I Became the Youngest Member of a Top Idol Group

Chapter 234: I Am Doing It, Technically

Thirty million won.

I let out a hollow laugh at the confident sum Han Taeyoon threw out.

“…Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“You thought if you just threw that out, I’d match it?”

“If you’re desperate enough, it’s possible.”

I had only planned to entertain him a little.

At the very least, I was just going to tie him down for a bit so he wouldn’t entertain any foolish thoughts….

Shouldn’t you know when to spout bullshit?

Thirty million won crossed the line.

My eyes cooled over.

Han Taeyoon shamelessly shrugged his shoulders and continued.

“I didn’t want to go this far either. But I had no other options. If it weren’t for the evil edit, I could’ve debuted somewhere else. As you can see, I’ve already hit rock bottom.”

“Ah….”

If it weren’t for the evil edit, he would’ve debuted somewhere else.

That baseless confidence made me genuinely want to applaud him.

I nodded, barely suppressing the urge to curse.

“That’s unfortunate.”

“So, I’m looking for a kind of compensation. A reward for the dream I wouldn’t have had to give up if I had gotten proper screen time.”

Judging by those eyes that held not a shred of shame, he genuinely seemed to believe his own delusion.

“I don’t think thirty million won is that much.”

Han Taeyoon added calmly.

“Besides, you wouldn’t want to get dragged into this and have your brother get caught up in the mess. You two seemed pretty close on the show.”

“Haha….”

“And it’s true that I’m kind of broke.”

Since he was being so blunt, I had no choice but to respond in kind.

I let out a fishy smile and opened my mouth.

“So that’s why you’ve been poking around everywhere.”

“…What?”

“You must be so broke that you’ve lost all sense of shame.”

Han Taeyoon frowned at my words.

The gentle expression he wore when he entered the waiting room was long gone.

“You didn’t just try to blackmail me, did you?”

Maybe he asked the most money from me, but this wasn’t a threat aimed at one person.

He’d sweet-talked the youngest writer—kind-hearted and seemingly naïve—into giving him some cash.

And then he made me his second target, someone who already had a public image to protect.

I frowned and muttered quietly.

“Planning to squeeze every last penny you can and disappear from the scene…?”

I get it.

I understand desperation, and I understand feeling wronged.

But.

There are scumbags who use that sliver of guilt to manipulate others.

You can resent me if you want. I chose a job where I knew I’d get cursed out.

Backlash from the public wouldn’t have fazed me if Han wasn’t involved.

But.

There was no way I’d let myself get dragged down by some punk who didn’t know his place.

“Taeyoon, earn your money the right way.”

I gritted my teeth as I spoke.

[Are you filming right now? Sorry for the sudden call, but I thought you needed to know this. Do Seohan’s brother—]

Ding—

Ding—

Text alerts rang in succession. A missed call from Lee Dokyung.

Seeing the notification banner pop up at the top of the screen, I took a deep breath.

I’d been in the middle of a photo shoot and hadn’t checked my phone, but just from the first few words of the message, I could tell something had happened.

Thankfully, we’d finished most of the mid-shoot segment.

“Just a moment. I need to step out for a bit.”

“Can you be back in fifteen minutes?”

“I’ll make it.”

I took the break as an opportunity to inform Manager Lee Jaeyoon and quickly left the set.

Kang Siwoo gave me a questioning look, as if asking what was going on, but I didn’t have the time to explain.

Step, step, step.

My anxious mind pushed my legs to move faster.

As soon as I reached the lounge behind the studio, I pulled my phone out of my pocket.

“Phew…”

Grabbing my throbbing head, I dialed the number of the one person I needed to call—Lee Dokyung.

Since it was FLYB’s promotion season, I’d worried he might not answer, but thankfully, the ringtone stopped after just a few rings.

—Oh, Seohan.

I heard Lee Dokyung’s voice over the line and quickly spoke, swallowing hard.

“I didn’t get to read the text properly. What happened?”

—I don’t know the full details either….

Lee Dokyung hesitated, swallowing hard.

—Things seem to be getting noisy over at Boy’s Dream lately. You know Han Taeyoon?

“…Yeah.”

—Oh, so you know him. How’s that? He got eliminated right away.

A first-round dropout with no particular presence on Boy’s Dream.

Unless you were a die-hard viewer, it wasn’t a name many people would still remember.

The only screen time he got was during an arm-wrestling match between team members, and even then, it was just a short performance after he won first place.

So, I didn’t know his name from the show… I knew him because of the filthy entanglement we had in a past life.

