I Became An Idol To Pay Off My Debt

An Representative suggested we go to a nearby café to talk.

But we rejected him.

If anyone were to catch a picture of him sipping coffee at a café, people might interpret it as a gesture of reconciliation between MS Planning and Brotherhood Planning.

In the end, we chose the back seat of a luxury sedan from Brotherhood Planning.

An Representative and Kang Hyung-man sat in the back, with Sang-gu sitting in the driver’s seat and me in the passenger seat.

It was definitely not a suitable place for a conversation, so An Representative cleared his throat and spoke to me in the passenger seat.

“Ahem, um, Ye-rin. Still, a conversation is something people should face each other for, but… this feels a bit odd…”

“I’m fine with it like this, so let’s just keep it as is.”

“……”

As I ignored him and interrupted, something displeasing flashed on his face in the rearview mirror.

Nevertheless, he quickly loosened his expression and bowed his head, probably worried about Kang Hyung-man next to him and Sang-gu in front.

“If Ye-rin wants it that way, then let’s do it.”

“So what do you want to say?”

Feeling him flinch again as I asked first, I thought, ‘Did he get upset because a subordinate spoke first?’

An Representative definitely had a tendency to be condescending.

But given the situation, he endured it without raising any objections this time.

And then….

Thump.

“I’m sorry.”

He bowed his head low and apologized to me. And then…

Whoosh.

“I’m sorry to you too, Kang Boss.”

He bowed to Kang Hyung-man as well.

“……”

“……”

Kang Hyung-man and I exchanged incredulous glances at the scene.

I was the first to speak up.

“So, um… is that it?”

We came all this way to the police station this morning, curious about what he wanted to say, only to hear…

Sorry? Is that it?!

Suddenly, what started as disbelief turned into anger.

Kang Hyung-man shot An Representative a fierce glare, causing An Representative to flinch and hurriedly continue speaking.

“Y-You know, this isn’t the end…”

“……”

“Of course, I will compensate both of you. Money? Stocks? I’ll compensate you somehow. …For Ye-rin, I’ll leverage my connections to help you have a smooth career in entertainment. So…”

“……”

“So please stop…. No, please… save me… please….”

It seemed An Representative truly was on the edge.

He, the founder and president of one of the top five agencies in Korea, was begging for mercy from an idol trainee and a small business owner.

But….

“There’s no need to hear more.”

If all it takes is an apology, what are laws and fists for?

An Representative’s misdeeds had gone too far.

Thinking of the mess he created, there was no way I could forgive him even if he handed over MS Planning whole and intact.

As I turned to get out of the car, leaving my final words, it happened.

“W-Wait a moment…!”

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Thud.

“Waahhh-!”

In a panic, An Representative reached out for me, only to be grabbed by Kang Hyung-man on the wrist, causing him to scream.

Still thinking it would end if I just left, An Representative yelled at me with a snarl.

“I said I’m sorry…!! I said I’d compensate you…! Don’t you know who I am? I’m An, the president of MS Planning! You’re just a trainee…! And a small business owner at that!! When I apologize and say I’ll compensate you, just take it and run with it!! Aahhhhhh-!!”

“……”

I was just about to walk away.

But those last words of An Representative really rubbed me the wrong way.

Squirm.

The pent-up frustration from that press conference and the touch I felt thanks to Kang Hyung-man faded away… my heart soured.

The trait ‘Extreme Demon’ became fully activated again, and the magic filled my body once more, particularly targeting An Representative, who looked like a grayish, lifeless thing that was neither alive nor dead….

…something I must smash.

Flinch.

Feeling the ominous intent from me, An Representative hunched his body further while still held by Kang Hyung-man.

I looked at him and sneered.

“Why did you even try to bring me into MS in the first place?”

“Th-That’s…”

“Were you planning to take me while I was still a kid, before I even turned 20?”

“Y-Ye-rin…!”

“You shouldn’t be saying such awful things.”

Kang Hyung-man and Sang-gu flinched at my vulgar words and chastised me in a panic.

But what I said wasn’t wrong.

After hearing about An Representative’s dirty personal life from lawyer Lee Kim-jang, I was certain of it.

An Representative wanted to bring me to MS Planning to satisfy his filthy desires.

After the Rookie Activities, if I had been dragged to MS Planning…

An Representative would have likely demanded sexual favors from me under the guise of my future entertainment career.

