Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: This Life is Space Star 16
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A car horn blared from outside the dorm.
“Looks like the manager’s here. Let’s head down.”
It was Yoon Seok-hwan, who picked us up at the exact same time every day without fail.
Afraid of getting an earful, we hurriedly threw on our clothes and sorted through the mess of scattered shoes as their owners claimed them.
By the way.
Bijoo had definitely cleaned everything up the day before yesterday, so how did it turn into a disaster again so quickly?
“Ji-ho, isn’t that mine?”
“Hyung! That’s mine.”
As the culprits, who occupied 90 percent of the shoe rack space, put on a little skit, Ri-hyeok opened the cabinet and gave them a pitiful look.
Meanwhile, Bijoo checked the gas and electricity.
Once all that was done, we headed downstairs and piled into the Staria on the first floor, marking the end of our morning routine.
“Hello!”
“Good morning, Manager!”
With a recent wave of resignations at the company, Manager Yoon Seok-hwan was personally handling pickups from the dorm to the practice room.
Of course, today was a little different from usual.
The manager was dressed dapperly.
And we weren’t in our usual tracksuits either—we’d put some actual effort into our casual outfits.
“Everyone ready?”
The corners of Yoon Seok-hwan’s eyes lifted in the rearview mirror.
Today was the day.
The day we headed to Hwayi Entertainment for the collab work.
Collaboration.
An industry term for a joint project with another artist.
To be more precise, it meant artists from different genres or musical styles coming together to sing.
The key difference from featuring—often marked as ‘feat. Hong Gil-dong’ on a track, where the guest only appears on a portion—was that a collab treated both artists as equals.
In truth, it didn’t mean much.
It was just a convenient distinction, and even industry pros got them mixed up sometimes.
“We really suffered over that featuring terminology issue.”
Manager Yoon Seok-hwan brought up some behind-the-scenes from the negotiations with Hwayi Entertainment.
“I thought I was going to go bald dealing with them.”
“Who? The CEO?”
The maknae, who’d been pretending not to listen, suddenly jumped in, making everyone in the car burst out laughing.
Sorry, CEO.
Yoon Seok-hwan chuckled as he removed the black box memory card from the dashcam.
“I have to delete the recordings every day because of that kid. What if someone hears it?”
“You could just turn off the function.”
“Nah. I use it occasionally anyway.”
He plugged the memory into his phone and picked up where he left off.
“The song title turned into a full-on power struggle between the companies. Hwayi was like, ‘These undebuted kids aren’t even real artists,’ and pushed for ‘Feat.’ in the title. We insisted on equal billing.”
“They fight over that too?”
“That’s why agencies exist, kid.”
“Manager.”
Jung-hyun, munching on a banana in the back, spoke up.
“So, how’d it end?”
“We compromised. I told their rep we have a kid with real composing talent. He won’t just sing—he’ll help with the track production too.”
Yoon Seok-hwan looked at me.
“Why do you think I’m telling you this?”
“……To do well?”
“Exactly. Go kill it. Whether the title ends up as ‘Jang Sowon X New Black’ or ‘Jang Sowon Feat. New Black’ is up to you now.”
His words hit like a ton of bricks.
“By the way, this is my first time going to Hwayi Entertainment.”
“You haven’t been?”
“Ri-hyeok hyung, I used to go around actor auditions back then. That’s how I even ended up at our company.”
So he originally dreamed of being an actor.
No wonder he always looked the part.
I asked Ri-hyeok.
“Have you been to Hwayi?”
“I’m probably the only one here who has. I went for a vocal audition once.”
“Oh, the one where you got cut in 10 seconds?”
“It wasn’t 10 seconds.”
“That’s what you said, hyung. You walked in and got rejected right away.”
“Why’d they reject you?”
Ri-hyeok answered reluctantly.
“……They said I looked like I could sing well, so dance first.”
Everyone but one burst out laughing.
New Black’s dance ranking No. 5, Mr. Seo, who’d been swallowing tears inwardly, rationalized it.
“It was a company I wouldn’t have joined even if they begged anyway.”
“Oh-ho, really, hyung?”
“Just shut up for once……”
As the maknae grinned at the sincere plea, Ri-hyeok brought up the Hwayi building.
“I was gonna pass because of the facilities anyway.”
“The facilities?”
“It looks fancy outside, but inside it’s weird. Walked into the practice room, and there was toothpaste smeared on the mirrors.”
“That was ages ago.”
I wrapped it up.
“It might be different now.”
“But Hwayi’s loaded, right? Among the companies at the year-end eval, they’re like third biggest after us and DNS. Why were their practice rooms like that?”
“Yeah.”
“And that was during Sugarfish sunbaes’ peak, right?”
We all pondered Bijoo’s words.
Hwayi Entertainment.
Back then, mentioning Sugarfish as their group made ordinary folks go, “Ah!” Their prime power threatened the top girl group of the era.
They must’ve raked in cash, so why the shabby facilities?
The more I thought about it, the sloppier the company seemed.
They didn’t even have an official homepage.
Most agencies of that size at least had one with artist photos, but Hwayi didn’t.
Eh.
It didn’t really matter.
Hwayi was still one of the top agencies, then and now.
I’ll show you the dance I prepared just for you
Follow me, Honey
An electro-pop girl group track blasted from the radio, heavy on the beats.
The bridge ended, and the catchy chorus tickled our ears.
Baby Lalala Baby Lalala
Bijoo hummed along, bobbing his head.
