Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Chapter 177:

Even if I did nothing wrong, being in a group means living with others. Didn’t I sign up for this kind of situation when I signed the debut contract?

Hwijin clenched his fists quietly and thought. What should I do now? He tried to think of a solution, but nothing came to mind.

What would others do in this situation? What would be the best option? He spent his time pondering these questions, while his messenger was flooded with new messages.

They all said things like, are you okay? What happened? Did you really debut by manipulation? But no matter how he answered, they would believe what they wanted to believe.

Would they trust me if I said it wasn’t me? Rather than exposing myself to the media and becoming prey for the cyber bullies, I had to endure until the company resolved this.

‘Will the company protect me?’

Hwijin knew. If Floss disbanded like this, he would be too old to work as a rookie idol.

In that situation, his contract period was almost over, and he was involved in a manipulation scandal.

Hwijin knew how hollow his hope was that the company would protect him.

He would no longer be able to use his name value as Floss. He would have to see how they treated him.

‘When I started, I was popular just by my name.’

He wanted to stay at the top star position. He never imagined this would happen when he decided to appear on My Idol Stage.

The shocking treatment he received as a first-tier star until a few days ago felt like a dream that vanished in an instant.

Like a candle seller’s illusion that disappears when the match is blown out.

Maybe this is what suits me, Hwijin shrugged his shoulders and went into his room quietly.

The manager, who he thought would stop him at least once, let him go to his room without a word.

It was better to sleep than to suffer from helplessness while awake. He couldn’t sleep a wink last night, waiting for the company’s response and checking the reactions online.

He thought he was used to sleeping and waking up for three hours a day because of the suffocating schedule, but the situation was so bad that the shock was bigger.

‘Alarm… Should I set it for an hour?’

If another incident broke out in the meantime, he would have to wake up forcibly. But he needed to get some sleep for the hardships ahead.

Hwijin lay his tired body on the bed, and for a moment he remembered. But he couldn’t contact him because he was ashamed. His name flashed on the phone screen.

[Climax Cheon Ise]

(You have a new message.)

“Huh.”

He had turned on the vibration to the strongest level in case he couldn’t wake up by the sound, and he was holding his phone tightly. Hwijin dropped his phone reflexively.

“Why, why did he contact me?”

Was he curious about how much of the controversy was true? Or was he really worried? Hwijin calmed his pounding heart without any expectation that Ise could solve his problem and unlocked it.

[Climax Cheon Ise] Did you eat? 3:11 PM

‘…’

There was one content that was different from the others, such as are you okay? or what happened? among the messages.

‘He’s worried about whether I ate or not… Is that what a person who became famous as a s*x idol would do?’

He chuckled softly, feeling that it was more of a consideration than a joke, not to bring up the topic that was controversial right now.

Hwijin moved his stiff hand and barely typed.

[Me] No. 3:12 PM

I wanted to send a crying emoticon, but I didn’t have the energy to do that.

[Climax Cheon Ise] You need to eat something to get some strength. Even if you don’t feel like it, take some digestive medicine and eat a little bit. 3:13 PM

He was five years younger than me, but he sounded like an adult.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t just Hwijin’s decision to skip a meal. I couldn’t go to the kitchen and make some noise when the living room looked like a portrait gallery.

[Me] I can’t eat right now. 3:14 PM

If I went outside, I would be photographed by the reporters waiting in front of the building. And if I ordered delivery, there would be a post on the internet saying, ‘Floss is eating chicken while this is happening; our store got an order.’ or something like that.

I couldn’t even cook some ramen, so I had no choice but to starve.

[Climax Cheon Ise] Is your stomach really bad? 3:15 PM

[Me] No, it’s not that. It’s just that the atmosphere in the dorm is so bad and I can’t order delivery or go out to eat… 3:16 PM

After Hwijin’s message, Ise didn’t reply for a long time.

He was just… asking how I was doing. Hwijin scoffed at what I was expecting and put down his phone and prepared to sleep again.

The winter blanket that covered him up to his chin was the only thing that kept him warm in the icy dorm.

No one would want to interfere with this kind of problem. Unless they were curious to see how much he had failed after doing well for a while.

As Hwijin gave up everything and tried to fall asleep again, the phone rang.

“Huh, why, why are you calling…?”

He was startled and checked the caller ID. It was the person he had been texting a while ago.

“Hello, I answered the phone.”

“Yes, Hwijin.”

“Yes, ah, yes.”

Hwijin answered the phone nervously and Ise interrogated him as if he was a detective.

“How many people are in the dorm right now?”

“About five, excluding the manager?”

“How many of them are you close with?”

Why is he asking that? Hwijin felt doubtful about Ise’s random questioning, but he answered obediently.

“Um… one?”

