You're Still Late for Meetings, Aren't You?
In a cafe in Hannam-dong.
The place was bathed in warm light, its beige sofa and richly saturated lamps giving it a cozy glow, and Team Leader Kim Su-ji slowly lifted her head to look across the table.
Across from her sat a woman who still had the air of a schoolgirl about her, no more than a girl in her early twenties at best, with her head bowed like a sinner.
Team Leader Kim Su-ji bit her lip hard.
She shouldn’t have come here after all.
Not if she still possessed even the bare minimum of human decency.
Kim Su-ji picked up the settlement agreement lying scattered on the table and tucked it back into her bag.
She rose from her seat and bowed politely.
"I’m sorry."
"..."
"This incident happened because of the company’s carelessness. On behalf of SAG..."
Team Leader Kim Su-ji said with sincerity.
"I apologize once again."
The woman said nothing.
Watching her, Team Leader Kim Su-ji let out a small sigh and turned away.
Being in the same room as me must already feel like a burden.
To the victim of K-1’s crime, she, K-1’s manager, probably looked no different from him.
After quietly leaving the cafe, she wandered aimlessly for a moment, unsure which direction to take.
The cold wind between winter and spring swept over her.
Just then, some high school girls passing by muttered to one another.
"Whoa, I heard K-1 really committed sexual assault?"
"Not just that, he plagiarized a song from another singer on the same competition too!"
"He’s total trash. But what’s his agency gonna do? Are they dumping him now?"
The girls drifted farther away, chatting among themselves.
Team Leader Kim Su-ji, who had been walking without direction, came to a stop and thought to herself.
So the plagiarism scandal finally broke.
Well, when the melody was that blatantly identical, it would’ve been hard for the suspicion not to surface.
Then her phone rang.
Kim Su-ji pulled out her smartphone and checked the caller.
[My Singer, K-1]
Kim Su-ji stared at the name on the screen for a moment.
One second, two seconds... ten.
Normally the call should have cut off by now, but the ringtone showed no sign of stopping.
Kim Su-ji slowly moved her index finger.
Instead of the answer button, she hit decline and then shut the phone off entirely.
After putting the smartphone back into her pocket, she murmured softly, "...
It’s hard."
Still, she had to get through it.
Kim Su-ji slowly started walking again, heading back toward SAG headquarters.
The public seethed at the fall of a star once gloriously shining.
Sexual assault, hidden cameras, cheating on multiple women, plagiarism.
Countless scandals turned into headlines, and each one spawned another, the ripple from the incident widening by the hour.
In the end, the moment K-1’s name appeared on the evening news at nine o’clock, the law began to move.
K-1 appeared at the police photo line.
The man in the photos bore no trace of the genius singer-songwriter once called the angel-smiled prodigy.
Instead, the murkiness peculiar to a sex offender seemed to spill off him in waves.
Watching the footage, I thought to myself.
So this is what people mean when they say status makes the man?
As a star, K-1 had shone brilliantly, but standing in front of the prosecutors’ photo line, he was nothing more than a common criminal.
Who could still call him an angel-smiled genius now?
The public erupted all over again because of it, but I turned my attention elsewhere.
I would never see K-1 again.
He would have to rot in prison for years at the very least, so what chance did I have of running into him?
But the wave K-1 had set in motion was still shaking my life.
K-1’s choice to take the stage in the K-Singer-Songwriter competition as one last desperate struggle had turned into an unprecedented opportunity for me.
In other words, the ratings had exploded.
Peak rating: 18.8 percent.
Average rating: 17.1 percent.
By the time the show still had six episodes left before the finale, it had already blown past the ratings I’d seen in the future texts.
Buzz index, trend index, community reactions, every kind of SNS response.
K-Singer-Songwriter had boldly seized the throne as the reigning king of variety in South Korea.
And that hot attention, that relentless spotlight, had, without most people even noticing,
...come back around to my singer, Park Ga-eul.
Two days after the second round ended, I went into the office.
The winter was drawing to a close and I could feel spring approaching, so instead of my heavy winter coat I wore a light trench coat to work. I set down my bag and took a seat, and that was when...
"Hey, Team Leader Kwon!"
Hm.
That was a voice I hadn’t heard in a while.
I slowly turned my head, and Team Leader Ma Seok-du was there with his eyes sparkling.
Does this guy not get morning-after workplace fatigue?
He was past forty now, so why did he have so much energy first thing in the morning?
Then Team Leader Ma Seok-du leaned in close and asked, "What the hell is this thing with K-1?"
I shrugged and answered, "What about it?"
"That bastard K-1, he’s a sexual assaulter?"
Team Leader Ma Seok-du clucked his tongue in disbelief.
"Whoa... I was really shocked when I read the article! K-1’s image was nothing like that, but apparently he was dating five women at once, not just cheating on two? Is that really true, Team Leader Kwon?"
