The Producer
"You... no way...."
"Sunwoo... oppa...!"
A colorless, transparent liquid flowed between her legs.
Her eyes, pleading toward me while clutching her stomach.
At that moment, I could intuitively grasp it.
'Giving birth!'
She's about to give birth.
Here? Now? Immediately?
My mind went blank for a split second as my breath caught in my throat.
[Stay with me.]
"Hup──!"
I felt the mana rod forcibly turn white.
Even as my stomach churned with this alien mana, my head felt chillingly clear at the same time.
'First.'
What I had to do right now.
I glanced around, organizing my thoughts.
"Unnie. Are you okay? You with us?"
"Ah....uu.....hwaaaaa.....?!?!?!?"
"First, we need to call an ambulance... but no phone?!?!"
All three of them plunged into panic together.
"Sunwoo-oppa... Sunwoo...!"
And then A-young, who was struggling more and more.
In this situation, what could I do?
"Jeon Harin!"
"!, Y-yes, yes."
"Call the CEO."
"...Understood."
Call Hye-won first.
It was only natural to report any incident on-site.
She was probably nearby, so she would come over on her own.
"Yeonhwa and Su-jin, you two stay by A-young's side."
"".....Yes!"
"I'll call 119!"
I told myself that.
I pulled out my phone and connected the call.
Soon the call connected and I informed them of the situation, and at the same time Hye-won arrived to assess the chaos.
"First... we can't cancel the debut."
That's why the debut would proceed as is.
But since we couldn't leave A-young like this, we had to move her to the hospital immediately.
"Sunwoo-oppa... I... I'm so scared...!"
"...It's okay."
Her hand reaching out toward me.
I took her hand and first calmed A-young.
"Huu....haaah....."
A slightly steadier appearance.
A faint smile even appeared.
Was the anxiety relieved? From that point on, the patient stabilized and we moved to the next stage.
'Now. To solve this situation.'
The first thing that came to mind was to take A-young to the obstetrics department.
Then I could immediately resolve the trouble A-young was facing, and somehow handle the stage as well.
"Hye-won-ah. Can I ask you for one favor?"
...
If I moved so irresponsibly, Hye-won wouldn't have appointed me as producer.
'Snap out of it.'
Don't get confused.
The debut stage was for Nature anyway.
And what I was doing here was also for Nature.
Don't forget my role.
Don't forget my position.
"A-young. Can you handle it?"
"Just leave it to me."
"Okay."
"Utt....se... Sunwoo-oppa...?"
I let go of her hand.
Her trembling eyes.
My feet froze for a moment, but I forced them to move.
After that, I heard A-young's crying, but I ignored it.
I was the producer in the current situation.
"Snap out of it."
""".........."""
The Nature three were half-lost.
I held my breath for a moment and shouted loudly.
"Snap out of it, you bastards!"
"""───Hup?!?!?!?!?!?"
Everyone's attention focused.
Still confused, but at least the ears were listening.
I placed my hand on my chest and asked Hecate for help.
"Help me a little."
[Payment?]
"...You saw the situation clearly, right? Want to talk about payment?"
[I want pineapple pizza.]
"You've gone crazy."
Thanks to that, the tension unintentionally eased.
I nodded my head and accepted Hecate's deal, and soon a faint light began to gather in my right hand.
Light.
Purification.
And──stability.
"Seiren."
[I don't like bad kids talking.]
"After everything ends, I'll play with you."
[Bad kid. Seiren hates bad kids.]
But...
[I also hate when good kids hurt.]
"Fuh... yeah. Thanks."
A droplet of water that was bubbling up in my left palm.
Normally, it would have mixed with the wind and refreshed my mood, but right now I needed immediate effect.
Instead of lightly refreshing the mood, it was more important to firmly suppress it in this heavy situation.
"You all. Remember this one thing clearly."
Light and water.
I combined them into one light.
"If the debut stage falls apart and someone later comes to A-young and says 'I couldn't do it because of you' as an excuse?"
A faint light projected deep in the sea.
The sea, deep and thick dark blue light.
"That's not just smearing your faces with shit, but also smearing A-young's face, my face, and the CEO's face with shit."
"""............"""
I released it.
It was absorbed by the Nature three.
The trembling eyes were forcibly calmed.
The rough breathing sounds gradually smoothed out.
The emotions that had been running wildly were also deeply suppressed all at once.
"Now. What can you do?"
My eyes looked at me.
The eyes that had been forcibly suppressed now looked dead black.
What was needed now was to fill these eyes with passion and will.
It's okay. No problem.
Boosting morale was something I'd done often.
Because I was the party leader of an A-class party after all.
"Cancel the debut stage and run to A-young saying you're a colleague? Watch her give birth? After the birth, when they say 'why are you here?' then do some lame friendship act saying 'unnie is struggling'?"
I scraped.
"Stop it."
Continue scraping.
"What you have to do here now, what you can do, the only thing you can do is 'repay' and 'answer back'."
And at the end of that.
"Make the stage a success."
"Make that stage shine brighter than anyone else."
"And at the end, say it."
"Because of A-young-unnie's help, I was able to be here."
"That is the only 'path' you can take right now."
"""..........."""
Quietly. But surely.
A hot passion was felt in the three's eyes.
A will to definitely succeed.
Passion. Youth. Someone's sacrifice and the repayment for it.
[Next, the new idol group, Spirit Idols──NATURE's performance will begin!]
"...Go. And show them."
