Second Try Idol

“Hyung, why are you apologizing? I should be the one saying sorry. I just ran out after telling you that I would go to the washroom," Goh Yoo-Joon said.

His words were met with silence. Su-Hwan just shook his head. “I'm sorry."

In the quiet car, I managed to calm my rising anger once more and softly said, “Both of us were careless."

Indeed, I had intentionally set off to find the stalker since I thought, 'I bet they will come to film me if I'm there alone.' I thought that was going to happen if one of our staff was the one leaking information. That was why I ventured out alone, but I hadn’t put much thought into it.

Goh Yoo-Joon was pressing a cold compress to his swollen cheek. He mentioned that he had left without saying anything, intending to see me on his way back from the bathroom. ‘Nothing would happen since I’m not wandering off too much’ was a complacent thought anyone would have had.

“I'm sorry."

“I apologize."

We were sorry for wandering off by ourselves. We had been reckless. Su-Hwan felt sorry for not being more cautious. It was an endless stream of apologies, but we couldn’t just let this go since Goh Yoo-Joon had been hit too hard.

“They are crossing the line. It feels suffocating."

I furrowed my brow and shook my head in dismay. “If the other members saw this, they'd be devastated. Look at your face." I couldn't help but wonder if they felt the same when I was injured. A complex mix of emotions was coursing through my chest right now.

Goh Yoo-Joon tried to downplay what had happened to him but, seeing him subdued like this, I couldn't help but wish I took the blow instead. It was more than just distressing. It was downright disheartening.

“I'm sorry."

Su-Hwan's apology momentarily redirected my attention to my phone.

“Hyung, is Manager Hyuk-Soo currently at the police station?"

“Yes."

“Please instruct him to check that woman's Stagram account and send me the account details. I will share whatever information I uncover with the company."

No one could keep everything hidden forever, whether it was that woman or staff members lurking among us.

Just then, I thought of one person in particular. They were the most suspicious figure. But to truly put an end to this, I needed to confirm their connection to the stalker.

***

Since that day, meetings between Joo-Han, me, and the agency staff became frequent. Our new dorm was deemed insecure after the incident, and it prompted another move. As tensions escalated, the company finally decided to take proactive measures against stalkers.

“Let's relocate next to High Tension."

“When?"

“You should be able to move before your comeback."

“Are you serious? Next to High Tension would be way over budget." Joo-Han said.

He had begun to doubt the company's assurances after the incident with Goh Yoo-Joon's incident. While High Tension could afford such a place with their resources, we couldn’t. We had not even had a concert in Korea yet.

Supervisor Kim firmly declared, “You guys are moving for sure. The CEO secured a loan. We've been saying this a lot lately, but yes, our previous precautions were inadequate."

It felt more like a reaction to the onslaught of stalker harassment than genuine reflection on their inadequate security measures. It was a relief that the new place was somewhat safer at least.

Supervisor Kim sighed heavily. “The foreigner who hit Yoo-Joon was indeed a minor. She is eighteen years old, and said she came to see you guys. If she is a minor and a foreigner, there's not much we can do. But as Hyun-Woo pointed out, recent videos uploaded on the Stagram account were indeed hers."

“Is she different from the person who entered our dorm?"

Supervisor Kim nodded. “They have different nationalities. I heard she obtained the information from someone."

“Male? Female?"

“Female. There's an account in their native language selling information about not just you guys, but about other popular idols. I've secured it and requested an investigation."

So it all boiled down to who sold that information. Information being peddled by someone who heard it from someone else.

"...Have we finished investigating our staff?"

“For now, yes." Su-Hwan made a grim face and shook his head. “I participated in the investigation, but it felt like we were too lenient... It felt more like questioning a witness than a suspect. The staff checked the suspicious people’s phones, but they said they wouldn’t force the suspects if they refused to show them."

“...Ah, great.” Joo-Han slammed his hand on the desk. “How are we supposed to catch them at this rate? Other artists are giving up on combating stalkers because of this. You say you will take strong measures, but what are you doing?"

