# Chapter 21
“I asked what you think you’re doing. Is Manager Han always like this? I asked if he always acts this way toward people during meetings when he’s displeased. Come with me right now. Everyone else may return to your seats.”
Hyung made no attempt to hide his anger as he spoke to Manager Han.
Manager Han couldn’t offer a single word in his defense and just hung his head.
No matter how justified his words might have been, throwing a file folder at someone was inexcusable.
The timing of this incident was fortunate for me.
After the CEO and Manager Han left together, Team Leader Hyun Sangwoo, who always looked after me, approached.
“Seomin. Let’s go get a coffee.”
I wondered why we needed coffee at this hour, but I realized it was just his roundabout way of saying he wanted to talk, so I followed him.
Team Leader Hyun stared at me thoughtfully.
“Kang Seomin. You did well. You did well, but in the professional world, doing well isn’t always entirely beneficial. When someone does well, they should naturally be praised and congratulated. But some people want success to come through them, and if that’s not possible, they’d rather it not happen at all. That’s true even within the same company.”
The team leader spoke with a regretful expression.
“Yes, Team Leader.”
“These are things you’d normally learn through experience over time, but you blew things up without having that time, so I’m telling you this directly.”
He smiled kindly as he spoke.
Mid-thirties.
The head of a household, a father to a child, and a husband to a woman.
He had persevered stubbornly in this place where employee turnover was high, and he was well-regarded within the company.
He was respected by his superiors, but he was especially well-regarded among his subordinates.
“Don’t feel intimidated. Keep going strong. This kind of thing will happen often from now on. At first, people might not have cared, but once ‘Crop Five’ takes off, there will be people trying to claim credit everywhere. Many will volunteer unnecessary help just so they can say they contributed something. Work might get even more difficult than it is now. You started it, but at some point, you might find yourself excluded.”
“…What?”
I hadn’t considered this at all, so I looked at him, and Team Leader Hyun just smiled.
I thought it sounded like he was speaking from experience, and he continued.
It was indeed from experience.
“It would have been better if things had ended well at least. If that was going to happen, they should have just let me handle it from the start.”
He explained that a team whose achievements had been snatched away by others was gradually ignored by people and eventually disbanded without a trace, disappearing from the entertainment industry.
One of them frequently contacted and met with Team Leader Hyun, asking for advice. He felt that he hadn’t guided them well enough, and that had stayed with him for a long time.
“That kid, he was really desperate. He really desperately wanted… People’s greed is like that. But to survive in a company, you sometimes have to turn a blind eye to certain things. It’s difficult.”
“Yes…”
“You don’t want to give up, right? ‘Crop Five,’ I mean. Both the team and the program.”
“No…”
“But right now, there’s nothing you can do. If you don’t want to quit your job, you need to know when to bow your head. Otherwise, you’ll get hurt. You might think you can just quit here and go somewhere else, but that’s not easy either. This industry is small.”
“Yes.”
“Good. You worked hard. You should be getting congratulated, but here I am saying these things instead. I’m sorry.”
“Not at all, Team Leader. These were words I needed to hear.”
“This kid.”
Team Leader Hyun smiled contentedly and patted my shoulder a few times.
I left the company and headed back to the dorm, but there was still no contact from Hyung.
In the meantime, I received so many messages from the members that it was almost annoying.
Those guys probably wouldn’t be sleeping tonight, as related posts kept appearing online, and they seemed absorbed in reading them.
When I was almost at the dorm, I got a message from Hyung.
It was a brief question asking where I was.
When I told him I had arrived at the dorm, he said he wanted to congratulate me and talk about next steps, so he’d come pick me up.
I left a message for the members saying I’d be a bit late and waited for Hyung.
Not long after waiting in the parking lot, Hyung’s car pulled in.
He was driving himself, leaving his assistant behind, and it wasn’t even the car he usually drove.
It was one of his several cars that he treasured and only drove on very special occasions.
“Where were you headed?”
“Going to meet my minions. When meeting those guys, I have to drive something like this. They’re just airheads who won’t give me the time of day unless I show up in this.”
“Ah, so you’re driving this to get their attention?”
