap: 68 (Idol?? Sub-rapper?? You rap?)
Dance: 92 (Famous Idol Main Dancer < At least your dancing’s not bad… agreed)
Visuals: 84 (Handsome?? Idol?? Sure, let’s go with that)
Charm: 82 (Charming Idol < Idk what’s charming about you tho)
Skill: Idol’s Aura (??)
Suppress the opponent’s momentum with dance (??)
The Will of 6th Place (??)
Don’t Cry, Be Brave (??)
Overlap (F)
Maintaining 45 Degrees is Essential (??)
What is This What is This (??)
Fortune Cookie (???)
So, I really wished I had remembered that Pandora’s box was originally a box that shouldn’t be opened.
“Huuuh….”
“Son? Hurry up and finish your food, then come have a pear.”
“…Wasn’t it an apple just now?”
“Hey. We just finished the apples. If you want some, peel them yourself.”
“Got it, got it.”
Unable to fully hide my bewilderment, I answered my family—who were fussing at me—as calmly as possible and buried my nose back in my phone.
What the hell is this, seriously.
Did it really have the nerve to be this confident after making it like this?
- Gim Chunyong: Hey
- Gim Chunyong: Your status window is a total mess. Is this really a success?
- Gim Chunyong: What’s with the useless comments attached to the stats?
- Gim Chunyong: And what’s with the skills marked with question marks?
As if it had been waiting for me to ask, X began rapid-firing messages, and the chat window began to explode.
- X: Ah~~ it’s my masterpiece
- X: I thought the status window was too stiff before, you know?
- X: So since I was hacking anyway this time, I tore it apart and rewrote it to my taste
- X: And the skills! The ones with question marks have random effects, you know
- X: I managed to unlock them, but I couldn’t adjust the ranks
- X: I haven’t hacked that far yet?? But soon, soon
- X: But since the effects are random, if you’re very very lucky, you might get S-rank effects. It’s a good thing
- X: Hey hey, but why aren’t you looking at my surprise gift? Are you pretending not to see it?
This confidence, this brazenness.
Thinking about how this guy had been suppressing this side of its personality all this time while being with me, a chill crept slowly up my spine.
“Whew….”
If the Status Window—arguably the most intuitive one—was in this sorry state, I was actually afraid to see what the Collection Window, full of all sorts of text, looked like.
Is this okay?
“…….”
I chewed on the now cold meat jeon and rolled my eyes.
I wondered if I’d stirred up unnecessary trouble, but then again, since I was going to appear as a mentor on a survival show, having my stats sealed all the time wouldn’t be good either.
“Son? Did you finish your food? We only have tangerines left now….”
“Mom, don’t give him any, don’t. That ungrateful brat won’t come no matter how much we call him.”
“Wait, wait… just leave two for me!”
I raised my voice behind my family, who were now really getting ready to go to their respective rooms, then quickly went into the Goal Window.
Since I wasn’t confident I could handle the Collection Window, I should at least look at the Goals.
[Goal Window]
Current Goal: Win Bonsang & Daesang at a Popular Music Awards Ceremony (Progress: 1%)
Final Goal: The Greatest Idol in K-pop History (Progress: 15%)
Upon Failure: Return to pre-contract circumstances
However, contrary to my worries, the Goal Window was organized with the same neat, cold sentences as before.
The condition stating that upon failure, I would return to my pre-contract circumstances remained the same as well.
It was the moment my assumption—that it might have changed to something like *‘X’s Ten Thousand Year Slave Contract’*—became laughable.
And as if it had read my mind, a similarly calm sentence arrived from X.
- X: I can’t change the Goal Window
- X: All I can do is remove the warning windows and adjust settings
- X: From the moment you contracted with our company, that became untouchable territory -3-
- X: Even if I get disciplined or fired, that’ll remain the same
- X: Instead, another transfer agent would come and take over your contract
- X: Even though you told me about the chance to rebel, I can’t do this either
- X: I’m not exactly omnipotent, after all…
Did I sense something like self-reproach from X in that moment, or was it my imagination?
Well, there’s no way, but….
It almost seemed tormented by the thought that I, whom it had grown fond of, might have to return to a painful time if things went wrong.
