Chapter 86
Chapter 86
"This? You want to use this as your concept?"
"It's not confirmed yet. I still need to discuss it with the members......."
What I had been pointing at was the warning sign in the Director's work.
More precisely... a sign.
It was something found everywhere, so everyone was familiar with it, and because of that, it could easily blend into any concept.
And above all.
'Because I feel like I could connect it to our situation.'
I knew well that fans were anxious in many ways right now.
And the biggest factor at the root of that anxiety was probably the environment called Sorasum, whose moves were so hard to predict.
But sometimes, anxiety became a driving force that induced curiosity and sustained interest.
So... I was suggesting we just turn this into our selling point.
'Uncertainty', 'the unknown', 'danger'.
They were all keywords that could be sufficiently attractive.
Just like this picture.
When you encountered a warning sign on a fog-shrouded path, weren't you more curious about what lay on the other side than the urge to turn back immediately?
'...No, first I had to get permission.'
The Director stared at the laptop screen for a long while after I finished speaking, with a not-so-pleased expression.
"Oh, maybe there's a copyright issue......."
"No, no. It's technically owned by my old company, but as long as we don't use the image as-is, it'll be fine. But, you know."
The Director trailed off.
For some reason she looked a bit displeased, so I waited tensely for her next words.
"I was already working on it, you know? Your concept."
"Really?"
"Of course, I couldn't pour much time into it because of outsourcing work, but still, how could I not work on it when I heard that Seo Cha-gyeom was our company's trainee? Ah, I was a regular viewer of that broadcast you were on, in my own way. I knew it was rigged anyway, so I didn't vote......!"
The Director suddenly shut her mouth and glanced sideways at the President.
"......But it's okay to say it now, right?"
"......."
The look the two exchanged in the silence was subtle.
'......Something feels off.'
What I was suspicious about was the part where she said she knew it was rigged.
At first, I had brushed it off as just the typical 'why believe this when it's obviously rigged' reaction that always showed up with viewer-participation programs.
If it wasn't that.......
Wait.
"You knew it was rigged?"
"......."
"From the beginning?"
The President still said nothing.
The Director, who had been gauging the President's mood, suddenly sprang up as if emboldened and shouted.
"Ah, team leader, just tell them! It's already an open secret, so revealing it won't cause any more problems. More than anything, the kids are the victims; they have a right to know."
The President, who had been glaring at his subordinate as if she were an enemy, clutched his forehead.
And then he spoke, his gaze stubbornly fixed on the monitor.
"On the day you said you'd go on the show, Chaegyeom."
"Yes."
"I heard about it the day before."
"Where?"
"From a contestant there."
A contestant?
Which contestant would know it was rigged?
"Sim Do-yoon."
Wait, Sim Do-yoon was.......
"He's my youngest brother."
......He was the MC.
A second-generation idol.
Regrettably, his group had many members who caused social controversy, so the group was effectively disbanded, but he was someone who occasionally released solo albums.
To people younger than me, he probably came across more as a solo singer than an idol.
'Didn't he say he had no industry connections?'
Well, no... technically, asking if he had industry connections was asking if there was someone who could help run the company, so strictly speaking, he should be excluded. That was true.
That aside.
"Wouldn't it have been nice... if you had told me in advance?"
If he knew it was rigged, he should have told me too.
Then I wouldn't have had to bother with beating around the bush, and we could have spurred on debut preparations much faster.......
Come to think of it, things were already progressing plenty fast.
Even when we had only two trainees, no, just one, he had provided a dorm, and he had quickly gathered trainees, which was the main concern, so there was nothing else to fault besides the staff issue.
The President, completely unaware of my inner defense, dropped his gaze to the floor as if he had no shame.
"It was top secret......."
'Then why did the Director know.'
At the same time I thought that, I realized.
At that point, I was a trainee who had just signed, and the Director had been with him for over ten years. There was bound to be a difference in trust.
'A tight-lipped person is better than a blabbermouth.'
Moreover, since it also involved his brother's job, it was a perfectly understandable reason.
I nodded and asked,
"So only the two of you knew?"
"Even Sanho."
"Why him......."
"Because he was anxious you might debut by yourself."
Wasn't Kim Sanho just an un-contracted temporary youth under protection?
The advantage of being tight-lipped vanished in an instant.
'No wonder Kim Sanho never asked if I was going to drop out.'
It had been convenient because of that, so I let it slide.
"Then what about the Manager?"
"He doesn't know."
So you didn't trust the Manager....
"If I had told him, he would have said 'Why are you sending him to a place like that?' and would have stopped him from going from the start."
"Ah."
"I told you, you were going to drop out midway anyway......."
"Wait. About our concept."
I hastily cut off the President's next words.
Because I had just realized Baek Gyeonwoo was right next to me.
I didn't think it was wrong, but still, next to someone who participated genuinely, the idea that someone was only thinking of dropping out... that was a bit much.
I quickly changed the subject.
"Can I hear about the concept you said you were working on now?"
Even though it was a hastily brought-up topic, I was actually curious.
Because her work was really decent.
