The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 281

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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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281

WH Entertainment found itself in a delicate predicament—a small thorn embedded beneath the skin, neither causing excruciating pain nor unbearable itching, yet persistently irritating.
The Dun, the idol group newly acquired under Dae Pa-sung, was precisely that thorn.
The WH Planning Team had issued several official notices, but they seemed entirely unwilling to comply.
Unauthorized live streams continued to flourish, and the only silver lining was that fan reactions remained favorable.

[Lately everyone seems to be doing lives. Since The Dun started doing them, the other WH artists are acting like their leashes have been cut loose]
[The Dun is true entertainment variety..]

That wasn’t all.
They brazenly unleashed a torrent of self-produced content, even excavating material they’d previously kept locked away in storage.

“Hmm.”

Jung Sun-ui, the Management Team Lead at WH Entertainment, surveyed the responses before pressing his throbbing temples with his fingertips.

[A bullfrogs that infiltrated WH..]
[Right.. our artists came up from nothing, so they naturally have tons of this kind of content..]

The greatest problem stemming from The Dun’s behavior was the ripple effect that followed in its wake.
Already, Joo Woo-sung had begun initiating live streams without the agency’s permission.
Once a system crumbled, restoring it proved extraordinarily difficult. Going forward, whenever WH Entertainment openly controlled idols’ live streams, The Dun’s name would inevitably surface.

It would be fortunate if everyone caused no problems whatsoever….
The mark of excellence lay not in managing crises after they erupted, but in preventing them before they occurred.
Restrictions existed for good reason.

[It’s crazy. I never thought I would watch Joo Woo-sung and Lee Beom-hyun’s 1-on-1 live. Fuck, Joo Woo-sung is finally taking care of a Black Call member other than Chae Jeong-woo.

└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ But it’s so awkward ㅅㅂㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Is this awkward thing about this annual leave car real?
The Blois are actually liking it, saying it’s fresh and cute.

[It’s so cute how Black Call and The Dun kept finding the wrong rooms and were like “Sorry, we came to the wrong place” and left]
[Joo Woo-sung feels so mature these days
Maybe it’s because he’s become more composed… Still, since they’re seniors and juniors, they seem to take good care of each other…]

[For some reason, both The Dun and Joo Woo-sung have been doing a lot of WH live streams lately. Joo Woo-sung especially had been doing fewer lives, but now that he’s freed up, I’m so so so happy

└Looks like he’s excited because his close friend is appearing lol just do a joint V-app lol
But if they actually did a joint one, it would be insane,,]

WH Entertainment provided everything they had promised, and tried to refrain from interfering with operations as much as possible.
However, The Dun turned on live streams daily as if they weren’t bound by WH Entertainment’s basic rules.
Looking purely at future potential and expected revenue generation, they were certainly an attractive group.

‘But from a management perspective, they’re a rough stone.’

When one thing goes awry, everything becomes equally crooked.
That distortion could potentially create new value.
For a startup showing growth, it would be something to welcome. But an established company with a solid foundation would never view such unstable elements favorably.

‘And Seo Ho-yoon is deliberately doing this.’

His face, smiling brightly without a trace of difficulty visible even if you looked with fresh eyes, proved this thought.
For now, fan reactions were good and things could slide by somehow, but the moment even a small incident occurred, The Dun would be the first to be blamed.

‘What on earth should I do….’

Faced with a problem blocked on all sides, Jung Sun-ui clutched his head and let out a deep sigh.

.
.
.

A few days later, as Jung Sun-ui was leaving the office to find Seo Ho-yoon, he ran right into him just outside the door.

“Hello.”

As if he had come looking for me, Seo Ho-yoon held two cups of coffee in his hands.

“Thank you for your hard work today.”
“Ah, yes….”

Jung Sun-ui accepted the glass Seo Ho-yoon offered with obvious reluctance, then asked a question.

“Um, Seo Ho-yoon. Did you receive word from your manager about the livestream restrictions?”
“Ah yes, you mean the lifting of restrictions? I heard it was thanks to you, Planning Team Lead. Thank you very much.”

Watching Seo Ho-yoon offer his thanks with that smooth smile, she felt her stomach turn.

“Actually, I have something to say about that matter. You’ve heard the saying that the protruding nail gets hammered down, haven’t you?”

Seo Ho-yoon remained silent, still wearing that smile. Jung Sun-ui let out another deep sigh before speaking.

“Unless you’re planning to quit being an idol after just a few days, exercise some restraint. …I’m saying this with genuine concern for The Dun.”
“Yes.”

This was the first time I’d encountered this type.
Feeling the headache that had persisted for days intensifying further, Jung Sun-ui had no desire to continue with harsh words and shifted the topic of conversation.

“And regarding the projected revenue for the first quarter….”

I knew The Dun’s popularity was rising by the day, but even I hadn’t anticipated it would be this much.

“It will be officially communicated to Dae Pa-sung’s Management Team and Planning Team as well, but we’re thinking of replacing the self-produced content shoot you’re scheduled to do in the United States next week with a program instead. We’ll coordinate things on our end so it can air sometime this summer or fall.”

This was money.
My instinct, honed over fifteen years of work at WH Entertainment, screamed it.
Even without terrestrial broadcasting, if it aired on television and was promoted on YouTube, it would generate significant buzz.
It was an exceptionally generous treatment by WH Entertainment standards, yet Seo Ho-yoon showed no particular change in expression.

“Thank you so much.”
“….”

