Chapter 323

“Give it to me! You keep looking at that kind of garbage, no wonder you keep having useless thoughts.”

After the conversation, Cha Woon had all his electronic devices snatched away by Seo Yutae and was made to rest in a room with proper temperature, humidity, and sunlight.

“Woon-hyung, want some tea? One of the staff got married recently, and we got a ton of homemade Chung 1 as a wedding favor 2 .”

“…I don’t like sweet things.”

“Okay, I’ll make you yuzu tea. Drink it and try to calm down.”

“If you’re not even going to care about my answer, why’d you ask in the first place?”

“…….”

“…….”

“Now you’re just outright ignoring me.”

At first, Cha Woon resisted Seo Yutae, spouting things like, “You don’t have to go this far. I’m not going to do anything stupid”, “Hyung, how old do you seriously think I am?”, and “I’m thirty-three now”.

“Quit messing around. Just sit still.”

But to Seo Yutae, who had always regarded Cha Woon as a much younger kid since the very first time they met, those words didn’t carry any weight. In the end, Cha Woon was confined in the comfortable environment with a sullen face, no chance of escape.

Actually, Cha Woon was much bigger than average, so if he really wanted, he could have used his strength to escape. But Cha Woon had no intention whatsoever of showing such a violent side to Seo Yutae. Furthermore, he knew he would ultimately be subdued by Lee Chise, who was uselessly strong, so he had no choice but to quietly accept his fate.

“If you do anything stupid, I’ll throw you into Choi Jeokhyeon’s office.”

“How could you do that to me, hyung?”

Crucially, Cha Woon was ruled by a baseless fear that he didn’t know what Choi Jeokhyeon might do to him if he dared to act out. Although Choi Jeokhyeon clearly saw Cha Woon as nothing more and nothing less than ‘a human Seo Yutae cherishes ‘ and wasn’t particularly hostile toward him, Cha Woon had heard all kinds of rumors about him and felt an one-sided fear.

How terrifying it had been, not long ago, when Yoo Jay lost his mind, picked up Seo Yutae, and tried to lock him up. At that time, Cha Woon was afraid Yoo Jay might disappear without anyone noticing.

Seo Yutae would often say, whenever Cha Woon looked terrified around Choi Jeokhyeon, something like, “ Don’t overreact, Choi Jeokhyeon is not that bad ”. But Cha Woon simply couldn’t bring himself to believe it. The words “ He’s only not that bad to you ” always rose to the tip of his tongue, but every time, under Choi Jeokhyeon’s watchful gaze, he had to force them back down.

Seeing how Cha Woon, who had been in a complete panic and stubbornly insisting on posting an apology, became noticeably docile after Seo Yutae appeared, Nam Yihwon openly scoffed.

“Ha, serves him right. He didn’t even listen to a word we said until Yutae-hyung came. Look at him now.”

“Nam Yihwon, be quiet.”

The situation was far from resolved and hardly the time for jokes, but given his bizarre personality—one that had Seo Yutae calling him crazy as often as he ate—it wasn’t all that unexpected. There was also a sincere hope that Cha Woon, burdened with guilt toward the other members, would recover his spirits a bit sooner.

The members also thought that it was partly because Seo Yutae’s arrival gave them a vague sense of reassurance; that somehow, this whole situation would be resolved now that he was here.

Because deep down, they all felt the same way as Nam Yihwon.

Even if none of them could bring themselves to say it in front of Seo Yutae, they all felt the same.

“I need you. So please, for my sake, let me protect you.”

And what Seo Yutae said to Cha Woon somewhat alleviated, at least a little, the anxiety they had all been harboring.

Perhaps it was a change born from the belief that Seo Yutae would now start to value himself a little more…….

“Hyung, how long are you going to stay here? You said you were swamped with comeback preparations.”

“I have to solve your problem before I leave.”

“…I’m sorry for burdening you when you’re already so busy.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“…….”

Or perhaps it was a change brought on by the confirmation that Prism still meant a lot to Seo Yutae. They themselves couldn’t say for certain.

‘ In any case, if my pain is going to flow into Seo Yutae’s, then I should stop being so hard on myself .’ Cha Woon repeated the thought to himself over and over, trying to clear his tangled thoughts. Then, folding his long limbs, he leaned his back against Seo Yutae’s side and sat quietly.

With tension fading and fatigue hitting him suddenly, Cha Woon blinked slowly and softly asked Seo Yutae, who was occupied with his phone.

“…People must have been really disappointed, right?”

He asked the question because he hadn’t been able to check people’s reactions, having had his phone taken away.

“Some people will curse you, and some will support you to the end. That’s always how it is, even before this incident happened. So don’t overthink it, and don’t let it influence you. It wasn’t something you had any control over, so you don’t have to feel responsible.”

