A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 577

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A Regression Guide for Idols Who Lost Their Original Intent Episode 577

And so, the plan to plant an industrial spy in Shinwol ultimately fell through.

“Why do you look so damn miserable?”

After trudging back to the dormitory and working out Plan B with my own head instead of outsourcing it, Seo Yehyeon saw me like this and narrowed his eyes as he casually threw out the question.

“Ah no, he answered calls just fine when he needed something from me, but now he’s blocking and ignoring me, so I’m feeling pretty damn annoyed. It’s not like he’s playing games with people or anything.”

While grumbling in response, I realized this answer could be interpreted in other ways.

Seeing Seo Yehyeon’s face immediately turn serious, it seemed he had also interpreted it differently.

Just thinking about having to explain that it was Cha Yeonho already made me tired. No wait, would explaining it was Cha Yeonho make things even weirder?

“Don’t tell me you…”

Right, like now he’s misunderstanding it as a dating scandal—

“Did you lend money to someone? Did you get a proper IOU? The amount isn’t too big, right? If they don’t pay you back, sue them immediately. You’re a lawyer’s son after all.”

—or not. I looked at Seo Yehyeon giving me various advice with a sour expression and asked.

“Aren’t you going to misunderstand that I’m dating someone?”

“What, with Real music?”

Seo Yehyeon asked back with an expression like he’d heard that 【Come to My Universe】 was our representative song. Having lost even the will to continue the conversation, I waved my hand dismissively telling him not to interfere and just go.

“If they blocked your number, just contact them using someone else’s phone.”

“What if they’re the type who doesn’t answer calls from unknown numbers?”

“Then find a mutual acquaintance and contact them through that person’s phone. That’ll work.”

This time I was trying to solve it myself without outsourcing, but Seo Yehyeon was pushing outsourcing on me.

‘A mutual acquaintance…’

The ones Cha Yeonho would most easily let his guard down for would probably be the Altair members, but there was no way I’d have the other Altair members’ phone numbers.

We’d overlapped activities several times, filmed variety shows together as groups, and even had overlapping vacations in Hawaii, but Rev and Altair had virtually no friendship to speak of.

But I didn’t give up and managed to find another mutual acquaintance.

“Yeonho’s number? Of course I have it.”

Jiwon hyung didn’t even ask what this was about and willingly handed me his phone with the call to Cha Yeonho connected.

-Hello? Jiwon hyung, what’s going on?

“Ah, please unblock me, senior! You’re really going to drive me crazy with frustration!”

Beep—

The call was mercilessly cut off. Seeing my face like I’d eaten a bug, Jiwon hyung scratched the back of his head and asked.

“Did you lend him money? Yeonho’s not running a business or anything, and he’s not in a situation where he’d need to borrow money from here and there…”

If only he had borrowed money, I could at least file a complaint and summon him.

If I called once more from here, there was a high chance Cha Yeonho wouldn’t answer calls coming from Jiwon hyung’s number.

“Can I send just one text to Yeonho senior using your phone?”

“Sure, just don’t send anything that’ll get me sued for intimidation.”

“Come on, you worry about everything.”

[KJ] 3:32 PM

I sent the text to Cha Yeonho. Having gone this far, I hoped he’d finally get it.

They say even dog shit is useful when you need it for medicine, and now I was actually missing Cha Yeonho who used to pop up even when not called, sizing me up with calculating eyes while smiling with his dark intentions hidden.

It’s true that Cha Yeonho is a shitty bastard.

Until Cha Yeonho unblocked my number, I slowly organized in my head the facts I’d learned from memory fragments.

Before the regression, so what should I call the starting point of everything—the first round?

Back then, before dying, KJ had called me—the one who had attacked him over plagiarism and exposed the trainee suicide caused by exploitation—and revealed the truth.

There had been a trainee who died from exploitation in the same way even before Altair’s debut, and KJ was guaranteed his debut with Altair in exchange for burying that fact.

Just in case, I did some googling and asked Ryu Jaehee to search too, and there really was an article about a Shinwol trainee committing suicide by jumping. Even that was from just one media outlet.

The timing was also a few years before Altair’s debut, so it roughly matched up.

The article didn’t reveal the exact reason, but there was a high probability that ‘that hyung who was a trainee with me’ that KJ mentioned was the deceased trainee from this article.

But the agency, fearing that KJ who debuted in exchange for silence might expose the truth later, urged him to become the same kind of perpetrator so he could never speak up, and held his weakness.

Then, when I openly dug up and exposed part of that exploitation that had been brazenly carried out, Shinwol Entertainment made all the criticism focus on KJ as both a shield and scapegoat, transforming the essence of the problem from a structural issue into simple individual deviance and slipping away smoothly.

I thought KJ died from his own doing, but looking at it now, KJ was ultimately just another victim discarded by Shinwol Entertainment’s damn exploitation system.

-So, you be careful too. From what I can see, you’re next after me.

-Don’t end up like me.

And looking at KJ’s warning, there was a high possibility that Shinwol Entertainment’s interference played a part in thirty-year-old me ending up in that state.

