Little Pink Starfish

I voluntarily appeared at the Fair Trade Commission.

They hadn’t officially summoned me yet, but since we were about to start recruiting for the fan club, I thought it would be better to take care of this quickly.

The Fair Trade Commission seemed flustered when I called, but they were actually pleased that it could be handled sooner.

Of course they were.

This is just a group of government officials.

They want noisy issues to be resolved as fast as possible, and ideally, without extra work on their part.

So I satisfied their expectations.

“Uh, this is…”

The FTC officer stared at me, dumbfounded.

“Please, go ahead.”

“So you’re saying all of these activities were funded entirely by your personal assets?”

“Yes. The documents I just provided prove these facts. They were prepared together with my legal and tax representatives.”

“R-right. Let me take a look then.”

The officer started skimming through the documents.

Technically, there was no need to review them today.

No investigator had been officially assigned yet, and no formal investigation had begun.

This was more like a preliminary consultation.

So his review was purely out of personal curiosity.

But instead of satisfying his curiosity, it seemed to only grow.

“Is this income statement accurate? You really made this much in investment profits?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“I worked very hard.”

“Was I not working hard enough…?”

The officer mumbled to himself, startled, then quickly composed his expression.

“If everything checks out, we’ll be able to issue a statement quickly.”

“Thank you.”

The outcome was obvious.

If we had ignored Lion Entertainment and signed with another company, there might’ve been some legal arguments.

Lion wouldn’t have won, but they could’ve dragged things out with media manipulation, which would be annoying and potentially harmful to the group’s image.

But we went independent.

Who could argue with that?

Only the mafia or yakuza say things like, “If you don’t sign with us, you’re done.”

With no legal grounds to fight, Lion would just be ridiculed for holding on.

This news would likely reach Choi Dae-ho soon—he must have connections at the FTC.

“Will the assigned investigator contact me later?”

“Of course.”

“Understood.”

There’s no chance the investigator will act out of line.

I have Attorney Choi Ji-woon behind me.

In hindsight, betting half my fortune on Choi Ji-woon was the right call.

That’s how I secured my first stepping stone.

As I was about to leave the office, another staff member came running.

“Um…”

I turned, curious, and he whispered.

“Do you have any hot stock tips?”

Ah, I see.

Even Attorney Choi Ji-woon asked something similar yesterday.

He knew I made money through investments, but didn’t expect it to be this much.

Honestly, I’d deliberately kept my gains moderate.

If I stacked up completely insane trading records, it could be dangerous, so I even included some losses intentionally.

Still, I should give him an answer.

“2017 should be generally good. The market’s strong.”

“Really?”

“Yes. But there’s one stock you should never buy.”

“What’s that?”

“Lion Entertainment.”

---

The Coming Up Next rigging controversy triggered by Han Si-on showed no signs of dying down.

Naturally.

Coming Up Next had broken past 11% viewership ratings, and its online influence was even greater.

That meant a huge pool of viewers eager to contribute their two cents.

At this point, no single faction could control the narrative.

Public opinion was now leading the issue.

And that opinion was one-sided.

-LMAO, even after this, TakeScene still won?

-Exactly, so shameless lol

-But technically, TakeScene did win, didn’t they?

-If the judges were this biased, how can we trust their evaluation?

-Yep. Only thing you can trust is the music chart rankings—and those aren’t even close.

–Under the Streetlamp might make it into the year-end top 30.

–Resume is practically guaranteed.

Of course, Choi Dae-ho wasn’t sitting idle.

He tried various ways to steer public sentiment.

[Lion Entertainment: “We will respond strongly to spreading false rumors.”]

[Coming Up Next: “No favoritism toward specific contestants.”]

He released official rebuttals publicly.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, he generated noise:

[Lee I-on’s alleged issues with his former agency]

[Goo Tae-hwan’s school bullying scandal (+evidence attached)]

[Do you know who Choi Jae-sung’s parents are?]

He knew these were desperate moves, but with public opinion so fierce, he couldn’t just do nothing.

But the public wasn’t foolish.

-LOL, do they think we’re idiots? Where’s the evidence? All baseless rumors.

-Lion PR department must be smashing their keyboards right now lol

-You think the idol scene is that easy to mess with?

Had the attack order been different—

Had Han Si-on’s strike been any less precise—

It might not have escalated this far.

But Han Si-on’s assault had cut straight to the heart.

He shifted the tampering accusation into Coming Up Next’s production intent, then dribbled it further into outright rigging accusations.

Yes, he used countless tiny PR agencies, and yes, on close inspection there were awkward bits everywhere.

But the public no longer cared about those details.

They wanted to know whether TakeScene had performed pre-prepared songs on the show.

