The Villainous Member Has Returned! Episode 53
This was clearly a situation different from my plans.
Originally, my plan had been to confirm I made it into the top 2, then check how things were unfolding on CEO Do's side, but….
"Logan asked if you were the flatmate 'Chunyong-hyung' he met after coming to Korea."
"Jesus. I said it would only take a moment, but did you really come all the way here for this?"
"Logan, you're the one who suddenly left your seat."
A situation like this, out of nowhere?
What the hell is this?
I alternated my gaze between Logan, whose expression was desperate, and the woman who had spoken to me, then answered the question with a displeased look.
"My name is Kim Chunyong… that is correct, but."
"I see. I'm Elisa. Elisa Lee."
At my answer, she nodded elegantly and extended her hand toward me.
"I'm Logan's mom."
"Ah, yes… yes?"
"Logan suddenly got up and left while we were talking, so I followed him. Nice to meet you."
Only after hearing the smooth Korean, mixed with an English accent and flowing like water, did I grasp the situation. I clamped my mouth shut to keep it from gaping and rolled my eyes.
So he ran out in the middle of talking with his parents, Logan.…
This golden retriever bastard!
I suppose that made sense for someone who had abruptly decided to leave Liverpool for Korea. His initiative was on a whole different level.
And perhaps because of that cause, Logan's mother looked extremely displeased about something.
"Logan Lee. Now I see why you came here. Again, trying to avoid taking responsibility for your own affairs by using someone else? I told you that's a bad habit."
"No. That's not my intention, no. Why are you taking it that way? And I never said that!"
"Then if that's not your intention, what is? Can you explain?"
At his mother's calm yet sharp words, Logan pressed his lips into a straight line and coldly hardened his eyes.
It was the look I had often seen in Logan's eyes whenever I heard him talk about his parents.
"…Why do you block everything I try to do? I just, once. I said once would be enough. It was just a matter of signing that contract once."
"Oh my. Be quiet. …Can't you see how many people are in this hallway?"
When the pair—who obviously looked like mother and son—suddenly raised their voices, the gazes of others passing through the hallway converged on them.
"Uh, what's going on? Huh?"
"Hey, hey. Put the camera down."
Not only Ryota, who had come down from the stage with me to buy drinks, but also the
And beyond them.
"……."
Even Ryu Wei, who was staring this way with a face that seemed somehow familiar yet indistinguishable.
No, looking closely, he seemed to be smiling faintly about something.
He must know exactly what was happening in the background right now. He must be enjoying seeing me caught in this situation.
I had beaten him on stage, but perhaps he was confident that he would win here, at least.
"Ha…"
I forcibly suppressed a burst of hollow laughter and pressed my palm to my forehead.
Anyway, it was true that this wasn't good.
It looked like he had come all the way here because he couldn't even convince his parents together, and now he was butting heads with them again?
Did he think doing that would keep him from leaving?
'You fool… no, he is a genius. A genius!'
Though I was bewildered by this happening while the heat from the stage hadn't even died down, I thought and thought to find the right words.
Since our dance position team's performance had just ended, the rap position trainees' performance would begin as soon as the approximately 10-minute break was over.
"Sorry, sorry I'm late! Sorry…."
Because Logan had gone up on stage late after this conversation last time and completely ruined the performance, in order to prevent that from happening this time….
"That's how it always is. You people never care about what I think…."
"Logan."
"Huk, Chunyong-hyung. I, I can explain. The reason I asked you for help wasn't because of something else…."
"Hey, you haven't even checked your final coordination with the kids in the same position? You have to go on stage soon."
First, I had to get him out of this situation.
"…What?"
"Go for now. Hwaseong and Gao Yan were literally singing about looking for you because you disappeared earlier."
I pushed the flustered Logan's back and shoved him into the rap position trainees' waiting room.
"Wait, but if I go now, uh!"
"You punk. Go, for now!"
Then, I directed a subtle smile at Logan's mother, who was watching this scene with wide eyes before me.
"Haha. Logan has to go up on stage. I was thinking it would be good for him to practice a bit before that…."
"…It won't change anything even if he goes up. Logan—"
"I—!"
I hurriedly cut her off and raised my voice.
"……."
I could see Logan's mother's expression turning worse, but it couldn't be helped.
I couldn't let words like "Logan will leave the show regardless of the stage" echo through a hallway still filled with people.
Nothing was easy, seriously.
"I think I can keep you company until Logan's stage ends. Would that be alright? I thought it might be a bit boring to just wait."
Having quietly listened to the sentences I poured out like rapid-fire, Logan's mother repeatedly opened and closed her mouth.
Then.
"…Since you're the reason Logan ran out in the middle of our conversation anyway, let's do that."
