Debuting by Riding the Returnee’s Bus Chapter 31

“Unha? Are you asleep?”

 

“No, not yet….”

 

“Why?”

 

“It doesn’t feel real yet… I’m going to look at some comments before I sleep.”

 

“Really? Well, I guess that makes sense. Even I was totally shocked… but you must be the most surprised of all. You were at 90,000 followers, right?”

 

“I think I just hit 110,000.”

 

“What? Seriously? Wow! Congrats, Unha! You blew past 100,000 in no time.”

 

While lying in bed looking at my phone after sending the Hopeless Trio back to their rooms, the exaggerated voice of No. 123 reached my ears. I just wanted to look at my phone in peace, but he kept talking to the point where it was hard to focus.

 

If I could, I really wanted to say: ‘Could you please just mind your own business?’

 

“Thanks to you, we don’t have to worry about being eliminated. Oh! Unha! Did you check the official website?”

 

“Ah. No, not yet.”

 

“All the SNS handles and follower counts are listed there. They say the trainee with the fewest followers doesn’t even have 2,000….”

 

“Oh, really?”

 

“That trainee from the major agency only has 20,000. Even before he deactivated his old account, he didn’t have much more than that, but you surpassed him in a single day.”

 

“Oh, really?”

 

“Yeah! Isn’t it hilarious? He acted so high and mighty, and you caught up to him in one day. The writers seemed shocked, too. They expected you to have a lot, but they didn’t think it would climb this high.”

 

“Oh, really?”

 

“Yeah. I overheard the writers talking, and they were saying you’re definitely going to debut. Even if you somehow get eliminated here, another agency would probably debut you.”

 

“Oh, really?”

 

“Actually, they seemed worried that you might choose to leave the show. I’d feel the same way if I were a staff member. But you know, Unha, that one hyung….”

 

I decided it would be better to pretend to be asleep. When I pulled the blanket over my head and stopped responding, he—of course—asked, ‘Unha? You sleeping?’. He didn’t give up after one try. ‘Unha, you asleep?’ The questions continued.

 

‘What is wrong with him?’

 

Maybe he was just bored, but he wouldn’t stop talking. Normally, I would have given him some attention and a decent response, but not today. So much had happened in a single day that my brain was in overdrive, and on top that, all the information I’d been cut off from until now had suddenly become available.

 

I’d only just gotten around to checking people’s reactions after Episode 1 aired, and now I’d even been given a direct channel to communicate with fans. If the reactions had been bad, I think I might have actually snapped at No. 123.

 

Whether he fell asleep or not, I ignored the now-silent No. 123 and focused on what I was reading. Looking at it again….

 

‘I’m so glad the reactions are overwhelmingly positive.’

 

Literally all the comments and reactions were positive to an overwhelming degree. Of course, since it was my personal SNS, antis probably hadn’t bothered coming here yet, but it still felt good. Having a lot of fans meant I’d have the upper hand when the voting eventually started, so it was all good.

 

 [Dad110] His dance lines are seriously insane.

 [bowmdog_911] Strictly speaking, I don’t think his dance is that great, but he definitely has charm.

 [Spus_IT] The The original really hits different… I didn’t even realize I was leaning closer to the screen while watching.ㅠㅠ

 [UH_love] Let’s debut, Unha! Let’s debut!! Let’s debut!!! (repeated)

 [sandrea78] Is Unha♥ a genius?

 [ninnin123] He looks so serious, like ‘I’m going to charm everyone!’ It’s so cuteㅋㅋ

 [dark_darkpink] I enjoyed Episode 1 of Idol Classism so much! Looking forward to your future activities. I’ll definitely vote for you once it starts.

 

And even….

 

‘Why are there so many… foreigners?’

 

 [kanna90] Hello, my name is Kanna. I fell in love with you the moment I saw your challenge. I didn’t intend to comment, but I got lost in your eyes. I wanted to let you know that your eyes, voice, and smile are so enchanting. I love you.

 [mcmraa_12345] If you ever come to Bali, please come see me. I’m rooting for your debut.

 [mingirl_sam] ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

 [masaka] Today is my birthday. Unha!!! Could you please say my name? My name is Rora Ivanović.

 [adcoum] Will you marry me? I am from Colombia! I love you because you are so beautiful. Unha♥♥♥

 

It honestly felt as though I’d become world-famous overnight. I was pretty sure it was mostly Koreans at first, but as time passed, more and more international fans were flowing in. Even at this very moment, their numbers were still increasing; looking at the comment section, it felt like I had more foreign followers than Korean ones.

 

‘Did they all find me because of the challenge?’

 

Probably, right? I didn’t know the exact path of the influx, but most of the fans here probably didn’t come because they watched Idol Classism. Since so many people already did the challenge, those videos must have spread everywhere. Especially since I heard idols were doing it too, people probably followed the trail back to my personal account.

 

‘Should I have blocked my DMs?’

 

Aside from the comments, I was getting a staggering amount of Direct Messages. I didn’t know if they were scams or not, but there were even DMs from some agencies. Some even claimed to be from major labels. Most of them were asking me to join them—telling me to drop out of Idol Classism.

 

‘As if I would do that. Why would I leave when Joo Wooyoung is here? But wait, is this okay? Was this mission designed to filter out the kids who might be swayed? Can they do that?’

 

Anyway, the rest were all DMs of praise and support. Not just on my SNS, but positive comments dominated the videos spreading across various platforms.

