Chapter 14
Actually, I couldn't just put all my faith in Eun Hee-ju and form a group with only her, so I wanted to go out right away and look for new member candidates, but.
Hee-ju seemed like she’d need a lot of attention, and I was worried about her, so I decided to stick around for at least her training sessions.
There were trainers who worked at the company full-time.
So there was no problem with Hee-ju receiving training.
It was ridiculous to expect much from someone who’d only just become a ‘trainee,’ but whenever I saw the letters SS beside Hee-ju’s name, I couldn’t help getting my hopes up.
But.
“It was so wonderful. Watching you made my heart flutter.”
“Ahem, let’s see. Hmm. I think we’ll call it here for today.”
“Yes.”
Not only the vocal trainer, but even the dance instructor…
“One, two, three. One, one, two, three. Whew. Let’s call it here for today.”
“Yes.”
After taking charge of Hee-ju’s lessons a few times, even the dance instructor gave me a couple of bewildered looks before turning away without another word.
But this time, I couldn’t exactly blame them.
‘What a mess.’
At an agency like N&P, most trainees already had plenty of skill.
More often than not, they’d either auditioned on their own or learned the basics at an idol academy.
After seeing so many kids like that, imagine how dumbfounded and frustrated they’d be when faced with Hee-ju, who showed no potential at all in her vocal projection, breathing, diction, pitch, dance moves, or facial expressions.
I’d also seen actual idols perform on stages like music shows a few times during my nearly three years as a manager.
The contrast was staggering.
“……”
Right.
It was her first day, so it made sense.
She was SS-grade, so she’d shine eventually.
Even as I tried to tell myself that and let it go, I nearly sighed without meaning to.
I ended up pressing a hand to my forehead.
“Team Leader-Manager.”
“……”
When I looked toward the voice calling me,
Hee-ju, who hadn’t so much as blinked at the trainers’ reactions, was looking at me with a slightly worried expression.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“No, not exactly. Hmm. Could not being good at something count as doing something wrong? From what I can tell, you’re going to need to practice for a while. Still, I’ll ask the trainers to keep working with you somehow.”
“Yes. I understand.”
After saying that, I immediately left Hee-ju in the practice room and went back out to look around.
“Ah, once you feel like you’ve done enough, just go back to the dorm and rest. Got it?”
“Yes.”
Part of me was a little disappointed in Hee-ju, but…
Time is money,
and CEO Cheon Tae-oh hadn’t given me several years to get this done.
“Hey, Nobel.”
[Yes, Master.]
“Is Eun Hee-ju really SS-grade?”
[That’s certain. Even I can’t say Hee-ju’s skill is SS-grade. But I can tell you that she’s shown herself to be SS-grade several times in places you don’t know about, Master.]
[By the way, Master.]
[If you’re that worried, you could just fuck Eun Hee-ju right now. It wouldn’t be as powerful a blessing as when you fucked Han Hye-eun, but the Blessing of Sex is still active on you.]
[If you fuck Hee-ju, you can improve her condition and abilities a little. Judging by how obediently she does what you say, she probably won’t refuse. If anything… No, never mind.]
“No, I had thought about that too.”
Honestly, I’d always thought I wasn’t all that picky when it came to women.
I figured I’d be satisfied as long as a woman was reasonably good-looking and I had a chance to fuck her.
But looking at Hee-ju now, I wasn’t feeling the slightest bit of lust.
“Ha. Did I already screw this up?”
Even when Han Hye-eun was drunk and having a hard time, I’d licked my lips at the thought of getting to fuck her pussy.
The fact that I couldn’t feel that kind of lust for a woman I hadn’t even fucked yet…
It was basically saying that Eun Hee-ju just didn’t have that much appeal.
They say the most enticing woman to a man is a ‘new woman.’
Is it for real that I’m more attracted to Han Hye-eun than Hee-ju?
“If I had my way… Tsk.”
I wanted to just slack off, go find Han Hye-eun, and shove my dick into her pussy while giving her ass a good smack.
Still, I’d need at least four members to form a group,
so I had to keep moving.
[How about visiting another high school, like you did when you found Eun Hee-ju?]
I shook my head.
“Today was graduation day. If I went looking now, I’d have to wait at least a year for them to graduate. I don’t fuck minors.”
[True enough.]
“And people care about stories more than you’d think. If the group I’m trying to create is really going to aim for the top of the world, even little things like this matter. I recruited Hee-ju from school, so I need to bring in the other members in a different way. That way, they’ll have more to say in interviews.”
[It sounds like you’re already pouring yourself a big bowl of kimchi soup, but considering I’m here with you, Master, it’s not impossible.]
“Of course.”
Even if Nobel wasn’t openly helping me with absolutely everything the way she had at first,
[Moon Yeon-gyeong, C]
[No Yeon-seon, B]
Just being able to see the grades floating above the heads of people walking down the street made Nobel a god-tier AI all on her own.
No manager could ever have eyes like that.
But even with eyes like these, it was all useless if I couldn’t find anyone worth approaching.
“Phew……!”
I’d struggled to find talent in the busy district until late at night, but I’d barely even seen a single A-grade woman.
Finding talent one after another right after Hee-ju would’ve been ridiculous anyway,
but maybe it was because I’d been so disappointed by Hee-ju’s performance after getting my hopes up.
For some reason, it had been a draining day.
I trudged home with heavy, listless steps. But when I reached the place, I let out a hollow laugh.
“No, this is crazy.”
