The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 318

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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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318

There’s a rumor that has long circulated through the broadcasting industry: if you see a ghost while preparing for an album release, that album is guaranteed to be a massive hit.
A lingering gaze felt in the corner of an empty practice room, objects that vanish without a trace inside the dormitory, ghosts appearing in the recording studio—these were the sorts of tales that had already been featured countless times in the media.
By now, they were the kind of stories that had lost all credibility.

Jung Sun-ui would scoff whenever he heard such superstitions. He’d always dismissed them as nothing more than a means to capture public attention.
But today, WH Entertainment seemed like a place where anything—even a ghost—wouldn’t be out of place. Through windows cleaned so meticulously that not a speck of dust remained, a sky heavy with gray clouds was visible, and a strangely oppressive, gloomy atmosphere hung over the entire building.
Lee Ji-hyun tilted her head, sensing something unsettling.

“Planning Team Lead, why is it so cold here?”
“I know… Is the air conditioning too strong?”

Jung Sun-ui absently rubbed his arms with his palms as he walked with Lee Ji-hyun toward the conference room.

“Still, I’m grateful we can record right away without any delays. Thanks to this, our next album will come out on schedule.”
“I know…”
“There’s really no group like The Dun!”

Lee Ji-hyun was the type to be pushed around by Seo Ho-yoon frequently, yet she still looked after The Dun diligently.
Jung Sun-ui shook his head and continued walking.

“Anyway, let’s do our best today too—”

As they reached the conference room and opened the door,

A sharp, whistling chill swept through.

An icy cold brushed against their cheeks.

“This place feels even colder than outside…?”

Lee Ji-hyun, trembling and muttering, fell silent.
The Dun was already seated in the conference room.
As usual, Seo Ho-yoon was shuffling through stacks of documents, Kang Yi-chae was twirling a pen with a gentle smile, and the other members wore expressionless faces. Yet the chill in the air was unmistakably emanating from their midst.

“Ah, should I turn off the air conditioning if you’re cold?”

Before Lee Ji-hyun could even stop him, Kim Sung-hyun sprang to his feet and grabbed the remote. Jung Da-jun, sitting beside him, let out a groan.

“Even with the air conditioning off, I’m still cold….”

Jung Sun-ui and Lee Ji-hyun, who had entered cautiously, exchanged glances at The Dun and released quiet sighs.

“…So, um, shall we start by discussing the teaser?”

After a brief silence, it was Lee Ji-hyun who spoke first.
Despite the lingering chill that permeated the room, the meeting itself proceeded smoothly. Jung Sun-ui simply rubbed his arms again, making his own deductions.
Something had happened between them, he thought.

***

Damn it.

The silhouette reflected in the dim light was etched coldly into my vision. I forced my feet, which twitched toward the emergency exit, to stay firmly planted.

“How have you been?”

Kang Yi-chae remembers me.
Even Joo Woo-sung didn’t know. Even Min Ji-heon didn’t.
How on earth….
A cascade of possibilities flooded my mind, tangling together dizzily and sending out warnings.

“Looked like you were having fun.”

If I showed panic now, there would be no recovery. So I had to calm myself.
I felt my heart pounding fiercely as I gazed at Kang Yi-chae with composure. The crooked bastard stood with his arms crossed, waiting for my response.

‘This is going insane.’

His gaze pierced sharply into me.
From the way he mentioned Kim Woo-ho, it seemed he’d also existed in the Unknown Actor Tycoon….
Could I make an excuse? He’d come to confirm and finish me off—there was no way he’d fall for it.
Should I just come clean about everything?

“Kang Yi-chae….”

In the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of words flickered through my mind before fading away.
A glimmer of hope swelled in my chest—perhaps in a situation like this, he might actually believe my story—

‘He could even help me until the very end.’

Until I return.

‘Damn it.’

—The moment that thought struck me—that I would eventually have to go back—my mind snapped clear as if doused with ice water.

“…Have you been well?”
“….”
“You didn’t see me? I seriously thought you were actually dying.”

Better to just pretend I don’t know anything.
Knowing my circumstances wouldn’t benefit him anyway. And it wouldn’t benefit me either.
I didn’t need help. It was enough to simply fulfill my role as a member of The Dun, just as I had been doing.
Good at rapping, good at composing, decent at listening to what people say….

