41. Gift (2)
"Are you back? Did you meet anyone weird along the way?"
"Yes, it was fine."
When I entered the dorm, all the members except for Aram thoroughly examined my body.
Somehow, I felt annoyed by that, so I waved my hand.
"Moreover, what about Aram hyung?"
"I think he's calmed down now. I came out to let him rest for a while."
Seol Yi-soo shook his head with a pale face. He seemed to have a lot to ask, but he kept his mouth shut when he saw my expression.
I recalled the schedule I had heard from Ji Young-heon on the way to the dorm.
'I think I can cut the schedule by two days at most. Any more than that would be difficult. If Lee A-ram's condition continues to get worse, he will be out of shape and have to stop working......'
'That won't do. We haven't debuted that long. I will calm him down, so please prepare for the meeting first.'
I turned around and looked at Ji Young-heon. He stiffened and gave me an okay sign.
It's a signal that we're ready for the meeting, so please take good care of Lee A-ram.
"What are you doing, Young-ah? I need to put Aram to sleep now......!"
Without hesitation, I opened the door. Then, I saw a lump curled up on the bed, covered with a blanket.
Leaving the members who were peeking out, I went into the room alone and closed the door. A dark space where I could see nothing but the light leaking through the gap in the door covered us.
"Hyung."
"....."
When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I approached Lee Aram, who didn't answer. Sitting on the chair next to the bed, I felt like a parent comforting my sick son.
"I heard about it. What happened in the debut group when you were a trainee."
The lump of blanket flinched. As expected, he was awake.
"Get up. Let's talk properly."
"...... What are you talking about?"
A nervous voice rang out. It was hard to hear because he was so restless from screaming.
The vocalist took care of his throat like that. I clicked my tongue briefly.
"Are you afraid that we'll blame you for this? Or, guilt? Fear? Tell me exactly why you're doing this."
"Just leave me alone."
"I can't leave you alone. Hyung, do you remember what we had planned for tomorrow? You don't remember. What's your current state...."
"Leave me alone!"
Lee Aram, who raised his body while yelling, was crying. I calmly faced him and crossed my arms.
"There's something Hyung said to Kyun hyung before. 'Don't be annoying and act like you usually do.'"
"What is that? So what are you trying to say..."
"You're acting a little weird right now. You should swear and get angry like you used to. Don't be so withdrawn."
Lee Aram's eyes trembled. I don't want to be so harsh to someone who's struggling with trauma, but no, I know it's worth getting sworn at.
Unfortunately, we weren't in a position where we could wait for this little kid to stabilize.
Still, I could say this one thing for sure.
"Listen carefully. Even if the person who did this is the same person who has been harassing you all this time, we don't think it's your fault. Rather, we're all worried about you. Do you understand that?"
"....."
"You don't have to take it all on yourself like before. If you're an idol, you have a sasaeng. It's not because you behaved badly. So you don't have to worry about being disadvantaged because of it."
Lee A-ram kept his mouth shut and bit his lip. His face finally looked a little alive.
The emotion that spread through him was clear anger.
"So, what will change if I rely on you? Who are you telling me to tell about something that the police turned a blind eye to?"
"It won't change anything just because you're doing it."
"Fuck, am I doing this because I don't know?!"
"Let's start by telling you what you want. That's where all solutions start. Recognizing the problem."
"Are you listening to me? You really make people dizzy."
I have nothing to say. What can I do? I can't comfort people.
Lee Aram wiped his face. It seemed that he was able to think rationally as his depression and anger subsided due to dizziness.
"Ha....... I don't know about solutions. I just want to be at least safe. Now that we're done talking, go."
"Okay. If you're safe, we can go about our business as usual, right?"
I saw the sharp gaze of Lee Aram between his fingers. There was also a sense of despair.
I averted my gaze without being noticed. I saw a system message sitting in a corner of the bed.
[SYSTEM: The system sent a message.]
[SYSTEM: Support system, would you like to proceed with 'Delete Person'?]
[SYSTEM: There is currently only one person that can be selected for character deletion, and when the selection is complete, all memories related to that person in the world will be deleted.]
[SYSTEM: Yes / No]
After hearing about Aram's past from Team Leader Lee Ki-ho, the system kept showing the same message from the moment it felt dirty.
'You annoying brat.'
It usually doesn't help much, but it only shows that message when something happens.
I got up from my seat and laid Aram down. I covered him with a blanket, so he was very alert.
"I'll go out like you said. Get some rest."
"You."
"I'll change the number soon. I won't even think about it in the future."
"..... Why are you suddenly making me feel anxious?"
"You've been given two days off, so get some rest. Hyung, it's only two days. We have to work later, so take care of your throat in the meantime."
"This kid is talking nonsense again."
In the end, Aram swore, but he didn't scream or tremble like before. This was much better to see.
I patted Aram on the shoulder and turned around. Of course, I didn't forget to notify him right before closing the door.
"And after this activity, you'll hold hands with Yi-soo hyung and go to the hospital. I'll make a reservation."
"What...? What?! Hey, what are you talking about...!"
The door closed, and I checked the system message and moved my finger.
***
"Is everyone here?"
CEO Son Dong-young asked as he sat down. In the label conference room, in addition to me, CEO Son Dong-young, and Director Kwak In-hyuk, there were also the management team leader, the media relations team leader, and the legal team staff.
CEO Son Dong-young lightly clapped his hands after checking the number of people. It was the sound of the meeting starting.
"Let's talk about the urgent matter first."
"Yes, Mr. Lee A-ram is currently somewhat stable and is understood to be able to participate in the schedule after resting."
When I calmly explained Aram's condition, the management team leader frowned.
