Bet
The elevator doors closed, leaving Neoul alone on the top floor. The members hurriedly hit the first-floor button to cancel it, then pressed the top-floor button again. But the elevator passed the first floor and kept going, all the way down to the basement level.
The one who had pressed the button on basement level one was road manager Kwak Yuk-pal. In both hands, he was carrying lunch boxes he’d bought for the Jjokbit members.
Until only a few days ago, the Flux building had a perfectly decent cafeteria, but the contract with the vendor had been terminated yesterday.
“Manager-nim!”
“Yuk-pal-nim!”
“This is bad...!”
“Hurry and get in!”
As the members urgently urged him on, Manager Kwak scrambled into the elevator.
“What happened? Is something wrong? Did things not go well with the CEO?”
Baek Yuri answered while hammering the door-close button.
“I think Neoul is about to cause trouble!”
“What?!”
Worried, Manager Kwak and the members rode back up to the top floor. When the elevator doors opened and everyone spilled out in a rush, Neoul was just coming out of the CEO’s office.
He spotted the members who had returned and started walking toward the elevator.
“Neoul!”
“Hyung!”
“Gal-Neoul! What did you do?”
“Neoul-Neol-Nol! What did you talk about?”
“W-wait, did you kill the CEO...?”
Neoul looked around at the members calling for him, then calmly shook his head at Yeo Do-bin’s nonsense. Then he smiled faintly and said, “I settled it.”
“Settled it?”
“Yes. I obtained approval for self-producing. I also secured the November 25 debut showcase, so there will be no cancellation of the venue booking.”
“Really...?”
“How did you do that?”
In the brief time the elevator had gone down to basement level one and back up, what on earth had happened? The members were bewildered.
“Nothing special. He said to do as we please.”
Suspicious looks poured over Neoul’s calm reply. Unable to trust him, the members had Neoul repeat exactly what CEO Kim Woohwan had said.
“I’m completely stepping away from this! I went to all that trouble for you, and this is the gratitude I get? I don’t want to work while being treated like this either! Fine, then, do whatever you like!”
Baek Gi-yeom and Woo Cheong narrowed their eyes in disbelief.
“That does not sound like permission to do whatever we want.”
“Neoul hyung, you heard only what you wanted and let the rest go in one ear and out the other.”
Baek Yuri asked Neoul carefully, “What did you say to the CEO that made him so furious?”
No matter what, it wouldn’t be good to fall out with the CEO.
He couldn’t begin to guess what Neoul had done to make Kim Woohwan angry enough to declare he was stepping away. Nor what kind of insult Neoul had committed. Or whether the enraged CEO would now decide to torment them no matter what they did.
Baek Yuri was worried sick.
Neoul answered, “A gentle persuasion would not work, so I merely pointed out the facts sharply and scratched at that hollow pride of his.”
In other words, he had beaten him down with unfiltered words.
Your tasteless planning is not worth following. There are so many talented people here, so why not appoint them instead of trying to do everything yourself and ruin it? If you’re going to fail, then fail alone.
“In other words, I offered advice to a tyrant.”
His father, the Dragon King, had never ignored the remonstrance of his retainers. That was why he could become a king trusted by his people. Neoul believed that was how any true leader ought to be.
Watching Neoul speak so proudly and confidently, Baek Yuri furrowed his brow.
Should I praise him for this? Or should I warn him sharply never to do it again?
Baek Yuri looked to Baek Gi-yeom, as if asking for an opinion.
Is this really okay?
Baek Gi-yeom shrugged with a grin, looking like he didn’t know either.
The members got back into the elevator with Neoul for now. Ha On-ha shouted as if his heart had finally been unburdened.
“Good! So what if he said to do whatever we want! Since he said it himself, we just do whatever we want too~ What we need to do now is move fast so the CEO can’t possibly take that decision back, right?”
They needed to push everything through quickly so Kim Woohwan would have no way to swallow his own words, even if he wanted to.
“I agree...!”
“Same~?”
“Oh...! That’s it!”
Yeo Do-bin nodded hard enough to snap his neck.
“Ah.”
Then Neoul said, as if he had just remembered, “There is more to tell you. That is...”
“What is it?”
“He said we could do as we pleased, but he would not give up the triple title.”
“He wants us to prepare a triple-title comeback in one month?”
So he was determined to force three songs to promote as title tracks. It was Kim Woohwan’s revenge against the Jjokbit members for refusing to accept his plan.
“And he said he would cut the debut budget in half.”
“Hah.”
