Chapter 177

Regardless of whether you saw Cheongryeo as a senior competitor in the same industry or a crazy person with reset syndrome, he was definitely not the kind of person you wanted to contact on the first day of your vacation.

‘Should I ignore it?’

The temptation was intense.

…However, it bothered me that it was not a text message, unlike usual.

‘He could have texted me, but instead, he called.’

If it was an emergency, not picking up the call could end up leading to more trouble.

For example… If it was something related to the composer.

‘Let’s take a f*cking break.’

I finally sighed and answered the phone.

“Hello.”

– Ah, hubae-nim. I’m sorry, but you’re on vacation, right?

This bastard saw the status message and still dared to call me.

“…Yes. I get a vacation.”

– Then you must be staying in the dorm.

For some reason, I had a hunch that I would face a very annoying situation.

I changed my words.

“I am going to go out now. I was thinking of going down to the countryside to rest.”

– I see. Then can I have a moment?

“Yes?”

When I wondered what nonsense he was saying, he immediately added an explanation.

– Ah, we’re filming right now.

“…!”

– Hm… It’s KBC’s <Instant Roadmap> and ‘close junior’ is the keyword for the place recommendations.

<Instant Roadmap>. It was a plan to travel around Korea for half a day by chance through a lottery filled with viewer requests.

In short, a random trip.

And it was also a program that was consistently doing well enough to be picked by VTIC, which was about to make a comeback.

‘I heard that it has content where they have to instantly invites acquaintances to participate, is that it?’

I was probably the most well-known among the guys who had free time, but I didn’t intend to work from the first day of my vacation.

With this guy.

Of course, I couldn’t show my dislike in a situation where the filming tape was running, so I spoke softly.

“Uh… Thank you, sunbae-nim. But I’ll move down really soon… I don’t have much time. What can I do about this?”

When I said it in a somewhat regretful tone, a troubled voice returned from the other side of the phone.

– I called Moondae-ssi because you’re right nearby… Can’t you just do it for a few seconds? You only need to draw lots once.

“…”

– It can’t be helped if you’re uncomfortable with it.

‘I am so f*cking uncomfortable with it, you bastard.’

However, if I refused it here and the editing didn’t work properly, I was the only one who lost.

Some people would definitely try to interpret it as an implication that the guy who was having a vacation and staying in the dorm refused his senior.

And the fact that this guy showed a submissive attitude meant that he must have been aiming for that too.

‘You’re crossing the line.’

I would make sure to pay him back for this one.

“Of course. As you said, I will try to make time somehow.”

– Really? I’m sorry and thank you. I’ll buy you something delicious later.

I tried to push an image of a junior who was troubled by power abuse, but it didn’t work. That damn bastard.

“Are you coming now?”

– Yes, I’ll go there. Hmm… I think I’ll be there in five minutes.

“All right.”

– See you in a little bit.

I heard Cheongryeo’s laughter over the phone, then he hung up the call.

‘How annoying.’

I held back a sigh, put on my mask and hoodie, and came out.

‘I should have gone with the others.’

Like Bae Sejin said, it would have been better to go around seeing Seoul brand apartments sale.

‘I would have a market price.’

Well, this pissed me off.

It was the morning just after rush hour, so the complex was quiet. I checked out a black car already waiting in front of the main gate.

Someone waved slightly out of the window as if to identify me.

‘Is that it?’

As I approached, the front passenger door opened immediately.

“…!”

I saw Cheongryeo holding the steering wheel on the other side of it.

“Good morning, Moondae-ssi.”

“Good morning, sunbae-nim.”

“You came down quickly. Thank you.”

“First of all… Shall we start by saying hello to the camera?”

Perhaps it was the section where the staff hadn’t joined yet, Cheongryeo was alone in the car. And cameras were visible from all angles around the driver’s seat.

What Cheongryeo took was the camera mounted in front of the passenger seat.

I put myself in the passenger seat and said a greeting.

“Hello. I am Testar’s Park Moondae… Sunbae-nim, what about the lottery?”

“The PD will tell us as we move. I’ll take a short walk around here, so can I get in touch with you?”

It had gotten more troublesome. But now that I’d come this far, I couldn’t even throw up in front of the camera.

“Yes, of course.”

I got into the passenger seat for now. As soon as the door closed, Cheongryeo filled in the audio.

“Don’t forget your seat belt.”

“Yes.”

Even if you don’t tell me, there’s no way I won’t put it on, you bastard.

As I turned around with my belt on, I suddenly became conscious of the smartphone in my pocket.

‘Come to think of it, wouldn’t it be better to contact the company?’

I didn’t think of it because I was suddenly contacted on the first day of vacation, but it was beneficial for both of us to report it even if I just appeared briefly as a cameo.

‘I’ll have to contact them as soon as I get off.’

Since we were in the middle of filming, it was better not to touch the smartphone as much as possible.

It was then.

‘…?’

I had a strange sense of incompatibility.

‥.In the middle of filming.

I looked at the camera again.

‘The light’s off.’

The on-air sign was usually processed with red light, but this camera had no signs of that.

No, not just this camera, but the others as well.

‘…Is it a matter of the filming format?’

Still, I reached out to the camera, just in case it got turned off due to an error or abnormality.

At that moment.

Swoosh.

Suddenly, something flew to my face and clenched violently.

“…!”

“Done.”

Something like a white cloth covered my eyes, nose, and mouth. Suddenly, I was suffocated and a strange volatile smell stung my brain.

“Whoop.”

When I tried to immediately lift both of my hands and tear off the cloth, my mind instantly turned hazy.

‘F*ck…’

I tried to bite my tongue, but it was too late.

I blacked out.

* * *

“…Gasp!”

“Ah, you’re awake?”

