The S-Rank Paparazzi Reincarnates as an Idol Chapter 66

Chapter 66

 

“…Why did they edit it like that?”

While everyone was bewildered, only Yoo Hoseung, who had endured countless evil edits up until now, remained calm.

“It looks like this time I’m not the target. Siwoo hyung is.”

At last, the screen changed, showing the other trainees diligently selling snacks.

They even made good use of scenes where people tasted the snacks and praised them while promoting them.

‘These bastards are running free advertisements for their affiliates’ products and still have the nerve to give me an evil edit?’

The shamelessness of broadcasting station people was truly remarkable.

“Wow! Hoseung, you’re really talented at sales!”

“When you first chose chocolate, I wondered why, but you really had a plan all along.”

“Haha. Yeah.”

Hoseung nodded shyly.

By emphasizing that the chocolates contained limited-edition random toys, Hoseung had successfully attracted customers and sold them at high prices.

“I’ve thought this before, but Hoseung, you’re surprisingly sharp.”

“Hearing that from you feels nice, Siwoo hyung.”

The atmosphere, which had become warm again thanks to Yoo Hoseung, soon changed.

Because my evil edit wasn’t over yet.

[Since stage props will be funded through sales profits, choosing trainees with high sales profits is important too, right?]

[Yes!]

[The top five trainees with the highest sales profits, please come forward and choose your team members now!]

In the team selection segment, despite earning only 300,000 won in sales, I was edited into a nuisance trainee.

“Hmm…”

“To be honest, wasn’t that a bit excessive?”

“This episode’s editing is pretty over the top.”

The atmosphere darkened further as the editing openly pushed me into a villain role.

‘Damn it. What exactly did I do wrong? I greeted everyone more politely than anyone else.’

As I thought about it, one possibility suddenly came to mind.

‘Could they be trying to intimidate me because I kept a leash on them during that assault incident?’

Nothing else really came to mind.

“Why now?”

“Huh?”

“It’s nothing.”

‘So this is their way of saying, “Try eating some shit for once”?’

Watching myself portrayed as an exaggerated villain until the very end of Episode 10 left a bad taste in my mouth.

Overall, both Kang Chan and I had been heavily targeted by evil editing this time.

Especially in the final scene of Episode 10, they emphasized Kang Chan deciding the concept on his own, pushing his villain image to its peak.

The team’s atmosphere was shown as destroyed through provocative editing as the episode hinted at what was coming next.

To make matters worse, the caption read:

[What will become of the Royal Team?]

“…”

Finally, with a message saying that the third voting period for the ranking announcement was about to close, Episode 10 came to an end.

‘So this is how the broadcasting station wants to play it, huh?’

“Hyungs, are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m fine.”

“Neither of you looks fine, though…”

When I turned to look at Kang Chan, his face was still expressionless as ever.

“He’s always expressionless anyway.”

“That’s true.”

Kang Chan simply nodded indifferently in agreement.

‘Honestly, Kang Chan really does look fine.’

“And I’m okay too. I always thought I’d get an evil edit at least once eventually.”

‘Thinking about it, things have gone pretty smoothly for me until now.’

For a trainee with no backing whatsoever, I’d received fairly favorable editing and screen time.

‘Though I never expected all of it was building up to one final hit.’

Once you receive an evil edit, it inevitably affects you.

‘Even if I survive the third ranking announcement, it’ll be hard to make it through the finals with a negative image attached to me.’

The thought that all the effort I’d accumulated could be shaken by an evil edit left a bitter taste in my mouth.

“Hyungs, I think it’d be better if you avoid SNS for a while.”

Seeing Seo Hayul’s worried expression made me laugh.

“Don’t worry, kid. Who do you think I am? You think something this small would hurt me?”

“You’re still human.”

“You little brat, you worry too much. It’s already gotten this late. All the minors should head home before it gets any later.”

“…Okay.”

No matter what, I needed to take a look at how things were unfolding.

 

☆☆☆

 

As expected, I was being thoroughly torn apart on online communities.

 

> Why is Cha Siwoo acting so full of himself?

 Am I the only one uncomfortable with him taking money from little kids?

ㄴ Taking kids’ money just to collect stage prop funds feels pathetic.

ㄴ That’s a stretch. The show literally told them to sell snacks and earn money. Why blame Siwoo?

ㄴ Doesn’t change the fact that he’s taking money from little kids.

ㄴ Isn’t paying money when you buy something completely normal?

ㄴ Still feels like crossing a line, touching kids’ pocket money.

ㄴ There are way too many people looking for things to be offended by.

ㄴ What’s wrong with these comments?

 

> He only earned 300,000 won. What a burden to the team.

 Why did he have to pick those stupid Heartping breads…

ㄴ The Heartping thing is getting old. They need to stop milking it.

ㄴ Siwoo didn’t choose it on purpose. Blame the lottery machine already!

ㄴ Fans like you are why Cha Siwoo keeps acting up.

ㄴ Even I’m frustrated watching this. Imagine how frustrated Cha Siwoo must feel being unfairly attacked.

 

> The Royal Team is a total villain.

 Watching them pissed me off.

 Cha Siwoo and Kang Chan, too. Tsk tsk.

ㄴ The hopeless same-age duo.

 Only our Hoseung looks pitiful.

 

> This is why you shouldn’t support independent trainees with no background.

 I wondered how he managed to avoid scandals all this time.

 Agreed. Seeing his personality now is such a turnoff.

ㄴ People like him shouldn’t debut. They’ll definitely cause problems later.

 

‘Honestly, these comments aren’t even mild mode. They’re more like medium difficulty.’

