Chapter 261: Believe It or Not (1)
Bang—!
The door slammed shut so hard it felt like it would break off its hinges. Sung Jihoo whipped his head around with a startled expression.
“Hey!”
Immediately, one of the members shouted through gritted teeth.
“Choi Yeonwoo! What the hell are you doing right now?”
“Leave him alone… he said he’s not in the mood to talk.”
“In the mood? Is this really the time to care about moods?”
Sung Jihoo squeezed his eyes shut.
He couldn’t confidently say they were a team bound by more than business, but over the years they had definitely become close.
Other than minor arguments, they had never once disagreed on anything important. This was the first time the atmosphere in the dorm had sunk this cold.
Tiple’s main rapper, Taebin, let out a sigh and asked,
“Jihoo hyung, even you think it’s basically confirmed, right?”
“…….”
“Choi Yeonwoo really did drugs, didn’t he?”
Instead of answering, Sung Jihoo bit down hard on his lower lip.
His eyelids trembled faintly, but there was only one thing he could say in this situation.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him do drugs.”
Had Choi Yeonwoo ever acted strange before?
Absolutely not.
The bright, lively eyes he’d had since debut were still the same, and he had never shown signs of losing his初心 or acting lazy.
There was only one thing bothering him….
Starting last year, several members had moved out to live independently, and Choi Yeonwoo had also begun spending less time at the dorm….
“I want to believe him.”
Sung Jihoo stared blankly into space as he spoke.
“He said it wasn’t him.”
“Ha… this is driving me insane.”
Tiple’s lead dancer, Ren, raked a hand through his hair and sighed heavily. His sharp voice burst out.
“I want to believe him too. What, you think I’m doing this because I don’t want to trust my own member? But fuck. Even if I want to trust him, how are we supposed to when he’s clamming up like that? If we blindly shield him and it turns out true, we’re all going down together!”
Bang—!
Right then, the door burst open violently. Choi Yeonwoo stood there glaring at them with his fists tightly clenched.
“I said I didn’t do it!”
Sung Jihoo held his throbbing head and sighed.
“Let’s… let’s calm down and talk.”
As if calmness would work in a situation like this.
Everyone was emotional. There was no way this could become a proper conversation.
Choi Yeonwoo shouted through gritted teeth.
“How… how is nobody willing to believe me?! I said I didn’t do it!”
Ren refused to back down either.
“Then why would your name come out of the mouth of some trainee who barely even knows you?”
Smoke only comes from a chimney if there’s fire.
At Ren’s cold remark, Choi Yeonwoo stammered slightly.
“M-Maybe he hated me.”
“What kind of bullshit is that? That video got spread around, and he’s getting investigated too. You think he’d do drugs himself just to screw you over? Who the hell would believe that?”
Ren was right.
This wasn’t some minor issue. If it was a drug scandal, there was no way that trainee would’ve spread a leaked livestream clip that was practically self-reporting.
Under the circumstances, Choi Yeonwoo did look suspicious. That was exactly why every online community was on fire right now.
“I seriously don’t know him.”
“You really never met him before?”
“Yeonwoo, you can’t lie to us too.”
Unable to hold back anymore, Taebin stepped in. He was trying to calm the already panicked Choi Yeonwoo and somehow get a proper conversation going.
“Just tell us honestly. Then the company can at least do something.”
“I did meet him before….”
“See? I told you. The moment that bastard opens his mouth, nothing but lies come out.”
“Hey, knock it off already.”
Choi Yeonwoo wiped his face roughly and exhaled sharply.
Ren stared at him coldly and asked,
“Tell the truth. There’s something bothering you, isn’t there?”
“…Ha.”
“I’ve watched that bastard for over eight years. You think I wouldn’t know? If he were really innocent, he’d be yelling that he didn’t do it until the very end instead of acting all frustrating like this.”
Instead of answering, Choi Yeonwoo bit hard on his lower lip.
They had spent eight years together. At this point, they could practically read each other’s thoughts just from eye contact. There was no way he could solve this just by covering it up with lies.
“…….”
Without pressuring him, Sung Jihoo simply waited for Choi Yeonwoo to speak.
After a long silence, Choi Yeonwoo slowly parted his lips.
“I did drink with him before….”
It was a completely unfamiliar sight—Choi Yeonwoo looking utterly intimidated. Hesitating awkwardly, he lowered his head deeply.
“It wasn’t some weird gathering, seriously… I just met them once or twice because I said I’d buy the younger guys drinks.”
For some reason, his excuses kept getting longer.
“We were from the same agency, and there was a trainee I was close with… I bought them meals a few times, and it just kind of happened. It wasn’t anywhere strange. Just a normal bar….”
“So anyway, you did see him there.”
“That part is true, but….”
Sung Jihoo pressed hard against his temples and sighed.
There was probably only one reason Choi Yeonwoo kept talking in circles like this.
He wasn’t confident in himself.
Frowning slightly, Sung Jihoo asked,
“…Don’t tell me you blacked out?”
The only response was silence.
*＊*
[Doubles says they’re still checking into it lol]
This is basically confirmed, right??
