Chapter 20
“Ha. The weather’s fucking great. Fuck.”
That was the first thing Lee Da-young said when she stepped out of Han Hye-eun’s house and saw the sun shining overhead.
Seeing that, I called a Nobel taxi and gave her a dumbfounded look.
“Hey! Hey, you!”
“Yes?”
“Are you doing that on purpose or what? What, were you hoping I’d make you do a striptease naked here?”
“What? What are you talking about? I wouldn’t do that even with a knife to my throat.”
“What did you just say?”
“I wouldn’t do that even with a knife to my throat—”
“Before that.”
“It’s such a nice, clear day?”
This shameless bitch.
“Team Leader. Are you okay? It’s not hot enough for heatstroke yet. Maybe you’re hearing things.”
As she said that, she leaned in and whispered in my ear.
“I’m supposed to call you Team Leader here, not Master. Right?”
“……”
“When we’re alone, and when I’m being punished, I’ll call you Master.”
The sly fox stretched lazily.
“Ha! Ah, my back’s stiff. But damn, the stress just melted away.”
“……”
At this point, maybe her behavior wasn’t just a matter of bad home training.
She had about three older brothers.
Maybe she’d grown up hearing nothing but cursing since she was one year old.
‘Sigh. We’ll fix it little by little.’
With the Blessing of Sex on my side,
I was in decent shape, even after spending all day fucking two women.
But that didn’t mean I could spend another whole day having sex.
Sex was just an extra bonus, as far as I was concerned.
My ultimate goal was to make the girl group I raised the best in the world.
The glory and fulfillment that came with it.
I wanted money and fame.
[Hmm, is sex really only your second priority?]
When Nobel asked playfully,
I nodded.
“Yeah.”
[You do seem sincere.]
If I’d still been in my early twenties, too young to know any better, the idea of being able to fuck pretty idols to my heart’s content might have swayed me.
But now that I was getting close to thirty,
I could control my sexual urges a little better.
And more than that, I’d started caring about prestige and how other people saw me.
In the end, maybe that was what remained.
‘Han Hye-eun wasn’t entirely wrong.’
Birds of a feather flock together.
Even after graduating high school and college, I’d had friends I thought I’d keep for life.
The guy who got a job at a good company drifted away from me because our spending habits and values grew too different.
And I felt awkward meeting the ones who were still unemployed at twenty-nine.
‘What kind of prestige or glory could a low-level manager brag about to anyone?’
At most, I could say I’d seen real celebrities up close a few more times than the others.
But that wasn’t the case anymore.
The people who’d raised the world stars leading K-pop today, including AM’s CEO Jeong Sun-hyeon, had definitely earned incredible prestige.
My goal was to become the best in this industry, just like them.
And I could definitely achieve it.
After Eun Hee-ju, now Lee Da-young, too.
I had two girls with the potential to be called top-tier talents in my hands.
“This is where you’ll be staying for a while.”
“Is anyone else inside?”
“There’s one person. She’s innocent and has been hurt a lot, so be kind to her. Let’s go in first. You can introduce yourselves and all that.”
“Sure, sure.”
I opened the door, and—
“Aaaaaah! Fuck!”
Lee Da-young screamed.
Standing in front of the entrance was Eun Hee-ju, blinking blankly.
“Oh. You’re back, Team Leader-Manager.”
Phew.
Thank goodness.
Honestly, I’d expected Hee-ju might be standing there like this, so I pretended nothing was wrong.
If I hadn’t, I might’ve let out the same “Aah!” as Da-young.
How could I work with them after embarrassing myself like that?
“She’s not a ghost, so calm down. This is Eun Hee-ju. She’s twenty now. She’ll be working with you from now on, so take good care of your little sister.”
“Haaah, fuck! You really scared the hell out of me. Whew.”
Lee Da-young had somehow ended up behind me, gripping my back tightly and trembling.
Seeing that, Eun Hee-ju said,
“Team Leader-Manager, are you sure she’s okay?”
“Hm?”
