The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 267

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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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267

“Sigh….”

Korean Wave star Min Ji-heon had thought this day would be enjoyable, at least until morning. But reality always shattered expectations and flowed in unexpected directions.
After a long time, I finally had time to meet my younger brother, yet he’d been staring at his phone the entire time, fuming with frustration.

“Chae-yeon, what’s wrong~.”
“I’m seriously so annoyed.”

My younger brother gulped down the drink and slammed the glass hard onto the table.
I caught a glimpse of the phone screen and saw some kind of post.

[Title: Doesn’t Seo Ho-yoon seem like he’s in a bad mood lately??

Seo_Ho-yoon_expression.jpg

Why does his expression look so rotten lol Ever since the Korean Wave Con, he’s been like this the whole time

└ Right.. lolol Fans said Seo Ho-yoon would never get that dead-eyed look, but it started in his third year
Look at my face and stop sucking ㅠ
└└ Dude, that’s a stalker photo? Are you supposed to smile for a stalker?
└└ Why are you playing along with the antis? We need to shut down all these creeps who think this photo is fresh and cool
└ Did something happen at the Korean Wave Con??
└└ No..?
└└ Oh, is it about his younger brother? It seems like it started after his younger brother’s photos spread]

“Ugh….”

I frowned slightly at the blunt language in the post and spoke to my younger brother.

“Chae-yeon, why are you reading stuff like this.”
“Well, there’s a reason for everything.”

My younger brother’s eyes remained glued to the phone. Then he scrolled down with his finger and clicked on another post.

[Title: SHY’s personality is just like that lol

Since fans are professional at turning a blind eye and deaf ear, they just suck up to him]

“That’s insane, what are you talking about! Seo Ho-yoon is so kind!”
“He calls people by their names just like that?”

Even he adds ‘ssi’ after names or calls people brother.

“I’m seriously so mad! Is it because there’s been so much talk about entering the first division lately? The jealousy is way too intense.”

Without paying any attention to Min Ji-heon’s question, he just rambled on with his own words.

“Is liking someone always this painful?”
“Hmm….”
“Do I really have to suffer like this?”

Anyone listening would think this was a drama monologue.
Words that didn’t sound like they came from a middle schooler at all.
My younger brother muttered with a dejected expression.

“I just wish that person could be happy, but the world won’t leave him alone. Why are there so many bad people in this world?”
“Aha, love is so earnest. Chae-yeon.”
“….”
“Ah, I get it. Sorry.”

He glared at me as if to kill me with a single joke.
Min Ji-heon awkwardly turned his gaze away, then smiled gently when he saw someone just opening the cafe door and entering.
My younger brother had already moved past sadness into anger.

“Seo Ho-yoon, hey! How kind he is to the members! How affectionate he is to the fans!! And you don’t even know anything, hey!?”

It would be better to stop now.
But since my younger brother had been going on about Seo Ho-yoon ever since we met, I felt a bit spiteful and didn’t bother to stop him.

“Am I like that?”

Soon, a familiar voice reached not just Min Ji-heon, but my younger brother as well. It was slightly lower than usual, with a slightly hoarse edge to it.
My younger brother’s neck turned like an unlubricated robot, creaking and grinding.

“…!!!”

A black cap pulled down firmly and a mask covering his face, yet his pallid complexion and the dark hair with a bluish tint draping his nape seemed to reveal his identity.
Meeting my younger brother’s gaze, he narrowed the corners of his eyes gently.

“Hello.”

It was Seo Ho-yoon.
My younger brother couldn’t speak, his mouth just hanging open slightly.
He offered a light greeting and took a seat across from my brother.

“Oh? Seo Ho-yoon, when did you arrive?”

I had called him here after receiving his message—I thought it would be nice to show my brother the real person, since I’d summoned Seo Ho-yoon on a whim.
I’d already noticed when he entered the cafe, but I asked anyway.

“‘How kind Seo Ho-yoon is…’ from the beginning.”
“Wow~! Aha. You came so quickly….”
“….”

My younger brother’s face flushed crimson as he awkwardly raised his hand, wavering between doing this or that. He’d created quite the embarrassing moment in front of the celebrity he’d just started to like.

“Thank you for worrying about me.”
“Y-yes….”
“It will settle down soon. I’m really fine, so please don’t stress yourself too much.”

