Let Them Use My Name

Hanbyeol’s response was a non-response.
He never opened his mouth to the surrounding questions and did not respond at all to the flood of texts and calls if they were related to the matter.

His brother Yuseong also called Hanbyeol the next day, but Hanbyeol didn’t answer that call either.

He attended school classes normally, ate meals normally.
He chatted normally with friends and went home; nothing was different from usual.

While the internet sea was noisy with stories about Hanbyeol, his surroundings began to gradually calm down due to his behavior, which was no different from usual.

Of course, some reporters circled near the school, but friends who knew Hanbyeol was acting normally accompanied him, preventing strangers from attaching themselves.

At that time, another frustrated person appeared, driving a car.

“Why don’t you do a proper explanation?”
“……Uh, um.”
“What, why. Talk properly.”
“Um… Taeha-ya, where is your house?”
“Taeha, since you got in the car because of me, don’t try to send me away.”
“Younger brother-nim. Hyung, I can just take the graduation album, really? But, by any chance, is there food at home―”
“Don’t change the subject.”
“Don’t push me so hard……”

Yuseong, who had been circling around on strange roads to shake off the following reporters, spoke up as if he had no choice since Hanbyeol wasn’t letting his anger go.

“Sorry for letting that absurd article get posted.”

Even though it wasn’t Yuseong’s fault, it was Yuseong who was apologizing.
What was important to Hanbyeol now wasn’t an apology but understanding the situation.

“How did such an article get posted?”

It could have started from a misunderstanding due to Yuseong’s pheromones.
Recently, Hanbyeol had been frequenting the company a lot, whether he wanted to or not.

But the problem was that a rumor that hadn’t appeared until now had suddenly grown uncontrollably.

From the sasaeng’s photo where Hanbyeol’s looks were first mentioned to the event venue he attended with Cha.N members, there had been no sign of such a thing until now.

It was only a topic like ‘Cha.N member Yuseong’s incredible family genes,’ never linked to Hanbyeol entering the entertainment industry.
This was thanks to Hanbyeol’s personality, which wanted to live quietly, and Yuseong’s control.

Whenever people who quietly knew Hanbyeol’s face or those deliberately trying to stir things up mentioned the handsome younger brother on Cha.N’s live broadcasts, Yuseong firmly blocked it.

‘My younger brother? An idol? He absolutely won’t do it. He has a personality that gets very shy….’
‘A celebrity… I can’t even imagine my younger brother doing that. He doesn’t really like it himself.’
‘To begin with, my younger brother never liked being in front of the camera since he was little.’

Everything he said was correct.

Hanbyeol only stood in front of a camera for family photos or obligatory class group photos.

Anyway, there must be a reason why his brother, who had been blocking so diligently until now, was apologizing.

At that moment, Taeha, as if he had noticed something, stared intently at Yuseong.

“Hyung. I’m sorry, but may I ask you one thing?”
“Huh? Yeah, sure.”
“By any chance, has a new group been formed at your agency?”
“…….”

Yuseong’s movements stopped.

Many groups from audition programs were formed after Cha.N.
However, there was no group that could be considered a direct junior successor to Cha.N’s throne.

Cha.N, the first group from [Pick, My Dol!], started with five members and was still recognized as a top-tier group in their fifth year, but all groups that debuted after that only left moderate names.
They were all top-tier in terms of topic, but their achievements left something to be desired.

Unlike Season 1, where all participants were without agencies, starting from Season 2, trainees from various agencies began to get involved, causing a lot of noise.

Due to pressure from agencies with many skilled trainees, contract periods were set short, and later, lobbying occurred here and there, making the start of Season 5 a distant prospect even though Season 4 recently ended.

Taeha picked up his phone, checked the articles, and raised his head.
Numerous articles were diligently spreading the nuance that Cha.N’s first junior group was coming.

“It’s a bit difficult to talk about this with outsiders.”
“I am Hanbyeol’s friend, and I swear on myself that I will never talk about it anywhere. I absolutely cannot do that.”
“What makes me trust you?”
“You can record everything. I’ll even write a written pledge if needed.”

Hanbyeol had already been found out by Taeha regarding matters related to Yuseong.
However, Taeha didn’t tell Yuseong that he knew.
Considering Hanbyeol’s position, he regarded it as something he didn’t know and didn’t bring it up.

Hanbyeol, who had been watching the two, spoke up.

“I already told hyung that Taeha prepared to be an idol.”
“Even if I pretend not to know, it’s a bit hard to avoid his eyes.”

Yuseong, who had been silent, let out a deep sigh.

“……Yeah, that’s exactly it.”

While waiting for the signal, Yuseong, who had been running his hands through his hair as if troubled, spoke again.

“It seems the company is aiming for buzz.”
“Is it… noise marketing?”