“You told me this industry is no joke. But she has a foul mouth and no guts. I don’t know if she can hold up. Ah, I can, though.”
Hm?
I got the feeling she’d just taken a subtle jab at her.
Or was I imagining it?
“Hey. Did you just say that to me? You’re only twenty, but you’ve got some nerve.”
“Oh. I’m sorry if I offended you. I was genuinely worried.”
“Wow. You little runt, you’ve got a real shitty way of talking. You— Eek!”
I quickly jabbed my middle finger into Lee Da-young’s asshole, then spoke right away.
“Anyway. I was worried you might’ve gone to practice, but I’m glad you’re here. Have you eaten?”
“Not yet. I was going to eat with you when you got back, Team Leader-Manager.”
“Haha. I appreciate that, but honestly, there’ll be far more times when you and I can’t eat together than times when we can. Make sure you eat regularly from now on. It’s actually good you didn’t go to practice. You can get acquainted with Da-young first. Let’s go in together.”
“Okay. I will.”
“You two, say hello and get to know each other. I’ll make breakfast today.”
If I just got the girls together like this, they’d become friends.
Idols especially, I figured.
Because the idols I’d seen might fight sometimes, but after living under one roof, they grew close like real sisters.
Right?
That was how it always looked on MiTube or the P-Live app.
But then—
“Hey. What are you doing?”
“Oh. I thought your feet smelled, so I was going to let your shoes air out in the sun.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
The conversation going on behind me while I grilled the frozen tteokgalbi I’d stashed in the fridge didn’t sound particularly friendly.
“Ah. The PTSD……”
“What’s wrong with her? Team Leader, I think she’s a psychopath!”
“Hey, hey, calm down. Hee-ju was hurt a lot at school. You know about school bullying, right? She went through a pretty bad case. And you’re the older sister, so look after her a little. She’s so innocent and kind.”
Lee Da-young gave me a dumbfounded look.
“Maybe I’ve misunderstood what innocent and kind mean.”
“Team Leader-Manager is right about everything. I’m kind and innocent.”
“I’ve never met anyone who was actually kind after calling herself that.”
“Your language is so foul. Can you really become an idol?”
“I’ll do better than you, at least.”
What was this?
Why did they seem to get along worse than the people from the theater troupe Da-young had fought with yesterday?
No, sure, Da-young had a terrible personality, so that made sense.
But I hadn’t thought Hee-ju would be so touchy that she’d react like this.
[I wonder why.]
“The food’s ready, so both of you set the table and serve yourselves some rice.”
“Okay.”
At that, Eun Hee-ju moved first and picked up the rice bowls.
She piled mine up like Mount Baekdu,
but Da-young’s bowl got a miserly portion.
“You expect me to eat just this?”
“Oh. I thought you only lived on dew. Should I give you more?”
“Hey! Are you seriously looking for a fight with me?”
At this rate, I’d get indigestion before we even ate.
“Both of you, cut it out. Hee-ju.”
“Yes.”
“……”
Seeing Hee-ju gaze only at me, like a baby, made me inexplicably soften.
“……Da-young, try to be understanding.”
“What?”
“Well, you look a lot like the person who bullied Hee-ju the most.”
Bringing up the school bullying again made Da-young purse her lips.
“Do I really look that much like her?”
Honestly, aside from her sharp eyes, they didn’t look alike at all.
Jo Yu-na wasn’t unattractive, either.
But purely in terms of looks, Da-young was twice as beautiful.
But what could I do?
“Yeah.”
“That’s right, unnie. Please let it slide even if I’m rude.”
“You……!”
Lee Da-young squeezed her eyes shut and looked at me.
“I’m gonna burst a blood vessel, Team Leader.”
“Thanks.”
That was about all I could say.
“You got yesterday off, so today you’re taking lessons and practicing. Got it?”
“Huh? Team Leader, you said I didn’t have to sing or dance, right?”
“I said you didn’t have to do much. But you still have to do the bare minimum as an idol. Don’t worry too much. Most songs can be fixed with Auto-Tune, and these days you can’t even tell AR from MR.”