“Are you okay?”

I stepped forward to shift the mood and opened my mouth.

“How are you feeling? I heard you were pretty sick too.”

Kang Yi-chae just shot me a cold glare without responding.
A sigh escaped me. Rather than continuing this conversation in this cramped, suffocating space, I’d prefer to get outside and breathe in some of that humid, muggy summer air.
After dealing with Kang Yi-chae for the past two years, I’d learned one thing—this guy shouldn’t be confined to narrow, dark places.

“Let’s get out of here, the others are waiting….”

I turned my body toward the emergency exit, grasped the knob, and the moment I pulled it open—

Thud.

A slightly larger shadow blocked my view, and a hand extending from behind gently pressed the door shut again.
Then he turned his head slightly, looking at me with narrowed eyes.

“…I knew you’d do this.”

A voice, heavily strained, reached my ears.

“I knew you’d try to slip away, hyung.”

You’re going to stab me to death with that look right now.
I swallowed the words that suddenly caught in my throat and clamped my mouth shut. His eyes gleamed dangerously. In moments like this, silence was the wisest choice.
Then, the doorbell rang loudly once more.

“…Hyung, do you know when I first opened my eyes?”

Kang Yi-chae didn’t even check the caller ID before hanging up, then spoke while rubbing the back of his neck.

“When people were making a fuss over that pathetic drama you shot with Min Ji-heon.”

Chills ran down my spine.
At the same time, I recalled how the System Window had glitched after Min Ji-heon used his ability.
If Kang Yi-chae had been swept up in this because of that problem?

“I won’t bother explaining how panicked I was when I woke up in that house in the United States that I’d left abandoned for so long, how foolish I was, or how I lived like a beggar.”

He poured out his words relentlessly, as naturally as if he’d practiced it many times.

“Over there… you were an actor, hyung?”

Kang Yi-chae’s brow furrowed slightly as he continued his story.

“I searched for everything. The dramas you appeared in, entertainment news programs… even articles printed small in newspapers and live footage. When I saw a familiar signature, I became certain. That you’d also been dropped into that place. So I tried to meet you, but….”

Someone who had come to the WH Entertainment Building to see me….
A billboard that came up demanding I pay back a debt….

“But celebrities turned out to be much harder to meet than I thought.”

He let out a hollow laugh.
In the moment I was gauging when to interject, my lips barely moving, Kang Yi-chae’s gaze collided with mine once more.
He was demanding an answer.

“Kang Yi-chae.”

This was the moment to sever it.

“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about. Did you have a nightmare or something?”

There was a reason why everyone summoned to the hearing maintained their denials.
There was no evidence anywhere that the “Seo Ho-yoon” in Kang Yi-chae’s words was me. Once the person involved denied it, there was nothing more they could push.

‘I can’t lose my composure.’

The air hovering around us felt taut with tension, pulled taut like a drawn bowstring.
I understood instinctively.
The moment I showed the slightest opening to the bastard before me, he would bite and swallow me whole, bones and all.

“Maybe I should wash my face….”
“Brother, Ho-yoon Brother.”

Kang Yi-chae rubbed the space between his brows and spoke with a hint of weariness.

“I suffered. Abandoned alone in a strange place, uncertain if I could ever return, if people would remember me. Whether everything I believed to be reality was just a dream, or if I was truly going insane. Buried under those thoughts. I couldn’t sleep properly for months.”
“….”
“And you’re going to end all of that by calling me a madman who can’t even distinguish between dreams and reality?”

His expression was obscured by his hand, difficult to see clearly.

“Do you find me amusing, Brother?”

I had never thought of him that way, I swore it.
I simply had nothing to say to him.
A heavy silence seemed to press down on my shoulders.
I was searching for any topic that might shift the atmosphere, when Kang Yi-chae’s sharp gaze pierced right through me.

‘This bastard….’

Saying nothing was the right answer.
Kang Yi-chae observed my every move with a quiet, penetrating gaze.

“Nothing in this world springs up out of nowhere. Coincidences can’t repeat themselves. Strange occurrences can’t happen consecutively. The hospital says I’m perfectly fine, yet why do I keep collapsing? How did the drama Shining Star even come about? Could other dramas be connected to this too…?”

