NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 154
As Ha Ye-rin continued speaking, the reaction in the comment section intensified.
“[…Since I was young, my parents have been unemployed.]
“[…I started working part-time when I was in third year of middle school to make ends meet…, and all the money I earned went to my parents.]
– No way, what the hell?
– They made a third-year middle schooler work and took all the money?
– What a seriously messed up family;;
– Oh, Ye-rin…
– I totally support you, Ye-rin.
“[…My parents wasted all the money they took from me on gambling and luxury.]
– Damn, this is insane.
– There’s still such parents in South Korea?
– Wow, that interview Na Ah Ah did about starting as an idol because of her parents’ debt was foreshadowing, huh?
– Yeah, that’s true.
– Back then, I just thought she was a dutiful daughter.
– Ah, ㅠㅠ
“[…My parents didn’t do housework either, so I had to take care of cooking, cleaning, and washing dishes from before I started elementary school.]
– …This is ridiculous.
– ㅠㅠ
– This is real abuse…
– MS Planning tried to poach Ye-rin working with those problematic parents? What a sh*tty company.
– Where do I report this?
– Random thought, but I wanna try food made by Ye-rin.
– If you’re just gonna mumble nonsense during a serious time, get out.
“[…My parents always used me to make money.]
– ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
– ㅠㅠㅠ
– Ye-rin is pretty, so no matter what she did, she would’ve made money.
– If she hadn’t become an idol, it would’ve been a disaster…
– But couldn’t she have just lived separately sooner?
“[…I wanted to escape from such parents, but I was always fooled by their sweet talk.]
– What does a 19-year-old know about living separately? ㅋㅋ
– Don’t forget, Ye-rin is just a baby…
– It’s not easy to just throw away the parents who gave you life, no matter your age. Why do people talk so casually about it?;;
– Must have really been gaslighted…
“[…That exploitation relationship with my parents continued up to this point. The MS Planning contract was all… my parents….]
– Ah…
– Don’t cry..
– ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
– [My parents,… huhu….]
– ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
– ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
– ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
– ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
“[…My parents forged it with MS Planning.]
– Oh, I can’t take it anymore.
– MS Ahn Min-seong, you son of a…
– Is this for real?
– They wanna dig into everything.
– You scumbags!
“[…So I declare once again that the contract with MS Planning was forged by An Representative and my parents…, and all their claims against my affiliation and Brotherhood Planning are false.]
– So Brotherhood Planning was the victim.
– Then what about MS Planning’s claims? Are they all lies?
– Would you rather believe that sleazy toad-looking guy or this ultimate pretty girl?
– An Representative was already infamous for being trash.
– MS Planning is entirely notorious.
– Of course it would be called MS Planning.
– MS Planning did more of its shady deeds.
– Ah ㅠㅠ Ye-rin…
And just as Ye-rin bowed her head with a sorrowful expression for the final punchline…
“[…Please, huhu…, trust me…, and…, my company, Brotherhood Planning….]
– Ah ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
– ㅠㅠㅠ Of course, we believe you!
– We’re with you, only you ㅠㅠ
– I’ll take care of all the adults who made you cry.
– Damn, I’m so furious; I’m going crazy.
– Ye-rin, ㅠㅠ just trust your sisters ㅠㅠ
– I’m thinking of sending a truck in front of MS Planning’s headquarters. If anyone is interested, come to Ha Ye-rin’s minor gallery.
– Those damn bastards are finished.
– Damn, of course we believe you.
With countless fan clubs forming…
Director Jeong’s long-awaited public opinion reversal was an immediate success.
Now what remained was to thoroughly punish the opponents who started the fight.
Ha Ye-rin opened the prologue to the press conference, and next up were Director Jeong and lawyer Lee Kim-jang.
“It is presumed that Ahn Min-seong of MS Planning has attempted various forms of tampering using his connections with Nnet’s Shin PD, and this is the list.”
Director Jeong revealed a list of entertainers who had flowed into MS Planning under Shin PD’s influence in front of the reporters.
Buzz, buzz.
Click, click, click!
Seeing this, the reporters and crowd began to buzz again.
Because most of the names on the list were currently the main entertainers of MS Planning.
“Ahn Representative and Shin PD had forced entertainers to leave their current companies and join MS Planning through threats and inducements…, signing atrocious unfair contracts to keep them trapped in the company.”
He then disclosed representative contract clauses from MS Planning, which included contracts lasting over ten years, abysmally low profit distribution structures, and astronomical penalty fees if disclosed to the media.
People could only be stunned.
Because MS Planning’s exclusive contracts were practically slave contracts.
And there were also horrific non-disclosure agreements set up to silence the entertainers.
It was truly the worst of the worst.
– I knew that scumbag Shin PD was a piece of trash.
– So the youngest writer under Shin PD confessed their conscience; let’s go check that out too.
– Wow, does MS Planning even make sense?
– This can’t be real, can it?
– ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Wow, they’re truly scumbags.
Of course, while Director Jeong’s contents lacked concrete evidence, the public’s opinion had already shifted, so they trusted Director Jeong’s words based merely on circumstantial evidence.
Thus, while Director Jeong challenged MS Planning about the contract issues, lawyer Lee Kim-jang exposed Ahn Representative’s murky personal life.
Lawyer Lee Kim-jang displayed several photos to the reporters on a monitor.
They were photos of Ahn Representative getting out of a car with a young woman and entering a hotel.
Even more shockingly, the woman changed in every single photo.
“We at Brotherhood Planning have confirmed that Ahn Representative has persistently demanded sexual relations with the company’s trainees. And among them, there were minors…, and this fact has already been reported to the police.”
Buzz, buzz.
Hearing this, the reporters began buzzing again.
