I absolutely won’t die alone, even if it costs me my life. I could never stand to watch those bastards live well and prosper off my death, using me as some kind of sacrifice. Kang Hyukwoo’s mind, which had been tightly bound by such thoughts, suddenly went completely blank.
“Director Kang, the name ‘Kim Chaeyul’ … rings a bell, doesn’t it?”
The man standing before him wasn’t some thug who wore a suit for show and followed people around shouting “Hyung-nim! Hyung-nim!” in a pack. He was part of a real, well-established crime syndicate—one so large it had practically become a corporation, and one deeply implicated in countless illegal acts. The moment the name of his young son, who wasn’t even old enough to run errands properly, came from the mouth of a man who wouldn’t even blink while stabbing someone, Kang Hyukwoo felt an immense surge of fear and dread.
‘…How the hell did he find out?!’
He did everything he could to stop something like this from happening. He’d given the child the mother’s surname, kept the child’s existence hidden from everyone around him, even went as far as setting up a separate residence to live in. Yet, in the end, they still discovered it. Where had it all gone wrong? His mind raced, desperately trying to trace the source of this crisis, but he couldn’t begin to guess where the mistake had been made.
‘Did Seo Yutae leak the information?’
No. Kang Hyukwoo knew Seo Yutae’s character all too well.
If he saw a child about to be hit by a car, he was the kind of guy who’d throw himself in the way without a second thought, even if it meant risking his own life. How could someone like that possibly leak a child’s information to a gangster? Even if the child were the offspring of his worst enemy, that was something he could never, ever do.
Having ruled that out, Kang Hyukwoo immediately considered another possibility.
Someone like him wouldn’t care whether the child lived or died, so he would have tried to use the child in whatever way benefited him most. Though, Kang Hyukwoo wasn’t sure if ‘benefited him‘ was even the right way to put it. After all, everything he did was always for Seo Yutae.
“Judging by how desperately you tried to hide it, it seemed like something you treasured quite a lot ……. Or was I mistaken?”
The gangsters didn’t seem to have any idea that the information had been deliberately leaked. Not that it was surprising, considering it was that Lee Saehwa who orchestrated it. Watching him strut around, acting like he’d uncovered some grand secret on his own, made Kang Hyukwoo seethe with anger, but he forced himself to maintain his composure.
But there was something he overlooked.
Even if he tried his hardest not to show any signs of agitation on the outside, that effort itself could end up giving the other person a clue to the truth.
“He’s your son, isn’t he? And not just any son. He’s a son you love dearly.”
Although it was framed as a question, it was already filled with conviction. At that, Kang Hyukwoo clenched his fist tightly, cold sweat seeping from his palm.
“Getting rid of a single kid isn’t all that hard. Especially if no one knows who the guardian is … and even more so if it’s a child no one cares about.”
Every time he heard another remark hinting at his son’s death, his stomach churned. His mind, sluggish and barely functioning as if paralyzed, creaked along until it finally reached a single conclusion.
‘Let’s run away.’
If the child refused to come willingly, he could just drug him with sleeping pills and take him by force. It wouldn’t be easy—especially since the boy was currently staying at Lee Saehwa’s place—but taking that gamble was still better than playing right into the gangsters’ hands.
But the other man, as if he had read Kang Hyukwoo’s mind, looked down at him with cold, lifeless eyes and said, “You’d better drop any thoughts of fleeing overseas, unless you want to see your son spend the rest of his life on the run. You’re still a parent, right? You wouldn’t want to ruin your child’s life with your own mistakes, would you? We need to set an example too … When someone like you tries to run, we have to chase them down to the ends of the earth, no matter where they go. We’ll make sure you and your son are officially declared missing.”
At that, Kang Hyukwoo’s face was overtaken by despair. He stumbled forward, dropped to his knees in front of Park Haejun, and started begging. Just moments ago, the thought of his own death had seemed like nonsense, but now, it felt like it was looming right before his eyes.
“P-Please, just forgive me this once. I swear I’ll live like a ghost, like a dead mouse. Please … just tell me to get out of this alive, hyung, and I’ll make it back, no matter what it takes!”
“Get up, Director Kang. You know that doesn’t work. There’ve been so many guys begging for their lives on their knees in front of me, it doesn’t even faze me anymore. So why are you bothering?”
”…….“
“I already know you’ve been trying to steal our internal information all this time, so what reason do I have to let you live? Hm?”
