Chapter 16

Chapter 16 – A Clash Between Dragon and Tiger

As we passed the practice room, I noticed Cheon Gihong standing helplessly in front of the restroom.

“What happened?”

When Daehun asked, Cheon Gihong explained that it sounded like a fight had broken out inside, but since it was the women’s restroom, he couldn’t go in.

What a useless bastard.

Daehun and I immediately went inside.

Aran was sitting on the floor, silently crying.

Beside her stood Lee Subin, the ringleader among those Solis girls who had caused trouble in front of the practice room before.

She was glaring fiercely, her shoulders heaving with every breath.

Aran’s hair was completely disheveled, as if someone had grabbed and pulled it.

Judging from the state of the two of them, the scream we had heard must have come from Lee Subin.

Probably a scream she had let out because she couldn’t contain her own anger.

“Lee Subin! What the hell are you doing to your unnie?!”

Daehun raised his voice.

But Subin didn’t shrink back.

Instead, she pulled out her phone and showed us a YouTube video.

The video was titled:

〈The Difference Between Universe’s Main Vocalists〉

It alternated between clips of Solis singing live and Blue Moon’s radio performance.

Watching them side by side naturally invited comparison.

And to be completely honest, Blue Moon had been unusually good while Solis had been unusually bad, which made the video even more ridiculous.

Subin’s face was bright red with anger as she huffed.

“You sang our song because you were planning this from the start, weren’t you?! You act weak and nice whenever the director and team leaders are around, but behind our backs, all you ever think about is screwing us over like this!”

“So?”

Daehun’s expression hardened.

“So you followed your unnie into the restroom and hit her?”

This time, when I asked, Subin fell silent.

I took Subin with me and headed toward Practice Room B, where the Blue Moon members were.

Daehun, Gihong, and Aran followed us.

When I walked in, Youngchae, who had been practicing, turned off the speaker that was blasting popping music.

“What happened? Why is everyone here?”

I placed Subin in front of Serin.

“Go ahead. Do exactly what you did to Aran.”

Subin’s eyes trembled.

She froze and looked around at the Blue Moon members.

“D-Do what?”

“You slapped Aran, didn’t you? You said she acts nice in front of everyone while secretly trying to screw you over, so you hit her. Then you should hit these unnies too.”

Serin, who had been listening, spoke.

“Aran was slapped?”

At those words, Youngchae’s eyes instantly turned frightening.

Anna, who had been standing the farthest away, walked over to Aran and quietly fixed her messy hair.

Instead of hitting Serin as I had told her to, Subin turned toward me and suddenly changed the subject.

“I heard Cheon Gihong talking with the director. They said Blue Moon was going to disband anyway! And that Team Leader Two would move to our team, while only Song Aran would stay behind and promote as a soloist!”

So that was how she wanted to play this.

Now the members were staring at me with shocked expressions.

“Is that true?”

“Only Aran is staying and the rest of us are disbanding?”

That bastard Osu’s biggest problem was his mouth.

If he was going to do something like that, he could have just been the only villain.

Why did he have to go around telling everyone and creating accomplices?

Especially when he was going to renew their contracts in the end anyway.

Subin continued.

“What’s the point of a group that’s going to disband getting popular?! If Blue Moon unnies were actually going to succeed because of it, I wouldn’t say anything! But all you’re doing is making things harder for us! How am I supposed to not be angry?!”

“Blue Moon isn’t disbanding.”

I cut her off before things went any further.

“You two groups only share the same concept. Their skills are far better. Their visuals are far better too... From a fan’s perspective, what reason is there to choose Solis over Blue Moon?”

“……”

“Ah, age? Sure. Being younger is nice. But what can you do? Does a difference of two or three years even show these days?”

Subin’s expression stiffened.

But she couldn’t recklessly argue anymore.

Because, honestly, I wasn’t wrong.

Solis’s only real advantage was their age.

Well, there was one more.

Osu’s special support.

Then I turned toward Blue Moon.

“And all of you, get ready. We’re going to renew your contracts.”

The practice room instantly became as silent as a recording studio with the power switched off.

I looked back at Subin.

“You’re going to be tied together as seniors and juniors for a long time. Wouldn’t it be better for you too if you stopped creating reasons to hate each other?”

Subin stared at me.

“Blue Moon is renewing their contracts?”

“Yeah. The company wants them to keep promoting. They’ve already shown enough, haven’t they? The company decided your seniors have enough earning potential to justify keeping them.”

I paused.

“And it’s also true that your song’s streaming numbers jumped because of them.”

The ones who had kicked away that opportunity were Solis themselves.

More specifically, their disastrous vocals.

Since Subin had no answer, silence filled the practice room.

