Chapter 60: How to Resolve Conflict with Your Boss (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 60: How to Resolve Conflict with Your Boss (1)
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[SYSTEM] A ‘New Task’ has been assigned.
▷ Separate Spark from Yu Han-su
▷ Reward: Experience Points (???)
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My fists clenched involuntarily.
The system had just confirmed that a smooth debut was possible even without kicking Yu Han-su out, as long as I kept him at a distance.
Forcing someone out isn't exactly an easy task.
Since he was already part of UA, the chances of Yu Han-su being fired just for being a nuisance were remarkably low. Legally speaking, a company can’t just fire an employee on a whim.
Besides, Yu Han-su hadn't caused a catastrophic disaster yet.
He was just off-putting, talked an excessive amount of nonsense, and didn't look like he’d ever be good at his job.
But those weren't sufficient legal grounds to let him go.
It also didn't help that no department other than the Planning Team had a particularly negative impression of him yet.
‘Someone who speaks like that must have caused problems somewhere else before.’
Even the Manager seemed to fully understand which side was at fault when relaying the conflict between Yu Han-su and the Planning Team.
And yet, there was still no word about it within the company?
In a place with the unique characteristic where a resignation interview in the morning becomes common knowledge before lunch?
Then there was only one possibility.
‘Yu Han-su has found a connection within UA.’
Such cases happened often back at Hanpyeong Industry.
Like the nephew Department Head Nam brought in, or the Director’s younger brother, and so on.
It’s hard to make a fuss about someone who has strings to pull or is connected to those in power.
Since nothing good comes from causing a major scene with someone you can't get rid of, people probably just played along to a certain extent, even if it felt dirty.
‘I don’t know if that networking power was in play before he joined or after.’
Either way, it was a headache.
Kim I-wol’s career is truly legendary. I’ve lived long enough to end up having to sniff out and cut a parachute hire.
Until now, my limit was just doing petty, annoying things because I couldn't ignore a superior's orders.
The fact that I’m an average Joe incapable of open insubordination played a part, too.
But the situation had changed.
Now that it was clear someone was messing up and there was a faction inside the company shielding them, I had a justification to excise Yu Han-su.
All my past worries—about whether I should make him quit on his own or how I couldn't bring myself to play political games—vanished in an instant.
When it comes to this, the solution actually becomes quite simple.
“PD-nim, Team Leader. I’m very sorry to interrupt your business conversation.”
“Kim I-wol, didn’t I tell you not to butt in when the adults are talking?”
“Yoo PD, why have you been so aggressive since earlier? I-wol, what is it? Go ahead.”
I just need to show results and get them adopted, right?
Then there was only one answer.
“It might be lacking, but I have an item I’ve been thinking about for the album.”
“Huh?”
“If the company is still in the middle of discussions... I’d like to organize my thoughts and submit a proposal as well.”
Let’s drop the ranks and settle this with skill.
Idol albums are as diverse in type as the groups themselves.
Dozens of idol groups debut every year in Korea alone.
Still, if you were to categorize them into two major types based on their nature, they would likely be divided into the Photobook type and the Concept type.
First, the Photobook type. This includes a pictorial with many photos of the artist.
Next, the Concept type. While it still includes photos, the proportion is slightly reduced in favor of small goods or event-based elements.
Every fan has different preferences, but Spark’s fans particularly hated the former. The reason was simple.
≫ The geeks say every single one of the million identical photos is pretty, so they actually put in a million identical photos.
≫ What’s the point of including 100 unreleased photos if the background is all the same?
└ My album hasn't arrived yet, is it really that bad...?
└ Yes, they were all shot in the same studio.
└ Gasp... I guess it’s too late for a refund, right? T_T
Because UA, lacking funds, opted for cost-effective filming, the quality hit rock bottom.
In an era where new-generation agencies share photos via USB kits, UA was doing things that made the phrase "I'm sorry, Mother Earth" come out naturally.
Who would want to buy multiple copies of an album that costs a lot but offers no satisfaction? Especially a rookie album where the sales threshold for fansigns wouldn't even be that high.
That meant, one way or another, I had to win with quality.
High-quality content comes from capital.
But there was no way UA, which even skimped on outfits and studio rental fees, had that kind of capital.
A sigh escaped me. It looked like I’d have to start that hellish research all over again.
‘Assistant Manager Kim, go gather some references for something like a Welcome Kit.’
Small-time agencies... no, CEOs of SMEs regularly go through an "Innovation Phase."
When this phase hits, CEOs suddenly want to do something grand as if they’re possessed.
Like renewing the website or restructuring the organization.
Or they do something they’ve never done before just to get the feeling that their company is keeping up with the times.
Around this time two years ago, the President of Hanpyeong Industry went through a similar period.
Whether he hated the old-fashioned impression the company name gave off, or he hated the average age skyrocketing because young employees kept quitting, the President wanted to create a young and sensible corporate culture.
The words the President spat out without much thought were passed down to the executives who had no thoughts at all.
And through the empty-headed Department Head Nam, they reached me, whose brain had rusted over.
The mission given to me as part of the ‘Operation Recruit Young Employees’ was to create a Welcome Kit.
