Hold On—The Truth Is Coming

“Ah… is that so?”

As Hanbyeol answered quietly, the person on the other end of the phone brightened up.

‘–Of course. We are also properly reviewing legal action.’

They hadn’t even started responding yet, but their words were flashy.

It had already been quite some time since the story about Hanbyeol spread.
The fact that the articles were only being taken down now, when it seemed like Hanbyeol’s trainee contract might be possible, didn’t sit well with him.

Hanbyeol’s eyes had grown dark, but thankfully, his expression wasn’t visible over the phone.

“I’ll think about it a bit more.”
“I’m still a bit flustered… The CSAT is soon, you know.”
‘–It’s understandable to be flustered since it spread so suddenly. Let’s talk again after the CSAT.’
“Yes.”

He had bought time until the CSAT.

If his prediction was correct, no further controversies about Cha.N would erupt until then.
If they couldn’t properly stitch things up, not just their comeback after the CSAT, but their activities themselves could become more problematic.

Cha.N’s comeback was scheduled for January next year.

Given Cha.N’s situation, where their career high was constantly being renewed, if this album also became a huge hit, it would be obvious that the agency would no longer be able to hold onto Cha.N.

That’s why they were resorting to these means.
So they wouldn’t leave the company, or so other agencies couldn’t touch them, or so the members would grow tired and naturally put down roots right where they were.

“Isn’t their final struggle way too dirty?”

Some people think that if they can’t have something, others shouldn’t either.

But there’s always a way, no matter where you are.
For his brother, whom he trusted in an oddly strong way, Hanbyeol moved.

For Hanbyeol, who might sign a contract, the agency wouldn’t touch Yuseong anymore.
Since Cha.N’s members got along so well originally, if they messed with them further, all members might not just go to a label connected to the parent company but even forcibly redebut.

‘[I_Rize members fail to renew contracts. Please call us Litu: from now on!]’
‘[Hello! We’re the newly debuted “veteran rookies” GoalD. from Delayers!]’

After looking around the internet here and there, Hanbyeol opened his mouth with a distant look.

“……How is it that not a single place ended their contract normally?”

It was obvious just looking at groups from other programs with shorter contract periods than Cha.N.

Most, trusting the buzz of the program, brought the survivors of the audition show to their own agencies and even completed trademark registrations.

But with haphazard schedules and artist care hitting rock bottom, everyone cut ties with their agencies in a situation that was little better than a neurosis.

If there are no members in the group, having the trademark is of little use.

Conversely, those attached to the group name also wanted to acquire the trademark, but faced financial hurdles, so they gave up with tears and simply took the redebut title to continue activities.

With many precedents left, the situation had deteriorated to this worst-case scenario.

Anyway, you won’t be able to take it, and if we can’t use it, we’ll just destroy it!
In this situation proceeding with such logic, Hanbyeol pressed a hand to his forehead.

“Hey. Are you done with your call?”
“Yep.”
“Are you going to solve problems all day too? English?”
“Yeah. But math, not English.”
“Okay. Then let’s compare answers at lunch. I’m going back to my class.”
“Sure.”

And from this morning, he trusted his brother’s agency even less for calling him incessantly.

No matter how urgent, calling a student at school like that, what are they thinking?
And to an exam student!

‘Thank goodness it was break time.’

Hanbyeol solved CSAT prep workbooks while measuring time.
It was true that his brother’s affairs were on his mind, but he had to do his own work.

Hanbyeol’s eyes lit up.

“Number 8 is 3.”
“Ah, damn i—.”
“Cut down on the swearing. It’s not just you who messed up. Do Eunhan messed up too.”
“Ji Taeha-ya, is number 10 also 3?”
“No, it’s 2.”
“Are we screwed?”
“Ji Taeha is a cheat. Did you get all of these right too?”
“Hey, it looks like you got a lot right too? Weren’t you sick? Did you just study at home the whole time?”

Maybe because he solved them while tense.
Hanbyeol realized the number of lines drawn over the problem numbers was fewer than he thought.

It was hard to predict how much harder it would be compared to last year’s CSAT, or if it would become pointlessly easier, but if it came out similar to now, it seemed his scores wouldn’t fall short for the university he wanted.

“Wow, this is unbelievable. The CSAT is in three days!”
“If you have the energy to say that, solve more of the problems you got wrong.”
“Choi Hanbyeol is so sensitive…”

Hanbyeol, whose friend was even more unbelievable for not being sensitive.
Am I the only one taking the CSAT right now?

As an ordinary high school senior preparing for exams, it was natural to become sharp.
Of course, Hanbyeol’s current sensitivity wasn’t solely due to the CSAT.

Taeha, who had been checking on Hanbyeol’s condition, reached out.
The back of his hand briefly touched and left Hanbyeol’s forehead.

“Your medication?”
“Took it before coming.”
“What? Is Choi Hanbyeol sick somewhere?”
“It’s not being sick.”
“Medication side effects? Still?”

As Hanbyeol nodded, Jaehwi and Eunhan let out sighs.
Their Beta friends were still worried about Hanbyeol’s suppressant side effects, which hadn’t subsided.

