-Seo Kang Jun, do you know where he is right now?

“Where is he??”

-He reserved a room at a club.

“Ahhh…”

There was no need for words after that.

After having a simple phone call with Reporter Choi Sung Jun, Do Wook checked the portal site.

He searched Seo Jun’s name but, besides a rebuttal article stating that they have nothing to do with Mr. S who was involved in the Juwon University admission fraud, there were no new articles posted.

It looked like they had left the accusations of Seo Jun’s school violence, which were heating up the internet, alone.

Originally, whether it was true or not, Ara Entertainment would have been up in arms about suing the person who wrote the letter for defamation.

That was originally Ara Entertainment’s tactic. If you shamelessly act even more confident than the other party, opinions will be divided and the issue will die down without any hindering knots forming. As time passes, unraveled controversies disappear even easier.

‘But the situation being as it is, they probably can’t even say they’re going to sue…to put on a show like that, you need to have people who believe you…’

Of course, there were many opinions from fans that they should hear Seo Kang Jun’s side until it’s proven to be true, but the public’s arrow had already been aimed at Seo Kang Jun.

If Seo Kang Jun messes up even a little bit, the arrow can instantly fly at him and deal him a fatal blow.

‘At the moment, it would be best for him to lay low. It’ll be Seo Kang Jun who would be in trouble by making more noise, seeing as how the assault accusations are true.’

While thinking those thoughts, Do Wook went back past the hallway to the room the members were at and opened the door.

***

“You wanted to see me?”

Seo Kang Jun, who had entered Director Seo Joong Won’s office, felt dizzy enough to want to close his eyes when he saw his father.

Director Seo Joong Won was holding a golf club in his hands. Before Seo Kang Jun could even get another word in, Director Seo Joong Won’s golf club was angrily swung towards Seo Kang Jun.

“Aaagh―!”

Seo Kang Jun, who was hit on the shin, fell to the floor as he let out an ‘aagh’ sound. A deep pain traveled from his toes all the way up to his head.

Above Seo Kang Jun, who had fallen down, the golf club came flying again.

Seo Kang Jun instinctively raised his arms and blocked the golf club that was flying towards him.

“Urgh!”

This time, his shoulder started burning. It was an unbearable pain. Seo Kang Jun bit his lips hard.

“Huff huff…”

Not having felt this kind of pain in a long time, the sound of his breathing instinctually became rough.

However, Director Seo Joong Won, who rolled up his sleeves, was not phased at all. He simply had a disappointed expression about just having thrown two golf balls at him and failing to hit.

As a child, Seo Kang Jun once broke the vase in the living room while running around in the house.

Director Seo Joong Won, who had come home after drinking, broke Seo Kang Jun’s calves to the point that he couldn’t run for a while.

It wasn’t only when he did something wrong. Director Seo Joong Won’s habit of throwing punches without any rhyme or reason could not be described simply as ‘habit’.

It was brutal domestic violence. He laid his hands on not only Seo Kang Jun, but occasionally also his wife. He looked like a boor, not a head of household.

And yet, he went on and on every day about how hard he was working for the family and how he has to work like an errand boy. He pressured his wife and child to be grateful to him.

Oppressed by such a father, Seo Kang Jun couldn’t even breathe properly in the house.

But it was different when he went outside. Outside, Seo Kang Jun was a protagonist and he could be a boor. It was ok for him to act like that.

The violence and oppression he suffered at home gave Seo Kang Jun a justification to act however he wanted when he was out. In exchange for putting up with his father, he was able to exercise power with his father’s backing.

Seo Kang Jun imitated his father, who pretended to be caring when he went out despite being a violent offender at home.

As he continued to do so, he understood why his father acted like that. The pleasure of stepping on someone weak was truly thrilling. No matter how much you stepped on them, they couldn’t even wriggle. Everyone was weak. It was only right that the weak get stepped on.

However, these were all just excuses for himself that Seo Kang Jun thought of from his point of view.

Being in the same situation doesn’t mean everyone makes the same choice. It was just that Seo Kang Jun is that kind of person.

Director Seo Joong Won asked, while looking at Seo Kang Jun, who was lying on the floor and holding back the pain.

Director Seo Joong Won wanted to continue the beating, but he stopped after two hits considering Seo Jun’s occupation.

