Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols - Chapter 11



Only Krnovel

| Episode 11. Monthly Evaluation (2)

“Brother, your complexion is amazing today. Did you end up staying up all night last night?”

“Yeah. But I survived thanks to Seongbin’s help.”

“When did you last talk to that hyung? Isn’t Seongbin hyung awesome? I said it’s a human karaoke book?”

I completely agree with what Lee Cheong-hyeon said.

The songs that Jeong Seong-bin double-checked this morning met my requirements exactly.

Thanks to that, I only had to listen to thirty songs on repeat until my ears were watering and then make up my mind.

Going forward, all you have to do is understand the song, listen to the original and cover songs, sing it all, reflect feedback, check whether the feedback was reflected, and then sing it all again, reflecting and confirming the feedback… … .

‘Who said that well begun is half done?’

I felt like sighing, but I held it back, thinking that the mood in the dorm might get worse.

In the meantime, Lee Cheong-hyeon spoke excitedly from the second-floor bed, not knowing what people were thinking.

“Right. I need to order breakfast.”

Lee Cheong-hyeon picked up the air conditioner. Then he looked at me and asked.

“But hyung, are you the type of person who just keeps eating whatever you like?”

“what?”

“Jjolmyeon. I’ve been eating only jjolmyeon for breakfast for over a week.”

“huh?”

When I heard it, it was like that.

The trainees’ eating routine was all the same.

I ordered delivery food in the morning, and had salad and shakes for lunch and dinner.

The place I always ordered delivery from was the same, and come to think of it, it’s actually been a week since I’ve had my share of jjolmyeon.

I was really into spicy noodles when I was around 20, so I ate it as if I was taking a trip down memory lane.

A little embarrassed, I asked Lee Cheong-hyeon cautiously.

“Isn’t it true that new employees don’t have a choice in the menu?”

“What are you talking about? You’ve been ordering nothing but jjolmyeon ever since the first day you had it, hyung!”

“… … Did you happen to ask me this morning, ‘Hyung, would you like some spicy noodles?’?”

“Yes. You always said, ‘Yeah.’ without even changing your tone!”

Only then did I realize why I had been getting nothing but noodles delivered to me all week.

Maybe it’s because I’ve never once gone against Manager Nam’s wishes when he asks, “Should we eat this today?”

Even to Lee Cheong-hyeon, who had been asking about the menu with all sincerity, he mechanically replied with a yes.

It was so disappointing that the only reason I ended up eating jjolmyeon was because of something like this.

“Then should I order something else?”

“No. I want to eat spicy noodles.”

“yes?”

“The spicy noodles there were delicious.”

At my answer, Lee Cheong-hyeon shook his head twice with a somewhat puzzled expression and disappeared from sight.

It’s going to be a hassle to order like that every morning. I’ll have to tell them I’ll take care of the ordering starting next week.

* * *

There were some parts that went back to 9 years ago, like my taste for spicy noodles, but there were also some parts that were not the same as before.

A representative example was muscle mass.

I took care of my body consistently until I graduated from college.

Since I didn’t want to spend all my part-time job money on hospital bills, management was not an option but a necessity.

After I started working, I had less and less time to exercise and started losing muscle mass. It seemed like my body was in that exact state right now.

Although dancing for hours on end was fine for now, it was clear that without muscle, future physical labor would be difficult to endure.

In this situation, I had to split my work schedule to secure time to exercise.

Next is dark circles.

When I was younger, I thought it was covered up by my age, but now the area under my eyes is dark. No matter how you look at it, my face doesn’t look like it’s that of a young twenty-year-old.

It seemed like the shadows that had been cast on my skin had followed me back in time.

The muscles that were supposed to come didn’t come, and only dark circles followed. Frequent overtime work was this harmful.

An idol with discolored skin… Is that okay?

I touched my pale face. Of course it wasn’t okay, so I had to take care of it.

In addition to this, I had to keep checking because there were things that had changed and things that had not, although I don’t know what the criteria were. It was the same context when I took out a copy of the register of my previous home.

When I found out that Hanpyeong Industries had already been established, I was a little disappointed.

But I decided not to be too obsessed with my old company because I just had to somehow build a new life.

The only remaining consideration is that of the spark.

As far as I know, Spark’s debut date is about 2 years later.

This debut had to be brought forward somehow.

One of the reasons I decided to bring forward my debut date was because I wanted to get rid of my current lifestyle as soon as possible.

But there was another, more important reason.

‘If we debut two years later, we’ll go through the same trial and error that Spark went through before.’

