Chapter 57

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Wait for what?”

I let out a sigh.

Seon Ahyun, despite having boldly told me to wait instead of dropping out, looked like he was about to burst into tears at any moment. Someone might think he was the one dropping out.

On the contrary, my brain was growing colder.

‘To put it bluntly… this isn’t something that can be resolved by just holding on.’

If I were an already debuted idol, there might be an option to wait while self-reflecting for a while. However, it was an impossible approach for an audition participant with the final right around the corner. The sight of someone whom people thought didn’t deserve to succeed in the audition stubbornly holding on would only increase the animosity. It wasn’t just any audition; it was a cable program where the current viewership rating exceeded 10% and dominated real-time search terms, so it was even more of a suicidal move.

‘If I’m going to fail in the final anyway, the second-best option is to resign quickly and grasp the situation.’

Let’s just ignore it for now with some vague words like ‘health issues.’ That way, the damage would be minimal. If Park Moondae were truly innocent, it would be easier to explain. And if I found out this guy actually did something wrong… I’d find the person involved and apologize to her…

Damn, if that girl even dropped out, I wouldn’t leave Park Moondae alone either. But there was no other way.

“If there’s no evidence that it wasn’t Park Moondae, the situation will only worsen even if we wait.”

“B-but… Se-Sejin too,”

“Back then, he found the composite photo immediately. He happened to have a smartphone too.”

“…….”

Cases as lucky as that were rare. Seon Ahyun lowered his head deep. A short silence flowed through the dormitory again. At that moment.

“…Is anyone there?”

Someone knocked on the dormitory door again.

“…….”

“Yeah.”

At Keun Sejin’s short answer, the door opened. Kim Raebin entered. And Cha Yujin followed closely behind him. I didn’t know why he followed him to someone else’s dormitory, but if he came on purpose, he was a truly incredibly dense guy. Kim Raebin immediately began to gauge the mood, as the atmosphere in the room was quite trashy.

“……Individual practice, has just ended….”

“…….”

So these two had skipped their voluntary practice and come here. It wasn’t much help, but honestly… I was grateful. I squeezed out my last bit of patience.

“Go and practice.”

“…! A-ah, no….”

“Don’t regret it later when there are only a few days left.”

“…What about you?”

I answered calmly.

“I have to have a consultation about dropping out.”

“…!!”

“A-ah, no way….”

I’d check the public opinion one last time, and if it was going as expected, I’d have to come up with a good reason for dropping out.

“Pardon? Hyung, why so suddenly….”

Kim Raebin was startled. Apparently, this guy with no social life still hadn’t heard the rumors.

‘I’m tired.’

I didn’t want to chatter any more. He’d pick it up by tomorrow anyway. I just passed Kim Raebin and headed for the door. I intended to meet the writer immediately. Then, my shoulders were caught from both sides.

“Now, now, Moondae. First, get some rest and then think about it when you wake up.”

“Th-th-that’s right. F-first… r-rest. Rest your head.”

As the two of them stuck to me, I was momentarily pushed back in a physical struggle. Consequently, I was dragged back to the bed like a suppressed dog. Were these guys crazy?

“Are you crazy?”

“You’re the one who should wake up. It’s been less than thirty minutes since you confirmed your trouble broke out. You’re going to throw away months of this hard work in thirty minutes?”

“That’s why the more I delay, the more the situation—”

“Anyway, even if you drop out now, the article will only come out tomorrow morning. It’s the same even if you do it in the morning.”

Keun Sejin and Seon Ahyun pushed me back onto the bed.

“You should decide anything with a sober mind so you won’t regret it! You know you’re not in your right mind because you’re scared right now?”

“What?”

I tried to get up from the bed but stopped. What kind of absurd talk was this again?

“I am in my right mind.”

“Yes. You’re not. You’re flustered and scared right now.”

Keun Sejin added softly.

“…Because I was like that before.”

“…….”

“Otherwise, you would have known before I said it. That there’s no difference whether you drop out now or tomorrow morning.”

