In this group, if we were to rank the guys who were the most unlikely to have dating rumors breaking out, the guy, who was within the top two, had the word 'dating' added to the auto-completion of the search term.

"Let's take a look."

Keun Sejin, who came to his senses, immediately urged. I pressed on the search term 'Seon Ahyun dating'.

The first thing that popped out was this.

Shared information was attached to the basic criticism that had been seen on the surface when was in full swing.

This meant that the thing in trend wasn't a joke by the fans such as 'Seon Ahyun dating me', but a real dating rumor that had appeared from somewhere.

"Are there any organized posts?"

"Hold on."

I immediately accessed the bulletin board of a portal site where people posted celebrity gossip.

Sure enough, I saw a familiar name in second place.

"Twinty?"

A famous girl group, whose activities didn't even overlap with us, popped out.

'I've never seen them outside of the end-of-the-year programs and award ceremonies.'

It was awkward to even imagine that Seon Ahyun would separately go ask for her number.

'He needs to have the guts to do that.'

I pressed on the title reluctantly.

The well-attached texts with a detailed classification of images seemed plausible even if you just read them, but of course, there were many gaps.

Since it was all flimsily pieced together.

'The sunglasses and the watch are all presents from fans.'

On the night of Seon Ahyun's birthday, he took four hours to open the boxes of presents until Bae Sejin lost his temper and asked him to just stop and go to sleep.

'The phone. He's holding it for so long because he sends such long messages.'

The same was true for the interview. It was nothing but just putting together the situations.

However... a few things that made the situation very uncomfortable appeared in the comments.

Whether it was comments or posts, the number of dislikes versus likes was very high at about half and half, but the problem was that the number of likes was enormous.

It meant that the rumors were plausible.

"..."

"..."

Keun Sejin and I looked at the comments for a while without speaking a word.

Keun Sejin opened his mouth first.

"Should we tell?"

"Not to him. It would be better to tell the company."

"Hmm, I also thought so. Let's not show it to Ahyun."

It was better not to make him think useless things ahead of the comeback and only ask if he was close with this girl just in case.

However, our unspoken agreement was broken the very next moment.

"Wh-what...?"

"...!"

When I turned around, Seon Ahyun was holding a handful of chocolate bars.

I didn't think he would be going around looking for something else to give me.

"...It's nothing."

"D-did I make a mistake...?"

"Noo~ How could that be! We were just joking around~"

"B-but, you said you're telling the company."

"..."

"..."

In the end, Seon Ahyun heard about the mildly filtered version of the current dating rumors

"Ahyun-ah, people are asking if you're dating?"

"U-uh, huuh?!"

As we were briefing openly in the dance practice room, the rest of the guys naturally joined in the conversation shortly after.

"...There really are many people with nothing else to do. Are you really dating?"

Bae Sejin asked awkwardly. Seon Ahyun was startled.

"N-no...!"

"Then do you know this girl?"

"I-I don't..."

"Then may I ask where you took all these pictures?"

"That..."

Seon Ahyun slightly blushed.

"O-on my way to counseling, sometimes when I'm in a good mood... I-I take pictures of the roadside."

"Oh... that's nice."

"Well done."

Some awkward compliments poured in.

I see. It was of course a good thing that he enjoyed his spare time, but the problem was that the situation was twisted mercilessly.

And the rough picture as to why this happened came out.

'...Seems like the other person also receives counseling at the same place.'

The most likely circumstance was that the female idol, who was rumored to be dating Seon Ahyun, also received counseling there.

'The other person must have also taken pictures on the way from and to the counseling, so the attached comments were similar.'

It was a bit of a sensitive personal matter, though.

'In addition, it must have come to this point because of a stand-alone advertisement.'

Actually, 'the niece of the director of the advertiser's company' was a long-distance connection, but it was a problem because it seemed plausible when it was connected and written down.

In fact, there were quite a few cases where relationships started with such connections, so it could even more so be like that.

"W-will this turn into a big deal...? I should say sorry for the misunderstanding... and apologize or also give an explanation..."

"It won't spread. Don't post it."

"No, it's not even real so why would you apologize, Ahyun-ah~!"

In any case, rumors of dating with only circumstantial evidence and without actual evidence would fizzle out in social media or communities.

There was a high chance that giving out an excuse would just be asking for trouble.

'Since it will look like he's covering it up.'

Besides, on the day when it was revealed that he was going to the same place as the person he was rumored to be dating with, as much as the excuse worked, the controversy would blow up.

Pretending not to know was the answer.

'Although the only problem is that there will be people who really believe in it.'

The situation was plausible, so it was not good for the fandom to have the atmosphere of 'Ahyun seems to be dating but let's just move on'.

It was because some people would feel like they should be compensated. As in something like, 'I let this go but you can't even do this for me?'

And Seon Ahyun was the type to be weak to guilt and was very self-conscious. It was the perfect situation to drag him around if such an opinion surfaced.

