translation by mourningmoor
Aki’s hands trembled as she held the tablet.
Across from her, CEO Kim Yangho exploded in anger, shouting in a furious voice.
“Is this for real?”
What CEO Kim showed Aki was an anonymous post that had gone viral on a community forum.
The Full Story of the TVH Jukebox Saturday Incident.
The moment she saw the title, a chill ran down her spine. As she read the contents, her mind went blank. But she couldn’t admit it was true. If she did, she’d have to apologize to that disgustingly handsome guy.
“No. I’m not that kind of person.”
“Yes, you are. Aren’t you?”
In fact, Aki’s nasty temper had caused trouble more than once or twice. CEO Kim had worked hard to cover it up each time, but now she’d done it again.
At this point, she should’ve been cut loose, but Aki’s hateful character was too useful as a punching bag on variety shows. She was too valuable to let go.
Her antics sold well on TV.
Plus, Aki had the backing of the SS Group.
That meant she couldn’t be dealt with lightly.
But this time, the situation was different.
(ㅍㅇ) The Full Story of the TVH Jukebox Saturday Incident (ㅍㅇ)
First, I want to clarify that I’m revealing this for the public good. I hope no one gets unfairly hurt.
It’s true that there was a fire at the TVH annex. As soon as the fire broke out, the alarms went off, and the broadcast told everyone to evacuate immediately. The Jukebox Saturday set was on the same floor as the fire, but it was quite far away. It was on the opposite side of the building.
……
Aki pushed Kim Jaewon, who was right in front of her.
But Jaewon didn’t budge. He pressed himself against the wall and let Aki go ahead.
In front of Jaewon was Monna. Aki yelled at Monna to hurry up, and Monna snapped back, telling her to calm down.
So Aki pushed Monna too.
In front of Monna was Siu. When Monna fell, Siu fell too. The other cast members barely managed to avoid getting caught up in it.
At this point, Monna broke her leg. Siu was fine. He even checked to see if Monna was okay.
But then Aki, that crazy woman, deliberately stepped on Siu’s hand as he was holding onto the stairs. Wow, the way she gritted her teeth while stepping on him was terrifying.
Right now, everyone’s too shocked to do anything. Just wait. Witnesses will come forward soon.
Anyway, this is all true.
Siu’s finger broke. It had to. You could hear the crunch.
According to sources, Blade Entertainment demanded an apology from Aki, but she’s been stonewalling.
Anyway, that’s it. It’s all true. Boom.
It seemed she had messed with a member of a group that was currently riding a wave of popularity. The community was in an uproar.
“How are you going to fix this?”
“Fix what? There’s nothing to fix. It’s all lies!”
Aki sniffled, acting as if she were truly wronged.
“CEO Kim. We need to sue whoever posted this for defamation. I’ll sue them myself.”
Then she grabbed her phone.
It was a tricky situation.
Suing for defamation was easy. But the post had been made in the public interest, and everything described seemed to be true.
In such cases, even if defamation was established, if it was proven that the statements were factual, the backlash would hit them instead.
In other words, suing would only make things worse.
In situations like this, the best course was to quietly settle with the victim and step down from the program as a form of self-reflection. After lying low for a while, SS Group would quietly slot Aki back into the industry, and she could resume her career.
I snatched the phone from Aki’s hand.
“Stay put. You’ll only make things worse.”
At that moment, Aki’s phone rang, and the screen lit up with the name Monna.
CEO Kim answered the call instead.
Before he could even speak, Monna’s voice roared through the phone.
―Aki, you crazy b*tch. Did you really think you could save yourself by causing this mess? If the program gets canceled, you’re taking the blame!
“Hello? Monna? This is Kim Yangho. How’s your leg?”
―How do you think it is?
I thought revealing that I was the CEO would calm her down, but it didn’t.
―Listen carefully, CEO. I’m not letting this slide. You’ve seen the post on the community, right? It’s all true. Public opinion is terrible. We can’t just sweep this under the rug. Got it?
“Monna, you’ve worked with Aki on the program for…”
Before he could finish, Aki snatched the phone back and started yelling.
“You sure care a lot about public opinion. No wonder you’re always showing off in front of the camera.”
―Showing off? You’re really trash, aren’t you? You should be apologizing right now.
“Why should I apologize? I just told you to move, and you’re the one who fell. You fell and pushed Siu. Why is everyone blaming me for the kid getting hurt?”
Monna scoffed.
―Don’t make me laugh. You think no one saw because it was dark? The emergency lights were on, and we could see everything. I saw you grit your teeth and step on Siu’s hand with my own eyes. Why are you like this?
Aki trembled at Monna’s words.
“You’re the one who posted that, aren’t you?”
The fact that the post was so detailed meant it had to have been written by someone who was there. I wondered who had the guts to post it, and it turned out to be Monna.