His deductions were drawing closer and closer to the truth.

“…All these extraordinary events that have happened so far—it feels like they’d all make sense if someone just acknowledged them.”

I needed to push back harder before real trouble started.
I brushed my bangs aside and answered in a calm tone.

“You must have been really sick.”

The corners of Kang Yi-chae’s mouth twitched.
Just as I was about to leave to escape him before he exploded, the door suddenly burst open.

“Oh!! There you are!”

The one smiling brightly with beads of sweat glistening on his forehead was Jung Da-jun.

“Ugh, it’s so dark. What are you guys doing here?”

The maknae, unable to see Kang Yi-chae’s expression, chattered away while wiping his cheek with the back of his hand.

“Argh!! Hyungs, why won’t you answer your phones!! Pick up already, will you! We’re worried! Ji-won and Hyun-sung and everyone scattered around like we were playing tag trying to find you…!”
“….”
“….”
“…I’m sorry.”

Jung Da-jun, now the center of attention between Kang Yi-chae and me, glanced around nervously, then bowed his head in apology and quickly turned to leave the way he came.
Then Kang Yi-chae’s hand grasped the door handle and opened it again.

“Kyaaaah!”

At the door suddenly opening, Jung Da-jun outside jumped and shrieked in surprise. But Kang Yi-chae simply wore a faint, composed smile.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, there’s nothing I can do. Let’s take it slow and examine things one by one.”
“….”
“Whether I’m crazy or you’re denying it.”

Neither?
While I grumbled inwardly, Kang Yi-chae stepped into the hospital room hallway first and ruffled Jung Da-jun’s hair affectionately.

“Maknae, I missed you so much?”

Then he hummed a tune and walked away.
I stared at the back of his head.
It was an incredibly awkward situation.
Of all times to get caught like this….

“…Why, why is he like that?”

Jung Da-jun, who had stiffened at Kang Yi-chae’s touch, quickly fixed his hair and clung to my arm, gauging my reaction as he spoke.

“Ho-yoon, how about you just apologize sincerely to Yi-chae?”
“….”
“…No, I’ll apologize sincerely instead, okay….”
―Q&A Event Questions and Answers

【— User】
Q. I’m so curious about the members’ heights. I also want to know how many bowls of ramen Da-jun can eat alone.
―We received many profile-related questions, so we’re answering them together.

As of Chapter 300,
Kim Sung-hyun 25 years old 186cm
Sung Ji-won 25 years old 182cm
Seo Ho-yoon 25 years old 182cm
Kang Yi-chae 23 years old 183cm
Jung Da-jun 21 years old 178cm

Joo Woo-sung, 27 years old, 184 cm
Kim Hee-young, 36 years old, 159 cm
Lim Hyun-sung, 36 years old, 171 cm
Min Ji-heon, 30 years old, 181 cm
Seo Ho-jin, 25 years old, 185 cm
respectively.

Jung Da-jun can eat up to five bowls of ramen maximum.

【Ppikka Ppikka】
Q. I’m curious about Seo Ho-yoon’s school days.
―He was the neighborhood celebrity.
Born without basic manners, this Mr. Seo never went a day without the spotlight thanks to his face and intellect. He coasted through life without effort… (continued).

【JeonDamDoTambaeIndeJeonJaNamChinDoNamChinIji】
Q. Ho-yoon seems like a heavy smoker from his PD days. I’m curious what kind of cigarettes he preferred and what made him start.
―Even when seniors in the military offered, he wouldn’t touch them. But after a traffic accident, he started smoking the brand his mother smoked and became a chain smoker.
He prefers the robust, 6mm cigarettes with a heavy throat hit.

【Puppy Emoticon】
Q. How did Joo Woo-sung and Nyang-nyang meet? I’m curious what made Joo Woo-sung decide to raise Nyang-nyang. And that man’s naming sense for calling the cat Nyang-nyang…
―Joo Woo-sung’s cousin’s cat gave birth to five kittens, leading to an unplanned adoption.
There were many ordinary name candidates, but when he called each one out, only this cat responded to “Nyang-nyang punch,” so the name stuck.

