No More Kneeling
I appeared on the live broadcast and told him never to kneel on the floor again. He’d insisted to the Master that he couldn’t possibly do that, but the moment I framed it as an order he obeyed instantly.
“I’m going to tell you a few things, and you must follow them. This is an order too.”
“Yes, Master.”
“My ability is a secret known only to me and you, Team Leader. If anyone else finds out, the power will weaken and your wife and daughter may not stay the way they are now.”
“Hiiik!”
Team Leader Baek slid right off his chair. He must have been shocked out of his mind.
“So it is absolutely a secret. Understood?”
“O-of course, Master.”
It was half a threat, but only by laying it out like this could I feel at ease.
“At the company we’ll go back to our original relationship. No more honorifics, and calling me Master is also forbidden. Clear?”
“B-but… Master. Even so…”
“Is. That. Clear?”
“Ah, y-yeah… I got it.”
“Good. Last one, and this is the most important.”
To change Team Leader Baek’s future, I delivered the final order.
“The being who granted me this power wants something from you, Team Leader.”
“From me?”
“No honorifics.”
“Ah… so the person wants something from me?”
I fleshed out what the Divine Spirit had told me with just enough detail and instructed him to live in harmony. God had commanded me to save Team Leader Baek, and to do that I had saved his family. The only path left for him was to cast aside arrogance and self-righteousness.
“This is what that being wants from you. Once you return to the company, live exactly like that. If you do, even better things will come your way in the future.”
Team Leader Baek’s expression turned strange—a mysterious mix of embarrassment and deep emotion.
“Why are you making that face?”
“I thought… you were going to ask me to push for Red Blossom’s comeback. So when you suddenly started teaching me how to live well, I got flustered.”
“Of course I plan to ask for Red Blossom’s comeback. But only promote them when you’re genuinely convinced they’ll sell. If you don’t have that confidence, a comeback won’t work in the market anyway.”
The moment work talk began, Team Leader Baek’s face grew serious.
“When the chairman or the head director orders a re-evaluation of Red Blossom, assess them coldly. The moment you’re convinced after reviewing the report, push them hard. That’s the only way we can recruit new members more easily.”
“That’s my job, so you don’t even need to ask. I’ll push them if I see any potential.”
“That’s enough for me.”
I thought Team Leader Baek’s salvation had been wrapped up neatly, but—
He doesn’t look like he has any injuries?
Ah.
I stepped closer to Team Leader Baek and slowly ran my hand from his receding hairline upward.
“Wait, what are you…”
“Take good care of it from now on. And try not to dye it if possible.”
The next day, Team Leader Baek’s hair had grown thick and lush.
The new dorm introduction video surpassed three million views. The fact that we were still considered failed idols hadn’t changed, but it had done a decent job of spreading the group’s name.
“There were so many comments asking for clips of the girls that I’ve been uploading to SNS nonstop. Followers there are growing fast too.”
Thanks to the video, our official SNS account had come back to life after a long dormancy. Aside from uploading videos to the channel there wasn’t much online work to do, so the senior decided to manage both the SNS and YouTube together.
Now that I had turned Team Leader Baek into an ally, talk of recruiting new members would come up soon. Once that happened I’d have to be out in the field again, so I wouldn’t have time to sit around managing social media and the YouTube channel.
“About the videos—since we’ve already started uploading, let’s film one piece of the girls’ daily life each week and post it. I’ll find a way to cover the production costs.”
Uploading videos regularly wasn’t a problem, but daily life footage lacked impact. We needed more content like the dorm tour with Cha Soyeon to really explode the view count and subscriber numbers.
We need a few more big hits before the executives will feel confident.
That worry was solved cleanly by Cha Soyeon not long afterward.
*
It all started with controversy over the CCTV footage.
Controversy like this always attracted troublemakers. Posts claiming the video was manipulated kept popping up. It was all predictable, but Cha Soyeon, who wasn’t used to this kind of thing, eventually exploded.
“…I’m doing this broadcast because I’m upset. My manager saved my life, yet so many people refuse to believe it. I’ll show the full uncut CCTV footage at the end of the broadcast, so please watch it. I’ll explain exactly what the situation was like one more time…”
This woman fearlessly turned on a live stream. And on Red Blossom’s channel, no less.
