Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 310

It’s always the same in the entertainment industry; rumors fly around.

Usually, they’re about relationships, personality, or skills, but one person’s rumors have a slightly different flavor.

Some say he has a guardian angel; others, that he has powerful backers.

That man, surrounded by all sorts of bizarre rumors, was none other than Ji Dong-hwa.

Many people who’ve never seen Ji Dong-hwa in private have had no chance to get close to him.

Except when going to the bathroom or the convenience store during schedules, he’s hardly ever outside. He doesn’t attend private gatherings or hang out.

Even his hobbies are sewing and knitting, and he only uses the gym newly built inside the company. He never goes out for drinks except for after-show dinners with the members. He’s usually holed up in his studio.

And if you ask someone close to Ji Dong-hwa to introduce you, they all give vague answers like, ‘…I don’t know,’ and try to brush it off (in Jun-sung’s case), or flatly refuse to your face (in Ye-eun’s case).

If you manage to meet him by chance and try to talk to him, he politely greets you, politely asks to be excused, and quietly leaves, so there’s no answer.

“…He’s not exactly rude, but just ambiguous enough.”

A member of an idol group quietly brought up Ji Dong-hwa’s name.

“But he’s super polite to the staff. Isn’t that enough?”

The person in front of him dismissed it as trivial gossip.

“No, it’s weird. The rumor is that as soon as the article about him fighting with the leader came out, it quietly disappeared, right?”

“It must have been nonsense. It’s common for articles to be taken down without a correction, right?”

“No, it’s strange. Isn’t he backed by someone? From the rumor that he donated a lot but didn’t get a single article about it, something’s weird.”

Hmm, crazy bastards. These are the ones who make rumors.

He ate his ice cream without much thought. At that moment.

“Gossip isn’t good.”

A man with a gentle face that you’d believe even if he said his dream was to become a priest stood next to him and interrupted.

Yun Sung-ho of God’s Eye.

“…Yes?”

“How unpleasant would it be for the person involved? It’s a position that he and the other members worked hard to get to.”

Yun Sung-ho is known as a pushover. The person who was gossiping knew him and was someone who usually didn’t get annoyed by anything.

Seeing him with a slightly displeased expression pricked his conscience.

“And I introduced him to a good place to donate, but he said he didn’t want any articles about it.”

“Virtue in secret.”

Ho-yeon, standing next to him with his arms crossed, looked down with a thoroughly rotten expression.

A senior [someone older or more experienced] known for his bad temper. If it weren’t for Yun Sung-ho acting as a suppressor, he would have caused every trouble imaginable.

“He’s a good friend, so I hope you’ll look at him a little more closely. You can’t tell what he’s like inside just by looking at the outside.”

Yun Sung-ho smiled and pressed the cookie he had bought for himself into the person’s hand.

Then, Yun Sung-ho bowed and left, followed by Ho-yeon, who disappeared while looking at him like trash.

He was speechless.

“Name.”

Ho-yeon quietly whispered to Yun Sung-ho next to him.

“No way.”

“…Why.”

“If it were Senior Jun-sung, maybe, but you’ll tell Senior Ye-eun right away.”

A pouty lip.

“That senior is, really…….”

Yun Sung-ho trailed off. The words ‘has no backing’ seemed rude.

But Ho-yeon also had no backing.

“Crazy person.”

“Yeon-ah, please!”

Yun Sung-ho slapped Ho-yeon’s shoulder.

“That hyung [older brother or male friend] isn’t normal. Crazy eyes.”

“What am I if you’re the one gossiping!”

Yun Sung-ho desperately begged as if he were about to kneel in front of him.

Yun Sung-ho, who thought of his group as his own face, felt like crying.

“Different.”

Yun Sung-ho grasped the implication of those short words.

He was already saying things he had said before, so it was different. Also, he was already close, so it was even more different.

That was true.

“…Well, even so.”

He knew Ho-yeon’s personality. He was a man with clear convictions, who said what he didn’t like.

So, in official settings, he was doing his best to be polite thanks to Yun Sung-ho’s earnest 18-hour request, but in private, he was unrestrained.

