Chapter 74
You're asking me to verify them, huh.
It's not a particularly bad job.
If the pay is decent too, it'd be worth doing.
"If possible, could we discuss it over a video call?"
-Ah. Of course.
The call ended, and the video feed appeared.
The middle-aged man in his late forties visible on the other side of the call was once a famous singer and dancer, I had heard.
The director definitely liked him.
Taehyun Entertainment's president, Jo Ha-gyun, was someone who emphasized good character in the agency's entertainers.
Unlike other agencies, they had never had a single incident.
But asking me for help while bringing up character issues...
I flipped a card in front of him.
"A member of the idol group Black Yellow, which was scheduled to debut, used to bully people at school."
-....Yes.
Jo Ha-gyun hesitated, then nodded.
He must have known that the mere fact that he was asking me for help meant there was no reason to hide anything.
Indeed, most of the people who asked me for help had nothing weighing on their conscience.
The fact that I could see their pasts and futures was no different from showing me their weaknesses.
Perhaps that was why none of the people who had contacted me so far were trash.
Well, I didn't know how long that would continue.
-Apparently, Black Yellow's leader was a notorious thug in Bupyeong.
"I see."
-Our failure to discover it... was our fault.
Black Yellow's leader, So-hee, had attended school in Bupyeong until her first year of middle school.
Thanks to her sharp features and overflowing talent, she was one of the more prominent students at school, and as a result, she became an iljin thug.
It would have been nice if things had ended there, but she received an offer to become an idol trainee.
She would have been better off refusing, but blinded by excitement, she immediately became a Taehyun trainee.
After achieving results and being selected to debut, though—oh, no!
Her middle school classmates found out and posted everything online.
How vicious she had been.
Naturally, So-hee denied it, but an investigation confirmed that she really had been a school bully and thug.
That was the end of it.
Her debut was canceled.
So-hee's contract was terminated.
-Normally, our office filters out things like this... Sigh. I'm so embarrassed that I can't even raise my head.
"It's because So-hee's parents gave the person in charge various gifts, isn't it? Don't worry about it too much. We fired the guy too."
The head of the department responsible for checking these matters at Taehyun Entertainment had committed corruption.
He was supposed to filter out things like this, but he took a bribe and let it pass.
Because of this, the company sued not only So-hee's parents but also the department head, but on top of Taehyun's clean image being damaged, there were all the resources they had invested in debuting one idol.
And when they considered the members whose debut had been delayed because of So-hee, it was impossible not to regret what had happened.
-We're rechecking everything that bastard handled. Anyway, that's why... could you help us?
"Hmm..."
-As I said earlier, I'm by no means asking you to do it for free. Not only will you receive reasonable compensation, but...
"Well, compensation aside, can you trust what I tell you?"
I had no intention of lying during the verification process.
But the past and future I saw were far removed from things that could be confirmed right before one's eyes.
Right. The past was one thing.
Since those were things they had already done, it was only right that they bear the responsibility themselves.
The problem was the future.
"Let's say someone is doing well now and is kind and polite, but later gets drunk and abuses his power. Would you punish him?"
-That...
"What if I told you that your current top prospect will use propofol and marijuana two years from now? What would you do?"
-......
Jo Ha-gyun, who realized what I was getting at, fell silent.
"The future can change as much as anything. So let's just finish by advising those who will cause problems."
Still, for those whose futures did not change...
Well, it couldn't be helped.
Unless it was a major problem, let it go.
Everyone had to bear the consequences of their own actions.
-Understood.
Perhaps he also thought it would be excessive to take issue with things that had not happened yet, because he accepted my proposal.
"Good. Then I'll see you tomorrow."
It's been a while since I last went out.
.
.
.
The next day.
I headed to Taehyun Entertainment with Mr. Cheolhon.
The atmosphere was quite different from Swimmel, the company Joanna worked at in America.
"This is Taehyun Entertainment, one of South Korea's Big Four entertainment agencies."
A large eight-story building stood before us.
Around the building, I saw plenty of fans who had come hoping to catch a glimpse of an idol or actor they stanned, as well as quite a few foreign tourists.
"Ah. That must be the building's parking lot."
As soon as we arrived at Taehyun Entertainment's parking lot, they began checking our identities.
They were seriously thorough.
"It feels like we're entering a national security agency."
"I heard a reporter once sneaked in here disguised as a guest."
"Whoa. Really? Wow... How do you know that, Teacher?"
"It came up when I searched online."
I had looked it up last night because I couldn't sleep.
While Cheolhon clicked his tongue in admiration, the guard cleared the way for us.
"Let's go."
Once the barrier rose, Mr. Cheolhon started driving again.
The third basement level.
When we arrived at the guest parking area, we saw quite a few vehicles.
Among them were several Porter trucks loaded with supplies, as if construction work was underway.
"Looks like they're doing some interior renovations."
