Not a Dream, but a Glimpse of the Future (1)
I called Kim Hyunjo again and again, but he must have been somewhere loud. Every time, the call dumped me straight into voicemail.
Fortunately, PD Go Joon-tae hadn't gotten far. I stood in front of him and hesitated.
Can I really just charge in without even telling Kim Hyunjo? What am I supposed to do?
Damn it. What's there to do? I didn't know whether it had been a prophetic dream or something else entirely, but in it Choi Geon-young had simply run the PD down and pushed. That was how Neptune ended up on the show, and how Choi Geon-young became the company's Lucky Charm.
I wasn't about to be the fool who couldn't even hang on to his own meal ticket. Do it now. Sort out the fallout later.
"PD!"
"What now—! Oh. You, from a minute ago..."
"Jung Sunwoo. I manage Neptune."
The tightness in PD Go Joon-tae's face eased.
"I don't think I introduced the members properly earlier."
"Second year since debut, you said? I knew Blackout was under W&U, but I had no idea they had a girl group. That place only managed actors, didn't it?"
"Which is why every one of the members has an actor's face."
If I'd known it would go like this, I would have brought my bag. The profiles were in there.
I made do by showing him the album on my phone. Thank God I'd saved the members' photos while I was searching online earlier.
"Hmm... There's a lounge over there. Let's sit for a minute."
After flipping through a few shots, PD Go Joon-tae led me to a small lounge beside the elevator. I followed, working the stiffness out of one shoulder with my hand. Nerves, probably. My whole body kept locking up whether I wanted it to or not.
Once we sat, I watched his face and his eyes. He was going through the photos one at a time, serious about it.
Good. Look. Look closer. The longer you look, the prettier they'll get.
"They're a group W&U built with everything it had. We went through trainees from the major agencies and took only the ones worth taking, so the skill doesn't fall short, they can talk, the characters work, and they're hungry for it."
Of every presentation, pitch, and interview I had ever given, I had never been in a greater hurry than I was now. I had never been closer to a full meltdown, either.
I kept a grip on my tone and my posture so the confidence would come through. I couldn't look too desperate, so I watched that too, and I kept turning my head over for even one more thing worth saying.
Taehee, the leader, was a powerhouse—explosive vocals, and real skill as a lyricist and composer on top of it. LJ looked like the type who would announce, if you judged her by appearance alone, that she was the craziest bitch in the room, but she actually lived to tease the members, and to get under Seoyoung's skin in particular. Seoyoung was built for variety and had already been on cable shows more than once. Songha, the maknae, was a visual so overwhelming there was nothing left to argue...
Past the halfway point, I couldn't even tell you what I'd said. I just didn't stop talking.
I dragged up the profiles I'd seen in the car and the articles I'd kept combing through in the salon and the waiting room, and I offered up anything that might land as a plus.
"Neptune. Neptune... Not bad. Visually, they're actually ahead of Lemon Girls."
Thankfully, the PD's reaction wasn't bad. I swallowed and waited for him to decide.
"Why weren't they on the list? Cut because they're about to hit year three? If we book these kids, could we get a few W&U actors to show their faces too?"
"Sorry?"
"W&U's full of expensive actors who never do variety. I'm not asking for much—just enough to tease in the preview. What do you think?"
"That's not a call I can make, so I'll check with the chief manager and come straight back to you."
"Chief manager?"
"I'm new."
I left out the part about today being my first day.
Good thing I did. The moment he heard I was a rookie, PD Go Joon-tae let out a hollow laugh, the look of a man wondering what further business he had with a wet-behind-the-ears manager like me.
"That so? And here I was thinking... You here for a music show today?"
"Yes."
"Then the members are around. Did the chief manager come with you?"
"He should be on the live stage right now."
"Then shall we meet for a minute after the stage? The members, all together. I'll see them myself, and we'll talk after that. Here's my card—call me again."
"I will."
I took the card in both hands, and something jabbed me hard in the back.
"What are you doing here?"
I turned. Lim Seoyoung was standing there, out of breath.
"Hyunjo oppa is in there right now deciding whether to kill you or let you live. Not even a full day, and you vanish in the middle of a live broadcast? What kind of person does that? He's losing his mind."
"What are you doing here? The stage?"
"It's already over. The bathroom next to the waiting room was packed, so I came this way. But you're the problem right now, oppa, not me! You've got quadruplets to feed, and you're going to get fired on day one? Lost a fan, went missing—it's been a knife-edge since earlier."
"Hold on. Why am I the one who has to feed my nieces and nephews?"
"Anyway, I'll back you up, so hurry up and think of an excuse!"
What is wrong with her? Maybe it was coming straight off a live stage. She was wildly worked up, like someone a bottle in.
Suddenly Lim Seoyoung blinked.
"Wait. Who's the person behind you?"
Oh no. Of all the things to leave hanging!
I whipped around. PD Go Joon-tae was staring at Lim Seoyoung, eyes bright. She caught that look and shouted like it all made sense.
"Oh! Were you out looking for that fan of mine you lost earlier? I can't live like this, I really can't!"
"No, this is—"
"Hello! I'm Lim Seoyoung of Neptune! Want me to sign something for you right now?"
"He's a PD."
"Eek!"
Lim Seoyoung shrieked and drove her head downward with real force.
For a second I thought she was about to drop into a full kneeling bow.