He was like that even now.

"B-but... s-some people might be concerned."

"Ahyun-ah, if you react to rumors like this, they would be even more concerned."

"I-is that so?"

Ryu Chungwoo was right.

It would be best if Seon Ahyun could just brush it off and move on, saying 'that was nonsense~' without commenting on it.

'...The problem is that the method is vague.'

If the other members immediately uploaded pictures taken with Seon Ahyun at the location, it was like shouting 'I am conscious of the dating rumors'.

There would surely be people who refute that the company ordered it.

'I'd rather go at the source.'

However, no matter how terrible the source was, it wouldn't work in this kind of dating-related gossip. Since the gossip was not about an ethical issue.

'Hmm. Is it best to take a picture now, manipulate the time of the photo, and then mix things up?'

Occasionally, when photos of daily life came out well, they were uploaded on social media, and while mixing and uploading the pictures, there would be people digging it up even if the picture just casually passed by in the midst of other pictures.

Of course, the question is whether or not you could get caught.

I considered the method a little more carefully. It was because I wanted to shake this off and make the comeback cleanly.

"I-I'm sorry. Because of me..."

"How is this because of you? You just happened to get caught in the number of occurrences so don't worry about it."

"Moondae is right, Ahyun-ah. You don't have to worry too much."

I shrugged my shoulders at Ryu Chungwoo's words.

"If need be, I can just manipulate the photos."

"...Th-that..."

"Oh~ That's right. Moondae wouldn't get caught!"

Stop encouraging it. I was just saying it to reassure Seon Ahyun.

But before having to go to such extremes, the solution came from elsewhere.

Keun Sejin, who had been scrolling through his phone, fussily spoke up.

"Hey hey, something appeared in the comments."

"What is it?"

I checked the latest comments on the screen of the phone that Keun Sejin held out.

The attached screenshot was a photo of Dami hanging out with a man at the location of the photo that people used for dating rumors.

With a comment like that.

'We lucked out.'

It was practically the end of this.

It didn't matter even if people thought the picture was posted because she was conscious of the dating rumors. Since it was about her private life with her family, it was hard for people to say that it was a response made by the company.

Besides, when I checked the original... the date in the metadata matched.

I nodded.

"This will subside in no time."

Then, the tense expressions on the members' faces melted away.

"Haa, it's over."

"Thank you, Dami sunbae-nim."

"Th-thank you...!"

Seon Ahyun, don't even think about conveying the thanks in person.

"Thank you. F-for worrying about it with me..."

"Don't mention it!"

"I'm glad, Ahyun-ah."

I waved my hand at Seon Ahyun's appreciation and once again checked the picture of the two people on the screen of Keun Sejin's phone.

'...Hmm, I've seen that face somewhere before.'

Coincidentally, Keun Sejin realized it.

"Ah, that's him. The ribbon chicken?"

"Yeah."

Ah, it was really that guy.

Dami's younger brother in the picture was the one I competed against in the finals of.

A member of Gold 1's group.

His name was... I couldn't remember. To be honest, his singing skills didn't seem to be that impressive.

'He reached the finals by luck.'

However, I remembered Chungryeo's advice.

"...Hmm."

From their song to this trivial gossip, it seemed that they were kind of lucky.

I came to a reasonable conclusion.

'Let's have contact with their composer.'

Buying them out would be going too far.

As I was organizing my thoughts, I suddenly heard Cha Yujin's voice.

"But why can't we date?"

"Huh??"

Everyone stiffened.

"Do you... want to date!?"

"Yes! Hyung, do you not like dating?"

"Ah, no... uh."

Bae Sejin stammered.

Well, not wanting to date could be weird. Perhaps Cha Yujin's words were similar in context.

'It's not that he likes anyone in particular, it was just that he wants to date when the opportunity comes.'

Of course, as he's had this much training experience in the agency, this guy was also aware of the reality.

"I know we can't! But I don't understand why..."

"Umm..."

It was a very difficult subject to explain.

In fact, rather than the problem of dating itself, the problem was that 'not dating' was seen as a normal condition in this profession and if you showed off that you were dating, it was interpreted as a signal that you would rather date than do idol activities...

"Th-the fans don't like it!"

"...!"

What was up with that guy?

Seon Ahyun shouted again with a blushed face.

"Th-there are fans that think of you as their boyfriend...!"

"Why?"

"Uh, um..."

Keun Sejin cut in with a smile.

"Because you're handsome~!"

"Aha!"

Cha Yujin nodded his head with a face that said everything became clear to him.

"Okay. I won't do it!"

"..."

I wondered how he was able to make a logical leap just like that.

'I don't know either.'

It worked so that was enough.

That day, Cha Yujin posted on social media, 'Am I your boyfriend?'

He was blocking his dating path all on his own.

And again a week later.

The music video teaser for TeStar's album this time was released.

However, it was eight minutes long.