Descent of the Demon Master

side, you know?”

“Didn't you see his super-precise passing maneuver just now? Damn, man.
That's one hell of a driving.”

“I guess.”

Whatever the other road users were saying behind him, Kang Jin-Ho couldn't care any less at the moment.

Vrooooooom!

His eyes remained ablaze as he drove the car fast.
So fast, in fact, that even the lady in the satellite navigation sounded flustered and hurried as well!

“Kang…
Eun…
Yeong!”

***

“Miss Se-Ah?”

“Here I am!”

“Are you ready to blow the roof off the stage?”

’

Kang Eun-Yeong smiled brightly.
“Of course!”

The floor director smiled back at her.
“Okay.
We'll leave it to you, Miss Se-Ah! Since our stage is set in the outdoor environment, the acoustics might not be great, so please don't forget to check your in-ear monitor before going out there.”

“Okay! Please don't worry!” Kang Eun-Yeong maintained her good-natured smile while replying.

The smiling floor director exchanged a couple more pleasantries with her before exiting the backstage waiting room.

“…Eeeek!” Kang Eun-Yeong suddenly threw a cushion at the door after the floor director had left.
“Smiling like a snake and all!”

Obviously, she had already checked out the celebrity gossip section.

“Aaaaahk! That insane bastard really went and did it!”

Her mistake was following her older peers in the industry for a night out, which led to her run-in with that psycho.
After that unfortunate meeting, that slimy bastard tried to glue himself to her like a leech, saddling her with a massive headache.

Kang Eun-Yeong's trembling hands pulled out her phone from her bag.
She noticed all those missed calls from her agency, but those didn't worry her at the moment.

'Whew.
What a relief this is that orabeoni is in China right now…'

If her older brother got wind of this debacle, her fate would most likely be far worse than her hair getting pulled around as a punishment.
Maybe, just maybe! That insanely stiff-upper-lip older brother of hers might accuse her of being too superficial and pretentious for her age, then mow her hair off completely!

'B-before Oppa comes home, I gotta fix this situation somehow!'

Vrrrr~!

Kang Eun-Yeong's phone vibrated noisily, and she unhesitantly snatched it up.
“Hello?”

– Miss Se-Ah? How is your broadcast preparation going? I just heard that Byeong-Hoon is about to go up soon.

“Ah, yes.
I'm almost finished with my preparation.”

– Will you be okay? I mean, with all that nonsense happening right now, wouldn't a live broadcast be a bit too much to handle for you? If you're feeling unsure about this, it's okay to tell me, you know? We can always reschedule.

Kang Eun-Yeong hurriedly replied to the agency's section chief calling on her phone, “No, I'm fine, Chief! I can definitely do this! Besides, if I reschedule right now, people will start suspecting that something fishy is really happening in my life.
Anyway, are you finished preparing the press release?”

– Yes.
We're gearing up to release it as you do the live broadcast.
But, Se-Ah…
Are you sure about this?

“Yes, I am! I'm really okay.
Besides, that's not the problem right now, you know? Before my Oppa comes back from China, we must deal with the situation.
If we don't do that, it…
It'll really be my funeral, you know!” Kang Eun-Yeong replied as a hint of desperation crept into her voice.

– Ah, that.
Miss Se-Ah, there's something I must tell you about that, and…

Before the agency's section chief could finish, a loud voice from outside the room called out to Kang Eun-Yeong first.
“Miss Se-Ah! Please get ready!”

“Chief, I gotta go and do the broadcast now! I'll call you afterward.”

– W-wait! Miss Se-Ah?

Kang Eun-Yeong ended the call and quickly checked her in-ear monitor.
She still didn't forget to grumble, though.
“I had to work so hard to get this far, you know!”

She had to go through so much hardship in Starwiz to make her debut as an idol.
And she finally gained enough public awareness to get her career on a solid path.
No way in hell she would get herself down from a tiny little hurdle like this!

“Argh, that stupid stalker-like bastard…!”

A man should know when to gracefully bow out after the other party had expressed her lack of interest.
Indeed, one should know when to stop being so clingy before it became cringey!

’

Kang Eun-Yeong headed to the standby area just behind the stage and waited for the performers ahead of her in the queue to finish.
Once the current set was over, it would be her turn.
A few backup dancers coughed in slight nervousness, prompting the road manager to quickly rush up to them for a bout of a pep talk.
“Don't forget that this is a live broadcast! We can't afford to make a mistake! But that doesn't mean you should be too tense either!”

One of the dancers shot back.
“Are you telling us to get tense or not? Make up your mind, will ya?”

“All I'm saying is, keep your tension at a manageable level! Just enough that it won't affect your condition!”

Kang Eun-Yeong snorted quietly at that.
It had already been two years since her debut.
In other words, this was her third year in the entertainment circus already.
At this point, she wouldn’t get nervous about a live broadcast.

“It's starting! Everyone, go up to the stage!”

“Fighting!”

“Do your best, and don't make mistakes!” Kang Eun-Yeong also threw out a pep talk of her own to the dancers while running up to the stage.
The camera lights hadn't been turned on yet, but her entrance caused loud cheering to explode forth from everywhere.

'It'd been nicer if this was an indoor arena…'

In an indoor arena, spotlights would have prevented her from getting a good look at the audience.
But an outdoor arena like this meant she could see some people in the audience whispering to each other about something as the spotlights flashed about.

Kang Eun-Yeong's emotions threatened to rear their heads, but she bit her lower lip to stop herself.
A person was bound to run into many headwinds during their life.
Falling on their knees and crying like a baby every time that happened wouldn't help them grow and mature.
That was what Kang Jin-Ho had told her, and those words were now Kang Eun-Yeong's life motto.

'You think I'd falter from something like that?'

Her song's prelude section began, and Kang Eun-Yeong elegantly gripped her mic while slowly getting into the rhythm of the song.
Once she perfectly pulled off this performance and explained the truth about that phony scandal, people should soon forget about there being such a rumor and move on.
That was why…

Shudder…!

That was when Kang Eun-Yeong's figure stopped performing her practiced dance moves and began to shiver as if a bolt of lightning had struck her.

'N-no, it can't be?'

She thought it was impossible.
No, that was what she wanted to believe.
Unfortunately for her, though, her eyes could clearly see the figure of a man in the audience slowly making his way toward the stage.

“N-no, wait…” Kang Eun-Yeong forgot that she was holding the mic when she muttered that.

She didn't want to believe it, but that man over there had to be her orabeoni, someone she had known for the past two decades.
Kang Jin-Ho and his emotionless face reached the front of the stage while he continued to stare at her in utter silence.

'I… I'm in the middle of a live broadcast, though…!'

However, she already knew—she knew which of these two options would cause greater damage to her career: one, messing up a single live broadcast or two, getting on her orabeoni's bad books.

Kang Jin-Ho raised his hand, then beckoned at her to come.
Kang Eun-Yeong's shoulder's slumped low, then she wordlessly hopped down the stage.

Kang Jin-Ho narrowed his eyes.
“Let's go.”

“…Yessir.”

Kang Eun-Yeong grabbed Kang Jin-Ho's extended hand.
He then pulled her along like a cow being dragged to an abattoir through the cheering crowd.

“W-what the…
F*cking hell?! What is she doing?!” the PD cried out before collapsing with bubbles in his mouth.

Meanwhile, the floor director could only shake her head in amazement.
“Well, what an unprecedented moment in broadcast history this is.”

Indeed, this spectacle would be recorded in Korea's history as one of the most shocking moments on live TV.