Became a Music Show Exposure Idol (1)
In a corner of the broadcast station, Eunchae called me over to what looked like an unused storage room.
"Over here."
"…Thanks."
Without another word, I quietly handed her a shopping bag containing the outfit she would wear for today's performance.
She hid herself behind a makeshift screen and only stretched out a hand to take the bag, but the peculiar scent drifting from up close was enough to tell me her clothes were still wet.
"Did you fall or something?"
I already knew perfectly well why, but I played dumb for her sake — and left her an exit while I was at it.
"……Yes."
"You didn't get hurt?"
"No. I'm fine."
Eunchae answered, then carefully shifted her body.
Ssshhk. Shhk. Shhk.
The sound of her peeling off the clothes she'd worn on the way in.
I couldn't see her from where I stood, but the sounds and a faint silhouette came through.
A glimpse of her lifting a leg to pull her pants off.
I wanted nothing more than to yank the screen aside and look, but there were lines a manager had to respect.
Six years of girl-group management — climbing all the way to senior manager — had a lot to do with how thoroughly I'd kept those lines.
Most people couldn't.
You hire someone as a road manager and they try to sneak photos of the girls. Or they try to slip into the dorm…
I'd met every kind of scumbag there was.
Ssshhk.
Of course, even just from the silhouette, watching those heavy breasts and that ass sway was no easy thing to endure…
But I held out anyway.
Because there was a dream I still had to achieve with Sepia.
I wasn't about to throw that away for something as cheap as lust.
……Though I wasn't sure where I stood on that anymore.
"Manager."
"Hm?"
I glanced toward her without thinking.
The silhouette… showed no clothes at all.
Off to the side of the screen, the wet garments she'd just stripped off were visible. Even her underwear.
Not direct, but clear enough — the image of her lifting a leg to change into a fresh pair of panties.
"Manager… if something right in front of you is tempting you… what would you do?"
"……."
An out-of-nowhere question.
Not that I didn't understand what she was really asking.
"…Hard to say."
"If you really can't hold back. If it shakes you so hard you stop being yourself… what do you think you'd do?"
Anyone overhearing might have thought she was talking about drugs, but Eunchae wasn't that kind of girl.
"Is there… something shaking you?"
"Please don't ask what it is."
"Alright. I won't."
I already had a pretty good idea.
The real problem was how I answered her here.
I thought it over for a moment, then opened my mouth.
"I know there are a lot of things you hold back on because you're an idol, Eunchae."
"…Yeah."
And it wasn't just the obvious things.
Even basic drives like hunger and sleep were under constant control when you were an idol.
"As your manager, of course, all I can really say is that you have to endure it."
"I figured."
"But… sigh. I can't give you a hard answer and tell you to just do this or that. I know perfectly well that 'just hold it in' can be a cruel thing to say."
"……."
"As long as it doesn't interfere with what we're doing with Sepia… maybe it's okay to loosen up a little. There's a limit to how much a person can keep bottled up."
"……You think so?"
"In the end it's your choice. But as long as Sepia stays number one for you, I don't think it's a bad thing if you do what you want after that… that's how I see it."
"……."
"You're an adult now, after all. Not the kid who used to say she'd throw everything away and run off."
"…Why is that coming up now?"
"No reason. Just popped into my head."
I scratched the back of my head lightly.
"……Thank you."
"Did it help?"
"Yes. ……Really."
I wasn't sure whether what I'd said was actually the right thing.
But on a fundamental level, this was the best I could offer. That was how I saw it.
"Shall we go?"
Before I knew it, Eunchae had stepped out from beside the screen.
She was already in her performance outfit for today.
A bright spring look. A white-based knit that subtly emphasized her chest, paired with a slightly short skirt.
Girlfriend-on-a-date concept.
Her makeup was a little mussed, but it still couldn't hide Eunchae's beauty.
If she walked onstage looking like this, she could pull in thousands of new fans on the spot.
"Give me the shopping bag. I'll carry it."
"……Ah, no. It's fine. I'll take it."
Eunchae hid the bag behind her back.
Well — inside it were the wet clothes she'd just been wearing, underwear and all…
I'd have to stash it in a corner of the waiting room.
"How much time until rehearsal?"
"About two hours left. Factoring in makeup, we should start getting ready and wait from now."
"……I'm sorry. I couldn't greet people with everyone."
"Huh? No, it's fine. The other members already made the rounds."
