The Unsold Idol Returns to the Music Show (3)
Click! Click! Click-click-click!
A storm of shutter sounds filled the air.
It wasn't on the level of Gold Sun, but there were always people who photographed any idol who showed up, so more cameras were pointed at Sepia than I'd expected.
Reporters wearing daily newspaper badges were filming our entire arrival on video. That mattered too — it would end up on YouTube.
The girls put on natural expressions, waving as they walked the path between the fences.
Then it happened.
"The brightest!"
"In the whole world!"
"Sepia!!"
Booming male voices roared out from between the fences.
I turned and saw fans in their thirties and forties cheering. Not many — five or six at most.
I knew every face.
They were the hardcore fans I managed personally.
"Eunchae!!"
"Saraaaang!!"
There was our corporate director, too — the one who went by Sarang♡Forever. A suit looked completely out of place in a crowd like this.
Our eyes met, and I gave him a light nod.
I was grateful he'd come all the way out here.
There were no banners, but even a chant like that cutting through a crowd this size made a real difference.
It gave people the impression that these girls weren't complete nobodies.
"Thank you~♡"
"We love you, Seddoli~!"
The girls turned fully toward the sound, stopped in place, and waved hard, striking poses for them.
"Sepia. This way, please."
Next came the press photo time. The members moved to the spots marked on the ground with blue tape.
Click, click!
Lined up side by side, they were hit with a barrage of shots.
The photos taken here would end up in daily papers and entertainment articles.
"Woooooo!! Sepia!!"
This time a different scream tore through from another direction.
I checked — it was someone I'd never seen before.
Filthy clothes, a grotesquely massive body, glasses. He was screaming without the slightest regard for anyone around him.
People nearby recoiled and scrambled to get away.
My own expression started to twist.
Having passionate fans was good, but every so often you got ones like this… the so-called extreme otaku types.
He looked like a walking specimen of the breed, which only made it worse.
"Thank you~♡"
Even so, the girls struck poses in his direction and threw heart signs his way.
Professionalism.
I needed to manage my face too. Face management.
If word got out on social media that a manager had scowled at a fan, that would hit the group's image just as hard.
Here, I had to keep my composure as their manager…
"Wooooooaaaahhh!!"
Clang!
The screaming suddenly got louder. The steel fence toppled over.
The otaku fan was bellowing as he charged straight toward us.
"What the—?"
"What is it? What's going on?"
The noise drew every camera in the vicinity. Hundreds of lenses swung our way at once.
Even fans who'd had zero interest in Sepia were shoving their cameras forward.
I had to stop him.
With hundreds of cameras rolling, if that pig so much as laid a hand on the girls…
"What the hell?"
"Ah… shit. Hey! Grab him!"
Security guards provided by the broadcast station burst into motion.
But—
"Wooooowarwarwaaar!!"
There was no stopping that massive otaku as he came screaming toward us.
"Guh—!"
The guard who tried to grab his waist got dragged along like a rag.
"Urgh!"
The one who tried to block him head-on couldn't match the bulk and went flying.
Fuck. What kind of size was that.
It didn't look like a person running at us so much as a bull.
Up close, his build was even more absurd.
His weight looked like it matched his height, kilo for kilo.
"Ah, fuck!"
Another guard tried to block him and went down. No one could stop the otaku.
"Girls! Get inside!"
I abandoned the photos and pointed at the building entrance. Harin nodded and immediately turned with the others, heading for the doors.
"Woooooo! Sepia!! Don't gooooo!!"
"Fucking lunatic…!"
I was the only one left who could stop him.
I moved fast, putting myself in his path.
My body shot forward on reflex, but honestly, I didn't look like someone who could actually stop a guy like that.
That didn't mean I could just let him charge the girls. So—
I stepped into his path, then dropped low.
"Woooooo!! Wha—!?"
Thud!
I drove a tackle straight into his legs.
His massive frame teetered, then crashed toward the ground.
BOOM!
An enormous impact shook the pavement as the otaku hit the floor.
Click! Click!
Naturally, hundreds of cameras fired their flashes in unison.
They caught the otaku writhing and making bizarre noises.
They caught me too, breathing hard right beside him.
Fuck.
I'd avoided the worst-case scenario — an otaku tackling a girl group — but a manager taking down a fan with a tackle wasn't a great look either.
Anyone who knew the full context would understand… but there were always people who stripped out the context, posted the photo alone, and farmed outrage.
I'd need to call the company and ask them to handle the response.
"Sorry. We're heading in first!"
I offered a quick apology to the reporters, asked for their understanding, and hurried into the building.
The security team would deal with the otaku appropriately. The two guards he'd already sent flying were already hauling him away.
It seemed resolved for now… but I still felt uneasy.
…Something about this morning just felt cursed.
"What happened, Director?"
Only after we'd finished the morning pre-recording did I finally get to see the girls in the waiting room.
I'd explained the situation to the station, called the company, received instructions not to comment on the incident, then gone around personally asking every reporter not to run the story…
By the time I got back, the girls had already wrapped pre-recording and were resting in the waiting room.
"About what."
