Chapter 75: Happening
“Is it good?”
That morning, Muyoung and Junho ordered jjajangmyeon and jjamppong as a hangover cure. Junho, who was eating with his chopsticks, smiled bashfully at Muyoung’s words.
“Heeheeheehee.”
“I can’t speak. I can’t. I don’t understand at all.”
“Kids can’t do it even if they don’t understand. Just skip trying to understand!”
“You’re having quite a bit of fun. You’re having fun.”
Junho took a sip of the broth, then texted Bora. He ate more noodles, then texted Bora again. He kept repeating this.
They say you become stupid when you fall in love, but this is just…….
“Oh well. That’s enough.”
It’s not worth talking about. It’s just a waste of breath.
“Love needs a bit of a trigger. Yeah. You should slowly leave hyung’s side and find a new love.”
“Yes. I understand, so just eat your food quietly. It’s annoying.”
“But—”
Junho, who was about to say something excitedly, hesitated. He shoved a mouthful of jjajangmyeon in and chewed, while Muyoung looked at him as if to ask what was going on.
“Huh? What’s this?”
“What’s wrong?”
Junho waved his hand frantically, signaling him to come over quickly. When he brought the bowl over, he saw that Junho was looking at an article—a fresh, hot-off-the-press exclusive from Maeil Daily.
[The person who was with drunk celebrity A at Gangnam Station was Ha Muyoung.]
[Where was Ha Muyoung when the drunk A was on the street?]
“What?”
Slurp! Muyoung slurped up the rest of his noodles and muttered.
Daryeong was referred to as A, using a pseudonym, but Muyoung’s full name was clearly written.
“Hey, wait a minute. Isn’t this serious?”
“Yeah. Um. I think the manager hyung would pass out if he saw this.”
[It has been reported that the person who was with celebrity A, who caused a disturbance at Gangnam Station early this morning, was rookie actor Ha Muyoung. He is an actor who gained fame through MeTube’s ‘Late Night Pocha’ and has since become an SNS influencer. Recently, he appeared in a minor role in
“Huh? That’s weird? I’m sure I put her in a taxi and sent her off.”
[Meanwhile, netizens speculated that A was Daryeong, but her agency denied this, saying it was groundless, and said that the filming of
“What a joke. There’s video evidence.”
It was dark, and the footage was shaky. The drunk woman kept shouting, “It’s not Daryeong—!” Muyoung crunched on some danmuji as he watched the video with her.
“Are you okay with doing this right now?”
“Huh? What?”
“They’re muddying the waters. Right now. The other agency.”
Instead of the pseudonym A, they threw out Ha Muyoung’s full name as bait—something for the public to tear apart. Unlike the clueless Muyoung, Junho seemed more serious.
“Look at the comments.”
-Who’s Ha Muyoung? Some nobody who drank with Daryeong? Lol
-It’s not Daryeong. She said it wasn’t her, so let’s believe her. It doesn’t make sense for someone like Daryeong to do that.
-But Ha Muyoung is funny too. He drank with her and just left her there; how dangerous is that these days?
-Didn’t she pass out after drinking first?
-Ha Muyoung…… I’m disappointed in you…… Live up to your looks……
-How could you just leave her like that?
Everyone happily tore apart and chewed on the topic the reporter had thrown out. There were also quite a few vicious comments underneath.
Junho roughly filtered them and glanced at his friend.
“Are you okay?”
But for some reason, there was no reaction? He just stared blankly in one direction, crunching on danmuji, as if deep in thought.
Zziiing— Zziiing—
“Ah. It’s the manager hyung.”
As if on cue, Muyoung wiped his mouth. As soon as he pressed the call button, a serious voice came through.
-Hey, Muyoung. I’m sorry. We tried to stop this, but Maeil Daily isn’t even picking up our calls. Those bastards even took the money……
I thought something was off from the interview.
-We’ll release an article saying it’s not true, so don’t go online for a while and just wait. We’ll try to fix this.
But fixing it was just a euphemism—it was a power struggle between agencies. A fight between the agency trying to protect Daryeong and the one trying to protect Muyoung. Muyoung quietly observed the situation and asked,
“But hyung. Has Sealing Actors made a statement? That it wasn’t Daryeong?”