How amazing you are.
Whether you have enough value to make someone sacrifice.
"""....Yes!"""
I nodded my head.
A voice full of power.
I silently watched their backs.
[Sunu. Something you want to know?]
"Suddenly?"
Hecate asked.
[Are we going into the dungeon now?]
"No? It's an idol debut stage?"
[But why does it look so high in combat power?]
"....Ah!"
Hecate said.
Now these kids only looked like warriors, not idols.
And that's exactly what it was.
"No...."
The scene where they leaned on each other's backs in perfect sync looked like a desperate fight between the protagonist and the rival.
"Noo..."
The scene where they playfully bumped spirits together looked like they were shooting laser beams at each other in a boss fight.
"Nooowww!!"
Even the ending pose when the song ended was not charm release but combat power release.
[Was the idol stage like this?]
"There's no way!"
In a slightly different meaning.
A stage that would never disappear from my mind.
***
The debut stage was over.
Of course, just because the stage ended didn't mean everything was over.
After tidying up the stage, waiting until the program ended, greeting people here and there even after the program, and doing aftercare and taking care of the kids, the night fell quickly.
"It's tough..."
"Well, it's just starting."
Hye-won finished organizing the data and schedule.
Looking at the tablet spinning around, my eyes were hurting.
"...What happened?"
"About A-young?"
Hye-won took out her phone and checked.
"According to her, she gave birth via cesarean section and it's all over."
"...Really?"
It was already over.
I exhaled deeply.
'...It's a relief.'
I felt sorry.
I also felt relieved.
And although it might be garbage, I felt relieved that I wasn't there.
"...Garbage."
"Sunwoo-oppa."
Hye-won calling me out of nowhere.
I let out a small laugh and asked Hye-won.
"You said call me producer."
"Right now we're the only two."
"If you say it like that, there's nothing to say."
So what did she want to say.
I looked at Hye-won with weary eyes and she looked at the tablet and whispered to me.
"Sunwoo-oppa is not A-young's husband."
"...Suddenly?"
"A staff member who was by A-young's side told me."
"Sunwoo-oppa, Sunwoo-oppa, she kept looking for Sunwoo-oppa"
"She's a liar," she cried.
"In the end, she didn't react at all, like a dead body."
"..........."
"Don't think weird thoughts. My words aren't finished yet."
"...What did I think?"
"You were thinking of self-reproach, saying it's all because of me, right?"
".....Tsk."
I promised.
I promised A-young.
And I broke that promise.
That was the truth I couldn't excuse at all.
"I can guess what A-young would have said. Probably asked me to stay by her side?"
"What? Did you install a listening device?"
"Since I was also watching you like you were watching me."
"Well, well."
Look at her talking.
Hye-won pressed the power button on the tablet as if it was over and turned off the screen.
The surroundings darkened. Only Hye-won looked at me and said.
"Are you going to marry A-young?"
"...No."
I had no intention of marrying.
From the beginning, I didn't love her.
"Then why are you so self-reproaching?"
"...Self-reproach."
I slowly exhaled.
Something was choking in my breath.
I had been holding it in so far and never shown it.
"...Earlier, at the hospital."
I told Hye-won.
At the hospital. All the things I said to A-young.
All the things A-young was making excuses for.
The truth that they were all meaningless lies was laid bare in front of my eyes.
"It's disgusting, oppa."
"As expected..."
I slandered.
And
"But you did your best, oppa."
".....?"
Complimenting me here?
"As a man, you might be garbage, but you didn't intend to look like a 'man' to A-young, right?"
"Of course."
"So, if I look at you as a 'person', I think you did your best as much as you could."
So as not to cause misunderstanding
So as not to cause harm to myself
But as a colleague, as a friend, doing the most for the other person.
There would be no one to blame for that.
"But..."
"The incident that happened today is the same."
When A-young was taken away on the ambulance, she held on to Nature who was about to collapse.
"At least it was the best action a 'producer' could do."
".............."
"...Your expression hasn't cleared yet?"
"Well... yeah."
Everyone wouldn't blame, but I would stab myself.
Should I have said it in that way at that time?
I couldn't answer 'no' at that moment because of the accumulated guilt.
I couldn't completely reject that request to stay by her side.
Even though I knew I couldn't accept it.
Even though I knew it was wrong.
So.
Looking at how my stomach was churning and aching so much, maybe I...
"Don't mix love with guilt."
"!,....I know that much too."
"No. You don't know."
Oppa was a lifelong virgin. A lifelong a-dika.
"...Are you mocking me? If you just put your mind to it, I could burn anytime?"
"I'm not mocking. Just... it's been the same then and now..."
"That's mocking..."
"I'm saying it with good intentions."
Hye-won smiled faintly and stood up.
She approached me and smiled in front of me and said.
"Let's go visit her at the hospital tomorrow."
"...Okay."
I didn't know why.
But somehow, seeing that smile, the heavy feeling in my chest that was still there a while ago became lighter.
Hye-won reached out to me with the same smile on her face.
"Your kindness is still as useless as ever."
"...Hey?"
No, correction.
I put my hand on my head and casually stroked my hair.
"You worked hard. Producer."
"!,...Fuh. Yeah. Thank you, CEO."
Somehow, the heavy thing that was pulling from behind my back felt like it was dropping.
After giving my shoulder a quick rub, I stood up again with renewed energy.
Hecate quietly whispered in my chest.
[Reliable virgin.]
"???"