The Villain Member Has Returned! Episode 48
And so, while Gim Chunyong and Do Jaechan kept an eye on each other and dreamed different dreams in the same bed to achieve their own goals—
Inside a sedan heading to Incheon, a conversation was also taking place.
“Go to Terminal 1, meet the two people, then check where the hotel reservation is. And after confirming that, book tickets to Qingdao for the day after the Targeting Star live broadcast ends.”
“Y-yes. But… Director.”
The secretary, who had been quietly nodding along at Sin Giho’s rapid-fire orders, cautiously opened his mouth after reading the room.
“If I may be so bold, there is something I’d like to ask….”
When Sin Giho permitted the question with a nod, the secretary rolled his eyes and spoke in a small voice.
“Why, of all people, are you getting rid of Logan?”
“…….”
At the secretary’s question, Sin Giho’s hand, which had been turning over documents, stopped.
‘Did I ask something I shouldn’t have?’ The secretary trembled slightly from tension but readied the next question in his head. It couldn’t be helped.
This was what Secretary Choi, who had always handled Sin Giho’s affairs, had been most curious about.
Sin Giho’s close associates within the company roughly knew the reason for Logan’s withdrawal as being “not matching the vision that Director Sin is currently pursuing.”
However, if picked apart, those words were full of contradictions.
Just what vision didn’t match?
Logan didn’t even overlap in position with Liu Wei, whom Director Sin was pushing for with all his might.
Besides, if a trainee capable of producing signed a contract and debuted, it would be beneficial for the company as well.
“I’m sure you have your reasons… but he’s a talented trainee. Now that his withdrawal is truly imminent, haha. Yes… if it’s something I don’t need to know, um. I’m sorry.”
Changing lanes with clammy hands, the secretary hurriedly checked Director Sin’s face in the rearview mirror.
However, contrary to expectations, his face was not angry.
Sin Giho tapped the documents with his fingertips and slowly opened his mouth.
“You’re right. Logan Lee. He’s talented. If such a trainee debuted, it would help the group too.”
“Yes, then why on earth….”
“You just need to know it’s because of the people we’re meeting now.”
Avoiding the secretary’s follow-up question by rolling down the car window, Sin Giho furrowed his brows.
It was exactly as he said.
The reason Logan had to be withdrawn was Logan’s parents.
To be exact, it was because of Logan’s family.
“Director Sin, I’ve organized the profiles of the individual trainees.”
The origin of all of this was the profiles of individual trainees he had secretly investigated as a precaution.
And every time he read the sentences written beneath the name “Logan Lee,” Sin Giho’s face had no choice but to harden.
The Chinese investors Sin Giho had brought in through Targeting Star had chosen to invest precisely because it was an idol group where they could actively exert their influence.
“What, what? Some investor’s son? …Wall Street as his main stage?”
Yet in such a program, a trainee capable of wielding enormous Anglo-American influence had appeared.
Because Music Days had been in charge of recruiting individual trainees, Director Sin had only noticed when he received the profiles after the original song filming.
If the Chinese investors learned of this, the backlash would be obvious as day.
Perhaps the saving grace was that Logan’s appearance on the show hadn’t originated from his parents.
“Good heavens, Logan is in Korea right now…?”
“I contacted you to confirm… Did you not know?”
“No, he’s supposed to be preparing for entrance exams at boarding school!”
The one international call from America that Sin Giho had made with trembling hands had saved him.
Logan’s parents, who had only heard from his grandmother that he was “studying hard at the school dormitory,” had been thrown into utter chaos by Sin Giho’s call.
Our son, who should have been quietly taking his A-Level tests and aiming for Oxford, was in Korea?
Aspiring to be a K-pop idol, of all things?
Suddenly, from our family of securities traders?
“…I will contact you again.”
Since these were people he had never even considered in that regard, it was only natural that they would try to correct this situation.
‘There was a bit of trouble, but at this rate, I can make him withdraw safely. Then I won’t have anything to worry about outside the broadcast anymore.’
Everything was returning to its proper place.
However, if there was something still grating on Sin Giho’s nerves….
“They say Liu Wei’s filming attitude isn’t very good.”
“Liu Wei?”
“Yes. They say he was looking at his phone throughout the mission filming….”
“What on earth was he looking at?”
“It seems it was videos of a trainee appearing alongside him on Targeting Star.”
Liu Wei, the avatar of the Chinese investors, was constantly getting distracted.
Even though he was in a position where he needed to be more desperate about the survival show than anyone else, Liu Wei, obsessed with some strange trainee, kept showing odd behavior.
It seemed to be a trainee named Gim Chunyong that he had mentioned then, but Sin Giho simply couldn’t understand that way of thinking.
Even though he knew there was no reason to keep him in check, why on earth would he?
“…Tch.”
Watching the lights of Incheon Airport approaching in the distance, Sin Giho rolled down the window further and clicked his gun-shaped lighter.
‘I’ll have a talk with him after Logan withdraws. The little brat can’t even tell right from wrong.’
And Sin Giho, lighting his cigarette, didn’t know.
That the time “after Logan withdraws” would never come.
* * *
The day of the mid-evaluation filming for the third position battle.
“Whew….”
I, who had finished my individual interview in the very last slot, carefully made my way forward and let out a sigh.
After the meeting with CEO Do Jaechan, every day had been so busy I couldn’t even remember how I’d spent the time.
CEO Do Jaechan, whom I’d met not as the villain member who crashed the company’s stock price but as a provisional contract trainee, was truly….
“I mean, Trainee Gim Chunyong. You do just fine doing whatever you want on your own. You even threw away the stage name I gave you, didn’t you?”
He wasn’t easy.
