The Malicious Member Has Returned! Episode 39* * *A brief waiting period while the Korean trainees lined up on the stairs to choose their rooms.
"Trainee Kim Chun-yong, Trainee Son Jae-ha, please come up next."
"Ah, yes. Thank you for letting us know."
"It's nothing. I'll let you know before you go up, so if you need to use the restroom, you can go now…."
*Pop!*
At the sudden notification sound from my phone, the youngest writer's expression crumpled into something grotesque.
I sent an awkward smile to the youngest writer who was asking with his eyes, 'Is that your taste?', then rushed to the bathroom and checked my phone screen.
This bastard again?
"I told you not to send messages during filming, seriously…."
- X: There weren't any cameras, so it doesn't matter, right!?
- X: Hey, hey, and just give up on changing the notification sound now—honestly, it's cute, right? Cute is better than creepy!
- Kim Chun-yong: Any excuse is a good one, you punk.
X, who flooded the chat with laughter at my prickly reply, soon began to reveal the real reason he had messaged me.
- X: But are you doing this mission with Logan??
- X: Hmm, I know you think he's okay, but
- X: Do you have to? Really? Does it have to be him?
- X: What I mean is, don't take unnecessary risks
- X: If he drops out for a reason you can't stop, then you're wasting a good opportunity like this mission together -,-
"'Does it have to be Logan,' huh…."
I clicked my tongue once at X's words, then after some thought, slowly typed and sent a reply.
- Kim Chun-yong: I don't think it *has* to be Logan either
- X: Hmm? Then why are you going this far??
- Kim Chun-yong: For one, Logan's bucket list is a good one
- Kim Chun-yong: And also... I want to check something
- X: A ch-e-eck? What kind of check?
- Kim Chun-yong: About whether what I'm thinking is right or not?
Logan, who dropped out of
Well, you could think he simply went back because he wanted to debut in the motherland, but from what I'd felt so far, there was something that didn't quite add up.
He tried not to show it, but his eyes would darken whenever family was mentioned.
Or how he'd firmly brush it off whenever I tried to talk about it indirectly.
That made something come to mind.
The reason he quit
"Might be related to his family, something like that."
Having said that much, I clenched my fist tight without realizing it.
I couldn't help it—whenever I thought of stories about family, my heart grew heavy.
And if that was the case, it wasn't entirely impossible for me to try and talk him out of it.
- X: Well, if you say you have a plan, I'll just go with it
- X: But don't forget the contract terms, okay? Sorry, but there's a limit to how much I can help, you know?
- X: *Sigh* If I'd met someone easier on the heart, I wouldn't worry like this, but you're such a pain
- Kim Chun-yong: Me, a pai-in?? --
- Kim Chun-yong: Forget it. Just have the reward ready for winning first place in the last competition.
- X: Ah, hey, if it's that, I'm totally ready
- X: *Puhahaha* Originally it would've been random, but this time I specially prepared it for you....
- Trainee Kim Chun-yong, please come up now!
"Yes, yes! I'm coming!"
I hurriedly shoved my phone into my pocket at the youngest writer's voice calling me.
Anyway, what mattered right now wasn't some reward that would come later.
"So I just need to enter one of these rooms, right?"
When I came up to the 4th floor, six rooms spread out before my eyes. And in front of each stood a respective symbol.
It was a sight I'd seen before, but I muttered just loud enough for my voice to be picked up by the camera at the end of the hallway as I examined the rooms.
If I chose a room and entered, I would spend a day granting the wish of the global trainee inside.
And the room I would enter was already decided.
* * *
"Ha Jun-a, did you check the hallway cams?"
"Yes, Seobin went into Tsubasa's room. The Namsan team. I'll assign two ENG cameras."
"Okay, thanks. Half of them are in now, so relay the info as it comes."
Main writer Lee Hyeon-jeong sat at a station capable of real-time monitoring, checking the trainees' movements.
'I need to pay much more attention than I thought.'