One thing I always felt was that our Seok-du hyung had a voice that was way too loud.
I could feel the managers near my desk perking up their ears, eavesdropping on our conversation.
I shook my head and stood up.
"I’m busy."
"Busy with what? You just got to work!"
"I need to go report to the General Manager. Let’s talk later, Team Leader Ma."
"Eh? Hey, hey, hey! Team Leader Kwonnn! Where are you going, you punk!"
Ignoring Ma Team Leader calling after me, I took the documents I had prepared the night before and headed for the General Manager’s office.
After taking the elevator to the seventh floor, I arrived at the office and gave the door three light knocks.
"General Manager, this is Team Leader Six."
"Come in."
At Park Yu-hyeon’s permission, I opened the door and stepped inside.
Park Yu-hyeon, wearing glasses and looking down at a tablet PC, slowly lifted his head.
"Have a seat, Team Leader Six."
"Yes, General Manager."
I carefully set down the papers I’d brought and took a seat. Park Yu-hyeon leaned across from me and asked, "Coffee or tea? What do you want?"
The coffee I had last time in the General Manager’s office was good, wasn’t it?
"Coffee, please."
Park Yu-hyeon ordered two cups over the company line, then leaned back in his chair and looked at me.
"From the stack of documents you brought, it looks like you have a lot to report."
"Yes, I have quite a bit to go over."
Park Yu-hyeon gave a light laugh.
"Good. Go ahead and report, Team Leader Six."
With Park Yu-hyeon’s permission, I began reporting on Team Six’s performance over the past first quarter, our sales, and, further still, our project results.
The report had been going on for quite some time when Secretary Kim appeared, briefly interrupting it.
"Ah, thank you for the coffee, Secretary Kim. Team Leader Kwon, let’s have some coffee for a moment."
I was the type who drank iced Americano even in winter, a die-hard member of the iced-coffee faction.
Hot coffee wasn’t really my thing, but why did the coffee in the General Manager’s office taste so sweet and smell so good?
Just as I was discovering a different kind of pleasure in coffee, coffee that was meant to be savored rather than just used to fight off sleep, Park Yu-hyeon called my name.
"Team Leader Kwon."
"Yes, General Manager."
"Are you deliberately avoiding telling me about the K-1 incident?"
At Park Yu-hyeon’s question, I set down the cup I’d been holding.
He had been keeping a straight face, but I could see the curiosity he was trying not to show.
This should be enough buildup.
Good.
The stage was set. Now I could start negotiating.
"Not at all. I was just about to report it."
Park Yu-hyeon nodded.
"Good. Go ahead."
"Yes. First, I’ll start with K-1’s screen time after K-Singer-Songwriter."
In a calm voice, I read from the report I’d prepared since last night.
"Because of this controversy and the results of the second round, K-1’s departure from K-Singer-Songwriter has been decided. However, under normal circumstances, he would still have appeared occasionally in later filming."
Park Yu-hyeon nodded.
"So you’ve decided to cut him from that footage."
"Yes. After discussing it with Ho PD of K-Singer-Songwriter, we’ve decided to edit K-1 out of all footage he appears in. And as a knock-on effect..."
Letting my voice trail off, I handed Park Yu-hyeon one of the sheets of paper.
"Park Ga-eul’s screen time on K-Singer-Songwriter is going to increase significantly."
Looking over the document I handed him, Park Yu-hyeon stroked his chin and said, "Her trend index jumped sharply."
"Yes. Winning against K-1 in that competition seems to have done the trick."
"There’s the match result, of course, but the biggest influence was still the plagiarism scandal, right?"
At Park Yu-hyeon’s sharp little jab, I nodded readily.
"Yes, that’s correct, General Manager."
K-1 was now a disgraced sex criminal, but only a few days ago he had still been called a genius singer-songwriter.
It was only natural that attention would pour toward the original creator of the song he had tried to steal through plagiarism.
But the ripple effect didn’t end there.
To be honest, the competition on K-Singer-Songwriter had narrowed to a two-horse race.
The genius singer-songwriter K-1.
And the original diva, Kim Hyeon-a.
Those two were expected to fight fiercely for the top spot in the competition.
The other singers were basically just props for those two.
But that dynamic was broken by this incident.
The viewers of K-Singer-Songwriter, which had drawn enormous attention and posted an 18 percent rating, had begun cheering for a completely different singer, not K-1 or Kim Hyeon-a, the two names that had originally defined the race.
I said the name calmly.
"Right now, viewer interest and reactions toward Park Ga-eul are extremely hot."
With that, I handed Park Yu-hyeon the SNS and community reaction reports I’d compiled, even working overtime last night to put them together.
"At the moment K-1 is eliminated, viewer favorability toward Park Ga-eul has risen to second place. If this momentum continues... I think she has a real shot at winning K-Singer-Songwriter."
