The Way to Save the Crazy Returnees Chapter 66 - Fan Meeting (2)

 

 

Before I knew it, I had already crumpled the slip of paper in my hand.

 

“C-CEO hyung?”

 

“Ah.”

 

I let out a weak sigh and forced an awkward smile.

 

That damn Heavenly Demon and her ridiculous question—I’d completely forgotten I was in the middle of Victory’s fan meeting.

 

“Sorry. It had some… harsh criticism of our company, and I crumpled it without thinking. But they probably wrote it because they care about us, right?”

 

When I lowered my gaze in a pitiful way, Kang Ye-seong immediately stepped in to back me up.

 

“If the CEO doesn’t mind… could you read the insult about our agency out loud? Otherwise the Nikes might get the wrong idea.”

 

“Should I? It’s… really harsh, though…”

 

“It’s fine. Right, everyone?”

 

“Yes!!”

 

At Kang Ye-seong’s prompt, the Nikes let out a loud cheer.

 

Well, if they insist.

 

I cleared my throat and improvised a suitably vicious complaint on the spot.

 

“Fuck, you money-obsessed crazy company. You’ve got piles of cash but still limit ticket numbers? What are we supposed to do? I wanted to come with my friend but ended up here alone—what a shitty company!”

 

Gasps rippled through the venue.

 

“That’s what it says.”

 

I smiled and added a quick explanation.

 

“This kind of note should’ve been filtered out by the staff. It must’ve slipped in by accident. Please don’t worry about it.”

 

Silence.

 

Right. Maybe I went too far with the swearing. I’d basically rephrased some of the usual complaints AMA gets, but maybe I overdid it.

 

‘How do I fix this?’

 

While I was panicking—

 

“Um…”

 

The silence broke.

 

“No, that’s not true, CEO!”

 

A familiar voice. Of course—BigDolForever (@ILOVE_Victor_). She shouted with everything she had.

 

“We Nikes know how hard WF Entertainment works!! Every Nike knows!!”

 

The fans immediately followed:

 

“That’s right! WF Entertainment is amazing!”

 

“Please take care of our idols forever!”

 

Even Victory joined in:

 

“That’s right, CEO! Please don’t abandon us!”

 

“We’ll stay with WF Entertainment forever!”

 

Lee Nak-hwa and Shin Yoo-soo looked up at me with big, sparkly eyes.

 

“CEO hyung! Please don’t abandon us!”

 

“Never.”

 

Haneul nodded earnestly at Cheong-ryang’s plea.

 

“Haha, as if the CEO would ever abandon us. Right, Muse?”

 

Sol slung an arm around Muse’s shoulders. Muse glanced at me, then smiled.

 

“Yeah. If it’s the CEO, we’ll stick together to the very end. Right, CEO?”

 

I smiled back and answered.

 

“Of course.”

 

The Nikes exploded into cheers. I still had no idea why the mood had flipped so dramatically, but I decided to roll with it and drew the next slip. Thank goodness—this one wasn’t from Han Yeong-won.

 

[What does WF Entertainment stand for?]

 

I couldn’t help laughing a little.

 

“This one’s about WF Entertainment. Do any of the Victory members know what ‘WF’ stands for? Get it right, and I’ll give you a 1 million won cultural voucher.”

 

“One million won…!”

 

Lee Nak-hwa and Cheong-ryang—both notorious gamers—pressed their lips together, full of determination, then shouted out their answers. Both were wrong.

 

The other members shook their heads, completely clueless. Well, they probably understood the company values, just not the acronym itself.

 

I continued.

 

“Alright, then let’s ask the Nikes! Whoever gets it right gets to take a photo with Victory.”

 

“Aaaaah! Me!!”

 

With a shout, Lee Man-deuk shot up his hand.

 

“It stands for: ‘After overcoming all the world’s prejudice and misunderstanding, we will seize victory and take over the world!’”

 

That was Victory’s team meaning. I wanted to pretend I hadn’t heard him, but I couldn’t just ignore him.

 

“That’s incorrect. Too bad. Here’s a hint—the real meaning is the exact opposite of what that gentleman just said.”

 

“Me!”

 

“Here! I’ve had my hand up this whole time!”

 

“CEO! Me!!”

 

And then—

 

“I shall answer!!!”

 

A voice so loud it shook the hall rang out. Hands dropped one by one. My eyes widened—because I knew that voice. So did Kang Ye-seong.

 

“Gasp…!” Even Kang Ye-seong stared in shock.

 

“Muse? What’s wrong?”

 

“N-no. Just a hiccup.”

 

“Are you nervous?”

 

“M-Maybe.”

 

“Here, drink some water.”

 

Ji Ye-chan handed a water bottle to Kang Ye-seong. Kang Ye-seong’s hand trembled as he took it. Understandable—because the Nike who had just silenced an entire concert hall with one shout was Han Yeong-won.

 

‘What do I do…?’

 

Her voice had been far too loud for me to pretend I hadn’t heard it. But letting Han Yeong-won actually answer terrified me even more.

 

‘There’s no way to know what kind of nonsense she’ll come out with…’

 

I couldn’t predict her at all.

 

“…Yes, you there—the Fairy.”

 

I addressed Han Yeong-won directly.

 

“What do you think the answer is?”

 

“I am the Heavenly Demon.”

 

Oh, for f— damn it.