"That guy earlier."
Harin came over the moment I walked in. The others were sitting on the sofa, watching me.
I took the chair across from them.
"The station kicked him out, so that's settled for now. I talked to the reporters too. The company said not to mention the incident."
"There were so many people filming… will it be okay?"
"Some of it will spread no matter what… but the company will put out a statement soon with a full rundown of what happened. Don't worry. It wasn't our fault."
"I guess… you're right? I just keep worrying something else will go wrong…"
"Why do only the creeps ever find us. Seriously."
"Hogu oppa. Are you okay? You're not hurt?"
"I'm fine. I'm tougher than I look."
"You're not even half that pervert's size. The security guys were getting dragged around like nothing. God. If that freak had actually gotten to us…"
"Unnie. I'm getting chills just thinking about it. For real."
If he'd tackled them… or if a camera had caught him groping someone and the clip hit social media…
Even as the victims, that would have been the end of Sepia.
They might have earned some sympathy, but as a girl group, their career would have been finished right there.
The mood was turning sour for no good reason.
I clapped my hands hard and changed the subject.
"Alright. Enough of that. Pre-recording went well, right? I watched earlier. The staff were complimenting you."
"Really?"
"Yeah. All that practice paid off. Now… let's see. We've got time until the afternoon rehearsal, so let's eat and grab some sleep in between. What do you want?"
"Sandwiches~!"
Sarang's hand shot up immediately. None of the others had strong feelings either way, so sandwiches it was.
I checked the app and luckily found a place still delivering even this early, so I put the order in right away.
Egg mayo, no pickles, no olives. Sarang's order I already knew by heart without asking.
No coffee — they needed sleep. Drinks would be bubble tea.
"Done. Order's in…"
"Zzz~."
Sarang and Se-a already had their eyes closed. Harin was sitting properly, but her eyes were shut and she was nodding off.
They'd been exhausted since morning — fair enough.
Eunchae, though…
She was glued to her phone again.
Watching Shorts?
"You should get some sleep too."
"…Wha—? Manager-nim?"
She killed the screen in a hurry.
What was that about?
It bothered me, but… not making a show of it was part of a manager's job.
"Take care of your condition. We've still got rehearsal and the live broadcast to get through."
"…Ah. Right… yeah. Okay."
Eunchae gave an awkward smile.
Something felt off.
It was rare to see Eunchae flustered like that…
Knock knock knock.
A knock came at the waiting room door. I stepped out to see who it was.
"Hello! We're Fearless!"
The door opened onto a crowd of girls greeting me at once.
An eleven-member girl group that had debuted not long ago. Fearless.
A monster rookie act that moved a staggering 570,000 copies in their first week.
Even if you added up every album Sepia had ever sold, we still couldn't match their first-week numbers.
…Seeing it laid out like that made the popularity gap hit all at once.
A girl who looked like the leader stepped forward.
"Would you be the manager… the director? We heard the Sepia sunbaenims were here, so we wanted to come by and introduce ourselves. Would that be alright?"
"Ah. 'Introductions'?"
So they'd come to pay their respects.
Popularity aside, junior idol groups used downtime like this to greet senior groups, gift them signed albums, and take photos together.
Back when Sepia debuted, the girls had run themselves ragged doing the same rounds. Now they were the ones receiving the greetings.
Today, the number of teams coming to greet Sepia outnumbered the teams Sepia still needed to visit.
"It's fine. Come in."
"Thank you~!"
At my signal, a stream of pretty girls poured into the waiting room.
As if they'd never been asleep at all, our girls were already on their feet, waving and welcoming the juniors.
They were exhausted… but there was no choice.
"Hello! It's an honor to meet you! We're Fearless! Please take care of us!"
A crowd of girls bowed at a full ninety degrees toward Sepia.
With eleven of them, and all so young, the energy was overwhelming.
The girl who seemed to be the leader stepped forward and presented their album to our members on behalf of the group.
She was their oldest, and she was still the same age as Se-a, our youngest.
Which meant the other ten were all minors.
I'd even heard they had a second-year middle schooler… what birth year was that? 2009? Unbelievable.
Of course, we handed our albums to every Fearless member as well. We'd prepared for moments like this — hundreds of albums, each one signed individually in advance.
It was the same album exchange either way, and they were the ones being meticulously polite, but somehow we were the ones who looked like we had less room to breathe.
They were a famous rookie group from a major agency everyone knew. We were a mid-tier agency's old group, one flash away from disappearing.
Even while the reality of it settled in, the girls did their best — taking photos with the Fearless members, shooting a short Reel together, working hard to build a connection.
If even one #Sepia tag showed up on their social media from this, it counted as a win.
"That was Fearless! Thank you, sunbaenim!"
The flurry of activity ended, and the eleven girls poured back out of the waiting room in a rush.
Maybe now we could finally catch our breath.
…Or so I thought, until someone else appeared at the door.
"Good day! Rookie group Gold Sun, here to pay our respects to the Sepia sunbaenims!"
Ah.
The last people I wanted to see had shown up.
For some reason, Se-a's eyes lit up bright.