【MIN】
Q. Can you tell us the number of members in Black Call and High Five?
―Black Call has 5 members, and High Five has 6 members.

【Mr. ㅎㅅㅎ】
Q. You mentioned Ji-won was scared when he first met Hyun-sung. Could you elaborate more?
―After leaving his former agency, Sung Ji-won was very sensitive. So I remember being quite kind to Kim Sung-hyun, but even now, whenever Sung Ji-won says something that reveals his personality, Kim Sung-hyun flinches in surprise.
Of course, they’re close with each other.

【Jaeon】
Q. The Dun members’ favorite and least favorite foods.
(Mint chocolate lovers or haters, dipping versus pouring, etc.)
―All the members are at an age with healthy appetites and have easygoing palates, so they eat everything without complaint.
Seo Ho-yoon is a Korean food enthusiast. Even with foods that divide opinions, he doesn’t leave anything on his plate. Kim Sung-hyun is also a Korean food lover and especially enjoys budae jjigae. Sung Ji-won and Kang Yi-chae prefer Western cuisine more. Jung Da-jun loves the dishes he cooks, even if he doesn’t think they taste good.
The Dun is mostly a dipping sauce group, but one time Seo Ho-yoon poured all the sauce on the sweet and sour pork because he found it tedious to dip each piece individually. He still gets complaints whenever they eat Chinese food.

【Hyun-sung】
Q. Number of friends each member of The Dun has.
―Kim Sung-hyun and Jung Da-jun still keep in touch with friends they were close to during their school days.
As for the other three members, you can just count the number of group members….

【Kim Gil-gyu】
Q. An episode from Seo Ho-yoon’s childhood about Seo Ho-jin being silly, like a bumbling fool.
―When Seo Ho-yoon was seventeen, he teased his seven-year-old brother Seo Ho-jin by calling him “Genie from the Magic Lamp,” and Ho-jin cried his eyes out.

【Doby】
Q. What kind of image does Seo Ho-jin have among his peers?
―A class representative with a distinctive personality.

Q. What was your first impression of Ho-jin and the members?
―”Oh my, how did this happen with Seo Ho-yoon….”

【Typography Otaku】
Q. What is our Chung Beom doing these days?
―She’s smoking cigarettes and watching baseball. Her vocabulary of curses has only grown.
She keeps in steady contact with Kang Yi-chae and occasionally helps with his work.

“Letterpress Stone is Alive”
Q. How did a talented person like Lee Ji-hyun end up joining a small agency like Dae Pa-sung?
―Even in a failed country, the job market is brutal….

【Saya】
Q. How do you write your lyrics?
―I often reference overseas songs.
I used to parody existing K-pop songs and sing them, which earned me considerable criticism from those around me. However, now that I’ve been writing web novels, it feels like this talent has finally gained value, and I’m genuinely happy about that.

Noel of Dawn
Q. I’m curious about how many chapters you initially expected and whether you’re thinking of extending it further.
―When I first started writing, I expected it to conclude at 200 chapters. Now I can’t really tell anymore….
It seems like we’re roughly in the middle to late stages of the overall story.

【Lemon】
Q. Ho-yoon originally said he preferred cats to rabbits, but has he completely switched to being a rabbit person now?
―I still prefer cats.
However, in front of fans, I always choose whichever they like more.

【Homebody】
Q. Screenwriter, which side are you on? Seo Ho-yoon: rabbits vs cats.
―Both.

【Ha-shi】
Q. Can Ho-yoon ever escape from being Joo Woo-sung’s “quick fix”?
―No.

【You Drive Me Crazy Every Day】
Q. Ho-yoon was always called a shadow and loved all-black outfits, but lately he seems to wear white occasionally for the fans, and his style has changed recently, hasn’t it? Is there a member Ho-yoon wants to swap wardrobes with?
―Seo Ho-yoon loves black because he doesn’t need to worry about color coordination, it doesn’t show stains easily, and it’s convenient in many ways.
Besides, since he doesn’t have much interest in fashion, he probably doesn’t want to swap wardrobes with other members.
However, for the fans, he wears brighter colored clothes whenever there are schedules.

【I Reject All Temptations in the World and Love Only You】
Q. Does Ho-yoon really never cry?
―If you count artificial tears as tears….

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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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