If he’s innocent, then why can’t he just say so? This is seriously disappointing….
* Honestly shocking because he never seemed like that type at all. Even the fans are losing it.
└ Choi Yeonwoo doing drugs… seriously the most shocking entertainment news this year.
└ They said they’re still checkingㅠㅠ let’s stay neutral.
└ LOLLLLL how long are they gonna “check”? Until the group disbands?
└ “Staying neutral” isn’t what you say in situations like this~ this is what you call basically confirmed lol
* I used to brag that my idols never had scandals, and now after eight years since debut they blow up like this…Haha
└ Seriously….
└ Yeonwoo, I liked you… let’s never meet again….
└ Even though Doubles hasn’t released a statement for three days, I still want to believe Yeonwoo… am I hopelessly delusional….
* Choi Yeonwoo, you’re good at communicating with fans, aren’t you? At least turn on a livestream and say something. Can’t you see your fans are dying inside?
└ Ah ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└ Seriously feels so suffocating I could die.
└ 2222 If you really cared about the fans, you shouldn’t be keeping your mouth shut like this….
└ He’s staying silent because he has nothing to say.
└ Fuck… Yeonwoo, what were you lacking that you ended up doing drugs?
* So Tiple is going downhill too… I thought these guys would stay on top forever.
└ So that’s why Doubles hurriedly raised Stardustㅋㅋㅋ they must’ve predicted the downfall.
└ This is not the opinion of Dusties….
└ Don’t drag our kids into this;; it’s pissing me off.
Even after scrolling and scrolling, the comments never ended.
The drug allegations surrounding a top-tier idol group member were apparently sensational enough for the public too, because the topic hadn’t left the real-time trending posts for days.
Most of them were mocking Tiple as well.
“The reactions are worse than I expected.”
Jin Sehyun muttered quietly with a darkened expression.
I felt just as complicated.
“…….”
Before the regression, I vaguely remembered seeing this issue on the news.
Back then, I had absolutely no connection to Choi Yeonwoo, so it had just passed by as another headline… but now things were a little different.
“He seemed like a decent person.”
He had such a soft and easygoing personality that it was hard to believe he’d survived that brutal entertainment industry for so long.
Maybe it was because they were both main vocals, but he was actually pretty similar to Seo Ian.
With comments this harsh, he was probably deeply hurt….
“But then why isn’t he explaining himself?”
“Hm?”
“Senior Choi Yeonwoo. Ah… this is a bit sensitive to say, but even the company isn’t making a statement, so it kind of feels like it might really be true.”
At Jin Sehyun’s words, I swallowed dryly.
“Mm….”
The truth was, I already knew.
It would all come to light eventually, but Choi Yeonwoo hadn’t done drugs.
If a real drug scandal had happened in the first place, there was no way Tiple would’ve remained at the top for so long.
“There’s probably some misunderstanding.”
Hwang Jiwoon probably hadn’t fabricated everything from beginning to end. There must’ve been something that made him mistakenly believe Choi Yeonwoo had done drugs… and all we had to do was uncover that misunderstanding.
Before that, though, there was something else that had to be done first.
“So first, they need to make a statement.”
Before the rumors spiraled completely out of control, the company couldn’t just keep sitting back anymore.
*＊*
Doubles’ practice room.
A familiar face waved from afar as he walked over.
“Ah, things have been so hectic because of the group.”
The face of Sung Jihoo, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, looked unusually gaunt today.
After the article broke out, he’d probably suffered a lot mentally.
“…Yes, I heard.”
I nodded and carefully chose my words.
In truth, I was the one who had called Sung Jihoo here.
“It’s true that I asked to meet because of that issue.”
“Because of Yeonwoo?”
I owed Tiple a lot.
Especially Senior Jihoo.
It was true that my feelings had been shaken because he was my role model, but let’s just call this a small repayment.
If I could help, I wanted to try anything.
“I know Hwang Jiwoon a little….”
“Ah. Were you trainees together?”
“Yes. Our trainee periods overlapped for a bit.”
We weren’t actually close.
At most, we were just acquainted enough to recognize each other.
At this point, I had no intention of directly contacting someone as dangerous as Hwang Jiwoon.
So this was merely a lead-in to bring up something else.
“So anyway, I wanted to know what exactly you’re worried about right now, sunbae.”
“…….”
Sung Jihoo’s expression darkened slightly.
Since the incident was still ongoing, he seemed understandably cautious.
After hesitating for a moment, Sung Jihoo spoke with difficulty.
“…He said they drank together.”
“Ah.”
“And I think he blacked out too. That’s probably why he says he can’t explain things…. He’s being very cautious about it.”
It seemed they were worried that if they acted rashly and his test came back positive, things would get worse, so they were trying to build some kind of alibi first.
Maybe they were preparing a story with the company along the lines of him unknowingly smoking something….
I shook my head as I looked back at Sung Jihoo.
“In that case, I think you should just respond aggressively.”
“…What?”
“This is just my intuition, but there’s no way Senior Yeonwoo would ever do drugs.”