Deciding to Shine
I decided to shine. After finishing the emotional send-off ceremony at the new dorm, I returned home. As I climbed the stairs, a cool breeze tickled my cheeks, so instead of going inside, I flopped down on the wooden bench outside. The night sky where the meteor that changed my life had streaked by was still breathtakingly beautiful.
'They said the future would reflect my will.'
Two new members joining, a spectacular comeback, sweeping the music charts, seventeen music show wins… compared to now, it was an impossible future. How much of my will would I need to reflect to create such a dramatic change?
[Just do the opposite of what Master intends to do.]
It had been throwing out these cryptic, Zen-like answers lately.
“Explain it so I can understand.”
[Didn’t you say you wanted to make them shine from behind?]
[Then shine brilliantly from the front. Shine so brightly that the light transfers to the children beside you.]
“You want me to shine for them to see? I’m not even a celebrity.”
[Master is now a noble existence that cannot be compared to mere celebrities. You have received the same Grace as the Son of God, whom the people of the world believe to be their savior. Why do you keep lowering yourself?]
“I’m not lowering myself. There’s just nothing particularly high to raise.”
[Then from now on, raise yourself. Your unconditional goodwill in helping others is something even God acknowledges. That is why you received Grace.]
The Divine Spirit kept trying to elevate me. But I hadn’t changed at all.
[A noble being constantly trying to lower itself is not humility—it is arrogance. It is distrusting the God who bestowed Grace upon you. From now on, shine on your own. That will be good for those children as well.]
“Good? Why?”
[Master already knows. That it is difficult for them to shine on their own. They are not fading—they have already been extinguished. So please create light and share it with them.]
That night, I stayed up late, going back and forth with the Divine Spirit as we mapped out Red Blossom’s future. It said this kind of consultation was also part of its role in serving its master. I got to work after only a few hours of sleep, but thanks to that, what I needed to do had become much clearer.
Just as the Divine Spirit said, I decided to shine before my humility could twist into arrogance. The last thing it said had truly moved me.
[You simply need to show what you have done and what you will do ‘as it is.’ There is no need to exaggerate. If you do just that, the people of the world will all come to know that Master is shining.]
Since it was just stating facts, it was fine. No exaggeration, no bragging.
The day before the move, I reported to the team leader that I had secured a new dorm. The cost of a girl group dorm would only be settled at settlement time, and Red Blossom had nothing to settle. From the company’s perspective, they would probably be glad if we said we were leaving the dorm. Still, there were internal procedures, so I figured the team leader should handle the dorm cleanup and reported it.
“You got Red Blossom a dorm?”
“Yes, somehow it just….”
As expected, Team Leader Park looked at me with the expression of someone who had discovered a water deer in the Amazon. A short while later, the entire team gathered in the conference room. When they asked me to explain what was going on, I told them everything that had happened without adding or omitting anything. Since they already knew about saving actress Cha Soyeon, it was much easier than explaining it to the girls.
“This is ridiculous. Soyeon offered to buy you a house and you turned it into a dorm?”
“They have no complaints about where they live now. They didn’t want to move, but when she offered to buy them something, I thought a dorm would be better and mentioned it. As you all know, the current dorm is really not great.”
“Kid, who do you think you are, some saint? If you accepted it and rented it out, you’d make a fortune. Why give that to a failing group that might disband any day? You think the company will give you an award for it?”
“Since we’re talking about the company, I don’t know the exact procedure for removing the dorm from the list. Could the general manager or senior help me with that?”
Song, who had been listening quietly, finally spoke.
“That part isn’t difficult, but I’m saying this because it seems like your efforts will be in vain. No matter what you do right now, the company won’t reinvest in Red Blossom. Saving a failing group is harder than launching a successful rookie. Who would pay attention to a used rookie that’s already been around for two years?”
In truth, Manager Song was one hundred percent right. That was why the company had given up on Red Blossom and ordered Team 4 to launch new rookies instead.
“Still, I want to try everything I can. There’s still time until the next reorganization, right? Anyway, aside from supporting other teams, I don’t have much else to do. I want to focus more on taking care of the girls.”
“This guy is making me feel ashamed of myself. Fine, do whatever you want. I don’t know if it’ll work, but I’ll look into whether the company can provide any support.”
“Member recruitment… that won’t be possible, will it?”
“That would require the premise of releasing an album, and in the current situation, nothing will work. Even for one new member and a mini album, it would cost over five hundred million won. Who would burn that kind of money on a group with zero certainty? They don’t even have a fandom—hardly anyone even recognizes them.”
That was the biggest problem. They had released four albums including singles, yet there wasn’t a single song people knew. Other girl groups suffered from anti-fans and toxic fandoms, but these girls didn’t even have people willing to hate on them.
I planned to start making myself shine from right here. By promoting the failing group.
This was a hint I had received from an employee in the general affairs team on the day I joined the company.
The day I joined—
“The paperwork is done. You’ll be assigned to Singer Team 5.”
“Singer team? I applied for the publicity team….”
“It’s the head of department’s instruction. Also, the publicity team doesn’t have any openings right now.”