After saying that, Park Haejun slowly rose from his seat, tossed his cigarette onto Kang Hyukwoo’s shoe, and crushed it out with his foot. Then, tapping Kang Hyukwoo’s cheek lightly, he leaned in and whispered in a feigned affectionate tone.
“Got it? Be sure to prepare yourself. And write a proper suicide note. Make it look convincing.”
”…….“
“Or you could pray for some sudden miracle that makes all of this disappear, like it never even happened. Not that there’s much hope … but hey, it’s not like you have any other options, right?”
And just as he was about to leave the room, he paused for a moment and muttered,
“…That child is truly pitiful. This is what happens when you’re born to the wrong parents.”
***
As soon as they stepped off stage after finishing their Water Festival performance, the members of Prism burst into laughter they had been holding back and started chatting excitedly.
“Hahaha! Hey, did you hear that in the middle?”
“‘Huwaaah! Yihwon-hyung! You’re so cool! Heuheuheung’. That one? I seriously almost couldn’t sing because I was laughing so hard. Why was his voice so loud? And why was he panting like that?”
The main topic of conversation was a male fan who had stood in the very front row of the audience and cheered for Nam Yihwon until his voice gave out. He kept shouting Prism’s fanchants the whole time, and then, during a brief pause after one of the songs, he suddenly blurted out a love confession. It turned the performance into a moment that neither the audience nor the Prism members would ever forget.
Cha Woon, who alone maintained a poker face throughout the performance even in the midst of all that, quietly watched the other members giggling among themselves. Then, he raised one eyebrow crookedly and spoke in a sullen tone.
“Stop fooling around, Nam Yihwon. You’ve got a job to do.”
“No, I said almost. I sang just fine, why am I suddenly getting scolded?”
“When will our Woon-hyung ever become less serious? Life would be a lot more fun if he’d just relax a bit.”
“Leave him be. He’s cute.”
“Oh, please don’t do that. It’s killing me.”
”Shut up.“
“Yeesss, Leader-nim.”
Nam Yihwon gave an exaggerated bow toward Cha Woon, who was acting a bit prickly—perhaps due to being on high alert to prevent safety accidents—and responded in kind. At the mention of the word ‘Leader-nim’, Jo Inchan, who had been following a step behind without joining the conversation, smiled faintly and finally chimed in.
“Back in the day, Yutae-hyung was really well-known for having male fans. There was a famous ‘Seo Yutae’s Fanboys Compilation‘ on NeoTube.”
Prism was a group known for its massive fandom, and naturally, that included a significant number of male fans. Among them, Seo Yutae was particularly popular. His impressive career, striking appearance, and the way he carried himself had a kind of effortless charm that made people look up to him, leading to an unusually large male fanbase.
“Remember that? There was a time when growing your hair out like Hyung became a trend.”
“Obviously. But since not everyone had the same face or physique as his, a lot of people hated it. They said he popularized something only he could pull off, and it caused widespread fashion disasters.”
“Maybe I should try growing my hair out like Hyung too. I’ll grow it long and wear it in pigtails. What do you think, Woon-hyung?”
“Get lost!”
When Nam Yihwon pressed his fists to either side of his head, pretending to tie his hair into pigtails, Cha Woon slapped the back of his hand in fierce protest. While Lee Chise and Nam Yihwon giggled to themselves, satisfied with having successfully teased Cha Woon, Jo Inchan took out his phone and began scrolling through reactions on SNS and NeoTube.
Having seen what happened on Pantheion’s stage earlier, he couldn’t rid himself of the lingering anxiety.
“…As expected.”
And sure enough, not long after, Jo Inchan let out a sigh, as if he’d seen it coming.
Sensing right away that something was wrong, the Prism members quickly gathered around him and looked down at his phone.
On the screen was a fancam video of Seo Yutae at the Water Festival, uploaded with provocative titles such as ‘Han Seungbeom Chasing Off the Audience 😱‘ and ‘Han Seungbeom Super Pissed Off After Bullying the Members‘.
The titles were written to make it seem like Han Seungbeom had done something outrageous, just to attract attention. But midway through the video, it showed that an audience member had kept spraying a water gun at Do Yuda’s face. It also included accounts from other audience members who said the Pantheion members had repeatedly asked the person to stop, yet they kept spraying anyway.
