Chapter 196: A Sense of Déjà Vu

[Do Seohan Shocked by Sundubu’s Betrayal]

Photo of Do Seohan with wide, round eyes. jpg

So cute, Seohan-ah ㅋㅋㅋ But honestly, I didn’t expect it either.

—Ian’s acting was so good ㅋㅋㅋㅋ I was seriously surprised.

└Seo Ian is insanely good at acting;;

└Just like Ha Junseo, Ian has that actor look. He’d probably do well if he went down that path.

└I want to see soft Sundubu play a villain….

└Our Ian can’t do something like that ㅠㅠ

—In this group, Kang Siwoo gave birth to Do Seohan, and Do Seohan gave birth to Seo Ian, but both got betrayed by their own children.

└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Oh my god

└“Betrayed by their own children” ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└There’s a saying—no parent ever wins against their child….

└Raised them well, only to get stabbed in the back. Tsk.

└It’s one thing for Kang Siwoo, but Do Seohan is the youngest ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Why is he even raising Sundubu

└Cracks are forming in the friendship of the Salvation Duo… (see more)

Right after the first episode of the self-content <Dusty’s Treasure Hunt> was uploaded, related posts flooded in and covered a whole section of the fan community.

The pitiful image of a leader getting repeatedly stabbed in the back by his own team members, and the unwavering friendship that shone brighter amidst all the betrayal—those were the main takeaways from this self-content episode.

[Compilation of Real BFF Vibes from Dusty’s Treasure Hunt]

Jin Sehyun: (to Choco Haim) Even if I trusted everyone else in the world, I wouldn’t trust you.

They bickered like that for a while, but it turned out Seo Haim was the traitor ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

The same-age line fighting all the time is too cute ㅠㅠ

The eldest line was seriously hilarious too ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Cha Seongbin: Junseo-ya~ You really have a trustworthy face!

Ha Junseo: You look like a total backstabber.

Cha Seongbin: Junseo’s eye for people is really sharp~

What the heck, why are you guys so unnecessarily self-aware ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

—Is Cha Seongbin like a handsome comedian? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Why is he always like that ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└From what I know, his image is a super good-looking bad-boy type, but in the self-content he just looks like one of those floppy gas station balloon guys

└Gas station balloon ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└Wow that’s so accurate ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└Cha Seongbin’s first impression: (a super handsome face dancing) Current impression: (doesn’t care about the mission, just waiting to make a joke)

└Seongbin gets this “end of the world” expression when his joke flopsㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└From last week’s livestream: He said he’s feeling pressured about coming up with jokes lately

└Ah ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ You’re an idol, Seongbin-ah ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[I’m most shocked this year that Victorious Sehyun wasn’t the traitor]

Thought for sure he’d be the first to betray ㅋㅋㅋ

But turns out he wasn’t the traitor and is actually on the trustworthy team

Using that big brain of his to perfectly single out the traitor—so badass

—“Since we’re doing a mission anyway, I wanted to try something difficult. Easy stuff isn’t fun.”

└So cool, Sehyun-ah!!

└Nooo, Dusty’s whole thing is fighting and chaos—they’re too wholesome right now;;

└The pain of survival shows….

└“The pain of survival shows,” lmfao ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└That’s just what Stardust is

└Agreed, they’re supposed to be kicking up dust fighting each other

—But even Jin Sehyun didn’t see Seo Ian coming ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└Ah ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ What kind of life did Ian live that everyone around him thinks he’s a soft angel ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└The fact that’s his image in the first place just proves he lived his life right

└That’s because our Sundubu is plain, no-salt Sundubu ㅠㅠ

└But now he’s become Sundubu-jjigae

└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

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The fans were probably having a blast watching the self-content after such a long time.

Meanwhile, we were practically pulling an all-nighter, fully focused on concert practice.

Since the concert was scheduled for the end of this month, we were spending most of our time on rehearsals.

Maybe the real issue was the fact that we had to go straight into a concert tour right after our comeback.

“I’m dying here…!”

The waiting room echoed with groans, but in truth, the members were the ones enjoying it the most.

“It’s our first solo concert, after all.”

“Honestly, I’m so nervous….”

“Everything’s great, but what if we collapse on stage from staying up all night like this?”

“The director will lift us up with the stage lift.”

“Wire us up and deliver us straight to the hospital.”

They were obviously joking, but it was scary how real that could become.

Having already collapsed once during the Stardust Project days, Ha Junseo waved his hand in protest and chimed in.

“Hey, if you collapse, you’re the only one who loses out. Everyone, seriously, take some breaks.”

“—Now, calculate the total caffeine intake Ha Junseo consumed yesterday.”

“Ahhak hak hak! Honestly, you’re not the one to talk.”

Hit with Jin Sehyun’s blunt truth, Ha Junseo was left speechless.

Told you to quit caffeine.

With the usual Ha Junseo roast session underway, I naturally joined in too.

“Hyung, didn’t you say you’d switch to barley tea?”

“This schedule isn’t something barley tea can handle….”

“That’s withdrawal. You’re in serious trouble.”

We were still knee-deep in concert rehearsals.

Since we mixed musical elements into the <Touch Me> stage—originally our concept evaluation stage back in the Stardust Project—the stage directions had gotten way more complicated.

