Genius Idol’s Strategy to Conquer the Entertainment Industry

Chapter 269

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I looked at my nephew, who caused as much trouble as he was dear to CEO Ban Ga-eul.

“Do you even know how hard it was for me to convince your dad and your sister-in-law?”

Of course, he didn’t know.

No matter how much Ban Yo-han had a right to his own decisions as an adult.

From CEO Ban Ga-eul’s perspective, it wasn’t as simple as pretending to have signed the papers herself and just bringing him along.

Ban Yo-han was also present in the meeting with the old folks from our family who believed that pursuing a career in entertainment was absolutely out of the question.

In that suffocating atmosphere, I had to ask them to let their precious son quit a perfectly good school to join a modest company.

All sorts of arguments, including logical persuasion and even threats capable of harming someone, were exchanged for hours.

Eventually, we had to reluctantly grant permission because we couldn’t break the stubbornness of the kid who threatened to drop out of college immediately if we didn’t accept.

‘Given that they were still pressuring him to hurry up and graduate when Seollal came around, they probably haven’t given up yet and might be performing a thousand-day prayer for our group to collapse soon…’

Anyway, CEO Ban Ga-eul realized she had forgotten that her nephew was sharper and more cunning than he appeared.

Recently, she believed his emotional outburst during Seollal, something rare for Ban Yo-han, at face value, which made her feel a sharp pain in her neck as she thought about it.

‘I should’ve known better than to trust someone whose head has grown that big…’

No, it didn’t matter much anymore.

After all, there was no way Ban Yo-han couldn’t be included in Orca.

With such thoughts, CEO Ban Ga-eul appeared to calm down a bit.
Ban Yo-han cautiously appealed that he had known Kang Ji-woo since he persuaded his parents to let him become an idol.

“Actually, the reason we are still friends is that we kept a moderate distance between us.”

It was true that Ban Yo-han and Kang Ji-woo were very close.

The two were in sync like soul twins when it came to laughing and chatting casually, both in the past and present.

But because their personalities clashed the deeper they got to know each other, if they had continued their friendship one-on-one instead of being grouped together…

Ban Yo-han could clearly see an unfortunate future where they would have had a huge fight over something without anyone to mediate and ended up as sworn enemies living separate lives.

“If not, Orca wouldn’t have been in our company, and the kids would have debuted with those who they were excluded by…”

“Alright, enough.”

Represented Ban Ga-eul, muttering “You idiot” while watching Ban Yo-han cover his mouth with both hands, asked in a much calmer tone.

“So, what you told me wasn’t all complete nonsense, right?”

Even though the content was far from calm.

Ban Yo-han, who had relaxed due to that part, laughed again.

“It wasn’t nonsense, just a bit of exaggeration.”

“…I swear because of you! Did you lie like that because you didn’t trust your aunt at all? After all the nonsense I’ve listened to from you?”

Represented Ban Ga-eul seemed to feel more betrayed by the fact that Ban Yo-han, whom she had watched over since childhood, didn’t fully trust her rather than by the clumsy lie itself.

Feeling that emotion, Ban Yo-han quietly said,

“I’m sorry. It was unnecessary. At the time, I must have thought too strongly that you wouldn’t allow me to be an idol.”

At his straightforward apology, which could deflate an excited person, Representative Ban Ga-eul put her resentment aside and asked, having completely calmed down.

It was time to return to the main point.

“So, what about what you said back then about wanting to learn more about idols and take this seriously?”

Ban Yo-han, who had been waiting quietly for Representative Ban Ga-eul’s next words, opened his eyes wide.

“Oh, that.”

“Was that also an exaggeration?”

Ban Yo-han responded in a much calmer manner than before.

“You didn’t take all the words I said back then as meaningless just because one piece of persuasion broke down, did you?”

Just like someone who had looked up to a role model, the content was not at all gentle.

“Of course not.”

Their relationship was long enough that they had shared deep conversations to avoid such trivial misunderstandings.

“But I hope you understand that as long as your parents trust and entrust you to me, I have the duty to clearly confirm your thoughts.”

“I understand.”

“Then, now tell me.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Ban Yo-han began to speak.

“Aunt, like anyone else, my biggest and most decisive motivation is to do something that looks fun to me.”

Represented Ban Ga-eul already knew this well.

“The desire to become an idol is the same now as it was back then.”

“So?”
“Yeah. Honestly, I didn’t debut purely with the intention of succeeding as an idol. I’m still not that desperate about this job, so if other people are at a hundred in wanting to do this, I’d barely be at thirty.”

