Chapter 155
What should I do? I’ve been sued.
After returning home, Jo Tae-woong spent almost the entire day in bed.
‘I’m sleepy…’
His eyelids were heavy and his mind was foggy, and his body felt strangely limp. Except for the times he ate and went to the bathroom, he didn’t move a step from his bed. It was only after consulting with his doctor that he realized these were side effects of his depression medication.
‘It doesn’t seem like this will get better.’
He had picked up new medication following his doctor’s advice, but he couldn’t feel any change.
‘What if it continues like this?’
He had no hope for improvement, which kept him awake with anxious thoughts.
‘What if I can never be active again?’
If he continued to be trapped in this anxious state, causing trouble for the team and eventually having to leave.
‘Can I ever return to the entertainment industry?’
His face was already well-known, but could he do anything else besides this?
One day, he suddenly felt the bed sink beneath him. His heart raced, and it was then he experienced sleep paralysis for the first time.
‘I’m scared…’
Curled up in bed, Jo Tae-woong bit his thumbnail.
“Son, shall we go for a walk later?”
“No, there are too many people who recognize me outside…”
“So? Don’t you want anything to eat?”
“I’m fine.”
Jo Tae-woong’s mother, Lee Hye-eun, sighed secretly upon seeing her son who wouldn’t leave his room except to eat and use the bathroom.
‘Your family needs to make an effort.’
This was what Jo Tae-woong’s counselor had emphasized.
‘Create a comfortable atmosphere and speak positively.’
His parents tried, but it didn’t seem to have any effect yet.
“…I shouldn’t have gone at that time.”
He had agreed to shoot a video because his friend begged him earnestly. When the child did well and it was fun, he became greedy.
“I shouldn’t have… taken the kid…”
As offers for advertisements and dramas came pouring in, they thought they’d try it for a year; maybe two years would be fine.
‘We need better education for our child.’
‘It’s only for a short while when they’re young; who will remember they acted later?’
‘The child likes acting. It’s unavoidable.’
They hadn’t foreseen such an event happening. The household wasn’t well-off but started improving slightly, using the excuse that the child enjoyed it to entertain vain hopes.
“What can we do about the past? We just need to take care of it now.”
Watching Lee Hye-eun sigh deeply, Jo Tae-woong’s father, Jo Ho-cheol, pressed his temples.
‘If only I had more ability… If only I earned more money…’
Jo Ho-cheol also felt uneasy. He didn’t like his child starting social life so early. But with meager income, he couldn’t outright oppose his wife taking their child to shoots.
“Honey, don’t cry. Tae-woong will blame himself if he sees you.”
Jo Ho-cheol handed a tissue to Lee Hye-eun.
Entering his room, Jo Tae-woong habitually opened his chatroom. He joined the group chat because of the members’ insistence and reported in once a day to show he was alive.
(Jotang4) sjsg – 17:30
(Ian5) Isn’t that too insincere? – 17:30
(Jotaeng4) Thanks to everyone’s overwhelming concern, Tae-woong is having another vibrant day – 17:32
(Hyunhyun3) Okay – 17:32
(Hyunhyun3) How are you now? Get up and move around even if you don’t feel like it – 17:32
That should do it. Jo Tae-woong turned off the screen and casually threw his phone beside the bed.
‘I’m not even busy.’
Even if he ignored their messages, the members would call him once a day to ask what he ate or how the weather was—trivial conversations. They tried not to bring up negative topics as much as possible.
‘I need to get better quickly and make a comeback…’
Just as he felt pressured by this thought, his phone vibrated briefly. Someone from the chatroom had sent a message.
(Ian5) @Jotang4 Are you joining us for house visits during Lunar New Year holidays? – 17:45
(Jotang4) That sounds interesting – 17:46
(Lee Joo-hyuk3) Taewoong, come to my house first – 17:46
(Seodam2) You know my place is close to our dorms, right? – 17:46
(Dance King Kim Ju-young2) Lunar New Year’s Day is at my place, okay? – 17:46
(Dance King Kim Ju-young2) We’re all friends of the same age, right? If you have loyalty, you should come to my place, okay? – 17:46
(Park Jin-hyuk2) That’s funny – 17:47
The members took turns calling Jo Tae-woong and made plans to visit him near his house. They knew he appreciated their efforts and he was interested.
