The Limits of My Preparation
“…Yes, this is as far as I’ve prepared.”
“…I see. You’ve worked hard, Yeoreum. For now, let us discuss among ourselves, and I’ll let you know the outcome later.”
“Thank you!”
“….”
With a creak and a click, the door shut firmly behind her. Only after confirming that Jin Yeoreum had completely left the room did the entire staff of Two Bear Entertainment let out a collective sigh of awe.
“Even to an outsider like me, it was obvious how exceptional she is. Truly impressive.”
“Right? Back when I saw her at SS, when everyone called her a prodigy, even then she wasn’t at this level. I guess her rhythmic gymnastics training must have improved her skills even more….”
Cheon A-ram, unable to hide her admiration, turned to Lee Hyerin.
“What do you think, Miss Lee Hyerin, our dance trainer?”
Lee Hyerin spoke with a more serious expression than usual.
“As someone who receives a salary under the title of ‘mentor,’ this is quite embarrassing for me to say, but in terms of dance, she stands above me.”
“…Wow, I appreciate the honesty, but are you sure it’s okay to say that?”
“I’ve been in this industry since middle school, so it’s been over fourteen years. I do have my own pride. But what must be acknowledged should be acknowledged. There are still some immature aspects since she only recently returned from rhythmic gymnastics to idol dance, but even those will be fully supplemented within two months.”
Having spoken so decisively, Lee Hyerin glanced nervously at Cheon A-ram, her eyes trembling slightly. She seemed to think that admitting she was below a trainee might affect her continued employment. If she had been worried about that, she could have mixed in a little falsehood to downplay Jin Yeoreum, but instead she gave an almost brutally objective evaluation.
It was precisely because she was that kind of person that she had earned Cheon A-ram’s long-term contract.
Cheon A-ram smiled at her as if she were adorable and said,
“Thank you for your honest opinion, Hyerin. But you don’t need to worry about that. Even if Yeoreum’s skills surpass yours, I would never do something so shameless as to void your contract. So please, don’t concern yourself.”
“Then…?”
“What we at Two Bear expected from you wasn’t the awakening of some genius talent, but the solid foundation of basic skills, wasn’t it? And you have more than enough ability to achieve that. That’s sufficient.”
At those words, Lee Hyerin let out a deep sigh of relief.
“Thank you for saying so. …To be honest, I’ve grown quite attached to this company. I don’t want to leave. It’s rare these days to find a place where such genuinely good people gather. Two Bear Entertainment, I mean.”
Cheon A-ram smiled even more warmly, clearly delighted by Lee Hyerin’s words.
Wow, Hyerin, I didn’t expect you to be so good at office politics.
After confirming that the atmosphere in the room had settled into a favorable direction, I felt safe enough to lavish praise on Jin Yeoreum.
“As expected of a former national team member. Even though it’s rhythmic gymnastics, it overlaps significantly with dance, so I suppose that’s why we see that kind of performance?”
“I don’t think the influence is negligible. The talents required overlap in many areas.”
We continued our harmonious high praise of Jin Yeoreum’s dance.
“I understand that Yeoreum’s dancing is incredible. So, shall we now talk about her singing? Mr. Song Yohan, our vocal trainer, would you please share your thoughts first?”
Song Yohan was the vocal trainer I had helped recruit during the time he was doing volunteer work at Yeoreum’s orphanage. He wasn’t the kind of person one would call a genius trainer or a vocalist with unparalleled technique. He was cut from a different cloth than the so-called star instructors.
However, that very quality had earned him a reputation for nurturing singers without instilling bad habits, preserving their natural voice production. He would later gain fame for it.
His characteristics made him the most suitable trainer for Two Bear’s current talent pool, which featured an extreme disparity: Autumn, who was nearly professional, and Yeoreum, who had yet to receive proper vocal training.
Moreover, in the previous timeline, he had rejected countless scouting offers, choosing loyalty to the first company that hired him. When that company collapsed, he fell with it. Because he was such a loyal fool, he had also passed Cheon A-ram’s scent test.
In many ways, Song Yohan was the perfect fit for Two Bear right now.
“Miss Jin Yeoreum’s vocal, you say?”
Of course, he had one flaw.
“Miss Jin Yeoreum possesses a chaste vocal that creates a splendid and funky yet calm atmosphere.”
He mixed in an absurd amount of English every time he spoke.
