The S-Rank Paparazzi Reincarnates as an Idol - Chapter 43

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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 43
“…What?”
“Our team needs a sub-vocalist too.”
I briefed my bewildered teammates on what I’d organized in my head.
Their expressions shifted from confusion to grim determination, and they soon nodded in agreement.
Now all that remained was a week of legitimate intensive training.
☆☆☆
Practice progressed quite smoothly.
The trainees who’d received harsh feedback from the Judge Panel had awakened to their mistakes.
Time was limited, but we were managing the team assignment quite well.
“Alright, all underage trainees—head back to the Dormitory now.”
When the clock struck exactly 10 PM, I started rounding up Seo Ha-yul and the Long-haired Trainee.
“Ah…. Hyung!”
“Can’t we practice just a little longer?”
“No, you can’t. Growing teenagers need their sleep.”
“But the other teams don’t say anything…”
“You want to stay short?”
“…”
I forcibly pushed Seo Ha-yul and the Long-haired Trainee, both pouting, out of the Practice Room.
Only after locking the Practice Room door did I see their silhouettes fade into the distance.
“Let’s continue practicing.”
Yoon Min-soo nodded with a weary expression.
“Si-woo, you’re really strict.”
Since my teammates became cooperative, we’d started calling each other casually.
‘It’s strange seeing someone older on the same team still use formal speech.’
Sharing a room while maintaining distance would only invite controversy, so I immediately addressed the dynamic.
“Hearing you say that, Min-soo hyung, you must still have energy left? Let’s start practicing right away!”
“Ugh…”
The now-familiar song “Unfinished Story” flowed through the speakers.
We continued practicing for two hours, adapting to the revised arrangement and choreography.
Bang, bang, bang!
Someone knocked urgently on the Practice Room door, and we stopped moving.
‘What’s this?’
“Who is it?”
“Hyung! Something’s wrong!”
At the Long-haired Trainee’s urgent cry, I quickly opened the Practice Room door.
There stood a trainee covered in cold sweat, holding a mobile phone.
“What? What happened?”
“Look at this.”
“Didn’t you turn in your phone?”
“That’s not what matters right now. Hurry!”
I accepted the rectangular black phone, and the screen displayed a familiar website.
It was one of the Famous Idol Community sites I frequently searched.
>[(HOT!) S.H.Y is a school violence perpetrator…]
“What is this?”
‘Seo Ha-yul is a school violence perpetrator?’
Such an incongruous label had been attached to Seo Ha-yul?
I’d been too busy with practice lately to search the internet properly.
The fact that such a post had spread during that time was quite shocking.
When I clicked on the sensationalized post, the content was even worse.
>[(HOT!) S.H.Y is a school violence perpetrator. Broke a friend’s leg and now he’s appearing on broadcast to debut. It’s disgusting.
The title says it all.
S.H.Y, a participant in the rising ‘Star picking5’, is a school violence perpetrator.
The fanboys are sucking up to a school violence perpetrator so much that I’m writing this out of frustration.
There were 3 trainees from Planet Entertainment at GL Middle School, and S.H.Y broke one of their legs, preventing them from debuting while S.H.Y made it into the debut group.
Everyone who went to school with him already knows this fact.
Seeing such a bastard shamelessly appear on a survival show and act innocent and cry gives me chills.
If you have any conscience, apologize to the victim and withdraw.
(+ADDED) Some people don’t believe this post, so I’m uploading my yearbook to prove I’m from GL Middle School.
(++ADDED) I’m also uploading a school uniform photo I just took.]
Below the scroll, the GL Middle School yearbook had been uploaded as proof.
Below that was a blurry school uniform photo.
The GL Middle School logo was emblazoned on the chest of the uniform.
There are certain fatal scandals that idols must absolutely avoid.
Violence, drugs, crime, promiscuous scandals with the opposite sex—there are various types, and school violence was one of them.
This particular scandal had essentially exploded on my teammate, reaching a level of social destruction.
-S.H.Y’s face already looked like a delinquent from the start, so I expected this.
Physiognomy is a science.
He really does play according to his looks.
-Kids involved in these controversies shouldn’t even think about appearing in the first place. Do they have any brains?
“Are you kidding me? What era do you think we’re living in that you thought you could hide this?”
School bullies should all face divine punishment!
That damn bastard isn’t even human.
-I went to GL Middle School and this is facts.
Really?
He/She is famous at school.
As the fresh prey became properly known, people were gathering exponentially.
“Where’s Seo Ha-yul?”
“The Production Staff took him.”
My body moved before my mind could catch up.
“Cha Si-woo…! What are you doing?!”

