“This week’s number-one song on Music Convenience Store is none other than ‘Friends’! Congratulations. Could you say a few words about how you feel?”
Naturally, the MCs handed the microphone to Gung-hwa, Friends’ most popular member, first.
But at that very moment! Somang, who was standing right beside her, smiled, snatched the microphone the MCs had given Gung-hwa, and said,
“First of all, we’d like to thank Music Convenience Store so much for giving us first place like this. And to our always-amazing fan club, Best! Everyone!!!”
“Waaaaaaah~~~~~!”
“Best has been watching over us ever since our debut and staying by our side through both the happy times and the sad—”
Before Somang could finish, a few people began shouting.
“Ah! Stop talking and let Mugunghwa speak!” “Mugunghwa! Mugunghwa! Mugunghwa!”
Somang couldn’t hide her startled expression.
Heh! Somang, this is the difference in class between you and me.
Hearing the fan club’s chants, Gung-hwa immediately pretended to be flustered and took the microphone back.
“Best! Everyone… I’m always grateful for your love, but…”
Then she suddenly began to cry.
The MCs were extremely flustered despite being live on air. When they saw the producer-director frantically signaling them, they said,
“Live from Music Convenience Store~ Don’t miss us next week~ Twenty-four hours!! Full standby!! Bye-bye~~”
They hurried through their closing remarks, and the broadcast ended.
Heaven had blessed Gung-hwa with not only beautiful looks but acting skills as well, so she could cry whenever she wanted. The doctor had said being able to tear up so easily wasn’t necessarily a good thing, but it was certainly useful for an idol.
When the Best fans who had come to cheer at the live audience broadcast saw Gung-hwa’s tears, they cried out,
“I’m sorry, Gung-hwa!” “Who made our sweet Gung-hwa cry?!” “Don’t cry. Why is Gung-hwa’s heart so delicate?!”
Unable to hide her anger, Somang stormed into the waiting room.
“Somang! Quit! Quit! Quit! Quit!” “My wish is for Somang to quit!”
“No wonder she’s got a face like that. Of course her personality’s just as bad. Tsk, tsk.”
Keeping her expression under control and wearing the kindest smile in the world, Gung-hwa greeted the staff. The moment she entered the waiting room and opened the door,
she screamed.
[Disappear! Mugunghwa] [Disappear! Mugunghwa] [Disappear! Mugunghwa]
Someone had entered the waiting room and left curse messages aimed at Gung-hwa, printed in red letters on sheets of paper.
Gung-hwa immediately glared at Somang.
“You know how sensitive the anti-fans are, and you still went this far?”
“Wha… Sis… I didn’t do it! It wasn’t me!!”
“What did I ever do to you that you’d go this far? You even snatched the microphone from me earlier… Do you hate people liking me that much?”
“I’m telling you, it really wasn’t me!! It wasn’t!!!”
“I’m already going completely off the rails because of the anti-fans, and now you’re making things this bad out of your own inferiority complex? You’re seriously pissing me off.”
“What? What did you say? Inferiority complex??? Are you finished talking, sis?”
“Yeah! I’m finished. Honestly, the fact that you’re even still in our group is something you should be grateful for…”
Just as she was about to say something harsher, their manager, Jeon Banjeon, stopped her.
“Mugunghwa! Can’t you stop already? Somang’s saying she didn’t do it!!!”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know either. But it definitely wasn’t Somang. She didn’t come to the waiting room first. The stylist said Somang had been crying earlier, so she stayed beside her the whole time in another unused waiting room.”
“Haah… Then contact the broadcasting station and the police and report this.”
“Gung-hwa… If this gets any bigger, the news will be plastered with more bad articles…”
“I’m already losing my mind here, and you’re worried about articles???”
“You know how important these promotions are… and the group's image…”
“Stop! Stop!! Just stop! The group? The group’s image? Do those people even think of me as being in the same group as them?”
“Gung-hwa…”
“I’m not taking the van today. Let me go home alone!!”
“If the anti-fans see that, they’ll put it all over the internet again…”
“Ah~ Anti-fans, anti-fans, these crazy anti-fans!!! Enough! I’m going alone, then!!!”
Gung-hwa had gone completely off the rails, yet the members who were supposedly in the same group merely stared blankly or watched with their arms crossed, as if they found the situation entertaining.
Fortunately, Jeon Banjeon, who had cared about Gung-hwa and been like family to her since childhood, offered to drive her separately. So Gung-hwa was able to head to the dorm in his car instead of riding with the members.
“Gung-hwa… This is really hard on you, isn’t it? I know you’ve been suffering a lot because of the anti-fans lately, so I told the agency president we should postpone these promotions, but…”
“No, oppa. I’m sorry about earlier. I got carried away.”
“What are you sorry for… You’re having such a hard time because of the anti-fans that you can’t even sleep without sleeping pills…”
“Aw, come on, oppa~ But didn’t you say our first-week sales passed a million copies??? You’re going to get a pretty hefty performance bonus this time too, right?”
“Gung-hwa…”
“Oppa! I’ll work really hard and make sure I help you, too. When your mother gets better, I’ll buy her a house. You know that, right? She isn’t just your mother—she’s mine, too.”
Jeon Banjeon and Mugunghwa had known each other from church since childhood.
Born to a mother with a speech disability who could barely talk, Gung-hwa had lived a difficult life without even knowing who her father was.
After hearing from her mother that attending a large church could get them financial assistance, she started going. From then on, the person who helped Gung-hwa’s family the most was Jeon Banjeon’s mother.
