Became The Leader of a Girl Group Destined To Fail - Chapter 165

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 165.

[StillBlue Stage Assault Perpetrator Lee Found Dead in Detention Center]
[Stage Assault Case Defendant A Discovered Dead Inside Detention Center]

The morning of my last vacation day.
I frowned at the barrage of news flooding in from the moment I woke.
According to information relayed by Hong President, he had taken his own life.
The Detention Center was reportedly in complete disarray over the sudden incident.
A man who had shown no sign of remorse until the day before, who had done nothing but wait for the day he could take revenge on us.
It was hard to believe he would suddenly do something like that overnight….
But since it had already happened, there was nothing more I could say about it.
In truth, his final moments were none of my concern.
What mattered to me now was how the members were feeling.
They were still so young—I worried whether they might have been traumatized.
The moment I reached for my phone to request psychological counseling for the members from Hong President.
Ding!

Ban Aesh Dan-ha

…A message from a very unexpected person had arrived.

Ban Aesh Dan-ha

Jae-yi has something she’d like to discuss

Could we meet for a moment?

Meet in person just to talk about it?
I deliberated for a moment before sending a reply.

Ban Aesh Dan-ha

Would it be alright to meet at the Company Studio?

I needed to block off every last possibility, every potential loophole.
If asked why I’d met with him, I could simply say I was trying to extract a song from Dan-ha.
Ding!
The reply came immediately.

Ban Aesh Dan-ha Senior

Let’s meet now

***

“You really want to come to the studio on your last day of vacation, unnie?”

Kim Geum shook her head, speaking with exasperation.

“You came too, didn’t you?”
“This is vacation for me.”

We were two of a kind.

“You’re consulting with Dan-ha Senior about arrangement?”
“Yeah.”
“He hasn’t been around the studio much lately.”
“Really?”
“I figured he must be busy. Isn’t BurnAsh coming back soon anyway? I should ask him to look at my song too.”

Our thoughts were beginning to align.
I watched Kim Geum enter her studio, then stepped into the adjacent one.
With soundproofing this good—the best in the country—I could breathe easy.

“Hello.”
“You’re here?”

Dan-ha and Han Jae-i were waiting for me in the studio, their faces dark with worry.
I settled onto the studio sofa.
Then Dan-ha rustled around and handed me something.

“….”

It was bellflower root juice.
Did this group think I was someone who couldn’t survive without bellflower root juice?

“Thank you.”

…Well, since they’d given it to me, I drank it.

“How are things with Sung Director these days?”

I started by asking about the current situation.
It was a diplomatic way of asking whether Sung Director was still causing trouble.

“Thanks to you, or perhaps thanks to the Shop Owner, things have been quite peaceful.”
“That’s a relief, at least.”

Based on the impression I’d gotten the last time I saw him, he didn’t seem like the type to stay quiet.

“But what did you call me here for?”
“I’ll get straight to the point.”

Han Jae-i took the lead in the conversation, stepping in for Dan-ha, who lacked conversational finesse.
I actually preferred it that way. It was less frustrating.

“Have you noticed information leaking frequently lately? Like something’s been slipping out steadily?”
“!”

The rat. They were talking about the rat.
The rat who’d been selling my information to Moment.
At this unexpected topic, my expression hardened before I could stop it.
Han Jae-i waved her hand reassuringly.

“Don’t worry. We’ve experienced the same thing, so we understand.”
“…Do you know who the culprit is?”

Dan-ha and Han Jae-i exchanged glances, then nodded.

“I think it’s our Manager.”
“…What?”

But how could BurnAsh’s Manager have obtained our information and been selling it around?
I furrowed my brow at a conclusion I couldn’t accept.

“Our Manager is dating my senior’s Manager. You didn’t know?”
“!”

I didn’t know.
I was far too busy to concern myself with the Manager’s personal life.

“I don’t think my senior’s Manager intended to betray us. In my opinion…”
“They just let their guard down because they’re in a relationship and carelessly mentioned it?”
“Especially since they work at the same Company. They probably thought they were just discussing work matters with a colleague.”

Now that I thought about it, if it was the StillBlue Manager and BurnAsh’s Manager…
They might well have let their guard down.
Being lovers, they would have shared every little detail.
The problem was that I had also been careless.
I really do have a loose tongue.
This time it wasn’t intentional information leakage, but…
It seemed the time had come to make a cut.

“You’re thinking of firing them, aren’t you?”
“No.”
“…?”
“Even if we fire them, all that happens is a new spy takes their place.”

It was a fair point, but…
Still, knowing someone was a spy and keeping them nearby wasn’t exactly easy, was it?

“Where did your seniors’ Manager sell the information?”
“To Moment.”

Dan-ha answered in my place.
The same buyer.

