Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols - Chapter 14



Only Krnovel

| Episode 14. Exit Interview (2)

Who is Jeong Seong-bin in Spark?

To that question, the four Sparks of the past answered with one word.

‘Leader.’

Aside from the fact that he was upset because of these guys who had no say in anything, Jeong Seong-bin was recognized in his own way in the desolate group.

Even the fans who gave all sorts of crazy nicknames to other guys called Jeong Seong-bin ‘mental pillar Jeong Seong-bin.’

What would happen if such a person ran away?

What happened? It’s the end, debut and all.

It’s no different from trying to sneak onto a bus full of angry passengers only to have to watch with your eyes wide open as the driver jumps out the window.

‘What should I do? Should I take him to a coffee shop and make him buy a 6,800 won drink first?’

I looked up to see if there was a Starbucks nearby.

And then I realized belatedly that it was dark all around.

‘That’s right. We came out at midnight.’

X foot.

I searched through my dusty head.

However, no matter how much I tried to recall my memories, I couldn’t find a scene where Jeong Seong-bin said something like, “When I was a trainee, I wandered around wondering if this was the right path.”

Jeong Seong-bin, however, returned to his usual self right away. It seemed that he himself had not yet realized the deep and true darkness within him.

You can’t let your guard down. People like this are more dangerous.

This is because he is the type of person who, after working overtime until yesterday, announces his intention to resign with a smile on his face the next morning, saying, “Ugh, I can’t do this anymore!”

In a tone that suggested we get a cup of coffee.

As of now, it was clear that Jeong Seong-bin would feel skeptical about life and begin to reflect on what life was all about within a month, even if he couldn’t do it.

And in two months, he will leave us.

At that point, it would be useless to say, ‘What are you talking about all of a sudden! We had a good time…!’

Because the person involved has probably already simulated quitting the company about 300 times in his or her head.

If they failed to stop this madness, UA would have ended up making a cotton candy-washed raccoon expression in front of the one and only leader who suddenly decided to quit the idol path.

‘You have to take care of it in advance so that you don’t even have to worry about it.’

Are you going to let the four problem children run away alone? I absolutely can’t do that.

“Seongbin, would you like to come in and talk for a moment?”

I caught Jeong Seong-bin in front of the convenience store. I was going to treat him so badly that he would regret it until the day he died if he stopped there.

* * *

A few minutes later.

We sat side by side on the swing in the playground, each holding a cup of warm red ginseng honey tea. By the way, Jeong Seong-bin chose the drink.

The cold wind pierced through the outer garment.

“I’m sorry it’s cold.”

“no.”

Despite my unreasonable request for an interview, Jeong Seong-bin smiled and said it was okay. Ha… … Always protect the leader.

“Is there anything you’re worried about? These days.”

As I carefully pulled away, Jeong Seong-bin looked at me.

Jeong Seong-bin’s face clearly showed a look of wondering how he knew. Unfortunately, it was too obvious.

Jeong Seong-bin wiggled his legs a few times, as if he was riding on a swing, and then said.

“It’s just… … I’m a little nervous because I think the evaluation results will come out soon.”

Then Jeong Seong-bin smiled bitterly.

UA’s evaluation method was not objectively harsh.

Instead, considering that the trainees are ranked each time along with feedback, it is likely that Jeong Seong-bin’s concern is also in the rankings.

Jeong Seong-bin’s subsequent words did not deviate much from my expectations.

“There aren’t many trainees in the company, but the rankings haven’t changed much since some time ago.”

This evaluation was conducted in the following order: Park Joo-woo, Choi Je-ho, Lee Cheong-hyeon, Jeong Seong-bin, and Kang Ki-yeon.

And this order was the ranking order of the last evaluation.

Considering that Kang Ki-yeon was unable to perform to his full potential and received bad grades every time, this meant that Jeong Seong-bin had the lowest ranking when purely looking at his skills.

Even more so than Lee Cheong-hyeon, whose trainee career was much shorter than Jeong Seong-bin’s.

