I’m Debuting With The Bias I Killed Chapter 45

Chapter 45

 

“If you can’t properly clear this up, you’ll have no choice but to leave the program.”

I firmly shut my mouth. Otherwise, I felt like my soul might leave my body right then and there.

‘Manager, even if this gets cleared up, I’ll probably end up leaving the program after getting beaten to death by Yoo Seong-ah…’

“This is, this is my older sister.”

The manager’s eyes narrowed further.

‘You call that an excuse?’

That was exactly the expression on his face.

Well, I wouldn’t believe it either if I were him. A guy walking alone with a woman at dawn, and suddenly she was his biological older sister?

To clear this up, it would have to be revealed that the woman was Yoo Seong-ah, and ultimately, that Yoo Seong-ah was my older sister.

‘Do you really think Yoo Seong-ah would agree to this…?’

This wasn’t even a matter of life or death anymore. It was a choice between being killed by public opinion or being killed by Yoo Seong-ah.

“Wait a second. Another post just went up.”

My ominous premonitions had never been wrong.

 

[Braces Guy Exposé @fxxxysw @30 seconds ago]

Seong-woo, you sure have it good kekeke. You’re even dating a successful dancer noonaㅎ

#YooSeongWoo #BracesGuy #Yuze #BoysCode #YooSeongWooScandal #BoysCodeMutuals

[Quotes: 2,038 Likes: 2,918 Retweets: 5,892]

↳ Holy shitㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Isn’t he a minor?

↳ Wow, on the show he was sobbing and acting like he didn’t know anything;;

↳ Aren’t they almost ten years apart?

↳ This is a bit much;;

 

‘Ah, fuck!!’

In the end, even my sister’s identity had been exposed.

“Dancer Yuze?”

The manager asked again, looking dumbfounded.

“This person is your older sister?”

“…Yes.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Your biological sister?”

“Yes, my biological sister.”

“……”

“……”

Silence descended over the conference room.

“If you search for her, her real name will probably come up, too. It’s Yoo Seong-ah.”

Why hadn’t she just worked under her real name instead of coming up with a dancer name and causing this whole mess? If people had heard the name Yoo Seong-ah, they would have immediately suspected that we were siblings.

Yoo Seong-ah was famous, but she was famous as the dancer and choreographer ‘Yuze.’

“Yoo Seong-ah, Yoo Seong-woo… You’re really siblings?”

“……Yes.”

“No, why didn’t you tell us that until now?”

“Exactly. I know Yuze, too–”

“……”

‘How was I supposed to tell you?’

Yoo Seong-ah’s voice reverberated in my head.

“If you tell anyone that you’re my little brother, I’ll kill you…”

It was so vivid that it felt as though she were shouting directly beside my ear. My mind grew hazy.

“I’m sorry, Seong-woo. This is the first time we’ve had a situation like this.”

“No… I’ll ask her to write a clarification post.”

“No, no. We can just release an article immediately saying that you’re biological siblings.”

Perhaps trying to hold back his laughter at this absurd situation, the manager lowered his head, while my insides burned with anxiety.

In the end, the production team quickly uploaded a clarification stating that the person in the photo was my biological older sister.

 

↳ Huh???

↳ Your biological sister?

↳ Ah, fuck, wait. So you were accused of dating a blood relative? 

 ↳↳ I tried imagining it with me and my male blood relative, and now I feel creeped out;;

↳ No, but why is nobody surprised that his biological older sister is Yoo Seong-ah?

↳ Braces Guy’s scandal: Rumored to be dating his older sister

↳ Wow, but this is seriously scary. How did a sasaeng already latch onto him?

 

However, the exposé account wasn’t willing to back down so easily.

 

[Braces Guy Exposé @fxxxysw @3 minutes ago]

You must be pretty scared, huh? kekekek Who’s the one who goes to the practice room with his noona every day and goes home with her, too?

 

There were two possibilities in a situation like this. Either the attention they had gained through stirring up trouble was too sweet to let go of, or they were a fan of another trainee who was trying to keep me in check.

“Seong-woo, we need to contact your sister.”

“Yes…”

In the end, I was called away from practice again, and with tears in my eyes, I called Yoo Seong-ah.

The ringing tone sounded.

Once, twice, three times.

As the ringing continued to grow longer, my heart was on the verge of shrinking into nothing.

