# Chapter 12
“When scouting trainees, things like this are important. Since they’re in their early twenties, it’s better to go with luxury brands they recognize. Casually check your watch from time to time. Wear a short-sleeved shirt underneath and take off your outer layer to drape it. Don’t call it being materialistic. This is strategy too. If they think, ‘Oh, this guy seems to have some money,’ wouldn’t they want to listen to what you have to say more intently?”
“I don’t think I would.”
“That’s because you’ve never worked in society.”
Then he looked at his wrist, sighed softly, and unfastened his watch to hand it to me.
“But if you wear the same thing every day, that’s not good either, so alternate between these two. These brands will impress the kids.”
“Do kids even know about these things?”
“The ones obsessed with watches do. And there are a lot of them. You’re the strange one for not knowing this stuff.”
It was only later when I heard from my noona that the watches he’d given me were worth over a billion won.
He was an interesting person, anyway.
* * *
Han Sijin contacted me that night.
I had been tossing and turning for a while, unable to fall asleep.
He messaged asking if I was available to talk.
Since it was a time when even close acquaintances wouldn’t contact each other unless it was extremely urgent, I was startled and called him immediately.
“Hello?”
—Hyung. Are you still awake?
His voice was heavy with tension.
Hearing that voice made me tense up too, wondering what had happened.
“What’s wrong, Sijin-ssi? Did something happen?”
—Well, hyung… I’m really sorry.
“Sorry? Why? What is it?”
—Well, I… I accidentally uploaded the wrong photo on SNS. I really didn’t mean to. After posting about receiving a scout offer from Grand Tamer, I selected some photos I’d taken before, and somehow, your photo got uploaded. I deleted it as soon as I noticed during my check, but by then it had already spread. I’ve asked people to delete it, but the photo is still out there.
“W-what are you talking about?”
—The photo we took together, hyung. At the café.
I asked him to give me the address of the site where my photo had been shared.
Sijin apologized once more, then hung up and sent me a URL.
Before I could even check it, he sent another address.
[This is my ×star. I’m so sorry, hyung. Really sorry. ㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
I checked his ×star first.
[Hey everyone~ I got scouted. By Grand Tamer. Met with a manager today.]
Han Sijin had immediately posted about his situation after parting ways with me.
He was trying to act cool, but his excitement was completely evident in that single line.
Indeed, my photo wasn’t on his ×star.
It seemed true that he had deleted it right after discovering it.
When I went to the problematic URL, I found my photo there.
On a speculative post asking if this person was a Grand Tamer manager, the comments had exceeded 50.
[No, it looks like he uploaded it by mistake. Why are you sharing it?]
└ lol. But who is this person? First time seeing someone who visually overpowers Han Sijin standing next to Han Sijin. If this person is really a manager, I’m showing up at Grand Tamer tomorrow.
└Not quite overpowering, just slightly more handsome?
└It’s a matter of taste, Han Sijin is handsome too. But I agree he doesn’t lose to Han Sijin.
To make matters worse, someone who knew me appeared and confirmed that I was a new manager at Grand Tamer, causing the post to blow up.
└But if Han Sijin uploaded it by mistake and asked for it to be deleted, isn’t posting the photo without even blurring it an invasion of privacy?
Finally someone with common sense appeared, and the poster belatedly applied a mosaic to my face.
But the photo was already sailing around the globe on a cruise ship.
The incident brought subtle ripples.
“Oh…! It’s Grand Tamer!!”
Someone shouted when they saw me passing by.
Not many people recognized me, but it wasn’t very few either.
Not as rare as beans during a drought, but like beans during average rainfall?
Because of that incident, I unintentionally became the center of attention.
Damn it.
After that happened, Han Sijin called me again, saying he was truly sorry and wanted to meet to apologize in person.
I told him I’d contact him later, but didn’t.
I was afraid that if I saw his face right away, I might say something harsh and make an irreversible mistake, but during that time, Han Sijin must have been sweating bullets.