- X: Sigh, if I could touch it, I’d immediately change the condition to returning to pre-contract circumstances and a slave contract
- X: Too bad, huh?
- X: You don’t like it??
Right. A delusion was just a delusion.
“Hey, Gim Chunyong. If you don’t come, I’m eating the rest? It’s your loss?”
“I’m coming! I’m coming, so please don’t eat mine…!”
I dashed to the living room, popped the last remaining tangerine whole into my mouth, and chewed as I pondered the situation.
“Hmm? Is it snowing outside? They said it would be warm this year….”
“It’s snowing because it’s warm. When it’s really cold, it doesn’t snow.”
If I failed and went back, the time spent with my family like this would probably remain nothing more than an ill-timed midsummer night’s dream.
Then finding ‘those other bastards,’ paying off the debts of these family members with happy faces, and atoning to the members who were spending their own time right now—all of it would crumble to nothing.
“…What? You said you finished the apples and pears?”
“Ehh, of course I lied to get oppa to hurry up. You still don’t know your unnie, do you, Gim Chunyong.”
“Nari, you really….”
“Ahh, this is oppa being an idiot. I can just call you randomly, can’t I!”
“Honey, the kids look like they’re getting along. Don’t scold them too much.”
“Dad, you should still take Mom’s side at times like this….”
Listening to this peaceful conversation, just imagining such things was horrifying.
I didn’t want to think about shoving more alcohol into my mouth while my head grew hazy from psychiatric medication, or being thrown back behind iron bars as punishment.
And if I didn’t want that….
[Current Goal: Win Bonsang & Daesang at a Popular Music Awards Ceremony (Progress: 1%)]
What I had to do was clear.
“…I’m going to step out and call my manager hyung for a bit. Wait for me.”
Leaving behind my family snickering, “Wait for what?”, I slowly walked to my room and closed the door.
A major event—appearing as a mentor on a survival show—was waiting for me right away, but that was merely a process to reach the goal.
Making it through Yeonu hyung’s schemes and finding ‘those other bastards’ was one thing.
What mattered was that our ToZ had to do well.
The current goal written in the Goal Window was none other than winning the Bonsang and Daesang at a Popular Music Awards ceremony.
Just like the Rookie Award before, this wasn’t something I could achieve just by doing well myself.
My members.
It was something possible only through effort and hard work together with our members.
“Then when would we be having our next album meeting? Hmm, it’s a bit awkward to say this right after you told me we could rest, but still….”
“Ah, Jaeha-ssi. Hmm… as I mentioned, it is scheduled for the first half of the year, but we do need to coordinate schedules with other singers at the agency. For now, I don’t think there will be a meeting this month.”
“A month… Yes. Understood.”
I recalled Jaeha hyung’s ambiguous expression as he muttered something like, “So it’s a complete blank for a month…,” and slowly called Hobin hyung.
Only someone who knew Jaeha hyung’s inner thoughts well could catch that expression.
Someone like me, who had spent a long time with him before.
That expression meant, “So that means we have no activities at all for a month.”
A one-month gap was huge for an idol.
Moreover, if that was the time needed just for meetings, the actual gap was practically even larger.
That was why we had tried so hard to create self-produced content even while preparing the repackage album, and this time would likely be no different.
However, since our goal this time was targeting the Bonsang and Daesang….
That wouldn’t be enough.
— “Hello? Chunyong-ssi?”
I broke into a grin at Hobin hyung’s voice coming through the phone.
After all, I needed a preamble before getting to the main point.
“Ah, yes. Hobin hyung. I called to thank you for giving me a ride earlier.”
— “Ah, I see. It’s nothing. It’s only natural. I’m glad you got home safe, that’s enough….”
“Also, there was something I wanted to ask.”
— “Yes? Hmm, what is it?”
“Ah, well.”
I took a short breath and slowly opened my mouth again, pretending I knew nothing.
“…Does our company not have something like a Star Message service? My noona was curious about Gaon sunbaenim’s, so.”
Bomi noona hadn’t said anything like that, but it served as a very good excuse.
The moment I said this….
— “…Ah.”
Hobin hyung let out a sigh with a voice that sounded like he’d forgotten something important.
This was AG’s first time properly raising an idol.
Then, someone who already knew needed to enlighten them occasionally.
Especially the best way to manage core fans during a hiatus.