Chapter 9: 9

Nodding, Director Kim Miji proposed, “I think we should go forward as if it was a noise marketing tactic that the company ordered.”

 

The CEO fixed his posture and asked desperately, “Should we officially announce that the company ordered it?” 

 

I think it’d be a poor excuse if they do it. On behalf of Haeun, who wasn’t in the position to say anything, Director Kim Miji replied. 

 

“What official announcement?”

 

Out of the expressions one could use towards their boss, her expression best expressed how she looked at him pathetically. If the company released an official statement saying ‘The situation of the aegyo rejection was ordered by the company to discard his image; apologies to the angry public…,’ the people cursing wouldn’t understand it, but rather, no one would be interested.

 

The CEO must’ve been embarrassed; with a cough, he glossed it over saying ‘Right?’ 

 

Kim Miji replied indifferently, “I think it’d be alright if one or two articles speculating about the company’s noise marketing were released. Other than that, it’d be best if we don’t say anything and concentrate on promotions.”

 

The CEO nodded his head earnestly As Haeun felt Director Kim Miji’s gaze land his way, he hurriedly lowered his head again. 

 

She warned him with a calm voice, “From now on, don’t do anything we didn’t order you to.”

 

“Yes… I’m sorry.”

 

In these situations, he should have said, ‘I won’t do it again,’ but Haeun never said something like that in his life. So this time, he only apologized like a parrot again.

 

If he added anything more, there wouldn’t have been any meaning. 

 

Kim Miji continued talking while staring at Haeun. “You have to change your image in the next album anyway. Not what you did before but an actual sexy concept. You all aren’t kids; you can’t wear school uniforms forever.”

 

“Yes…”

 

“I think a little devil1 concept would be alright, but your concept so far has been the complete opposite, so it’s troublesome like this. If you take an iffy path, there’ll be talk of you forgetting where you started from before you get popular.”

 

“Yes…”

 

Haeun began to not want to reply, so he fumbled his pronunciation. Maybe it was because of his gentle appearance, but no one noticed. Instead, they began to criticize him, saying he should’ve done it properly if he was going to pull a concept; what was that with his clumsy skills? They said instead of a cool and uneasy little devil image, he just felt like a thug.

 

To hide his displeased expression, Haeun deeply lowered his head. 

 

Kim Miji concluded, “From now on, don’t do things like that and keep pushing the angel image.”

 

“I will.”

 

“Although it might not seem like much, it’s important to not lose your existing fans. Lots of people are saying they feel sorry for you; since the company is receiving hate for you, grab your fans well. Go take a picture with Ilhyun and post it on SNS.”

 

After she finished speaking, she began looking at her phone again. Haeun was curious about what people were saying about Parkha’s attitude controversy on that screen. 

 

“Yes, but can I see as well?”

 

Haeun couldn’t endure the curiosity and asked directly. Kim Miji looked at Haeun with a vague expression. It wasn’t an expression that she was angry about a kid in trouble suddenly asking her to show the phone screen, but rather an expression that she pitied him. 

 

“It’d be better if you don’t look.”

 

She lightly shrugged her shoulders. With that, Haeun sensed how much hate he was receiving. Bullshitting over nothing big… Haeun forced a smile and stepped back.

 

There was a hand that grabbed Haeun. It was Ilhyun.

 

“Then we’ll leave now.”

 

Ilhyun politely said goodbye, and without any say, Haeun was pulled out of the room by his hands. And as the door closed, he didn’t want to turn and see Ilhyun who was behind him. Haeun was already annoyed at what he, who knew it wasn’t the company’s noise marketing, would say.

 

『‘Ilhyun’s interest has dropped by 2 (｡ﾉдヽ｡)ﾟ』

 

At that moment, the system sent a notification. Now Ilhyun being uncomfortable was an established fact. How would he do this? Haeun thought it was harder to deal with people who had good personalities like Ilhyun rather than people who had rough personalities like Sungjae or people like Junwoo who had bad personalities. 

 

He would just half-heartedly play along with what Ilhyun said. As he diligently held out with his body turned, as expected, Ilhyun sighed and opened his mouth. What would he say? Would he curse?

 

“Are you alright?”

 

However, unlike Haeun’s shallow expectations, Ilhyun was someone who could ask if his member was alright in this situation.

 

“…Um, I’m just.”

 

He replied with difficulty. It wasn’t easy to make shameless Haeun this sorry. While he was deciding whether to apologize to his face, Ilhyun continued speaking.