Still, I couldn’t help it.
If I had said what I was likely to say, I would certainly never see Han Sijin again.
That’s how angry I was.
The guy had sent countless messages explaining his feelings and tearful emoticons.
Since it wasn’t intentional and was his mistake, my anger subsided after some time.
However, I also calculated that I needed to use this opportunity to make him be more careful, so I dragged it out as long as possible before finally accepting his apology.
[From now on, a lot of people will be interested in what Sijin-ssi says. This kind of mistake can’t happen again. I’ll trust you this one last time. They say people don’t change easily, but I hope that doesn’t apply to Sijin-ssi.]
[Hyung. I really will change. I was so shocked when I saw that I uploaded the wrong photo. I’m sorry for disappointing you. And I’m sorry for causing you trouble. But… I’m still getting the contract, right? You becoming my manager hasn’t changed yet, has it?]
[A contract isn’t something that can be flipped so easily, so don’t worry about that. If necessary, I’ll ask someone else to help ensure this matter concludes well.]
[No way. If you’re not taking care of me, I won’t debut. It’s not like I’ll die from a disease if I don’t debut, so why would I? Instead, it might be better for my life to look for something else to do from now on.]
[I understand. For now, I need to meet with other people, so it’s difficult to make time right away.]
[Hyung. Is that really why? You’re not angry with me, are you? No, I understand if you’re angry, but I’d be really grateful if you could forgive me just this once. I’m truly sorry for disappointing you, hyung.]
[Okay. But this can’t happen again.]
[Of course. I absolutely won’t do it again.]
After that day, I was afraid to check the internet.
My photo was circulating everywhere, and there were malicious comments.
There were ridiculous remarks like saying my face was so aggravating that looking at my photo made them excited.
Whenever I saw such things, I tried to focus on my work and not pay attention, but I worried that my mother might see those posts.
So I was thinking about telling her not to use the internet for a while, but when I went back to check those posts again, they had all mysteriously disappeared.
All my photos had been taken down, and no matter what search terms I used, I couldn’t find anything.
‘What’s going on? Did they realize this could cause problems? That’s a relief though.’
It was the moment I realized that I was no longer an ordinary person but had become a member of the Seyoung family.
It was much later that I learned that Seyoung Group’s corporate legal team had been mobilized for this matter.
Anyway, since I no longer needed to worry about that issue, I went back to meeting trainees.
During that time, hyung changed his mind and told me to meet all the members I had been considering. And if those kids seemed capable of forming a team and accomplishing something, instead of putting them in another debut group, we would make them into their own team.
‘Guys, let’s really do well this time. Let’s think of this as our last chance and really do our best.’
I dedicated myself to this, thinking it was the final opportunity for both them and me.
* * *
I met Lee Dagyeong at a place where dancers often gathered, and he kept watching while others danced.
While upbeat music with a fast beat played, Lee Dagyeong stood with his arms crossed, carefully observing their movements.
Thanks to this, I could also observe him freely.
Lee Dagyeong had distinct features with delicate lines.
This made it seem like masculine charm and boyish appearance coexisted, and he seemed capable of creating an atmosphere that triggered protective instincts.
With multiple charm points in one face, it looked like he could have a wide range of uses on stage.
Others were caught up in the atmosphere, shrugging their shoulders or grooving along, but Lee Dagyeong studied people’s movements intently like he was studying alone.
Sometimes he would nod, making an expression as if he had gained some personal insight.
He looked genuinely serious and stood out among the many people there.
Numerous people came to the center to dance, but Lee Dagyeong kept his position.
Even when several people chanted his name, trying to draw him out, he just smiled and shook his head.
People seemed to respect Lee Dagyeong and appeared to appreciate him watching their dancing intently.
Later, he even squatted down to watch the dancing, and even as people began to leave one by one, he maintained his position.
Then, looking at his watch as if he suddenly had somewhere to go, he said goodbye to the people around him and ran off.
