# Chapter 8
“Hyung, I want to be a team manager for singers. Could I choose which singers I’ll be in charge of?”
“What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that? What are you talking about? You want to pick people among trainees who suit your taste? Even take members from teams about to debut? That would cause a lot of talk, idiot. Just because I’m the director doesn’t mean I can do anything I want. We have to look at this from a long-term perspective.”
He spoke while spitting as he misunderstood my words.
Originally, he hadn’t put that much effort into Grand Tamer’s business and said he spent most of his time at the other company he was in charge of.
But once I showed interest in this area, he was appearing much more frequently than I’d heard.
“I’m not planning to pick from the company trainees.”
“Then?”
“I want to recruit from outside.”
“Outside? You said you’ve never worked in this industry before, do you know people in this field?”
Though he seemed annoyed, he still continued to listen to me.
“No, that’s not it. Hyung, have you ever watched an audition program called ‘Tomorrow’s Perfect All-kill’?”
He looked at me once, then seemed to search for it on his laptop.
“What is this? In all my years, I’ve never seen such a doomed audition program.”
Then he furrowed his brows and scrolled the mouse intensely.
“What the… why are all their visuals like this? And what’s this prize money? It doesn’t seem like they even used the prize money properly. I need to investigate their family relationships right away. How did this happen? In my opinion, the final winners must be the PD’s blood relatives. Or the broadcast station director’s relatives. Maybe even children from his mistress.”
He said all sorts of things, but his face was quite serious.
“So you want to bring in kids from here? If they made it to the final winners, aren’t they debuting with that side? You’re not trying to start a fight, are you? Maybe you think this broadcast station is worth challenging based on what you’ve heard? You’re quite combative.”
Hyung could have just sat quietly and listened to my explanation, but he talked too much.
“No. The people I want to pick all got eliminated.”
“Eliminated? They went on this show and got eliminated? Then how do they look? The ones who appeared here already seem in a very strange state.”
“No, just take a look first.”
I stopped him and showed him some photos.
They were carefully captured images of the trainees I cherished, but Hyung’s expression looked complicated.
“Hmm… this is really ambiguous.”
“But they’ll be good if they’re trained well.”
I tried to manage my expression, but it seemed that my sincerity about those kids was already revealed in my voice.
‘Damn. My voice sounded too desperate.’
“How do you know these kids?”
“I got to know them watching the broadcast.”
“And they don’t know you?”
He asked with a dumbfounded face.
That’s actually the more natural and normal thing…
“That’s right…”
“Wow…”
He was silent for a while.
He seemed to be looking up information about the kids.
“Why do you like them?”
“I think they have potential for growth. Even if they don’t satisfy others’ eyes now, I believe they’ll shine someday.”
“That’s really vague… which episode do they appear in? Tell me when each one appears. I don’t want to watch this entire broadcast just to see them.”
“Oh!”
That wasn’t difficult at all.
I had rewatched the episodes featuring those guys so many times that I knew exactly which episode and minute they appeared in.
He seemed to find it really strange that I could find it so quickly.
“You’re like… a stalker.”
“They’re just younger siblings I’m cheering on to succeed.”
Hyung told me to go back for now, and from then on, I had to adapt to the new team.
My identity was kept secret, and the only person who knew about me in the company was Hyung.
Everyone treated me well.
Since it was my first time, I was assigned to help care for other singers, and I learned a lot by experiencing practical work during that time.
It seemed I would have to continue this work until my own singers were determined, but I had no complaints.
I actively participated even in tasks that weren’t mine and learned diligently by observing, thinking that I should learn more here to reduce mistakes when I got my own team later.
Hyung called me again three days later.
“Have a seat.”
He spoke and sat down across from me first.
I waited for him with an anxious expression, like a student waiting for grades.
“…”
“Han Sijin seems fine. But Lee Dagyeong and Seo Irun overlap. I don’t think we need to select both of them. Cha Yeonwoo isn’t specifically needed. He has his own distinct qualities, but the advantages Cha Yeonwoo has aren’t necessary for the team we want to create. That means he won’t have a presence. Jeong Chan seems like he could be used reasonably well as a sub-vocalist.”