"Huh? The concept? You want me to tell you now? Tch, showing unfinished work hurts my pride."
Despite her words, her voice was full of excitement.
The Director sprang up, stole a piece of paper from the President's desk, plopped back down, and gave the pen in her hand a big spin.
Soon, six circles were drawn on the paper.
"First! You're all fairies that represent natural elements!"
Hmm....
"Look at Sowol's name. It's the moon, right? So I've been thinking about it ever since she joined. And then coincidentally, Neuti is coming to our company too? Ah, awesome. This is fate... Wait, Gyeonwoo, your name is Gyeonwoo too? Is your name's meaning perhaps that Gyeonwoo from the Gyeonwoo and Jiknyeo story?"
"......No. It's the hanja for 'to see' and 'joy'."
"Ah, really? Doesn't matter. You'll be a flower. It suits you so well. Since Yuri is Yuri, how about rock?"
"......."
Regardless of my personal opinion, I had to ask this.
"Then what am I?"
"......Chaegyeom, you."
"Yes."
"Just by your name, I had no clue. So you're just a human. Don't be disappointed! It means you're the main character."
That was a bit too forced to be called a main character....
I wasn't disappointed, but it was a bit bland.
Still, since I'd already asked, let's see it through.
"Then what is Sanho?"
"Probably a tiger."
Baek Gyeonwoo subtly jumped in like a quiz show contestant.
I was about to argue that even so, he wasn't a tiger, but the answer appeared first.
"If Sowol is the sky, there should be a sea. Sanho is the sea."
"Why?"
"Because of the 'sanho' in 'coral reefs'."
The reasoning was more valid than I thought.
'...Still, this is a no.'
It was fun, but it was an idea that should end at just fun. There was no need to build a Great Wall of an entry barrier.
While I was looking for a suitable way to deflect, the Director's paper had already turned into something like a talisman.
"So, this... like a game, each attribute has a compatibility relationship. For example, Sanho and Sowol are mutual counters, and Chaegyeom is a synergy with everyone. We'll apply this to your photo cards and make a card game fans can play, and for 5-star cards, the attack/defense stats......."
Wow, what do I do.
The words were so unfamiliar that I forgot what to say.
"It seems a bit much."
That was Baek Gyeonwoo's voice.
I nudged Baek Gyeonwoo in the side because he had said it too firmly.
But fortunately, the Director just scratched the back of her head with an unfazed face.
"Really? I heard idol fans like this kind of stuff."
"The trend... has passed."
Actually, even back when it was trendy, only a minority liked concepts like that.
A concept of this scale even more so....
"Ah, it's hard. Are the target audiences for games and idols that different?"
"A bit... yes, very different."
"Right, that makes sense. Just looking at how we scattered fake trendy ads to try to attract regular people, but they never came over no matter what...."
I only understood half of what she meant, but I nodded anyway in agreement.
The Director put the pen on her lip in thought, then suddenly snapped.
"President, don't we have any more staff? With just the three of us, all we can produce is middle-aged men's taste. This is just like a bunch of old dudes writing an otome game script. If we want to cater to girls' tastes, we need to hire women—why are there only middle-aged men?"
"......You're a woman."
The President sighed.
"Just so, I already......."
[Burst!]
"Do-won, aigo, you're still here?"
It was the Manager.
The Manager gave us a perfunctory greeting, then urgently gestured toward the President.
"Someone's here on the first floor. Go down, quickly."
The President stood up naturally as if he had been waiting.
Seeing that he wasn't flustered, he seemed to have expected someone's visit.
'...What kind of person?'
Before I could ask, the President spoke first.
"You need another practice room, right?"
"A practice room?"
Baek Gyeonwoo and I were following the President down the stairs.
'The more practice rooms, the better.'
As it was, we had different areas to practice, so sharing one practice room had been tricky. The number of times we used rented practice rooms was also increasing.
Of course, the rental fees were billed to the company.
So... that meant the President probably knew too, that we were short on practice rooms.
"I'm planning to combine the office next door and turn it into a practice room."
I stopped in my tracks.
It happened to be the moment right before my foot landed on the next step, so I wobbled for a second, and Baek Gyeonwoo grabbed me by the nape to steady me.
That was how shocked I was.
'An above-ground practice room!'
Of course, it would be incomparable to the basement we were using now. Above ground, there would be good ventilation, daylight, and no ghosts.
'That's really great... but.'
Just then, Baek Gyeonwoo asked an appropriate question.
"Then what about the staff?"
Meaning, aren't you going to hire more staff.
It might be enough now, but once we got into full-fledged debut preparations, three staff members would be nowhere near enough.
"Don't worry."
The President said as he tramped down the stairs.
"I rented the entire fourth floor of the building behind."
If it was the building behind....
That was the building with the cafe that Kim Sanho and I often went to.
"If you need anything else, say so."
While Baek Gyeonwoo and I were exchanging dumbfounded looks, the President added that.
I immediately tore my gaze away from Baek Gyeonwoo and opened my mouth.
Because I happened to have something I really needed.
"Then please make a production studio!"