Chapter 319 : Dust Apocalypse (3)
Chapter 319: Dust Apocalypse (3)
[I Figured Out Who the Traitor Is]
Since the members mentioned their alibis, I figured the answer had to be hidden there somewhere.
So I replayed the Self-Content three times and organized everyone's alibis….
Here's the summary of their routes!!
Kang Siwoo: Gangwon Province → Seoul
Do Seohan: South Chungcheong Province (Cheonan) → Seoul
Ha Junseo: Seoul
Jin Sehyeon: Seoul
Cha Seongbin: North Gyeongsang Province → Seoul
Seohaim: South Gyeongsang Province → North Chungcheong Province (Cheongju) → Seoul
Seo Ian: South Jeolla Province (Yeosu) → Seoul
And that's when I noticed something strange.
They said the agents were dispatched from Dust Planet, right?
Then logically, wouldn't they assign one agent to each region?
Now! Let's look at the assigned regions again.
We have Gangwon Province / Seoul / Gyeongsang Provinces / Chungcheong Provinces / Jeolla Provinces.
But Gyeonggi Province is missing.
Fine, Jeju Island is an island, so let's ignore that.
But no Gyeonggi Province???
Do you know how huge Gyeonggi Province is? That's suspicious as hell.
Headquarters said the traitor is the only one with incorrect information.
If it's possible to infer the traitor based on the assigned regions, then Ha Junseo and Jin Sehyeon—whose routes overlap in Seoul—seem like the most suspicious ones.
So which one is it?
I spent a long time thinking about it and replayed the Self-Content about three more times.
(Imagine if I'd spent that time watching my online lectures instead.)
Then one line suddenly caught my attention.
[(10:05) Our Ticket Storage is located in Chungcheong Province.]
Jin Sehyeon said it with absolute confidence….
The problem is, none of the other members agreed with him.
Everyone just nodded absentmindedly and moved on,
but later Haim and Seongbin both said this:
[But I didn't know there was a Ticket Storage in Chungcheong Province~.]
[Was there even a Ticket Storage there?]
When someone sounds too confident, people usually just accept what they're saying.
It felt like even the members hadn't thought much about it and simply let it pass.
Therefore, even though the members overlooked it while talking…!!!
Wouldn't the one with the incorrect information be the traitor?
'Therefore, the culprit is Jin Sehyeon!'
That's where I'm placing my bet.
What do you think? Sounds convincing, right?
-Wow, I didn't understand a single word of that.
-Give me a three-line summary.
└LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO That's so mean.
└Modern people's lack of reading comprehension….
└So basically our squirrel is the traitor?
└Yep. That's the point anyway.
└Even the fact that my baby is a traitor is sexy…. Ah….
└???
└LMAO Dusties have completely lost it.
-I actually understood…. You're right. Damn.
└You have to respect the dedication that went into figuring this out. LOL.
-But imagine if you'd spent that time watching online lectures instead?
└Get out.
└LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
└That was a fatal blow;;;
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At the same time, the agents—who didn't have the luxury of replaying their conversation three or four times—were lost in deep thought.
Who exactly was the traitor hiding among them?
They still hadn't found a single clue.
Growing impatient, Seohan began gently chewing on Cha Seongbin's shoulder.
Pushing Seohan's head away with one hand, Cha Seongbin said,
“Quit teething.”
“……?”
“Senior Seong Jihoo might watch this video.”
“Wa!”
At Cha Seongbin's words, Do Seohan immediately straightened his posture.
Seong Jihoo actually did watch Stardust's Self-Content from time to time.
He absolutely didn't want his idol to see him acting like this.
The main reason being:
It'd be way too embarrassing at the next Double즈 company dinner!
Cha Seongbin burst into laughter.
“Look at that. He changed from 'Woof' to 'Wa'….”
“Wa!”
Well, at least that one was a normal exclamation.
Having stopped rocking back and forth and returned to sitting with a perfectly straight back, Seohan spoke.
“I think it's Sehyeon hyung.”
It was actually a fairly sharp deduction.
“Why?”
Jin Sehyeon folded his arms and shamelessly asked.
Truthfully, Seohan only had suspicions.
He had no concrete evidence.
He slowly swept his gaze across the agents.
“Thinking back, every single one of your arguments was basically trying to sway everyone. Like you were deliberately trying to pin the blame on someone else.”
“Me?”
“Yes! You did it to me too….”
“You're not even a person.”
“That's harsh!”
The pet zombie flared up.
Kang Siwoo stepped between them and tried to calm both sides down.
“Alright, don't bite. Let's settle this by talking.”
“Everyone, Do Seohan is the one trying to sway public opinion!”
Jin Sehyeon immediately raised his voice.
“You didn't even have a proper alibi from the start. You said you couldn't remember anything after getting bitten by the zombie.”
“I think my memory suddenly came back.”
“You even passed near the Ticket Storage.”
“No. If I were really the traitor, I'd have lied about that from the beginning! The fact that I admitted it honestly is proof that I'm not the traitor.”
Seohan's argument made sense too,
but Jin Sehyeon was far better at manipulating the discussion.
After silently listening to the two of them, Seohaim nodded.
“I think it's Seohan too.”
“The one who keeps barking is obviously the most suspicious.”
Huh?
With public opinion suddenly turning against him, Seohan's eyes widened.
“B-But I…!”
“What were you doing in Chungcheong Province?!”
“Huh? I wasn't doing anything there.”
“Then why were you there?!”
“Ah! Ah! I learned the dialect!”
Waving both hands frantically, Seohan hurriedly defended himself.