I was grateful that he didn’t ignore what I said and analyzed it, but the results weren’t good.
“Choose only one between Lee Dagyeong and Seo Irun. I’m leaning toward Seo Irun, but the final decision is yours. Leave out Cha Yeonwoo, and it would be good to contact Jeong Chan. Let’s accept them as trainees in our company and put them in the debut group. If they want to debut, we can put them in the team that’s preparing to debut now.”
“Wait, Hyung.”
“No, listen to what else I have to say.”
Then he brought up a screen.
A team from Grand Tamer that was quite earnestly preparing for debut appeared.
“These two are weak here. I’m thinking of removing these two and adding the kids you mentioned. That means removing two and adding three. The formation will change, and the choreography will have to be adjusted, but the plan you brought doesn’t seem bad. What’s important is making an impact, not just debuting. It’s about creating a group that will succeed in the market, even if we have to delay the debut a bit.”
He seemed quite confident.
When I thought about combining the members Hyung mentioned with the members I suggested, the picture seemed to fit together somewhat.
“…”
Anyway, I hadn’t contacted those kids in advance, so the ones who would be removed from here wouldn’t feel particularly impacted.
‘What should I do?’
Various thoughts went through my head.
‘Then shall we try it that way for now?’
Thinking it would be difficult to fulfill 100% of what I wanted, I leaned toward a compromise.
“Okay, I understand.”
“Good. Will you contact them? Or…”
“I’ll meet them myself.”
We could send experts from our side to scout them, but I wanted to meet them directly if possible.
It was to prevent them from making decisions too easily and to explain in detail about the risk they would have to bear if things went wrong.
Hyung nodded as if he didn’t mind.
“You won’t be assigned to other tasks until you finish scouting. Do it properly. That’s a skill too. And make sure Han Sijin joins. That kid seems to have potential. He has a problem with speaking carelessly, but that seems like something that can be taught.”
Hyung told me as I was about to leave the room.
Since I also wanted to meet Han Sijin before the others, I nodded without hesitation.
Thanks to Grand Tamer’s intervention, I was able to get Han Sijin’s contact information.
Until now, all I could do was watch Han Sijin on the monitor, but the fact that I could now meet him directly made me excited.
‘He must be feeling bad after being eliminated, am I unnecessarily touching a wound?’
I had such thoughts too.
But I gathered courage thinking that if Grand Tamer reached out to him, he might get a better opportunity than winning on “Tomorrow’s Perfect All-kill.”
* * *
I met Han Sijin at the café where he worked.
It was a café run by Han Sijin’s mother, and he worked there part-time from afternoon until evening.
I considered contacting him before going to the café, but wanting to see his usual self, I decided to visit first without contacting him.
I already knew he was extremely handsome, but seeing him in person, I found it hard to control my pounding heart.
Before ordering, I first sat down and observed him.
His face was so remarkable that even when he wasn’t doing anything special and just had an ordinary expression, he seemed to light up the surroundings.
Tall height, broad shoulders, a firm physique naturally revealed even though he was casually wearing an ordinary shirt.
True to being a participant who crushed trainees flocking to become idols with his appearance, he naturally captured the attention of those around him.
In between work, when he looked around to see how many people were waiting, his expressionless face even looked cold.
I became curious about how many different expressions his face could make.
And I developed a greed to know all the expressions that would form on Han Sijin’s face.
The Mouth of Terror was shining even there.
“Isn’t that kid the one who appeared on TV?”
“He’s the one who appeared on ‘Tomorrow’s Idol’ or ‘Crazy Idol’ or whatever.”
“Right? Isn’t he? I thought he’d be eliminated from the beginning, and he was eliminated right away.”
“That’s not right. He must have passed the 1st round.”
“So what if he passed the 1st round in a place where only real trash appeared?”
A few people sat in a spot almost directly visible from where Han Sijin was working, speaking mockingly.
Then Han Sijin, who had been making drinks for other customers, sighed softly and came out.
Even then, they didn’t stop making noise.
They seemed to think there was nothing Han Sijin could do even if he came over.
But Han Sijin, who approached right up to their faces, grabbed the collar of the man who had been calling people trash and lifted him up.
