The Malicious Member Has Returned! Episode 77
* * *
Perhaps because it was the last audience recording before the live broadcast, the fourth competition stage of
Not only for the trainees onstage, but for the fans as well.
At that moment, it was hard to find anyone seated in the audience who wasn’t holding something.
[My Star from Mars☆ Ji Hwaseong]
[Anjinus♡]
[My Sensational Liverpool Boy]
The slogans handed out for free by the named fans of trainees whose images had now become firmly established, beyond simply securing their positions…
[When Gao Yan Was Born, the Doctor Cried]
[! Bang Yuchan ! At This Rate, Marriage Is the Only Option]
Then there were the personally made placards people had poured their souls into for even a single shot on camera, and even, underneath one of them, a marriage registration form.
Waaaaah…
When the personal fan of Bang Yuchan, who had decided on marriage all by herself, appeared on screen, several people in the fan section laughed and murmured.
“……”
And Liu Wei, waiting for his turn behind the stage, maintained an expressionless face as he watched.
To him, the word marriage was not so light that it could be consumed as a joke like that.
“That girl is very fond of you, they say.”
“Yes.”
“As I said before, this engagement will certainly be helpful. They have promised a major investment in the company you intend to enter.”
“…
That is good news.”
An engagement deliberately arranged for Liu Wei’s success.
Gao Shumin’s family, who had adored Liu Wei since childhood, would pour a large sum of money into AG Global, and Liu Wei would make a splendid debut with that money.
After Liu Wei built up sufficient recognition in Korea, he would return to China and make a name for himself there.
In addition, Liu Wei had a plan of his own.
When Gao Shumin’s family’s investment had just about been recovered, he would secretly break off the engagement that had acted as a shackle on him.
He had reached out to them now to shake off Kim Chunyong, but if he could safely debut through this, then this too would be something he could resolve.
Beneath his long sleeves, Liu Wei clenched his fists tightly, closed his eyes, then opened them again.
All the shackles holding him back would slowly be dealt with.
Kim Chunyong, and the engagement too.
By his own hand.
And just then, Choi Gaon, with mint-colored hair in a light baby perm, went up onstage and delivered his line.
“Ah, I want to go for a drive to the beach right this second! Please give another big round of applause for Team Pyo Jeyeol’s ‘Spontaneous Escape’!”
Seong Wonhyeop and Logan, who had worked together once before through busking.
And Team Pyo Jeyeol, made up of Han Sangu, Kim Juan, and Ryota.
As expected of Pyo Jeyeol, who ranked every year among “singers you’d want to happen upon while traveling,” the melody of the song, which sampled a famous city pop track from the ’80s, naturally brought travel to mind.
- It’s unbearably boring, this thing called everyday life
Every page that turns is all white
Outside the square window are dark clouds, thunder, lightning
I can’t see a rainbow
The staging had the other trainees wearing school uniforms and suits with bored expressions before suddenly being surprised by Seong Wonhyeop, who came in wearing casual clothes and dragging a suitcase.
- Suddenly, I’m like that
You know me, and I know myself, but
Suddenly, I’m like that
I think I hate it if it’s not fun
And even the lyrics were easy enough for first-time audience members to follow along.
“You know those times when you suddenly want to run out of the classroom where you’re sitting, or throw away your employee ID and flee? I wanted to capture that kind of feeling.”
Since Pyo Jeyeol, seated beside the mentors as a special judge, looked quite satisfied, there was no need to explain what the stage had been like.
But Liu Wei didn’t care how they had done.
Because he knew he would do better anyway.
“Yes, now let’s meet the next team! Senior Jeong Yeonu, who has joined us today as a special judge! Could you please explain the song?”
“…
Ah, yes. Let’s do that.”
Waaaaaaaah!
The moment the spotlight shifted to the special judges’ seats, the team performing Jeong Yeonu’s “Groggy” moved to the center of the stage under the staff’s instructions.
Because the main performance was being held in the reverse order of the rehearsal, right after the “Groggy” stage would be Liu Wei’s “Submersion” team.
Jang Siu, Li Mingxuan, An Jinu, and Kim Chunyong.