 

Of course, not all comments were positive. If I went deeper into communities where anonymity and freedom of expression were more guaranteed…. I could easily find posts with a different vibe.

 

 [Anonymous] Warning for negative opinion, but honestly about Lee Unha…

Am I the only one who thinks he’s creepy? I feel like I’m being pranked by the whole nation. Everyone is going crazy over him, but why does he look so creepy to me? His smile is kind of bone-chilling… there’s something unexplainable about him.

 ↳ [Anonymous] I feel the same way. It also feels like they’re blatantly pushing him, which kind of puts me off. We may be the minority, but there’s definitely a reason some people feel this way. Something about him just feels off.

 ↳ [Anonymous] I feel that too. His eyes are kind of scary. People say he’s cute, but I don’t see it. I’ve never been able to watch the whole challenge video ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

 ↳ [Anonymous] 22222222222

 ↳ [Anonymous] 333333333333333

 

‘Creepy?’

 

I had seen these types of comments before. And it wasn’t just this one.

 

 [Anonymous] Lee Unha hate. Creepy. I can’t think of any other word.

 [Anonymous] I’m not even sure if this is the right word to use… but Lee Unha is just creepy.

 

I didn’t know who had started it, but creepy seemed to have become the accepted way of describing me. I’d already seen comments like these before, so naturally the wording stuck with me. It was an unsettling term when considering an idol’s image. People normally didn’t use a word like creepy.

 

Naturally, I had to admit that this wasn’t just antis trying to manipulate public opinion. Many people actually looked at me and felt a sense of creepiness. No, it was certain that some people found Lee Unha’s appearance definitely creepy.

 

At first, I thought it was a side effect of the Succubus Eyes, but maybe there really was something strange about the way I looked. Looking at myself calmly again, I could see it….

 

‘It does look a bit… creepy.’

 

The deep, dark pupils and the smile were what stood out the most. Most of the hate posts said the same. When someone asked exactly what was creepy, they all answered that the eyes and the smile were the problem.

 

Creepy. Chilling. Uncomfortable. Can’t look him in the eye.

 

Some posts were quickly buried because of how those communities tended to follow the opinion of the earliest comments, but I saw posts where everyone agreed. Of course, some people were just jumping on the bandwagon for fun, but I hadn’t expected this many antis this early.

 

Especially since Episode 1 hadn’t really contained anything particularly controversial, the fact that there were this many hate posts was quite unusual.

 

‘Do I need to come up with a countermeasure?’

 

If I wasn’t careful, public opinion could easily turn against me. Sure enough, new posts were going up at the speed of light. Hate posts were followed by posts fiercely shielding me. It looked like a competition, but it was just a typical day in a community. When neither side could win in the comments or convince the other, they tried to overwhelm the conversation through sheer volume of new posts instead.

 

Since it was an anonymous community with no post limits, it was getting overheated.

 

 [Anonymous] He definitely feels off. It looks like he has some kind of storyline with Joo Wooyoung… I’m honestly worried they’ll drag our Wooyoung into this.

 

‘This is the worst kind of post. F*ck.’

 

This wasn’t an anti who felt I was creepy, nor was it a fan of Joo Wooyoung. It was likely a troll trying to start a fan war.

 

 [Anonymous] He definitely feels off. It looks like he has some kind of storyline with Joo Wooyoung… I’m honestly worried they’ll drag our Wooyoung into this.

 ↳ [Anonymous] Actually, I’m worried Lee Unha will get dragged down by Joo Wooyoung. Joo Wooyoung is the one who feels off to me. I’d rather they didn’t associate at all. Honestly, Unha loses out by being tied to him. Unha is the one who hit it big with the challenge and is dominating the followers. Why bother with Joo Wooyoung?

 ↳ [Anonymous] 222222222222

 ↳ [Anonymous] 3333333333333333

 ↳ [Anonymous] The challenge only blew up because of luck. You can’t really say Unha is good at singing or dancing, can you? If you take off the filter, he’s hard to watch.

 ↳ [Anonymous] Skill-wise, Joo Wooyoung is the winner. That’s undeniable.

 ↳ [Anonymous] Yeah, Lee Unha is just good for buzz. Joo Wooyoung is the guaranteed debut member.

 ↳ [Anonymous] [Comment deleted by administrator]

 

‘We’re friends. Why the hell are you guys fighting each other?’

 

Was it because the show had only dropped hints about our relationship without properly showing our chemistry? Or was it because one master troll was doing their job? I couldn’t understand why they were already split into ‘Unha side’ and ‘Wooyoung side’.

 

The actual competition hasn’t even started. While it was great that the show was this popular, it was a headache. To make things worse, this damn bait didn’t look like it would be resolved soon, because the point where our conflict completely exploded hasn’t even come yet. I could guarantee the community would explode during the Slave Auction episode. When Joo Wooyoung dumped all his coins to buy Lee Unha, this place was going to lose its mind.

 

‘I hope other communities aren’t like this. Please tell me they aren’t pitting me against Joo Wooyoung.’

 

While I was browsing around, worried that trolls had laid waste to other sites too, I saw a title:

 

[Jjoo-Gong: Complete Domestication] [Author: Kyeongnam]

[The characters and organizations appearing in this work are fictional and have no relation to reality.]

[Verified][Fan Creation][Omegaverse][IdolClassism][Abduction/ConfinementWarning]

 

It seemed I had stumbled into a very strange place.

 

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