Chapter 262: Believe It or Not (2)
“Dragging things out won’t benefit anyone anyway.”
I knew.
Choi Yeonwoo would test negative on both the rapid drug test and the detailed examination.
Because he hadn’t done drugs in the first place.
I didn’t know exactly where or how things had gotten twisted, but the only reason Choi Yeonwoo got caught up in this mess was because he had unbelievably bad luck.
But even if his innocence was eventually proven, once things dragged on too long, people would inevitably start saying things like this.
‘Well, guess he had something to hide.’
If he’d really been confident from the start, wouldn’t he have denied it immediately?
The moment that label stuck, there was no turning back.
In fact, back then too, he’d gotten even more hate because the explanation had been delayed awkwardly.
In the end, his innocence would be proven anyway, but he’d only ended up suffering mentally for a pointless amount of time.
I slowly opened my tightly shut eyes and spoke.
“That’s why we have no choice but to believe him.”
Let’s say, just hypothetically, that he really had done drugs.
At that point, there wouldn’t be any image left worth protecting anyway.
In that case, the correct move would’ve been to deny everything first.
“Senior Yeonwoo isn’t that kind of person.”
Instead of wasting time dragging things out, putting out the immediate fire came first.
He was probably scared too, but this was the moment the entire team had to take a gamble.
“You believe him too, don’t you, sunbae?”
“…I do.”
Because they were on the same team.
Maybe saying he believed him because of that was true too, but….
He believed because he had to.
Because right now, that was the most rational choice.
---
[Tiple’s Choi Yeonwoo Speaks Up About Drug Controversy, “Groundless Rumors”]
Choi Yeonwoo of Tiple has addressed the recent drug controversy that arose through a livestream broadcast. Choi Yeonwoo stated that he was willing to cooperate with any investigation if necessary.
Alongside the statement, Doubles also announced that they would respond strongly against all false rumors.
* The statement’s out ㄷㄷ Apparently he even did a livestream.
└ He said it absolutely wasn’t true and asked people to trust him….
└ Ah ㅠㅠㅠ Yeonwoo ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└ Seems like he really suffered mentally. Said he struggled over where to even begin explaining things.
└ There’s no way our bright-eyed Yeonwoo would do drugs. He’s literally an innocent-eyes idol…?
└ ㅇㅈ His physiognomy doesn’t have drugs in it.
* But honestly, proving someone did drugs is easy. Proving they didn’t is the hard partㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└ Still, thank you for finding the courage to speak up like fans wanted….
└ Looking at these comments, you’d think he was already proven innocentㅋㅋㅋ the druggie shielding is insane.
└ Nothing’s even been confirmed yet and you’re already calling him a druggie ㅇㅈㄹ
└ Leave people like that alone. Even if he’s proven innocent, they’ll still talk shit.
└ Do they not know the principle of presumed innocence???
* Who even is this guy? Nobody cares, so why’s he explaining himself?
└ ㅅㅂㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ what kind of comment is this now
└ If he doesn’t explain himself people complain… if he does explain himself people still complain…. This is why celebrities have it so hard.
└ You people were the ones treating Choi Yeonwoo like a druggie firstㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ He’s a top-tier idol and you’re saying “who’s this guy?”ㅋㅋㅋ ridiculous. Who even are you??
* Just stay neutral for now. Nothing’s been confirmed yet.
└ Nothing came out in the first place, people just tore him apart because some trainee said random bullshit.
└ Choi Yeonwoo is seriously so pitiful….
└ He could still actually be a druggie though, so what’s pitiful?
└ Fuck, our idol literally said he didn’t do it;;
Reporter Lee Doyeon scanned through the article with her eyes as she rapidly scrolled down.
The article she had uploaded during the day had already exploded with record-breaking views and climbed into the real-time trending news section.
A drug scandal involving a top-tier idol….
Naturally, countless eyes were watching.
To someone like her, who had absolutely no connection to Choi Yeonwoo, it should’ve been nothing more than an opportunity to pull massive view counts.
But this time was different.
There was someone who had asked her for a favor.
‘It’s pretty sensational, isn’t it? Might as well pull some views while you can.’
The one who had come to see her for the first time in a while with that indifferent face was the bold little brat, Do Seohan.
Though he talked like that, it was obvious he had come running over to help because Choi Yeonwoo was his senior from the same agency.
Honestly, she could never fully figure him out.
He was smart and rational beyond his years, yet around his own people, he became endlessly softhearted.
That was the kind of kid Do Seohan was.
Reporter Lee Doyeon let out a dry laugh and asked,
‘Did you really come trotting all the way here just to help Choi Yeonwoo?’
‘Yeah. I’ve received a lot from him. People from the same family should help each other out.’
‘But I’m not the police~.’
‘I’ll help you.’
Reporter Lee Doyeon’s point had been that if he wanted to prove innocence, he should go to the police.
But the audacious Do Seohan brought her an unexpected proposal.
‘I know the owner of that secret account.’
‘…Hm?’
‘The person who first spread the leaked clip. Try getting the full livestream recording from them. It’s a little difficult for me to move directly myself….’
He knew the owner of the secret account?
The thought slipped out of Reporter Lee Doyeon’s mouth before she realized it.
‘A too-smart little brother-in-law is kind of inconvenient….’
‘Pardon?’
‘…What?’
Anyway, that was how it happened….
