The Malicious Member Has Returned! Episode 61
The original song “Aiming,” the cover songs, and the position competition must have shown the trainees’ on-stage appearances to some extent.
The idol cannery facility before the mid-ranking announcement had a somewhat more relaxed air than when everyone was in the thick of preparing for the competition.
Of course, that was only true for the production crew.
The trainees’ daily routines were days of endless, varying filming schedules, so they were on the verge of being even more swamped.
“Seven, eight. Hands, stretch further… let’s spread them.”
“C-can we just rest for a moment and do this…?”
“We still… haven’t caught… a single… detail yet. Especially—you, Trainee Seong Wonhyeop—stay behind a bit more….”
“Dasol nim!”
During the day, there were basic choreography practices, vocal lessons, and rap classes—training programs prepared jointly by the production crew and AG Entertainment.
“Wait! I think Ryota is the culprit?”
“Hwasung. It’s a misunderstanding. How could that be? How could someone as upstanding as me be the culprit?!”
“Ryota. If you’re going to say that, try changing your expression first. You look flustered right now.”
“Uwaa, even Jaeha hyung is doing this to me!”
When the practice—one that seemed to advertise “AG trains with this kind of system”—ended, there were mini-games prepared by the production crew to build the trainees’ chemistry.
“Trainee Ryota was indeed the culprit! The prize for the detective who guessed the culprit correctly… is a snack set sent by a sponsoring company! You can have a snack party back at the dorm today!”
“W-wow… th-that’s wonderful.”
When the mini-game, stained by sponsorship, ended, everyone frantically uploaded their Outgram mission posts and started live broadcasts as if they had promised.
[Ji Hwasung @Zimars_TT (Photo)
Caught the culprit together with Jaeha hyung today! (handcuffs emoji)
Curious what culprit? (bleh)]
[⎿ Trainee Ji Hwasung banned from Outgram for 2 hours for mini-game spoilers ㅠㅠ]
[Ryota @Ryota__TT
I didn't do anythingg ㅠㅠ I'm not a bad personn
#TargetingStar #Ryota #ryota #Ryota #daily]
[⎿ Trainee Ryota, please remove the < from your daily tag !!]
- “Hello, Star Shooters. I’m Seong Wonhyeop! Yes, hello, hello. Konnichiwa. Did I eat? Uh, not yet. I’m waiting to take an additional choreography lesson right now. Yes. Do I dance poorly? No! That’s not it, but….”
- “T-Trainee Seong Wonhyeop is, a bit… stiff, isn’t he?”
- “Ack! Dasol nim!”
Well, it was an Outgram mission, so whatever.
The upcoming mid-ranking announcement included mission scores as well, and SNS activities permitted within the survival show meant virality.
Difficult, no….
It meant whatever works, works.
Of course, I had more than one or two things to resolve in the meantime, so my position was different again.
*Pop!*
- X: Yeah, you raised your rank by uploading that killer Outgram post video? Nice, that’s it
- X: 6th place good lol now it’s debut zone lol congrats!
- X: Bu t wh at ar e yo u go ing to do now !!
- X: What about Liu Wei? You just gonna debut with him? You rose in rank and Logan became 7th and you’re happy about it ㅡㅡ If you’re gonna do that, why the hell did you grab that puppy!?
- X: There was a good way to send Liu Wei packing but you can’t just drag anyone into that you bastard
- X: Hey, it’s a problem if you know one but not two
- X: This won’t do. I hereby declare my full-scale intervention! *Pop! Pop!* [Maintaining 45 Degrees is Mandatory (C): When taking a personal photo at a 45-degree angle, charm correction +10 percent]
- X: This is the first-place reward skill from the last competition. Your opinion doesn’t matter, just take it. You take worse selfies than you think
- X: Argh, I should’ve done this earlier ㅡㅡ You could’ve just accepted it in front of the billboard ad back then, uaaaargh!
- X: Ah! Ah! So pissed!
- X: From now on, what you gotta do is, huh? First, post something on Outgram using that skill, huh? As for the Liu Wei thing, together with Gao Yan…
*Pop! Pop! Pop!*
“This is so loud it’s killing me. I should just switch to a phone where silent is the default….”