“…”
Hyung pressed his lips together as if he was annoyed.
But after a short while, he started talking again.
“I’m going to deal with Manager Han’s issue decisively. He’s breaking the morale of the people working hard on the front lines. The operation can continue without managers, but when the field workers stop, everything stops. It would be a problem if allegations of power abuse surfaced later too. Anyway, you did well.”
I relayed exactly what Team Leader Hyun had told me, and he nodded.
“Right. That’s probably true. But don’t worry. You’ll be able to develop ‘Crop Five’ all the way to the end. For better or worse. They’re your singers, so do your best.”
“Yeah. But why am I coming along to meet your friends?”
“We need sponsorships. Try to do some good sales work. They said they’d decide after seeing the broadcast response, but this score is definitely passing.”
“We already have sponsorships.”
“We need to level up from that.”
I thought I should really do well if that was the case and felt my resolve burning.
“I should have changed clothes before coming out. I look too shabby.”
“Do you need to impress those guys? This is fine, what are you talking about?”
“You changed your car to impress them, Hyung.”
“What are you talking about? You think I did that to impress those guys? I did it to intimidate them.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
There was a time when I thought I had figured Hyung out to some extent, but each time, he would show an unexpected side of himself.
“Anyway, you did well. I wasn’t expecting much from the first episode’s ratings, but we’re predicting it’ll exceed 3%. The second episode will likely be much higher. We’re already getting calls from everywhere.”
“From Seyoung Media too?”
“Yeah.”
Hyung grinned.
Since his grandfather’s confidant was at the helm there, both his uncle and Hyung seemed to have a special competitive spirit toward Seyoung Media, so I felt good that I had shown them something impressive this time.
“Kid. I didn’t expect much, but you’re quite good. I thought you would just require a lot of effort without being able to do anything, but…”
Hyung glanced at me once and muttered as if talking to himself.
“I think you would have been good to me anyway.”
“What? Are you crazy?”
He seemed quite uncomfortable with such remarks and lightly rubbed his arm with his hand.
The shirt with sleeves rolled up, the arm revealed underneath.
A thick chain bracelet that looked casually matched.
I glanced at Hyung’s impeccable styling, unable to find a single flaw.
Observing Hyung helped me a lot when styling our guys.
Since I lacked an eye for that sort of thing, I was trying to learn by watching him.
“What? You want it?”
Hyung thought I was eyeing his bracelet and asked.
“This is one I’ve been wearing, so I’ll buy you a new one. Do you like accessories too? This has matching rings and necklaces—should I buy those for you too? I only bought the bracelet. I find rings cumbersome and uncomfortable. But rings would suit you since you have pretty fingers. It’s expensive as a set, though. The bracelet alone was about 87 million won.”
He went into detail even though I hadn’t asked for it.
“I wasn’t looking because I wanted it. I don’t like accessories. Especially not that kind.”
“What do you mean ‘that kind’? This isn’t something to be treated as wholesale merchandise.”
“No, it’s just that when you wear something like that while boiling ramen, it gets really hot when the steam rises.”
“…”
Hyung looked into empty space as if at a loss for words, then shook his head.
“That’s common folk living. Ah! Come to think of it, your name is Seomin…?”
He probably didn’t learn my name for the first time just then, but he seemed to have remembered the meaning associated with ‘seomin’ (common people).
“Your father is strange too. Why did he give you that name? Your father named you, right?”
“My mom did.”
“Ah, I see. I should visit your mother sometime. Tell her I’m sorry I haven’t been able to visit and that I’ll come see her soon.”
“Yeah. She’s expecting that. And Mom says you don’t have to come visit. She knows you and Noona are taking good care of me. She’s really grateful for that.”
Hyung snickered.
Was it because I mentioned him?
I was curious about the kind of places where people like Hyung would gather, but our car entered a quiet residential area.
“There’s this guy Lee Wonrae, a vice president at YK Trading. He goes abroad occasionally looking for items, and everyone gathers to buy the goods he brings back, like a peddler. Remember what I wore at our house before? The mint green knit? I bought that because Wonrae forced it on me.”
Hyung’s explanation continued quietly.
