It hadn’t even been that long since I told Reporter Park Woojeong.

Even the police wouldn’t be able to find their suspect this fast.

-My colleague helped me. Since this didn’t involve a celebrity couple but was a scandal involving an idol and a non-celebrity, he wouldn’t have helped out normally but said it would be interesting if we pulled Lee Songha into the story as well.

“Ah.”

-We checked people associated with Punchline members. Though they swore at us since we woke them up early in the morning. After snooping around knowing her appearance, occupation, and name, we found her in no time. We already talked to her on the phone as well.

I was really surprised this time.

“You even talked to her?”

-The bar she works at opens until 4 a.m. Also…

After pausing for a moment, Reporter Park Woojeong said in an excited voice.

-We confirmed the facts after saying we would compensate her. Now we just need to write an article.

*

There was still a lot of time before the day brightened.

The Punchline members, who had been taking a nap, were forced awake and were sitting in the living room. They sighed out of frustration and gulped down cold water. They also stared at Lee Joohwan mumbling on the sofa.

“Bastard, if you’re going to do something, do it properly. What is this?”

“What are you going to do if our team image becomes bad?”

“Ahh, that foolish son of a bitch. Preventing us from sleeping by causing a ruckus so early in the morning.”

“Fuck, you’re loud! I’m already pissed.”

Even though Lee Joohwan spoke out impulsively, the Punchline members, who were familiar with his personality, ignored him as if he was a barking dog.

Scratching his head aggressively, Lee Joohwan swore.

“Motherfucker, this was definitely a foolproof plan. My popularity would rise, and I would knock Lee Songha off her high horse as well. It was pure genius. Fuck. That manager bastard, I didn’t like him during the recording, but in the end…”

He vented his anger by kicking the floor.

“Hey, Joohwan!”

The chief, who had constantly been on the phone in another room, rushed out.

“What? Why? What is it now?!”

“You called that Hyesung or whatever and handled things properly, right?”

“You saw me talk with her a while ago. I told her to keep her mouth shut since reporters might call her.”

With an uneasy expression, the chief said,

“Call her again. I heard some strange information.”

“She’s fine. She’s so head over heels for me that she won’t say anything if I tell her not to.”

Grumbling, Lee Joohwan called her.

However, after ringing for a minute, it went to her voicemail.

“Fuck, why isn’t she picking up?”

“Isn’t she answering on purpose? Send her a text.”

“I’m telling you she’s not. She’s probably busy. Just wait a bit.”

The second, third, and even the tenth call.

The destination of the attempted calls was her voicemail. Lee Joohwan, who had boasted that there was no way she would talk during the first few attempts, grounded his teeth after the fifth. His face was distorted and his cheeks convulsed subtly.

“What the hell? What is she doing that she’s not answering her phone?!”

“Hey, this won’t do. You can’t have a scandal with a non-celebrity. Doing noise marketing by pulling a hot topic maker like Lee Songha in and being exposed in a scandal with a non-celebrity are completely different! Your fans will all leave! And if they mention the post you wrote…!”

“Motherfucker, it’s her voicemail again! Where the fuck does she put her phone?!”

Both had anxious expressions and they said whatever was on their mind.

Lee Joohwan shook his leg restlessly as he made his umpteenth attempt.

“Uhh, hyung, hyung! There’s an article!”

The youngest member, who had been on his tablet, shouted.

Everyone was gathered in front of the tablet in an instant. While multiple pairs of eyes read the article, a suffocating silence hung in the living room.

His face ashen, Lee Joohwan opened and closed his mouth.

The chief rushed into another room while holding his vibrating phone.

Then the main vocalist of the group glanced at Lee Joohwan before saying,

“We’re really fucked.”

As if this was a signal, Lee Joohwan began swearing loudly.

*

The sky was unusually clear and fair.

Since so many things occurred during the night, I was sleep deprived, but my mood was as bright as the sky.

Holding bagels and coffee I bought at a nearby café, I entered Neptune’s residence. The girls gathered in on the rug in the living room looked at me.

Although I told them that things ended well early morning, they looked terrible, clearly having spent the night awake.

