* * *
[Controversy Erupts: Rookie Idol Group MOST Accused of Manipulating Music Charts!]
[The Secret Behind MOST’s Rapid Rise on the Charts?]
[MOST Once Again in Hot Water Over Allegations of Chart Manipulation…]
It was the only Monday without any scheduled activities in a week packed with music shows.
However, as the members lazily woke up and checked their phones, they were horrified.
[What’s going on with your team?]
[Are you okay?]
[Hey, did you see this article?]
Their phones buzzed continuously with messages filled with concern and curiosity.
Dojae frowned as he clicked on the sensational article claiming that chart manipulation issues had surfaced ‘again.’
As expected, the content was far from the headline’s implications.
There had been frequent issues about chart manipulation, and this time, MOST was the target.
The allegation was the same as before: MOST was accused of manipulating chart rankings to achieve high scores.
More than the content, it was the comments below the article that were outrageous.
– These young punks only learn the bad stuff.
– I always felt they were overhyped, and now I know why.
– It was weird seeing them suddenly on the charts. Turns out it was manipulation.
– If true, this is a big problem. What are students supposed to learn from singers who cheat?
– I never liked their songs anyway. Take them off the charts.
– These kinds of people shouldn’t be singers.
– This makes me sick. Quit being a singer.
– Real singers are the ones suffering because of this!
– MOST out!
– Never heard of them, but they’re third on the chart? Obvious manipulation.
– Thought they were decent, but turns out they’re cheats. My taxes are going to these jerks?
– The city should sue them.
– They’re rookies but already known for being arrogant backstage. Trash acts like trash.
– Hey, you’re spreading false information.
– There’s no evidence, so why do people believe this? Just speculative articles.
– This isn’t confirmed. There’s no proof. Why hurt innocent people with rumors?
– Looks like their fangirls are here. Don’t act trashy like your idols.
– Shouldn’t we wait until there’s proof?
– There’s proof right there.
– Kingdam are total thugs. Should look into Big Boys too.
– No proof? Look at the graph. It’s clearly manipulated.
– They even got first place on music shows with manipulated charts. Give Sindia back her spot.
– What about the other artists? They’re the real victims.
The article only mentioned suspicions, but most people already believed MOST had manipulated the charts.
Some just wanted to leave malicious comments regardless of the truth.
The members, feeling like they’d been hit by lightning, couldn’t hide their frustration even as they prepared to go to the practice room.
“Has the company contacted us yet?”
Dojae asked Kijoon, who had just finished changing.
Kijoon shook his head with a dark expression.
“Well, the company probably just saw the article too…”
It wasn’t true anyway.
There must be a way to clear this up.
*
On their way to the practice room.
The weather was perfectly sunny, signaling the full arrival of spring.
“What’s all this about…?”
Heungmin muttered with a sigh, lamenting the ironically good weather.
“To see smoke without fire again.”
The members had learned from their incident with Candiz that even baseless rumors could cause trouble and that innocent people could be targeted.
This time, they were the ones involved.
Woochul, walking beside them, looked like he had something to say, his lips twitching several times.
“But, hyungs…”
At Woochul’s words, the members listened intently.
“Actually, the manipulation rumors have been around since our comeback day.”
“What?”
Heungmin looked at Woochul in surprise.
Woochul, who never let go of his phone and constantly scoured all communities, had seen everything related to MOST.
Among countless comments, he had occasionally seen ones suggesting their chart rankings were manipulated.
“At the time, I thought it just meant our ranking was high, or it was jealousy talking… but now with the article…”
Woochul was confused now that an article had been published.
After gathering his thoughts, Woochul mumbled as they walked.
“Our company… wouldn’t have really done it, right?”
“No way… they wouldn’t.”
Kyuseong shook his head.
But then he frowned, recalling Assistant Manager Lee’s passing comment during the fan meeting preparation about significant company investment.
Since their debut with double title tracks, there had been heavy investment.
It was a plausible statement, but why did it come to mind now?
Doubt and anxiety are highly contagious.
Louis, Heungmin, and Kijoon’s faces darkened further.
Woochul messed up his hair in frustration.
“No, I still don’t think so… but seeing so many posts saying our ranking is nonsense makes me uneasy.”
The idol community Woochul frequented had detailed reasons why MOST’s ranking was manipulated.
Reading those posts, it almost felt like their chart rankings were indeed manipulated.
Even Woochul, despite being involved, felt convinced.
He could understand why people believed such articles without knowing the full story.
“Ugh… sorry for bringing this up.”
The members shook their heads.
They couldn’t help but be shaken in such a situation.
The company building felt miles away despite being close.
Dojae handed his phone to the self-blaming Woochul.
Tweety was open on the screen.
#MOST_LoveYou
#BEST_TRUST_MOST
Thousands of tweets were already being posted with these hashtags.
“Our song is good enough. This high ranking… it’s not guaranteed, but it’s possible.”
