Became The Leader of a Girl Group Destined To Fail - Chapter 25

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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 25.

Kim Ryeo-yu apologized with a face that showed no remorse whatsoever.
Behind her, I could see Team B laughing with sneering expressions plastered across their faces.
Lee Ju-seon looked somewhat uncomfortable caught between us.
Seeing that face of feigned victimhood made my blood boil.
But I couldn’t afford to lose my temper.

“Ju-seon.”
“!”

Lee Ju-seon flinched in surprise at my call.

“Not to Ju-seon—talk to me instead.”

Kim Ryeo-yu stepped between Lee Ju-seon and me.

“I have something I’d like to discuss with Ju-seon. Could you step aside for a moment so we can talk?”
“No.”

Kim Ryeo-yu spoke with a twisted smile.

“Will you tell me why not?”
“Because it’s obvious you’re going to say something that will hurt Ju-seon again.”
“Did we say anything that would hurt Ju-seon?”

I looked directly at Kim Ryeo-yu as I spoke.

“We want to hear the full context of what happened, and if we hurt her, we genuinely want to apologize. That’s only right.”
“….”

Apparently unprepared for this response, Kim Ryeo-yu fell silent for a moment.
Of course she did.
What exactly did we even say?
She was the one who ran away on her own.

“It’s not just about being hurt by what was said. The situation itself is the problem—you all created a situation where Ju-seon would be hurt.”
“I see. So you’re saying we didn’t say anything hurtful?”
“No, that’s not—”
“We genuinely want to apologize and move past this. Ryeo-yu, would you prefer if we just left things unresolved with Ju-seon? Is that what you want—for us to remain unable to even talk to each other forever?”
“….”
“We want to resolve this through conversation. We want to hear Ju-seon out too. I don’t understand why you’re blocking that. Or is it… that you’d rather we stayed on bad terms?”

Kim Ryeo-yu found herself unable to say anything in response.

“Ryeo-yu noona.”

At that moment, Lee Ju-seon grabbed Kim Ryeo-yu’s sleeve.

“Can we… just talk for a moment?”
“Ju-seon, are you really sure about this?”
“Yes. I just… want to talk.”

At Lee Ju-seon’s words, Kim Ryeo-yu and Team B reluctantly left the Practice Room.

“What did you want to talk about?”
“Ju-seon.”

I sat her down and offered her something to drink.

“We want to make things right with you. You’re a good person, and we want to have a good relationship with you for a long time.”
“….”
“Don’t you want to resolve things with us too?”

Lee Ju-seon’s eyes darted back and forth.
If she agreed to reconcile now, it would feel like she was forgiving too easily.
She’d made the situation bigger than it was, and resolving it this quickly would make her seem unreasonable.
But refusing to reconcile here was also problematic.
They’d extended their hand first, and rejecting it would be like slapping it away.
She’d lose her justification.

“…I don’t know.”

As expected.
I knew she’d try to slip away with a vague answer.
But I had no intention of letting Lee Ju-seon do as she pleased.

“Your position is quite difficult, Ju-seon.”
“Yes?”
“You didn’t want things to blow up like this either, did you?”
“…That’s true.”

Lee Ju-seon genuinely seemed unaware that things would spiral this far.
Yes, if circumstances had unfolded naturally, it would have gone exactly as she predicted.
If only I hadn’t gotten involved.
But my own situation wasn’t comfortable enough to simply accept this passively either.
Still, I didn’t want to treat her too harshly.
She’s still young.
The type easily swept along by those around her. So giving her a chance was the right call.

“Tell me everything that upset you. How it all happened. I’ll listen to all of it.”

Lee Ju-seon only blinked hesitantly.

“I felt constantly excluded. I wanted to do the concept I preferred, but everyone kept pushing for something different. I’m not confident in that other concept. And you all wouldn’t even listen to what I had to say….”
“I see. I think it’s completely understandable to feel that way. And?”
“And Yeon Ju-hong went shopping with me, but she didn’t care about my things at all—she only wanted to buy stuff for other people. It didn’t feel like she was treating me as an equal teammate.”

Once Lee Ju-seon’s lips loosened, she spoke without pause.
…She really does believe she’s the victim here.
I sighed inwardly.
Still, I’d give her a chance.
Just this once.

“I understand why you’re upset. I should have paid more attention to your feelings and understood you better.”
“…No, that’s not it.”
“We’ll make more effort from now on, so why not come back? Ju-seon, wouldn’t it be better to stay with your original team rather than transfer to a different one like this?”

Lee Ju-seon seemed to be considering it.
The fact that she was hesitating suggested she never truly intended to leave for that other team.
Maybe I should push a bit more here.

“You didn’t want to join that team in the first place anyway, did you?”
“!”
“I don’t think it’s too late now. That’s what team missions are all about, isn’t it? When people work together, friction and clashes are bound to happen.”

I tried to see things from Lee Ju-seon’s perspective as much as possible.

“What matters is how you resolve things when conflicts arise.”
“….”

Lee Ju-seon seemed deeply conflicted.
The way she fidgeted with her hands and hesitated spoke volumes.

“I heard your situation too. Ryeo-yu told you to come join her team, right? You didn’t originally want to go either.”
“…! How did you….”
“Ju-seon. If Ryeo-yu truly wanted to help you maturely, she wouldn’t have casually advised you to switch teams.”

