A Surprisingly Solid Company
A surprisingly solid company.
"Haa…."
I let out a sigh in the car on the way back from the interview, and Kang Hyeongman, sitting beside me, asked,
"What's with the heavy sigh?"
"…Just wondering if I did okay in the interview."
Even in my previous life, the production staff of My Idol Academia had been infamous for their ruthlessness. I couldn't help but tremble at the thought that they might take this interview of mine and twist it with some devilish editing.
"From where I was sitting, there wasn't a single answer that looked like it could cause trouble. Don't worry so much."
"If you say so, sir…."
"If those people try any funny business with the editing, I'll go over there and wreck the place."
"…No, you really don't have to go that far…."
"You looked so unsettled, I figured I'd try a little joke to cheer you up."
"…Haha. That's one vicious sense of humor you've got, sir."
Still, hearing Kang Hyeongman's reassurance, I felt a little lighter. And when I thought about it again, the production staff hadn't actually thrown any particularly vicious questions at me either.
They were nicer people than I'd been bracing for.
I'd expected them to fire off one impossible question after another, but they'd only asked me simple things — almost as if someone had warned them in advance.
Yeah. It'll be fine. Even they wouldn't start a witch hunt or pull devil's editing right from the pre-filming stage.
I managed, just barely, to calm my racing heart.
And then….
"Hm? Where are we going, though?"
Glancing out the window by chance, I realized the car wasn't heading toward my neighborhood at all.
"Ah. There's somewhere I need to stop by before we head back."
"Where?"
"Where else? Our company building."
"Oh — we have a company building?"
"Of course we do. It's not like we're a paper company."
…Well, fair enough. A company having its own building was only natural.
Still… it's probably just a single office rented out in some small building, right?
One trainee — me — and a company founded by a former gangster named Kang Hyeongman. I didn't hold any particular expectations for Hyeongje Entertainment's headquarters.
And yet….
"This is our company building…?"
"That's right."
The moment we actually arrived in front of it, my mouth fell open in shock.
This… is really our company building?
A five-story building on a good corner in a reasonably outer part of Seoul. The rooftop even had a small garden laid out, and the floor-to-ceiling glass windows gave the whole place a sleek, modern atmosphere.
"It used to be a design firm, but the owner there couldn't pay his debts… so I took it as collateral instead."
"…It's incredible."
It really was a building that drew nothing but admiration no matter how many times you looked at it. Anyone who saw it would never, ever guess it was run by gangsters….
"You've arrived, Boss—!!!"
"Yeah."
…Or so I'd thought. That expectation shattered the instant we opened the front door and stepped inside.
Dozens of men in black suits spotted Kang Hyeongman and immediately bent at the waist in perfect ninety-degree bows.
"There are… a lot of people."
"We're still in the middle of moving in. Pretty much the whole crew is gathered here."
At Kang Hyeongman's words, I slowly looked around — and locked eyes with organization members whose faces were anything but gentle.
"They look rough, but they're all softies at heart. Don't be too scared of them."
"……."
If they were softies twice over, I felt like I might pass out on the spot….
Still… maybe because I've seen so many of them thanks to Mom and Dad's debts? Looking at gangster ahjussis doesn't even faze me anymore… wait, huh?
That was when it happened.
As I calmly scanned the faces of the organization members, two people who did not fit in with their surroundings at all caught my eye.
Both were young women with stylish, distinctive looks — and they were clinging to each other, trembling, clearly terrified of the burly men around them. They looked for all the world like housewives who'd been kidnapped and dragged into a gangster den (which, well, they had). I turned to Kang Hyeongman and asked,
"…Sir, who are those two? They're shaking pretty hard…."
"Ah, I was just about to introduce you and almost forgot. Hey! You two, come over here for a moment."
Kang Hyeongman raised his voice and waved them over. The two trembling women glanced around nervously, then scurried over in a rush.
"Yerin, say hello. These are the temporary trainers who'll be looking after you until the broadcast."
"…Trainers?"
"That's right. Vocal and dance, respectively."
…Wait. I was the only trainee, and he'd already gone and hired trainers?
Generous contract terms, a fifty-million-won signing bonus, travel by luxury sedan, a high-end company building, and now personal trainers on top of it all.
…At this point, I might as well have been an imperial trainee.
Did he really believe in me that much…? I was grateful, but I couldn't help the pressure that came with it.
"Teachers, please introduce yourselves as well. This is our trainee, Ha Yerin."
"Ah, h-hello…."
"Nice to meet you…."
More importantly — these people hadn't actually been kidnapped, right…? Their reactions were somehow….
"Yerin, you don't have anything scheduled after this today, do you?"
"No, I don't, but why?"
"No point in just saying hello. Since you've already met, how about taking a lesson today as well? Time's tight, after all."
"Ah…."
One month until the first filming of My Idol Academia. If I wanted to put on a decent showing by then, practice time was definitely going to be short.
