Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols - Chapter 17
Only Krnovel
| Episode 17. Representative Interview (1)
The kids’ preparations for school ended with them each receiving a slice of steaming bread.
I bid farewell to the guys who were desperately trying to find their shoes in the cluttered shoe rack while also neatly buying some bread.
“Be careful with the car, be careful with your face, don’t do stupid things, and show me that you are sincere.”
Then, Kang Ki-yeon muttered with a pouty face.
“Honestly, my parents don’t nag me as much as my brother does.”
Is that so? I don’t know because I’ve never heard my parents nag me.
“So? Our Kang Ki-yeon is going to do something stupid without being careful with the car or caring about his face?”
Kang Ki-yeon, who missed his turn to refute my words, grumbled, asking why the story was like that.
I patted the shoulder of the boy who was having a hard time getting to school at the crack of dawn and said,
“Giyeon-ah.”
“why.”
“I didn’t tell you to study hard.”
“… … .”
“Let’s not do useless things. Okay?”
Then I showed Kang Ki-yeon a kind smile. Kang Ki-yeon shivered at my affectionate appearance.
The three high school students left their dormitory with a farewell message to have a healthy and safe day. It was a noisy morning.
* * *
“So you baked bread?”
Choi Je-ho woke up like a ghost at 8 o’clock, his usual wake-up time, and asked.
I answered, placing a piece of cold toast on my plate.
“Yeah. I grilled some more while I was grilling the kids’. Do you want some?”
“uh.”
Park Joo-woo, who passed the high school equivalency exam and therefore did not need to go to school, was already eating the toast he had been given.
Even without that, Lee Cheong-hyeon was leaving while muttering, ‘I envy Hyung Joo-woo… ‘
“I’m a high school student. It’s a good time.”
“You talk like you graduated 10 years ago?”
How did you know, you?
I pretended not to hear Choi Je-ho’s words, fearing that I would be punished for leaking secrets related to the regression despite my own will.
While I was chewing my toast, just looking around, for some reason Park Joo-woo joined the conversation.
“… … What did you plan on doing after graduating from high school?”
“uh?”
“I heard that the trainee had never done it before… … .”
I was thinking of going to college.
I’m talking about the university I should have gone to but couldn’t.
Park Joo-woo, that guy, even during Spark, I heard that he was a hidden perceptive king, and his skill at surprising people was a work of art. Thanks to him, I almost cried while eating bread.
Because of the system, only my position has become difficult. I guess you can’t say that I went there before, but somehow I can’t go in this life.
Choi Je-ho and Park Joo-woo, unaware of how badly I was hurt, just stared blankly at me.
If you’re going to have people lie, give them model answers to use as well.
For someone like me who has no talent for making up stories or lying, this situation was harsh.
I thought about it for a moment, then decided to answer in as roundabout a way as possible.
“I debated whether or not I should go, but in the end I didn’t go.”
“……why?”
“Because I can’t pay the tuition.”
Why on earth would I be reverted after the registration date?
As I was chewing my toast with a sense of anger that had no place to go, the expressions on the faces of the guys sitting across from me were strange.
It was as if he had asked something he shouldn’t have.
“Why are your expressions like that… … .”
ah.
Did you understand that I couldn’t pay the tuition because I didn’t have money at home?
I hesitated for about three seconds whether I should correct this misunderstanding or not, then gave up.
In the first place, the money I have now was something I borrowed from my older sister, so it’s not exactly wrong.
Even if I had returned before the registration date, kicked out of UA, and enrolled in college with all the money I had, I would have had to go to school while sleeping on the streets since my parents’ house, where I was staying at the time, was gone.
At the point when I returned to the past with only my body in my hands, my degree became Schrödinger’s diploma.
I thought about the diploma that had been taken from me and all the money I had saved while working hard like a dog at Hanpyeong Industries. Did I really have to take it all away to feel better?
Of course, I couldn’t possibly keep these twists and turns a secret from them and explain them to them. And I had no obligation to do so.
‘I guess I’ll say I’m armed with a hungry spirit this time.’
As I was making my decision bitterly, Choi Je-ho spoke with a look in his eyes that I had never seen before.
“Hey… Cheer up.”
This is Choi Je-ho’s support.
It’s not just any other guy, it’s ‘me’ Choi Je-ho cheering for someone else without a camera.
It was a rare sight that even the daughter of Manager Nam, a diehard fan of Choi Je-ho, would not have seen. The world is truly something to live and see.
+
[SYSTEM] ‘Hidden task’ has been completed.
▷ Content: Have a private conversation with a colleague
▷ Reward: Experience (10)
▷ Cumulative experience: 10
▷ Accumulated points: 0
+
That wasn’t all. Hidden tasks were also accomplished naturally, perhaps to encourage a harmonious trainee life.
I’m busy building my skills, but I also have to make friends.
No matter how important communication is in an organization, I felt like my experience was stagnant while my workload was increasing.
* * *
The high school students returned one by one in the afternoon.
The place of return was, of course, the practice room.
I handed a handkerchief to Lee Cheong-hyeon, who had returned after washing his hands, and asked him.
“Did you get home safely? Is your face okay?”
“Of course. I came back without a single scratch!”
“You’ve got the posture right. Great.”
“Brother, aren’t you too obsessed with the safety of your face?”
Lee Cheong-hyeon talked nonsense.
It seemed like the guy didn’t really know how many commercials he would have to appear in with his face.
I thought that I should insure each member’s face before debuting, if only to repay UA for investing in me.
“But when do you practice when you go to school?”
