Chapter 116

Chapter 116

Just as I was having fun repeatedly putting on and taking off the red headband on Gyeoul, the auditorium door burst open and people flooded in.

“What the heck is going on here?!”

It was the managers of the Girl 100 trainees.

They must have rushed over in a panic to handle the chaos since Kim Yujin had livestreamed the scene, making it a total mess. You could tell they had come in a hurry by the way they were sweating or had messy hair, looking completely frazzled.

“Kaori, what on earth are you doing?!”

“Hey, Rinmei, have you lost your mind?”

“…Suah, I’m really struggling here. Please stop causing trouble.”

“Jang Min-hee, take off that headband and come here right now.”

“You brats, is this a joke? Are you professionals or what?!”

“Misaki-san! Where are you?!”

The managers were shouting, each trying to find their respective kids or pull them out, causing chaos in the auditorium.

With so many people trying to speak at once, voices were muddled, and suddenly a man shouted loudly.

“Enough!”

It was Jeok Yusong, the manager from Neulbom Entertainment with the most experience in the room.

Respecting his long-standing career and relationships in the industry, all the managers fell silent. In the now quiet atmosphere, Jeok Yusong turned to me.

“Team Leader Seon, you must be just as flustered, but can you explain this situation? …We are extremely bewildered right now.”

“…”

I looked around.

Gyeoul, the headband gone, had returned to her usual awkward self, sweating profusely and shaking.

With the once-commanding Gyeoul in such a state, the trainees who had been hyped up were also now at a loss.

In the midst of this, Kim Yujin seemed oblivious, crawling on the floor like a centipede, capturing all the madness from different angles.

“…Team Leader Seon, this is being broadcast live. You really need to be careful with what you say.”

Oh Yoori whispered this to me and showed me the real-time comments.

ZEZE- What? Did the managers not know? …Was this all on the trainees’ own accord? Wow, our kids are true revolutionaries! They won’t be shackled by society!

zin-A park- For real though.

Sky’s the limit- But if this was done without permission, aren’t our kids going to get punished by their agency? I’ve heard some agencies are super strict… What if they get bullied? ㅠㅠ
“If this happened without any means, wouldn’t our kids get punished by their agency? I heard there are a lot of places with strange military discipline among the agencies…. What if the kids get bullied? ㅠㅠ

Mild Seven – Is military discipline the problem? If this goes wrong, it could be seen as a breach of contract.

Double Cheese Bagel – If the agency was sane, would they react like that? We should actually praise the trainees who are about to lose their heads for cleanly cutting ties with Girl 100.

Judgment – For real, if they start bullying the kids over this, we’ll immediately boycott.

Song Ah Song Ah – Protect Yujin!

Universe’s Most Beautiful Gyeoul – Protect Gyeoul!

Galileo x Newton – Unite!

Kim Deok Soo – If you don’t want to fight with fans, act accordingly, agency jerks.

“…”

My brain was spinning faster than ever.

The waves of viewers pouring in and the public opinion they create, the evidence caught in my hands, Manager Jeok Yusong looking at me with half suspicion and half trust, Han Gyeoul successfully gathering trainee opinions into one, Kim Seon-ye whose power in the water was disintegrated by my scheming, and finally, the scenarios I created with Oh Yoori, Ye Han-na, and Cheon Aram flashed through my head in less than two seconds. And I made a judgment.

Now is the time to step on the accelerator.

At full speed.

I whispered quietly to Oh Yoori next to me.

“Yuri, we need to move up the plan.”

“Uh? Then, the current method…”

“We have to change it, obviously.”

What we needed now was not Oh Yoori’s method of slowly stepping towards the goal based on inference.

It was the method of me, Seon Taeyang, who just sticks my head in once the bare minimum requirements are met, and the revolutionary mode of Han Gyeoul.

Alright, Gyeoul, let’s turn the managers in front of us and the countless viewers into our allies.

With such thoughts, I grabbed the hem of my shirt and asked the trembling Gyeoul.

“Gyeoul, are you ready to ignite the flames of revolution in front of the managers?”

“Me? Isn’t that something for me….”

She put on a headband.

“…isn’t that basically my area of expertise?”

The moist and innocent-looking expression of Gyeoul instantly transformed into that of a brave leader.

She looked incredibly reassuring.

With a determined and clear voice, she spoke to Jeok Yusong.

“Yujin’s manager, is it alright if I speak a little before Team Leader Seon says anything?”