 

I barely swallowed the curse rising in my throat and forced an awkward smile.

 

“Right, Heavenly Demon-nim. It’s an honor to meet a Nike with such a… unique concept. So, what’s your answer?”

 

“That WF means I will grind the bones of the righteous factions to dust and rule all under the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.”

 

“No. Absolutely not.”

 

I cut her off immediately and tried to shift the atmosphere as fast as possible.

 

“Since no one got it right, I’ll give you the correct answer myself.”

 

If I let Han Yeong-won speak another sentence, the entire event would collapse. This was Victory’s first fan meeting since joining WF Entertainment—I couldn’t let it be ruined.

 

Smiling naturally, I explained to Victory and the Nikes:

 

“WF stands for White Flag. It means we always put the will of our artists first, and we truly listen to the fans who love them.”

 

In other words—

 

“It means we will always raise the white flag to you. Simple, right?”

 

“No!!”

 

The Nikes shouted in overwhelming excitement.

 

Cries of I’m so moved! and the CEO is the best! filled the venue.

 

I gratefully accepted the praise—for myself and for the company—and we moved on to the next segment. From merchandise giveaways to a corner where we listened to Nikes’ concerns.

 

The fan meeting wrapped up with Victory and the fans forming a giant “V for Victory” together in the final group photo. At least, that was how it was supposed to end.

 

“CEO! Let’s dance Cheol-i together one last time!”

 

“Huh?”

 

Before I could react, Ji Ye-chan grabbed my wrist and blasted the music without warning. I tried to refuse and step off the stage, but—

 

“Kyaaa!! CEO!!!”

 

“Woooaaah!!”

 

“You look amazing! Dance with our boys!!”

 

With the Nikes screaming in excitement, I had no choice but to dance Cheol-i with Victory.

Only after that did the fan meeting truly conclude.

 

“Phew…”

 

After confirming the photos had been uploaded to Victory’s official social media account, I wiped the sweat from my forehead. I must have been pretty tense.

 

‘Even though I’ve done this dozens of times…’

 

I always wondered why I still got so nervous.

 

‘Was it because I had to dance this time?’

 

I wasn’t sure. I was stretching out my still-tense body when—

 

“CEO!”

 

Kang Ye-seong came looking for me.

 

“Kang Ye-seong, great work today.”

 

“Not at all. Thanks to you, CEO, I’m just relieved the fan meeting ended well.”

 

“I’m glad to hear that.” I smiled and asked casually, “Did you see her?”

 

“…Huh?”

 

“The woman who took over your body.”

 

“No, I didn’t see her.”

 

Kang Ye-seong shook his head.

 

“I guess it really was just a weird dream.”

 

It definitely wasn’t. But since the event had gone smoothly, it was easier for him to dismiss it as some bizarre nightmare.

 

“Still, be careful.”

 

I warned him gently.

 

“That woman—the one who possessed you—she came to the fan meeting.”

 

“You’re right.”

 

Kang Ye-seong’s face stiffened.

 

“I will grind the bones of the righteous factions to dust and rule all under the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.”

 

He repeated Han Yeong-won’s line word for word, then looked at me in horror.

 

“That woman… she’s the one who took over my body.”

 

“The one who possessed you?”

 

“Yes.”

 

He paled even more, terrified that she might appear again.

 

“She won’t come looking for me… right?”

 

“I doubt it.”

 

I patted him reassuringly on the shoulder.

 

“We’ve increased security. There are too many eyes around here. No way she could get in.”

 

Of course, if it was Han Yeong-won, she absolutely could. Easily.

 

‘That’s why I contacted Lee Man-deuk the moment the event ended.’

 

To keep an eye on her. Thankfully, he reported that she left the venue without doing anything strange.

 

‘Maybe it really was just a crazy dream Kang Ye-seong had…?’

 

I had secretly been hoping to run into Han Yeong-won, but it seemed I would have to wait until next time.

 

“CEO!”

 

Ji Ye-chan came running up.

 

“Um, can I borrow Muse for a bit? We want to hold a quick fansign out front.”

 

“A fansign?”

 

“Yes, using a makeshift merchandise stand. There were so many Fairy who came from far away—I just couldn’t send them home without something.”

 

Ji Ye-chan smiled brightly.

 

“Since some time has passed since the fan meeting ended, it shouldn’t get too crowded…”

 

He was asking for permission.

 

Since the next fan event wouldn’t be until the year-end concert, I nodded.

 

“Thank you, CEO!”

 

Beaming, Ji Ye-chan grabbed Kang Ye-seong’s arm.

 

“Let’s go!”

 

“Wait! Hey! Ji Ye-chan! Ye-chan!!”

 

Dragged along, Kang Ye-seong looked back at me in confusion. I waved to assure him everything was fine.

 

‘A fansign, huh…’

 

Even though the official fan meeting had ended, this small gesture from Victory could still be seen as part of the event.

 

“Could Kang Ye-seong’s ‘crazy dream’ end up being prophetic after all?”

 

I muttered to myself as I walked.

 

“Team Leader Hong, make sure security stays sharp around Victory. Stop anyone suspicious immediately.”

 

“Yes, CEO.”

 

After reminding Hong Ha-jin, I headed toward the makeshift merchandise stand. And then—I saw it.

 

“Long time no see. The trash who was holding flowers.”

 

Kang Ye-seong’s premonition was unfolding right in front of me.