Prince From Another Dimension Becomes An Idol [EN]: Chapter 139

Dojai’s brow furrowed slightly.

“Just a moment.”

Louis simply posted the article link in the group chat with only the members.

Ding!

Buzz-

Notifications immediately rang out from all over the dorm.

“What’s with the Kakao [Korean messaging app] when we’re together…”

Heungmin, who was picking at the leftover garlic bread from yesterday in the living room, tilted his head and checked his phone.

Kijun, who was changing clothes in his room, did the same.

Dojai also read the article on his phone next to Louis.

〈Yoo Myungwoo Bullying Controversy? The Origin, Stirring Up Trouble Again!〉

The article that Louis found and sent was ranked at the top of the entertainment section on portal sites.

“Are they saying Yoo Myungwoo was bullied?”

Woocheol mumbled as he clicked on the article.

Of course, the content wasn’t that Yoo Myungwoo was bullied, but that he instigated it.

And that was within The Origin group.

To be exact, it was the speculation of Hwang Juho’s fans.

“What is this? It just seems like some fans’ speculation… That Hwang Juho was bullied in the team?”

Heungmin said from the living room.

But he couldn’t continue his words.

The initial part of the article was, as Heungmin said, some fans capturing broadcast footage and raising suspicions that Yoo Myungwoo was bullying Hwang Juho.

But the latter part was…

Heungmin looked at Dojai, who was reading the article, with a worried expression.

***

Since Yoo Myungwoo’s solo album came out and he appeared on several main variety shows, The Origin’s fandom had no peaceful days.

It was as Dojai had expected.

Hwang Juho’s fans were dissatisfied that their member couldn’t appear on broadcasts while other members, especially Yoo Myungwoo, were actively working.

They couldn’t just keep self-reflecting forever; they should have made a comeback with team activities. But it seemed like team activities were being pushed back because of Yoo Myungwoo’s solo activities…

Those were the kinds of complaints.

Since those who were going to leave the fandom after the incident had already left, Hwang Juho’s fandom was a bit more brazen.

Of course, the Hwang Juho’s fandom that brought up these talks was only a ‘handful’.

Other The Origin fans wanted Hwang Juho to just leave the group.

They were frustrated because their activities were being delayed because of Hwang Juho.

However, on the one hand, they were also dissatisfied with Yoo Myungwoo’s solo activities, even though they could have just worked without Hwang Juho.

It wasn’t Yoo Myungwoo’s fault, but there was a strong feeling that the agency had been openly pushing only Yoo Myungwoo since before.

Originally, it was a story that only came out among a small number of fans because Yoo Myungwoo had the best skills and was also very popular, but it gradually grew bigger with his solo activities.

When complaints came out, Yoo Myungwoo’s fandom shut them down, saying, ‘They’re just jealous,’ and ‘They’re bashing a member who’s working hard to carry the team.’

Those who were silenced wanted to speak even louder.

If Yoo Myungwoo had taken care of the members in any way, the fighting would have subsided.

Anyone who really liked The Origin knew that The Origin’s member camaraderie was ‘for broadcast’ [meaning it was just for show].

Because of this, The Origin’s fandom originally had a very strong tendency towards individual fans, and thanks to that, the fighting showed no signs of subsiding.

In that situation, 〈Passion Man〉, which Yoo Myungwoo appeared on, was broadcast, and not only Dojai but also Yoo Myungwoo became a topic of conversation in their own way.

The moment Yoo Myungwoo seemed to be doing well, the eyes of the remaining Hwang Juho fans flipped in an instant.

From the beginning, they were the ones who thought that the reason Hwang Juho was drifting from the group and eventually frequenting high-end bars without a sense of professionalism or ethics was Yoo Myungwoo.

Ultimately, it was Hwang Juho who chose to walk that path, but there must have been a desire to turn the arrows of blame somehow.

That’s how one of Hwang Juho’s fans anonymously posted on Tweetie [a fictionalized version of Twitter], and it spread like wildfire.

