Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Connection
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While the director went to meet with the CEO, I spoke with Choi Yoo-jun.
“Why did you do it?”
“Well… haah…”
Choi Yoo-jun looked up, dabbing at his tears with his sleeve.
What an enigma.
One moment he’s tearing into someone like a mad dog even while getting hit, and the next, he’s crying? I’d heard that people who cry while being violent are frightening. Was he one of them?
Choi Yoo-jun cleared his throat and began to explain the situation.
“Lee Seung-hoon said… about Seol-ah seonbae, huff… that her thighs made him fucking horny…”
“!”
“I told him to stop several times before… but he kept doing it…”
I was belatedly incensed by the sexual harassment, which was so vile he could barely repeat it.
Shouldn’t I be more pissed off about this than Choi Yoo-jun?
I now understood why he had been so vague in front of the director. Even I wouldn’t have been able to explain that situation easily.
A short while later, the director gathered the trainees and officially announced the expulsion of Lee Seung-hoon and Choi Yoo-jun.
But aside from a hint of bitterness, Choi Yoo-jun’s face showed no real regret. It was as if he had been hoping to be cut for a long time.
Instead, it was the male trainees around him who looked genuinely sorry, offering him words of comfort.
He was too talented to let go just like this. While his skills and age made it difficult to pinpoint a position for him as an idol, his high aptitude for A&R, visible through the system, was undoubtedly a rare find in the entire industry.
I approached Choi Yoo-jun, who was packing his things, surrounded by the other male trainees.
“Instead of leaving, could you wait here for a moment?”
“Why?”
“Let’s grab a bite before you go.”
I followed the director, who was walking away with an air of charisma.
“Once you know the circumstances, you’ll see that expulsion is too harsh.”
“Rules are rules, but this is also for Yoo-jun’s sake.”
The story the director told me about Choi Yoo-jun wasn’t too different from that of Chae-ron, who was now working as a stylist.
After his parents’ divorce and his father’s death, Yoo-jun’s older sister was supporting him.
“We’re all-in on Answer and Yoo-ah right now, so we don’t have the resources to launch a boy group. Even if Answer succeeds, it would be at least two years before we could, and it would be hard for Yoo-jun to hold on that long.”
The director’s words were brutally realistic.
We weren’t a major agency with multiple production teams.
It was a struggle even when we focused all our capabilities on one thing.
“In that case, how about we hire him? You agreed that our company needs to develop its A&R department.”
“…You think Yoo-jun has that kind of talent?”
The director looked at me with a puzzled expression.
“He has a good ear, plays the piano well, and seems to have a good sense for things.”
“When did you ever see all that?”
“I’ve been keeping a close eye on the trainees who stood out on their profiles.”
The director seemed to feel something beyond suspicion, almost a sense of mystique, at the foresight I had shown multiple times, but she quickly wiped the expression from her face.
“When would we have time to train him as an A&R? If we really need one, we should hire someone with experience.”
From the director’s perspective, unable to see Choi Yoo-jun’s abilities as I could, it was a perfectly rational opinion.
But I could see it.
“We have the preliminary meeting for ‘Best Idol’ soon, and I’ll be going as a team lead, so how about we hire him as a road manager? I guarantee we’re going to get busier.”
I had intended to have him start as a manager anyway. A good A&R needs to have a deep understanding of the artists.
Knowing the album production process and the details of their schedules would allow him to create more three-dimensional and convenient plans.
“You think a kid who dreamed of being a celebrity would want to be a manager? The manager who worked for me would have left this industry if I hadn't taken care of him personally.”
“So you’re saying it’s worth a try, right?”
“Fine.”
A common thread among managers who lasted a long time was that they worked for good celebrities who supported them financially.
‘How much does your manager make?’
‘About 1.5 million won after taxes.’
‘Geez, how do you live on that? I’ll give you an extra 500,000 won each month. Go buy yourself some chicken.’
Even the ones who managed to stick around did so like this. The plight of managers was still dire, even in recent times when things had improved significantly.
* * *
“What do you want to eat, Yoo-jun? It can be something expensive.”
“Come on… I know managers don’t make much.”
Choi Yoo-jun held a high degree of favorability and trust toward me, likely because he was deeply impressed when I was training Ro-si.
I suppose I could brag a little to him.
I opened my phone and held it out in front of him.
“…What’s KONEX? Whoa! No way!”
KONEX is a stock market with a lower entry barrier, allowing small and medium-sized enterprises that don’t meet KOSDAQ requirements to be listed.
“SJ Enter, 93 million won?”
I had been steadily investing most of my busking profits and salary into Gyeon Sang-jin’s company.
I knew that Fire Emblem, the group I was supposed to debut with, would be a huge hit, and I also knew that the company would eventually be listed on the KOSDAQ. And ultimately, it would move to the KOSPI market.
Including the consolation money Gyeon Sang-jin had tossed me, I had invested about 20 million won of seed money, and in just six months, I had earned a profit nearly five times that amount.
In a year or two, it would grow by tens of times more than its current value, so it was clear that I would amass a large fortune if I continued to invest.
However, just having a lot of money didn’t mean I could take down Gyeon Sang-jin, so there were still many problems to consider.
“That’s nothing. It’s going to get much bigger later.”
“Damn. That’s insane, but… it’s SJ?”
I gave a faint smile at Choi Yoo-jun’s envious gaze.