After syncing up all the movements, hours had flown by.

“Then at least cut down the shots!”

“Junseo-hyung only does three shots nowadays.”

“Wow. What? Why so little?”

“You guys have totally lost your sense of scale….”

“Three shots is still a lot, you know.”

Just as we were in the middle of roasting Ha Junseo, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

“Ah.”

It was a call from Lee Dokyung. I turned my head slightly and naturally stepped out of the rehearsal room.

Everyone was so caught up chatting that no one really noticed.

I picked up the call in a nearby hallway.

The first thing out of Lee Dokyung’s mouth was simple.

“I dug into Kim Woochan a bit.”

Oh.

He got straight to the point.

“You’re fast.”

“Someone made me a threat— I mean, a good offer.”

“Wow.”

I let out a short exclamation, impressed by Lee Dokyung’s quick information-gathering.

After grumbling for a moment, Lee Dokyung revealed his source.

“I used my sister card a little, and there’s a hyung around me who’s close to Min from The Way, so I casually asked him… But keep in mind, I couldn’t ask directly.”

“Okay.”

Too blatant of a background check could lead to gossip.

Maybe it would’ve been okay back when we were just trainees, but now that Lee Dokyung had debuted, he seemed more cautious.

“It’s about Kim Woochan….”

Lee Dokyung lowered his voice.

It didn’t seem like anyone was nearby, given the silence, but he was clearly trying to set a mood.

I played along to a degree and brought the phone to my ear.

But then.

“There’s nothing.”

“Sorry?”

“He’s clean. It kind of feels like when I first did a background check on Do Seohan…?”

He’s really admitting now that he looked into me.

“No past controversies, seems to get along with the staff. No girl problems, doesn’t even glance at clubs or alcohol.”

“……”

“Oh, and he doesn’t even have a driver’s license. So no drunk driving, I guess.”

“He’s quite old, but doesn’t have a license?”

“Apparently, he’s surprisingly strict with self-management.”

Sounds like traits Lee Dokyung himself should try to emulate.

Anyway, it meant there wasn’t any particular dirt that could cause a scandal.

Lee Dokyung wasn’t a god—he couldn’t invent a controversy out of nothing.

“Well, thanks anyw—”

I was nodding as I was about to hang up, but Lee Dokyung quickly added something.

“But there’s one thing that bothers me.”

“Bothers you?”

“He had a period where he stopped all activities….”

The Way had been consistently making comebacks since debut.

In fact, the company pushed them so hard early on that people even joked they were like diligent office workers on music shows.

Thanks to that, they’d climbed to the first-tier level, but apart from a minor hiccup with the recent comeback due to contract issues, the group had never taken a break.

Which meant…

Kim Woochan must have had a solo hiatus.

“Was it the year before last? Or last year…? He was off for a whole year.”

“Oh… really?”

“What, you didn’t know? You’re so indifferent!”

“Yeah, I didn’t know.”

“The Way was doing great at the time too. It was kind of a big deal when he went on hiatus without proper notice from the company….”

“Wasn’t it because of the contract renewal?”

“That added to the noise, but I think it was due to health issues. That was the company’s official statement.”

I awkwardly smiled and readjusted my grip on the phone.

A one-year break by Kim Woochan, The Way’s main member. That must’ve been a big enough deal to make fans freak out.

“Last year, huh….”

I trailed off, mumbling quietly.

The timing seemed to overlap a little.

“Ah, your schedule just got changed last minute.”

We were used to sudden additions of two or three schedules, but I was so lost in thought replaying what Lee Dokyung had said that I was half out of it.

Kim Woochan’s one-year hiatus.

In this life, I was probably in the middle of preparing for debut around then, so I might’ve missed news about The Way.

Back then, we were staying up all night every day to prepare, barely had time to monitor reactions—let alone catch the news.

But still.

The fact that I didn’t hear about it even in my past life bothered me a bit.

Strangely, I didn’t have any impactful memory of a person named Kim Woochan.

The Way was quite famous even back then, though.

Maybe it was during the time I was hurt and had left my agency—when I was consciously avoiding entertainment news altogether.

I vaguely sorted my thoughts and lifted my head.

Murmur murmur. The members were noisy.

“K-Walk Festival?”

“We can go with our comeback song.”

“Schedule… Seongbin, save us!”

The K-Walk Festival held in Damyang.

I figured festivals would start getting booked from April or May, but with it being right before the concert, we’d really have to manage our stamina.

Then I remembered what Lee Dokyung had said before hanging up.

—Ah, Seohan, guess I’ll see you at the festival next week.

—The Way will be there too, maybe a little three-way face-off?

K-Walk Festival, huh.

It wasn’t exactly a famous festival, but the organizers were a gossip outlet.

It looked like companies had been strong-armed—well, “persuaded”—into sending first-tier idols, making the lineup pretty solid.

The lineup included Stardust, FLYB, and The Way.

It was already stressful enough with just Kang Siwoo and Lee Dokyung being involved, but if Kim Woochan also showed up, it’d turn into a chaos-fest of a festival.

I pressed my fingers into my temples and muttered.

“Ugh, this is a headache.”

But then.

“K-Walk Festival….”

The name rang a bell.

But I couldn’t place why.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep