Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols - Chapter 32



Only Krnovel

| Episode 32. Chuno (2)

I waited for another 30 minutes, but Lee Cheong-hyeon did not come.

It was at this point that it became clear that there was something wrong with the guy’s mind.

‘How come not a single one just passes by?’

I once again felt respect for the teachers who graduated dozens of high school students during their puberty.

“What on earth is going on… … .”

Jeong Seong-bin said in a worried voice.

No one seemed to be able to guess why Lee Cheong-hyeon suddenly skipped practice.

As far as I can remember, I’ve never heard of Lee Cheong-hyeon running away while he was a trainee.

The fight between Choi Je-ho and Kang Ki-yeon and the conflict between Jeong Seong-bin were things that were meant to happen, but this was the first time that something that didn’t happen before happened.

‘If we are to say that Lee Cheong-hyun was involved in the incident that changed from before, the only thing that changed is the debut song.’

Like other trainees, there was no possibility that Lee Chung-hyun, who did not have a cell phone, would have heard about the debut song while walking home from school.

But no matter how much I thought about it, there was nothing that could be a problem other than Lee Cheong-hyeon’s self-composed songs.

‘Or did this kid… … notice?’

Although he appeared to be quite a mess on the outside, Lee Cheong-hyeon had a fairly useful sense.

In past broadcasts, whenever Choi Je-ho or Kang Ki-yeon made the atmosphere awkward, he was the guy who gathered his soul and fixed it.

In other words, it means that he may have completed the assumption that the song he composed could be used as the debut title song.

You didn’t mind when your own compositions were included as tracks on an album, but do you feel emotionally affected when they’re selected as the title track?

And you made a song that’s even more amazing than before?

If that’s the case, then the reason why Lee Cheong-hyeon ran away is obvious even without looking.

‘I don’t want to stand out.’

To be exact, I don’t want to come to the forefront.

It seems that the reason he has been so active since his debut that he has been called the person in charge of Spark’s camera was because of his service.

It could be that he took on the position of entertainment member in the team and gained experience as he gained more experience.

There are some people who are good at their jobs but don’t show it.

There were many such hidden contributors in Hanpyeong Industry as well.

There were various reasons for not drinking tea.

Because I grew up hearing for too long that being shy is a virtue.

Or maybe I’m just so busy working that I don’t have the presence of mind to see results.

Then, people like Manager Nam will take all the credit for their achievements and get promoted. XXXs.

Anyway, the current Lee Cheong-Hyeon was a high school student.

I was at an age where it wouldn’t have been strange to feel burdened by the fact that the first song I ever wrote ended up becoming the title song.

‘So that’s what the new job was like.’

Securing a debut song seemed to basically mean persuading Lee Cheong-hyeon, who ran away.

I didn’t want to force something I didn’t like, but Lee Cheong-hyeon’s song was too good to be included as a track like before.

Jeong Seong-bin’s emotional wandering was like that, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was deliberately going wrong.

It’s like chasing after a fuse connected to gunpowder that’s been lit and just cleaning up the ashes.

‘For now… I guess I’ll have to go catch him.’

I picked up the sweatshirt I had left lying on the sofa in the practice room.

I had a bad feeling it was going to be a long day.

* * *

“Hey, I don’t even know where he went, so why don’t you just leave?”

“Yeah, I think I can find it if I try hard.”

A few years ago, I was wandering around a bar looking for a tie that Manager Nam had lost somewhere during a dinner with the executives.

The only clues were the corporate card payment details received from the accounting team and the atmosphere of the seat where Manager Nam was said to have sat.

To cut to the chase, I found the tie that Manager Nam had lost that day.

Underneath the countless bar chairs in the Gangnam area.

I let it go because I thought I might cry if I thought about the process.

‘I found a black striped tie, so how can I not find a person?’

Even if Lee Cheong-hyeon, a high school student, had moved, it would certainly be within the range of public transportation.

That’s because all the trainees except me receive allowances from their parents.

I started searching on the smartphone I received from my manager.

All the bus stops near Lee Cheong-hyeon’s school and the buses that stop at those stops.

Next, I looked back at the criteria I used to look into real estate when I wanted to quit my job.

‘The most important thing is how far you can get away from the place you want to escape to, right?’

How much did I sympathize with the words of my colleague who was furious that he would not even park in the area where Hanpyeong Industry is once he quits?

I chose five places in order of distance from the final destination, Lee Cheong-hyeon’s high school and UA’s practice room.

Next, we excluded downtown areas and so-called hot places.

Because I had previously read Lee Cheong-hyun’s response to a post-it note at a fan signing event.

If Cheong-Hyeon is given a free holiday

Walking around a crowded place comfortably ( ) vs. resting quietly in a quiet place (○)

I even remember Lee Cheong-hyeon writing neatly under the choices, ‘Please recommend a healing travel destination later!’

It seems like I tend to get lost in thought when I have a lot of worries, even though it doesn’t seem like it.

