Chapter 88
Chapter 88
The President had disappeared.
Not literally disappeared, but as of yesterday, he'd moved his office to the other newly completed building.
Now, only the Director and the department head remained in our building.
And.......
"Ah, hello!"
An unfamiliar face bowed in greeting and shoved their name tag right up to my eyes.
I checked it. The name 'Planning Team Lee Ha-eun' was printed in large letters.
The Director draped an arm over Lee Ha-eun's shoulder and added an introduction.
"A junior from my old studio. Said she's been into idols for over ten years. A total expert, right? She'll be helping me out from now on, right by my side. I'll be the 'Di' and she'll be the 'Rector,' so from now on call me Kim Di, and her Lee Rector......."
"Ah, no, sunbae! If we have to decide, I'm the 'Di'!"
"Uh, huh? Why? Because yours is one syllable and mine's two?"
"Yep. ......Gasp, wait, was the first syllable the important point?"
I watched the two of them doing their comedy routine and asked.
"Would it be okay if I asked which idol you liked?"
"Ah, the Onpirem unnies!"
Onpirem, as in... the group Joo Yeonhee belonged to.
"And this is a little awkward to say, but. I liked Elodie too. Hehe. They were my first idols."
Elodie being MC, no, Sim Do-yoon sunbae's group.
Wondering if she happened to know Sim Do-yoon was the President's younger sibling and joined Sorasum for that reason, I glanced at the Director. He was glaring at me as if telling me to keep my mouth shut.
'So it's a secret.'
I naturally shifted my gaze, finished saying my polite "please take care of me," and slipped out of the office.
Then I headed for the newly created practice room.
"......."
Kim Yuri was busy decorating his workspace these days.
Kim Sanho and Jeong Sowol were getting lessons in the basement practice room.
Meaning, the ones occupying this well-ventilated, sunlit practice room were only Han Neuti and Baek Gyeonwoo.
"What are you two doing?"
"Practicing, obviously."
It was August.
The team had been finalized at six members, and a month and several weeks had passed since then.
In that time, whether you called it short or long, we.......
I'll come clean.
A sense of camaraderie you could actually call a team... hadn't developed at all.
I sighed, looking at Han Neuti and Baek Gyeonwoo, who had staked out opposite corners of the practice room like N and S poles.
"You're playing the same song and practicing, so why are you so far apart?"
"......Afraid we'll bump into each other."
The way they talk, anyone would think their limbs were two meters long each.
'Weren't they at least a little better than this during the training camp?'
The way they said their last goodbyes on the day Han Neuti was eliminated had actually looked pretty heartwarming.
So why in the world had their relationship devolved since then?
I'd once asked Han Neuti this exact question at the dorm.
His answer back then was this.
—Nah, that was just... y'know, that thing. Since we weren't gonna see each other anymore, it was, what do you call it, because it was the last time, something like that.
Kim Yuri had interpreted this incomprehensible sentence with perfect clarity.
—It's like when people who aren't really close pretend to be all chummy and say warm goodbyes because it's the last time, but then it turns out you're headed the same way and end up walking together! That's it, right?
—Hearing that somehow makes it feel even more awkward.......
—Well, what can you do? You're on the same team now anyway.
Jeong Sowol, who had been half-listening from the side, offered a cool-headed solution.
—Rock-paper-scissors, loser resigns from the company.
—......Sowol, go sleep in your room.
—This is our room, though.
—Ah.
With that conversation over, Yuri and I returned to our room.
And we had a serious discussion about the unresolved issues.
—But honestly, it's not just those two who are the problem. Sanho and Sowol are awkward too, and Chaegyeom, you and I are awkward sometimes.
—.......
—......I meant that as a joke, but now it's actually gotten awkward. Haha.
Kim Yuri wasn't wrong at all.
Kim Sanho and Jeong Sowol had one person being one-sidedly distant, and Yuri and I... for some reason had these occasional little things we'd get hung up on.
Even if you shoved us all into one house and made us do communal living all day, becoming a real team was this difficult of a thing.
'Still, it's not like they seem incompatible or anything.'
No, maybe it'd be better if they were actually butting heads and gradually working things out.
From what I'd observed, our team had one useless commonality.
Which was that everyone liked acting independently.
To put it nicely, that's what I'd say. To put it precisely, it meant we seemed hard to control.
'Hm.'
I thought, watching Han Neuti and Baek Gyeonwoo still turned away from each other, staring only at their own tablets.
It seemed the time had finally come... to decide 'that'.
* * *
And that night, all six of us gathered in the dorm living room.
"Leader?"
"Yeah, it's about time we choose one."
Leader.
The team's center, its pillar, its eldest-like figure.
The leader heavily influenced the team's image, not just by leading chants but by acting as the representative speaker at award ceremonies, press conferences, and such.
On top of that, mediating team conflicts, listening to members' worries, lifting the mood, conveying opinions to the company.......
Anyway, to summarize, it was a position I truly did not want.
'It's not too late to decide once everyone's close.'
Deciding while we were still less friendly would cement the perception that the leader was the leader, which would make managing the members easier.
"Is it really necessary?"
Baek Gyeonwoo said indifferently.
True to his words, groups without a designated leader were increasing these days.
......Though I suspect it's less because they're not needed and more because the leader's responsibilities are way too heavy.
Even if you perfectly handle all the duties mentioned above, getting cursed out with "what was the leader even doing" if one member causes trouble is also part of the leader's job.
So it's a role you can't push on someone carelessly.
"If no one really wants to do it, I think it's okay not to have one. For now, anyone who wants to volunteer, raise your hand, but before that......."
