Episode: 20
“Ha, the weather's damn nice. Shit.”
As soon as we stepped out of Han Hye-eun's house, Da-young's first words were about the pleasantly shining sun.
Seeing that, I called a Taxi with a bewildered expression.
“Hey! Hey, hey!”
“Yes?”
“Are you doing this on purpose, or what? Do you want to put on a strip show right here?”
“Huh? What are you talking about? I wouldn't do that even if you held a knife to my throat.”
“What did you just say?”
“I wouldn’t even if you held a knife to my throat.”
“No, before that.”
“The weather's really clear?”
This shameless girl.
“Team Leader, are you okay? It’s not hot enough for heatstroke yet. Maybe you're hearing things.”
As she said that, she sneakily whispered in my ear.
“Here, you're the Team Leader, not the master, right?”
“……”
“When we're alone... when I’m getting punished, I’ll address you as Master.”
The foxy girl stretched with a grin.
“Ha! Oh, my back is stiff. Stress is completely gone, damn.”
“……”
At this point, it might not be just a matter of home education.
She has like three older brothers.
Maybe she’s been swearing since she was one year old.
‘Haa, I’ll fix it little by little, little by little.’
With the blessing of sex by my side.
Even though I spent all day with two women, I'm in decent shape.
But still, I couldn’t really just spend the whole day having sex again.
Sex is just a supplementary bonus.
The ultimate goal was to make the girl group I was raising the best in the world.
The glory and satisfaction that would come from that.
I wanted money and fame.
[Nobel asked playfully, “Hmm, is sex really your second priority?”]
I nodded.
“Yeah.”
[It seems like you’re serious.]
If I were in my early twenties, I might have been swayed by the fact that I could have my way with beautiful idols.
But now that I’m almost thirty.
I can control my sexual desires somewhat.
And I care more about honor and how others perceive me.
In the end, that’s what really matters, I guess.
‘Han Hye-eun didn’t say anything entirely wrong.’
Birds of a feather flock together.
When I graduated from high school and college, I had friends I thought would last a lifetime.
But the guy who got a good job at a major company ended up with different spending habits and values than me, so we stopped meeting.
And the guys who still haven’t found a job at 29 make me uncomfortable, so it’s hard to meet them.
‘It’s not like a low-level manager has any honor or glory to brag about to the kids.’
The best I could do was see a real celebrity a few more times up close compared to others.
But now it's different.
Including AM’s CEO Jung Soon-hyun, the people who have raised the world stars currently leading K-pop have indeed gained tremendous honor.
My goal was to become the best in this industry, just like them.
And I was confident I could achieve it.
With Eun Hee-ju and now Da-young as well.
Now, I had two of the best talents in my hands.
“This is where you'll be staying for a while.”
“Is there anyone else besides me inside?”
“There’s one person. She’s innocent and has been through a lot, so be kind to her. Let's go in. You two should get introduced to each other.”
“Alright.”
As I opened the door,
“Kyaaah! Shit!”
Da-young screamed.
Standing in the entrance was Eun Hee-ju, blinking her eyes blankly.
“Oh, welcome back, Team Leader.”
Phew.
Thank goodness.
Honestly, I had somewhat expected this from Eun Hee-ju, so I acted like it was nothing.
If it wasn’t for that, I might have let out a scream like Da-young did.
Then it’d be too embarrassing to keep working with these girls.
“She’s not a ghost, so calm down. Eun Hee-ju, just turned 20. She'll be working with you from now on, so take good care of her.”
“Ha, shit! That really scared me. Hmph.”
By now, Da-young had moved behind me and was clutching my back, trembling.
Seeing this, Eun Hee-ju spoke.
“Team Leader, are you sure that sister is okay?”
“Huh?”
“Didn’t you say that this industry isn’t easy? But with that filthy mouth and no guts, I don’t know if she can handle it. Ah, but I’m fine.”
Hmm?
'Am I imagining things, or was that a bit of a backhanded comment?'
“Hey, were you talking to me just now? How bold of a 20-year-old to be so cheeky.”
“Oh, I'm sorry if I offended you. I was just genuinely worried.”
“Wow. This little acorn of a kid sure has a nasty way of talking. You little...!”
I quickly poked Da-young in the butt with my middle finger and immediately spoke up.
“Enough. I was worried you might have gone to practice. It's good you're here. Have you eaten?”
“Not yet. I was waiting for you, Team Leader, to eat together.”
“Haha, I appreciate the thought, but honestly, there will be more times when we can't eat together than when we can. So from now on, make sure you eat on time. It’s actually good you didn’t go to practice. You can get to know Da-young a bit. Let's go together.”
“Alright, I'll do that.”
“You two should introduce yourselves and get to know each other. I’ll prepare breakfast today.”
Girls tend to get along if you just create the opportunity.
And it should be even more so with idols.
After all, the idols I've seen might fight sometimes, but living under the same roof, they end up becoming as close as sisters.
Isn’t that right?
Usually, when you look at MiTube or P-Live apps, it’s all the same.
But then...
“What are you doing?”
“Oh, it seemed like your shoes were starting to smell, so I thought I’d let them dry in the sun.”
“What nonsense.”
While I was grilling the frozen beef patties I had stashed in the fridge just in case, the conversation behind me didn’t sound particularly pleasant.
“Ah, PTSD is kicking in...”
“What’s wrong with her?! Team Leader, is she a psychopath?”
“Hey, hey! Calm down. Hee-ju got hurt a lot in school. You know about school violence, right? She went through some pretty severe stuff. And as the older one, you should take care of her. She’s actually really pure and kind.”
Da-young looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.
“Do I have a completely different understanding of what pure and kind means?”
“Team Leader is right. I am pure and kind.”