[What is it? Are you allowed to use your phone right now?]

“Noona…”

[Did you do something wrong?]

She was perceptive. Seriously, unnecessarily so.

“Um, noona, could you maybe…… write just one post on SNS?”

[…]

Silence passed between us. The atmosphere was cold. This was a danger signal.

[You.]

“…Yes.”

[What did I tell you about telling people that I’m your older sister?]

“……Yes.”

[Then what are you asking me to write?]

If this had been before my regression, I would have told them I was leaving the program rather than calling Yoo Seong-ah. But I had already died once and come back. I needed to find the courage.

‘I-yul, you’ll never know what sacrifices I’m making to save you.’

“Ah, no, it’s, it’s just, noona…”

[Don’t stutter.]

“…Hic.”

The manager quietly handed me a tissue, apparently sensing that the situation had become more serious than expected. Yoo Seong-ah’s voice was loud enough to be heard clearly even though I wasn’t using speakerphone.

I wiped away my cold sweat.

“I, I sent you a li, li-link. So, someone spread a ru, rumor about you and me…”

[A rumor? What are you talking about?]

Click.

The call ended just like that. I wished time would stop as it was. I felt that even if I hit someone and became embroiled in a personality controversy, it wouldn’t be as terrifying as this.

Two minutes later, she replied to my message. Short and to the point.

[Noona: There are too many fucking crazy people in this world.]

Gulp.

My mouth went completely dry. And five minutes later, Yoo Seong-ah sent me a link to her SNS post without another word.

It was a post containing several childhood photos of us together, along with photos of me sprawled out in the practice room.

 

[I can tell just how starved for dopamine people have become these days. But even so, how could anyone start a dating rumor about Yoo Seong-woo and me… He’s my biological younger brother. He went on a survival show because he wanted to become an idol despite being a hopelessly clumsy dancer, got thoroughly beaten down, and then asked me to teach him how to dance. He was already such a hopelessly clumsy dancer that I told him never to reveal that I was his sister until his skills improved… but now this is how it gets revealed.

I will not show mercy to the person who first spread the rumor. The trials I’ve already endured from turning Yoo Seong-woo into a human being are more than enough. Please don’t give me any more difficult trials.]

 

To prevent any further misunderstandings, she even uploaded a photo of the bag that had appeared in the original picture.

Yoo Seong-ah’s anger was evident in every single sentence.

The comment section immediately turned upside down.

 

↳ Holy shit, they really are biological siblings KEKEKEKEKEKEKEKE.

↳ Wow, how can Yuze and that clumsy dancer be siblings?

↳ I can feel the anger in her postㅠㅠㅠㅠ

 

The posts that had been gleefully tearing me apart were deleted one by one.

 

[I already archived everythingㅇㅇ Deleting your posts doesn’t make it all go away, you people who hurled unspeakable insults at a minor~]

↳ Braces Guy was just a younger brother who had a good relationship with his sisterㅠㅠ

↳ Seriously;; Hey, you know how family members teach you things? That’s love.

↳ Even if you were bored, how could you do something like that to a minor?

 

And then public opinion began flowing in another direction.

 

[Thanks to this incident, I’m going to support him even more kekeke. Can you guys learn dancing from your siblings? And your older sister is a fucking famous dancer, too? I’m serious, I almost went insane and threw myself out the window while getting driving lessons from my older brother;;]

↳ For real, how badly must he have wanted to improveㅠㅠ

↳ Ah, I’m looking forward to the fourth-round stage. His dancing must have improved, too, right?

↳ Honestly, wouldn’t he have gotten even more attention on the show if he’d revealed it sooner? 

 ↳↳ Yeah. There was one trainee who got screen time by saying he was the idol’s distant in-law and nephew.

↳ But honestly, isn’t this just manipulated viral marketing so he could get a boost from his sister? 

 ↳↳ You fucking lunatic. Even if that were the case, would you make up a dating rumor with your own blood relative? Are you sick in the head?

 

In the end, the exposé account disappeared without a sound.

“Noona, thank you…”

[Since things have turned out this way, debut.]

“I’ll work hard…”

[Work hard? No, you have to debut. You’re going to debut. If you can’t debut after all this? I swear, I’ll have your family register torn apart that very day.]

“Yeah. I-I’ll definitely debut.”

