Mr. Jae Ik-hoo's Trial
Even though he had been driven out of the old company building, the staff brightened at the simple fact that Jake had come back. Jake immediately began catching up on the pace of the work, making up for the time he had been away.
"Amazing," he said, eyes widening as he went through stacks of documents and the two completed music videos. The last one was only just short of finishing in the edit.
"This is certainly more interesting than the concept I had prepared. Librarians in a library where every story in the world is recorded...."
What was more, the members had made everything themselves, from the songs and lyrics to the choreography, so their own colors had come through naturally. It was a combination that simply had to work.
After checking the album design, concept photos, and every other piece of work, Jake could only marvel and applaud.
"It could not have been easy to prepare all this in such a short time. I can see how carefully every corner was considered. You members, and the staff as well, have truly worked hard."
Then he quickly set about organizing what remained.
"Unfortunately, we weren't able to bring in enough funds for music show staging and wardrobe. Will four weeks of promotions be possible with this budget?"
At Jake's question, the stylists and staff answered in perfect sync.
"We were already preparing the outfits expecting something around that much. If the person is luxury, they still look refined and beautiful even in rags. We have sponsorships too. Don't worry, we'll handle the clothes ourselves."
"That's right. Don't worry! As for the stage, even if we don't dress it up grandly, we can still create plenty of atmosphere by using the screens and lighting well. Honestly, fans focus more on the members' outfits and hair, makeup, and styling than on the background."
Once Jake and the staff who had been away returned, the album preparation moved ahead quickly and smoothly, like a sailboat catching a favorable wind.
As the leader and overall producer, Baek Yuri had been carrying that heavy burden on his shoulders, but thanks to this, he could finally breathe easy and devote the remaining time entirely to stage practice.
But then.
"Why is Ikhoo-nim at our dorm...?"
That night, when the members got out of the car after work, they found the company representative, who had left ahead of them, squatting in front of the dorm building where he had parked a used car.
"I got the jeonse deposit back and moved out, so I have nowhere to go."
"...!"
Representative Jake, curled up like a pitiful traveler with nowhere to sleep, stood up. It was cold out, and yet he was dressed only in a thin coat without even a padded jacket.
"Whaaaaat?"
"All of a sudden? No, why?"
"...Representative, are you okay?"
The members stared in confusion and asked their questions one after another. Jake sniffed once and said in a tone that tried to make it sound like no big deal,
"Sniff. Well, we do need to get the album made. We also needed money for cleaning the old building."
The members' mouths fell open. This time even Neoul understood at once what Jake meant. He was saying that he had covered the shortfall in the budget with his own home's jeonse deposit.
Baek Yuri, the first to recover his composure, said,
"For now... I think it would be better if you came inside, Representative."
Once they were indoors and he had slowly explained everything, it turned out to be a truly absurd story.
The album had already finished all the sample checks and other procedures, and all that was left was to have it produced at the factory and packaged. But Kim Woohwan had stopped everything, nearly derailing the whole operation.
A staff member had urgently contacted Jake and asked for help.
So Jake had paid out of his own pocket for the production of the album and packaging, getting the work back on track. He had even covered the cleaning costs for the old building alone.
He had said he would spare no effort for Jjokbit, but no one had expected him to support them this recklessly and completely without a plan....
"The dorm is rather... cramped," Jake said, sipping the warm honey water Baek Yuri had handed him as he looked around the interior.
"Once we start making money, the dorm is the first thing we should change."
At that, the members exchanged sidelong glances.
Shouldn't you get your own house back first...?
Jake, looking a little embarrassed to make such a request, said with an awkward smile,
"So, the thing is... and I'm very sorry to ask this, but would it be all right if I stayed with you for the time being? I had planned to stay at the company building originally, but the heating system is old and broke down. I'll move as soon as the repairs are finished."
And so, for the time being, Representative Jake ended up staying in the members' dorm.
* * *
That night.
"Ikhoo-nim, Ikhoo-nim!"
Woo Cheong, trying to sleep in the living room, opened his eyes and chattered that he couldn't fall asleep.
Another change the members had gone through in the meantime was their sleeping arrangements.
Woo Cheong had originally used the room's bed, conceding it along with the Baeks and Neoul's consent, but because he talked too much and disturbed Lee Gal-chae's sleep, he had moved out to the living room. In truth, it was hardly effective anyway, since the soundproofing was terrible.
Ha On-ha had also quietly come out to the living room, saying the room felt stifling. The sensitive Baek Yuri went into the room, and Neoul also ended up using the empty bed.
Yeo Do-bin worried that members sleeping in the living room might feel stiff and wake up with low energy, but thanks to Baek Gi-yeom buying a thick cotton quilt, there was no need to have their backs dig into the floor and everyone could sleep comfortably.
Woo Cheong liked it so much that sleeping in the living room made him feel as if he had come to his grandmother's house.
When Representative Jake ended up staying with them, the members tried to offer him a bed, but he refused adamantly.
The artist's condition management comes first.
And so, the living room now held Baek Gi-yeom, Ha On-ha, Woo Cheong, and Representative Jake lying side by side and staring up at the ceiling like they were on a retreat somewhere. It was a somewhat uncomfortable, rather bewildering night.
"Ikhoo-nim, but!"
"Yes."
"Once we debut, can we do live broadcasts now?"
Up until then, not only had their personal social media been forbidden, but even live broadcasts were off-limits. They were so busy from dawn to dusk that they barely managed to get enough sleep, so even without the ban, they would have had no time to broadcast.
Their only contact with fans had been the videos uploaded to MyTube, the group mirror selfies posted to Jjokbit's official social media account, and a few photos taken between takes during the music video shoots. In truth, it had been less like communication and more like one-sided reporting.
