MDQ Ch 44

Kang Junhyuk had once, back in his trainee days, been accused of stealing another trainee’s belongings.

He was, of course, innocent, but because no one believed him, he ended up being kicked out of the company he had belonged to at the time.

Since then, it became a habit for him to carry things that could prove his innocence.

Recording calls was a must, and he often carried a small recorder with him. Always ready to use it—just like now.

Without the slightest change in expression, Kang Junhyuk continued the conversation as usual.

“What exactly are you planning to do to me? Frame me like you did with Hyunseok hyung? What would work best, I wonder…? My character? A scandal? Too bad for you, though. In my free time, all I do is play games. There’s nothing in my personality or lifestyle that could blow up into a scandal.”

Yoon Kangcheol smiled leisurely, as if scoffing at Kang Junhyuk’s rebuttal that he had no dirt to dig up.

“Even just games can be made into a scandal. Maybe you’ve seen me as too soft because I treated you too well all this time… But I can bury one person like you easily. Even right this second.”

“So you really intend to frame me?”

“What would be good? Drug addiction? Drunk driving, maybe?”

“I only put healthy things in my body. And I hardly ever drive as it is.”

“But I can make you. That’s the difference between you and me—the CEO.”

“…”

Kang Junhyuk fell silent for a moment, thinking. Was this much of a recording enough?

If he provoked Yoon Kangcheol further just to get a stronger statement, it might only make him suspicious.

“Fine. I’ll think about the re-signing again.”

“Good. Think about it carefully. Please.”

“I’ll be going now.”

Without gaining much, he left the CEO’s office and headed to the managers’ office, where the threat of a mass resignation had been raised.

As soon as he arrived, the first thing he saw was people moving busily. Managers were packing up their desks.

The air in the room was heavy. The familiar managers’ faces were all grim.

A space that had been filled with nothing but energy when Lee Hyunseok was the chief manager now felt dead somehow.

Could one person’s presence really hold this much influence?

That foolishly good-natured Lee Hyunseok, always smiling, doing everything asked of him, even seeming like he’d crawl at someone’s feet if told—could he really have caused this much of a chain reaction?

It was unbelievable.

‘So the mass resignation isn’t just a rumor… it’s really happening?’

Then, Kang Junhyuk spotted someone, and his face hardened. He quickly strode over and grabbed the man’s arm as he was packing.

“Chulmin hyung? What are you doing right now?”

Manager Park Chulmin was not as easy to order around as Lee Hyunseok, but still someone Junhyuk had often pushed about. Yet here he was, packing as if he too had decided to quit.

“Can’t you see? I’m packing my things.”

Park Chulmin snapped back in a sharp tone he had never used before.

The coldness in his cutting voice felt unfamiliar to Junhyuk.

He hadn’t been as pliant as Lee Hyunseok, but he had still always bent to him…

“Hyung, why are you doing this too? Things are already a mess with Hyunseok hyung gone, but if you quit as well, then who’s going to take responsibility for us?”

At Kang Junhyuk’s reproachful words, Park Chulmin let out a bitter laugh.

“Junhyuk-ah. I’ll say this because it’s the last time—I don’t think you can go on living like this.”

“What?”

“Of course, everyone recognizes that you’re a successful singer. But remember, your success has been backed by the sacrifices and sweat of many people. You need to respect them more than you do now.”

“What are you even talking about? Explain it in a way I can understand.”

“I’m talking about how badly you all treated Chief Lee.”

“…”

“Couldn’t even one of you speak up and say it wasn’t like that? Everyone knew it wasn’t his fault…”

“That…”

“Enough. I can’t keep working with you, who trample on managers, or with this company.”

“I didn’t put that article out—it was the CEO who published it without asking!”

“But you had plenty of time to correct it. The fact that you stayed silent all this time means, in the end, you agreed with him too, doesn’t it?”

“…”

“The CEO said there are plenty of people willing to be managers besides us. Fine then. Work well with the new ones. As for me, I’m leaving a company that ignores even the basic rights of its staff.”

“Chulmin hyung… Please, just think about it one more time.”

Even at Kang Junhyuk’s desperate plea, Park Chulmin roughly shook off his hand and went on packing.

He didn’t even spare Kang Junhyuk a glance.

In that moment, Kang Junhyuk suddenly remembered the careless words he had thrown at Park Chulmin in the past.

“Hyung, your fashion today is awful. Do you even shower? You smell like garbage. For God’s sake, clean yourself up better… I don’t want to hear people saying Given’s manager smells like trash.”

“Hyung, what kind of song choice is this? Don’t you have anything with emotion? Anyway, this sucks.”

Kang Junhyuk let out a long sigh. If he had known it would come to this, he would’ve at least held back from calling him trash.

While he regretted it, Park Chulmin silently kept packing his things.

Seo Seoho’s face twisted as he stared down at his phone screen. Articles he had just been reading were still open.

‘We were exhausted from the abuse.’ Archon Entertainment, sudden mass manager resignations.
Given, activities fail with a 3-member lineup after Jung Yohan’s withdrawal?

Given, flood of slander → sasaeng manager incident resurfaces.
Is there a problem with their character?’ Idols suspected of having personality issues?

More and more malicious articles targeting Given were appearing.

All because of the mass resignation of the company’s managers.

The abusive manager incident involving Lee Hyunseok had faded without follow-up reports.

But the unfair dismissal of Lee Hyunseok, who was forced to take the blame, had deeply shaken Archon Entertainment’s managers.

As proof, they carried out the mass resignation.

Journalists, facing this unprecedented collective walkout, turned their eyes once again to Lee Hyunseok and Given.

The company seemed to be making efforts to stop further articles, but even so, they couldn’t prevent them from popping up one after another.

Trashy articles kept spreading, there were no managers to handle the occasional schedules, reporters’ calls were nonstop, and family members kept asking if things were really okay…

In short, everything was a complete mess.

Seo Seoho believed the only person who could quell this chaos was Lee Hyunseok.

If Lee Hyunseok came back, the resigned managers would return too, and no more articles would surface.

But Lee Hyunseok simply wouldn’t answer his calls.

Unable to endure the frustration, Seo Seoho reluctantly tried his backup plan: he called Park Chulmin.

If anyone knew Lee Hyunseok’s whereabouts, it might be him.

Even the smallest clue would help—anything at all related to the man who had gone missing might ease the suffocating anxiety.

But on the other end of the line came only a disappointing automated voice.

—“The phone you have dialed is turned off…”

Seo Seoho then tried calling Kim Minsoo, the pickup manager, but his phone too was off.

Finally, he called Lee Hyunseok himself. And then, an unbelievable response came.

—“The number you have dialed does not exist.”

“What?”

Stunned, Seo Seoho called again and again, but every time he heard the same reply.

Did Lee Hyunseok change his number? At a time like this?

“Hyung must have gone crazy.”

Even while Given was in the middle of a huge mess, he went and changed his number as if he just wanted to make things easier for himself. That made Seo Seoho angry. How could this man be so completely devoid of responsibility?

TL’s Note:

I can’t put a footnote inside the block, so I just add it here. The “ass-chon” is cursing on Archon by mixing curse word with the company name.