With sunken eyes like a zombie’s, Im Seoyoung staggered her way towards me.

“Opppaaa, just what happened last night?”

“A lot happened last night. But why are you girls like that? Did you not sleep?”

Im Seoyoung gulped down her saliva.

“Yes. We were readying our hearts because we thought a storm was coming.”

“Although a storm did come, it passed by us.”

I answered with a grin. Only then did Im Seoyoung’s complexion brighten.

LJ, who had been tapping at her laptop on one side of the rug, smirked as she said,

“That storm, it seems it went to Punchline. There’s a huge fuss.”

Well, it did deal a strong blow to Punchline.

While netizens with nothing to do were spreading screenshots of Lee Joohwan’s post and driving Lee Songha into a corner, G-Today took the post and released an exclusive article that included Lee Joohwan’s date.

Follow-up and aggregate articles were published after that. Like how Team Leader Park intended, Lee Joohwan’s image completely went to shit and many fans who called him ‘our oppa’ left him.

Even though we didn’t act, Lee Joohwan and his company desperately explained the post he had uploaded. Only then would he look a little less like trash. Either way; because of their explanation and Team Leader Park’s media manipulation, those who were on a witch hunt against Lee Songha retreated.

While the other girls were looking at the articles and comments about Lee Joohwan, I placed a bagel in front of Lee Songha. Then I asked,

“Were you waiting?”

“Yes, I was.”

Lee Songha said while smiling brightly as the sky.

*

“What do you want to do?”

The director scratched his chin while asking.

The team 2 leader and Chief Jo were sitting on the sofa across from him. After taking a sip of steaming tea, the team 2 leader spoke. The speech he had prepared to persuade the director flowed out from his mouth.

“Lee Songha, it’s an important time for her right now. It’s not rare for those who debut brilliantly with a successful first project and disappear after dull projects afterwards. If we want to take care of her properly from now on, it’s better to assign a veteran to her.”

“So, instead of Lucky Charm, she will be assigned to you, Chief Jo?”

The director asked while blowing on his tea.

Chief Jo, whose complexion had brightened a little, readily nodded his head.

“Since Chaeyoung’s situation right now is a bit… There’s no need for me to be in charge of her right now.”

The team 2 leader added,

“Lee Songha will be busier from now on, and if she wants to properly take steps into the drama and film world, a bunch of problems will crop up suddenly. We can’t keep leaving it to Jung Sunwoo. Since Lee Bongjoon was there with him, there wasn’t a problem with Cat Guardian Ghost, but he’ll have to face problems by himself in the future. He’s just a rookie with five months of experience, do you think he can handle it?”

“Did you not hear about what happened last night?”

The director abruptly asked.

“Last night?”

“I saw that Lee Songha’s name was rising up and down in the articles… It didn’t seem like a big deal.”

At Chief Jo’s reply, the director clicked his tongue and continued to speak.

“From what Team Leader Park says that Lucky Charm handled a scandal concerning Lee Songha that would have given us a rough time this early in the year. Considering he’s a five-month rookie, he’s good.”

“No, still…”

“Don’t incite someone who’s doing his job properly and let him be.”

Unsatisfied, the team 2 leader began to speak, but the director looked at Chief Jo as if he didn’t need to hear any more.

“Also, why are you guys acting like this? Chaeyoung pestered the CEO to assign Lucky Charm to her, and you want Lee Songha? If you really want to change who you’re assigned to, then get Lee Songha’s approval.”

Chief Jo, who had been sitting scrunched in his seat, suddenly raised his head.

“Will you assign her to me if I persuade her?”

“I’ll think about it if you get her approval.”

That night, Chief Jo called out to Lee Songha, who was exhausted from preparing for their next album in the basement practice room. Then they sat across from each other in a small meeting room. With a brightly smiling face, Chief Jo talked about the data he had prepared ahead of time.

The conversation only went on for about ten minutes.

After ten minutes, Lee Songha returned to the practice room with no change to her normal appearance. Chief Jo left the meeting room only after a long time had passed.

From that day onwards, Chief Jo didn’t bring up the topic of changing the celebrity he was in charge of.