Chapter 75
Jo Ha-gyun fell silent.
Perhaps because the statement was so shocking, he found it difficult to believe.
But whether he believed me or not was beyond my control.
Aside from what I had just mentioned, I wrote down where they had caused trouble and what they had done, then handed him the paper.
Jo Ha-gyun read it calmly, then squeezed his eyes shut.
"I suppose I'll have to call them in first."
He let out a heavy sigh and called someone.
"Wouldn't it be better for you to go inside, Teacher? If you turn on the monitor in there, you can see what's happening here."
"Are you trying to protect me?"
"Yes."
After glimpsing their unpleasant pasts and futures, I told the president.
From their perspective, they would resent me more than anyone.
He was trying to keep me from getting entangled in something pointless.
There wouldn't really be a problem even if I got involved with them... But he was saying it for my sake, so what could I say?
As he suggested, I went into the president's private lounge in the back.
It was a small room that looked to be about ten square meters, but it had everything one could need.
This massage chair in particular looked nice...
"May I use this?"
"Of course. Feel free to use anything inside. There are drinks in the refrigerator too, so help yourself."
After showing me the room, he left.
Good.
As I sat in the massage chair and pressed a button, Mr. Cheolhon, standing beside me, chuckled.
Then he opened the small refrigerator, took out a drink, inserted a straw, and held it out to me.
"Teacher. What do you think will happen to those trainees?"
"Except for one of them... we should assume their debut is off the table, right?"
They wouldn't be debuting.
But that didn't mean they would be unable to work in the entertainment industry at all.
"Will they be satisfied?"
"Of course not."
They were guys who had endured trainee life with the sole goal of becoming idols.
If you told them now, "You can't debut. We'll find you work elsewhere," would they really agree to work?
"They'll ask to cancel their contracts. And President Jo will coolly cancel them."
Then they would move to another agency and debut there.
"Is that all right?"
"Why wouldn't it be?"
Given President Jo's connections in the entertainment industry, it would hardly be easy for the three to move to another company and debut.
What respectable company would take in an idol trainee with a school-bullying record, drunk driving without a license, and a girlfriend?
"There are a few trashy companies that will take them."
I smiled and pressed the power button on the remote beside me.
The president's office was visible on the monitor in front of the massage chair.
All right. Let's listen to what they're talking about.
***
Jo Ha-gyun could not hide his grave expression.
They had been selected for the debut lineup this time, and had even chosen a name for their new idol group.
Yet three out of the four had problems.
'But those were Kang Noah's words.'
It was Kang Noah.
The fortune-teller who was right every single time.
And recently, he had played a decisive role in helping save some fifteen people from the Dundae Tunnel accident.
Someone like that had issued a warning. It could not be ignored.
Jo Ha-gyun moistened his parched throat with cold water and looked toward the door.
-Knock knock.
"Come in."
The door opened.
And four young men entered.
They had bright, handsome faces.
He had selected them based on their faces, so their visuals were exceptional.
Besides that, he had trained them properly, so their skills were nothing to scoff at either.
If he debuted them like this, they would certainly succeed.
'But...'
Once the truth came out, the backlash would be as fierce as their popularity.
He was troubled.
Jo Ha-gyun took another sip of water.
"You called for us, President?"
"Tae-oh."
"Yes?"
The leader was called Tae-oh.
Who would believe that someone with such an amiable smile had committed school bullying?
"You graduated from Joseong Middle School, right?"
"Huh? Yes."
"Do you know Go Ye-seung?"
"....N-no? I don't know them."
Tae-oh's eyes, which had been tilted in puzzlement, trembled faintly for an instant.
He must have forgotten.
The person who hits forgets, while the person who was hit remembers.
To him, bullying someone in middle school had been nothing more than a prank, merely a memory from his school days.
But.
Would the person who suffered it feel the same?
"I've nearly finished the investigation, so just tell me."
"P-President. It was... It was just a prank! Just...!!"
"You call burning cigarette marks into someone's arm a prank...?"
If it hadn't been for Kang Noah, he would never have known.
"There isn't any evidence! No evidence, President! And I regret everything now. I can apologize..."
Tae-oh was desperate.
But was that desperation truly the desperation of someone sincerely remorseful?
Jo Ha-gyun let out a heavy sigh.
[If he debuts, he'll become the number-one internet broadcaster. His kind appearance and clean conduct will win him popularity. Then, when he reaches the top, photos will spread across the internet.]
Photos.
Photos of Tae-oh smoking.
Photos even showing him hitting someone.
The exposés would continue from there.
What happened after that?
There was no need to see it.
He would plummet into the abyss, being branded a "school-violence idol" or a "cigarette-burn idol."
Jo Ha-gyun turned his gaze away from Tae-oh, who was flustered and didn't know what to do.
