Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 38

38.

I watched Jane being dragged away, desperately yelling that Ji Dong-hwa was a smart idiot, and I thought,

‘Hmm, interesting.’

“…I’m sorry. I think I made a mistake in my reasoning.”

Gyeon-heon waves his hands and shouts,

“No, no. I agreed after hearing it, so it’s our responsibility.”

“That’s right! I thought Jane dying would be good for the show. Look at it now, it’s so confusing and great, right?”

…I heard they usually skip the first vote, but I guess I pushed it too far.

“Jane, my Jane, no! She would never try to kill me!”

Chae Ha-min shouts, filled with joy.

Conceptually, you put your lover on the execution stand, so you shouldn’t be happy, Ha-min.

Then, Gyeon-heon smiles and says….

“Now that Jane is gone, shall we get married, Ha-min?”

“Oh, Gyeon-heon, can I wash away my pain with you?”

…It’s like a scene from Shakespeare.

“…Madam, please think for a moment.”

Then, Chae Ha-min is stunned, suddenly covers his mouth, and gasps.

“It’s not both of us… Gyeon-heon, Jun-seong, one of you is the culprit!”

“Gyeon-heon hyung [older brother/male friend] is the culprit! Confirmed!”

Jun-seong says energetically.

“Hey… Jun-seong, if it’s not me, it’s you.”

“Gyeon-heon hyung, I heard a scream earlier and saw you hanging around the 4th floor?”

And Gyeon-heon and Jun-seong are suspicious of each other. But then they chuckle and turn their heads away from each other.

“Dong-hwa, we, we have to find the culprit!”

“…Right.”

Fortunately, it seems like they’re letting my mistake slide. I need to solve the problem quickly.

* * *

# Rough Cut

Ji Dong-hwa is busily running around, solving the problem.

‘…Hmm, German.’

Ji Dong-hwa nonchalantly takes out a German book from the study in the practice room and starts reading.

‘…I’m probably the only one who can read this.’

[…I didn’t think there would be anyone from the production team.]

‘Hmm, The Sorrows of Young Werther.’

A story about a man who pines for unrequited love and commits suicide.

‘…….’

Ji Dong-hwa looks at the book for a long time, then closes it and rests his head on it, quietly murmuring.

‘…Madam.’

And the screen switches.

Jun-seong is smiling slightly, rummaging through papers.

‘Wow, I’m seeing a lot of new sides to Dong-hwa hoobae [junior/younger colleague] in this game.’

He picks up a piece of paper and continues.

‘I’ve never seen Dong-hwa hoobae make such a mistake before. He’s usually so smart.’

Then he quickly scans the paper.

‘Anyway… I need to find evidence that Gyeon-heon hyung is the culprit quickly. That way, our hoobaenims [juniors] will clear their suspicions…….’

Then Jun-seong starts reading the letters written on an old piece of paper.

‘…The right one always tells lies.’

[Jun-seong discovers a mysterious sentence…!]

Jun-seong smiles leisurely and says to the camera.

‘Wow, does any viewer know what this nonsense means?’

And the screen switches, showing Gyeon-heon.

‘Ha, puzzles are too hard. Dong-hwa solves them like he’s doing addition problems, how is that possible?’

Gyeon-heon struggles with the problem for 10 minutes before finally figuring out the answer and opening the box.

A small notebook comes out of it.

‘What… what is this book?’

Gyeon-heon quickly starts skimming through the writing.

‘Wow… our love relationship chart was a complete mess.’

He shows So-hwi’s letter to the camera and smiles.

‘So-hwi sent a letter saying that if she becomes a prima donna, she will meet Jane again.’

[Jane and So-hwi weren’t completely broken up?]

* * *

I start sorting the piles of evidence in front of me by person.

I can hear the staff admiring from the side, but let’s ignore it for now.

First, Jun-seong. I start organizing the information one by one as if I’m briefing someone.

