“Um, Mundae...! We’re getting off now.”
“Ah.”
I got off the van behind Seon Ah hyun.
It’d already been days since that absurd popup about the System appeared—and still nothing had gone wrong.
Testar was handling their hectic comeback schedule so well they were literally collapsing into their food—and the response was great.
“Mundae, Mundae, you okay?”
“Yeah, no problem.”
Oh—I’d shared the mission-failed result with the others that same day. No one on stage suddenly switching bodies and fainting meant everyone felt a lot safer starting activities.
And... during that, the popup had announced I’d collected two System fragments:
[■■■ (ver. Beta) bound complete!]
[Owner : Player Park Mundae (Ryu Geon woo)]
That nonsense finally made sense.
‘Status window.’
In my status window now:
[Item : ■■■ (ver. Beta)]
Yes. An item entry had appeared at the bottom.
And in fact, that entry hadn’t existed—Keundal had manipulated the status window to add it.
I remembered our conversation back then.
—“Wha—?!”
At the news “System might come back,” he panicked, then calmed after my summary, “But there’s no response, it seems dead.”
Then he searched via the status window:
—“Uh... it looks like some kind of item?”
—“...??”
To our surprise, the fragment really had been “bound” to me.
It wasn’t that the System had latched onto me—it meant I owned it.
—“So it is the System.”
—“Hm... it feels like it, but it doesn’t give off a powerful or ominous vibe! Ah, I’ll make it visible!”
And it was added as an item entry.
Naturally I wondered,
‘...If it’s an item, can I use it?’
I even clicked once...
[‘Item : ■■■ (ver. Beta)’ use]
[Target : _______ ]
The instant that popup appeared, I closed it. Keundal screamed too.
‘Are you insane?’
Seeing a target selection box meant no escaping: it was definitely the System.
Who would I use it on? This was locked away forever.
‘Let’s just stash it.’
I dismissed the item popup and resumed monitoring while the others checked schedules.
“Manager, didn’t our group have a new Tnet variety show today?”
“Oh, that was postponed due to broadcasting issues and turned into a corporate event.”
“Understood!”
‘That variety show was sponsored so heavily by T1 that we only agreed for the deal.’
I planned to check feedback from other variety appearances and stage reactions.
Then I saw this popular post:
[Current Frenzy: SaiChart Shotter Photos]
“.......”
I clicked reflexively.
And there they were: photos I’d taken at the awards ceremony a few days ago.
------------------------==
Anonymous account suddenly dumped tons of photos without a word
But they’re so well shot... (photos)
Debate over whether they’re a photography major or veteran—but on any K-pop stan timeline, it’s a festival
(link)(link)(link)
------------------------==
‘Why is this blowing up?’
...A few days ago I’d finished the item talk and asked Keundal for permission:
—“Is it okay if I share these photos with fans? If you don’t want me to, I won’t!”
It didn’t seem like there’d be any problem.
Honestly, judging coldly, after not shooting for a while, they didn’t even look better than before.
‘He’s carried a camera into SaiChart shoots plenty of times.’
Besides, it wasn’t even his camera. I could do whatever I wanted.
—“As long as it’s anonymous, go for it.”
—“Okay!!”
That was yesterday.
And now... this was the result.
—“Crazy, this person’s back”
—“Is this the person who shot Youngrin’s fancam?”
—“OMG lol”
—“Did they used to be a job seeker?”
—“The Mundae bingsil cuts are amazing thank you”
“.......”
First... Keundal’s method. Normally, even if you don’t sell data, you trade with other artists or upload separately to each fan community. It’s rare to post every shot of every artist on one account—especially without any caption, just tags.
Of course Keundal must have thought,
—“Great, I’ll create an anonymous account and dump them all at once!”
...So this efficient, commonsense action inadvertently stirred up the idol community.
Ultimately, Keundal’s Youngrin shots ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) got compared with SaiChart’s Youngrin fancam, leading to comments like:
—“Whoa, this is the person who shot that legendary Youngrin fancam!”
