The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 172

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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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172

“We’re back!”

I’d given up on sleep and was tossing restlessly when the Members returned home relatively early and in decent shape. It seemed they’d only made a brief appearance out of courtesy.
But one seat was empty.

“Where’s Kang Yi-chae?”

Kang Yi-chae was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh, Yi-chae’s at the Company. Working on something, apparently.”

Given his usual personality, I would’ve expected him to either eagerly suggest an after-party with the Members or be holed up in his Bedroom playing games.

“…Yeah, fine.”

I knew I couldn’t just leave Kang Yi-chae as things were, but I sensed that touching the issue now would only make matters worse, so I decided to postpone it for later.
I greeted the exhausted Members and returned to my Bedroom.
In the end, I lay alone in bed through the night. Late in the afternoon, I rubbed my tired eyes, got up, prepared myself, and headed Outside.
The place I arrived at was a neat Restaurant serving Korean set meals. After being guided to the Private Room I’d reserved by phone, I flipped through the menu idly while waiting for the other person.
Moments later, the sliding door burst open forcefully.

“Brother!!”
“…Damn, you scared me.”

I wondered where he’d picked up such a habit as I looked him over, but Seo Ho-jin simply raised his eyebrows and approached closer.

“Why haven’t you been answering my calls?”

Yet despite his expression and volume, his tone was cautious.

“Too lazy to.”
“….”

At my indifferent response, Seo Ho-jin’s eyes narrowed at me.
I ignored him and pressed the call button to order a meal from the staff.
At my composed demeanor, Seo Ho-jin’s cheeks trembled slightly, clearly irritated.

“…Fine, what conversation would I even have with that guy. Stay calm, Ho-jin. You’re doing well, Ho-jin. You’re the best.”
“That guy? Want to die?”

For a moment, Jung Da-jun’s image muttering while looking at Kang Yi-chae overlapped with Seo Ho-jin.
Even as my eyebrows twitched, I said nothing more and plopped down into the front seat.

‘He’s still pretty much intact, though.’

I’d wondered if I needed to comfort him when we met today, but seeing him speak well and even grumble put my mind somewhat at ease.
It meant he still had that composure.

“Hyung, um, you know….”
“Let’s eat first.”

Just then, a staff member entered and laid out a full table of food.
As I picked up my spoon first to cut off the conversation, Seo Ho-jin, who had hesitated for a moment, gripped his chopsticks with a sigh.
His mouth was still pouting, but he ate his rice quite neatly.

“Is it good?”
“…It’s good.”

After putting a spoonful of soup in my mouth and swallowing, I watched him steadily until Seo Ho-jin had emptied his bowl adequately, then asked.

“Does it hurt?”
“Can’t you tell by looking? It’s completely healed.”

I thought the guy, well past his rebellious phase, was being unusually prickly today. As I picked up a side dish with my chopsticks, a shopping bag suddenly entered my field of vision.
Seeing the leaves and petals peeking out, I realized Seo Ho-jin had actually bought a real bouquet.

‘He really bought it?’

Where in the world would you find a hot-blooded guy in his twenties who actually goes and buys something just because his older brother told him to?
Finding it both amusing and embarrassing, I scratched my head.

I was contemplating when to tease him about the gift when a sudden memory surfaced—I had received something similar from Seo Ho-jin long ago.
There had been a letter accompanying it back then.
I had pressed a few flower petals into the letter and kept them together. Where had I put them?

‘Is this filial piety?’

Seo Ho-jin had always been like that.
He never quite distinguished between what happened between parent and child versus what was appropriate between siblings.
Lost in pointless musings about how he’d eventually give me carnations, tissue boxes, money bouquets, and even volunteer to show filial piety, Seo Ho-jin suddenly set down the soup bowl he’d been sipping from with a sharp clink against the dining table.

“You’re done eating, so let’s talk.”
“Ah, yes, yes.”

It was obvious without even looking.
It had to be about the leak.

“Were you okay?”

Since I had done it, of course I was fine.
Even knowing my personality, he probably never imagined I’d actually go through with something like this.

“Obviously.”

Even with that response, the concern never left Seo Ho-jin’s eyes as he looked at me.

“What about you? You’re keeping the promise about not mentioning your brother outside, right?”

