LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 194
Episode 194
Crunching on the carrot served as a basic side dish, Oh Yoori, who was already sipping her beer, looked at me, who was making a fuss, and asked:
“Now what’s got you all worked up? Did you get fired or something? Need me to introduce a lawyer?”
“…Honestly, getting fired would be a relief.”
Here I was, with only a month left on my contract. Gyeoul, Gaeul, and Yeoreum, who seemed hell-bent on sticking to the promises we made ages ago, even talked about marriage plans as if I was holding onto a dream.
After absorbing all this, Oh Yoori realized we were in a dire situation and said to me:
“Team Leader Seon, do you know something?”
“What?”
“They’re not the only ones whose contracts are ending. Mine is too.”
“Oh, right. Everyone aligned their timelines for the re-signing.”
“So, if they’re biting at you now, that doesn’t concern me at all, does it?”
What the heck is she talking about? Has her middle school syndrome flared up again?
“No, why would it go that way? It’s totally a big deal for you, a member of Girl Revolution! We’re all in this mess together! Or do you want to taste the scandal?”
“Well, even if a scandal breaks now, I’d just finish my contract, run away from TwoBear, and focus on my acting. No biggie.”
…Huh?
Wait, let’s think this through. If a scandal breaks now, what impact would it have on Oh Yoori?
Having exploded with her acting talent, she successfully entered potential level S, boasted active engagements over the last five years, and carved out her position as an acting idol. Not limiting herself to just being an idol, she even branched into art films and snagged the Best Actress award at the prestigious Heavens Film Festival, making her status in acting overshadow her original gig in the idol group.
With such a solid standing, a scandal erupts centering on Girl Revolution?
She could easily distance herself, change agencies, or publicly cut ties with us to avoid any messy association.
Either way, it wouldn’t impact Oh Yoori’s future earnings at all.
Right. I was the one in trouble, not her.
Catching onto my thought process, Oh Yoori nodded and stood up.
“In that sense, good luck. I’ve got to run and prepare for my next project.”
“Hey, wait a second! How can you just cut people off like that?”
I clung to the rather unattractive Oh Yoori.
“From my perspective, I’ve done my part. You know how much I’ve struggled by your side for the past five years, right? Phew, I’m just glad now that it’s finally someone else’s problem.”
“Think logically… Yeah, think logically, Yuri. Even if you leave, it’s not gonna be good if a scandal breaks out and we end up with bad reputations, right? One of your two weapons—acting and being an idol—is going to disappear.”
“My weapon isn’t going anywhere. It’s just the Girl Revolution that’s disappearing… If I feel like it later, I can do some solo activities while acting.”
Hmm, that’s a pretty rational judgment.
“I get it. We’ve really struggled a lot. But what happens to the friendship we’ve built through all that hardship? We’ve held an emergency committee meeting while downing beers to block scandals more than fifty times! Friendship, teamwork, loyalty, and cooperation! Where did it all go? We’ve been doing well together!”
Honestly, even though the two of us brainstorming didn’t often lead to great results, I had a strong feeling that if we hadn’t tried at all, we would have had a scandal with one of the three of us on the front page of entertainment news by now.
We were always giving it our all to try and prevent things from going south.
My partner, seeing me pleading, smiled brightly and said, “Come on, you know my personality. We’re just trying to survive here. This has been a business relationship, right? Now that the contract is over, let’s go our separate ways.”
“No way! You can’t leave me behind!”
“Why are you acting like this, Team Leader Seon? Be professional. At this point, just boldly declare, ‘Let’s date four people at once!’ and be done with it. If we all roll around in bed together, we can figure something out.”
“Wow, just because you got an ID now you’re throwing that around? You really think that’ll work? Those kids are way too innocent!”
“Innocent, you say?”
“….”
Facing Oh Yoori’s obvious gaze, I cautiously added, “Maybe there’s a bit of impurity…?”
“….”
“Forget it.”
With a big sigh, Oh Yoori sat back down and after I ordered another beer for myself, she asked, “So how did it end up like this?”
Contrary to her previous tone, she seemed very cooperative now; despite her words, it seemed she was actually willing to cooperate.
