WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ Incarnation of the Malevolent Star ◈

Chapter 43: Part 1 - Whispers of the Dark Brother (43)

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#43.

The idol from the gray city did not hide the embarrassing truth from the country boy.

She even told him what instructions the agency's management division head had given her concerning him.

Then she watched for his reaction.

"You're not surprised?"

"Me? Um... Compared to everything I've heard so far, there's not much to be surprised about, is there?"

With a guilty conscience, the boy's eyes darted around as he mumbled his way through an answer.

He couldn't confess that he had secretly overheard her conversation with her manager.

Instead, he quietly changed the subject.

"It’s a little funny, though."

"What is?"

"It made me realize that the management division head lady really thinks our Boss is a total loser."

"Why?"

"She thought that if she could win me over and leave Boss out of it, the idols could get regular appearances on the channel, right? Even though anyone could see that a collaboration proposal is something an adult should review."

"Ah."

The idol nodded.

"The management division head does like ranking people. This person is beneath that person, this person is above them, this one's easy to push around, that one's not..."

"The more I hear, the nastier she sounds."

"People among your fans sometimes say that Boss is freeloading off you. So to someone who enjoys ranking people, how could she not see it that way? She probably thinks he's someone with no ability who managed to latch onto a kid and hit the jackpot."

"Do you think so?"

"She says things like that all the time when she's unhappy. If someone in the industry is doing better than her, she says they're less capable than she is, but they happened to find decent kids, so everything worked out for them. Then she goes on about how unfair the world is."

"Wow. That is some ugly jealousy!"

The clever country boy did not miss the hidden meaning behind what he had just heard.

"Wait. If noona heard her say that, then she was hinting at something to you too. Saying she was more capable than that person but had worse luck, so she had to work with kids who weren't as good."

"That's right."

"That's awful. There's a limit to how mean someone can be."

"Pfft. Exactly."

The idol gave an exaggerated shrug.

"I think the management division head might have had another ambition too."

"What ambition?"

"In the end, she saw Boss the way she sees people in her own industry, didn't she? She's a terrible person, but she's still in entertainment. Wouldn't it be strange if she didn't want a kid like you? Onik, you're an uncut gem with incredible potential."

"So she planned to use noona as bait to steal me away from Boss? How could she? It wasn't enough that she made you do something awful, she even looked down on the loyalty of Jo Onik like that!"

"Hehe. There’s something else about the management division head too. She basically looks down on and despises men. She thinks they're lowly creatures who lose their minds whenever they get a chance to make a move on a woman."

"Ah, that's why she gets along with the CEO! He likes men instead of women! By her standards, he isn't a lowly creature!"

"Hehehehe!"

The city idol burst into laughter at the country boy's joke, covering her mouth as she tried not to make too much noise.

It would have been a little awkward if someone woke up and came out to see them.

The country boy was half joking and half genuinely indignant.

"She's getting more and more unforgivable! She must know something bad could happen to me, the handsomest boy in town, if she drags me into the company run by that wicked gay CEO! What a horrible lady who only thinks about herself!"

Of course, that bad thing would most likely be the terrifying boy trainee killing the agency's CEO.

The city idol had no way of knowing the thoughts he kept hidden.

When the idol's laughter finally subsided, the boy set aside his playfulness.

"I still think it would be best if noona got out of there, but... Even putting aside how hard it would be to figure out how to live afterward, you can't leave while you still have time left on your contract. You and the other noonas too, right?"

"Yeah..."

The unfairly added investment costs could be dealt with through a lawsuit.

Even after that, though, there might still be money left to repay. The penalty for breaking the contract would have to be calculated separately as well.

There would be a long court battle over who was responsible for ending the contract.

The agency would drag that exhausting dispute out to the bitter end. It would be draining emotionally, physically, and financially.

That was why most trainees and idols endured unfair treatment in silence. It was not simply because they had failed to learn the things they needed to know.

Even if they meant to sue, they wanted to wait until their contracts ended.

After hearing all of that, the country boy thought to himself.

'At school, they taught us that the law is fair... But because things are unfair between people, someone like noona has a hard time getting help from it. Looking at the news and stories about other people who were treated unfairly, I wonder whether the law is really fair at all.'

Even if the law was fair, it existed somewhere too distant, too high, or too difficult to reach for people who were struggling.

