𝑫𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅𝒔

Plagiarism

•Yixing’s POV
My album was released at the beginning of this month. It did very well on charts making me a top soloist in the industry. But all that went in vain when I read today’s news. Someone claimed that I plagiarized their songs for my album. I was broken mentally into pieces when I saw it. All my efforts of 2 months, late night recording and rehearsals, everything went in vain when somebody accused me. All the praises and appreciations I got for my album and songs turned into insults and taunts in no time. Some haters started trending hash-tags and news websites started publishing articles on me with misleading titles. I could see everything falling apart. I felt even miserable when there were comments under my posts saying that I’m a problematic member, many people accusing me because of my nationality, doubting my loyalty towards the group and fans.
Suddenly, I got a call. It was Sehun. I picked up the call and tried to stiffen my voice so that it won’t sound like I am having a hard time.
"Hello....." I said.
"Hyung, where are you?" He asked in a hurry.
"Why? I'm in my studio." I pretended as if I had no idea what was happening or as if I don't care whatever happens.
"Hyung, don't go anywhere. We are coming there." He said and disconnected the call. What does he mean by we are coming? Are they all coming here?
He told me not to go anywhere. Don’t worry Sehun-ah, I won’t run away from these haters. I did nothing wrong, I’ll stand strong.
I checked YouTube to check who’s exactly the one who falsely accused me. There were many videos on YouTube about that person. I was surprised by how fast this spread all over.
It was a 20 year old guy. He didn’t show his face while singing. I researched about the songs. My songs were posted by him a day ago before their official release.
There was a video of him on the channel with a face cropped where he was saying he doesn’t know how I stole his songs but those songs are all his. All this is a big lie. I need to search for this guy.
I listened to the songs of his version. I realized that his versions are lower key than mine. The more and more I was listening to his versions, I realized that there are some differences. And those differences are the changes that I made in the last few days. This is surely someone from the company.
Suddenly, the door flung open and Sehun, Chanyeol, Jongdae and Kai came inside.
‘’Hyung.’’ All of them said in unison.
‘’Are you okay….’’ Sehun said.
And I just smiled as if nothing happened.
‘’Hyung, don’t worry. We’ll find that guy and make him apologize.’’ Chanyeol said as they all hugged me.
"Y'all, don't worry. I know how to handle this." I said to them as my phone rang. It was my manager.
"Lay...." He calls me Lay when it's something serious.
"Yes hyung?"
"Come to the main SM building. CEO-nim wants to talk to you." He said.
"Yes, Hyung. I'll be right there." I said as he disconnected the call.
"What happened?" Sehun asked.
"Actually, I'm called in the CEO office." I said. "So, I'll leave now. You all go for your schedules. Don't worry about me." I said grabbing my mask and jacket.
"Hyung, I don't have a schedule today. I'll come with you." Sehun said as he came behind me.
I don't want to bother him with this but I can't avoid him. The more and more I'll try to push them away from me, the more and more they'll worry about me.
We drove to the SM building.
"Sehun-ah, don't worry. I can handle this myself." I said as I left the car and entered the building.
I, straight, went towards the CEO office. Manager-hyung, was already there waiting for me.
"It's okay, Yixing-ah. We know you did nothing wrong." He said to me before we entered the office.
CEO-nim was going through his computer as we entered the office.
"Oh, Lay. You're here." He said with a bitter smile.
"Anyeonghaseyo, seonsaengnim." I said as I bowed to him.
"Sit." He asked me.
"Yes." I said as we both took our seats.
"Lay, now, let's get to the point straight way." He said clutching his hands together.
"Yes, seonsaengnim."
"Now, that the matter is hot and will be hot for a few more weeks, you should go on a hiatus. It will be good for you and your reputation." He said.
"But, seonsaengnim. I didn't plagiarise then why should I go on hiatus? I'm the one who's accused then why should I hide."
"It doesn't matter who's guilty. You are the one getting defamed. And till you stay on your hiatus, we'll find the person who spread this rumour. SM Protection Squad has already started their search. All you have to do is stay away from public. You can stay in your dorms or go to China for sometime." He suggested.
"No, I won't go to China. It will make me look like I'm running away. I'll stay in the dorms either ways." I said and then after some more discussion, I left that office.
