Chapter Thirty-Nine: Second Chances





"Can you believe half of us are gone?" Nina asked during lunch, as we were all silent and stirring around in our noodles.

"It does feel hella empty in this dining hall," Briar replied while pointing at the room with her chopsticks. Only last week, this entire room had been filled. Now it felt even more empty than just half of us being gone.

Our table was filled with people, though. Allison and Hanbin were eating to my left. Flanked by Ricky, Matthew, and Zhang Hao. While Choonhae was sitting to my right, with Briar, Ara, and Nina filling the remaining seats.

The other tables were more spread out. Some trainees were eating in pairs of two's. Others were lounging at big tables by themselves.

"How's Lux?' I asked Choonhae. She got startled out of her thoughts and faced me. Briar and the others turned quiet, also interested in her reply.

"I went to see Hui yesterday, and he said she is still on bedrest for the day," Choonhae looked visibly sad. Having witnessed that entire thing must have been rough on the girl.

"It's a good thing Hannah let's her take her rest," Ara said. "But then again, Lux drives all those viewers to our live shows and content. If anyone gets more reprieve from the big boss I guess it must be her."

Hanbin snorted something under his breath as Keita approached the table simultaneously. He took a chair from one of the other tables and slid it between mine and Choonhae's seat.

"Hey guys," he stole a grape from my little fruit bowl I was keeping as a dessert and gave me a full-on mischievous smile, "what are you guys talking about?"

"Lux," Allison sighed. "Poor thing."

Hanbin let his arm fall over her seat, his fingers touching her shoulder.

"Yeah, I don't blame her for it. What she has gone through, I don't wish upon my worst enemy." Zhang Hao added.

Choonhae opened her mouth but closed it again before opening it again and deciding against it once more.

"What is it?" I laughed. "Just ask it, Choona!"

Choonhae turned red in the face before asking, "What is it Lux went through....exactly?"

You could hear a pin drop in the room as everyone remained stoically silent for a second.

"I mean," Choonhae quickly added, tripping over her words. "I know about Jinnie and what happened there and about the lawsuit... but I have not really followed all of it."

Oh, sweet summer child.

I opened my mouth to reply, but Allison beat me to it.

"You know about her band, right? Quasar?"

Choonhae nodded.

I repressed the urge to snort. Quasar had been bigger than BTS once upon a time. The biggest female K-pop group in the world.

"Well, at the height of their success, when Jinnie committed suicide, the company issued an investigation into the band and their manager. They discovered a lot of things..." Allison hesitated, and I knew why. It was a lot, and the Quasar case has been the worst of their kind ever in the industry.

"Abuse and malpractices, embezzlement by their manager Small Z and the leader of Quasar. They had this very toxic and abusive work environment for the members. Lux was the maknae of the group, and Jinnie was the second youngest and Lux's best friend. The knew each other since high school and signed up as trainees together once upon a time."

Choonhae turned stark white before uttering, "Why was Lux banned from the industry for years then?"

"You know how things go," Allison gave the girl a soft smile. "Things get turned around. People accused her of neglect and not speaking up. They blamed her for Jinnie's death. At one point, Lux was also accused of abuse, when in reality, it turned out she had been abused for years as well. Lux was brave enough to sue Park Hyuna, the Quasar leader, and Small Z. This led to another serious investigation. Until it got presided in court, the remaining Quasar members couldn't practice their profession."

"That's... that's crazy," Choonhae shuddered.

"She won the court case, obviously, and signed up for this competition only two months after the verdict was issued. I think it's courageous of her. Being cleared off all those charges must have been a tremendous relief."

"What happened to the leader and Small Z?" I asked because I wasn't sure about that part.

"They are serving time. I think nine years and fifteen years for malpractice, embezzlement, and involuntary manslaughter."

"Good riddance," I muttered, feeling the anger boiling within. Allison had not said the most gruesome details to little Choonhae, but I had read some stuff about this case that would make any horror movie look like a fairy tale.

Lux was a survivor; if anything, I hoped she would get that second chance at her dream. It had been taken from her, after all.

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