She spat out the answer I wanted without incident.
I lightly wiped the sweat soaking the back of my neck and made my voice sound cheerful.
"…There should be an empty office. I'll ask if we can use it for a moment."
Perhaps through this conversation.
Something could change.
* * *
A man and a woman sitting in a waiting room provided by a staff member with an awkward face.
Among them, Elisa—the woman and Logan's mother—turned her eyes toward Kim Chunyong.
The trainee, who had just come down from the stage and hadn't even cooled his sweat, didn't look particularly much older than Logan, nor did he look particularly mature.
'He looks like he has no immunity to dealing with people in a business context.'
To her, who was accustomed to looking at charts and picking out what was worth investing in and what wasn't, Kim Chunyong was still at a level close to "worthless."
However, what Logan had said in front of the CEO of AG Agency earlier had clouded her mind.
"Can't you wonder even once what I'm thinking? How can you be colder to me than the flatmate hyung I met in Korea?"
'…Just what wind blew into this student to make him think that way.'
Recalling her immature son's face, she sighed once more and opened her mouth.
"First, I'll start by saying thank you."
"Uh… yes?"
"I heard you took really good care of the child who ran away from home, from Liverpool to Seoul, saying he would rebel against his parents."
"Ah, that was nothing…."
"Fortunately, there's no need for that anymore. He's going to quit this program and go back to Liverpool."
Cough.
Kim Chunyong choked as the main point suddenly came rushing in.
'What speed, jumping straight to the main point…!'
Elisa, who slid the water bottle in front of her toward Kim Chunyong, had a nonchalant face.
"You must be surprised. The flatmate you were getting along with suddenly turns out to be a runaway, and he's going back before the competition even ends."
There was nothing in her sentences that Chunyong didn't know, but that didn't mean his surprised heart easily calmed.
"…That's right. Even having a conversation with you like this, ma'am, isn't something I'd ever thought about."
"So the reason Logan probably came down looking for you, Kim Chunyong, in the middle of our conversation… must have been because he wanted help persuading my husband and me."
Elisa, who tapped the table they were sitting at with the tip of her neatly manicured nails, slowly repeated.
"…My husband and I have already received many proposals from the CEO of this program's agency, but we've made up our minds to take Logan away."
"…….."
"So give up on the thought of helping him persuade me. I think you understand by now."
Elisa leaned back slightly and crossed her arms.
The only son of a Wall Street-centered financial family. Declaring out of nowhere that he would debut as a singer in Korea.
'Nonsense.'
And even setting aside the whole process, the attitude of suddenly running away from home was intolerable.
'I thought you were taking good care of him. I never imagined you would be in league with Logan to deceive us.'
Recalling the face of her kind mother-in-law, Elisa lightly bit her lips and spoke in a low voice.
"Logan… I heard he told you a bit about my husband and me."
"…Yes. I happened to hear a bit. That you travel abroad often."
That "happened to" contained about 99% of Kim Chunyong's intention, but there was no way Elisa, who saw Kim Chunyong as merely a child around Logan's age, would know that.
"That's right. Because of that, Logan's upbringing largely fell out of our hands."
"Then, Logan's intentions—"
"You might think it's coercive. But it's unavoidable, both for his future and because of the attitude that caused this situation."
"Ha…"
For his future.
As Logan's mother uttered that sentence, Kim Chunyong's mouth moved on its own as he overlapped his own mother's face onto hers.
"Well… would it really not help his future to do as Logan wishes?"
At Kim Chunyong's words, Elisa's eyes narrowed.
'So young after all.'
She had felt it earlier too, but Kim Chunyong was merely around Logan's age.
A soul far too young. Youth intoxicated by a moment's sweetness like a moth to a flame, unable to properly tell right from wrong.
'No wonder he can't feel how bizarre this audition environment is. At this rate…'
And in that moment, she spat out exactly what she was thinking.
"…I should speak clearly. To what extent we've heard the proposals, and that we've made up our minds to refuse them."
"What, just what kind of proposal was made…?"
This was something he was curious about regardless of the situation. Because it was 'that' CEO Do Jae-chan.
Moreover, right now it was also tied to a power struggle with the new director inside the agency.
It was clear he wouldn't have used ordinary means to seize the initiative in that matter.
Elisa downed the water in the bottle in one go, then spoke quickly with precise pronunciation.
"He said he would guarantee a debut within three years even if Logan were eliminated from this program. Saying Logan had the potential to match it."
'Crazy…'
At the shocking words Elisa spat out, Kim Chunyong gritted his teeth to keep his mouth from dropping and rolled his eyes wildly.
Right now, they were already preparing a boy group through
You could tell how absurd the conditions were with just a little thought.