To someone who didn't know the past, Aram's reaction seemed a bit excessive, so it was natural.
The management team leader sighed deeply and asked.
"That's fortunate. Do you have any idea why Aram was so unstable because of this incident?"
After hearing the question, I nodded toward Ji Young-heon. Ji Young-heon distributed the prepared materials to everyone in the conference room.
"This is...."
"This is a scrapbook of the damages that Lee A-ram suffered when he was a trainee at Lime Entertainment and the posts on a certain community."
It was a lot of materials for something that was prepared in a short amount of time. Everyone seemed taken aback by the amount, but they soon regained their composure and looked at the materials.
'It's fortunate that I have a habit of taking screenshots of strange posts as soon as I see them.'
I asked Ji Young-heon to organize it, and he did a better job than I expected.
The management team leader clicked his tongue after looking through all the materials.
"This jerk is totally crazy.... Oh, I'm sorry. It was weird to have guys like that stuck to as soon as he debuted."
Lee A-ram's sasaeng put a lot of effort into isolating and harassing him.
It was a daily routine to visit the house of Lee Aram's family and ring the bell or terrorize them with phone calls and texts, and when they came home late at night, they would purposely follow them and threaten them.
Considering that there are different types of sasaengs, it could be seen that a very malicious and threatening person was attached.
There was a reason he swore, even though it was a conference room.
"Yes, so based on these materials, we are presuming that the suspect in this case is the same person as Lee A-ram's Sasaeng. Did you see anything on the camera?"
The related story came from the legal team.
"Wait a minute...... If you look at the video here, the face of the person who was wearing a mask is captured, right? Also, the toothbrush is taken away... It's shown as is."
"Was it only recorded when it was installed? How did she enter the residence......."
"Yes, it's not recorded. Since the apartment CCTV cannot be viewed by individuals due to privacy protection, we have no choice but to report it to the police and ask for their cooperation in order to investigate."
I knew it. I nodded, and this time, Director Kwak In-hyuk checked his wristwatch and spoke.
"Just don't report it, let's ask. The atmosphere is already ambiguous these days, so there's no need to create controversy. Anyway, if we keep our mouths shut and don't feed them, they can get away with it. Instead, let's pay a little more attention to the security of the dorms."
"Hmm......."
The head of the management team comtemplate. It's true that there's no need to create controversy, but other things were the problem.
Even now, I am staying in secure accommodation, but in order to improve here, we had no choice but to change people.
This is not a very pleasant story for the management team suffering from a lack of manpower.
I quietly raised my hand in the meantime.
"I am completely against it. We should report her to the police and arrest her."
"Are you saying that as a member of the same group?"
Director Kwak In-hyuk asked sharply. He was telling me not to include personal feelings in work. He meant to separate work and private life.
However, I did not express this opinion only for Lee A-ram.
"It doesn't matter what you think. However, I hope you understand that this is not because of personal feelings about sasaengs, but for the sake of the group."
Director Kwak In-hyuk's eyebrow went up. If it were before, he would have laughed, but he didn't try to oppose me outright because we had worked together all this time.
CEO Son Dong-young skillfully summarized the situation as usual.
"Okay, let's hear what our PD has to say first."
When CEO Son Dong-young was Planet's manager, he often called me PD-nim, so it felt strange that he called me the same way after becoming Yoo Young.
I calmed down and explained slowly.
"You all know that no matter how much you strengthen security, sasaengs won't disappear. If no action is taken despite this situation, they will become even bolder."
"Okay, so let's say we hand it over to the police. What do you think if a rookie who hasn't even had enough years of experience files a lawsuit? We can't waste our careers like this."
That's right. Korean celebrities are reluctant to file lawsuits because of the time, effort, and public opinion that go into filing a lawsuit.
That's why they usually post artist protection notices related to sasaengs or malicious comments on their official SNS accounts to scare people. There are some who actually file lawsuits, but not many.
Then fans will say, 'Stop posting notices and do a good job protecting your artists.'
"Even so, this is necessary work. Before we talk about that, let me start with this."
I lifted up one page of the document. The content was about the car accident that happened a while ago.
Director Kwak In-hyuk's eyebrows furrowed as if he was suddenly asking why I was bringing that up.
"I looked it up, and it turns out that the person who jumped into the van and Lee A-ram's sasaeng were already acquainted."
"Yes......?"
Coincidentally, those two were Sasaengs who originally liked the same group.
Unlike the one who switched to Lee Aram in the middle, the other one continued to follow the group, and I heard that they occasionally helped each other out and interacted.
"Let's skip how you knew that. So now... are you saying that the person who ordered to jump into the car was Lee Aram's sasaeng?"
"It's hard to be sure, but... I think it's highly likely."
I nodded my head as I recalled the information I had heard. That wasn't the only evidence.
"Let's call the person who jumped into the car A and Lee Aram's sasaeng B. The day after B wrote on the community that 'it's hard to find the accommodation', A's incident happened."
"So?"
"If you look at the rear camera footage from our van on the day of the incident, a suspicious taxi followed us right after A caused a ruckus. Normally, we would have noticed that we were being followed and either evaded the car or been careful when entering the accommodation. However, at the time, we were out of our minds due to the accident, and that day it was.....Jacon filming day."
"Yes, we waited in the parking lot for a long time to prepare for Jacon filming, and then we went up to the dorm without the manager. Also, the next day, a post was posted on the community. 'Would you like it if I left a gift?' Unlike the day before, she said it assuming the location of the dorm."
Director Kwak In-hyuk held back a sigh after hearing what I said. Aside from the surprise feeling of finding out, he seemed tired.
"I understand that, but what's the bottom line? What are we going to do now that we know this?"
"Yes, so I......."
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