…First, I kept listening to the recording.
The more I heard, the more certain I became that it was the conversation I’d had with Choi Wongil on the secluded stairwell of the MBS broadcasting station.
‘Damn it.’
[Everyone lives like that! You keep acting like I’m the only one… when everyone was fighting over parts and cursing each other out too.]
One after another, Choi Wongil’s excuses—where he’d gone on at length bringing up other people—continued in low-quality audio.
Honestly, even hearing only this much gave plenty of buildup for people to curse him out.
He’d suddenly picked a fight and then done nothing but whine while blaming everyone else.
But after this, they’d even worked some editing magic.
They’d rearranged a single word.
[Everything worked out for you, hyung.]
[…Not really. If I told you to trade places with me, would you?]
[…I couldn’t!]
[So part of you does want to trade. Hmm……. But honestly, you wouldn’t want to trade families, would you.]
[Yes.]
[…….]
Originally, Choi Wongil’s “yes” had come later, in response to me asking about how his family was doing.
Instead, it had been shoved straight onto the end of that conversation.
Thanks to that, the nuance became much stranger.
‘Choi Wongil comes across even more rotten than he actually was.’
The moment I brought up family circumstances, it made him sound like he’d immediately answered, “Yeah, living as an orphan like you would suck, I just envy your career.”
Naturally, there wasn’t a trace of the apology Choi Wongil had made afterward.
After a few more seconds of static, the video ended.
The silence made it feel as though Park Moondae had been so shocked by Choi Wongil’s immediate answer that he’d been rendered speechless.
That seemed intentional too.
“……Hmm.”
I checked the comments again.
First, there was a top comment that had transcribed Choi Wongil’s words in a harsher tone than he’d actually used.
That was the one I’d read earlier.
And the next most upvoted comments were…
Hmm.
Exactly as expected.
Half of them were about me.
—Holy shit, is he insane picking a fight like that
—Park Moondae’s parents both passed away, what in the world is that reaction…
—ㅋㅋㅋ Look at the way he talks. His personality must be something else
—Choi Wongil gave me bad vibes from the first time I saw his face. Guy was dripping with greed and went insane from an inferiority complex, while kind-hearted Moondae keeps hitting a new visual peak every dayㅉㅉㅉ
—It sounds like Park Moondae keeps trying to talk him down nicely, only to hear stuff like that… Ah… I feel awful…ㅠㅠ
—Are you serious saying something like “must be nice that your life’s going well” to a kid whose parents died
—There’s no proof and you really believe this? Are all the comments TeSTAR fans..
└Fangirls charging in even when it reeks of fabricationㅋ Go be good to your parents if you have time for this~
└There’s Recording 1 too, and that one has video, so it’s undeniable
└Aren’t you embarrassed to start throwing around “fangirl” in a situation like this?
—★☆There is a Recording 1, everyone go listen to it (link)☆★
‘…Number one.’
The video title did have a “2” attached to it.
Apparently there was a first one too.
I clicked the link in the comment.
A shaky, low-quality camera was filming Choi Wongil sitting alone on a secluded broadcasting-station stairwell, muttering to himself.
‘They zoomed in as far as they could.’
It was clearly recorded on a smartphone with digital zoom.
Choi Wongil was muttering this and that to himself.
He was probably so mentally cornered that he didn’t even realize he was speaking aloud.
The problem was…
What he was saying was aimed at netizens.
[People who write comments always do it without thinking…… They don’t even know what they wrote, and then they forget about it right away…….]
Honestly, from Choi Wongil’s perspective, it wasn’t something he had no right to say.
After getting dragged around and mocked online like that, he could easily say something like this during counseling or while trying to reassure himself.
In fact, it could even look pitiful.
However, it was exactly the sort of thing that would rub people who’d cursed Choi Wongil during <Idol Inc.> the wrong way.
—ㅋㅋㅋㅋ This desperate self-comfort is bringing tears to my eyes
—You got cursed out because your own personality was garbage and look at you blaming everyone else, sigh…
—Yeah, there are cases like that, but you’re not one of them
The criticism and mockery were merciless here too.
Probably thanks to the justification provided by that carefully edited recording of the conversation he’d had with me.
