...For now, I kept listening to the recording.

The more I listened, the more certain I was that it was the conversation I had with Choi Wongil on the stairs outside the MBS station.

'I'm doomed.'

Choi Wongil's self-excuses while mentioning others, continued in a low-pitched tone.

In fact, it was a build-up that would make you swear even if you only listened to it this far. Because he was constantly arguing and blaming others and crying.

But behind this, the magic of editing was also applied. The words were put in new places.

Originally, Choi Wongil's answer, which should have come later in the family question, suddenly came up at the end of that conversation.

Thanks to that, the nuance became much weirder.

'Choi Wongil came out even more ruthless than before.'

As soon as I brought up family matters, his immediate reply sounded like 'Yes, living as an orphan like you is a bit different but I only envy your career.'

Of course, there were no traces of Choi Wongil's apology afterwards. After a few more seconds of crackling, the video ended.

The blank part was made as if Park Moondae was flustered by Choi Wongil's immediate answer and was left speechless.

It seemed like that was also intentional.

"...Hmm."

I looked at the comments again.

First of all, there was one best comment written by interpreting Choi Wongil's words in a more radical tone than the original.

It was the comment I read earlier.

And the next most recommended comment was... well, it was really as expected.

It was half about my story.

'...Number 1.'

Since there was number '2' attached to the video title, it seemed that there was even number 1.

I clicked on the link in the comment.

A low-resolution camera showed Choi Wongil, who was sitting on the stairs outside the broadcasting station and muttering to himself.

'They hauled as much as they could.'

It was evident that it was taken with a smartphone and was zoomed in.

Choi Wongil was muttering something to himself, but it seemed that he was mentally pushed to the limit and did not even know what he was talking about.

The problem was that... he was aiming at netizens in the contents.

Actually, this was something Choi Wongil should be allowed to say. He was publically shamed like that on the internet so he might say things like that to advice and assure himself.

In fact, it could be sympathetic.

However, it was perfect for those who had cursed Choi Wongil ever since to see his stomach churn.

Even here, the criticism and sneering in the comments were unstoppable. It must be because of the justification given by the well-edited recording of the conversation he had with me.

"..."

My head was pounding.

First of all, I knew that this wasn't meant to be aimed at me.

'They're trying to get Choi Wongil.'

It was clear when I saw how the recording was carefully edited and uploaded.

It seemed like the guy I saw under the stairs at the broadcasting station was this bastard.

Seeing that they didn't upload it at the time and saved it until Choi Wongil's group debut article appeared, they were determined.

'And I was used here.'

The fact that this bastard used Park Moondae as firewood to make it bigger was baffling.

Seeing the comments that sympathized and defended me?

It was easy to mistake it as a good thing because public opinion was favorable, but it was absolutely not.

This was because it meant that the image of having an unfortunate family history, that was barely buried in the background narrative, had risen out of the water again.

The posts uploaded immediately on social media were like this.

They weren't even TeStar's fan accounts.

'...It's long past the stage where I could benefit from something like this.'

This topic was rather a hindrance now that it wasn't an audition show where even one vote mattered, and our group has succeeded in establishing ourselves.

It was because the image would deteriorate.

Imagine that when people saw Park Moondae, they would think of the shockingly unfortunate past before the performances or the group image.

And even during TeStar's new album promotions at that.

It was a perfect situation for people to get tired of content that should be enjoyed without much thoughts.

'...I'd rather be a crybaby and seem funny.'

In other words, this situation was bad news for me too.

'Just what's going on right on the day of the first comeback broadcast...'

I was already tired.

"...Sigh."

First of all, let's control the situation.

I informed the manager of the situation right away.

And after confirming that the manager ran out with his smartphone, I immediately looked for Gold 1 in my contacts.

Ryu Chungwoo immediately talked to me after checking up on my behavior.

"What's going on?"

"...Check WeTube's Top 5 popular videos... no, check the Top 3."

The real-time ranking was already going up.

I was going crazy.

Keun Sejin came running as he probably had already checked it.

"Is this really Choi Wongil?"

"The nuance changed since it was edited. Wait a minute."

Gold 1 finally answered the phone.

"Hyung."

"I saw it."

"It was edited. It wasn't at that level of rudeness, and Choi Wongil apologized afterwards."

I could hear him sigh in relief.

"Does the company over there know everything?"

Gold 1 sighed heavily.

"..."

"Yes. I told them."

Perhaps the agencies were already in contact with each other.

Gold 1 also offered me a few words of consolation and then hurriedly hung up.

And I got a rough idea of the situation.

'Choi Wongil... might get cut from the debut group like this.'

Public opinion was destructive for the other company as well, so it seemed that they were slowly turning their backs. The nuance meant that they would cut him out if the responses weren't good even after the explanation.

And seeing that Choi Wongil wasn't in a good condition... Wait, this didn't feel right.

That guy wouldn't be thinking of anything weird, right?

"..."

I broke out in a cold sweat.