As Yuseong affirmed with silence, Taeha frowned.

Marketing that neither Hanbyeol nor the Cha.N members had ever agreed to.

Before Cha.N’s members received investment from the parent company to establish a label—that is, between the end of this year and the beginning of next year—they had to debut a new group to be able to use Cha.N’s name in marketing.

Of course, the company wouldn’t have directly mixed Hanbyeol’s name into the article.
Because the one contracted to the company was Yuseong, not Hanbyeol.

The entertainment reporters probably know that the possibility of Hanbyeol debuting as an idol converges to 0%.
They’re just steadily mixing Yuseong’s name to increase article clicks.

Inaccurate photos, but videos blurred just enough for people around Hanbyeol to recognize him immediately.

Above all, the articles didn’t contain Hanbyeol’s name at all.

Just the younger brother of Cha.N’s ‘Yuseong’.
This one sentence alone was overflowing with buzz.
Since Hanbyeol doesn’t use SNS, the sources used in the articles were also videos and photos taken by fans.

Probably because he’s a civilian, it was difficult to take photos freely.
So if the company just filed a correction or deletion request, it would be resolved, but the company’s response was somehow lukewarm.

“They really are incompetent.”
“Haha…”

At Hanbyeol’s blunt voice, Yuseong let out a laugh that sounded like a sigh.

No matter how much a junior of Cha.N debuts, there’s no guarantee that Cha.N fans or idol fans would shift their attention and support the agency’s new group.

Cha.N was originally from an audition program, not trained under an agency, and the company did all sorts of so-called ‘nonsense’ during Cha.N’s debut and even now, so fans wouldn’t have a favorable view of the agency.

So it seemed like they were trying to subtly link Hanbyeol, who had quietly become a topic among fans, with the title of Yuseong’s younger brother and a Cha.N junior for marketing…
Even to Hanbyeol, who hadn’t even dipped a toe into the entertainment industry, it seemed like a plan full of overreaching.

“Is this why you couldn’t even call me properly yesterday because you were talking to the company about this?”

He must have been going in and out of the office, not the company practice room, until late at night.

Since Cha.N is scheduled for a comeback after the CSAT, they should be dedicating themselves solely to practice except for some YouTube content and a few schedules, but it was clear they were suffering headaches over this absurd matter.

Hanbyeol was worried about Yuseong, whose health wasn’t great either.
Even if the situation was flowing in a bad direction for him, Yuseong was ultimately Hanbyeol’s one and only brother.

“Hyung.”
“Yeah?”
“By any chance, if I don’t interfere much with the rumor, will it cause problems for you?”
“……What?”

Screech.

The car stopped.
It was near home, but seeing Taeha also open his eyes wide and look at Hanbyeol, it must have been a pretty absurd thing to say.

“What are you talking about? Aren’t calls flooding your phone right now? Reporters must be in an uproar trying to confirm things.”
“Reporters can be ignored, and for calls, I can change my number and only inform people around me.”
“But since I’m not really going to debut, not stopping them from using my story means the company is neglecting its duty.”
“That’s true, but…”
“Does this rumor interfere with your activities, hyung?”

It wouldn’t interfere.
Hanbyeol didn’t cause an incident; he just became a topic due to his looks.

For it to really become a problem, Hanbyeol would have to go out right now, commit a crime, and cause a scandal, but the possibility of that was 0%.

Hanbyeol never once brought up anything related to his own debut, and except when he was absent due to illness, his school life was diligent.

The subject of the buzz is Hanbyeol, but they’re so desperate to connect that buzz to something unrelated that it’s obvious to anyone that the company will face backlash over time.

And the Yuseong that Hanbyeol knows was someone who could more than sufficiently take advantage of that backlash.

Yuseong seemed to be trying his best from a brother’s position to prevent his younger brother from getting caught up in troublesome matters, but when there are many incompetent people, it’s often the capable ones who get held back.

The agency told Yuseong they would only verbally address his concerns for the sake of the new group, whose debut outline had appeared.
Articles about the rumor of ‘Yuseong’s younger brother’ continued to pour out like bamboo shoots after rain.

“This is just my personal thought.”
“I know Cha.N’s contract period is ending soon.”
“The talk that there’s no possibility of re-signing is already widespread on the internet.”
“No matter how I look at it, it feels like they’re trying to use it for new group promotion before the contract ends.”

Taeha doesn’t know that Cha.N is preparing to establish a label.
Hanbyeol added, opening his mouth as if to supplement.

“If their value falls moderately, it’s good for re-signing; if it falls completely, it’s good since they won’t look. It’s too obvious.”
“But, I don’t think I’ll become a controversy.”

Far from a controversy, he became a topic, but anyway, it was certainly something that could stir things up within the Cha.N fandom.