After the marijuana cigarette came out of my bag, I had to go to the police station for questioning.
But the investigation was conducted thoroughly and privately, and I had a negative result from the test, along with testimonies from the members and staff, and…
“…I mean, we received a tip-off…”
“So who made that tip-off?!”
“…I can’t disclose that for security reasons…”
“Are you saying that because of a tip-off you can’t even tell me the identity of that person, you brought a minor to the police station? Hold on a second. I’ll…”
Thanks to Director Jeong, who was accompanied by my lawyer and vehemently protested to the police, I was able to get out in just a few hours.
And after 1 AM, we had an emergency meeting at headquarters.
“What on earth is going on? What do you mean my sister is involved with marijuana…?”
“We’ve been with her 24/7! She would never smoke anything like that!”
Fearing that I might suffer some consequences from this event, the members were fervently defending me when Director Jeong raised her hand to silence the room.
“I know Ye-rin would never get involved with such things. What’s important now is why it appeared in her bag.”
“……”
“Sigh… I am surprised to be in this situation, but I suspect someone who plans on the decline of Rookies did this intentionally.”
“Ah…”
“I can’t help but think it’s the subordinates of NAS’s An Representative, who might have a grudge against Ye-rin…”
Recently, I heard that An Representative was sentenced and sent to jail.
Even though he has fallen from grace now, he used to be the head of one of South Korea’s top entertainment agencies…
From Director Jeong’s perspective, it would be reasonable to think An was pulling the strings to make his underlings set things up.
“What do you think, Ye-rin?”
“……”
Still, I kept quiet, having predicted that the culprit behind this incident wasn’t An but someone else.
It makes sense because the cigarette… I had seen it before—it belonged to Shin Si-woo.
“I was too complacent…”
In my previous life, Shin Si-woo had pushed Seo Yoo-jin, who was already cornered, into an even tighter spot using similar means.
Since there was no guarantee something like that wouldn’t happen again in this life, I personally asked Director Jeong to ensure that no outsiders could enter Rookies’ waiting room and to strengthen security…
“How on earth did he get it into my bag?”
Did he bribe someone inside NAS or what?
I never expected it to go this far… I regretted my complacency.
“For now, the police said they would investigate who put the cigarettes in Ye-rin’s bag… and we also decided to cooperate with the broadcasting station to get to the bottom of this at our headquarters… The main culprit will be revealed soon.”
Director Jeong said to reassure us, but I was certain this issue wouldn’t end easily.
“I also told the media to remain quiet about the situation, so everything should be fine. Let’s all go and get some rest, and start back on our normal schedule tomorrow.”
With Director Jeong’s words, I nodded along with the other members, but…
I took a deep breath and gripped my phone tightly.
In the early dawn, as the members had all fallen asleep.
I sat alone on the sofa in the dark living room, looking at my phone contacts.
[Kang Hyung-man, President]
“……”
I was in deep thought.
The last time I saw him, Shin Si-woo was openly smoking marijuana.
He was probably still using it frequently.
Honestly, I felt that if I asked Kang Hyung-man for help, he would somehow bring Shin Si-woo down.
But…
‘…I don’t want to be a burden.’
Just like last time, I didn’t want to bother Kang Hyung-man because of my own issues.
For similar reasons, I hadn’t told Director Jeong the truth earlier.
I wanted to resolve this on my own without dragging those two into my mess…
In fact, I had my own solution.
[Extreme Demon]
The secret trait that had brought about the downfall of both Shin PD and An Representative when I was at the summit last time.
Of course, I wasn’t in the Extreme Demon state right now.
But…
[Would you like to activate the secret trait “Extreme Demon”?]
“……”
As I opened the status window, an alert greeted me.
The secret trait hadn’t been something I could switch on or off at will, but this time it was different.
Thump.
It felt like I might be able to control the trait just as I was controlling my boiling anger.
‘If this works…’
Yes, with this, I could deal with Shin Si-woo alone.
In this life, unlike my previous one, I thought it was okay since Shin Si-woo only had eyes on me and wouldn’t touch Seo Yoo-jin…
However, if this continued, it would undoubtedly harm all of Rookies, so I decided it was better to deal with Shin Si-woo quickly. After a moment of hesitation, I called Shin Si-woo’s number, which I had obtained earlier just in case.
Ringing.
