Chapter 180: Isn’t That the Opposite?
Normally, I would’ve opened the door again, wondering if I had seen it wrong, but the recent incident popped into my head first.
The past event that we brushed off as just a practice room ghost story—that time too, the inner veranda door had been unlocked.
“Try calling the manager.”
It was late, but we had no other option.
Ha Junseo hurriedly pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Manager Lee Jaeyoon.
From his fidgeting back, you could sense his nervousness.
“Ah, please pick up….”
Click—
Luckily, the ringing stopped.
—Yeah, what’s going on?
His voice was hoarse, probably from just waking up.
He wouldn’t have gotten a call at this hour unless it was serious, so concern was evident in his voice.
Kang Siwoo took over the phone.
“We’re in front of the dorm right now….”
Kang Siwoo awkwardly explained that someone seemed to be inside the dorm, that Jin Sehyun had sensed a presence.
He added cautiously at the end.
“Should we go in and check?”
—No, no. Don’t go in.
From the receiver, we heard sounds of someone hurriedly gathering things. It seemed like he was throwing on clothes and heading out.
—I’ll book you guys a nearby hotel for tonight instead of staying at the dorm. Sleep there.
“Ah, okay.”
—Wait there.
The manager added firmly.
—I’ll be there soon.
With that, the call ended.
The presence Jin Sehyun had felt.
Until we knew the full story, we decided to stay at a nearby hotel.
My roommate for the first time in a while was Seo Haim.
“What the heck is happening!”
We didn’t even have time to properly pack. It was the first time I crossed a hotel threshold with absolutely nothing.
The company said they’d bring our essentials tomorrow morning.
“What a mess… It’s a total mess.”
Seo Haim mumbled as she buried her head into the pillow.
Seriously. It really was kind of a mess.
Though sasaengs had sometimes followed us near home or to schedules, no one expected someone to just waltz into the dorm—especially after we recently changed the passcode.
Manager Lee Jaeyoon had gone to collect the CCTV footage at this early hour to figure out who the intruder was.
Knock, knock, knock—
Just then, we heard a knock at the door.
“Hey, hyung.”
Manager Lee Jaeyoon walked in with a tired face.
Having dealt with this mess since dawn, he clearly hadn’t gotten any sleep.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeahh.”
Manager Lee Jaeyoon changed into slippers and trudged in.
“Ah, I brought the CCTV file.”
“Yes.”
“I thought maybe it could be someone you guys recognize.”
If it was a sasaeng we had run into during a schedule, we’d probably recognize them.
I nodded and sat on the bed.
“I’ll take a look too~”
“If it’s someone familiar, let me know. I haven’t watched the footage yet either.”
Gulp—
Swallowing hard, I stared intently at the laptop screen Manager Lee Jaeyoon had connected.
The entrance of the dorm appeared on the CCTV screen.
If there were no signs of forced entry through a window, they must have come through the front door.
“This isn’t it, not here either. Mm, I’ll fast-forward.”
“Okayy.”
Tadadak—
Manager Lee Jaeyoon skipped through the empty footage quickly.
About an hour’s worth of darkness sped by, and finally a shadowy figure appeared on the screen.
“Oh!”
As the figure drew closer, the face started to become visible, though still blurry.
I instinctively leaned forward, eyes glued to the screen.
“Why? Does it look familiar?”
Right then, the entrance light flicked on, and the face became clear.
“……!”
Eyes wide, long straight hair falling down to the shoulders.
Seo Haim immediately jumped up.
“Oh, it’s her!”
“Why, do you know who that is?”
Manager Lee Jaeyoon’s eyes widened too as he checked the screen. He seemed to recognize her as well, his expression thoughtful.
I knew too.
I spoke up first.
“Lee Chaekyung.”
“What, you even know her name?”
“I saw her at a fan signing event.”
“That’s right, the beige knit….”
Lee Chaekyung.
She was the fan who caused a stir online with a post titled something like “Dead-eyed Male Idol Fan Meeting Experience.”
‘Seohan, do you remember me?’
‘You said you’d remember me last time.’
‘Hah, I’m disappointed.’
Well, I remembered you….
She’d shown signs of being a toxic solo fan of Kang Siwoo and made uncomfortable comments to the other members, so I figured the hyungs remembered her too.
Especially Seo Haim, who was directly targeted by her—he must remember her clearly….
But then.
‘Next time, let’s meet somewhere closer, Seohan!’
I didn’t realize her parting words, said while waving, meant this.
After getting criticized by a prominent homepage master, maybe she felt it was hard to attend offline events, so now she’d escalated to actually breaking into our residence.