Even if you did that, it seems you were actually willing to cooperate.
Oh Yoori filled my cup with the served beer and said,
“Surely, wasn’t it because of Team Leader Seon’s Jiral that the sisters completely lost any rational attraction and started treating him just like a close friend? This feeling has been around for quite a while, right? Even from my perspective, it seems the sisters see Team Leader Seon more like family than as a potential partner.”
As I let go of the hem of Oh Yoori’s clothes I’d been clinging to and tried to take a sip of the beer, Oh Yoori skillfully clinked her glass against mine and continued,
“So basically, you just said something like, ‘The promise period is almost over, so let’s date right now,’ ‘I want to introduce you to my family,’ ‘Which place would be good for a honeymoon house?’ and then it suddenly changed from friendly friends to that kind of conversation? …What on earth did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything special. I just appeared on some variety shows and had discussions to prepare for the concert. I didn’t meet the kids during that process.”
Oh Yoori asked again, perplexed,
“How can the gaze of a friend shift back into romantic interest? And all at once?”
“We were fooled.”
“…Huh?”
“We were fooled by those kids.”
I revealed the truth I had unraveled.
“What do you mean? The whole ‘showing a disgusting side’ thing. It clearly had an effect, didn’t it?”
“Disgusting side? Cringe-worthy? I put in a lot of effort. Judging by their reactions, it seemed effective. When I wanted to scream ‘Could you please go back to your old self?’ during the middle of it, I almost ended up cheering instead. …But you see, all of that was an act.”
Oh Yoori swallowed hard and asked,
“What does that mean?”
“Our moves were read. We deliberately showed a ‘breaking the illusion’ performance to shift how those kids saw me, hoping they would start regarding me as a romantic interest. So, I ended up acting as if I was losing any romantic appeal.”
“And what’s the benefit of doing that?”
I knocked back all the beer in my glass and replied,
“Time with me.”
“…Ah.”
Oh Yoori let out a small exclamation, looking impressed.
“Crazy… So the reason Team Leader Seon returned all those days off to hang out with those three was to change how they saw him romantically, and if that intention seems effective, then Team Leader Seon can keep having personal time with them. So…”
“If it shows that the intention works, I might get to spend more personal time with Team Leader Seon. So….”
After nearly seven years of colleagues hiding the truth gave Oh Yoori some serious chills, she seemed to recall something and added more.
“Wait, even so, Team Leader Seon’s actions were really pretty off-putting, right? It could be that now they’ve adapted enough to pull off that act, but wasn’t the dislike I felt at the beginning real? If you think about it this way, we might have to view their current attitude a bit too negatively….”
“No. That’s not true.”
At my denial, Oh Yoori shook her head.
“No, this time, I think my reasoning is correct. The person in front of Team Leader Seon has talents that are among the best in the country when it comes to acting. Based on my judgment, if every moment was an act, there’s no way they could remain that consistent. Because feelings change based on stimuli, Team Leader Seon’s continued off-putting behavior should have led to responses that either intensified or dried up. But looking back, all the reactions from the sisters were consistent. This means they were acting based on the impressions shown at the start.”
I summarized her reasoning.
“Since the responses were the same as at first, it means they started acting from the middle. So the kids probably grew to dislike me. In other words, the plan isn’t a complete failure?”
“Right. If we provoke that negative feeling, we might make them face reality and it could be easier to break away than we thought….”
“Unfortunately, your reasoning is fundamentally wrong.”
“No, why…?”
I revealed the truth that I had only just realized after talking with them today.
“All three of their reactions were an act from start to finish.”
“….”
“From the beginning, the kids never once felt any dislike towards me.”
“….”
The room in the private bar, guaranteed for soundproofing, felt especially quiet. Oh Yoori, with a look of disbelief about the eerie silence, snapped back.
“No way, I could concede on Gaeul and Yeoreum, but even Gyeoul did that?”
I nodded without saying a word.
Confirming that strong agreement, Oh Yoori stared blankly at her beer glass and fell into silence for a while. Then she spoke more sincerely than ever.
“…What the hell, that’s really scary.”