Spark, the first idol group released by UA, received a lot of attention as the outlines of their debut became clear. It felt like a ‘new challenge from a ballad powerhouse’.

But in an entertainment industry where interest quickly wanes if nothing new comes out right away, UA made the mistake of postponing Spark’s debut date day after day.

That was a whole year. It was a mistake of the company that only hired established singers who would prepare for one album for several years.

Thanks to this, the attention Spark had received when it debuted completely evaporated.

Because there was too much hype beforehand, when they actually debuted, the only reactions were things like, ‘Oh, they’re coming out now?’

While UA was struggling to decide on a direction to take, MYTH, one of the two major agencies, debuted a big rookie.

From investment funds to promotions, the gap between large and small companies was large.

Spark’s position collapsed as the idol generation split around the new group ‘Parte’ of MYTH, which would later become the representative of the 4th generation.

≫ Why do I see posts like “What generation is S.P.K.K.?” so often these days?

Honestly, ㅅㅍㅋ should go to the 5th generation, but they’re just putting the Sparkle bottles in the 4th generation.

└ Seriously ㅋㅋ There’s a difference in how many years we have

└ No, it’s Spark 4th generation, the last spark of the 4th generation.

└ You’re really badㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ Acceptable up to .5

└ Haha …

≫ But I think it would be nice to be grouped into the 4th generation

It’s not just that the 4th generation is the golden age, but when they debuted, there was a flood of male idols, so they were all swept away and only Spark remained. The 4th generation often meets with people of the same age and they’re all doing well. ㅋㅋ

└ I hardly ever hear any of their dirty talk, they’re like a remote island in the male idol world

└ Doesn’t friendship have much to do with years of service??

└ Since they don’t hug from above and they don’t hug from below, they just play among themselves.

└ Aside from all that, the members themselves just seem to have no social skills at all.

└ What are the people above saying? Stop talking nonsense.

Generation didn’t matter at all in terms of grades, but it was a very important issue on the stone plate.

In the idol market where being mentioned even once is important, being grouped with people of the same generation and making their name known a little more was definitely effective.

The flow of the broadcast also played a part here.

The survival program ‘Idol Dynasty Chronicles’ was launched, which brought together male idols who were easy to manage because they were not that senior, had a moderate amount of buzz, and had enough experience to be able to get enough screen time, and had them compete against each other.

For a concept that involved taking off the rank insignia and sticking on, the years of service were all the same.

Spark, who debuted the same year the program came out, obviously couldn’t make it. It was because they had little recognition.

And this survival program, ‘Idol Dynasty Chronicles’, became a huge topic of conversation.

As the trend of grouping the groups that appeared in ‘Ahwangsil’ as one generation grew stronger, and fandom competition and issues became focused on that side, Spark ended up in a twisted situation.

≫ Whether it is the 4th generation or not can be easily determined by the royal cast.

Didn’t the 4th generation of Seonggol, like Parter and Allover, come out and implicitly end the generational reorganization?

└ In fact, it’s the generation that the broadcasting company decided onㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ Why are all these generations rushing at me like this?

└ So if you fight over sales, I understand

Compared to the times when it was mentioned before, since the program’s success, even mention of Spark has become rare.

It seems like the path will open up if we just try a little harder, but there are no signs of easy success.

Here, the groups that appeared on A Wang Sil made comebacks one after another in order to continue their popularity on the show.

At this point, if UA had been more determined to push Spark’s activities forward, the results might have been different.

However, UA, which was short on manpower and had many singers to support, ended up letting Spark go for a while as it needed more push than expected.

In this way, Spark, who debuted one year ago, went on a hiatus of one year and two months after only two promotions.

This hiatus was the biggest reason why Spark didn’t have many debut fans.

Many fans must have seen the future of the team in UA’s old-fashioned management. Even if I were a fan, I would have left the team if I couldn’t see the vision to this extent.

Since we absolutely had to debut this team, it seemed best to eliminate as many elements as possible that could be fatal to the group.

‘You shouldn’t let go and have a hiatus without being able to make a comeback.’

Since debut was the goal, I thought that work related to the debut date would come up someday.

This time, instead of words, an object appeared before my eyes. It was a green notebook with a thick cover. From the looks of it, it looked like a scheduler.

At that moment, a part of the life manual came to mind.

+

▷ Accessories (resume, scheduler, etc.) are provided for smooth reuse of life.

+

By the way, you said you’d give me a scheduler too.

The holographic scheduler summoned before my eyes automatically turned the pages without me having to touch it.

As I reached the monthly page, every so often I passed a monthly calendar with something written on it.

The last recorded date was my debut date, two years later, which would have been my KPI achievement date.

