Kang Hyung-man had been picking me up every day for a month in his car after I signed the contract with Brotherhood Planning and before I made my debut in Na Ah Ah.
Thanks to that, our high school students who were initially shocked by Kang Hyung-man’s looks and imposing presence gradually got used to him and no longer reacted.
But the other male students occupying the school gate were different.
“…Uh.”
The moment Kang Hyung-man appeared, they froze in place like animals.
Kang Hyung-man looked at these guys with an annoyed expression but still maintained a polite demeanor.
“Please step aside, don’t block the way.”
…Of course, just because he was polite didn’t mean he wasn’t scary.
‘This is the moment.’
I took advantage of that gap and ran straight toward the school gate.
In that instant, I planned to jump into Kang Hyung-man’s sedan while the male students were frozen.
“…Uh.”
“It’s coming out!”
There was a crisis.
As I ran toward the school gate, the male students waiting for me suddenly turned their heads in unison, penetrating through Kang Hyung-man’s aura of fear.
But this was….
“Ye-rin, take your time.”
“…”
“…”
The appearance of Older Brother Sang-gu, who got out of the driver’s seat, resolved the situation.
Kang Hyung-man gave off only a scary uncle vibe, but Older Brother Sang-gu, with his large build, bald head, and scar on his face, was a beast in his own right.
Seeing Older Brother Sang-gu kindly calling me, the boys couldn’t even think about approaching me.
“President, hello.”
“Yeah, hurry and get in.”
In the meantime, I squeezed through the male students and hopped into the sedan.
Kang Hyung-man and Older Brother Sang-gu exchanged glances at the boys before taking their respective seats in the front.
Even in that moment, the male students wore blank expressions.
I glanced at them through the window and then thanked the two in front of me.
“President, Older Brother Sang-gu. Thank you. I was just in trouble….”
“Yeah. But who are those guys?”
“Yesterday, they posted my information on a community site. They probably came after seeing that.”
“Tch, they’re already being a nuisance. From now on, make sure to go around with either me or Sang-gu. The world is quite dangerous. You never know, there could be a crazy person among those blank faces.”
“…Okay.”
As time goes on, more people will recognize me. If Kang Hyung-man or Older Brother Sang-gu accompany me, I can go around with peace of mind.
But then again, there was another problem.
“…But I’m still worried.”
“What about?”
“…What if people think our company is a gangster agency?”
If I hung around with Kang Hyung-man or Older Brother Sang-gu, there would likely be even more misunderstandings like that.
It would surely lead to damage to the company’s image, but what could I do…?
“Hmm…”
After my words, Kang Hyung-man rested his chin on his hand and stared out the window before speaking.
“Ye-rin.”
“Yes, President.”
“Our company is indeed a gangster company, you know?”
“…Ah.”
…That’s true?
Thinking about it, all these people in front of me are gangsters…?
“Of course, we are trying to reduce shady activities like loan sharking and work towards a clean image. However… we’re not exactly not gangsters.”
“……”
I was now pondering like a watermelon while worrying about what others might think of us as watermelon.
“Pfft.”
Thinking that way, a weight seemed to lift off my shoulders, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
Kang Hyung-man, seeing me suddenly break out in laughter, looked worried as if he thought I had lost my mind.
“We’re putting effort into improving our external image these days, so just wait a bit. I won’t let it affect you.”
“No, President. I wasn’t laughing because of that.”
“Then why?”
“I just found it funny that I had forgotten you and Older Brother Sang-gu were gangsters.”
I could easily forget that.
The two in front of me were…, the kindest people I had ever seen and they had also saved my life.
“If Brotherhood Planning is a gangster company, so what? I don’t care what people think; it’s precious to me more than anything.”
“…Yeah.”
Kang Hyung-man turned his head back toward the window after hearing my answer.
He wore his usual nonchalant expression, but… I could see a small smile on the corners of his mouth.
Seeing that smile, I also grinned and asked.
“By the way, President. What are you here for today?”
“Today is the first day of my Idol Academia, after all. I came to pick you up so we can monitor together.”
“Oh….”
Right, today was the highly anticipated first broadcast day of Na Ah Ah.
Thinking of that made my mouth water again.
It felt like the anxiety of a death row inmate standing before judgment. I hadn’t slept well since yesterday.
Kang Hyung-man noticed my expression and asked.
“Did you originally plan to watch from home?”
“…Yeah. I was going to.”
“The moment you watch from home, your parents will most likely make a fuss. So let’s just watch together at our company. We invited people you’d be glad to see too.”
“People I’d be glad to see?”
I tilted my head in confusion as Kang Hyung-man smirked.
“First, let’s go have dinner. I made a reservation at a good place.”
After saying that, Kang Hyung-man took me to a small Japanese restaurant in Gangnam.
In the restaurant, there were only me, Kang Hyung-man, and Older Brother Sang-gu, with the chef directly making sushi to serve us.
This is what you would typically call… omakase.
Having only heard about it in stories and seen it on YouTube, this was my first time experiencing it firsthand.