-Yeah. They denied it, saying it was groundless.
“And if the article Maeil Daily published is not factual, can we sue them?”
-Sue? We can. But what about? The fact that you drank is true.
“But they’re making it seem like I left Daryeong there. I definitely put her in a taxi and sent her off.”
Muyoung said that and tapped the table with his fingertips. This is so annoying. I really just wanted to take a nap because I’m tired.
“Contact Sealing and Maeil Daily. It’d be better if they sorted themselves out before they really get embarrassed.”
Junho quietly brought over the bowl and looked at him. It was the first time he’d seen Muyoung’s cynical expression. They say that a gentle person is scarier when they’re angry, and that’s exactly what this was.
-Do you have any photos or videos?
“It was the Migong Transport taxi with the Seoul A 8457 license plate. I put her in that taxi and sent her off, so it should be on the dashcam.”
He caused such a ruckus even with the police, so he probably would’ve done the same, if not more, with the taxi driver. The sound of Gyeongmin quickly taking notes, sharpening his pencil, could be heard.
“Should I just post that on SNS?”
-Let us look into it and we’ll respond. Got it.
Click.
The call ended abruptly, as if out of urgency.
Junho, who was finishing his jjamppong, asked,
“But how do you remember all that when you were drunk?”
Isn’t remembering the taxi number something you have to try to remember? Muyoung laughed, as if what he was saying was obvious. But that wasn’t Junho’s point.
‘Seoyeon University, as expected. Your memory is ridiculously good.’
He probably doesn’t know because he thinks it’s normal, but if it were Junho, he would’ve forgotten immediately and searched all the CCTV footage around Gangnam Station unless he wrote it down somewhere.
“Ugh……”
Muyoung groaned, his face buried in the cushion.
“Don’t worry too much. Even if people say things, it’s fine as long as it’s not you.”
From the heartless guy who left a drunk person behind to someone with no sense of responsibility, etc. If he didn’t filter them, the flood of things he couldn’t hear would pour in.
“I don’t care about that kind of stuff.”
“What? Then what?”
But Muyoung didn’t hear him. What does it matter if the whole world hates him? It’s not like they’re spitting in his face. The only thing he was worried about was……
“I’m worried that this will affect my audition results.”
Oh dear. I told the PD that I was confident I wouldn’t cause any trouble, but I got caught up in this happening. Muyoung glared at Junho with his eyes wide open.
“It’s all your fault, you jerk.”
“Me? Why me?”
“I drank with Daryeong because I was trying to set you up with Bora! Right? It was because the glitter was sparkling.”
“You’re not fully awake yet. You’re not. What are you talking about?”
Junho cleared the dishes as he watched Muyoung mess up his hair and scream. He didn’t know what he was talking about, but seeing him freak out like that, he seemed fine.
“Go to sleep and wake up. Then you’ll feel better.”
“You?”
“I’m going to clean this up and sleep too. It’s a rare holiday, so I have to make the most of it. Come on. Lie down. Eating and lying down is true happiness.”
Listening to Junho, Muyoung looked for a blanket. It was a warm summer morning. The air conditioner was blowing gently, and yesterday’s fatigue was creeping in.
‘I hope everything will be sorted out by the time I wake up.’
Thinking that, he slowly calmed the irritation bubbling inside him. The more peaceful he felt, the heavier his eyelids became.
“PD-nim. Have you seen the video that just came out?”
“What is it now? I’m scared, really.”
The PD in charge of
‘What am I supposed to do if this happens right before the broadcast!’
It was a pre-produced show, so most of it was already finished. They just needed to air it, but the female lead had caused such a big mess. The agency and the show had released articles together, but public opinion was obviously already bad.
‘Such a controversial drama.’
Starting with the assistant director incident…… It had really left a bad impression. They might as well go with noise marketing at this point—that’s how much they wished for it.
“An article just came out. It’s an exclusive report from News One Pick. The dashcam footage from the taxi Daryeong was in has been released.”
“What? What dashcam?”
I can’t believe how long this day has been!
What else could go wrong? The PD held his nervousness in and played the video. There were two familiar voices recorded in it.