Seo Ho-jin simply nodded slowly without speaking.

“Good. Keep it that way going forward.”

In this industry, privacy didn’t truly exist, no matter how carefully you guarded secrets.
Even if people looked at me now with sympathetic affection, I could never predict when that gaze might transform into something sharp and cutting.
Besides, there was absolutely no need to slap an “orphan” label on Seo Ho-jin, who had gotten into a good university, was doing well as a department head, and living a perfectly normal life.
I simply wanted him to live ordinary days. Today, tomorrow, and every day after—nothing different from that.

‘This is enough.’

Seo Ho-jin was healthy, eating well in front of me.
The faces of the Members flashed briefly through my mind, but I quickly brushed them away.
I was about to reassure myself that it had been a good ending and move on,

“Really nothing happened?”

Seo Ho-jin’s gaze turned suspicious.

“I was seriously healthy.”
“Really? Truly? Swear on the heavens?”
“This guy’s persistent. What, are you worried?”

Unlike usual, Seo Ho-jin’s relentless pressing honestly caught me off guard. Instead of saying something unnecessary, I decided to ease his anxiety.

“It’s ancient history, Ho-jin.”

With a face that showed I truly didn’t care.

“It doesn’t mean anything anymore.”

As I offered a faint smile, Seo Ho-jin’s gaze drifted downward.
Beneath the table, I nervously flicked my fingernails, then reached for my water glass to wet my lips.
Now, guilt kept creeping up on me at the most unexpected moments. After all, I was the culprit who had unearthed an incident that could have been quietly buried.
And I was also the one who had put that expression on Seo Ho-jin’s face.

“Oh, right. I got some time off.”

With Shining Star Season 2 coming to an end, I’d been granted a brief vacation before preparing for the new album. I thought I’d take the opportunity to return home for a while and indulge in a lazy lifestyle.

“Let’s see our parents together after all this time, and if there’s anything you need, we can go shopping too.”

Lately I’d been rather indifferent to Seo Ho-jin, so speaking to him so gently felt awkward, making my chest itch uncomfortably.

“And if there’s anything you want to do, your brother will….”

Just as I was slowly continuing my words with some embarrassment, I was startled.
Tears were streaming down Seo Ho-jin’s face.

“…!!”

Why on earth?

“Hey, uh… why are you crying?”

Normally I would’ve laughed and teased him, but I had no idea what was going on, so I asked in bewilderment.
Then Seo Ho-jin glared at me with reddened eyes.

“Hyung, you’re really good at lying.”
“…!”

Without thinking, my body flinched and I subtly stepped back.
Wondering if he’d found out that I was the one who spread the news about my parents’ accident, my slowly racing heartbeat began to accelerate.
Seo Ho-jin wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeve.

“Da-jun called me. He said your condition seemed a bit off.”
“…What?”
“He said that for days after the leak, you weren’t in your right mind. You were living like a vacant person, just staring blankly, and you couldn’t sleep properly. He asked if it was okay to just leave you like that.”
“….”
“And he said you pushed yourself even when you were sick.”

Even as Seo Ho-jin pressed the matter, the fact that I hadn’t been caught spreading the leak was what struck me first.
At the same time, knowing he’d acted out of concern, a sense of betrayal toward Jung Da-jun quietly surfaced.

“Why would Jung Da-jun call you?”
“Is that what’s important right now?”

Seo Ho-jin’s expression crumbled further.
Since workplace problems had never affected my family before, the unprecedented situation gave me a headache.

‘Damn, I wasn’t supposed to bring him home….’

“It’s just overreacting.”

I clicked my tongue irritably and ran my hand through my hair before exhaling a long breath.

“Just don’t contact my coworkers and listen to that kind of talk.”
“…I hate it.”

You don’t like it?
We’d already settled this matter years ago.
And now you’re saying you don’t like it?
I wanted to say something, but I’d made mistakes too, and I didn’t want to be harsh with my crying younger brother.
I summoned every ounce of patience I had.

“Just tell me directly. Involving other people will only make things complicated.”
“I don’t like it.”

Damn it.

“Do you want to die? Why won’t you listen?”

Right, so much for playing the affectionate older brother.

“Just ignore anyone who contacts you and tell them you don’t have an older brother, you bastard.”
“…Hah.”

