While being treated at the hospital, the child stayed in my arms, looking a little out of it the entire time.
This child had gone through so many difficult things in a row: seeing a side of his father he had never seen before, enduring violence, and the realization that he had rejected Kang Hyukwoo. It was a series of events that would overwhelm even a full-grown adult, so it was only natural he’d be completely drained. Maybe he was beginning to regret his decision. Maybe he’d end up going back to Kang Hyukwoo and living with him again. After all, the idea of following someone who wasn’t family might have been terrifying.
“You can go back anytime you want.”
But as if to render those worries meaningless, the child simply shook his head and held my hand tightly. To be precise, he was holding my hand with his right hand and clutching the hem of Choi Jeokhyeon’s jacket with his left, but let’s skip these details.
Recalling that moment, I think Kang Hyukwoo was just blankly watching his son’s figure grow more and more distant while being held in my arms. After being rejected by his son, he stood there completely still, as if all that remained of him was a hollow shell.
It was probably also because there wasn’t much he could do. He had struck the child with his own hands, and with the risk of someone else finding out about his son’s existence, it would’ve been hard to report it to the police.
Even as I tried to make sense of it, there was still something that bothered me. With Kang Hyukwoo’s usual temperament, he would’ve lost his reason and dragged the boy away by force, whether the child resisted or not. But he didn’t.
‘…That’s not like Kang Hyukwoo.’
Despite feeling an incredible sense of incongruity from the situation, I had no choice but to erase Kang Hyukwoo from my mind as much as I could, so I wouldn’t show it in front of the child, who was already confused enough.
‘I’ll need to think a bit more about what to do with Chaeyul.’
Just as I made that resolve, the second I stepped into the dorm, I was immediately ambushed and bitten by the two idiots. No, actually, I got thoroughly scolded by all the members, not just those two.
“Why didn’t you answer any of our calls!”
“We ran after you on stage, but you didn’t even glance at us! You just shook us off and walked out. Are you really okay?”
I felt my mind go blank under the onslaught of questions that crashed over me all at once, like a wave. Caught off guard, I blurted out things like, “Something came up” and “Sorry, I couldn’t see my surroundings clearly back then”. I tried to retreat, one step at a time, but the members immediately rushed in and kept bombarding me with questions to the very end.
“What did the doctor say?”
“…He said there weren’t any serious injuries. Nothing’s broken, just some muscle strain and a few bruises. That’s all.”
I think there was also some nagging about my weight or sleep schedule, but that wasn’t something I could fix right away, so I kept it to myself. I guess, more than anything, I just didn’t want to make the members worry.
At that, as if the word ‘bruises’ had just clicked for him, Zen suddenly pulled up the back of my shirt and exclaimed in horror.
“We’re in big trouble! Leada’s back is like a spotted cow!”
How on earth am I supposed to respond to such comment?
From his perspective, he probably thought he was being quite serious and saying it out of concern, so I couldn’t exactly tell him off. It felt like all the tension just melt out of me.
As more time passed, the public opinion that ‘Han Seungbeom is imitating Seo Yutae‘ completely disappeared.
After I fell off the stage, people became more hesitant to speak carelessly about that issue. However, what really made it disappear for good was a clip from Nam Yihwon’s Inheartgram live stream that went viral on NeoTube.
He didn’t seem to have planned a serious broadcast to express his stance. Rather, it looked like he just turned on the livestream to chat with fans after his schedule was over, since he was already lying in bed with all his makeup removed.
[“’Where’s the maknae?‘ Jay went to work out.”]
[“Nope. It’s not because of the Water Festival. He always heads straight to the gym after finishing his schedule.”]
[“You want him to stop working out? Wait, didn’t you guys tell him to stop bulking before, but then totally loved it when he took his shirt off at the concert? So which one is it? … Ah, you mean you’re just sad he’s on such a strict diet. Got it. I’ll pass that along.”]
[“Even without this, Woon-hyung is already fretting these days because that guy’s body keeps getting bulkier. He keeps going on about ‘You’re the maknae, and we’re idols!‘. But honestly, I think Prism started going off track with Yutae-hyung, so at this point, we might as well give up. When we’re on tour, we run into each other at the hotel gym, every single day. I’m seriously sick of them.”]
[“If Woon-hyung and Jay got into a physical fistfight, who would win? No comment. For the sake of our leader’s dignity, I’ll keep my mouth shut … Oh, am I gonna get scolded by Woon-hyung for this? You can’t upload this clip, okay? Promise.”]