[Oh? Yes, Ye-rin…?]
I had worried about what I’d do if he didn’t pick up, but Shin Si-woo answered right away.
However….
[H-how did you get my number?]
“……”
The moment I heard his voice, I found myself at a loss for words.
…I was angry.
This guy had ruined Seo Yoo-jin’s life in my past life and was now trying to ruin mine.
What did Seo Yoo-jin do wrong?… What did I do wrong…?!
“…You?”
[…Yes?]
So I shot back harshly.
[What?]
“You’re the one who put the cigarettes in my bag and tipped off the police, right? …How did you even get it in there?”
[Cigarettes? Police? I’m not sure what you mean… Ye-rin, honestly, it’s really scary when you call me like this!]
“…That marijuana is yours.”
[…….]
“I remembered what I saw last time.”
“That’s unfortunate, Ye-rin. So, what do you plan to do? Report me? Or say something to the company?”
“……”
[Whatever you decide, it will make a noise, right? Isn’t it a burden for those around you? There’s not much time left for Rookies’ activities, so we should wrap it up well.]
I wanted to punish that jerk for such a shameless act.
“I think the same way.”
[Hmm?]
“So let’s resolve this ourselves.”
If I let it go, Shin Si-woo would undoubtedly continue to torment me and Rookies.
I should have done this sooner.
“Meet me where we first met tomorrow. You jerk.”
As I hung up the call, I vowed to finally end this ill-fated connection with Shin Si-woo.
The next day.
“Thanks for coming again today~!”
“See you on the broadcast!”
After finishing the live recording that started at dawn, another long wait awaited us.
I waited until it was time for the appointment I had texted to Shin Si-woo.
As the appointed time approached…
Yawn…
Hmm…
As the weary members gradually fell asleep during the long wait, I quietly stood up.
But….
“…Ye-rin.”
“…Huh?”
A hand caught me.
It was Yoo Seol.
“…Where are you going?”
“…To the bathroom.”
“……”
When I casually brushed it off, Yoo Seol looked at me knowingly and said.
“Ye-rin.”
“Yes, unnie?”
“Sometimes it seems like you forget, but you’re still just a kid.”
“……”
As I fell into temporary silence, she continued.
“If something happens, remember you can rely on adults… You can rely on me too.”
Her eyes seemed to pierce right through me.
I had felt this way for a long time… Yoo Seol’s intuition was sharp to an almost scary degree.
As I continued to talk to her, I felt like if she realized I was on my way to meet Shin Si-woo, I would be found out, so I desperately avoided eye contact.
Of course, even so…
“…Thank you, unnie.”
I genuinely felt grateful toward Yoo Seol.
“…Are you really going to the bathroom?”
“…Yes, I’ll be right back.”
That said, I made my way outside, avoiding eye contact with Yoo Seol as much as possible.
‘…Let’s wrap this up quickly.’
The place where I was supposed to meet Shin Si-woo was the boiler room, about a 5-minute walk from here.
It was a place without CCTV, and I planned to unleash the Black Killing Demon Palm on him, just like I did on Shin PD.
On my way, I wondered what I would do if I ran into someone, but there was no one in sight since it was such a remote area.
Fearing that Shin Si-woo might leave if I was late, I hurried into the boiler room.
And then….
“…Huh?”
What I found in the boiler room was just the heating pipes.
This was where Shin Si-woo and I first met, but where was he?
As doubts began to creep in…
BANG!!
“……!”
With a loud noise, the door swung open violently…
“…Huh?”
A totally unexpected figure appeared.
“…Sang-gu oppa?”
“Ugh… Ye-rin.”
In a black suit, huge muscular build, a scarred face, and bald head.
It was my older brother Sang-gu, whom I hadn’t seen in ages.
‘But why did Sang-gu come here out of nowhere…?’
Sang-gu seemed to have rushed over and was breathing heavily, his usually expressionless face furrowed in concern as he looked at the scene before him.
He then turned to me and simply asked,
“…Is that him?”
…I didn’t quite get what he meant, but since he was pointing at Shin Si-woo, I nodded in understanding.
“…Yes.”
Then…
“I see.”
Sang-gu took a step forward and said,
“…Who are you? Are you an employee of NAS or something…?”
THWACK!!
With that, he threw a punch right at Shin Si-woo’s face.
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