Watching Seo Ho-yoon speak to my brother in a gentle, measured tone—so different from how he usually treated me—my eyes narrowed.
The gap between how he cursed at me, dismissed me, and mocked me, versus his kindness toward Noel, was so vast it was almost ridiculous.

‘It will settle down soon?’

What was he plotting behind the scenes again?
My younger brother, unaware of Seo Ho-yoon’s true nature, began listing praises one after another, completely moved.
Handsome, good at singing, now good at dancing too, kind, affectionate, and handsome again—by the time I’d heard all that, Seo Ho-yoon let out a soft chuckle.

“Oh, that’s all possible because my seniors guide me so well. Min Ji-heon senior has been so helpful to me.”
“Huh? Ji-heon oppa?”

Suddenly, I felt like I might choke.

“Of course. You took such good care of me on set. I was a bit flustered when you ad-libbed lines that weren’t in the script, but….”
“Wait. Seo Ho-yoon, hold on.”
“Looking back, I think all of that was your consideration as a senior.”

Min Ji-heon’s attempt to whisk Seo Ho-yoon away to another location and escape was blocked by his younger sibling’s grip.
With his long eyelashes drooping in a pitiful manner, Seo Ho-yoon didn’t stop speaking.

“Of course, you did call me a pitiful person, but surely you had your reasons.”
“….”
“You asked how I could have such a personality, but I understand. Because it was your words, Senior Min Ji-heon.”

‘I made a mistake!’

Only then did Min Ji-heon understand why Seo Ho-yoon had come here so willingly. Even though he’d said he was supposed to see his younger sibling.
His younger sibling’s sharp gaze pierced into Min Ji-heon.
Min Ji-heon quickly tried to salvage the situation.

“Kang Chae-yeon. Isn’t it time for you to head to the academy?”
“…Right. We’ll talk later, Mr. Min.”

After checking the time on her phone, his younger sibling smiled through gritted teeth.

“See you~.”
“Yes, yes…! Brother, fighting!”
“Aha, thank you.”

After neatly obtaining Seo Ho-yoon’s autograph, his younger sibling stood up. As she gathered her things to leave, Min Ji-heon called out to her and unwound the scarf from around his own neck, draping it around hers.
Watching his younger sibling’s retreating figure as she grumbled about it being stuffy but left wearing it anyway, Seo Ho-yoon beside him folded his arms and asked.

“Kang Chae-yeon? Different surname.”
“Blended family.”
“Ah….”

Min Ji-heon looked Seo Ho-yoon up and down.
His appearance seemed to grow more radiant with each passing day, yet his inner self appeared to be transforming into something increasingly hollow, like a brittle candy shell.

“Why did you suddenly want to meet? To tarnish my image in front of my sibling?”
“Killing two birds with one stone.”

Seo Ho-yoon pulled the water in front of Min Ji-heon toward himself and drank.

“Your younger brother seemed worried. Is something going on with you lately?”
“It’s nothing for Min Ji-heon to be concerned about.”

The cafe, which didn’t even have a proper sign hanging outside, operated by reservation among only a select few, so despite its spacious interior, the only customers were Seo Ho-yoon and Min Ji-heon.
Yet Seo Ho-yoon’s demeanor was oddly strange.

‘What is this?’

“So, why did you want to meet?”
“Well.”

Since he had never sought Min Ji-heon out for anything good, he felt slightly on edge.
The last time they’d met, Seo Ho-yoon had been on death’s door.

“Just wanted to see your face?”
“…???”

Watching Seo Ho-yoon answer with a sly grin, Min Ji-heon instinctively leaned his body back.
Whenever that man acted like this, it only ever meant the worst possible things.

“…Why are you like this?”
“What do you mean? I just wanted to see my senior from the same agency.”

A parched sensation crept up his throat.
He took a sip of his Americano before speaking.

“Just curse me out and hit me instead, hyung. That would be better….”

Seo Ho-yoon laughed loudly in a way that was unlike him.

“Yeah, I like how consistent you are. Ji-heon.”

Hearing the response, Min Ji-heon felt chills run down his spine.
Usually when ordinary people were possessed by something malevolent, they displayed behavior completely contrary to their original nature.

“…My own younger brother has lost his original memories.”
“…Ah, that younger brother.”

However, upon hearing the added words, Min Ji-heon found himself unable to continue his train of thought.

