Become A Star

Chapter 61

However, the suspicions did not last long, thanks to the refuting statements posted in real-time along with the supporting evidence. Firstly, Do You Know Us? was aired on MBS, while Chae Woo-Jin's drama would be aired on SBC.  As MBS would be airing the first two episodes of their new drama on Wednesday and Thursday, the same days as City of Shadows, it didn't make any sense for MBS to promote Chae Woo-Jin's drama before their own. This logical argument put an end to the doubts regarding the publicity stunt.

Additionally, there was only one supermarket and convenience store in the studio's vicinity that was used as the drama set. However, the supermarket had closed at midnight, leaving the convenience store as their only option. Hence, people argued it wasn't unusual for Chae Woo-Jin to go to the convenience store at that time.

And most importantly, DS' CEO Jang felt very strongly against the idea of his artistes appearing in variety TV programs and prevented it from happening as much as possible. Nobody could deny the absurdity of him agreeing to let Chae Woo-Jin appear in a pilot episode of a TV program for the sake of promoting his drama.

The fans of DS' celebrities were well-aware of CEO Jang's aversion to variety TV programs. If Woo-Jin hadn't run into the old man, who had spilled the truth about the Slipper Young Man, they clearly wouldn't have been permitted to air the portion with Chae Woo-Jin in it, and the entire thing would have been edited out.

However, many people in this world tend to nitpick on every tiny detail. When claims that it was to create publicity for the drama were quashed, people started spreading rumors about the agency fabricating the Slipper Young Man incident to promote Chae Woo-Jin. This time, the photographer of the photo in question personally stepped forward and refuted the rumors. At that time, he hadn't even known who Chae Woo-Jin was. And he professed that such speculations about a photo that had been clearly taken with good intentions left him displeased. 

Under the circumstances where things had been a little overheated, a post that had been uploaded to the Chae Woo-Jin's Fancafe a while ago started trending belatedly. Posts dedicated to the process of finding similarities between the Slipper Young Man and Chae Woo-Jin, along with the evidence supporting the claims, provided a different kind of entertainment to people.

A photo where someone had superimposed pictures of the rear-views of the Slipper Young Man and Chae Woo-Jin also surfaced. The T-Shirt Chae Woo-Jin had worn on his way to the filming site of the movie was the same as the one he had worn to the post-production get-together at Busan, which incidentally, had also been the same T-shirt that the Slipper Young Man had worn. The dark blue paint stain at the end of the left sleeve looked exactly the same in all the photos.

Chae Woo-Jin's fans had also found photos of his hairstyle at that time, which matched the young man's hairstyle in the photo. Additionally, photos of him wearing the same sneakers he had given the old man were also found. Also, there was plenty of evidence to prove that the drawing of the cat on the suitcase was very similar to the cat that Woo-Jin had recently been reunited with.

This overwhelming evidence that did not miss a single detail had only been kept within the community before this incident happened. Also, if the fans had voluntarily collected all the evidence on their own accord, the prevailing opinion was that both Chae Woo-Jin and the agency had no intention of making it public. It was obvious that if they truly wanted to use all the information to create publicity for Chae Woo-Jin, they would have revealed everything back when the Slipper Young Man was the talk of the town. In fact, it would have been more natural if they had revealed it back then, as the number of coincidences this time made it seem even more unnatural.

It might sound ridiculous to argue that something so unnatural had served as evidence to prove Woo-Jin's innocence, but if this had been a script written by someone, it would be too contrived and ridiculously childish. He hadn't done anything terrible, and being the protagonist in a moving tale that had once stirred the public was definitely a good thing for Chae Woo-Jin. They could do nothing about the people who insisted on twisting it into something horrible, but most people rejoiced after learning about the coincidental story.