I signed an exclusive contract with AS Entertainment once again with Jaeyoung.
Why did I even bother tearing it up? Well, thanks to that, I was able to clarify the lacking contract terms.
Now, AS can properly expand its scale.
“Was this your plan from the beginning, Siyeon?”
“Well, pretty much.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me in advance…? And why did you just watch when I tore up the contract?”
“Because the mission must be completed before reporting.”
“Sigh…”
I took a bottle of cola from the fridge and drank it down.
The fizzy carbonation that felt like it was melting my teeth sent a pleasant thrill down my throat.
Jaeyoung knew I liked cola, so he always kept the fridge stocked with plenty of it.
It seemed he had kept doing so even while our contract was voided and I was away.
“But what exactly happened? I heard there was a whistleblower…”
“Well… that’s…”
I hesitated for a moment.
Even though we disguised it as a whistleblower case, what Dongsoo and I did was illegal under South Korean law.
Of course, since it was me, I would never get caught, but it wasn’t good to increase the number of people who knew about it.
And honestly, with the common sense around here, no one would believe that a middle school girl hacked TM.
“I did it.”
After some thought, I decided to tell the truth.
Jaeyoung and I were already in the same boat. And he wasn’t someone I couldn’t trust.
I had a keen eye for people, and I was certain that even knowing this, Jaeyoung wouldn’t turn against me.
And if by some minuscule chance he did, well… I’d just kill him.
Jaeyoung, after hearing everything, sat with his mouth hanging open as if his jaw had come loose.
“You… you expect me to believe that?”
“That’s up to you, boss. But anyway, that’s what happened. The fan club president helped, and thanks to Sweet Black’s revelations, public opinion completely turned against TM.
TM’s idols, using Sweet Black’s testimony as a basis, are now able to file lawsuits to terminate their contracts.
I don’t know exactly how things will turn out, but one thing’s for sure—TM will never regain its former status.”
The work that Dongsoo and I did might not have been enough on its own.
But the decisive blow was Sua’s revelations, which caused TM’s foundation to crumble.
Since an idol from TM directly exposed the truth, other idols gained the justification to terminate their contracts as well.
One by one, they would all leave TM.
If an entertainment company loses all of its contracted idols, there’s nothing left for it to do.
No celebrity or trainee would want to join such a company.
Of course, they might grind their teeth and try to make a comeback someday.
But at least until AS grows strong enough, TM will only continue to plummet into ruin.
“Sigh… How much of this am I supposed to believe?”
Jaeyoung let out a helpless laugh, looking both skeptical and convinced at the same time.
It was hard to believe, yet impossible to dismiss.
That was the perfect balance—any more questioning, and I would be in trouble.
“Well, that aside, shouldn’t you start accepting interview requests and appearing on the news?
You need to clear your name and completely put an end to TM.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I’ve had my phone off, but I’m sure I have a ton of messages.
But more importantly… what about the Sweet Black kids?”
Jaeyoung paused mid-sentence.
He seemed to choke up at the thought of Sweet Black.
“They say that even if they continue their idol careers, they’ll never regain their past popularity.”
“…Yeah, that makes sense. For them, their idol careers are practically over.”
“What if our company took them in? You could manage them, boss.”
I made a suggestion to Jaeyoung.
If Sweet Black wanted to continue their entertainment careers, they would need an agency.
Jaeyoung could definitely help them.
And given his relationship with Sweet Black, it made sense.
“…No, that’s not going to work.”
But Jaeyoung’s answer was unexpected.
“Why not?”
“…How could I face them?
And how would I bring an idol group into a company where I’m the only employee?
No, it’s impossible.”
I could tell that was a lie.
But at the same time, it was something he truly wished for.
How could those two feelings coexist?
I didn’t understand, but I knew I should respect his feelings.
“Well, maybe they don’t even want to continue their careers.
And more than that…”
Jaeyoung began tidying up the contract documents.
“I promised that, for now, I’d focus solely on you, didn’t I?