[AG's in-house idol survival show,
[
[The Midas Touch of survival programs, Ju Cheol-yeong, 'I'll show them once again this time']
Despite only debuting with 18 trainees, unlike other survival shows, the pouring attention and unprecedented music chart performance.
Even inside Music Days, people were saying things like, "Is Ju Cheol-yeong causing a stir again this time?" so they couldn't afford to leave any grounds for criticism.
This newly introduced "mission" was a format never seen before, and the way it would be delivered to the public was ambiguous, so thorough preparation was necessary.
And right after this was the outdoor shoot.
Ordinary people with zero interest in the trainees would see them in the flesh for the very first time.
'I mustn't let my guard down. Who knows what will happen. I've already had more than my fill of the trainees' poor social skills throughout filming.'
Lee Hyeon-jeong checked the mission teams the youngest writer was logging beside her and nodded. Considering they went in randomly, the combinations were pretty good.
In the room of Gao Yan, who had clamored for a "Korean PC bang tour," was Bang Yu-chan, who'd probably played plenty of games while in school. In the room of Ryota, who'd said "Namsan hiking," was Lee Chae-hyeok, who boasted of having good basic stamina.
It was almost as if they knew exactly where they needed to go to shine the most.
"If it keeps going like this, it'll be good…."
"Writer, shall I check Son Jae-ha too?"
"Ah, did he go in? Let me see."
At the youngest writer's call, Lee Hyeon-jeong switched the hallway CCTV feed once, and her face subtly changed.
On screen, Son Jae-ha had gone up to the 4th floor and immediately opened a room door and entered.
'Given his meticulous personality, he should've hesitated a bit in front of the hallway camera before entering. His decision is unusually fast today. Why?'
And Lee Hyeon-jeong's curiosity was soon resolved.
"—Where did the AG pure-bloods enter?"
"Huh, PD-nim? I thought you had an external schedule today…."
"I came straight here after finishing that. So, the AG pure-bloods. Where did they enter?"
Because not long after, PD Ju burst through the door with a slightly pale expression and hurried inside.
Slightly flustered, Lee Hyeon-jeong pressed a bottle of sponsored mineral water into his hand and answered in a bewildered voice.
"Son Jae-ha just entered Liu Wei's room... yes. Oh, it turns out Ji Hwa-seong is in Liu Wei's room too. An Jin-u hasn't gone yet."
"...Huh."
Letting out a hollow laugh at Lee Hyeon-jeong's answer, PD Ju slumped into an empty seat. His face was much more composed than when he first came in.
"Ha Jun-a. Step out for a minute."
After kicking out the youngest writer who looked like he was about to cry, leaving just Lee Hyeon-jeong and him alone in the room, PD Ju ground his teeth and opened his mouth.
"...My external schedule today was meeting Director Shin."
At PD Ju's words, Lee Hyeon-jeong pressed her hand to her gaping mouth in shock.
"Y-you came straight here after meeting Director Shin?"
'With that man's personality, judging by that last phone call, he must've thrown a massive fit...!'
When Lee Hyeon-jeong looked at PD Ju with an expression that said she knew what was up, he roughly pushed back the hair falling over his forehead and vented his irritation.
"Yeah. It's exactly what you're imagining. He was just like, squeezing a person dry... Damn it, I don't even want to think about it."
"Did he have demands?"
"A few things regarding screen time. I also heard what would happen if we didn't comply."
PD Ju rewound the footage and fixed his gaze on Ji Hwa-seong and Son Jae-ha entering Liu Wei's room, clicking his tongue.
"He's already given the word to the ones he can use. That bastard...."
A strange silence fell between the two at PD Ju's words.
Right.
The trainees were ultimately affiliated with AG.
Even the production crew couldn't easily predict what the trainees called "pure-bloods" would hear and how they would act.
"Ruthless, so ruthless. People who only know money... No, I'm the same too, in the end. It's all about results."
PD Ju shook his head and tapped the table with his fingers, continuing.
"Anyway. What's that Liu Wei kid's bucket list?"
"Ah, that... 'Visit Gyeongbokgung Palace.'"
"In Hanbok? I see. A kid Director Shin planted wouldn't be stupid. That head of his turns pretty well too."