“…!”

That… Damn. He was right. I couldn’t refute it.

‘I’m in a state of panic.’

I let out a sigh. I kept thinking that I shouldn’t have discarded that damn Imperturbability trait. For now, I lay on the bed as they pushed. I could clearly hear Seon Ahyun let out a sound of relief.

“Exactly what kind of situation is—”

“Now, now, let’s go.”

I heard the sound of Keun Sejin driving Kim Raebin and Cha Yujin out of the room. Seon Ahyun followed them out, then swallowed and said to me.

“R-rest.”

Creeeeak. And the door closed very carefully.

‘…Their beds are here anyway, even if they go out.’

Well, whether they’d come back awkwardly in about three hours or sleep in the practice room was up to them. I wasn’t in a situation where I had the leisure to care about that much. I closed my eyes and crossed my arms. And I tried to look at Park Moondae’s incident objectively… Could it be possible all of a sudden? I was about to face social death and even a real sudden death.

‘Status window.’

Even if I called up the status window that still had no changes, only one thing caught my eye.

[!Status Abnormality: Debut or Die]

“Exactly why are you doing this to me?”

Why was it me of all people? Why was it Park Moondae of all people? It was incredibly annoying that I knew nothing about the situation I was in and had no way to find out. Naturally, I didn’t think a brilliant solution would suddenly occur to me until morning. And it wasn’t as if the situation would suddenly improve either.

‘It’s a foolish thing to hope for luck.’

Usually, shockingly bad things could come into one’s life without notice, but it was natural for the opposite case to be extremely rare. Compare the probability of winning the lottery with the probability of getting into a traffic accident while walking. The latter was overwhelming. Look at me. A supernatural miracle occurred and my life was changed entirely, only to find that life was already ruined.

“……Hah.”

Damn. I only got more anxious. I felt like resigning right now since I’m going to do it anyway.

‘…Still, shall I try to pass tonight?’

There was nothing I expected. Purely thinking about the sincerity of those who stopped me, I let out a sigh and uncrossed my arms. My thoughts were messy. The more I calculated what would be rational for me to do.

‘There’s no answer wherever I go…….’

Like that, I thought I fell into a light sleep.

* * *

Bang!

I woke up because of some noise.

‘…The sound of wood breaking?’

While still half-asleep, I only moved my eyes and saw Seon Ahyun, who had kicked open the door and entered.

“M-M-Moondae-ya.”

Seon Ahyun’s face was bright red.

‘Has something else broken out?’

If something broke out for another guy instead of me, I’d hope to be buried along with it. Seon Ahyun suddenly held out something right in front of my face. It was a smartphone with the screen turned on.

“L-look at this…!”

The light from the screen poked my eyes. I squinted and grabbed the smartphone.

‘Where did he get this?’

While holding an item prohibited from being brought into the filming site, I hesitantly read the screen.

“…!”

A miracle had occurred.

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[(2nd place!) This is the person involved in the recent controversy of participant Park Moondae from Idol Inc. (632)]
: I am still very afraid to write such a post publicly. However, I am writing this because I don’t want to see innocent people suffering anymore.
It is true that I dropped out after the sanitary pad theft incident.
However, it was not Park Moondae who stole the sanitary pads.
…….
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The post began to explain the circumstances at the time very specifically. The writer said she had been subjected to continuous bullying since the beginning of the semester by a few ill-natured classmates for a trivial reason. The bullying, which started with backbiting at first, gradually escalated and eventually reached an unbearable level. However, she said she had no choice but to endure it because it was difficult to cope due to family circumstances.

And then the sanitary pad theft incident broke out. Apparently, those guys had intended to enjoy double the fun by framing Park Moondae, who wandered alone without any close friends in class, for the theft.

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[I didn’t want to live.]
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Although it wasn’t mentioned specifically between the lines, the mockery seemed to have been on the level of sexual harassment. In a state of extreme stress, the writer’s mentality completely broke down, and she was absent without notice for ten days. And during this period, Park Moondae had dropped out just like that.

