Chapter 30 Chapter 30
On the afternoon of May 19th, in the YG PR department, nearly everyone in the PR department sat crammed together in a conference room. The clock on the wall had just passed two o'clock, and the pale light cast a shadow on the table. The atmosphere in the room was heavy.
It was as if even breathing had become heavy. The post was published in the early morning, when the PR department was unattended and the technical department had gone to bed early. By the time they reported it to higher levels, followed up, and deleted the post from the official website,
It was already approaching noon. This delay was enough to fuel a wave of discussion among fans who had stayed up late waiting for the show's rankings announcement.
Even though the photo was blurred, the fans who voted for the charts every day were already very familiar with that face—"Isn't that Lia's promotional photo?" "Huh? What's going on? Just showing off a close-up photo and starting to spread rumors?"
"Why are there more troublemakers trying to harm my baby?" "Are they deliberately sabotaging her because she's ranked high?" "I hope Lia doesn't get affected." "You bastard YG, delete this post!" ...
While there's no shortage of people who "believe Lia," there's also a significant number who believe the leak based solely on a blurred promotional photo. The saying "there's no smoke without fire" is once again cleverly applied to every piece of groundless news.
"Why wait three days? Can't they announce it now?" "Really? I'm almost hooked, and now you're doing this..." "Isn't this considered disqualification as an idol?" "Don't debut,
Anyway, they are not official artists." "Famous boy band, which famous boy band? Who can tell me the clues?" "This is better than the show, I want to watch more!" ... Good news doesn't spread, but bad news travels a thousand miles.
Before long, the related terms were on Naver's trending search list. —— #YG Female Trainee's Dating Revealed—— At this moment, the content of the program that had been painstakingly promoted was completely overshadowed by this short sentence.
Silence was as profound as substance. The head of the public relations department was a middle-aged man wearing glasses. He was constantly dealing with emergencies, and deep wrinkles formed between his brows. He pressed his temples and spoke in a low voice. "Have you called Baoheng?"
"Coming—" The glass door swung open, and Bao Heng walked quickly into the meeting room, nodding slightly. "Well, let's get started." The man glanced around, his gaze stopping on her. "What's the situation with the trainees?"
"Except for the program recording, she stayed in the dormitory the rest of the time and didn't go out." Bao Heng chose a corner to sit down and briefly reported, "I just saw her this morning. As far as I know, she is not in a relationship."
"As far as you know?" The man frowned again. "Now is not the time to speak based on feelings. The trainee's one-sided statement is unreliable. I want solid evidence."
"...Hmm." Bao Heng lowered his head in thought, then raised his eyes after a moment, "Could it be that another company is causing trouble? Several girl groups are going to debut in the second half of the year."
"That possibility can't be ruled out," the man nodded and looked to the other side. "What did the technical department say? Have they found the poster?"
"For now, I can only find the registered email address, which uses the most common public domain name. The IP address is not in China, probably using a proxy. The location shown is...Malaysia."
The report's voice gradually grew more cautious. The man's expression remained unchanged, but his gaze grew graver. He leaned back in his chair, his fingertips tapping on the table. The situation was more complex than expected.
If the poster could be successfully identified, the PR strategy could be more direct. But right now, even the most basic identity couldn't be confirmed. "How long will it take?" he asked gravely. "A conservative estimate is two or three days."
The conference room fell into another brief silence. "What's the current public opinion situation?"
"...Not good." Another person continued, "The fans' voice is relatively weak, but the topics led by passers-by and black fans spread faster and have already become a hot search." After saying that, he opened his mobile phone, clicked a few times, and handed it over.
The man glanced at it briefly, snorted coldly, and didn't comment. "Should we contact Naver and have it removed from the trending search?" the subordinate asked tentatively. "Not yet." With limited budgets, we can't afford that right now.
He turned to Baoheng: "Baoheng, please bring the trainee here tomorrow morning so I can talk to her in person." "Okay, I'll arrange it." * As if worried that the storm was not exciting enough, another post appeared in the early morning of the next day.