Since a headache still lingered, Hanbyeol took a painkiller from his pocket.
Taeha shook his head and grabbed his hand.

“Too many painkillers are also hard on your liver. If you can bear it, let’s try to hold off a little.”
“This is serious. Hanbyeol, doesn’t your body usually feel worse for about a week after it ends anyway?”
“I’m fine.”
“Fine, my foot. The CSAT is soon.”

The two friends who had been checking answer sheets, after watching Hanbyeol’s complexion, headed to the school store saying they’d buy drinks, and Taeha stayed behind to check on Hanbyeol’s condition.

His body was fine.
For Hanbyeol, the stress pouring in from the tangled situations was more of a problem.

“Is it because of the contract, by any chance?”

At Taeha’s question, Hanbyeol nodded.

He had postponed talks about the contract until after the CSAT.
However, he didn’t think the company’s calls would only come today.

Judging by the drink coupons that arrived after the call ended, it seemed like they would continue to express their intention, as if telling him not to forget them.

“There are three days until the CSAT.”
“No matter how fast the entertainment industry changes, it takes time for rumors to die down. And they’re controversies.”

There was still no contact from Yuseong.
Since it was right before the CSAT, it was predictable without asking that he meant for the exam student to focus on studying.

In reality, there was no way for Hanbyeol, not part of the entertainment industry, to help.
If he had known this would happen, he should have at least steadily continued his idol fan activities.

The IDs for various communities he had joined with the immature thought that it might help Taeha, who dreamed of being an idol, had remained buried since Yuseong’s debut until now.

“The fans turning against them is the scariest part, right?”
“That’s true…”
“Some of Yechan hyung and Sehyun hyung’s homepages (fancafés) put up ‘Close’ notices at night.”
“Until the Yechan hyung situation blew up, the opinion to wait and see was strong.”

Now, opinions had formed that they were sticking together because they debuted together.
And from the agency’s perspective, trying to use Hanbyeol’s buzz, the two members’ image decline shouldn’t reach Hanbyeol’s brother, Yuseong.

The situation being so clear, Hanbyeol, who was watching from the sidelines, was now at the point of grabbing them by the scruff of the neck.

“The only silver lining is that my issue erupted right before the two hyungs’ situations blew up.”
“But because of that, you’re in an annoying situation, Hanbyeol…”

As they talked, Taeha frowned looking at Hanbyeol’s vibrating phone.
Hanbyeol flipped his phone over and shrugged.

Recently, most calls starting with 02 or 010 were casting calls asking him to join their agency.

It was baffling how they got his number and called.
They even reached him through a teacher at his academy, so he was at a complete loss regarding the agencies’ information-gathering power.

“I’m going to change my number after the CSAT.”
“Couldn’t you change it now?”
“Then the buzz would decrease, wouldn’t it?”

Despite Taeha’s worry, Hanbyeol remained composed.

“Let’s just focus on the CSAT for now.”
“I’m a bit confused about how to solve problem number 16?”

Seeing Hanbyeol changing the subject, Taeha’s eyes filled with concern.
Knowing that ‘I’m fine’ was a habit of his, Taeha couldn’t help but worry.

****

“Hanbyeol-ah, are you done grading?”
“Yeah. Should we take a short break?”

At that, Taeha, who had been laughing, set his pen down for a moment.
Hanbyeol, holding his phone, let out a ‘wah—’ with his mouth open.

‘[There will be absolutely no leniency toward malicious commenters.]’

At the strong wording in the article, Hanbyeol shook his head side-to-side.
If you could do this, you should have done it earlier.

While there were plenty of people trying to add fuel to the fire thanks to the controversy, there was no one pouring water to put it out, so all sorts of communities were as noisy as if a real fire had broken out.

But the suddenly big fire was actually not a real fire but just a fake that looked like one, so putting it out was easy.

“I really had no idea.”

Hanbyeol scratched his head.

He had diligently searched for Yechan’s face at the middle school the Cha.N member was presumed to have attended.
But there was only one reason it was full of people who merely looked similar.
It was because the middle school Yechan attended wasn’t the ‘Ye-jung’ the rumors had said.

For a while, people claiming to be from that school wrote posts online, and as those posts were amplified and reproduced, the image of Yechan floating around the internet was proven to not be Yechan, causing an instant reversal.

Hanbyeol frowned at the story, which was resolved with absurd ease.

“To think Yechan hyung was our school’s senior… Taeha, did you know?”
“Not at all…”

Unexpectedly, Yechan was a senior from the middle school Hanbyeol graduated from.
Their times didn’t overlap at all, so he had never seen him.

“Did you know early admission was possible?”
“I’d heard stories. But I didn’t know that hyng had entered early.”

Actually, considering age, Yechan should have been in his third year of middle school when Hanbyeol and Taeha entered as first-years.

Hanbyeol had thought so too, which is why he had desperately saved event photos from ‘Ye-jung,’ the rumored middle school, as if grasping at straws.

But then how did Yuseong know?
A few days ago, he suddenly took his middle school graduation album from home.

‘[Cha.N’s Yechan, graduation photo proof surfaces…]’
‘[Entertainment Column: Malicious rumors beget rumors]’