Leaning comfortably against his chair, Cha Seongbin nodded.
“Let's hear it.”
“I'm not the one, y'all.”
“Let's just hang him.”
“……!!”
The tragic end of committing too hard to a character.
And thus, the pitiful zombie became the first one to be hanged.
[Noisy Space Log: Dust Apocalypse EP.2 完]
[To be continued….]
Click.
The TV connected to the monitor switched off.
At the same time, sighs filled the room.
“Wow, Jin Sehyeon's acting is really good.”
“You… should try acting yourself.”
For the first time in a while, the members had watched their Self-Content together.
Watching the edited version only made the whole situation look even more chaotic.
Six people completely manipulated by Jin Sehyeon's silver tongue.
“He sent Seohan to his death without even blinking.”
Kang Siwoo clicked his tongue and stood up.
From where I stood, the people who fell for that performance were even more at fault.
Feeling wronged, I couldn't help complaining.
“They only hanged poor me! Y-You terrible people….”
“If you hadn't kept saying 'I'm not the one, y'all' and barking, you wouldn't have been hanged.”
“Ah.”
Jin Sehyeon's devastating truth left me speechless.
Thinking about it carefully…
He actually had a point.
“The fans are calling you Zombie Seohan.”
“That's a bit….”
After Mam-Seohan and Sparrow Seohan, now there was Zombie Seohan.
I didn't need any more nicknames.
It wasn't like I was collecting posthumous titles from the Joseon Dynasty….
Just as I scratched my head and let out a short sigh—
Bzzz.
My phone vibrated briefly.
“Hm?”
My network in the entertainment industry wasn't particularly large.
Other than the members, there was Kim Woochan and the Tiple seniors.
That was about it, so naturally…
I assumed it was Kim Woochan.
But instead—
It was a text from Senior Seong Jihoo.
[Senior Seong Jihoo: Ah, I watched your Self-Content.]
[Senior Seong Jihoo: The recent episodes were pretty fun.]
“This senior is obviously busy though….”
Was it really okay for one of Korea's top-tier idols to have this much free time?
Wondering that, I still typed out a grateful reply.
[Thank you as alwa…]
I was just about to press send when—
Bzzz.
My phone vibrated again.
[Senior Seong Jihoo: Can I try it too?]
A bad feeling washed over me.
“Hm…? Try what?”
[Woof.]
“…….”
Maybe I'd skip the next company dinner.
[Wasn't Stardust's Billboard Chart Entry Just Because of the Collaboration?]
It had been one of the hottest discussion topics throughout the preparation period for their third full-length album.
Most Dusties simply ignored the topic,
but as always, there was never any shortage of people willing to take the bait, and the flames only grew bigger.
In the end, Stardust delivered the perfect rebuttal.
[Stardust Enters the 'Billboard Hot 100' at No. 68, Writing a New Chapter in K-Pop History]
They had successfully entered the Billboard Hot 100 in the very first week the rankings were counted.
And since it was such an incredible achievement for a non-English song,
our name was even mentioned on the 9 o'clock news that I occasionally watched.
Yeah.
If only the news would feature us for topics like this.
[Does Stardust Really Have That Many Overseas Fans?]
Wow, their North American fanbase is practically crushing the existing top-tier idol groups.
Tiple is also huge overseas, but they're mainly focused on Korea, China, and Japan.
Looks like Double즈 had been targeting Billboard from the beginning.
Either way, it was definitely a successful strategy.
-Stardust probably blew up in America during Starf, right? The fans they gained back then contributed a lot, plus they worked really hard on overseas promotions even as rookies.
└There are plenty of people trying to downplay Starf because it was a survival show under a smaller company, but it was a massive hit overseas. That's why Flyby is doing so well internationally too.
└Dogyeong is definitely carrying things on his back though.
└22222 That's exactly it.
-"Crushing top-tier idols" is a bit much. LOL.
└But they entered Billboard, didn't they?
└Just looking at the Billboard numbers proves it. What's exaggerated? The only exaggeration here is your bias group's achievements. LOL.
└LOL look at that comeback.
└LMAOOOOOO.
-I thought people said it was only because of the collaboration. Wow… that's actually surprising….
└What's so surprising?
└I don't know… their domestic fandom didn't seem that big….
└???
└Their Korean core fandom is solid too. What are you talking about? LOL.
└First people said they had no overseas fans, now they're saying they have no domestic fans. Which story are we supposed to agree with? LOL.
└Leave them alone. They're just jealous. ㅠㅠ
-It's true that Double즈 was created with Billboard in mind. Tiple will have to enlist soon anyway….
└What are you talking about? Seong Jihoo and Choi Yeonwoo still have time before enlistment.
└LOL Tiple fans are really sensitive about that topic.
└Our boys are releasing one more full album before they go. Leave them alone. ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└That comment wasn't written by a Dusty. Please don't misunderstand. ㅠㅠ
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“Everyone worked hard.”
“Wooooo! Thank you!”
“You'll have to keep working hard for a few more weeks though.”
“Waaaah…….”
Manager Song Jinha clapped briefly and smiled.
Judging by how the exhaustion had disappeared from his eyes, this album must have been a genuine success.
It looked like he'd received a hefty bonus too.
The members were just as drained from the music show schedule, but good news was still good news, so everyone applauded with sleepy eyes.
Now all that was left was to continue promoting on music shows through next week, then resume the overseas tour….
“Oh, and there's something I need to tell you.”
Manager Song Jinha suddenly dropped some unexpected news.
“Junseo, you've got a script offer.”