That was a lie.
To become a world star, you had to be able to perform proper live vocals while doing intense choreography.
“There are lots of cute and easy dances these days, too.”
As if.
The choreography had to be intense to have a high chance of success.
The more famous they became, the harder the choreography would naturally get.
“If that’s how it is, fine. Just don’t forget that my goal is to be an actress.”
“Of course.”
Once you debut
and get fans, let’s see if you can still say that.
Once you succeeded, responsibility would come along with fame.
With Da-young’s personality, she’d have no choice but to do it, even if she didn’t want to.
“You’re terrible at acting. It might be better for your future if you give up early, unnie.”
“You! Do you want me to grab you by the hair or what?”
“Ah, the PTSD. Team Leader-Manager, help me.”
I rubbed my face.
The tteokgalbi going down my throat felt like it might get stuck.
They’d get better as time went on.
Probably?
* * *
“I hardly ever say this, but I think the tteokbokki I had for lunch is going to sit heavy. Um, Manager—no, Team Leader Kim Hyeon-woo.”
It was the dance trainer speaking again today, as usual.
“Well, Hee-ju has improved a lot. But it’s not like you can change completely in a day or two, so I can understand that.”
Creak, creak—.
Would that be what it looked like if a robot with unlubricated joints started moving?
Even I couldn’t help sighing.
But how frustrating must it be from a professional’s perspective?
“Still, she’ll get better if she keeps at it.”
“Kids who’ve been training professionally since thirteen are everywhere these days, and you bring me a twenty-three-year-old…… No, where do you keep finding kids like these?”
“Haha. Please help me out. They’ve got grit.”
“They do seem to have grit. Even though she’s embarrassed, she’s clearly eager to identify and correct what she’s doing wrong. But still, look over there.”
Maybe because so many people were using the practice room today,
I could see trainees preparing for their monthly evaluation right beside where we were training.
The average age was a whopping 17.8.
More than half of them hadn’t even graduated high school yet.
“One, two, three, four! Hit it with some power here! Tap, ta-tak, tap, ta-tak!”
They were incredible.
Watching from right beside them was overwhelming.
You’d need that kind of power to make even the audience in the back feel mesmerized when you were onstage.
“Those kids haven’t even found out whether they’ll debut yet. To be honest, having you bring in girls like Hee-ju and Da-young and ask trainers like me to teach them is a little……”
I knew how politely and indirectly he was putting it.
“I’m sorry. But please help us out. I’m not disregarding those girls or casually asking you to teach them. I brought them here because I’m genuinely confident they’ll succeed.”
“No. Teaching is our job, so of course we’ll teach them. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said something pointless.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll leave them in your hands.”
“Yes. I’ll do my best, at least.”
I wasn’t particularly offended.
Because, like I said earlier, I knew how polite the trainer’s words were in this industry.
Thanks to someone.
“Why don’t you go get your eyes checked and buy some glasses? Or maybe ask someone to rinse those eyes out with soju. Those girls’ looks are just barely better than the last bunch. Where do you keep finding these pathetic losers? Are you trying to run the company into the ground? Do you think training fees are pocket change for kids?”
Just from the voice. Just from the tone, I could tell it was Team Leader Park Ju-yong.
Fuck. I tried to avoid him.
How did this guy find me every time like a ghost? Did he have a GPS tracker on me?
“You should worry about yourself, Team Leader. Try not to screw things up this time.”
“What?”
“I’ll get glasses, so why don’t you get a wig, Team Leader Park? You’d look twenty years younger.”
For someone whose hair was actively falling out, there couldn’t have been a more shocking thing to say.
After landing a sneaky critical hit, I immediately ran away.
And I found Yun Won-seok, one of the few people I’d gotten to know.
Or maybe I should say we ran away together.
“Why are you running away today? And why’s Team Leader Park so worked up? Did all his hair fall out while he was washing it?”
I’d only asked just in case.
“Well, you see, Team Leader Kim.”
Yun Won-seok knew about it again.
This bastard.
More useful than I thought?