The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 91

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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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91

“Hey, come out here with me.”

But silence answered me.
From this, I formed a hypothesis.

“Thank you for your hard work!”
“Thank you for your hard work~. Wow, Min Ji-heon’s acting was absolutely incredible.”
“It’s even better on set.”
“Huh? Even better than that??”

After everyone finished the first episode script reading, the good vibes were palpable—actors and staff alike wore bright, beaming expressions. People began rising from their seats one by one, some gravitating toward the Director, others toward Yoo Ji-a, but the majority swarmed around Min Ji-heon, forming an almost impenetrable wall of bodies around him.
I quietly gathered my script and stood up when the Manager, who had been waiting in the back, approached and grabbed my shoulder. When I turned around, he was crying.

“Ho, Ho-yoon… sniff sniff.”
“…Yes?”
“If I’d known you loved acting this much, I would’ve had you try it ages ago…”
“I love acting?”

What on earth was this about?
Bewildered, I asked again, and the Manager nodded emphatically. Tears dripped steadily down to his chin. His emotional sensitivity was off the charts.

“Otherwise, there’s no way you could be this good! You’ve never had a single acting lesson, yet you’re performing like this—you must’ve been practicing alone all this time, right?”
“Whenever I watch you, Manager, I find myself in awe.”

I couldn’t fathom how he’d arrived at such a misunderstanding.
Even as I uttered what was almost a lament of admiration, the Manager had already convinced himself, nodding vigorously while wiping his tears with his sleeve.

‘How could he say that after watching Min Ji-heon’s performance??’

Director Yu, passing by nearby, was startled upon hearing this nonsense.

“What? Seo Ho-yoon is obsessed with acting?”
“Yes, Director… Look at our Ho-yoon’s script. It’s all worn and tattered, isn’t it? This part here is practically torn to shreds.”

That was because Jung Da-jun had spilled coffee on the edge of the script. The Director let out a long, weary sigh as he looked at the now-stained pages.

“I had no idea! I really thought you didn’t care about it at all. My goodness, I had so many prejudices.”
“Seo Ho-yoon, you’re amazing~.”

Before I knew it, Yoo Ji-a had joined in as well, and the atmosphere became warm and fuzzy in an instant.
Fearing I’d actually earn some ridiculous title like “Idol Obsessed with Acting,” I quickly opened my mouth to protest.

“No, no! Compared to everyone else’s passion, I’m really quite lacking.”

But hearing those words, the eyes looking at me grew even more disturbingly bright.

“How can this be, even humble…!”
“I’m really sorry, Ho-yoon….”

Director Yu suddenly murmured, “This reminds me of when I first debuted…,” and actually wiped away tears the size of beans with his sleeve.

‘Stop it. I came here to deal with Min Ji-heon.’

Everyone had formed an iron wall on all sides, and no matter what I said, they’d respond with “Yes, that’s right,” leaving me wondering what to do. But I noticed Min Ji-heon quietly trying to slip away through the crowd.
Fortunately, the conversation shifted to Yoo Ji-a’s debut at just the right moment.

“I need to use the Bathroom for a moment.”
“Oh, yes, of course!”

Now they look at me with warmth no matter what I say.
Leaving the discomfort behind, I hurried out and caught up with Min Ji-heon walking in the distance.

“Min Ji-heon. Wait a moment.”
“Huh?”

Min Ji-heon, who had been delivering possessed-like acting until just moments ago, turned to look at me and smiled brightly.

“Hey?”
“I’m not doing well.”

I had no desire to exchange pleasantries with someone who had made me cough up blood. I lowered my voice since there were many people around.

“Do you have time right now?”
“Even if I didn’t, of course I’d make it.”
“Without the Manager—let’s talk for a moment, just the two of us?”

Min Ji-heon stared at me instead of answering. Yet I couldn’t discern what he was thinking. I could only detect a faint hint of skepticism crossing his features.

