The Scum's Redemption Manual: Taekook
0 : The Scum Awakens
Night in Seoul was always noisy. But here—twenty-seven floors above it all—there was silence.
The kind of silence money buys. Cold, empty, uninterrupted.
A half-empty wine bottle lay sideways on the glass table, dark red liquid pooling like blood against the marble floor.
Kim Taehyung didn’t notice.
He was sprawled across his oversized leather armchair, still in the designer suit he wore to some afterparty he didn’t remember attending.
A phone blinked faintly nearby—
Unread texts from stylists, assistants, old hookups. None from anyone who mattered.
Not that anyone ever mattered.
💬 “Hyung, you good? You dipped from the party.”
💬 “Manager-nim says you missed the broadcast.”
💬 “You up? 👀”
No one said: “Are you okay?”
No one ever asked if Kim Taehyung—the shining star, the idol-turned-actor, the man with too many trophies and not enough real smiles—was fine.
Because he wasn’t supposed to be anything but beautiful.
He shifted slightly in his chair, glass still loose in his hand.
There was no pain. No drama. Just… fatigue. A tiredness that reached down to the bone.
This penthouse had a grand piano he never played, awards he never dusted, clothes he never wore.
And a heart he never used.
He had dated models, co-stars, producers—men, women, everyone in between.
But he never stayed. Never promised. Never tried.
Because promises turned into chains. And trying meant caring.
And caring meant getting hurt.
And Taehyung would rather die than feel that again.
He tilted his head back and looked at the ceiling. There was no God there. Just the empty hush of consequence.
He thought of no one.
Then, for a single breathless moment—
He thought of HIM
The kid with the wide eyes and a voice that could break stone.
The one person who looked at Taehyung like he was more than a name, more than a body, more than a brand.
The one Taehyung had broken, then walked away from like it meant nothing.
A sharp pain flickered in his chest—but he ignored it, like everything else.
Then the world... stilled.
No thunder. No sirens. No dramatic collapse.
Just a final, soft exhale.
And silence.
Kim Taehyung died the way he lived—quietly, selfishly, beautifully, alone.
System 001
Welcome, Subject #1323.
Your life has reached its end.
Autopsy complete. Cause of death: loneliness.
Taehyung
Loneliness?
That's not a damn cause of death.
System 001
Incorrect.
You were loved by many. Used by more.
But you—
You loved no one.
Not even him.
His fingers twitched at the mention. Him.
A name he hadn’t said in years. A face burned into his memory.
Taehyung
Don’t bring him into this.
System 001
Your file has been reviewed.
Status: Scum Shou.
Taehyung
What the hell is a “shou”?
Sounds like some cheap manga insult.
System 001
Scum Shou: A man who manipulates love without guilt.
Your karmic debt spans 7 broken love stories.
Your sentence:
Transmigrate and repair the damage you caused.
Taehyung laughed. Bitter. Cold.
Like someone had made a joke at his funeral.
Taehyung
You want me to play savior now?
I’m not some emotionally constipated drama lead.
System 001
Incorrect.
You’re the emotionally manipulative scum shou.
And the world has decided it’s payback time.
Taehyung
What if I just refuse?
System 001
Refusal acknowledged.
Proceeding with permanent deletion.
Everything around him flickered black.
Taehyung’s breath caught. Not because he was scared—no, fear was too human.
But because he realized something terrifying:
There would be no one left to even remember he existed.
System 001
...Acknowledged.
Consent to begin transmigration cycle confirmed.
Taehyung
Let me guess. I’ve got to make them fall in love again?
System 001
Incorrect.
Your objective is not to earn their love.
It’s to heal them.
Fix what your former self broke.
You are not allowed to fall in love.
The last line hit harder than it should have.
Taehyung
And what happens if I do?
System 001
You fail.
And they suffer again.
Would you like to proceed with this understanding?
Taehyung
Let’s get it over with.
System 001
Initializing World 001:
“Third-Rate Idol and His Billionaire Ex”
Time signature: 3 years after the breakup.
Target: Jeon Jungkook.
Status: Emotionally fractured.
Objective: Restore his belief in love.
Taehyung closed his eyes as a cold wind seemed to rush through his soul.
Memories he didn’t want, emotions he thought he buried—
came back sharper than ever.
The world blurred. A loading bar ticked up. 82%. 91%.
Taehyung took a shaky breath.
He never thought he'd see Jeon Jungkook again. Not like this. Not when it was too late to say—
System 001
Welcome to Mission One.
PLEASE DO NOT FALL IN LOVE
1.1
System 001
Initializing World 001: “Third-Rate Idol and His Billionaire Ex”...
Loading body profile...
Memory overwrite: Complete.
Taehyung gasped like he’d been dragged out of water. Cold sweat clung to his skin. His chest rose and fell too fast, too loud.
He was alive. Again.
But this wasn’t his body.
Taehyung
What the hell—
Where am I?
The cheap dorm ceiling stared back at him. Cracks in the plaster. A flickering LED light.
A far cry from the penthouse he'd died in.
He sat up—and immediately regretted it.
His back hurt. His throat was sore. He could still taste... ramen?
System 001
Welcome, Kim Taehyung.
Body Status: Washed-up idol. Career hanging by a thread.
You are now: Member #4 of rookie group “VENØM.”
Reputation: Internet scandal fodder.
Taehyung
VENOM?
That sounds like a knockoff villain group from a drama.
System 001
Objective: Restore emotional equilibrium of Jeon Jungkook.