Even though she was the victim, the writer had been bothered by the fact that Park Moondae had been framed, so she attempted to contact him after dropping out. However, Park Moondae’s answer to the text message apologizing and asking about his well-being was said to be as follows.

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[A long reply came saying, ‘You did nothing wrong, so of course there’s nothing to apologize for, and it’s fine since I intended to drop out anyway. However, if it’s hard for you and you want to report the perpetrators who bullied you, I will help.’]
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The writer was taking antidepressants at the time and was in a state where she would hyperventilate just by going near the school, so she couldn’t proceed with the report. Thus, she stopped talking with Park Moondae vaguely, but she said she continued to be bothered by it even after getting somewhat away from the incident and had attempted to contact him. However, it showed as a non-existent number.

‘…Because Park Moondae cancelled his phone service.’

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[When I saw Moondae on the audition program, I didn’t recognize him because his style and impression had changed so much. It was only after this controversy broke out that I realized Park Moondae was that friend.
He was quiet even when attending school, but he was not a friend who would cause trouble for anyone or be strange. After dropping out, I realized he was a thoughtful and kind friend.
I hope Moondae doesn’t get hurt by this incident.]
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The post ended with a satisfying sentence saying that the protagonist would proceed with lawsuits against the perpetrators during high school based on the recordings. Below were attached several certification photos. In the latest comments, people who were denying reality were being pummeled and were deleting their comments or running away. And opinions that had changed their stance occupied the best comments.

– Cra-crazy. For some reason, it was strange. Moondae looked so simple, there’s no way he’d do such a gloomy thing T_T
– To the self-proclaimed alumni who were spreading rumors about Park Moondae and the writer without knowing well, prepare your settlement money~ haha
– Ah… T_T Writer, thank you… Thank you so much, really… Moondae-ya, you really suffered. What should we do……

“…….”

My stomach felt queasy.

‘It wasn’t Park Moondae.’

Furthermore, the person involved appeared and even proved it by certifying it. And that, only one day after the incident broke out.

“…….”

“I-it’s done!”

Seon Ahyun began to chatter something, but it was hard to hear him properly. It was because my head felt dazed.

‘Is this… possible?’

I didn’t do anything, but the situation suddenly improved like this? It was just resolved like this? I felt a strange feeling rather than relief and joy. It was unfamiliar that such a thing could happen in life. I thought I had learned through experience that if life changes without me doing anything, it’s usually in a bad direction.

…To think I would experience a counterexample after entering someone else’s body.

“Hey!!”

A group of people burst through the door. Led by Keun Sejin, I saw the faces of the guys from the same team.

‘Now that I think about it… I was the leader.’

I thought it was strange because we hadn’t become that close. Since the leader was in a state of Schrödinger’s resignation, it must have been awkward to change the practice. I thought these guys must have had various thoughts last night too.

“Hey! What did I say! I told you to wait, didn’t I?”

Keun Sejin saw Seon Ahyun, grasped the situation, and shouted loudly. It seemed he had already come knowing everything.

“…So you did.”

I accepted readily.

“Thanks.”

“…!”

If it weren’t for these guys, I would have quit and packed my bags last night and ended up regretting it in the morning.

“Thanks to you, I’ll continue the broadcast.”

I smiled. Seon Ahyun was happy, repeating ‘No’ and ‘I’m glad.’ Keun Sejin grinned.

“If you’re thankful, buy me beef.”

“……Let’s pretend this never happened between us.”

“Hey!”

I had no money. Listening to Keun Sejin grumbling and the team members’ congratulations, I finally felt relieved.

‘Now I’ll be able to practice quietly until the final.’

“Thanks for bringing this. How did you get it?”

“I-I asked for it!”

Seon Ahyun laughed brightly and took the phone. I hoped I wouldn’t have to see it until the final. However, little did I know that while I took my eyes off the smartphone, the situation would begin to turn even more strange. The first blow was a post uploaded by Gold 1.