You alone are already keeping me busy—being such a huge star and all.”
“Hmph… Fine. Do whatever you want.”
That was enough.
Everything else was up to them.
But for now, there would be a whirlwind of post-incident cleanups.
It wouldn’t take long, but it would still be difficult to jump straight into a new project.
TM was in chaos.
After completing a mission for the first time in a while, I found myself wanting a break for once.
Maybe I should leave everything to Jaeyoung and take some time off until the next project…
“You motherfuckers! Expose everything! Do you even know how much they leeched off us?
Spill it all!”
Lee Taeman shouted, throwing everything within reach.
Ever since the whistleblowing incident, the situation had only worsened.
Sweet Black had confessed to the exploitation, and that caused a domino effect—other idols followed suit, filing contract termination lawsuits one after another.
Handling those lawsuits alone was overwhelming, but to make matters worse, regular employees were quitting en masse.
Most of them had no idea about TM’s reality and left in disappointment.
The major broadcast stations and media, who had once backed them, completely turned against them.
Their misdeeds were now exposed to the entire nation—no, the entire world.
The stock price plummeted.
At an emergency shareholder meeting, the motion to dismiss Lee Taeman passed instantly.
TM, which had been his, was now suing him and exposing even more of his corruption.
Lee Taeman, along with Chief Choi and their accomplices, was facing lawsuits from the board and shareholders and would soon pay for their crimes.
Despite this, TM had almost no chance of recovery.
It was practically a sinking ship.
“Who the fuck did this?!!”
Lee Taeman screamed as he watched his office being cleaned out.
Who was the whistleblower?
At the very least, he had to kill that bastard.
But before he could do anything, security guards forcibly dragged him out of the building.
“Mom… What do we do now?”
Chae-young, who had been watching, turned to Hye-won.
Hye-won and Chae-young were just as shocked by the situation.
They had no idea this was coming.
But the impact of TM’s downfall affected them too.
“…We’ll have to find another agency.
Let’s wait for things to settle down a little and start making contacts.”
“Okay…”
Most of the idols had already filed lawsuits and sought new agencies.
But Hye-won couldn’t do that right away.
She was still a board member.
Even if she hadn’t known about the corruption, she couldn’t completely avoid responsibility.
She wouldn’t face legal punishment like Lee Taeman’s group, but it would take time to settle the company affairs, process her shares, and move to another agency.
On top of that, Hye-won was TM’s biggest star.
Being TM’s top actress, her image had taken a hit.
And as a high-profile actress, finding a new agency wouldn’t be easy either.
“…Should Chae-young at least start looking for an agency?
Maybe through Ji-hyun, you could get into FAC?”
“But what about you, Mom?”
“You don’t have to worry about me, Mom.
Did you forget that you ranked 4th in brand value for female artists recently?
You could even start your own one-person agency, and there won’t be any problems with your career.
But for Chaeyoung, it would be better to be cared for in a big agency.”
“Yeah… for now… I got it.”
Although they usually bickered as mother and daughter, at this moment, they leaned on each other.
In truth, Hye-won was feeling terrible inside, but she couldn’t show it in front of her daughter.
She had already been in the industry for a long time, but Chaeyoung was still a budding talent.
As a mother who wanted to protect her daughter’s dreams, this was agonizing.
“…It’s difficult for now?”
“Yes, senior. I tried my best to talk to them, but they said they want to wait until the TM scandal settles.
Of course, they know you had nothing to do with it, but the company sees things differently.
But it’s not like they’re completely rejecting Chaeyoung—once things calm down, they’ll consider it positively…”
“…I see. Well, there’s nothing I can do. Thanks for trying.”
But even that didn’t go as she had hoped.
Hye-won had asked Ji-hyun to help Chaeyoung get into FAC.
A few days later, Ji-hyun called back with that response.
Since this scandal was such a huge deal in the entertainment industry, even FAC was being cautious.
Understanding the stance of the agencies, Hye-won couldn’t ask Ji-hyun for any more favors.
She knew that Ji-hyun had already done her best to help.