“Rex, now that Liu Wei is gone, you’re the main dance member, aren’t you. Huh? Our Arrows! I know you’re having a hard time. I know. But you have to think about the members too.”
Our emotional CEO Do Jaechan had rather tended to cling to me desperately during my villain member days.
…Because what I had gone through was what it was.
Of course, after I later lost my mind and fell into alcoholism, he gave up on such persuasion… but anyway.
But the current me was a provisional contract trainee who didn’t listen and had thrown away his stage name.
“Trainee Gim Chunyong was going to do whatever he wanted anyway, so this time I’m telling him to do just that. Being able to perform when given a stage is also a talent.”
Having put aside that emotional side, the entertainment CEO was trying to achieve his goals more aggressively.
The CEO asked me this and that about things related to Logan, and I struggled to sort out what I could reveal and what I couldn’t among what I knew.
“No, I can’t tell you that….”
“What do you mean you can’t?!”
What I could reveal was that Liu Wei had shown sinister restraint toward me and Logan; what I couldn’t reveal was Logan’s direct family circumstances.
After all, what the CEO needed was nothing more than circumstantial evidence that “Director Sin is up to something.”
As for Logan’s family situation… it wasn’t my place to talk about it when I wasn’t even the person involved.
Just because I wanted him not to withdraw didn’t mean I could carelessly talk about his personal affairs.
No matter what, there was such a thing as common decency.
“In the end, you’re headstrong whether it’s then or now, sigh.”
*Ping!*
\- X: Oh, you got good feedback at today’s mid-evaluation all by yourself so you’re nice and relaxed? Not even thinking about next week’s stage, just carefree??
\- X: The vocal team is doing the best right now!!! Are you kidding me?!
Along with the notification sound, at X’s scolding pouring through my phone, I furrowed my brows and typed a curt reply.
\- Gim Chunyong: Piss off.
\- X: Wow, your manners are seriously legendary ;;;;;
Of course, the team that received the best evaluation at today’s mid-evaluation was indeed the vocal position members.
Because the trainees with the best balance were positioned there.
“…Tone, rhythm, expression. Everything is good. I think this is the best I’ve seen so far. Good work, Trainee Son Jaeha.”
“Thank you!”
As for Jaeha-hyung, who had finally been able to display his abilities to his heart’s content, overcoming the misfortune of the original song competition and the second competition—
“Trainee Bang Yuchan… I have nothing more to say. Did you perhaps do guide part-time for this song? How are you doing this?”
“Ah, I tried guide part-time for a different song, not this one!”
“You did that too?!”
Yuchan-hyung, who had seized an overwhelming advantage over anyone else in the “vocal” position.
And Siu, Seobin, and An Jinu, who could naturally pull off the high tones of the Serenia seniors.
“It’s… fine. Have you practiced a lot?”
Even Gim Juan received good evaluations.
“Th-thank you, hyung. For yielding the part to me….”
“No, it was a part that suited your tone better.”
It seemed he had become awkward with Jaeha-hyung over some conversation they’d had, but that was none of my business.
Anyway. Going by what I overheard the production crew saying, they already seemed to be pushing them with a team name like the “Vocalz.”
*Ping!*
\- X: You’ve become the Vocalz’s number one fan? Are you kidding?
\- X: Be more aggressive! Like you’re going to take first place! Don’t you know, punk? This is finally the golden opportunity for you to stand out as the main!
He knows one thing and doesn’t know the other.
I hid a bursting laugh with a pfft and sent a reply.
\- Gim Chunyong: Hey, what I’m doing now is enough;
In reality, I was currently proceeding with the position battle very smoothly.
Chemistry? Of course, the Vocalz were probably a hundred times, no, exaggerating, five hundred times better in chemistry right now.
Because the dance position members, excluding Liu Wei and me today, had been pointed out for details where they were doing their own thing.
“…It’s a shame. If it were me, ah, never mind!”
Since the original artist, Senior Choi Gaon, was so frustrated she was stamping her feet, there was nothing more to say.
However, if there was a key point to note here—
\- Gim Chunyong: Dummy
\- Gim Chunyong: The position battle is an individual competition.
Though they went on stage together, the position battle was a competition where six people lined up and received scores individually.
“U-uh… I, uh. Received a lot of help… from Yujin unnie.”
“Hyeyun took first place. Yes. I am fourth.”
There already existed a precedent in Little Dive Star where they had sincerely helped each other only to split into first and sixth place.
It was only because they debuted together at the last minute; if not, their relationship might have been irreparable.
The conclusion is, this time I don’t need to bother trying so hard for perfect team chemistry.
And currently, the dance position team was just slightly off; if I took them aside and straightened out the angles, the details would rise quickly.
The problem now was….
Another guy on another team.
Thinking so, when I arrived at the second floor where the dorms were located.
“…Huh?”
I could faintly see someone crouching in front of our dorm room door.
“…….”
A round yet delicate, uneasy-looking face. A sturdy skeletal frame. Drooping, invisible ears and tail.
I hadn’t known he’d be so openly dejected….
The hallway cameras were still rolling right now.
I cleared my slightly tight throat with an ahem and called the other’s name.
“…Logan. What are you doing here?”
Logan, who had been crouching in front of the dorm door, sprang up and grabbed my sleeve.
“I… Chunyong-hyung.”
Can we talk for a moment, is that okay?
I looked at Logan’s trembling hand and face and lightly nodded.
“Yeah, punk.”
This was what I had to do.
\- X: It’ll be a problem if your debut takes a backseat because of Logan ㅡㅡ
Pretending not to see X’s latest message, I walked alongside Logan.
My debut taking a backseat because of Logan?…
As expected, X only knows half the story.
To be exact.
The reason I was helping Logan was for my debut, my team, and for everyone.