"I want to do Dear Star too! Can I do Dear Star?"
Dear Star was a service in which fans could receive messages from stars in one-on-one chat rooms and reply in return.
It was a subscription-based paid messaging service that renewed automatically every month, one of the main channels through which artists and fans could communicate actively.
"If that's what you want, of course."
"Yay!"
Jake thought for a moment, then added,
"But before that, I think it would be best if you completed training on etiquette and proper language, on the right attitude toward fans, and on how to handle unexpected situations. It's not that I don't trust you. It's just that there's no harm in being careful."
At that, Woo Cheong and Baek Gi-yeom both turned their eyes toward the room. The look in their eyes was aimed at Neoul.
"I'm in favor, Ikhoo-nim!"
"It would certainly help a lot to learn in advance...."
"Yes. If you prepare beforehand, you'll be able to respond more flexibly when problems come up."
But contrary to the members' expectations, the unexpected troublemaker was not Neoul, but Ha On-ha.
Jake asked,
"For example... if a sasaeng appears when there are no security personnel around, how would you respond?"
"I'd run!"
"Wouldn't it be better to ignore them and call the police first?"
To Jake's question, Woo Cheong and Baek Gi-yeom gave very ordinary answers.
Ha On-ha, who had quietly been keeping his eyes closed, also answered.
"I'd make such a contemptuous face, like I was looking at the most pathetic human being in the world, and dump a load of insults on them until they quit being a fan."
"...?"
Huh....?
Stunned by Ha On-ha's unexpected answer, Baek Gi-yeom and Woo Cheong rolled their eyes around. Jake stood there, blankly opening and closing his mouth before asking another question.
"When you're communicating through Dear Star or doing live broadcasts... how would you deal with malicious comments or rude messages?"
"I don't care!"
"I'd quietly hit report and block them."
"I'd bring a mirror over and reflect it back~"
Huhhh...?
"On-ha hyung, that's so childish."
"Why? I'm just teaching that malicious comments are an act of spitting in one's own face~"
"Huh? That's a wonderful meaning...? Hm, maybe I should try that too? That's kind of tempting."
Listening to Woo Cheong and Ha On-ha talk, Jake's eyes flicked back and forth.
That was it. Ha On-ha had a bad temper. The easygoing, slippery sort of personality Jake had thought he saw was hiding the nature of a fighting rooster.
Just as Jake was at a loss for words, Ha On-ha waved it off with a laugh.
"Ah, I'm kidding. It's just the way we talk among ourselves. Do you really think I'd actually do that? I'd never do anything that would cause trouble for the group."
Fortunately, Ha On-ha was not the type to lose out anywhere. Still, Jake, unconvinced, threw out one more question.
"What if paparazzi reporters keep chasing after you relentlessly...?"
"Well, I'd strike a pose, I guess! V!"
"I don't think there's any choice. We'd have to manage our private lives carefully so nothing improper happens."
As before, the other two gave perfectly normal, ordinary answers.
Jake placed his hope in Ha On-ha and waited for his reply, hoping for something more moderate than the earlier answers.
But Ha On-ha shattered that expectation to pieces.
"I'd grab them and check the camera."
Ha On-ha's eyes curved sweetly, a broad smile spreading across his face as he added,
"If they didn't take me handsomely, just wait and see. They'd post it later saying it was a real-life photo of Ha On-ha, but if I ended up uglier than I look in person, I wouldn't let them get away with it. I'd hold them there and make them keep shooting until they got a picture that looked good."
"Uh...?"
Was that really the right answer?
When he said he'd grab them and check the camera, Jake had assumed he meant he'd delete the photos.... To find out whether they looked good or bad? And if they didn't, to make them shoot again?
Ha On-ha kept choosing answers that were somehow crooked and unusually specific. Jake could feel cold sweat starting to form on him.
Woo Cheong asked Baek Gi-yeom,
"Usually, you don't get many photos that look better than the real thing, right?"
"Right."
"Then I guess they wouldn't be able to go home! The person who met On-ha hyung would probably be crying and say they quit being a reporter that day, wouldn't they?"
"Oh."
Baek Gi-yeom was even admiring it, as if he had no thought that he should stop him.
Jake recalled something he had heard last time, about Neoul talking back to Kim Woohwan in a way that had crossed the line. At the time, he had been relieved when they said it would be let go without making a fuss over it....
He had thought he only needed to worry about Neoul, but with Ha On-ha giving answers like this too, he was starting to feel uneasy.
"Um... On-ha-nim, I can trust you, right...?"
"Of course~"
Suddenly, he did not trust him at all.
"I'm joking. Just joking~"
No, he wasn't. It didn't sound like a joke. Why did it sound so sincere? He really did seem like the type who would grab them and bore the paparazzi to death....
Is this group going to be all right...?
He began to feel a little afraid that supporting them by selling his house had actually been the right decision. Jake made up his mind to set up a training schedule as soon as possible.
But a little later, it was proven exactly that Ha On-ha's sharp edges were simply his honesty shown only to people he trusted, and that when a real situation arrived, he was quite good at hiding his temper and finding a flexible response.
Dong-dong—
In the dead of night, when everyone was in a deep sleep, the intercom rang. It wasn't the building's shared entrance buzzer, but the actual front doorbell.
Baek Gi-yeom snapped awake and checked the intercom. On the screen was a person he had never seen before, a complete stranger.
"Who is it?"
Still half asleep, Ha On-ha frowned and pushed himself up. Woo Cheong pulled the blanket over his head. The room door opened and Baek Yuri stuck his head out, while Representative Jake leapt to his feet and hurried to the intercom.
Dong-dong, dong-dong, dong-dong, dong-dong—
The bell kept ringing in rapid succession, as if someone were hammering the button again and again.
* * *