From a reporter’s perspective, there was no reason to refuse when someone was practically spoon-feeding her a story.
Thanks to that, she managed to contact the owner of the secret account that very same day.
[Hello, this is Reporter Lee Doyeon.]
She immediately sent a lengthy email along with a brief explanation.
Honestly, even then she hadn’t expected much and had only tried reaching out casually….
Ding—.
After an endless wait, a reply finally came.
[I have tons of evidence to completely ruin Hwang Jiwoon, so please expose him before that bastard debuts. Someone like him should never become an idol.]
Just as Seohan had said, the response came attached with the full recording file of the leaked livestream.
Reporter Lee Doyeon clicked her mouse and opened the file.
And then.
“Huh?”
As she watched the recording, Reporter Lee Doyeon’s eyes slowly widened.
---
A small handbook that fit in one hand.
Ahead of our Japanese debut, I had bought a Japanese conversation book and was reading through it.
With a serious expression, I slowly read the first sentence aloud.
“Watashi…to… Jin Sehyun wa tomodachi…desu….”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means ‘Jin Sehyun and I are friends.’”
Jin Sehyun blinked slowly.
Then he pouted slightly and muttered,
“…Since when are you my friend?”
“You’re not?”
“I’m your hyung, punk.”
“Why bother nitpicking over stuff like that? We’re all growing old together anyway.”
“You seriously say the weirdest things….”
Cha Seongbin clicked his tongue in disbelief.
“You tiny little brats talking like that~.”
“Do Seohan’s gotten too big to be called tiny though.”
A giant 183cm hamster that barely fit into pockets.
I lowered my gaze back to the handbook and continued reading.
“Itadakimasu!”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means ‘Thank you for the meal.’”
“N-No, practice lines we could actually use at our concert instead.”
“Ah.”
Maybe I’d picked a book that was too practical.
“How do you say ‘I love Dusty’ in Japanese?”
“I’ll run it through Papago.”
Suddenly, I remembered something Manager Lee Jaeyoon had said.
The last thing I’d heard was that there had been some minor friction with the Japanese broadcasting station regarding our Japanese debut plans, but I wasn’t sure whether things were progressing well.
The company had been too overwhelmed because of the Choi Yeonwoo situation.
“Dusty suki desu!”
“Oh, you found it?”
“Yeah, I think this is right. Guess I should start practicing from today.”
There were only two days left until Christmas Eve.
It seemed the self-content <Santa, Please Take Care of Rudolph> was still being uploaded diligently, and the response looked pretty good.
At that moment, Cha Seongbin turned his head and casually asked,
“What’s everyone doing on Christmas?”
“Uh….”
Well, what was there to do?
There’d obviously be a Christmas livestream.
Just like last year, we’d probably end up decorating trees or something.
They’d probably cut a cake to set the mood too, but since I was dieting, I couldn’t really enjoy it comfortably.
And after setting all those things aside….
“…Practice.”
“Ah.”
For some reason, the atmosphere suddenly turned solemn.
---
The cold wind that stung the tip of my nose had become even sharper.
Winter had finally arrived.
The chill the day after snowfall was far too cold for a thin padded jacket to block out completely.
Crunch, crunch.
I carefully stepped into the corner of the parking lot where the snow still hadn’t been cleared away.
Every time my feet sank deeply into the snow with soft squeaking sounds, laughter naturally escaped me.
“Wow, it snowed way more than I thought yesterday.”
At this point, even if it wasn’t technically a White Christmas, couldn’t we at least count it as a half-White Christmas?
Ha Junseo walked over with a tumbler in one hand.
Shockingly, it contained iced Americano.
Seo Haim turned toward him in horror.
“This is the true spirit of iced Americano-in-winter…?”
“Mmm, the atmosphere’s nice. Should we play some carols?”
Ignoring Seo Haim’s shocked face, Ha Junseo calmly changed the topic.
“Hyung, you’re seriously going to freeze to death like that.”
“But hot Americano tastes slightly more bitter….”
“That’s because you keep putting six shots in it!”
He kind of seemed frail at times, but seeing how he never even caught a cold despite those habits, maybe he was sturdier than he looked.
“Try putting on some carols.”
“Main vocal Ian says he’ll sing for us refreshingly.”
“Huh?”
“Haim-ah, it’s not going to snow anymore today, right?”
“I think it already stopped now!”
The members had all crowded outside together just to look at the snow.
Seo Ian smiled brightly and poked at a snowball with his bare hands.
“We said we were gonna build a snowman yesterday.”
“That was the plan, but it snowed too much.”
“True. With snow like that, we could’ve just stood outside and become snowmen ourselves.”
Still, since it was Christmas Eve, Seo Ian insisted that we should at least make one snowman and began gathering snow a bit later than everyone else.
The moment he grabbed a handful of snow, his hands trembled violently.
“Ah. C-Cold.”
“You’re doing that barehanded?”
“Yeah. But it’s not packing together very well.”
After just one day, the fluffy snow had already dried out.
Maybe because the weather had gotten colder, the snow kept crumbling apart, making it hard to shape into a snowman.
Seo Ian brushed off his hands with disappointment.
“Aww… this won’t work.”
Watching from a short distance away, Cha Seongbin casually threw out a comment.
“Ian-ah, forget the snowman for now.”
“Okay.”
“How about… we have a snowball fight instead?”
He never should’ve said that.