It seemed Supervisor Kim, Su-Hwan, and Joo-Han were all suspicious of the staff for the rapid emergence of private videos and information leakage on Stagram. However, with the recent increase in the number of Chronos team staff, it was hard to grasp who exactly was involved.

I looked at the screenshot of the stalker video once again on my phone and voiced my thoughts. “What about Manager Hyuk-Soo?"

“...I haven't completely ruled out my suspicion on him, since… he always carries his phone around. However, he confidently submitted it for inspection when asked."

"Hmm, people usually keep a separate phone for this kind of thing in such sensitive situations."

“Yes, but since he only submitted one phone, I've requested a re-investigation from the prosecutors. I know managers usually have at least two phones, one for work and one personal."

“He submitted only the work phone?"

“Yes. I will inform you once we have the results."

I mentioned that the ongoing investigation was a fact only known among the staff to prevent unnecessary awkwardness with the members if Hyuk-Soo turned out to be innocent after the investigation. Perhaps that was why disciplinary action was taken toward Hyuk-Soo under the guise of negligence in artist management after I got my career-ending face injury in the past.

I handed over the screenshot from my phone. “I have shown this to Su-Hwan hyung before. Since it was taken from a close distance, I suspected it might have been taken by a staff member. That's why I mentioned it."

“Yes."

“But this is supposedly the Stagram account of that girl." However, I doubted this video had been directly recorded by her. It was evident that it was taken without consent. Remembering how that stalker aggressively approached and slapped Goh Yoo-Joon, it was unlikely she would hide and record like this.

“I think someone sold this video to her. Considering that a minor could afford to come all the way here to see us, it seems like they are well-off and, most importantly, the location of the video..."

The video had been taken from right behind the camera, typically where managers kept an eye on us. It took several scrutinies to find evidence that could be explained not just by intuition, but by words.

“I think it's Manager Hyuk-Soo. He must have been selling information to fans."

“Yeah, we kinda guessed that too. We also think Hyuk-Soo might be involved in this incident. But we are suspecting leaks, not selling information. The person who picked up the call about selling information was a woman. She couldn't even speak foreign languages."

Supervisor Kim wiped his face with his hand. He seemed tired. “The detective called, he said that a woman answered. She's also a foreigner. So, it's going to be difficult to catch her again. Goodness."

“Can we also investigate the conversation history between Manager Hyuk-Soo and his girlfriend?"

I was so angry because of Goh Yoo-Joon's incident that I didn’t judge things appropriately. Hoping that my anger would subside at least a little before the stalker situation would be resolved, I decided to explore all possibilities.

“Do you think Hyuk-Soo's girlfriend is also involved? That's part of their private life. If they refuse to elaborate on that, we can't investigate—"

“We've also been intruded into our private lives. How do we know if she's a girlfriend or a business partner?"

“Hyun-Woo, calm do—"

Su-Hwan interrupted Supervisor Kim's attempt to calm me down. “I will talk to him," he said.

Judging by Su-Hwan's expression, it seemed that he completely agreed with me. “I will talk to the prosecutors and personally look into the matter."

As Su-Hwan tried to calm me down, Joo-Han tapped me on my back. “Hyun-Woo, relax for a bit. Su-Hwan hyung will handle it. I know you are angry because of Yoo-Joon, but…"

Joo-Han made me sit down. He firmly told Su-Hwan and Supervisor Kim, “I want an answer to this situation within a week from either of you."

“Yes, understood."

Joo-Han sighed and stood up. “I believe the company will take care of the rest. Now that we've discussed it to this extent, there shouldn't be any more mistakes when it comes to protecting us. We should head for practice now."

Joo-Han's tone was unusually cold, probably because he was also frustrated with the company and Su-Hwan due to the incident with Goh Yoo-Joon. “We have the concept photos and music video shooting soon. At least until then, let’s focus on our tasks without being stressed about this incident. Su-Hwan hyung, I trust you."

Su-Hwan nodded grimly. Joo-Han held my hand with a sigh and left the conference room.

‘What on earth is happening?’ With less than a week left until the shooting for the concept photos and music video, both the company and us were suffering too much when we were supposed to be focusing on the comeback.

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