“…Did we agree to go back to formal speech?”
“….”
“I can’t quite remember….”
“Speak formally.”
“…Fine.”

‘Sigh….’

Strangely, whenever I dealt with Min Ji-heon, my patience would drain in ways uncharacteristic of me. So I simply dragged him by force into the Cafe on the Building First Floor.
The hour was awkward enough that aside from staff, there wasn’t a soul around. Perfect for discussing something suspicious with this suspicious fellow.
I ordered drinks casually and tried to clear my mind, but Min Ji-heon remained utterly composed—or rather, he seemed to have no particular thoughts at all.

“Why did you call me here?”
“Why? Is that even worth calling a question?”
“Mm.”

Min Ji-heon let out a soft chuckle. The drinks arrived in the meantime.
The staff member set our beverages down before us with a smile directed at him, then left, but Min Ji-heon’s attention was entirely fixed on the drink.

“…Huh?”

He tilted his head, staring at the Americano placed before him.

“…Did I order an Americano?”
“You ordered a latte.”
“Did I? Well, I’ll just drink it anyway.”

Anyway, none of that mattered. I narrowed my eyes at Min Ji-heon and asked pointedly.

“Who exactly are you?”
“Min Ji-heon.”

Sometimes I’m genuinely impressed that I haven’t killed Min Ji-heon yet.

“Not your name. What do you do?”
“An actor… Ah, that’s not the answer you’re looking for, is it?”

Min Ji-heon laughed awkwardly at last.

“How did you even manage it back then? How did you know I’d been in a traffic accident? How did you know I’d fallen into this godforsaken world…?”
“Whoa, whoa, hold on.”

Min Ji-heon raised his hand to stop me and drained his Americano in one go. Then he exhaled softly, scratched his head while lost in thought for a moment, and looked at me with a smirk.

“Hyung. …Don’t get mad when you hear this, okay?”
“Just tell me.”

Min Ji-heon turned his head slightly and mumbled something before suddenly blurting it out.

“I don’t actually know either!!”

I suppressed the urge to flip the table and clenched my fists tight. Then, gritting my teeth, I called out to Min Ji-heon quietly.

“You bastard.”
“…So you really did drop our old way of speaking?”
“Spit it out. Before my patience runs completely dry.”

My patience had already run dry, truthfully.
Min Ji-heon clearly knew something. He must have seen something back then that I hadn’t.
Yet Min Ji-heon picked up his straw and stirred the ice with a clinking sound, grumbling in a listless tone.

“I’d tell you if I could, but there’s nothing to tell. I really don’t know.”

A bracelet clinked softly on Min Ji-heon’s wrist as he held his drink. I concluded that the ability from that day must have originated from the bracelet. As my gaze fixed intently upon it, Min Ji-heon followed my eyes and they landed on the bracelet.
…I rubbed my tired eyes wearily and let out a sigh.

“Min Ji-heon, you’re right. I was originally thirty-three, and of course I was never an idol. As you know, I’m not from this world… so I must have been spouting nonsense about whether I’m a ghost or a person.”
“Hm…?”

Min Ji-heon tilted his head slightly. His reaction felt oddly unsettling, but I pressed on for now.

“Listen carefully. To return to my original world, I have to clear this scenario—this Quest.”

There hadn’t been any problems so far, but it was strange from the beginning. Why did I have to come to this place in the first place? What even is this?

“So if this System could explain what it actually is—”
“What do you mean by ‘the way it originally was,’ hyung?”

Min Ji-heon cut me off with a question I hadn’t anticipated at all. I faltered, my brow furrowing.

“The world I came from, obviously.”
“…Ah~.”

Min Ji-heon let out a belated exclamation. Then, with his mouth closed, he looked me up and down for a moment.
What?

“…Anyway, if you could just explain—”
“Hyung.”

Just as I was about to continue, Min Ji-heon cut me off again. I was getting slightly irritated, but I clamped my mouth shut. Min Ji-heon glanced at me cautiously and smiled softly.

