Not a Dream, but Precognition (2)
After we dropped the Neptune members off at their dorm, we turned around and headed back to Sangam-dong. The meeting place was an upscale sashimi restaurant booked in a rush. I had no idea whether we'd actually be sitting in, but the CEO himself was coming, and Kim Hyunjo dragged us along on the grounds that we ought to at least show our faces.
I trailed after him like a lost duckling, doing nothing but breathe.
Honestly, I hadn't been in my right mind for a while.
Haha. How could I be? Thinking of the wave that had crashed over my life today, it was a wonder I hadn't already keeled over from a heart attack. I even felt a small, startled relief: so my mind wasn't completely useless after all.
"Looks like they're here."
The people who had arrived first were from W&U. The head of the Management Division was a middle-aged man with a slightly receding hairline, and the leader of Management Team 3 looked to be in his mid-to-late thirties, with an easy, cheerful face.
And last of all, the man stepping out of the Rolls-Royce — the CEO of W&U, whom I had only ever seen in interview photos. A role model for people like me, who dreamed of running a management company someday.
Baek Han-sung.
The moment I saw him, my head snapped clear.
He looked a good ten years younger than forty-seven, and his body showed the discipline of regular training. A fine suit, a cashmere coat over it, and the whole effect... he could have been a cover model for a men's magazine.
More than anything, confidence and ease filled his expression and the way he moved. He had every right to them. A man who had started as a one-man agency and, in ten years, built a major entertainment company like W&U — the most capable of the capable, a businessman among businessmen.
As we greeted him, my eyes met CEO Baek Han-sung's. Only for an instant.
"Good work."
He gave my shoulder and Choi Geon-young's a light pat, then turned away.
"Let's go in. Knet isn't here yet, right?"
"No, sir. Should we come with you?"
When Kim Hyunjo asked, CEO Baek Han-sung shook his head.
"No. Leave the business to us, and wait for good news."
Then he led the division head and the Team 3 leader into the restaurant.
We had already been waiting four hours for that good news. It was one in the morning.
"How long does it take someone to eat sashimi?"
Anxiety bled through Choi Geon-young's voice.
We were holed up in a twenty-four-hour pub with an order of chicken, on standby. In case we had to face the CEO or the division head, we couldn't even let a drink touch our lips.
Kim Hyunjo stabbed a fork into the chicken, gone cold and stiff, and answered.
"You think they're still eating sashimi at this hour? They moved on to round two ages ago."
"I wonder how it's going. I'm dying to know."
"The fact that it's dragging on is good news. If the talks had fallen apart, it would've ended quickly."
The two of them bounced their legs and stared at nothing but the clock. I was the only quiet one at the table. I was thinking. For four hours straight, thinking and thinking.
What on earth had I seen?
When I first saw it in the early hours, I'd thought it was a dream, but that was impossible. I had clearly been standing there with my eyes wide open when I saw it, and I'd come back to myself just like that. Even if it were narcolepsy, falling asleep on my feet on the bathroom tiles would've cracked the back of my head. So it definitely wasn't a dream.
Then what was it?
A superpower? Something like the ability to see the future?
Movies and dramas about superheroes and people with powers flickered through my mind one after another. People who saw, a minute ahead, what was about to happen. People who unconsciously drew pictures of events that hadn't occurred yet. All kinds of ways of foreseeing the future.
Had I gained a power like that?
Weren't acquired abilities the sort of thing you got only after some bizarre experience — bitten by a genetically engineered insect, turned into a vampire, something like that?
But me?
Nothing had happened to me. What the hell was this?!
Hoo. Don't get worked up. Think it through calmly, one more time.
I didn't know why this ability had appeared in me. I didn't know how to use it, either. But when I really thought about it, this was genuinely thrilling. Anyone would feel the same.
It was a superpower. A superpower!
Of course, if I were ever going to get one, I'd always hoped for teleportation, or turning invisible. But seeing the future was pretty good too. It was cool. Mysterious, somehow. If this were a movie, it was the kind of ability that could easily land you a substantial supporting role!
Ha! I'm someone with a superpower! Hell yes!
What next — aliens showing up? Was that it?!
...Damn it! I couldn't stay calm!
"Sunwoo."
"Yes?!"
I jerked my head up and found Kim Hyunjo looking at me. The excitement fizzled out.
"Sleepy?"
"No. I was just thinking... so much happened today, my head's a mess."
I'd had my head down the whole time, so he must have thought I was dozing. To prove I wasn't, I opened my eyes wide.
