The Villainous Member Has Returned! Episode 54
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Sin Gi-ho’s face, seated in his office, was sterner than ever.
With his intimidating face and the ever-present gun-shaped lighter, Sin Gi-ho deliberately cultivated a thuggish image—one that allowed him to navigate even the most difficult business with ease.
When such a man was truly angry…
It was only when things were not going his way.
His hands trembling as he searched for something to throw, Sin Gi-ho soon realized he had already smashed everything on his desk, and he clawed wildly at his own hair.
“…Damn it.”
According to his plan, by now Logan Lee’s voluntary withdrawal notice should have been posted on the official
A statement that the trainee could no longer appear on the program due to personal circumstances.
That was a fact that would not change even if CEO Do Jae-chan and PD Ju Cheol-yeong were playing at some petty alliance.
“So even if he is eliminated from this program, a contract that guarantees Logan’s future debut… is what you are saying.”
“Yes. With Logan’s potential, alongside the other trainees the company is currently preparing, it would be more than enough to aim for the next group—”
“Hold on.”
“Ah, yes! Please go ahead.”
“Yes. To be frank, that does not feel like any benefit to us whatsoever.”
“…Huh?”
“We have already confirmed that one project released by this company yielded poor results. …Was it called Lady Swan?”
“L-Lady Swan is….”
Logan’s parents had not sympathized at all with the Logan-centric project proposed by Do Jae-chan.
Moreover, when the name Lady Swan came up, Do Jae-chan had struggled to maintain his composure, which to a couple from a family making its name on Wall Street appeared as nothing but a weak point.
It was because Sin Gi-ho had anticipated exactly this that he had called them to Korea in the first place.
“It seems your minds are already firmly made up, so there is no need to add unnecessary words.”
“Director Sin!”
“CEO Do. You must look at this realistically. Right now, we have no justification to hold onto a trainee under a preliminary contract who wants to leave. Furthermore, we have no track record to show Logan’s guardians.”
“…….”
“Logan’s withdrawal notice has already been drafted. Perfectly enough, since the third round of competition ends today… there should be no issue with his return home.”
And indeed, there would not be.
Sin Gi-ho was even prepared to gladly pay out of his own pocket for Logan’s flight home if they wished.
If Logan dropped out of
“Wow. I’m the person involved here, yet you’re all talking with me completely left out. Amazing.”
“…Logan Lee. Sit down. What kind of rude attitude is this?”
“You two are always like this. I can’t go back like this.”
“—Logan!”
Furthermore, Logan had been unable to endure a situation where his own will was completely excluded and had even stormed out.
Such emotional turmoil right before his upcoming stage.
If so, it was obvious that Logan would ruin his performance; and if Ju Cheol-yeong, who had risen in revolt against Sin Gi-ho, saw that, he would have no choice but to cut Logan’s screen time.
The situation had been perfect, proceeding exactly according to plan.
In the end, everything seemed as though it would go exactly as Sin Gi-ho intended.
Something had gone slightly awry at the initial stage, but in the end…
However.
Just when everything was perfect…
“…I shall go bring him back. Let us continue our conversation afterward.”
Another variable had arisen.
He had thought it would be nothing.
Logan’s mother. Even if she wandered around the broadcasting station, as long as she wore a visitor’s badge, the spaces she could enter were limited.
And anyway, Logan would be unable to control himself, huffing and puffing a bit before being grabbed by the staff member Sin Gi-ho had pre-instructed and dragged onto the stage. Nothing would change.
And that one variable that should have amounted to nothing.
It changed the entire situation like a line of dominoes.
“…Where did you say Logan’s mother is right now?”
“Uh, well. She talked with a trainee for a bit, then went backstage….”
To think that Logan’s mother, who had been gone for so long, would end up watching her son’s stage.
“Why is a visitor backstage? How the hell are you managing admissions!”
“Huh? Well, the trainee said they were staff….”
“Logan? Logan said that? Hah, damn it—”
“Ah, no. It wasn’t trainee Logan!”
“…What?”
Chewing over the situation, Director Sin ground his teeth.
At the backstage he had hurried to stood Logan’s mother, and beside her….
“Ah, Logan isn’t originally a rap position, you see. But today… he’s doing well? Tsk. I think what I told him before might have worked pretty well.”
“Really? …Then, which area does Logan have the most talent in?”
“Ah, you didn’t know? Logan is really good at composing. He sings well too. Ah, if you give me your phone, I’ll show you the video of Logan’s first mentor evaluation.”