After leaving LnL, I was a freelance composer without an agency, and for a major entertainment company, burying someone like me—a former idol with just a few hit songs, not many fans, and not particularly high recognition, or rather someone who was actually hated for leaving in that manner—would have been nothing.

Of course, even if I had stayed at LnL, I don’t think the LnL of that time would have protected me very well.

The memory fragments I found and the facts I deduced based on those memories go this far. That’s why I needed Cha Yeonho who remembered what came after.

Especially, the suicide note KJ left behind.

Whether Cha Yeonho knew about the existence of KJ’s suicide note was very important.

Depending on that answer, it would determine whether I’d join hands with Cha Yeonho or classify him as being on the same side as Shinwol.

If Cha Yeonho knew about the existence of KJ’s suicide note, it meant he not only contributed to driving me to death but also had no interest in Shinwol’s damn exploitation system and his goal was just to extract KJ from that system.

And I couldn’t stand for that. My goal was to smash Shinwol Entertainment’s exploitation system.

Did I make all those reports trying to fuck over one human being named KJ? I reported them because their plagiarizing and exploiting was disgusting.

But if there’s a bigger mastermind behind it, shouldn’t exposing that take priority over the individuals involved for now?

To prevent all the arrows from being aimed at KJ individually like before the regression, I had to expose Shinwol Entertainment’s atrocities first.

Whether Cha Yeonho, who belongs to Shinwol Entertainment, would become that collaborator or part of what needed to be destroyed.

That was entirely up to Cha Yeonho.

When I felt vibration in my hand and looked down, [Cha Yeonho Senior] was displayed on my phone screen.

As soon as Cha Yeonho answered, I immediately stated my business.

“Before the regression, was there a suicide note that KJ left behind?”

-You were going on about suicide notes in the 1st and 2nd rounds too, and now you’re doing it again.

Cha Yeonho replied in a voice trembling with irritation. Before Cha Yeonho could hang up, I quickly added.

“Then let me change the question. Did you know that KJ had left a suicide note?”

-…What?

After a long silence, Cha Yeonho barely whispered back as if exhaling.

If this is acting, Cha Yeonho should honestly quit being an idol and break into Hollywood. He’d even win an Oscar for Best Actor.

“I found a memory. Before KJ died, he called me and informed me about the existence of the suicide note.”

For now, I told him the truth excluding the fact that Shinwol Entertainment was the mastermind behind driving KJ to death.

-Since you kept holding onto me and only talking about suicide notes back then, I thought you were afraid your name might be written in Jeongjun’s suicide note…

Cha Yeonho’s words sounded exactly like he didn’t know about the existence of the suicide note.

-There wasn’t one.

Cha Yeonho said in a heavily sunken voice.

-I was definitely the first to discover him. Just in case there might be a suicide note, I searched the entire house right after the funeral ended, but there wasn’t—

Cha Yeonho’s words stopped abruptly.

-Ah…

Cha Yeonho let out a groan as if realizing something.

-Jeongjun’s house was the dormitory. All the other guys had moved out after gaining seniority, but Jeongjun was alone…

I don’t know if KJ being left alone in the dormitory was his own choice or forced, but if it was the latter, they were trying to keep him under the agency’s control somehow.

“Did you start looking for the suicide note after the funeral ended?”

-Probably… Back then I was calling 119, following to the hospital, contacting the agency… anyway, it was chaotic.

How many people would have the presence of mind to look for a suicide note while remaining composed after witnessing their closest friend’s death right before their eyes?

Even Gyeon Hajun, who seemed so rational, broke down in front of my portrait.

If Cha Yeonho looked for the suicide note after KJ’s funeral, Shinwol had plenty of time to remove it.

Given Shinwol Entertainment’s character, they might have blocked internet access after scapegoating to prevent KJ from exposing anything, or they might have insisted on a handwritten suicide note fearing it would be seen as manipulation.

“Out of the total 6 rounds excluding the current one, how many times did you experience KJ’s death?”

-Twice… the first time, and the second time.

“Were there any uncomfortable or strange points the second time? What was the cause of KJ’s death back then?”

-Back then too, you left your group and exposed everything.

“Exactly like the first round? Or not KJ personally, but your agency?”

-…It started with the agency, but eventually the arrow went to Jeongjun. In the end, it was Jeongjun who took and used that trainee’s song.

In the end, it meant that even the second round me had failed to target Shinwol Entertainment’s exploitation system.

“If there’s anything strange, tell me everything. Quickly.”

-Ah, in the second round, Jeongjun found me a bit uncomfortable. I just thought he plagiarized because of pressure, so I brought him future hit songs and stuff, but maybe that wasn’t the answer.

So there was a very high possibility that the second round KJ thought Cha Yeonho, who kept bringing songs of unknown origin, was also in cahoots with the agency that was making him an exploitation perpetrator.

That’s why the second round Cha Yeonho also didn’t know about the existence of the suicide note.

Wait a minute, but is it okay to just casually talk about such important matters like this? Shouldn’t we at least put a lie detector between us or something?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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