The Malicious Member Has Returned! Episode 4
* * *
I remember vividly the day my final Topseed Home closed.
It was a day like any other—I’d been drinking, gone on stage, and spectacularly butchered a dance break.
And it was my birthday.
[Shooting_REX @Shooting_REX 201x0710~202x0406: Close]
When I saw that word, I thought, well… it’s finally here.
But that alone wasn’t something I could just brush off, because beneath it was a long letter addressed to me.
[⎿Shooting_REX @Shooting_REX
Rex, I really liked you for a very long time. Do you remember when you were chosen as the last member of
Was this what people meant when they said every sentence cut to the bone?
[⎿Shooting_REX @Shooting_REX
You don’t seem like the person you were back then. The hard times you went through? Of course I know about them. That’s why I have no intention of blaming you. But I don’t think I can cheer for you anymore. That’s the last shred of pride a pushover like me can hold on to.]
Even as I read that, I was popping open a beer can with hazy consciousness. Looking back now, it was probably self-defense because I didn’t have the courage to face it sober.
…
No doubt about it, I was a crazy bastard.
[⎿Shooting_REX @Shooting_REX
Honestly, I’m worried even as I write this. What if there’s really no one left by your side? What if no one understands how you feel?]
That long, long letter ended like this.
[⌎Shooting_REX @Shooting_REX
I hope the day comes when we can both start over again. For me, and for you.]
After that day, I thought I would never be loved by anyone again. And I was roughly right.
The comments on the video titled “Rex Trash Topseed Homemaster’s Desperate Fact-Bomb and Birthday Account Nuke, Dang” with nearly 2 million views were nothing but mockery like “The rhyme was killer lol, was that intentional?” or “This is what you call karma.”
“Huh? Um, are you okay?”
“Ah? Y-yes! I’m fine. Should I sign that for you?”
Before I knew it, the two part-timers who had gone outside had returned.
I erased all the gloom from moments ago, smiled brightly, and signed the paper they’d brought with practiced ease.
A cute dragon breathing fire atop the hanja for “Spring” (春)—that was my signature.
“Whoa, you already have a signature prepared? It’s so cute… It’s a dragon!”
“Ah, yes. It’s because I’m an individual trainee. I’m going to be on a survival show soon. It’s called
“Oh my. That’s the idol survival show from AG Entertainment, right? I saw the article!”
“Ah, yes. If you end up watching, please cheer for me.”
This time, I’ll really, really work hard.
I alternated my gaze between the two people waving at me as they left the practice room and the notification on my phone that read “First Fan,” and made up my mind.
No matter what happens, I have to do better. I must never make that kind of mistake again.
Not as Rex Trash, the malicious member, but as Kim Chunyong.
* * *
Evening came, and I headed home an hour early to prepare for the preliminary interview tomorrow.
Of course, I didn’t forget to thank the part-timers who had become my fans. I was carrying bags full of snacks my family liked.
Once you lose something and get it back, you can’t stop worrying about it. You want to do more for them. Who knew the human heart could be this greedy?
Every day was a vivid lesson in the meaning of “appreciate what you have while you have it.”
Beep!
- X: No matter what, act a little naturally, naturally, hahaha
- X: Kim Chunyong, you know your family thinks you’re weird right now, right? Read the room;
What was this nonsense? Our family thinks I’m weird?
I brushed off the heinous texts from X with ease and carefully opened the front door.
“I’m h-home…?”
The house was pitch-black.
Normally, the family would all gather on Saturday evenings to watch movies, but unlike usual, not even movie sound effects could be heard from the living room.
Did they all go to bed early? Or go out?
Moving my footsteps carefully due to the needless tension, I soon spotted my family in the darkness, huddled together and conversing softly with only a cat-shaped mood lamp turned on.
“What are you all…”
“That Kim Chunyong kid, no matter how much I think about it, he’s been weird lately.”
I clamped my half-opened mouth shut. Then I pressed myself against the hallway wall and began to listen.
…
What were they talking about?
“Why, yesterday when I came back from the practice room, I told Kim Chunyong to buy me ice cream.”
“And?”
“He actually bought it.”
“…Our son who only ever thought about himself?”
