Become a Star
chapter-41

On internet forums, when a main topic is being discussed, there is bound to be subtopics. After the photos and videos taken at the cafe by Woo-Hee’s classmates had been uploaded to the internet, Woo-Jin's younger sister became one of the topics of interest among Woo-Jin’s fans.

<I’m the member whose sister is in the same class as Genie’s younger sister. A lot of people have been messaging me to ask for more details, hence, I decided to make an official post.

According to my sister, Genie’s sister is very good at academics, and she is fairly well-known for being very pretty, but she herself is unaware of that. She doesn’t dress up much because she’s so focused on her studies, and because of her aloof personality, she brushes it off casually when others compliment her.

She talks about her brother from time to time, and as it turns out, she has been talking about Genie. She mentioned that her brother would make her anything that she wanted to eat, and that he recently started playing the piano for her as well. Her ringtone, Für Elise, was played and recorded by Genie himself. Yesterday, she was running late in the morning and was about to leave in a hurry, but Genie stopped her and brushed her hair for her before tying it up.

Of course, my sister didn’t hear these stories directly from Genie’s sister; she either overheard it when Genie’s sister was talking to her friends or her other friends told her. My sister is not a member of Wish Baragi, but she is a fan of Genie. ^^;;

Also, I received a message from the admins that we shouldn’t drag Genie’s younger sister into this matter, just like how we’re not dragging Mr. Kang and Fashion Coordinator Hwang into it. I will inform my sister about it.>

- Whoa, that’s amazing!!!!

- Genie is just so thoughtful. I’m just going to continue being his big fan.

- There was once when Manager Kang posted a picture of a sandwich that Genie’s sister had made for him. I guess his family takes turns to do nice things for each other. Well, after seeing the video of the two siblings teasing each other at the cafe, I can tell that they have a very good relationship with one another.

└ I know, right?!! It’s so nice how they don’t act like siblings while resembling each other. After watching that video, I liked Genie even more.

- Barag friends, I don’t know if I should say this but we should refrain from talking about Genie’s younger sister. She’s just a normal person. If she’s a sophomore in high school, it means that she’s busy studying. We should be protecting her from distractions instead of causing trouble for her. Genie’s younger sister has to enter Korea University just like him!

└ Ah, I didn’t think about that. I heard that his sister isn’t interested in the entertainment industry, so it wouldn’t be good for her to have so much public exposure.

└ That’s true. We can’t do anything that will adversely affect Genie. From now on, let’s refrain from talking about his sister.

Hwang Yi-Young nodded with satisfaction as she read the posts on Wish Baragi’s Fancafe page.

“As expected, the original members are quick-witted and good at regulating the other members.”

Currently, there were two groups in Wish Baragi – the original members who had been there since the beginning, and the new members who have joined after the Fancafe was opened to the public. Initially, there was some unease about how the original members would treat the newcomers. People were afraid that the original members would be cold and unwelcoming, but on the contrary, they were patient and helped to keep the new members in check.

Strictly speaking, they were fans who had waited patiently for two years for someone who had not debuted. Furthermore, Genie had even vanished off the grid at some point in time. Arming themselves with patience, tenacity, and spite, they were well-aware of what they had to do to protect their beloved Genie.

At the same time, they also knew all too well the kind of damage that inconsiderate and thoughtless fans could do to their idols. Instead of being protective, they slowly taught the new members the mindset and attitude which they should have as fans, and skillfully manipulated the new members’ behavior and speech. Even though they didn’t show any mercy to members who were stubborn and tried to stir trouble, they were kind to new members who were clueless.

Instead of arrogantly ordering the new members around, they set the tone in a natural manner, firmly establishing the Fancafe’s identity. Their top priority right now is to become fans who will not obstruct Chae Woo-Jin’s path to success, as he was just starting out his career as an actor.

They wanted to collect information from the people around Woo-Jin while minimizing interference with his private life as they wanted to protect his privacy. Their motto was to be with Chae Woo-Jin for a long time and thus, they learnt to act with common sense. Considering that several of the original members of Wish Baragi were sasaeng fans back then, this was very unusual.

However, to someone who knows the backstory of the club, it would not be strange at all. Since they had experienced it firsthand as former sasaeng fans, they were well-aware of the damage that they could potentially bring to their beloved celebrities. It was also the result of repentance after realizing that being a sasaeng did nothing good for their celebrities. The realization that stemmed from regret that only the people who had lost their idol for two years could feel gave birth to fans who had common sense.

“Nevertheless, it’s not a bad thing to keep talking about Miss Woo-Hee.”

“Why?” Kang Ho-Soo, who was looking through the posts on the Fancafe page next to Hwang Yi-Young, felt awkward as he felt that the situation was vague.

“Mr. Woo-Jin is secretly a golden boy.”

“It’s not a secret though, everybody knows he’s a golden boy.”

“Exactly. He’s good-looking, smart, and good at acting. He also attended a prestigious university, he’s pretty much flawless. Some people even say that he’s not human.”

Hwang Yi-Young was rather blasé unlike Kang Ho-Soo, who was serious. After managing idols for so many years, she had seen pretty much everything. In comparison, this was nothing.

“That’s what the online trolls and people who feel inferior to him are saying, no?”

“If you let them be because they’re insignificant, Woo-Jin’s image will eventually become that way.”

As of now, Woo-Jin had only appeared in one movie and one photo shoot with a magazine. Even though he was not that well-known amongst the public yet, since his viewers had exceeded 10 million, the name ‘Woo-Jin’ as well as his photos were constantly appearing on TV shows. Woo-Jin was rapidly gaining exposure to people of all ages and genders.

