Debuting by Riding the Returnee’s Bus Chapter 54

It was, in fact, a topic that was already gaining traction.

 

Even before this, from the self-introduction videos to the first episode, I remember many viewers feeling uncomfortable with the biased screen time, which was skewed enough to be called discriminatory. There were definitely opinions that while the Nobility class made sense, they couldn’t understand why Lee Unha, a member of the Slave class, was receiving such a wealth of screen time.

 

Of course, the answer to why Lee Unha received such treatment was obvious…

 

‘Because there’s simply more material to use.‘

 

However, the perspective was different for fans who had already picked out their own biases in their hearts. To the broadcast people, it was just about packing 90 to 110 minutes with stimulating stories… but to some fans, Lee Unha was a screen-time thief who ate up their favorite trainee’s minutes, appearing as a symbol of the unfairness of receiving an unearned push.

 

‘It was especially bad this time.’

 

Yes, this time it felt particularly excessive. To show the narrative of Lee Unha’s team, they had essentially wiped out the entire Commons class’s footage. Imagine the hearts of the fans whose favorite trainees were in the Commons class. I could bet their hearts were breaking.

 

And sure enough.

 

[Anonymous: LUH.. I’ve got a lot to say, but I’ll keep my mouth shut…]

 

‘If you have a lot to say, then just don’t say anything.’

 

[Anonymous: About that controversial idol trainee… Amnet is openly pushing him…]

 

‘You’re the ones creating the controversy… There wasn’t any controversy to begin with…‘

 

I no longer felt that continuing to search online was helping. Every community I saw was riddled with chaos far beyond my expectations. They had even aired the footage of Taehee coldly rejecting a trainee who was looking for a team.

 

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say the communities were a literal melting pot of chaos. The ‘Kim Haejun vs. Jung Taehee’ rivalry, which I thought had ended, had been reignited.

 

This person is bad because of this. That person is bad because of that. I didn’t like this look on him. I didn’t like that look on that guy.

 

Knowing that voting would start soon, the fans of Idol Classism were openly engaging in psychological warfare to steal someone else’s votes or encourage others to vote for their bias. While on the surface it looked like a collection of meaningless community posts, beneath the surface, a shadow war—an infighting more intense than one could imagine—was taking place.

 

In the midst of that, what was surprising was…

 

‘The criticism against Lee Unha… isn’t as much as I thought?’

 

Had the Lee Unha faction already grown larger than I expected? Or perhaps the screen-time favoritism theory had been overshadowed by the sheer buzz of the Kim Haejun vs. Jung Taehee showdown.

 

‘Well, where else would you find an incident as shocking as that?’

 

But the decisive reason the favoritism theory didn’t spread was likely…

 

‘Because the broadcast was actually fun.’

 

Yes, that was exactly the answer. Of course, the painstaking efforts of the pro-Lee Unha faction, which had already grown into a formidable force, couldn’t be ignored. But the reason regular viewers and closet fans didn’t feel uncomfortable was that it didn’t look like his screen time was forced.

 

The broadcast was genuinely entertaining. It wasn’t just because my face was on it; even from an objective standpoint, Episode 2 was very well-made. The first half, featuring the Nobility class, showed the high-quality stages of Joo Wooyoung and his peers. The second half, the remaining 40 minutes, highlighted the miserable reality and the hope of the Slaves.

 

Since Lee Unha was at the center of that hope, there were plenty of elements for the viewers to feel catharsis. Naturally, I realized that the Lee Unha favoritism theory wouldn’t have much influence in the communities. People were clearly paying more attention to the content of the broadcast than to how much screen time I received.

 

In fact, the heart-wrenching stages of the Slave class, which were almost hard to watch, were gaining sympathy votes. More than a few viewers wanted Lee Unha’s team to stick it to the production crew for their inhumane treatment of the trainees. Since the public was craving a ‘justice served’ moment, the favoritism theory simply couldn’t gain any traction.

 

Naturally, I realized I wouldn’t have to worry too much about tomorrow’s broadcast footage either. Even if I got trashed, all the aggro would likely be directed toward the production staff.

 

‘For now, that’s a relief.’

 

At this point, the only thing left was to silence the remaining controversy surrounding Kim Haejun and Jung Taehee. This coincided with the internal situation of our team.

 

‘This is seriously awkward.’

 

Despite having watched the broadcast together for an hour and forty minutes, No. 123 Jung Taehee wouldn’t even meet No. 12 Kim Haejun’s eyes. Kim Haejun looked like he wanted to find the right time to apologize… but Jung Taehee seemed to have no intention of accepting it. It looked like he intended to finish this Citizen Revolution mission on a strictly business-only basis.

 

And as if to confirm my thoughts, Taehee opened his mouth.

 

“The broadcast is over. I think you should leave now. I’m tired… and I think Unha is tired, too…”

 

“No, I’m fine, Taehee. Besides, we agreed to have a meeting.”

 

One of the Elder Duo spoke up.

 

“But, Haejun, are you… really okay?”

 

Sure enough, the other elder nodded. They clearly wanted to talk about it. It seemed they were a bit disappointed that there were no cameras around to catch this, but since they could explain their roles in an interview later, they wanted to address the incident now.

 

“Y-yeah… are you okay after all that?”

 

“Yes, I’m fine, hyungs. Honestly, it was my fault. I don’t really have anything to say even if people criticize me… and besides, being hated on the internet isn’t exactly new to me…”

 

“…….”

 

“I want to take this opportunity to apologize once more… Unha, I’m sorry.”