"I guess so."
"By the way, Teacher. How are you going to conduct the character checks? What are the criteria...?"
"We should use whether or not they intentionally harmed others as the criterion."
It wasn't our job to unleash a madman into society when he took pleasure in trampling on others.
Let's weed those people out aggressively.
-Ding-dong!
The elevator stopped.
When the doors opened, I saw people inside.
There was a man wearing a cap and mask, along with a woman who was likewise wearing sunglasses and a mask.
One of them, the man, saw me, opened his eyes wide, and whispered to the woman beside him.
"Wow... It's Kang Noah...!"
A celebrity who had to hide his face was reacting so admiringly upon seeing me.
My name recognition had gotten pretty high.
They debated whether to speak to me, but when we reached the first floor, they hesitated and then simply left.
After they moved away, two office workers and a man and woman who looked like trainees got on.
Among them, one male idol trainee began staring intently at me.
"Um..."
This guy was different from the actor earlier.
"Yes?"
"Are you... Noah hyung?"
"Oh. You recognized me."
"Whaaat?! R-really Noah hyung?! Wow! Wow!"
The male idol's overreaction.
The people around us looked bewildered, but he paid no attention to them.
"Hyung! I'm a fan!"
"Haha. Thanks."
"An autograph! Please give me an autograph!!"
Everyone seemed flustered by the idol trainee boldly declaring that he was a fan.
But neither he nor I particularly cared.
"By the way, hyung! What brings you here? Ah! The tunnel incident last time! It ended so neatly because you helped, right?"
"Yeah."
"Wow!! As expected of you, hyung! I knew we could trust you!! Oh. I'm Min Seong-jae. I'm debuting soon... I want to name you as the person I respect. Is that okay?"
Whether or not people around him were staring, the male idol, Min Seong-jae, excitedly kept talking.
"Speaking of which, you must be pretty curious about me."
"No way~! I'm not going to ask."
Naturally, what Min Seong-jae was curious about was whether he would be able to debut and whether he would become a popular idol afterward.
At eighteen, this might have been Min Seong-jae's last chance.
"I can tell you. You just have to turn over this card."
"They say ignorance is bliss. And even if you tell me I can't make it, I don't want to give up. You always say that the future can change. So I'll work hard."
"Huh. That's an admirable attitude, but you watch my broadcast with that mindset?"
"Because other people's stories are fun?"
So as long as it wasn't him?
Min Seong-jae snickered, then waved when the elevator stopped at the fourth floor.
"Hyung! Thanks for the autograph!! I'll always support you!!"
If anything, I felt like I should be the one supporting him.
In any case, Min Seong-jae shouted energetically and ran down the fourth-floor hallway.
The female idol trainee, who had been staring blankly at him, looked intently at me.
"A-are you someone famous?"
"In my own way?"
"Ah... Ah! S-sorry for the late introduction! I'm Mir, a Taehyun trainee!"
"Yes. Nice to meet you."
"But... You don't seem to be an actor. Are you perhaps a composer...?"
"I'm a streamer."
"Oh. Ooh...!! I-I see."
She looked curious about why a streamer had come here.
But there was no need for me to tell her anything beyond that.
-Ding!
The elevator stopped.
The sixth floor.
She gave me an awkward little bow and got off, and I pressed the close button.
I was headed to the seventh floor.
That was where the president's office was.
-Ding!
The elevator stopped on the seventh floor.
Unlike the other floors I had seen, this one was quite quiet.
As we passed through an area where only meeting rooms and office workers seemed to be located, with little more than the sound of computer keyboards tapping, a secretary was waiting for me.
"Welcome, Mr. Kang Noah."
"Yes. Is President Jo inside?"
"Yes, he is."
I followed the secretary inside.
It was a fairly lavish office.
A man about 190 centimeters tall was waiting inside.
"Mr. Kang!"
Jo Ha-gyun.
He had once been a dance singer who shook South Korea, and was now the president of one of the Big Four agencies.
He greeted me with great enthusiasm, clearly delighted to see me.
"Teacher. Would you like to meet them in person? Or..."
"The screen is fine."
"Then... shall we start right away?"
He operated the tablet.
What appeared on the tablet was a practice room.
"We can check them through the practice-room CCTV. What do you think of those kids? They're the ones who made it into the debut group this time..."
There was Min Seong-jae, my fan from earlier.
And there were three other boys who seemed to be on the same team.
As I watched them perform razor-sharp choreography, I flipped over a card and said,
"Everyone except Min Seong-jae has a problem."
"...Pardon?"
"One of them was a biker gang member in Japan. Another committed serious school violence in middle school. And the last one... Hmm. How should I put this?"
"What is it...?"
"Idols have no-dating clauses, don't they?"
"...They do... right."
"He's dating a female trainee at the company right now."
It was a complete mess.
What a disaster.
There were too many problems to count.