Seo Yutae, wearing a blunt expression, gave only the most textbook of answers. Cha Woon slowly lowered his gaze to the floor as the answer he’d expected came.

He knew it; if he took every single public reaction to heart and let it hurt him, he wouldn’t survive in this line of work. Some would say things like, “ Just don’t look at it ”, but to him, that was no different from being told to just keep running forward while someone might stab him in the back.

Wasn’t this the very issue that even the Seo Yutae, right before his eyes, had never been able to fully overcome? That’s why Seo Yutae resorted to textbook solutions or, in more extreme cases, cutting off internet access altogether.

Realizing that, Cha Woon recalled the image of Seo Yutae when his father’s scandal broke: utterly broken, barely holding on by grasping Seo Yuseong’s arm.

‘Now that Seo Yuseong is no longer in this world, how are you going to hold on if something happens to you in the future, hyung?’

It was the kind of problem that remained unresolved, no matter how well he understood the solution.

There’d be no one getting hurt if people didn’t attack others in the first place. But of all things, that seemed the most impossible. That was the nature of the public Cha Woon had seen so far.

Feeling a deep despair at that realization, Cha Woon opened his mouth, “How exactly do you plan to solve this? The rumors have already spread too far to control. Since Kang Hyukwoo acted first, turning things around completely won’t be easy.”

Before he could even finish saying those words, his mind was suddenly flooded with the barrage of hate comments he’d seen before Seo Yutae arrived.

[No, but seriously, if he hadn’t acted all proud about self-producing and just worked within his limits, everything would’ve been fine. An idol just needs to do well on stage. It’s super obvious he’s trying too hard to act like he didn’t get famous thanks to Seo Yutae. Guys, please!]

[He basically killed Seo Yutae, how does he have the nerve to still be alive?]

[I always found it uncomfortable to watch him because it was so obvious he felt inferior to Seo Yutae, even when they were promoting as a group]

[Seo Yutae probably ran away because he was sick and tired of Prism too, but look at them chasing him down to demand a song. If it were me, I would’ve exposed everything before I died. Seo Yutae’s such a pushover]

He felt hopeless.

People had already settled on the ‘ most convenient to bash someone ‘ conclusion among themselves and seemed to have no intention of listening to any explanations.

It’s not like there’s only been one or two celebrities who’ve been ruined over false rumors. No matter how strongly they voiced their innocence, the public just ignored them, and even when the truth came out later, no one ever apologized.

What exactly was Seo Yutae thinking he could do to solve this?

“Our greatest strength is the fact that we’re innocent. All we have to do is expose Kang Hyukwoo’s lies. You’re probably too shaken up right now and only seeing the hate comments, but the public’s reaction isn’t actually all that bad. I told you, Seras are fighting hard. And recently, Kang Hyukwoo got caught doing something shady. In the first place, the fact that you’re currently signed with an agency founded by Choi Jeokhyeon already creates a contradiction in his claims. How could anyone blindly doubt you under these circumstances?”

Cha Woon quickly tried to make sense of Seo Yutae’s somewhat unhelpful explanation, but in the end, he couldn’t grasp what he meant and tilted his head in confusion. In response, Seo Yutae pointed with his finger at the letters ‘ YT ’ in the office.

“Ah.”

It was only then that Cha Woon let out a short groan, as if something had just clicked.

“On our side, we’ve got a whole crowd of ‘ Seo Yutae’s closest associates ’ who are in a position to expose the contradictions in that bastard’s claims. And you know, people tend to trust consistent testimonies from a majority more.”

The name of the agency founded by Choi Jeokhyeon was ‘ YT Entertainment ’.

When the public saw the company name with initials completely unrelated to the CEO’s name, they probably thought of Seo Yutae right away. In doing so, Choi Jeokhyeon had essentially announced to the public that ‘ Lee Saehwa still regards Seo Yutae as a dear friend and, for his sake, founded the agency to bring Prism under his wing ‘.

If Seo Yutae really suffered because of Cha Woon, then would the person who was practically his guardian have tried to take responsibility for Prism? And would the Prism members have continued to embrace Cha Woon until the very end?

“Now is the time for Prism to come together and fight as one.”

The answer was obvious without needing to be stated.

With hope gradually blooming in his heart but barely restrained, Cha Woon voiced his last lingering anxiety.

“Still, some people might think they’re just taking my side because we’re in the same agency and group.”

But Seo Yutae remained unfazed and continued the conversation in a calm voice, “It’s fine. You’ve been leaving the copyright royalties from my songs untouched all this time, haven’t you?”

“That goes without saying…….”

