Chapter 129

Chapter 129. Now It's My Turn

A manager's greatest crisis is always replaced by an even greater one.

And now, I had once again found myself facing the biggest crisis of my life as a manager.

I needed to find out what was happening between Serin and Anna.

Unfortunately, both of them were quiet by nature, so finding any warning signs would probably be difficult.

Maybe neither of them even realized they were upset.

If so, things might already have reached a point where they couldn't be undone.

Late at night, I quietly approached the dorm where the members were staying and knocked on the door.

A sigh from Youngchae came from inside.

"The cuckoo goes cuckoo, cuckoo."

Youngchae spoke.

I answered.

"The crow goes caw, caw."

The door opened.

"Did we really have to do this? Everyone's asleep, so we're actually making more noise. And even if you and I met alone at night, nobody would think anything strange."

"No. This gives us a sense of mission. Anyway, where's the merchandise?"

Youngchae pulled three of Anna's lyric notebooks from her back pocket.

Youngchae and I quietly moved toward the bathroom.

If anyone came out, we'd pretend we'd just happened to run into each other there.

"How was the mood today?"

"Nothing special. Serin unni is the same as usual, and Aran and Anna don't seem to know anything. But why did you tell me to bring Anna's notebooks?"

"Because something seems strange between Serin and Anna."

Youngchae immediately shook her head.

"Absolutely not. During last weekend's break, Anna and Serin unni spent the whole time together. Anna was actually happy because she slept in the same bed as Serin unni and said she felt like she'd gotten to know her better."

"They slept in the same bed?"

"Yes. ...No, not in a weird way. I mean they had that much fun together."

That was exactly the problem.

Wouldn't it be even stranger if they'd gotten closer lately?

At the very least, they should have been acting the same as always.

If they'd spent three whole days and nights together with that level of closeness, it should've been an incredibly enjoyable time.

"Anyway, there's no need to look through Anna's notebooks. Now I just feel like I stole them for no reason. Anna said it felt like Serin unni came back to the dorm after fighting with her family. I think something's happening at home. That's probably what we need to figure out."

Apparently, Serin had originally said she was going down to Seosan to visit her mother's side of the family, only to suddenly return.

Her explanation was that her uncle and grandmother had abruptly gone to Jeju.

But Youngchae was sure it was a lie.

Serin would've told them at least a day in advance that she planned to go to Seosan.

Wasn't it strange that she'd packed all her things, left, and then trudged back to the dorm?

A family problem...

Maybe Anna's diss rap wasn't actually the problem itself.

Something happened first, and that caused the relationship between Serin and Anna to fall apart.

If Youngchae was right and it was related to Serin's family, one ominous possibility came to mind.

The person who answered the Free Opt-Out number sounded like a man in his mid-to-late forties.

Was that Serin's uncle?

As far as I knew, both of Serin's parents had unfortunately passed away when she was young.

I didn't know the details, but because of that, Serin had been forced to mature early.

Afterward, she'd lived with financial support from her uncle.

These days, Serin was earning quite a lot herself, so money shouldn't be a problem anymore.

Maybe that uncle of hers was after Serin's money and was trying to pull something.

If not, then I felt a little bad for suspecting him.

But right now, I needed to prepare for the worst.

Surely he didn't want Serin's career ruined either.

I should probably call a lawyer now in case this turned into some kind of rights dispute.

"I understand why you want to read Anna's lyrics since she's pretty honest when she writes, but looking without permission feels a little..."

"It's fine. Anna gave me permission before. She said I could look anytime."

"Really? Well... it's not like she usually tries to hide them from us either."

There shouldn't be a diss rap yet.

Not if this really was a family problem.

Because the incident hadn't happened yet.

I flipped through Anna's notebook page by page, searching for the word Serin.

Eventually, I reached what looked like the most recently written pages.

And right there, I found lyrics titled 〈Kim Serin〉.

"Huh? This..."

"What is it? Can I see too?"

I closed the notebook before Youngchae could look.

If it was Anna, she probably wouldn't want to show me these lyrics.

And definitely not Youngchae either.

