Chapter 57
[Corner Pig]
At the pork gukbap place right next to the company, I looked at the steaming bowl on the table and urged Yoon Won-seok to eat.
“Eat. Go ahead. Make yourself comfortable.”
“Team Leader Kim. Don’t tell me you said jokbal and then tried to fob me off with pork gukbap.”
I was adding kkakdugi brine and salted shrimp to my pork gukbap when I let out a little cough, even though I hadn’t eaten a bite yet.
“No, you idiot. I have an eleven o’clock meeting. And I drank a little too much yesterday.”
“Ah-ha. Who’d you drink with?”
“Some friends. And, well, the Always members were there, too.”
“Gasp!”
I made a motion as if to hit Yoon Won-seok with the spoon in my hand.
“What do you mean, ‘gasp,’ you punk? Gasp, my ass.”
“No, but is that okay? They’re aspiring idols.”
“They’re all adults. What era do you think we’re living in? They can have a drink. It’s not like we usually have to abstain from everything.”
“I-I guess? But there are still people who might not think so.”
“Forget it, man. I don’t know about all that.”
Slurp—.
“Mmm. Refreshing. Damn, that hits the spot.”
Yoon Won-seok looked at me strangely.
“What? Why?”
“No, I was just wondering if you’ve always been like this, or if becoming a team leader has made you increasingly bold.”
“You’re the one who looks like you’re about to get cheeky with me right now.”
“I’m joking. Just joking. Haha.”
“I was joking too.”
Man.
I’m tired.
Grown-up conversation.
“Won-seok. Quit dragging this out and get to the point.”
“Yes, sir.”
Yoon Won-seok said as he tossed a heap of kimchi into his pork gukbap.
“Well, Team Leader Kim, you’ve been in this industry for a few years, so you know how it is. There’s basically this thing called the three-strikes rule.”
“Three strikes? What, baseball? W-WBC?”
“……”
“I’m kidding, you idiot. I know. Three strikes. You give someone a few chances, but if they just can’t cut it, you strike them out.”
“Whew. You startled me. I thought you really didn’t know.”
This punk.
Does he usually think I’m an idiot?
Slurp—.
“So what you’re saying is, Team Leader Park has kept screwing up until recently and gotten a few strikes from the CEO, and things aren’t looking too good now either?”
“That’s right.”
Rather than looking at each other as we talked,
we were having this conversation with our faces buried in our bowls of pork gukbap.
This place is good.
The pork gukbap, I mean.
“That Nampo-dong Nuclear Fist guy or whatever. I don’t like the guy’s looks, but I hear he’s definitely got talent. Someone told me that one-minute sample track he sent over was good. I can’t remember who.”
“Wasn’t that me? Anyway, things were fine up to that point. The problem is, that’s where it ended.”
“Hm?”
“Wasn’t it basically a demerit when the CEO gave him extra time to prepare for the debut, too?”
“Right. But that wasn’t the Oasis girls’ fault. It was Team Leader Park’s fault for putting skirts on the guys and making them dance.”
“I don’t know about that part.”
“Oh.”
Crunch—.
The conversation continued as we crunched on a piece of kkakdugi, crisp yet soft.
“Ever since that one-minute sample, there’s been no sign of the song being finished. Nobody’s asking him to make a full album. This is Oasis’s debut, right? Their first mini album. One or two title tracks, plus around four B-sides.”
Unless you worked in the industry, it was hard to tell the difference between a full album, a mini album, or a pre-release single.
In the end, it came down to the number of songs.
“These days, nobody really debuts with a full album. It’s all mini albums. You have to make songs, shoot music videos, and all of that costs money. More than anything, if you make a full album and it flops, how much money does that add up to?”
After putting it that way,
I started to wonder if we were also acting like problem children who might get on the CEO’s bad side, since we were already making our fifth song.
In fact, we already had three title tracks,
which meant we’d have to schedule three music video shoots alone.
‘And the problem is, we might not even stop at three title tracks.’
