Prince From Another Dimension Becomes An Idol [EN]: Chapter 73

#73.

***

It was Monday, the only day of the week without music show schedules.

Even so, the members had to go to practice in the afternoon, so they woke up late, checked their phones, and were shocked.

[What’s going on with your team?]

[Are you okay?]

[Hey, did you see this article?]

Messages mixed with worry and curiosity kept flooding the members’ phones.

Doja frowned and clicked on a sensational article claiming that the music chart manipulation issue had ‘again’ surfaced.

As expected, the content was irrelevant to the subject.

Issues regarding music chart manipulation had been popping up from time to time, and this time, MOST was the main target.

Anyway, the article, like others, raised suspicions that MOST manipulated their music rankings to achieve good results.

The content of the article was one thing, but the comments below were even worse.

-These young punks only learned the bad things

-I didn’t like how they were being pushed from the start

-Suddenly appearing on the music charts was like, what the heck? lol Manipulation lol

-If it’s true, isn’t it a big problem? People who sing and dance… what will students learn from this?

-I didn’t want to listen to their song anyway, remove it from the chart

-These kinds of people shouldn’t be singers

-XXX I’m gonna puke, quit being a singer

-Real singers are the only ones who suffer because of these guys!

-MOST out!

-Who are these nobodies lol 3rd on the music charts? lol As expectedㅉㅉ Do your rigging moderately?

-I thought they were idol of unpolluted area, but they were rigging-dol. Does Goyang city still use them? My tax money went to these bastards

-Goyang city should sue them

-They’re rookies, but they’re already famous in broadcasting stations for being arrogant in the waiting room lol Trash only does trashy things, right?

-Reported for spreading false information

-Is everyone believing this without any evidence? Writing speculative articles… No wonder they’re called trash reporters

-This isn’t confirmed. There’s no evidence. Is it okay to write articles based on rumors and make innocent people get hate?

-The fangirls have arrived lol Don’t act dirty like your oppas [Korean term for older brothers/male figures] and GTFO

-Shouldn’t we stay neutral for now?

-There’s so much evidence though

-Kingdom is a complete thug, shouldn’t we suspect Big Boyz’ success too?

-No evidence? lol Looking at the graph, it’s obviously manipulation lol

-They even won 1st place on music shows with manipulated charts, give back Cindy A’s 1st place

-What about the other singer?? They’re completely harmed

…The article only mentioned suspicions, but most people already believed that MOST had manipulated the music charts.

No, there seemed to be many people who just wanted to leave malicious comments, regardless of manipulation.

It was just blame for the sake of blaming.

The members, who had been hit out of the blue, couldn’t hide their dismay even while preparing to go to the practice room.

“Has there been any contact from the company?”

Doja asked Gijun, who was changing his clothes.

Gijun nodded with a dark expression.

‘Well, the company must have just seen the article…….’

It wasn’t true anyway.

There would be a way to resolve the situation.

***

On the way to the practice room.

It was a beautiful day as spring was in full bloom.

“What is all this about…….”

Hyungmin muttered with a sigh, as if the good weather was mocking them.

The members had already learned from the Candyz incident that smoke could rise from a chimney even when nothing was burning, controversies could arise, and people would throw stones at innocent frogs [an idiom meaning to attack the innocent].

The only difference was that this time, they were the ones being targeted.

Woocheol, who was walking next to him, moved his lips several times as if he had something to say.

“But, hyungs [Korean term for older brothers/male figures]…….”

The members listened to Woocheol’s words.

“Actually, the talk about manipulation. It’s been around since our comeback day, as mentioned in the article.”

“What?”

Hyungmin looked at Woocheol in surprise.

Woocheol was always on his phone, browsing through all sorts of online communities.

Of course, he searched for all the posts related to MOST every day.

And he had seen people talking about chart manipulation once in a hundred times.

“Since they were saying it without any basis, I thought our music ranking was just that high, and it seemed like they were just jealous because we have fans, but…….”

Woocheol was confused when the article came out.

Woocheol chose his words carefully again and muttered as he took a step.

“Our company…. didn’t really do it, did they?”

“No way…. There’s no way.”

Gyu-seong shook his head.

But soon, Gyuseong frowned.

He remembered Deputy Manager Lee Jung-yeon saying in the waiting room during the fan meeting, ‘The company has invested a lot,’ as if passing by.

There had already been a full-scale investment from the start, pushing two title songs at the time of their debut.

It was something he could have said casually, but he didn’t know why that word came to his mind now.

Doubt and anxiety were inherently contagious.

Louie, Hyungmin, and Gijun’s faces darkened even more.

Woocheol ruffled his hair wildly.

“No. Of course, I thought it wasn’t, but…. There are so many posts saying they knew it, that the ranking doesn’t make sense.”

In the idol community that Woocheol frequented, they had even neatly organized the reasons why MOST’s music ranking was manipulated.

Like the article, reading that post made it seem like they really had manipulated the charts to make their music ranking high.

Woocheol, even as the person involved, felt that way.

He could understand why people were believing it just by looking at the article without knowing anything.

“Hoo…. Sorry for saying unnecessary things, sorry.”

The members shook their heads.

It was an inevitable situation to be shaken.

The company, which was right in front of them, felt so far away.

Doja held out his phone to Woocheol, who was blaming himself.

Twitter was displayed on the screen.