Standing in the center with his hand on Li Mingxuan’s shoulder, Liu Wei slowly crossed his arms as he looked at Kim Chunyong, whose gaze was fixed toward the back of the stage.
It seemed he was trying to flail about somehow with Li Mingxuan at his side, but it was obvious that would not go well either.
Even if Li Mingxuan had completely changed his mind, there were only two weeks left until the live broadcast.
In that amount of time, there was practically nothing Kim Chunyong could overturn.
No matter what Kim Chunyong did, he could not stop Liu Wei from perfectly completing both of the stages to come after this and making his debut.
That was what would happen.
Because everything had been prepared that way from the start.
“…
So, it’s a song that gives the feeling of sinking into one’s own world and becoming detached from reality.”
“Wow, I’m really looking forward to it! Then let’s now watch the ‘Groggy’ stage by the team made up of trainee Jang Siu, trainee Li Mingxuan, trainee An Jinu, and trainee Kim Chunyong!”
As Choi Gaon finished speaking, the heavy bass sound unique to “Groggy” slowly filled the stage.
The song began with Jang Siu and An Jinu turning their backs to each other as they sang the intro.
And right before that.
Liu Wei caught sight of Kim Chunyong, who had been standing facing the back of the stage, mouthing something.
“――.”
He couldn’t see clearly because of the rapidly moving lights.
“You think you’re the only desperate one?”
Kim Chunyong, who knew perfectly well that Liu Wei deliberately avoided speaking Korean, had said it as if mocking him.
“……”
Slowly turning over the meaning behind those words, Liu Wei uncrossed his arms and looked straight at Kim Chunyong.
The spotlight fell onto the trainees onstage.
Onto Kim Chunyong.
The first thing that came into view was a red-sleeved flight jacket. Goggles dangling from his neck.
Leather pants clinging to his long legs.
- Ride, pick up the speed
So I can’t see that light
I know, this isn’t reality
Real and fake
Or somewhere in between
And as if none of that mattered, moving in time with the vocals of Jang Siu and An Jinu as they began, was Kim Chunyong’s…
- Step on the sky
Look down at the ground
Round and round
Our wrongly made Theme Park
Inside it, you and I…
Bright red hair.
Kim Chunyong, who had maintained sleek, jet-black hair even up to last week’s broadcast, stood in the center with dyed hair, and the fans below screamed as if the place might be blown apart.
It wasn’t only because of his hair.
- Warning, Groggy
Warning, Groggy
Coz’ dizziness Coming
Groggy, Groggy
Your eyes will roll back
You’ll get really dizzy
Right after the husky high note in the first chorus, he and Li Mingxuan ran almost across the entire stage, followed by choreography that used their legs.
A bright smile. Sweat glittering as it reflected the lights.
He swept across the stage fearlessly on his knees, rose from a half-lying position using only the recoil of his waist.
Raising the arm that held the microphone, Kim Chunyong, to Liu Wei’s eyes, truly looked…
“Liu Wei.”
Liu Wei, who had unconsciously clenched his teeth, slowly turned around at the sound of Son Jaeha calling him.
“I was checking the stage.”
Son Jaeha, wearing an outfit made of silk similar to Liu Wei’s but slightly different in color, had a somewhat strange expression on his face.
“Mm, right. Like you said… you really did seem to be watching the stage very intently, so I wasn’t going to call you.”
Still, I think you should see this.
Son Jaeha, whose pupils were as black as his hair and whose makeup was slightly pale to match the concept of “Submersion,” lightly waved his hand.
In it was a phone, despite the production staff having hinted, “If possible, don’t bring phones backstage.”
“Well. It’s against the rules to bring it, but you aren’t exactly the type to follow rules well, and…”
Since it’s about you,
“it would be strange for you not to know.”
“……”
Liu Wei pulled the phone from Son Jaeha’s hand and read the text on the screen, which was about half the size of his palm.
He read it.
And read it again.
[Chewed-Up Receipt @QORHVMEK
(photo) (photo)
Liu Wei’s fiancée
#LiuWei #LiuWeiFiancée #TargetingStar #TaTa]
But no matter how much he read it, the social media post on that phone did not scroll down or disappear.