This is seriously infuriating.
Jung Sun-ui pressed her throbbing forehead with her palm repeatedly as she turned back toward the office, dreading further entanglement with The Dun.

***

‘Jung Sun-ui is surprisingly kind.’

Thanks to Planning Team Lead Jung Sun-ui, it seemed we’d managed to get through the live broadcast without any major friction.
I made my way to the Practice Room. When I contacted Joo Woo-sung just now, he simply said he was in the middle of practice and told me to find my way there before hanging up.
When I went to the place he usually frequented, I found him sprawled out on the floor, drenched in sweat.

“An unexpected visitor.”

Joo Woo-sung’s voice was heavy with exertion.

“Look who’s made it big. Moving from that dump of a building to our company.”
“And who was the one clocking in at that dump of a building every single day?”
“I’m not sure. I heard it was someone handsome and sharp, maybe.”

I clicked my tongue at his nonsense and sat down on the sofa.
I’d run into him fairly often around the company, but we’d only exchange greetings in passing.
From the text review he’d sent, it seemed he’d come to the concert too, but we’d never actually crossed paths, so having a face-to-face conversation felt like it had been quite a while.

“Your group’s really on fire, but is it because you have so much content? People have been saying a lot of good things about you.”
“Since when do you care about what people are saying?”
“Even if I don’t care, how can I help but hear it?”

Joo Woo-sung sat up and wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve, then awkwardly mimicked my tone to mock me.
I threw him a drink I’d bought earlier as a way of telling him to shut up.
Annoyingly, he managed to catch the bottle perfectly with his left hand while pulling out his phone with his right.

“Being on fire means being popular.”
“…Check your mental state.”

I raised my eyebrow once and flicked my hand, bringing up my stats in the corner of my vision.

[Seo Ho-yoon
The irritatingly sharp lead vocalist of The Dun.

Singing: A+
Dancing: A-
Entertainment: S-
Acting: A-
Charm: S-
???: ???]

Looking at the stats alone, it seemed like I wouldn’t fall short anywhere anymore.

“How’s our company? Is there anything uncomfortable?”

I shifted my gaze toward Joo Woo-sung.
Then his stats automatically came to mind.

[Joo Woo-sung
Our pushover, no, such an incredibly kind Woo-sung….
Where else could you find such a good friend?

Singing: A+
Dancing: EX0
Entertainment: A+
Acting: C
Charm: EX-
???: ???]

‘Damn it.’

Even accounting for his charm rising proportionally with his popularity, those stats were absurdly broken.

‘How is this even possible?’

I stared intently at his stats, my expression hardening, when Joo Woo-sung flinched and took a step back.

“…Why? What? Why? Why’s your expression like that again?”
“….”
“What are you scheming now? Are our employees giving you a hard time?”

No, you’re the problem.
But considering how much I’d benefited from him already, and that I couldn’t exactly tell someone so gullible that he was the issue, I simply let out a long sigh and ran my hand through my hair.

“No, that’s not it.”

And then.

“We’re heading to California next week for the IRIX stage and to give the kids some training….”

Since we were going to California anyway, there was no real need to mention it.
The moment Joo Woo-sung returned from California as an EX-rank was still an unforgettable shock to me.

“I heard that Joo Woo-sung got information from company people through the grapevine before going….”
“Seo Ho-yoon, you talk too much.”
“Want to come along?”

Then his answer was obvious.
Are you crazy? Have you lost it? What are you saying?
I waited calmly for his response.
However,

“Yeah.”

Joo Woo-sung accepted my proposal without a moment’s hesitation.

“…’Yeah’?”
“I’m going, you bastard.”

That wasn’t the answer I wanted.
I’d planned to press him if he refused, to dig out who he’d been training with.

“…What about your schedule?”
“My solo activities are done, and it’s the off-season right now, so I’m completely free. The members went back to their hometowns.”

I tried for a moment to understand his reasoning.
But I couldn’t accept it at all.

“Why are you really doing this to me?”

Joo Woo-sung’s eyebrows tilted crookedly.

“You? You? Where the hell did you sell your manners to your senior, you punk?”
“Just answer me.”
“Stop spitting out casual speech like that.”
“Squeak squeak.”
“Are you a mouse? A mouse?”

Joo Woo-sung’s face flushed crimson as his anger reached a boiling point, and he shot up from his seat. When I covered my ears to block out his incessant chirping, his furious voice only grew louder.

“Damn it, you’re making a fuss even though I’m helping you willingly!!”
“That’s exactly why I’m asking why you’re helping me so willingly!”
“Hey, I can hear your brain rattling around in there.”

He exhaled roughly, as if utterly exasperated, his breathing heavy.

“You made me curious. Why you’re so obsessed with idol activities—you made me curious about it.”

Joo Woo-sung looked directly at me while holding a half-empty beverage bottle.

“So I have to take responsibility for it.”

With that, he snatched up his bag and let out a sharp sound.

“Don’t take the same flight as me, you bastard.”

And with that, he left the Practice Room.
Left alone, I stared blankly at the closed door.

“That guy’s really impossible to figure out, isn’t he?”

Adolescence? What is this?
At twenty-seven, isn’t that too late to call it adolescence?

‘Whatever, it’s fine.’

What’s good is good.
Since Joo Woo-sung was helping me of his own volition, I didn’t want to waste any more energy on it.
I loosely rewrapped the bandage I’d removed around my foot and stood up to head back to the Dormitory.

“Now I’m finally taking care of my own kids too.”

It’s a trip to California.

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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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