Then, some fans who didn’t like Hwang Juho but also didn’t like Yoo Myungwoo’s actions joined in.

The content was about ‘the reason Hwang Juho went astray’.

Myungwoo, are you happy eating and living well alone? @@@

As someone who supported Juho since trainee days, I couldn’t understand it. The more he promoted, the worse his skills got. But I understand. What’s the point of having skills if you don’t have parts? Myungwoo, are you happy taking all of Juho’s parts? All the demos were Juho’s parts.

Myungwoo, are you happy eating and living well alone? @@@

If he cries about not having enough screen time in self-produced content, he’s treated like he’s making a fuss, and since he doesn’t have enough screen time, his fandom is only a handful, and he looks more and more discouraged.

But the funny thing is, he smiles when our amazing leader Yoo Myungwoo isn’t there.

Myungwoo, are you happy eating and living well alone? @@@

Myungwoo, it’s so obvious. The only time you pay attention to Juho is when you’re giving him penalties while playing games, lol. What’s really scary is that sometimes it’s so subtle that I really thought Juho was just clueless and kept getting penalties.

Myungwoo, are you happy eating and living well alone? @@@ 18

Our Myungwoo looked so passionate on Passion Man, lol. You weren’t like that on group variety shows, lol. You only worked hard when you were picking on Juho. If that’s the case, you should have just gone solo from the beginning, lol. Oh, no, that’s right, you can’t go solo because you have to ostracize him with the other members, right?

Myungwoo, are you happy eating and living well alone? @@@

It’s been said steadily, but Yoo Myungwoo’s fans always shut us up, and even if we talk about it this time, we’ll be ignored. Our kid who went to drink after drifting from the team has become a room salon [Korean hostess bar] patron, and our gold spoon [born into wealth] Myungwoo is the pillar of the team, lol. Yeah.

The first Tweetie post alone wasn’t enough to be made into an article.

It just seemed like Hwang Juho’s fan was trying to bring down other members by targeting Yoo Myungwoo.

However, the posts that came up afterward were the real problem.

Captures were uploaded in real-time as if the content of the ID ‘Myungwoo, are you happy eating and living well alone?’ (abbreviated as ‘Myung Hon Jal’) was true.

One of them was a video of Yoo Myungwoo and the other members jokingly giving Hwang Juho penalties in a self-produced content game.

Yoo Myungwoo designating Hwang Juho as the penalty taker alone seemed like a simple joke.

However, the atmosphere became strange as the other members looked at each other and continuously designated Hwang Juho as the penalty taker.

And the change in Hwang Juho’s expression was stark when Yoo Myungwoo was next to him and when he wasn’t.

That change wasn’t severe in the beginning, but it looked very severe right before Hwang Juho’s scandal broke out.

The other members also treated Hwang Juho almost like he didn’t exist when Yoo Myungwoo was there.

The demo version of The Origin’s debut song SUN&MOON, which originally had Hwang Juho singing the chorus, was also uploaded.

However, all of these were just speculations.

‘The atmosphere changes’ was a different issue from verbal or physical violence.

It wasn’t to the extent that it could be confirmed as ‘bullying’.

However, it was enough to fuel the suspicions of fans and netizens.

Thanks to that, controversies arose in various online communities overnight.

-Isn’t it too much to push it with captures?

-Go watch the video

-There aren’t many such videos:

-Hwang Juho just seems a bit clueless. So it seems like they’re giving him some hints

-Isn’t this blaming the victim? You’re going to say it’s okay to beat him if he’s clueless

-What’s with the sudden outburst? Aren’t you a fan:: Is this much of a fuss over just giving him some hints?

-I’d give him hints if he was a room salon patron

-This is before Hwang Juho started going to bars, during their debut days

-He must have seen the signs

-Wow, the stenchㄷㄷ Yoo Myungwoo’s fans are amazing

-It’s more disgusting to witch hunt with a few of these videos

-It’s not just giving him hints, is it? If it’s this much in the video, isn’t it confirmed bullying outside?

