These lewd things are idols?: Episode 58

Episode: 58

"Is everything ready?"

"Ah, yes!"

A tiger.

No, more like a wildcat, as they say, speaking of the devil.

Park Joo-yong hurried into the meeting room, and the first thing he did was suppress the spirits of his subordinates.

‘Wow, this guy... His passive ability is just constantly active.’

No matter what it is, he makes a short, blunt remark that leaves people feeling like they’ve done something wrong.

It’s a tactic that can really drive a person crazy.

The higher-ups might not mind, but if you’re working under this guy, you might end up carrying stomach medicine with you every day.

"......"

I noticed that the two female employees, who had been setting up the room earlier than anyone else, were silently sighing.

[One of them is even planning to quit after today. She can't take working under that jerk anymore.]

Sigh.

I feel bad for them, I really do.

‘The more I see it, the more I wonder how I managed to work under that guy.’

While muttering this to myself, I made eye contact with Park Joo-yong and let out a small laugh.

"Hey."

"Yes."

I knew he wouldn’t just let it go.

Even so, I continued to sit back in my chair, leaning one arm casually, staring at him with a cocky attitude.

"What’s so funny? Huh? And didn’t I tell you before? Just because we’re both team leaders doesn’t mean we’re the same."

"Well, technically, that’s not incorrect. We’re both team leaders, after all."

"You little—!"

"By the way, Team Leader Park, here."

I casually pointed to my left cheek.

"Here. What? You think I’ll fall for your tricks?"

"You’ve got shaving cream on your face. I’m just letting you know, but you get mad anyway."

"You call that saying something?"

As I pointed out the fact, Park Joo-yong, who was already irritated with me, touched his cheek and froze for a moment.

Because he really did have shaving cream left on his face.

It seemed like he had hurriedly shaved before the meeting, but hadn’t washed it off properly in the bathroom.

"Here, Team Leader, take a wet wipe."

"Give it here!"

I watched indifferently as he snapped at the female employee who handed him a wet wipe.

It wasn’t just about the shaving cream left on his face.

The guy looked more worn out than before.

If someone saw him, they might think he had just come back from a solo survival trip in the wilderness.

"I hope things are going well for you. Ah, but I’m not really curious. We’ll find out during the meeting anyway."

"You little... Let’s see if you can still talk like that later."

"We’re in the same company. Don’t you think there’s some room for misunderstanding with that attitude?"

That’s when it happened.

Clack, clack.

The sound of footsteps echoed from a distance.

Without a doubt, it was the sound of the CEO and the budget team approaching.

They were walking deliberately loud, for everyone to hear.

It was their way of saying, "We’re here, so stop squabbling and get yourselves together."

"......"

I quickly straightened my clothes and stood up.

"Welcome, CEO."

"Yes, it’s been a while, Team Leader Kim, Team Leader Park."

We naturally shook hands, and in that brief moment, I felt sweat starting to form in my palm.

‘Phew, I still haven’t gotten used to this guy.’

I wasn’t scared of Park Joo-yong anymore.

Like I told Nobel, I was just avoiding him because he was unpleasant.

But CEO Cheon Tae-oh was different.

Even now, standing in front of him made my whole body tense up with nervousness.

‘It just means I’m still not at his level yet.’

After living as a team leader for a few months, I’ve come to realize this.

You can’t ignore rank or the status of the company you work for.

Really, he’s got such a unique personality.

Unless you truly don’t care at all about what others think or how they perceive you.

“Well then, are the team leaders all prepared?”

Of course, no one would have come to the meeting without being prepared.

But when they ask like that, it just adds unnecessary pressure.

If you respond with a "yes" and then give a terrible mid-report, you won’t have any excuses even if you get criticized.

“Yes.”

“Yes!”

I answered quietly, almost casually.

Meanwhile, Park Joo-yong answered loudly with confidence.

‘Why on earth is he so confident?’

I couldn’t understand it, so I just quietly shook my head.

“Who would like to go first?”

Since it’s better to get it over with, I said:

"Let’s have Team Leader Park go first."

“I’ll go first.”

I threw the ball to Park Joo-yong, and he seemed to have planned to go first from the start.

And so began this chaotic spectacle.

As I watched, I went beyond being baffled.

To be honest, I was scared.

"First, let me explain the current trends. If we were to pick the hottest topic in K-POP right now, it would be the series of number one hits that..."

Excuse me?

“Following that lead, we are also pursuing concepts that match these trends. And as for the composer Nampo-dong Fist, he is a skilled composer who can fully handle this style..."

I felt like I was attending some terrible business presentation.

What the hell is he doing right now?

‘He’s lost his mind. Does he really think this is going to work?’

It was incredible that Cheon Tae-oh was sitting there listening to all of this without saying a word.

“Recently, it seems like composer Nampo-dong Fist has been going through a slump. He hasn’t been able to complete any songs and has been struggling to make progress. However, thanks to my personal encouragement, today, we finally received the title track.”

Finally, something that could be considered actual content came out of Park Joo-yong’s mouth.

No joke.

Everything he had said up until now, and all the flashy images in his PowerPoint, were nothing but verbal garbage.

Garbage that wasn’t even wrapped up well.

Even a college student wouldn’t present something like this. Damn it.

“Anyway, please listen to it. The song is very good.”

Cheon Tae-oh just nodded without saying anything.

But why do I feel scared of that?