“Hyung…”
“Our fans believe in us, so we have to believe in ourselves too.”
In ourselves and in our song.
Woochul quietly nodded.
And Dojae’s words provided great strength to Kijoon, who was wavering more than anyone.
*
“Manager”
Kijoon called out loudly to Manager Seokchul, who he spotted in the hallway leading to the practice room.
It was a call filled with relief and a sense of urgency.
‘As the leader… and as the composer of this song, he must be feeling more frustrated than anyone.’
Dojae was relieved they were meeting Manager Seokchul as quickly as possible.
Given the atmosphere, it didn’t seem like practice would be possible.
“Ah, everyone is right on time,” Manager Seokchul said, checking the time and looking around at the members.
Today, of all days, Jung Giljoo, who usually didn’t have schedules outside of practice with MOST, was suddenly busy helping another artist with a pickup.
“Yes, but, uh…!”
Kijoon hurriedly began to speak, skipping greetings.
Even then, the words didn’t come out easily.
Manager Seokchul, observing the hesitant Kijoon and the members around him, seemed to understand.
“You must have seen the article.”
“Yes. I have no idea what’s going on…”
Kijoon trailed off.
“I was on my way to the practice room to meet you because I thought you might be surprised.”
“…..”
“It’s such a baseless accusation. Even the staff were shocked and taken aback.”
The members nodded, understanding why.
“Is there a way to set things right?” Dojae asked cautiously.
Manager Seokchul looked at Dojae for a moment before replying with a stern expression.
“Of course.”
At his firm assurance, the members’ faces brightened briefly.
“We need to show that Kingdom never messes with music.”
*
Although he spoke confidently to reassure the members, internally, there was much deliberation before reaching a conclusion.
Staff who rushed to the company upon reading the article quickly held a meeting.
“This is the first time I’ve encountered something this absurd,” even veteran Team Leader Jung Heeyoung sighed deeply.
“Recently, with Candiz, there were malicious captures at least. But this… Is this supposed to be evidence of manipulation?”
The article claimed that the evidence of manipulation was the unusually high proportion of users in their teens and those in their 40s and 50s when the song’s ranking was high.
While it was strange considering the primary users of music sites are in their 20s and 30s, songs suspected of ranking manipulation typically had a high proportion of middle-aged users.
However, “Yours” had a high proportion of teenage users as well as middle-aged users, and unlike other suspected songs, its graph showed a lot of initial inflow.
In other words, it was like other popular songs.
Moreover, MOST wasn’t a completely unknown rookie group; they had a fandom strong enough to hold fan meetings and had been steadily building their popularity.
“Maybe it’s a song that resonates with people in their 40s and 50s! How are we supposed to explain this?”
“Exactly.”
The frustrating part was that there was no clear way to explain away this ridiculous accusation.
“Why don’t we just leave it be for now? It’ll disappear with other trending issues soon. Trying to explain might only make things worse.” The internal PR manager suggested.
Some argued there was no need to explain since they had nothing to hide.
Team Leader Jung Heeyoung swept her bangs back in frustration.
“Right. It’ll blow over eventually, but…”
They could downplay it as a minor controversy, but it was too disgraceful a rumor for the artists.
The members participated in the songwriting process themselves, and their pride would take a significant hit.
“But it seems like the issue has blown up so much…”
Assistant Manager Lee Jungyeon spoke cautiously.
“Every time someone points out there’s no solid evidence, some group shows up to muddy the waters.”
“Ah, I noticed that too when I monitored it. Does MOST already have that many anti-fans?” the PR staff member replied, puzzled.
“That’s why this baseless rumor is spreading like wildfire.”
They knew there would be jealous groups as they gained popularity, but this was unexpected.
Team Leader Jung Heeyoung muttered in despair.
“There are many sensationalized articles following the original exclusive, but it’s also a problem that such groups exist. I’m not sure it’ll blow over easily.”
It might linger like a bad reputation unless they uncovered the truth.
“But how do we reveal it…”
At that moment, an intern from Planning Team 2 knocked on the meeting room door.
“Team Leader! Please check this out. This might be evidence to refute the claims!”
“What? What is it?”
“Ah, earlier… Reporter Son Junggi, who wrote the first article, contacted us. He said he won’t take down the article for free…”
“What?!”
Team Leader Jung Heeyoung’s voice rose sharply.
They knew he was malicious, but this was the worst.
Assuming that a rookie idol’s image was critical, they thought Kingdom would tolerate anything.
Many agencies had acted similarly, thinking, “It’s not fear of dirt, it’s the mess that follows,” and complied with similar demands.
Team Leader Jung Heeyoung tightly gripped the pen she was holding, as if making a decision.
“Manager. I think we have to…”
“Yes. I was thinking about that method too.”
“Seems like it’s the best option.”
The two team leaders made a firm decision.
* * *
*Summary page is only available for login users. Non-users can view the chapters on the chapter list.*
