Chapter 53

Goosebumps rose along the arm being held.

The person speaking to him now... was someone he had traveled with and sat down to eat with only a few days ago.

But now, he felt like a completely different person.

If Jaeyoung is going that far, then Yusang, maybe you also....

You know, sir. Which one of them had the more difficult personality.

Things he thought he had already forgotten pounded his mind white in an instant.

Bang, bang, bang!

“Yusang?”

A palm came toward his face.

I can’t let him grab me.

The moment that thought occurred to him, Yusang shoved the manager away and bolted.

“Hey, Jung Yusang!”

Even as he kicked off the floor and left the staggering manager behind, he was afraid that maybe he should not be doing this. But then—

“Ha, fuck. What a pain. That brat’s always the biggest problem.”

The instant he heard that voice, the presence behind him became an enormous object of terror.

Yusang pushed open the emergency-exit door. The company building was pitch-dark in the middle of the night. His feet instinctively carried him toward a familiar place.

***

—Find him, quickly. There’s a limit to how immature a brat can be.

At Executive Director Choi’s furious voice, the men sighed.

“I told you we needed to keep those kids under control. Back in the day, would something like this ever have happened?”

“The employees who joined recently are the problem. They treat the artists like precious young masters and ladies. Honestly.”

The inside of the company was as familiar to the employees as the backs of their hands. They lazily looked around until they found a practice room with the lights on.

“That must be it.”

“Hey, Yusang! Nothing good will come of this for you either!”

“If this keeps up, the other members are going to suffer too! Stop thinking only about yourself! Come out right—”

They were shouting as they leaned toward the window in the practice-room door.

Bang!

“Ugh!”

A powerful blow struck the window. A moment later, the door flew open.

“What are you doing?”

“Huh? What?”

“Why are you secretly looking inside?”

The person facing them was Gowon, Division Five’s rookie.

He looked down at the two men with an extremely fierce glare.

“Well, uh... we were passing by and saw the light on.”

“...So what if we took a look? You’re awfully sensitive.”

“There was a recent incident involving an unreleased song.”

“.......”

“So even when you’re just passing by, I’d prefer it if you didn’t look inside.”

Executive Director Choi’s close aides knew the full story behind that incident.

Unable to say anything in response, they withdrew with displeased expressions.

Gowon waited until their silhouettes disappeared beyond the darkness of the hallway, then closed the door.

He turned and looked at the person crouched down, trembling with both hands pressed over his mouth.

“Senior.”

“.......”

“Are you in debt?”

“...? What are you talking about...?”

“Ah.”

Was this how he should have reacted back then...?

Only now did Gowon realize just how transparent he must have looked when Baek Hanje had asked him the same question.

“...Did something happen?”

It was hard to believe this was the same person who had forced Gowon to surrender the practice room only a few hours earlier.

Though still terrified, his pride was clearly wounded too, and tears eventually welled in his eyes.

“Fuck....”

Yusang remembered the voices that had been chasing him moments ago.

They had all been people from Division Four.

And yet the first person to ask what had happened—and even help him—was this man, of all people.

“I don’t know what happened, but wouldn’t it be better to talk it out calmly? It seems like the problem will only get bigger at this rate.”

“.......”

“Do the members know about this?”

“No....”

“Try contacting them.”

At Gowon’s words, Yusang lowered his head, took out his phone, and sent a flood of messages for a long time.

But no reply came from the chat saved as “Brand Newton.” Not even Nam Jeongho, who always read messages first.

“.......”

Yusang’s fingertips trembled unnaturally. Gowon turned his gaze away and pretended not to notice.

“Ha, I’m telling you, I think he’s in here.”

At that moment, footsteps sounded outside again. Gowon reflexively turned up the speaker volume.

“I told you he isn’t. Do you know how badly they fought when they went on that radio program? And don’t mess with Gowon for no reason. If Baek Hanje or Kwon Taeyoung gets involved, it’ll become complicated.”

“Ah, seriously. Jung Yusang, that little bastard. Everyone calls him cute, cute, so now he thinks he’s actually a child. If you’re a celebrity, you smile even when you hate it. That’s how you make money.”

The mocking voices receded again. The shoulders of the two people inside the practice room, which had been rigid with tension, finally lowered.

“...Senior. Did you run away from a filming schedule?”

“No!”

“.......”

Faced with a look that seemed ready to reveal his location to the managers at any moment, Yusang finally told him the truth.

“A bastard who used to be a bully in middle school says he’s going to become an actor.”

“......?”

“So they want to clean up his past by pretending he and I are close, put us on a show together, fuck....”

“.......”

“I thought I was okay after spending time with the others, but I—I can’t do it....”

