Chapter 211: Cha Seongbin’s Spinning Round and Round (1)
Gulp.
It felt like the sound of someone swallowing echoed all the way over here.
Han Ji-seok’s obvious gaze landed on us.
I tried to brush it off with an awkward smile, but the chilly air remained.
After boldly speaking out, Seo Haim was now belatedly sneaking glances at Han Ji-seok.
Her youthful face clearly showed signs of nervousness.
Han Ji-seok’s lower lip slowly parted.
“Ah, I see.”
Only after a long pause did a dry voice finally respond.
Han Ji-seok let out a hollow laugh and gave a slight nod.
“Go ahead.”
“Y-yes….”
Maybe it was a relief it ended here.
The suffocating tension made me want to get away as quickly as possible.
Just as we exchanged awkward goodbyes and turned to leave...
“What, hyung, you were here?”
A sudden voice rang out.
Do Seohan poked his head out from behind the door.
The air passage that had been blocked until now suddenly felt open again.
Seo Haim turned around and smiled brightly at Do Seohan.
“Oh, Seohan!”
“Ah. Hello. I’m Do Seohan from Stardust… Didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Ah….”
Do Seohan hesitated for a moment before bowing his head.
Han Ji-seok glanced coldly at the unexpected intruder.
However, he couldn’t openly show his discomfort.
“Nice to meet you. Did you two have a shoot today?”
“Not me. Seohan had a shoot…!”
Seo Haim now stood next to Do Seohan with a slightly more cheerful tone.
Han Ji-seok from Travel was indeed too burdensome a person for someone as innocent as Seo Haim to handle alone.
Still, just having the youngest member here made me feel like I had someone on my side.
Even for him, facing two against one would be uncomfortable.
Han Ji-seok seemed to truly intend to end the conversation and leave.
“Ah. I was just nearby for something. Let’s grab a meal next time we meet.”
“Uh, okay….”
“Hmm?”
At that moment, Han Ji-seok’s brows furrowed.
It was because Do Seohan, who had been fidgeting and looking down at him, was becoming irritating.
As if he had something to say.
“Is something wrong?”
At Han Ji-seok’s casual question, Do Seohan’s complexion darkened further.
After glancing at Han Ji-seok, his lips finally parted.
“Um… I think you should go quickly.”
“Pardon?”
Do Seohan turned to Han Ji-seok with a serious expression.
With the utmost caution in his voice, he added,
“Didn’t you see the article?”
Articles about Travel pop up as often as meals, but...
His strangely worried expression lingered in my mind.
Rustle.
Right then and there, Han Ji-seok pulled out his phone and immediately accessed the main page of the portal site.
And then—
[Travel’s Han Ji-seok's Private Life Controversy: Turning Point in a Prolonged Battle of Public Opinion?]
The moment he saw the article, Han Ji-seok’s expression went cold.
[I'm a classmate of Han Ji-seok from Travel….]
—thus began the long exposé post.
Its content was truly shocking.
It claimed Han Ji-seok had hung out with troublemaking kids and engaged in delinquency during school, along with leaked past photos he had uploaded himself to Stargram as a minor.
Photos showing him drinking and smoking with friends, and even a picture presumed to be taken at a motel.
Unless the photos were fabricated, each one could deal a heavy blow to Han Ji-seok.
The community exploded in no time.
[Whoa, CN really dropped a bomb. What kind of life did Han Ji-seok live?]
What even is this?
Those are all pictures he took himself?
Drinking and smoking is one thing, but motel pics? That’s next level.
Wasn’t he a minor back then?
—Timeline-wise, yeah, he was underage lol. The Stargram screenshot even had the date.
└222222 He was a minor, that’s why it's an even bigger issue lololololol
└He’s insane… A guy dreaming of becoming an idol uploading that himself??? Is this really a leak? Or a self-destruction?
└Honestly, both are true but it’s more like self-destruction.
└It’s totally self-destruction.
—Aren’t those pictures fake?
└Apparently not. My friend works in video production and said the chances of them being fake are low.
└Old classmates even came running with yearbook receipts and posted in bulk. Said he used to take other kids' money too lolol
└Even committed school violence? That’s wild.
—It’s more shocking this didn’t blow up until now.
└Because he’s too much of a nobody.
└Not even worth exposing since he’s a flop idol lololololol
└If he hadn’t stirred things up, he could’ve kept working. Though, maybe if he got famous later, it might’ve been different.
└Honestly, it’s better to get exposed after making it big… Right now it’s just adding boosters to a downward spiral haha.
[This feels like the final boss of mud-slinging battles.]
At this point, Travel’s idol career is over lol.
CN didn’t do anything right either, but both sides are definitely screwed.
—Didn’t Han Ji-seok have that passionate leader image? He sure was passionate in other ways too.
└LMAO the passion to go to a motel as a minor? Yeah, that’s something.
└Isn’t that illegal?
└If the photos were from when he was an adult, it’d just be image ruin~~ but since he was a minor, that’s criminal for sure lololol
└He sure lived a busy school life lololol
[Does this mean Travel is completely losing the public opinion battle?]
