Debuting by Riding the Returnee’s Bus Chapter 47

“Are you really going to report it to the police?”

 

“Yes. If we can’t resolve it, then we’ll have no choice but to report it.”

 

“You can report someone over a bracelet? I mean, it’s precious to me, but the price… it wasn’t that expensive, and…”

 

“What does the price matter? Whether it’s big or small, it’s still theft. The police will process the report just the same. If revealing someone’s identity is difficult, they’ll take that into consideration too. It’s not even that complicated. The system is well set up.”

 

“I-Is that so?”

 

“Of course, since it’s basically a theft case between teenagers, they might not throw all their time and energy into investigating it. There’s a pretty high chance they’ll just take the report and leave it at that.”

 

“Right… exactly. They’re busy people.”

 

“But even just taking that action will make the person who stole your bracelet shake like a leaf from anxiety. At the very least, they’ll be frantically searching things on the internet, right? And all of that will leave records.”

 

Most of them were teenagers, after all. There were a few in their twenties, but predicting their behavior patterns wasn’t hard.

 

“Of course, I won’t report it to the police right away.”

 

“Is there another way?”

 

– Do you have some special method, Shaman-nim?

 

At Kim Haejun and JH’s questions, I nodded and continued.

 

“We have to tell the broadcast staff… I mean, the adults.”

 

“…….”

 

– …….

 

For someone who spoke so confidently, it was a rather childish method. I was met with a reaction I hadn’t expected at all.

 

‘What’s with them? Why are they making those faces?’

 

It was hard to describe accurately, but it felt like they were a little disappointed. They seemed to think I had some other sharp, clever trick up my sleeve.

 

‘…Did you guys watch too many dramas?’

 

Did they romanticize solving the case themselves without adult help? Or did they simply think that was the natural course of action? Were they imagining some beautiful coming-of-age story where we go on a short adventure, drag out the trainee who stole it, and punish them with our own hands?

 

I felt a bit sorry for betraying their expectations, but unfortunately, there was no time for that. Whether by getting help from public power, threatening the production staff, persuading them, or making it a public issue, this matter had to be resolved as quickly as possible.

 

“There’s a saying. The moment you make it a problem, it becomes an even bigger problem.”

 

“Yeah, I’ve heard that.”

 

“If we just cover it up and move on, it might just disappear into thin air, but that’s not what we want. We need to ask the writer or the PD and settle this properly if we want things resolved quickly.”

 

“How?”

 

“There are CCTVs all over the place here. We’ll probably be able to identify the culprit faster than you think.”

 

“Will it… really go the way we want?”

 

‘Of course it will. It has to.’

 

I could more or less tell what he was worried about.

 

‘He probably doesn’t have any high expectations.’

 

Assuming he had asked for help during JH’s incident and experienced nothing changing, it made sense that he would react negatively to my idea.

 

But this time, the case was different.

 

The people trying to turn this into a real issue were Kim Haejun and Lee Unha. The fact that the main PD here owed me a debt and the youngest writer still carried a burden of guilt toward me was another.

 

The fact that Lee Unha was a surefire debut member currently leading Idol Classism played a role, too. It was clear that I wasn’t just another powerless trainee anymore, and there was a high probability that investors were paying attention to me.

 

I could be certain that the sudden increase in PPL was related to this. Hadn’t I handled an enormous number of PPL deals by myself during the last mission?

 

I wasn’t saying I would manipulate the broadcast staff using my worth as an excuse. Honestly, I didn’t even feel like I was on such an advantageous high ground… and even if I did have some leverage, openly throwing my weight around against a broadcasting company would only leave a bad impression.

 

Lee Unha was simply urging them to show a reasonable response.

 

Besides.

 

‘The broadcasting station doesn’t want to bury this incident either.’

 

Kim Haejun was currently at the center of the hype.

 

‘They’ll want to keep dragging him along.’

 

I was a bit worried they might act by putting their adult authority first, but… those worries were nothing more than unfounded fears.

 

A PD stood before me, wiping sweat from his forehead. He looked like he had been about to call Kim Haejun, but his face showed curiosity as to why Lee Unha was here.

 

“Um… PD-nim… shouldn’t we report this to the police? I heard it’s a very precious bracelet to Haejun hyung….”

 

“No, no. Reporting a single bracelet to the police… there’s no need for that… Besides, we don’t even know for certain that someone stole it.”

 

“But if we can’t find it… the police….”

 

“We’ll definitely find it for you. So don’t worry too much….”

 

“But what if we really can’t? And Haejun hyung’s video has already spread everywhere… people are criticizing him so much… shouldn’t we at least post a statement explaining what happened?”

 

“We’ll take care of all the explanations ourselves. Don’t worry about it… Trainee Lee Unha, please focus more on the program. The same goes for Trainee Kim Haejun. And regarding that bracelet, are you absolutely sure you didn’t just lose it yourself, Kim Haejun?”

 

“It is a precious item, PD-nim.”

 

“…….”

 

“There’s no way I would have lost it.”

 

“Ah… I… is that so?”

 

“Yes. Even if I end up leaving the program because of this incident… I definitely want that bracelet back.”

 

“Phew… no, leaving is not something you talk about so easily, Trainee Kim Haejun.”