“…Jun-seong usually takes care of the actors and goes through all sorts of hardships. Especially Jane and So-hwi, they treated Jun-seong like a slave. So, there is a motive for killing Ha-min, Jane, and So-hwi.”

And I pick up a love letter written in Jun-seong’s handwriting.

“And surprisingly, Jun-seong and Gyeon-heon were originally in a relationship before Gyeon-heon and Ha-min had an affair.”

…This is a really open program. Amazing, how many angles is this relationship?

“If we organize the relationship chart, Ha-min and Jane are outwardly known as lovers.”

I sketch the relationship chart on paper and mutter.

“Gyeon-heon and Jun-seong are in a secret relationship that is difficult to talk about socially.”

I complete the relationship chart and show it to the camera. There are cute hearts drawn between Gyeon-heon and Jun-seong, Jane and Ha-min.

“But Gyeon-heon had an affair with Ha-min.”

A heart is drawn between Gyeon-heon and Ha-min.

“When someone who was in a homosexual relationship turns to a heterosexual relationship, they can be quite furious. The sense of victimhood that they had been suppressing due to their timid personality may have been triggered by that incident.”

I gather the materials and put them in my front pocket.

“In other words, in my opinion, Jun-seong is more likely to be the culprit than Gyeon-heon.”

And finally, I look at the camera.

“But… I don’t know why they’re trying to kill me, so I can’t be sure.”

And a small sigh.

“I can’t make the same mistake as before.”

I carefully touch my monocle with my left hand.

* * *

Jun-seong is walking around diligently and meets Gyeon-heon. At that moment, Jun-seong makes a miserable expression and asks.

“…Honey, were you serious about asking Ha-min to marry you earlier?”

Gyeon-heon’s lips twitch as he forcibly suppresses the laughter that is about to rise.

“Focus! Hyung [older brother/male friend]! I don’t want to do it either!”

Then Gyeon-heon sighs deeply and asks.

“…I told you, Jun-seong. It’s to keep the prima donna in our theater.”

“…I, I hate you sometimes, my, my beloved, pfft!”

Then Gyeon-heon also bursts into laughter and starts cackling.

“Ah, today there’s only a concept of being crazy in love, so it’s hard to immerse myself.”

“But hyung, why did Jane noona [older sister/female friend] try to hide the fact that she knew you were cheating?”

Then Gyeon-heon nods and says.

“That’s… strange. And it’s certain that you’re the culprit, but I don’t know why you’re trying to kill Dong-hwa.”

Then Jun-seong smiles and says.

“Me too, hyung. It’s certain that hyung is the culprit, but I don’t know why you’re trying to kill me. Such a lovely lover.”

Jun-seong makes a flower pose on his face.

Gyeon-heon frowns at that, then relaxes his expression as he remembers the concept.

“Ah, by the way, did you know that? So-hwi and Jane were lovers in the past, but until recently too.”

“Hyung, give up. Anyway, the reason you’re not killing me now is because if you kill me, you’ll immediately get a citizen vote from our hoobaenims [juniors], right?”

“…The same goes for you, my fiancé.”

Then Jun-seong laughs again and turns around and leaves.

“Do your best, the red string between us is about to break.”

And Gyeon-heon is left alone. Gyeon-heon tilts his head as if he’s suspicious of something and leaves the room.

“…Jun-seong usually doesn’t act like that if he’s the culprit.”

* * *

# Rough Cut

Gyeon-heon returns to the 4th floor warehouse. He rummages around as if he’s trying to find something.

And he strokes the nose of the stuffed deer head hanging on the wall and starts thinking carefully.

And as if he realizes something, he makes an ‘Ah!’ sound and opens his mouth.

‘Wow, I’m getting goosebumps for the first time in a while. This…….’

The moment he tries to go to the door to tell everyone the newly discovered fact…….

Creak—

The sound of the door opening is heard first.

Gyeon-heon turns his head quickly, and the screen suddenly goes dark.

To be exact, all the lights seem to have gone out at once as the power in the theater went out.