The beauty of ‘Ha Ye-rin’ outshone even that of top idols, but being part of a small agency made me easy prey.

So, he reported the innocent Brotherhood Planning, tormenting them….

Stirring up strife between me and my parents….

All for the sake of that old geezer’s filthy desires…!

I can’t forgive it.

I could never forgive him.

I wanted to shove this precarious, unstable person into the darkest depths of hell.

And then it happened.

Ding!

[A previously unreleased skill from Sky Demon Martial Arts has been temporarily added.]

[Unreleased skill from Sky Demon Martial Arts: Sky Demon’s Word Spirit – Anything that the Sky Demon wishes for and speaks will come to pass. Particularly, curses are almost guaranteed to manifest.]

Like with Shin PD, the Extreme Demon opened a suitable skill for me based on the situation….

Without delay, I used it right away.

*

An Representative had a very unfortunate childhood.

His father drunk all the time and beat him as a child. His mother ran away long ago.

The uneducated him chose a life of delinquency.

However, compared to other delinquents, he felt that his fists were weak, realized he had a talent for verbal attacks, and began living by pandering to the strong.

Then….

“Hey, Min-seong, want to try being a manager?”

As soon as he turned 20, he received his first manager proposal from a close senior.

“Manager? What’s that?”

“Umm, I’m not exactly sure, but it’s something about following celebrities around, driving them around, and feeding them?”

That’s how An Representative dove into the entertainment industry for the first time.

Back then, manager work was very different from modern manager work.

They trained their singers, collected appearance fees, and so on….

The work of managers was quite rough, but since An Representative had a talent for it, he finally found his calling and began to thrive.

With his innate gaslighting abilities, flattery skills, and appropriate level of violence, being a manager was a dream job for him.

Moreover, he had a rare stroke of luck.

The money he embezzled from his singers added up, and he established his own company, lucking into hiring some decent producers.

He made a name for himself by giving his agency’s celebrities to higher-ups, maximizing his profits through severe profit distribution.

An Representative, who had a diligent disposition due to his unfortunate family background, saw his company grow day by day.

Of course, the ongoing harsh work was tough.

And An Representative relieved that stress through sexual encounters with the young and pretty trainees from his own company.

Knowing better than anyone how desperate they were, it was incredibly easy to seduce their hearts.

As this kind of sexual exploitation went on for over ten years, An Representative grew bolder and bolder.

Then, his eye fell on Ha Ye-rin.

As soon as he saw her, he felt she was the perfect ‘item.’

Born to captivate the hearts of men…. Just looking at her would drive them crazy…. A true gem among gems.

When he came to his senses, his filthy desires were filled with wanting to have Ha Ye-rin under his control while she was at her youngest and most beautiful.

And since Ha Ye-rin was a trainee from a ‘small company’…

The two weakest categories in the entertainment industry were indeed small companies and trainees.

Of course, Ha Ye-rin had a higher chance of gaining public love, but… she was still a trainee from a small agency.

An Representative thought it would be easy to obtain her.

However….

The results ended up like this.

“Were you planning to take me while I was still a kid, before I even turned 20?”

That’s right.

But he had no intention of taking her at such a great cost to his company.

Public outrage towards MS Planning was rising, and his celebrities were threatening to leave en masse.

The kingdom he built after overcoming his unfortunate childhood was on the verge of collapse.

‘Because of this girl….’

Beauty that destabilizes a country.

He never expected to feel the meaning of that four-character idiom in such a way.

Knowing that his greed was the real problem, he now only resented Ha Ye-rin before him.

‘If only this girl hadn’t seduced me….’

Had he not been held by Kang Hyung-man, he would have felt like slapping her.

But then….

Whoosh.

“……!!”

When An Representative locked eyes with Ha Ye-rin, he realized that she had an even more resentful expression than he did.

With a voice colder than the bitterest winter, she spoke in an icy tone.

“Forgiveness? There’s no such thing.”

With her still beautiful appearance and expressionless face, her words, like a death sentence, were conveyed….

“You will lose everything you’ve built until now.”

Like a deep, piercing nail….

“All your wealth and human connections will be lost, and you will live like a worm.”

The sharpest thorn….

“People will view you as less than a bug, as disgusting trash.”

Pierced into his heart.

And for some reason….