[“‘What are you going to wear for the Water Festival?’ We haven’t decided yet. Our stylist-noona brought a bunch of outfit options, but they’re kind of embarrassing to wear, so we’re just passing the bomb around right now.”]
[“Huh? Who just sent that suggestive emoji? Sera, everyone’s gonna find out you’re into that stuff. We were supposed to be the only ones who knew about it.”]
At first, it was a perfectly ordinary live. Nam Yihwon, being the mischievous person everyone knows him to be, teased Sera and answered fans’ questions, smoothly keeping the stream going. The trouble started around the halfway point.
Nam Yihwon, who had been laughing and chatting cheerfully with the Seras, suddenly shifted his gaze slightly up and down, as if he’d spotted a strange comment in the chat. A moment later, his brows knit together, and he muttered in a tone laced with annoyance and irritation.
[“What the, who keeps spamming the chat like this?”]
[“Yeah, Seungbeomie, why?”]
Nam Yihwon singled out the person who had been spamming the chat and asked the question directly, then paused for a moment, as if to say, “Go on then, let’s hear it“. And as soon as a message summarizing the content of a Cyber Wrecker’s video popped up, he began reading it aloud with a bored expression on his face.
[“Huh, you’re saying Seungbeom’s the leader and producer because he’s imitating Yutae-hyung? ‘He even intentionally hid his nut allergy because Seo Yutae doesn’t have one’? What kind of bullshit is this? The writing is so … ugh, it’s all over the place. I can’t even read it properly”]
Seeing that the reply came in less than ten seconds, it was obvious they’d been spreading that post like a tabloid rumor, copy-pasting it wherever they could. Since Nam Yihwon was never exactly the patient type, if that person had been typing it out from scratch, he probably would’ve just told them to shut up and get lost.
After reading the entire chat, Nam Yihwon let out a short, blatant scoff and spoke as if it wasn’t even worth reacting to.
[“Wow, someone’s got too much free time.”]
[“You picked up some utterly ridiculous crap from who knows where, and then you insisted on showing it to me while I’m doing a livestream, why? Did you think I’d join in and bash him with you? Or does someone pay you to do that? Is that why you’re spamming the chat until I read it? User se08563?”]
[“Funny, isn’t it? People who’ve never even met any of the Prism members are barging in and throwing around unsolicited opinions about things we never even thought of ourselves. Should I call it ‘refreshingly original’1? At this point, they might as well publish this as a novel.”]
To be completely honest, when I first saw that video, I couldn’t help but think, ‘Wow, he really has no shame‘. I mean, even Nam Yihwon himself cried and threw a fit at me before he knew about the possession, asking why I was imitating Seo Yutae and if I was trying to torment him.
‘Nice acting. Guess you didn’t win that award for nothing, huh?’
Honestly, it couldn’t be helped. In order to keep the mood going the way it had, he had to paint the people who attacked Han Seungbeom as if they were just wasting their time on something ridiculous.
Contrary to what he had asked at the start, the clip from that video was uploaded to a NeoTube channel as-is and pulled in a ton of views. I suppose everyone was curious about what the Prism members thought of the controversy.
— hahahaha wow, this feels like pouring cider straight down my throat2
— Ah, as expected, Prism is just built different LOLOLOLOL Their aura is too strong
— It’s honestly hilarious how all the haters who were nitpicking for no reason are getting hit with facts and disappearing one by one
His signature cynical attitude—saying whatever he wanted yet somehow never coming off as unlikeable—had a way of making people, not just Sera but even the general public, unconsciously side with him. Because of that, the controversy ended up being seen by most as nothing more than unfair harassment.
Things had turned out in my favor, but to be honest, I didn’t feel at ease. I was worried that Nam Yihwon might end up facing heavy public backlash for stepping in to defend me.
But Nam Yihwon didn’t even pretend to care about my concerns.
“Thank goodness people mostly took it well. What would you have done if it had sparked a scandal about your personality?”
“Then I’d have been totally busted.”
“…You, seriously.”
“If someone was going to hate me over something like this, they probably never liked me in the first place anyway. I haven’t just been like this for a day or two. This is just how my personality is, so if they have a problem with it, tell them to just avoid me on their own.”
Ha, that colt-like brat…….
I have no idea what on earth was going on inside Nam Yihwon’s head.
I shouldn’t be relying on the other members like this. I felt a sense of guilt for having ended up receiving help from the very members I was supposed to look after, and the unfamiliarity of being the one on the receiving end made me feel out of place. But even so, somehow, it felt as if a bit of the burden in my heart had been lifted, and for the first time in a while, I exhaled a comfortable breath.