“No one who says that about themselves is ever truly kind.”
“Your mouth is really dirty. Can you really become an idol?”
“At least better than you.”
What is this?
Why do they seem to be getting along even worse than the theater group that Da-young wrecked yesterday?
I mean, Da-young’s personality is trash, so that’s understandable, but I didn’t expect Hee-ju to react so sensitively.
[Exactly. I wonder why.]
“Breakfast is ready, so both of you, set the table and serve the rice.”
“Yes.”
With that, Hee-ju was the first to move and pick up the rice bowls.
She piled my bowl as high as a mountain, while Da-young’s bowl barely had any.
“You expect me to eat just this?”
“Oh, I thought you lived on dew. Want more?”
“Hey! Do you really want to pick a fight with me?”
At this rate, we’re going to get indigestion before we even start eating.
“Both of you, knock it off. Hee-ju.”
“Yes?”
“...”
When Hee-ju looks at me like a baby, I oddly feel myself softening.
“...Da-young, can you cut her some slack?”
“What?”
“Well... you kinda resemble the person who bullied Hee-ju the most.”
As I brought up the topic of school violence again, Da-young clicked her tongue.
“Do I really look that much like them?”
To be honest, except for her sharp eyes, she doesn’t resemble her at all.
Jo Yuna isn’t exactly unattractive, but if we’re talking about pure looks, Da-young is twice as pretty.
But what can I do?
“Yeah.”
“That’s how it is, unnie. Even if I’m rude, please overlook it.”
---
"I...!"
Lee Da-young clenched her eyes shut and looked at me.
"I'm going to burst, Team Leader."
"Thank you."
That was about all I could say.
"You had a day off yesterday, so let's take some lessons and practice today. Got it?"
"Huh? Team Leader, you said I didn't have to dance or sing, right?"
"I said you didn't have to do much. But as an idol, you still need to do the basics. Don't worry too much. As far as singing goes, autotune can handle most of it. These days, you can't even tell the difference between AR and MR."
That was a lie.
To become a world star, you had to be able to perform intense choreography while still doing proper live singing.
"There are also plenty of easy and cute dances nowadays."
As if.
The tougher the choreography, the higher the chance of success.
The more these girls' names became known, the more difficult the choreography would naturally become.
"In that case, okay. But don't forget that my goal is to become an actress."
"Of course."
We'll see if you can still say that after you've debuted and gained fans.
Once you're successful, fame won't be the only thing that follows; responsibility will too.
Knowing Da-young's personality, she'll have no choice but to follow through, even if she doesn't want to.
"You're terrible at acting, though. It might be better for your future to give up early."
"Do you really want me to grab you by the hair?"
"Oh, my PTSD... Team Leader, help me."
I ran my hand down my face.
It felt like the tteokgalbi I had just eaten was going to get stuck in my throat.
This should get better with time.
Hopefully?
---
"I usually don't say this, but I feel like the tteokbokki I had for lunch is about to come back up. Manager, I mean, Team Leader Kim Hyun-woo."
Once again, the dance trainer spoke up.
"Well, Hee-ju has improved a lot. Though it's understandable that she can't change overnight, even after a day or two."
Creak, creak...
It was like watching a robot with unlubricated joints try to move.
Even I felt like sighing.
But I could only imagine how frustrating it must be from the expert's point of view.
"She'll get better if she keeps at it."
"These days, there are kids who start training at 13. Bringing in a 23-year-old... Honestly, where do you find in these kids?"
"Haha. Please take care of them. They have persistence."
"They seem to have persistence. Despite being embarrassed, she does show a desire to correct her mistakes. But still... just look at that."
Today, there were a lot of people using the practice room.
Right next to the trainees, who were receiving training, were others preparing for their monthly evaluations.
The average age was 17.8.
More than half of them hadn't even graduated from high school yet.
"One, two, three, four! Now, bounce strongly here! Tat, taak, tat, taak!"
It's impressive.
Watching them from up close is overwhelming.
That's the kind of power that makes even distant audience members lose their minds when you're on stage.
"Even those kids aren't guaranteed to debut. To be honest, when you bring in people like Hee-ju and Da-young, it's a bit much for trainers like us."
I understood how polite and indirect the trainer was being.
"I'm sorry. But I'm asking you to please take care of them. I didn't bring them here to look down on them or simply ask for a favor. I'm confident they'll succeed."
"We're here to teach, so we'll teach. I'm sorry. I feel like I said something unnecessary."
"No, it's fine. I appreciate it."
"Alright. I'll do my best."
I wasn't particularly upset.
Because, as I mentioned earlier, I know how polite this trainer's words are in this industry.
Thanks to someone...
"How about you go to an optician and get some glasses? Or better yet, why don't you just wash your eyes with soju? You've only improved slightly since last time. Where do you keep finding these lowlifes? Are you trying to run this company into the ground? Do you think training costs are just pocket change?"
Just hearing his voice and manner of speaking, I knew it was Team Leader Park Joo-yong.
Damn it. I thought I'd managed to avoid him.
But this guy finds me like a ghost every time. Does he have a GPS tracker on me or something?
"Why don't you focus on your own work, Team Leader? Just try not to mess things up this time."
"What?"
"I'll get my glasses, and maybe you should get a wig? It'll make you look at least 20 years younger."
There's nothing more shocking you can say to someone with actively progressing baldness.
After landing that critical blow, I immediately ran away.
And then I found Yoon Won-seok, who I was on somewhat familiar terms with.
Or maybe I should say, who ran away with me.
"Why did you run away today? And what's got Team Leader Park so riled up? Did all his hair fall out while shampooing?"
I asked just in case.
"Well, you see, Team Leader Kim..."
Of course, Yoon Won-seok knew.
This guy...
He's more useful than I thought.
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