Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols - Chapter 2



Only Krnovel

| Episode 2. The Old Man System (1)

My parents were extremely indifferent to both of their children.

They were largely irresponsible and sometimes violent.

My upbringing could be described in one sentence: ‘It wasn’t until I was in elementary school that I learned that people eat three meals a day on average.’

My sister and I, who had no luck with guardians, spent our childhood under neglect, indifference, and an overbearing attitude.

My sister’s childhood probably wasn’t much different from my past.

However, despite growing up in the same environment, my older sister seemed to have noticed me, who was much younger than her, and supported me in every way possible until I became an adult.

Even when I thought about giving up on going to college because I had no way to pay for tuition, and even when I looked through part-time job postings, thinking I would just stay home until I could save up the deposit.

My older sister, who had been saving money diligently, kicked me out of the house when I was graduating from high school because I couldn’t even take care of myself.

And I managed to get him enrolled in college.

‘I’m not just giving you the money. I’ll pay you back later.’

‘… I’ll pay you back as soon as possible.’

‘Oh, oh. I hope I can receive some filial piety from my younger brother in my later years.’

‘Is it possible to survive your old age on 15 million won?’

‘It’s okay because I’ll get compound interest.’

‘As expected, working people are not easy.’

Anyway, with 15 million won in my hands with no repayment period, I was able to completely separate from my home.

From then on, I only had to take responsibility for myself.

A college classmate who heard my story of working at Hanpyeong Industries once asked me a serious question.

‘If there are so many weird people in the company, wouldn’t it be better to just quit early?’

My answer, while I was mechanically editing the ‘Hyung Line Gongnyang Gongnyang Collection.Zip’ video across from the guy, was ‘I want to do that too.’

Who would want to work for a company that pays little but makes them work like dogs?

Even while sticking fruit stickers on the faces of boys my age who weren’t even that interested.

But I couldn’t do that. I wanted to repay my debt to my sister as quickly as possible.

Especially when you reach an age where you clearly know the level of money that a young adult can save.

I didn’t even want to waste time on changing jobs, so I held on with all my might. The only thing that healed me was the balance that was approaching my target.

That day, I barely managed to pay off all my sister’s loans with the money I had saved by working so hard.

We decided to live our lives doing something we wanted to do at least once a year.

Even though we couldn’t meet often because we were both busy, we would occasionally chat through messengers…

‘Are you ready to buy a bag at the duty free shop?’

‘I’m ready to make a broadcast to find people in the duty free shop.’

‘Do you think I can’t do it?’

… … while talking about things like that.

And the very next winter, my older sister passed away in an accident.

It had been less than 30 minutes since we broke up in front of a cafe near my house.

The last conversation I had with my sister was so ordinary that I don’t even remember it.

That moment on that day was my last meeting with my only family.

Is there anyone who hasn’t imagined at least once that their dead family members would come back to life?

But the dead don’t come back. That’s death and the end.

My confused mind cooled down. Instead, my head was filled with a rage that had no place to go.

‘How can I wake up from this dream?’

For the first time in my life, I desperately wanted my alarm to go off even a second sooner.

So that this terrible sleep will end, and I won’t have to recall the emotions of the past two years.

But the alarm didn’t sound. I felt like I was left alone in a silence of unknown depth.

+

[SYSTEM] The ‘handover’ is in progress for ‘乙’.

+

In the meantime, a new message flashed before my eyes.

Go ahead and talk about X.

I just covered myself with the blanket and lay down. If I didn’t lie down, I felt like I would bang my head against the wall.

But there was one thing I overlooked.

In a world where letters can appear in the air, there is no guarantee that some strange phenomenon will not occur.

The content about ‘handover’ flowed into my head unilaterally, as if I was reading a book or document.

+

[SYSTEM] Status of handover progress

▷ Notice of work progress period: February XX, 20XX (synchronization completed and cannot be changed)

▷ Check the manual

▷ Process Verification

+

As I was about to hit him twice on the head, I noticed something strange among the unfamiliar information.

The year listed as the period of work progress was 9 years ago from this year.

The season was the same. Until yesterday, it was early autumn, but the progress was pointing to February.

‘It’s not like we went back to the old days.’