— It wasn’t even funny, but those bastards kept giggling and shooting water into people’s eyes. It was so freaking annoying. I came to watch the performance, so why do they keep disturbing it, and in such an annoying way? … Honestly, even if Han Seungbeom had whacked them on the head with a water gun, I’d say he was justified
— Oh no ㅠㅠ Yuda kept getting water in his mouth and kept coughing ㅠㅠㅠ You bastards, if you called them to perform, the least you could do is let them sing properly
— 4:27 LOLOLOL look at Yuda’s expression, He really thought he was about to get hit in the face with a water gun again, but his Hyung stepped in and blocked it for him, so he looked so touched. He turned into a super happy puppy and stared at Sseungbeom, but Sseungbeom didn’t even meet his eyes and just walked off to do his part like nothing happened. Seriously, what is this alpha male behavior
— Ha … damn. He didn’t care at all when people were spraying him, but the moment his members started having a hard time, he immediately stepped in to stop it. Seriously, that’s just, so, so … wow. As expected, a leader is a leader for a reason
— Ha … damn. He didn’t care at all when people were spraying him, but the moment his members started having a hard time, he immediately stepped in to stop it. Seriously, that’s just, so, so … wow. As expected, a leader is a leader for a reason
— (Pantheion’s members grinning goofily.jpg)
The type who’d easily fall for a scam
(Han Seungbeom looking dead serious behind them.jpg)
The reason they haven’t been scammed yet
└ Nicholas and Lee Danbi don’t seem like they’d fall for a scam either ㅠㅠ Aren’t they supposed to be moved to the right?
└ They don’t look out for the members
└ Ah fk, that’s brutal
— Wait, but why is Han Seungbeom so good at blocking the water? The puppy next to him can’t dodge anything and is just flailing around like oof oof, but Seungbeom’s over there predicting the water jets and not letting them anywhere near his face. That’s seriously amazing1
└ Peter, must I block all the water for you to believe?
— kimjunseo2356: He came as a guest, but he ruined the whole mood just because he was uncomfortable lol. I bet that guy will get caught up in a personality scandal sooner or later
└ I was uncomfortable too, actually. If everyone else was uncomfortable except for you, maybe you’re the problem?
└ Junseo, come to your senses before I come after you and slap you with water
Upon seeing that the majority of people were calling Han Seungbeom’s actions ‘refreshing‘ and and defending him, the Prism members let out a deep, relieved sigh.
“Still, that’s a relief. You know how rumors can spread in weird ways and end up with people getting cursed out for no reason.”
“I bet that hyung won’t care.”
“’Tell them to go ahead. I can take getting cursed out a hundred more times for matters like this. If you’re too scared of backlash to deal with a safety issue properly, then what’s the point of having a leader?‘ See? Sounds just like him, right? I think I’m getting pretty good at doing Yutae-hyung’s voice impression.”
“Ahahaha! I laughed so hard, my stomach hurts. Hah … haah … Yutae-hyung seriously doesn’t listen to a single word from people he’s not interested in, not even a tiny bit. It’s kinda concerning.”
When Lee Chise mimicked Seo Yutae’s trademark blunt tone and grumpy expression, even Cha Woon let out a small chuckle, while Nam Yihwon completely lost it, wheezing with laughter as he clutched his stomach.
“That’s not a bad thing. The problem is, he listens way too much to the people he is interested in.”
In that moment, Yoo Jay’s sharp remark wiped the smile off everyone’s faces, and the mood subtly turned chilly.
Seo Yutae’s tendency to be excessively accepting, but only toward the people he held close, was a trait the Prism members loved him for, yet also something they deeply resented.
“Did you all see that broadcast accident?”
“…….”
“…….”
As soon as the bomb—the incident that had drawn attacks from the more extreme sides of the Prism and Pantheion fandoms, and that the Prism members had deliberately avoided mentioning among themselves—was brought up, they all froze on the spot.
A cold silence fell.
“…Of course I saw it. How could I not?”
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Translator’s Corner:
OT5 Prism laughing together …. we used to pray for times like this but humans are greedy .. .OT5 isn’t enough anymore …..
Unfortunately for everyone, the author really likes to make you cry (even the latest side story still makes me cry, I seriously don’t know what the author put in this series that makes me cry a river. I’m a crybaby but I usually get tired of crying over a story, like at some point, you’d just get mad, but this story just keeps making me cry), so we still have 41 chapters left (wow I can’t believe I really reached this far??? even SSS Cafe only has 192 chapters. If I don’t get isekai-d to this novel for my next life, I would be really mad (9999+))
If you see typos, that’s my worsening eyesight (I really need to get glasses except that also required me a trip to hospital to get my eyes checked) (can’t God just invent eyesights getting better on their own)
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