Joy smiled widely, seeing the comments built under her article.
My daughter loves this group. I can't believe these are the types of idols she looks up to. Definitely will limit her when it comes to these guys.
Oh dear, what has our Korea come to?
As a Filo Flight I am so disappointed
While of course this was nowhere near how malicious she could really get, there was just very little dirt she could find on the idol. Joon-woo's history was a clean and sad slate. Thanks to her sponsor's help, she had found out three things about the idol: He was a poor student, his parents were long dead, and he lived off the map like he was hiding.
He had no credit card under his name, not even a debit. His school records stopped at middle school and even then there were months of little to no movement in the idol's predebut life. She could've gone and used the orphan story, but it would've garnered sympathy more than outrage, and outrage is what she fed on.
She hummed in loose fitting pyjamas, a sinister smile growing at her name plastered onto the article like a trademark. She knew ASCEND would have more dirt to offer her, in fact, she had never seen a more exploitative group than them. Mi Yong and his old habits of sleeping around at bars and Reggie with his secret familial background. Her hands overflowed with content, clicks, and excitement. She wasn't sure why her sponsor was so insistent on her targeting this group, but it didn't matter to her if she got her fix of exposé.
–+–
Joon-woo and CEO Park stared a finished product of a statement.
"To whom it may concern, this is Easy Entertainment. In regards to the recent issues surrounding our artist JOON, we plan to take legal action against any persons who have contributed to the malicious defamation. We would like to apologize for not doing an effective job of protecting our artists, and we pledge to do better in the future. This will include relative health checks, schedules accommodated only to our artists health, and legal action against offenders. The best, Easy Entertainment."
CEO Park seemed satisfied, his expression not sour looking at the paragraph.
"This looks good, do you think so?" He asked Joon-woo, tone vaguely casual.
Joon-woo agreed. It was the best company statement he had ever seen. Even if there was a flaw, Joon-woo felt blinded with the sheer amount of respect he of all people was receiving. Wasn't the CEO supposed to be the ultimate power? Idols were nothing close to the authority of a staff or CEO, yet here Joon-wo was quite literally writing a company statement for his own scandal.
"It's good." Joon-woo replied, shifting uncomfortably. Any casual talk from someone of a higher power made his skin crawl, even if it was with good intentions. He figured it was because of… that. No, he knew it was. He could barely breath when alone with a teacher, so why would a CEO with nothing to lose be better?
Joon-woo thought for a moment, recalling Ha-rin's expertise with controversy.
"CEO-nim, would you like me to write an apology for Meverse?" Joon-woo asked, already typing half-sincere words in his head.
CEO Park paused, expression shifting as if he was taken aback. He seemed confused under the mellow office light, his short black hair shallowing his eyebrows.
He cleared his throat after a beat of silence, "You don't have to do that. Honestly, Joon-woo, someone went out of their way to look into your private records and spread a human mistake with the malicious intent to hurt your image. I'm relatively new to dealing with scandals like these, shutting them down anyway, but I at least know to never be so cruel as to make you apologize." The man tried to catch Joon-woo's eyes to show sincerity, but failed as did most.
Joon-woo paused momentarily, shooting looks of shaky eyes towards the CEO's collarbone.
"...Okay. Thank you." He replied, hands picking at each other by his thigh.
"I'm going to release it as soon as possible. We'll pass it through our translator and get this worked out, so no need to stress." CEO Park said, "I think it's time for you to go back to the vocal recordings…" He checked his watch.
Joon-woo nodded, he had been memorizing their schedules ever since their makeshift managers began to tell them.
The CEO narrowed his eyes on the time, as if thinking out time frames, eventually landing on Joon-woo's face.
"Why don't I walk you there? I'm free for the next twenty minutes." He suggested, friendliness exuding uncomfortably from his serious face.
Joon-woo held his breath. He had no authority here. He couldn't say no, no matter how much his body said so. He warily nodded in agreement.
"Only if you want to." Joon-woo replied.
–+–
"[I'm callin'–]
Do you get my calls?
I'm missing all our fire–"
Reggie sang, voice slightly shaky as if strained.
The vocal trainer shook his head, "When you sing fire, you need to enunciate the "-r" sound much more."
Before Reggie could begin again, the door to the recording room opened and in came Joon-woo, whom they expected, but also an unexpected face, CEO Park.