Without looking back, I bolted down the Corridor like a madman.
☆☆☆
Bang!
The Conference Room door slammed violently against the wall as the handle was wrenched open.
The air seemed to shudder, and every eye in the room snapped toward the entrance.
“Ha… ha…”
‘Found him.’
I could see the Production Staff’s hardened expression and Seo Ha-yul’s reddened eyes.
“Trainee Cha Si-woo? How did you get in here?”
I quickly steadied my ragged breathing before speaking.
“I’m the Team Representative.”
When our eyes met, Seo Ha-yul began to cry harder.
“We’re having a serious discussion right now. Could you please leave?”
The Production Staff pointed firmly toward the door.
“You’re keeping a minor alone during this hour to have some conversation? As Team Representative, I have a duty to act as a guardian. I’m staying to listen.”
As I sat down beside Seo Ha-yul, the Production Staff’s expression grew even more rigid.
“Fine.”
The Production Staff reluctantly nodded and placed a tablet on the table.
The screen displayed the Online Community post I’d seen earlier.
“You know the internet’s in an uproar right now?”
“Sob… yes.”
“How are you going to resolve this?”
“…Hic!”
Seo Ha-yul, looking terrified, was merely trying to suppress his tears.
“I’ll resolve it.”
All eyes that had been fixed on Seo Ha-yul suddenly turned toward me.
“How will you do that, Trainee Cha Si-woo?”
“Frankly, it’s obvious this post is a lie.”
“What?”
“First, looking at the photo—it’s not one he took himself.”
“…Excuse me?”
I reached for the tablet, noting the Production Staff’s confusion.
“Photos typically contain metadata that can be verified. You can check the shooting time, camera model, location, camera settings, and so on. See this?”
I tapped the photo to access its metadata information.
The location and camera settings displayed as “None.”
“When it shows ‘None’ like this, it means the photo was screenshotted.”
“…!”
“Look—the school uniform was photographed before the post was uploaded, right? With a screenshot, the time recorded is when the screenshot was taken, so it’s definitive proof.”
On the Online Community, it was clearly stated that after posting the message and facing backlash from people, they had taken a photo in their school uniform and uploaded it additionally.
If the post were true, the metadata timestamp of the photo should have been recorded after the post was made.
But contradictorily, when I checked the Metadata System of the photo, the shooting time was recorded as before the post was made.
This was also one of the pieces of evidence that could prove the post was false.
“Based on this, it’s been determined that the claim about taking the photo directly is a lie, right? Then the claim about being a classmate is also a lie. So, who is the real liar here?”
No matter how anyone looked at it, the post author was the one lying.
“…How on earth does Cha Si-woo know something like this?”
I continued speaking while watching the bewildered Production Staff.
“It just happened to come up. And honestly, Seo Ha-yul doesn’t have the personality to bully anyone. If anything, he’s the one who would’ve been bullied.”
In that moment, Seo Ha-yul visibly flinched.
‘I had some suspicions, but is it really true?’
“Even if that’s the truth, the problem is whether the public will believe it.”
“That’s right. Public opinion is really bad right now.”
This kind of issue was a matter of timing.
If we didn’t suppress the controversy quickly after it erupted, it would grow like a fireball and become difficult to contain.
“First, let’s make it known that the photo uploaded in the post is a screenshot, not a directly taken photo.”
“But we need to confirm something before that.”
The Production Staff looked at Seo Ha-yul with a firm gaze.
“Seo Ha-yul. If you keep your mouth shut and just cry, we can’t solve this problem.”
It was the right thing to say.
Even if we believed and helped him, we needed to know the truth to handle things properly.
After a moment of hesitation, Seo Ha-yul swallowed his tears.
“Actually…”
Silence hung in the air.
After pausing for several minutes, Seo Ha-yul finally opened his mouth.
“I was the one being bullied.”
The moment Seo Ha-yul’s sorrowful voice rang out, it felt like a stone had dropped into my chest with a heavy thud.
“It wasn’t like that from the beginning. He was a friend who took good care of me when I was timid. The problem started when I entered middle school.”
“…”
“Low-quality friends started gathering around, judging me only by my appearance and suggesting I do bad things. When I refused because they were things students shouldn’t do, the bullying became more aggressive. I think that’s when it started—when my friend began to change.”
Seo Ha-yul looked anxious and pained.
“Of course, I have my share of blame too. If I had said no back then… if I had fought back instead of staying silent, it wouldn’t have gotten this bad.”
“Why is that your fault? It’s clearly their fault.”
“…That’s why I like you, hyung.”
I gently patted Seo Ha-yul’s head.
His pained expression seemed to become a little more peaceful.
“I thought it was excessive at the time, but I didn’t realize it was wrong back then. While the bullying continued like that, something happened during Physical Education Class.”
“…”
“During free time, they let us play soccer, and I was always the goalkeeper. A goalkeeper who was never supposed to block any goals.”
“…What?”
“While I was quietly returning the balls coming at me like that, my Close Friend tried to attempt a shot he’d seen on TV, made an exaggerated motion, and his foot slipped. That’s how he injured his leg all by himself.”
“What a pathetic fool. Serves him right.”
“…haha.”
Seo Ha-yul let out a short laugh as if relieved.
“You’ve been through a lot, Seo Ha-yul.”
“Thank you for telling us.”
“Now it’s clear that Seo Ha-yul isn’t the perpetrator.”
The Writer, wearing an uncomfortable expression, carefully opened his mouth.
“Is there perhaps a classmate who could post a rebuttal comment?”
“…No. I don’t have any friends.”
“Ah….”
The atmosphere suddenly grew solemn.
“Then what if we simply announce that Seo Ha-yul is actually the victim?”
It was the fastest method, but not a welcome choice.
What victim would want to publicly declare themselves a victim?
After shooting a pointed look at the Production Staff for speaking thoughtlessly, I opened my mouth.
“What if we first announce that the photo and content are false, and warn that we’ll take strong legal action against anyone spreading false information about the trainee?”
“Will that resolve it?”
“Yes, just looking at how they wrote posts in abbreviations because they’re afraid of being sued, a warning alone should make them delete their posts on their own.”
“Hmm…”
“And if they come back with a counterattack, we can reveal the truth then without being too late.”
“That’s true.”
A counterattack wouldn’t happen.
‘Because I’ll resolve it before then.’

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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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