 

I immediately spoke up from the side to support him.

 

“Someone told me… they did all this to make Haejun hyung drop out. They said someone stole the bracelet on purpose to film his reaction and upload it to the internet.”

 

As I appealed to him while activating the Succubus Eye, the PD in front of me also seemed to think he had to conclude this matter at some point.

 

“That’s for us to judge… anyway, I understand. You two can head back.”

 

“PD-nim, I’m counting on you.”

 

“Yes. For now… yes. Ah, just in case, Trainee Lee Unha, don’t go reporting to the police or posting personal things on SNS. I don’t know if you know this, but it’s clearly stated in our contract….”

 

“Then, are you going to punish the person who uploaded the video too?”

 

“…….”

 

He looked like he had a headache.

 

He had been cutting off his words ambiguously and rambling for a while now. He was even constantly scratching his head. It was obvious he was already running the calculator in his head. He was probably weighing Lee Unha, Kim Haejun, and the trainee who caused this mess.

 

If it were a worthless trainee, they would disappear without a trace. If it were an important trainee, he might urge a ‘reconciliation’ that wasn’t really a reconciliation, under the pretense of a misunderstanding. Or he could simply remove that trainee from the program without saying a word…

 

I didn’t know what decision would come down from above, but it felt like we’d probably get a reasonable outcome.

 

“Y-yes… I’ll look into it.”

 

I had no choice but to nod at the somewhat positive answer. It seemed Kim Haejun also hadn’t expected things to flow in such a positive direction.

 

As soon as we left the room together, he spoke up.

 

“Do you think we can find it this way?”

 

“If we can’t find it this way, we have to assume there’s no hope. But we’ll probably find it.”

 

“…….”

 

“There are CCTVs, so if we check them all, something will come out. If that doesn’t work, they could take measures after collecting the phones again. The question is whether the staff here will go that far… but once they have meetings and such, won’t they find some sort of middle ground?”

 

“I hope it works out.”

 

“It will. If someone really did steal your bracelet, I don’t know what’ll happen to them, but judging by the atmosphere, it doesn’t seem like they want to kick you off the show right away, hyung. That’s good news for you.”

 

When Kim Haejun fell silent for a moment, JH immediately continued the conversation.

 

– Thank you, Shaman-nim. At first, my mind went completely blank… but now I feel a bit relieved.

 

Is that so?

 

– But Haejun hyung’s expression doesn’t look very good.

 

Why?

 

– I think he’s worried he’s made this into a much bigger issue than it needed to be. Because Haejun hyung is so kind… he might be worried that the person who stole the bracelet could suffer too much….

 

Is he an idiot? Is that it?

 

– If not that….

 

Yeah.

 

– He… seems to think he should take responsibility in his own way… and he didn’t give a proper answer when you asked if he was going to stay on the show.

 

– Surely he isn’t really thinking of… leaving, right?

 

I think he might be. He’d always been the type who was harsher on himself than anyone else. If the person who stole the bracelet was punished, he might believe he also had to bear his own share of responsibility.

 

It was likely why his footsteps back to the dormitory seemed unusually heavy.

 

– As for me, I really want Haejun hyung to debut.

 

Suddenly?

 

– It’s a bit awkward to say this to you, Shaman-nim… but our Haejun hyung is a truly, truly kind person. You’ve talked to him a lot, so you probably know too. A-and… he’s a very good man. He’s secretly introverted and finds it hard to talk to people, so many people say he looks cold, but he’s never actually cold. Once you get close, he treats you so well.

 

Why are you suddenly promoting him?

 

– And there’s no need to even mention his skills. Have you heard Haejun hyung rap? It’s unbelievable. I’ve never met anyone who raps better than him.

 

– And don’t even get me started on his songwriting and composing. If you heard the files on Haejun hyung’s laptop, you’d be truly surprised. He’s a natural-born artist!

 

– And it’s not like he’s someone who only thinks about himself. He thinks about the team so much. He was incredibly attached to TOP9. He’s the kind of person who always gives everything he has for the team. So….

 

I had no idea why he was suddenly turning this into an emotional scene all by himself, but…

 

– If you keep him by your side, Shaman-nim, he will definitely be a great help. I think he’d be a perfect fit for the group you’re thinking of. I can guarantee it. S-so please, just save our Haejun hyung.

 

– Even though Haejun hyung acts like he’s not interested in being an idol or like he doesn’t want to debut… that’s not it at all. Nobody wants it more than Haejun hyung does.

 

– He told me over and over again. He always said he wanted to debut. Every single time we were together, we’d talk about it.

 

As I looked at JH’s soul, which was becoming increasingly faint, I could tell why he was desperately spouting those strange things.

 

‘Is this world a bit different from the other world? He shouldn’t be disappearing this soon….’

 

No, his form still remained, but at this rate, it would return to being a trace before long. JH also seemed to feel that he was gradually fading away.

 

It was while I was looking at him for that brief moment. Suddenly, an indoor announcement rang out.

 

– Trainee Number 54, Han Jungmin, please come to Interview Room 1.

 

– I repeat. Trainee Number 54, Han Jungmin, please come to Interview Room 1.

 

The broadcast guys had clearly identified the suspect.