Chapter 105
After filming for the semifinals ended.
“First of all, as we mentioned before, the next and final round will be broadcast live. The mission is… to perform an original song. It can be something you made previously; that’s fine. However, please keep in mind that the songs may be released on our compilation album.”
The PD rattled off something along those lines and left. That was when Myeongjeon thought,
‘If it can be something we made before, that’ll cut down the time quite a bit.’
The only band they really needed to watch out for was WEKIDS. The third-place band had worked pretty hard too, but Myeongjeon didn’t think they were anywhere near Group Sound’s level. WEKIDS wasn’t particularly concerning either, for that matter.
Apparently, clashing with Mystica in the fourth round had been a poison pill for the show as a whole. After such a fierce battle, the other bands seemed to have lost all their motivation.
“Another mission to make in just a week?”
At Iseo’s words, Myeongjeon shook his head. He tended to make songs one at a time whenever he had the time or inspiration. He had written down arrangement ideas alongside them, so there were plenty of songs that only needed Iseo to write the lyrics. It was just that their themes were too varied to use in this audition, where the topic had been specifically assigned.
“Since this is the final, we should probably make something more… different from what we’ve done so far, with a strong easy-listening feel. I have a few songs. I’ll look through them when we get home, polish the arrangements, practice, and put one onstage. That should be more than enough…”
The other girls nodded.
“The staff said earlier that they’d be filming some behind-the-scenes footage again this time. They’ll probably play it over an MR during the performance, but this time they’re planning to film it in a way that emphasizes you guys.”
“Us?”
Iseo echoed. Myeongjeon nodded.
“Looking at the broadcast, your efforts haven’t really been emphasized. This time, let’s make a strong point of that and show everyone that each member of Group Sound has a role.”
“…I’m getting emotional. As expected, Yeonsu’s the only one for me.”
Iseo hugged Myeongjeon exaggeratedly, wearing an expression that made it impossible to tell whether she was forcing herself to look moved or simply embarrassed. Seoha joined in with a blank expression, while Hyuna looked as though she had no idea what was happening.
Myeongjeon stood there with a sullen expression for a moment before shaking the girls off.
“It’s hot. Get off me.”
“Hey, don’t be so heartless~”
They sat at a café table and rested for a while, chatting about such pointless things. Until their phones rang.
Myeongjeon’s phone buzzed.
“Your phone’s ringing.”
“What now…”
Just as Myeongjeon reached for his phone, Iseo’s phone rang with her own voice as the ringtone.
“Who is it? Your sister?”
As Iseo muttered, Seoha’s phone began blasting intense metal music, while Hyuna’s phone trembled pitifully on the tabletop. With only the slightest delay between them, all four phones began ringing at once.
They looked at one another, feeling a chill run through them. What was going on? It felt like the opening to a horror or disaster movie.
“Uh… let’s answer them for now.”
Myeongjeon looked at his phone screen. ‘Mom.’
“Yes. I answered.”
“Suyeon.”
The voice on the other end was slightly trembling, unlike Hyein’s usual voice. It sounded as though what she had been waiting for had finally happened, and Myeongjeon could hear the tension in her gritted teeth.
“It’s up. The article. It was posted online.”
“…I’m coming now. I’ll bring the kids too.”
“Okay. Don’t answer any other calls… No, I’ll send someone. What’s the address there?”
Myeongjeon gave her the address and hung up. The other girls were on the phone with their parents, family members, and various other people. He gestured for them to put their phones down for a moment.
“When you finish your calls, turn your phones off immediately. Let’s go to my place… or the company. Somewhere, anyway. We have a plan.”
* * *
[Entertainment Talk) I’m exposing the school violence committed against ‘Ha Suyeon,’ who is currently participating in a band audition show]
Hello.
I am the victim of school violence committed by ‘Ha Suyeon,’ the leader of Group Sound, the band currently appearing on the audition program ‘Invasion from Seoul,’ tentatively titled [Invasion], currently airing on Mtown. I am writing this post to expose the violence inflicted on other students as well.