Of course, Lion couldn’t offer any convincing explanation.

-Lion’s gone completely silent lol

-If they’re not saying anything, it’s obvious.

-They’re probably scrambling to rename TakeScene’s debut song right now.

-Lion-liar.

-LOL, that’s gold.

It was true.

TakeScene had performed songs that were prepared in advance.

In the end, Lion Entertainment had no choice but to release an official statement.

Hello, this is Lion Entertainment.

We would like to clarify our position on the baseless rumors currently spreading online…

In short:

Everything was a misunderstanding caused by exaggerated rumors.

The final mission on Coming Up Next was an open song selection with no restrictions.

TakeScene simply chose a song they had worked on during their trainee days.

Yes, it was an old song, but no company funds were involved.

It was made for fun with a friendly in-house composer and performed for its sentimental value.

The online posts were maliciously manipulating old demo recordings.

They vowed to take strong legal action against those spreading the rumors.

It wasn’t a great defense.

The message was basically, “Believe it if you want.”

But it wasn’t a terrible defense either.

Though entirely fiction, the logic structure was solid.

Choi Dae-ho’s thinking was simple.

Online controversies often burn like wildfire, then die down in a week.

As long as he dragged things out, eventually people would dismiss it as a silly scandal that had already been addressed.

And it seemed to be working.

He blocked further media coverage, activated viral marketing to promote positive sentiment about the statement, and buzz volume began to drop.

Of course, Han Si-on would try to keep the issue alive.

He’d hammer hard once he had climbed on top.

But the public rarely stays fired up over the same issue without fresh fuel.

Without new drama, things would quickly cool and be forgotten.

“That bastard…”

So even though rage boiled inside him, Choi Dae-ho had to endure.

Right now, he couldn’t attack Sedalbaekil directly.

Until TakeScene debuted, he couldn’t afford any scandal linking them to Sedalbaekil.

Just as Choi Dae-ho was thinking this—

Buzz-buzz.

His phone vibrated.

It was a message from Han Si-on.

[CEO, wouldn’t it be better to stop here? There’s no need for us to hurt each other.]

The exact same text as before.

Mockery, no doubt.

Boiling with fury, Choi Dae-ho almost called him but paused.

A thought occurred.

‘What if I had agreed last time?’

TakeScene was an expensive investment.

They even produced an entire variety show for them.

If the group collapsed, Lion Entertainment could take a serious hit.

But thanks to Han Si-on, things had grown unstable.

The debut schedule couldn’t be delayed any longer, but public reaction was unpredictable.

Then he recalled what DoubleM’s CEO had said.

“It would be better to reconcile now. Just let them go. Before they return with a bigger fire.”

If he had done that…

Choi Dae-ho flinched.

An absurd thought.

In all his years of competition, he had never once entertained such a thought.

Yet, why… was he thinking this now?

‘I must be tired lately.’

His rage faded, replaced by a strange new emotion.

Discomfort? Unease?

Similar, but not quite.

Choi Dae-ho left the office deep in thought.

But the very next day—

Staring at the newest scandal dominating the internet, he realized what that emotion had been.

It wasn’t discomfort—

[TakeScene’s Fade: Apology Video Leaked.]

[Why did Fade apologize to Han Si-on?]

[Behind-the-scenes revelations from Coming Up Next staff.]

It was fear.

---

The apology video Fade sent me wasn’t something I could easily use.

To be precise, if I revealed it carelessly, it could easily backfire.

Fade was sly—he had apologized in perfect humility, so releasing it might make me look like a bully.

But didn’t I say it before?

The cruelest reaction from the public is: “I knew it.”

And this was exactly that timing.

Lion Entertainment’s PR team was desperately keeping silent.

Hoping the hot issue would cool off while they stood guard.

At this moment, just one single negative story was enough.

-Exactly lol. Anyone saying “poor TakeScene” must be brainless. You think they didn’t know what was happening?

-What the hell did he do to require an apology for “causing public concern”?

-A staff member leaked that Fade threw a tantrum after getting crushed by Han Si-on during the karaoke mission lol

-Yeah, it was during that mission lol

That’s how it goes.

And after that?

[(Entertainment Zoom-In) Scandal of Rigging & Personality: The Dark Side of 11% Viewership Audition Show.]

[Public Skepticism Grows Toward TakeScene’s Debut.]

[A Rigged, Distorted Production Structure? The M-Show & Lion Entertainment Co-Production Deal.]

Choi Dae-ho’s media control would crumble.

The entertainment industry itself would start noticing.

At this point, Choi Dae-ho wasn’t pressuring Sedalbaekil anymore—

They were both in the ring, fighting.

And nothing is more entertaining than watching a fight.

Especially if you can profit from broadcasting it.