“Seongbin hyung and Giyeon go to school together as much as possible. The schedule is somewhat flexible.”
“Then you?”
“There is no school in my school. Instead, my school is close, and Kiyeon’s school is far away, so when you consider things like commuting time, it’s about the same.”
Indeed, Kang Ki-yeon was stretching next to me with a very regretful expression on her face.
“There should be some time to rest. I’m worried.”
Then Kang Ki-yeon responded.
“My brother practices every night.”
“I’m almost done growing up, so I’m okay.”
“Me too… … There are people who grow even after going to the military.”
That’s their story, you’re not growing up.
Kang Ki-yeon’s height has not changed since his debut. This is a fact that Kang Ki-yeon himself revealed.
‘Did I come during that growth period? Sparkler… … We decided not to talk about our heights, right?’
‘Isn’t Kang-Kyeon really being so bitter? It’s really funny.’
‘It’s been the same since I was in my second or third year of high school… ‘
‘Kiyeon isn’t crying, is she?’
In other words, this meant that Kang Ki-yeon had to make his final spurt.
In such an important time, if you miss the golden time and stay awake day or night, it will be difficult to see a good outcome.
When all the members were grown up, I wanted to do something alone.
With such a lack of sleep, it was only natural that he would not grow taller. This was even more so when you consider that his diet consisted of only bread and salad. I wonder where he sold his protein.
‘If possible, I’ll try to secure a time when the kids can sleep… … If not, I’ll have to give them milk in the morning.’
Are there really so many factors to consider when debuting an idol?
I wasn’t sure, but I couldn’t deny that it was much better to be able to do something than to be unable to do anything.
That night, I was able to return to my lodgings only after buying two packs of low-fat milk with Kang Ki-yeon and enjoying the early spring night breeze.
‘I should have applied to change my career path from being an idol to being a manager.’
It was a regrettable night.
And this regret soon blooms into full bloom.
* * *
For a while my schedule was fairly stable.
My day these days is… … .
7:00 Wake up and bake bread for high school students (+give Kang Ki-yeon low-fat milk)
8:00 Eat breakfast and get ready to go to practice
9:00~24:00 Practice and other things
00:00~00:30 Reflect on the day’s work while washing
00:30~ Thinking about the future, establishing a plan to revive Spark, etc.
… … It was very monotonous. Sometimes I made French toast and it was delicious.
Preparation for the next month-end evaluation also went smoothly.
As my vocal proficiency improved, I was able to sense where and how I was lacking when singing.
By combining the issues I had found with the training routes the members had received, I could roughly predict the feedback I would hear until the next evaluation.
All that remained was to choose songs that would most clearly demonstrate that the feedback I would receive had improved, and this was neatly resolved as well.
This is because Spark’s human karaoke book, Jeong Seong-bin, heard the conditions once and immediately selected twenty songs in one day.
I was so sorry for baking bread so many times, so I tried to get some luck.
‘There are fewer songs than last time?’
‘It’s hard to listen to them all. I thought about your taste from last time’s list, and I considered the songs you sang during the monthly review, so I tried to narrow it down a bit more… … The more candidates, the better?’
‘No. You’re a genius.’
As a result, preparations for the evaluation are progressing at a rapid pace.
Now it seemed that all that was needed was to upgrade the dancing from a runaway train to a steam locomotive.
By the way, the goal of the dance is to not go off the rails.
“You really have no talent for dancing.”
“You are usually the most incompetent when you first start working, a month after.”
“What kind of metaphor is that?”
Just as I was about to swear that I would just avoid going off the rails, Choi Je-ho lifted my elbow. This time, it seemed like the angle wasn’t right either.
As expected, the criticism came straight from Choi Je-ho.
“When you look in the mirror, you can see that the angles are not right. Are you not used to it yet?”
If I had a body that could perform parallel calculations to that extent, I wouldn’t have gone through this much trouble.
I missed Kang Ki-yeon, who was strict but at least taught me with a more humane perspective than Choi Je-ho.
“If you can do at least one cover dance, you’ll have something to say during an interview.”
“Interview?”
“Our company has a personal interview at the beginning of every month. With the CEO, the manager, and the management team.”
Dude, if there’s something like that, shouldn’t you tell me quickly?
The interview with the representative was absolutely horrendous. Is there anything more unproductive than an interview with a person in power?
At that moment, the system also shined brightly between me and Choi Je-ho, and a new task was launched.
+
[SYSTEM] ‘New task’ has been assigned.
▷ Content: Conducting the first representative interview
▷ Reward: Experience (10)
+
If you change your focus while talking to someone, you might get rumored to see hallucinations.
I quickly read the main points and looked at Choi Je-ho again and asked.
“What do you usually talk about when you go?”
“We don’t really talk much. It’s about whether you’re fit to be a trainee or whether you’re doing well these days.”
X is important.
Don’t you know how tiring corporate life becomes if you are labeled as a misfit?
‘Well, he’s not the type of person to care about that kind of thing.’
I thought back to my last interview with Manager Nam.
I’m saying that I’m praising Manager Kim a lot and that I’m dying because I’m so obsessed with it.
Lastly, I’m talking about the interview that was like a one-man talk show by Manager Nam, including the request to finish the banner that our child had requested quickly.
I really hope that the UA representative doesn’t have any expectations of me.
I also sincerely hope that even if you have a child who is a fan of an idol, you are not the type of person who would bring that to work without any sense.
As if Choi Je-ho’s words were foreshadowing, a few days later, the trainees were individually notified of their interview times.