Chapter 101

Myunghee was in her tiny apartment, nervously looking at the computer screen.

The night before, her uncle returned drunk to her place. He seemed smug, and a few hours later, there were articles about Hyoyoung and The M all over the Internet.

When Myunghee saw them, she couldn’t breathe. Suddenly, she became fearful. Her idols… her loves… The M members were trashed in the articles. She read some of the comments made by the fans, and they were horrible. Many blamed The M as well as whoever revealed such personal information.

As she shook her head in pain, Myunghee whispered, “This isn’t what I wanted.”

She never got what she wanted.

What Myunghee hoped for was for The M members to take their masks off and see her as a person, rather than their stylist or one of many fans. She wanted to get to know them, to be able to talk to them. To become their friend…

Myunghee certainly didn’t want The M to be criticized and hated like this.

She hated her uncle now. Because of him, Myunghee could no longer be even a fan of The M. The M members would never forgive her for this.

She felt devastated.

“I… I need to fix this.”

Myunghee was determined. She left the room quietly, making sure not to wake her uncle.

When she walked outside, she exclaimed, “Oh…!”

The sun was so bright, she closed her eyes tightly. For the past month, she only left her home after sunset, so the sunlight was a shock to her eyes. She felt like she was a bat, and she had difficulty tolerating the sun.

She stood still, letting her eyes slowly adjust. She could feel the warmth on her skin, and slowly, she felt lighter. It felt like she was being hugged by the sun, making her feel calmer and better.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked at the world.

Suddenly, she heard a woman say nearby, “It’s going to be okay.” When Myunghee turned towards the voice, she saw a little boy on the ground crying and his mother consoling him.

“It’s okay, baby. I’m afraid this won’t be the last time you fall, so you can’t be crying every time you get hurt.”

The little boy nodded and replied, “I’m okay, Mommy.”

The child’s mom praised him, telling him over again that everything was going to be okay. Myunghee felt like the words were for her as well. She felt braver now.

“That’s right. This won’t be the last time I fall, so I can’t just give up now.”

Myunghee opened her eyes wide and started to walk.

***

Meanwhile, Mikyung and Hyoyoung awkwardly walked into their classroom. As soon as they entered, the room quieted.

One girl whispered, “Well, the princess has finally arrived. Purple M’s girlfriend, right?” The other girls followed.

“What’s with Mikyung Lee? Why is she still friends with Hyoyoung?”

“Do you think those articles are all true?”

“Hey, obviously! I mean, she didn’t come to school all this time, right? That must mean that those articles are true.”

The time it took for Hyoyoung to walk to her seat felt like forever. If she didn’t have Mikyung by her side, Hyoyoung knew she would have collapsed to the floor because her legs felt so weak.

Her classmates stared at her curiously, but thankfully, the teacher walked in and class started. Hyoyoung sighed in relief.

During the class, all Hyoyoung could think about was how to escape with Mikyung during recess. She wondered if she should just run for it, when suddenly the students in the back started to murmur. The girls seemed surprised and… apologetic. The shock spread through the classroom quickly, and the teacher who had noticed it, finally asked what was happening.

The students just looked at each other nervously, but one girl finally looked at Hyoyoung and explained, “Umm… it’s about Hyoyoung again. There is another article that got released just now… and I think the reporters are going to barge in here very soon at this rate.”

“What? What does the article say this time?”

Hyoyoung’s heart dropped. She took out her phone quickly while the girl continued to explain, “Myunghee Shin… that girl…”

Just then, Hyoyoung could hear noises outside of the school.

The reporters were coming.

***

The internet was a funny thing. It was like an ocean. One small wave could turn into a full-blown storm in a matter of seconds.

An hour ago, an article was released, and it was a confession from Myunghee Shin.

The truth.

Myunghee’s confession was calm and honest.

How her uncle first met Purple M and Black M before their debut…

How and why she was hired to become The M’s stylist…

The delusional love she felt for The M members…

What she did for that love…

How her uncle tried to get his revenge…

Myunghee also revealed what kind of person her uncle was. She told the audience the story of how badly President Shim treated her and her mother. In addition, Myunghee also explained what a horrible boss he was when he used to own his own entertainment agency.

Soon enough, previous trainees started to comments in support of Myunghee’s story. They provided stories of how unfairly they were treated by President Shim when they were his trainees.

And then, there was an article from an anonymous source, which revealed some shocking stories.

The M members were all reading them together when Kiwook murmured, “This… This sounds like the Rodent, right?”

The stories provided were too detailed and accurate. Hyojun nodded and exclaimed, “Oh…!”

“Don’t you think so, Hyojun? It has to be the Rodent.”

“Yeah, now that I think about it, it’s very possible.”

“Someone who would know this much… He is the only one I can think of.”

“Which means… based on this article, it sounds like there were more incidents between President Shim and the Rodent after we quit.”

“Hmm… as he said, the entertainment industry is very small. Everyone knows everyone and everything.”

According to the article, President Shim was someone who used everybody for his personal gain.

He often forced the trainees to provide sexual favors for rich sponsors. He also asked for money from the trainees’ parents using the promise of a debut. The article suggested that even Kiwook’s mother had no choice but to go out with President Shim a few times for her son. Other trainees claimed that their own mothers were also forced to work for the president and pay for things including lessons and outfits.

In some instances, the mothers of some trainees were asked to clean the building if they couldn’t pay. There were also secret cameras in the agency building so President Shim could spy on everyone. The vocal and dance coaches who used to work for him confessed that they were asked to be mean and harsh to the trainees if they wanted to keep their jobs.

There were specific rules and punishments the coaches were required to enforce.

If the trainees couldn’t lose weight quickly, they weren’t allowed to go home. They were forced to dance all day till they lost the weight. Some trainees were also put in a small room and practice smiling for hours in front of a mirror. Often times, the trainees were starved or even physically punished.

After reading the stories, Jiwoo asked quietly, “Kiwook… Hyojun… did you guys have to go through this too?”

“No, it wasn’t this bad for us…”

“But… it was close, I guess. After such long practices, our legs would swell up so much… there were many times when we thought we should just give up…”

“Yeah, Kiwook is right. We had some very bad days that we were both depressed.”

Hyunsuk added, “But… it was like that for most of the trainees. I went through it too.”

“Oh, that’s right. Hyunsuk… you were in that agency too, weren’t you?”

“Yeah. It wasn’t as bad for me because I wasn’t as desperate to debut. I often secretly went out at night to eat and I didn’t practice as hard. But… I knew many female trainees who cried every night.”

“Girls…?”

Hyunsuk glanced at Hyojun and Kiwook and continued, “There wasn’t any physical harassment, but… the way those girls were treated and looked at… There is no doubt they were sexually harassed. And they had no one to talk to since everyone around them was all competing against each other. It was a very toxic environment.”

Jiwoo exclaimed, “Wow… that is so terrible. I guess I am a rare and lucky case.”

“Yeah… I know many girls and boys who had it really rough. Their lives were ruined from the experience in that agency…”

Kiwook looked around and added, “That’s why we left that place.”

Jiwoo nodded, “Yeah. By the way… don’t you think this newest article will help us? Right?”

Hyojun agreed, “For sure. I never expected that Myunghee Shin would help us like this.”

“She is probably sick of her own uncle by now.”

“Do you think President Shim would try to do something about this?”