Chapter 180:


    Why did it have to be him? He was like salt on my already trampled and shredded pride. Why did he have to call me now? What did he want from me? My head was spinning.


    “Hello? Is this Shim Naru?


    The call was connected, but there was no answer from the other side. Ise repeated Naru’s name, sounding puzzled.


    ‘I want to hang up.’


    I was not in the mood to listen to his lectures, telling me to act more decently or something like that, while I was in this humiliating situation.


    I wanted to escape from this reality. At least until the staff or my parents came to get me from behind the door.


    “Shim Naru, are you there?”


    Naru hesitated to press the end call button, as Ise tried to stop him.


    “You might regret it if you hang up now. I contacted you to make you a very positive offer.”How did he know I was about to hang up? I hadn’t pressed any button yet. Eek, Naru panicked and gripped his phone tightly.


    “What kind of nonsense are you trying to say again…?”


    As Naru opened his mouth, trying to hide his fear, he heard a faint chuckle from the other side.


    He’s treating me like a fool! Naru wanted to hang up right away, out of pride, but he had to hear what he had to say.


    He might seem to do whatever he wanted and act selfishly, but he had survived in this jungle-like entertainment industry since he was young. He knew how to make the best of his situation.


    He was not smart, but he was good at calcting.


    “You signed a pre-contract, right? How long do you think you can hide it?”


    He saw right through my shallow thoughts. Naru felt a surge of resentment in his heart and snapped back.


    “I don’t know what you heard or why you think that way, but…”


    “You did. You better think carefully now.”


    Ise cut off Naru’s words and snorted.


    Damn, he was such an annoying person, spouting righteous words with his smug attitude. Naru gritted his teeth and got up from the bed where he was lying down.


    “No, I mean, what did you hear…”


    “You sound more energetic now. You sounded like you were dying before.”


    “What do you mean, energetic? What kind of rude thing are you saying…”


    But again, Naru couldn’t finish his sentence.


    “Did you eat the lunch box? I sent you porridge to help you digest.”


    I didn’t eat it. Well, I ate some fruits.


    “Are you calling me to rub salt in the wound with the lunch box?”


    Naru spat out his words in a fast voice, as if he was rapping, and he heard Ise holding back hisughter with a weak sigh.


    Who does he think he is? I was already distressed enough, without his teasing.


    “No, I’m serious. I have something to tell you that you might regret missing. Have you decided where to go after the contract ends?”


    To be honest, I had. Until 1 a.m. today.


    The contract with W would expire next February. When the Floss project ended, the idols could choose whether to stay with W or return to their original agency.


    And Naru’s choice was thetter. A group with Naru as the center had been preparing for their debut for six months already.


    The only main vocal and center! It was a word that made his eyes sparkle just by hearing it.


    My position in Floss was awkward to say the least.


    There were only three main vocals. It couldn’t be helped with nine people in the group, but still, three was too many!


    Naturally, the attention was dispersed.


    And the actual center was either Yu-geon, who had a solid core despite his low debut rank, Jinhyung, who was the real first ce, or Hwijin, who alternated with them.


    ‘Maybe it looks better to have some tall guys in the middle.’


    Since I was rtively short in the group, I always stayed on the edge rather than the center in the choreography.


    Thanks to my small stature, I got some benefits from being paired with ‘Adams’ or ‘Chocoz’ for more appeal, but I never got the center spot.


    And then there was this group that guaranteed me the center position.


    Even if the members were not very skilled, it was worth joining just for that merit. But when I visited the agency a few months ago to try out the harmony, the quality of the members looked pretty good.


    ‘Of course, not as good as me.’


    This was good enough. They were at a level that could make me stand out.


    So I thought I just had to finish the Floss activities sessfully and say goodbye to them. Never see them again!


    But if I became the center of a scandal, everything would be ruined.


    “Why are you asking that?”


    I asked as if he was a rude jerk, but Ise answered with a rxed voice that annoyed me.


    “Ah, well, you’re so well-prepared and familiar with the entertainment industry, so I’m sure you won’t have any problems. But I was wondering if you need any help with your future direction.”


    As if I would! My anger that had been slowly rising was now boiling over, but unfortunately, I had to admit that he had a point.


    If it was revealed that I had paid a fee for the amount of content, it would be obvious what would happen.


    If I appeared on any program, the viewer’s board would be flooded with requests to stop the appearance of the entertainer whomitted unfair corruption in this harshpetitive era.


    I was angry, but I had to hear what he had to say. After all, he was the person who had kept me alive for five years.


    Lucky you, chaebol son. Tsk. I clicked my tongue and asked.