Seo Yutae briefly showed a look of relief at Cha Woon’s reflexive ‘ What kind of question is that? ’ reply, but apparently still unhappy about it, he frowned deeply and pressed hard on the top of Cha Woon’s head with his palm while scolding him.

“Who told you to enshrine it so foolishly? 3 Money is meant to be spent. I told you to spend it well with the members, didn’t I? You didn’t even touch it, yet you were paying the taxes out of your own pocket.”

“…How could I spend that? It’s not my money!”

Seo Yutae sighed deeply as he watched Cha Woon immediately objected, as if this was the one thing he absolutely couldn’t concede, then continued.

“Fine. It helped prove your innocence, so I guess it turned out to be the right thing after all.”

“…….”

“Donate all that money. Find a good cause, maybe a children’s hospital, and donate it there. Then you just need to say, ‘ In accordance with Seo Yutae’s wishes, I’ll be donating the full amount of copyright royalties collected to date ’. We need to make it clear that this was something we agreed on from the beginning and turn it into a big talking point.”

Before Cha Woon could even protest with something like, “ You want to donate all of it? Do you know how much money that even is? ”, the office door opened and Choi Jeokhyeon walked in. As Cha Woon froze up at the sight of him, Seo Yutae took the envelope Choi handed over and smacked it down on top of Cha Woon’s head.

And then he gave a small nod, as if telling him to go ahead and check.

“This is…….”

Cha Woon checked the envelope on reflex, and when he saw what was inside, he recoiled in shock and immediately hugged it to his chest, as if afraid someone might snatch it away. With bewildered, trembling eyes, he looked up at Seo Yutae.

Seo Yutae’s face remained as composed as ever, but in stark contrast, Cha Woon’s face crumpled more and more with each passing second.

Because the papers inside were Lim Seunghoon’s last weapon against Kang Hyukwoo and the last trace of Seo Yutae that the Prism members had been desperately searching for.

“Kang Hyukwoo probably thinks Lim Seunghoon completely destroyed the suicide note. But Lim Seunghoon kept it just in case something happened. I got it in exchange for giving him the records of his communications with Dalli. The handwriting analysis is already done, so it should be enough to use as evidence.”

Without fully hearing Seo Yutae, Cha Woon urgently pulled out the paper.

And as he read the words inside, tracing each letter with his fingers, his shoulders trembled and tears streamed down.

“…….”

I’m sorry, Woon-ah.

You don’t have to feel guilty. I’m okay.

Seo Yutae’s suicide note, written for Prism but never read by them until the moment he passed away. That very suicide note has now finally returned to Prism’s hands.

“I told you, didn’t I? As long as Prism is together, there’s nothing we can’t overcome.”

In the end, Seo Yutae protected Prism until the very last.

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Translator’s Corner:

Maybe I need to stop listening to Chill Kill because I played it on repeat while doing this chapter and my heart hurt so much ….. like idk what the author thought, THIS IS LOWKEY SO FOUL???? WHO WROTE PLOT LIKE THIS?

Prism aside, imagine what Jeokhyeon must have felt when Yutae handed him the letters and asked for handwriting analysis …. I would already commit a crime if I were him …. like that man founded an agency and named it Yutae Entertainment …. we’re YT family for real

Anyway, my “C” is kinda error (like not error, but if it’s not pressed very hard, it doesn’t work?). so if you spotted missing Cs … that’s it. (Come to think of it, my laptop’s battery update: I asked some (a lot actually) and most told me to remove the battery instead of keeping it inside, so I removed but it makes me anxious … the laptop balance seems off too …. the logical solution is I have to buy new battery, but it’s a very old model and the brand doesn’t sell it anymore, so my only option is the knock-off products, but I’m too anxious to buy one because what if it’s not working properly or broken in 1 week … did anyone ever buy non-official battery and it worked fine? share your experience please)

Oh, yesterday, Scruffy-san told me that Blank Slate Idol got official novel tl and … I thought the translation can’t be worse …. but it IS WORSE T_T I just read 3 first chapters and already want to commit arson. WHYYYYYY PEOPLE LOVE TO MISTRANSLATE EDEN. HIS WHOLE CHARMING PERSONALITY BASICALLY GONE T_T Also I really hate it how they tried to localize everything and changed titles like “HYUNG” to just “NAME”, can you imagine Jay calling Yutae just “Yutae” …. I read a lot of translated Italian, Spanish novels, and they usually kept titles like the original and just formatted it with italics and added footnotes, so why they always did this to Asian novels …. they practically destroyed the core of Eden and Hajun’s special relationship too … I stopped reading to protect my mental health but just remembering it makes me want to faint…..

Thank you mimi for the lightsticks! ^^

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