I turned my gaze to the window, which should still be covered with greenery. Then I saw a few bare tree branches outside the window.

‘… … !’

The view outside the window was the cool winter itself.

The sun was out, but the windows were fogged up, and the bare tree branches, devoid of any leaves, were clearly visible, swaying in the wind.

‘Where is my phone?’

I instinctively reached for my phone. It was right next to my pillow, as usual.

But the model was different from mine. Strictly speaking, it was different from my ‘current’ model.

What I had in front of me was a 2G phone I had used almost 10 years ago.

When everyone else was using smartphones, I bought this phone because the cost of the device was too high, so I could focus on my studies.

In a Korean society where the adult smartphone usage rate exceeds 90%, a brick phone that seems to be able to block caller ID has been released.

So many things were strange.

The face of Emperor Choi Je-ho, who was much younger than his last memory, and the phone that was clearly thrown away a long time ago because it wouldn’t turn on, pointed to only one possibility.

I was possessed and entered my old password on the lock screen. Then, as if by magic, the password was unlocked.

What was even more unbelievable was the date displayed on the phone.

‘… … It was 9 years ago.’

It was the same date as the work progress time notified in the system and the time when I was searching for English words on this phone.

That year, when Choi Je-ho, the center emperor who was the same age as me, turned 20, and Spark was running towards its debut.

I felt like all the blood was draining from my body.

I swept my face with both hands, which was moist and looked 3,400 days younger than yesterday.

Sister… … .

I feel like I’ve become X… … .

* * *

A sunny winter morning.

A room so quiet that it feels peaceful thanks to the other person sleeping deeply.

Sitting inside, I opened my eyes and suddenly found myself looking 9 years younger.

But now, he is being held hostage by his older sister and future and is being forced to become an idol (29 years old/office worker).

I checked my face dimly reflected on the LCD of the turned off cell phone.

Even when looking at the black screen, I could see that her complexion had improved and that the dark circles under her eyes had noticeably decreased. It was exactly like my face when I first graduated from high school.

‘It’s really gotten harder.’

Was the feeling of refreshment when I woke up because I had rejuvenated myself? If that was the case, I’d be a little sad.

If it was just me who became younger, I wouldn’t know, but since all time went backwards, it would be more appropriate to say that I went back to the past.

If I could use the internet, I would know more clearly. It was impossible with this brick phone.

I suddenly had an ominous feeling.

‘Surely I didn’t die and go to some kind of afterlife, right?’

I know it sounds crazy, but if this is the afterlife, wouldn’t it be possible for letters to appear before my eyes?

However, the possibility that a 29-year-old man would die while making a banner announcing the disbandment of an idol group in his room was as slim as the probability of the current situation.

Even if something went terribly wrong, I don’t think I, who was living a normal life, would suddenly die.

And on top of that, you’re debuting a dead person as an idol in the afterlife?

Did you turn around?

It would be more reasonable to think of it as time going back.

‘for a moment.’

If time itself could be turned back, wouldn’t there be no need to debut as an idol to save my older sister?

All I have to do right now is meet my older sister and convince her to listen to me and live a long life.

I quickly looked for my sister’s number in my contacts, but the phone book was empty.

It was a neatness that should not be seen on my phone, which was full of numbers of CEOs from all kinds of companies.

Luckily, I had memorized my sister’s number. I quickly entered the number and made the call.

– The number you are dialing is not available.

But what came back was an unexpected automatic response.

I checked the number again, and it was definitely the right number. Something was off.

‘My sister never changed her number.’

It didn’t matter anyway. If I couldn’t reach him, I could just go and look for him.

I picked up my cell phone and got out of bed.

But the momentum didn’t last long.

‘Where was your house, sister?’

I couldn’t remember the neighborhood or the name of the building where my sister lived at all. The other memories were vivid, but it was as if I only remembered that part.

As I was thinking this far, an additional long article came to mind.

This time it was closer to the form of a document than a message.

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[SYSTEM] The ‘Life Reuse Manual’ is notified to ‘eul’.

▷ If you wake up at a point in the past based on your previous life, your life is considered to have been recycled.

▷ Once a reused life begins, returning to the previous life is not permitted.

