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Chapter 191

“That’s true, but...Mr. Dong-Jun’s condition is really not good...”

“How bad is it?”

“He didn’t say anything but just looked out of it...I think it’s better to leave him alone.”

This made me feel like we should go to see him even more.

“Dong-Jun is the type to think the worst about things the more he is left alone. I think we should quickly go.”

“I hope Dong-Jun isn’t thinking too negatively...”

“Haa...I think it will also be better for me to go too.”

Do-Seung, Yeon-Hoon, and Woon all declared that they would go see Dong-Jun. The brighter a person’s demeanor was, the deeper their shadow was. When a bright and cheery person entered into darkness, they crawled in deeper. I didn’t know how much damage Dong-Jun suffered in the last couple of hours and wanted to check up on him.

“Then, let’s go to the dorm first...!”

“I will turn the car.”

Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna seemed to also understand our worries. They changed the direction of the car and moved to the dorm.

***

The sound of the clock ticking rang across the living room. Park Dong-Jun felt the time exactly by its second and stared blankly into space. Time passed neither too fast nor too slow. Then, Dong-Jun raised his phone and checked the posts that talked negatively about him. Though he put on search bans and made efforts not to look anymore, there was probably no idol who wouldn’t be able to find such searches despite that.

—He probably lived life on easy mode with real estate daddy’s money

—What really pisses me off is that even if we make a fuss about this, it doesn’t change the fact that this bastard was born with a gold spoon in his mouth

—He gives me the chills every time I see him

—Why do guys like him keep coming out to the public for attention? He doesn’t deserve all the love he gets.

Every word and line they said was right. If someone had really bullied someone in their youth or committed crimes, Dong-Jun would’ve thought the same as them. Yet, it was regretful that in this case, he was innocent. Of course, he wasn’t completely faultless nor did he live a life with no moral drawbacks.

As a human, he committed small wrongs and made mistakes here and there that could make some people look less kindly on him. But they were things that anyone could’ve also done and could be looked over with just patience and understanding. Yet, what the public was accusing him of was: bullying, outcasting, violence, and organized tormenting—and Dong-Jun could confidently proclaim that he had never done such things.

“...But who’s going to believe...what I say...?” He was already a sinner- a devil at this point. Before he opened his mouth, many had already opened theirs and were shouting that they were the ones who were right. Not just one, two, or three but hundreds and thousands of people were blocking his mouth. Though they were anonymous posts made on the internet, they all seemed to choke the breath out of him.

“...Stop it...” Dong-Jun tried to put down his phone but couldn’t. He continued to scroll down, search, enter links, and check. Then, he scrolled again, repeating the process. Whatever post he saw, he knew he would inevitably become hurt, but he couldn’t stop. Perhaps, this was a form of self-harm, and if he had seen someone else do what he was doing right now, he would’ve snatched their phone away.

Yet, after becoming the person in question, he couldn’t stop. There was a phrase called ‘confirmation bias’, it described a tendency for one to only accept information that aligned with their thoughts while weeding out all the information that didn’t. That was the current state of Dong Jun’s mind.

The internet was still debating about this issue. Some were still maintaining their neutrality and waiting for the final verdict. There was still nothing decided about Dong-Jun’s sentence either. Yet, Dong-Jun had already judged that his situation was hopeless and everyone had already decided he was trash; and now, he was only taking in information that reinforced these thoughts. In the end, he was pushing himself into a deeper hole without anyone pushing him into it.

He hadn’t believed what happened even when the producers called him today at noon to tell him what happened. He still thought that it was a passing happening then and didn’t think the shooting would be canceled because of that. After all, the claims made against him were too ridiculous and unfounded.

Yet, things escalated. More words were said, and false testimonies overflowed out. People began to criticize him in swarms.

“...No one will believe me...” And eventually, Dong-Jun lost hope in himself. Dong-Jun searched the internet for a while and repeatedly read posts that talked ill of him.

Flick. It was then that someone snatched his phone away.

“Stop looking at it.”

“...Tae-Yoon...?”

He had heard that the rest of the members were heading to the next shooting site right away while he would return to the dormitory to rest alone. Yet, the team’s maknae was in front of him.

“...No, why is everyone here...?” The rest of the team was here. Now that his phone was taken from him, he gained a better sense of his surroundings. Someone forced him to stop crushing his own heart. Tears didn’t flow in a time of true despair.

“Why are you looking at the nonsense that won’t help you one bit? I mean, you didn’t do any of these things,” Tae-Yoon said.

“...”

“Tell me with your own mouth. Dong-Jun, did you really do what these claims say you did?”

“...No.”

“You really didn’t?”

“I didn’t. I...really didn’t.”

“That’s good. I trust you.”

Tears flowed and burst out when one saw a stream of hope.

“...” Dong-Jun wordlessly chewed on his lips. Then, he hung his head and forcefully swallowed back his tears. His mind which had been heading to only one direction began to see other pathways. Bit by bit, he began to see his situation more objectively and Dong-Jun finally felt like he could breathe.

***

When I returned to the dorm, Dong-Jun had his eyes glued to his phone as I expected. I quickly took his phone away and asked him to his face if he committed the crimes the claims said he had. Though I heard a confirmation from Woon that these were false claims about his personality, my members could still have their doubts.