Honesty could quickly turn into rudeness depending on the situation, so Yun Sung-ho was always next to Ho-yeon, betting everything on damage control.

“The other members don’t even do that.”

“…Brainwashing.”

“No, it’s trust.”

Yun Sung-ho smiled proudly.

Ji Dong-hwa had recognized it in advance. Yun Sung-ho’s hidden talent. He was the kind of person who should have been born in the Middle Ages.

“Ah, right. Dong-hwa must have done well at the concert today, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s send him a congratulatory text. Ji-hyun was also agonizing over whether to write or not.”

“…She can’t.”

“…Well, I guess so, after all.”

How great would it be if everything ended just because he accepted the apology? Originally, sins cannot be washed away.

“First, I sent him a message of support in the morning, but let’s send him another one asking if he did well.”

“Yeah.”

However, even if he said this and that, Ho-yeon still trusted and followed Yun Sung-ho more than anyone else.

Whose credit was it that they had come this far? Wasn’t it thanks to Yun Sung-ho, who embraced all the company’s blunders and the members’ blunders and approached each person with a humble attitude?

Ho-yeon believed so.

Of course, meeting a good composer was also a big factor, but at least 70% of it was thanks to the leader change.

Among the male idol debut peers who were all on the path to destruction except for Blossence, they were the only group that had revived.

The fans were even frequently uttering slightly blasphemous drivel that they were living up to their name.

So, when Lee Ji-hyun declared that she was cutting off ties with her father, Yun Sung-ho cried next to her, but Ho-yeon felt relieved.

Yun Sung-ho had led the group so well, and he had no confidence that he wouldn’t beat her to death if she ruined it again.

Anyway, in this way, in places where Ji Dong-hwa wasn’t, there were Ji Dong-hwa’s eyes and ears, and Ji Dong-hwa’s knife.

There were even seniors, juniors, and peers who cared so much that a Ji Dong-hwa meeting without Ji Dong-hwa was created.

Of course, Ji Dong-hwa didn’t know anything.

Just as they were careful to prevent articles from being published when Ji Dong-hwa made donations, they had come to realize that when looking at Ji Dong-hwa, grace was not something to be given in order to be repaid.

* * *

…That was something only Ryu Iden knew within the group.

Lee Hyun-jae was slow to hear entertainment industry rumors even if internet rumors were fast, and Chae Ha-min and Seok-jun were just happy.

One could live life with just snakes and mushrooms, and the other could live life with just Wizney.

And Ji Dong-hwa was crazy. He was very interested in rumors, but it was no different from leaving his ears to Ryu Iden.

Thanks to Ji Dong-hwa’s extremely Ji Dong-hwa-esque thought that a division of labor system based on trust was efficient.

“You, stop pretending to be cool on stage.”

So, even when his younger sibling in front of him said something irritating in a very sibling-like way, it had no impact.

Rather, he was on edge about the other side.

When I go back today, I’ll get an earful, right? Why didn’t you tell me?

“And the four-hour concert was really killing me.”

“…I died.”

“Huh?”

“Younger sibling, if you’re going to donate, it should be in the news.”

“Isn’t that obvious? Since you’re doing something good, you can also do image making and it’s twice as good.”

“I’m sometimes so confused whether he’s a realist or an idealist.”

“…What are you saying.”

Utter disgust.

She had taken precious time out of her busy schedule instead of the other family members to save face because her own flesh and blood was holding a concert, but all he was saying were incomprehensible things.

“Oh, your father asked if you were doing well. Contact him first.”

Pity.

Even if he was a sibling she didn’t want to see, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. How could he be so indifferent, as if that was his daily life, his expression.

“…I hope you’re loved by the members, at least.”

“…Doesn’t seem like it.”

Silence.

“Yeah. What can I do? It must be fate.”

It was too much trouble to care more, so she stopped.

Watching her leave, Ryu Iden felt a little envious of Ji Dong-hwa. How could he be like that with his peers?

* * *

New Heung, Cartel. I immediately thought of those three letters in my head.

Explain.

“It’s just Sung-ho and friends like that. Just by looking at them, you can tell, ‘Ah, this guy isn’t here to suck up to Dong-hwa’s juniors,’ something like that…….”

