Chapter 180:

Chapter 180:

Why did it have to be him? He was like salt on my already trampled and shredded pride. Why did he have to call me now? What did he want from me? My head was spinning.

“Hello? Is this Shim Naru?

The call was connected, but there was no answer from the other side. Ise repeated Naru’s name, sounding puzzled.

‘I want to hang up.’

I was not in the mood to listen to his lectures, telling me to act more decently or something like that, while I was in this humiliating situation.

I wanted to escape from this reality. At least until the staff or my parents came to get me from behind the door.

“Shim Naru, are you there?”

Naru hesitated to press the end call button, as Ise tried to stop him.

“You might regret it if you hang up now. I contacted you to make you a very positive offer.”

How did he know I was about to hang up? I hadn’t pressed any button yet. Eek, Naru panicked and gripped his phone tightly.

“What kind of nonsense are you trying to say again...?”

As Naru opened his mouth, trying to hide his fear, he heard a faint chuckle from the other side.

He’s treating me like a fool! Naru wanted to hang up right away, out of pride, but he had to hear what he had to say.

He might seem to do whatever he wanted and act selfishly, but he had survived in this jungle-like entertainment industry since he was young. He knew how to make the best of his situation.

He was not smart, but he was good at calculating.

“You signed a pre-contract, right? How long do you think you can hide it?”

He saw right through my shallow thoughts. Naru felt a surge of resentment in his heart and snapped back.

“I don’t know what you heard or why you think that way, but...”

“You did. You better think carefully now.”

Ise cut off Naru’s words and snorted.

Damn, he was such an annoying person, spouting righteous words with his smug attitude. Naru gritted his teeth and got up from the bed where he was lying down.

“No, I mean, what did you hear...”

“You sound more energetic now. You sounded like you were dying before.”

“What do you mean, energetic? What kind of rude thing are you saying...”

But again, Naru couldn’t finish his sentence.

“Did you eat the lunch box? I sent you porridge to help you digest.”

I didn’t eat it. Well, I ate some fruits.

“Are you calling me to rub salt in the wound with the lunch box?”

Naru spat out his words in a fast voice, as if he was rapping, and he heard Ise holding back his laughter with a weak sigh.

Who does he think he is? I was already distressed enough, without his teasing.

“No, I’m serious. I have something to tell you that you might regret missing. Have you decided where to go after the contract ends?”

To be honest, I had. Until 1 a.m. today.

The contract with WePlanet would expire next February. When the Floss project ended, the idols could choose whether to stay with WePlanet or return to their original agency.

And Naru’s choice was the latter. A group with Naru as the center had been preparing for their debut for six months already.

The only main vocal and center! It was a word that made his eyes sparkle just by hearing it.

My position in Floss was awkward to say the least.

There were only three main vocals. It couldn’t be helped with nine people in the group, but still, three was too many!

Naturally, the attention was dispersed.

And the actual center was either Yu-geon, who had a solid core despite his low debut rank, Jinhyung, who was the real first place, or Hwijin, who alternated with them.

‘Maybe it looks better to have some tall guys in the middle.’

[Broadcast Cancellation Notice]

Hello, this is the production team of Boys Be Ambitious. After consulting with the broadcasting station, we inform you that the remaining broadcast schedule of Boys Be Ambitious has been cancelled as of today. We will contact each agency by phone for more details.

̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄

What nonsense is this?

Naru’s face turned pale as he read the text that he wanted to believe was a joke.

A nightmare that he didn’t want to believe was real was unfolding.

“Ah...”

I thought I was seeing things because I was too tired from the text message that didn’t make sense. I rubbed my eyes, thinking that some words were wrong.

“Uh...”

Seon-woo, who was staring blankly at his phone screen, dropped it in shock and barely caught it before it hit the floor.

“What’s going on right now?”

Yi-jun, who usually shrugged off any big incidents in the team as if they were none of his business, jumped up from his seat in confusion.

I must have seen something wrong, right? I reflexively rubbed my eyes again, but Kyunghwa stopped me.

“Stop rubbing, you’ll hurt your eyes.”

It was a strange sentence, no matter how I thought about it. The entire remaining broadcast schedule was cancelled. It sounded like the program was scrapped.

“No...”

I didn’t know what to say, and another text came and nailed it.

̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄

[Program Termination Notice]

Hello, this is the production team of Boys Be Ambitious. As we mentioned in the previous text, Boys Be Ambitious has been terminated.

We sincerely apologize for delivering this regrettable decision without being able to stay with you until the end. We will contact each agency by phone for more details.

̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄

“...”

“Really terminated? Why?”

Seong-won, who was calmly watching with his arms crossed, raised his voice in surprise.

“We don’t know either. Ise, did you get any contact?”

I quickly checked the messenger. But the support team of Composition also seemed to have received only the text notice and didn’t know anything.

“No, they only got the text too.”

I had no choice but to wait until I got a detailed contact from the agency.

If they were contacting each agency in turn, then we would probably be the last ones. We were the smallest and the newest, after all.

I couldn’t just sit back and say, “Oh, it’s cancelled? Okay, I understand!” and wait.

‘Sigh... They never leave me alone.’

“I’m going to visit the Wiple headquarters for a bit.”

They would contact them first, so it would be better to go and hear something.

“Huh? Now? By yourself?”

Kyunghwa looked at me with a worried expression.

“Yeah. I want to make sure if it’s because of Floss, and what’s going on. I want to find out what happened that led to the cancellation of the broadcast.”

Maybe he wanted to come with me. But it was better not to bring an unnecessary guest if I wanted to pressure the WePlanet side and get some information as the CEO of Composition and a relative of the investor.

“You guys just wait at home. I’ll contact you right away.”

I had a lot of things to do today. I ruffled my hair lightly and grabbed the car key that I had thrown into the box next to the sofa.