The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 344

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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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344

[You have contracted an abnormal condition.]

I spat out the remaining blood from the metallic taste lingering in my mouth, rinsed it once more with water, and wiped my face with a towel.

[You have contracted an abnormal condition.]
[You have contracted an abnormal condition.]
[You have contracted an abnormal condition.]
[You have contracted an abnormal condition.]

“Yeah, yeah. Damn it.”

My vision was already spinning, and the System Window notifications popping up relentlessly only amplified my irritation.
I felt my way along the wall with my hand and stumbled outside, where Malang, Min Ji-heon’s dog, whined and circled around my feet.

“…You really are loud, aren’t you?”

I waved one hand dismissively to keep Malang at a distance, worried that her pristine white fur—so well-groomed and gleaming—might get soiled, then collapsed onto the sofa.
Then I slowly pulled out my phone from my pocket.
I skimmed through the accumulated missed calls and messages, then checked the Community and SNS.

[Seo Ho-yoon’s been nowhere to be seen lately]
[Did Seo Ho-yoon leave the dormitory? He’s been absent, and there haven’t been any sightings]
[Kang Yi-chae was making a fuss about leaving the dormitory too, and then he just disappeared like he thinks he’s someone special…]
[Discord rumors, I didn’t want to confirm it like this either]

This level of reaction was already something I’d anticipated, so it didn’t bother me.
What mattered more to me was something else entirely.
I searched by combining keywords: “Emergency Room,” “Hospital,” “Seo Ho-yoon.”

[Title: I saw SHY at the Emergency Room

Is this really SHY?

SHY?_Emergency Room.jpg

The moment he stepped through the entrance, every single person’s eyes locked onto him
He passed by so quickly I couldn’t get a good look, but the aura was just… like watching a drama being filmed in real-time lolololol

He looked incredibly composed
Didn’t seem like he was the one who was sick, more like he came to see someone he knew?

└Take the photo down
└└2222
└└No seriously, this maniac is posting emergency room sightings now, not just cafe sightings
└I’m curious who Seo Ho-yoon came to see
└└If he rushed to the emergency room like that, it’s probably family right?
└└? Didn’t their family die lol
└└(Reported comment)
└└Doesn’t he have a younger brother?
└└(Reported comment)
└└Wow, you’re seriously insane. Do you really want to leave malicious comments about someone else’s family that badly?
└└Report that comment
└Just take down the original post already..]

Amid all the speculation, I let out a relieved sigh that no photos of Seo Ho-jin had surfaced.
I closed the search portal and was about to close my eyes while my stomach finally settled, when an unsettling file name appeared on the screen.

Bzzzzt— bzzzzt—.

“….”

Bzzzzt——.

I flipped my phone over to ignore it, but just as it seemed to quiet down, it vibrated again. Clutching my throbbing head, I answered the call.

“Stop calling, damn it.”
[Why are you being so sensitive today~.]

Min Ji-heon drawled playfully at the end of his words.

[Isn’t your tone a bit harsh to the kind Ji-heon who even lent you his place?]

Good Ji-heon is such a pain in the ass.
I stared at the System Window flickering before me.

[Abnormal Status Remaining Time: 27 days 13 hours 21 seconds]

Damn it, time crawls like a snail.
Through a deal with the System, I’d agreed to shoulder the full penalty that my younger brother would’ve split for an entire month. When I’d caught wind of the schedule while getting Min Ji-heon’s signature, I learned he’d be away from home for an extended period due to overseas filming. So I’d borrowed this burden with the promise of granting him one favor later.

[How’s your body holding up?]
“Feels like I’m dying.”
[Hmm, you still seem fine though.]

The one saving grace was that we were in an inactive period.
The problem was that the comeback wasn’t far off.
I’d made an excuse to the members that I was worried about Seo Ho-jin and left, while I’d told Seo Ho-jin that company work was hectic and contact would be difficult for a while.
The only one who knew the truth was the Road Manager who accompanied me through the schedule.

‘In this condition, driving is impossible, damn it.’

[…—we need to brush Malang’s fur regularly, and don’t give too many dried sweet potatoes. Otherwise he won’t eat his regular meals.]
“Your Malang is quite the exceptional one….”
[I prefer spirited kids myself.]

