The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 173

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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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173

【Shining Star… When is the gala concert?】
【The Dun takes a two-week break】

The final broadcast aired, and the program wrapped up more smoothly than expected. While Kim Hee-young’s skillful handling played a crucial role, the fact that the Idol—despite experiencing her parents’ accident—showed no signs of distress and steadily continued her activities for over a year, ultimately winning first place in the competition, struck a deeply emotional chord with the general public.
Sympathetic sentiment poured out like a broken dam in an instant.

[Congratulationsㅠㅠ I also cried while watching the last speechㅠㅠ]
[Truly a remarkable young person. I’m rooting for you.]
[I heard that he was with you when you lost your parents… The young friend had a really hard time. I will support youㅠㅠ]
[Is this being pushed now to get sympathy votes? The agency sure knows how to work it]
Can you squeeze out a tragedy narrative? lol

Of course, as attention intensified, negative comments flooded in as well.
The increasingly sensitive Noeul fans ground their teeth with frustration each time a new article surfaced.

[Please stop running articles about this!!!! Protect Dae Pa-sung’s privacy for god’s sake.. seriously it’s infuriating]
[I get so tired every time this comes up.. my friends know I like Ho-yoon so they keep contacting me about it, but I don’t even want to answer anymore. I wish they’d just stop pretending to care]
[For real, people who didn’t give a damn suddenly act like they know everything and comment about how pitiful it is—I want to wring their necks. What the hell do they even know?]

But as the person directly involved, I simply crunched on the apple Sung Ji-won had peeled for me and accepted the malicious comments with equanimity.
After all, it was something I had orchestrated.
And besides, there was an unexpected benefit that made it all worthwhile.

[Wait, when did our view count go up like this?]
[Yo;; Seo Ho-yoon’s direct cam views are legendary right now]
[??? What’s with the Stardust stage;]

As my family circumstances became public knowledge, the view counts for The Dun-related videos on YouTube skyrocketed exponentially.
Multiple tracks climbed the music chart rankings in real-time, and my remarks from the final broadcast were clipped and circulated across SNS and various online communities.

Seizing opportunities is important, but if I push this narrative too far, it’ll only paint me in a negative light.
I’m used to criticism, but I couldn’t afford to drag The Dun down with me.
Since it was vacation anyway, I chose to keep a low profile rather than expose myself to the public eye.
The plans I’d made to spend the break with Seo Ho-jin had already fallen through.

“Jung Da-jun.”

The day I met Seo Ho-jin, I’d collected every single petal from the bouquet he’d thrown at me and brought them back to the dormitory.
The moment I stepped into the living room and spotted Jung Da-jun, I was about to say something, but—

“Y-yes?!”

What could I possibly say to this kid, fourteen years younger than me, stammering and staring at me like a confused puppy?

“…Never mind, forget it.”

Seeing his face, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.
Petty as I am, I deliberately radiated a hostile atmosphere and let out a string of sighs before retreating to my room.
Better to catch up on the sleep I’d been missing.

“Sigh…”

But sleep wouldn’t come.
It seemed like it had been that way for a while now.
Kang Yi-chae, my roommate at the dormitory, hadn’t shown his face in the room lately, and according to the members, he’d practically moved into the company workshop.
Thanks to that, I could hide my condition, though I wasn’t sure if that was something to be grateful for.
I knew I couldn’t leave things as they were, but I kept using Seo Ho-jin as an excuse to put it off, repeatedly picking up my phone and putting it back down.

‘This is ridiculous.’

I don’t want to see his face, yet he wants me to contact him—what’s that about?
I wish the company had piled on work to clear my head, but they’d postponed everything—the concert, the reality show, everything—so there was nothing to do.
My phone rang constantly, but it was all pointless messages.
Kang Yeon-hu, Jung Won-ha, and others.
Why were they texting me when I barely knew them?
The one number I was actually waiting for—Seo Ho-jin’s—remained silent.
In the end, I spent my days glued to my phone, rolling around in bed, and staying awake through the night with my eyes wide open.

‘What am I supposed to do about this?’

After a few days of such routine, just as I was about to drift off to sleep,

Bzzzzzz.

A vibration sound reached my ears. I jolted up and answered the phone.

“Hello?”
[Hey, get out here.]

It wasn’t the voice I’d been hoping for.
My excitement deflated instantly, and I flopped back down, wiping the cold sweat from my forehead with a sigh.