Even without hearing the rest of Lee Dokyung’s sentence, I could already guess what the situation was.

But I couldn’t show I knew too much, so I just quietly listened.

—If you’ve seen it, you’d know. That guy got an evil edit. I mean, that’s pretty common in this industry, but it blew up since it involved one of the popular trainees….

The main dancer who debuted with the current FLYB.

Apparently, he had a clash with the final first-place debuting trainee.

The show Boy’s Dream emphasized that scene to the max, tanking public sentiment, and the result was a first-round elimination.

—Maybe he held a grudge from that. Rumor has it he’s trying to blackmail the production staff of Boy’s Dream now.

Hm.

—He seems to think he has nothing to lose since he’s leaving the industry anyway, but I feel like your brother, Do Seohan’s brother, might also….

“Did you say he tried to blackmail my brother?”

—That’s what I heard.

It was the same back then.

That audacious trainee who tried to squeeze money out of the youngest production staff by appealing to how unfairly he was treated.

Of course, the more experienced staff wouldn’t fall for it, and apparently, only one innocent youngest writer had been taken in.

It felt like just yesterday my brother was running around trying to recover that money.

The problem was, it wasn’t yesterday—it was today.

“……”

I mulled over Lee Dokyung’s words.

In the past life, my brother had cut Han Taeyoon off without a moment’s hesitation.

His so-called “blackmail” was just half emotional pleading, half a meaningless outburst threatening to expose the producer’s personality on the community forums.

No PD who regularly gets cursed out by the public would give in to such a weak threat.

That’s why my brother had gone digging for Han Taeyoon’s weakness to get back the money taken from the youngest writer who’d been duped.

That’s the kind of person Do Seojun is. Warm to those close to him, but ice cold to everyone else.

I believed he wouldn’t be swayed by Han Taeyoon’s words and would make a rational decision.

At least, I wanted to believe that….

“I’m worried.”

The situation had changed too much from back then to be sure.

Do Seohan was no longer a café part-timer grinding beans near a college, and Do Seojun was no longer a nameless rookie PD.

Both of them now had public recognition, and Do Seojun’s name now came with the title “Do Seohan’s brother from Stardust.”

There were too many things at stake to act on impulse.

Lee Dokyung knew that too, which is why he added cautiously.

—I think he might actually give him the money. That’s why I called, just in case.

“Yeah.”

It had been that way since we were kids.

It was true that when it came to family, Do Seojun’s judgment got clouded.

Given my brother’s personality, he’d hate to cause me any trouble—but precisely because of that, he was likely to pretend to give in to Han Taeyoon’s threats.

That wasn’t what I wanted.

“Thanks for letting me know.”

—No problem. Let’s talk later.

I quickly thanked Lee Dokyung and ended the call.

“Phew…”

In many ways, I owed Lee Dokyung a lot.

If I’d known things would turn out like this, maybe I shouldn’t have teased him with the Octopus Legs joke last time.

I’d have to treat him to a meal sometime.

But first, I had to contact Do Seojun.

I didn’t know how far things had progressed yet, but seeing how quiet the online community still was, he’d either handed over the money already or was stalling for time.

I really hoped it was the latter.

I opened my contacts and called Seojun.

Rrring.

Rrring….

As the ringtone dragged on, my lips started to go dry.

“Why isn’t he answering…?”

Nervous, I started tapping my foot where I stood. Only five minutes remained until the photo shoot resumed. I wanted to wrap up this conversation before then.

A full minute passed like an eternity.

Thankfully, the ringtone finally cut off. Do Seojun answered in a gruff tone.

—Yeah. What?

His voice was hoarse, like he hadn’t fully woken up. He must have just fallen asleep after editing late into the night.

“Hyung, this is urgent.”

—Mmh….

“Are you being blackmailed?”

I ditched the preamble and went straight to the point.

It was a pretty heavy question to throw at someone half-asleep, and I could feel his confusion through the receiver.

Do Seojun coughed and asked back.

—Huh… blackmailed?

“You know Han Taeyoon from Boy’s Dream? I heard the gist of it from Lee Dokyung.”

—Ah….

I heard him let out a short sigh.

I swallowed dryly as I waited for his reply.

To be honest, I was anxious.

What if, because of me, he’d gotten caught in a weak spot and made a choice he wouldn’t have made in his previous life?

But then.

—I don’t know if it counts as blackmail….

Do Seojun coughed and continued.

—I am kind of doing it, though.

…What?

“What did you say?”

This was not the direction I expected this to go.