After that, he rambled on about missing the regular Gamjatang Restaurant, wanting to smell Malang’s paw pads again.
I let his pointless chatter drift through my half-conscious mind when suddenly a name pierced through my eardrums like a spike.

[…—Ho-yoon Brother, Seo Ho-yoon!!]
“….”
[Hey, you’re still with me, right?]

My vision darkened for a moment.
I felt my ears burning hot as I muttered.

“…Hey, my head’s ringing. I’m hanging up.”
[Ah, wait a second.]

Min Ji-heon, who’d been spouting nothing but useless nonsense until now, urgently stopped my action and asked.

[—So, who was it? The person who was sharing your burden, hyung.]
“….”
[Now that I know, that’s why you’re suddenly sick, isn’t it.]

That bastard’s instincts were unnervingly sharp.
I forcibly suppressed the nauseating urge to vomit. Even though I knew the fundamental cause wasn’t Min Ji-heon.
It felt like I’d been dealt a finishing blow to something already rotten.

Why was Seo Ho-jin bearing the inevitability that was crumbling from the System’s instability?
Why had part of that bastard’s ‘memories’ been severed?
What had been ‘sacrificed’ for me?

The truths I’d tried to turn away from raised their heads one by one, and endless hypotheticals tormented me.

‘…Not now.’

I pressed my throbbing temples repeatedly with my fingers, trying to shake off the tangled thoughts for now.
Without confirmation, a hypothesis was just a hypothesis.

“Hey.”

Rather than waste time digging tunnels through imagination that yielded no answers, it was more beneficial to find what I could gain from the reality I was facing right now.

[Huh?]
“I’ll try a three-line acrostic with ‘ttuk.’ Give me a word.”
[Out of nowhere?]
“Yeah.”
[Hmm, okay. Ttuk!]

Ttuk—I cut the call.

“Cunning bastard.”

I powered off my phone and hurled it away.
Then I stretched back out on the sofa. Malang whimpered and squirmed below, wanting to climb up.

“Ugh….”

I caught the blood flowing backward in my hand once more and swallowed another painkiller—I’d lost count of how many. The nosebleed that wouldn’t stop, the fever burning so intensely I could barely think—something about it all felt deeply wrong.
However,

[Quest Arrived!
Successfully complete The Dun’s September comeback music video shoot.
Success: 10,000 Points
Failure: Extend abnormal status 1 week]

The points were suspiciously high, just like with the Unknown Actor Tycoon quest, and the task itself was oddly straightforward, which made me wary. Still, seeing the Quest displayed in the corner of my vision gave me some reassurance that at least part of the System had recovered.

‘If this pain ends, will everything come back….’

I draped one arm across my forehead and let all tension drain from my body.
There were still parts I hadn’t fully grasped, and my body was far from normal.
Even so, the fact that there was nothing happening beyond my sight anymore brought me considerable peace of mind.

‘Enduring is the easiest thing there is.’

As long as I didn’t get caught, everything would be fine.
Practice was never enough no matter how much I did it, and the scheduled music video shoot wouldn’t be easy either, but I was more confident than anyone. From my days as a PD, I’d grown just as accustomed to pushing through as I had to rolling with the punches.
I cursed through gritted teeth as another sharp headache, like an awl being driven mercilessly through my skull, pierced my consciousness.

“Damn, it really fucking hurts… Ugh!”

Malang finally succeeded in climbing onto the sofa and landed safely on my stomach, forcing me to spit up fresh crimson fluid once more.

***

“Rise and shine!!”

Jung Da-jun jolted awake with both arms stretched wide before the alarm even rang, only to see Seo Ho-yoon’s bed still empty. His lips pouted slightly at the sight.

‘He didn’t come back again?’

I’d thought he’d at least sleep here at the dormitory….
Since it was the first time in over a week that we’d been apart since debut, the empty space felt even more pronounced.

“Ugh, this guy’s making me worry.”

When your only family is ill, there’s not much you can do about it.
Jung Da-jun grumbled as he got out of bed, brushed his teeth, changed clothes, and headed to the living room, where the other members were already gathered and ready.