Kim Chunyong grumbled but quickly sent a reply to X.
[Why are you deciding the reward skill on your own, you punk]
Wow.
[Since you’re not helping, just stay put]
And as a meaningless bonus, he punched his phone a few times with his fist.
‘This punk. I already have a lot to think about as it is, and he’s just making a racket next to me. No matter how much I think about it, this guy really must be a demon.’
If you asked whether X was objectively unhelpful to Kim Chunyong… he wasn’t.
He sent skills diligently, and if there was something unclear about the contract, he would offer his own opinion.
Of course, as an emotional counselor, he was a zero—no, closer to a minus.
‘Honestly, it’d be more helpful if he didn’t send any messages and just sat there doing nothing.’
However, Kim Chunyong’s expression as he thought that wasn’t very good either.
Because X had a point.
Rising into the debut zone was good.
However, because he had become 6th place, Logan’s current rank was now 7th.
Even though his rank had dropped, Liu Wei was still on track for 4th place.
‘If I don’t do something about Liu Wei, everything I’ve done so far will truly be for nothing.’
Kim Chunyong gently touched his hair, which had grown just long enough to cover the nape of his neck, and thought deeply.
He needed a method.
‘…Li Mingshen told me to find a way where he wouldn’t be exposed in the method I proposed. Either I find that, or I expose it myself.’
Neither path looked easy, but it was far better than accepting Gao Yan’s absurd proposal of “Gao Yan can just expose it.”
And it was better than other methods that would definitely harm someone.
*Pop!*
- X: Just make that Gao Yan or whatever talk!!
- X: Why are you going the long way around when there’s an easy path?? Why?? Damn it, I don’t get it
- X: You have Good Child Syndrome ;; You’re acting like this because you think you can’t cause harm after what happened before
“Ah… he’s making me repeat myself. Does this company hire anyone as long as they’re good at nagging?”
Kim Chunyong’s face scrunched up at the biting message, and his fingers moved swiftly over the phone.
- Kim Chunyong: Good Child Syndrome my ass
- Kim Chunyong: Does someone with that kind of thing get dead drunk and crawl on the floor telling me to kill them? I don’t think so ㅡㅡ
- Kim Chunyong: In the first place… do you really think that would work?
- Kim Chunyong: If it were that easy, I would’ve told the writer-nim right away when I eavesdropped on Liu Wei and Gao Yan talking
- Kim Chunyong: Anything needs a background to support it. Even a malicious member who only knew how to drink and lie down knows that
- Kim Chunyong: Don’t reply. If the notification sounds, I’m dunking my nose in bean paste
Perhaps because he had threatened so strongly.
- X: Look at you, all high and mighty, pbbbt ㅡㅡ
No further reply came from X.
Even if one had come, so what. He could just turn off his phone.
“…Hah.”
Kim Chunyong let out a light sigh, leaned his body against the wall, and began folding his fingers one by one.
‘Right. I’m lacking background—background. Clear evidence that Liu Wei did such things.’
Evidence that Liu Wei had tried to make Logan drop out and was maliciously keeping him in check.
Since it was an environment where he couldn’t bring that out openly, he had approached Li Mingshen, who held clear evidence of being bullied.
‘It’s not that there’s no way to win Li Mingshen over, but now I have to consider doing it myself. …Since I can use an Outgram live broadcast.’
This was roughly what Kim Chunyong had been thinking.
While talking directly with Liu Wei, secretly turning on an Outgram live broadcast.
Of course, if he used this method, he would incur the production crew’s wrath, and he too could get caught up in a scandal, but….
There was no method more certain than getting a confession straight from the perpetrator’s mouth.
Perhaps even more so than what Kim Chunyong was keeping as his last resort.
‘Liu Wei must be impatient right now too. If I poke him just right, he’ll spill everything. …Just like I did back then.’
Kim Chunyong recalled the situation where his past circumstances had all been revealed to the public, and let out a bitter smile.
“Damn it. How did an article come out about Rex taking panic medication? Just deny it first. Deny everything. Nothing good comes from an idol being known to have a mental illness!”