My members could be worried about their teammates regardless of the truth, but we couldn’t have a united front with just those emotions. We needed to share the same mindset and goal. Thus, I hoped that Dong-Jun would tell us the truth with his own mouth.

“I didn’t. I...really didn’t.”

“That’s good. I trust you.”

Dong-Jun personally denied the claims and I replied that I would trust him. My members seemed to believe in Dong-Jun.

“...Don’t worry, Dong-Jun.”

“You didn’t do those things. There’s no need for you to look so low when you did nothing wrong.”

e here.”

Do-Seung sat beside Dong-Jun and held Dong-Jun’s hand. Woon took a seat on Dong-Jun’s right side and wrapped his arms around Dong-Jun’s shoulder. Seeing how Dong-Jun’s body trembled and shuddered, it appeared that he was holding back his tears. At times like this, it was better to wait until all his intense emotions passed. A couple of minutes later, Dong-Jun wiped his tears and said.

“...Thank you. I think I feel a bit better now.”

“Could you explain the situation to us first? Since we are a team, I think it will be more helpful for us to know more to solve the issue,” I asked. My members also appeared like they wanted to hear more too. Dong-Jun sighed deeply and began.

“Okay, so I also read the post on NacePann...those guys were really my middle-school classmates and I was close to them for a short time too.”

I was surprised that he used to be close to such criminals, but it was fortunate that he didn’t use to be best friends with them.

“Of course, I wasn’t close only with them. I was close to all of my classmates at that time. Considering that, I honestly wasn’t that close to them.”

Though my time at school was short, I did hear of characters like that; such characters were so friendly and extroverted that they were close to every single person in the class. Though they weren’t best friends with everyone, they greeted and talked to each person. It seemed Dong-Jun was that kind of person.

“At that time, I think I was pretty immature and wanted to show off how rich I was. When kids recognized that I was wearing good clothes, I didn’t outrightly show it, but it did make me feel good.”

I thought this part was understandable.

“And among friends I was really close to, I took them to my house and if they wanted clothes that I didn’t wear, I gave them away. I thought it was fine since I didn’t wear them anyway.”

There were parts of the post that were true.

“There was one time when I invited the guys who wrote this post.”

I thought this would be the main part of this story.

“That day was my birthday, so I brought everyone in my class who had the time to my house to have a birthday party. Like most middle-school birthday parties, there wasn’t much to it. My parents gave me their card to order something tasty with my friends, so I just ordered pizza and chicken and played games as much as I wished.”

It also appeared true that Dong-Jun had brought these false accusers to his house.

“It was then...I caught them stealing clothes, shoes, and watches from my room.”

“...?”

“...What?”

“What the hell is wrong with them?”

“...Ha...these are some sickos.”

I couldn’t believe someone would go to a friend’s house for their birthday party to steal their goods. It was normal for one to give gifts on someone’s birthday instead of taking them. The issue was too fundamentally immoral to simply excuse the behavior because of how young they were and instead, hinted at their characters.

“It wasn’t just me, but my close friends and my other classmates all saw them do it. That caused the problem.”

“What problem?”

“From then on, my classmates stopped playing with those guys.”

“...So, was that the bullying and outcasting that the posters talked about?”

“...Yeah. I should’ve also reached my hands out to them first and forgave them...but I was too young at that time and didn’t want to forgive them.”

“...This is ridiculous.”

“Of course, you don’t want to forgive them. Those guys were caught trying to steal your stuff on your birthday.”

“Did those thieves really write a post to expose you after all that?”

“Yeah.”

I expected Dong-Jun to be blameless but I didn’t expect the situation to be this unfair. It was as if the perpetrators and the victims were flipped.

“Then, where are your classmates who can prove that? Can we ask them to make refuting posts?” Woon asked. Perhaps, it was because I talked to the regressor Woon today, but I somehow felt that question sounded a bit awkward.

“All my close friends went through great trouble to get enlisted into the military together so it’s hard. I lost contact with another close friend after he went to study overseas and it has been a while since I contacted my other classmates.”

“...Is there really no answer?”

“I think my friend would make refuting posts after some time...but I think that would take at least over a month.”

My members began to ponder about what to do then. Yet, there was nothing we could gain by thinking here. I already had some solutions at my disposal too.

“You didn’t do anything wrong anyway,” I said.

“...That’s true.”

“So just endure until the truth is revealed.”

“Endure.”

“Yes. Show that you did nothing wrong and stand proud. Then, everything will return to normal. It’s not like our company is just a playgroup that does nothing.” Though I planned to personally work instead of making the company do so, I thought it was better to use the company for now. Dong-Jun seemed to gain more life in his eyes.

“...Okay, I will endure it.”

“Just rest for today and try to calm yourself. We don’t know how the situation will change tomorrow.” I didn’t tell him that things would surely change dramatically by tomorrow because I would make it so.

“Don’t fault yourself too much and take it easy.”

“Yeah, Dong-Jun. We will put a request to the company and declare your innocence.”

“Whatever happens, we won’t give up on you so don’t worry.”

“You can just rest today and work with us tomorrow. Whatever anyone says, everything will get better after a short while.”

My members supported me and told Dong-Jun to hold on for now. Dong-Jun’s eyes turned teary again. Meanwhile, I couldn’t wait for nighttime to come soon. I hoped that time would pass by sooner.