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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: 55화
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“….”
Slurp.
“…….”
Slurp, slurp.
I quietly drank my strawberry ade through a straw.
This place makes a good strawberry ade.
“Um, Cheong-ah……”
“I’m still eating.”
“Okay…”
After stopping Jo Hui-on from speaking, I focused on my strawberry ade.
No, this is a private home, so why do they make such good strawberry ade?
That was right.
This was Jo Hui-on’s house.
I asked PD O Baek-gyeong for Jo Hui-on’s number and immediately sent her a text.
Jo Hui-on
Send me your home address.
If she hadn’t replied, I was seriously going to start by releasing the memory card I had.
However, perhaps knowing my personality, Jo Hui-on replied immediately.
Jo Hui-on
It’s 123 0000 Apartment, Building 203, Unit 1021, 00 Road…
I’m coming now.
Now???
I didn’t reply to that text.
“Tell me what you were thinking.”
“!”
“Summarize it briefly. I’m really furious right now, and I’m one step away from releasing the video online.”
“I-I’m sorry!”
Jo Hui-on was about to drop to her knees.
I couldn’t let her do that.
“I really detest that. Just tell me confidently.”
“U-Uh…”
Jo Hui-on finally began to speak.
“Before we went to the audience seats, Director Kim Mo-gyeong came to find me…”
‘Withdraw voluntarily.’
‘Pardon?’
‘Say it’s due to health issues. If you leave now, you won’t debut this time, but I’ll put you in a debut group at another agency.’
‘No, but—’
‘Then do you want to live your life unable to even set foot in this industry?’
Director Kim Mo-gyeong looked down at Jo Hui-on with eyes that were utterly cold.
‘Even if I just leave, Yun Cheong… she’ll try to release that video. The camera was rolling then. The memory card is in Yun Cheong’s hands.’
‘We’ll debut Yun Cheong. And as a condition, we’ll tell her to get rid of the memory card.’
‘!’
‘I didn’t want to debut that annoying girl, but seeing her stubborn side, I figured not debuting her would cause more trouble later. We’ll give her the debut she wants and cover this up.’
‘…’
‘So, you withdraw now. What more would you achieve by holding out here, other than Yun Cheong making a fuss?’
Honestly.
The more I listened, the more unbelievable it became.
Who was she to decide whether someone debuts or not?
In a survival program that hundreds of thousands of people were clearly watching.
If I debut, it’ll be by my own ability.
If there’s anyone who ‘gives’ me a debut, it’s the fans who voted for me.
Even if Colors contributes, Director Kim Mo-gyeong’s contribution?
Absolutely none.
She’s a person who sprinkles allergy-inducing powder into other people’s food.
“I’m sorry.”
Jo Hui-on looked genuinely sorry.
However,
“I’m not very interested in your apology.”
“…!”
Jo Hui-on looked quite shocked.
Why was she shocked?
Did she think I would forgive her?
“I gave you a chance. But you ran away for your own benefit. Don’t say it was for my debut. I know it wasn’t. You ran away to debut yourself.”
With each sentence that ended, Jo Hui-on’s head bowed lower.
“Until you confess everything, until you reveal that Director Kim Mo-gyeong and Kim Ryeo-yu are the culprits behind this, I won’t forgive you.”
“Then… you’re planning to fight?”
Planning to fight….
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Director Kim Mo-gyeong said that if I expose it, she’d stop the entire program. Then people would suffer.”
“…Did she really say that?”
“My debut would also become uncertain.”
Jo Hui-on looked surprised.
What was there to be surprised about now?
It wasn’t like she didn’t know what a crazy person Director Kim Mo-gyeong was.
“Yes. So, for now, I’ll endure. I don’t want other trainees to miss their debut because of me.”
“…You.”
I recalled Lee Ju-seon, who had cried so much when we tied for first place.
They are desperate kids like that.
To casually say she would stop those dreams because of her own selfishness.
My hatred for Director Kim Mo-gyeong only grew.
“And I also have to debut.”
As number one, no less.
I’m just as desperate, you know.
“So, it’s just for a moment. If I can fight again, I won’t hold back then.”
Yes.
Just for a moment.
For now, I’ll endure… and wait for the next opportunity.
***
Director Kim Mo-gyeong kept her promise.
[Jo Hui-on reveals her departure statement, “Only feel sorry for my eternal MVP of MVP, Yun Cheong…”]
[‘Make a New Color’ Jo Hui-on’s reason for departure: health issues… couldn’t withstand the pressure.]
[‘Fingertips’ had no discord whatsoever… In fact, it was the trainees’ friendship that allowed them to endure until now.]
[Jo Hui-on asks to refrain from discord speculation… ‘Cheong is truly a good friend’]
[Make a New Color official SNS reveals small but warm daily photos of Team Fingertips]
[Colors terminates trainee contract with Jo Hui-on, but a good ‘Good bye’]
[Surprise! Jo Hui-on hints at new agency on SNS… What’s her next move?]