Ban Yo-han continued speaking with a slightly more forceful tone than usual.

“But that doesn’t mean you can say I’m not sincere about wanting to do this. For me, that thirty is everything and the biggest thing.”

When Ban Yo-han looked straight at her and asked, “Right?” Representative Ban Ga-eul nodded.

“Right.”

“Have you ever seen me work this hard at something?”

Objectively speaking, Ban Yo-han’s slacker attitude wouldn’t count as diligent in a society oversaturated with passion, but Representative Ban Ga-eul nodded generously.

“No. Whatever you did was always half-hearted. As a student, you just skated by with what you were told to do, but as an adult, I wondered what would become of you.”

“I’ll become something.”

Valuing visions like ‘what to become’ or ‘what to achieve’, the one person who had always worried about Ban Yo-han’s life, Representative Ban Ga-eul, was satisfied with that answer.

Her nephew had never set a goal in his life, which rolled forward driven by mere interest.

Having somewhat succeeded in confirming Ban Yo-han’s most important intentions and regaining control of the conversation, Representative Ban Ga-eul asked with a bit of relief.

“So, why is the kid who says he wants to do this, when participating in group activities, unable to tell what he should or shouldn’t say, and ends up hurting his much younger teammate?”

“What did Kang Ji-woo tell you?”

Planning to point out the assumption that Kang Ji-woo was the informant, Representative Ban Ga-eul decided to answer the question instead of engaging in a tiresome argument.

“To tell you the most intense one, he said you accused someone who had just woken up from an accident of looking their worst.”

“…….”

“You said you couldn’t hold back your curiosity.”

Representative Ban Ga-eul clasped her hands and placed them on the desk between them.

“Is it a journalist you want to become?”

Feeling the impact of his aunt’s words more acutely today, Ban Yo-han thought that he must have realized something from this incident too.

“…….”

But while being scolded, he couldn’t help but feel a bit wronged.

“He also did something wrong to me…”

Ban Yo-han contemplated telling Representative Ban Ga-eul, who wouldn’t know that On Raon had half-willingly thrown himself down the stairs and used Ban Yo-han as a sort of insurance.

The fact that On Raon’s will had been somewhat involved in that horrific accident was something only Kang Ji-woo and Gyun Seong-ha among the members had cautiously guessed.

There was a desire not to believe it and to leave it as a small unknown.

If Representative Ban Ga-eul, who thought it was just an accident, learned the same fact as he did now.

Realizing that this would create new burdens for On Raon to bear, Ban Yo-han decided to keep it to himself.

The decline in Representative Ban Ga-eul’s trust in On Raon, or the treatment of Lee Young-min, who was severely injured in the process.

‘Come to think of it, that hyung was really strange too.’

Of course, anyone meeting Lee Young-min for the first time would find him suspicious, so Ban Yo-han finding him strange wasn’t unusual.

“What did he do to you?”

Representative Ban Ga-eul, finding Ban Yo-han’s unfinished sentence strange, urged him to continue.

“He did something wrong to me too.”

“What was it?”

As expected, Ban Yo-han was quite flustered when the question he couldn’t answer came right back to him, and he kept his mouth shut.

“I feel like I’m talking to a seven-year-old right now.”

“You know I only act spoiled around you.”

“If you search your name on WeTube, the top result after ‘Perfect Score Idol’ is a video compilation of you throwing tantrums. I know all about it.”

She found it so disgusting that she hadn’t even thought about watching the video…

“So, what exactly did Raon do wrong?”

“I can’t say what it is. But it’s something I can’t just laugh off and move on from.”

“Is it related to Raon’s accident?”

“No matter how many times you ask, I won’t answer that.”

With wrinkles forming on her forehead, Representative Ban Ga-eul asked consecutively.

“Then, is it because of that mistake that you said things like he was the worst and deceived people?”

“Yeah.”

“Why did you do that?”

“I definitely think I did something wrong.”

“But?”

“Still, Aunt, not even I can always be rational in interpersonal relationships.”

“…….”

“At that time, I was really angry, and I had to understand and accept what On Raon did to me in my own way.”

There was an unabsorbed chill seeping into his smoothly flowing sentences.

“I came to see you before because I was wondering if it was right for me to feel additional guilt after going that far.”

“Hmm.”

“Just so you know, regardless of that, I’ve already apologized for that issue, and I’ve received an apology as well.”

“If you’ve sorted it out that much and there’s still something bothering you, then there’s probably another problem.”

“For example…”

Representative Ban Ga-eul, after a pause, asked cautiously.

“Yo-han, have you ever pushed through thinking your decision was always right, without considering others?”