* * *

Chae Ha-min sits still in one place as all the lights in the theater go out.

Something keeps bothering him.

‘…Why does Dong-hwa touch his glasses with his left hand sometimes, and with his right hand sometimes?’

And unlike the usual Ji Dong-hwa, Ji Dong-hwa was wrong.

The fact that Ji Dong-hwa, who had an almost perfect image in Chae Ha-min’s intellectual realm, was wrong was a huge shock.

‘Originally, he wouldn’t say anything until he was sure.’

…Why do I keep suspecting Dong-hwa?

“Wow, everyone, this is really too hard. Acting is okay, but using my brain is impossible…….”

Still, Chae Ha-min smiles brightly in the dark and says.

“But! Surprisingly, this hint I found seems to be a bit important information! As expected of the prima donna, the best actress of this era, right?”

Ha-min shakes the hat once as if it were his hair and says.

“Jun-seong once asked me to sign a contract with his company. It’s the company with So-hwi and Jane, and he said they would push me better than my current company!”

Then he flutters the paper in his hand in the dark where the camera is presumed to be.

“But according to this paper, So-hwi asked Jane to do that, and Jane asked Jun-seong to do it!”

Then Chae Ha-min suddenly becomes gloomy and says.

“But I don’t know if this is evidence of who killed whom.”

Then he smiles and says.

“Anyway, I rejected the offer outright. Because my manager cast me when he was at the bottom and made me the best opera singer. Of course… there were some awkward things too. My manager confessed to me once.”

After that, Chae Ha-min takes out Ji Dong-hwa’s diary.

“It’s Dong-hwa’s diary, and after reading it, my heart ached a lot. Every time I rejected him, every time I received a contract offer from another company, he seemed to be very heartbroken.”

About 3 minutes after Chae Ha-min was rambling about his concept, the voice actor’s eerie voice echoed through the theater.

“Second murder occurred! The location is the 4th floor warehouse.”

And at that moment, the lights come on. Chae Ha-min jumps up and shouts, grabbing his skirt.

“Dong-hwa, where are you!”

‘Yes, Dong-hwa was definitely next to me during the first murder! Dong-hwa is the only one I can trust.’

Then he starts running to the 4th floor.

* * *

Jun-seong, Chae Ha-min, and I gathered at the scene. A knife is stuck in the stomach of a mannequin dressed as Gyeon-heon.

Jun-seong hugs Gyeon-heon’s mannequin with a half-crying expression, perhaps because of the concept.

I quietly murmur, looking at the ‘J’ initial engraved on the knife.

“…Jun-seong’s manager, I haven’t found a reason to kill me yet, but for now, I can only think of you as the culprit of this murder.”

“Wait, calm down. There’s no way I would kill my lover. And logically, if I kill Gyeon-heon, I have no way to win at all.”

“You two were lovers?”

As expected, he didn’t solve the problem properly.

Of course, Jun-seong’s words are correct.

If Jun-seong is the culprit, the only way to win is to kill either me or Chae Ha-min and then frame Gyeon-heon at the end.

And that’s why it can be seen as a twistable point.

I slowly take out the evidence one by one and open my mouth.

“Jane and So-hwi always treated you like a errand boy, and Ha-min and Gyeon-heon led your love to despair.”

I take a moment to breathe and say.

“And this knife has your initial, J, engraved on it.”

I get up from my seat, turn around, and say.

“…Why are you trying to kill me? Please just tell me, since it’s the last time.”

“No, Dong-hwa hoobae [junior/younger colleague]! It’s not me. I’m so confused right now because Gyeon-heon hyung [older brother/male friend] died!”

Then Chae Ha-min thinks for a while and says.

“Jun-seong, do you remember when you tried to bring me to your company?”

“…I remember, Madam.”

I’m expressionlessly watching the two’s conversation.

“At that time, I rejected the offer because Ji Dong-hwa’s manager was doing a good job. If you harbored resentment towards our manager for hindering the expansion of your business…….”