The ID had changed, but the title, tone, and layout were identical to the day before—as if a complete script had been prepared long ago, just waiting to be released in sequence. This time, the photo posted was a blurry but even more devastating photo.
On the dimly lit streets of the early morning, two people walk side by side. The man's image has been heavily processed, leaving only a silhouette. The girl's silhouette is blurry, but upon closer inspection, it's easy to tell it's Lia.
She tilted her head slightly, looking at the person beside her. The distance between them was neither far nor close. There was no time stamp, no location. But those familiar with the terrain around YG Company could easily recognize it.
That's the alley next to the company building, leading to the main street. If the previous post was based on speculation, then the authenticity of this photo is questionable. The comment section was instantly flooded with comments.
This time, not many people were talking about "waiting for the real deal." The comments were filled with disappointment and attacks, all with a stern stamp of approval. "The trainees were already in a relationship before their debut?" "So who is the man? Why is it so heavily censored?"
"Stop recruiting trainees from overseas. They simply can't adapt to the local environment..." "Get out of the entertainment industry right away."
Occasionally there were a few calm comments, such as, "There's nothing intimate in the photo, right?", but they didn't cause any stir and were quickly drowned out by more emotional remarks.
The post could be deleted, but the echoes in the comments section continued to grow like weeds. Unable to suppress or muffle them, by the time the PR department reacted, public opinion had already spiraled out of control. * Lia stared at the screen.
It was the night she and G-Dragon went out to buy sashimi. "What's going on?" the PR director asked. Within two days, events had developed far beyond his expectations.
His voice was cold and calm, and his gaze was as if he were examining a commodity, devoid of any warmth. Bao Heng sat beside him, his face solemn. Lia's face was pale, her thin shoulders hidden in her oversized coat, like a string stretched to its limit.
"Who is the person next to you?" Seeing that she didn't answer, the man asked in a deep voice, "If you don't tell us now, we can only passively wait for the other party to be further exposed. By then, the situation will be irreversible." The air seemed to freeze for three seconds.
Her palms were clammy, and her coat clung to her back, feeling like it weighed a thousand pounds. Her pale face was reflected on the glass wall, like the only outlier in this farce—pushed onto the stage, with no right to defend herself. "It's Jiyong-sempai."
She spoke, her throat so dry she could barely utter a word. As her words fell, the air thickened, leaving only the low hum of the air conditioning vents. "Can you confirm the time and location of the shoot?"
"The night before the program's centralized management, near the office building... around one o'clock." She spoke slowly, as if she was straining to recall the details of that night. It hadn't been that long, but the memory seemed frozen.
"So, what is your relationship now?" Silence. The conference room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
"We're not in a relationship." She raised her head, her voice finally clear. "We worked in the recording studio until very late that day, and everyone was hungry. My senior happened to be there too, so we went downstairs to buy something to eat."
She paused. "Teddy and Kush were also at the company at the time." The man nodded and turned to the screen. "Enlarge the photo."
Her profile is vaguely discernible in the blurred pixels, while the thin man standing next to her in a black coat is thickly blurred.
"The photos released so far don't show any intimacy, but we're not sure if the other party has any other photos," the subordinate added, clicking his mouse. "Are you sure there's no other intimacy?" Lia remained silent.
What constitutes intimacy? Could the nature of the entire incident be determined by a few fleeting moments? She suddenly felt as if her usual standards had been completely overturned in this moment.
She was like a commodity, everyone could express their opinions and point fingers at her. Seeing her silence, the man frowned and looked at Baoheng: "What about the artist? Where is he now?" "Zhilong flew to Japan yesterday to record an album."
"Hmm..." He tapped the table, quickly formulating a plan. "First, let's stay cool regarding the media. Without concrete evidence, responding without authorization would only put us in a passive position."
"Contact the backstage staff to delete the major posts on several major forums. Also, find a way to remove the photos currently trending." "As for the artists, please cooperate with a unified statement and refrain from making any comments at this time."