Upon hearing those words, Seo Ho-jin tilted his head in disbelief.

“Then you should just pretend you don’t have a younger brother and stop caring about anything.”
“…??”
“Or better yet, just sever all ties, right?”

Seo Ho-jin’s extreme counterargument made my blood pressure spike.

“Stop spouting nonsense. Are you insane?”
“Why? Does that sound impossible to you?”

But Seo Ho-jin seemed equally fired up.

“Anyway, what changes if we sever ties? I already learn about you through entertainment articles. Do you know I get more text messages about tuition payments than I do calls from you?”

Words poured out in a torrent.

“I even refused when Da-jun asked if he could visit me once. I thought you’d hate it. But I still hoped you’d tell me something someday.”

Seo Ho-jin, who’d been suppressing his emotions, finally squeezed his eyes shut.

“But he never contacted me once.”
“….”

Seo Ho-jin rose from his seat with his teeth clenched, exhaling softly.

“…I’ve been staring at my phone every free moment lately. Just in case you’d call.”

I couldn’t say anything, just stood there dazed, watching my younger brother’s pathetic state.

“So I finally thought maybe he’d text me first….”

Seo Ho-jin, who had been struggling to compose himself, wiped his reddened eyes with his sleeve and glared at me.

“What? ‘Brother missed me’?”
“….”
“A bouquet?!”

Unable to regain his composure, Seo Ho-jin pulled out the bouquet that had been carefully placed in the shopping bag and hurled it at me.

Smack!

“Ow!”
“Yeah, damn it. Here’s the bouquet that your brother was singing about so much.”
“…!!”
“Congratulations on first place.”

The bouquet that had struck my face fell away, and flower petals scattered through the air.

“…What, what.”

Shocked by words that had never come from Seo Ho-jin’s mouth before, I stammered in response.
Beyond the pain, I was so bewildered that I jumped to my feet.

“Damn it? Daaaamn it? Did you really just say that? And you dare hit your brother?”
“Yeah, I hit you. So what? Got a problem?”
“Where the hell did you pick up that kind of language?!”
“Where did I learn it? Who have I been watching all this time?”

Yeah, you’ve learned one useless thing incredibly well, you punk.
I pressed my hand against my forehead, which had grown hot from anger.

“I don’t want to see your face for a while. Don’t come home.”
“You crazy bastard, that’s my home!”
“I changed the foyer password.”
“What?!!”

My blood pressure had shot through the roof from the successive insubordination, and I was clutching the back of my neck when Seo Ho-jin pulled money from his wallet and slammed it down on the dining table with a bang.

“I’m leaving. Forget about seeing my face—just contact me once in a while.”
“What, what?! Hey! Hey!! Aren’t you coming back here?!”

And then he quickly fled.

“Hey, Seo Ho-jin…!!”

I couldn’t even raise my voice loudly because my face was already exposed.
Part of me wanted to drag that little brother back here right now and give him a few knuckle raps on the head, but instead I just sighed repeatedly before collapsing into the chair.

“Wow…, heh heh, uh heh heh….”

I couldn’t help but laugh hollowly at the series of events that had unfolded so suddenly.

“Does that punk really think I’m the same age as him?”

Calling me useless… that bastard to his brother…!

“Damn it, I raised that kid wrong. Ugh, my blood pressure….”

I looked at the flower petals scattered across the dining table and flicked them away with my finger.
As the anger subsided, only regret remained.
I picked up the bouquet and put it back in the shopping bag, turning over Seo Ho-jin’s words in my mind.

‘I should have never met him.’

“Ah~.”

I just wanted to give him a proper meal and see his face.
It seemed he was bearing considerable stress as well. The thought made my stomach churn, and a sigh escaped unbidden.

“The kid inherited my temperament perfectly….”

I grumbled and drained the half-full glass of water.
Regret had sunk to the depths, and in its place, a different emotion quietly surfaced.

‘He still doesn’t know.’

In any case, Seo Ho-jin remained unaware.
That I had personally spread word of the accident.
So even though my younger brother had cried and made a fuss, I felt no worry, no concern, no apology—let alone guilt toward our parents.

‘This naive bastard.’

Damn, I finally felt relieved.

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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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