Manager Kwak, who had been watching quietly, dropped the bag holding the lunch boxes. Baek Gi-yeom swiftly caught it before it hit the floor.
“I heard the budget had already been slashed hard when Chairman Kim came in, so it was already kind of low. And now he’s cutting that in half again?”
Manager Kwak frowned deeply, then carefully continued, “Shouldn’t we go apologize to the CEO and ask him to reconsider, even now...?”
“No.”
Baek Yuri, who had been thinking hard, cut him off cleanly.
“This isn’t a losing deal. No, actually, it’s better this way.”
His eyes shone as he spoke, each word crisp and clear.
“You have to look at this from a long-term perspective. Trying to prepare a triple title under a low budget and in a short time will make us anxious and feel boxed in right now. But if you think about what we need to do so we won’t regret the debut later, the answer is already decided.”
At Baek Yuri’s words, Yeo Do-bin nodded. Lee Gal-chae and Woo Cheong did the same.
They couldn’t submit to Kim Woohwan just to avoid temporary hardship.
If the preparation period grew longer, their buzz faded, and they debuted after the hype had passed, then if fans’ expectations collapsed because of a terrible debut song and they all fell away in droves, the loss would end up being far greater on that side.
“I think Yuri’s right too.”
“Me too~”
Baek Gi-yeom and Ha On-ha agreed as well. Baek Yuri nodded.
“If he cut the budget and added restrictions... then I think ‘do as you please’ really does mean for us to do it ourselves. We can move without delay.”
He looked over his teammates in turn, then fixed his gaze on Neoul.
“I was worried we’d end up having no choice but to do only what we were told. Thanks for stepping in and solving it.”
The others added their own words one by one.
“That’s right, Neoul! You pulled one off!”
“Neoul~ Thanks!”
“Yo, that was brave...!”
“Raccoon Brother, I’m promoting you to Great Raccoon!”
Even the usually quiet Lee Gal-chae nodded in agreement.
“It was nothing.”
Neoul smiled as if it were no great matter, as if he had merely done what needed to be done.
“We do have the same goal, do we not?”
The rabbit alliance had only just reached its starting line. If they wanted to debut quickly, find the reincarnated rabbit, and win the award Baek Yuri wanted, this was what Neoul ought to do.
The members thought the “goal” he spoke of meant the common purpose of debuting together as one team and moving toward their dreams as colleagues, and they were touched.
“Right, right! We’re one team now!”
“Nice~ Let’s debut successfully, get a music show No. 1, and do everything we want together!”
“Our team! Fighting!”
Only Baek Yuri, who understood exactly what lay inside Neoul’s words, nodded with solemn resolve.
But then he soon wore a slightly worried expression.
“Still... next time, I’d like it if you told us beforehand before doing something sudden.”
“If I tell you beforehand, then it would no longer be sudden.”
Neoul had a point.
“That is true, isn’t it...?”
Baek Yuri was slightly flustered but quickly adjusted.
“Then please try to refrain from sudden actions whenever possible. I’m going to be shocked senseless.”
Neoul’s eyes widened.
So if one was greatly shocked, one’s liver could fall out?
Until it had been confirmed whether Teacher Baek Yuri was truly a rabbit or not, it would be troublesome if his liver simply dropped out on the spot. Unless, of course, there was a way to put it back.
“I shall keep that in mind. Your liver must not fall out.”
Neoul nodded seriously. For some reason, Baek Yuri swallowed hard, feeling a chill at those words.
“It, it looks like we’re going to be busy.”
Baek Yuri laughed awkwardly and turned to the other members.
Neoul nodded and fell silent.
Actually, there’s more I haven’t told the members yet...
Neoul recalled the conversation in the CEO’s office.
After he had criticized Kim Woohwan to his heart’s content, the answer had not immediately been for them to do as they pleased.
— How insulting! Get out at once! Nothing will ever go the way you want it to!
— I heard that once an idol debuts and earns money, they receive something called settlement money.
— Ha! You’re not even debuted yet, and you’re already talking about money!
Neoul ignored the steaming Kim Woohwan and proposed a bet.
— Let us do this. If our self-produced work fails to get a good response, I will hand over all of my settlement money to you, Kim Woohwan.
— What...?
Won Hasin had said that humans love money. Food costs money, clothes cost money, everything in the human world is made of money, so money is very important.
Neoul decided to wager money once in exchange for crushing Kim Woohwan’s pride.
For a moment, Kim Woohwan looked tempted, then he frowned.
— Will that be enough?
Then he added another condition.
