Debut or Die

Chapter 198

A few days after Testar returned to Korea to prepare for the full-scale encore concert.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been to Seoul.”

Testar’s first manager, no, currently their only manager, headed to the company with a smile.

Handling the work that was originally handled by the two people alone was inconvenient, but it was somehow easy.

Because Testar wasn’t such a demanding group.

‘I feel like the kids have been aggressive these days, but maybe it’s because they got criticized a lot.’

Besides, most of the work was allocated to the newly hired tour staff, so the manager was having a good time than when he was in Korea.

Originally, it was his responsibility to check and manage the condition of each individual, but he gradually let them be.

It was because that work was voluntarily taken care of by the leader, a former athlete who was familiar with this kind of work.

– Chungwoo, is there anyone who says they’re sick?

– Yes. In particular, it seems only Moondae’s upper body massage schedule can be skipped out

In short, it was a bit of a negligence.

This kind of ridiculous leech-off didn’t make sense in this industry, but in the first place, people were bound to get used to their position.

‘I can hold out well while the kids are in their prime time here and then change jobs after I get a bit of career experience.’

These days, the company had been paying less attention to Testar because they were focusing on the newly launched female idol.

There also had been rumors that the female idols, who were usually more popular than male idols, suited the current director’s taste.

‘Looks like you’ve done it this time.’

The manager recalled Testar’s reactions a few days ago.

– Hyung, the fans don’t like it… Are there any other talks from the company?

– It’s definitely Magical Boy, it’s obvious even for us~

– Huh? Hey, don’t the same agencies usually use slight references like this? The fans will soon forget! It’s not like it only happened once or twice.

He had already received a statement from the company, saying, ‘If there’s any protest, just gloss it over’.

Naturally, it was easier to deal with Testar than to argue against the company.

And the manager was already convinced that it wouldn’t be too difficult.

‘As expected, the topic subsided~’

Well, this wasn’t going to ruin Testar, and it was obvious that those guys would continue to do well. There was no problem with the manager’s own career.

So, it was best to calm them down and not to do unnecessarily tiring work.

“Ah, I’m almost there~”

The visiting manager, who arrived at the company thinking about this and that, met an unexpected face in the parking lot.

“Hello!”

“Oh, yes~”

It was the second manager. No, now he had been transferred to be the manager of the junior group Mirinae.

Even though he thought this man was stupid, the manager continued the small talk.

“Who are you waiting for?”

“Ah, Mirinae is meeting with the division head right now. I’m waiting for them!”

“Oh~ Is that so? Which division head is it? Why are they meeting?”

“Uh, they said I shouldn’t tell other teams… Is that okay?”

His hesitation was very annoying.

Since ancient times, social life was all about wit!

‘You won’t last long, will you?’

It was frustrating, but he felt relieved to have sent the man away. He still missed having someone to do miscellaneous work, though.

‘I hope the next one is more obedient and quick-witted.’

The manager passed the time with coffee, thinking of the manpower that would be filled soon.

And after a formal report and a hearing in the company, he slowly returned to Testar’s dorm.

‘Brief the schedule properly and shout fighting in howdy style~’ This was the manager’s expectation today.

However, the moment he entered the dorm, he realized something strange.

“Oh, hyung, you’re here~”

“Welcome!”

There was a table of donuts and drinks in the dorm.

And a stranger was sitting at the table fiddling with his smartphone.

‘What?’

“Guys, who’s that…”

“Oh, hello, I am the new manager. I look forward to your kind cooperation.”

“…??”

The person sitting down then slowly got up and greeted the first manager casually.

‘What’s with this jerk?’

He’d never heard of a second manager. And what’s with his insincere attitude?

The first manager asked without hiding his doubts and irritation.

Isn’t this a situation where the new manager has to say something?

“I’ve never heard of a new manager, who are you? No, are you really a manager?”

“I start working next week, but my hyung asked me to say hello today. Haven’t you heard?”

“Hyung?”

Park Moondae stepped in with a faint smile.

“I heard that he’s the division head’s cousin.”

“…!!”

“Oh, you’re saying this because you don’t believe me.”

The man claiming to be the second manager held out his smartphone with a crooked attitude.

“Well, would you like to talk with him on the phone?”

A familiar name floated on the smartphone screen along with the nickname ‘Cousin’.

He was truly the management head’s cousin.

‘What’s going on here…?!’

The first manager was puzzled.

* * *

“Have a safe trip home~”

“Yes, see you next week.”

The second manager gave a proper farewell and soon left.

They said they would put in a guy who had been unemployed, but he didn’t seem to have much passion for work. It didn’t matter, though. I didn’t have expectations.

In the first place, the first manager also only did the basics.

‘The important thing is the thoughts of the management head.’

The gesture that people with only that name were starting to make ‘their own line’ in the company was important.

‘It’s working well.’

I shrugged and turned away from the front door.

“Hyung, would you like another donut?”

Just then, Kim Raebin held out a box of donuts from the table.

“No, I’m full. You eat it.”

“All right!”

Yeah. Eat a lot.

The guy who bought those donuts got in because of you anyway.

I recalled my schedule on the first day of entering the country.

It was the recording schedule for the encore concert’s new song.

The team members preferred to match the tune in advance before practice so it progressed quickly.

Of course, it was a position where we worked directly with the AR team.

– Hello~

– Please take good care of me.