“Haa…”
How should she break this news to Chaeyoung?
Of course, once the situation settled, Chaeyoung would be able to find an agency.
But Hye-won knew her daughter wouldn’t be able to accept that so easily.
She needed to continue training and stay in the public eye, but with this career gap…
“What should I do…”
Hye-won lowered her head.
As much as she hated to admit it, she resented the whistleblower.
She felt betrayed and upset that Siyeon, who had even agreed to sign a contract, suddenly turned on TM at that crucial moment.
“…No. No, that’s not right.”
No, no matter what, she shouldn’t think like that.
She quickly shook her head.
How much had the idols suffered all this time?
Just because things had become a little difficult for her, she couldn’t wish that others had continued to suffer.
That was a terrible thought.
“…Everything will be okay…”
But that didn’t change the reality—Hye-won and Chaeyoung’s lives had been shattered.
It wouldn’t be easy for her to escape the pain either.
After much consideration, Hye-won finally told Chaeyoung that it would be difficult for her to join an agency for now.
And in the end, Chaeyoung broke down in tears.
“Why has Chaeyoung been acting like that lately? She doesn’t even hang out with Siyeon or Ji-young anymore.”
“Hey, can you blame her? Maybe not Ji-young, but Siyeon?
TM falsely accused Siyeon’s agency’s CEO and tried to ruin her acting career.
And on top of that, Chaeyoung kept trying to convince Siyeon to join TM…
That company where all those horrible things happened.”
“Oh, right… Chaeyoung’s mom was a TM director, wasn’t she?
But do you think she really didn’t know?
Even if she wasn’t involved in the idol industry, she was still a director.”
“She probably didn’t know.
If she did, there’s no way she would have let her daughter join that agency.
I mean, if she had any conscience, she wouldn’t have tried to bring her daughter’s friend into such a place.”
“True… It’s crazy, though.
I really liked Shining Oppa’s group… but what now?
They really got screwed by signing with the wrong company.”
Chaeyoung’s fists trembled under the desk as she pretended to be asleep.
Lately, she hated coming to school.
No matter where she went, she kept hearing about TM, Kim Siyeon, and herself.
Strangers whispered about her and looked down on her.
It was no surprise that she stopped hanging out with Siyeon and Ji-young.
After all, in their second year, the three of them ended up in different classes.
Until March, just before the TM scandal broke, they still met up in the hallways and spent time together.
But now, that was no longer the case.
Ji-young, at least, still tried to move between classes and keep their friendship alive.
After all, they had been friends for so long, and it was the adults who were at fault.
But for a young middle school girl, it wasn’t so simple.
Chaeyoung couldn’t suppress her resentment toward Siyeon and Ji-young.
Siyeon, who had once considered joining TM, had completely turned against it when the situation changed.
Her interview was what accelerated the scandal, ultimately bringing TM down.
She knew that Chaeyoung and Hye-won were still in TM, yet she spoke without a second thought, fully aware of the consequences.
Ji-young wasn’t exactly to blame, but her mother, Ji-hyun, refused to help Chaeyoung.
Even in this situation, couldn’t she have pulled some strings for at least one child actress?
They had known each other for almost ten years.
It was too cold-hearted and unfair.
In just a short time, Chaeyoung felt completely betrayed by both of her friends.
Before she could even talk things out or clear up misunderstandings, her resentment toward them only grew.
After all, while her career was now on hold indefinitely and her mother couldn’t secure an agency,
Siyeon was clearly going to rise to stardom, and Ji-young was bragging about making it into a debut group.
One person’s career was falling apart while the others flourished.
There was no way she could take that well.
Naturally, she began to distance herself from Siyeon and Ji-young.
As time passed, her resentment grew in silence, and eventually, she stopped even greeting them.
“I’m the real victim here… You bitches…!!”
The whispers around her.
The two childhood friends she had lost.
Consumed by resentment and unable to bear it any longer,
Chaeyoung transferred to another school—without saying a word to Siyeon or Ji-young.