GIJS

Chapter 52

How did that photo end up there?

Starting with small circumstantial evidence, the materials gradually began to emerge.

[Cut and brought the practice room footage from episode 9 by time slots (heavy pressure)] [If you look closely, the wall color is different only when Gunja's group is practicing] [The bottom fabric finishing material is also different if you look closely] [Lol, totally a conspiracy lol] [What conspiracy? If you have eyes, you should see it] [It's just that the camera and lens are different, so it looks that way lol] [Does the color distortion change from blue to sky blue with a different camera?] [That level of color distortion is definitely possible] [That's correct] [ㅠㅠㅠ Feel sorry for the butts ㅠㅠㅠ] [Making an escape route in advance because it seems like they'll be in trouble?]

Despite the evenly matched public opinion, various pieces of evidence began to pour out as episode 9 re-ran.

[I found more evidence again] [37:05, 38:42, 44:10, 45:19 practice room footage] [It's a cut where everyone is practicing together, but Gunja's group isn't visible at all] [Sorted out the practice room members] [Ju Ha-sung's team, Jang Seon-jae's team, Min Kang-Yeol's team are clearly visible] [Ha Hyeon-jae and Yang Jeong-moo are there, but only Gunja's group is missing] [Is this even possible?;;] [Why is Gunja's group the only one missing in the shared practice room?] [Seriously, this is so conspiratorial lol] [So they must not have practiced at that time] [Seriously great detectives lol]

But the real great detectives Conan hadn't even shown up yet.

They were quietly gathering materials below the surface, preparing for a big reveal.

A bomb that would shift the evenly matched public opinion completely.

Fortunately, after carefully reviewing episode 9's broadcast, there was an overwhelming amount of evidence.

[Ayuksi Yu Gunja's suspected practice room exclusion material added.jpg] [51:11 Ju Ha-sung's footage and 51:24 Yu Gunja's footage, see] [The emergency exit maps on the walls are different] [Wow, it's real] [;;;;;;;] [Color differences can be explained, but how do you explain the different emergency exit maps?] [So it's a fact that they practiced in a different practice room] [This is an enlarged photo of the emergency exit map] [Can you see that B2 is written on Gunja's emergency exit map?] [And this is a floor plan from Ayuksi episode 2's accommodation introduction] [There's no practice room on the basement 2nd floor] [So that space is not a practice room] [Lol, seriously Conan lol] [So thrilling lol] [I'm not a fan of the conspiracy but I'm totally hooked lol] [Now the problem is this] [Why did only Gunja's group practice in a different place?] [Was that place suitable for practice?] [Lol, seriously losing it] [Is that B2? No matter how I look at it, it looks like B1] [Honestly, the quality is too badㅠㅠ]

As soon as a great detective Conan appeared, many detectives, including Kim Jeon-il, L, and Mirae's dad, began to emerge.

[Wow, did I find something too?] [Check 49:38 and 49:45] [It's edited to look like Ju Ha-sung and Yu Gunja have the same practice room, but] [When the door opens, if you look closely, the drinks in the vending machine are different] [Wow, it's true] [Ju Ha-sung's is Zero Cola, but Gunja's is Sol's Eye] [Sol's Eye is crossing the line lol] [Did they practice on the basement 2nd floor while drinking Sol's Eye?ㅠㅠㅠ] [Wow, Kim Seok-hoon, hurry up and explain] [How will the HQs refute this? lol] [Even if the B2's quality is bad, the Zero Cola changing to Sol's Eye? lol]

Cornered, the 'Anti-Yu Gunja' faction began to change their attack direction.

[Well, maybe it's different ~ lol but whatever] [Maybe they practiced in a different place lol] [Maybe there was a practice room on the basement 2nd floor?] [No mirror is just a conspiracy theory] [Lol, how do you practice without a mirror?]

But this rebuttal was also refuted by another piece of evidence within 2 minutes.

[Evidence photo of no mirror in Yu Gunja's team's practice room.jpg] [This is the floor of the basement 1st floor practice room] [The lighting reflects on the mirror making part of the floor very bright] [This phenomenon appears from any angle] [But there's none of that in Gunja's practice room] [Because there's no mirror to reflect light] [;;;;;;;;;;] [Lol seriously lol] [Ju Ha-sung's faction keeps failing lol] [Lol, what's coming out endlessly lol] [So the conclusion is this] [They all used the practice room as usual, but Gunja's group was excluded] [Gunja's group was chased to the basement 2nd floor for practice] [From here it's my speculation, but they might have been excluded as a group because they were ranked high and performed well in the sports event] [ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ So unfairㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ]

As public opinion began to lean, this time, audio material delivered the decisive blow.