Earlier that same afternoon, before Do Jun-hyeok and Jin Youngchae conspired together with Anna's notebook...

Anna had gone out alone because Serin's uncle had offered to buy her dinner.

He often gathered the members together and bought them meals or clothes, so receiving a personal call from him wasn't particularly strange.

Anna did wonder why he'd invited only her and excluded the other members.

Still, he'd promised to buy expensive soy-marinated crab.

Maybe paying for all four girls would've been a little burdensome for him.

"Anna, it's been a while. Have you been doing well?"

"Of course. Did you enjoy Jeju?"

"Huh? Jeju? Why would I suddenly go to Jeju?"

As expected.

"Nothing. It's nice to see you after so long!"

Anna shook off her distracting thoughts and climbed into the passenger seat of his car.

After arriving at the crab restaurant and ordering, they exchanged a few simple updates.

They weren't especially close, so there wasn't much to talk about.

"Actually, I called you separately because I feel pretty sorry toward you, Anna."

"What? Why would you feel sorry toward me?"

Anna stopped eating the crab that had been placed in front of her.

"Are you trying to poison me with crab like King Yeongjo...?"

"Hahaha. No, nothing like that."

Serin's uncle spoke.

He liked all the members who were close with Serin.

But he couldn't help favoring Serin.

He said Serin's role in Blue Moon was extremely important, and that he wanted her to grow even further.

"Ah... Ahaha. Y-Yeah. Serin unni basically hard-carries our group."

"Maybe not that much. Still, you know Serin is a good kid, don't you?"

Anna still trusted Serin.

Just as her uncle said, Serin was a kind unni.

And because she loved her family, maybe she'd simply put on a brave front.

Her grandmother and uncle were probably anxious about Serin's future too.

Serin was strong enough to pretend everything was fine for their sake.

"Serin seems to have a lot on her mind these days. I think she'll probably make a decision soon. Even if Serin leaves, don't be too hurt. Please support her. She needs to let go and grow too. ...I'm sorry for saying something like this, Anna."

Only then did Anna understand what he meant.

Serin was considering leaving Blue Moon.

Apparently, someone had offered her far better conditions somewhere else.

Leaving because of money.

...After all the years they'd spent together?

"Ah. This is too salty to eat."

Anna quietly put down her chopsticks.

The crab shell sat miserably on top of her rice bowl lid.

There was no way what Serin's uncle had just told her was a lie.

Now that she'd heard it, Serin's recent behavior suddenly felt like that of someone deliberately creating distance before leaving.

Even so, Anna could only repeat the same thing to herself.

No way.

No way.

The second filming of 〈Mask Singer〉.

This time, Aran and Anna came along to the set to support Serin.

Anna looked completely drained, like someone who'd spent the previous night drinking herself into oblivion.

Youngchae, however, kept glancing at Anna and giggling.

It was because of the lyrics to Anna's song, 〈Kim Serin〉.

Apparently, I'd acted so obviously like I was hiding some enormous secret that Youngchae eventually couldn't resist and checked the notebook herself.

The lyrics went like this.

"Serin, don't give up. The words you once gave me. Better than today I'm, never dead body champion. When I baptism by you, Serin for me Teresa, praise your fame for roughly a hundred days, high like Eiffel Tower. Period of capital chaebol family, I'm in your chapel, I'm a follower. In the end I did it, thanks to you I'm without defeat. All that's left is rehabilitation."

It was a song praising Serin.

It probably wasn't written to be released anywhere.

Anna had likely just gotten inspired one day and scribbled it down.

I'd only seen the lyrics, but the hook,

"Serin never gonna give you up."

was especially memorable.

If Serin herself ever saw it, Anna probably wouldn't be able to sleep properly for months.

"Huh? They're calling me. I'm going now. You two don't come to the wardrobe room. Go straight to the audience seats!"

When Youngchae said that, Aran complained.

"Why? I want to watch unni change clothes too..."

"No. I've already seen it, but you two have to guess."

"Isn't Serin unni Snow White? Why wouldn't we know that?"

Youngchae left for the studio, saying 〈Mask Singer〉 wasn't such an easy program.