#MOST_ILOVEYOU

#BEST_TRUST_MOST

Already tens of thousands of tweets were being written with these hashtags.

“Our song is good enough. This good ranking…. It’s not a given, but it’s possible.”

“Hyung [Korean term for older brothers/male figures]…….”

“Our fans believe in us, so we have to believe in ourselves too.”

In us, and in our song.

Woocheol quietly nodded his head.

And Doja’s words were a great help to Gijun, who was more shaken than anyone else.

***

“Team Leader!”

Gijun, who found Team Leader Kim Seok-cheol in the hallway leading to the practice room, called out to Team Leader Kim Seok-cheol in a loud voice.

It was a call that was both welcoming and desperate.

‘As a leader…. and as the composer of this song, he must be feeling more frustrated than anyone else.’

Doja thought it was fortunate that he met Team Leader Kim Seok-cheol as soon as possible.

Because it didn’t seem like they could practice at all in this atmosphere.

“Ah. Everyone came right on time.”

Team Leader Kim Seok-cheol checked the time and looked around at the members.

It was just that today, instead of MOST, who had no schedules other than practice, Jung Gil-joo had gone to help pick up another artist who suddenly had a schedule.

“Yes. But, I……!”

Gijun, who had skipped the greetings, hurriedly started talking.

Even so, it seemed like the words wouldn’t come out easily.

Team Leader Kim Seok-cheol, who examined Gijun, who was hesitating, and the members next to him, said as if he understood.

“I guess you saw the article.”

“Yes. I don’t know what happened…….”

Gijun trailed off.

“I thought you would be surprised, so I was on my way to the practice room to meet you.”

“…….”

“It’s such a ridiculous claim. Actually, the employees were also surprised and embarrassed.”

The members nodded, thinking it was understandable.

“Is there a way to fix things……?”

Doja asked cautiously.

Team Leader Kim Seok-cheol looked at Doja for a moment and replied with a blunt face.

“Of course.”

The members’ faces brightened for a moment at his assertion.

“We have to show that Kingdom is not a company that plays around with music.”

***

He reassured the members by asserting that it was nothing, but in fact, there was a lot of deliberation before a conclusion was reached internally.

The employees who rushed to the company after seeing the article quickly held a meeting.

“I’ve never seen such a ridiculous case before.”

Even veteran Team Leader Jung Hee-young couldn’t help but sigh.

“Recently, during the Candyz incident, there was at least malicious screenshots. But this is like…. Is this supposed to be evidence of manipulation?”

Looking at the times when the entry ranking was high, the evidence of manipulation in the article was that the ratio of teenagers and those in their 40s and 50s among music users was excessively high.

Of course, it was strange considering that the main users of music sites were in their 20s and 30s.

Most of the songs suspected of manipulating music rankings by stealing accounts and using machines also had a high percentage of middle-aged users.

However, in the case of , there were many teenage users as well as middle-aged users, and unlike other songs suspected of manipulation, the graph did not rise in a strange shape, but there was a lot of inflow from the beginning.

It was the same as other popular songs.

Furthermore, even though MOST was a rookie, they were not rookie singers who had just debuted yesterday without any news.

They had a fandom large enough to hold two fan meetings, and they were a group that had been gradually building recognition.

“I guess it’s a song that appeals to those in their 40s and 50s! How are we supposed to explain this.”

“…I know.”

The absurd thing was that even with such a ridiculous accusation, there was no way to clear their name.

They were a group where the members participated in the song writing themselves.

It would be a big blow to their pride.

“But looking at it, the reason why it’s become such an issue is…….”

Deputy Manager Lee Jung-yeon carefully opened her mouth.

“Whenever there’s talk in articles or communities that there’s not enough evidence to be sure, it seems like someone comes in from somewhere and disrupts the atmosphere.”

“Ah. I’ve been monitoring it too, and that’s what it looks like. Are there already that many MOST antis [short for anti-fans]?”

The public relations staff nodded in agreement with Deputy Manager Lee Jung-yeon, tilting their heads.

“So that’s why this absurd controversy is spreading like it’s a fact in an instant.”

I knew there were groups that were jealous because they were becoming popular, but was it this bad?

Team Leader Jung Hee-young muttered gloomily.

“There are many abusive articles chasing exclusive articles…. But it’s clear that there’s a problem with those groups too. So I don’t know if it’ll pass easily.”

At this rate, it might continue to be a label.

They had to reveal the truth properly.

“How are we supposed to reveal it…….”

At that time, an intern from Planning Team 2 knocked on the meeting room door.

“Team Leader! Please check this. This might be evidence to refute it!”

“Huh? What is it!”

“Ah. Before…. I contacted the reporter Son Jeong-gi who first reported it. He said he can’t take down the article without getting paid…….”

“What?!”

Team Leader Jung Hee-young’s voice rose sharply.

I knew he would be nasty, but he was the worst.

He must have thought that Kingdom would endure anything because rookie idols whose image is more important than anything else.

In fact, many agencies were doing similar things with the mindset of ‘It’s not that I’m afraid of poop, it’s that I’m avoiding it because it’s dirty’ [a Korean idiom meaning they avoid trouble even if they are not afraid].

Team Leader Jung Hee-young clenched the pen she was holding tightly as if she had made a decision.

“Team Leader Kim. I think I…….”

“Yes. I was thinking about that method too.”

“That seems to be the best way after all.”

It was when the two team leaders made a decision.