Chapter 7: Controversy

Hikari, who had been struck by me, let out a dumbfounded sound.

Anger surged even more at the sight of Hikari looking up at me with a blank face, as if she hadn’t expected this.

“Why, do you see us as pushovers just because we kept putting up with you?”

No matter how much people make mistakes in life, this crossed the line.

She had already insanely stacked up negative points, and now she brazenly throws a parental insult too?

At this point, maybe this girl really has no brain.

“How dare…! Kyaak?!”

“How dare?”

“Are you going to keep stealing the lines I should be saying?”

‘How dare’ is what I should be saying.

After stealing things and even the center position, how can she speak so brazenly?

Angrily, I grabbed Hikari’s collar and pulled; she was dragged along helplessly.

Although we were both women, there was a considerable physical difference between Hikari and me.

Because for an idol who has to perform on stage for long hours, stamina was one of the essential elements.

However, me cornering Hikari didn’t last long.

“What’s going on?”

“Is someone fighting…?”

Perhaps because of the sudden loud noise, I heard the sound of people gathering around.

Judging by the sporadic sounds of camera shutters, it seemed some of them were taking pictures.

‘Ah, my hat…’

The moment I tried to quickly leave the scene, avoiding the people, I suddenly realized.

Thanks to the hat Hikari had just knocked off, my face was now completely exposed.

“….Tch.”

After snatching the hat from her hand, I pressed it back onto my head.

I acted rashly in a moment of anger, but if more trouble breaks out here, I’ll be the one at a disadvantage.

Regardless of whether Hikari provoked it first, what people would see was only the scene of me assaulting Hikari.

‘Did she intentionally aim for this?’

That thought occurred to me for a moment, but seeing her dumbfounded expression just before, maybe it was just a coincidence.

Well, not that it changes anything.

Aware of the people’s gazes, I let go of Hikari’s collar.

The longer I held her collar, the more disadvantageous it was for me.

In the meantime, Hikari, glancing around, began to sob.

“Ren senpai… that’s too much.”

“Even if you dislike me so much…”

“….Ha?”

I was dumbfounded by her sudden outburst of tears.

‘She was acting like a f*cking b*tch just moments ago, and now she suddenly cries?’

Obviously, those couldn’t be real tears.

She just noticed her situation in the eyes of the people and immediately started exploiting it.

It was an effective method, as the sound of people whispering actually started to become more active.

Even if people couldn’t hear Hikari’s voice properly, the villain was already decided the moment she started crying first.

‘This girl is really determined to make me out to be the bad b*tch.’

Meanwhile, Hikari wiped the fake tears welling in her eyes and quickly ran past me.

Simultaneously, people’s gazes instantly focused on me.

A famous idol’s street assault incident; even I could see it was perfect gossip material to set the internet ablaze.

Even if the people here didn’t know me, the moment it gets posted online, all hell would break loose.

Belatedly, I pressed the hat back on and escaped through the crowd.

It might have already been futile, but staying there any longer would just mean getting more pictures taken anyway.

Japan Idol Community.

It was a relatively large internet community where numerous idol fans gathered.

As the name suggested, the members of this community were mostly idol fans, and it wasn’t a community frequently used by those uninterested in idols.

However, a few days ago, one post uploaded there caught the attention of numerous people, regardless of their preferences.

[Sharing the story of seeing two f*cking pretty girls fighting at the park]

[-Was working out in the park yesterday and heard someone getting slapped.]

[-Went to check it out, and two f*cking pretty girls were fighting.]

[-What is this.]

[(Photo)]

[ㄴDamn pretty though, f*ck lol]

[ㄴEyes drawn more to the faces than the fight fr]

[ㄴBut doesn’t the person hitting look familiar?]

[ㄴ?? What the, isn’t that Ren?]

[ㄴYeah, looks like it?]

[ㄴDidn’t the one getting hit appear in that variety show preview recently?]

[ㄴSaid she’s Cornelia’s new member, sings damn well.]

[ㄴPretty face too.]

[ㄴAnswer’s obvious then.]

[ㄴJust called her out and beat her up out of jealousy yep yep.]

[ㄴNo wonder her way of speaking seemed f*cked up.]

[ㄴLet’s not curse when nothing’s confirmed yet…]

“….Mostly malicious comments.”

I closed the community without thinking of looking further.

Except for the abnormally fast spread, it’s just as I expected.

To summarize the situation on the idol community, it was truly utter chaos.

I guess it really did get posted online.

A sigh escaped me naturally due to the oncoming headache.

Even ordinary people with little interest in idols and my anti-fans started running wild like fish in water.

‘Well, most of them are anti-fans, though.’

I had memorized the names of the users mainly active in the community.

Especially those who badmouthed me.

Although I was the group’s leader, I had the most anti-fans among the members.

‘The unique ‘Ice Princess’ character persona was the problem.’

Perhaps because the character was created as a villain in the original work, Ren had exceptionally sharp eyes among the game characters.

Externally to the game, that had become established as her character persona.