“Well, they say the reporter conducted a direct interview… and it’s already spread everywhere referencing the first article.”
“What interview? Other than schedules and drinking, what interview does Rex have? Fuck, if you’re gonna lie….”
“…He drank with that person.”
“Wait. Wh-what?”
“Well, there’s someone Rex always drinks with, and he didn’t know they were a reporter….”
“…Tell him not to step one foot outside the dorm for a while. Got it?!”
No matter how much of a drunken mess Rex usually was, he wouldn’t have easily talked about something like that.
‘It had to be the day after the death anniversary, so he was even more out of it.’
Kim Chunyong took a big deep breath to revive his sinking mood and opened his eyes wide.
‘But now is different.’
His family was currently living their daily lives at home, and no accidents had occurred yet.
What he had to do was simply debut again with the Arrows members and become the greatest idol in K-pop history.
“So, first, to create a situation where I’m with Liu Wei….”
*Bang bang—*
“…Hm?”
At the sudden loud knocking from outside the door, Kim Chunyong turned his head with widened eyes.
There were still 30 minutes left in the vocal room rental time.
With five vocal rooms available, it was almost unheard of for someone to knock because of a shortage—so why now?
When Kim Chunyong carefully opened the door, Gao Yan was standing there with a somewhat determined expression.
“Chunyong hyung!”
“Uh, Gao Yan? Why again?”
With his plans already set, Kim Chunyong let out a hollow laugh at the “you again” feeling when Gao Yan came to find him. He patted Gao Yan’s shoulder and brought him inside the vocal room.
Since it had come to this, he wanted to keep the kid’s mouth in check.
Something like, well, you don’t need to worry about the Liu Wei matter anymore, and Liu Wei probably can’t do anything right now anyway.
However, as soon as the vocal room door closed, Gao Yan shouted before Kim Chunyong could even open his mouth—very fiercely.
“Hyung, you’re on the verge of getting X’d right now!”
At that shocking torrent of profanity, Kim Chunyong’s expression turned ashen in an instant.
“…What? Who taught you words like that!”
“As I always say, Gao Yan’s Korean is always studied by Gao Yan himself. Ah no, that’s not important! Hyung, look at this!”
Gao Yan grabbed Kim Chunyong’s forearm and thrust his phone at him.
Filling his vision with the phone screen, Kim Chunyong soon made a strange expression.
“…You want me to look at the number of likes on your Outgram post? 50,000, that’s no joke. So you’re number one in Outgram likes right now?”
“That is a natural thing for Gao Yan, so it is not something to be proud of. Not that—look at the comments there, Chunyong hyung!”
Gao Yan’s self-conscious post and the overflowing comments, as numerous as the likes.
Here and there, sentences composed of incomprehensible words were mixed in.
“What… is this?”
“It’s not just my post! This is definitely something Liu Wei did—mph, mmph!”
“Shh, be quiet.”
Kim Chunyong swiftly covered Gao Yan’s mouth and began carefully reading the comments.
Just as Gao Yan said, it wasn’t only on his post.
The comment sections of trainees with high Outgram follower and like ranks—like Son Jaeha, Ji Hwasung, Liu Wei, and Gao Yan—were all flooded with such comments.
[Heard a Targeting Star trainee has a girlfriend? lol Try covering the sky with the palm of your hand, see if it covers anything ;]
[⎿ Suddenly what is this? Jaeha has a girlfriend? lolol To a kid who only trained for 6 years, what; Sir, this is spreading false information]
[⎿⎿ False info my ass ;; It just might not be Son Jaeha, but having a girlfriend is true. Link attached https://entertain.com/]
[Wait what’s that link? I went in, and why does it say idol trainee name Kim Chunyong < ?]
[But it’s not girlfriend stuff, it’s content about scamming items in some game]
[Oh crazy what is this??]
[Wow it’s not just one thing with this guy… fuck something big’s coming lolololol]
Even the linked article mentioned Kim Chunyong’s family.
Kim Chunyong’s eyes gradually sharpened as he slowly read through the contents.
“If it comes to this….”
The situation changes a bit.