“I see….”
When I made a disappointed face, the general affairs employee smiled and said,
“If you want to do publicity work, go talk to your team leader. Every team has its own publicity person aside from the official publicity team.”
“Really?”
Although there was a company publicity team, the actor and singer teams each had their own publicity staff depending on the situation. It was to organically manage the company’s overall publicity capabilities by creating plans tailored to the artists they were caring for.
“Team 5’s position is probably vacant because the previous person quit. So talk to your team leader about it.”
Back to the present—
“Our team doesn’t have a publicity person, right?”
“We did, but they quit during the exclusive contract dispute. They figured it was hopeless and ran. Right now, On Yu is managing the SNS and YouTube channel comments.”
When I heard that, the senior gave a bitter smile.
“There’s nothing to manage. We’re lucky to get even one comment a week.”
I had checked it myself not long ago—the follower count, subscribers, and comments were absolutely dismal. Lina’s personal SNS actually had more followers than the official channel.
“Then, can I use it? We can’t get broadcast appearances yet, but we can upload vlogs there, right? I want to increase the subscriber count before the comeback.”
“Oh? You’re already thinking about a comeback?”
“It’s better to set big goals, isn’t it?”
Since I had seen the future, it was obvious to me, but to these people it must have sounded like Mission Impossible. I wondered what kind of faces they would make when I actually pulled it off.
“Use it if you want. Even if you upload videos, at least one more person might watch.”
And just like that, I became Red Blossom’s manager, masseur, and publicity person.
“How are you going to handle editing? If you just upload raw footage, no one will watch. You need to polish it nicely, add subtitles, and pay attention to video quality.”
The senior brought up filming at just the right moment.
“Of course I’ll do that. There are plenty of companies that shoot and edit videos specifically for YouTube. I’ll find a suitable one and start filming the moving-in video tomorrow.”
“Even if you submit a production proposal, it won’t get approved. If you’re going to use an external company, don’t bother making the video,” Manager Song said with a troubled expression.
“I don’t need to submit a proposal. I received a bonus from the head of department for saving Soyeon. I can make a few videos with that.”
I planned to invest the entire bonus I received from the head of department into this.
“What? You’re going to use your own money again? Do those girls have some dirt on you or something?”
“I’m the one who offered to do it. In return, if the response is good enough that we can try something more, please officially secure a publicity budget from the team leader. That’s enough for me.”
“Ha, you really… If you had wings, you’d look like an angel to them.”
I just grinned without saying anything. Now that I had received Grace, even someone with my physique could be called an angel.
I explained the video concept I had come up with. It was a before-and-after video comparing the old dorm to the new one. After searching, I found that girl group dorm reveal videos got incredibly high view counts.
“If you haven’t chosen a company yet, I’ll introduce you to the studio we used before. It’s not a big place, but I guarantee their skills. The PD there does great work.”
It was a company the senior knew personally; they had shot a promotional video for their second album there. Both the team leader and manager said it was a good company, so we decided on them. The senior said he would negotiate the production cost as much as possible.
“And, Team Leader.”
“Yeah?”
“Is it okay to film the current dorm first and make a before-and-after video?”
“You’re worried the company might dislike it?”
“Yes.”
The impact of a dorm changing from a run-down officetel to a hotel-level facility would be no joke. To show that, we had to reveal the current dorm, which would obviously invite criticism. No matter how much of a failing group they were, people would say, “What the hell is that girl group dorm?” If you put it harshly, Red Blossom would become the victims and the company the perpetrator.
“I thought about that too, but there’s nothing better than a before-and-after video to get the impact you want. That’s why we’re showing the previous dorm.”
“Right.”
The team leader, who had been pondering for a moment, spoke.
“Just film it. We’re not in a position to be picky about cold rice or hot rice right now. I don’t know how the higher-ups will react, but I’ll try to block them however I can. I also have a lot of resentment about them talking about disbanding the team.”
It seemed I had a pretty decent boss.
I returned to my seat and called Yeoreum.
“…Yeah. Just roughly organize the stuff you’re leaving behind. Make sure it doesn’t look too staged. I’ll call you before we head out.”
I told her we would be filming the moving scene. I asked her to make sure the old, cramped place didn’t look too dirty, even if we couldn’t hide how worn-down it was.
Finally, there was one more person I needed permission from, so I called Cha Soyeon. If the failing group’s dorm suddenly turned into a hotel-level facility, people would naturally be suspicious. So I planned to reveal that it was prepared by Cha Soyeon, their senior from the same agency.
Considering Cha Soyeon’s annual income, this amount wasn’t even pocket money to her.
“You’re going to say I bought it for them?”
“Yes. I think only someone of your level would make the viewers believe it. It’s not something a failing group or a rookie manager could possibly do.”
“At first you tried to hide it, but it seems your thoughts have changed.”
“Because I’m telling the truth. If it were exaggeration or a lie, I wouldn’t do it.”
“Hmm… Instead of that—”
She seemed reluctant. I would have to think of another scenario.
“I’ll come and film it myself. What time is the move?”
“Pardon?”