SWNOVELXO Chapter 314
Chapter 314: A Night in Gangwon-do Behind (2)
I wanted to stop reading. However, contrary to my desire, my fingers instinctively sought dopamine. In other words, I kept scrolling endlessly.
(…….)
“Oh, but in the end, the part-timer took the money? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ This is seriously hilariousㅜㅠㅠㅠ.”
“Up until this point, neither my dad nor the other men knew that the part-timer was an idol. They just thought he was a neighbor’s young friend who had come to help out. So, when the other men praised him for working hard and told him to keep the money as pocket money, the annoying old man got excited and insisted, ‘Of course, you should take it~!!’ and pushed it on him. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Even when the guy said he really didn’t need it, the old man threatened, ‘If you don’t take it, I’ll just throw it away!? Throw it away???’ Wow, even now, just writing this down, he sounds like such an annoying jerk.”
(…….)
“Anyway!! Now, here’s the reason I ended up writing this post!!!! The part-timer, after contemplating for a while, figured he had to accept the money to end things, so he said, ‘Then consider it New Year’s money, since the new year has passed.’ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Even though March is almost overㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ. And if that wasn’t enough, he insisted that he had to bow formally because it’s something that needs to be done right.”
“But didn’t my dad say he thought the part-timer was somehow connected to the police? Now that I think about it, it makes no sense, but back then, with the alcohol, he probably thought, ‘Oh, there might be a problem, so let’s leave some evidence,’ or something.”
“So.”
.
.
.
“(A video of Lee Doha bowing deeply to a drunk adult.mp4)”
“They took a videoㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㄱㅋㅋ. Even now, watching it again, it’s just so ridiculousㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ. Doesn’t it reek of alcohol in every frame?”
“So, they caught it on video….”
“Yeah….”
“There’s no way to talk my way out of this….”
Amidst a group of drunken men, radiating an overwhelming smell of alcohol even in the video, the one solemnly bowing deeply and accepting pocket money was none other than Lee Doha. And when he couldn’t figure out where to put the handful of coins and wads of bills, a nearby lady handed him a plastic bag from the restaurant, which was also caught on video.
I put the tablet down for a moment and turned my head. The same plastic bag from the video, neatly placed on one side of Lee Doha’s desk across from me, caught my eye.
“…….”
I couldn’t bring myself to look at the comments. But since I had to finish what I started, I forced my blurry eyes open and continued reading the rest of the posts.
Apparently, the poster felt something was off while watching the video with their dad, who told them the story. At first, they thought the part-timer might have been a classmate. But after seeing our year-end performance video recommended by the YouTube algorithm, they realized it was Lee Doha of Kairos.
I immediately shared the link to the post with Lee Doha via chat.
Not long after, a reply arrived.
“……? What’s that supposed to mean?”
As soon as I saw Lee Doha’s chat, I could only let out a dumbfounded sound. So, it’s because of his awakening?
It seemed that some future version of Lee Doha, who had given up on music, ended up learning cards and chess for some reason. Whatever had driven that bear to become a gambling master, I’d need to take the time to properly review that past timeline when I had the chance.
“Well, it seems that if Wook hyung isn’t saying anything, public opinion might not be that bad….”
Still, I was too scared to check the comments. Even worse, the number had already increased to 700…!
Covering my eyes with one hand, I carefully peeked at the comment section on the tablet through the gaps between my fingers.
– Best Comment ‖ ㅇㅇ
“Ah, damn it, Kairos again.”
“Likes 260”
“…Suho hyung would pass out if he saw this.”
If anything, seeing this would cure his low blood pressure….
Quietly, I exited the page and accessed a different entertainment community.
The original community where the post was uploaded was known to be particularly harsh and nasty, even among similar communities. While I didn’t intend to only read good comments, I didn’t want to smear mud in my eyes either.
As soon as I entered the new community, I saw that the same eyewitness account had already made it to the popular posts section. Without hesitation, I clicked on the post and immediately checked the comment section.
– “ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
– “ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
– “Is Lee Doha crazy??? Ah, seriously, this is insaneᅟᅮᆿㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
– “I kept holding back, but as soon as I saw him bowing, I just fainted.”
– “Please, Doha, noㅠ쿠ㅠㅠㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
– “Every time this group does something, it’s legendaryㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
– “I was curious when I saw an idol mentioned as a gambling master, but then I realized it was my baby.”
– “ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㄲㄱㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㄲㄲㅋㅋㄱGamblers gone crazyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
– “He said he took a break, but he really just celebrated the holidays, didn’t he, guys? Ah.”
…Let’s stop checking.
“Well…. as long as they enjoyed it, that’s good….”
Since the time I started working in Gangwon-do, I had somewhat prepared myself for this level of eyewitness accounts. In fact, it was more surprising that only this had surfaced so far.
It’s not like I was caught smoking outdoors or won a bit of money playing Go-Stop. In the current idol industry, these kinds of stories don’t even make up a fraction of what could be considered a scandal.
What’s scarier, though….
“‘Now that one’s out, the rest will follow….’”
I suddenly recalled Jung Siwoo and Lee Yugeon, hoping they hadn’t caused a fire show or something. When I thought of the two crazies who would only respond with, “There’s something like that,” when asked how they earned money, my vision went dark for a moment, but I quickly recovered.
It was because I noticed a comment as I was scrolling down.
– “Kairos’s Crazy Moment List”
▶ Locked out of the dorm, escaped through the room.
▶ Broke the frying pan handle while grilling meat.
▶ Went to a village festival, danced to trot, and returned.
▶ Rode the morning ride to the college entrance exam, took the CEO’s car home.
▶ National karaoke show during the year-end awards broadcast without knowing the mic was on.