“Explain yourself.”

“Explain what…?”

“Explain what?! I told you, didn’t I? You can do whatever you want but if you’re going to get caught, don’t even start!”

Seo Kang Jun grit down on his molar.

In any case, it turned out that Seo Kang Jun never caused any incidents. Nevertheless, his father swung a golf club at him before asking whether it was true or not.

“What are you going to do about the fraudulent admission? All that over a college that I didn’t even have to go to…”

Director Seo Joong Won let out a sigh over his son, who stared at him with resentful eyes, as if the action were ridiculous.

“You were the one who said you wanted to push Kang Do Wook out! And it wasn’t even a real fraudulent admission, so it was a problem that would have been taken care of easily…if only your violence case hadn’t come out.”

“Sue them. They don’t have evidence anyways.”

“Sue? You say that as if it’s so easy. What if they find evidence during the process?! We will probably win the case, but it will likely become unnecessary self-inflicted damage.”

“Then…”

Seo Kang Jun looked nervously at Director Seo Joong Won.

Until now, his position had never been so precarious. Not once had he viewed it as precarious.

If it looked like there might be a small problem for his son, his product, Director Seo Joong Won’s underlings stepped in and quietly took care of it. That’s why the sudden crisis was driving Seo Kang Jun crazy.

Of course he felt vexed that he lost first place, which had been within his reach, to KK and Kang Do Wook, but he was confident that one day he would topple Kang Do Wook and take that spot.

Starting from when he was kicked out of the lead role of a drama that they had already even filmed, his empty-shell self disappeared and Seo Kang Jun felt as if he were standing in the middle of the city, naked.

“For now, don’t even think of showing your face anywhere and pretend you’re self-reflecting.”

“Why should I?! I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Isn’t it true that you beat up a kid?”

“I told you, they don’t have evidence! If they don’t have evidence, it didn’t happen!”

Seo Kang Jun’s words made Director Seo Joong Won show an expression as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. At the same time, he shook his head. It was exactly as he had taught him.

“You’re certain they really don’t have evidence, right? If you keep to yourself, they’ll soon forget. That public made up of dogs and pigs.”

“Until when?”

“How would I know?! Annoying kid!”

“Father! This involves me! Step in more!”

“I am your father, but I am also the Director here.”

Seo Kang Jun’s eyes shook like a candle in front of the wind.

“Father, you’re not…”

He was definitely his son. He was reading his mind faster than anyone else would. Director Seo Joong Won made a suspicious expression.

“Now is not the time.”

“No…you’re not, right father?!”

Struggling, Seo Kang Jun got up.

“I said now is not the time, didn’t I?! So, until things are sorted out, don’t cause any more problems. Stay locked in the dormitory and do nothing but breathe!”

Director Seo Joong Won yelled. ‘Now is not the time’ meant there may come a day that it might happen.

‘I’m being abandoned.’

Seo Kang Jun slowly shook his head.

“This isn’t some child’s play. Everything is chosen according to value. Just because you’re my son doesn’t mean you’re an exception.”

“Father!”

“Get out.”

Seo Kang Jun didn’t say any more. Saying any more would only get on Director Seo Joong Won’s nerves more.

He said that being his son didn’t make him different, but in reality Seo Kang Jun was a card he could throw away more easily because he was his son.

Just as he provided more full support because he was his son, the arrow of criticism could easily fly to Director Seo Joong Won for that same reason.

Director Seo Joong Won is someone who prepares to ‘cut the tail’ at any moment.

“And M2M didn’t make as much as expected….tisk.”

Looking at the door that Seo Kang Jun left through, Director Seo Joong Won clicked his tongue. He thought he could raise him to be a goose that laid golden eggs since he was handsome, but that ended up not being the case so it was causing him problems. Since he invested so much, he had to do as much as he could to fix it.

Seo Kang Jun had put his faith in him, his father, and Director Seo Joong Won had threatened him in hopes that he would stop running wild, and tried to make him an agency celebrity who was a little more obedient. However, he was also making his own moves.

‘Let’s see…’

Director Seo Joong Won thought hard about what method to use to get out of this mess.

***

However, there was something Director Seo Joong Won miscalculated.