“The imposing beauty that makes symmetry vibrate the bandwidth could be evaluated as clean, but it would be overly limiting to appraisal it in such a narrow—”
“Mr. Song Yohan. Could you please stop using those godawful words that even native speakers don’t use? I know English pretty well myself. If you want, we can just converse entirely in English.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Fortunately, since he hadn’t yet gained his future fame, Cheon A-ram could still rein him in easily.
“Compared to her dancing, it’s not tremendous… I mean, not at an incredible level, but for dance tracks, she could definitely challenge herself with a solo later on. Aside from her relatively low ceiling for high notes, her voice production is solid and without major flaws. Overall, while she may not be a genius, she is certainly a prodigy.”
“Hmm… that’s good.”
Cheon A-ram nodded and summarized the evaluations.
“If we’re talking purely about talent, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she’s on the same top-tier level as Autumn or Winter, right?”
I added,
“You have to include her face as well.”
“…Right. Including her face. There’s no talent more important for an idol than visual appeal.”
“Indeed. Even if you look at all the current trainees, you won’t find anyone with that level of perfection. For Two Bear, which lacks a professional training system, she would be impossible to pass up.”
“You don’t have to go that far. My decision to recruit Yeoreum isn’t going to change, so you can stop now, Team Leader Sun.”
“…Yes, ma’am.”
Thank you, President Cheon.
“Alright then, now that we’ve kidnapped Yeoreum and brought her here without warning—”
“It’s recruitment, President.”
“…Regarding how we should handle this recruitment, does anyone have any thoughts?”
I cautiously raised my hand.
“I will take responsibility and persuade the Jin Kang side—”
“Rejected.”
Cheon A-ram looked at me with an expression that seemed to say, ‘What the hell is wrong with this guy?’ before turning to the rest of the room.
“I am deeply grateful for all the hard work you do for Two Bear Entertainment. However, there is no need to shoulder excessive responsibility beyond your assigned duties. That burden is for me, the president, to bear.”
She gave me a sidelong glance.
“This is directed at you, Team Leader Sun. You know that, right?”
“…I know it very well. After all, I’m the only one here who would charge in so recklessly.”
“Oh my, so you were aware.”
“…I’m sorry.”
I didn’t want to be like this either, but things just kept turning out this way.
Cheon A-ram let out a small chuckle as she looked at me.
“I understand how you feel, but this time, trust us.”
Seo Suyeon, who had been silently standing by Cheon A-ram’s side, gave me a small nod as well.
“Besides, didn’t we already have that intense discussion at the soup restaurant about what kind of group to form after recruiting Yeoreum and what kind of marketing we should do? We came up with quite a few decent ideas.”
“The plan Team Leader Sun proposed at that time seems highly feasible. I am currently compiling data to flesh out the details.”
Cheon A-ram nodded in satisfaction.
“If it’s data prepared by Suyeon, it’s definitely trustworthy. Once the materials are ready, I’ll meet with Chairman Jin Baek-ho myself and try to persuade him directly. Since we already know each other, it should carry more weight if I’m the one to approach him.”
She looked around the room once more.
“So, is today’s meeting concluded here?”
The entire staff of Two Bear nodded silently. I also nodded, judging that the main points of discussion had been sufficiently covered.
“Good. Then let’s call Yeoreum back in and give her some praise. Just enough so she doesn’t get too conceited. Everyone understands, right?”
Just as Seo Suyeon was about to open the door and call Jin Yeoreum, who was waiting in the hallway, Cheon A-ram suddenly spoke to me as if she had just remembered something.
“Just to be clear one more time, Team Leader Sun. This time, you are not allowed to storm into Jin Kang by yourself.”
“Come on, President, aren’t you thinking of me as too much of a lunatic? No normal person would do something that crazy, right?”
I may cause a lot of trouble, but I’m not that insane.
Cheon A-ram seemed to agree, as she offered a simple apology.
“You’re right. I think I worried too much. I’m sorry for the slip of the tongue, Team Leader Sun.”
I really intended to stay out of it this time.
I was just going to hide in a corner and wait quietly until Cheon A-ram finished the persuasion. Storming into Jin Kang to settle things? What kind of crazy idea was that?
I had absolutely no desire to get entangled with such a massive conglomerate. Not even one single step toward Jin Kang.
“So, you’re the culprit who kidnapped our Yeoreum when she was about to study abroad?”
…But I never imagined that Jin Kang would be the one to kidnap me.