In any case, as soon as we identified the person, Manager Lee Jaeyoon seemed visibly relieved.
“Lee Chaekyung, got it. I’ll report it to the company.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Stay here for a few days… We might even have to move the dorm.”
Since she managed to get in even after the passcode was changed, there was a chance she had installed a camera nearby.
Until it was confirmed to be completely safe, we’d have to stay at the hotel, and they might seriously consider relocating the dorm altogether.
Manager Lee Jaeyoon nodded and added,
“The company will take care of it, so don’t worry too much.”
“Okay.”
“Oh, and just ignore the articles.”
Things were about to get loud soon.
.
.
.
[Stardust Dorm Unauthorized Intrusion, Doubles’ Sasaeng to Face ‘Legal Action’]
On the 9th, a sasaeng reportedly broke into Stardust’s dorm, shocking the public.
The CCTV captured her brazenly entering through the front door, and the police are currently investigating.
Doubles Entertainment has announced they will take strong legal action against sasaeng behavior, not only for interfering with artists’ unofficial schedules but also for invading their private spaces.
—A sasaeng broke into their dorm??? This is actually insane.
—Ugh, the crazy girl was apparently caught by the members, they must’ve been so scared.
└Please let her rot in jail.
└Fr, they keep letting them off easy, and that’s why this keeps happening.
—I was stunned when I heard she just confidently unlocked the door and walked in… Please move the boys to a new dorm and tighten security with double or triple layersㅠㅠ
—There’s more than one sasaeng who creepily tracks their every schedule—lock all of them up if you want peace.
└There must be tons of homepage masters among them too. Fans keep feeding them attention, and that’s why they get bolder.
└Exactly lol seriously stop engaging with sasaeng homepage masters.
—Don’t just say you’ll take strong action—please actually file trespassing charges this time. No normal fan will object to throwing a sasaeng in jail.
└Our boys deserve to see only good things, sigh…
└Agree 2222 Please…
As news of a sasaeng breaking into Stardust’s dorm spread, online communities exploded.
“Is she out of her mind?”
Dusty’s Yoojin muttered a low curse as she read the article.
A dorm break-in? The sheer audacity of unlocking the passcode and walking in left her speechless.
She checked JjaekJjaek, and sure enough, keywords like ‘Stardust’, ‘dorm intrusion’, and ‘crazy sasaeng’ were trending in real-time.
The reactions were predictable.
Half the posts were criticizing Doubles, the other half were furious at the sasaeng.
Among the reactions, one secret account caught her eye.
Agxhjsu@ddiwa12
The sasaeng incident involving Universe Dust
It was that beige knit lunatic who did it
└Who’s that?
└The one who dissed Kang Siwoo at the fan signing, yeah
└The one who called Seo Haim dead-eyed?
“What the hell is this.”
Dusty Yoojin’s brow furrowed.
If it was the “beige knit nutcase,” Yoojin, who had gone through every post-fan-signing report meticulously, knew who that was.
“This is a mess.”
The quote tweets below were leaking the sasaeng’s personal info.
—Born in 9x, her name’s Lxx. Met her offline lol
—She’s always been weird. Even back in the Starf era, she was doing sasaeng stuff.
└She wasn’t a sasaeng back then, was she?
└She totally was.
—Yikes, lawsuit material, but everyone’s afraid to say anything.
└Like idol, like fan—look at these clowns stirring stuff up lol
└??
└Why are you dragging unrelated people into this
One clickbait post always invites another.
Sasaengs deserved all the criticism, but if this kind of drama kept popping up during content droughts, even the fandom’s mood could get exhausted.
“Ugh, this is such a headache.”
Dusty Yoojin scrolled with a frown.
Unless new content dropped, this witch hunt energy was going to linger… worrying.
If someone captured screenshots and uploaded them to the forums, the fire would rage on even longer.
Just when she was hoping for the situation to settle on its own—
Ding—
Her YouTube alert rang out.
“……!”
[Universe Dust Debate Tournament, Sequel to Dusty Campus: ‘3-Minute Debate Battle’]
It was a new self-content release to douse the flames.
“Doubles is really doing their job…!”
Oh my god.
Dusty Yoojin silently sent her deepest thanks to the self-content team and quickly clicked the video.
In front of the lecture room set, similar to last time’s Dusty Campus, a screen displayed the first question of the Universe Dust Debate Tournament.
[Raising ten Do Seohans the size of hamsters vs. raising one hamster the size of Do Seohan]
Faced with the bizarre question, Kang Siwoo immediately frowned and muttered,
“At least Seohan is cute, but a hamster….”
Isn’t that usually the opposite?