The ugly trembling that had begun in his hands spread all the way to his shoulders. Even without him saying it outright, it was obvious that Yusang had been the victim of school violence.

“So those people chased you down because they’re trying to force you to meet that bully?”

Yusang let out a wet breath and only nodded.

After a brief silence, Gowon said,

“If you stay here, they’ll find you eventually. Let’s move somewhere safe now.”

“W-where...?”

Why are you asking me that?

Regardless of Gowon’s thoughts, Jung Yusang looked at him with a desperate, anxious expression.

Gowon glanced outside through the window.

“...I think we need to leave through the emergency stairs next door. Those people keep going back and forth through the hallway, so it’s dangerous.”

“.......”

“Can you stand?”

Yusang braced a hand against the wall and pulled himself upright. Gowon stuck his head out the door first and checked that no one was there.

“Let’s go.”

Gowon led the way and opened the emergency exit’s metal door. Yusang quickly followed him through.

With an extra burden now in tow, Gowon thought hard.

They were currently on the eighth floor. Leaving the building would be best, but if that proved impossible, they needed to find somewhere safe inside.

But why are they going this far?

No matter what, forcing one of their own artists back just to cover up the misconduct of an actor from another company was absurd.

They probably took money from the other agency.

“......?”

An extremely familiar way of speaking echoed inside his head.

Gowon widened his eyes and looked around, but instead of the voice returning, a phone began vibrating.

Yusang took out his phone. The call was from “The Greatest Leader.”

“Wait.”

Gowon covered Yusang’s phone with his hand and focused all his senses.

“......?”

Fortunately, there was no sign of anyone nearby.

Nor did he hear that voice again, the one that had sounded like an auditory hallucination.

“You can answer.”

“...What the hell.... I’m already scared. Why are you acting like this...?”

Yusang shot Gowon a sidelong glance with tear-wet eyes, then raised the phone to his ear.

“J-Jeongho.”

Rapid speech came through the phone’s speaker. The voice was full of worry.

Yusang’s eyes, which had been brimming precariously, finally flooded over.

“I’m sorry... I—I was trying to handle it on my own..., because I wanted to help too..., I’m sorry I didn’t tell you....”

“.......”

Gowon looked around while waiting for the call to end.

“Don’t be mad. No, I’m okay....”

A green emergency-exit sign caught Gowon’s eye.

An emergency exit.

A place to escape through.

A different area from where they had been until now.

“Okay, Jeongho.”

“.......”

And a brother.

But do you really want to help Newton’s youngest member?

“......!”

Gowon hesitated, then nodded.

The voice might have been a mirage his mind had created in the middle of a crisis.

Even so, simply thinking of Baek Hanje truly did make him feel relieved.

“Ah.”

Then he remembered the safest refuge in the building.

Hanje’s studio.

It was only one floor down from where they were.

Right. Not even the CEO can touch him there.

“!”

Jung Yusang ended the call and raised his head with a sniffle.

“The others and another manager are coming to the company to pick me up.”

“.......”

But Gowon could not answer.

No—he could not say anything at all.

Baek Hanje

Studio door-lock code: 19750623

How?

It was as if Baek Hanje knew what was happening right now....

But this was not the time to think about that. Faint footsteps sounded in the distance.

“Let’s go toward Division Five.”

If they hid in the studio behind its thick, double-locked soundproof doors, they could buy enough time for the members to come get Yusang.

The two quietly went down one floor and opened the emergency-stairwell door. The building was almost entirely dark now that everyone had gone ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) home.

But Gowon had visited this part of the company more often than anywhere except the practice rooms, so he had no trouble finding the way even in the dark.

The moment the familiar studio door came into view, relief washed over him.

Then he touched the door lock.

Beep—

“Hey, over there!”

“......!”

The sound of feet pounding roughly against the floor came from farther down the hallway. They would be caught before he could finish entering the code.

Well, look at that.

Ah, Hanje!

Even as they ran frantically, Baek Hanje’s voice spread through his mind with such leisure that it irritated him.

“Stop right there!”

Run hard and hide well. You only need ten minutes.

How are you—!

They raced down the stairs in a panic and reached a floor Gowon could not identify.

Panting, Gowon looked at the sign posted beside the door and widened his eyes.

“Fuck, where did they go?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to call him out after sunrise?”

“No. We’ve already received something from the other side, so they want this resolved tonight. That rookie actor must have some serious backing.”

Listening to the muffled conversation, Gowon and Yusang stood pressed flat against the wall.

“Let’s search the rooms one by one, starting here.”

The instant the dark interior was invaded by the sound of a door flying open and the beam of a flashlight, Gowon covered Yusang’s mouth.