My throat felt dry for some reason, too.
Slurp—.
I drank down some of the refreshing pork gukbap broth and looked at Yoon Won-seok.
“Guh. So not even one song has been finished?”
Yoon Won-seok nodded.
“Yeah. That’s it. It’s not like just a few little details haven’t been worked out. There’s been absolutely no progress since that one-minute sample he sent before.”
“Whoa, shit. That’s fucked. They have to come up with choreography, practice, shoot a music video, promote the new song and the debut members. Can they do all that?”
“Exactly! That’s what I’m saying!”
Managers understood each other with just a look.
Even though he was speaking vaguely, I could practically see how fast Oasis’s hourglass was running out before my eyes.
“This is bad. The company’s already going under, and the atmosphere’s awful, too.”
“Going under—Team Leader, even so, this is the company we work for. What does that make us if you say that?”
“I was just saying it, you idiot. Calm down.”
[Why do you both react exactly the same when someone else says it?]
That’s why people are all pretty much alike.
“Anyway, to sum it up, Team Leader Park hasn’t been able to show the CEO anything good lately, so they’re already in trouble. And on top of that, everything keeps going wrong, so Team Leader Park is sweating bullets, right?”
“Not Team Leader Kim. Team Leader Park. You’re looking at Team Leader Kim right now. Anyway, yeah, that’s it. You summed it up well. I heard the mood in Team Leader Park’s office is absolutely horrifying these days.”
“You can tell me things like that? Oh. You got transferred?”
“Yeah. I’m working with the actors now. Maybe because Han Hye-eun’s doing so well lately, some of the idol team staff got moved over to the actors’ side.”
This was small-company management for you.
You never knew what kind of work you’d end up doing.
One day, you might go from the idol team to the actor team.
Or vice versa, from the actor team to the idol team.
“Congrats. The actor team must be pretty comfortable.”
“Ah, there are some old-fashioned parts, but as long as you show the bare minimum of respect, it’s still better than working under Team Leader Park.”
Clunk, clunk—.
After talking for a while, both our bowls of pork gukbap were empty.
“Want me to get some sikhye?”
“Yeah. Get some. Damn, you’ve gotten even more polite since moving over to the actors’ team.”
“It’s only proper.”
I took a sip of the sikhye I’d brought back in a paper cup and said,
“I told you I had a meeting at eleven, right? I’ll probably get to see Team Leader Park’s face crumple there.”
“Oh. Is it an interim report today?”
“Yeah.”
“Come to think of it, are things going okay on your end?”
“They’re going so well it’s a problem. We’ve already made almost five songs, and the girls are at the studio working on recordings for the second and third songs today.”
“Whoa, damn. You guys are going way too fast. Wow, though, this sikhye is great. I’m gonna get another cup.”
“Ahem.”
When I held out my empty cup to Yoon Won-seok,
he made a briefly reluctant face.
I just gave him a slight nod.
“Come on, Team Leader.”
“Ha.”
Yoon Won-seok swallowed a silent ‘fuck’ and hurriedly went to get me another cup of sikhye.
Watching him, I said with a smile,
“Hey, I’m kidding. Don’t get all serious. I’ll pay for this, too, and next time I’ll treat you to jokbal and drinks. Look at you, getting all serious.”
“Haha. It’s because I’m comfortable around you, Team Leader Kim.”
Yoon Won-seok, who had thoughtfully brought back toothpicks, spoke with a hesitant look.
“By the way.”
“Yeah?”
“But, seriously.”
“Yeah! What?”
“This is information I was able to get even after moving over to the actor team, but… the CEO is attending today’s meeting, right?”
“Yeah. Of course. I told you earlier. The company’s going under. In a way, the idol groups Team Leader Park and I are in charge of are its only hope. The CEO might act all dignified, but I bet they’re sweating bullets by now. Well, even if the company goes under, the CEO will probably be fine.”
“They won’t just make things up or lie during the meeting, will they?”
At that moment, I nearly stabbed my gums with the toothpick.