Ryu Iden, why didn’t you tell me?

“Jun-sung hyung [older brother or male friend].”

“Yeah……?”

“Who started it.”

“It was me! Me! Me! Of course, me! The matchmaker is Dong-hwa, but!”

Ye-eun jumped up and down. It was beyond the scope of the Korean dictionary.

I didn’t put any effort into forming the group, so I’m not really a matchmaker…….

“I received a gift of life from Dong-hwa! So, I’m a matchmaker.”

Ye-eun immediately read my mind and answered.

Please don’t say it in a way that makes people misunderstand. Anyone who hears it will think that the slave system is still in Korea, and that I’m doing a slave liberation movement.

Jun-sung quietly grabbed Ye-eun’s shoulder. A sorry look.

“…Sorry, I couldn’t stop him.”

“Hmm.”

I hadn’t seen Jun-sung hyung [older brother or male friend] for a while, but Senior Ye-eun was doing some strange things.

“It’s a meeting where we gather elegantly and enjoy chocolate and coffee. Like French cafe culture. For Dong-hwa’s brilliant future, cheers!”

My future is planned to be built with these guys, so what are you trying to get a piece of? That guy seems drunk, give him cab fare and send him in.

Besides, even though there are records that when cafes were introduced to France by Arabs, they seemed to be serving ‘mysterious black wine,’ it doesn’t seem like they would have cheered (although they might have).

I was sending Jun-sung a reproachful look with my eyes when.

“…Can I, can I join too!”

Mok-hwa raised her hand as if drawn to something.

No, Mok-hwa.

There’s no way that a group that Yun Sung-ho and Ye-eun belong to is sane. Extremely good people and half-crazy people have a strange connection.

I quietly grabbed Mok-hwa’s sleeve.

Stop.

“Wow, I’m honored. The matchmaker will like it. You never know. The day may come when the Ji Dong-hwa meeting without Ji Dong-hwa throws away its modifier.”

However, Ye-eun grabbed Mok-hwa’s hand with skillful movements.

I’m the matchmaker, I’m right in front of you, and can’t you see that I don’t want my younger sibling to join, Ye-eun?

“What exactly is this group doing.”

I asked carefully.

I’m the matchmaker, but I don’t even know it exists, and I’m dying to know what the activities of that secret society that dreams of my brilliant future are.

“Making Blossence’s good deeds and feeding bad rumors to those who spread them.”

“…Wow.”

Don’t admire it, Mok-hwa.

“And, promoting the fact that Ji Dong-hwa is a good guest to the PDs [production directors] I know.”

And don’t be proud either, Ye-eun. I thought you were having a happy entertainment life after receiving a solo song from me, but what, crazy.

“Actually, there aren’t many results. These days, it seems like we just like to get together and eat chocolate?”

“…Eun-gu is serious. He has eyes that look like he’s going to kill everyone.”

“I really like Eun-gu, that’s why. If I raise him well, he’ll be like me.”

I covered my mouth.

Watching the seeds I sowed bear fruit is more painful than I thought.

Is this how it feels when someone sows the seeds of a poor song and realizes that what grows from it is not the song of a superman on a white horse?

“Ye-eun, that’s not okay. Even though I really care about you, that’s, absolutely.”

“Now that Mok-hwa is here, it’s complete!”

Ye-eun muttered as if dreaming of some utopia, ignoring Jun-sung’s words.

I wonder how long he’s going to live up to the name Ye-eun, he’s about to create a pseudo-religion……, wait, then I’m the object of faith. I’m very upset.

“Ah, right! Right! Iden also came often, didn’t you know, junior? He comes and doesn’t eat coffee or chocolate, just drinks green tea.”

Jun-sung covered his mouth.

It looked like a meeting they had promised to keep secret from each other, but Ye-eun was clever.

A very typical method of making all my displeasure flow to Ryu Iden through the last word.

That’s what it’s like to be taken advantage of even though you know everything.

Ye-eun only appealed that ‘we work hard to help you,’ and put all the displeasure into Ryu Iden.

My gaze naturally turned.

Yeah, it’s dangerous for dogs to eat chocolate. What exactly is that human, that dog, what.