"Come to think of it, today was the first day for both of you, wasn't it? So much happened I forgot."
Kim Hyunjo shoved the stiff chicken aside and held out the order slip.
"Order whatever you two want. Don't just sit here like you're being punished. How about a draft beer each? Think of it as a welcome party."
We ordered greasy barbecue chicken, a plate of spicy sea snails, french fries, and a steaming fish-cake soup to settle our stomachs. The owner, who had been shooting us displeased looks every time he passed the table, brought the draft beer over with a friendly smile.
The beer, bubbles snapping against the glass, felt like it cleared me out from the inside. I emptied a glass in a flash, and Kim Hyunjo pressed the call button again.
"They're not going to call us back, so drink up. You can have a little tonight."
"Sorry?"
"I said you did well. At first, when I saw this washed-out kid standing there in a suit, I thought, what kind of guy did they send us... and then, without anyone even telling you to, you introduced the kids to the PD and landed the whole job. Does everyone with quadruplet nieces and nephews have that kind of drive?"
Praise that felt sincere was several times better than the alcohol.
"I got lucky. Outside the bathroom, I overheard the PD and the Lemon Girls' manager talking about them dropping out."
"Sure, the timing and the luck were ridiculous. But you still would've missed it if you hadn't grabbed the PD and held on. I heard you were pretty passionate."
I scratched my cheek, embarrassed. Keeping my face under control was hard. Praise at the company felt completely different from praise at home or at school. It was as if my existence as a working adult was being acknowledged, and that made it far more satisfying.
If I hadn't seen the future, I would have missed this chance.
I hadn't even known who PD Go Joon-tae was, or that Knet had launched a program called Next K-Star. Even if I had known, I might have hesitated — wondering whether it was all right for me to pitch Neptune to the PD myself — and ended up walking away.
If I had, then just as my future self had said, the company's Bundle of Fortune might have been Choi Geon-young.
I looked at Choi Geon-young over my beer. Getting praised alone, when we'd started on the same first day, had to feel bad, and yet Choi Geon-young was actually chiming in with Kim Hyunjo's compliments.
If I hadn't seen the future — if I'd passed along what PD Go Joon-tae said and asked Choi Geon-young what to do — would he really have deceived me?
Reporter Song's words came back to me.
"So that's how he was, even back then."
Choi Geon-young, who looked like a good guy. Choi Geon-young, who had smiled and said the two of us would probably get along. What kind of person was he, really...
One thing was clear. He was someone I had to watch from now on.
That didn't mean I could shove him away outright. Until one of us transferred, we had to work together.
Push him out for no reason and I'd be the bad guy. Tell him, I can't get close to you because I think you're the one who's going to screw me over, and I'd be the crazy one... God.
I had never faced a more complicated problem in my life. Having to work, from here on, with the guy who had stabbed me in the back — no, the guy who was going to... was this sleeping with the enemy?
And the real problem was that even knowing all that, Choi Geon-young looked perfectly decent on the surface. Let my guard slip even a little, and my wariness might blur.
I had to be careful. Getting stabbed in the back when you already know it's coming — that's just being a dumbass. A complete dumbass.
To keep my guard up against Choi Geon-young, I decided to call the bastard a traitor in my head, at least.
"Geon-young, you worked hard today too. Quick on the uptake, good with people — anyone watching would've thought you'd been doing this for years. Thanks to you, the live broadcast went smoothly."
"Thank you, Chief."
"Let's have another round. You're not going to get drunk off two beers, are you?"
Two glasses became three, and three became four. We didn't stop drinking.
"Sunwoo. What time is it?"
"Four-thirty. And Chief, you don't have to be so formal with me."
"This is comfortable, I'm telling you."
Funny. When he'd been angry earlier, dropping the formalities had looked extremely comfortable on him.
Anyway, the day had been long. This wasn't the first day at work I had imagined. How did you clock in at three-thirty in the morning and still not get to leave until past four the next morning?
Was there another new hire in the world who had spent a first day like mine? Other than that traitor.
Still not a word from the CEO's side. Where were these people, and what were they doing? There had been time enough to get through a third round — no, a fourth.
Neptune joining Next K-Star was certain, but not knowing when or how it would be finalized was unbearably frustrating. However urgent it was, this was broadcasting. They weren't going to lock it in like beans roasted over a lightning flash. Two or three days, maybe?
Once the beer started, it turned into a full eat-and-drink affair, and we kept ordering more draft and more snacks.
Then, at five in the morning, the phone we had all been waiting for finally rang.