The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

Chapter 123

Yoon Tae-Hyung counted to ten inside his mind. He hoped that the call would end by then since that meant the call was for no big reason but to make some small talk.

Ring, ring—

Yet the phone kept ringing with no signs of ending and continued to pressure him. And in the end, he was forced to reach for his phone.

“Hello, Mr. Kim! How are—?”

—Mr. Yoon, are you in your office right now?

Before Yoon Tae-Hyun could finish his sentence, Boss Kim Dong-Hyun cut him off.

“...Yes. I’m in the office parking lot but...”

—Get your ass down to the studio right now.

“...Sorry?”

—I told you to get your ass down the studio. Did you not understand me?

Yoon Tae-Hyun had never heard his boss talk so roughly and angrily before. He wondered what his boss was so mad about when he heard the following words.

—Mr. Yoon, how have you been managing the company! I trusted you, but you made a whole mess of things! I can’t believe I got a call and was blackmailed by some kid at this hour because of you!

‘Ah...shit.’ Yoon Tae-Hyung got a general grasp of his situation then. It seemed he was caught for not working after all this time. He didn’t know exactly how this information was relayed to his boss, but he thought it wasn’t too late for him to overturn things.

“...I apologize, sir. I will immediately head to your place and explain everything.” The priority was to calm the boss first. The boss was probably not angry that Yoon Tae-Hyung didn’t work;rather, it was probably because he made things bothersome for him. The bosses of WD Entertainment had a special standard of what constituted a person doing a good job at work, and that was to not make any bothersome work for them.

Yoon Tae-Hyun moved his steering wheel and stepped on the gas pedal. He changed his destination from the concert hall to his boss, Kim Dong-Hyun’s studio.

Simultaneously, he thought, ‘After this is over, I should visit some folks to seal their lips.’ Then, he began to scheme another plan.

***

“Haaa,” I sat inside an equipment storage located in a corner of the concert hall and sighed. I pulled the phone away from my ears after a thirty-minute call and heard a notification.

[Mission Success.]

[You blocked Yoon Tae-Hyung from coming to the concert hall.] contemporary romance

I looked up and stared at the system’s messages hovering in the air. Though I pretended to be calm, it was difficult for me to feel completely at ease. First of all, it was my first time blackmailing someone more than thirty years older than me, and this was a man I had never talked to before. Naturally, we got into a heated argument and I also heard curses and blackmail on my side.

‘But I succeeded in the mission.’ It seemed everything was still flowing within my expectations. I looked down at my phone. My plan to stop Yoon Tae-Hyung from coming to the concert hall had been simple: it was just to tattle-tale to the boss that Yoon Tae-Hyung was doing a sloppy job in the workplace.

‘Of course, that’s not all there was to ir since even the bosses are somewhat aware of that.’ Though they didn’t meddle, the bosses probably also had a sense that Yoon Tae-Hyung wasn’t doing his job properly. But since he didn’t bother them, they probably just kept him in the company.

There was a high probability that they let him be since Yoon Tae-Hyung at least pretended to work and kept any problems from reaching them. Thus, this was the point that I leveraged. WD Entertainment’s bosses were probably even lazier than Yoon Tae-Hyun, and the only way to make these lazy heads riled up was to make things bothersome for them.

—That is how terribly Mr. Yoon has been working until now.

—According to our exclusive contract and under the clause, ‘Company Responsibilities’, it is written that the company will not spare human and material resources for the successful debut of their artists.

—Though the specific meaning of this line is debatable, it is still a written clause in our contract.

—But if you look at the files I just sent you, it can be clearly seen that the clause isn’t followed in any way whether it be in terms of providing human or material resources.

Without a pause in my words, I spewed out my arguments, and my boss, Kim Dong-Hyun, replied accordingly.

—What? Who the hell are you!

—...That guy has been working like this?

—But how dare such a young guy like you talk toyour elders so rudely!

Kim Dong-Hyun responded very patronizingly and unprofessionally. It was then I realized that there was nothing I could gain from this place, starting from Yoon Tae-Hyun and the bosses. Thus, I didn’t hold back as I said the next lines.

—I’m going to sue WD Entrainment for breach of contract. I will make our exclusive contract null and publicize all the unfair and improper treatment we have received from the company. Naturally, Kim Dong-Hyun erupted upon hearing this.

—What? Sue? Ha, are you serious? You think you can sue me for something like this! This is a fight you can’t win!

He must have thought my declaration was absurd and responded with disbelief. But I wasn’t foolish enough to really think about winning the lawsuit, and I was well aware that court cases didn’t end overnight.

—My goal isn’t to win this case. The important part is that I sued you.

What I wanted was a good title for an article.

—And while I am suing you and the court case is going on, things will become very bothersome for you.

This was the crucial point. The greatest attack I could make on these people was to make things bothersome for them, and thus, I promised not to bother them if they did what I asked for.

—Fire manager Yoon Tae-Hyung. That’s all I ask for.

Soon afterward, Kim Dong-Hyun hung up the call on his end; and a minute afterwards, the system announced that I succeeded in my mission. This likely meant that the boss summoned Yoon Tae-Hyung to his place in a fit of anger. Though everything went as I expected, what I truly wanted was for the boss to fire Yoon Tae-Hyung.