‘How can I… …not move this date forward?’

If you’re going to encourage someone to debut, shouldn’t you give them some autonomy?

I was fiddling with the [debut date] part, which is about 730 days away.

‘uh?’

Then, the text area was selected. Just in case, I moved the debut date to the box a day before, and a message appeared.

+

[SYSTEM] Do you want to change the ‘Debut Date’?

Yes / No

+

‘Okay.’

My fist clenched on its own. Now I don’t have to keep teasing you for a year and two months!

I chose my debut date again, and this time I kept pushing the date forward.

The date that had been coming without any problems stopped moving after about a year. Considering various factors, it seemed that the practical limit of time that could be brought forward was one year.

‘How can it be even a year faster?’

It would have been better if Spark had debuted early and been able to advance in their class. After all, they are already complete idols in terms of skills.

I brought up the debut date as soon as possible and selected ‘Yes’, and then a new message popped up.

+

[SYSTEM] ‘Notice’ is notified to ‘the user’.

▷ Excessive changes to existing schedules may result in corresponding disadvantages.

▷ Even if the schedule is brought forward, the frequency of occurrence of events scheduled to occur remains valid, and the timing of occurrence is adjusted to match the changed schedule.

▷ If the schedule is postponed, the need for attendance management arises, which places restrictions on activities.

+

In simple terms, it meant not to change the schedule arbitrarily.

If there are problems that will arise within two years, they will all explode within one year. Somehow, things just go my way.

If the universe had been helping me enough to consider my situation in the first place, they wouldn’t have forced me to do things like become an idol.

But, looking at this alone, it didn’t seem like I would suffer a major loss. Since I had already lost both my school records and my home, there was no further disadvantage to be incurred.

The only thing I can lose in exchange for debuting early is my youth.

However, if I lose my youth, it will be difficult to achieve my goal of debuting as a new idol, so I wasn’t going to immediately turn back to being 29 years old.

If it’s going to happen anyway, it might be better for it to happen sooner.

I understood all the terms without hesitation and checked the box indicating that I agreed to the contents.

Now all that’s left is to escape from the world’s strongest tick.

If it doesn’t work, make it work. The words that management used to chant like a broken tape have never resonated more deeply than they do today.

I looked with satisfaction at the new debut date, which was shining brightly and was less than D-370.

And this choice will go down in history as the dumbest choice I ever made in my second life.

* * *

After practicing until I was breathless like blanched spinach, the day of the monthly evaluation arrived.

At the same time, today was also a fateful day that would determine whether I would pass the exam and gain 30% experience points, or get cut from UA and have my life end.

“Brother! You don’t seem… nervous today! Judging from your face!”

“Do you see it?”

“Yes. You look so peaceful.”

Lee Cheong-hyeon raised his thumb.

I’m past the age where I have to be nervous about things like evaluations.

I recalled the past that I experienced in the vocal practice room, something I couldn’t recall without tears.

When I saw Lee Cheong-hyun singing while playing the keyboard in his vlog, the vocal practice room that seemed like a small space only for a musical genius turned into a dark, coin-operated karaoke room when I entered.

I had a painful time there, facing my own raw voice alone. It was the process of entering the harsh world of idols, where there was no echo mic effect.

Thanks to that, I grew up going through the ordeal of listening to a voice that wasn’t even slightly corrected every second. It was a miserable time.

By the way, I recorded my voice and listened to it because I heard that the voice I heard was different from the voice others heard. I was afraid that it would appear in my dreams.

The evaluation day arrived after such difficult days.

Usually, in times like this, rather than feeling nervous, a sense of liberation that it’s finally over comes.

As I was stretching to wake up, Lee Cheong-hyeon, who was ready to go out, was putting on his shoes in front of the door.

“Where do you want to go?”

“I’m going for a morning walk. I’ll go straight to the practice room after that!”

Lee Cheong-hyeon answered cheerfully.

I had heard about it on the radio when I went for a walk in the morning on the evaluation day.

There was a story about how Lee Cheong-hyeon would walk around the neighborhood with his friend Kang Ki-yeon, who was the same age as him and was very nervous, every morning on the day of the evaluation.

I thought it was a rare friendship in today’s tough society.

“Be careful with the car. Be careful not to let the cold wind touch your skin. Don’t forget, your face is the most important thing.”

“Yes, brother!”

“Isn’t this greeting a bit strange?”

“Why my greeting?”

“Okay… … .”

Choi Je-ho, who was picking a fight for no reason, ended up nitpicking during my counter-question.

Oh, me. I guess I’m still not fully awake.