Page 36 of Idol Lives
Yun Seo’s frown deepened. “I still say we should–”
“Tell him,” Mina interrupted.
Yun Seo produced her phone, swiping a few times before thrusting it towards Tae Hyun. Confusion gave way to shock as he saw theK-Star Dailypost,K-pop Idol’s Secret Gay Love Triangle Revealed, featuring a picture of him and Ren in Harajuku. He read the headline twice, the words refusing tofully sink in.
“What the hell? Is this real?”
Yun Seo grimly nodded. “They posted it during your set. There are a handful of photos of you and Ren and a quote from an unnamed source that you two are having an affair.”
It couldn’t be real. It had to be a sick joke, his brain insisted–some fucked up attempt at sabotage just like KBR had done. The quote had to be bullshit. Who would’ve made that claim? But the photos were sickeningly real. A brief surge of nausea made him lightheaded.
Questions hammered in his head. How would it affect the tour? Would fans abandon the shows? What about outraged sponsors? The whole thing could collapse under the weight of this scandal. And what would Jason think? He always claimed to trust Tae Hyun. He had to know he would never cheat. But the image of Jason’s face flashing before his eyes looked disappointed.
A chilling thought surfaced from the turbulence in Tae Hyun’s mind. Had Ren seen it yet? Of course, he had. He always had his nose in his phone, obsessively scrolling through his feeds. But, how had he taken the news? Tae Hyun could weather a storm like this, but Ren didn’t have the same industry armor that Tae Hyun had built over the years.Sweet Beastwas finally gaining momentum after Ren’s coming out scandal. Fans were embracing Ren’s music again, recognizing his talent. A second scandal, true or not, could derail everything he’d built.
A surge of anger flared, then focused. Tae Hyun had to find out who was behind this leak. He had to get his team on damage control. And most importantly, he had to talk to Ren.
Tae Hyun shook his head, thrusting the phone back at YunSeo. “Call Vital, get them on this right now.” She nodded, swiping away the news story to pull up her contact list. He turned to Mina. “Where’s Ren?”
“He’s locked himself in his dressing room,” Mina grimly replied.
“What?” Tae Hyun’s anger flared again, a tightness building in his chest. “Shit. I’ll go talk to him.”
Panic and fury battled for dominance as he stormed toward Ren’s dressing room. He fell into a routine breathing exercise, hoping to calm himself before he reached Ren’s dressing room door. He’d be fine, he reasoned.K-starnever would’ve published that during hisXTCera for fear of earning KBR’s wrath. Or, maybe they would’ve. ButK-Starhad miscalculated this time. One call from Yun Seo, and Vital’s PR machine would gear up for battle.
Cowboy and Guru,Sweet Beast’s lead guitar and bass players, frantically hovered outside Ren’s door, shouting a chorus of worried pleas in Japanese Tae Hyun only half understood.
“Let me,” Tae Hyun said in Korean, hoping they would understand as he pushed between them. “I’ll talk to him.”
The two bandmates exchanged a skeptical glance but stepped back, giving him space.
Tae Hyun knocked on the door. “Ren?” He asked, deliberately calm. “It’s Tae Hyun. Let’s talk. We need to figure this out.”
“Go away!” Ren anxiously shouted. “You’ll only make things worse!”
Tae Hyun huffed. “Come on, Ren. We can’t hide from this. We need a plan.”
“No! I know everyone’s out there with you!” Ren’s voice lowered, heavy with shame. “I don’t want anyone to see me.”
Tae Hyun anxiously waved the others back. “It’s just me. Please, Ren. Let me in.”
The door clicked open, and Ren peered out, his face tear-stained, his eyes red and swollen. “Just you?”
Tae Hyun nodded, his outward calm masking his sudden desire to shove the door open before Ren changed his mind. Ren hesitated, then swung the door wide enough for Tae Hyun to slip inside before locking it again behind him.
The triumphant Ren from the stage was gone. His clothes were rumpled, his usually perfect makeup a streaked mess, and his shoulders shook with barely contained sobs. “I don’t know what happened,” he choked out, desperation in his bloodshot eyes. “How did they get those pictures?”
Tae Hyun quietly sighed. “That doesn’t matter right now.” He grabbed Ren’s dressing table chair and spun it around. “Sit.”
Ren’s brow furrowed in confusion, defiance sparking a fire in his gaze. “What do you mean it doesn’t–”
“I said, sit,” Tae Hyun firmly repeated, assuming the role of sunbae. He needed Ren focused, not spiraling into panic.
With a frustrated sigh, Ren finally sank into the chair. He opened his mouth to protest, but Tae Hyun held up a hand to silence him.
“Look, we’ll figure out how this happened. Vital is on it. But right now–” he paused, carefully choosing his words. “Right now, we need to deal with the fallout. The press will spin this any way they can. Our best chance is to get ahead of it.”
Tae Hyun wasn’t sure if he believed a word he was saying, but Ren looked so lost and vulnerable. Tae Hyun could worry about the truth, about the damage to his own reputation, later. His friend needed him now.