“…….”
My head was starting to ache.
At least I understood now that they hadn’t been trying to target me.
‘They’re trying to take down Choi Wongil.’
The fact that they’d gone to the trouble of editing the recording before uploading it made that clear.
The bastard I’d seen at the bottom of the broadcasting-station stairs back then was probably the same person.
And judging by the fact that they hadn’t uploaded it at the time and had waited until the news of Choi Wongil’s group’s debut came out, they’d planned this deliberately.
‘And they used me for it.’
The maddening part was that this bastard had used Park Moondae as fuel to make the whole thing bigger.
Had you seen the endless comments sympathizing with and defending me?
It would be easy to mistake favorable public opinion for a good thing, but it absolutely wasn’t.
Because it meant the image of my miserable family history, which I’d only just managed to bury into my background narrative, had openly surfaced again.
Just look at the posts appearing on SNS already.
—Using wording like “must be nice that things keep going well for you” to someone who lost his parents in an accident and even dropped out because of school violence is a problem with your capacity for empathy.
—I feel like crying just imagining what Moondae must’ve felt like back then. Choi Wongil seriously seems out of his mind
They weren’t even TeSTAR fan accounts.
‘…I’m long past the stage where this benefits me.’
I wasn’t in an audition anymore where every single vote mattered.
Now that the group had successfully established itself, this kind of attention was actually an obstacle.
Because it warped my image.
Imagine people seeing Park Moondae and thinking first of his shockingly miserable past rather than his performances or his group’s image.
And during TeSTAR’s new album promotions, no less.
It was perfect for making even the content that should’ve been mindlessly fun and enjoyable feel exhausting.
‘…At least being a crybaby is funny.’
In short, this was bad news for me too.
‘What the hell is this on the very first day of our comeback broadcasts…….’
I was already tired.
“……Whew.”
For now, let’s control the parts of the situation within reach.
I immediately informed the manager.
Then, after confirming that the manager had run out with his smartphone in hand, I immediately searched my contacts for Goldie #1.
Ryu Chungwoo saw what I was doing and spoke at once.
“What happened?”
“……Check number five on WeTube Trending… no, number three.”
It was already shooting up the real-time rankings.
This is driving me insane.
Big Sejin, who must have already checked it, came running over.
“Is that really Choi Wongil?”
“It was edited. The nuance is different. Hold on.”
Goldie #1 finally answered the call.
“Hyung.”
—Moondae, did you maybe see that….
“I saw it.”
—Right. Then I’m sorry to ask you this, but what Wongil said….
“It was edited. It wasn’t that level of verbal abuse, and Choi Wongil apologized afterward too.”
I heard him draw in a breath, as though relieved.
—Haa……. Seriously, seriously, I’m glad it wasn’t true, but, ah… this is driving me insane.
“Does your company know everything?”
—Yeah. They’re already in a meeting. But…….
Goldie #1 sighed deeply.
—……The thing is, Wongil’s condition is pretty, really bad right now. The company doesn’t know what to do either. I hope it gets resolved well, but…….
“…….”
—Anyway, I’ll explain the situation to the company again. Does your company know too?
“Yes. I told them.”
The agencies were probably already contacting each other.
—Then it feels like we’ll be able to get this under control somehow. But, whew……. What are we going to do about Wongil?
“…….”
Goldie #1 offered me a few words of comfort too, then hurriedly ended the call.
And I had a rough grasp of the situation.
‘Choi Wongil… might actually get cut from the debut lineup at this rate.’
The public opinion was catastrophic, so it sounded like his company was starting to consider cutting its losses.
The nuance was that if the reaction stayed bad even after they explained things, they might just remove him.
And if Choi Wongil was already in bad shape…
Wait.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
That bastard isn’t thinking of doing something drastic, is he?
“…….”
Cold sweat broke out.
This…
The speed of the response might actually be critical.
‘If we’re too late, isn’t the backlash going to be enormous?’
Suppose this controversy keeps getting reproduced, grows fucking huge, his agency starts preparing to cut him loose, Choi Wongil—already in bad shape—hits rock bottom, and only then does the truth come out.