Initially, they were only interested in Chae Woo-Jin as an actor, but gradually, other bits and pieces of information about him were bound to surface. In truth, there was almost nothing bad that was said about Chae Woo-Jin. Most of it pointed towards how perfect Chae Woo-Jin was as a human being to the point that it was almost unbelievable.

Even though it was a good thing, it was clear that it would cause some people to feel jealous. It would be a relief if it only ended in jealousy and nothing more, but the potential of online trolls and anti-fans coming out of the woodwork had to be taken into consideration. Woo-Jin’s fans were the ones who had to fight these internet trolls and anti-fans both online and offline on his behalf.

Right now, what was important was the loyalty of his fans, as well as his image as a celebrity. Chae Woo-Jin’s current image was that of a handsome, sexy and perfect man, who was good at acting. However, to his longtime fans who had known him since his trainee days and had memories about his past, Woo-Jin’s old image as a pure and innocent man remained in their minds. By incorporating innocence into the trivial recollection of his past, they looked at Woo-Jin in a positive light regardless of what he did.

On the other hand, when it came to the new fans, the image they had of Woo-Jin was only solidified through his movie and photos from the magazine photoshoot. They were still unsure of the image they wanted to portray him as. In the meantime, there had been people who were trying to taint his image by accusing Woo-Jin of being an inhuman person, especially after his editorial photos in Biltman.

After the success of Death Hill, the entertainment industry’s big players’ interest in Chae Woo-Jin rose, leading to quite a number of offers for roles in movies and dramas. However, the problem was that most of them were roles for gangsters. The image of him as loan shark A was so strong that the type of roles people wanted him to act in was still limited. Hence, Bilman’s offer to do a photo shoot for luxury products was an unexpected opportunity.

As expected, the photo shoot was extremely well-received by the public, and Chae Woo-Jin had finally created a classy image for himself. Immediately after, roles that were offered to Woo-Jin greatly increased in quality and variation. It now ranged from a CEO of a conglomerate to a mafia boss.

As such, problematic opinions of him began arising from unexpected places. Some said that because Chae Woo-Jin was too perfect, he acted like a jerk and lacked humanity. In particular, they brought up the behind-the-scenes video of the photo shoot and claimed that it showed Woo-Jin’s true self. They said that he was cocky for taking charge of the photo shoot and seemed to have been ordering Kwon Eun-Mi around, even though he was a rookie and she was more experienced than him. They criticized his noble and royalty-like arrogance, linking it back to his lack of humanity.

Even though they had a hunch of where these comments came from, it was not the right time to respond to them. They had to make the public aware of Woo-Jin’s humane and caring side as much as possible before other negative images of Woo-Jin appeared. For example, the image of him as a caring older brother who loved his sister would be a pretty good one. Besides, in Kang Ho-Soo’s opinion, Chae Woo-Jin did truly dote on his sister, so it was not exactly a lie.

“Hmm~ Is that so? By the way, is Woo-Jin really The Slipper Young Man?” Instead of answering Hwang Yi-Young’s question, Kang Ho-Soo smiled in response. It was an unspoken affirmation. Based on what she had already known, it had happened before Woo-Jin joined DS. This clearly meant that it was not a calculated good deed. But if they were not careful, they could be accused of manipulating the media.

Even though it had been a few months, the reason why The Slipper Young Man had become a trending topic was because of the story of the old man in the photo, who was photographed picking up waste paper, had surfaced.

The story of the old man who lived in a single room in the basement with his demented wife and young grandson had become known to the public, and kind samaritans had reached out to help. The public’s curiosity about ‘The Slipper Young Man’ increased. His one small act of kindness has snowballed and led to great results. Would people accept it if they found out that Chae Woo-Jin was ‘The Slipper Young Man’? Even Hwang Yi-Young would be doubtful if she didn’t know Woo-Jin in real life.

“In any case, we can’t even brag about something that we should be proud of because of those scumbags. I don’t know what we’re doing,” said Hwang Yi-Young as she smiled indignantly. Even though Hwang Yi-Young did not know much about management on the professional level, she felt that she had learnt many things after listening to Kang Ho-Soo’s explanation and observing his attitude.. As she used to manage idols in the past, she was well-versed in fighting against anti-fans.

How dare they attack my celebrity? Hwang Yi-Young picked up her phone without hesitation.

“Who are you calling out of the blue?”

“The president of Wish Baragi Fancafe.”

“You know each other?”

“As Chae Woo-Jin’s fashion coordinator, even if we don’t know each other, we should become acquainted.”

Unlike Kang Ho-Soo who only posted in the Fancafe, Hwang Yi-Young was the best when it came to promoting friendship and unity.

“President~!” As soon as the call was connected, Hwang Yi-Young called out to Ma Do-Hee affectionately. She was the admin and president of the Fancafe and she was younger than Hwang Yi-Young.

Upon hearing Hwang Yi-Young’s voice which was tinged with injustice and resentment, Ma Do-hee’s ear perked up immediately.

- What’s the matter, Fashion Coordinator Hwang!

“Here’s the thing, president!”

Hwang Yi-Young trembled in anger as she regurgitated the words that she had heard from Kang Ho-Soo earlier. As Hwang Yi-Young recounted the words out loud, she started getting riled up again. She would not have denied it if they had said that Woo-Jin was inflexible and stubborn. Hwang Yi-Young was baffled that people called Woo-Jin inhumane just because he was shy and couldn’t accurately judge his own worth.