To start, Seo Kang Jun was someone who couldn’t live without Director Seo Joong Won’s backing. The fear that he’d be abandoned by his father in the end shook him to his core.

Seo Kang Jun, of course, didn’t have the capability to overcome that hardship.

Seo Kang Jun relieved his oppression at home by committing violence outside.

Seo Kang Jun left Ara Entertainment’s headquarters and used the route to head to the club he often went to. A few diehard fans who followed Seo Kang Jun around like glue, whispered as they watched Seo Kang Jun head towards the club.

“Hey, is it ok for Jun to be doing that?”

“I know. In the article they said he’d stop activities for the time being and rest. I guess this is what he meant by resting.”

“I guess he’s really hurt that he was kicked off the drama. He used to only call girls to the dorm too. Did he really beat someone up?”

“Kids from the same high school said they never saw Jun hit anyone. The handwritten letter must be fake. It’s true that he has a temper, but could he really have beaten him up that much?”

“I guess. He doesn’t seem to have the guts to go on TV after doing something like that. Gee, I understand being upset, but why is he drinking at a time like this?”

“Yeah. It often seems like he’s not thinking. It’s because the construction of his image was done well.”

“True. He often mistreats the members too. He’d cuss at them too.”

“While completely hiding it on broadcasts.”

“Yeah.”

Even while whispering, the diehard fans were busily giggling over the idea that it was a ‘Seo Jun’ that only they knew instead of being worried.

Seo Kang Jun, who entered the club in the meantime, reserved a room and gathered his friends whom he used to hang out with in high school.

There were people he hadn’t really kept in contact with after entering Ara Entertainment as an official trainee.

The friends immediately ran to him since a celebrity was calling them. Among them were those who bullied Reporter Choi Sung Jun’s younger brother together with Seo Kang Jun.

“*Beep*. Why is that bastard doing this *beeP* now?”

Freely cussing for the first time in a long time, Seo Kang Jun excessively got into the alcohol. It seemed as though a screw got loose when he was getting beaten on the shin with the golf club.

Abusive language towards him that was constantly getting posted on the Internet was hard to bear too. It was especially so since he had never been condemned like this before.

“Ah, those were the good old days. Watching that bastard pee himself was so funny!”

“I know~!”

“Ah, *beep*! Stop talking about dirty things. It’s making the alcohol taste bad! That *beep*, I should have shattered his hand so he couldn’t even hold a pencil.”

Seo Kang Jun gathered his saliva and spit on the floor as he talked.

“But man, how could you not contact us at all all this time.”

“That’s why I called you again. You guys know what will happen if you talk about the past, right?”

“Of course, of course. We’d never do that. You’re paying for everything, right? Can we order more hard liquor?”

“Do whatever you want.”

When Seo Kang Jun wobbled and waved his hand, his so-called friends cheered and called the waiter.

And a moment later.

The waiter was thrown to the floor. It was because he didn’t do what Seo Kang Jun wanted. Blood burst from the mouth of the waiter, who was hit in the face by Seo Kang Jun’s fist.

It was when Seo Kang Jun kicked the waiter in the abdomen. His shin gave him burning pain every time he moved his foot.

The door opened and people screamed. The person who secretly approached the room and opened the room so that the situation inside could be visible to the outside was Reporter Choi Sung Jun, who had been secretly monitoring the situation.

Also, as a family member of a victim of violence, he could no longer sit by and watch the waiter getting assaulted.

Hiding within the crowd, Reporter Choi Sung Jun took pictures. Even if Reporter Choi didn’t necessarily take it, too many people already had their eyes on Seo Kang Jun.

“What the….”

“Seo Jun…isn’t that Seo Jun?”

“Is he hitting someone right now?”

“Hurrr.”

“Didn’t they say he hit someone during high school too?”

“Police, we have to call the police!”

“Excuse me! Please move aside!”

The club Manager, who was completely surprised, was rushing towards the scene, trying to get through the crowd. It was unknown why the door of the private room was wide open.

But that wasn’t what was important right now.

Seo Kang Jun stopped in his tracks, frozen by the gaze of people who were looking at him like he were a beast.

—

Next chapter: The public have now seen it with their own eyes. Seo Kang Jun now faces backlash for his actions for the first time in his life.

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