“…S-sure.”
A trainee named Gim Chun-yong, who had joined under Liu Wei and held only the faintest interest.
At that moment, Sin Gi-ho could think only of what an absurd situation this was.
An investor whose name everyone on Wall Street knew was nestled beside a mere trainee, listening to him talk?
Even though she had dismissed Do Jae-chan’s passionate and sincere project explanation?
‘What the hell kind of situation is this?’
This was also Sin Gi-ho’s miscalculation—he had not known that Gim Chun-yong having built an intimate bond with Logan had piqued Elisa’s interest.
Before Sin Gi-ho hurriedly pulled them away saying that no one but performers were allowed in, Elisa, who had been listening to Gim Chun-yong, after a brief conversation with her husband….
“…We intend to let him remain in the program he is currently appearing in until the end.”
In the end, she uttered the words Sin Gi-ho least wanted to hear.
While looking straight at Sin Gi-ho, who was holding his forehead as dizziness swept over him.
“…Is that not different from what you said earlier? What you are saying now means you are accepting the proposal the CEO made—”
“No. Our inability to be convinced by AG Company’s next group project does not carry the same meaning as withdrawing him from this program. The two are clearly different.”
“…And I have seen what I have seen.”
Glancing at Sin Gi-ho’s tightly clenched fist, Elisa continued.
“The reason we initially decided to take Logan away was because we thought the direction he had chosen had no future prospects.”
“…….”
“Of course, I was not deeply moved watching Logan’s stage. I have spent my whole life handling money, so I am ignorant about music. Not very British of me, is it?”
However.
“Hearing from someone who knows well, unlike me, it seems there is room to make some allowances for the situation.”
If one were to brazenly summarize the smooth talk that followed from the two investor spouses:
They would let Logan finish filming
After elimination, Logan would not object to returning to Liverpool.
“Then, if I may ask… what if Logan is not eliminated from
“That would mean Logan possesses the marketability and talent to catch the public’s eye….”
There was no need.
“We would not need to push him in the direction we decided. That is what marketability means.”
It was only natural that Do Jae-chan’s initially devastated face gradually brightened, and a faint smile crept onto Ju Cheol-yeong’s lips as he hovered in the background.
And the only one left splitting his head in agony was Sin Gi-ho, and him alone.
‘They’re flipping their attitude like the back of their hand!’
This was exactly the answer opposite to what Sin Gi-ho desired.
It would have been better if Logan had joined AG’s next boy group.
After all, Logan’s talent had already become known through broadcasts, and there would be time to persuade the investors in China.
However, remaining in
If a trainee who was almost certain to take one of the six debut spots remained, that left only five spots.
Not only would the hurdle Liu Wei had to overcome grow narrower, but a trainee who might bring English-speaking investors was being allowed to reach the very threshold of debut!
Right now, Liu Wei had failed to secure first place in this position battle stage.
In contrast, Logan had taken second place with monstrous talent despite it not being his main position.
“Son of a…”
Sin Gi-ho cursed crudely, glancing at his phone, which had already received several calls.
“—If you could not get that trainee to drop out earlier, should you not make him drop out even now?”
Even at the overbearing investor’s words, Sin Gi-ho could say nothing.
Logan’s parents had delivered a final blow before heading to the airport hotel—one that made following those words impossible.
“Director Sin Gi-ho. I understand what it is you are worried about….”
If you were to take away Logan’s chance to be evaluated fairly.
‘Then what you are truly worried about will come to pass…’ or so they said.
What Sin Gi-ho was truly worried about.
That they would bring English-speaking investors into this AG investment industry and threaten Sin Gi-ho’s position.
Crash!
“Damn… son of a…”
Recalling that blatant threat, Sin Gi-ho finally threw the phone in his hand at the monitor.
For Sin Gi-ho, who had been strutting around as AG’s tiger, to take such a blow was no easy matter.
For it to happen on the survival program where he had so carefully laid out his board…
A worst-case scenario he had never imagined, where he could neither do this nor that.
But that did not mean he could simply vent his helpless anger like this.
Pushing back his disheveled bangs, Sin Gi-ho steadied his breath and shouted toward the secretary waiting outside his office door.
“Secretary Choe!”
“Y-yes, Director Sin!”
“Check the schedule of the broadcasting station’s chief PD right now. If Chief PD Ju is going to act like that, I’ll need to speak with those above him.”
“…Yes, sir.”
“And after the music show pre-recording ends, I’d like you to pick up Liu Wei.”