For Subin, it was probably like being struck by lightning.

But for Blue Moon, this was good news.

Should I have brought fireworks or something?

Serin, who had been watching quietly, covered her mouth with both hands.

“All four of us?”

Youngchae asked while standing there awkwardly, her eyes clearer than I had ever seen them.

“Obviously. Why? Were you worried they were only going to renew with you?”

Youngchae burst into a delighted laugh.

That laughter became the trigger.

The members began screaming and jumping around.

“What do we do?! We’re renewing...! We’re really renewing!”

“I told you it would work out, unnie!”

“Then can I renew my visa now too?”

There wasn’t a single member who wasn’t crying.

I was a longtime fan of Blue Moon too.

How difficult had their journey been?

Even while promoting under a group name, how far away must the word celebrity have felt to them?

Even this last month with me must have felt like some fragile dream that could disappear at any moment.

Watching the members bury their faces against one another’s shoulders and wipe away their tears made my own eyes grow hot.

While the members were sharing their happiness—

Bzzz—

The phone in my pocket vibrated.

My instincts told me it was spam.

Today was August 8.

According to the original future, Shyongshyong should have died today.

But right now, Nam Wonsu had been under detention and investigation for a full week, with the charges against him continuing to pile up.

Even if he wanted to kill Shyongshyong, he couldn’t.

So what kind of message had arrived this time?

[Web Message]

Would you like to see the future?

Option 1. Yes

Option 2. No

(If there is no response for 5 minutes, Option 1 will be selected automatically.)

As if I were doing it a favor, I typed 1 and sent it.

Immediately, a photograph of an airport packed with a massive crowd arrived.

Of course, the previous horrifying photo of Shyongshyong disappeared from my phone without leaving even a trace.

One glance was enough to recognize the location.

It was the international terminal at Gimpo Airport.

The people gathered there were either holding colorful signs or carrying cameras.

In other words, idol fans or entertainment reporters.

All of them were looking in the same direction.

A tall man wearing a mask was hurriedly walking forward, desperately trying to avoid everyone’s gaze.

He had thick eyebrows, and even with the mask covering his face, the sharp lines of his features were obvious.

And scattered across the floor were pieces of fan merchandise.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t read the writing.

But here and there, I could see light sticks belonging to Astra’s fan club, Geneca, being crushed under people’s feet and shattered into pieces.

Only after realizing he was an Astra member did I recognize the man.

He was Zeus, the main rapper of Universe Team One’s Astra.

My instincts as an eight-year veteran of this industry told me immediately—

Something huge had happened.

There were countless cameras filming Zeus, including cameras from broadcasting station reporters.

Yet Zeus looked far too shabby.

That meant he hadn’t expected to encounter cameras.

If he was visiting Gimpo International Airport alone without expecting reporters to be there...

Then he had been planning to leave the country secretly.

But why?

And why did he look like a serial killer leaving a courthouse?

The date was August 28, 6:19 a.m.

Today was August 8.

That meant there were only twenty days left.

And somehow, this many people had gathered at the airport before sunrise.

I turned my head and looked at Blue Moon.

The members were still congratulating one another.

This wasn’t just an ordinary problem.

If an issue this large exploded, even Astra could collapse.

And if this wasn’t merely a photo but something serious enough to send Astra crashing down...

Then the entire company might start shaking the moment Blue Moon finished signing their contract renewal.

This company really never had a peaceful day.

To find out exactly what was happening, I went to Astra’s dorm.

As far as I knew, they had no group schedule today.

The place was quiet, so I thought no one would be home.

But one person was lying blankly on a bed.

Their leader, Arcas.

His real name was Ahn Jongyeop.

“Hey...! Why are you lying there like a corpse with all the lights off?”

“Ah, Team Leader Do Junhyeok. What brings you here?”

He nearly scared an unborn child out of me.

Jongyeop casually sat up as though there was nothing strange about what he had been doing.

I flipped the light switch.

Jongyeop immediately frowned.

What time did he think it was?

Astra were veteran idols, so I wasn’t going to nag them about practicing.

Besides, I wasn’t even their team leader.

“Where’s Jin Garim?”

“Garim? Hmm... I’m not sure. Wasn’t he filming a variety show today? I think he went out for an individual schedule.”

Jin Garim.

That was Zeus’s real name.

The same bastard who would cause that huge scene at the airport in a few days.

He had a playful personality and was pretty strange, so he appeared on variety shows often.

But seriously.

The leader saying I’m not sure?

Back in my day...

“Are you the only one without a schedule? Nobody wants you?”

“Yes. No, wait, it’s not just me. The other members also... went somewhere. Things have been pretty tense lately.”