-I’m getting so much ptsd. This was the atmosphere when I was subtly ostracized in middle school, it makes me want to throw upㅠㅠ Does this really look like nothing?

-It seems like Yoo Myungwoo is just getting his hair pulled by Hwang’s fans, poor thing

-How many members have been harmed by your oppa’s [term of endearment for older brother/male idol] mistakes? Hwang Juho’s fans are shameless

-What do you expect from a room salon patron’s fan

-But it’s a fact that New pushed only Yoo Myungwoo. It’s also a fact that the members are very conscious of Yoo Myungwoo

-Did your member give you a DM saying they’re conscious of Myungwoo? How is that a fact

-But. Hwang Juho did wrong by going to room salons. But honestly, just looking at the atmosphere, I’d want to quit the team and everythingㅜㅜ

-Myungwoo’s personality is sometimes chic. It seems like they maliciously captured those moments on screen

-That’s right, how can a person only smile 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

-The leader can also discipline the members

It was clearly a blow to Yoo Myungwoo.

However, because the target was Hwang Juho, fans didn’t easily turn their backs on Yoo Myungwoo.

It seemed like a controversy that would only be a big deal in the idol fandom and would subside in a few days.

However, the story grew uncontrollably as a complaint post about Yoo Myungwoo was uploaded to the internet community ‘Gatepan’ [a fictionalized version of a popular Korean online forum], which is famous for posting various 고민 (worries) consultations.

[I am exposing the atrocities of The Origin’s Yoo Myungwoo]

It was a post from someone who claimed to be a former New Entertainment trainee.

That post was like throwing a Molotov cocktail at the controversy that was raging within the fandom, and in the end, articles poured out from the morning.

***

The members who arrived at the shop were spending time entrusting their faces and hair to the staff in charge.

Today’s schedule was none other than 〈Jo Jungyeol’s Music Talk〉.

For the Music Talk stage, the members had prepared various stages separately.

They really wanted to do well.

But their hearts weren’t at ease.

They were members who had animosity towards Yoo Myungwoo because of Dojai’s incident, and in the end, they thought ‘what was going to happen, happened’…

But now that things had turned out like this, they were worried that Dojai’s heart would also be uncomfortable.

“That story about the bullied trainee in the exposé… It seems like it’s Dojai, right?”

Hongmin lowered his voice and asked Kijun.

Heungmin and Kijun, who had finished their hair styling first, were eating kimbap [Korean seaweed rice rolls] in a separate guest space.

They were scheduled to start their makeup right after eating.

Kijun nodded with a heavy expression.

The exposé from the former New trainee stated that Yoo Myungwoo ganged up with other trainees and bullied one trainee to the extreme, and in the end, that trainee left the company even though he was in the debut group and debuted elsewhere.

The logic of the post was that the group of perpetrators was the current The Origin members, and considering what Yoo Myungwoo had done in the past, it wasn’t strange that Hwang Juho, who was the perpetrator, had become the victim.

“Haa…”

Heungmin sighed softly.

It was good to expose and criticize Yoo Myungwoo, and the courage was also good.

But the exposé contained too many details about the victim’s suffering.

That was why the members were feeling so heavy-hearted.

They knew it, but seeing it in writing through someone else made the content even more serious.

That’s how it seemed to the members, so they were worried that Dojai, who seemed to have forgotten everything and was living well, would be hurt again.

“Dojai doesn’t seem to care much though…”

“He’s originally strong.”

Heungmin nodded, saying, “That’s true.”

“But how can he be completely okay.”

“Don’t show it unless he brings it up first.”

“Ah, of course. What do you think of me… I’m just frustrated. Those really bad guys. They need to be properly punished. I’m worried that Dojai will get involved.”

Kijun’s expression darkened a little more at Heungmin’s words.

“I know.”

However, whether he knew about his hyungs’ [older brothers/male friends] worries or not, Dojai was reading the exposé about Yoo Myungwoo again and chuckling in disbelief.

It seemed like he knew who had posted the exposé.