—“Amazing... Youngrin must’ve recognized them”
And tales and curiosities about Youngrin remembering “that debut-era fancamer” dominated popular posts.
That only drew more attention to the account... it became a hot topic.
—“It’s like they captured Testar—what’s with the volume of photos? lol”
└ “Right? They must have shot every member, wow”
“.......”
Can you see it?
I reviewed my photos again. I still couldn’t tell what was so different.
‘Did I shoot too many?’
Checking Keundal’s status, it seemed I’d shot Testar especially heavily.
Of course Testar wasn’t the only subject.
—“Cheongryeo’s shots are amazing too, but why are there no stage cuts of Cheongryeo? So disappointing”
—“Surely they have them. If they’re editing, I hope they surface—Testar stage cuts and Cheongryeo stage cuts, please”
There were none. I’d been backstage during her performance.
‘...She did great, though.’
I remembered Cheongryeo opening her solo stage with a VTIC song as the intro. She’d cut it at just the right moment and carried it solo impressively.
It was practically a declaration:
‘She’s staging a full-fledged solo comeback.’
This year’s scene wouldn’t be easy either.
Still, Testar had kicked off their comeback so well that they wouldn’t lose momentum.
‘Let’s ride this wave.’
Anyway, after surveying the reaction overall, I let Keundal know.
[Huff— I’ll delete the account right now...!]
...That extreme?
‘No, it’s fine.’
That would stick out more. Better to let it pass as a funny incident.
‘As long as they don’t post more, it’s okay.’
[Nod....]
People’s interests move on quickly. This would be over in a moment.
I checked the responses again.
I was surprised no one outright accused me of selling data. Thanks to having created a separate account for uploading unsold fancams previously, attention had shifted there.
—“Minha is so pretty... thanks rbn Minha is the world’s best”
—“Hiseung’s acting is art, thx thx”
Anyway, it felt strange.
I’d sold off any shots that could make money. Normally, my photos only surfaced after the fan buyer selected and retouched them.
This direct reaction was a first.
‘...Not a bad feeling.’
I glanced at Keundal’s ‘gun4321’ account and, finding nothing else unusual, was about to finish my search.
Then—
“M-Mundae. That account... was that me?”
“...!”
I turned to see Seon Ah hyun wearing an expectant expression. What now?
“Um, were those the photos Mundae shot?”
How did she know?
“Oh—when the bodies switched.”
“I see...! Ah, I saw you doing the edits.”
“.......”
Come to think of it, she’d been on the couch working on them with her laptop. Anyone could have watched.
And Seon Ah hyun’s words attracted attention in the waiting room.
“Whoa, amazing~ These are yours, Mundae? You posted them online?”
“They’re so cool! That’s me and Cheong woo hyung!”
“...Mundae, you really have a knack for photography.”
The other members chimed in, each grabbing Seon Ah hyun’s phone so they could see.
‘Don’t you guys have phones?’
It looked like my phone was the group’s communal device.
Kim Rae bin’s eyes lit up.
“Uploading hobby shots separately... it’s like the ‘Byeolui Byeolgok’ account that used to post our arrangement works!”
Exactly. The difference was, no one could ever trace it back to me—physically I couldn’t shoot myself.
‘...? Come to think of it, it wasn’t even me who posted it.’
But without needing to say that, the chatter about photos started again.
“Should we film another travel reality show at the end of this promotion? It’d be fun if Mundae shot photos there. We could swap hobbies and try new things.”
“Ooh, sounds good! Maybe work part-time at an amusement park or something~”
“Great! I want to try that!”
Returning with a high-school concept had them chatting just like actual students.
Still, it was nice the nonstop grind hadn’t worn them out.
“Mundae hyung, what do you think?”
“...Amusement-park part-time gig sounds good.”
“Oh, Mundae, you’re so professional~”
I laughed, shook my head, and took back my phone.
‘Hmm, maybe I’ll shoot now and then.’
It was a nice change of pace.