“…But, you know that thought you mentioned? The one where if I work hard at my idol activities, you’ll return my younger brother’s memories?”

Min Ji-heon regarded Seo Ho-yoon quietly.
When they first met, his surroundings had been filled with dark clouds that repeatedly gathered and dispersed.

“What do you think? Does that sound like you’re peddling snake oil to you?”

So at the time, while I was wary, on the other hand, my curiosity about his true nature was the extent of my impression of him.
Above all, his personality seemed rather poor.
But as we spent time together, he wasn’t entirely a bad person.
He seemed to have clear cost-benefit calculations, yet was subtly cautious; he tried to take responsibility for everything, and he only wanted to show good things to the people he cared for.

‘And now the clouds have almost completely cleared.’

Whenever we met occasionally, I felt the clouds growing thinner bit by bit.

‘What will happen when they all disappear?’

I couldn’t know for certain, but if Seo Ho-yoon possessed a power capable of dispersing even those black clouds I suspected might be his ‘curse’….

“…wouldn’t it be possible?”

It didn’t seem like a particularly difficult task.
In that moment,

“Really?”

Seo Ho-yoon rose with a bright smile, as if he’d been waiting for that very answer.

“Got it.”
“Huh?”

Seeing Seo Ho-yoon make a gesture to leave, Min Ji-heon found himself instinctively blocking his path.

“What is this, you came just to ask that? That’s it?”
“Yeah, I’m heading out to prepare for the comeback.”
“You don’t have anything else to ask?”

Seo Ho-yoon gazed at Min Ji-heon for a moment, then offered a thin smile.

“…Ji-heon.”

That expression seemed to embody a Seo Ho-yoon whose insides were utterly hollow.
As if he harbored no lingering attachments to anything in this world.

“You’re being a bit clingy, aren’t you?”
“….”

Of course, he’d always been consistently a bastard too.

***

‘Did it get through to him?’

Noel, who had sent Seo Ho-yoon a lengthy letter, had been consumed by work for some time and barely had a moment to breathe.
Yet she hadn’t missed what was happening with Seo Ho-yoon.

‘My Ho-yoon needs to be happy….’

Recently, Dae Pa-sung had been taking the lead in responding harshly to sasaeng fans and malicious comments.
However, the more popular one became, the more inevitable it was that negative attention and scrutiny would intensify.
Hoping that Seo Ho-yoon wouldn’t see such things, Noel logged into SNS for the first time in a while and was startled.

《[Exclusive] Seo Ho-yoon Has Been Secretly Donating for Years…. ‘Hundreds of Millions’》
《Who Is the ‘Angel Idol’ Who Donated All Appearance Fees from Perfect Singer to Children?》

Articles related to Seo Ho-yoon were being shared everywhere.

“Wow… Ho-yoon….”

My boy really is thoughtful.
With so much talk about The Dun lately, it was deeply moving.

《—…Looking at his donation history, one wonders if Seo Ho-yoon was affected by a past traffic accident…—.》

“Damn it, do they really get paid for writing this garbage?”

Of course, certain details reignited the fervor once more.
Yet Seo Ho-yoon made no mention whatsoever of the donation—neither in interviews nor private messages, maintaining an unwavering silence.
This very restraint only deepened the Noeul fans’ admiration.

[Seo Ho-yoon… I will love you for a lifetime

└Wait, you said forever..?
└└Life doesn’t always go as planned..]

I’m so proud to love Seo Ho-yoon.. Really… Ho-yoon is such a good person..

Just as the fans were basking in this heartwarming atmosphere,

[Jung Kyou, you bastard, we’ve been waiting]
[Love love love]
[Oh damn, this guy too, Jung Kyou!!!! Jung Kyou!!!! Jung Kyou is coming!!!!!]

The Dun’s comeback countdown had begun.
The album concept photos had dropped.

“Gasp!!”

Upon seeing Seo Ho-yoon’s photograph, the Noeul fans felt their hearts stop.

[What is this what is this what is this what is this]
[I’m losing it… losing it… losing it… losing it…]

Abandoning the black hair he had steadfastly maintained all this time—,

[Seo Ho-yoon’s first bleach, fainting]

—he now sported an ash-gray hair color with a silvery sheen, the tips dyed in a soft violet hue, his piercing gaze fixed beyond the photograph with an intensity that commanded attention.

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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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