Park Yu-hyeon studied the documents I had prepared in detail, then adjusted the glasses perched on the bridge of his nose.
"The momentum is good, just as you said, Team Leader Kwon."
"Yes. If we provide the right support, she’ll be well within striking distance of victory."
"The right support, huh..."
Park Yu-hyeon’s lips curved slightly.
"You deliberately put off talking about K-Singer-Songwriter until now so you could say that, didn’t you, Team Leader Kwon?"
I answered with a faint smile instead.
Park Yu-hyeon was every bit as old and shrewd as Director Seo himself.
What was the point of dancing around in front of a man like that?
I made my proposal with confidence.
"I’d like to shoot a commercial to build Park Ga-eul’s image, General Manager."
Park Yu-hyeon stroked his chin, looking intrigued.
"What kind of commercial do you want?"
I showed him the list I had prepared.
Park Yu-hyeon looked at the items I handed over for a moment before bursting into laughter.
"Coffee, shampoo, finance. You’ve packed it full of top-tier ads."
That was right.
Coffee, cosmetics, finance.
In this industry, those were what people called the Big Three commercials.
The major-endorsing jobs only the true top-tier celebrities could land.
But I had gone even further and filled the list with only the biggest, most recognizable brands among those top-tier ads.
The reason was simple enough.
I had delivered results. I had brought in performance.
From my position, wasn’t it only natural to ask for this much?
"It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have her take on a high-profile endorsement now and shift the public image of Park Ga-eul’s level, if only a little."
"Mm... So she beat K-1, but in terms of weight and stature, she still comes up short?"
"Yes, that’s right, General Manager. But if she takes on one of these major commercials, I expect it will give Park Ga-eul’s star image real weight."
At my proposal, Park Yu-hyeon answered briskly.
"All right, Team Leader Kwon."
The corners of Park Yu-hyeon’s eyes curved into a smile.
"I’ll personally push the meeting forward. But looking at Park Ga-eul’s image right now, cosmetics seem like a better fit than finance or coffee. I’ll look into a luxury line."
Hearing that, I stood and bowed lightly.
"Thank you, General Manager."
"If you’ve produced this kind of result, of course I should listen. But if that’s the case..."
Park Yu-hyeon let his words trail off, then made me an offer.
"Wouldn’t it be better for Team Leader Kwon to handle Park Ga-eul directly for the time being?"
Park Yu-hyeon tapped the documents I had handed over.
"From what I can see, Lee Ye-ji is currently the manager in charge of To.Any and Park Ga-eul. But wouldn’t it make more sense for you to take over until the competition ends, Team Leader Kwon? Just as you said, Park Ga-eul is now within striking distance of winning."
After pausing for a beat, Park Yu-hyeon showed firm resolve.
"We’ll support you fully at the company level too, so how about you make sure there are no variables and produce one idol-turned-competition champion?"
At Park Yu-hyeon’s words, my eyes widened slightly.
He’s saying he’ll back me this hard?
Hmm.
Did that mean the company was also paying close attention to the results of this competition show?
Then again, when I thought about it, it made sense.
A title as the winner of an 18 percent-rated competition show would be impossible for the company not to covet.
So Park Yu-hyeon’s suggestion wasn’t strange at all.
Objectively speaking, the right move is to take full charge of Ga-eul and push her hard.
But my situation right now wasn’t cooperating, and in a bad way.
Because a project more important than K-Singer-Songwriter was already looming right in front of me.
"I’m sorry, General Manager, but I’m afraid that’s going to be difficult."
Park Yu-hyeon’s eyes widened a little.
Apparently he hadn’t expected me to refuse, because he tilted his head.
"Is there a reason for that, Team Leader Kwon?"
At Park Yu-hyeon’s question, my heart suddenly began pounding harder.
"The release of Black Bride is right around the corner."
Park Yu-hyeon’s shoulders gave a small jolt.
Now somewhat flustered, he asked again, his words trailing off, "You mean..."
"Yes."
The nation’s top actress.
"The production conference for Black Bride has been scheduled. Since it’s a film starring Baekhak’s flagship actress, I think it’s only right to focus on Black Bride for the time being, General Manager."
The queen of film, Lee Ha-eun.
In April, she would finally return, ready to greet audiences on the screen.
A restaurant named A in Hannam-dong.
A woman stepped into the only three-star Michelin restaurant in South Korea.
She wore a white suit and high killer heels.
That was Baek Ji-won, the representative of Baekhak, with her short, razor-sharp bob.
She swept her expressionless gaze over the room in her usual manner, then walked toward one particular table.
A man in a black suit, utterly unlike her, slowly raised his head after cutting into the veal steak that had been served as the main dish and eating it with almost greedy enthusiasm.
"Well, look who it is, Representative Baek."
It was SAG’s representative, Park Su-chan, dressed in black in stark contrast to her.
He wiped a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and flashed a wide smile.
"You’re still late for meetings, aren’t you?"