Debut or Die - Chapter 199

The ‘bomb’ that I planted exploded shortly after when we were practicing for the encore concert with the behind-the-scenes camera attached.

“Now, kick to the right~ Then sideways again… Hyung, be careful!”

“…Kuh.”

Bae Sejin, who almost got his feet twisted, rearranged the choreography again with his ears burning red.

Even if his dance stat had risen to C, he was still struggling with the more difficult choreography.

‘This isn’t the time for me to talk about other people’s situations.’

The moment I thought I had to reorganize my stats to do a unit stage with Cha Eugene.

There was a small commotion behind the door of the choreography practice room.

It sounded like someone was raising their voice.

‘It’s here.’

I had a feeling. But I didn’t have to pretend to know.

“What is it?”

“Hmm?”

The filming ended immediately, starting with the camera. Because it was too loud for us to ignore.

The choreography ended just after the chorus, and after the members finished their movements, they looked at the door of the practice room, half puzzled and half worried.

“W-Who are the people talking…?”

“…I don’t think there’s anyone else here right now.”

“Wait a minute.”

The moment Ryu Chungwoo, who was glancing around, got up and tried to figure out the situation, the door opened one step ahead of him and an unknown person suddenly entered the practice room.

“…!”

He seemed to be in his early and mid-30s. After that, the first manager with a horrible red complexion hurriedly followed.

He ignored the first manager, bowed his head at us, and started handing the takeout glasses in his hands.

“Ah~ Hello, our testa artists. Whoa, nice to meet you! I brought this so that you can eat this and practice well.”

“Who are you??”

To Cha Eugene who asked him after immediately receiving the drink, he answered neatly

“Ah, I’m the new manager.”

“Yes?”

Of course, his position overlapped with the division head’s cousin who brought donuts a while ago.

“Um, you’re different from the person we met a few days ago~?”

“That guy will follow you around and work as a road manager, and I’m the general manager!”

General manager.

In other words, that meant he was the chief manager.

That also meant that the first manager, who had been the manager dedicated to us, took this guy that suddenly rolled in as his boss.

“With such a busy schedule, you would need at least need three people… Aigoo, don’t worry from now on. I’ll take care of everything, so if you’re uncomfortable with something, you can contact me right away!”

“No…”

Hmm, the first manager still looked bewildered. It seemed he hadn’t heard anything about this.

The guy who became the chief manager looked at the first manager and said regretfully.

“Manager Kim, you must have had a hard time doing this alone. From now on, let’s manage the needs of our artists more systematically. I will also check their injuries and physical condition each hour every day.”

It had been advertised that the first manager was pushed out of the promotion line because he hadn’t been able to take care of the group properly.

Yes, it was the justification for the management head to push for a new manager.

‘Artist-centered care!’

If I had just influenced him, it might end up with the director and the division head going for the senior vs junior format.

It was because the director would simply push the junior group aside, so there was a high probability that he would choose the remaining option, the senior–Testar.

Then, it might come to a needlessly tiring situation in which the two groups were used for political fights.

However, if you inserted another variable here, the story changed.

‘The hubae is also influencing the division head.’

That’s right.

As soon as I entered the country, I contacted the second-place winner in the junior group through the second manager.

– I’m sorry, sunbae-nim. You gave me advice, but I couldn’t do it properly…

– No, you’ve succeeded. You convinced him. Of course, it’s unfortunate that you’re having a hard time mentally because the company hasn’t conceded to your requests.

– Yes… Ah, no, it can’t be helped, and we’ve caused trouble to sunbae-nims and sunbae-nim’s fans!

– We’ve hurt each other. Well… If you’re having a hard time, there’s a way to talk to the management division.

– Management division??

– Management division is in charge of group care. I think he’ll speak for you if you tell him.

And she probably would say this.

‘It can’t be helped that it’s already been planned, but it’s giving us a hard time, so I don’t want to get involved with the senior group from now on’.

Then the junior who had already used my advice would try it.

-…Thank you! I’ll give it a chance.

She seemed to be the smart type so she would have done it well.

Then, as if struck by lightning, the head of the management division suddenly had a common vision.

‘The director is ignoring the artist’s will!’

‘The incompetent director is trying too hard to take advantage of the artists who can produce on their own!’

It must have been a slogan that he liked.

If you refined this into a more formal language, you would see what you saw earlier.

‘Let’s focus on artists (instead of the director)!’

Of course, there was no way that the division head was really interested in caring for the artists.

It was important that he took that justification just to beat the director.

Maybe the AR team that was close to Testar, or the production and marketing side that had been grilled mercilessly to repackage the finished concept, would sneakily jump on the bandwagon here.

‘Then it really becomes a faction.’

And it seemed to have worked quite well.

The manager manpower, which was the symbol of ‘artist care’, had been structurally reorganized.

Just in time, the chief manager, the symbol, tapped the first manager and continued to talk.

“To celebrate  the three of us becoming a dedicated team, why don’t we have a simple drink today and talk?”

“…Uh, yes, yes. Of course.”

The first manager finally gave in with a bitter look.

Of course, it seemed he had cooled down and noticed that there was nothing good to say.

‘It’s the taste of your own medicine.’

I gazed at the scene with satisfaction.

Since then, I had been able to see the current situation at the company.

‘I want them to keep each other in check and bite off each other.’

Am I worried that the parachute division head will press the director and drag down the company and do whatever he wants?

Yeah, not at all.

‘That bastard is bad at his job.’

It’s just… I only needed to make the higher-ups who want to make their own achievements in this entertainment business use up all their energy to fight among themselves.