...I'm so pissed.
Lee Hyeon-jeong gulped, seeing Ju Cheol-yeong's unusual expression.
If Sin Gi-ho was AG's tiger, Ju Cheol-yeong was Music Days' mad dog.
The reason he became a man who would do anything for ratings was ultimately to satisfy his towering pride.
'He doesn't seem just a little offended. At this rate...'
Lee Hyeon-jeong, who had watched him for a long time, cautiously opened her mouth.
"PD-nim. You're not thinking anything strange, right?"
"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"No, it's just... you have a look on your face like you're definitely out to get someone."
"It's not that. Well, I did wonder how I could screw over Director Shin. Fuck, though, nothing comes to mind right now."
'That's exactly what I'm talking about! I want to stay uninvolved and keep my head down and work for a long time!'
While Lee Hyeon-jeong internally screamed in terror, Ju Cheol-yeong, slowly rubbing his jaw and rolling his eyes, spotted a trainee on the monitoring screen and clicked his tongue.
"Why is he entering Logan's room? He was doing well, only to suddenly slip up."
At PD Ju's words, Lee Hyeon-jeong's gaze also turned to the screen.
On screen, Kim Chun-yong—the trainee PD Ju had been pushing—went up to the 4th floor and unhesitatingly opened the door to Logan's room and entered.
"Is there a problem with him entering Logan's room? Hmm, they're close, so I think their chemistry in this mission will come out nicely."
"Ha, haha! Writer. You think the problem is chemistry? Sure, those two would make a good picture. But..."
At Lee Hyeon-jeong's guess, Ju Cheol-yeong trembled down to his shoulders and let out a hollow laugh filled with rage.
"The one Director Shin told me to mess with the screen time for is Logan. Since he's dropping out soon anyway, he told me to start laying the groundwork now. Then Kim Chun-yong takes damage too. Tsk."
The atmosphere in the office where Lee Hyeon-jeong and PD Ju sat grew cold.
...Someone's dropping out?
Lee Hyeon-jeong covered her mouth at the shocking news and stammered.
"What! Suddenly? We're still in the middle of filming? What do you mean... it's not even happening immediately, yet he's throwing his weight around and telling us to reduce the buzz in advance?"
"Does that man think our production crew is his personal errand boy or something."
PD Ju's eyes, muttering his irritation, turned back to the screen.
- "......!"
- "......!"
Logan and Kim Chun-yong experienced a brief standoff, and just when they seemed slightly flustered, they soon warmly welcomed Seong Won-hyeop entering the room and started chatting, creating screen time.
Unlike other rooms where things creaked along as the occupants cautiously watched each other's moods, they were completely natural.
PD Ju watched that entire process with an angry face, grinding his teeth with a gnashing sound.
'Does Sin Gi-ho really think this scene was created thanks to the investors he dragged in?'
If it were the usual Ju Cheol-yeong—no.
The Ju Cheol-yeong from before Kim Chun-yong returned didn't burn with this much rage toward Director Shin.
There was no benefit in antagonizing AG's notoriously hardline Director Shin, and there had been no driving force to make Ju Cheol-yeong take such a stand.
However.
'I'm the one making this broadcast right now... Huh? These random riffraff who have to throw tantrums to get us to push them just to squeeze out any screen time. And yet they don't even have an eye for broadcasting.'
Kim Chun-yong, who had spent 8 years as Arrows' headache and returned with a mindset quite different from back then, had caught Ju Cheol-yeong's eye.
From the moment the returned Kim Chun-yong entered Logan's room with his own will to "find out the reason for Logan's voluntary withdrawal."
A small snowball began to roll.
"...Writer."
"Y-yes?"
"Those two aren't on Director Shin's line right now. Right?"
"They... aren't? Logan is, well, like you just said... and I haven't heard anything about Trainee Kim Chun-yong."
"That's enough."
Ju Cheol-yeong, having madly tapped away on a calculator in his head, soon turned to the screen, smiled viciously, and spoke softly.
"Writer. Let's... contact President Do Jae-chan."