“Right?! And he even racked up the points under my name. Was Kim Chunyong ever like that? He wasn’t.”
The more I listened, the redder my face grew. I do something nice and they make a fuss about it? Huh?
Regardless of what I thought, their serious discussion showed no signs of ending.
“What should we do… He must really be sick. Should we make him eat some deer antler extract or something?”
“No, Dad, it’s because my brother’s an attention seeker and he’s doing it on purpose. You don’t need to worry. And the fact that he bought our sister ice cream too? It’s probably a bribe to get her students to promote him.”
“No, but still…”
“Hey, the kid might just be like that! Why are you all like this? You shouldn’t twist Chunyong’s intentions that way.”
Mom, so you’re the only one defending me after all.
“No matter how sick the kid looks…”
She wasn’t.
Swallowing my tears, I quickly flicked on the living room lights before Mom could point out anything else strange about me. The four family members blinked their eyes and searched for whoever had turned on the light.
I cleared my throat and spoke naturally.
“What are you all doing with the lights off? You’re not ghosts.”
“Gah!”
At my words, the huddled family scattered and struck poses. Well, it was just leaning their bodies against each corner of the dark living room, but still.
“Ah, my son’s home?”
Mom greeted me, forcing a smile as if nothing had happened. In her hand, she awkwardly held up the cat mood lamp that Kim Nari had bought.
“You came home early today? You usually don’t come back until it’s almost dawn.”
“Uh. The company said we have a preliminary interview tomorrow during the day, so…”
Walking across the living room with large strides, I pretended I hadn’t heard anything and placed a convenience store bag overflowing with snacks among them.
“You’re all going to watch a movie later, right? Eat these while you watch.”
“…Did our son buy these?”
“Yeah. I bought them for myself, but I was afraid I’d get bloated for the interview tomorrow. Divide them up amongst yourselves.”
With those final words, I quickly headed to my room. And in that brief moment, the astonished voices of my family relentlessly pounded against my back.
“Why would he give us something he bought for himself… Wait a minute. These are only the ones we like?!”
“And none of the snacks he likes are here…”
“Oh my, oh my. Goodness gracious.”
“What do we do. I think Kim Chunyong really has lost his mind.”
Closing the door behind me with Kim Nari’s despairing declaration as the last thing I heard, I leaned against the door and slid down, covering my face.
Was this really the image my family had of me?
And a message from X arrived, laughing at my tragedy.
- X: See, that’s why I told you to act naturally, hahaha
- X: That’s just a win-win situation –3–
- X: Stop doing pointless things and go check your skills!
I stopped my fingers, which had been about to start a keyboard battle to the death with X.
“…Skills?”
I furrowed my brow and tried to remember, but nothing came to mind. I knew I’d been notified about getting my first fan, though.
- X: You unlocked the compendium and got a skill as a reward! Already forgot? You’re dumber than I thought??
Ah, so that’s what you meant.
I easily ignored the continuously buzzing chat window and opened my status window. It was similar to before, but in the skill section, something called
[Idol’s Aura (F): The atmosphere or energy possessed by someone who has become another’s idol. Its rank rises as fans increase.
Effect: Charm +1 on stage.]
Looking at it like this, I really did feel like I’d become a game character. It was also a factor that subtly made me feel disconnected from reality.
“….”
When I quietly opened the door to check outside, my family was watching a movie with robots exploding everywhere while eating the snacks I’d bought. Their faces looked happy.
Not awkward, natural, as if we’d always lived together.
“But how am I supposed to do that?”
It had already been six years since I’d lived without a family!
Who knew struggling to debut again would be easier than dealing with my family? I never could have imagined this in my dreams.
- X: Just stop doing unnecessary stuff and focus on your debut, huh? That’s what looks natural.
- Kim Chunyong: Yeah, you work on having some manners first before you talk.
- X: ;;
- X: I won’t say anything more. Just go to sleep.
- Kim Chunyong: Okay
- X: --
Still, I went to bed as X advised. Preparing for tomorrow was far better than continuing to whine.
More than anything.
[AG Entertainment Standard Contract for Trainees in the Popular Culture and Arts]
…
My newly provisionally contracted agency was excessively sensitive about such matters.