“…Liu Wei, sir?”
“Yes.”
Director Sin nodded silently at the trembling secretary, clenching his teeth as he recalled what Liu Wei had said.
“This happened because you overlooked Gim Chun-yong.”
“What?”
“I told you. Gim Chun-yong needs to be dealt with too.”
“…I clearly said back then—”
“Yes, justification. Still no justification? If you still think that way, I’ll have to tell the people watching my back that your instincts have dulled.”
The arrogant little punk… but seeing the way he spoke, as if he knew something, there was a need to talk with him.
Finally, Director Sin and Liu Wei were looking in the same direction.
The trainee to watch out for…
…toward Gim Chun-yong.
* * *
Meanwhile.
“Trainees, thank you for your hard work! Please wait a moment before the
“Ah, yes! Thank you!”
The waiting room after the pre-recording for the
“Hoo….”
After steadying his rising breath once, Gim Chun-yong glanced at the figure sitting in the chair across from him, staring into the mirror.
“…….”
Liu Wei, who had taken second place in the dance position battle and had just been on stage with him moments ago.
Gim Chun-yong had no way of knowing what Liu Wei was thinking, staring so intently at his own face in the mirror rather than at his phone.
He could only guess by recalling the days when they had been active together in Arrows.
‘He looks like he’s in a foul mood. Better not touch him. It’s probably because of me.’
Gim Chun-yong turned his head back and let out a light sigh.
‘Somehow… I managed to put out the immediate fire.’
He did not know how much influence he himself had exerted, but it seemed he had ultimately prevented Logan’s withdrawal.
“Really, truly. Thank you so, so much, Chun-yong hyung!”
“Uh, yeah. It was nothing.”
“Nothing?! To me, it’s like a second life!”
“Second, tsk… anyway. Talk more with your parents. They seemed like pretty good people when I spoke with them.”
“Gosh, no. They’re only like that in front of you. To me, um. Seriously….
I still don’t know.”
Both of them.
Though it did seem that the knots that had formed between family members wouldn’t all be untangled overnight. ‘That’s an area where there’s nothing I can do, so, well.’ In any case, there were effectively only a few things left now.
Logan, who had secured his place like that. And, more than anything, Kim Chunyong.
He had to safely make it into the debut lineup.
He was getting an even better response than he’d expected, but he also had to keep the next stage and the interim ranking announcement in mind. ‘From now on, I need to start seriously targeting Liu Wei.’ Having thought that far, Kim Chunyong leaned back deep into his chair and took out the phone he’d set aside for a while.
“Tsk….”
When he turned on the phone he’d shut off entirely because of the constant pinging notifications, messages from someone just as interested in the current situation as Kim Chunyong came pouring in.
- X: Hey, you’re seriously in trouble. What are we supposed to do about this?
- X: I’m so worried I can’t sleep. Can you handle it??
- X: Why did you have to run into “that” director right then, of all times? Shudder.
- X: Let me tell you the tale of a contractor who didn’t take care of his own future, played the sucker by looking after someone else, and ended up going back ㅠㅠ
Looking at the scathing sentences, Kim Chunyong gave a bitter smile.
In the middle of all this turmoil, the only person he could talk to was making this much of a fuss. ‘That bastard X is really helpful… Well, it’s not like he isn’t, but anyway!’ The problem with the current situation.
“What kind of trainee are you, doing this here?”
“Uh, well, I’m….”
“—For now, you’d better go back to the waiting room immediately.” ‘As for what you did, I’ll take my time checking into it… That’s what he said.’ Kim Chunyong, who had been keeping his head down aside from doing well onstage since coming back, had ended up catching Director Sin Giho’s eye in a bad way.
Liu Wei had gotten crushed onstage and was pissed, and Director Sin Giho had noticed Kim Chunyong.
That meant Liu Wei would no longer be keeping Kim Chunyong in check on his own; it was likely he would move together with Director Sin Giho.
Trying to solve the problem that was Logan had ended up complicating his own situation too.
Of course, it wasn’t as though he hadn’t considered it, but he still couldn’t help the unpleasant taste on his tongue.
So X’s fussing wasn’t entirely baseless after all. ‘Still, it was all necessary. If not, Logan would have dropped out, and things would have gotten even worse. So now….’ Just as Kim Chunyong was working his brain and organizing what he had to do during the break after this.
Knock, knock—
- Um, is trainee Kim Chunyong inside?
An unexpected—if it could be called unexpected—person had come to see him.