In fact, the entertainment reporters had also known about Ahn Representative’s dirty personal life but only as rumors until now.
But having direct evidence like this was a whole different ballgame…
Startled, the reporters began questioning lawyer Lee Kim-jang, forgetting the subsequent Q&A session.
“Are those photos the evidence?”
“Is there no other evidence?!”
In truth, those photos were not definitive evidence of sexual relations.
After all, Ahn Representative could simply claim he went to the hotel to have dinner with the trainees.
“Please listen to this.”
When the reporters’ questions peaked, lawyer Lee Kim-jang played something.
It was a recording file.
Beep.
[Did MS Planning’s Ahn Representative demand sexual relations under the pretext of debuting?]
[…Yes, he told me that if I didn’t sleep with him, he wouldn’t let me debut…, huhu… So others as well…]
“This was recorded from an anonymous MS Planning trainee, conveyed to us by Brotherhood Planning.”
“……!!!!”
“With this evidence, we inferred why Ahn Representative wanted to bring Ye-rin to MS Planning…”
The crowd’s reaction was truly explosive.
– This f*ing crazy bastard.
– That idiot who looks like he wouldn’t even get hard is talking about sexual favors.
– I was sticking to neutrality but now, this is too much.
– You’re telling me he wanted to bring Ye-rin to his company for that? What a scumbag.
– That guy really needs to face jail time.
– Is he serious right now?
– Sexual favors? What the hell.
The comments section, already ignited by Ha Ye-rin’s tears, exploded like a gasoline bomb thanks to lawyer Lee Kim-jang’s exposé.
The speed at which comments surged was impossible to follow with one’s eyes, and even reporters who had only been focused on Ha Ye-rin’s articles eagerly tapped their fingers.
“Ahn Representative accused Brotherhood Planning of being a wicked organization. But the true wicked organization is MS Planning, while Brotherhood Planning is just an ordinary small to medium-sized company.”
As the public’s entire attention fell on Ahn Representative’s personal life, lawyer Lee Kim-jang asserted Brotherhood Planning’s integrity.
In truth, Brotherhood Planning was indeed a gang-like company, which he subtly skipped over as he moved on to the next topic.
“Ye-rin still loved her parents. So while she hasn’t gathered evidence of her parents’ abuse until now… ”
Lawyer Lee Kim-jang pulled out a hefty stack of papers.
“I will submit employment permits and parental consent forms as evidence that Ye-rin held various part-time jobs since middle school.”
Those were the consent forms from her parents that underage Ye-rin had needed to work.
Easily over ten sheets of paper indicated numerous job types Ye-rin had held—restaurants, cafes, and countless other odd jobs.
While these were only insufficient evidence for child abuse, they were enough to tug at the hearts of the people.
– Ah ㅠㅠ
– How hard has it been for you, Ye-rin…
– We will protect you now.
– To restaurants… cafes… ah ㅠㅠ
– What terrible people… Are they really her biological parents?
– So that’s why Ye-rin’s trainee period was so short… she had to work part-time…
Director Jeong and lawyer Lee Kim-jang continued the press conference, focusing on the collusion between Ahn Representative and Shin PD, the tampering, Ahn Representative’s personal life, and the parental exploitation of Ye-rin.
Among them were details that were exaggerated and lacked evidence, making their claims vulnerable to the opposing side, but the already shifted public atmosphere led them to trust Director Jeong and lawyer Lee Kim-jang without question.
“…And that concludes our prepared press conference.”
As the stormy press conference came to an end…
Swish.
All eyes turned to the main character, Ha Ye-rin.
Ha Ye-rin had stopped crying midway through the two-hour conference and wore a blank, soul-less expression.
Though not the appropriate time to say it…
With only basic makeup, Ha Ye-rin’s pearly skin stood out, her eyes swollen from tears, and her gaze held all the sorrow in the world…
– Wow…
– She’s so beautiful…
Causing both the crowd and reporters’ hearts to flutter.
Aware that everyone’s focus was on her, Ha Ye-rin took the microphone and delivered her concluding remarks.
“I really…, want to… have fun with my members at Brotherhood Planning and NAS Entertainment…”
“……”
“Please…, help me…”
“…!”
In Ha Ye-rin’s final words, those witnessing felt a profound imprint as if they could give up everything.
The Sky Demon decreed.
And the followers would only follow.
“Alright, this concludes the press conference. Thank you.”
With that, Director Jeong waved, signaling the end of the press conference, and naturally, chaos erupted.
The two-hour interview captured the audience’s full attention, and what awaited them were the posts shared by the Rookies members on their Instagram all at once.
– Wow, Yujin and Yoo-jung posted something!
– Seol, Hanna, and Hye-jung posted too.
– Rookies friendship ㅠㅠㅠ so real.
– Look at what they wrote in their posts ㅠㅠ it’s so touching.
However, those sending messages of support to Ha Ye-rin weren’t only the Rookies members.
Starting with Han Si-woo, the trainers of Na Ah Ah also joined in.
– Wow, what the hell;; Han Si-woo posted too!
– This is insane. Han Si-woo never uses social media, right?
– Other trainers also posted!
Even trainees who had appeared on Na Ah Ah showed their support.
– Seeing this, Ye-rin must really be a good person ㅠㅠ everyone is helping.
– Everyone is cheering for Ye-rin ㅠㅠ
As if the entire world was comforting and supporting her, people entered an excited state.
– That bastard Ahn Representative should just die.
– That scumbag Shin PD has always rubbed me the wrong way.
– Let’s first report the parents for child abuse ㄱㄱ
Regardless of gender and age, fans and non-fans alike turned on the perpetrators.
And so, after a day of storms…
In the center of all this was Ha Ye-rin, who, at dawn the next day…
Vroom.
“……”
Headed to the police station with the Brotherhood Planning family.