# Chapter 14
Seo Irun turned his head toward me.
Wow…
I thought I’d become immune to seeing beautiful people after meeting so many celebrities at Grand Tamer, but maybe because he was a participant I’d cherished, it felt like an arrow pierced straight through my heart.
Sleek black hair flowed down over his smooth forehead, and underneath, large eyes without double eyelids sparkled.
With his high nose bridge and thin, elegantly curved lips, he was the perfect cold beauty personified.
‘If I can achieve this much, my life is truly successful. Meeting and spending time with all the people I liked.’
However, his gaze toward me became quite cold, and then he turned away completely.
‘…’
This reaction was so new that I stood there blankly for a moment.
“Hey. That person seems to be waiting for you, so why don’t you at least say something?”
Someone beside me said this, as if they felt sorry for me, but Seo Irun pretended not to hear and turned to leave.
It seemed like he had initially planned to come toward me but changed direction because of me.
Several people followed Seo Irun, and one of the female students hesitated while looking at me before approaching.
“I’ve seen you on the internet, and if you’re from an entertainment company, would you give me your business card? Irun seems to be trying not to pay attention to other matters right now, but his mind could change. Please understand why Irun is acting this way. His mother collapsed recently. She’s been working alone to support Irun all this time, and her health has deteriorated significantly. When he saw that, he seems to have realized he’s been too selfish. So please don’t give up on him yet.”
“Of course he’d have complicated feelings with something like that happening. Please tell him that it doesn’t matter how long it takes, and to contact me if he changes his mind. And thank you for coming over to tell me this.”
“I’m a fan.”
She said, her face turning red.
“…What?”
“I said I’m a fan.”
“My fan?”
“Yes.”
To think I have a fan now.
Still, it wasn’t unpleasant to hear that there was someone who liked me.
After giving her my business card, I went to find Cha Yeonwoo and Jeong Chan.
This time, instead of showing up unannounced, I called ahead to talk to them first, and no one was angry that I knew their contact information.
Grand Tamer hadn’t produced any notable results until now.
And because of that, recruiting new people wasn’t easy, but as I began going around recruiting people, hyung provided full support from behind.
As articles were published about Grand Tamer making aggressive investments going forward, even people who weren’t familiar with Grand Tamer became accustomed to the name.
That seemed to be one reason why Cha Yeonwoo and Jeong Chan readily accepted my proposal.
Since the two lived not far from each other and frequently met even after “Tomorrow’s Perfect All-kill” ended, I arranged to meet them together. When I arrived at the café where we were supposed to meet, they were waiting for me together.
I couldn’t suppress the smile that naturally came when seeing their familiar faces, and they also smiled brightly as I approached.
“Wow. It felt like a dream even after receiving your call, but I can’t believe we’re actually meeting like this.”
Cha Yeonwoo spoke first, and Jeong Chan nodded with a smile.
Cha Yeonwoo was the tallest among the members, and there was a big difference in his image when he had an expression versus when he was expressionless.
He looked cold when expressionless, but it seemed like he was almost always smiling, and whenever he did, his eyes would narrow, giving him a kind appearance.
That might be why he looked even colder when expressionless, but I got the feeling we could expect various changes from him, similar to when I saw Lee Dagyeong.
Jeong Chan had large eyes that looked like they might have double eyelids, and his lips were notably red against his white skin.
Even without makeup.
Occasionally, when he was tired, he would puff up his cheeks, and because he looked like a very serious hamster when doing so, fans called him “Serious Ham.”
I shook hands with them and sat down.
Then Jeong Chan’s eyes widened, apparently noticing my watch.
“Wow!! Isn’t that an extremely expensive watch? I heard one costs over 100 million won. My brother got married recently and looked at watches for wedding gifts, so I’ve seen many watches. We couldn’t even dream of something like this and were just shocked at the price. I wondered what kind of people wear such things, but you’re really something!”
As Jeong Chan spoke, Cha Yeonwoo’s eyes also widened.
Although they were friends, their vibe was so subtly similar that you might believe they were brothers.
They gave the impression of wealthy young masters overflowing with composure, unhurried, and refined manners. Even the way their eyes folded in half when they smiled looked alike.