...Or perhaps the law was not in a high place. Maybe the people who needed help were the ones living somewhere too low, too harsh, and too remote.

Unless the law went looking for people itself, there were those who could never reach it.

So what good was it if every article of the law treated everyone equally?

The people who could reach it easily would be "especially more equal" than those who could not.

It reminded the boy of a novel he had read in his elementary school library last year.

It was Animal Farm, one of the books in 100 World Classics for Elementary Students.

Of all one hundred books he had read, Animal Farm remained especially vivid in his memory.

The boy wanted to think about it more deeply, but now was not the time.

The country boy spoke with deliberate cheerfulness.

"Then should we solve the most immediate problem first?"

"The most immediate problem?"

"If you just go back like this, won't that horrible management division head lady scold and bully you? Saying she told you to win over one little kid, and you couldn't even do that."

"She... probably will?"

"We have to shut that nasty mouth of hers! I have a great solution!"

"A solution? What solution?"

"Well, it is... ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum!"

The country boy mimicked a drumroll with his mouth, then stood before the curious city idol and smiled brightly as if presenting a grand reveal.

"For the remaining two days, you noonas and I are going to have even more fun together!"

"...?"

The twenty-three-year-old secondhand idol looked puzzled.

"How is hanging out together a solution?"

The country boy looked equally puzzled.

"Today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow. If we spend three whole days having fun together, then we're friends, right? Friends can promise to hang out again next time. We just have to do that."

"Ah..."

"You don't want to be friends with me?"

"No! Of course I do."

The boy smiled brightly again at the secondhand idol's quick denial.

"People with twisted hearts must need to twist even simple things before they feel satisfied, but why should we go along with them? We just need to promise that we'll meet often and have fun again as friends. Then the management division head lady won't be able to get angry even if she wants to."

The management division head's excuse for making the idol do something awful was simply to secure a promotional channel.

She had not openly revealed her desire to bring Jo Onik into the company. Even if she was displeased and furious inside, what could she do?

After thinking for a moment, the city idol spoke carefully.

"You're right... But the management division head will still find fault. She'll say that she can't trust a promise that's only spoken."

"Then we'll ask Boss! We'll have him write it down and stamp it with his seal!"

"...Boss will probably oppose that. Money is involved, after all. It would be a burden for him to go that far. Once you make a document and stamp it, he becomes responsible."

"It's okay! Because I'm still a kid!"

Avoiding the idol's gaze slightly, the country boy proudly pointed at himself with one thumb.

"I may not be an elementary school student anymore, but I'm still young! That means it wouldn't be strange for me to whine and throw a tantrum sometimes!"

"Uh..."

"I've never actually done it before, but it wouldn't be bad to try it this time! They say everything counts as experience, right?"

"That isn't how you use that saying."

Even as she corrected him, the idol from the gray city could not help smiling.

It was a smile filled with gratitude, and also with apology for being the one who kept receiving help.

"Onik."

"Yes?"

"I'm really grateful, but... Why are you helping me this much? We only met today. I was distracted by other things today, so I didn’t even get to have fun with you. So why?"

At that question, the country boy held up three fingers.

"There are three reasons!"

"There are three?"

"First, noona is a good person, good enough to make me want to help you!"

"...Am I?"

"I think so! Second, Grandpa told me that people don't need a reason to help other people!"

"Yes."

"Third, this is the most important reason!"

"What is it?"

Before giving his final reason, the boy let out a deep sigh with an expression that did not suit his age.

"People's lives are too precious for them to die by suicide. That's why I'm helping you."

"..."

The city idol felt an unusual weight in the final reason spoken by the thoughtful boy.

She did not know exactly why, but it sounded as though there was some story behind it.

'What could it be? Did someone close to him die by suicide?'

Once again, the city idol was reminded that the boy before her had not had an easy childhood.

The weight in his words and the mature shadow that had passed across his face just before left a deep impression on the idol who had been considering suicide.

The boy looked at the moon's position, then checked the time on his phone.

"Wow! We've talked for so long! I think you should go in and sleep now! That way, we can wake up with energy and have fun tomorrow! You can't have fun if you're sleepy!"

"Ah, okay. You should sleep too. I took up too much of your time."

"Took up my time? Friends don't say things like that."

"Hehe. Right. We're friends."

