The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 209

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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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209

The man chuckled and flopped onto the sofa across from me.

“Ugh, but you made me wait so long. I’ve been dying here for a whole week. I thought you’d never show up.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“The hotel staff kept glaring at me. I barely managed to stop them from kicking me out.”

Sung Ji-won let out an exasperated sigh. Now that I thought about it, the receptionist had been glancing over ever since this man sat down in front of me.
What was peculiar wasn’t so much suspicion in their gaze—it was something glistening in their eyes.

“Oh, by the way, we’re half-brothers who separated when we were young. It’s a perfect cover to avoid annoying questions and get some sympathy.”
“…”

The sudden intruder spoke as if it were nothing. A hollow laugh escaped me.
Though the hat obscured much of his face, he appeared older than I was.

‘Still, he seems too young to be someone from the company.’

Whether he was a con artist or someone from D.go, I didn’t know—and I didn’t care to find out.
Everything felt tedious, and frankly, whatever he was, it had nothing to do with me.

“My name isn’t Chul-soo.”
“No? Then it’s Young-hee?”

The man crossed his legs and stared at me intently from beneath his hat brim. Then, with practiced ease, he slipped his hand into his inner pocket and rummaged around for a moment before clicking his tongue and stopping.

“Tsk, I don’t really feel like dragging this out either. Hand over your card key.”
“…”
“Wait, does that sound like a threat? Hmm, I actually need that. Would you cooperate with your brother here?”

The card key? Why? How did he even know about it?
Sung Ji-won gripped the card key in my hand tightly.

“What are you trying to do?”
“Well, well—dropping the formal speech?”
“…What will you do with it once you take it?”

The moment I switched back to formal language, the man’s lips curled slightly upward. He propped his chin on his hand and sprawled across the sofa with exaggerated ease.

“Hmm, so you’re curious about that?”

He was smiling, yet his eyes were glacial, and his tone dripped with mockery—as though he pitied me.
As though I were beneath contempt.

“You’ve got perfectly good limbs, so why walk down a filthy path? You’re the type I understand least in this world. Why go out of your way~?”

His voice was light, but the words themselves were anything but. He clearly knew what he was doing here.
Each syllable he spoke became a spear, piercing straight into Sung Ji-won.

‘This guy really knows how to push buttons.’

“Hand over the key card and go home. Wash your feet and get some sleep.”

I wanted this man in front of me to disappear.
I needed to get upstairs before it was too late and photograph the evidence.
And what made him think I’d simply hand it over without question?
Yet the man brazenly extended his palm.

“Why would I trust someone who shows up unannounced and picks a fight?”
“…Kid.”

The man chuckled softly, then smoothed his eyebrow with a long finger.

“You’ve got quite the mouth on you, don’t you?”
“Seems I take after a half-brother I’m meeting for the first time today.”

Despite my cutting remark, the man only laughed louder.
In fact, he seemed genuinely intrigued.

“You’re pretty sharp. You don’t hold back.”
“Get to the point.”
“That’s exactly it—I’ve got some business with the person you’re supposed to meet today. Some bastard caused trouble, and I’m busy cleaning up the mess.”

Listening to the man’s refined vocabulary, Sung Ji-won kept his eyes fixed downward, merely flickering the card key he held in his hand.
The man then lowered his upper body, attempting to meet his gaze. Yet all that remained visible beneath the brim of the cap was the area around the man’s chest.

“I know why you’re here. You want to debut, don’t you?”
“….”
“Do you really think you can debut just by going in like this? No, let’s say you do debut. What then? This will control you for the rest of your life—are you okay with that? And do you have the confidence to hold your head high in front of your fans?”

The tone that had been mocking moments ago was now gently coaxing him.
Sung Ji-won had little desire to argue back.

‘I already know all this.’

His purpose in going up wasn’t about debuting.
He simply had few options to choose from, and among them, he’d selected a method that could tarnish D.go even slightly. It was about gathering as much evidence as possible and exposing it.
Just then, a default notification sound rang from the man’s pocket. He pulled out his phone, checked the caller’s name, and cut the call without hesitation.

“Damn it.”

However, every time the man tried to speak again, the phone rang consecutively. Eventually, he cursed under his breath and powered off his phone.