[Discovered evidence.wav] [This time it's audio?? lol] [45:45 group shot of the practice room] [All audio is mixed, but Han Hyeon-jae is just mumbling] [If you listen closely, he seems to be complaining to Jang Seon-jae] [Just turned off the audio?;] [Wow, this is really crazy lol] [Seokuni is doing Seokuni] [This is clearly a bad edit to cover up the exclusion evidence] [Also listen to 46:21, Yang Jeong-moo is saying something] [If you listen closely, he says 'if the hyungs can't use the practice room' or something] [Lol what? Was Jang Seon-jae on Gunja's side? lol] [The PD didn't seem to know that Jang Seon-jae was on Gunja's side and didn't turn off the mic lol] [Seriously, this is too much lol] [Ju Ha-sung, Jang Seon-jae, Min Kang-yeol, they're the instigators right?] [The rest are just mindlessly agreeing] [Seriously so petty;;] [In-hyeok seems to have opposed it till the end] [Look at In-hyeok's interview cutㅠㅠㅠ Did he cry again?] [I wondered why he suddenly cried, but it seems it was because of the practice room issue] [Why is he such a crybaby lol] [Seokuni was quiet this season, it was a good thing though]

By the end of episode 9's broadcast, the 'Anti-Yu Gunja' faction had been handed more evidence than they could handle.

When all circumstantial evidence was combined, the 'practice room exclusion incident' seemed like a foregone conclusion.

The broadcast footage, edited haphazardly to cover up the facts, was messy. Although many parts were cut, numerous pieces of evidence emerged.

Naturally, Kim Seok-hoon PD's phone began to light up.

"Your Majesty, it's burning up~ Hello~?"

– Kim Seok-hoon, you bastard!

"Oh, senior! Your habitual words are still the same!"

– Did you plan this? Do you want us to die together now?

"Sorry, what are you talking about? I just did what I was told from above."

– Do you know what's happened to Ha-sung's image? Huh?

"Why are you asking me? Hehe. Maybe you should have provided better character education..."

– You, you bastard, this is also manipulation. You know? Editing to ruin participants' images is manipulation!

"Excuse me, manipulation is when you don't show what should be shown."

– Wh-what?

"I'm rather a transparent person who wants to reveal everything. Moreover, I cut as directed from above, and edited with the determination of sending off a child, shedding tears. Manipulation? Manipulation? Your words are a bit too much~"

– What are you doing, bastard! It's already messed up!

"Well, Ha-sung's fate was sealed by Ha-sung himself? Senior, and I told you before. South Korean netizens aren't that easy. They solve almost everything. I was surprised too. Senior, do you know Conan?"

– C-Conan? What's that?

"Oh, you don't know Conan? But you'll soon know suffering~"

– You, you bastard—!!

"Bye~"

All the arrows of blame turned towards Kim Seok-hoon PD, but he appeared relaxed as if he had expected it.

"Hehe, this is why I didn't get married."

"Eh? What does that have to do with anything?"

"If you don't have a family, you won't get blamed for family issues."

"Oh."

"I'm fine with getting criticized; it means I'll live longer~"

PD Kim Seok-hun was already used to being criticized.

"But if the criticism becomes too much, it could be problematic."

"Make them watch even while they're criticizing. The problem is when they quit while criticizing."

"Is that so."

"Now that this has turned into a storyline like a comic book protagonist, how will people quit?"

As PD Kim Seok-hun said, despite the bullying instigators and the criticism directed at him, the popularity of Gunja increased significantly once again.

By the end of episode 9, the stage for the Yu Gunja team was even featured.

The narrative of overcoming difficulties and delivering the best performance was fully captured in that episode.

The climax of the narrative was the standing ovation and praise from Pael.

It was an overwhelming narrative that could attract not only fans but also those who had shown little interest in Gunja until now.

