Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols - Chapter 100
Only Krnovel
| Episode 100. Management of the Tangbi Room (1)
As we opened the door to the conference room we were guided to, several cameras and about ten production staff members greeted us.
“Welcome, Sparks!”
“Hello, this is Spark! Nice to meet you!”
“Wow, as expected, rookies have a different kind of spirit.”
The PD smiled brightly and pointed to an empty seat at the conference room table.
We sat side by side facing the camera.
The filming content for ‘Challenge! Life Experience’ is simple.
The day before filming, the cast meets with the production crew to learn what they will be doing the next day.
And then the next day, right on the scene. That was all the content was about.
When a specific skill was needed, there were also cases where we took classes prepared by the production team the day before.
≫ Yeonji’s expression when she heard that she had to take a skin scuba class
Wow, hamsterㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└ I thought it was an aquarium job because it was a skin scuba, but it was a substance… … ;;
└ Life is really poisonous… …
Or you can just clash with brute force, evil, and brute force.
Actually, it doesn’t matter as long as it’s not loading or unloading packages. If it’s just me doing it, it doesn’t matter, but it’s a bit troublesome if those guys get hurt.
While I was thinking about this and that in my head, I finished the formal greeting with the PD.
And then the main story began.
“First of all, do you know what kind of program we are…?”
“yes!”
“Okay, but there’s one problem.”
From the beginning? That’s really difficult.
Looking at the flustered members, the PD spoke with a serious face.
“Since the legal working hours for minors are 7 hours, I think my younger siblings will have to leave work first and my older siblings and I will have to finish up work together.”
This is a really big problem. My heart is already pounding at the thought of running around and making my feet sweat.
The PD asked a question while leaving Choi Je-ho and I in the dark swamp.
“Have any of you ever worked part-time?”
“I’ve only been a shopping mall clothing model a few times.”
Choi Je-ho said, “Guy, I’ve been working part-time for quite some time.
The rest of the guys just shook their heads because they were old.
I have some part-time job experience, but… … I decided to keep quiet because I thought it would be difficult if I had to prove something later.
The PD who saw us nodded and shouted.
“The place where Spark members will work tomorrow is the mecca of part-time jobs, a cafe!”
“A cafe?”
It was a fairly popular part-time job for a filming location so far.
Working at a cafe is hard. There are a lot of menus and a lot of specials.
But considering the special nature of the program, which even had famous actors remove beehives, it seemed unlikely that a group of six would be allowed to fit into one cafe.
‘Is it a cafe with a long wait? Or a cafe near a subway station or a large cafe? Is it by any chance that the seasonal drinks at Starbucks are coming out right now?’
I roughly selected candidates in my head.
Unlike me, the guys sitting next to me were chatting about how they wanted to try on a cafe uniform and how they liked playing the role of a barista in a drama.
“When it comes to part-time jobs, you can’t leave out cafes. Since they are workspaces with a high percentage of part-time workers, you could say that they are workspaces that are close to our daily lives!”
Then the PD opened his sketchbook.
“You can receive training from a professional barista this afternoon and then hold a daily drink giveaway event in Gangnam tomorrow!”
“Gangnam?!”
“What’s wrong, Mr. Lee Wol?”
The moment I saw the spot marked in red on the map, I doubted my eyes.
Gangnam?
I have to stay in a Gangnam cafe from opening to closing!
I felt dizzy. I thought I would faint at any moment.
“What’s wrong, Lee Wol-hyung… … ?”
“Is it because you think there will be a lot of customers? But it still seems a bit far away.”
Kang Ki-yeon looked at the map and answered Park Joo-woo’s question on his behalf.
“It’s Gangnam, so how could there not be at least one cafe on the way from the station to here? It would be a bit scattered.”
Choi Je-ho also added his remarks.
Instead of listening to what the guys were saying, I looked ahead and saw the PD and production staff smiling sinisterly.
Yeah, it’s not that close to the station.
but…….
“PD, could you please show me the map again?”
I received guidance from PD.
My uneasy intuition was not wrong.
Within two blocks of the point highlighted in red, all buildings were high-rise buildings.
“Guys, we’re in big trouble… … .”
I muttered as if it were a will. My eyes went dark.
* * *
Office workers are very busy during lunch hour.
Some companies offer good benefits, such as a lunch break of one and a half to two hours, or you can eat on your own.
Most companies without cafeterias have lunch hours from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
In order to use that hour productively, every step had to be done without waste.
Choose your lunch menu in advance starting at 11 o’clock. If you’re going to a restaurant with a long line, run there as soon as 12 o’clock hits.
Drinks are take-out. For restaurants that take reservations, make reservations the week before, and for cafes that have apps, place your order in advance.
The office workers moved sharply as if they had a manual. The places where so many office workers went after eating were mostly divided into three directions.
Smoke a cigarette, go for a walk, or… … .
