Chapter 70

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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When I broke open the locked door and walked into the room, Lee Sejin, who was sitting gloomily on his bed, was terrified.

“Ugh…!”

“Pull yourself together.”

I sat on the bed opposite him. Ryu Chungwoo and Keun Sejin, who I thought would follow immediately, were not seen.

‘…They must have stepped out sensing the situation.’

With those two, it was plausible.

Well, whatever. Since sleeping right then was also out of the question as long as Lee Sejin was like that, I decided to hear what he was thinking.

‘It would be good if there were alcohol.’

There was no way such a thing would be in the dorm of an idol group about to launch. Since it was a pity, I just brought up the topic.

“Hyung, you know that the company will go into an interview tomorrow morning or at dawn anyway, right?”

“…!”

“If so, wouldn’t it be better to organize your thoughts comfortably here? It’s not a situation that can be avoided by avoiding it.”

“…….”

Whether the ‘What you say makes sense’ trait didn’t activate this time, Lee Sejin only opened his mouth after a considerable time had passed.

“…I don’t know.”

“What don’t you know.”

“What I want to do…….”

“…?”

Wasn’t it too late to worry about his career path then?

“Do you want to go back to your former agency and continue acting?”

“…I don’t want to go back.”

“Then does that mean you want to act?”

“……Isn’t that obvious?”

Lee Sejin buried his face in his palms.

“In the first place, I never even thought about being an idol….”

“…….”

Somehow this reminded me of myself when the status abnormality appeared…?

I clicked my tongue.

‘It seems he didn’t participate in the audition of his own will.’

“I guess you participated in because of your former agency.”

“…Right. Because I took a long break…… they said I should do something like that so that work would come in.”

“Um.”

I said unconsciously.

“For someone who did that, you were working hard.”

“…I should at least work hard. Since I’m not good at it.”

Lee Sejin was slightly flared up.

‘Hmm, it was different from that.’

The words he said to me at the final came to mind.

-Since you’re debuting, it’s not over for you, is that what you mean? …Good for you.

Didn’t that mean he also wanted to continue? Moreover, the change in Lee Sejin’s status window was visible.

‘He doesn’t have F anymore.’

Lee Sejin had raised his dance stat, which was F when filming started, to D+ then.

It was absolutely not a growth that could be achieved by just having to do it without any emotion.

So I roughly got a sense.

“Actually, it was fun, wasn’t it.”

“…!”

“Because it was fun when you tried it, you unconsciously worked harder.”

“…….”

Lee Sejin kept his mouth shut. He couldn’t deny it.

“Right. …Standing on the stage was good. I also had the thought that I want to continue. But acting… I want to continue that too.”

“…? Just do it.”

“What…?”

I didn’t know why he was worrying about this at all.

“After two or three years pass, the agency here will also find individual activities for you. Do acting. If you want to stop being an idol once the 5 years are up since it’s the contract renewal season, you just need to continue acting.”

Lee Sejin, who listened with his mouth open for a moment, soon gave a bitter smile and dropped his head.

“…I can’t.”

“Eh?”

“You really don’t know what kind of place my former agency is.”

“…….”

Well, I didn’t know well. Actors were not my field.
Lee Sejin, as if he had half given up, spilled the situation in a row.

“Dream K, it’s not a good quality agency. If I stay here as a part of this agency, I don’t know what they’ll blow up out of spite.”

“Are you caught in some weakness?”

If drugs come out here, I planned to be the first to advise him to withdraw.
Fortunately, Lee Sejin frowned.

“I didn’t live that wildly. …It means they’ll blow up anything plausible in the form of rumors for now.”

According to the subsequent explanation, there were already several actors they had sent away like that because they didn’t renew the contract.

When the contract renewal season came, they purposely spread rumors to lower the market value.

‘It’s an evil agency that looks like it’s drawn?’

“Um, if there is a predicted rumor lineup?”

“For me, it’s obvious. …First, they’ll set the atmosphere by saying the audition was for the purpose of an actor’s comeback and that I didn’t even want to be an idol.”