And that day’s schedule ended without incident. Everyone happily headed back to the dorm, looking forward to over six hours of sleep.
“Tomorrow we just have to leave at 7:30.”
“Oh, nice.”
Agreed.
I quickly washed up, changed, and happily went to bed.
And after who knows how long—
“...Mundae!”
Hm?
“Park Mundae...!”
My alarm didn’t ring.
“Get up for a moment! This article...!!”
An article.
Instantly I shook off the last dregs of sleep and opened my eyes.
In the dark, Bae Sejin’s face was deathly pale as he held his smartphone.
What was he doing in my room... no, that wasn’t it.
“What article?”
“This.”
Bae Sejin thrust his phone at me. Reflexively, I noticed the time.
‘...6:00 a.m.’
Twenty minutes before my alarm was set to go off.
And it was just the right time for last night’s breaking news to make the headlines.
‘What is this?’
I immediately read the article title.
[(Breaking) Prosecutors request arrest warrant for T1 Ent CEO]
“...!”
“This isn’t our article, but... something’s off about the company.”
Having been harassed by our agency before, Bae Sejin must’ve felt the same unease seeing the headline.
“You’re the best at handling this sort of thing.”
“.......”
“Sorry for waking you.”
“No, it’s fine.”
He woke me exactly right.
I took the phone and started reading.
‘Please let it be embezzlement.’
If the CEO’s alone in some money-related scandal, that’d be the best outcome—nothing to do with us.
But unfortunately... no luck.
—“CEO Lee (58), arrested for violating the Political Funds Act, ...”
“.......”
Politics?
Right. Bae Sejin had reacted immediately after reading, so of course it involved politics.
‘Damn.’
I read on. It seemed the T1 Ent CEO had funneled money into some party in exchange for a promised legislative nomination.
And not just him—several others were arrested on similar charges.
“.......”
“What do you think?”
Wait.
“Hold on.”
I filtered some keywords and reset the date range.
‘Last three months.’
And the criterion... not T1 Ent, but “T1” as a whole.
I sorted by popularity and began scanning.
[T1 Foods violates Food Safety Act, MFDS issues corrective order]
[Tnet warned by KCC]
[T1 Running Courier and three others fined 5 billion won for port distribution collusion]
.......
Articles on various indictments and fines poured in over intervals of days. Even when multiple items appeared, “T1” was always highlighted in the title.
For a conglomerate, that frequency was absurd.
“.......”
I scrolled quickly. Bae Sejin ground his teeth.
“So the problem’s within T1 itself?”
“...You could say that.”
Frankly, Tnet’s shady dealings while expanding business weren’t new—every time there was trouble, they’d smother it with capital and connections like any big company.
But how had it suddenly exploded into headlines in recent months?
“Originally T1 was like this, but it seems those ‘enforcers’ have gotten stricter.”
“......!”
Bae Sejin swallowed hard.
“In that case....”
“Yes.”
I muttered grimly.
“There’s a presidential election this year, you know.”
“.......”
This was... political.
Damn.
‘T1 got targeted.’
I didn’t know for what, but in any case it was bad.
And the branch they were making an example of... the entertainment division.
‘Recent entertainment-related stories are topping the list.’
After scanning two months of records, I found the most frequent items:
[Tnet unfair-contract lawsuit]
[T1’s abuse... cast in tears]
[T1-1 Studio’s runs into censorship issues, “Content is crude”]
“Tnet.”
Meaning T1 Ent.
From broadcaster to production studio.
They were likely targeting the division where public image mattered most, for maximum impact.
What would the company do?
If they had to sacrifice something immediately...
‘...They’ll cut tails.’
They’d choose one of the most problematic divisions to either ditch or appease—whatever line they took.
But abandoning the broadcaster in entertainment would be insane. They’d keep the broadcaster at all costs and choose tails from subsidiaries...
Which would be obvious.
‘They’d sacrifice the production labels.’
The various agencies under T1 Ent as subsidiaries.
And a few days later...
The board members of T1 Stars, the agency to which Testar belonged, were arrested.