"What do I do! I'm so sorry, PD!"
"Ha ha ha. Fresh little character. Cute. Nice to meet you."
Lim Seoyoung stamped in place, her face crumpled like she'd just caused a disaster. No man with anything like a protective instinct could stay angry looking at that.
PD Go Joon-tae's expression had loosened considerably from a moment before. He patted her small shoulder and told her to calm down, and with his other hand he mimed a phone at me. Call.
"Then talk it over with the person upstairs and get in touch."
"Right away. I'll call within ten minutes."
I grabbed the still-bewildered Lim Seoyoung and took off running again. I cut through the people spilling into the hallway, sprinting like it was a race. Behind me she asked why we were running. There wasn't the breath to answer.
The waiting room wasn't far. The members must all have been inside; I couldn't see them. Only Kim Hyunjo and Choi Geon-young were posted at the door.
Kim Hyunjo spotted me first.
"Seoyoung, get inside."
"Oppa."
"Now. The kids are changing, so you go in and change too."
She looked at me, worried, so I put a hand to her back and sent her in ahead of me. The talk with PD Go Joon-tae had gone well. He isn't actually going to kill me. Is he?
"You said you were going to the bathroom. Where the hell were you, crawling back in after the whole stage is over?"
What do I do. I think he might actually kill me.
The moment Seoyoung disappeared inside, the veins stood out on Kim Hyunjo's neck.
"Something important? Fine. How important was it?"
"It was—"
"More important than the kids performing? You little shit, do you not understand this is live? You planning to dump them and wander off like this even when you're working on your own later? What if there's a broadcast accident? How am I supposed to trust you with them?"
"I'm sorry. I went to the bathroom and ran into PD Go Joon-tae."
The voice that had been roaring at me cut off clean.
"What? Who?"
"PD Go Joon-tae from Next K-Star. It looked like a member of the girl group that was booked caused a major incident, and they're scrambling to find a replacement group. I tried to tell you by phone, Chief, but it wouldn't connect..."
"I had it on silent before the broadcast—no. So?"
"I caught PD Go Joon-tae, showed him the members' photos, and introduced them."
"Okay. Good work. And?"
"He asked if he could see you and the kids in person. I brought his card."
I held out the card I'd been holding. Kim Hyunjo looked from it to my face and back again. Over the face that had looked prickly and exhausted ever since I'd first seen him at dawn, a dumbstruck expression rose.
"He can see them. Of course he can."
Kim Hyunjo, frozen for a few seconds like a lagged computer, smacked my forearm.
"Sunwoo. Call the PD first, find out where he is, and go pin him down right now. Get there before he meets some other girl group's manager and plant yourself in the way. I'll call the team leader and the division head and brief them. Geon-young—we're going to greet the PD, so tell the kids to get back into their stage outfits, fix only the makeup that's run, and come out fast. What are you two standing there for? Run!"
"Yes! Yes!"
I took off after PD Go Joon-tae again, running until sweat slicked the soles of my feet.
After that, it left my hands.
Everything tore ahead as if we'd been caught in a flood. While I kept hold of PD Go Joon-tae, Kim Hyunjo finished his calls to the company and arrived with Choi Geon-young and the members of Neptune. The kids looked lost, but in front of the PD they offered a clean ninety-degree bow.
They talked with him for a good while. A first-place announcement on the music show cut in partway through, so they went back up onstage and came down again, and the conversation still wasn't finished. Thankfully the mood was good, and the PD looked like he liked them.
"Don't say anything to the kids yet."
Once the members had been sent back to the waiting room, Kim Hyunjo caught me and Choi Geon-young and made us promise.
"Get their hopes up and then let them down, and they won't sleep tonight. Until it's certain, keep your mouths shut."
After that, Kim Hyunjo laid Neptune's strengths out for PD Go Joon-tae with real heat, like a veteran salesman. He was so good he was halfway to selling me, too. From where I stood, the PD looked about half sold himself.
"I'll have to talk it over with the writers, but I like them. The visuals are solid to begin with, and the kids seem like good kids. Mind you, the ones who got caught drunk driving looked perfectly fine from the outside too. Kids these days, I swear..."
"PD. This is W&U. Have you ever seen one of our artists cause a scandal over their private life?"
"Fair point. W&U's famous for running a tight ship."
A joke or two slipped into the talk, and the air loosened by degrees.
"Then, PD, how would you like to..."
"Rush or not, I can't decide on the spot. We have to meet internally. I need the department head and the bureau chief to sign off. It won't take long, though. The moment that drunk-driving story breaks, the reporters are going to start calling nonstop, so we don't have any slack either. We need an alternative before public opinion turns and the show's image goes with it."
"The show's chief producer is Department Head Choi Sung-ho, correct?"
"That's right. Sung-ho hyung."
"Our CEO was saying that if Department Head Choi has any time tonight, perhaps the two of them could meet in person for the first time in a while and talk..."
"Oh? They know each other privately?"
"He said they'd met a few times, back in the day."
"Then give me a second. If this moves fast, that's better for me too."
Still on the phone with the chief producer, PD Go Joon-tae flashed an OK.
And before anyone had quite caught up, a meeting between the two sides was hammered out at breakneck speed—from W&U, the CEO, the Management Division Head, and the leader of Management Team 3; from Knet, the chief producer overseeing Next K-Star and main PD Go Joon-tae.