Chae Ha-min claps once as if he finally understands and says.

“Wow! Then Dong-hwa, there’s a reason to kill you too!”

“No, that was Jane’s order. I don’t know why she ordered it. I didn’t have any intention of expanding the business in the first place.”

Hmm, I know why she ordered it, but there’s no need to say it.

I quietly fidget with the evidence in my pocket and say.

“…First, let’s go according to the citizens’ verdict.”

Finally, it’s the end.

* * *

# Rough Cut

Chae Ha-min and Ji Dong-hwa become a team, and Jun-seong becomes the opposing team, continuing the questioning and answering.

‘No, then one of us two must be the culprit, but Jun-seong hyung [older brother/male friend], we were together during the first murder.’

‘I’m wondering about that too. Since it’s not me, one of you two must be the culprit. Was there anything strange at the first murder scene?’

[Jun-seong, who says he’s definitely not the culprit]

Chae Ha-min shakes his head.

‘There was nothing. The crossbow was clearly just lying on the floor.’

[And the unresolved question of the first murder case]

Then Ji Dong-hwa opens his mouth.

‘…I think it’s more reasonable to see you as the culprit than Madam, based on the circumstances.’

Then Jun-seong sighs.

‘You’re right. I think I would have said that if I were in your position. But the problem is that it’s not me. I’ve never even thought about killing my love Gyeon-heon! Gyeon-heon has always given me faith.’

Jun-seong takes a breath.

‘And the initial engraved on the knife is J, so you, Dong-hwa, could be the culprit too.’

Then Chae Ha-min shakes his head, saying that’s impossible.

‘According to the game rules, an announcement is made within 30 seconds of a person being murdered, right? But Dong-hwa was with me for over 10 minutes.’

And then, a dubbing sound and subtitles appear.

[Time to choose]

Ji Dong-hwa looks at Chae Ha-min as if he can’t help it and says.

‘Madam, if no one votes this time, the murderer will naturally win. So, trust me.’

Then Chae Ha-min nods as if it’s natural.

‘Yes, Manager! I’ve decided to trust only you since the first murder!’

Then Jun-seong twists his body as if he’s going crazy.

‘Ah! Ah! Ah! The culprit is really creepy, really. Did you plan this picture from the first murder? Dong-hwa hoobae [junior/younger colleague], it’s you! You did that!’

Then Ji Dong-hwa slowly raises his monocle with his right hand and answers.

‘…I’m sorry, but I’m not the culprit.’

Jun-seong, who was blankly watching the scene, suddenly remembers something and gasps in surprise.

‘You, you, you’re left-handed, but your right hand, the right one tells lies…….’

Jun-seong’s small murmur, but Chae Ha-min doesn’t hear it because of the voice that echoes at that moment.

‘This is the second citizen’s verdict. Jun-seong goes to the execution stand.’

Jun-seong looks at Dong-hwa with a shocked expression and then listlessly goes outside, led by the guide.

Ji Dong-hwa bows to Jun-seong in a straight posture, and Chae Ha-min is jumping up and down, waving his hand with the satisfaction of finally winning.

‘This is the result of the citizens’ verdict.’

Chae Ha-min gathers his hands, preparing to cheer.

‘The game is not over.’

‘Wow— Ah?’

Chae Ha-min, who was cheering, slowly turns his head to the side. There, Ji Dong-hwa is standing with his usual cold face.

‘Do, Dong-hwa?’

Ji Dong-hwa, who turned his body towards Chae Ha-min, puts his right hand on his left chest and bows his head.

‘…I’m sorry, Madam.’

And he raises his coat with his right hand, puts his left hand in the inside pocket of his clothes, and takes out a pistol.

The muzzle is aimed at Chae Ha-min. Chae Ha-min murmurs as if he can’t believe it.

‘No, how, Do, Dong-hwa.’

The camera zooms in on Ji Dong-hwa’s upper body.