[Be careful. Tell the driver the address! The license plate number is Seoul A 8457, Migong Transport…… Let me know when you arrive, driver. Please take care of her!]
[Where are you going! Where are you all going?!]
[Let me out!]
[Uh oh. Miss. Is it dangerous to open the door? Are you going to get out?]
[I don’t know! I’m not going! Fuck, I’m getting out! Why is Kang Bora the only one you’re following……?!]
[Huh! Whatever.]
It was clearly Daryeong’s voice. She swore so casually. And the man who put her in the taxi was……
“Ha Muyoung, right?”
“Yes. He must’ve done it there. That’s why the director is holding an emergency meeting right now. You should come up immediately.”
“Ah. Please.”
The broadcast wouldn’t be canceled. Too much money had already been spent on production. The best they could do was replace Daryeong and bring in a new female lead.
Even if it meant delaying the broadcast. The PD gathered the documents and gestured with his hand.
“Let’s go. Oh dear. I’m going to die.”
Following him was the assistant director, who kept glancing at the endless feed and comments on her phone as she ran down the hallway.
-It’s definitely Daryeong when you hear the voice, right?
-Her temper is crazy;; It seems like her image and her real self are different. If she acted like that with the driver, it’s understandable that she caused a scene at the police station too.
-Didn’t they say Ha Muyoung left her on the street? He put her in a taxi and sent her off. Isn’t that different from what the article said?
-But look at how he remembers the license plate number. So sweet.
-He even said goodbye, telling her to be safe and to let him know when she arrived. Isn’t that enough? What else could he do if she got out in the middle?
-Ha Muyoung’s Instagram just blew up. He said he wanted to apologize to Daryeong because of the assistant director incident, so he bought her drinksㅋㅋㅋ But she got drunk by herself and caused a scene. They didn’t even drink together—there were four of them. Why is she acting like that by herself?
Cyberbullying disguised as comments poured in like a tidal wave. It would be exhausting for an outsider to read, let alone the person involved. Tsk.
“Has Sealing contacted you?”
“Um. They only released a corrected article saying they were verifying the facts. More photos taken by witnesses at the scene keep coming out, so I think it’ll be a bit difficult.”
“Haaah. Okay.”
At the same time, the Maeil Daily article was deleted. At the PD’s gesture, the assistant director put her phone in her pocket. He opened the meeting room door with a determined expression.
Squeak!
Zziiing— Zziiing—
The phone rang loudly. Muyoung, lying face down, only managed to find the device by feeling around with his hand. It was already evening, and the sky was darkening.
“……Hello?”
-I know you’re busy and tired, but you’re not answering your phone.
“Lee Yujin PD-nim?”
-Did you sleep? Why does your voice sound like that? You didn’t cry, did you?
The PD’s playful consolation made his nose tingle for some reason.
“……I didn’t cry. I slept.”
-It must’ve been hard today, but the busier you are, the more you have to keep yourself occupied. Time heals, and you’ll realize it’s all over when you come to your senses.
She laughed briefly before continuing.
-Will you come to the production company this week? I want to gather all the Merylkelin members and do a camera test.
“What?”
Merylkelin is the band name from <You are a Star, I am a Star>. Muyoung, still on his knees, blankly held the phone with both hands. What she just said……
“But, I’ve been in a mess today.”
-I know. It’s been crazy since early morning. But you must’ve missed it because you were sleeping?
What did I miss? He was curious, but that wasn’t important.
“Is it okay even so?”
-Stars always come with some noise. Ordinary people can’t have it even if they want to. And it was just a happening, right? What’s wrong? Don’t you like it?
How could he not like it! Muyoung’s eyes sparkled as he bowed his head. And he shouted loudly—
“No! How could I not like it! Thank you!”
“Ughhh……”
He shouted his thanks. Thanks to that, Junho, who had been sleeping soundly, woke up in a panic. Even after the call ended, Muyoung just sat there, as if still dreaming.
‘What did she mean when she said I missed something because I was sleeping?’
Muyoung, who had come to his senses, accessed a portal site on his phone. He immediately understood the situation from the words trending in real-time searches.