Looks like CN was desperate too.
They must’ve felt they were losing the public favor, so they even leaked his past photos;;
Han Ji-seok is terrible, but I hope CN stops running an entertainment business too. ^^
—I heard the very contract clause Travel insisted on was a complete lie. It's true that settlements are made after deducting investment returns, but that's how most entertainment companies operate, so it can't be helped. All other clauses were one-sided claims by Travel.
└Apparently the contract will be made public soon, is that right?
└I think they’ve already revealed parts of it.
└Damn, it’s blowing up for real.
—But was it CN who exposed this?
└Honestly, who else would it be?
└Just using good old deductive reasoning.
└Looks like they had no intention of renewing the contract and wanted to bury him for good….
“Hm….”
Click.
Do Seojun’s scrolling hand stopped.
His gaze fixed on the monitor grew heavier.
This was an incident bound to explode eventually.
It turned out CN had already approached that classmate as well….
All he had done was lightly nudge the trigger that was destined to be pulled one day.
Still, there was one thing that puzzled him.
How did Do Seohan catch wind of this issue slightly ahead of even CN, who had just started reaching out?
‘You know, Han Ji-seok from Travel. I heard he used to fool around back in school.’
‘I was wondering if you could look into it.’
At that moment, there had been certainty in his eyes.
Had the rumors about Han Ji-seok’s misbehavior been so widespread in the industry that they even reached someone like him?
‘If they were, I’m sure I would’ve heard of them too.’
In any case, setting all that aside.
What surprised him was the fact that Seohan had come to him—not anyone else—to cut off Han Ji-seok, who kept trying to entangle Stardust in awkward situations.
Choosing him, someone both reliable and trustworthy.
Seohan’s decision was clearly rational, and he wanted to tell him to do the same if he ever had another concern like this in the future.
Yet apart from that, there was now one undeniable fact he was beginning to feel.
His little brother had grown up.
And he resembled him quite a bit….
.
.
.
Around the time communities were abuzz with Han Ji-seok’s controversy.
I was standing in front of the camera.
“So! Where are we right now?”
“We’re at Hongdae Entrance Station!”
Cha Seongbin had been newly appointed as the main MC of the YouTube variety content <Spinning Round and Round>.
It was an experiential content series aiming to tackle various social issues in today’s spinning world from a new perspective.
All I had heard was that much beforehand—since it was the first episode being filmed today, I didn’t know any more details.
My schedule happened to be free, and since it was a show hosted by a fellow group member, I ended up being the first guest.
Even though I’m not someone who easily loses when it comes to energy.
Today’s opening felt like he had poured every ounce of his energy into it, perhaps because he was very determined in his new MC role.
“This is Cha Seongbin’s Spinning Round and Round! Let’s hear a self-introduction from today’s first guest, Do Seohan!”
“Hello! I’m Do Seohan, the youngest-on-top of Stardust!”
“He really is on top, literally.”
Laughter erupted on set at Cha Seongbin’s cheeky comment.
This hyung is definitely good at hosting.
Would’ve been such a waste if they didn’t give him a variety role.
Though I don’t have Seongbin’s innate variety skills, I’m still considered one of the variety members in the team, so I planned to give it my best.
With sparkling eyes, I continued listening to Cha Seongbin’s opening line.
“Today’s theme is… Can modern people survive a day without smartphones?!”
“…Really?”
“Wooooow!”
Today’s topic was smartphone addiction in modern life.
In other words, digital detox was the challenge we had to face today.
Honestly, I hadn’t heard what the topic was beforehand, so I was quite flustered.
“Seohan, do you think you can make it?”
“I’m pretty addicted myself….”
Am I going to drop in the Cicada rankings in just one day?
Still, I couldn’t mention Cicada stuff in public, so I just replied with trembling hands.
“You’re already struggling….”
“We’re not doing this all day, right?”
“Unfortunately, it is for the whole day.”
“Wow.”
A soft exclamation escaped me at the shocking news.
Meanwhile, Cha Seongbin received a long piece of paper from the production team.
“The staff just handed me a list, and apparently we have to complete the tasks on it without using smartphones.”
“Is computer okay?”
“Nope!”
That’s hopeless.
I peeked over and checked the list handed out by the staff.
[Find the way from Hongdae Entrance to the company without a map]
[Work out at the company gym (at least 1 hour)]
[Try out one activity of your choice]
Etc… we just had to pick three among them.
Even Cha Seongbin sighed after reading the list.
“Find the way without using NeXver Maps? Seohan, can you do it?”
“I’m terrible with directions. But honestly, working out without music sounds worse.”
“Music is my life~. Right, Seohan?”
But there wasn’t much time to complain.
The staff approached us with expectant eyes.
“Then we’ll be collecting your smartphones now.”
“Excuse me?”
“Please hand it over.”
And just like that, it was taken away.
“Ahhh….”
No, please.
I already feel like I’m going to lose my mind.