Chapter 281: Chapter 281

WH Entertainment was currently stuck with a tiny, prickly thorn. Not painful enough to cripple, not itchy enough to ignore—just irritating.

That thorn was none other than The Dawn, the idol group they had inherited through the Daepaseong acquisition.

WH’s planning team had sent out multiple official notices, but The Dawn showed no signs of listening.

Unauthorized live streams still continued. The only consolation was that fan responses weren’t bad.

[But lately everyone’s doing lives more, seems like The Dawn started and now WH’s other idols act like their leash is off]

[The Dawn are true variety entertainers..]

They were aggressively pouring out self-made content, even digging up things hidden deep in their drives.

Checking reactions, WH Entertainment’s Management Team Leader Jung Seonui pressed her throbbing temples with a fingertip.

[Frogs that snuck into WH..]

[Yeah.. our kids... they came up from a small company, of course they’d have lots of content ...]

The biggest problem with The Dawn’s behavior wasn’t what they did, but the ripple effects that followed.

Joo Woosung himself had already started switching on live broadcasts without company permission.

Once a system was broken, it was incredibly hard to restore. From now on, whenever WH tried to strictly control idol lives, The Dawn’s name would inevitably come up.

If nobody caused problems, fine. But...

Top-tier management wasn’t about cleaning up messes after they happened, but preventing them in advance.

There was always a reason for prohibition.

[Crazy, I can’t believe I actually got to see a Joo Woosung and Lee Beomhyeon 1-on-1 liveㅠ holy shit finally Woosung is taking care of another Black Call member, not just Chae Jungwoo

└LOOOOLLLLLLLLL but damn it was awkward as fuck fuck LMAO is it real that they’re this stiff despite years together hahahahaha

└└Bloys actually love it, say it ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) feels fresh, it’s fine]

[The Dawn and Black Call accidentally barging into each other’s rooms like “oops wrong one sorry” is so cute] ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩·𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢·𝔫𝔢𝔱

[Lately Woosung feels so grown up

Maybe it’s the ease he gained.. anyway nice seeing sunbae-hoobae take care of each other...]

[Feels like both The Dawn and Woosung are doing lots of WH lives these days. Woosung especially used to stream less, now it’s unlocked and I love it so so so much

└Looks like he got excited having a friend on, ah hahahahaha just do a collab V Live already hahahaha

But if they really collab it’ll kill me..]

WH had provided everything promised and tried not to meddle in management more than necessary.

But The Dawn seemed unwilling to be bound by WH’s most basic rules, switching on daily lives.

Looking at their future potential and expected revenue, they were undeniably attractive.

‘But from a corporate perspective, they’re a jagged stone.’

If one goes astray, the rest follow crooked.

That distortion might create new value.

For a startup in growth, that could be welcome. But for a company with an established foundation, such instability would never be seen kindly.

‘And Seo Hoyun is deliberately causing this.’

His face, smiling without a trace of awkwardness, confirmed her suspicion.

For now, fan reactions were good, so it could pass. But the moment even a small problem happened, The Dawn would be the first target of blame.

‘What the hell should I do....’

Faced with a problem blocked front and back, Jung Seonui clutched her head and let out a heavy sigh.

Heading out of the office to look for Seo Hoyun, Jung Seonui ran into him right at the doorway.

As if expecting her, he held two cups of coffee.

“Thank you for your hard work today.”

She reluctantly accepted the cup he offered so naturally and asked,

“Mr. Seo Hoyun. Did you get the notice from the manager about the live streams?”

“Ah, you mean about the restriction being lifted? I heard that was thanks to you, Team Leader Jung. Thank you.”

Seeing him flash a sly smile and thank her, her stomach twisted.

“I actually had something to say about that. You know the saying, ‘a protruding nail gets hammered down,’ right?”

Still smiling, Seo Hoyun gave no reply. Jung Seonui let out another deep sigh.

“If you’re not planning to quit being an idol after a day or two, restrain yourself at least a little. ...I’m saying this sincerely, for The Dawn’s sake.”

Never met this type before.

Feeling her headache, which had persisted for days, worsen, she decided not to scold further and changed the subject.

“And, I checked the projected sales for Q1....”

She knew The Dawn’s popularity was rising daily, but she hadn’t expected it to this degree.

“It’ll be officially conveyed to Daepaseong’s management and planning teams too, but we’re thinking of switching your U.S. trip next week—from just shooting self-content to filming an actual program. We’ll arrange it so it can be broadcast this summer or fall.”