Ise was silent for a while after hearing Hwijin’s hesitant answer, then he asked abruptly.

“Is that one person Shim Naru?”

“Yes.”

I guess it shows. Well. He came with Naru for the Bravo Solo Life shooting, and he visited with Yu-geon for the Jakon collaboration, so it made sense.

“Then I’ll pack two portions separately. Send me your address on the messenger. It’ll take about 30 minutes.”

“Yes?”

Hwijin tilted his head at Ise’s incomprehensible words.

“What!?”

He was shocked and got up from the bed. Ise answered casually and hung up the phone.

“I prepared something easy to digest, so go to your room and eat a little bit secretly.”

What the hell is he talking about? Is he going to send me a lunch box? Hwijin was confused and his eyes spun. Then, a picture of a lunch box that looked quite well-packed in a multi-use container arrived on the messenger.

There was porridge instead of rice, warm seaweed soup, simple side dishes, salad, and dessert.

Gurgle-.

As soon as I saw something edible, a reflexive sound of hunger came from my stomach. I hadn’t eaten anything for almost a day.

‘It looks delicious.’

Well, he’s a good cook, so of course it would taste good. But why? As Hwijin’s head was spinning, Climax was in a state of chaos as usual.

“Hey, don’t steal that pork cutlet.”

While I was putting some porridge in a thermal container, Yi-jun was eyeing the crispy fried pork cutlet’s tail with a hawk-like gaze.

“I haven’t eaten it yet.”

He didn’t say he wouldn’t eat it, but that he hadn’t eaten it yet. It was ridiculous that he was eyeing the side dish to steal when we had already set aside our share.

“Don’t I feed you enough?”

Even Seon-woo, who was actually close to starving, was sitting quietly on the living room sofa…

Or maybe not. He looked like he would drool a liter if he were a dog, not a human, and I felt suffocated by his gaze.

“It’s not that I’m starving, but it’s a fact that stealing someone else’s lunch box is the most delicious thing.”

So he was eyeing the side dish of the lunch box that I hadn’t even given him yet. I checked the list carefully to make sure I didn’t miss any side dishes, and then I closed the zipper of the lunch box bag, watching Yi-jun with a hawk-like gaze.

“Asera. You shouldn’t steal food from someone who hasn’t had a bite since yesterday.”

I neatly closed the lunch box bag and put it back in the thermal bag.

“Ise hyung, are you really going there yourself?”

Seon-woo got up from the sofa and came to the kitchen, his face full of worry.

Well, it’s not like there’s no one else to deliver it if I save someone. But I honestly didn’t want to expose the location of the Floss dorm to anyone else in this situation.

Fortunately… I found a way.

It couldn’t be helped that I would stand out, but no one would recognize me.

I took out ‘that thing’ that I had left at the entrance and put it on my head, then slowly put my feet in and hid my whole body.

“Wow… Really… Who would suspect? That there’s an idol inside…”

What I put on my head was a chicken mascot costume that I dug out of the warehouse when I moved the dorm.

It was a legacy of an advertisement that I got in my rookie days, about four years ago, when Climax still had a chance to recover.

‘Chicken… They went bankrupt and closed all their franchises.’

It was a company that supplied chicken processed by Jo Young Food, so I was pretty bitter when they went bankrupt.

It wasn’t a very profitable deal, but it was sad to end it because of bankruptcy, not because of a good reason.

“Can you see well in front? Do you want me to drive?”

Kyunghwa asked me anxiously, but the answer was obviously NO.

“You have a closet license. You won’t use it when you drive, so don’t worry too much.”

I reassured the members and adjusted my clothes, or rather, my costume, and then left the entrance.

‘I hope I’m not being too nosy.’

Anyway, since I have a purpose, it’s not a suspicious kindness to give without a reason. They must know that I left to a separate label, so they might have some idea of what I want to talk about, why I would go there myself in this situation.

I nodded silently and hugged the lunch box in my hand.

Fortunately, the dorm I moved to and the Floss dorm were not far apart, so I was able to enter the parking lot in less than 20 minutes.

As I entered the central parking lot with the password I got from Hwijin, I saw a few cars waiting in the parking lot.

Maybe they were real residents… or maybe journalists.

I calmly put on a mask and got on the elevator, then pressed a different floor number on purpose.

As I reached the penthouse at the top floor, panting with the mask on, I saw the tightly locked front door.

[Me] I’m here. 3:54 PM

Then, click, the door handle turned very quietly and the door opened.

At that moment, a voice of a man who looked relatively old came from inside.

“What are you doing? Where are you going?”

Shh, I reflexively moved the thick finger of the chicken mask to make a one sign. Then, Hwijin nodded his head in surprise and answered towards the living room.

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