Even if the situation gets resolved afterward, the backlash will come pouring onto me.
Why?
Because right now, the whole thing has been framed as a one-on-one good-versus-evil story between Choi Wongil and me.
Let’s look at it objectively.
Nothing I said in that recording was particularly saintly.
It’s just the kind of thing an idol might say while trying to keep himself out of trouble when someone picks a fight.
But right now, people were elevating it like I’d delivered the words of some living saint.
Because making me into a pitiful, kind-hearted victim gave them a better angle for cursing Choi Wongil.
But if Choi Wongil got beaten down as far as possible, only for the explanation to come out later and sympathy for him to rise, the whole situation would flip perfectly in the opposite direction.
—Honestly, Park Moondae was the one who suddenly dragged family into it, but because he has lots of fans he got to play the victim
—Choi Wongil got convicted of the crime of having no fansㅠ
It would probably go something like that, with Park Moondae’s fans being accused of image-making him into a victim and manipulating public opinion.
Naturally, all of Park Moondae’s past controversies would be dragged back up in the process.
Then everyone could enjoy another round of exhilarating vigilante justice.
‘Absolutely not.’
Before it gets that far, I’ll contain it at the level of a minor incident.
Choi Wongil had already tasted enough bitterness for someone that young.
There was no need for him to suffer more over a misunderstanding like this.
‘I need to clear it up fast.’
The only option was to tie this off before articles hit the main portal page and keep Choi Wongil from getting completely fucked.
Through the manager, I quickly spoke with the company by phone and received approval immediately.
“What are you going to do?”
Bae Sejin quietly came over and asked.
Judging by the atmosphere, word had already spread among the members.
“Clear it up for him.”
“On the TeSTAR account?”
“No.”
Bae Sejin seemed to be thinking about when he’d posted his own statement, but this wasn’t that kind of case.
‘If I upload it myself, it’ll only make this a bigger topic.’
Then the controversy might even swallow the attention TeSTAR’s comeback was receiving.
But if I left it at nothing but an official company statement, people would definitely say things like, “The companies already coordinated their stories; poor Park Moondae.”
That left one method.
Use a third party.
I called Goldie #1 again.
—Yeah, what is it?
“Hyung, do you have time?”
—I do. Did something urgent happen?
“Something like that. I was thinking we could create a message record.”
—……??
Our live stage was right around the corner.
Let’s create the evidence first within thirty minutes.
Read only on MUGEX
Choi Wongil began getting hammered from every direction by excited trolls, members of the public invested in the situation, and Park Moondae’s furious fans.
Because hardly anyone was making a serious attempt to defend him, news of the recording spread rapidly without any reinterpretation.
Meanwhile, Park Moondae’s reputation for having a good personality temporarily reached its absolute peak.
[Park Moondae crying at fans’ singalong during concert]
[Compilation of testimony that Park Moondae took care of other contestants throughout Idol Inc.]
[Park Moondae’s circumstances when he dropped out of school.jpg]
Every heartwarming story imaginable was dragged back up, from recent events all the way to the beginning of <Idol Inc.>’s broadcast.
However, Park Moondae’s fans had mixed and complicated feelings about it.
Public opinion swirled in every direction, from people who were simply furious with Choi Wongil to people who were already worrying about the backlash, but all of them were equally flustered by the sudden situation.
—Is it normal that I feel gross seeing our kid’s past getting dragged around like it’s public property?
—Listening to the recording makes me so angry I feel like I’m going insane
—CWG seriously pisses me the fuck off. They have to do their comeback stage in literally 30 minutes, fuck, I wish the members could just not find out about this..ㅠㅠ
—Still, I’m glad everyone knows Moondae is a kind puppy
It was at that exact point that a post appeared on Goldie #1’s SNS.
========================
(Photo)
I thought about it a lot after hearing Wongil’s side, so I asked directly. He’s genuinely someone who works hard, so I hope you won’t hate him too much.
Wongil doesn’t have an SNS account, so I’m posting this on my account for him.
========================
The photo was…
A screenshot of Goldie #1’s own chat.
And the name of the chat displayed at the top was none other than “Little Brother Park Moondae.”