“So, about that card key—.”

Sung Ji-won, who had been quietly observing, removed his cap in frustration.
As he swept back his disheveled hair, his gaze met the man’s directly—the same man who was shoving his phone into his pocket.

“….”
“…Ah.”

The man stopped speaking and drew in a slight breath.
As the silence stretched and Sung Ji-won tilted his head in confusion,

“What are you lacking that you’re doing this?”
“…Pardon?”

The man spoke again.

“…Hey, how old are you anyway? You look younger.”
“Suddenly?”
“Just tell me.”
“…Twenty-one.”
“Twenty-one? Ah, well, if you debut….”

The Unknown Man’s eyes swept up and down Sung Ji-won’s frame.

“Same age as that guy….”

What’s that about?
Sung Ji-won studied the man through narrowed eyes.
He stroked his chin with one hand, lost in thought for a moment, then spoke with a noticeably gentler tone.

“I’m gonna ask you something. Did you come here against your will?”
“Why?”
“Answer me.”
“…Even if I said yes, would you believe me? It doesn’t change anything anyway.”

The man burst out laughing.

“Why wouldn’t it change anything?”
“What?”

Then he fixed Sung Ji-won with a direct stare.

“Give me the keycard, and I’ll flip everything around for you.”
“What do you mean—”
“The way you’re clutching it tells me you’re planning something on your own, but it’s pointless. Don’t waste your energy. Leave it to me.”
“….”
“I’m damn good at causing chaos. My team says I’ve practically got a doctorate in being a troublemaker.”

It was absurd, but the man spoke with absolute seriousness and brimming confidence.
Because of that, it actually seemed like he could pull it off.

“So hand that over to me now and forget about it. I’ll handle everything from here on out.”
“….”
“Got it?”

With my gaze lowered, I could only see my own feet, unable to find any solid ground.
This was clearly someone I’d never met before—I didn’t know their name, occupation, or even age.
There wasn’t a single reason to trust them, yet I found myself wanting to believe them anyway. It felt like being enchanted by a devil’s whisper.

“You don’t need to worry about anything.”

As if the man had sensed my hesitation, his hand tapped the card in Sung Ji-won’s hand a few times before slowly withdrawing it.

“Well done.”

He whispered in a low voice, gave Sung Ji-won’s back a light pat, and then stood up and disappeared.
Sung Ji-won sat in a daze for a long time after the man left.

‘…Why did I let him take it?’

I couldn’t understand it myself.
Everything had unfolded so naturally.
As if it had been planned all along.

As I sighed and splashed water on my face, I suddenly realized something. If that man used the keycard in any way, all the consequences would fall directly on me. Because I was the one who’d received the keycard.
I couldn’t just walk away from this.

‘Get it together.’

I didn’t want to ruin everything over something unrelated before I could expose D.go.
I needed to either find that man and get the keycard back, or at least figure out what he was planning to do.
About thirty minutes had passed as I wandered through the Lounge.
Just as I was debating whether to head upstairs, it suddenly occurred to me that there might be other exits.
I approached the Reception Desk employee who’d been glancing at me and the man earlier, and asked the same story about a half-brother, inquiring if there were any other doors.
Sure enough, there was a back door leading to the Parking Lot connected to the Emergency Stairs.
As I stepped outside, raindrops began falling one by one from the pitch-black night sky.
With the fear that I might have already missed him, my pace quickened, and the thick smell of cigarette smoke reached my nose first.

“Don’t ask me to do this kind of thing again, damn it.”

It was the voice I’d heard before.

“I don’t even know what kind of person I am anymore. Did I get hired to clean up after other people? —Ah, what does it matter anyway? That bastard with nothing but money probably thinks he’s something special. They’re all the same when you dig deep enough.”

In a secluded smoking room outside the hotel, the man’s refined vocabulary shone once more.
He’d shown restraint earlier, but it was only now that Sung Ji-won discovered just how many varieties of profanity existed in this world.

“—Anyway, I’ve handled things here, so don’t worry about it. Just make sure you keep your promise. Give the kids some time off too.”