They clearly tried to cover up the incident.
Fortunately, public opinion was quickly managed.
[Hui-on: I’m sorry to leave like this, Cheong-ah. But I’ll support you to the very end. Gyeong-a Unnie, Bo-ra. Thank you all so much.]
Caption: Team Fingertips hugging each other…
[Bo-ra: Hui-on Unnie was under a lot of pressure, worrying about what would happen if she couldn’t debut.]
[Ryeo-yu: After all, Colors is Korea’s top agency. So there are many amazing trainees. I think she felt small among them.]
[Cheong: I tried to be by Hui-on’s side whenever she was struggling. Since both of us were under extreme stress, we sometimes had nervous battles. But fundamentally, I support Hui-on.]
[Hui-on: Cheong was always by my side. The discord rumors are not true. Really. There’s no one like Cheong. She was the kindest friend throughout my trainee days.]
The production team, unable to broadcast the relevant part yet, hastily filmed interviews and uploaded them to O-Tube.
The third mission’s performance was scheduled to air two weeks later, so this was an alternative to fill the gap.
This video played the biggest role.
Because the trainees in the video truly seemed close.
Who started the Cheong-cheong bullying rumors? Seriously;
I support Cheong-On, for a greater Korea...
Koreans, seriously... why do they always try to drag down young kids by making up rumors first?
To all the individual fans spreading rumors, please get a life.
Yun Cheong rumor spreading site
There’s a really famous malicious site called ‘Female Celebrity Cloud’
Isn’t that a place for fangirling female celebrities?
No.
It’s where people who secretly anti-fan female celebrities gather.
Look at the photos below.
[Screenshot]
[Screenshot]
All the Yun Cheong rumors started here, please don’t fall for them.
Do you have no capacity for learning?
There’s a sister site called Male Celebrity Cloud… this is where they make rumors about male celebrities ㅠㅠ
└Our kids also had so many terrible rumors made about them here… so they’re still doing this crap.
Of course, there were people who didn’t believe these explanations.
Or, people who made money by ‘pretending not to believe’.
O-Tube’s Cyber Rekkas were a prime example of this.
▶ [Why Yun Cheong and Jo Hui-on’s Discord Rumor Is True]
▶ [‘Personality Disaster’ Trainee Who Hasn’t Even Debuted Yet]
▶ [Make a New Color Yun Cheong Plastic Surgery]
▶ [Make a New Color Yun Cheong’s Former Agency Testimony, Really Sketchy]
▶ [Most Horrifying Ever; Collection of Evidence of Yun Cheong’s Personality Breakdown]
Not just me, but Kim Ryeo-yu, Ryu Bo-ra, Kim Geum, and Jo Hui-on were the main targets.
The more popular you are, the more likely you are to become a target for Cyber Rekkas.
Especially me, with the hot new controversy that just broke.
I was practically a fish on a chopping block.
“Do people actually believe this?”
All the trainees except Kim Ryeo-yu were angry on my behalf.
Especially Kim Geum.
Kim Geum had suffered a lot from these kinds of things, so she empathized even more.
“No, what’s our agency doing? Not suing these people?”
“It means I’m not their artist yet, I guess.”
Bluntly speaking, I’m still just a trainee.
“Wow, our agency’s character.”
“Agencies are originally groups that only chase profit. Don’t expect anything, Geum-ah.”
I lay around, rolling on the floor.
It was a long-awaited day off.
There’s no reason to get angry watching Cyber Rekkas on such a precious day off.
“Stop looking at that stuff and rest. We even have one less mission. Let’s just enjoy this situation.”
That’s right.
The reason we finally got a day off.
It was because one mission had been cut.
Originally, two missions remained.
But Colors and M-Ten, as the controversy over trainee overwork grew, reduced it to just one.
Now, only the final mission remained.
They seemed to plan to fill the two episodes of unscheduled airtime with our daily lives and small events.
One hundred percent, they’ll secure some weird PPL deals and tell us to promote those.
“That’s true, but… Aren’t you angry, Unnie?!”
“I am.”
“Then why…!”
“But we shouldn’t let that anger control us. We can just sue them after we debut.”
People who make money doing bad things usually get most furious when they lose money.
Meaning, financial therapy is the answer.
“Wow, Unnie, you’re really an adult.”
Kim Geum even let out an exclamation of surprise, which wasn’t like her.
Right… I am an adult by age.
“Anyway, stop looking at weird stuff, and let’s do our homework first. Bo-ra, come here. What have you been doing on your phone since earlier—”
I flinched when I saw Ryu Bo-ra’s phone.
Ryu Bo-ra was reporting each malicious comment on my articles.
“…Oh…”
I didn’t know she cared about things like this.
“It’s infuriating, isn’t it?”
“R-Right?”
“I’m done. Let’s do our homework.”
“U-Uh.”
I felt small somehow.
The three of us gathered in front of the tablet PC.
To do the homework given by the production team.
“How should we do this to get the best reaction?”
It was for the guerrilla concert!
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