▶ Went to work part-time and became a gambling master. 《NEW!》
After listing all the crazy things we’d done, I realized that Lee Doha winning money playing Go-Stop didn’t even qualify as a crazy act.
Moreover, more than half of the items on the list were things I had done.
“…Well. We’re not strangers to weird things, are we?”
Even if I turn a little more from 180 degrees, it’s still just 190, right?
Finally at peace, I placed the tablet on the side of my bed and got up.
With Jung Siwoo and Seo Taehyun at their schedules, Lee Doha in the studio, and Dan Haru and Lee Yugeon visiting Joo Eunchan, I was left alone in the dorm for the night.
Normally, I would’ve gone to the studio with Lee Doha, but tonight, there was something I absolutely had to do.
“Let’s get to work.”
I sat in front of my high-performance, high-spec PC that I had bought with my recent paycheck, turned it on, and pulled out my task for the day from the bag at my feet.
It was my first camera, which had been in this bag since Namhae all the way to Gangwon-do.
* * *
While Lee Doha’s ‘Gambling Master Story’ was heating up the community, another excavation was underway in a corner of the online world.
As Hajin predicted, once one eyewitness account surfaced, related people started coming forward with their reports. Of course, most of these reports came from the children of hiking club members who were
at the restaurant that day.
[“Guys, my mom was there too.”]
“The date, Gangwon-do location, and hiking club all matched, so I asked just in case??????
“Mom saw the kids too, and asked if they were idols, and said she thought they were really handsome ㅠㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜ. They were so polite and worked so well that the ladies there all said they wanted them as sons-in-law. ㅠㅜㅜㅜㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ.”
(A hiking club group photo with emojis covering their faces.jpg)
“Just in case, I’m providing proof!!!”
Kang Hadi @kang_HD
“After the restaurant sighting, there’s now a guesthouse sighting…”
“Black horn-rimmed glasses and a hoodie.”
“<
“He even said himself that people tell him he looks like Kang Hajin a lot.”
(A guesthouse room 201 sighting of Hajin.jpg)
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[“Public service announcement… I video called with Siwoo.”]
“Actually, my dad is part of that hiking club too?ㅜㅜㅠ. It’s a big club made up of several smaller ones, and they had a big joint meeting, so my dad had been bragging about it for days. That day, he drank a lot and suddenly said he’d introduce me to a son-in-law, so he video-called me, and when I saw Siwoo next to him, I thought I was dreaming or that I had died and gone to heaven….”
(A screenshot of the video call with Siwoo.jpg)
“My dad knows I’m a Desti, so he told Siwoo, ‘My daughter likes something called Kai, so you’d like her too~~’ or something like that, and Siwoo pretended not to know and said, ‘Then give her a call.’ㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅜ.”
“I seriously almost fainted, but Siwoo thanked me for liking them.ㅠㅠㅜ. But he asked me to keep it a secret until their appearance here was officially announced, so I kept it to myself until now, but it seems like everyone’s starting to share one by one, so I’m posting this cautiously.ㅜㅜㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅜ.”
“I’ll treasure this for the rest of my lifeㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅠㅜㅠㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅜ.”
The growing eyewitness accounts were relatively calm.
So much so that Hajin began to wonder, ‘Did I overestimate our kids? Maybe not much happened after all.’
Of course, that expectation was worth less than a cent.
ReasonGunn @2uuu_gunn2
“….?”
“Yugeon won 1st place in a hiking club’s singing contest as a substitute? The prize was a whopping 500,000 won.”
(A photo of Yugeon holding a sign that says ‘First Prize in the Hiking Club’s Singing Contest – 500,000 won.’)
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It all started with a photo uploaded on the hiking club’s online cafe. A Desti girl whose parents were members of the hiking club had logged in using her mom’s account and was browsing the photos when she came across one of Yugeon.
In the photo, Yugeon stood out among the older members with his towering height of 183 cm, holding a sign that read ‘Cheongsol United Hiking Club Singing Contest – Grand Prize / 500,000 won.’
– “Weren’t they there for part-time work? Why did he enter a singing contest?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ.”
– “Isn’t it unfair for a singer to enter an amateur singing contest?”
└ “But Yugeon is a rapper.”
– “The person who posted it said that the ladies asked him to sing just one song, so he went up and belted out Jang Hongrye’s *Innocent Woman.* They said his stage manners were insane.”
– “His star power is off the charts, seriouslyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ.”
As soon as the identity of the thick white envelope Yugeon had received was revealed, the secret behind Siwoo’s stack of money was also unveiled.
Jeong Chouxcream @ice_ciu
“An anonymous friend sent me a tip….”
“Siwoo did a busking performance with an acoustic guitar at the restaurant. When the mothers and fathers made song requests, he played and sang for them, and they gave him pocket money. He didn’t even have a microphone, but Siwoo sang so well.ㅠㅠㅠ.”
(A video of Siwoo’s live folk song performance taken by a mother.mp4)
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║
Jeong Chouxcream @ice_ciu
“For the record, Siwoo refused to take the money, but the elders said that it would be disgraceful to listen to such a good song without paying, so they insisted he take it.ㅠㅜㅜㅠ.”
“I feel so proud and happy that Siwoo’s singing was appreciated.ㅜㅠㅠ.”
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Fortunately, they hadn’t earned the money by building a pyramid of soju bombs, but it was still puzzling to think about why they turned their part-time work into an impromptu concert.
Among Destis, the ‘Gangwon-do trip’ had almost become another piece of self-produced content by Kairos.
Things were turning out more favorably for Kairos than expected, and Hajin, who had managed to catch his breath for a moment, was just relieved.
– “Hey guys”
However, there was one fact Hajin had overlooked.
– “Isn’t this about Hajin and Haru?”
That was the fact that he was the third member among the crazy ones in Kairos.