My client had about twenty mouths, including Department Head Nam’s trap, so the requirements were also incredibly numerous.
‘It shouldn't cost too much, but it shouldn't look cheap.’
‘Put in something young people like. Don't kids like that kind of stuff? Characters?’
‘Assistant Manager Kim, the Director is asking if we can just rent those VR devices?’
It was nothing but a bunch of shitty demands. Even now, thinking back to that time makes me dizzy.
Following their words, I worked hard to find something that was reasonably priced but didn't scream "budget," while being sophisticated and even having a retro side.
What was it again? Surely...
“Gasp!”
I woke up from the dream, panting heavily.
In front of me were a laptop with a black screen and a crumpled notebook.
I remembered searching for album components. I must have fallen asleep face-down; my back felt stiff.
It was a stroke of luck that the other members hadn't come out to the living room in the middle of the night.
If they had witnessed the shadow of an unidentified man slumped over the dining table, there would have been a lot of shouting in the dead of night.
When I touched the mouse, the laptop screen lit up again. The file I had been working on before falling asleep was still open.
‘A Welcome Kit, huh.’
I don't remember what item I chose back then.
By the time I had organized the ideas and reported them, the Representative had already become obsessed with "Internal Stability Management."
I don't know how much it had to do with internal stability, but I vividly remember getting chewed out for not printing the Welcome Kit report on scrap paper.
But this time is different.
To get rid of Yu Han-su for good, I have to bring an item that UA has no choice but to adopt and take it all the way to commercialization.
Since I had interrupted without having a single prepared opinion, I had to bring something worthy of that interruption.
I blinked my dry eyes a few times and checked the time on the laptop.
There was still about an hour left before the student group woke up.
I stretched, pressing down on my elbows, and fixed my gaze on the laptop again.
Not long after, the day of the PT—which no one was likely looking forward to—dawned.
As if to prove there’s always a way out, the planning work was well-finished after a bout of simple labor.
At the same time, the area under my eyes, which had cleared up briefly during the music video shoot, turned pitch black again.
My appearance must have been quite grim, as Kang Gi-yeon even spoke to me last night.
‘Are you staying up all night again today?’
‘Staying up all night? I’m getting a solid two hours of sleep.’
‘You said you had something in mind. Does it still take that long?’
It takes long because the claim that I had something in mind was a total lie.
In a situation where Yu Han-su and the Planning Team were about to grab each other by the hair, if I had said, “I’ll start preparing from now!” it obviously wouldn't have flown, so I bluffed. This is why people shouldn't lie.
Still, thanks to the hard work, a fairly decent proposal came out.
If the junior who taught me about the Three Great Mayos had seen it, I could have received an objective evaluation. It’s a shame.
The atmosphere in the meeting room I entered with my USB was so different from when I first joined UA.
With one villain spouting nothing but nonsense, how could anyone look happy?
The furrow between the Planning Team Leader’s brows, which looked like it had been carved with a chisel over the past few months, was pathetic. He could be used as a photographic reference for a case study on "Why a Company Must Hire the Right People."
I scanned the Representative, who was slightly displeased by the lack of progress despite the increase in manpower; the Planning Team, who wanted to wrap something up as soon as possible; and Yu Han-su, who was glaring at me with his arms crossed.
Normally, I would have started by saying thank you for giving someone as lacking as me an opportunity, but there was no time for that now.
I cut to the chase and dove into the main point.
Accompanied by a PPT featuring a drawing of a dusty old box, hidden in a corner of a school warehouse, waiting to be discovered by a Sparkler.
What approach would capture both ‘the desire to purchase’ and ‘fan sentiment’?
The answer for the former is quite clear.
Either make it mainstream or extremely rare. You just have to pick one.
It means you either sell delicious taiyaki that everyone likes, or you make a giant carp-shaped candy that no one goes out of their way to eat but makes them want to own it at least once.
On the other hand, the realm of fan sentiment is different.
To me, fan sentiment was something that seemed clear in a way, but the more I dug, the more mysterious it became.
Take Department Head Nam’s daughter, for example.
She said she loved everything Choi Je-ho did, yet when she attached a photo of him wearing a neon orange vest as casual wear, she never failed to add, “Please edit out that beggar-like vest!”
It wasn't just the daughter. Every Spark fan I’d seen was contradictory.
There were many fans who were contradictory in a positive sense—saying they wanted to see the boys cry after winning first place, but then crying harder than the boys themselves the moment they saw them tearing up, saying, “Don’t cry, kids!”
There were also plenty of fans who said they’d saved up money and just wanted a comeback, but then said, “Ah... honestly, this one is a bit disappointing,” once the comeback actually happened.
The fan sentiment I’ve translated in my own way while being a proxy stan is this:
‘We’ll embrace everything as long as it’s at least average, so please, come out with some actual thought put into it!’
So, I prepared it.
A concept that everyone would have experienced once during their school days, yet one that no one has ever seen before, blended to the max...
Namely, the ‘Small and Precious Secret Box of a Certain Club Found by a Sparkler in a Corner of the Warehouse One Day’ album.