There are countless things Ha Suyeon did, but I’ll summarize them here.
1. I am a dropout from Hanseung High School. I once attended a gathering with ‘Ha Suyeon,’ and despite being her senior, I was slapped and beaten by her at the time.
2. I’ll write about things other students experienced and things Ha Suyeon did.
- When Ha Suyeon was in middle school, there was a student she slapped in the hallway while saying, “What the fuck are you staring at?”
- There was also a student who was in the same class as Ha Suyeon, had a fight picked with them, and was subjected to verbal abuse such as, “Oh, you fucking loser bitch.”
- Ha Suyeon was addicted to cigarettes and almost always smoked and drank in the evenings.
- There are countless other things I don’t remember.
3. Ha Suyeon was a notorious delinquent at Hanseung High. Among the high school students in Jongno District, hardly anyone didn’t know the name ‘Ha Suyeon.’
When I saw this girl get into an accident one day, I honestly thought, ‘That’s divine punishment,’ though I didn’t feel good about it. But then she woke up and suddenly claimed she played guitar, made her debut, and was doing well with a band.
After making other students suffer, she debuts on an audition show…
A long post continued after that. Myeongjeon scrolled all the way to the end and read it carefully, then closed the laptop, clutched his hair, and thought,
‘It’s Seong Juhee.’
A Hanseung High dropout. She had attended a gathering and been beaten that day. Slapped and beaten. It was obviously the story of the senior Seong Juhee whom Dain and the other girls had told him about.
“Is this… all of it… true?”
What he heard beside him was Hyuna’s trembling voice. She put down her phone and looked at Myeongjeon with unsteady eyes. Perhaps she couldn’t believe it.
“It is true.”
“Then…!”
“Of course I apologized to all of them. And they accepted my apology. If they hadn’t, there’s no way I would have appeared on an audition show like this… The old me might have done something like that, but not anymore.”
Myeongjeon stopped Hyuna from getting angry and spoke calmly. The articles based on the exposé were highly provocative. They were being published in droves with headlines like [Rookie all-girl high school band in famous audition embroiled in school violence controversy??!].
“I checked that part too. I even went with Suyeon to apologize to some of them.”
As Hyein continued, Hyuna seemed to calm down.
“…Then why are these girls’ stories coming out now? Isn’t there something going on? Did they stab you in the back?”
“That’s the problem… I don’t think they did.”
Myeongjeon answered Seoha. They were all students he could meet as soon as he went to school, and they didn’t seem like the type to stab him in the back. Besides, if they had wanted to do that, they wouldn’t have needed to go about it this way. They could have simply used their real names and said, “She tried to buy me off!” and that would have been the end of it.
If that wasn’t it… Myeongjeon stared at the ceiling for a moment before speaking.
“I guess that side simply hasn’t gotten an update. It’s probably Seong Juhee. She graduated, and she isn’t close with the ‘victim’ girls either. So she heard about it before and remembered it, but she doesn’t know that I apologized to those girls…”
He thought that was probably the situation. That would explain the lack of details.
If so, this wasn’t the worst-case scenario. It was closer to the best-case scenario. It was something they could respond to properly… a situation in which everything he had prepared until now would pay off.
“My mom and I will handle things on our side. You guys don’t worry about this, just turn off your phones. Focus only on practice. I’ll take care of everything else.”
Myeongjeon looked the other girls in the eye and spoke firmly. The other three felt slightly reassured by his attitude.
* * *
An article about school violence broke at a time when the entire internet—not only music and television communities—was watching Group Sound.
The article shook the internet to its core. The reversal was that the ‘pretty, talented high school genius guitarist who sang well and played guitar well (though she seemed a little rude)’ was actually a ‘delinquent who had smoked and drunk since middle school and slapped other kids around.’
