# Chapter 20
There were people unrelated to ‘Crop Five’ at the meeting.
Since Grand Tamer hadn’t had such a project before, I wondered if everyone had decided to go all-in on this one.
“The Crop Five team needs to debut eventually, so they should start showing some idol-like qualities soon. How are you preparing for that aspect?”
Looking closely, it seemed that the department head had developed a sense of crisis about me preparing this directly with the CEO all this time.
Until now, he hadn’t made much of an issue since there was no guarantee the program would succeed and not much likelihood either, but now after seeing the results, he seemed to have suddenly woken up.
I hesitantly opened my mouth.
“The members have been preparing diligently…”
“No. That’s not the kind of fundamental talk I want to hear. Working hard isn’t enough. This is the real world. Are you giving a speech for a high school closing ceremony?”
“I said that because they’ve been preparing diligently…”
I didn’t mean to argue, but when he suddenly objected, I blurted that out without thinking.
The department head sighed and nodded.
“Fine, I understand. So what are you going to show now? Since they’re an idol debut group, the stage preparation is definitely ready, right?”
“Definitely might be stretching it…”
“What do you mean? They’re idols. An idol debut group. If you’re saying they’ve just been shopping at luxury department stores while not being able to sing or dance, what will people think? Stop everything else right now and make them practice intensively!”
“…”
That was different from the concept of ‘Crop Five.’
I mean, it was different from the concept of the program <Crop Five>.
Flex is our lifeblood.
We need to show the flex that other teams and other shows can’t show.
While diving deep into each member’s story, making people deeply support each individual member, and then showing their vocals, dance, and stage…
It’s not like we weren’t going to practice in the meantime.
It’s just that we couldn’t suddenly change our pace according to his demands.
But it seemed that ‘Crop Five’ gaining people’s interest early on had made the department head impatient.
“They’re idols. A boy group. Do you know why people want to watch boy groups? Wake up.”
The department head emphasized each word.
We had our own plans, and moreover, hyung is the CEO.
So the department head shouldn’t be able to suddenly change our plans, but that rule didn’t apply in his relationship with me.
“Don’t try anything different, let’s go with the safe route from now on. You know those things that other programs have been rehashing like they’re making bone broth. Why copy all of that? They do it because it works and people like it. Safe is good. It’s not easy to hit it big like this. Let’s make this successful. Seomin. This is an important moment for both you and us. A turning point.”
The “us” he was referring to wasn’t Crop Five.
It strictly meant the employees who belonged to Grand Tamer.
But I didn’t care what point this was for that “us.”
What’s at stake for “us” might be favorable conditions in salary negotiations or a representative program to showcase when changing jobs.
But for the members, their entire lives were at stake.
We couldn’t decide that based on the power dynamics on a desk.
“Where are the kids? What are they doing? They’re at the dorm now, right? Call them.”
“Department head, sir.”
“What are you doing? Not calling them quickly?”
“…”
“Can’t you hear me?”
He seemed perplexed that I wasn’t moving immediately after he spoke, expecting me to act right away.
“The kids have all been practicing all day today. They’ve been doing dance practice in the practice room for over thirteen hours.”
“So?”
“…Pardon?”
“So what? I told you to call the kids now. You must have heard what I said. Do you not understand why you’re here? Or have you already gotten a big head because the ratings look promising?”
“…”
I had often heard that such incidents were common.
I’d also heard that it was the same in any field.
But since I had never experienced it directly until now, I hadn’t fully realized it.
As the department head’s voice grew louder, others’ voices became quieter.
Not even the sound of small breaths could be heard, and the department head poured out verbal abuse in an increasingly loud and arrogant manner.
“Hey, Kang Seomin. Can’t you hear what I’m saying? Look at this guy? Do you think you’re something special because you’ve been hanging around with the CEO?”
I was willing to endure as much as needed as part of corporate life, but the department head wasn’t just doing this to me.
I thought that if anyone could speak up here, it was me.
If talented people quit because they couldn’t endure the department head’s behavior, that would be a loss for the company.