Reflected in Liu Wei’s cold pupils were the childhood photos of Liu Wei that Gao Shumin had posted, and the love-filled captions written beneath them.
The countless reposts and likes, as well as his own name appearing in the real-time trends beside them.
Onstage, Kim Chunyong was still performing like mad with the other trainees.
- Warning, Groggy
Warning, Groggy
Coz’ dizziness Coming
Groggy, Groggy
Your eyes will roll back
You’ll get really dizzy
It was an undeniable fact that those lyrics lodged themselves in Liu Wei’s head to an almost strange degree.
Without any expression, Liu Wei handed the phone back to Son Jaeha and turned his head toward the “Groggy” team’s stage.
With Kim Chunyong in the center, the four of them were doing the dance break together, and now the stage was flowing toward its final stretch.
After this, the “Submersion” team’s stage was waiting.
* * *
“Thank you, that was Team Groggy!”
Immediately after hearing the thunderous cheers and applause, as well as the evaluations from the mentors and special judges—
“Chunyong hyung, uh, where are you going!?”
“I, um, just… need to go to the bathroom!”
“No, is your stomach bad again toda—ack!”
Kim Chunyong swiftly stuffed a sweet bean jelly into Jang Siu’s mouth and ran toward the bathroom.
It had now been two hours since the first scheduled post had gone up.
Soon, it would be time for the second post to go up.
Ping!
- X: Hey, hey, that second post doesn’t even need to go up.
- X: From what I saw earlier…
As if X had only now realized that the damned ping sound was killing Kim Chunyong’s social life, X’s messages filled his phone screen just as he arrived at the bathroom.
However, Kim Chunyong had no time to look at that.
‘What’s happening right now? Did I post it properly?’
Fortunately, the social media app he opened with trembling hands was burning up just as fiercely as it had during Kim Chunyong’s rumors.
[Liu Wei’s fiancée? What the hell is this? People get engaged from childhood in this day and age?]
[⎿ How the hell did they find that Chewed-Up whatever?]
[⎿⎿ Exactly ;; FBI? CSI?]
Kim Chunyong was not the FBI, and he was even less the CSI. He was merely a malicious member who had returned from the future, but anyway.
The reason Kim Chunyong had not handed this information over to a tabloid was partly because he thought he could spread it better himself, but in truth, that was not the only reason.
They moved according to money.
Meaning that if they took the information and AG matched the amount they wanted, it might not spread.
But posting it directly on social media was different.
Because social media was full of people who wanted evidence of that rumor, and people who wanted to find that evidence and receive attention for it.
‘Looking at the real-time trends, people are really paying attention right now. If the second post goes up soon…’
Ping!
As if angry at Kim Chunyong for being lost in his own thoughts, another message arrived from X.
- X: You. Idiot.
- X: I told you the second one doesn’t need to go up.
- X: That material’s already been milked dry ㅡㅡ
- X: Ugh, this won’t do. I’ll send you the link. Tsk tsk.
“…
What, what is this?”
The post Kim Chunyong had been planning to upload second was a screenshot of a DM conversation with Gao Shumin under the name of the company “Kaoyongyong.”
‘People could ask in reverse what kind of company Kaoyongyong even is, so I edited the photos a bit and made the post…’
After checking the social media post in the link X had sent, Kim Chunyong closed his open mouth and deleted the scheduled post that had been set to go up in two minutes.
[ㅇㅇ @GLAEMFEK
(photo) (photo)
I looked up who the person posted as #LiuWei_Fiancée is
At first I thought it was just bullshit, but she went to the same elementary school, middle school, and arts high school as Liu Wei…]
[⎿ No, that’s creepy. Why would you look up even that?]
[⎿⎿ When I DMed them, they got super excited and told me how they found out.]
[Wow, holy shit, if you ask by DM, she really tells you everything.
She says she really is Liu Wei’s fiancée hahahahahaha
Kim Chunyong rumor, move aside! The real thing is coming.]
In a place he had never expected, the snowball was rolling like mad.
And the destination it was rolling toward was almost too good to be true.