“Um.”

“After that, they’ll blow up weird rumors at a level that can’t be proven not to be true, like an affair or… anyway.”

“Um, our investment source is T1, so they won’t be able to act that wildly.”

“Setting the atmosphere with the former first is for such a purpose. To make T1 cut me.”

Lee Sejin muttered bitterly.

“Anyway… I was added at the last minute.”

“…….”

“Public opinion about me on the internet isn’t good now either. There are many people saying to do it without me. …Because I’m not good at it.”

“……Um.”

He must have looked it all up.
Certainly, there were some stories like that.

Originally, when a powerful enemy appeared outside, the inside was bound to unite.

“Moreover, if you leave, hyung, someone else will become the target. That’s how it is. So I think you don’t need to consider that as a basis.”

It was an action seen in any group to want to remove someone who looked like the weakest link. It meant it wasn’t that such a thing had happened specifically because it was Lee Sejin.

Lee Sejin seemed slightly upset, but he soon collected himself and shook his head.

“Still… there’s no way to block the former agency right now. Even if I talk to the agency now, it doesn’t mean they can fundamentally block the rumors.”

“Then I think you can do it yourself.”

“What?”

I crossed my arms.

“You can just announce it yourself first, hyung.”

“…First?”

“Post a message saying you participated because of the former agency’s coercion, but you found your aptitude and don’t want to go back. Be sure to emphasize ‘coercion, pressure’ of the former agency. In a way that you safely escaped from there thanks to the audition.”

“…!”

“Then wouldn’t it not work well even if rumors come out?”

It meant creating an atmosphere so that fans could defend by saying the former agency was spreading rumors~.
Once the public opinion turned, the former agency would also be burdened to pull the lawsuit, and then T1, who didn’t want to give up the share, would handle it well.

Lee Sejin was speechless for a moment with his mouth open.

“…You, what were you doing before dropping out?”

“I came out to the audition.”

This repertoire didn’t change. This time, it was a relief that the NIS story didn’t come out.

“Then try talking to the agency like that.”

“…Okay.”

Anyway, I roughly organized the situation. For the rest, Ryu Chungwoo would take care of it or whatever. I suppressed a sigh.

“…Should I post it on the SNS account.”

“Be sure to say you want to write it in your own handwriting.”

* * *

After the news of the lawsuit by Lee Sejin’s former agency, Dream K, came out, the internet entertainment news section was surely filled with at least one related content.

In fact, because it was an unfair contract, various reactions came out while being coupled with the broadcaster’s power trip issue.

-It’s too much to take away someone whose contract period remains. They should maintain the contract and only do the operation and management themselves
-Then they’ll be settled twice;; they’re not like some outsourced labor, why should they do that? This is better for idols rather
-Honestly, isn’t it because the former agency didn’t do anything properly that they even sent him to the audition?ㅋㅋ Now that he’s successful, their intention to ask for him back is transparent!
-If you consider the former agency’s trainee training and various costs, they’re the one who is unfair.
-Ah, this is so tiring because of Lee Sejin, exactly what is this. Let’s just give him back and go with 6 people, anyway he’s not helpful for the stage quality or team atmosphere

In particular, the reactions of people claiming to remove Lee Sejin were fierce.

-Ah, really that person is not helpful
-Our kids are doing well, let’s just think of it as an exorcism and remove him quickly!ㅠㅠ
-What exactly is this a week before the debut
-The person who appeared on the audition because he was forced and then accidentally debuted after holding out, anyone who wants to see his face? Yeah, there’s no one, right?
-The actor-nim doesn’t suit TeSTAR who didn’t sleep and cried and only looked at the stage and ran to pass, so please let’s remove him

The vicious cycle of Lee Sejin’s fans being hurt by those words repeated.

And the next morning.
An alarm for a new post came to TeSTAR’s SNS, which had no alarm since the first post.

Fans who clicked with the speed of light saw a post with a photo of a handwritten letter attached.