"I want to do it!"
"......Alright, Sowol. I'll put you down as a candidate. Before that."
I looked at Han Neuti and spoke.
"Let's exclude Neuti hyung."
Han Neuti's pupils wavered, and he muttered with a dejected face.
"Am I that untrustworthy......."
"No, it's not that. I'm saying this because the eldest hyung has his own share of responsibilities."
If the eldest hyung took on the leader role, there'd be no one left to lean on, would there?
On top of that, Han Neuti was the main dancer, so he had to take the lead in choreography practice too.
Holding the roles of eldest, leader, and main dancer all by himself would concentrate power too much, so I meant we should avoid that if possible.
I placated Han Neuti half-heartedly, then hastily added.
"And I don't want to do it either. Count me out too."
From everything I'd said so far, being the leader probably looked like nothing but the team's sacrificial lamb.
But surprisingly, members volunteering for leader was common. The reason being that becoming leader significantly boosted your presence within the team.
However... in this current team, my presence was already excessively large.
Plus, even without stating positions explicitly, I was obviously going to be the main vocalist, and on top of that, leader too?
'That'd be perfect for getting called power-hungry.'
And more than anything, I just... really didn't want to be leader.
Just then, Jeong Sowol shot up and said.
"I'll do it."
"......We're deciding by vote. Anyone else like me who doesn't want to do it?"
Kim Sanho cautiously raised his hand.
I felt like I knew the reason without asking, so I immediately removed him from the candidate list.
"And?"
Baek Gyeonwoo raised his hand.
He was one I'd expected to refuse, but instead of declining, a question I didn't anticipate came.
"Are there any leader perks or something?"
"Uh......."
I thought about it, then said.
"Like, if the leader calls, everyone has to assemble no matter what?"
"Me. I'll be leader."
"And the right to pick the music during car rides."
"Please, let it be me."
"The leader picks the meal menu too."
"Me. Me. Me."
"Hey, just let Sowol have it."
"......."
Seemingly unable to watch any longer, Han Neuti backed Jeong Sowol up.
Damn, thanks to that, it was harder to keep ignoring it.
'It's not impossible for the maknae to be leader, but....'
There was another reason I was ignoring Jeong Sowol's desperate appeal.
I stared into empty space for a moment, then had no choice but to pull out my phone and search for something.
Then I handed it to Jeong Sowol.
"Sowol."
"Yeah."
"Read this."
Jeong Sowol took the phone and furrowed his brow.
"Hello. On this spring day when flower seeds are w-wr? Wrig? Wriggling? Sprouting....... Now this place... wait a moment. One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, ah! One hundred sixty-eight thousand... eight hundred million......."
"Can you memorize this and say it?"
"......."
That was it.
The reason Jeong Sowol answered everything in monosyllables was because he was bad at speaking.
And for a leader who'd have to step up publicly a lot, this was a fairly fatal flaw.......
Jeong Sowol, now dejected, buried his face in his knees.
Just as I was feeling oddly uncomfortable seeing that, Yuri hyung slapped me on the back.
"Ah, why're you killing the kid's spirit. Sowol, it's okay. Whether it's interviews or acceptance speeches, we can all memorize a line each and say it. It's just that Seo Cha-gyeom here has no flexibility. You really want to be leader?"
"Yeah, I want to boss the hyungs around however I want."
"Ooh......."
At Jeong Sowol's honest desire, Kim Yuri flinched, and Baek Gyeonwoo raised his hand.
"I'm not doing it."
Seemed the perks weren't appealing to him.
I nodded and wrapped things up.
"Then for now... I'll put up the vote between Sowol and Yuri hyung."
'Why can I already see the result.'
Still, procedure was procedure, so I posted the vote in the group chat made a month ago (the last message was a week ago).
And a few minutes later, it was decided.
* * *
"Alright, by the power of the leader, tonight's dinner is~."
"......."
"......Whatever Sowol wants to eat!"
Kim Yuri was reading the mood of his teammates the moment he became leader.
Considering not even a day had passed since he'd been handed the role, I couldn't deny he was a true leader indeed.
"No, seriously, he wanted to boss us around to that extent?"
Watching Jeong Sowol express his disappointment with his entire body while lying face down, Han Neuti muttered, filled with shock and fear.
Next to him, Kim Sanho added.
"Wasn't the 6:0 the problem."
"If he wanted it that badly, why didn't he vote for himself."
"Probably thought voting for himself wasn't cool......."
Wouldn't that Kim Sanho get a perfect score if you gave him a Sowol exam.
Still, since he was the maknae, watching Jeong Sowol be so gloomy made me feel a tiny bit of guilt.
'......Should I have made the vote counts private.'
I didn't know how to configure the details and just threw it up roughly, so some bear doll went and celebrated Jeong Sowol's complete defeat complete with flying flower petals.......
Well, nothing to be done. Now that we even had a leader, things like managing the members' mental health could all just be foisted onto Kim Yuri.
"Alright, by the power of the leader, I'll grant whatever Sowol wants to do!"
No, wait, looking closely, this hyung wasn't soothing the kid, he was teasing him.
It was just as I stood up to stop Kim Yuri, who was relentlessly chattering teasingly at Jeong Sowol's side.
Jeong Sowol, having recharged his energy in that time, popped his head up.
"I want to try a team-building workshop."
"I'm using my leader assembly power right now! Let's go have a team-building workshop today!"
Watching Kim Yuri excitedly gather the members, Baek Gyeonwoo, who was sitting beside me, muttered murderously.
"Can't we re-vote for leader."