“Is Ho-yoon really okay though? Why isn’t he answering his calls? Nothing else happened, right?”
“Jung Da-jun, where did you leave your morning greeting?”

Kim Sung-hyun pressed the crown of his head with one hand, then ruffled it before draping an arm across his shoulder and leading him toward the door. Sung Ji-won and Kang Yi-chae followed leisurely behind.

“What would happen to Seo Ho-yoon? It’s Seo Ho-jin who had the problem.”
“Still… he hasn’t contacted us for this long….”
“That guy needs to handle everything himself to feel satisfied. He’s probably busy taking care of his younger brother right now.”
“Mm.”

No member was unaware of how much Seo Ho-yoon cherished his younger brother.
Yet even after exchanging greetings with the Manager and boarding the van toward the filming set, Jung Da-jun’s lips remained pouty.

“Really, everything should be fine.”
“Still… something feels off….”

As Jung Da-jun climbed out of the vehicle after parking, still grumbling, he looked around and spotted Seo Ho-yoon conversing with the Road Manager at a distance.

“Oh!!”

Feeling as though he hadn’t seen him in nearly ten years, he rushed forward excitedly, but—

“Ho-yoon!”
“Hey, Jung Da-jun!!”

Exactly three steps before collision, Kim Sung-hyun grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, dangling him back.
Seo Ho-yoon, wearing an unusually startled expression, blinked slowly. Kim Sung-hyun pinched Jung Da-jun’s pouty lips between his thumb and forefinger, scolding him once, then spoke to Seo Ho-yoon.

“Seo Ho-yoon, you good?”
“…Yeah. Yeah, it’s been a while, everyone.”

As Jung Da-jun timidly hid himself among the members, Sung Ji-won swept his back and asked.

“Ho-yoon, how’s Ho-jin doing?”
“Oh, he’s gotten a lot better.”
“Mm. That so? What about you?”
“Me? Just… getting by.”

Jung Da-jun’s round eyes narrowed into slits.
Seo Ho-yoon’s normally sharp, pointed manner of speaking had softened considerably, and his lack of energy combined with his docile responses struck Da-jun as deeply unsettling.
His cheeks flushed with color, yet his complexion had taken on an ashen, gaunt quality. Dark circles hung beneath his eyes like shadows, and he’d visibly lost weight in just a week.
He looked less like himself and more like the patient.

“Yeah, well. You’ve been through a lot. Get some rest for now.”

Though Sung Ji-won had noticed the change himself, the other members couldn’t possibly have missed it—yet he simply smiled and patted Seo Ho-yoon’s shoulder.

Jung Da-jun tilted his head in confusion, but the others quietly averted their gazes. Moments later, an emergency meeting convened among the members—everyone except Seo Ho-yoon.

“Why is Seo Ho-yoon like that today?”
“Let’s leave him alone for now. He’s clearly not in the mood.”
“What’s wrong with him? Wasn’t it Ho-jin who was sick?”
“Did he catch it? A cold?”

As the four of them huddled together and whispered, Jung Da-jun kept stealing glances at Kang Yi-chae. Normally, when Seo Ho-yoon fell ill, Yi-chae’s concern would transform into anger, escalating into arguments. And in those conflicts, Da-jun—the weakest shrimp among them—always bore the brunt of the fallout. Yi-chae’s expression remained blank, unreadable.

“The Dun, gather around!”

Scattered printed sheets lay arranged across the long rectangular table. He’d expected them to outline today’s scenes, but the papers detailed safety protocols instead.
Kim Sung-hyun, reading through the text, turned to the Staff Member with a question.

“Weren’t we supposed to film the music video today?”
“Ah! Safety training is mandatory for this shoot, so we moved the schedule up a bit to accommodate it.”

Kang Yi-chae’s eyebrows twitched.
The Staff Member pulled out a tablet and scrolled through the concept sheet, then pointed to a specific section.

“We have underwater filming scheduled!”

In that instant, every member’s eyes locked onto Seo Ho-yoon’s pallid face.
Yet Seo Ho-yoon remained unmoved.

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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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