-…!

It was Lee Sejin’s writing.

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[Hello. I am Lee Sejin, a member of TeSTAR.]

: Regarding the recent news and stories, I’m writing this to convey my thoughts.

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The content of the letter written carefully with neat handwriting started with a story about his childhood entertainment life.

To summarize, it meant the former agency exploited his young self tremendously.

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[…Due to such excessive schedules, my health became abnormal and I stopped my child actor activities. It seems a 12-year-old body couldn’t handle a schedule where I couldn’t even sleep for 3 hours properly.]

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And the words followed that at the moment he was trying to recover and challenge newly, he was forced to participate in the audition by his former agency.

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[…I refused several times because I had never stood on a stage. However, I was under great pressure from explanations such as ‘If you don’t appear in this program, there will be no work coming in for you,’ and participated in .]

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And the audition he participated in.
Lee Sejin wrote down that he felt an unexpected great joy there.

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[To me, who was passive in peer relationships, the good friends who approached me, and the stage made with those friends were so joyful. Standing on that stage was very thrilling and happy.

It was completely unexpected, but I became desperate to continue this work. I became earnest.

And very thankfully, that dream came true and being able to debut with good friends now is a very precious opportunity for me.

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Lee Sejin finished the message with the words that he surely wanted to debut as TeSTAR with those friends.

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[I’m sorry for not being able to convey pleasant news for the first post. For the next post, I will return with news that can give you joy as a member of TeSTAR. Thank you for reading the long message.]

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Not long after this post was uploaded, the public opinion of TeSTAR fans who were even slightly favorable to Lee Sejin came alive.

-ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-Sejin says he’ll be an idol! Just let him do itㅠㅠ
-No, where did the former agency’s conscience go, after doing that to a 12-year-old kid, what kind of unfairness is thisㅋㅋㅋ isn’t what you guys did unfair?
-Only this time T1 was right. And Dream K said words to be hit.
-Actually, I also had the doubt that Sejin became TeSTAR by chance… whether he really wants to do itㅠㅠ I’m sorry

People who were fans since he was a child actor were more heartbroken.

-Thinking about a 12-year-old kid appearing on broadcast while smiling brightly even though it was so hard… it’s heart-burning…
-I thought Sejin’s personality became calm because he grew up a lot… ha…
-I wanted to see Sejin acting… but more than that, I want to see Sejin doing what he wants to do. For now, going back to that agency is a no-no.

And once the public opinion turned, people who found it fun to exclude Lee Sejin dropped out considerably.
Of course, there were still many people who were sarcastic, but for now, it became a form of being pushed back in number.

-Lee Sejin is doing some emotional selling tooㅋㅋ still, what can you do when you’re the worst at it, sigh.
└He’s doing better than a life posting malicious comments because of being jealous of a 23-year-old!ㅎㅎ
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋThat hits hard
-Lee Sejin says he wants to keep doing it because he tested the water for being an idol and it’s okayㅋㅋㅋ he’ll probably leave after doing it for about 3 years, only the kids who were eliminated became pitiful
└Exactly how twisted is your thinking to interpret it so gloomily…
└Characteristics of such guys: in other posts, they mock the eliminated kids for being pushed even by Lee Sejin

Because of the empathy felt for Lee Sejin’s writing as a fan of the audition successful candidates, even TeSTAR individual fandoms conversely began to feel repulsion toward malicious comments about this incident.

Taking this opportunity, Tnet caught Dream K with a few carrots and overflowing sticks.

On the day the articles were quietly taken down and settled, and the fans’ atmosphere was reversed.

As if to drive a wedge, another teaser popped up at midnight.

However, this time it wasn’t uploaded on the TeSTAR WeTube official channel.
Instead, it was added as a TeSTAR reality item of Tnet.

[TeSTAR(테스타) ‘Hi-five’ Official Teaser]

‘Is it a channel mistake?’
‘It’s not Magical Boy…?’

While the fans were thinking like that for a moment, they first clicked the video quickly.

“…!”