‘It feels like the calm before the storm.’

-♪♬♪♬

The prelude of the song that Park Joo-yong played began to flow out.

“Huh?”

From the start, I couldn’t help but doubt my ears.

It wasn’t even the one-minute song I had heard before.

A completely different song.

But.

Even though it was a completely different song, it sounded eerily familiar.

‘Could it be...’

I glanced around, and the expressions on everyone else’s faces were strange too.

Even Park Joo-yong’s own subordinates were lowering their heads cautiously, looking horrified.

Seriously. It was obvious.

Only Park Joo-yong had no idea what was wrong.

“What do you think, CEO? The song is really good. Now all we need to do is add the appropriate lyrics, get the kids to record it, and create the choreography.”

“Team Leader Park.”

“Yes?”

Still not blowing up?

Honestly, it’s amazing how calm CEO Cheon Tae-oh remained in all of this.

“Have you ever heard of the song 'Travel' by Dion Herndon?”

“Yes, of course. It was a Billboard number one hit. Naturally, I know it, since I work in the entertainment industry as well.”

“Could someone, anyone, please play the song I just mentioned?”

Even before Cheon Tae-oh finished speaking, I was already playing the song.

-♬♪♬♪

Finally, Park Joo-yong realized what had gone wrong, and his face turned bright red, then pale blue.

What is he, a transforming slime?

I had no idea a person’s face could change colors so quickly.

The reason he was so shocked was simple.

Plagiarism?

No.

It’s not even right to call it plagiarism.

It’s more like they slightly altered it just enough to be obvious and handed it over to Park Joo-yong.

‘Wow. Nampo-dong Fist. That guy really isn’t normal either.’

It’s a problem that Park Joo-yong didn’t notice, but the fact that this guy made him play it in front of everyone like this—he’s a maniac too.

[See?]

[What I show you never lies.]

Seriously.

Compared to what Nampo-dong Fist just pulled, our composer is a saint.

No, not a saint.

A god. A god.

“Uh, um, CEO, it’s just... that composer set me up...”

Hehe.

As I was thinking to myself, ‘Serves you right,’ and trying not to laugh—

“What on earth do you think you’re doing?!”

“…!”

“Kyaa!”

Gosh, that startled me.

At first, I thought, ‘Wow, even now he’s not getting angry? Not even raising his voice? Cheon Tae-oh really is something else.’

But then his voice started to rise step by step, and at the end, he literally roared like a lion.

It was so intense that one of the female employees actually screamed.

If I were to exaggerate a little—

For a moment, I thought that roar might have shattered the windows in the conference room.

That’s how powerful his roar was.

“…”

“…”

Silence lingered for almost a minute.

No one dared to breathe, just cautiously watching CEO Cheon Tae-oh.

The only sound in the conference room was Cheon Tae-oh’s long, heavy breathing.

Hoo, hoo.

It was the sound of our CEO’s breath, which had become quite rough.

“Hoo…”

Then, unable to hold back a sigh, Cheon Tae-oh tapped the table with his finger and started speaking again.

“You didn’t do it on purpose, I’m sure, but I feel like a complete fool right now.”

Scary.

A moment ago, this man who had been shouting suddenly turned calm? No, he still seemed somewhat angry, but—

He was calm.

The way he was questioning, like he was interrogating, was terrifying.

“Did you think I wouldn’t know? I’m well aware that composer Nampo-dong Fist hasn’t given us any songs yet.”

“…”

“Did you really think I arranged this meeting to get a mid-report from the team leaders because I didn’t know?”

“N-no, I’m sorry. I haven’t been able to sleep properly these past few days…”

“…”

Even now, an excuse?

Cheon Tae-oh sighed deeply once more at that.

“Team Leader Park, I’m really disappointed in you this time.”

Oh dear.

‘Come to think of it, even if the CEO of a failing company pretends to be calm, internally, he must be stressed out. And if someone who’s supposed to be the company’s hope does something like this, of course he’d lose his mind.’

[Wow, did you see that lion’s roar earlier? Anyone would think he infused his voice with some kind of internal energy.]

I thought the same.

Anyone with a weak heart might’ve had a heart attack just from that.

He stayed quiet until the words “What on earth…” then suddenly exploded at the word “doing!”

It was clear that even Cheon Tae-oh couldn’t hold back his anger in the middle of speaking.

“For now, we’ll wait a little longer. If we still don’t get the song after that, we’ll sue composer Nampo-dong. Team Leader Park, please start looking for a new composer. I’ll try to find one as well.”

“Understood.”

“We’ll talk about the budget once we actually receive a decent song.”

“Yes…”

A thoroughly defeated Park Joo-yong didn’t even dare ask if he could leave.

He quietly sat in his seat, glancing nervously at the CEO, just hoping for this horrible moment to end.

And then.

“Let me apologize for raising my voice just now.”

“It’s okay!”

“Well then, Team Leader Kim, please proceed.”

Now it was my turn.

As expected, my team was doing well.

We had received the song.

Another title track was progressing smoothly.

The choreography was great.

“…”

When we showed the choreography performance video and played the finished song, everyone seemed impressed.

Even Cheon Tae-oh seemed pleased as he asked me,

“We’ll need to shoot the music video soon. How much of a budget do you need?”

Next to me, I saw the budget team whispering, “About 50 million won should be enough,” so I boldly shot my shot.

“Please allocate 200 million won.”

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