Having received far worse insults during my paparazzi days, these comments honestly didn’t hurt at all.

If anything, seeing fans defending me here and there made me feel strangely warm and reassured.

‘People are defending me against hate comments.’

After spending years getting beaten down from every direction, having a shield suddenly appear felt rather strange.

‘I’ve never even met them, but I’m really grateful.’

No matter where you are, having people on your side is the best.

‘I need to treat my fans even better.’

Meanwhile, provocative posts continued flooding in endlessly.

 

> Cha Siwoo is actually rich!

> He supposedly dated over 20 girls and cheated all the time.

> Was Cha Siwoo a school bully?

> I think Cha Siwoo is the trainee getting sponsored.

 

‘What kind of nonsense is this now?’

Opening the posts revealed nothing but lies.

With the show approaching its final stages, fans of other contestants were clearly doing everything they could to drag me down.

‘These lies will be exposed soon enough, yet they’re still going this far.’

In a way, their dedication was impressive.

The problem was that both the evil editing and baseless rumors were actually influencing people.

The moment a negative image forms, viewers start feeling fatigue.

Once rumors begin spreading that “he’s supposedly that kind of person,” whether they’re true or false stops mattering.

People avoid you regardless.

‘What’s something that could flip public opinion all at once?’

With the debut approaching, people seemed twice as eager to tear others down.

After all, for their favorite trainee to debut, someone high in the rankings had to fall.

“Everyone, please hand in your phones now. We’re beginning filming.”

“Yes!”

Another problem was that filming was starting in earnest.

Once our phones were collected and intensive filming began, keeping track of public opinion would become difficult.

‘There’s got to be a good solution. Think calmly.’

Reluctantly handing my phone to a staff member left my hands feeling empty.

“Everyone, please move to the auditorium.”

‘For now, focus on filming.’

 

☆☆☆

 

The broadcast began in earnest with only twenty chairs arranged on stage.

Since eliminations were about to happen, the atmosphere was even more tense than usual.

“Trainees, have you all been doing well?”

At Yoo Haein’s voice, returning after quite some time, several trainees visibly brightened.

‘Well, it isn’t exactly easy to bring in a top-tier idol every single time.’

“Yeeees!”

“I’m glad to hear that. Today, we’ll begin with the ranking announcement, where only the top 20 trainees will survive!”

“…Wooo!”

Facing the cameras with red recording lights on, the trainees forced out applause with much lower energy than usual.

“This ranking announcement will allow only 20 trainees out of 30 to survive.”

The realization that one-third of the trainees would be eliminated at once darkened the atmosphere further.

Thump. Thump.

A low bass echoed from behind the stage, pounding against our hearts.

The more the ranking music intensified, the heavier the surrounding air became.

“By the way, the team that placed first in the Concept Battle received a bonus of five million votes!”

“Woooo!”

“With that bonus, the Wild Team must have a much higher chance of surviving than the others, right?”

At Yoo Haein’s comment, only the Wild Team, led by Kim Sunyoo, looked cheerful.

‘That team’s basically guaranteed to survive.’

Unless something extraordinary happened, the Wild Team would probably survive near the top of the rankings.

“Then let’s apply the five million vote bonus to the Wild Team right now!”

Ding-ling-ling…! Ding-ling-ling…!

With cheerful sound effects, bright spotlights poured down upon Kim Sunyoo’s team.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

After the ceremonial applause ended, Yoo Haein picked up his cue card.

“Who will be the twenty trainees that ultimately survive?”

As the lights slowly dimmed, the atmosphere inside the studio changed instantly.

“First, we will announce the trainee who placed nineteenth.”

A heavy electronic sound echoed through the silent studio where even breathing seemed suppressed.

The camera swept across the trainees before finally stopping on one person.

“The trainee in nineteenth place is… Park Sugyeok!”

“Wooooooo!”

‘What? That guy’s surprisingly good at surviving.’

“Congratulations. Trainee Park Sugyeok, please take your seat in chair number 19.”

Receiving congratulations from the other trainees, Park Sugyeok sat down, and the announcements continued one by one.

‘I wonder what rank they’ll call me at this time.’

Although we hadn’t taken first place in the live audience voting, we’d delivered a performance strong enough to place second by only three votes.

The problem was that the Concept Battle hadn’t aired yet, and public opinion about me was currently terrible.

‘The rumors and evil edits hit harder than I expected.’

“Next, we will announce the trainee in tenth place. Starting from tenth place, trainees will have the opportunity to stand center stage and participate in an interview.”

Only twenty trainees remained seated in the waiting area now.

The guys I had eaten chicken with yesterday were all still there as well.

“Tenth place goes to a trainee known for outstanding vocals and faster growth than anyone else.”

‘No way…’

“Cha Siwoo.”

“…!”

For a moment, the entire studio froze.

My face appeared in close-up on the giant screen.

“Seriously?”

“No way.”

‘My ranking dropped this much?’

My lips trembled slightly before I realized it.

Even the trainees sitting nearby stared at me in shock, eyes wide open.

“Trainee Cha Siwoo, please come to the center stage.”

Conscious of the zooming camera, I carefully managed my expression and slowly walked forward.

‘This isn’t exactly pleasant.’

“In the previous ranking announcement, you finished in fifth place. This time you’ve fallen five ranks to tenth. How do you feel about placing tenth?”

‘Are you trying to provoke me?’

“To be honest…”

Yoo Haein’s eyes gleamed like a predator that had spotted prey.

“I’m happy!”

“…Pardon?”

Caught completely off guard, Yoo Haein’s smile twisted slightly.

‘Why? Did you think I’d give you the answer you wanted?’