‘But there’s no way that will happen.’ For these bosses who detested bothersome things above everything else, firing Yoon Tae-Hyung and hiring a new one would be a task too burdensome to do for them. They would probably try to fix the situation somehow and attempt to recycle the same guy. Thus, this was something I couldn’t even hope for.

‘So, now I will have to move to the next step.’ Even if Yoon Tae-Hyung wasn’t fired, I had to make sure that he wouldn’t be able to tread even a step into the Jaeil Group’s joint company. I needed to strike the iron while it was hot, and after landing a big blow on Yoon Tae-Hyung, I needed to land the final blow. In matters when people’s lives and careers were on the line, I could find myself on the chopping block if I took a step too late.

I was about to open the storage room and head outside when the door opened on its own.

Creak. No, there was no way a door would open on its own.

“...Tae-Yoon are you here?” And as I expected, someone came inside.

“...Yeon-Hoon?”

“What are you doing here, Tae-Yoon?”

“Ah, um. Well...” I couldn’t quickly come up with the right word. I didn’t know how to explain that I just called our boss Kim Dong-Hyun to blackmail him and tried to come up with a suitable excuse.

Zing—

‘...What?’ My surroundings suddenly showed signs of my abilities activating. The world’s time momentarily stopped while pnly my mind stayed intact. In situations like this, it was usually my Precognitive Vision that popped out, but Yeon-Hoon spoke, “...Did you block Yoon Tae-Hyung...?”

“...?”

Yeon-Hoon addressed me during this time. Then, memories that had been staying inside the corner of my head popped up. When I first regressed, I got a call from Yeon-Hoon, and on the day I secured my Insight ability, Yeon-Hoon appeared to have become possessed by something. Lastly, the other world’s Do-Seung possesed this world’s Do-Seung to talk to me. Gathering all this information, I reached the most plausible conclusion.

‘Perhaps...’ I stared at Yeon-Hoon. I tried to use Insight towards Yeon-Hoon. I was able to use it much more smoothly than when I first received the ability since my control over it had increased by winning in the last performance.

Whoosh! But my ability immediately bounced off.

[You aren’t permitted to approach closer.]

It was a message I heard before.

Whoosh!

Still, I used my Insight again.

[You aren’t permitted to approach closer.]

My ability wore off again. I tried again with more resolve.

Whoosh!

[You aren’t permitted to approa...]

The machine-like voice became cut off and a new figure seemed to float over Yeon-Hoon’s body. I thought I would be able to see something if I used my Insight a bit more.

[You aren’t permitted to approach.]

Whoosh! Yet, the effect bounced off again. I looked at Yeon-Hoon regretfully and asked Yeon-Hoon—no, to another being disguising themselves as Yeon-Hoon, “...Who are you?”

The existence in front of me stared intently without saying anything.

I warily tried to increase the distance between us when the existence asked me unexpectedly, “...Can I try hugging you?”

I couldn’t believe it. I hesitated without saying anything, and the existence approached me and hugged me tightly. I couldn’t comprehend the situation at all. I thought he wasn’t Yeon-Hoon, but was he...? My head was in a mess.

“...You did a good job blocking Yoon Tae-Hyun. Thank goodness,” the existence said and remarked, “I will be going now. Be careful.”

Whoosh!

Then, the existence left, leaving only Yeon-Hoon’s body in my arms.

‘Everything came back to normal.’ The world’s time reverted and Yeon-Hoon in my arms was as he was before.

“Huh? What? Tae-Yoon?” Yeon-Hoon responded, looking very perplexed as to why he was in this place and why he was in my arms.

When Do-Seung’s possession ended, he dropped to the floor like he was going back to sleep. It had been the same when Yeon-Hoon was also first possessed. I supposed the difference between those times and this time was that the previous possession happened in a state while they were asleep but this time, Yeon-Hoon was awake. There was no need for me to think too much about that.

“Why am I...hugging you...? Moreover, where is this place? Ahhh...” Yeon-Hoon seemed to be so frightened by the situation that he screamed. “What happened, Tae-Yoon...? I don’t remember anything at all...”

“Um, I was making a call in this storage room when you suddenly came in. Haha,” I said.

“Really? I did?”

“...Yes.”

“What in the world...this is crazy, Tae-Yoon...I don’t remember doing that at all...I think I am super stressed these days...”

“Haha...don’t worry about it. Everyone goes through that from time to time.”

“Let’s go get a health exam right after all this is over...”

“Yeah...”

I pulled Yeon-Hoon out of the storage room and dropped him off in front of the waiting room. I turned to move to another place when Yeon-Hoon pulled me back.

“You aren’t going to come inside? Are you going to the bathroom?” he asked.

“Yes, I just need to go to the bathroom a bit,” I calmly lied and moved. Of course, I wasn’t heading towards the bathroom. I was going to complete the last step to screw Yoon Tae-Hyun over.

“I will be quick,” I said and walked the corridors. Since I made my call to Kim Dong-Hyun, it was time for me to talk to the next person—the one who would be able to make a sturdy barrier between us and Yoon Tae-Hyung.

'I wonder where producer Park Soo-Chul is right now.’