CHAPTER 99: A SURPRISE ATTACK

"AH, HYUNG-nim. I feel bad for our maknae."

"Maknae? You and Song Sullyoon are the maknae of the family."

"I’m talking about Lim Garam."

Song Sihyuk smacked the back of Choi Sumin, who was walking next to him, while he was on his way back to his office. "Lim Garam is younger than you, but he is still my wife. So, he outranks you in the family. Don’t call his name causally."

"I want to be friends with Lim Garam... ssi."

"No, you can’t."

Choi Sumin just rolled his eyes, and then he sat on the sofa in the lounge area of Song Sihyuk’s office. "Hyung-nim, you were stuck in that meeting for hours, right?"

"Why are you here?" Song Sihyuk asked, annoyed, as he sat behind his table. "If you don’t stop barging in my office like you own it, I’m going to send you to Jeju Island to manage the hotel and resort we’re building there."

"Lim Garam is being bashed on the internet at this very moment, Hyung-nim."

"What?"

"My poor cousin-in-law is being cursed at by his haters."

Song Sihyuk knitted his eyebrows. "Why?"

"Our maknae beat Cindy on the music show, and fans are accusing the music show of rigging the result in favor of Lim Garam."

"Even if that’s true, why are they blaming my wife for that?"

"These are haters, Hyung-nim. It’s their job to hate on the artist they don’t like. It doesn’t matter if Lim Garam is innocent or not— they only care that they have a reason to bash him now," Choi Sumin said casually. "But, Hyung-nim, did you not really pull any strings?"

"What the fuck are you saying?"

"Lim Garam won on Music Stage, it’s a music show aired on NBC— and our Aunt Boreum’s family owns NBC."

"The fuck? Are you implying that my wife can’t win against that singer without my help? Are you looking down on your cousin-in-law, huh?"

"I’m just asking, Hyung-nim. You may not know this because you don’t care about idols, but Cindy is our country’s top female soloist. I know Lim Garam is famous, but only among idol fans. The general public isn’t that familiar with him yet. And that’s why people are shocked that he won against Cindy— on a major broadcast channel, at that."

Song Sihyuk clicked his tongue. "They’re cursing my wife just because of a stupid music show win?"

"Oho? Hyung-nim, based on your reaction, it seems like you didn’t really pull some strings to give your wife a win on a famous music show."

"Why would I do that? I hate the fact that my wife is famous— I don’t want him to be more popular than he already is."

"Aigoo, Hyung-nim. You’re really a crazy bastard, huh?"

"What did you, punk?"

Choi Sumin just laughed, now typing furiously on his phone. "Hyung-nim, I’m sending you the screenshots of the posts that attacked my cousin-in-law below the belt. Sue those people to oblivion, please. I feel bad for our maknae."

Song Sihyuk almost threw his phone out of frustration after reading the hate comments people posted about Lim Garam.

I’m gonna kill those bastards!

***

THEY’RE GONE?

Garam wondered why the hate comments about him that reached thousands of likes and reposts suddenly disappeared.

Those posts were trending a few hours ago.

Even his name and the ’music show win controversy’ had disappeared from the trending search list on Navi.

’Navi’ was one of the two biggest search engines and online platforms in South Korea.

"Many haters are still talking bad about me, though," Garam whispered to himself while scrolling through his social media page. "But the posts that gained a lot of traction are already deleted?"

Not only that.

The accounts of my biggest haters are now suspended?

What happened in the last five hours?

After the music show, Garam went straight home.

He was aware of the controversy, but he purposely ignored all the text messages and calls that he got from his friends and group members. But he did send them a text message saying that he was fine.

I have low self-esteem, and I get sad when I’m reminded that I’m the least popular member in my group. But I’m not really affected by what haters say about me. Because I know that I’m still more successful than they are— and probably richer, too.

That mindset helped him ignore haters.

The thing that Garam was actually worried about was having a conflict with Cindy.

So, he called his sunbae on the phone while he was chilling in the living room— eating the expensive ice cream that Song Sihyuk bought for him the other night.

And, yes— Cindy Noona and I exchanged phone numbers earlier.

"Noona, I’m sorry for this controversy..."

"I should be the one saying sorry to you, Garam-ah. I’m sure half of the people bashing you right now are my fans. This happens every time I lose in a music show. I know it’s hard, but please don’t mind them. I’ll scold them for you."

"Noona, they’ll only get more upset if you scold them for me."

"Oh, shoot. You’re right. Then I suppose I need to give my fans something to be busy about instead of riding the hate train on you."

Garam tried to ask what Cindy was about to do, but she just said ’secret.’

After that, his sunbae-nim ended the call.

