Chapter 174

"Alright... you sure have a lot to say."

How’s a country bumpkin supposed to survive this kind of grief?

Yeonwoo stuck out their lower lip and glanced to the side. Their presentation was over; the look meant, go on.

"Then I’ll go."

This time, Taeeon stepped up.

Taeeon had investigated the Gangnam area with Han Gyeol, and unlike the first two places, the wider mix of age groups meant there was no shortage of spots to look into.

"In Gangnam, new clubs pop up and disappear pretty often."

He ran his eyes over his notes and continued.

"Just last month alone, more than five new places opened, and among them, a place called Imperator is picking up traction by word of mouth."

Main crowd: late twenties to early thirties.

Rumor had it a lot of famous entertainers showed up there, and the place was growing fast.

"Which entertainers?"

They had canvassed Gangnam together, but they hadn’t shared the actual results, so this was new to Han Gyeol too.

But entertainers, of all things.

Thinking it might be someone he knew, Han Gyeol asked.

"Well..."

Taeeon’s reaction was oddly lukewarm.

Just as Han Gyeol tilted his head, Taeeon parted his lips.

"Han Gyeol..."

"Yes."

"No, I mean, Han Gyeol."

"...?"

Han Gyeol answered, thinking his name was being called, then rolled his eyes at what followed.

It wasn’t easy to grasp what Taeeon meant in one go.

That was when Yeonwoo’s voice broke the silence.

"Are they saying he’s a Gangnam club rat?"

"Huh?!"

Han Gyeol shot to his feet, bristling.

He’d endured countless rumors—born with a silver spoon, gay, had height surgery.

But he’d retired now; he figured he wouldn’t get dragged into baseless hate anymore...

"Why...?"

Why was nonsense like this spreading again?

If he had actually gone, at least it wouldn’t feel so unjust. Han Gyeol swore he’d never even been near a club in his life.

And a club rat...?

So mortified he felt dizzy, he staggered and plopped back into his seat.

"Uh—! Are you okay?"

Taeeon reached out quickly and helped him up.

Roy clicked his tongue softly as he watched.

Seo Han Gyeol at a club? A passing dog would laugh.

"Taeeon, where’d you hear that?"

"Uh... from a friend, by chance. I’ve got an acquaintance who goes clubbing a lot."

The moment Taeeon finished, Han Gyeol grabbed his wrist and looked up with dewy eyes.

"Did they say they saw me?"

"Huh? Ah, not directly—they said they heard it as a rumor at the club..."

Han Gyeol sprang up again and shouted.

"No! There’s another face like this in Korea?! That can’t be right! Are you sure they didn’t hear wrong?"

Turns out he wasn’t stung by the word “club rat” so much as offended that someone mistook another face for his.

Roy clicked his tongue again and clapped his hands, lightening the mood.

"It’s just a sighting story. It’s not like they said you were doing trashy stuff there, so why—"

He meant to comfort Han Gyeol.

But instead of nodding, Taeeon gave an awkward laugh and averted his eyes.

Roy’s expression hardened in tandem.

"...Trashy?"

"They said he targets men..."

"Aaagh! Agh! Agh!"

In that instant, Han Gyeol’s PTSD flared full force and he slammed the desk, throwing a fit.

That damned, relentless gay rumor!

Worked up, he whipped up a gust of wind; desks and chairs rattled around him.

But true to a D-rank, the power wasn’t strong; the wind died down quickly.

"Maybe I should just go public with a relationship already!"

He was retired now anyway!

He huffed that he’d rather get a girlfriend outright and announce it to the whole world.

"Doubt it. It won’t work. I’ve played this game."

The game of fighting baseless hate.

Back in his idol days, Roy had been buried in rumors more than once.

Was it when he sprained his ankle during choreography practice?

He got mocked for overacting sick because he showed up at the airport in a wheelchair; he got cursed out for eating strawberries in two bites; he got dragged just for being the shortest member.

Not only that. He got dragged for calling the stylist “noona,” and he got dragged again for “only” standing center because he was center.

Roy, then as now, just walked his own road and didn’t respond one by one.

But he wasn’t the only one in the industry who took unfair heat, and some idols did hit back because they couldn’t swallow the injustice.

Most of their endings were bad.

"The best strategy against baseless hate is indifference."

The moment you respond, they say it’s a power struggle and drag you again, and even if you tell the truth, it’s pointless.

They never intended to believe you in the first place.

"You’ll just hear you’re putting on a show to bury the rumor."

At the heartfelt advice born of experience, Han Gyeol slumped over the desk in defeat.

"So don’t waste energy where it’s not needed. We can straighten out rumors slowly."