Seeing Jeok Yusong look at me as if asking whether it’s okay, I slightly nodded my head, and he also nodded as if to understand.”
As I nodded slightly while watching, he responded with a knowing nod and said,

“Alright, please go ahead.”

In front of Jeok Yusong, Gyeoul glanced at the trainees and said,

“I understand the concerns you have. You probably think we’re just swept away by the mood and emotional moments, making remarks that we can’t handle. Or maybe you think it’s just a simple joke.”

“…”

“But this isn’t a joke. We’re seriously expressing our opinions to the Girl 100 production team in order to reclaim our rights. We want to make it clear that we don’t want any rigged votes.”

“…”

Jeok Yusong stole a glance at Kim Yujin, who was filming their conversation, and couldn’t find the words to respond, choosing to hold his tongue.

Being a veteran, it seemed he understood the weight of the statements made here and was choosing his words carefully.

However, not every manager was as cautious as he was.

The Utopia Entertainment manager, dressed in a silver suit and wearing sunglasses, who stood behind Jeok Yusong, spoke in an irritated tone.

“What’s with the expressing opinions nonsense? Do you have any idea how chaotic things are at the agency right now? Do you think you have any right to say that? You kids should stick to just following orders!”

As the chatroom buzzed with comments like, “Which agency is that jerk from?”, Gyeoul firmly shouted in front of the silver-suited manager, who was dancing on the line of insult while emphasizing “kids.”

“We may be kids, but we are professionals!”

This wasn’t just an outburst born from defiance or excitement. It was something I had always told her.

“Taeyang…, I mean, Team Leader Seon, my manager, always told me that the moment we choose this harsh profession of being an idol and the moment we gain fans—no matter how few—they have the right to expect professionalism from us. And being a professional means taking full responsibility for every choice we make to ensure that fan doesn’t feel disappointed!”

The trainees, watching Gyeoul plead earnestly, nodded in agreement.

“It might look like our actions are irresponsible and don’t consider the company’s stance. But this is our way of taking responsibility for the fans who support us. If we pretend nothing happened regarding the rigged votes in Girl 100 and stay silent, it would only disappoint our fans! Even if we could debut as part of the project group by staying quiet, there wouldn’t be any fans wishing for such a dirty crown!”

Hearing Gyeoul’s words, the silver-suited manager’s eyebrows twitched as he replied.
The silver croaker manager twitched his eyebrows and said,

“…Huh, a filthy crown?”

The surrounding managers predicted that a dangerous statement would come out, and they tried to dissuade him, but the silver croaker shrugged them off and provocatively declared.

“You guys are just kids who don’t understand the world. Success can never come from just efforts and talent alone. Let’s say you’re right about Girl 100 manipulating the votes. Then shouldn’t the ones in the top 11 obviously oppose it? Why are you so stupid? Why are you throwing away success right in front of you for words like fairness and conscience? What kind of idiot move is that?!”

That was an incredibly dangerous statement. While he might think that way, it was a thought that should have never been uttered in this live setting.

From the looks of it, he didn’t seem to realize they were broadcasting, but the world wouldn’t understand.

I clicked my tongue inwardly.

I don’t know what his position is, but he really should take off that suit.

Regardless of that stupid silver croaker getting cut because he couldn’t handle the aftermath, his words were not entirely without appeal. After all, there were people who thought like that, to varying degrees, everywhere.

Did Gyeoul think similarly? She hesitated to respond while looking at the trainees.

Seeing that, I thought it was time for me to step in, and just as I was about to, Kim Yujin, holding the camera on the floor, shouted at her manager, Jeok Yusong.

“Manager! I don’t need that kind of thing! Top 11? What’s that? Without Gyeoul, I can devour them all! The debut group is total trash!”

Her rival and fellow candidate, Kaori, couldn’t back down either and confidently addressed her manager.

“Manager, regardless of the others, Kim Yujin will definitely be under me. If she can confidently be in the top 11, there’s no way I can’t do it.”

Another candidate, Ye Sua, chimed in as well.

“Ugh, I don’t know what confidence those who can’t even sing better than me have? Manager! You don’t need to worry; they’re all underneath me!”

Not just them, but the proud geniuses of Girl 100 each expressed their confidence to their managers, bolstering Gyeoul’s words.

Living together under the name Girl 100 and receiving support from competitors who had rolled with her for 24 hours, Gyeoul lifted her head and smiled.

“You heard that, right? We don’t need that kind of thing.”

That smile was irresistibly charming to anyone who saw it.

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