The whole room straightened up. Mi Yong sat up straight, gesturing for Baek Du-Ho to get off the webtoon he was reading. Though their CEO had gotten them free from their hellspawn of a manager, he was still a CEO. Not to mention Joon-woo seemed infinitely more nervous than usual around the man.
In silence, the vocal trainer sighed and sat up.
"Hi, Sir." He greeted, as stiff as the air around them.
CEO Park noticed the tense atmosphere with a pout. Was he that scary? Joon-woo seemed like he was gonna jump out of his skin their whole conversation. If even his staff was stiff around him, was he doing something wrong?
"Sorry for interrupting, good luck on the recording." He quickly excused himself, exiting the recording room with a curt sigh. Maybe they would trust him more with the surprise waiting for them at their dorm.
–+–
"I don't want to quit being a trainee, mom." Ryeo Hyun insisted, six years younger.
His mother, in her short stature, seemed so much taller in her rage. There was no debt issues, they wee fucking rich for godsake. Ryeo Hyun was expected to be part of the next debut group.
"It is not you're calling! You are not made to be an idol." She insisted, "You've been a trainee for too much of your school life now. You had to drop out of cram school because you couldn't go!"
Ryeo Hyun shook his head, "I'm prospected to be the salutatorian of my class. With the schedules of an idol trainee." He replied, clenching his fists.
"It's not your calling, it's not. You have your father's chubby face and your body, it's genetically–"
"Not skinny enough?" Ryeo Hyun was almost in tears, "You think I'm too fat?"
His mother stuttered over her words, "No, no that. You are just too big." She gestured to his biceps, their weight and muscle.
Ryeo Hyun's face fell, yet his mother continued, "At your fathers last gathering, Mrs. Lee told me a statistic. You know how many trainees succeed? No matter how pretty or manly or thin they are?"
"How many?" Ryeo Hyun asked.
"Only 0.2% become successful. Isn't that so little? You don't have the face to make it. I'm telling you this because I care." She insisted, and insisted, and insisted.
Ryeo Hyun wanted to cry. He was fat and now suddenly ugly? Bo Jaesang wouldn't say that. Jae's mother wouldn't say that. Why was he born so unlucky? Before he knew it, his feet were moving, grabbing his phone, jacket, and wallet. He knew where he wanted to be, and it wasn't here.
"Where do you think you are going, huh?" His mother yelled after him, as he walked towards the door in his slippers. "To that boy's house? Huh? They won't take you. No one would tolerate you like this!"
He shut the door before he could stand to hear more.
All he knew was that he wanted his best friend, hard.
–+–
Ryeo Hyun awoke with the slight shake of the van.
"Aish… My voice hurts…" Reggie complained, stroking his neck.
Mi Yong nodded in agreement, as did most of ASCEND, except for Joon-woo and Baek Du-Ho.
"If you listen more closely, you won't have to do so many retakes." Joon-woo replied, snarky under his dying social battery.
Jung Hyun-Ok rolled his eyes, "Says the one who only needed two takes."
"You're just the favorite." Mi Yong chimed in, "Even the CEO likes you more."
Reggie's eyes lit up for a second.
"Yeah, I wanted to ask, what did he want with you?"
Joon-woo paused. He had forgotten that his bandmates didn't yet know.
"The managers took our phones this morning, too." Mi Yong off-handedly brought up, narrowing slowly, turning suspicious eyes at Joon-woo.
Joon-woo gulped slightly, shrinking as his bandmate's eyes pierced him to his heart. Ryeo Hyun's inescapable glare, Reggie's worried expressions. Jung Hyun-Ok's small smiles seemed infinitely scary. Baek Du-Ho even seemed curious.
"It's been dealt with already." Joon-woo replied, looking out the window for the urban city of Seoul. He saw some reflection of his band, their temporary manager, himself.
"But I'm asking what happened, you didn't answer my question." Reggie insisted, voice it's usual tone of soft.
Though he hadn't been in Joon-woo's body to achieve the poor grades, it was still quite embarrassing. He felt his cheeks redden with unwanted attention.
"Someone found an old report card." Joon-woo explained plainly.
Deep in thought at the reveal, Reggie scrunched his eyes, "A middle school one?" Perhaps recalling Joon-woo's lack of education.
Joon-woo nodded, "And it wasn't a great one."
He hoped that said more than enough, and that they could just get back to the dorm in peace. Expecting more rebuttal, Joon-woo was relieved as they dropped it and resumed their own activities.
He couldn't pretend he didn't feel the tense air.