‘Staying in bed like this won’t change anything…’
Maybe it would be better to follow Ian and run around like crazy? Jo Tae-woong stared blankly at the chat screen. The messages had exploded.
(Dancing King Kim Ju-young2) We have a lot of delicious food at our house – 17:52
(Park Jin-hyuk2) The kimchi is salty though – 17:52
(Lee Joo-hyuk3) Did Jin-hyuk cross the line? – 17:52
(Hyunhyun3) Crossed the line2222 – 17:52
(Dancing King Kim Ju-young2) Then what do you have at your house – 17:53
(Park Jin-hyuk2) The beauty of the twenties Park Jin-hyuk? – 17:56
(Seodam2) lol – 17:56
(Ian5) lolololololololololol – 17:56
(Park Jin-hyuk2) Seo? – 17:56
Jo Tae-woong snorted.
‘By the way, it’s Lunar New Year…’
Jo Tae-woong frowned. He didn’t have many good memories of the holidays. His relatives were like the ‘villains’ that people often talked about.
‘I wonder what grandma is doing?’
Jo Tae-woong’s maternal grandmother lived in a rural area, so they didn’t visit her on holidays because of the traffic.
‘Is that stage still there?’
The stage where young Jo Tae-woong met Diamond. The stage that made him dream of becoming an idol. Jo Tae-woong, who had been lying in bed, lifted his upper body.
‘Should I go back to my roots?’
Jo Tae-woong quickly left a message and threw his phone on the bed.
(Jo-tang4) No, I’m going to grandma’s house
(Ian5) Where is grandma’s house?
Then he jumped up and opened the door with a bang. His parents, who were watching out for any accidents outside the door, were startled.
“Mom!”
“Yes?”
“Can I go to grandma’s house?”
He would have to get permission from the doctor, but it was his son who had been locked up in his room for weeks who suggested it first. Jo Ho-cheol hurriedly looked for the car keys, and Lee Hye-eun smiled brightly.
“Sure, let’s go.”
They had been monitoring the situation from the company, but they couldn’t keep up with the fans’ data collection for the lawsuit.
The email account created for the lawsuit against the haters received hundreds of emails a day. The fans scraped and sent everything from portal sites to secret community posts that periodically accepted members.
M site AWY Gallery
-I’m the leader of the lawsuit team.
We’ve discussed with the fan communities of N Cafe and D Cafe and decided to form a fan alliance lawsuit team.
We’re going to sue not only the gallery owners, but also the group purchase team and the sound gun team for malicious manipulation and rumors.
The agency gave us a positive answer, and we’re going to contact them soon. We’re recruiting staff for this, and we’ll announce the fundraising account later.
└Thank you so much!
└OK
Not only the agency, but also the fandom was planning to file a separate complaint. Anyone could file a complaint for defamation, and if they got consent from the agency and the victim, there was a possibility of punishment.
-What do I do? I got sued lololololol
I got a text message to appear at the police station. Do I have to go? If this gets out, I’ll be kicked out of my house. What do I do?
I’m so pissed off lol I’m going to k**l myself if they don’t settle lol
└Just ignore it
└└Yeah, ignore it if you want to be on a wanted list lololololol
└Why did you write hate comments? I didn’t, so I don’t have to worry about this haha good luck!
-Aren’t celebrities supposed to accept hate comments? They’re public figures, right?
Don’t they have to accept both positive and negative comments? Didn’t they know this when they became celebrities? They make more money than ordinary people and buy buildings, right? Can’t they take one thing? Isn’t it prideful?
└Did you get sued? lolololololol
└Get ready to go to the police station lolololololol
└Hey, are you crying? lololololol
└Don’t you think they work hard to earn that money?
Thanks to the quick work of the agency and the law firm, posts about receiving the complaint were uploaded and the fans flocked to drink soda.
The monitoring team staff of BHL Entertainment had a busy time from morning. They checked the incoming emails, compared them for duplicates, and occasionally checked the internet reactions.