“By the way, how about reconsidering your contract with Yeonwoo? It would be perfect if Yeonwoo was out.”
When Jeong Chan jokingly said this, Cha Yeonwoo laughed heartily and used a snap to smack the back of Jeong Chan’s head.
“Chan is good at sports. If he goes to an idol athletic competition, Chan would probably sweep everything. There was something like that during ‘Tomorrow’s Perfect All-kill’ too, but it got completely edited out, maybe because the popular trainees weren’t good at sports. If it had aired as is, Chan would have gained quite a few fans.”
“That’s right. Want me to show you my abs?”
As Jeong Chan naturally picked up on Cha Yeonwoo’s words and started to get up, Cha Yeonwoo grabbed his wrist and made him sit back down.
“Hey. Just stay put. Maybe with others, but not in front of this person. Who do you think you are?”
“Ah. You’re right.”
With these two people who knew each other well, I thought the atmosphere wouldn’t be awkward and things could go well, so I felt their combination would be very good.
After finishing our conversation, I asked if they could start living in the dorm right away, and they answered vigorously almost simultaneously.
“Yes!”
“Of course!”
The die has been cast.
* * *
After I succeeded in recruiting Cha Yeonwoo and Jeong Chan, hyung told me to do whatever I wanted from now on and asked what I’d like to try.
“Oh, by the way, noona suggested making content about the kids’ debut process. Since we have Seyoung Media Label, we don’t need to worry about a channel, and the kids can receive some money as appearance fees while they’re on the show, so it will be less burdensome while preparing for their activities. Don’t worry about sponsorships. If I tell my lackeys to sponsor, they’ll send everything.”
The lackeys hyung was talking about would probably think of hyung as their lackey.
I smiled to myself, thinking of the third-generation chaebol heirs in hyung’s group chat.
I wondered if they had succeeded in their diet.
“That sounds good. It would be tough if it takes too long to receive settlements.”
“Right? She also suggested that initially they could go to department stores to buy clothes and show the styling process. What do you think?”
“That’s great. They’ll need a lot of practice, but letting them enjoy in advance what they’ll enjoy in the future will also be motivating.”
“Right. Then let’s do that. In this respect, we can definitely deploy a differentiation strategy. We might be able to create visuals that other places can’t show.”
It seemed like hyung was definitely planning to use his lackeys.
* * *
The group name hadn’t been decided yet, but they were coming up with various opinions about the group name among themselves every day.
When I first took them to the dorm, they were delighted, saying it was much better than where they lived, and that they were probably the only trainees staying in such a nice dorm.
I thought so too.
For the time being, I was sparing no investment with the mindset of making up for our shortcomings with money.
There was never any contact from Seo Irun, and the four trainees plus me as the manager each had a room.
If Seo Irun had been there, he would have been the oldest at twenty-two, and the other three were all twenty-one with Lee Dagyeong being the youngest at twenty.
So now without Seo Irun, everyone except Lee Dagyeong was the same age, but Lee Dagyeong was a very independent kid who didn’t particularly like being treated as the younger one.
I told them to live freely at first and take time to adjust to each other.
But they said adjustment only takes an hour, and everyone followed the trainers around the company practice room, learning by asking questions they’d been curious about.
Perhaps because they had the desperation of potentially having to give up this path forever, they were truly passionate.
The trainers didn’t push away trainees who came asking about things they didn’t know.
Given the situation, it wasn’t difficult to find them.
If I looked for the vocal trainer or the choreography team leader, they would invariably be there, sticking close and looking on with bright eyes.
I took them to a small conference room and told them what hyung had said, and the trainees’ expressions all changed at once.
“Wow! That’s amazing! It’s really great. If that happens… Ah! Then maybe Irun hyung would think it’s okay too. How about trying to talk to Irun hyung once more?”
I nodded at Jeong Chan’s words.
I thought economic reasons might be a big part of why Seo Irun wouldn’t meet with me or even try to talk.
“If only the manager goes, it might be hard to give credibility, so maybe it would be better if the director or someone like that went.”
When Han Sijin said this, the trainees all glared at him with unanimous criticism in their eyes.