She’s using you.
You know that too.
I chose my words carefully, trying to soften the blow.

“Are you saying that Ryeo-yu is using me?”

Of course she is.

“No. I’m saying that Ryeo-yu’s good intentions won’t necessarily lead to the best outcome for you.”

Forcing the word “good intentions” felt like thorns pricking the inside of my mouth.
After hearing my words, Lee Ju-seon fell silent, her expression troubled as she wrestled with the thought.

“…I understand what you’re saying, and I’m grateful.”

Then she opened her mouth again.

“But I don’t want to go against Ryeo-yu.”

…How frustrating.

“And… honestly, even if I came back, I’d just end up being someone you all walk over here.”
“That’s not true.”
“It will be. At least Ryeo-yu guaranteed me the center position. Can you promise me the center too? And adjust the concept to suit me?”

Lee Ju-seon’s eyes gleamed with naked greed as she spoke.
Perhaps because she thought there were no cameras, she was laying out her demands brazenly.

“The center position and concept will be decided fairly through discussion. Of course, you’ll have the same opportunity as everyone else.”
“See? You’re saying no.”
“…Then Ju-seon.”

I forced my mind to cool and lifted my head with difficulty.

“How about we erase this whole thing? I talked to Oh PD. He said we could film everything from the beginning and select the team again—by bringing someone from Team B instead.”
“…You’d erase everything that’s happened so far?”
“Yes. Nothing would air on the broadcast. For your sake and ours.”

Lee Ju-seon hesitated for a moment.

“But… Ryeo-yu wouldn’t want that.”
“This is about what you want. Ryeo-yu has nothing to do with this.”
“…”

Lee Ju-seon thought briefly, then shook her head.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think I can do that.”
“Why? Because of Ryeo-yu?”
“…”

Lee Ju-seon’s lips trembled.
She seemed uncertain whether she should say what was on her mind.

“The broadcast… airtime matters, doesn’t it?”
“!”

At Lee Ju-seon’s words, Kim Geum and Yeon Ju-hong’s expressions hardened.

“I’m the one with the least screen time at Make a New Color… the one who gets buried. But Ryeo-yu unnie told me that if I caused a stir like this once, my screen time would increase, and I’d get sympathy votes too.”
“And you knew that instead, Ju-hong and the rest of us would be falsely accused?”
“….”

Lee Ju-seon rose without saying another word.

“I’m sorry.”

And so our conversation ended.

***

“You called for me?”

And that early morning.
In one of the offices within the Colors Agency.
As I cautiously opened the door and stepped inside, Director Kim, Oh PD, and Kang Writer were there.
I had come after suddenly receiving a call from Kang Writer in the middle of the night.
They were so urgent about it—four phone calls, as if they were trying to wake someone sleeping.
Of course, I had deliberately ignored them.

“Yeah. Sit over there.”

I glanced at the large table.
And I sat across from Director Kim.
They clearly had much to say.

“What’s this about?”
“What the hell is this footage?”

On the laptop screen that Director Kim roughly turned toward me, an image of Lee Ju-seon and me was captured.
And from the laptop, the conversation was playing back clearly as well.
Through Lee Ju-seon’s voice.

…my screen time would increase, and I’d get sympathy votes too.

“The fact that this footage was recorded in the exact place where you asked to have a camera installed can only be seen as intentional.”

Director Kim was so furious that deep wrinkles had formed between his brows.

“….”

That was exactly what had happened.
The moment I received a subtle hint from the Production Crew, I made one request of Oh PD.
To install an additional camera in just one Practice Room.
Of course, the others had no way of knowing about it.
I’d lied, claiming I wanted to pull off a small hidden camera prank on Yeon Ju-hong.
Hidden camera pranks between trainees during a survival show?
It was an extremely common occurrence.
Common enough that no one would suspect a thing.
So the camera installation remained a secret.

“As the person ultimately responsible for this company, I cannot overlook such behavior.”

Director Kim glared at me with a deeply furrowed brow.

“What on earth were you thinking doing something like this?”
“….”

I glanced not at Director Kim, but at Oh PD and Kang Writer.
I wanted to see what their reactions would be.
Sure enough, both of them looked displeased.
But their displeasure wasn’t directed at me.

“What mistake are you saying I made?”
“The camera you installed—”
“If you’ve watched that footage, you’d know I did nothing wrong to the other trainees. In the first place, I asked Oh PD to add one more camera to that Practice Room because I wanted to pull off a hidden camera event for Ju-hong, and I reported that to Oh PD beforehand.”
“But you should have warned her once you knew a camera had been installed in that room.”

I looked at Director Kim.
He knows too. He knows he’s being unreasonable and making a baseless argument.
Yet he’s throwing a tantrum anyway.
Because he knows his position is higher than mine.

“I didn’t even get a chance to speak before he said that. I clearly told him to think about it one more time. That I hoped he’d come back and join us together. You both saw that, didn’t you, PD and Writer?”
“….”
“…Yes.”

The two of them neither affirmed nor denied it explicitly.
Yet that was unmistakably a gesture of affirmation.

“I made the opportunity perfectly clear, so wasn’t it Ju-seon who rejected it?”

If that were the case, I needed to make my own move.

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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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