‘… … go to a cafe.’
The area marked on the map was exactly where the companies were concentrated.
Even in countries that don’t drink coffee, we know that cafes near companies are always crowded for breakfast and lunch.
Plus, there’s even a free drink giveaway event for filming.
We’re screwed. We’re probably going to get razor-sharp until coffee grounds come out of our bodies.
‘It may be difficult to see it as an extreme environment, so it seems like they tried to balance it out by giving it away for free… … .’
These are all cowardly excuses. Right now, if it were free, I would drink anything except lye water, so how much more so would I drink essential potions for office workers?
“Brother, why have you been staring into space like this since a while ago?”
Jeong Seong-bin asked. In his hand was a glass of smoothie that he had been making all day today.
I thought back to the performance the members had shown today.
Then he looked at Jeong Seong-bin and answered.
“I was thinking about how we could successfully complete business tomorrow.”
* * *
‘Challenge! Life Experience’ has been going through a bit of a slump recently.
The reason was simple. As rumors spread that the program was difficult, it became difficult to recruit cast members.
The main content of the program was a reexamination of hard, difficult, but necessary work.
Naturally, the work that the production team prepared for was quite intense.
Like many other entertainment program writers, the writers of Do-Saem also had to spend a lot of time on casting.
High intensity work → But it’s easy enough that even celebrities can do it → But it’s tough enough for viewers to think, ‘That person is working hard.’ → … … .
As this dilemma repeats itself, the material runs out and the guests are insufficient.
During that time, the main PD decided to take another look at the materials that had been eliminated for various reasons.
Cafe part-time job was also one of the items that was eliminated a long time ago.
The reasons for dropping out were also varied.
Because it is so common, it is not perceived as being as difficult as other items… … .
So the production team added options to increase the difficulty. They were serious enough to even consider targeting the seasonal beverage sales period at Byuldaebang. However, there was an internal opinion that they should not touch on nationwide events, so they ended up leaving it alone.
After deciding on the items, the cast became a problem again.
It was good that the difficulty was raised, but looking at the information I had researched in advance, it was clear that it would be difficult to cover with just one or two people.
In times like these, idols are easy. They are a group of people, and the more rookies they are, the more they don’t discriminate between easy and difficult tasks.
But everything in this world has two sides.
There was a reason why Dosaem, who was always looking for new cast members, didn’t call on new idols.
≫ This is really frustrating
Isn’t it too much to not be able to memorize table numbers all day?
I think I can memorize it all just by looking at the edited screen.
I almost changed the channel while watching it
Because Koreans can’t stand stuffy things.
While viewers enjoyed watching the cast members flounder around doing unfamiliar things, they also wanted to see them handle things at a professional level.
You can tell just by looking at the fact that the video titled ‘Collection of Cast Members Who Conquered Life.zip’ is getting a lot of views on various video platforms.
And – not all of them, but – most idols who debut these days are very young.
Since I was very young and had been a trainee with the goal of debuting, I didn’t have much work to do.
A person who does a good job is loved everywhere. Life needs such entertainers.
So the production team first contacted the new boy group Parte, who had recently debuted under a major agency. The broadcasting station still had trust in them, thinking, “At least the big agencies educate them properly!”
To cut a long story short, the offer was rejected.
The production team of Do-Saem forgot for a moment that the reason Dae-Jang is good is because it prevents their celebrities from appearing on such cost-effective programs.
When the writers were holding their heads like that.
‘Excuse me, if you don’t mind a new group, how about this group?’
Someone first mentioned Spark at a conference.
‘The years of service are similar to Parterre’s, and there are many comments on SNS and communities that say they are the same.’
At the same time, a short video was uploaded onto the conference room’s beam projector. The title of the video was ‘Idols with Suspiciously Extraordinary Work’.
As the video played, the white-skinned young man in the thumbnail appeared large on the screen.
‘Juuya, clean from top to bottom.’
‘I uploaded it to the shared guide folder, so please check it out. If it says you don’t have access, let me know.’
Subtitles explaining the situation passed over several short but clear scenes.
Writing your own press release, showing how to insert functions into a web cell, cleaning up greasy dishes… …etc.
Since I’ve already been scolded by Parte, let’s just yell at him!
With that in mind, the production team of Do-Saem contacted UA to inquire about casting.
And that afternoon, I got a reply that said I could do it anytime.
‘If we have one existing cafe employee as support, there will be plenty of work, so there won’t be any problems with the service.’
The main PD prepared for filming while thinking about every possible eventuality.
I was a little worried during the brief meeting we had the day before filming.
They were all tall and handsome, but most of them still had a youthful look to them. Only the young man I saw in the video gave off the air of someone who had been through a lot, so I thought I could trust him.
After a long and winding journey, the doors to ‘Challenge! Daily Cafe’ opened on a warm day in May.