“You will die alone, miserably, without anyone around you…”

“……”

An Representative felt a foreboding chill at that moment, as if Ha Ye-rin’s whispers of curses were about to come true.

Ssssss-.

‘……Huh?’

A vision appeared before him.

The thorny brush that bloomed around the flower that was Ha Ye-rin… it swirled around him, slashing and covering him.

‘…W-Wait…!’

No, it was no fantasy.

*

An Representative, it seemed, might now be too much for him.

The homeless An was dragging his filthy self, which hadn’t been washed for days, toward a convenience store.

Fortunately, he had a few thousand wonstuck in his pocket to buy a bottle of soju.

He handed the money to the convenience store clerk, who looked at him like a bug, and downed the soju….

He crossed the Han River bridge.

Where did it all go wrong?

Rape, attempted rape, bribery, embezzlement, misappropriation, and false charges, among various other crimes… he went to prison and was released with nothing left.

His company was gone, and he could no longer see his wife and children after their divorce. His remaining assets had all been drained, leaving no trace.

All he had left was his aging body.

‘Let’s die.’

Having lost all hope in life, he gulped down the remaining soju and stood on the bridge over the Han River.

At that moment….

Whoooosh-.

‘Ah.’

In the distance, there was an advertisement of the one who had made him this way on a large display.

More beautiful than ever before, she was dazzling like a star that had descended from the sky.

An looked at the shining her in the advertisement and compared it to his pathetic figure, ultimately bursting into tears.

He was once the head of a company…. How did things come to this?

“If I could go back to the past….”

If he could go back, he wouldn’t have made that foolish choice.

He wouldn’t forget that the most beautiful flower has the sharpest thorns….

If he could go back to the past… he wouldn’t do anything he would regret…!

Then it happened.

‘It’s already too late.’

“……!”

Whispering to him was none other than her on the advertisement.

She looked down at him with disgust, as if he were a bug, and mercilessly trampled on the wretched soul he had become.

‘Live in despair.’

“NO…!! Please…!! Just forgive me once! Please…!”

He screamed like a madman, begging the version of her on the screen….

Wobble.

“……Ah.”

He lost his balance on the bridge.

Splash.

*

“……Huff, huff.”

When An Representative came to his senses, Ha Ye-rin was already getting out of the car.

Whoosh.

His body was drenched in cold sweat, and his heart raced like crazy.

This was no mere hallucination.

He had seen his future….

The one she spoke of; a future where he lived like a worm.

‘M-Must stop…!’

Imagining his future self made him feel dizzy as he ran towards Ha Ye-rin.

“Y-Ye-rin…!! W-Wait…!!”

Then, without any delay, he dropped to his knees.

“A ‘small company’ trainee.”

He pictured her in two of the categories he considered the weakest in the entertainment industry.

But his pride was no longer a priority for him.

“I was wrong…! I’m sorry…! I’ll give you anything you ask for; I’ll do anything you say… So please…! Please forgive me…!!”

“……”

Ha Ye-rin coldly looked down at An Representative and asked.

“You’ll do anything I say…?”

“…Y-Yeah! I’ll do anything! What should I do? What can I do?!”

An Representative answered as if he would follow her to the ends of the earth, and Ha Ye-rin smiled brightly at him.

‘Ah.’

In that refreshing smile, An Representative felt a glimmer of hope.

But….

“Live in despair.”

What returned to him was the cold voice of Ha Ye-rin that seemed as if she were a different being, more merciless than ever before.

“And… die miserably.”

“……”

At that moment, An Representative strongly sensed that his fate had already been sealed.

Just like the future he had just seen.

He would live miserably and…) die…

And this fate….

It was a destiny that couldn’t be changed.

“……Ah.”

Realizing this fact, An Representative fell back and fainted.

“…Fool.”

Ha Ye-rin sneered at the fallen An Representative and turned away.

Kang Hyung-man approached her.

“…Ye-rin.”

“Boss.”

“……”

Looking into the bright eyes of Ye-rin, Kang Hyung-man felt the chill he had once encountered in his life when he had been stabbed during a gang fight.

The look in Ye-rin’s eyes was filled with something stronger than anything he had encountered before.

That something was hate and rage.

“Let’s go meet Mom and Dad.”

And the clear destination of that intense emotion… was none other than Ye-rin’s parents.

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