The agency I had originally entrusted myself to, QuinCE,
was a fairly decent mid-sized idol-specialized entertainment company.
I’d been cast on the streets in my second year of middle school and had practiced after school until I turned twenty, so we’d been together for roughly five years.
“Chunyong, your gaze control is great today!”
Sweating in the underground practice room, I had naturally assumed I would become the main dancer of QuinCE’s fourth boy idol group.
However.
“What? Saying this so suddenly… that’s absurd, Director. I’m twenty years old now!”
“That’s just how things worked out, Chunyong. You know I know how good you are. But the final decision is made by the board members. Okay? I’m really sorry.”
“Even so…”
I fell out of the final debut group for the new male idol group due to the absurd reason that “my image didn’t match.”
“…Haha.”
Even now, thinking about it drew a hollow laugh.
Image didn’t match? Suddenly?
That was how they put it, but in fact, I had no trouble inferring—as someone who had now been through countless trials in the entertainment industry—that it happened because they were trying to push another trainee who had come in late.
“Chunyong. They’re saying they’ll let you terminate the contract easily… August is doing a male idol survival show? I think it’d be good for you to try that. You’re definitely capable enough.”
The entertainment company I newly provisionally contracted with after deciding to appear on
August Entertainment. Commonly called AG Entertainment.
If you ask people what kind of agency AG Entertainment is, you’ll hear a uniform answer.
“Hmm, it’s known as a soloist powerhouse. Choi Gaon, Kwak Tae-eun, Ryu Jeonghyeok, Min Siyeong. They’re all from August, aren’t they?”
“Their actors are solid too. I heard Seo Jeongwook, who filmed
“Compared to that, their groups feel a bit lacking. Wasn’t Lady Swan with AG? Looking at the members promoting solo now, their skills are definite, but the planning back then was a bit…”
“The group side does seem weak. Maybe they lack understanding?”
An agency for actors and solo singers that feels upright, honest, and determined to win through skill alone.
We don’t handle anything uncertain. We pursue only perfection.
That was the philosophy of the entertainment agency, August.
So when they launched their first girl group, ‘Lady Swan,’ August was extremely confident.
“With our swans being this skilled, there’s no way they won’t make it, right?”
This was what the agency’s CEO, Do Jaechan, had actually said on Lady Swan’s debut showcase day, and it became a curse exactly as spoken.
The Lady Swan seniors never once took first place in the three years after debut.
Rather, after they scattered, they swept up awards as soloists.
That was a tremendous blow to Do Jaechan, who had dreamed of becoming the CEO of Korea’s number one entertainment agency, and furthermore, the CEO of a top-tier idol agency.
“…I absolutely won’t back down like this. Who do you think I am? I’m Do Jaechan!”
He had no intention of letting the modifier ‘failed’ attach itself to his career.
What Do Jaechan had prepared while grinding his teeth for six years was precisely
Six trainees who had practiced at his agency, six trainees who had transferred from other agencies, and six individual applicants through a partner broadcasting station.
A survival program created by the agency itself, with 6 out of 18 total debuting.
When
Six trainees from their own agency, and six debuting members. Wasn’t that too obvious?
Wasn’t the intention to use trainees from other agencies and individual applicants as broadcast fodder before debuting only their own kids?
However, Do Jaechan directly rebutted those suspicions at the production press conference.
“When stones collide, does not the harder stone remain? The rough gemstones in our yard could very well be weaker. We will judge honestly. I, the carefully selected mentors, and all of you will do so.”
Of course, this statement couldn’t avoid criticism such as “They’re treating desperate trainees as disposable,” or “Who can be the arbiter of individual human strength?”
But the important thing was that Do Jaechan kept his word.
Because though I had provisionally contracted with AG, having come from a different agency, QuinCE, I debuted in Arrows alongside an individual trainee.
The next morning. I stopped my footsteps in front of the agency building I was seeing again after a long time.
You could say it’s the building I got called to every other day for causing trouble, so what was there to be afraid of? It wasn’t because I was afraid…
“What. You’re Kim Chunyong?”
It was because this brat was loitering in front of the revolving door.
I let out a deep sigh as I looked at the kid glaring up and down at me with an expression of disgust ill-fitting his cute face.
How is this exactly the same as back then?