 

“Ah, no. I—”

 

“And Taehee… I hope you know I’m very sorry to you, too. I think I was too agitated and lost my head… I don’t know how to make it up to you, but I’ll do whatever I can… Truly… I’m ashamed.”

 

It felt like a very sincere apology. It wasn’t just a half-hearted gesture; he looked like he truly regretted his actions from the bottom of his heart, to the point where I almost felt bad for him.

 

Naturally, I glanced at Taehee. I expected some kind of reaction to this heartfelt apology. But…

 

“If you’re really sorry, shouldn’t you just leave the show?”

 

A snide voice rang out.

 

‘Wait, is this guy part of some combat race?’

 

At the unexpected reaction, Kim Haejun’s face turned pale. Sure enough, the Elder Duo shouted in surprise.

 

“Hey! Jung Taehee!”

 

“Jung Taehee! What are you talking about?!”

 

“Come on, there are things you say and things you don’t.”

 

The Elder Duo poured their anger out at Taehee for being snide to his elder, but it was obviously ineffective. This was an action possible only for No. 123, who was arguably the most strong-willed person on Idol Classism.

 

“If you truly want to apologize, if you want to take responsibility, then post an apology on the community sites or SNS and leave the show. If you’re genuinely sorry, that’s what you should do. After doing that in the practice room and treating Un—Unha like that, of course you should quit.”

 

I was just enjoying the broadcast, how had it suddenly turned into this ridiculous drama?

 

But this drama was more interesting than the second episode of Idol Classism that just aired. If it weren’t a story involving me, it probably would have been even more fun.

 

“Being here at all is shameless and disgraceful.”

 

“He’s apologizing, so what is wrong with you?!”

 

“What? I’m not saying anything that isn’t true. He even picked the song himself! Even though he knew Unha wanted to do BOOM… if he were really sorry, he shouldn’t have done that. In the end, he just picked a weird song out of his own greed. Apologies are apologies, and regrets are regrets, but he has to be the one to pick the song? What is that? He’s just saying he’ll do whatever he wants. Do you have any idea how absurd that was for me and Unha?”

 

“Hey!!!”

 

“Why! Did you want revenge on those TOP9 people or whatever? Because they’re the group that kicked you out? Is that why you picked that song?”

 

“Taehee, you!!!”

 

“Do you think it’s just Kim Haejun? You hyungs are the same! Suddenly, why TOP9? Seriously… Unha and I didn’t want to do it!! I don’t understand what you were thinking picking a song like that, and I don’t understand you hyungs’ thoughts either!”

 

He was breathing heavily, letting out every single thought, both appropriate and inappropriate. I didn’t know exactly what had triggered him, but he was so frustrated that tears were even welling in his eyes. He had burst into tears out of sheer anger.

 

He showed no sign of calming down, which was even more baffling. We had been watching the broadcast happily together until now, so this sudden explosion felt even more ridiculous.

 

I had dropped a subtle hint earlier, but the moment he saw an opening, he lunged in to tear them apart as if we were all going down together. The thought that he was like a crazed Chihuahua naturally crossed my mind.

 

“If you Hyungs had better judgment than Unha, you wouldn’t have been edited out of the broadcast! If you truly knew how this show worked… you wouldn’t have done that! Picking such… a ridiculous song… anyone can see you’re just trying to get airtime!”

 

“We weren’t trying to get airtime, we were—”

 

“Do you have any idea how frustrating this is?! No! Why do you all just do whatever you want!”

 

‘Taehee, I think the one doing whatever he wants right now is you…’

 

I wanted to keep watching this drama, but considering the future of this team, I couldn’t allow it. To successfully finish this mission, I wanted to avoid the teamwork falling apart as much as possible.

 

‘It looks like things are about to turn into a total mess…’

 

The team atmosphere was already shaky, and with him rampaging wild like this, it was even worse. I felt like I had to put the brakes on this crazy Chihuahua who had clearly decided to go all out, and indeed, that was I had to do.

 

Whether it was because of stress or because the face he got hit in by Kim Haejun was throbbing, it was clear he was in a sort of berserk state.

 

‘What is he… a Berserker?’

 

Even the Berserker Barbarians in the other world lived with more sanity than him. Realizing I couldn’t watch any longer, I immediately opened my mouth.

 

“Jung Taehee.”

 

“Un—Unha… you should say something too.”

 

“Stop it.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Stop it before I really lose my temper.”

 

“Huh?”

 

‘I feel a little bad.’

 

He looked slightly shocked. Did he really think I would take his side?

 

“Taehee, you’re making things difficult for me right now, not to mention the hyungs.”

 

“…….”

 

“Of course, I’m disappointed that I couldn’t pick the song I wanted. And I’m glad you tried to represent my opinion… but we’ve already chosen TOP9 sunbaenims’ song. What will change if we keep complaining? It’s not like we can change our choice now.”

 

“I—I just—”

 

“I know how much you care about me, Taehee.”

 

“…….”

 

“Back then, you even stood up to Haejun hyung for my sake… I understand that. I understand that you were hurt, and I know this situation is hard for you to deal with. But the most important thing right now is the mission in front of us. Whether we like it or not, we’re one team until this mission is over. If you keep treating everyone like this, how are we supposed to perform together and get a good result?”

 

“…….”

 

“What you’re doing right now is ruining our team.”

 

“Uh.”

 

“You’re destroying our teamwork.”

 

He looked like a trembling rabbit. A face that looked completely shell-shocked was reflected in my eyes.

 

Immediately after, I saw No. 123, with large tears beginning to fall.