“Are we also doing civil lawsuits?”
“Of course we are. The CEO was furious, remember?”
The staff had seen the angry face of Lee Byung-hun, the CEO, for the first time when they heard the news about Jo Tae-woong.
“How much do you think the fines will be for civil lawsuits? Maybe 600 or 700?”
“Thousands come out, about two thousand?” he wondered aloud.
“Wow… and a criminal record to boot,” he added.
The employee stirred the air with a sigh, rotating his neck before refocusing on the monitor. AWY’s official Instagram was flooded with direct messages.
Please forgive meㅇㅠㅠ It was a mistake. You’re a celebrity, not someone who sues powerless commonersㅠㅠㅠ
If you sue me and don’t withdraw it, I’ll d*eㅠㅜ Don’t live like that as a celebrityㅠㅠ I’m just a dirt spoon with loads of debtㅠ I’m unemployed and barely getting by, but if you do this suddenly, my family will be ruinedㅠㅠ Please consider our family situation and withdraw the lawsuit. If you read this and still do nothing, you’re killing someone.
I’m sorry I made a mistake because I was stressed.
I have a three-year-old daughter. If it’s revealed that I got sued for leaving malicious comments on a celebrity’s post, I could get divorced. Then my daughter and I might end up on the streets.
Please show mercy and withdraw the lawsuit.
“Man, use some spacing,” he muttered.
The employee copied the first sentence of the message and searched it on a foreign search engine. AWY had commented on all official SNS posts, even on Youtube music video comments.
“Commenting here is useless.”
“What is?”
“This.”
Comments were blocked on articles, and since the members’ personal SNS accounts were still inactive, people had turned to the group’s official SNS to leave messages.
It wasn’t just one or two; the employee laughed heartily at the flood of apologetic messages before leaning back in his chair. That’s what happens when fingers are carelessly playful.
“Got any popcorn?”
Another employee asked while reviewing the messages.
“Ian, glad you could make it. No reporters outside, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good thing about COVID in times like these.”
“That’s not something to say, Director.”
Hye-ji Lim scolded him as she sat next to the director.
Ian joined the wrap party for ‘Lady Heebinkpp’ sitting next to the director who graciously offered him drinks.
“Ian, isn’t your group on hiatus?”
“Yes, I’m on vacation.”
“So you’re heading home?”
“No, it’s too far. They haven’t lifted lockdown there yet.”
“I see. So you’re just staying at the dorm?”
“If there’s no work, yes. But I do have solo activities.”
Director Park’s eyes sparkled with interest.
“You could jump right into a new project then?”
“Could I?”
Ian answered evasively. Rumors had spread that he prioritized group schedules over everything else.
As soon as news of the group’s hiatus broke out, scripts piled up like towers for him to review.
“Director Park has his eye on Ian,” Ji-yeon Park said across from him as she extended her glass. Ian poured her drink in response.
“What about Lunar New Year?”
“For Lunar New Year… I might visit our members’ homes. They’ve been insisting.”
“The members?”
“Yes, they seem concerned about me being alone in the dorm.”
“Really? Wow, you guys must be close. I thought there might be tension.”
Ian smiled bitterly.
Some people trivialized Jo Tae-woong’s depression as nothing serious and blamed it on poor relations within the group for letting things get this far.
Ji-yeon Park covered her mouth with her hand upon seeing his smile.
“Oh my, I misspoke. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’ll step outside for a bit.”
Ian rose from his seat. Hye-ji Lim slapped Ji-yeon Park’s arm as she slumped her shoulders and sipped her drink.
Outside, Ian made a phone call.
“Hello Mom, it’s Ian.”
(Oh hello Ian. What’s up?)
“Happy New Year Mom. No particular reason for calling.”
Ian had taken Hye-eun’s number just in case but hadn’t contacted her yet.
(Tae-woong is doing well in the countryside.)
“I heard about Tae-woong… Can I visit where Tae-woong is during Lunar New Year?”
Hye-eun was pleased to hear from him since she knew he’d been cooped up in his room taking calls from group members.
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