This was none other than CEO Do Jae-chan burning his bridges to catch Logan.
And yet they couldn't be persuaded?
As if answering the question in Kim Chunyong's head, Elisa continued in a low voice.
"Even so, no means no."
Ah.
"He should have challenged after resolving all the matters given to him."
No simply means no.
"Wouldn't your parents be very surprised if they were in this situation, Kim Chunyong? I'm worried about my child. That he threw himself into this environment impulsively."
And at those words of hers, Kim Chunyong's mouth lightly fell open.
Worry. That word, worry.
Before losing his family, Kim Chunyong had also heard many worries.
"Are you really going to debut like that?"
"Are you practicing properly? Shouldn't a trainee pay more attention to skincare?"
"And are you eating well?" and so on.
He hadn't wanted to hear them at first, but after gaining the reputation of being a villainous member, those were the nagging words he had longed for so much.
But….
"…I'm sorry, but."
"…?"
“I’ve never once had my parents oppose me over something like this.”
At those words that had slipped out before he knew it, Alisa’s eyebrows shot up.
“…What do you mean?”
“No, I’m not making things up. My parents never once tried to talk me out of it when I said I wanted to become an idol.”
…That was why he had kept at it.
There was such a background to why Kim Chunyong had stubbornly, doggedly held onto his position as the malicious member and continued his idol life.
“If he says he wants to do it because he wants to… isn’t it a bit much for us to stop him?”
“Well, if that doesn’t work out, he can just serve in the military and then learn the ropes at Dad’s shop… give it a shot, just once.”
“Oh my, of course Mom will cheer you on if that’s what you want… I’m just worried it’ll be hard on you!”
“Mom, I’ll just have him study for the civil service exam later. Don’t worry.”
They had never once opposed the very fact that Kim Chunyong wanted to become an idol.
Everything he had started simply because he wanted to do it. And the family he had lost by actually carrying it through.
‘But I can’t just throw that away because it’s hard.’
Before he could come back like this and properly atone, those days that bordered on self-harm had been Kim Chunyong’s way of paying his debt to his family.
As a result, more people had been hurt by it, and Kim Chunyong’s karma had piled up and up until he became the worst malicious member, but…
still.
“Of course, situationally, there’s quite a difference between Logan and me. But it’s also true that he acted the way he did because he knew this kind of opposition would follow.”
To some extent, it served Kim Chunyong’s objectives, but it was the truth nonetheless.
Rather, talking to Logan’s mother like this had made things clearer.
If, in a situation not of his own will, he were deprived of an opportunity once again…
wouldn’t their family relationship truly become irreversible?
‘Come to think of it, wasn’t it because I was dragged back by Director Shin and my parents like this that I went on an audition program in England, too?’
“Ha. What on earth is that supposed to mean right now….”
Bewildered yet finding Kim Chunyong’s words absurd, Alisa let out a hollow laugh without realizing it.
‘Wait, this is a pretty good situation.’
Believing he had seized an opportunity, Kim Chunyong poured out the words he had been thinking of, separate from the family talk he had gotten swept up in emotionally.
‘No, but listen—even if this skill isn’t EX, there’s a way to make use of it somehow, I’m telling you.’
“
“—That wasn’t what I wanted to hear.”
“I wasn’t saying it thinking it would convince you, either. But since Logan went out of his way to come find me, I couldn’t just say nothing.”
“…….”
Momentarily at a loss for words at Kim Chunyong’s remark, she bit her lip.
Indeed, the moment Logan had thought the conversation with them would go no further, he had gone straight to find the trainee right before his eyes.
Even though his guardians—his parents—were right there in front of him.
The implications of that were considerable.
“…….”
She caught her breath for a moment, then quietly stared at her phone resting on the table.
Inside it was the electronic document of a contract Do Jaechan had proposed to her, with terms to the effect of ‘Logan must be included in the next AG Project.’
To her and her husband, the contract inside the phone had not been tempting.
But.
“—Is he good?”
“…Excuse me?”
“Is Logan good enough to satisfy the public eye?”
“…He’s a bit unusual, uh.”
As Kim Chunyong trailed off, his gaze flashing to the clock hanging in the waiting room, she sprang up from her seat and grabbed his shoulder.
“Then, Mr. Kim Chunyong, I’d like you to take a look with me.”
“Huh? Me?”
Despite Kim Chunyong’s bewildered reply, Alisa merely nodded with eyes sparkling.
She hadn’t been particularly persuaded by Kim Chunyong’s words. As she had said earlier, to her, Kim Chunyong was merely a child around Logan’s age.
However.
Investing in things worth investing in, and further elevating their value.
That was one of the things she did best, together with her husband.