School violence in the idol industry always causes a scandal and there is no real solution to this serious problem. The information revealed about the incidents that have occurred is usually true.

If an idol is accused of harassing or committing physical violence against someone, then his/her career is over. I have never seen other effective solutions for the public other than quitting the entertainment industry and going to do their military service.

But, is it a coincidence that the very participant who has been accused of this is a member of my team?

"...Let's check first."

I clicked on the post to read the full story. The article continued to be filled with more comments from netizens.

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I write this because I feel like I'm going to die.

"Idol Corporation - Reincorporated!" contestant Lee SeJin, who goes by the nickname Keun SeJin, harassed people during his high school years.

I couldn't sleep because I felt he was so unfair and I cried when I saw all the posts and comments on the internet that make him look like he was a good model student who even ran to be the student council president at our high school.

Lee SeJin has been drinking and smoking all three years of high school, he hung out with his group of friends and bullied us while he pretended to be nice.

...

------

The lengthy article insisted that SeJin had been a violent stalker. He recounted in detail every act of bullying his fellow students received from him. After reading it, I could feel that the article was very persuasive.

"This does not appear to be an unbelievable rumour."

Whether real or not, it was written for a purpose.

He even attached some photos at the bottom of the article.

One was from the post author's high school graduation album and the other was a photo of SeJin with a cigarette between his fingers.

Below the photo was another description.

----

I have many other photos. If you understand the situation even a little bit, quit now. I have nothing more to say, but I can't stand a boy like you becoming an idol.

----

"...Even if this accusation is not real, it is difficult to remove the label of 'bullying person' from an innocent person, but the writer of the article even uploaded these photos."

That's like a death sentence for a contestant on the survival show and a huge blow to our team.

If SeJin were to survive, you can imagine the kind of edition we will receive; if he quit, then it would be hell for my team because we would have to re-practice everything from distributing singing parts to choreography.

-...

I sighed and shook my head.

"I must confirm."

I just read the article.

There was a heavy silence.

No one asked what was going on.

"Looks like everyone is reading it too."

Keun SeJin leaned down and rested his forehead on his phone screen without saying a word.

-Are you the one in that photo?

-I don't know.

SeJin muttered with a confused tone.

-I've never had a picture like that taken...

But he can't be sure, so I asked him again.

-Did you smoke?

-Wait, I did it when I was in 1st year of high school... I tried it when I was at work... But after trying it, I never did it again. In fact, why the hell do they think I would do it at school...?

SeJin responded with his loudest and most intense voice until he trailed off because he got too agitated and seemed to be choking. Then he looked at his phone again.

"He's reading the comments."

It was obvious that it made him feel much worse. Gold 1 noticed the situation and quickly intervened.

-Hey, don't see that. Turn off your cell phone, turn it off.

-I have to read to know what to answer. But... Yes, I'm done.

SeJin dropped the phone from him. His hands were shaking.

-Actually, I don't think they're going to believe what I tell them. I did smoke, but I never took a photo of that. If I say that everything in the article, except the cigarettes, is a lie... I don't think it's very convincing.

As he spoke, SeJin gradually calmed down.

No, instead of calming down... he was giving up.

-Will people not believe in you?

–...

It seemed difficult to refute the article due to the attached photos.

Other than that, that article wanted to unfairly embarrass SeJin. The behavior described in the accusation was quite different from what he normally shows us

"Knowing his personality...I don't think he's ever gotten into trouble."

It's possible that someone is manipulating the situation from behind the scenes to make him look like a stalker and watch him suffer, because SeJin isn't even the type to talk behind your back.

But this is just speculation. We haven't known each other for a long time, so I can't jump to conclusions. Human beings have many facets.

He may be like the typical boss who acts like crap when his employees make mistakes, but he's a trustworthy father to his son.

-...

After thinking for a while, I turned my phone back on and started reading the indictment from the beginning.

Meanwhile, SeJin and our companions began to fight against despair and sadness because he muttered under his breath.

-I... will resign tomorrow.

-...!!

-Hey, wait a minute.

-C-c-calm down, y-you have to think...

-I've done enough. It is true that I smoked... If I continue here, the controversy will only increase more.

Sejin seemed to be trying to clear his voice.

-After things calm down a bit, I'll try to explain it well... I think it will be possible for me to debut in about a year.

-...

SeJin always had a habit of forgetting the bad, giving up and getting over it. When he said that, the guys couldn't refute it, but I answered him while he was still looking at my phone.

-I don't think that's a very good idea.

-Why?

-The person who published this article wrote: "If you understand the situation, resign now." If you resign, then you will agree with him and the public will take it as a foregone conclusion.

I know I shouldn't care so much, but when I said those words, SeJin's anger seemed to rise.

-Enough. You'll only make me feel bad. Even if you oppose this situation, the result will be the same.

-But it is important to have evidence to refute that accusation.

-What?

I showed the enlarged photo of the post to SeJin on my phone, it was the photo where he was supposedly smoking.

-It's a photo altered in Photoshop.

-...!!

His eyes almost popped out after hearing me. I hope he stops being surprised.

If he had thought about it calmly, he would have guessed it was an edited photo, but I guess he couldn't because he was scared.

I handed him my phone and pointed to an obvious mistake in the image on the screen with my index finger.

First, I indicated the error in the hand holding the cigarette.