‘Then don’t be anxious.’

It was something that could easily happen if you had so many outstanding people around you.

Inevitably, he took similar classes every day and invested similar amounts of time, and since he was a very conscientious person in everything he did, the blow seemed to have been even greater.

I think that the ability to persevere even next to geniuses is talent.

Putting it out there was a whole other issue.

So instead of opening my mouth hastily, I decided to give Jeong Seong-bin some time.

I have never seen an interview end well because the company fired the first shot at the applicant.

“Drink some tea. It’ll get cold.”

“……yes.”

Jeong Seong-bin opened the plastic wrap covering the bottle cap with a slightly gloomy expression.

I fiddled with the bottle of red ginseng honey tea and thought about what I could do now.

There were roughly three possible methods.

1. Lock them in praise hell.

This is a way to love and support Jeong Seong-bin by appropriately mixing in the slogans used on the coffee truck delivery banner.

But even if I, the best nerd UA has ever produced, cast it, I don’t think it will be very effective.

Just like when I was praised by Manager Nam for cleaning the break room very well in the past, I wasn’t happy at all.

2. Present a positive outlook with clear evidence.

By utilizing the vast amount of data collected while organizing the bait, we objectively explain which skills are improving specifically and what the future growth potential is expected to be based on this.

However, if Jeong Seong-bin answers, “How did you know that I sang that song?”, it’s a bad ending.

Roughly speaking… … I don’t think there’s a high chance that they’ll look at me with a contemptuous gaze, like a gloomy human being. Even I would feel uncomfortable.

3. Open your mouth wide.

It’s a way of saying that I have the ability to see the future and that you will definitely do well and be successful and gain wealth and fame and be able to sing here and there until you are at least twenty-eight years old.

In this case, there was a fatal side effect that one wrong word could lead to a cautious recommendation for hospital treatment.

‘How is it that you don’t have anything useful to say?’

As I rewrote my life, I thought my career at Hanpyeong Industry was a waste of time, but now that I look back, it doesn’t seem like it was a bad thing. I realized once again how incompetent I am outside of the company.

In all three cases, the future did not look bright, but I steeled myself.

For this guy, it’s a matter of life, for me, it’s my sister’s life and my future.

“Seongbin-ah. If it’s not too cold now, can I just say… five words?”

“Yes, bro.”

I spoke as calmly as I could so as not to seem overly encouraging.

“I hope you don’t feel too bad that the gap between you and other kids isn’t closing right now.”

Jeong Seong-bin, who was about to drink honey tea, showed a subtle reaction. I’m sorry for touching you while you were eating.

“If you just do as you have been doing so far, the day will come when you will be recognized. Really.”

“You’re so confident, bro.”

“of course.”

Jeong Seong-bin, who had been smiling faintly like a deflated balloon at my confident attitude, seemed flustered.

Kim Yi-wol, you can do it.

Your image is nothing compared to the godlikeness of the stone tablet, the spark of the spark, and the drama OST killer.

For the sake of this young friend overcoming his growing pains, no, for the sake of my future free from Hanpyeong Industries, let’s close our eyes and do it.

I opened my mouth with great difficulty, even though I couldn’t wet it with red ginseng honey tea.

“I… … know the future.”

It was a shocking true story that could be called, “Kim Yi-wol, at the age of 29, said, ‘I know the future’… … scandal.”

A cold wind passed between me and Jeong Seong-bin.

“……yes?”

Fuck.

I’ve been the most miserable since I was born. Is this the empathy score? But I’m not in the empathy position, I’m a party to it.

I continued speaking with difficulty, holding back the burning sensation in my face.

“I saw it for a moment, no, I saw it.”

I quickly changed the expression because the word ‘saw’ implies that my will was included.

“Even though this time may be too long and difficult for you… … in the not-too-distant future, you will think that this time made you happy.”

After hearing what I said, Jeong Seong-bin spent a long time in silence.

I guess he was trying to figure out if I was crazy or if I had a screw loose.