She came to every one of Gung-hwa’s entrance and graduation ceremonies, made side dishes for her, and helped her receive every kind of government assistance available. Jeon Banjeon’s mother was Gung-hwa’s benefactor, the person who helped her escape poverty and loneliness, if only a little.
After Jeon Banjeon’s father passed away, Ban Jeon moved in with his mother at her suggestion, and there had been a time when they were all incredibly happy together. But his mother had since become seriously ill, and it had already been over two years since she had begun living in the hospital.
That was how much Jeon Banjeon was like another family member to Gung-hwa…
“Gung-hwa! If my mom knew how much you were suffering, it would break her heart, too.”
“Oppa!! Tell her I’m happy and doing the idol life I’ve always wanted, okay? Don’t say anything weird while she’s sick!”
“Okay. You might have a hard time again because of the others at the dorm, so at least close your eyes and rest in the car.”
After dropping Gung-hwa off at the dorm, Ban Jeon went straight to the manager dorm in the building next door.
“Hyung! How’s Gung-hwa?”
“What do you think… Same as always… Ah! More importantly, what about the others?”
“They’re the same too. They said they can’t be on the same team as Mugunghwa anymore, and Somang cried the whole way here.”
“They’re blaming me a lot, aren’t they?”
“Don’t worry about that too. Even I can see Gung-hwa’s on the edge. If you weren’t here, it’d be really…”
“You’ve had it rough too…”
As the two managers comforted each other, a smartphone began to ring.
“Hyung!! That rotten-hearted president keeps calling. What do we do?”
The phone had kept ringing in the car earlier too, while Gung-hwa was with Jeon Banjeon. Since he had ignored the calls and refused to answer, the other manager, Manager Jeon, had called instead. Ban Jeon answered Jeon’s phone for him.
“Hey!! Is that crazy Jeon Banjeon at the dorm? Is he there or not?”
“President! This is Jeon Banjeon.”
“Why didn’t you answer your phone? You ignored me on purpose, didn’t you?”
“Ah~ It’s not that. Gung-hwa kept crying in the car, and I was comforting her, so I must not have noticed my phone. I’m sorry.”
“Haah~ What the hell is wrong with that idiot Mugunghwa? Did you see the newspaper articles? They’re plastered with another rumor about infighting.”
“President! That’s why I told you Gung-hwa is in a really dangerous state because of the anti-fans, and that we shouldn’t even make her do the music shows—”
“Hey! Hey!! Are you crazy? They’re our main product right now, and you want them to stop appearing on music shows?”
“Product?”
“Of course they’re a product, aren’t they? And our best-performing one at that. Anyway, contact the reporters who wrote those articles and tell them it isn’t true. Tell them we’ll take legal action if they keep doing this. Got it?”
“Yes, sir…”
“You idiot. And you—just because you’ve known that rude Mugunghwa since she was a kid, don’t take her side. Tell her to control her temper if she wants to keep making good money. You know this business treats you like a princess for now, but it can all end in an instant, right? Please, just make things go smoothly. Smile? You know what I mean?”
President Lee Simbo—or rather, that rotten Simbo—said everything he wanted to say and hung up.
Usually oblivious to the situation, Jeon looked at me and suggested we each have one can of beer at the convenience store, so we headed there.
After taking a sip of beer, I felt some of the pressure weighing on me finally begin to ease.
Jeon glanced at Ban Jeon and asked cautiously,
“How’s your mother doing these days?”
“There’s been no improvement. She’s the same.”
“Jeez, you’re already worried about your mother, and now the group’s causing trouble like this too…”
“Hey! Thanks for saying that, at least. You’re a good guy after all!”
“I screw up and cause trouble all the time, and you’re always the one cleaning up after me. If I’m a human being, I should at least worry about you this much. But, hyung…”
“Yeah?”
“Have you seen the new video from that crazy ‘Breakup’ channel on YouTube?”
“Haah~ What did they upload about our kids this time?”
“Yeah. It’s titled, ‘Video of Gung-hwa Slapping Somang and Making the Staff Freak Out’…”
“No!! That crazy bastard!! Who the hell are they? Why are they going this far?”
“Exactly. Hyung, even if they’re an anti-fan, the ‘Breakup’ channel doesn’t seem like it’s simply being anti toward Gung-hwa. It feels like they’re really trying to destroy her.”
“Exactly! But even if Gung-hwa isn’t on good terms with the members now, back when she was in school, she was the loneliest of the lonely. There wasn’t even anyone she could have had a falling-out with.” “Hyung! So this might be a little sensitive, but…”
“I think the operator of the ‘Breakup’ channel—and Gung-hwa’s anti-fans in particular—are acting in an organized way. What if we have someone trustworthy among us investigate not only ‘Breakup’ but also the internet sites that are specifically smearing Gung-hwa?”
“Is there anyone at our agency who can do that right now? Everyone’s practically dying from their workload.”
“It should be someone who knows this business but has nothing to do with it—and who’s been an anti-fan before.”
At the exact moment Jeon, of all people, started saying one right thing after another, a familiar face immediately came to Ban Jeon’s mind. He slapped the convenience-store bench with his hand and stood up before he even realized it.
“That’s right! Joo Sung!”
“Huh? What are you talking about, hyung?”
“You always give me the best ideas at the most important moments! Jeon, thanks. You just gave me a great idea.”
Jeon couldn’t hide his pleased expression, and Ban Jeon returned to the dorm with a glimmer of hope.
The next morning, Ban Jeon called Joo Sung right away.