According to Anna, it absolutely was.

Just as I was about to take Anna and Aran toward the audience seats, PD Park Bo-ram checked the direction Youngchae had gone and hurried over to me.

"I'm really sorry, but I think you need to come to the wardrobe room for a moment."

"Really?"

I sent the members ahead and followed Park Bo-ram to the wardrobe room.

When we arrived, Serin was sitting in front of the mirror, staring at her reflection while forcing strength into her reddened eyes.

She was desperately holding back tears.

"Why... Why is Serin crying?"

"I don't know. I told her she might become the Mask King today to encourage her, and suddenly..."

I approached Serin.

She noticed me through the mirror and immediately dropped forward onto the table, hiding her face.

"Serin, what's wrong? Are you nervous?"

"Yes. Ah, I'm so nervous. I'm trembling so much that I'm even crying."

It had finally happened.

She'd been carrying her worries alone without any way to release them, and eventually she'd exploded.

But unless Serin told me herself, I couldn't know what was wrong.

All I could do was guess that it had something to do with money and her uncle.

I asked for a moment and left the wardrobe room with Serin.

"Serin. Starting now, my memory lasts three seconds. Whatever you tell me, I'm going to forget as soon as I turn around. Since we have the chance, can't you tell me what's bothering you?"

Serin silently shook her head.

But I was pretty crazy myself.

Whatever the problem was, I was someone who could solve it.

I'd already called a lawyer too.

"Have I ever failed to solve one of your problems before? This time probably won't be any different."

"No. It's not that I have a problem... I was just sad, that's all."

Eventually, Serin confessed.

She had to earn as much money as she possibly could while she still had the chance.

And apparently, she'd been told that she was a member who wasn't helping Blue Moon.

Looking back, she was the only member who had stubbornly held onto an acting opportunity until the very end.

And now, another agency had offered her a much better opportunity.

"I know it's selfish, but I think it's the right thing for both my family and the members. So I'm going to quit. But I think this might be my last activity as Blue Moon, and it felt so miserable doing my final Blue Moon activity alone. That's why I cried. I don't even know how to face the members."

Serin had forced herself to speak calmly until then.

Finally, she covered her face with both hands and crouched down.

Stay calm.

No reason to panic.

All I'd done was finally discover what was happening to Blue Moon.

Serin saying those words didn't mean the conclusion had already been decided.

The spam never presented me with an impossible problem.

If my response was wise enough, I could solve this too.

I calmly asked how she'd come to that decision.

As expected, it was her uncle.

These days, Serin spoke with him almost every day.

And every time their calls ended, she said she became more convinced that leaving was the right choice.

"I think I'm going to a Chinese agency called Tienhua. They said if I just work there for three years, I won't have to worry about money for the rest of my life."

"Tienhua? You're saying an agency called Tienhua offered you a lot of money?"

"I'm sorry..."

There was nothing to apologize for.

Because she wasn't going anywhere.

"Serin! We need to start filming now...!"

"Ah, I'll go! I-I can't mess this up."

Serin wasn't taking the mask off today anyway.

She hurriedly wiped away her tears, jumped to her feet, and ran toward Park Bo-ram.

"Serin!"

"Yes?"

"It's nothing serious. I'll have everything solved before your stage is over. So don't worry about anything. Just go up there, have fun, sing your heart out, and come back down."

Serin had always trusted me.

But this time, my words didn't seem to make her feel any better.

If anything, I'd only stirred up her emotions more.

Her expression twisted.

Tienhua.

Those bastards had been poking around everywhere for a while now.

And they'd finally gone all the way to one of my members' uncles to pull this kind of stunt?

Had everyone else finished taking their swing at me?

I hoped so.

Because now it was my turn.

I took out my phone and called Dae-hun.

"Serin becomes Mask King? Mask King?"

"Send me Serin's uncle's number and the numbers for those Chinese agency bastards who keep poking at us."

"Chinese agencies? There are more than one of those..."

Dae-hun fiddled with something before asking,

"Tumei? Or Tienhua?"

"Tienhua. It's about time we knocked those Tienhua bastards out of the game."