* * *
“I want to die. I don’t want to be a singer anymore.”
At the moment when Lee Dojae longed to be a singer, Kang Dojae of South Korea felt an intense desire to kill.
A desire to kill others, and a desire to kill himself.
When faced with Sunghwan, who was picking a fight with him, Dojae realized the powerful murderous intent that Kang Dojae had felt.
“What? Is this bastard on drugs? Has he lost his mind?”
At Dojae’s words, Sunghwan went ballistic.
Since becoming a trainee, many things had been difficult for Kang Dojae.
Over ten hours of practice a day, sneakers wearing out quickly from intense dance moves, and insufficient allowance to buy new ones.
However, what truly made life hard for Kang Dojae was something else.
It was Sunghwan and his group, who constantly harassed him, treating him as an easy target.
‘It’s true I was an easy target.’
They would frequently hit him as if joking, send him on errands, and humiliate him by pretending to worry if he looked shabby and couldn’t be a celebrity.
There was even a time when they humiliated him by pretending to pull down his cheap sweatpants bought from the market in front of everyone.
Despite this, Kang Dojae endured.
Sunghwan was the son of a building owner in Gangnam, and Yoo Myeongwoo, who backed him, was the nephew of an executive at New Entertainment.
To make matters worse, these two were members of a debut group who didn’t even need to go through evaluations.
‘Resisting would only increase the bullying, and being noticed by the agency’s staff would make things worse for himself, so he endured.’
Dojae clicked his tongue internally.
Sunghwan, who had been glaring at Dojae, called out to Yoo Myeongwoo who was approaching from behind.
“Hey, Myungwoo. This bastard seems to have lost his mind.”
“What’s going on?”
Yoo Myeongwoo glanced at Dojae and asked Sunghwan.
“If you hit someone, you should apologize. Did you crack your head when you fell earlier?”
“As you can see, I’m fine. And you should apologize first.”
“What?!”
Sunghwan’s eyes widened as Dojae, unlike usual, didn’t avoid eye contact and confronted him.
“You pushed ‘this body’ and made me fall earlier. Thanks to you, my ankle still hurts.”
“When did I ever! When did I push you! You fell by yourself.”
Sunghwan, excited, didn’t notice the oddity in Dojae’s tone and shouted.
Dojae calmly retorted.
“You made me go to the convenience store five times to get the same drink, even though we were already late for the evaluation. When I said I really couldn’t go because we were too late, you pushed me, and I fell. You got annoyed and threw your drink.”
Even if they were rich kids, a trainee is a trainee.
The tough practice was hard for everyone, and for Sunghwan, Kang Dojae was a punching bag.
Today too, after being scolded by the trainer, Sunghwan vented his anger on Kang Dojae.
While worrying about being late for the evaluation, or not being able to take it at all, Kang Dojae finally broke down when he fell and rolled on the floor.
As he finished speaking, Dojae frowned.
Thinking that his sore ankle and the sticky feeling on his shirt were caused by the person in front of him made him irritated anew.
“Got any proof?”
“Where can we check the CCTV?”
Caught off guard, Sunghwan fell silent for a moment.
Yoo Myeongwoo, standing next to him, looked at Dojae with a grimace.
If Sunghwan bullied Kang Dojae physically, Yoo Myeongwoo was the type who incited the group from behind.
‘That kind of person is worse.’
Angry, Sunghwan stepped closer, pushing Dojae’s shoulder unpleasantly.
“…Hey. Don’t you worry about your mom anymore? Think you’ll be fine if you debut tomorrow?”
Ah, right. This was also one of the reasons Kang Dojae endured.
Kang Dojae’s mother was a cleaner in a building owned by Sunghwan’s father.
It was an amazing coincidence, but considering how many buildings Sunghwan’s family owned in Gangnam, it might have been inevitable.
But even if Sunghwan’s family owned a hundred buildings, would there be only a hundred buildings to clean in this ‘Republic of Korea’?
Kang Dojae just didn’t want to upset his mother.
He was an unfortunate filial son.
“I’ll worry about that.”
However, Dojae had no intention of enduring like Kang Dojae.
“Sunghwan. If it’s true, apologize.”
Sensing something unusual in Dojae’s demeanor, Yoo Myeongwoo took a step back.
But Sunghwan’s pride wouldn’t allow him to apologize.
“Hey. Do you really want to do this? Do you think you can debut after this?”
“Do you think you can?”
Sunghwan glared at Dojae with a look as if a dog were barking somewhere.
Still not used to ‘Kang Dojae’s’ way of speaking, Dojae’s original manner of speech kept mixing in.
Ignoring it, Dojae took out his phone from his pocket.
On the lit screen was a red recording indicator.
“…You!”
“If it becomes a big scandal before your debut, questioning your humanity…”
“Won’t you delete that? This is blackmail, hand it over!”
Flustered, Sunghwan stumbled.
Clearly, he had forgotten about his own threats.
Dojae easily dodged Sunghwan’s hand.
Sunghwan had been behaving recklessly, thinking Kang Dojae, desperate for his debut, wouldn’t retaliate like this.
Indeed, four years of continuous bullying had made Kang Dojae timid and small.
So much that he couldn’t even flinch.
Eventually, Kang Dojae had been pushed to the point of wanting to shut himself away and die.
“Apologize.”
When Dojae spat out the words through clenched teeth, Sunghwan flinched.
“Sorry! Sorry, damn it. Is that enough? Do you think you can still debut with me after this…?”
“Stop, Sunghwan.”
Yoo Myeongwoo restrained Sunghwan, who couldn’t control his temper.
It was still recording.
Dojae pressed the stop button on the recording.
“Delete it right now!”
“We’ll see.”
Dojae answered simply and brushed past the two of them.
“That bastard. Did he really take something wrong?”
Sunghwan’s resentful voice was heard from behind.
Upon arriving in front of Kang Dojae’s house, Dojae stood there in a daze for a moment.
He had taken the subway, ridden a village bus, and then walked up a hill for ten minutes to get to this house. It was exactly as he remembered it in his mind, but seeing it in reality felt different.
‘There were poor people even in the Korean Empire.’
The state of wealth disparity was even more noticeable in the Republic of Korea. Sighing at the unfortunate turn modern Korean history had taken despite their shared roots, Dojae pulled out a key.
‘Even the Imperial treasury uses digital safes these days. This is inconvenient. I should start by installing a door lock…’
As he entered the house, the musty dampness of the semi-basement hit his skin. Dojae recalled a foreign fairy tale he had read as a child, “The Prince and the Pauper.”
The story was about a prince and a pauper who looked identical and switched clothes to experience each other’s lives. The prince, seeking to escape the stifling palace life, harshly regretted experiencing the pauper’s life.
‘Well… Kang Dojae isn’t exactly a pauper.’
However, it was clear that he lived a somewhat pauper-like life in many ways.
But if asked whether Dojae regretted his dream of becoming a singer, the answer was no.
For a prince accustomed to palace life, the semi-basement rental was certainly humble…
‘But I can sing.’
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I wonder if Kang Dojae really became Lee Dojae now. Will he be happy that he is rich now and didn’t have to sing anymore? Or will he have any regret because his freedom is now stifled?
But for Kang Dojae, maybe that was a fair price. He doesn’t really want to sing. He did it because he need the money to care for his family. Now that he’s a prince, he doesn’t have to throw his body to the ground, endure any harassment, just for that little speck of gold coin
Nice story
Maybe you should transfer to another agency, be very successful and topple down that agency where you are now. DoJae has been bullied for four years and no one help? Yeah. You should pack up and leave. Maybe there’s a much better agency out there even if it’s just midsize.