“Who is this?”
[You want to die? Come on out. You promised to buy us drinks.]

It was Lim Hyun-sung. From the cackling laughter in the background, it was clear he’d already had a few drinks.
I didn’t feel like going, but a promise was a promise. I threw on some clothes half-heartedly and headed to the location he’d texted me.
As I pulled out my earbuds and stepped into the store, I recognized the familiar backs of heads.
Joo Woo-sung, Kim Hee-young, and Lim Hyun-sung.

“Woooow!!!”

Right. The group that loved to mess with me.

“Kyaa!! Seo Ho-yoon is here!”

And they were already thoroughly drunk.
The silver lining was that the other tables were completely empty—they must have rented out the entire place.

‘What time is it even….’

I let out a small sigh and sat down next to Joo Woo-sung.

“When is this gathering going to end?”
“It’s already a regular thing. Remember when you were filming that drama and we even sent you a coffee truck? We’re thinking of making it an official club now.”
“How much are we putting in?”
“Fifty thousand won each.”
“Fifty thousand? That’s nothing for our dignity. It should be at least a hundred thousand.”
“Sure thing~!!”

For a famous idol, composer, and PD, the bill was surprisingly modest.

“Want to drink?”
“No, thanks.”

I was aware my condition wasn’t great. If I drank in this setting, with this particular group, there was no telling what might happen, so I declined.

“Alright, we’ll drink then. The expensive stuff.”

Yet the table was filled with nothing but several bottles of beer and soju.
I took a beer bottle from Kim Hee-young, who was looking around for a bottle opener, and popped the cap off with a spoon.

“Damn, that’s so cool?”

I left Joo Woo-sung muttering beside me, his ears flushed crimson, and poured Kim Hee-young’s drink with the perfect golden ratio of foam and beer, letting out a quiet laugh.

“Thank you for your hard work wrapping up the program, PD Kim.”

This is my social life.
Flattering even ex-girlfriends when necessary.

“Wow~~! Thank you so much. Seo Ho-yoon, you worked so hard too!!”

‘She’s drunk….’

“Seo Ho-yoon! Getting first place on The Dun is seriously amazing!!”
“These guys are the best!! Damn it!! That last Stardust song came out perfectly too. Kang Yi-chae, you bastard!”
“Hey, he won’t even need to go to California!”
“So damn cool!”

‘She’s drunk….’

Lim Hyun-sung chimed in at Kim Hee-young’s words, chattering excitedly. Then, with bleary eyes, she looked at me and pouted her lips.

“Hey, hey, can’t you pass a message to Kang Yi-chae? I want to see our student too, you know??”
“No.”

I immediately shut down any potential scandal.
Since I hadn’t seen Kang Yi-chae in so long—whether he was avoiding me or I was avoiding him—it would have been difficult to pass along the message anyway.
I popped some peanuts into my mouth, the default appetizer that had been set out, and asked Joo Woo-sung a question.

“How long have they been like this?”
“About three hours ago….”

Joo Woo-sung looked the most composed of all of them.
I was genuinely surprised. From what I knew, Kim Hee-young was a notorious drinker.
Suddenly, Kim Hee-young and Lim Hyun-sung, who had been deep in conversation with each other, abruptly shifted topics and began lavishing praise on me and Joo Woo-sung.

“Hah, even before we performed, our Joo Woo-sung wouldn’t stop talking about how The Dun had the best skills for first place. And he was so restless every time!”
“He drilled it into the mentors’ ears so much that eventually everyone had something to say about it. Han Chae-ri and Chae Jung-woo too!”
“Wow, to earn this much recognition from Black Call’s Joo Woo-sung—that’s what it takes to win first place!”
“Ahahaha.”

That wasn’t quite right—I’d used whatever I could without hesitation to secure first place.
I dampened my parched throat with water instead of beer and laughed awkwardly.
The two troublemakers, drunk as they were, seemed satisfied after saying everything they wanted to say, and they slowly rose from their seats.

“Hee-young, let’s go do karaoke!”
“Sounds good, Hyun-sung!”
“Kyaaah~ Let’s go, Hee-young!”

Oblivious to my icy stare, the two of them hummed a song excitedly as they headed out of the store.

“This guy ignores all my calls, but the moment Chung Beom calls, he comes running….”

Joo Woo-sung, who had been quietly drinking the whole time, muttered under his breath.

“Are you drunk too?”
“Look at the air in here. Alcohol is just floating around everywhere. How could anyone not get drunk?”
“Is that so?”
“I want some kimchi fried rice….”