-Here, if you zoom in on a drawing program... you'll see that the pixels are a bit fuzzy. I think that's because the quality was lowered on purpose, but there are still other errors.

Then I pointed to the cigarette.

-The cigarette alone does not match the brightness. For the exposure value of this photo, it should be brighter than this, but it looks flat in color and less white, though the error isn't too noticeable if you view the photo at a reduced size on your phone.

It was an easy mistake for photo editing beginners to make when adding white objects to photos. It is true that the white stands out, but it is not consistent with the exposure value of the rest of the photo, so you can see that it is something that was not originally in the photo.

My phone's visual performance was so poor that it couldn't display all the details of each pixel, but there was no problem confirming it this way.

"...I never thought that it would be very useful for me to have learned to correct photos when I worked as a photographer."

I briefly recalled my past when I received an additional fee and granted a request like

"Please erase that kind of pattern on my bias's clothes ㅜㅜ"

-H-how do you know that? Are you sure?

-Yes.

SeJin looked at my phone without saying another word. When I thought I saw a glimmer of hope in his eyes, Gold 1 cried out.

-Hey! Posts an explanation right away! Say it was an edited photo!

-Y-yes... It's true! Y-you have to...

-No, wait.

Since they were nice guys, they didn't seem to know how malicious the internet can be or how it works, so I explained bluntly.

-Just as I've researched it, I'm sure some of your fans have too, and realized it's an edited photo.

-Oh!

-Th-then we'll wait till-till his fans...

-No, what I mean is... The public won't believe them because it's fun to swear even though it's obviously an altered photo. If his fans defend him with this argument, then people will think it's sarcasm.

-Oh.

Before the atmosphere in the room is ruined again, I need to add an additional explanation right away.

-That's why you have to find it.

-Eh?

-Find the original photo. If you upload it, then no one will be able to refute that your photo was edited.

Seeing the photo, it seemed as if SeJin was looking into your eyes, it was obvious that he knew that he was going to be photographed and he posed looking at the camera. If so, it is likely that one of his acquaintances was the photographer.

"But in this situation, it is dangerous for him to contact his friends and acquaintances from that time."

Perhaps that post was uploaded by one of his acquaintances.

"Considering that the person who posted the allegation confidently edited the photo, he seems to be convinced that not many people have the original photo..."

No, wait. I don't think it's the fault of someone you know because it would be easy to find out who he was.

"Hmm, but..."

Deep in thought, I asked SeJin.

-When other people take photos of you, do you tend to save them on your phone?

-Usually, yes.

-Well then... why don't we take a look at albums where you've been photographed at events or gatherings?

If SeJin has been cut out of a group photo to change the background and he looks for a supposed original photo where he is alone with that same background, then he will not be able to find the real photo.

-MoonDae-ya, what the hell are you doing here? You're actually an employee of the NIS, right?

-No way.

NT: NIS, National Intelligence Service or National Intelligence Service of South Korea, you could say it's like the CIA of the United States.

I quickly denied the nonsense Gold 1 came up with.

The boys approached SeJin to search for the original photo.

-Look at the photos, but not the ones of him alone. They may have cropped the photo of him and enlarged it.

-Okay.

Keun SeJin's voice had barely recovered his usual tone, even so he nodded and soon opened the gallery of his phone so we could all search together.

And we had a painfully long search time.

How many photos did this guy take? He had too many photos taken when he was in high school. Half an hour had passed and we still hadn't finished going through all the photos of him when he was in 1st year of high school.

-Se-SeJin, you have too many friends.

-Haha.

Seon AhHyun muttered in a tired voice and SeJin could only let out an embarrassed laugh before continuing to view more photos.

And when we start to see the first photos taken in his 2nd year of high school...

-Hyung, that photo!

-...!

RaeBin pointed a finger at a photo of her and SeJin quickly flipped through it.

It was a photo of five or six people together and smiling at the camera. There were several photos before and after that photo, taken in the same place, just in different poses.

Keun SeJin was a little far away, almost in the corner of the photo, but when we enlarged the photo to see it, it was clearly visible that this was the original photo because it was the same pose as he had in the attached photo in the article.

-Haaah.

SeJin bowed his head and let out a long sigh of relief. He then muttered in a somewhat dejected voice.

-It's a photo that was taken of me when I was campaigning for student president.

-Hmm.

Come to think of it, the article writer mentioned something about SeJin running for student council president. We do not know the identity of the writer of the accusation, but everything indicates that he must have been someone who was quite close to SeJin.

"I should have told SeJin to look for photos from the time he was running."

But we found it anyway, so that's enough.

-Huh...

SeJin stretched now that the tension had eased. I leaned my head against the wall behind his bed. I also felt more relaxed, I might get teased about it, but I don't care at the moment.

-I'm glad it was in my photo album.

-Yes.

I nodded because I also felt the same. Gold 1, who was sitting next to him, also spoke animatedly to him.

-Right! You're a trainee at an agency, right? Send this proof photo to your agency so they can refute the article!

It was usual advice for this kind of situation. Since it's such a big deal, it would be best to formally document the evidence and have his agency vouch for it.

However, SeJin answered uncertainly.

-To my agency?

Keun SeJin rubbed the back of his neck with a mysterious expression.

-Hm...that's a bit...

-...?

It is the duty of an agency to confront and resolve this situation.

So why is he hesitating?