After that, the man naturally pulled his phone away from his ear and scratched inside it with his finger several times. Even from a distance, I could sense the person on the other end of the line shouting through the receiver.

“Yep, hanging up~.”

The man cut off the endless stream of words from the other side with surgical precision and ended the call.
Then he shoved his phone into his back pocket and took a deep drag from the cigarette he had between his lips.

“If you’re so upset, do it yourself, you irritating—”

Just as the man exhaled white smoke and tapped ash away, his eyes locked directly with Sung Ji-won, who’d been standing awkwardly beside the back door.

“Chul-soo?”
“….”

Clearly, there was so much I wanted to discuss with the man, so much to confirm,

“…I’ll just play the female role instead.”

Yet the first words that tumbled from my lips were these.
The man, who’d been chuckling at my response, asked casually.

“Did you come to find out how I caused a scene?”
“…How did you cause one?”
“More than you can imagine.”

In other words, he wasn’t going to tell me.

“Don’t worry. I handled it so it wouldn’t cause you any trouble.”

The man, with a cigarette between his teeth, spoke with slightly slurred pronunciation.

“I guess I’m getting older—I know I’m being nosy, but my mouth keeps itching to talk. Don’t do things like this. You’ll only regret it.”

The man pulled out a key card right in front of Sung Ji-won and crushed it with nothing but the force of his grip. Then he tossed it into an ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts and even burned it with the cigarette he had in his mouth.

“Filth, once it sticks to you, follows you until the day you die.”

It was a kind of warning—telling me not to even think about going back in there.
Then he rummaged through his pocket and added one more thing.

“…There are people like me who misunderstand things on a whim.”

It seemed he was speaking because of the sarcasm he’d directed at himself.
Watching the embarrassed man, Sung Ji-won felt oddly delighted.

“Is that an apology?”
“Why would you say it out loud like that? You’ve got quite the nerve, considering how you look.”

I laughed a little at that.
He pulled out another cigarette and held it in his mouth without lighting it, and at my laughter, he opened his eyes slightly, as if caught off guard.

“…So what do I do now?”
“Figure it out yourself, kid. I’m not about to live your life for you.”

The man spat out the cigarette he’d been chewing without even lighting it.

“You’re with D.go, right? So you’re a trainee there?”
“Yes.”
“How many years have you been training?”
“Seven years.”
“Seven years… seven years?! Not seven months?”

His eyes, clouded with bewilderment, fixed on Sung Ji-won.

“Hey, why are you wasting that face?”
“….”
“Did the agency go blind? Are you a terrible singer? Or can’t you dance?”

I used to be center before I got pushed back, and I ranked first in this month’s evaluation too.
It seems there are things that can’t be overcome with just looks, skill, and effort.
Swallowing the words that had risen to my throat, I simply shrugged my shoulders.
In truth, I knew all too well that my luck was terribly poor.

“What’s your name?”
“…Sung Ji-won. That’s me.”

Sung Ji-won. The man repeated the name silently to himself several times, his expression growing complicated.

“Long-term trainee with decent visuals. Stick around this industry a bit longer.”
“…Why would you care?”
“Playing hard to get, are you? Your eyes still reek of lingering attachments.”

The man unfastened the shirt he’d tied around his waist and smiled faintly.
Now that I thought about it, that was the shirt he’d been wearing earlier.

“I have a feeling a good opportunity will come your way soon.”

The man muttered something cryptic and draped the shirt back over his body.
I was about to ask if he worked for the Broadcasting Station when I froze.
As he moved, a peculiar, faint scar cutting horizontally across his left black short-sleeved arm like a serpent became visible.
Though he couldn’t possibly miss where my gaze had drifted, he silently unfurled his umbrella.

“Do you have an umbrella?”
“Yes, I do.”

Even though I’d said it was fine, the three-fold umbrella my Elderly Woman always packed for me was nestled carefully in my bag.

“Just as neat as you look. I just bought mine.”

The man waved his hand languidly, then stepped forward under his umbrella. Wondering if this was really the end, I called out loudly after his receding figure.

“What did you mean by that earlier? How would you see me again?!”
“Tch, kid. Getting obsessed with your brother already?”
“….”

The moment I regretted asking, the man turned around and chuckled softly.