I turned it over in my mind many times, but in the end, there was only one answer.
If this was just about my pride, it would be a hundred times better for me to endure, but no matter how I looked at it, that wasn’t the case.
Besides, he wanted to revert everything we had planned and agonized over, and would hyung let that slide once he found out?
But I didn’t want to make the kids work themselves to the bone in the meantime.
I didn’t budge at his words, and instead glared at him.
“You… what are you doing? Are you really insane?”
He spoke as if dumbfounded, and the various team leaders around him were making awkward expressions.
They seemed to think it would be difficult to defend me if I acted this way here.
And it also seemed like they might have hostility or feelings of inferiority toward me rather than goodwill, because I had achieved something impressive from the beginning.
“This is a decision made by the CEO. And the kids are taking much-needed rest right now. They would come out if told to, but that would disrupt the upcoming schedule. Those kids practice with a completely different intensity than others. They don’t take breaks in between or gauge the atmosphere; they stay focused almost the entire time they practice. I’m saying they practice to the point where it wouldn’t be surprising if some collapsed right now.”
“This bastard really talks a lot. Hey, you. Do you think being a manager makes you something special? When someone above tells you to peel it, you just peel it. Why do you have so much to say? Do you think I’m trying to ruin this program? I’m trying to make it successful!”
“You say that, but aren’t you pushing it in a strange direction?”
The atmosphere was getting worse.
It seemed like we would continue in parallel paths, only making feelings more bitter.
In the end, I started coughing there, thinking we should try something, whether it worked or not.
“W-why suddenly? Kang Seomin-ssi?”
As I started coughing severely, people sitting next to me asked in surprise.
“I’ll just go out for a moment…”
I deliberately didn’t say “I’ll be right back” and ran outside, and no one followed me.
Hoping I looked like someone with tuberculosis, I quickly took out my smartphone and sent a message to hyung.
[Hyung. Can you come to the company?]
I summarized the situation in about two lines and sent it, and hyung replied immediately.
[In front of the company.]
Thinking that things were falling into place as they should, I went back inside, and the department head seemed to have gotten even angrier in the meantime, shouting loudly.
“From the beginning. I didn’t like you reporting directly to the CEO and receiving direct instructions from him, but you’re really climbing up, aren’t you? Can’t you see anything?!”
Feeling like he would find fault with anything I said, I kept my mouth shut, and he got even angrier about that.
But it wasn’t hard to guess that if I had answered, he would have gotten angrier about that too.
His temper seemed to spread to the others in the room.
And they seemed to be expressing their emotions toward me instead of the department head, whom they couldn’t get angry at.
Discontent built up in the stares directed at me.
“Why don’t you say more with that precious mouth of yours? Why are you suddenly keeping quiet? Did you suddenly forget how to speak?”
As I was enduring without saying anything to the department head’s taunts, signals came to me from here and there.
The team leaders who had been relatively close to me were signaling with their eyes for me to apologize quickly.
Still, as I was holding out, the department head’s anger finally seemed to explode as he picked up a file binder next to him and threw it, and at that perfect timing, the door opened.
“C-CEO…!”
Someone said that and stood up first, and the department head’s expression soured.
His face seemed to say, “Why is the CEO coming from there?”
Hyung must have hurried after receiving my message, as his shoulders were slightly raised.
He even had sweat on his forehead, making me think he might have run up the stairs instead of taking the elevator.
He looked around and seemed to have immediately assessed the situation.
His gaze, scanning the people, landed on me.
After a moment, as if confirming that I hadn’t suffered any significant damage, he then looked at the department head.
However, he didn’t speak directly to the department head right away and looked down at the file binder that the department head had clearly thrown.
The department head couldn’t say anything and stared at hyung, stammering.
“What are you doing.”
Breaking the brief, uncomfortable silence, hyung spoke.
He asked what they were “doing.”
The department head must have felt offended, but it wasn’t a situation where he could talk back.
Even if this had been routine for him, it would take some effort to explain himself.