— If you fail to draw a good response this time, promise that from your next promotion onward, you’ll follow my production without a word of complaint! I cannot tolerate this kind of mutiny!
Neoul nodded. In any case, with time, Representative Jake would return to Flux Entertainment. By then, Kim Woohwan would not be producing anything at all; he would be the one leaving Flux.
Completely unaware of that fact, Kim Woohwan had kept rattling on.
— Then can you bring home the Rookie of the Year award at the year-end awards? At the very least, that would count as a good response!
Year-end award voting usually took place in November, so for Jjokbit, who were aiming for a late-November debut, winning an award this year was almost impossible.
There were some award shows that held voting in December, and Idol Travel had created such a huge buzz that it wasn’t completely impossible, but...
It was still not easy, since other groups had already debuted in June and July and were being discussed as rookie award candidates. The chances were slim.
If the other members had been beside Neoul then, they would have stopped him, saying, “That’s ridiculous.”
But Neoul, as if he had been waiting for it, agreed readily.
— Very well. I shall bring it back.
He had not said it because he was truly determined to win the award.
If it’s a rookie award or anything else, good. If not, so be it. The production will be fine once Representative Jake returns, and the settlement money...
Neoul didn’t need money anyway. To him, who had lived on shrimp and plankton in the sea, money was nothing more than scraps of paper, or maybe just numbers lined up on a screen.
So no matter what conditions Kim Woohwan set, Neoul had entered the bet from the start thinking it would be fine even if he handed over all the settlement money.
If I am to find the rabbit as soon as possible, I must bring the debut forward.
He also wanted the members to debut with songs and a concept they could be satisfied with. More than anything...
Because I promised Teacher Baek Yuri.
He had promised to bring home the highest prize at a Korean popular music awards ceremony within five years.
From what he had investigated, winning an award meant first presenting a song the public would love. But to Neoul’s ears, the song Kim Woohwan had chosen was absolutely not the kind of song that deserved applause.
At first, he had wondered whether mermaids and humans might simply have different ears or tastes, but judging from the members’ disgusted reactions, mermaids and humans did not seem to differ all that much in standards.
— Hah! You’re that confident, are you?! Fine! I’m completely stepping away!
Kim Woohwan had grumbled all the way through it, but in the end he accepted Neoul’s proposal.
As Neoul left the CEO’s office, he saw the corner of Kim Woohwan’s mouth lift in secret satisfaction. He was cocky, convinced that Jjokbit would never win Rookie of the Year.
As if Neoul’s settlement money, and the Jjokbit members who would obediently follow his decisions without protest, had already fallen into his pocket.
“......”
Neoul looked down at the members.
“I have several unreleased songs, um... Is it all right if I let you hear them...?”
Yeo Do-bin quickly jumped in with a song first.
“Of course! Then let’s go to the AR team first. I think it’d be good if we all listened together and shared opinions.”
“Good! Let’s go!”
“Since we already talked about the concept last night, let’s jump straight into a planning meeting~”
Baek Gi-yeom, Woo Cheong, and Ha On-ha, all of whom acted fast, suggested they head straight to the AR team.
Baek Yuri looked a little uneasy, but he nodded.
“...I’m good with that too.”
Even the quietest one, Lee Gal-chae, agreed as if he had been waiting for it.
Watching the members brimming with enthusiasm at the thought of self-producing, Neoul decided he had done well to settle things with Kim Woohwan.
Still, it would probably be best to keep the bet involving the settlement money and the rookie award secret from the members.
Neoul did not want the others to end up carrying unnecessary pressure because of something he had done on a whim. Nor did he want things to fall apart if it could be avoided.
Coming to land has made my secrets multiply.
The elevator stopped at the floor where the AR team’s office was located. The members immediately charged into the AR team’s office.
“Everyone, please eat first! You can eat in the conference room too! Talk while you eat your lunch boxes! Okay?”
Following behind the members who were showing signs of becoming workaholics, Manager Kwak urgently tried to get them to eat.
“Work is fine, but you can’t skip meals! Especially you, Gal-chae-nim, Cheong-nim, you’re still growing, so you need to eat properly!”
Neoul, entering the office last after the manager, said, “I am also still growing!”
“What? Neoul-nim, I think you could stop growing now, couldn’t you?!”
Grow even more from here? He’s already 192 centimeters. He’s basically a basketball player.
Manager Kwak looked up at Neoul, who was absurdly tall, with a gaze full of doubt.
But Neoul answered as if it were obvious.
“At this size and strength, I could not even beat a single killer whale.”
“You need to beat a killer whale...?”
***