Chapter 34:

"How dare him!" CL furiously whispered to herself, stomping back and forth on the floor in the dormitory in America. The conversation with Kangta still left her very upset, and while she knew that Kangta was deliberately mocking her to make her feel so, she still couldn't keep her temper from flaring up anyway.

Tae Yang was sitting on the chair, looking uncomfortably at Seungri. He had noticed that Seungri had not spoken a word ever since they came back from an unfruitful trip to SM Entertainment, and this kind of silence made Tae Yang worried even more.

What should they do now?

The next move will be very critical.

Tae Yang felt tempted to ask but, the current tension atmosphere made him hesitate. Tae Yang understood that everyone had a rough day today.

 But, he had to do this, for the sake of everyone.  

“What should they do now?” Tae Yang asked after many minutes of silence.

"We have to go back and demand some justice from that mean Kangta, obviously." CL snapped back defensively.

“How dare he say that rest of the 2NE1 members are wasting their time away in Korea!”

Seungri was ignoring the other two while he let out a frustrated sigh and rubbed at his temples, willing the headache to go away.

The conversation in SM Entertainment with Kangta, his meeting with Jong Hyun which led him to be hospitalised couldn't have been worse and to top it all off, instead of accomplishing what he set out for, more problems are created instead. It felt that everything he had done and went through were pointless.

To add on, what Kangta said about 2NE1 made Seungri realised with a jolt that he had been focusing on the future of YG Entertainment too much that he had failed to anticipate another situation right in front of his eyes.

Based on his memory, 2NE1’s contract is ending soon.

How long was CL in America?

How active are the rest of the 2NE1 members are in the Korean entertainment industry?

From what he had known, Dara have been active as an actress, being on variety shows and modelling for cosmetics and high fashion brands. Whereas for Minzy and Park Bom, they seemed to be rather inexistent in the Korean entertainment industry.

But,2NE1 was one of the top girl groups in the Korean entertainment industry….

Before Seungri could stop it, his brow naturally creased in confusion.

"CL, what happened that made 2NE1 in such a pathetic situation now?” Seungri asked, making CL stopped midway, confused brown eyes looking towards him.

"You don’t know?" CL asked, obviously hurt.

“Sorry…” Seungri replied apologetically. “I was away from the industry for quite some time….”

CL nodded her head understandingly as she let out a sigh and gripped the end of Tae Yang's chair.

“Everything began when Park Bom was involved in an investigation by the Korean police for drug smuggling through international mail.” CL said slowly, refusing to meet his Seungri’s gaze.

Seungri went white and stared at CL in horror. “Oh, dear, I never thought…” he gasped.

“No,” CL said hastily. “No, it’s not what you are thinking....”

CL swallowed drily, afraid of what was spilling from , but determined to go on anyway.

“Park Bom grew up in the United States before her debut and had dreams of becoming a soccer player. During one soccer match, she witnessed the death of a teammate on the field, after which she fell in a slump, with the extreme trauma and the depression that followed. For several years afterward, she received counselling and treatment, taking medication prescribed to her by a university hospital in the States.

After that incident, Park Bom was unable to continue soccer, and that was when she first came to Korea to audition for YG and eventually succeeded after 3 years of public auditions.

All these years, Park Bom has been continuously taken medication prescribed to her by an American university hospital. Due to a busy schedule, she was unable to return to the States for some time, and in the process of having her mother and grandmother receive the medications through post for her, it was stopped at customs, as amphetamines are banned in Korea.

Thankfully, the hospital provided medical records and prescriptions for the investigation, and the case was wrapped up with no further issues.”

Seungri’s face contorted miserably as he appeared to digest all the information.

“Since there are no further issues, why is 2NE1 still in such a pathetic situation? This did not quite make sense…”

At this CL looked away completely, refusing to meet his Seungri’s gaze."

"It’s complicated," Tae Yang grimaced,” The general public did not take well to this news, accusing Park Bom of abusing her celebrity status. At that time, 2NE1 was supposed to prepare for their America debut. But, because this incident, everything came to a halt.”

CL nodded solemnly. "Yes, exactly….” CL trailed off, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

“While everything came to a halt, I’m lucky enough to be able to have a chance to pursue a solo debut in America and as time goes by, it leads to what happened to 2NE1 now….”

Seungri shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. His headache coming back to him again. Too much had happened in such a short space of time.

Seungri looked away from CL and up towards the ceiling, sitting in silence, lost in his own thoughts when CL’s phone rang, making him jump.

Who would call at this late hour?

Seungri watched as CL’s expression changed to rigid look of shock. There was no doubt that there will be even more bad news coming ahead.

Few minutes later, CL hung up the phone, her face looking quite pale.

“Minzy decided to quit and President YG told us to come back to Korea…”

Credit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNQuDL7fdes

https://www.dramafever.com/es/news/the-truth-behind-2ne1s-park-boms-drug-scandal-/%7B%5B%7Bnotification.object.url%7D%5D%7D