"Since we're friends now, let's exchange numbers!"

"Okay. Let's do that."

They traded phones and entered their numbers.

Once he had his phone back, the country boy smiled brightly and said goodbye.

"Then have good dreams! Let's talk about the rest tomorrow!"

"You have good dreams too, Onik."

"Umm, that might be hard, but I'll try!"

"...?"

The city idol found the country boy's final words strange, but it felt awkward to ask what he meant.

He had already turned his back and was trotting toward his room.

'...He must have nightmares often.'

The stronger the sunlight, the clearer the shadows became.

The idol felt sorry for the boy growing up without parents.

The thought that a child who always showed others a bright face hid unusual maturity and shadows within him pricked somewhere near her heart.

The city idol walked slowly toward the guest room, but her steps were not heavy. She steadied herself with the comfort the country boy had given her.

Wasn't a child like that also doing his best to stay cheerful?

At an age when it would be hard enough to bear his own pain, wasn't he caring for other people's sorrow and kindly offering comfort?

She must not take her own life.

#

Early the next morning.

In the dark hours when he would normally have been studying, the terrifying boy took his bow and axe and headed into the mountains to see a living creature's blood.

Ever since he had listened to the idol from the gray city the night before, he had sensed it.

‘Ah, I will have a very bad dream tonight. That pleasant and sweet, yet utterly dreadful blood-red nightmare will come find me again...’

Even if both stories were about people one might think the world would be better without, there was a vast difference between hearing about them through the news or the internet and hearing them directly from the victim.

Every word of the city idol's story was vivid and provocative.

The evil of the agency's CEO and management division head felt intensely vivid to him.

Because of that clarity, the terrifying boy's black desire kept whispering of a "romantic future."

It whispered of a satisfying life spent killing people it was acceptable to kill, people whose deaths would be for the best...

Therefore, even though he had sensed that sweet nightmare coming, listening to the idol's troubles until the end had been the greatest kindness the terrifying boy could offer.

"Drip, drip..."

Red blood dripped from the axe in the boy's hand.

Though it was not raining, the raincoat he wore was soaked in blood.

None of it was the boy's own blood.

Before him lay a water deer, dead in a gruesome state.

Around it were traces of the terrifying boy wringing the utmost satisfaction from a single life.

Traces of tormenting it, hacking at it, beating it, and then tearing it to pieces when even that was not enough.

The boy looked up at the dark blue sky with a tired expression.

His body still brimmed with energy, and a pleasant warmth lingered in his nerves, but he felt a weariness born of reason and compounded by self-loathing.

'Now I can finally catch my breath.'

As a vampire, he had awakened burning with a blood-red nightmare and hurried out to hunt.

He thought it would become too difficult if he faced other people without cooling that heated desire.

After a killing far more brutal than usual, the state he was in afterward was, honestly, disgusting to look at.

'I think it was worse because it was the first time I heard that kind of story directly. I should be more careful from now on... Maybe I'll get used to it after experiencing it a few more times...?'

This was all an effort to hold the reins of his ominous instincts somehow, to keep from killing a person when the thread of his reason snapped.

Naturally, the terrifying boy remembered the conversation he had shared with the idol the night before.

'That's right. A person's life is far too precious for them to die by suicide.'

People's lives were so precious that he could not kill them carelessly.

Even if someone seemed deserving of death, he had to think ten times before taking their life. A human life brought greater spiritual ecstasy when taken than any other life.

For the same reason, the boy did not call the agency's CEO and management division head people deserving of death.

He called them people who only seemed deserving of death.

No matter how bad they seemed, they were still people. Their lives were precious, and he could not immediately decide they deserved death based on Sera's words alone.

If he wanted to decide, he would have to confirm the facts himself.

That was how precious a person's life was.

And for someone with such a precious life to take their own life. That could not be allowed.

It was a tragic death, a heartbreaking end, and even a “waste”...

The boy sank into gloom because he hated that he could not help seeing it as a waste.

It was fortunate that nobody knew these ugly thoughts inside him.

'Sera noona would never imagine that I'm such a bad child.'

After letting out a deep sigh full of self-loathing, the terrifying boy turned his back on the bloody mess he had made.

He needed to get down before it was too late and clean himself up.

That was how he could be bright and innocent Onik Uncle for another day.

Footnotes:

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