Status: CEO of STARFORCE Entertainment. Cold. Calculated. Recently engaged.
Your former lover.
System 001
Correct. Engagement arranged to improve media optics.
Emotionally: He still resents you.
Taehyung let out a shaky laugh. It was bitter, but real.
So the game starts here. In this broken career, in this decaying dorm.
And somewhere out there—Jeon Jungkook was thriving. Powerful. Untouchable.
And he still hated Taehyung.
Good. That made two of them.
Taehyung
...What’s the catch this time?
System 001
Rule #1: Do not fall in love.
Rule #2: Do not reveal your true identity.
Rule #3: Repair the relationship from the outside.
Taehyung
Wait.
Before anything else—
System, give me his memories.
The old me.
I want to know what I did.
System 001
Warning: Request contains emotionally harmful data.
Proceed?
Taehyung
Proceed.
Show me everything.
[System Download Initiated]
[Importing: “World 001 – Record of Taehyung”]
[Loading memory log…]
[Do not resist mental upload. ]
At this moment, the System began streaming a vivid emotional record into Taehyung’s mind.
In this world, Taehyung debuted as a stunning but scandal-prone member of VENØM, a four-member idol group known more for their stylists than their skills.
Jungkook was already a golden boy trainee at STARFORCE, often referred to as a genius—reserved, polite, and devastatingly talented.
They met during joint label training, when Taehyung waltzed in late and barefoot to vocal warmups. Jungkook didn’t like him at first. He thought Taehyung was reckless. Taehyung thought Jungkook was boring.
Their rivalry turned into something magnetic. They were drawn to each other like gravity had picked sides.
In their second year, they started dating in secret. It wasn’t a whirlwind romance. It was quiet, deliberate, precious—built on whispered promises and late-night ramen in stairwells.
Jungkook gave his heart first.
Taehyung gave his name second.
The collapse began when VENØM debuted.
At first, he told himself he was doing it all for them—that every fake smile and shady PR move would someday benefit both of them.
But slowly, he started cutting corners.
Missing dates. Dodging texts. Flirting with fans, with hosts, with other idols.
And worst of all—using Jungkook’s feelings like currency in the industry.
Jungkook remained loyal. Even when the dating rumors made him a liability.
Even when Taehyung stood beside another idol in tabloid photos.
Even when Taehyung refused to publicly acknowledge him.
The final crack came two days after Jungkook’s CEO appointment.
There was supposed to be a celebration. Instead, Jungkook found Taehyung on the arm of a newly debuted soloist—in a hotel suite booked under STARFORCE’s PR team.
That night, Jungkook left without speaking. He returned to the company the next day with a new wardrobe, new tone, and a public engagement to a business heiress.
The old Jungkook was dead.
The new one smiled with teeth. And never again at Taehyung.
VENØM’s popularity tanked.
Sponsors dropped. Fans turned.
His scandals piled up—drunk livestreams, unpaid brand deals, fights caught on camera.
From rising star… to a cautionary tale.
Now, in this world’s present timeline, he was nothing more than a liability kept on contract because STARFORCE didn’t want a public lawsuit.
System 001
Summary of prior emotional damage:
→ Jungkook: Closed off. Emotionally unavailable.
→ You: Disgraced. Emotionally guilty.
Your mission:
Rebuild trust.
From scratch.
Without falling in love again.
Taehyung
…I don’t know what hurts more.
To face the boy he once broke—this might be a different world,
but his soul’s the same.
Or that I don’t even have the right to fix it the way I want.
And with that, the memory stream ended.
Taehyung sat frozen in the cheap dorm room
He was alive. But every cell in this borrowed body hummed with memory and guilt.
The original Taehyung had scorched this world like a fire with no exit plan. And now, he—the impostor, the replacement, the redeemed version—was left to walk through the ashes barefoot.
System 001
Physiological response detected:
→ Chest tightness
→ Muscle tension
→ Nausea
Taehyung
Call it what it is.
Guilt.
A cracked mirror leaned against the far wall. He stood up on shaky legs and stepped toward it. His reflection blinked back: soft jaw, pale skin, lip piercing slightly off-center.
It was him—but younger. Smaller. With too many chances left and none taken.
He touched the mirror like it might punch him back.
Taehyung
How the hell did I become that version of myself?
The dorm around him was crumbling—peeling paint, roaches probably hiding in the walls, an old trophy shelf with nothing but dust. The kind of place that smelled like instant noodles and stale ambition.
This body had lived a rough life, and it showed in the callouses on his hands, the hollowness under his eyes. Still, the memory file wouldn’t stop replaying.
Jungkook laughing in the back stairwell.
Taehyung kissing his temple between takes.
Their promises scribbled in trainee notebooks they’d burned when the cameras came too close.
Then Jungkook’s silence.
The engagement announcement.
The slow, steady dismantling of every ounce of affection that had once lit up his eyes when he said Taehyung’s name.
System 001
Time check: 07:43 A.M.
Press conference begins in 2 hours.
Taehyung
Right.
Back to pretending this is just a mission and not… a second chance I’ll never be allowed to call mine.
He didn’t know what was worse—facing Jungkook again or trying to fool him with a smile.
He doubted this Jungkook would even bother to look him in the eye.
A sudden noise echoed down the hall. Fast footsteps. Panic in their rhythm.
System 001
Incoming: Roommate/Group Member
Before he could even process that, the door to his dorm slammed open.
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