My head hurt like sh*t.

At the pain that felt like shaking my brain, I reflexively tried to press my head, but both of my hands came up.

Clang.

Silver… handcuffs.

‘…Handcuff?’

Even when my head was about to explode, I had a strong feeling that something was wrong.

“Drink some.”

A silicone cup suddenly appeared in front of me.

The owner of that hand… F*ck, it was Cheongryeo.

“What kind of situation is this?”

“Hm, drink some water first…”

“If it were you, would the water go down your throat right now, you f*cking bastard?”

“…”

If I was in a clearer state of mind, I would have reacted more calmly, but I had guessed roughly what the situation was and got even more pissed off.

I tried to analyze the situation, pressing my head with both hands as much as I could.

This bastard got me into the car because it was a broadcast, and there was some kind of cloth…

‘Was it an anesthetic?’

Then, of course, the broadcast was a bait to catch me.

Of course, the camera wasn’t on.

‘F*ck…!’

I couldn’t believe I got caught up in something like this. No, first of all, this wasn’t a crime movie, and this situation itself was ridiculous.

I took a deep breath and raised my head again. At last, I saw the surroundings.

‘…It’s not an apartment.’

Looking at the ceiling and the floor, it seemed to be an old house. In other words, there was a high probability that it was somewhere remote.

‘Even if I started screaming, there’s no way this bastard hadn’t thought of that.’

In other words, a place where you wouldn’t be disrupted right away even if you killed a person… I surmised.

‘I’m going crazy.’

Why are you flipping out all of a sudden?

I swallowed dry saliva. And I thought as calmly as possible.

First, question him.

“…Why the hell did you knock a person out and drag him away? Where is this?”

“I have something to suggest. I don’t think you’ll be willing to hear it so I prepared for the long run.”

Cheongryo shrugged his shoulders and put the water cup next to me. And I realized that my feet were also restrained.

So f*cking thorough.

“What is your suggestion?”

“Hm… It could be a boring topic. You know, starting over.”

I knew this crazy bastard would bring that up as his reason.

.

However, this timing was so sudden.

“You said you were satisfied with the status quo. And you said you’d try to adjust, too, sunbae-nim.”

“Ah, about that.”

Cheongryeo stared down this way without moving an inch.

“There’s a problem.”

“…Yes?”

“One of the members will be charged with a criminal case.”

“…!!”

“It’s a little messy. I don’t think I can fix it. It’s only natural to expel him from the group, but… In the aftermath, the comeback will be difficult to schedule.”

F*ck. I didn’t know where to start. I swallowed my saliva.

“…Still, if that person leaves the group, wouldn’t there be no problem with the group?”

“Yes? haha. Hubae-nim. Why are you pretending not to know?”

Cheongryeo laughed.

“VTIC is not a multi-person group with 10 members, so if one of us leaves, the impact is great. There will be some issues with our image, so it’s almost certain that this will be a signal of our downward trend.”

Cheongryeo pulled up a chair and sat across from me.

“The company also started talking about the next group, so isn’t it safe to say that we’re over?”

This wasn’t going to work. I had to play it up.

“…In the future I was in, I haven’t heard anything big about VTIC. Maybe it won’t turn into a big incident…”

“You said you don’t know anything because you were a test examinee.”

“VTIC is a big group, so if there was an incident like that, I would have seen it on the news somewhere…”

“Haha, don’t try too hard.”

“…”

He wasn’t in a state to listen to anything. It wouldn’t be strange if he hit my head right now…

‘A weapon.’

I immediately looked around. To see if there were any tools that could be used as a weapon.

“What are you doing?”

“…I am wondering where this place is.”

“Oh, we have plenty of time, so you can take your time figuring it out.”

What is he saying?

“Of course, it depends on your choice, but… Hmm, let’s get back on the topic of my suggestion.”

Cheongryeo asked with a smile.

“Why don’t you try to commit suicide?”

Goosebumps ran down my spine. Crazy bastard.

“Are you crazy?”

“I knew it. This isn’t the time for you to be reluctant.”

He nodded his head thoughtfully.

“It’s better if I die myself, right? But I want to avoid killing myself as much as possible.”

There was no common-sense reason such as ‘because I was reluctant’.

“I don’t know if I can go back after I die… I don’t want to add unnecessary variables.”

“…”

“Hubae-nim, aren’t you like that too? We must avoid the terrible situation of not being able to go back to the beginning.”

“I’ve told you, I won’t go back when I die…”

“You will.”

Cheongryeo met my eyes.

“Don’t worry, you’ll go back even if you don’t want to.”

“…”

“Oh, and I was going to tell you… Hubae-nim, you can’t trust it if the casting is the same as before. Of course, when I call an acquaintance, I talk about everything in advance before filming it. Remember that, you might fall for a scam or an invalid blank check next time.”

Cheongryeo got up from the chair.

“Then, when we start over, let’s slowly come up with a plan on what direction we should take to make it better for hubae-nim. If you have any questions, ask me anything.”

“…”

“I’m taking a break. You said you’re on vacation.”

Cheongryeo opened the door and went out with a low hum.

Thud.

The door closed again with a polite little sound.

“…Huft.”

I could feel cold sweats running down my spine. My wrists under the handcuffs were also sweaty.

‘Right now, I’ve avoided death.’

However, I didn’t know when that guy would turn his head around and say, ‘It would be easier to just kill you’. What a crap situation…

I got caught here?

‘Did my brain melt because I was on vacation? F*ck.”

I slammed my handcuffed hands to the floor in a boiling rage. Only the floor got dug out, and the handcuffs were still intact.

But it didn’t matter.

‘I’m going to f*cking crawl out of here somehow.’

I’ll make you regret not smashing my head with a hammer when you knocked me out, you bastard.