Younger Man at Work (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 169

— K-pop rising star ‘Wonha’s scandalous misstep

— Confession from the woman he spent the night with

— “Wonha loves biting”

As soon as the news broke in Japan, the fire quickly spread to Korea.

Korean media, while maintaining at least a minimal sense of decorum and refraining from directly breaking the story like Japan’s tabloids, felt no hesitation now that the other side had done it first. Hiding behind the guise of “quoted reporting,” they raced to republish the Japanese reports in Korea.

This backfired spectacularly on the agency, which had poured astronomical sums into promoting Wonha. Though his actual popularity wasn’t particularly strong, his recognition was immense—his face plastered everywhere from subways to buses like visual pollution, his songs blasting nonstop, so even people uninterested in him knew his face and voice.

Had it been an unknown celebrity, maybe it wouldn’t have caused such an uproar—but a singer this famous getting embroiled in a scandal overseas inevitably triggered a massive uproar.

Japan’s tabloid press, already disapproving of the K-pop craze, seized this golden opportunity and unleashed a barrage of coverage. Following the initial newspaper reports, notorious weekly magazines like “Shukan Bunshun” and “Friday,” infamous for their sensationalism, published follow-ups bordering on fiction, ensuring the scandal showed no signs of cooling down—even overshadowing news like the so-called “New Stars Tokyo Triumph,” where New Stars had supposedly electrified the Tokyo Dome.

While a consensual one-night stand between adults isn’t inherently wrong, it’s a different story when it involves an idol—especially one who did it overseas, right before a scheduled performance. His image suffered a fatal blow, and the fact that it happened in Japan specifically only fueled public outrage.

— “A brand-new rookie going overseas just for a one-night stand lol”

— “He’s got no popularity anyway—just single-handedly ruined K-pop’s reputation.”

Wonha’s fans were so embarrassed they couldn’t even hold their heads up. Though they’d always fiercely defended him no matter what, this incident was too serious—they couldn’t shield him this time. Their pent-up frustration exploded all at once, and fans collectively turned their backs on him.

— “We kept giving him chance after chance, and now he pulls this nonsense.”

— “Remember how he barely ranked 18th on Aften? We gritted our teeth and dragged him this far lololol”

↳ “Honestly having second thoughts now.”

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