Truth comes out eventually—so long as the person involved doesn’t scratch at it and make a bigger rash.

"Anyway, Imperator is a place we should check once. Next, Han Gyeol."

Told it was his turn, Han Gyeol forced his heavy body upright.

Since Taeeon took the Gangnam Station area, Han Gyeol centered his investigation around Sinnonhyeon.

"I found a few places too, but over here it seems lounge pubs are more famous than clubs..."

Being pubs, they were calmer than clubs, with moderate noise, and better suited to focus on food and conversation.

"Among them, the most famous place is Heaven."

Main crowd: early thirties, and like most nightlife spots, most went there to meet the opposite sex.

Above all, true to the name “Heaven,” it was located at street level, which didn’t make it look suspicious in particular.

"Then it’s my turn now?"

Roy focused on Apgujeong, where a relatively older crowd gathered.

His old agency building had been nearby, so he knew the area like the back of his hand, and he still remembered some of the rumors from that time.

Like the hottest MD in Apgujeong, or private clubs entertainers slipped into under the radar.

He did think about assigning Apgujeong to Han Gyeol at first, but figured this wasn’t his lane and volunteered himself.

Seeing him freak out at a single “club rat” from Yeonwoo, Roy felt vindicated in that choice.

"This side is no less than Gangnam—there’s a lot, too."

Unlike Gangnam, though, Apgujeong was a pond that had long since grown stagnant.

Even if a new club opened, it flared for a moment and vanished. An old fixture had held the undisputed top spot for years, so nothing stood out.

So Roy casually brought up a private club he’d heard of by chance, said to be entry-by-introduction only.

"I heard there’s a private club called Four-Oh-Four, mostly frequented by entertainers. Han Gyeol, ever heard of it?"

"No?"

Han Gyeol shook his head like it was the first he’d heard.

Figures.

In the past he’d been a fool who knew nothing but singing; in the Wasteland he seemed like a fool who knew nothing but acting.

"Anyone around you ever try to egg you on to go clubbing?"

"Hmm..."

Han Gyeol put on a serious face and started thinking.

Then—

"Ah! There was one person."

Despite being a rookie, he had snagged a sizable supporting role in his debut, which had staff whispering.

That project catapulted the man into a rising star; word was he’d landed ads and even a recent lead role.

Maybe because of that, there were rumors he had a bad case of what people call celebrity disease...

"Before I got the Star Hero MC offer, he reached out. We’d crossed paths once at a commercial shoot, and that’s when we exchanged a few words."

He recalled the man opening with a line about a gathering just for people in the entertainment industry—said there were a lot of people there who liked him.

Of course, Han Gyeol turned it down.

"I never liked crowded places, and going to a place like that just invites gossip. So I just refused."

"Are you still in touch with him?"

"We weren’t really in touch to begin with. But I should still have his number?"

Han Gyeol pulled out his phone, tapped a few times, and quickly found the name to show on the screen.

[Lee Namju]

"Oh, here. If the number hasn’t changed, I could reach him. I don’t know if I should be putting this out there, though..."

Revealing the name, Han Gyeol secretly watched for the team’s reaction.

After all, he was one of the hottest male actors in his twenties right now.

But these people here were anything but ordinary.

"What is it. Is he famous? I mean, is he a famous person?"

One of them was an archery idiot who knew nothing but archery,

"Our Roy looks more catlike..."

Another was a cat freak,

"Oh? The person who does the Kanwoo Coffee ad."

Another knew nothing but coffee,

"Looks like the type who likes nightlife. So, he’s a singer?"

And the last wasn’t a Wastelander, so it was a complete first encounter.

It wasn’t the reaction he expected, and Han Gyeol was thrown.

"That’s it...? That’s all you’ve got?"

"What, are we supposed to faint from shock? Nothing to see there."

Calling it a face that would flash and disappear, Roy didn’t hesitate to go ad hominem and urged Han Gyeol to call.

"Say what...?"

"Say what, what. Ask him to take you to that club. And if you can pry out any industry secrets, pry them out."

At that, Han Gyeol hesitated, then spoke.

"Wait, weren’t we trying to investigate Blood Fiends? What do industry secrets have to do with that...?"

At the pitiful question, Roy let out a reflexive snort.

"That scene is the dirtiest thing after politics. Shake it and you’ll always get dust."

Where famous people gather, scammers tag along, and places like that always have at least one rotten story tucked away.

That was exactly why Roy had put clubs on the list of targets.

"Think of it as our last bastion if we can’t find a lead anywhere else."

After a long discussion, the team narrowed it down to a handful of clubs.