The rest of us sang too—it was the hot chart-topper lately.
The artist? Girls on Top.
Hwayi Entertainment’s group.
“Girls on Top are killing it. Isn’t this still No. 1?”
“Probably.”
“No. They got music show 1st only once in the first week.”
“Really?”
“Scarlett came back week two. They were runner-up the whole time.”
That’s why they got nicknamed Congs on Top lately.
Girls on Top.
A thriving fourth-year girl group.
Known to the public for variety shows and dramas, and in the industry for their killer vocals.
They carried the digital chart torch from their label sunbaes, Sugarfish.
Their debut album tanked hard, but every title track since hit top 10.
Their one flaw? All their songs kinda sounded the same.
Girls on Top succeeded with second-place marketing.
Never chasing No. 1, they built an image as the friendly runners-up.
That held until Scarlett showed up the next year.
After Scarlet—the rookie girl group launched by Executive Director Jo Kyu-hwan in 2012—debuted, they started slipping from that No. 2 spot.
Hence “Congs on Top” and shrinking variety gigs.
Still, undeniably a top girl group.
“Thinking about it, Hwayi’s girl group lineup is insane.”
“Probably what keeps the company alive.”
“Yeah.”
“But wasn’t Sugarfish even bigger? I was in elementary school, and they were huge.”
The ’90s babies nodded, sharing the memory.
Sugarfish.
Once called peak top girl group, their stardom was massive but brief.
Member scandals killed it.
One got busted smoking weed with her boyfriend by the cops, I think.
Huge shock at the time.
The top member of a chart-topping group went from music shows to the crime blotter overnight.
They tried carrying on after kicking her out, but then another member’s affair with a film director hit the news, severing their lifeline.
From five members.
Jang Sowon sunbae was one of the three left.
What a resilient woman.
It took her ages to bounce back from idol nadir to singer-songwriter.
Leveraging her composing skills and her image as the least popular member, she rebuilt successfully.
Now, she was the best of the five.
Drama OSTs, constant singles.
Sadly, no massive hits yet.
The likes of the one I sang at audition or the one I rearranged for year-end eval averaged monthly No. 70.
Insane achievements to us undebuted folks.
“What about the other Sugarfish sunbaes?”
“No clue besides Jang Sowon sunbae.”
“I heard Baekhyang quit for school. Lisa’s doing musical theater.”
“They’re all doing well.”
“What about the last two?”
“No idea. Hope they’re okay.”
The topic shifted.
As trainees dipping toes in entertainment, we’d all heard rumors.
Watching them unpack them, I frowned.
What kinda talk is this?
Felt like those tabloid reporters on TV gossiping about “Miss A” and “Boy B.”
And I wasn’t alone.
Manager Seok-hwan’s furrowed brow in the rearview.
Are they gonna get chewed out?
Before I could say anything, Yoon Seok-hwan struck first.
“Kids.”
His sharp tone froze the air.
The four chattering trainees in the back went wide-eyed.
He looked pissed, unlike usual.
“What are you doing right now?”
The members froze under his piercing gaze.
“I asked what.”
Storm-before-the-calm vibes.
“What are you doing?”
“……”
“No answer?”
“……We were just talking, Manager.”
Bijoo spoke carefully, and Yoon Seok-hwan stared silently.
Icy silence.
Even I tensed up in the passenger seat.
“……”
The drive continued wordlessly for a while.
Like he was making them reflect on their mistake.
Unlike clueless maknae and Jung-hyun, Ri-hyeok sighed, and Bijoo grimaced in realization.
After about five minutes, Yoon Seok-hwan spoke calmly.
“Kids.”
Thankfully, gentle tone.
“It’s fine to gossip about the industry among yourselves. Happens.”
“……”
“But this stuff stays between you, right?”
“Sorry.”
“Looks bad to me—imagine to outsiders?”
He shook his head.
“If it was just me here, no issue. I wouldn’t spill, whatever slips you make. But you’re debuting soon, right? Road managers and stylists incoming—gonna keep this up?”
Now Jung-hyun and Ji-ho realized too.
“Road managers have it rough, kids. Idols pull ten mil a week; they scrape for double that monthly. They job-hop for ten grand more. Think they won’t gossip elsewhere?”
He emphasized.
“Entertainment world’s small, kids.”
“……”
“You haven’t seen it yet. Car chat spreads site-wide next day.”
He scanned the nodders, then eyed the maknae.
“And Ji-ho.”
“……Yes?”
Maknae hunched, bracing.
“You know badmouthing the CEO earlier was reckless?”
“Sorry. I’ll be careful next time.”
“You can’t keep skating by on ‘I’m young.’ Got it?”
Maknae nodded at Yoon Seok-hwan’s “think before speaking” stress.
Getting scolded could sour moods, but his calm delivery convinced us.
Had to.
Not emotional nagging—just pointing out the issue and how to fix it.
Manager material.
Unlike fans who love through anything, managers give objective advice.
“And Seon Wooju.”
“Yes, Manager.”
Here it comes.
“You know you messed up worst?”
“Sorry.”
“Juniors might not know better—they’re young. But post-army, you get problematic talk. Step up and handle these from now on. Got it?”
Wanted to say I planned to, but it was my fault, so I agreed.
I bowed my head.
“Sorry, Manager.”
“Take care of it, Woojoo.”
Seok-hwan hyung’s gaze out the window looked sadder than usual.
“I can’t always be by your side.”