Besides, the guy is a trainee who will soon debut. I believe he is not stupid enough to hang around in a strict place and become a topic of gossip.

Finally, I searched for ‘Seoul Outskirts Walking Trails’ on portal sites to see which one had the most recommendations.

I don’t think someone who hasn’t made many PPTs would have searched well.

At best, you probably borrowed a friend’s cell phone at school to search, so you probably didn’t have much time to think about it.

I checked the location of the place where the most influencer recommendations were floating around. It was a long way to get there by bus.

If we catch this guy, we will definitely hold him accountable for leaving his job without permission.

I firmly decided to send a text message to my manager saying that I would bring Lee Cheong-hyeon.

Of course, I didn’t forget to go into the convenience store right in front of me and buy a transportation card.

I was tempted to ask UA if they could charge me the cost of finding Lee Cheong-hyeon.

* * *

Lee Cheong-hyeon sat on the bench and shook his legs alternately, moving only his knees.

Every time my feet touched the floor, a cloud of dust rose.

The view below my feet was so far away that it felt like I was in a different space.

Lee Cheong-hyeon, who grew up receiving a flawless home education from a mother and father who lived diligently their entire lives, never once skipped school, which is common.

So, this was Lee Cheong-hyeon’s second misconduct.

The first time, I didn’t get in trouble because I just went to the neighborhood playground with Kang Ki-yeon instead of going to the practice room.

Now that I’ve made it to the debut group, I have nothing to say even if I get scolded.

‘Does Kang Ki-yeon also go for a walk every day with this kind of feeling?’

The day I found out that my same-age friend had a habit of getting nervous in important situations.

Lee Cheong-hyeon dragged Kang Ki-yeon, who was holding back his anger while sitting in a bathroom stall, out and walked around outside with him for a while until his friend’s head cooled down.

I couldn’t fully understand Kang Ki-yeon’s anxiety. This was because Lee Cheong-hyeon wasn’t the type to get nervous easily.

I just went out with my friend who was feeling suffocated and out of breath.

Lee Cheong-hyeon could not have imagined that his escape would come at the end of that long outing.

Unlike when he was always with Kang Ki-yeon, Lee Cheong-hyeon was alone today. And he couldn’t even relieve his blocked and pent-up feelings by taking a walk.

I looked down at my wristwatch and saw that it was already an hour past the time I had to go to the practice room.

But right now, I didn’t want to go to the practice room.

It might have been right to say that I couldn’t go.

Because it seemed like some uncomfortable news was waiting for him in the practice room.

He was so desperate that he hoped his prediction would turn out to be kimchi stew.

Lee Cheong-hyeon had the audacity to pretend to be embarrassed and say, “This incident is a dark history, so there’s no one to talk about it!”

But unfortunately, Lee Cheong-hyeon knew very well that his perceptiveness was lower than average.

I had a feeling that my song might be used as the group’s debut title ever since my roommate, Hyung, wrote the proposal with bloodshot eyes.

Rather than believing in my colleague’s passion, it was the results he produced that made me think that way.

After a persuasive document was published, it became impossible to ignore the surrounding circumstances.

It was unlikely that the agency, which had been experiencing trial and error by adding and subtracting classes even after the debut group was decided due to the lack of a curriculum, would abandon such a highly complete concept.

In an era where there are so many talented and capable idols, it would have been a shame for the company to miss out on the opportunity to be labeled a self-produced group.

Lee Cheong-hyeon understood the whole situation and accepted it.

but…….

‘What if it fails?’

Lee Cheong-hyeon’s common sense made no sense in using a song written by a high school student as the title track.

Writing a song with all of your own compositions is a different matter than being responsible for a few rap lines.

Moreover, the people who would debut with that song were the members that Lee Chung-hyun had been watching over.

I knew very well how hard everyone had been working towards their debut.

To that extent, Lee Cheong-hyeon hoped that his colleagues would debut with better songs.

Of course, all these worries could have ended if Lee Cheong-hyeon had declared that he would not use my songs.

But this wasn’t easy either.

Sadly, Lee Cheong-hyeon himself had a very hard time rejecting adults’ stories.

The only time Lee Cheong-hyeon went against her parents’ wishes was when she declared that she would become an idol.

For such a Lee Cheong-hyeon, it was impossible for him to go against the opinion of his agency, which was a group of adults who were more distant and difficult than his family, objectively in a superior position, and could actively influence his career path.

He even found out that Jeong Seong-bin, who had been with the agency much longer than he was and was the leader of the trainees, was being bullied by a senior singer from the same agency.

It was perhaps natural that Lee Cheong-hyeon was anxious because he could not rebel against adult society.

‘I want to run away.’

As he was thinking that, a long shadow appeared before Lee Cheong-hyeon’s eyes.

At the same time, a cool voice came down from above my head.

“As expected, it was here.”

Lee Cheong-hyeon raised his head at the familiar voice.

His colleague and roommate was standing there expressionless, looking more gloomy than usual, perhaps because of the backlight.