Finally, he nodded his chin at Lia and looked at Bao Heng: "Continue filming her part of the show, but don't have any more solo shots for the time being." "Is it necessary to go this far?" Bao Heng hesitated.
"Well, she won't participate in interviews, won't record personal segments, and won't speak on her own initiative," he said calmly. "Stage preparations still need to be made. We'll communicate with the production team and ask them to do the post-production editing."
"If the situation stabilizes, we'll restore the weight as appropriate." Lia raised her eyes, taking in the other person's cold profile. She had become a bystander again, all decisions made by others. Even her dignity as a discarded child was being exploited to the bitter end.
Simple, straightforward, and utterly apathetic. She suddenly felt she had never been so lucid. * Less than two hours after the meeting ended, news arrived from the company's technical team.
"The account that posted the message is very difficult to track down, and the information was handled very cleanly." The subordinate's face was solemn. "There has been no significant breakthrough so far, and it has been handed over to the outsourced team for further analysis."
"Hmm..." The man frowned and leaned back in his chair. Just then, a call came in—it was the contact person for the "Project A" production team.
The other party's tone was a little hesitant. "We've received a private message on the official program account... Would you like to take a look?" The message quickly reached Bao Heng. A few minutes later, Lia was brought back to the conference room.
After stepping into this space twice in just one day, she suddenly had a strange illusion - as if she was some big shot who needed such a big fuss from the entire company.
The large screen displayed a private message forwarded by a contact. It contained only a short line:
"Lia, if you can see this, I'm sorry. It's not your fault. I'm sorry for secretly taking the photos that day and deceiving G-Dragon by not deleting them." Lia didn't say anything. She stared at the words, her eyes fixed on them.
She knew who it was. No analysis or inference was needed. She remembered that face—the night, the shadows, the alleyway, those eyes flashing with panic yet persistence. It was etched in her mind. But she had assumed their paths would never cross again.
The result was this: "The account has been locked," said the person in charge of the technical team. "Because of time constraints, we used some measures."
Compared with the whistleblower account, the account that sent private messages had almost no concealment, and the login records and device information were quickly traced.
"There are other photos stored in the private album of the logged-in device, which I presume will be used in the subsequent revelations—" Several pictures appeared on the big screen. They were taken at the same time, again of her and Kwon Ji-yong.
The action only seemed more intimate. He lowered his head to look at her and gently touched her head. "You are truly worthy of being our Lia." She remembered him saying this, his tone tinged with pride and a smile.
"The device has a record of logging in from a different location. Initially, we determined that someone stole the photos and posted them anonymously. We have identified the person who leaked the photos and will issue a formal warning to them for illegally disseminating unauthorized portrait material."
"In addition, the outsourcing team is also tracking down the identity of the image theft party through remote login records. The results should be out soon." Lia looked at the screen, the reporter's voice echoing in her ears.
The entire conference room was like a sealed can. She was inside, conscious but struggling to breathe, as if the oxygen was being sucked out bit by bit.
Everything seemed to be resolved satisfactorily—the perpetrator was found, the photos were intercepted, and the company began public relations. But the incident had already happened—it was seen, discussed, and misunderstood.
"Zhilong has changed his flight ticket and plans to come back early," Baoheng said. "He's expected to arrive tomorrow morning. Should we tell him not to rush?"
"Yeah. If the photo is intercepted successfully, there won't be any major problems afterwards." The man answered calmly, "He doesn't need to come back, just deal with it calmly." "Okay." Lia stood up, and Baoheng subconsciously supported her arm.
She nodded gently, indicating that she was fine. "I'm going to the bathroom." She walked out of the meeting room quietly, her steps seeming to be treading on air, erratic. The hallway was brightly lit, but her vision was gray.
Everything before her eyes was clearly happening, yet it felt absurd. Not because the photo existed, but because there were so many moments in this world where, before she could even confirm it, it had already become evidence in someone else's hands. She hadn't done anything.
But she couldn't explain anything.
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