In the meantime, as the group took the lead in promoting their work, the regular staff could do their work diligently.

“Then for your practice, fighting~ I’ll see you again soon!”

“Yes!”

“Goodbye!”

The chief manager gave out his number and left with the words, “Please feel free to contact me anytime.”

And only then did the first manager start to use his head.

“…Guys, aren’t you uncomfortable with that guy? He suddenly came in out of nowhere.”

He was telling us to take sides.

Keun Sejin smiled brightly and said.

“Ah, it’s the first time I’ve met him, so I can’t help but feel a little uncomfortable! Still, he seems to be paying a lot of attention to us, so I’m looking forward to it! I am also grateful.”

“The shake is delicious!”

Next to him, Cha Eugene shook his drink.

Eventually, the first manager left the practice room with a look as if he was swallowing curses.

‘What a fool.’

I clicked my tongue.

These kids weren’t stupid, they must have known from long ago that Ryu Chungwoo worked more than he did.

There might be someone who hadn’t thought about whether that treatment was fair.

“Ah!”

Kim Raebin who was making exclamations over there probably didn’t know…

“I get it now!”

“…?!”

At the words that came out at an exquisite timing, I stopped thinking.

Kim Raebin continued with an admiring look.

“Thanks to what Moondae hyung said in the recording studio, this situation…”

“Wait a minute.”

I couldn’t believe he was bringing this up when there were seven staff around us.

No, more importantly…

‘This guy understands the situation?’

It was questionable. However, Kim Raebin was steadfast.

“Ah, what did Moondae say?”

“Yes! I think the company gave us good feedback because Moondae hyung openly shared the hardships and emotional pain the group went through!”

“…”

“Oh, really? Moondae said we’re having a hard time?”

“Yes! He asked me, too. Through this opportunity, I can feel that the other person’s reaction changes only when I express such a difficult situation clearly.”

“Oh~”

“…Um.”

Geez.

So, this guy figured out the very basic structure.

‘Testar clearly shows that they’re having a hard time. → The company pays more attention to group care!’

Basically, this algorithm.

It was a theoretical level without any options, but those with a similar level of interpersonal thinking began to react first.

At the fact that I was having a hard time.

“M-Moondae…”

“…I see.”

You don’t.

“Thank you for always teaching me.”

It’s not something you should feel touched for.

In the midst of this, Keun Sejin smiled and applauded.

“Yes, wow, thanks to Moondae, it worked out well~ How cool~”

This bastard was doing this on purpose. I was getting pissed off.

…However, a heartfelt speech followed after that.

“But let’s not overdo it. Moondaemoondae, don’t we have mouths too? Let’s share it with us, not with Raebin~”

“…!”

“That’s right, Moondae.”

Ryu Chungwoo nodded, making eye contact.

“We’re a group. There are seven heads, so if we discuss it, we might come up with something good.”

“…”

Since I had a history, it seemed that all the sensible guys here had noticed that I had deliberately spilled those words.

And I wouldn’t deny it.

It was a fairly reasonable statement.

‘I was a bit hasty.’

It was so easy for me to deal with it alone, so I kept forgetting that this was an action that affected the entire group.

All of these guys were affected, so they definitely deserved to be consulted first.

‘In the future… It’s fine to proceed after discussing it first.’

There wouldn’t be any delay since we always saw each other’s faces every day, anyway.

I nodded.

“Yes, you’re right.”

“Alright!”

Ryu Chungwoo jokingly added.

“Because we have parts that complement each other, so the fans, um… the ‘shareholder’ chose us like this.”

“I have a smart brain!”

“Cha Eugene has no official intelligence test results. It’s just a subjective opinion…”

“I am smarter than Kim Raebin.”

“Is that so? Then should we do a psychological test for our content later on? Something like official MBTI.”

“Nice!”

“I think it’ll be a very interesting content!”

The quarrel ended in an instant.

‘He’s not the leader for no reason.’

I glanced over at Ryu Chungwoo.

As my perception as a member of this group solidified, the great rejection I felt toward this guy also clearly diminished.

‘Hmm, this is fine.’

I think we were slowly going back to how we used to be. I acknowledged it in my heart.

Next to me, Seon Ahyeon nodded with his eyes shining.

“T-Then from now on… If you have a hard time, let’s discuss it with each other…!”

“Yes.”

The atmosphere in the practice room was friendly.

And the practice soon resumed, leaving behind the staff who were weeping for not being able to catch this on camera.

A few days later.

“Oh.”

In Mirinae’s title track music video, which was finally released, traces of ‘Magical Boy’ were completely removed.

– In the edited version, there was a short video in the middle of the cut scene!! I was really worried, but it’s all thanks to you, sunbae-nim! Thank you!

Through the manager, I received a one-sided appreciation from the junior who seemed to make it sound three times more amazing than it actually was.

‘It’s neat.’

Articles that dared to connect Mirinae with Testar, which was secretly encouraged by the agency, also disappeared from the main page.

When there was no more unpleasant content, Testar’s fans also let it go, saying, ‘T-one is being T-one’.

It was because the news of the encore concert unit stage broke out and their attention was focused on it.

– Crazy, Cha Kitty Moon Puppy Unit? They’ve come to discipline K-pop.  I’ll die if I don’t watch it

Seeing this reaction, I needed to prepare better.

“Wahaha!”

Watching Cha Eugene lying on the bed next to me, I called inwardly for the first time in a long while.

‘Status window.’

But it wasn’t mine that I checked first.

It was Cha Eugene’s status window.

‘I will check once more before finalizing the unit stage and completing the countermeasures.’

That guy’s stats monster-like stats, let’s see how they had changed.