“They don’t have schedules, but they went somewhere? So they went out to have fun? They shouldn’t be doing that.”

Let young men who became successful early run wild and who knew where they might end up doing drugs.

Was I being too sensitive?

Maybe.

“Anyway, what do you mean things are tense? Something happened?”

“Yeah.”

Jongyeop explained without hesitation.

“There’s one really extreme sasaeng following Hyeonseok. His mental state is completely wrecked because of that person. I bought him drinks a few times and listened to him talk, and honestly, he’s barely holding it together.”

He sighed.

“So Hyeonseok says he wants to take a few months off.”

“And what did you say?”

“Honestly? I hate the idea. I’m twenty-five now. If Hyeonseok takes time off, we’ll only be able to do individual activities, and I don’t even know whether there are programs that would invite me.”

He lowered his gaze.

“But Hyeonseok is having such a hard time that there isn’t much we can do. I suggested it to the members anyway... but Garim said absolutely not. He refuses to agree no matter what.”

So that was the source of the tense atmosphere.

Leader Ahn Jongyeop had his own opinion but remained neutral.

Most of the members had more or less agreed that they could spend a few months doing individual activities before returning as a group.

But Jin Garim was fiercely opposed.

That had created a major conflict between them.

It was a difficult problem.

If Hyeonseok was suffering that badly, you couldn’t simply force him to endure it.

You couldn’t work him to death either.

“So what did you decide in the end?”

“Nothing. We had another huge fight last night and that was it.”

Jongyeop scratched his head.

“I think Hyeonseok rented a studio apartment somewhere by himself. He absolutely refuses to tell us the address.”

Then he added,

“I heard a lot of A-rank trainees joined the company recently. If he knows that and still wants to rest, then he must really be struggling.”

A-rank trainees who joined recently?

Was he talking about those servants who had cut ties with Pantheon and come here?

“I heard from the director that they might debut soon too. Our team is already on the verge of falling apart, and now talented rookies are showing up. There’s nothing I can really do.”

Jongyeop sighed deeply.

“All I can do is lie quietly on this bed...”

Then he dropped back onto the mattress.

That bastard Kwon Daehun.

What the hell had he been going around telling people?

“What do you mean they’re debuting soon? That’s nonsense. I know exactly how skilled those guys are.”

“They must be good. I heard the competition to become a Pantheon trainee is almost as bad as taking the judicial exam. Slight exaggeration, obviously.”

I knew very well what the average Pantheon trainee was capable of.

Of course, among trainees, they were some of the best.

But they were nowhere near active-idol level like Astra.

Once they reached a certain point, their growth became extremely slow.

That was why Pantheon rarely rushed to debut them.

In fact, we had never even seriously discussed their debut at the team-leader level.

“Do you think the company is stupid?”

I frowned.

“They forced Solis to debut too early, and you know what kind of mess that caused with our girls this time. That mistake alone hurt badly enough. You seriously think they’re going to rush another boy group out immediately?”

I waved my hand dismissively.

“There are no plans for that until you guys figure out whether you want to work as singers, rappers, or whatever else as solo artists. So stop imagining stupid things.”

“Ah...”

Jongyeop sat up again.

“Hearing that from Team Leader Do Junhyeok actually makes me feel a little better.”

Then he looked at me curiously.

“But why were you looking for Garim? I heard he’s planning to increase his activities anyway. He said he wanted something to brag about when he goes back home to his parents.”

Something to brag about when he went home?

There were plenty of cases where Chinese idols suddenly crammed in as many Korean activities as possible right before running back to China.

Even when they secretly transferred to a Chinese agency, they often increased their activities immediately beforehand to raise their value and negotiate a larger signing bonus.

When I connected the circumstances with the photo from the spam message...

It fit the pattern perfectly.

Still, Jongyeop had just mentioned Garim going home, yet he didn’t seem particularly interested.

The other members didn’t seem eager to interfere either.

If the people directly involved didn’t care, there wasn’t much I could do.

In other words, I couldn’t stop Jin Garim from performing that particular act of filial devotion.

Unless I somehow caught the sasaeng tormenting Kwon Hyeonseok and fixed Hyeonseok’s mental state.

Had they already decided they’d made it?

These guys had no passion.

They barely cared about one another either.

At this point, I was almost certain.

The incident Zeus was about to cause was him secretly running away to his home country, China.

And I was equally certain that I couldn’t stop it.

The trigger had already been pulled the moment Kwon Hyeonseok asked for a break.

I couldn’t prevent it.

If that was the case, then I had no choice but to accept the crisis.

And turn the crisis Astra would bring to Universe...

into an opportunity for Blue Moon.