This would make money.

Her intuition, honed over 15 years at WH, screamed it.

Even without network TV, airing it and pushing promotions on YouTube would spark a huge reaction.

For WH, this was an unusually generous treatment. But Seo Hoyun’s face showed no change.

“Thank you very much.”

Pressing her aching forehead with her palm, Jung Seonui turned back toward her office, unwilling to say more.

‘Jung Seonui’s surprisingly kind.’

Thanks to her, the live broadcast issue seemed resolved without major friction.

I headed toward the practice room. I had called Joo Woosung after a long time, and he had simply said he was practicing, come find him, then hung up.

At his usual haunt, I found him lying flat on the floor, soaked in sweat.

His voice was filled with heavy breaths.

“You’ve risen high. From that shithole building, all the way to our company.”

“And who was the one stamping attendance in that shithole every day?”

“Dunno. Heard it was some handsome, slick guy.”

I clicked my tongue at his nonsense and sat on the sofa.

We often ran into each other at the company, but just in passing with a greeting.

Judging from the texts he’d sent, he must’ve come to our concert too, but we’d never crossed paths. Sitting down face-to-face had been a while.

“You guys are getting lots of buzz. Maybe it’s because you have so much content? People are saying good things.”

“Since when do you care about people’s reactions?”

“Even if I don’t, I hear them anyway, what can I do?”

He sat up, wiping sweat off his face with his sleeve, and clumsily mocked my tone.

I tossed him the drink I’d bought in advance, meaning for him to shut up.

Annoyingly, he caught it perfectly with his left hand while pulling out his phone with his right.

“Buzz means you’re popular.”

I only twitched my eyebrows and gestured to pull up my stat window.

The ridiculously tenacious main vocal of The Dawn.

Judging by stats alone, I could stand anywhere without being outclassed now.

“How’s our company? Anything inconvenient?”

And his stats popped up automatically.

Our pushover, no, our unbelievably kind Woosung....

Where else would you find such a good friend?

Even factoring in that charm scaled with recognition, those stats were absurd.

‘Does this even make sense?’

Cold inside, I stared holes into his stats until Woosung flinched and stepped back.

“...What? Why? What’s with your face again?”

“What are you plotting now? Are our staff giving you side-eyes?”

No, you’re the problem.

But I couldn’t say that straight out to the guy who’d helped me so much—and who was already a pushover—so I just sighed and ran a hand through my hair.

“No, nothing like that.”

“We’re going to California next week. To train the kids while doing the IRIX stage....”

I didn’t even need to mention it—we were going anyway.

Even now, I couldn’t forget how Woosung had gone to California and come back as an EX rank.

“I heard you also got your info about that through whispers from company staff....”

“Seo Hoyun, your tongue’s too long.”

“Want to come with us?”

The answer I expected was obvious.

Are you crazy? Lost your mind? What are you on about?

Without a hint of hesitation, Woosung accepted.

“I said I’m going, bastard.”

That wasn’t the answer I wanted.

If he refused, I planned to press him and dig out who he had trained with.

“...What about your schedule?”

“My solo promotions are over, and it’s the off-season. Totally free. The members went back home.”

I tried to understand his thinking for a moment.

But it was incomprehensible.

“Why the hell are you with me?”

Woosung’s eyebrow tilted.

“You? Youuu? Where the hell are your manners toward your sunbae, bastard?”

“Stop spitting banmal.”

“What are you, a mouse? A mouse?”

His face turned bright red, anger flaring, as he jumped up. The babbling was so noisy I covered my ears, only for his outraged voice to grow even louder.

“Damn it, I said I’d help you and you’re still whining!!”

“Then why the hell are you helping so easily?!”

“Hey, I can hear your brain grinding from here.”

He exhaled sharply, like he couldn’t believe it.

“You made me curious, okay? Why you cling so desperately to idol work. You made me curious.”

Clutching his half-empty bottle, Woosung stared me dead in the eyes.

“So you take responsibility.”

Then he snatched up his bag and shouted,

“Don’t sit next to me on the plane. Asshole.”

He stormed out of the practice room.

Left alone, I blinked at the closed door in disbelief.

“Seriously, what’s with him?”

At twenty-seven, isn’t it a little late for puberty?

Fine. If he wanted to help on his own, so be it. No need to waste more energy.

I roughly rewrapped the bandage around my foot and stood up, ready to head back to the dorm.

“At least now he’ll finally help look after my kids too.”

California, here we come.