▷ Memories and knowledge acquired in previous lives can only be used within the permitted scope, and violation of this will result in sanctions.

▷ If it is judged that memories and knowledge acquired in a previous life hinder the accomplishment of tasks in the current life, the use of existing memories may be restricted without the consent of ‘乙’.

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

+

I wasn’t sure what he meant, but one thing was clear.

Whatever is wrong, it is seriously wrong.

I woke up with my eyes wide open, only to find that my life had already been recycled.

I felt like I had received a defective product that had been opened when I bought it, and then I was told that opened products cannot be returned.

There were times when I wanted to change my lifestyle, but that didn’t mean I wanted to change my life.

By the fourth point, I wanted to give up on the idea.

In short, it seemed like if I wanted to complete the final reward, the reunion with my sister, through the dark route without achieving the KPI, the compulsion would be triggered.

For example, by erasing the memories that were the link to contacting my older sister.

‘If I promise to go to the place where the accident happened and wait for my sister to come back… … .’

I tried to remember the anniversary of my sister’s death and where the accident happened.

And I failed. It felt like there was a hole in the corner of my head and I couldn’t remember anything.

* * *

What are the odds that a person will suddenly go against the flow of time while living?

What if, on top of that, you were suddenly forced to change careers that were not even in your horoscope, with your family and future held hostage?

Is it possible that the job assigned to you is to be an idol who has to shine brightly?

If I refuse, will I have to work the rest of my life at the same job that made me work overtime 7 days a week until yesterday?

I don’t know for sure, but I know it’s a case of dog-eat-dog failure.

I went through stages of denial and anger and then into a state of resignation.

As long as there was a condition that my sister could live, I had no choice but to refuse.

It’s a filial piety that I couldn’t fully show my older sister while she was alive. I couldn’t help but do it, right?

I didn’t want to get involved with that damn Hanpyeong Industry any more.

Then, all that’s left is to make a spectacular debut as a six-member boy group.

Spark and… …debut?

It was cold. The knife flew and stuck in my eyes, and my vision went dark.

Objectively speaking, Spark wasn’t a bad group.

It’s because I personally hold a grudge, but if you look at each individual’s ability, it would be enough to beg them to accept me.

Idols active in our country,

1. Problematic Idol

2. An idol who gets beaten up for no reason even though there is no problem

3. Idols who disappear without a sound, without even being known about their debut

When categorized into three groups.

Spark was straddling a problematic idol and a beaten idol.

All of his external pasts were clean. He didn’t even do drugs.

However, Spark was a group that was often embroiled in various controversies, starting with the controversy over their character, and established themselves as a new issue maker on the rock stage.

≫ If you want to learn noise marketing, look up and see ㅅㅍㅋ

└ Isn’t Splash just noise marketing?

└ Marketing King Jeongji’s popularity skyrocketed every time an issue arose.

Let’s say I’m in this group.

When an ordinary person joins a visual group that was criticized for everything else but not their face, the expected reactions were as follows.

≫ One loach can ruin the water quality. It can eat up the whole average by itself. Isn’t that a talent?

└ Five people are level 1, but one is a dead person, so there is no water pollution.

└ Is this idol’s face really that level? My heart is sinking

Likewise, it was easy to predict the reaction when a common person joined the group that was considered a gem of a presidential candidate based on skill alone.

≫ Can one loach ruin the water quality? Can it do the show all by itself? Isn’t that a talent?

└ I’m getting a bad feeling when I see it, but I’m really confident. My mentality is top-notch.

└ What are you doing if your X-foot mentality is 1st class? Your body is ㅎㅌㅊ

My presence only added fuel to the fire in an already talkative group. It was the worst thing I could ever imagine.

Why me of all people?

Why Spark of all things?

There must have been at least 200 people who wanted to debut with Spark more than me.

I stared at the message still floating in the air with eyes that were probably dead.

Then suddenly, there was a part that caught my eye.

+

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

+

It’s an accessory.

Is it something like a welcome kit? Hanpyeong Industries doesn’t give out anything like that.

I stared at the screen, wondering how I could get that accessory.

Then a new screen really appeared.

What appeared before my eyes was a resume with a familiar layout.

This is the resume of me, ‘Kim Yi-wol’.