“It’s the same for me. My information has been continuously exposed to Moment.”

Han Jae-i seemed to be pondering my words carefully.

“It looks like they’ve been targeting us lately. In your case, junior… was Enliven the rival that Moment was pushing up against you?”
“Yes. For us seniors, it was NextGen, wasn’t it?”
“That’s right.”

NextGen and BurnAsh were strong contenders for this year’s awards.
That meant both groups had staked everything on this year.
Especially since NextGen was Moment’s flagship group.
Plus, NextGen was in their fifth year.
BurnAsh was in their third year.
They probably thought they were more desperate than us.
They weren’t easy opponents, though.
NextGen was a massively popular boy group, after all.
In my previous life, NextGen had won.
Their album sales had been overwhelming.
Now that I thought about it, those absurd numbers must have been bulk purchases, naturally.

“What are you thinking about?”
“…Hmm.”

Should I tell them or not?
If I mentioned that I’d detected signs of Moment’s bulk purchasing and was probing them about it….
Would these people actually be helpful?
I wasn’t entirely sure about them.
Third-year juniors….

“What is this? You just thought we weren’t trustworthy, didn’t you, junior?”

Their instincts were sharp.

“How could you think we’re untrustworthy when you’re so much newer than us?”
“That’s a misunderstanding. I never thought such a thing.”

I’d deny it for now.
I needed to think more carefully about whether to bring them into this.

“Thank you for telling me. I’ll handle the Manager situation.”
“Whoa, whoa. We haven’t even started talking about our issues yet, junior.”
“…?”

Han Jae-i let out a long sigh and handed me a sheet of paper.

“What is this?”
“All the offers that have come my way lately. Don’t you see a familiar pattern?”

Oh no.
There was indeed a disturbingly familiar pattern.

“It’s exactly the same places our members have been going to.”
“Someone keeps trying to link us together.”
“…You turned them all down, then.”
“We’re at a point where we need to be more careful than anyone else in this world.”

She was right.

“When are you planning our next comeback?”
“September.”

We had been thinking August.
I’d need to move it up to July.

“Thank you. I’ll speak with Hong President and coordinate so our schedules don’t overlap.”
“There’s more.”
“Why does something new keep popping up every time I dig?”
“It’s proof that our opponent is just that ruthless.”

I took the documents with frustration mounting in my chest.
And the moment I read them, my irritation only deepened.

“Are these bastards seriously trying to dump their own stock manipulation onto us?”

They were articles.
Articles questioning the suspicious upward trend of StillBlue.
The articles were written in a skeptical tone, claiming it was strange that album sales were skyrocketing.
Even the music chart trends were being called suspicious.
A rookie girl group maintaining first place for this long was supposedly unnatural.
What a joke.
What’s so strange about ranking first because the song is good?

“…Senior. You already knew? That Moment was doing bulk buying?”

Oh no.
I let out a sigh.
Well, now…
It’s becoming inevitable that we’ll join hands.
Besides, I had no intention of being uncooperative with someone who’d shared so much information with me.

“Yes. I knew.”
“How did you know?”
“We’ve been monitoring Moment’s movements all along. If you paid even a little attention to this, it would’ve been easy to figure out. It’s not just me—the public is starting to suspect it too.”

What I said was true.
The cyber detectives on OTube were already talking about Enliven.

“…Well, anyway.”

Why are you looking at me with such suspicion?

“Moment is trying to frame us for bulk buying, not just you.”
“…But your trends have always been good, so it wouldn’t stick anyway, right?”
“No. If it really is bulk buying… we can’t escape it either.”

What do you mean by that?
Are you confessing to doing bulk buying?
I was confused for a moment before I grasped the hidden meaning.
Don’t tell me.

“Moment is preparing bulk buying. But this time, not for their own subsidiary group—”
“For us.”

This is a serious problem.
My mind immediately began racing.
Even if we didn’t plan this, if it really escalates into hoarding….
No matter what I say, it’ll sound like an excuse.

“Their targets are BurnAsh and StillBlue. Groups that debuted not long ago, so the damage would be even greater.”
“….”
“I’ll tell the Shop Owner, but he’s been busy with other matters lately. So I thought I should tell you first, senior.”
“Busy with… what exactly?”
“All Colors is about to have a dating scandal break.”
“Is it a real relationship?”
“Yes. They’re talking about marriage, so the Shop Owner is desperately trying to persuade them otherwise.”

He must be genuinely swamped.
All Colors is Colors’ cash cow, and they have a concert coming up soon on top of that.
But in my past life, I never heard anything like this, so Hong President must have eventually succeeded in his persuasion.

“So I wanted to hear your thoughts on this, senior.”
“….”

I think I understand why they came to me.
I probably would have sought them out too in this situation.

“Let’s strike first.”

They came to the right person anyway.

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