June paused, his posture becoming rigid. Again, he didn't know the full story behind Choi Joon-ho's death, but Fu told him that the timid trainee killed himself after years of struggling.
"But that doesn't seem to be the case, right?" Hana said, her voice filled with relief. "Because you're standing in front of me right now."
June stiffly nodded.
"Anyway, that was just a rumor I heard because nobody seemed to know where you were. I also tried searching for you on SNS but failed to do so. In the end, I hoped you went out of the radar to live a more peaceful life. I never expected that you'd continue pursuing the idol dream."
"Is that all you know?" June asked.
She nodded. "Again, I didn't keep up with Pheonix anymore because of all the bad memories I've incurred, but I'm assuming it didn't get any better. CHAOS debuted with people I didn't even know."
Juns sighed. Although the last years of his training period weren't disclosed, it felt safe to say that Alex's and Hyunwoo's statements were false.
They twisted the story so June could become the villain.
And he was pretty sure they were also feeding on the fact that the starlights were currently on the edge of their seats after watching the preview of 'Rising Stars' on the fifth episode.
"So, Alex and Hyunwoo are accusing you of being a bully?" Hana asked.
"Yes," June said. "But I'm glad you clarified that their stories aren't true."
"Those bastards," she clenched her fists. "They still hadn't changed. It's so frustrating for people like them to still be given chances."
"So, what are you going to do now?" she asked.
"Those stories…," June trailed off. "Do you have any evidence of them happening?"
"Sadly, no," she looked down at the ground. "We weren't allowed to use phones in the practice room as trainees, so we don't have any evidence against them."
June sighed, and Hana felt quite bad for him.
"I don't think I can provide a statement either," she said. "It hasn't been that long since I started doing well as an actress, and my career is currently at its peak. As much as I would like to help you, I fear I can't taint my reputation right now. Maybe in the future if my career is already stable. But I'm afraid that will already be too late."
"I understand," June said, his mind running a thousand miles an hour to find a solution to his problem.
It would be too much to ask Hana for help when she'd already shared so much, so he knew that he had to fight this war alone.
"Do you need help with anything else?" Hana asked.
June paused and thought of it for a while.
"Do you know where Alex and Hyunwoo live?"
She froze, and then she slowly nodded. "If they didn't change addresses, then I still know where they live."
"Show me."
***
In the modern building of Azure, the Rising Stars' production team answered countless calls. Interns ran around with cups of strong coffee in their hands. The head of the production team hadn't slept for the past two days, thinking of ways to control the damage that had been done.
Without a doubt, this has been the worst scandal they had to handle after what happened in the third season.
Yejin and Yena lead the meeting with the other directors and producers, all of them stumped to silence as they thought of their next course of action.
"So…," Yena started. "What are we going to do about June?"
Yejin sighed as she raked her fingers through her greasy hair. She hasn't washed since the night the scandal broke out.
"There isn't any solid proof that he was indeed a bully. We conducted a thorough investigation on his background, and this kid has nothing!" she exclaimed. "No social media accounts. No school stories. I think he stopped going to school in 2018 or something? At least, that's what the private investigator said."
"And Phoenix?" the head producer asked. "Have they released a statement?"
Yena shook her head. "No statements from them either. Apparently, past trainees aren't their responsibility anymore. They don't want to give out a statement."
"But Alex and Hyunwoo are their trainees!" Yejin exclaimed.
"It seems like they're supporting their trainees, though," Yena responded. "They want to kick June out of the show."
"Rising Stars is getting martyred online," Ann, the intern, said. She scrolled through her phone and read some comments from the public.
"Rising Stars became Bullying Stars. How can they accept such a trainee into the show?"
"Remove June from the show."
"June's a big bully! He bullied Alex, Hyunwoo, and Zeth."
"They seem pretty enraged that we're still keeping June on the show," Ann said.
Yena sighed in frustration. "Shall we kick him out then? It'll be easier than us solving the problem from its roots."
One of the shareholders raised his hand. "I don't think that's a good idea. June is one of the main attractors of the show. Zeth, Casper, and the others garnered more votes, but June had made Rising Stars more known to the public. His face reveal itself garnered a 34% real-time rating! Azure's stocks raised through the roof when that happened."
"Not only that," a producer said. "But the pink mask he wore had become a trend in the country. It's being sold by an Azure affiliate, so kicking him out will be like kicking out one of our assets."
"But we can't deny that Alex and Hyunwoo also bring a lot of viewers to the show," Chris, a guy who doesn't like June, said. "We can't disregard their statement just because of those reasons. At the end of the day, June will be a passing craze. People only care about him now because he just revealed his face."
"I agree," another guy, Woosan, said. In truth, those two were once Phoenix employees, and they've been receiving money to make sure the Phoenix boys are receiving the best editing on the show. "If the bullying situation gets out of hand, it'd be too late to control the damage. So, let's snip the bud before it grows even more. The editors should start cutting out June's segments on the show."
"But the episode is airing in three days!" an editor said.
Yejin faced Yena. "What's your decision?" she asked her fellow main director.
Yena bit her lip in frustration. "Let's give June until tomorrow," she said. "If the bullying accusations aren't debunked by then, we'll have no choice but to kick him out of the show."