There were the usual comments—‘I knew it,’ ‘I could tell she was rude from the beginning,’ ‘You could see it in her face’—along with completely unrelated smears like, ‘Girls who play instruments are sluts by default…’
Despite the post having no proof beyond a Hanseung High School yearbook, it began setting the entire internet on fire.
“What do we do about this?”
Yoon Donguk, the PD of Invasion 2024, was also reading the post… and he didn’t find it particularly credible. His gut told him the same thing, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was unclear about it.
But that was merely his personal opinion. As the PD responsible for running the program, he had to make some sort of decision about the post.
“How are things on their end?”
“No real response. I’m not sure why, but when I asked the parents, they said she wouldn’t voluntarily withdraw. I haven’t been able to talk to her herself yet.”
“Why not make them withdraw?”
The one who spoke was PD Kim Jiwon—the person Mtown had dispatched to keep PD Yoon Donguk in check, and someone who moved according to Mtown’s wishes. If Jiwon was saying that, the higher-ups at the station probably thought the same thing.
“The problem is the ratings. The longer we leave them in, the more the ratings will skyrocket. Especially since it’s live. They’re a punching bag we can openly curse, so even people who weren’t watching will turn to the channel.”
“I understand, but it’ll hurt the show’s image. I feel a little sorry for them too.”
“That’s true.”
Donguk said that while rubbing his chin. But to push WEKIDS, this was actually the better picture. A righteous boy band punishing a ‘school-violence perpetrator.’ And they were good musicians too. They were classic, but classics were classics because they sold well.
The girls who had seemed like the ‘final bosses’ were actually trash human beings and complete lunatics, while the underdogs who appeared to have been pushed aside by them were actually talented… Donguk thought even a novelist would have trouble assigning a backstory like this.
“Still, if they’re not going to withdraw, let’s just push ahead with it as is.”
“…The boss said to make them withdraw.”
“Who cares? Then he can be the PD himself.”
At Jiwon’s words, Donguk took a drink of the cold coffee in front of him. For some reason, it tasted bitter.
* * *
The finale of Invasion 2024 would be broadcast live. Viewers could watch it on the television channel Mtown as well as on an internet platform, and… the platform supported live chat.
It was, quite literally, the perfect environment for a ‘complete shitshow.’
Only a few days earlier, Group Sound had been treated like saviors who had appeared to rescue the wasteland of Korean rock.
Yet only a few days had passed, and Group Sound had somehow become Korean rock’s greatest villains… treated like ‘that band’ that had exposed their genitals and run wild on terrestrial television.
[Why the hell can they show their faces on TV after committing school violence??]
I’m really fucking curious
- Final Boss
- No idea, you fucking bitch.
- That’s what all those cunts are like, lol.
- Hey, it wasn’t violence, it was a caress.
[Why aren’t they voluntarily withdrawing?]
Do they have no shame?
- If they had any, they wouldn’t be appearing on TV. ^^
- I guess they’re trying to bulldoze through with their skills.
ㄴ These days, character is part of skill too, though. LOL.
ㄴ Honestly, I’m not a WEKIDS fan, but isn’t WEKIDS better than them? Am I the only one who thinks so?
ㄴ No, LOL. Putting aside the fact that they committed school violence, the skill gap is huge, isn’t it, old lady?
ㄴ I’m not an old lady. What are you talking about? This is seriously ridiculous, LOL.
Countless other posts filled the internet. Some time had passed since the exposé and the articles had gone up, yet no response statement or separate article had appeared.
People took it as an opportunity to publicly dogpile them with impunity. The internet became a place where everyone could vent all the stress they had accumulated onto Group Sound. They called them fucking bitches and worthless whores, said you could tell from their faces, said the girl who bullied them in school had looked exactly like that, and so on…
The trend continued. Around then, people began thinking that if it lasted until the day of the broadcast, they might even get to see someone throw trash during the live show. Wouldn’t that be fun? Some people even suggested that it might be nice to make someone kill themselves.
[These are the students who have been identified as victims of Ha Suyeon’s school violence. Suyeon isn’t that kind of person.]
That was until a post with that title appeared.