The Malicious Member is Back! - Chapter 127
Watching me stand there awkwardly, Jae Ha hyung burst into laughter, loud enough to make the practice room ring.
“Ah, haha. I lied so seriously, it’s no wonder you didn’t catch on.”
Even in the best of times, hyung was hard to figure out, but this? I never saw this coming.
Even if I’d had all the time in the world to think during this survival show, I never would’ve guessed it.
That’s why…
Why did he call me here?
As if he had read my thoughts, Jae Ha hyung plopped down on the floor and patted the spot next to him, and winked.
Some things never change with him, huh.
I sat down and waited, giving him a moment before he spoke again.
“Si Young noona’s been giving you a hard time, hasn’t she?”
“…Huh?”
What was this all of a sudden?
Seeing my confused expression, hyung covered his mouth with his hand and chuckled softly.
“That noona really cares too much about the trainees. She’s not a bad person, but… I think she feels a bit guilty about you. She wouldn’t show it, though.”
I nodded slowly in agreement as hyung explained.
“It’s fine. To be fair, I did use some tricks to get by.”
“…You don’t need to justify her actions to anyone.”
“Well, it’s all in the past. And thanks to that, I actually ranked pretty well.”
Someone who didn’t know better might’ve gotten angry, wondering what any of that had to do with how I’d been treated. But…
I knew enough about senior Min Si Young’s character to let it go.
Seeing that I was okay with it, Jae Ha hyung blinked a few times before speaking again, more slowly this time.
“Hmm, seems like that topic went over alright. In that case, I’ll get to the real point now.”
You see…
“Usually, artists affiliated with a company don’t know much about internal politics. Unless it’s directly related to equity issues… it’s something they can’t really grasp. Even Si Young noona.”
“……”
“But me? I couldn’t help but know, since I’m directly involved.”
Who they’re planning to push. How they want you to act.
“Which room to enter during missions… things like that.”
I barely managed to suppress the gasp that almost escaped me.
Jae Ha hyung knew.
Maybe not everything, but he knew.
He knew that the one being favored in Targeting Star was Liu Wei, and that there was a power struggle at the top to push him forward.
And to some extent, he was aware that he was being used for that purpose.
Before I could even fully process my shock, hyung kept talking, as if he had been waiting for this exact moment.
“You were part of QUINCE, [1] right?”
“…Yes. I was cut from the debut lineup.”
At my low answer, the smile that had been covering Jae Ha hyung’s face disappeared.
He tapped the floor with his fingers and quickly checked that no one was outside the practice room.
That’s when I realized the next thing he was about to say was something important.
The breeze from the air conditioner ruffled his bangs.
His voice lowered to match.
“Well… from what I heard…”
Director Shin’s been in contact with QUINCE.
“I don’t know what they’ve been talking about, but it didn’t seem productive. I saw his secretary getting angry about it right in front of me.”
“……”
“What did the secretary [2] say? Something like, ‘I don’t understand why he’s poking around when nothing happened.’”
I didn’t need to ask any more questions. That was more than enough information.
Hyung seemed to understand my silence, smiling lightly as he stood up.
“Either way, thanks for helping me today. I owe you a meal sometime.”
“…What are you talking about?”
A meal?
He’d just given me something far more valuable.
The information hyung had just shared would be crucial to me.
Now I could predict what Liu Wei, who was trying to kick me out, would do next.
Still, there was something that bothered me.
As Jae Ha hyung put on his cap and mask and headed for the door, I called out quietly.
“But… why did you tell me this?”
“…Huh?”
Hyung stopped in his tracks, clearly surprised that I had more to say. His wide eyes blinked at me in confusion.
“I mean, I’m grateful and all, but… you didn’t have any reason to tell me.”
Hyung didn’t know I had returned to a time 8 years in the past.
He had no idea about X, and there was no reason for him to think that a trainee like me could do anything with this information.
The only thing that connected us was Ji Hwa Sung, his little sidekick, and the brief conversations we’d had before.
So why tell me all this?
“That’s because…”
Hyung hesitated for a moment before he spoke.
* * *
The last thing Jae Ha hyung said stayed with me the entire way home.
“I don’t like the idea of anyone controlling us, like we’re their puppets….”
He was probably referring to Liu Wei.
And beyond him, Director Shin, who was the real power behind the scenes.
But…
Ping!
– X: Why?? Feeling guilty because you’re trying to switch up your team??
– X: Is it because you feel like you’re doing the same thing as Liu Wei? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
– X: Sorry, but isn’t that a little too selective? Shouldn’t you have felt that way during Trash Rex’s era too? ;;
“Ugh…”
Normally, I would’ve snapped back with a quick insult, but this time, X had hit too close to home for me to find the words.
– Kim Chunyong: ㅗ
– X: Pfft, Trash Rex ㅡㅡ
Apparently offended by my brief retort, X started bombarding me with snarky comments.
– X: Why are you such a pushover?? You can’t let stuff like this get to you!!!!
– X: Seriously, compared to others, you’re pretty mild! There are plenty of guys who come back and start fighting with their teammates right off the bat ㅋㅋ
– X: Honestly, I would have approved if you said “I’ll replace the whole team except for me…” You know, the best members are the ones you can manage easily ㅡㅡ
Man, this guy…
I wasn’t planning to respond, and pretend I didn’t see it,, but my irritation got the better of me.
– Kim Chunyong: And did they all succeed?
– X: ????? What?
– Kim Chunyong: Did they all succeed?
– Kim Chunong: Switching their members around to be the most manageable? Did they become the greatest idols in K-pop history? Because from what I’ve lived through, I don’t think I’ve seen that.
No reply.
Even that sharp-tongued X was probably taken aback by what I said.
“…Whew.”
I didn’t come back for some selfish purpose.
I came back to apologize to my family, and to the members who suffered because of me.
Yeah, that’s what this is all about.
I can’t deny that my conflict with Liu Wei has been weighing on my mind, but what else can I do?
“…It’s already happening.”
I opened my phone, which was thankfully silent now, and pulled up my notes.
There was the fourth round of the competition and the mid-rankings coming up after this break.
Before that, I needed to gather the right cards to deal with Liu Wei and Director Shin.
——–
T/N:
[1] ↩
I originally translated it to Queens, because I wasn’t sure, and just kept it. As time passed, Quince sounded more appropriate, and I decided to change it to that instead. Sorry if I missed an opportunity to mention it earlier!
[2] ↩