"All right... Tae-oh, step out for now."
"...Yes."
"Kuda Mitsuo."
"Yes, President."
"Were you in a biker gang?"
".....!!"
Kuda Ryoichi.
During middle school, he had been part of a biker gang for about two years.
He had raced around, gotten into fights, and harassed people.
That wasn't all.
He had caroused with women, and gotten one of them pregnant in the process.
'How did he know...'
"You originally lived around Kumamoto, right? And then you secretly came to Tokyo with your family. In the process, you must have had your identity changed..."
Unlike Korea, where everyone has a resident registration number, Japan has no such system, so it is relatively easy to erase one's identity.
He had used that to hide his past.
When Kuda fell silent, his face white, Jo Ha-gyun's eyes moved elsewhere.
The young man his gaze landed on.
Jo Jun was tense.
He had something to feel guilty about too.
"Are you dating Oh Hye-in?"
"...Hic!"
How did he know?
He had been dating Oh Hye-in, a trainee at the same company, for a year already.
"...I'd like to tell you to enjoy a beautiful romance. But you're idols. And you still plan to keep seeing each other?"
"Well..."
"You don't plan to break up, do you?"
"...Yes. I'm sorry, President."
"All right. I understand."
Jo Ha-gyun closed his eyes.
That bastard really had made a complete mess of things.
"All right. You may leave."
"President..."
"The debut is... postponed for now."
"President!!"
"Do you really think debuting in your current state would improve anything?"
They had nothing to say, even if they had ten mouths.
As they fell silent, Min Seong-jae timidly raised his hand.
"Th-then what about me?"
"Right. Seong-jae. You... You wait too, for now."
Min Seong-jae had done nothing wrong.
If there was any fault, it was merely that he had been cursed with terrible luck in teammates.
But that was no reason to leave him there.
'I should either debut that kid as a soloist or form another group and debut him quickly.'
There was nothing problematic about Min Seong-jae's skills or character.
Then they could form a group by combining him with another debut lineup.
It was unfortunate that he had already built chemistry with the existing members, but it couldn't be helped.
As they left with dejected expressions, Jo Ha-gyun leaned back against the chair.
His body felt heavy.
His head hurt, and he had no idea what to do next.
The problem was.
It was that the end was still a long way off.
***
There were fewer trainees and active idols getting into trouble than I had expected.
Even so, there were some, and I had managed to weed out a few.
"Thank you, Mr. Kang."
"What for? And I've also roughly written down the things some of the decent people will go through in the future. Instead of scolding them with this, warn them."
Strengthen character education for idols who abuse their power.
Make idols who cause trouble after drinking abstain from alcohol.
When I told him about the other things they needed to do, he bowed politely.
"Thank you so much!"
Just being able to prevent problems that would occur in the future would let him prepare for the risks.
It would be important to Jo Ha-gyun.
"Which brings me to the point... Teacher. Would you consider officially joining our company?"
Jo Ha-gyun was extremely polite.
He would give me a directorship along with the responsibilities handled by the department head who had caused trouble before.
On top of that, he would share an appropriate portion of his own shares with me.
Jo Ha-gyun seemed to want to make me practically the company's second-in-command.
"I'll have to decline."
I wondered if I really needed to get involved here.
The company where I currently served as an outside director paid me a salary even if I did nothing but breathe, while what President Jo was offering wasn't even that.
"I see... That's a shame."
"Well, since you're a good person, President Jo, I'll come help from time to time."
"Do you really mean that?"
"Yes."
Taehyun Entertainment valued its reputation in society more than other entertainment agencies did.
It held many events for orphanages and children suffering from incurable diseases, and President Jo himself considered such work only natural, so helping him was only right.
"Thank you...!! Ah, I'll escort you outside."
"You really don't have to go that far..."
"No, no. You're an important guest."
Jo Ha-gyun fussed over me as he accompanied me to the parking lot.
Along the way, a few idols and actors stared at me curiously, but it was nothing worth paying attention to.
So I headed leisurely toward the parking lot.
And there I saw it.
"Hmm..."
"What's the matter?"
One of the construction workers caught my eye.
I approached him.
"Huh? What's wrong?"
The puzzled middle-aged worker stared at me, and I held out my deck of cards.
"So what?"
"Choose one and turn it over."
Though visibly reluctant, he turned over a card.
The card was the Eight of Spades.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You're going to the interior renovation work at the restaurant area of Myeongdong Future Department Store in four days, right?"
"Huh? W-well, I am. Why?"
There would be a gas explosion.
A major accident in which five people died and fourteen suffered burns.
Ignoring his bewildered gaze, I picked up my phone.
It was time to work with the rescue workers I'd gotten to know this time.