Taking advantage of this gap, I pretended to be calm and continued the conversation.

“If you don’t believe me, then don’t say anything.”

“No, it makes me feel better.”

“Let’s lower the corners of our lips and lie.”

Fortunately, Jeong Seong-bin’s face was much more relaxed than before. Rather than being comforted, it seemed closer to him being cheered up by laughter.

But where did the thought come from? I barely held back a sigh of relief for the umpteenth time.

The steam rising from my body was so strong that I wondered if there had ever been such a hot winter in the world.

The atmosphere on the way back to the accommodation after leaving the playground was not as heavy as it had been a few dozen minutes ago.

“What was I doing in the future you saw?”

It was because Jeong Seong-bin was very excited and asked about this and that.

Until a little while ago, he had been lying insincerely, trying to pretend that everything was okay, but now there was playfulness hidden in every word he said.

Here I am… … .

‘Yeah. You became the leader of a talented boy group and quietly led the team through the tough entertainment industry, and as a result, you eventually saw the light of day. Even though you disbanded.’

… … If Jeong Seong-bin had overconfidently believed in folk beliefs and let it go, it would have been a big problem.

I racked my brain once again.

Minimize information and use synonyms, but use words that are sufficiently responsible to make you feel… … .

“Uh… …leader?”

… … Why on earth do I carry a head around?

I thought that if my head was this messed up, I needed to do some serious self-reflection.

“If I, well… … become the leader, won’t the group fall apart right away?”

“No, no. I’m screwed without you.”

I don’t know where it started, but Jeong Seong-bin ended up laughing happily, even covering his mouth with his laughter.

Sister, are you watching?

My sister and I live such a miserable life.

Jeong Seong-bin’s questions continued until they arrived at their accommodation.

To Jeong Seong-bin, who seemed to embody diligence, such an absurd story seemed quite refreshing.

Thanks to that, our conversation remained at this level the whole time.

“You can’t see the future at any time, right?”

“Yes. I have to live this life too.”

“If you think about something you want to see, does it appear before your eyes?”

“I guess it’s a divine presence or something. I don’t see it often, but I see it occasionally.”

Suddenly, I had to take the time to deeply apologize to shamans all over the country.

And I vowed that after seeing this kind and gentle friend debut, I would go to Jirisan Mountain to atone for my sins.

By the time he returned to his room, Jeong Seong-bin looked quite relieved, perhaps because of the laughter therapy.

Or maybe I was so cornered that I couldn’t even think of such trivial things.

Still, it was a remarkable achievement that Jeong Seong-bin’s face changed to a face that said, ‘I’m going to give it my all today…!’

I was about to go to bed, feeling relieved that everything had turned out okay, when my vision started to blur.

It was a system. It wasn’t surprising anymore.

But something was strange. It was a different type of message than before.

+

[SYSTEM] The ‘personnel disadvantage clause’ is notified to ‘乙’.

▷ Violation of internal rules

▷ Breach of confidentiality

▷ [Lock]

.

.

.

+

At first glance, I saw words that looked ominous.

I felt uneasy and selected the item ‘Breach of confidentiality’ that was blinking unusually. Then a long text appeared.

+

[SYSTEM] ‘Breach of confidentiality’ is notified to ‘.’

▷ Any direct information related to matters outside of Spark’s successful operations and future time periods is considered confidential and requires security.

▷ ‘乙’ is responsible for keeping the above matters confidential.

▷ The severity of punishment is determined by considering various factors such as the importance of the leaked confidential information, the topicality, etc., and the maximum punishment is ‘death’.

+

Surely you aren’t warning me for cheering once in the morning, saying, ‘Jeong Seong-bin is the leader!’ When the maximum penalty is death.

If I had known my life was at stake, I wouldn’t have done something so embarrassing as leaking secrets.

Not wanting to believe the reality, I read the note again, word for word, at 3 in the morning, which had the talent of making people angry.

But reading the note again didn’t make a difference.

Everything except calling my father “father” is prohibited.

It was a story that was hard to accept without going crazy.