"I'm… sorry. This won't happen again."
Something like resolve seemed to sit in her voice as she said it.
"Let's go. Waiting room."
I knew there was no point in pressing her further, so I quietly left the storage room with Eunchae.
When we got near the waiting room, someone was standing in the hallway.
A middle-aged man in a suit, arms full of things.
I recognized the face. He spotted me too and dipped his head in a friendly greeting.
"Oh! Manager! Working hard as always!"
"Sarang♡Forever-nim. You came all the way out here. Thank you."
He was one of Sarang's biggest fans and a member of the fan club leadership — Sarang♡Forever.
In real life he was a department head at a major corporation, but here he was just an ardent fan.
"Oh, and Eunchae-nim too! It's an honor to meet you!"
He greeted Eunchae as well.
She caught on that he was a fan and immediately switched over.
"Hello☆! I'm Eunchae from Sepia☆!"
Straight into Idol Mode.
The fact that she could flip that fast never stopped amazing me.
"But what brings you all the way here…?"
"Ah. Today's Sepia's music show comeback performance, isn't it? We Seddoli all chipped in a little and put together some tribute gifts. I came as the representative to deliver them, but I couldn't get into the waiting room…"
Of course fans weren't allowed in the waiting rooms.
Had this guy really thought he could just walk in and hand them over? No wonder he'd been standing around the hallway looking restless.
"Still, I'm glad I ran into you, Manager. Here. Please take these."
The tribute haul was enormous.
Roughly six shopping bags alone, plus gift boxes, plastic bags, and cup carriers loaded with coffee.
"Ah. I hope the coffee goes to the hardworking staff as well. There are snacks too."
…It was a little moving.
Just the fact that there were still fans who cared this much about Sepia. It was a relief that everything we'd done so far hadn't been for nothing.
"Even for us… thank you. We should be giving you something in return, but we weren't prepared…"
"Not at all, Manager. Just appearing on the music show is more than busy enough. For us, a Sepia performance is the best return gift there is."
"Thank you so much☆! We'll work hard today and pay you back☆!"
"Receiving Eunchae-nim's thanks is an honor in itself. Haha."
He was Sarang's personal fan, but… he wasn't a toxic solo stan. He clearly liked the other members plenty too.
It would have been nice if Sarang could thank him herself, but from the message I'd seen earlier, she was already deep into costume and makeup prep. That meant she wouldn't be leaving the waiting room for at least an hour.
Sarang♡Forever accepted Eunchae's greeting with a smile, then glanced my way and spoke in a low voice.
"Manager. There's… something I'd like to discuss with you. Could we speak privately for a moment?"
"Something to discuss? Ah. Then…"
I didn't know what it was about, but the fact that he didn't want Eunchae hearing suggested he was preparing something behind the artists' backs. Common enough.
"Eunchae. They said you need to do your makeup now too. Want to take what he brought and head to the waiting room first? I'll be right there."
"Ah, yes! Please give me the shopping bags☆ Really, thank you so much! I'll make sure the other members get everything☆!"
Eunchae loaded both hands full of shopping bags and plastic bags, bowed deeply, and headed straight for the waiting room.
Only once she was completely out of sight did Sarang♡Forever carefully open his mouth.
"Manager. It's… not about anything else, exactly…"
He couldn't quite get the words out.
This wasn't for some simple fan event, was it?
His expression went past serious into something that looked grave.
"I actually work at a securities firm. Fairly high up, too."
"…Is that so?"
I'd known he was at a major company, but I hadn't known it was a securities firm.
"It seems like there might be some issues with the agency… so I wanted to pass along some information, in case you weren't aware."
"……Issues?"
My brow furrowed.
It didn't sound like a joke. And he wasn't the type.
He looked like he'd agonized over this for a long time before finally deciding to speak.
"Sigh…. In the past month, the stock price of Sepia's agency has nearly tripled."
"…Isn't that a good thing?"
"No. When the price rises like that with no particular positive news, it means a force has moved in."
"You're saying…"
Truth was, I didn't know much about stocks. Even hearing it, I couldn't fully grasp what he meant.
But.
"There's some gossip circulating…. According to it, a specific individual has been accumulating the agency's stock. Not a syndicate — an individual."
"An individual?"
"Yes. Reports say they've already secured a considerable stake. If things go wrong…"
I didn't fully understand what he was getting at, but I understood enough to know it wasn't good.
"……The company could change hands. The CEO might be replaced."