Breaking: Park Ha-Eun, pregnant, claims JieMi was the one to 'hit her first'.
Breaking: Anonymous leak of Wang JieMi's rated pictures. The End of IDOL?
Breaking: IDOL, Wang JieMi sues model, Park Ha-Eun for defamation, reports criminal case for abuse.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!
Amber paled at those words, fingers trembling as she swiped through the news articles, blood running cold as as sweat beaded over her forehead. Liquid that dripped down her skin not because of the heat but because she was afraid. Ha-Eun wasn't lying when she said she would take JieMi down with her. Ha-Eun truly didn't care about the consequences. Ha-Eun really didn't give a flying fuck.
She blew out a low breath. They'd been betting on the fact that Ha-Eun wouldn't want her career and life in shambles. They'd been hoping that they could blackmail her to stay quiet, and resolve the issue peacefully.
She ran her fingers through her hair. But Amber had been too angry to give a fuck about their plans. God, JieMi. Her eyes darted to the glass door, hoping that the meeting wouldn't be too traumatizing for him. She caught sight of the shake of dark curls, and nothing more from her injured soulmate.
She knew she shouldn't have looked at the world, but she couldn't help it, not with the alerts of trending hate hashtags that made her fingers shake. Her belly churned as vomit surged up her throat. A mess of raw emotions that threatened to explode, her heart was punched with each swipe and each scroll.
There were demons.
User xxx: JieMi should just die, the whole group is a fucking mess.
Demons that revealed themselves only when a screen of metal and plastic shielded their lives.
User xxxxx: Fucking idiot thought he impregnated her; does he have any brains? This is why kids shouldn't be in this industry, their heads are all empty and filled with shit. They aren't even soulmates.
Their only motive was to attack viciously at where it hurt the most, and their numbers grew the more they spilled with their lies. They fanned the flames, oil to a fire, petroleum to rising flame. They congregated and spread. They were a disease out to destroy, out to kill.
User x: Now he's got to fight with six others to reproduce with the whore. Hahaha. Fucking karma.
And they grew more daring with their numbers, their fire once rain on skin into needles that pierced into hearts.
User xxx: We were already speculating that JieMi and MinJae had soulmates. To think they were both fucking that fat ugly bitch. If it were just her and that useless member, I wouldn't be mad. The two fat fucks can go fuck each other, but with God Kim Sieon? I'm so mad right now I'm thinking of throwing out all their albums in the trash!!! #LEAVEIDOL
She was drowning, the water was rising up to her head and she was swaying in dark waters. The air in the hospital seemed to grow colder and she shivered, goose flesh raised over her skin. The anger and fear she felt for her soulmates were cold ice in her throat, and thick salt in her heart.
User x: I've already burned their albums, mailing it to their company tomorrow. All the haters are probably crying tears of joy, I've spent millions on IDOL. Fuck me.
The images were endless. Burned albums, broken CDs, vandalised posters. The red ink over her beloved JieMi's face: Die Betrayer!
User XXXXx: He was begging for this. Sponsorship with Ha-Eun? That explains too much. There is never free money without motive. I bet all of IDOL's achievements were bought with their dicks!
But what scared her the most was the videos. The videos, of fans. Real fans, turned haters, crying and screaming their hatred. Videos on social media of fans gathering outside the company screaming those words.
Betrayer! Betrayer! Betrayer!
User XXXX: All you crazy people…You don't have the right to say that as a true fan. They're humans! Can't they make mistakes? And they didn't choose their soulmate! God did!
Her lips twitched at that one good comment, and tears blossomed in her eyes. But it wasn't enough to overcome the feeling that exploded in her chest and made her skin grow cold with fear for her seven. And her nose grew wet and stuffy with tears, making it even harder to breathe.
User xxx: Then they shouldn't even be an idol in the first place. They were asking for it. They can't be that weak. We're not asking them to die, but maybe we should. Haha. #LEAVEIDOL
And then there were the pictures of her JieMi, his rated nudes sent to what once was the love of his life. The most trending search was 'JieMi's photos', 'JieMi's nude pictures', 'JieMi's scandal'.
User xxxxx: I'm sure the seven will get bored of her. How can they fuck properly? Forget about kids.
User xx: Ha-Eun's right that she's a slut. But JieMi's the real sexual abuser. He's been fucking around for so long. Haven't you heard that he sexually abused a bunch of teenage girls? His classmates say that he's a predator always chasing after anything with a skirt. There's a girl online saying she's been raped by him!
User XXX: If what Ha-Eun said is true, he'll fuck anything for money. Who knows how many he did? Maybe that's how he got them to number one, sleeping around, eating out of fan's hands. I'll do it too if I had a face like his.
User XX: They're all spreading their legs for fame. Probably manipulated the charts, corrupted fucks.
User x: JieMi should die, and the rest of them should burn in hell.
"The comments that go too far will be sued. The ones spreading fake rumours will be dealt with harshly."
Amber glanced up to see Deok-Su leaning against the wall and Miri right behind him. The sight of her friends was a punch of sweet, euphoric elation to her freezing heart. Deok-Su smiled softly, shaking his head as he spoke.
"We still sue even if they're minors. The police will work it out. A criminal record and a hefty fine will make them think twice about destroying their entire future again in five seconds. They'll cry when they have the word 'ASSHOLE' stamped over their forehead for every educational institute and company to see. Don't worry, we're working on it, I promise."
Her best friend rushed to her then, engulfing Amber in a huge that made the tears that flowed down her cheeks grow worse. It was her gentle familiar scent, reminiscent of simpler times that made the dry sobs escape her throat.
"Oh honey," Miri soothed, rubbing her back. "Why are you reading those nasty comments?"
"It might be my fault," Amber admitted, her voice breaking slightly. "This—Everything."
"I thought we were over this? You know that's not true." Miri sighed, rubbing her arm. "The people will say what they want to say, when they can't have what they want to have. And these people are just disappointed and jealous, they're hiding in their little selfish heads like stupid little children. They don't think when they comment, okay? And we can't let them win, you hear me? We can't."
Deok-Su nodded. "They'll get over it, give them six months. Another year and the issue will be buried. They'll forget it, but you won't. Not because you aren't strong, but because these people say things that are meant to kill. But what you can do, is not let their words get to you."
"For them it will be five minutes of anger, for you it could be years. So don't do it to yourself, please don't read their words."
"Miri…God, Miri, why are people like this?" Amber began to cry. "They can call me ugly; they can call me a whore. A bitch. Trash. Whatever the fuck they want! But why must they take down IDOL? They didn't do anything wrong…JieMi didn't do anything wrong. He was just used and mistreated, and he was just being human! He's the victim! He's the victim!"
"Oh, Ambs…"
And Amber only cried harder into her palm for the lost dreams of the idols she loved. For JieMi who would never be the same and for her six soulmates, who would have to face the backlash no matter what they did.
Because they were idols.