I thought he was still sober, but watching him ramble like that suggested otherwise.

“So, Joo Woo-sung praised me that much?”
“Pfft.”

Joo Woo-sung, who had been drinking beer straight from the bottle, choked at my words. The sight was amusing enough that I let out a snicker, and Joo Woo-sung glared at me while wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Seriously, once you sink your teeth in, you don’t let go, do you?”
“Of course.”
“Not praising you—praising your group.”

Joo Woo-sung, resigned to the fact that I’d press him anyway, spoke candidly.

“I went to see Han Chae-ri perform with me too. After watching, I got it. Your group is first place in terms of skill.”
“Oh wow, thanks.”
“But honestly, I thought you’d come in second.”

Honestly, if it weren’t for the penalty, I would’ve been satisfied with second place myself.

“Honestly, we were falling behind in both capital and fandom.”
“Right.”

But I’d done too many things, and they couldn’t be undone. I hated spending time regretting the past. Rather than that, I’d do what I could now.
In the end, I’d even sold out my family. At this point, there was nothing I couldn’t do.
I’d do even more going forward.

‘Nothing surprising about it.’

I could easily predict what would come next.
Something about how hard I’d worked, regret at hearing such news, that sort of thing.

“I thought you wouldn’t win the championship.”

So what should I say in response? That it’s nothing, no need to worry, if I mention it that way….

“—Not until you spread your family troubles yourself.”

…would work, I thought.

“What did you say?”

Just now, what did Joo Woo-sung… say?

‘How on earth… Kim Jae-yeon? No, that’s not it.’

I had no idea such words could come from the clumsy Joo Woo-sung’s mouth, so I couldn’t even muster an excuse. He simply sipped his drink with an unbothered expression.

“It’s you, isn’t it?”
“Where did you hear something like that?”
“…Ah.”

Joo Woo-sung’s lips curled up slightly as he opened a fresh bottle of soju and poured it generously into a beer glass.

“No, I didn’t hear anything. Actually, everyone probably doesn’t know, right?”
“….”
“But here’s the thing—there’s such a thing as intuition.”

Joo Woo-sung downed the glass in one go and popped a piece of squid into his mouth.

“See, I’ve been in the entertainment industry for years, and I’ve learned something. Once a rumor starts spreading, it spreads so fast you can’t contain it. But usually, no matter how much garbage someone acts like, it’s surprisingly rare for it to surface in front of the public. It stays beneath the surface.”

I agreed with that assessment.
Working as a PD, I’d witnessed countless irredeemable trash of people, yet I’d often seen them maintain a spotless, pure, and innocent image in front of the public.

“That’s why I could date so much and still manage my image and stay here. That’s when I realized it.”
“….”
“Scandals that erupt without reason are surprisingly rare.”

Dating, assault, abuse of power, drugs—anything.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, as they say.
But most of the time, scandals are either triggered based on some pretext for personal gain or exposed maliciously as entertainment or as a target of hatred by a third party.

“Your family situation is the same. If it was going to spread, rumors would’ve been circulating long ago. But the timing of when it broke was too perfect, don’t you think?”

Since when had Joo Woo-sung been analyzing me like this?
After he blackmailed me?
When Kim Sung-hyun got edited unfavorably in Shining Star Season 1?
When Today suddenly collapsed and fell apart?
Or perhaps—.

‘…There are too many possibilities.’

Joo Woo-sung spoke with an apologetic expression, yet his eyes gleamed with an unmistakable certainty.
No one else seemed to have noticed until now, but Joo Woo-sung was the first to discover it.
I rubbed my eyes as I looked at his face, which sparkled unnecessarily even while intoxicated.

‘Joo Woo-sung is impressive.’

“What? What are you trying to say?”

I hadn’t explicitly agreed, but my reaction was essentially an admission.

“So it really was you who did it.”
“Did I guess without being sure?”
“Why did you do it?”
“To take first place.”

Joo Woo-sung fell silent for a moment, studying me.

“…Don’t you regret doing something like that?”
“Not really.”

If I were going to regret it, I wouldn’t have started in the first place.
I poured a mixture of beer and soju into Joo Woo-sung’s glass and laughed.

“Even if I could go back, I’d do the same thing.”

No matter how many times I returned, the result would be identical.
Upon hearing that, Joo Woo-sung hesitated slightly before taking a deep breath.

“You crazy bastard….”

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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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