‘Still, this is more comfortable for me.’

Otherwise, acting cute was impossible due to my soul being male in my past life, but thanks to the Ice Princess persona, I rarely needed to do anything else, so my mind was very much at ease.

Of course, thanks to that, some idol fans tended to dislike me.

Most of them wanted idols who were submissive and cute towards fans.

‘And in that situation, such a photo was taken so openly…’

Situations are conveyed more effectively when explained with visual elements compared to simply describing them in writing.

Thanks to that, not only the anti-fans jumping on it thinking ‘aha!’ but also people seeing me for the first time were joining in.

“The severity of the malicious comments is worse than I thought.”

Despite only a day having passed, countless insults had piled up, and supportive posts lacking clear evidence were also decreasing.

Maybe even existing fans will turn away.

While I was bitterly looking at my phone, I heard the sound of someone running quickly outside the room.

It seemed they had business with me, as the sound grew closer.

“Ren, what have you done?!”

“….Ah, you’re here?”

A moment later, Sion rushed urgently into my room.

“The internet is going crazy right now.”

“At this rate, it’s serious enough to be reported on the news soon.”

“This time, I admit it.”

“I was rash.”

Honestly, I had nothing to say this time.

I thought I had gotten used to insults as my career progressed, but to fall for such a low-quality provocation…

“Haa… What on earth did that girl say…”

“….Surprising.”

“You’re not blaming me?”

Seeing that he knows this news, he must have seen the photo of Hikari whose collar I grabbed.

So I naturally thought he would blame me, but surprisingly, he didn’t say much.

Sion replied to my question as if it were obvious.

“Well, Ren, you’re not the type to hit someone innocent for no reason.”

“I know that much.”

“Was it said that 0 and 1 are worlds apart?”

After only seeing posts cursing me just moments ago, hearing words of trust made me feel slightly better.

Of course, other people probably wouldn’t think so.

“It seems the President is taking this matter very seriously too.”

“He’s calling for you.”

“Haa… I suppose so.”

From a personal perspective, it’s an incident where his niece got hit, and from a public perspective, it’s an incident where the group leader assaulted a new member.

It was obvious that the entire company’s image would naturally be tarnished.

‘Come to think of it, I really did set off a bomb.’

The ones I dislike are only Hikari and the president.

I didn’t manage to consider that it would cause harm to the other artists in the same company.

No matter how much my reason flew away due to the parental insult, that was something I should have managed somehow as a professional.

“…I’m telling you in advance, Ren.”

“This isn’t your fault.”

“…Yeah, thanks for saying so, at least.”

Leaving Sion’s comfort behind, I stood up with a heavy heart.

“Ah, what about your recorder?”

“Here.”

At Sion’s words, I held the recorder in my hand and waved it left and right.

Come to think of it, I’ve used this for a long time.

It’s the gadget that showed its power whenever I was getting ripped off regarding appearance fees in movies or dramas.

I never thought I’d end up using it against the agency president, but with this, I should be able to properly counter whatever they say.

After putting the recorder back inside my clothes, I quietly headed towards the president’s office.

Inside the stylish president’s office, two people were seated.

One was naturally the president, and the other person was…

“…Hello, Senpai.”

“Yeah, you seem fine.”

Hikari, sitting next to the president, replied to my words.

I don’t know how many days it’s been.

“Sakamiya, you know why I called you, right?”

Leaving the conversation with her behind, I sat down, and the president asked coldly.

He probably intends to interrogate me about the post on the community.

It must be a ploy to gain the upper hand from the start of the conversation.

Since it’s true I wasn’t entirely without fault, he probably thought I wouldn’t say much else.

‘However, I have no intention of meekly admitting just that fact.’

“….President, how about we properly determine fault first?”

We need to clearly determine what needs determining.

It’s not that I’m without fault, but didn’t your niece provide the cause in the first place?

“….Sakamiya, are you failing to grasp the situation right now?”

Perhaps finding my words absurd, the president let out a hollow laugh.

“No one is on your side right now.”

“In this state, it will soon be reported in articles too.”

“……..”

He wasn’t wrong.

The president and the netizens were definitely on Hikari’s side.

In the first place, if that man considered his agency’s artists that important, he wouldn’t have shoved Hikari into the group to begin with.

“Even if you try to release a rebuttal article, they won’t properly accept it over there.”

I didn’t want to admit it coming from his mouth, but he was right.

Because in any world, reporting controversy attracts attention much more easily than rebuttal articles.

‘But what’s with him speaking sense for once.’

Don’t they say that when a person changes drastically, their time is near?

Like that saying, something felt unsettling.

“…So, what are you proposing we do?”

Seeing him bring up articles, he probably isn’t doing this just to get a single apology for scratching his niece’s face.

“….Finally showing some cooperation.”

The president, smiling as if satisfied, took out a business card from his pocket.

A single name was written on the business card.

[Nogata Goro]

Before my mind could even grasp the situation, shocking words flowed from the president’s mouth.

“You, go have a drink or something with that person.”