Debuting by Riding the Returnee’s Bus Chapter 98

<Idol Classism> 3rd Official Voting Results

 

2nd Place – Trainee No. 111 Joo Wooyoung

3rd Place – Trainee No. 004 Jegal Hwi

4th Place – Trainee No. 012 Kim Haejun

5th Place – Trainee No. 027 Park Myungjin

6th Place – Trainee No. 123 Jung Taehee

7th Place – Trainee No. 056 Ha Yoon

 

1st Place

Trainee No. 112

Lee Unha

 

<Idol Classism> 3rd Official Voting Concluded

 

It was early dawn the day after monitoring the shocking 13th episode. Whether it was the benefit of Candy Star or the aftermath of the voting rights being reduced to three per person, the rankings that came into view were virtually unchanged, aside from Jung Taehee overtaking Ha Yoon to settle into sixth place.

 

Of course, there were significant changes outside the debut rankings. Kim Taeyeol dropped one step from 9th to 10th, Han Yohan saw a minor boost, and others like Na Younghun and Park Deokoh plummeted toward rock bottom. The rankings were such a chaotic mess that it almost felt like a tectonic shift.

 

However, I couldn’t focus on those rankings right now.

 

I turned my head and saw Jegal Hwi. Despite maintaining a high rank in the debut zone, he was silent. He looked deeply troubled. It was obvious from his expression that he was completely absorbed in thought.

 

‘Well, I guess his mind must be all over the place.’

 

He came here with his life on the line too… He must have a concept he wanted… He wanted to do something cool like other kids his age…. But from the get-go, he had to perform ‘Candy Star, Candy Star’. Of course he’d be conflicted.

 

For trainees like Han Yohan and Jung Taehee, the situation wasn’t quite as bad, but for Kim Haejun, the Elder Duo, and Park Deokoh, the disconnect was so bad that no amount of trying to force themselves into the concept could bridge it.

 

The same went for Jegal Hwi. Even though he’d smiled brightly and put on a convincing performance on stage, it still felt as though he was wearing clothes that simply didn’t fit. The others were the same. Among them, the one who suffered the most damage was definitely No. 98, Kim Taeyeol.

 

Already struggling to break into the debut range, Kim Taeyeol was now clutching his head and letting out deep, heavy sighs. It was natural to react that way, seeing as his rank had dropped even further despite receiving a performance benefit.

 

I thought about going over to comfort him, but I didn’t have time for that.

 

“Unha, by any chance today—”

 

“Ah, I’m sorry, hyungs. I have something busy to take care of today.”

 

“Huh? What is it?”

 

“It’s personal. It’s not like last time—I’m not depressed or in a bad mood or anything, so you don’t have to worry. Please let Taehee and Suhyeon know too.”

 

“Ah. Well, nothing we can do then. Get home safe. See you tomorrow.”

 

Even as I headed home with my hat pulled low and my mask on, that damn Candy Star was still playing on loop in my head. Naturally, one side of my mind was brainstorming ways to resolve this disaster.

 

‘I have to intervene directly.’

 

I went through the other supernatural abilities hidden inside my body one by one, but unfortunately, none of them were capable of overturning a situation like this. They were all either ambiguous or useless. I couldn’t even remember exactly what some of them were.

 

I thought about a few abilities that were unreachable due to my lack of mana or unmet activation conditions, but those weren’t suitable for fixing the current mess either. Out of the three abilities I could use relatively freely, the most useful one was…

 

<Conversation with the Dead: C-Rank>

 

‘Do I have to use this again?’

 

Honestly, I wasn’t happy about it. I knew full well that Conversation with the Dead came with serious drawbacks. In JH’s case, all the conditions and luck had just happened to align perfectly. It was a suitable environment to summon a soul, and crucially, JH himself was a very reasonable person. Or rather, he was a bit of a dim-witted soul, so controlling him wasn’t a major issue.

 

But this time was different. I would have to summon an unspecified soul. There was no guarantee the soul would cooperate. Even if they did, there was no guarantee they’d have information strong enough to shake Kang Hyuk. Even if they found a weakness, I questioned if I’d have the environment to utilize it. On top of that, I’d have to continue living together with that spirit until everything was over.

 

‘What if I run out of mana and die?’

 

“…….”

 

‘Joo Wooyoung might notice too…’

 

“…….”

 

‘The spirit could become corrupted or I could be the one consumed instead.’

 

But aside from that, there was no other way. I had to throw the dice and deal with the situation as it came. I had to look at the long game. Yes, the long game. This wasn’t a fight that would end quickly. It required patience, persistence, and venom. I’d have to carefully control the spirit so it wouldn’t devour me while also paying close attention to how I rationed my mana.

 

Of course, the most important thing was finding a suitable soul to cooperate with me. That was why, the moment I arrived home—which had become a little cleaner than before—I immediately sat down in front of my computer and began typing away at the keyboard.

 

First, a journalist.

 

Or an executive or employee of a media outlet.

 

Finding someone who met the criteria was the first step; finding the location of their death was the second.

 

But naturally, finding someone who fit the bill wasn’t going to be that easy. I kept struggling to find someone suitable, but no matter how much I searched, I simply couldn’t find anyone who looked like a promising candidate. I even wondered if I should take the risk and go to the broadcasting station to fish out a random soul from the field of spirits, so that alone said it all.

 

The sky was getting darker. It was way past my bedtime, but there was no progress in my work. Just as I picked up my phone to clear my head for a moment, it started ringing.

 

‘Who is it?’