Needless to say, it was delicious, but there was so much food that I couldn’t finish it in Ha Ye-rin’s body and had to leave some behind.
After our marvelous dinner, we headed to the Brotherhood Planning building.
Now, it was a building that had a pretty decent interior. We headed to the second floor, which had a large monitor installed for monitoring.
As I opened the door to the monitoring room, I asked Kang Hyung-man one last time.
“So, who are those people I’d be glad to see?”
“They’re waiting inside. Hurry and go in.”
‘Who could it be?’
I tilted my head as I entered.
And as I opened the door, I was greeted with….
“Ye-rin!”
“Ye-rin-!! I missed you-!!”
“…Soo-hyun and Ji-woo.”
It was my first trainers, Kang Soo-hyun and Lee Ji-woo.
I hadn’t been out of touch with Kang Soo-hyun and Lee Ji-woo, but this was the first time we’d met in person instead of just chatting or calling.
First love, first job, and so on….
The first time is always special.
“Teachers….”
I couldn’t hide my excitement the moment I saw my first trainers.
The feeling seemed mutual; even Kang Soo-hyun, who usually wore a cold default expression, smiled at me.
“Ye-rin, long time no see.”
And the usually emotional Lee Ji-woo…
“Ye-rin-!! Kheh…! How long has it been…! Have you been well? Nothing happened? Why have you lost so much weight?!”
She rushed over and hugged me, rubbing my whole body.
It was a reaction at two extremes, but I could tell both of them were happy to see me again.
I felt the same.
“I’ve been well. How about you two?”
While stroking the small figure of Lee Ji-woo still in my arms, I asked Kang Soo-hyun.
“Let’s not do this here; let’s sit down and talk.”
We sat on the sofa prepared in the monitoring room per Kang Hyung-man’s suggestion and chatted.
And… not long after, I heard something surprising.
“…Huh? Ji-woo, what did you just say?”
“Hehe, I decided to sign an exclusive contract with Brotherhood Planning.”
That was the news that Lee Ji-woo was becoming an exclusive trainer at Brotherhood Planning.
“…No way, but just a month ago, you said the company vibe was scary and you were planning to run away once the month contract ended…”
“Yeah, it was like that at first. But I got used to the vibe now, and I realized that despite the rough exterior, the other employees are nice. And most of all….”
Lee Ji-woo whispered while making a circle with her fingers.
“…They pay really well, hehe.”
…So it was money after all.
What kind of money are they offering to make Lee Ji-woo, who wanted to escape from Brotherhood Planning, want to stay?
With that thought in mind, I turned to Kang Soo-hyun and asked cautiously.
“So… does that mean you’re joining Brotherhood Planning too, Soo-hyun?”
However….
“No, they offered me an exclusive contract, but… I declined. I plan to leave this industry.”
“Oh….”
It seemed that Kang Soo-hyun had refused to sign the contract.
Disappointing, but it couldn’t be helped.
Kang Soo-hyun had already mentioned she was leaving the entertainment scene after this temporary contract.
“So, what will you do from now on, Soo-hyun?”
“A friend of mine recently opened a cafe, so I’ll be helping out there and living.”
Since I learned from her, I knew.
Kang Soo-hyun had an incredible ability to teach vocal training.
She had proven her ability while working for years at JJ, one of the top three companies….
But why is she suddenly trying to leave the industry?
‘Did something happen at JJ?’
Although I wanted to ask what had gone on, somehow it felt rude to pry.
“……”
“……”
The flow of conversation briefly paused at that.
Feeling the awkward atmosphere, Lee Ji-woo immediately asked to fill the silence.
“Ye-rin, how about you? What’s been going on with you? What happened in Na Ah Ah? I’m dying to know!”
“Um… well….”
Instead of answering Lee Ji-woo, I glanced at the clock.
The time was 9:54 PM.
It was now six minutes before my Idol Academia Episode 1 aired.
“I think we’ll be able to see it on TV soon.”
“……”
“……”
At my words, everyone in the monitoring room fell silent, tense.
As the silence stretched for a few more minutes.
When it hit 9:59 PM, Kang Soo-hyun and Lee Ji-woo broke the silence.
“…Ye-rin, you did great on the ranking evaluation stage and received an A rank. So it’ll be fine.”
“Yeah! We saw you on YouTube! The production team gave you plenty of screen time, right? I bet it’ll be the same on the broadcast!”
“…I don’t know.”
Kang Soo-hyun and Lee Ji-woo spoke positively, but the truth is I couldn’t let my guard down.
No matter how well I performed on set…, I had seen with my own eyes that it could end in loss.
‘They decided to give Hye-jeong a B rank.’
‘After seeing her A rank qualities, Shin PD said it’d be better if she passed. So we lowered it.’
‘It’s so unfair… I feel so wronged, Ye-rin….’
Sadly, it was the production team’s role to judge the participants’ wins and losses during the broadcast.
Ding.
[22:00]
“…It’s starting now.”
It was time to see what kind of judgment the production team, who had been like devils to Hye-jeong, would have for me….
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