“You dare mess with me? Do you even know who’s backing me? SS Group.”
―SS Group won’t help you this time. No, they won’t. If they do, they’ll go down with you.
Monna laughed coldly and added.
―And I didn’t post that. I just posted something new.
“What?”
What did you just post?
“Hey, what are you talking about? What did you do now, huh?”
―Hang up, you b*tch.
* * *
MC Monna hung up the phone.
Then, she turned her gaze to the presence sitting across from her.
The black eyes with a faint blue glow made her feel strangely dazed.
For some reason, she felt incredibly good.
“You did well.”
The radiant presence smiled brightly.
“Thank you for helping me, Monna.”
“Thank me? I just did what I had to do. I’m glad I could help, Wizard.”
She definitely recognized the face, but she couldn’t quite remember.
The presence before her felt so sacred and holy, filling her chest with grandeur. The fact that she had done something to fulfill this being’s wishes made her feel proud.
“Is there anything else you need me to do?”
When she woke up from her nap, this presence was sitting on her windowsill. She thought it might be an angel. But he introduced himself as a Grand Mage.
Normally, she would’ve laughed it off, but for some reason, she believed him.
She felt like she wanted to do anything for him.
So, she wrote exactly what the Grand Mage asked and posted it on SNS.
It wasn’t a lie. He told her to tell the truth as it was. He said it was for the greater good.
It felt good. MC Monna, known as the 21st-century thug, could do something good. If she could, she wanted to do even more.
“Just tell me. I’ll do more for you.”
“This is enough.”
The radiant mage smiled brightly. Seeing that smile made her feel like she was floating.
Then, the mage’s warm hand touched her eyelid.
“Now, stay like this for a minute. I’ll erase the memory of meeting me, but make sure you apologize properly.”
“Yes, I will.”
She didn’t want to forget, but her head nodded on its own. Then, she heard a soft laugh.
“Well then, I’ll be going.”
* * *
The fan cafe was in chaos.
MC Monna had posted on SNS.
Monna had confirmed that the anonymous post on the idol fan community was true.
Hello, this is MC Monna.
The anonymous post about Jukebox Saturday on ○○○ Idol Community is all true.
Aki pushed me, and when I fell, I pushed L.I.T’s Siu. Even as he fell, Siu tried to protect me by holding onto the railing and enduring as much as he could. My leg breaking was just bad luck.
The first person to ask if I was okay, despite my broken leg, was Siu.
And Aki stepped on Siu’s hand.
I won’t say whether it was an accident or intentional.
The fact that she stepped on him is what matters.
As the MC of this program, I plan to apologize to Siu as soon as I’m discharged from the hospital. That’s the right thing to do.
In this situation, not apologizing? Is that even human?
Aki, stop resisting and apologize.
The Filaments exploded with anger.
Recruiting party members to hunt down Aki
└ㅅㅂ I’m the first to join
└ㅠㅠㅠㅠ 2222 What about my husband?
└333333
└444444444
No ㅠㅠㅠㅠ Our fairy’s beautiful hand ㅠㅠㅠㅠ Is Aki insane?
└Isn’t Aki known for hating handsome men?
└She hates beautiful women too. I think she just hates anything pretty.
└ㅇㅇ You can tell by Aki’s taste.
Physiognomy is science. Aki’s eyes are so dirty.
└How dare she touch my husband. Unforgivableㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
What’s Blade doing? Let’s sueㅠㅠ
└Let’s bring justice. Why aren’t they suing? Let’s roll up those haters and sue them all.
└Aki must have some powerful backing. Didn’t something similar happen before, and it was quietly swept under the rug?
└We can’t let it slide this time. She dared to touch our Siu. Let’s show the power of the Filaments.
└Let’s show them!!!!
Reporter Kang Mina, who had been monitoring the fan cafe’s reactions, smiled with satisfaction.
The article she posted after receiving a call from PD Pyo had been quite effective. Now, she was preparing a follow-up article.
Aki had been a celebrity Kang Mina had been keeping an eye on personally.
A long time ago, Aki had been deeply involved in the downfall of Graphstar.
Aki. Age 32, real name Bang Jinju. A variety show personality with a background in comedy.
For a variety show personality, she was quite successful.
In this industry, to succeed, you either need a good character or strong backing. Aki was famous for having both.
Moreover, the timing of Aki’s rise coincided exactly with Graphstar’s decline. It was as if she had sacrificed Graphstar.
“Every time, she clashes with my idols?”
Mina’s fingers moved quickly.
Everyone said it was no use messing with Aki, who had SS Group backing her.
But Kang Mina decided to give it a try.
“Aki, you bitch. On behalf of the Filaments, I’m going to punish you. For real.”
Kang Mina pulled out a USB she had hidden deep in her drawer and plugged it into her laptop.
Then, she clicked on a folder titled ▶SS Group-Related Celebrities◀.