[Gunja is so good] [Abs, what's going on lol] [Abs are amazing but the performance is god-like] [ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ I'm so moved by them] [They created that performance without a practice room ㄷㄷ] [Without a mirror, they must have practiced facing each other] [I kept smiling watching Gunja's stage, but this time I cried for the first time] [Me too··· it's so plain that it makes me even more emotional] [Pael acknowledged them so everyone criedㅠㅠㅠㅠ] [ㅠㅠㅠㅠ Hyunsoo, my tearsㅠㅠㅠㅠ] [Hyunshiu's cheerful self is so real lol] [Gunja, you did wellㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ] [Look at Gunja's red eyes] [I want to rush over and comfort them with sweets] [Crazyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ why sweets] [I feel like I'll watch this stage 500 times] [I've already watched Gunja's part 800 times ㅎ;;]

Gunja, who had once again proved both his skills and star quality by completely suppressing Ju Ha-sung, as well as the members of 'Breakthrough,' and Ha Hyun-jae, Cha In-hyuk, and Ji Hyun-su who supported him during the bullying incident, started to rise again.

Although fans of the top cartel of Ju Ha-sung – Min Kang-yeol – Jang Seon-jae were still conducting check-and-balance voting, their firepower was slowly decreasing.

Even though many fans picked Ju Ha-sung – Min Kang-yeol – Jang Seon-jae as their top picks, the pathetic display they showed in episode 9 was enough to disappoint fans.

Thanks to this, their votes were dispersed to Yu Gunja, Ki Yu-chan, Kwon Tae-ung, Ha Hyun-jae, Cha In-hyuk, and others.

Only 2 weeks left until the final live broadcast stage.

The final debut team was slipping into a maze that no one could easily predict.

* * *

The afternoon after episode 9 aired.

Gunja decided to go out for the first time in a while.

[In accordance with regulations, it was advised to avoid going out and drawing attention from fans, but Gunja had no choice. The stationery supplies were running low. No matter what, having writing tools was essential for Gunja.

Lately, he had been carrying a brush pen given by the Calligraphy Youth. It was a very convenient and mysterious tool, but he still missed the primitive pleasure of calligraphy.

He had to go to the stationery store!

He wore a hat and sunglasses and even attached a fake white beard for disguise so that no one would recognize him.

"...Who is that person..."

"Why is he like that?"

"Isn't that Kim Gyeran?"

"Looks like he has muscle loss."

Although it seemed that many people were staring at him, he thought it was just his imagination and proceeded lightly to the stationery store.

It had been a long time since his last visit to the stationery store. Yes, the clerk had been kind to him back then.

Gunja quietly approached her and stated his needs as naturally as possible.

"Excuse me, could I purchase some stationery?"

"Y-Yu gunja-nim—!?"

"Gasp."

Gunja was startled when the clerk immediately recognized him, but it was no difficult task for the clerk. Over the past 2 years working at the stationery store, only one young person had used the term "stationery friends."

After signing twice with the brush pen, Gunja was able to quietly leave the store. Seeing the clerk admiring his handwriting, Gunja smiled contentedly. Though he had neglected calligraphy a bit, his skills were still intact.

His next stop was the subway's underground passage, a place where he could feel the energy of bamboo, one of the four gentlemen, and it was a favorite spot for Gunja.

He pulled his hat low and covered his small face as much as possible with the beard.

"They said not to look suspicious..."

He approached the bamboo grove as naturally as possible and touched the stems and leaves.

"Oh-."

The green and upright energy of the bamboo blooming in the city seemed to permeate through Gunja's entire body.

Whenever he felt troubled after the training camp, he would come here to cleanse his mind by feeling the bamboo.

"...Haa..."

The cool and firm energy of the bamboo filled Gunja's heart.

Although he wished he could stay in the bamboo forest all day, he could feel the gazes of people glancing at him.

Gunja could easily understand their intentions.

"Seems like people waiting their turn."

Yes, they also have the right to feel this good energy. It's time to give way appropriately.

The sounds of cameras clicking from various places were heard, but Gunja did not mind. If there were such beautiful bamboo, he would have taken pictures himself.

If not for the collection of 1,800 photos of orchids, Gunja would have taken bamboo photos without hesitation.

After leaving the bamboo forest, Gunja headed to the subway advertisement board.

[The large billboard with a birthday celebration for YuHa-sung of THEGAME's first-season group.

Gunja often looked at it to center himself.

One of his goals was to become an idol worthy of receiving such a birthday message.

However, something different from what Gunja expected was on the advertisement board.

"...Huh?"

A photo of someone from a different Yuga (柳家), not YuHa-sung of THEGAME.

Seeing that, Gunja's heart began to race violently.

—