I should’ve taken a taxi to my own place.
But without even realizing it, I’d ended up at Sprout Apartments, Hee-ju’s dorm.
‘Since I’m here anyway, maybe I should straighten up a few things.’
I could check whether the leftover chicken and cake from yesterday were still there, and take out any trash that needed to be dealt with.
I was also curious if she’d put away the toiletries and cosmetics we’d bought today properly.
‘She’s such a handful in every way. It’s hard to just leave her alone.’
「Beep beep beep beep, click.」
Thinking that, I punched in the door code and opened the door, then my eyes widened.
“Huh?”
There was no one inside.
No, there wasn’t even any sign that anyone had been there.
‘Did she give up already?’
In fact, plenty of kids dropped out early because trainee life was too hard.
Nearly half of them did.
Still, I’d thought Hee-ju wouldn’t be like that.
“No, shit.”
As I stood there dumbfounded, my phone rang.
I wondered if it might be Hee-ju,
but come to think of it, did she even have a phone?
“Yes, this is Kim Hyeon-woo.”
As expected, it wasn’t Hee-ju.
It was one of the employees who was just finishing overtime and heading home.
I was a little puzzled about why they were calling me this late.
That question was quickly answered.
-Excuse me, Team Leader Kim.
“Yes.”
-Um… when are you planning to pick up this trainee named Eun Hee-ju?
The unexpected question left me staring at my watch as I answered in the most bewildered voice in the world.
“What?”
[Current time]
[AM 00:20]
You’ve got to be kidding me.
* * *
Mina, who was vigorously shaking her black crop top, soaked through with sweat, spoke up.
Oasis was about to debut.
They hadn’t officially chosen a leader yet, but Mina had implicitly taken on the role.
She was the oldest, and she was the most skilled, too.
“Phew, all right, let’s take a break now.”
“Okay.”
“Ugh, I’m dying here.”
They took a break, drank some water,
went to the bathroom,
and walked down the hall while reviewing the parts they’d just practiced and checking where they’d fallen short, when an unpleasant squeaking sound came from somewhere.
“Ugh, what’s that sound?”
“Sounds like someone’s stepping all over the beat.”
“Could that be one of the trainees at our agency?”
The Oasis members all spoke in disbelief as they cautiously checked where the sound was coming from.
There, a black-haired girl with a bob, a little better than average-looking, was dancing expressionlessly at a pitiful level.
Lee So-ra and Serina saw her and spoke up.
“Pfft. She’s awful.”
Lee So-ra laughed,
“How’d someone with skills like that get in here? Does she think being an idol is easy?”
Serina said angrily.
Mina tried to stop them.
“Don’t mock other people or worry about them. We’re busy getting ready to debut ourselves.”
“No, but… Hmm. Isn’t that the girl Team Leader Kim Hyeon-woo brought in earlier? The one who became a team leader temporarily after going head-to-head with Team Leader Park Ju-yong. I thought there had to be something special about him, since the CEO personally made him a team leader at such a young age, but I guess he was just all talk.”
“Team Leader Park Ju-yong might have a bad personality, but he’s definitely skilled. He’s been working in the entertainment industry for ages.”
“Enough, enough. Instead of wasting time talking about this, think about recovering even a little more energy so we can practice dancing again.”
Mina thought there was nothing to gain from being seen gossiping about someone, so she warned the two of them again, more firmly.
But when she watched Hee-ju continuing to dance stiffly, creaking at every move like a robot, she couldn’t help thinking the same thing as the others.
‘I thought there might be something special about her. Guess not.’
But why was that?
Watching that pathetic display somehow made her feel more relaxed and at ease.
Maybe because she was certain that girl had no chance of succeeding.
“……All right, let’s rest for ten more minutes and then start practicing again. If we’re lucky, we might get salad and chicken breast for dinner.”
“Ahhh, what a relief. I’ve been eating just one boiled egg every day lately. Chicken breast is better than nothing.”
“Ha, I want tteokbokki.”
“Stop. Talking about stuff like that will only make you hungrier. If we really want to debut, we have to lose three more kilos, so let’s keep cheering each other on.”
After saying that, Oasis took a short break, then finished their independent practice.
“Ha. Today was seriously brutal. I’m going to pass out.”
“Do you think there’s anyone in the world who works as hard as we do? We’re definitely going to make it.”
“Phew, phew…… Good work, everyone. Let’s have dinner now and go home to get some rest. But we still need time to review, so let’s go home, shower, rest a little, and meet back around ten tonight.”
“Okay. Great work!”
The Oasis members had practiced hard and were feeling proud and confident as they tidied the practice room and headed out.
Squeak, squeak—!
“Huh?”
It was a scene that gave them déjà vu.
They heard someone practicing a dance again, just like during their break earlier.
And the footsteps still sounded awful.
But that was exactly why it gave them chills.
“No way.”
Without anyone saying a word, the Oasis members all glanced toward the same practice room.
Then they covered their mouths without even realizing it.
Thump—.
There, Eun Hee-ju was repeating the same move over and over, getting up expressionlessly like a roly-poly toy whenever she fell, as if nothing had happened.
“Hey, hey! You’re going to collapse if you keep that up.”
“Huh?”
Unable to watch any longer and genuinely worried, the somewhat meddlesome Lee So-ra hurried over to speak to Hee-ju, but…
“No. I’m fine.”
Hee-ju kept repeating the move without even glancing at her as she spoke.
“I haven’t practiced enough yet.”