The conclusion... could end up with someone's life.

'If I'm late, the recoil will be huge.'

As this controversy continued to reproduce, it would get bigger and bigger. And let's say that the agency had suffered losses and Choi Wongil, who was in bad shape, had been cleared with the explanation after hitting rock bottom.

Even if the situation settled down then, the backlash would be pouring on me.

Why?

Because the head-to-head comparison of the good and evil relationship between me and Choi Wongil has been drawn.

Let's look at it objectively. What I said in this recording was not a very good statement. It was just something an idol would say in moderation in front of a quarrel.

But now in this, it sounded like I ruthlessly put out some kind of saintly remark.

This was because making me seem like a pitiful and kind victim gave a better standpoint to curse at Choi Wongil.

However, if Choi Wongil got beaten one after another and only later got cleared, the sympathy of public opinion would rise and the situation would be reversed.

Perhaps in this way, Park Moondae's fans would likely to be struck for creating an image of Park Moondae as a victim and attracting public opinion.

Of course, in this process, Park Moondae's past controversies would come up again.

It would just be another punching round of exciting justice implementation for people.

'Absolutely not.'

Before it could develop to that point, the incident should be settled.

Choi Wongil has also suffered too much because of this misunderstanding and the young guy had experienced too much bitterness.

'I need to shake it off quickly.'

I had no choice but to tie it up before the articles appeared on the main pages so Choi Wongil wouldn't be screwed.

After a quick phone interview with the company through the manager, I received a confirmation right away.

"What are you going to do?"

Bae Sejin sneaked up and asked.

Looking at the atmosphere, it seemed that the situation had already spread to the members.

"I should give an explanation."

"On TeStar's account?"

"No."

Bae Sejin seemed to be thinking about the time when he posted his statement, but this was not that kind of the case now.

'If I upload it myself, the topic gets bigger.'

Then, even the attention that TeStar's comeback received might become the subject of controversy.

However, if only the company made an official statement, there would definitely be responses like 'there was already an agreement between companies, Park Moondae is done' coming out.

Then there was only one way.

It was to use a third party.

I called Gold 1 again.

"Hyung, do you have time?"

"It's similar. I'd like to make a message log"

The live performance was just around the corner. Let's make the evidence in 30 minutes.

* * *

Choi Wongil was beaten from all directions by the excited aggro, the public that was immersed in the situation, and by Park Moondae's angry fans.

The news of the recording was spreading without reinterpretation, as few people stood up for it.

In the meantime, Park Moondae's personality value temporarily peaked.

From recent times to the beginning of the airing of , all sorts of nice stories were being brought up.

However, Park Moondae's fans felt complicated about this.

Various public opinions swirled, from those who were angry with Choi Wongil to those who were worried about the aftermath, but all of them were bewildered by this sudden situation.

It was at that point that a post was uploaded on Gold 1's social media.

The picture that was uploaded... was Gold 1's own chatroom screenshot.

And the name of the chatroom marked at the top was 'Park Moondae dongsaeng'.

The content of the screenshot started with Gold 1's first message.

The link was of course to the 'Choi Wongil Recording 2' video.

And after just as much time as the duration of the video, a reply came.

And unlike some other agencies, Gold 1's agency did its work well and spread articles in line with the fluctuating public opinion and took control of the best comments on Wetube.

As such, criticism of Choi Wongil began to subside before the water level reached an irreversible point and before it was caught on the main portals.

When the people who were cursing felt ashamed and the excitement cooled down, the arrow of criticism went toward the person who manipulated the recording.

As soon as the music show ended, Park Moondae immediately grabbed his phone and quickly checked the situation.

* * *

'For now, I put out the fire in a hurry.'

I sighed as I turned off my smartphone screen.

However, this response was only a stopgap measure.

Once this uploader of the recording held onto something else, Choi Wongil could face another roller-coaster-level direct hit.

And I still had a long way to go.

The story of my family history that once emerged had yet to be sealed.

In addition, the responses to the explanation article I just saw in the comments were uncomfortable.

To sum it up, it was just 'Kind Moondae let it go so nicely and gently'.

No matter how much I tweaked it, the dispute that Choi Wongil had in front of me did not go away, so my correction message to Gold 1 was misrepresented as me having a kind heart full of consideration.

If it had ended there, it would have been fizzled out but the problem was that the work has been done.

Choi Wongil's agency seemed to be worried that the article itself might cause conflict.

So, perhaps they wanted to completely change the topic and focused on Park Moondae's 'kind treatment' rather than on Choi Wongil, unraveling the article and pushing public opinion.

The result was the comments I saw earlier.

'This is cheap.'

I didn't feel good about this.

A saint. An angel. The quicker you attached these modifiers, the quicker they were removed.

Even a single pod could ruin your image, but the problem was that there wouldn't be just one or two people waiting to catch that pod.

'I bet the people making the card news to prevent us from getting the Rookie of the Year award didn't suddenly disappear.'