"I'm fine with that."
"Then all three of you head downstairs. I've set up a practice room on the first basement level."
Following Kang Hyeongman's lead, we arrived at a clean practice room whose walls were completely covered in mirrors.
"Oh."
"Better to have just you three young people here than have everyone else making you self-conscious. I'll step out… ah, wait — before that…."
He crooked a finger.
"……?"
Before leaving, Kang Hyeongman called me over and whispered into my ear.
"Getting meaningful results in a single month won't be easy. Think of My Idol Academia as good experience for building name recognition, and just practice without fretting."
"……."
Had he somehow sensed the pressure I was under? With those offhand words, Kang Hyeongman eased the weight on my shoulders.
"And if anything makes you uncomfortable, speak up right away."
"…That would never happen. I'm always grateful, sir."
"…Alright."
Kang Hyeongman rested a hand on my head once, then called out toward the trainers —
"Teachers, I'll leave her in your care. Until you say otherwise, I'll make sure none of the other guys come down to the practice room. I'll be off, then…."
— and with that, he closed the door and went back upstairs.
I stared at the door he'd shut for a long time.
At first I'd thought he was no different from any other loan shark… but he really was a warm-hearted man.
Though… I seemed to be the only person in the room evaluating Kang Hyeongman that way.
Thud.
The moment Kang Hyeongman left, one of the trainers crumpled to the floor as if all the strength had drained out of her.
And then….
"Hwaaaaaah—!!"
She burst into wretched sobs.
"I was so scared—!! So, so scared—!! Hwaaaaaah—!!"
The other trainer didn't cry, but she patted the sobbing one's shoulder with a look of complete understanding.
Watching them, I couldn't help but form a reasonable suspicion.
These people weren't actually kidnapped and dragged here… right?
Kang Hyeongman was a warm person to me, yes… but he was still a gangster and a loan shark. What if he hadn't been able to hire trainers the normal way and had just forcibly hauled them in….
With a half-disbelieving feeling, I asked them,
"You two… weren't forced here by the boss, were you?"
"…Excuse me? No… we applied after seeing the job posting…."
"I figured as much. But you both looked so terrified…."
"…We had no idea it would be a place like this. There was a reason the pay was so good…."
The trainer pressed a hand to her forehead as she spoke, and the one who'd been crying nodded vigorously and wailed,
"Hic… we got here and it was full of tough-looking ahjussis… the atmosphere was so rough… and nobody would answer any of our questions… hic… until the student arrived, I thought we were here for organ trafficking…."
Yeah… that was a completely understandable misunderstanding.
You show up for high pay and the place is nothing but gangsters? I would have suspected organ trafficking too.
I patted their shoulders to fully clear up the misunderstanding and put them at ease.
"It's nothing like that, so don't worry. This really is an entertainment agency. And those ahjussis earlier are nicer than they look, too."
"……."
"……."
Hearing me, the trainer who'd been sitting on the floor seemed to realize how she'd looked, stopped crying, and got to her feet.
"…Haa. I'm sorry. I made a complete spectacle of myself in front of a student."
"No, it's fine."
Only then could I get a proper look at the face of the trainer who'd been crying.
But this person….
…Why does she look familiar?
I wondered for a second if she was someone I knew, then shook my head. Who would I even know in this industry?
I was the student here, so it was only right that I introduce myself first. I straightened my clothes for a moment and bowed my head to them.
"Then I'll introduce myself first. Please take good care of me. I'm Ha Yerin, a trainee at Hyeongje Entertainment."
"……."
The two of them watched my greeting, and then the trainer on the right introduced herself first.
"…Yes. Even if it's temporary, please take care of me as well. I'm Kang Suhyeon, and I'll be handling Yerin's vocal training. My previous company was JJ."
"You came from JJ…?"
JJ. One of the three major entertainment agencies that towered over the Korean entertainment industry.
And a vocal trainer from a place like that had come to Hyeongje Entertainment…?
I froze in momentary shock — and then the trainer who'd been sobbing earlier started her own introduction.
And when I heard her name, I flinched even harder.
"I-I'll do my best too. I was just an instructor at a no-name dance academy before this… and my name is Lee Jiwoo."
"…Sorry? Lee Jiwoo… Lee Jiwoo. You don't mean that Lee Jiwoo?"
"…You know me?"
Of course I did.
The name of the person who would win a dancer audition program a year from now and set off a whole dance craze was Lee Jiwoo.
It's been so long I'd completely forgotten her face…!
But hearing the name, I could place her. The woman in front of me… was that Lee Jiwoo.
"Ah, n-no… just that you have the same name as a friend of mine."
"Ah… is that so."
One side: a vocal trainer from one of the three major agencies. The other: the future winner of a dance program a year from now.
Faced with a lineup that dazzling, all I could do was click my tongue in disbelief.