I never realized how comforting it could be to know there are people who will always be on my side.
…Yet, for some reason, my heart felt strangely conflicted.
And as always, the ones who helped me the most during this controversy were the fans.
— I left a comment telling that Cyber Wrecker channel to f*** off, but it got deleted lololol
└ Ah, I think I got blocked too, after telling the channel owner that their head must be broken
└ Seras, please, try to hold back your temper just a little
— It’s plain as day if you see how it’s just all those mediocre Cyber Wrecker channels uploading video after video trashing Han Seungbeom lolol They totally got paid to run a smear campaign
— I’ve been keeping tabs on all the outlets putting out those shitty articles ever since this controversy broke out, and you know what? They’re the exact same ones that first stirred up negative sentiment during Seo Yutae’s father’s private loan scandal, and again when the allegations about murdering his father surfaced. I even dug into the founder’s private SNS, and it looks like he’s had a personal connection with Kang Hyukwoo. They’ve been regularly drinking together for years
— (A video of the president edited to look like Seo Yutae.mp4)
If you deliberately speed up certain parts and mirror the video to make it look similar, then literally anyone can be made to look like a Seo Yutae’s imitation. So, even after seeing this, do you still think Han Seungbeom is the problem? Haha
└ Um, who the hell uses the president for that kind of example? I’m dying … do you think the president is some kind of open-source material? ROFL
Thanks to Seras and Muses working together to expose the fact that Kang Hyukwoo had been targeting other celebrities all along, I was able to regain the public’s support.
— My friend briefly worked part-time there, and I remember them saying that place was selling some weird stuff
However, the details of Kang Hyukwoo’s illegal business didn’t spread as widely as they had hoped.
— Rumors are flying around, so how come there’s not a single article about it? This whole situation just doesn’t make sense
— Whenever someone dies, there’s a bit of noise at the start, but once some time passes and people lose interest, it all just quietly fades away. This situation’s going to end the same way. It’s truly disheartening
To be honest, I had somewhat expected this outcome.
Among Kang Hyukwoo’s clients were numerous politicians and chaebols. If his business were to come to light, it was clear their peace would be threatened. So, it was obvious they wouldn’t just passively cover for him out of loyalty. They would go all in, doing everything they could to cover up his business for the sake of their own safety.
‘And this situation now must be the result of all that.’
By now, you’d expect at least one or two news reports to have come out, but it was completely silent. Worse yet, related information posted on the internet was often deleted in the time it took to refresh the page.
[This post has been deleted.]
Looking at that, I had a gut feeling that the situation had already spiraled beyond what Kang Hyukwoo could handle. Whether it was due to excessive competitiveness toward me, a looming sense of crisis, or wounded pride, I couldn’t say for sure. But one thing was clear: Kang Hyukwoo had crossed the line.
Too many people were involved in Kang Hyukwoo’s business.
There must be more than a few people who’ve been thrown into crisis because of his reckless actions. I couldn’t help but wonder what might be going through their minds as they look at Kang Hyukwoo now.
‘…It’s a relief that I brought Chaeyul with me.’
Suddenly, that thought crossed my mind.
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Translator’s Corner:
Wow … all I could think of was dating Nam Yihwon would be really fun ….
Sorry for the lack of updates … I wasn’t feeling well the day before, and today I got distracted by the things that happened in kpop asdfghjkl
First of all, Hearts2Hearts made a comeback and their new song ‘Style’ is so good …. like, it’s really really good for my taste (I definitely remember I said I don’t like their debut song here before). But song aside, their comeback concept kinda just ? sparked a country cyber war. The Korean netizens are fighting with the Japanese netizens about “who owned this concept” ….. it got so messy that I got completely hooked reading their argument … they even opened a whole history class debate about the ownership of some island…… (I’m a big fan of history)
And the second … I think it;s just like a few days ago I told you guys about the whole controversy about TBZ. Today, their agency kicked a member (who wasn’t even mentioned in those rumors before) for … well, a scandal. It was kinda shocking because … the group was literally created around that member. He was one of the famous trainees that made it into the final of PD101 S2, and basically the reason why the group got attention to begin with. Although tbh later on, I think they didn’t give him that much job ? Somehow other members got more popular. But anyway, it’s just crazy how their fandom literally has not a single peaceful day since they moved to #that agency. Well, it’s not like I’m surprised …. what do you even expect for joining a label founded by a literal criminal …. it’s really becoming their downfall…..
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