The screenshot began with Goldie #1 messaging first.
[Me: Moondae, sorry, but can you look at this? Is it really true? (video link)]
[Little Brother Park Moondae: ?]
[Little Brother Park Moondae: Give me a second]
The link was, of course, “Choi Wongil Recording 2.”
And after exactly as much time as the video’s runtime had passed, the reply arrived.
[Little Brother Park Moondae: What even is this]
[Little Brother Park Moondae: It wasn’t like this…]
[Me: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
[Me: Right? This isn’t what happened…?]
[Little Brother Park Moondae: yeah looks stitched together]
[Little Brother Park Moondae: I think Wongil and I exchanged some good wishes and ended things there]
[Little Brother Park Moondae: Tell Wongil to sue whoever uploaded this for defamation, they changed the order of what was said however they wanted]
[Me: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅠㅠ Got it! Thanks (heart-shooting emoji)]
[Little Brother Park Moondae: It’s nothing (waving yellow puppy emoji)]
The screenshot ended around fourteen minutes later, after Goldie #1 asked, “Would it be okay if I screenshot this and upload it?” and Park Moondae readily gave permission.
—Whoa…
—Even stuff like this gets fabricated these days
—This is Ha Iljoon’s official account, right?
—Holy shit this is creepy
And unlike a certain agency, Goldie #1’s competent agency responded to the shifting public opinion by pushing out articles and taking over WeTube’s top comments.
—This was fabricated apparently (link)
—Park Moondae testified, says it was stitched together and told Choi Wongil to sueㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—Article’s out, the agency says they’re actually filing a lawsuit. What a lunaticㅉㅉ
And so, before the criticism of Choi Wongil reached an irreversible level, and before it reached the main portal page, it began to die down.
At the stage where the people who had been cursing him only felt slightly embarrassed and lost interest, the arrows of criticism were able to turn toward the person who had manipulated the recording.
Park Moondae, who grabbed his smartphone the instant the music show ended, confirmed the situation almost immediately.
‘For now, the immediate fire’s out.’
I turned off my smartphone screen and sighed.
Still, this response was only a temporary patch.
If the bastard who uploaded the recording had something else in hand, Choi Wongil could get hit with another roller-coaster-level free fall.
And I still had a long way to go too.
The family-history topic, once dragged out, still hadn’t been sealed back up.
On top of that, the comments under the clarification article I’d just seen felt unpleasant.
—He must have been hurt by things like this so many times growing up, yet he’s become such a kind-hearted young man. I hope Choi Wongil takes this as a major life experience and uses it as a chance for self-reflection~
—Good people like Park Moondae should succeedㅠㅠ I hope he does even better from now on!
—Wow, Choi Wongil survived thanks to Moondae…
To summarize:
“Kind-hearted Moondae graciously let it go.”
Even if the recording had been stitched together, it didn’t erase the fact that Choi Wongil had picked a fight at the beginning, so my corrective messages to Goldie #1 had been distorted into evidence of an incredibly considerate and kind personality.
If it had ended there, the topic would’ve faded away.
The problem was that someone had started deliberately pushing that angle.
Choi Wongil’s agency seemed to have worried that the clarification articles themselves might only stir up more trouble.
So perhaps because they wanted to redirect the topic completely, they began pushing articles and public opinion that focused less on Choi Wongil and more on Park Moondae’s “kind response.”
The result was those comments I’d just read.
‘This feels ominous.’
I don’t like it.
“God-tier personality.”
“An angel.”
The faster labels like those get attached, the faster they can be ripped away.
One little excuse could shatter the whole thing and ruin my image, and the problem was that there were probably plenty of bastards waiting around for that excuse.
‘The guys who made infographics trying to stop us from winning Rookie Award didn’t suddenly disappear.’
Given the situation, it was enough for me to remain unobtrusive and simply seem like a reasonably decent guy.
An openly saintly image like that was burdensome.
‘There’s a reason people avoid aggressively marketing an idol’s personality.’
So, looking at everything together, I reached a conclusion.
‘I need to shift the image.’
I needed a strong impact—something strong enough to bury this entire mess right at the beginning of our promotions.
‘The answer… is variety shows.’