[That’s right. Hey, you really seem destined to live your whole life benefiting from your noona. I’m getting a ton of calls from people around me right now.]

“Manager, it’s okay now, right?”

“…Yeah. Go on in.”

As soon as I left the conference room, I let out a deep sigh.

Even during all this, my SP continued to rise rapidly.

‘Should I be happy about this or not?’

I looked at it with a complicated expression.

It had risen when I was being cursed at, and it had risen again when the situation was cleared up.

In the end, it meant that attention was all that mattered. Whether it was negative or positive.

Until just moments ago, I had felt like I was going to die of injustice, but seeing my SP rise made me feel a little happy. Just a little. Really, just a little.

‘I need to get a grip on myself.’

The fact that I felt that way was even more frightening.

The rumor had been settled for the time being, but its aftermath was considerable.

The production staff, excited by the unexpected buzz, even caught me and filmed an interview. They asked me what it felt like to be involved in a dating rumor with my sister.

‘If this airs, am I really going to be unable to go home?’

A sigh escaped me.

“Ah, I can’t think straight…”

By the time I finally opened the practice room door, it was already evening.

Kang I-yul was dancing alone in the empty practice room.

His face was so focused that he didn’t even seem to notice someone had entered.

After the interim evaluation, I should have been paying him even more attention, but I had gotten caught up in a rumor and wasted an entire day.

‘I’m sorry.’

Of course, I-yul probably wouldn’t even care.

I pretended to practice the choreography for no particular reason while keeping an eye on I-yul.

‘Huh?’

At first, I thought I was seeing things.

A large bandage wrapped around the back of his hand, and reddish bloodstains scattered here and there.

“…W-What, what is that?”

I hurriedly checked his danger level.

 

[Danger Level: 85% (-)]

 

It was the same.

‘Then why? What is that?’

I approached him almost at a run. Only then, perhaps after hearing my footsteps, did I-yul turn around.

“Hyung Seong-woo?”

“You, you…”

“Why are you acting like that?”

“Why is your arm like this?”

Only then did Kang I-yul’s gaze move toward his own arm.

He let out a short sigh. Like someone who had been caught doing something he didn’t want anyone to find out about.

“It’s nothing.”

“How is that nothing?!”

My voice came out louder than I expected. I hurriedly looked around.

The red light on the camera was off. Still, just in case, I forced my voice lower.

“Why are you hurt?”

“…I scratched myself while practicing.”

“That’s more than just a scratch.”

Without realizing it, I grabbed his arm.

Flinch.

Kang I-yul immediately pulled his arm away.

“……”

Confusion, irritation, embarrassment. All those emotions were mixed together.

Only then did I realize that I had gotten too worked up.

‘…I’m screwed.’

“I don’t know why you’re acting like this, hyung.”

The air instantly grew heavy.

My mind was already a mess, and the status window still didn’t explain anything.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

It simply threw out a number and slowly drove me to the brink.

“You’ve said everything you wanted to say, right?”

“That’s…”

“I need to practice.”

He said it firmly.

“Did you get hurt after the interim evaluation yesterday?”

“How did you know that, hyung…”

For a moment, I-yul’s pupils trembled.

The instant I saw that, I became certain. As I thought, those wounds were caused by the increase in his danger level during the interim evaluation.

“Then why did you ask when you already knew?”

He wore an expression like someone whose shameful secret had been exposed. And yet, I couldn’t properly answer him.

My gaze kept drifting upward.

 

[Danger Level: 85% (-)]

[Danger Level: 86% (▲1%)]

Blink.

[Danger Level: 85% (-)]

[Danger Level: 86% (▲1%)]

Blink.

The danger level kept rising and falling incessantly, like an electrocardiogram.

‘Why on earth……?’

My fingertips grew cold. I-yul was saying something, but his words weren’t reaching my ears properly.

“Hyung.”

“Uh, huh?”

“Are you listening to me?”

His voice was cold. I hurriedly lowered my gaze.

“What?”

But that only lasted for a moment.

Something was strange. The danger level that had been flashing like crazy until just now had stopped.

[Danger Level: 86% (▲1%)]

My breath caught in my throat.

Almost instinctively, I looked upward again.

“……”

And I had no choice but to freeze in place.

[WARNING!]

The bright-red warning message began flashing furiously.