I wonder what Cindy Noona is up to?

***

GARAM realized that he had fallen asleep when he was woken up by a kiss on the cheek.

Plus, Song Sihyuk’s pheromones really smelled good— the Alpha’s scent never failed to ’disrupt’ his system, mostly in a good way.

"Hyung, you came home really late..."

"I’m sorry," Song Sihyuk said, kissing Garam on the lips. "I just had extra work today."

’Extra work,’ huh?

"It was Hyung, wasn’t it?" Garam asked, forcing himself to open his sleepy eyes. "My controversy died down easily. It doesn’t even show up on search engines anymore."

"I already have the names."

"Hmm?"

"We tracked down those bastards who talked shit about you. I already talked to Myung Hyesu— your company will sue them. They will post a notice tomorrow..." Song Sihyuk trailed off, glancing at the digital clock on the bedside table. "Later, I mean."

Right.

It was already morning.

"Okay, Hyung. I’ll leave it to the company then," Garam said, and then he asked the thing he was most curious about. "How did my name and my issue disappear on the search engines? It was trending for at least two hours, and then it completely vanished."

"I asked my godfather to delete your name and your issue from the search engine."

"Who’s your godfather?"

"Navi Group’s chairman."

Aigooya.

The chairman of Navi Group, the one that owned the second largest search engine and online platform in their country, was Song Sihyuk’s godfather?

"You have a godfather, Hyung?"

"Not officially. But Chairman Lee likes calling me his godson."

"Oh. Is it because of religion?"

"Nah, Chairman Lee is just a fan of a certain mafia movie. So, he asked me to call him ’godfather’ from time to time. I call him that whenever I have a favor to ask."

Pfft.

Rich people can really be weird sometimes.

"Anyway, don’t worry about that stupid controversy," Song Sihyuk said while gently cupping Garam’s face between his hands. "I’ll take care of everything for you. Just focus on your promotions."

Aww.

Hyung is really good at taking care of me.

"I kept the bath bomb from my album safe," Garam said, closing his eyes because he was still sleepy. "Let’s have bathtub sex after my schedule later, Hyung."

And Song Sihyuk suddenly burst out laughing.

Aigooya.

So easy to please.

***

GARAM’S fansign event was held at Aera World Mall.

Yes, the department store that was owned by SG Group.

Fansign events were usually done in live halls, sometimes theatres.

But Garam decided to do his fansign event in a shopping mall because he was aiming for more public recognition.

It will help our group in the long run.

But even though the fansign event was held in an open space where anyone could watch, only the 100 lucky fans who won the raffle were allowed inside the barricade.

Only those fans would get their albums signed, too.

It was still a good promotion since the event had a host to make it fun.

Garam played min-games with fans, did fanservice by wearing the cute costumes that they prepared for him in advance, and sang ’Siren’ to serenade the audience.

It was a relief that all floors of the shopping mall were filled with people watching him.

I hope they become fans after this.

After the mini-games and the live performance, Garam started signing the albums of the 1-100 lucky fans who won the raffle.

Of course, he did fanservice again by talking to the fans and letting them touch his hand.

Shin Geon and Shin Junho stood behind him, making sure that the fans wouldn’t go overboard. Plus, his two managers would also check the gifts handed to him first before letting him wear them (most gifts were accessories like headbands, glasses, costumes, and stuffed toys).

Fortunately, no one has brought up the controversy.

Yet, and hopefully, it stayed that way.

To be fair, each fan was only given two minutes max to interact with him.

I don’t think a true fan would waste their time asking me about the issue instead of enjoying the moment with me.

"Hello, Oppa~"

Oh.

Garam smiled at the woman who was dressed like a gothic girl. "Hello. You’re a new face. It’s nice to meet you."

The female fan just smiled and nodded before placing the album in front of him.

Garam was about to ask her what name he should address the dedication to, but he froze when he saw the sticky note attached to the album.

Life must be so easy for you as a chaebol’s wife.

What the hell?

Garam froze, his heart thumping hard and fast against his chest.

Anxiety and panic immediately settled into his system.

It was normal for fans to attach a sticky note with a question they wanted to ask the artist.

However...

Did the staff not check the content of this sticky note?

The worst part?

There were two sticky notes with upsetting messages written on them.

The second one said: Your husband is sabotaging your career.

What?

Sihyuk Hyung is sabotaging my career...?

The same Song Sihyuk who had been supportive of him all this time?

This is bullshit.

"Garam-ssi, watch out!"

Hmm?

Garam lifted his head when he heard Shin Junho’s warning in time to see the female fan about to splash ’water’ on him.

Crazy.

***

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