    “What do you want to say?”


    I felt the blood rushing to my fingertips that had been cold from his sudden provocation.


    “Are you going to continue singing? Solo? Or a group?”


    I wanted to confidently shout solo, since I was the main vocalist.


    ‘…’


    But I knew the difference between what I could and couldn’t do. Sometimes I didn’t, but. Sadly, I wasn’t confident enough to go solo.


    If I debuted solo and failed, it would be even worse.


    “What do you care?”


    I flinched and asked back, and Ise answered with a faint smile on the other end of the phone.


    “If you want to keep singing but have nowhere to go, contact me. I have a solution. Whatever you’re thinking, I’ll find you a better answer than worrying by yourself.”


    What are you talking about? I raised my voice again with irritation.


    “Did you call me to show off? I don’t need it! Hang up!”


    Snap, I hung up the phone with my pride hurt and silence returned. An alert popped up on the phone screen that my parents had called me again while I was on the phone.


    “Argh!”


    The only constion was that I had regained some energy from before. But I couldn’t help being angry.


    Who leaked the contract? Why? As far as he knew, the votes were counted without a single error. He didn’t let down the fans who spent their money.


    Then, what’s the problem? Why did he have to stir up trouble and create this mess when everyone could be happy if he just let it go? He was so annoyed.


    “Ah! I’m so angry, I’m hungry.”


    He had to fill his stomach first if he wanted to get out of this situation. He was irritated, but that guy was good at cooking, at an expert level.


    Naru finally swallowed his pride and got out of bed to ask Hwijin for his share.


    Click, he pulled the door handle after almost a day.


    Vroom-.


    A text message arrived with a vibration.


    ￣￣￣￣￣


    [Broadcast Cancetion Notice]


    Hello, this is the production team of Boys Be Ambitious. After consulting with the broadcasting station, we inform you that the remaining broadcast schedule of Boys Be Ambitious has been cancelled as of today. We will contact each agency by phone for more details.


    ￣￣￣￣￣


    What nonsense is this?


    Naru’s face turned pale as he read the text that he wanted to believe was a joke.


    A nightmare that he didn’t want to believe was real was unfolding.


    “Ah…”


    I thought I was seeing things because I was too tired from the text message that didn’t make sense. I rubbed my eyes, thinking that some words were wrong.


    “Uh…”


    Seon-woo, who was staring nkly at his phone screen, dropped it in shock and barely caught it before it hit the floor.


    “What’s going on right now?”


    Yi-jun, who usually shrugged off any big incidents in the team as if they were none of his business, jumped up from his seat in confusion.


    I must have seen something wrong, right? I reflexively rubbed my eyes again, but Kyunghwa stopped me.


    “Stop rubbing, you’ll hurt your eyes.”


    It was a strange sentence, no matter how I thought about it. The entire remaining broadcast schedule was cancelled. It sounded like the program was scrapped.


    “No…”


    I didn’t know what to say, and another text came and nailed it.


    ￣￣￣￣￣


    [Program Termination Notice]


    Hello, this is the production team of Boys Be Ambitious. As we mentioned in the previous text, Boys Be Ambitious has been terminated.


    We sincerely apologize for delivering this regrettable decision without being able to stay with you until the end. We will contact each agency by phone for more details.


    ￣￣￣￣￣


    “…”


    “Really terminated? Why?”


    Seong-won, who was calmly watching with his arms crossed, raised his voice in surprise.


    “We don’t know either. Ise, did you get any contact?”


    I quickly checked the messenger. But the support team of Composition also seemed to have received only the text notice and didn’t know anything.


    “No, they only got the text too.”


    I had no choice but to wait until I got a detailed contact from the agency.


    If they were contacting each agency in turn, then we would probably be thest ones. We were the smallest and the newest, after all.


    I couldn’t just sit back and say, “Oh, it’s cancelled? Okay, I understand!” and wait.


    ‘Sigh… They never leave me alone.’


    “I’m going to visit the Wiple headquarters for a bit.”


    They would contact them first, so it would be better to go and hear something.


    “Huh? Now? By yourself?”


    Kyunghwa looked at me with a worried expression.


    “Yeah. I want to make sure if it’s because of Floss, and what’s going on. I want to find out what happened that led to the cancetion of the broadcast.”


    Maybe he wanted toe with me. But it was better not to bring an unnecessary guest if I wanted to pressure the W side and get some information as the CEO of Composition and a rtive of the investor.


    “You guys just wait at home. I’ll contact you right away.”


    I had a lot of things to do today. I ruffled my hair lightly and grabbed the car key that I had thrown into the box next to the sofa.