 

“It’s a relief that the situation isn’t as bad as expected.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

『‘Ilhyun’s interest has dropped by 2 (｡ﾉдヽ｡)ﾟ』

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Did his interest drop every time Haeun spoke? Haeun, who glanced at Ilhyun’s face out of the corner of his eye, squinted. Haeun could only feel awkward at hearing Ilhyun’s interest level dropping in real-time while he looked calm on the outside. He was frustrated as if he had something stuck in his throat. 

 

Ilhyun smiled as if he was a bit tired and mumbled, “I was shocked earlier.”

 

Although Haeun was seeing Ilhyun smile, he became increasingly nervous as if he were sitting on pins and needles. And as expected, Ilhyun’s face stiffened to a stern expression.

 

“But Haeun-ah. Apart from going this far, I also think it’s strange.”

 

Ilhyun was virtuous, but he wouldn’t be treated like a pushover. As expected, a questioning that was more burdensome than the CEO’s continued.

 

“Why did you do that?”

 

“…”

 

“I wondered if the CEO actually ordered you, but it wasn’t. If you had a plan, you should’ve at least told me.”

 

He hadn’t raised his voice, but the atmosphere became heavy. What excuse should Haeun make this time?

""

 

『‘Ilhyun’s interest has dropped by 2 (｡ﾉдヽ｡)ﾟ』

 

“I think it’d be disappointing if you didn’t think of being considerate to the members.”

 

『‘Ilhyun’s interest has dropped by 2 (｡ﾉдヽ｡)ﾟ』

 

Haeun would believe it if it was broken. His interest had dropped by 2 so many times that it was hard to count how much it dropped. Haeun urgently spoke.

 

“Wait, no, I didn’t mean to do that.”

 

He’d opened his mouth, but nothing was organized. Park Haeun recalled how ‘Parkha’ spoke in the game and desperately thought of what to say.

 

‘I must have been desperate like what the CEO said. I think I wasn’t in my right mind because I wasn’t feeling well. I didn’t mean to ruin it on purpose; it was an accident. Sorry. Hm, I should say ‘I’m sorry’ instead of just sorry.’

 

The gears of Haeun’s head turned quite quickly when he was backed into a corner. At the judgment that this was just right, he turned his head to speak.

 

But he must have hesitated for too long. 

 

『‘Ilhyun’s interest has dropped by 2 (｡ﾉдヽ｡)ﾟ』

 

『Because his interest has dropped by more than 10 in a short amount of time, a heart-fluttering compulsory event will take place!(υ´-ω-)ゞ』

 

Right after hearing the system’s voice out of the blue, he heard a sound like a roulette spinning. Ring! With a light sound effect, the system read the passage on the notification window.

 

『Sometimes there’s a way to express your emotions that’s more effective than words! ‘Oh, dizziness…!’ event has been selected! (ﾟДﾟ|』

 

“S-sorry. I… Umph!”

 

As his lips opened on their own to give a pitiful apology, Haeun felt himself losing his balance. Not only his lips but his body was also moving on its own. Suddenly, he had no energy in his legs and tangled his steps. 

 

Haeun stumbled like a baby deer that was just born, and eventually lost his balance and fell.

 

Into Ilhyun’s arms.

 

“…”

 

There was an uncomfortable silence. Ilhyun reflexively supported Haeun, who fell like a main character of a tragedy. So all of a sudden, the two looked like they were holding each other in the middle of the company hallway.

 

He didn’t know if it was a coincidence, fate, or the game’s plot, but nobody came or went. He thought it was a relief but also thought if there was someone watching, they would’ve relaxed this awkward atmosphere. Ilhyun definitely wanted to push Haeun, who wasn’t moving from his arms, away but didn’t know what to do.

 

Haeun slightly raised his head and glanced at Ilhyun’s expression. He thought that he’d openly have a displeased expression or at least have an uncomfortable one, but he looked closer to being flustered. 

 

If it had been Haeun, he would’ve already gotten annoyed thinking he was trying to evade the situation by exaggerating his pain. At the sudden contact, it could be difficult for Ilhyun, but he proved he was a mature and kind person by only making a worried expression.

 

Haeun used all of his strength to get up. However, he couldn’t stand up straight; he felt like his head was spinning.

 

Was he not exaggerating because of the system… but his health was actually shitty?

 

In the game, Parkha had been sickly from the start. When he got on stage without taking any medicine, he fainted right after the performance ended. However, Haeun thought the state of his body changed because the situation went differently than the game.

 

He’d been off guard… Wait, could he stop this situation if he was on guard?

 

“Haeun-ah. Are you alright?”

 

As he heard Ilhyun’s flustered voice, Park Haeun closed his flickering eyes as he thought tearfully, ‘Ugh, fuck, isn’t this a cliche or whatever?’

 

Footnotes

Someone who has a mischievous personality, but isn’t very evil. 

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