After greeting the A&R team staff who had gotten used to it, we recorded the songs by each unit.

I spoke to Kim Raebin, who was waiting for the recording.

At a distance where the staff scattered around the recording booth could listen to us.

– Does it bother you a lot?

– Yes?

– That ‘Magical Boy’ came out in another group’s teaser.

– Ah…

Kim Raebin’s face turned dark at once.

– It can’t be helped if it’s a decision made by the company, but I think it would be nice if they asked for our understanding first.

– It’s a little unfair.

– Yes.

He knew well how to drive it forward. Kim Raebin nodded and his shoulders dropped sullenly.

‘Excellent.’

I took the implication of what Kim Raebin had said on our way back from meeting the hubae last time and took my chance once again.

– Honestly, you put a lot of your opinions into the arrangement and concept. Me too… We don’t know anything about it, but I think it would have been nice if they asked for your opinion.

– Oh, no! For the overall concept, Moondae hyung even decided on the image and symbol, so I think they should have consulted with you first…!

– Is that so? Thank you. But you made bigger efforts.

Let’s get a little more emotional here.

I murmured in a slightly gloomy tone.

-… Back then, we worked really hard. I barely had time to sleep.

– Yes… We worked hard…

Kim Raebin was now almost crying. It seemed he got immersed after remembering that time.

Good.

I purposely talked to the AR team nearby.

– Excuse me, I am sorry but do you have tissue here?

– Ah, here…!

As expected, having been listening, the staff had a very sad expression and quickly found a pack of tissue and handed it over.

I pulled out a tissue and held it out to Kim Raebin’s face so that they could feel sorry for him even more.

Of course, Kim Raebin, who wasn’t really crying, tried to answer honestly.

-…? I’m fine…

– Just use it.

I personally pressed it to his dry face. Kim Raebin’s head seemed to be full of question marks, but the effect was certain.

Over there, I could see the staff exchanging looks like ‘What should I do?’.

‘The AR team secretly likes Kim Raebin the most.’

They could communicate well, and he was a composer, so he interacted with them the most. Besides, he had a mild temperament, so I knew that they thought of him as the maknae of the team.

And that team was split up with a lot of the staff watching Testar struggle through their debut.

It meant that there must have been a lot of people who were baffled by the higher-up’s decision to copy the concept of our debut song without permission.

‘But no one is able to speak out.’

As a result of collecting people with real experienced careers, there was no one here who had a personal acquaintance or network with the superiors.

‘So next, I’ll encourage people with connections.’

So I contacted the management office.

First, I sent a message with a light gift.

– Hello, division head. During the recent tour, Testar received a lot of help from the management office, so as a thank you…

In fact, during the tour, I usually met people from the management office, so this rough excuse was fine.

If you send vitamin supplements according to the number of employees there, of course, the division head would send his gratitude.

Usually through a call.

– Ah, I received the vitamins well~ Thank you Moondae-ssi.

– The members discussed it together and sent it. Thanks to the people in the management office who took care of us, we safely carried out our schedule throughout this tour.

I threw the bait at this timing.

And this bait was based on a fairly plausible understanding of the current situation.

‘The management division fell out of favor with the current director from early on.’

The current director was not a fool. There was no way he didn’t know the decisive reason why he came here.

There was a major accident called an industrial spy case in the management office.

Since he had a connection with the head office, he had no problem maintaining the position of the division head of management, but his influence was a slightly different issue.

‘He’ll be a bit alienated from the front-line decision-making.’

Still, since the industry spy incident, it seemed he’d been working with a lot of tension. I didn’t know if he was watching out for his behavior, but he must be pissed off.

If you came in as a parachute and got to work, you must have rarely experienced being ignored in your life, so the current situation was bound to be more unbearable.

Let’s slowly aggravate him.

– Even when talked about the strange assistant manager back then, you listened to us seriously… Thank you. There were people from other companies who pretended not to know, as if it was not a big deal, so I wondered if I was being sensitive.

Let’s give him a lead so that he distorted and glorified the industry spy case on his own, saying, ‘I, the division head, was quick to deal with it because I recognized the issue, but I am being treated unfairly’.

– Thanks to the director, I’m relieved and I’m still active

– Haha! Don’t mention it!

Look at this. He ate it up without humility.

In addition, if the AR team spread public opinion to the general staff, such as ‘The director has gone too far this time’ and ‘It’s too much for Testar kids’, the division head could rationalize it more.

He would have a great delusion like, ‘The director who is bad at his job is keeping himself in check’.

I knew that if the condition grew well for a few days, it would serve as a driving force to hit the director at once.

‘Since he’s a parachute, he’s not scared of getting fired if things go wrong, so he’ll just do it with confidence and impulsiveness.’

And fortunately, it seemed I had properly filled the division head with delusion, and this morning, he put his cousin as Testar’s new manager…That was how things got to this point.

‘It’s going to be a mess.’

I lay on the sofa and watched Cha Eugene finish off all the remaining doughnuts.

“Stop eating! Are you a pig?”

“I’m a tiger!”

“Tigers are carnivores that don’t eat flour, but now you’re eating sugar and flour…”

Hmm, how peaceful.

‘The next one is going to explode soon.’

Of course, it could end in failure, so shouldn’t we lay several mines?

‘That hubae seems to be good at talking.’

I decided to wait peacefully for the next bomb.