“Come on. No way. No matter how crazy Team Leader Park is, they wouldn’t do that. It’s not like they’re new to working life. They know better than anyone what happens if you lie in a report like that. How many times have we gotten chewed out for it?”
“Right. I still remember getting slapped. Fuck.”
“I get it.”
As I nodded,
Yoon Won-seok still seemed unable to let it go.
“Still, what if?”
I gave a dazed laugh and tossed the used toothpick into the trash as I said,
“Then maybe we’ll get to see the CEO really lose their temper for the first time today.”
“The CEO losing their temper… Honestly, I can’t really imagine it. They even speak politely to mere managers like us.”
“Right? Wow, that’s what I find so scary. I’d rather they just spoke casually. Whenever the CEO says, ‘Team Leader Kim, don’t you agree?’ I feel like I can barely breathe.”
“Me too. When you think about it, I guess we’re still in the slave class.”
I laughed and gave Yoon Won-seok a kick in the butt.
“You idiot. I’m about to move up now.”
“Ow! That hurts.”
“Coffee? Iced Americano.”
“I’m in. Oh, I’ll buy the coffee. Since you treated me to lunch.”
“Okay.”
Even though I’d been saying stuff about men’s looks and whatever,
it was still fun to eat and chat together like this.
Maybe this was what life was about.
‘I can see the Oasis girls later.’
I was thinking that to myself as I headed toward the fourth-floor conference room.
My phone rang.
“Hello?”
-Team Leader, when are you coming?!
“Huh? The meeting hasn’t even started yet. Why? Is something wrong? Is Min-seo suddenly sick? Or are the others sick?”
-They’re not sick, but… sigh. It’s just, without you here…
“Without me?”
-It feels like things are moving a little slowly. Everyone’s bumping into each other a bit, too.
“I’ll be there soon. The meeting won’t take as long as you think. You’re the eldest, so keep an eye on the girls, okay?”
-Well, I guess. Okay.
“Yeah. Want me to pick up something to eat on the way?”
-Just hurry up and get here!
Click—.
“……Why’d she have to get mad?”
Anyone would think I was just taking it easy by myself.
I was working too, in my own way.
Even then, I’d asked if I should pick something up for them on the way back.
So I was a little hurt when she suddenly snapped at me.
[Should we whip them into shape?]
[These girls have gotten completely out of hand now that their Master’s been letting them do whatever they want! What do they think you are, their mom? They need one good pat-pat on the butt to come to their senses!]
“Nobel.”
[Yes.]
“You’re just the same, you brat.”
[……]
And at this point, no matter what I did, would those girls even be scared of me?
It’s too late now.
[True. I guess that’s fair.]
Ding—.
When I took the elevator up to the fourth floor, it was clear there was a meeting scheduled.
Usually the atmosphere was chilly,
but today, people were hurrying through the hallway setting up for the meeting.
“Ugh. It’s been a while since I’ve felt this heavy atmosphere of corporate life. I hate it. I hate it.”
I’d forgotten because I spent every day with them,
but it really was fun to hang out and banter with young, pretty idols.
“Hello.”
“Hello, Team Leader Kim.”
When I went inside, two female managers who’d once been on the same rung as me were sitting quietly, placing chocolates and coffee at each seat.
They wouldn’t be my subordinates,
so they must’ve been on Team Leader Park Joo-yong’s team.
‘Joo-yong. Is this really how you’re doing things?’
I’d heard nothing had progressed since the one-minute sample,
but seeing them prepare for the meeting, you’d think they had something to say.
‘If it were me, I’d have contacted the CEO separately and honestly explained that my team probably couldn’t attend today’s meeting. I’d ask for a little more time.’
That was how I’d been taught to handle things at work, too.
“This is the right file, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. That’s it.”
But why was it?
Looking at those people on the other team preparing even a PowerPoint presentation they didn’t need, I got a strange feeling.
I was getting goosebumps.
No way, right?
Come on.
Surely not.