______________________________________
For next few days, I stayed in the dorms without going out even once. Not even at night. I couldn't sleep at nights thinking what impression I'm creating on fans staying quiet on this matter. Whenever I checked any social media, there were people spreading even more rumours about me which stressed me out because I couldn't say anything against it to make myself clear. When the members found out that I'm stressing out myself because of what was happening on social medias, Sehun deleted all the social medias from my phone.
He said, 'Hyung, don't surround yourself from the negative energy of social media. Just watch drama series to spend your time. Play games with us.' In short, he was trying to distract me from social media.
Then, I tried spending my time watching TV Dramas, day dreaming and playing games with Sehun and Kai. But, they, too, had their busy schedules so couldn't spend much time with me.
A few more days, like two more weeks passed and I got a phone call from the SM Protection Squad Head.
"Hello. Lay Zhang speaking." I said.
"Hello Mr. Lay Zhang. I'm the Head Manager of SM Protection Squad. We would like to inform you that the person who plagiarise your songs has been found. He's in our custody now. I request you to come here at the SM Protection Squad office. Will you be able to come right now?" The man said in one breathe.
"Yes, yes. I would be their in 30 minutes." I said.
I grabbed my mask, took my car keys and rushed towards my car. I saw the daylight and breathed the outside air after a really long time.
I reached the office in 20 minutes and went straight to the Head Manager's office.
I entered the office and took my seat in front of the Head Manager. Without wasting much time, he just showed me a note that had information about the person who plagarized my songs.
It was a 20 year old boy named Lee Ju Hyeok. He was a highschool graduate from a art school. I was reading the information when the Head Manager said, "We have him right now in the custody. Though he told us everything about himself, he wants to talk to you."
"He wants to talk to me?" I asked him surprised.
"Yes. If you wish to, you can meet him." He added.
"Okay, I'll meet him." I said with confidence but deep inside I was hesitant. Who would be excited to meet a person who is probably your hater?
I went to the custody room and sat infront of him. He was looking down as he was ashamed to meet him.
For a long while, no one said anything. It was just the two of us sitting in that room. And after a few minutes, he spoke up.
"Hyung....." He's calling me 'Hyung'?
"Hyung, I'm really sorry. I'm really sorry." He said as tears rolled down his eyes while I didn't utter a single word. I was just looking at him, without saying anything.
"I...I needed money. I desparately needed money. So, I did it. I wanted to get my admission fixed in Seoul National University but they needed donation as my SAT scores weren't enough." He added.
"So, you did it for money?" I asked without any emotions in my words.
"No hyung. I did it for getting admitted. It wasn't only for money. Money was just a source. Don't misunderstand me, hyung." He said a little bit frustrated.
"Who was the one who gave you my songs demo?" I asked him.
"I don't know who exactly it was. I got a call from a public telephone booth saying that they'll give me money if I released those songs before the day of your solo. They emailed me the songs' demo version audio. But even though I released those songs they didn't give me any money. Not a single won." He said.
"You didn't bother to ask them who they were?" I asked him, again, without any emotion.
"I did. But they only said that they're from SM's management team." He said.
"Ok....." I said as I was about to get up and leave.
"Hyung, I'm really sorry. I'm really sorry. Please don't sue me. My future will be destroyed. Please don't sue me." He said as I left the room.
I was mixed with emotions. I couldn't digest the facts that someone from management team did this and a 20 year old guy did this for money and studying in SNU.
I went to the Head Manager again.
"He said that someone from management team gave him those songs. Is it true?" I asked calmly.
"Well, we actually aren't sure because both the sources that he received, that is, the phone call and the email and both from a public source." He said as I was listening to him. "But we tried to investigate a little bit about the company's management team." He added.
He, then showed me a notepad with another person's information.
"He is one of the company's ex-employee. The suspicious thing is he resigned a month before your album's release, without giving any proper reason. We tried to find him but we found out that he's missing since one month." He said.
"What? He's missing?" I asked.
"Yes. So we tried contacting his aquantiances but there's only one person in his caller's list. We have contacted the person and called her here. She'll be arriving here in a few minutes." He said as I heard the door click.
"May I come in?" Said a known voice.
"Mirae-ssi....?" I was really shocked.

______________________________________
Hello, beautiful people. Here's your Loyaltoloey with a super late yet really long update.
Hope you enjoyed reading and must be wondering why Mirae is in there?
Please vote and comment. I'm waiting for your responses.