 

The person contacting me was Jung Taehee. Thinking it was more useless chatter, I was about to put the phone down when a new message caught my eye.

 

[Jung Taehee: @Lee Unha, Unha. Have you seen the articles?]

 

I immediately opened the screen and entered the group chat. a flood of frantic messages greeted me.

 

[Jung Taehee: [Link] Crown CEO Kang Hyuk to step away from <Idol Classism>?] [2:33 AM]

[Jung Taehee: [Link] Crown CEO Kang Hyuk embroiled in tax evasion and embezzlement controversy. Crown is verifying.] [2:33 AM]

[Jung Taehee: [Link] Will <Idol Classism> final mission be suspended? Kang Hyuk’s double title tracks cancelled.] [2:33 AM]

 

— [Lee Unha: Is this real?] [2:33 AM]

 

[Kim Taeyeol: F*CK!!!!!!!! Uwaaaaaaaah!!!! (Praying emoji)] [2:33 AM]

 

— [Lee Unha: Hyung, I told you not to curse.] [2:34 AM]

 

[Kim Taeyeol: Is this really true? Jung Taehee? (Praying emoji)] [2:34 AM]

 

[Jung Taehee: Everything’s in chaos right now. What do we do?] [2:34 AM]

 

[Kim Taeyeol: What do you mean what do we do? This is great. To hell with Candy Star and all of it. Honestly, the songs sucked anyway.] [2:34 AM]

 

[Han Yohan: Isn’t it just because you couldn’t pull off the concept? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ] [2:34 AM]

 

[Kim Taeyeol: — —;;] [2:34 AM]

 

[Han Yohan: Ah, you know I’m joking, right? (Cute dog crying emoji)] [2:34 AM]

 

[Jeon Hocheol: Honestly, I didn’t like the songs either… but that’s not what’s important. Whether people like the debut songs or not is for the debut group to decide… Shouldn’t we be more concerned about what’s going to happen to the show?] [2:34 AM]

 

[Kim Haejun: (Thumbs up emoji)] [2:34 AM]

 

[Baek Suhyeon: (Anime character giggling emoji)] [2:34 AM]

 

[Jeon Hocheol: Are Deokoh and Younghun sleeping? What about Wooyoung?] [2:34 AM]

 

[Joo Wooyoung: No. I was awake. What on earth is happening?] [2:35 AM]

 

[Baek Suhyeon: Tomorrow’s filming will go on normally, right?] [2:35 AM]

 

[Jeon Hocheol: Since nobody’s contacted us, I think filming is still going ahead.]

[Jeon Hocheol: They’re probably thinking it won’t be a problem since tomorrow is just the ranking announcement anyway…]

[Jeon Hocheol: What I’m worried about is the next performance. I don’t know if we can air Hey HEY Hey on the live broadcast. I was really looking forward to the first live….] [2:34 AM]

 

— [Lee Unha: I know, right.] [2:34 AM]

 

[Jeon Hocheol: I hope there are backup songs.] [2:34 AM]

 

— [Lee Unha: Honestly, I don’t even know anymore. But why did this happen so suddenly? The internet is completely flooded with this story right now. Is something like this even possible?] [2:34 AM]

 

[Jung Taehee: I’m looking into it now. The specific reasons aren’t really coming out. But it seems all the bad things Kang Hyuk was involved in exploded at once. Rumor has it there’s something even bigger, and they’re doing this to cover that up.] [2:34 AM]

 

‘That’s just… a common conspiracy theory.’

 

No, maybe it wasn’t. The fact that the media wasn’t being controlled at all was proof. They were all competing to release articles related to Kang Hyuk.

 

Of course, it could look like they were just thirsty for clicks and attacking a man who hit rock bottom, but even so, this lack of hesitation was suspicious. Considering the flood of favorable articles that came out right after Candy Star was revealed, the current situation was definitely strange.

 

Furthermore….

 

“Isn’t the timing… a bit weird?”

 

The timing was absurd. It made absolutely no sense. I couldn’t believe something like this had exploded so suddenly, right before the debut.

 

‘Was there an internal struggle?’

 

Had one of the shareholders behind Kang Hyuk stabbed him in the back? Was there a war I didn’t know about to acquire the future management rights for the group debuting from Idol Classism? Did the timing just happen to align?

 

‘No. Even so, it’s too… too unnatural.’

 

The idea that the people holding pieces of the cake had watched the Candy Star performance, flown into a rage, and immediately removed Kang Hyuk simply wasn’t convincing. I wanted to force the pieces together somehow, but the story just didn’t add up.

 

To be blunt, what benefit would they gain from dragging Kang Hyuk down? Whether people liked him or not, Kang Hyuk was the head of Crown, one of the biggest entertainment companies in existence, and a man who had achieved feats no one else had ever managed. His influence on popular music—on popular culture itself—was so vast it was pointless to list it all. Would they have judged it worth the penalty of making an enemy of him? Was that really worth making an enemy of a giant like him just to gain management rights for a group that might only last seven to ten years?

 

No. No matter how I thought about it, no.

 

Naturally, my mind began searching for another answer.

 

‘Joo Wooyoung.’

 

“It’s Joo Wooyoung.”

 

‘It can only be Joo Wooyoung.’

 

I had no idea what method he’d used. But the thought that Joo Wooyoung might have been the one who resolved this situation began taking over my mind. Of course, I knew it was an action uncharacteristic of Joo Wooyoung….

 

But I couldn’t find any other answer.

 

“…….”

 

‘What on earth did you do… damn it, Wooyoung hyung.’

 

“…….”

 

‘Was it really you?’