“…Well, I do want to help you.”
“….”
“But this is kind of… delicate for me to get involved in.”

This bastard…?
I stood there blankly for a moment, then closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

‘Calm down, Seo Ho-yoon.’

It felt like I was meeting a top-tier complete organism for the first time in ages. No, wait—it was also because Joo Woo-sung and Lim Hyun-sung had been so easy to manipulate.
Min Ji-heon wasn’t someone I could push around, and it kept throwing me off balance…
I am Seo Ho-yoon. I am Seo Ho-yoon, damn it.
Just do what I’ve been doing all along. Just that.
I paused for a beat, opened my eyes, and fixed Min Ji-heon with a direct stare.

“Well, Min Ji-heon. Don’t you want to keep your entertainment career going?”

I played the blackmail card.
Of course, I knew nothing about Min Ji-heon….

‘Let me just throw it out there and see what happens.’
“You really live like that without any guilt….”

It was reckless, honestly, but I figured it was worth a shot.

“You really think you can hide it forever?”
“…!”

That’s right.
I threw it out, and there was a reaction.
Exactly. There’s no one in this world who doesn’t have a speck of dust to shake loose.
Min Ji-heon brushed his chin with an expression of discomfort.

“Geez….”
“You can keep your mouth shut if you just give me the answer I want to hear.”

Min Ji-heon stared at me intently, then sighed.

“You’re right, I can’t hide it forever.”

The reaction was starting to come. Min Ji-heon rattled his straw with a melancholic expression.

“Actually, I….”
“….”
“I eat a lot. Ten servings is the bare minimum.”

Ah….
I glared at Min Ji-heon with my trembling fists clasped together in frustration, and he donned a distant gaze, fell into thought, then began rattling off other trivial secrets (ones that had absolutely no impact—in fact, they were the kind of details that would set a fan’s heart ablaze).

“My mom dragged me to every hospital under the sun asking if I had parasites in my stomach. But there’s nothing. I’m perfectly fine.”
“Hey.”
“I was just a pig back then….”

The pig cupped his chin with his hands and smiled smugly.

“But hyung… uh, I just got blackmailed, right?”
“You want me to blackmail you back instead?”

I looked at him with a gaze that said, ‘Try it and see what happens, you bastard,’ but Min Ji-heon shook his head.

“What? No, that’s not it. I actually like my brother quite a bit. I really hope things work out well for him. I enjoyed watching the Shining Star rerun, and I’m rooting for The Dun too. I even like how he’s got this surprisingly soft side to his personality.”

‘…Soft?’

If the System Window could manifest right now, it would be plastering question marks everywhere like mad. Thanks to that, the thought I’d been entertaining—’Should I manipulate the data and spread some false rumors about Min Ji-heon? Ah, but that doesn’t really align with my principles’—evaporated entirely.

“Well, the reason I asked in the first place…”

Min Ji-heon’s murmur drifted over, accompanied by the sound of him crunching ice through a straw.

“If you want an answer, isn’t asking nicely a more normal approach than threatening?”
“….”
“That’s just the impression I got….”

Textbook common sense, delivered by a madman.
…Now that I thought about it carefully, he was right. When you have nothing to blackmail someone with, offering them something—anything—is the best you can do.
But being called out on my lack of common sense by someone who looked anything but reasonable was jarring.

‘Should I abandon Min Ji-heon and find someone else, someone… more interesting?’

No, wait. There’s no guarantee I’d learn anything even if I did.

‘Min Ji-heon genuinely has ability.’

That cursed bracelet of his proved it, and so did those eyes that occasionally saw right through me in unsettling ways.
An item? This guy renders even the System Window useless—it wouldn’t work on him. Besides, with his perceptiveness, attempting anything now would likely just end in failure.
He’s someone against whom none of my usual tactics function.
I fixed him with a hard stare and asked.

“What do you want?”

Then it would be persuasion.

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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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