The fact that Cha Soyeon herself had gone live, combined with a record number of simultaneous viewers, became huge news on its own. On top of that, the full CCTV footage revealed at the end of the broadcast dramatically raised my (and Red Blossom’s) recognition.
The Divine Spirit had edited the footage to look better than most action movies. Since viewers believed it was raw real-life footage, the impact was even greater. Requests for me to appear flooded in.
“Since that’s how it turned out, you should appear on the next live broadcast too, Juwon.”
Cha Soyeon’s haughty voice came through the phone. Her tone made it sound completely obvious that I had to appear.
“Why should I?”
“Because that’s how the story will be complete.”
“Story?”
“Releasing the CCTV footage is the climax. You need to step forward at that moment and deliver the conclusion for the narrative to have perfect structure.”
As expected of an actress—she was literally directing a drama.
“You have to speak yourself for people to truly believe it. Are you planning to keep making me look like a liar?”
“That’s not what I mean, but what would a normal person like me even do on a broadcast? I’ve never done anything like that before.”
“I heard everything from Yeoreum. You attended acting school for a long time because you wanted to be an actor. You should be comfortable in front of cameras.”
Why is she just casually sharing someone else’s past like that?
“Anyway, I’ll call you every day until you say you’ll appear, so keep that in mind.”
Cha Soyeon was more persistent than I’d expected. She really called every single day and spent thirty minutes drilling into me why I had to appear. After three days I surrendered and agreed.
The concept was Cha Soyeon acting as a reporter conducting an interview with me.
“Hello, this is Cha Soyeon. This is my second live broadcast. By now some of you might be confused whether this is Red Blossom’s channel or mine, but please remember I’m only a guest. They don’t have a new song yet, but Red Blossom is a group with two full albums. Please listen to their music a lot…”
She even promoted Red Blossom, which was more than enough to justify my appearance.
“…Now I’ll introduce the star of the CCTV footage. Since this is a live broadcast we can’t clap, so please welcome him in the comments.”
On cue, I walked into the frame.
“Hello. I’m Shin Juwon, manager of Red Blossom.”
The comment section exploded instantly.
“Impressive, right? When he blocked the knife and twisted the criminal’s arm, he really looked like a superhero.”
Did you alter Cha Soyeon’s memories too?
This broadcast and her attitude were strangely favorable toward me. Not that I had anything to give her in return.
Although I had been pushed into appearing, I didn’t have much to say beyond explaining the situation at the time. As if she had predicted this, Cha Soyeon smoothly guided the show into a Q&A session.
“Since you all know the CCTV is real now, please leave any questions in the comments. I’ll pick them in real time and answer.”
Comments flew up so fast it was hard to keep up. On the other side, the Red Blossom members and the PD were monitoring and feeding her easy-to-answer questions.
“No. At first I didn’t realize it was a knife. If I had seen the knife first, I would have taken Soyeon and run.”
“…It was lucky that it slid along my side. The attacker clearly wasn’t skilled with a blade.”
“What I said in the video is true. I wanted to become an actor, but I wasn’t any good at acting. That’s why I chose to become a manager. I wanted to find people who are good at acting or singing and help them shine.”
“I’m not an athlete. I was born with this build and I’ve exercised consistently. Uh… no, my three-lift total isn’t 500 kilograms.”
“Why would someone living alone need such a big officetel? The place I live now is attached to the rooftop. It’s been remodeled, so it’s actually pretty nice. Grilling sausages on the wooden deck at night and having them with beer is absolutely perfect.”
While I was answering, I heard the sound of someone swallowing hard beside me. Cha Soyeon was staring at me with envious eyes.
What’s with her?
*
More questions came in than expected, so just answering them took over two hours. After the broadcast ended, I was rolling my stiff neck when Cha Soyeon spoke.
“Do you really live in a place attached to the rooftop?”
“Yes. There’s something like a studio on the roof. You don’t know about rooftop rooms?”
“First time I’ve heard of it.”
“Well, I guess someone like you would never have reason to live in a place like that.”
“If I go there, can we grill sausages and drink beer together?”
“Why would I lie about something like that?”
“Sounds delicious…”
Why was she so interested in something like this? She was the kind of person who could drink wine in a penthouse while looking at the night sky whenever she wanted.
“Um… I should come for a housewarming first, so after that I’d like to visit your place. Invite me.”
So why?