“Don’t worry. You’ll understand the moment you see it.”

He raised one corner of his mouth in a smirk.

“See you again.”

He left the hotel without hesitation.
Sung Ji-won remained in place until the sound of the man’s footsteps faded beneath the thickening downpour.

“…When you smile, you look like someone else entirely.”

In the end, I heard nothing and asked nothing.
Even if everything that man said was a lie and I faced consequences tomorrow, my mood right now wasn’t terrible at all.
As I began to contemplate what to do next, following his suggestion, a hushed murmur drifted to my ears.

“Hey, did you see that difficult customer on the 41st Floor earlier?”

They appeared to be Hotel Staff taking a smoke break.

“It was insane. Some trespasser suddenly barged in, and he started screaming his lungs out, throwing everything in sight—things that existed and things that didn’t….”
“The other guy was equally unhinged. Ashtrays and whatever else were flying at him, but he didn’t even blink—just kept smiling. And when the difficult customer said something, he couldn’t even squeak in response.”

Sung Ji-won immediately recognized who they were talking about.

“But doesn’t something seem off? This is the VIP floor—you can’t even get down here without the designated keycard. Where did this trespasser come from?”
“Who cares. The difficult customer ran off, and honestly, it felt amazing. I wish that guy would show up every time we get a difficult customer….”
“….”
“….”
“….”

The Hotel Staff, belatedly noticing Sung Ji-won in the Smoking Room, clamped their mouths shut and hurried back into the hotel.

‘A master of chaos, they say.’

A half-brother, a trespasser, a chaos master.
Recalling the confident face of that man, I let out a soft laugh.
Then I pulled an umbrella from my bag, opened it, and headed toward the Agency.
The Company Lobby was quiet at this late hour.
After seven years as a trainee, I’d learned how to slip past the entrance without swiping the card and how to disable the CCTV. Long-term trainees passed around methods to avoid getting caught while smoking or eating late-night snacks.

I entered, turned off the CCTV, and headed straight to the CEO’s Office. The CEO’s putting mat and golf clubs—his current obsession—always occupied a corner there.
I selected the heaviest one and made my way down to the Practice Room.
There was the mirror I’d faced every single day for seven years.

“Hmm.”

My reflection in the mirror felt like a stranger’s face.
Had I always looked like this?
Sung Ji-won lifted one hand to caress his cheek, then slowly stepped backward.
And then,

Crash!!

He brought the golf club down against the mirror.
The crunch of glass shards beneath his feet accompanied him as he moved to the next mirror.

Crash, crash!!

Fragments scattered in all directions with each thunderous blow.
It didn’t take long to shatter every mirror.
He hurled the golf club to the floor and surveyed his surroundings.
Unlike before, the practice room felt cramped and suffocating.
In that moment, I realized none of this mattered.

‘Let me go home.’

Sung Ji-won suddenly missed his Elderly Woman.
As he slipped out through the lobby, someone shouted from behind.

“Hey, you crazy bastard!”

I turned to see the trainee who’d always picked fights with me.
He must have been at the company and come running at the sound of the commotion.

“Are you insane? Sung Ji-won, you smashed the practice room mirrors?! I’m telling everyone!”
“Hmm….”

If he demanded compensation, I could pay it without issue.
Sung Ji-won tilted his head deliberately.

“Hyung-jo, what are you talking about?”

Then I smiled brightly.

“Do you have proof?”

I left the company, abandoning the man whose mouth hung open in shock.
My sluggish pace quickened as I drew closer to home.
The moment I stepped through the entrance door, I rushed straight to the Elderly Woman.

“…Grandmother.”
“Has my puppy come home?”
“Yes, I have.”

As I felt the warmth and the Elderly Woman’s comforting scent, tears welled up in my eyes.
Even as I buried my nose in her shoulder and sobbed, she simply held me tighter, asking nothing.

Only then did my desperate urge to abandon everything settle.
Sung Ji-won knew himself well.
He would not easily give up the dream of becoming an Idol that he had cherished for so long.

“Grandmother, your puppy has come home.”

Even in this moment, I desperately longed to sing on stage.

The next day, nothing happened to Sung Ji-won as the man had said.
That very day, he left D.go.

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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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