But the end of his sentence still felt unsettled. Does Choi Yoo-jun hate SJ, too?
“Then, without holding back… cheese dakgalbi!”
“?”
Just dakgalbi? I thought, but expensive doesn’t always mean delicious.
How humble…
* * *
“Can I have two servings?”
A faint smile escaped me at the serious look on his face.
“Soju or beer?”
“Beer!”
I ordered four servings of cheese dakgalbi and a beer.
One serving would be enough for me, but judging by his mood, he looked like he could easily handle three.
*Sizzle.*
The red, marinated chicken was placed on the hot griddle, making a sound that stimulated the appetite.
“Ahh. That savory smell. I just love this sweet and spicy gochujang aroma.”
“It’s because of the Maillard reaction that occurs at high temperatures.”
“Ah… Maillard. I thought that only happened with meat. Anyway, you can speak comfortably with me.”
“Should I?”
“Can I call you Hyung?”
The kid who was on the verge of tears just ten minutes ago was now grinning happily. He was definitely an impulsive person.
For me, who always ate simple meals under the pretext of saving time, this was the most appetizing food I’d had since the last company dinner months ago.
The vegetables that had filled the large pan wilted, signaling that the dish was ready.
“Let’s eat.”
“Thank you for the meal!”
I took a piece of gochujang-slathered chicken, rolled it in the rich, melted mozzarella cheese, and put it in my mouth.
Past the soft cheese, the chewy chicken thigh meat came through. It was clearly fresh, domestically sourced chicken.
The spicy dakgalbi harmonized with the savory cheese, creating a flavor that rivaled the finest delicacies.
It was so delicious that for a moment, I even felt a sense of bliss.
“Haaaah.”
Yoo-jun, who had stuffed two large, cheese-covered pieces of chicken into his mouth, exhaled a cloud of hot air.
For a while, we focused on eating without conversation. A classic guy thing.
Half of the dakgalbi disappeared in five minutes, and only then did our conversation resume.
“Ahh. This beer is refreshing. Just like me today.”
“Don’t be upset with the director.”
“Upset? I know she’s a good person. She knows my situation well, too. I should have quit last year. I only held on this long because of my sister.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“…I’ll have to figure something out.”
“Want to try A&R?”
“Me? I don’t know anything.”
“Choi Yoo-jun. I looked into you a bit. You play the piano well, have a good ear for music. You did a great job on the choreography creation assignment, too. Your ability to reinterpret songs is also good.”
“…Wow, thank you for noticing. But my reality is still this.”
Choi Yoo-jun gave a bitter smile.
Although he didn’t excel in any one particular area, it was undeniable that he had enough talent to gain popularity if he had met the right agency and team. But one couldn’t dream of a chance rarer than winning the weekly lottery.
“At the very least, you meet the qualifications for A&R. So how about starting as a road manager under me?”
“Ah… a manager.”
Choi Yoo-jun’s disappointment was palpable.
“Honestly, Hyung, I really like you.”
“Huh?”
“I was blown away when I saw you training the others last time.”
I knew. He was the one who always greeted me with the most respect out of all the trainees.
“I genuinely want to learn from someone as capable as you. But I want to stop making my sister suffer. I know exactly how much managers make.”
Come to think of it, there wasn't a single person at JD Enter who didn't have a sob story.
Did we only attract people with difficult lives? Or did only those with difficult lives end up staying?
“It’s a job that really suits you, and one you can succeed in, Yoo-jun. A&R is clearly a producer role, and the company will create an incentive system.”
Yoo-jun chugged his beer and then offered me the bottle.
“I’m still on duty, so I’ll just stick to this one.”
After I poured him a glass, Yoo-jun smiled bitterly and said.
“My sister and I were both trainees.”
Yoo-jun began to tell a story that wasn’t in his profile.
“My sister wanted me to succeed, at least, so she kept pushing me. She’s the head of our family.”
“Did your sister quit being a trainee?”
“She debuted, but they flopped, big time. What I really don’t get is, even failed girl groups usually have a good title track, right? But they debuted with a song that was worse than a B-side. It didn’t seem like they got any real push either.”
A sudden chill ran down my spine.
“It wasn’t our company, was it?”
“My sister was at SJ.”
“!”
No wonder it felt so similar.
“And if they failed, they should have just disbanded quickly. They dragged it on for years, wasting so much time. And why were they so busy even though they failed? I can’t even find any information about them. Maybe the company deleted everything because it’s part of their dark history.”
“Haaah…”
A sigh of anger escaped me before I could stop it.
“Anyway, that’s why I can’t bear to see my sister struggling alone anymore. I feel like I have to contribute in any way I can, short of scamming or stealing.”
“…”
“But even though I haven’t known you for long, Hyung, I really trust you. So, could you give me some time? I’d feel too wronged to just leave like this. Whether it’s A&R or producing, I want to succeed in this industry.”
“…Alright.”
Although Choi Yoo-jun was talking to me earnestly, my mind was entirely focused on my first life.
There were too many similarities to what Lee Yoo-ah and Answer had gone through.
I was certain that Choi Yoo-jun’s sister was another one of the victims, just like Lee Yoo-ah. And here was a connection, popping up where I least expected it.
Now I understood why I had felt a strange pull toward him, both personally and through the system.
He was undoubtedly one of the keys to achieving my goal of Gyeon Sang-jin’s downfall.