Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols - Chapter 44
Only Krnovel
| Episode 44. Family Invitation Event (1)
A while later.
A middle-aged woman visited Spark’s residence.
“It’s been a while, everyone. Is this friend I’m seeing for the first time, Lee Wol, the new guy?”
That’s right, it was Jeong Seong-bin’s mother.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Seongbin’s mom.”
My mother put her luggage down in the hallway and held out her hand to me.
I quickly reached out and shook his hand to say hello.
“hello.”
I was thinking of adding ‘Nice to meet you’ at the end, but I held back.
Even though I have never met my friend’s parents, I could tell that that kind of speech was not ordinary just by looking at Lee Cheong-hyeon running around Jeong Seong-bin’s parents.
As expected, Jeong Seong-bin’s mother spoke to me with a smiling face.
“Oh my god, Yiwol is much more polite than I heard from Seongbin.”
Already? My back is only halfway bent.
If I had even said that I would meet her for the first time, I might have heard her say, ‘She’s very polite and sensible.’
By the way, how did Jeong Seong-bin tell his mother about me?
I was anxious, but I didn’t really want to know. So instead of questioning Jeong Seong-bin, I decided to help carry my mother’s luggage.
“Please give me your luggage and sit comfortably.”
“No, no. I’ll put it in the fridge.”
Then, she picked up the large shopping bag that her mother had put down.
After a bit of a scuffle, I was finally able to hand over my shopping bags and head to the kitchen.
The shopping bag was full of airtight containers. It seemed as if she had come dressed simply because she had so much luggage.
Jeong Seong-bin said after seeing him.
“You brought me side dishes again? You must be busy working.”
“You don’t come here often, so this is enough. Kiyeon, Cheonghyeon! Can you put these guys out on the veranda?”
Kang Ki-yeon and Lee Cheong-hyeon moved diligently following their mother’s instructions.
Everyone was moving briskly, so it seemed like this wasn’t something that happened in a day or two.
It was then that the doorbell rang again at the front door.
Then, my mother, who was busy taking out items from her shopping bag, raised her head and spoke.
“Ah. I guess it’s your dad.”
“Is Dad here too? Didn’t he go to work today?”
“He said he took his annual leave. He insisted on coming too when I told him I was coming to see you.”
When I heard that it was Jeong Seong-bin’s father, I ran to the front door in a hurry.
When I opened the door, a man with an appearance that definitely resembled Jeong Seong-bin was standing there.
Carrying a grocery shopping basket that was twice as full as what my mother brought.
“Huh? I haven’t seen your face before. Are you Yiwol?”
“hello!”
I’ve seen men of similar age to my father many times before.
When working as a convenience store manager or delivery worker, etc.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but feel a strange awkwardness coming from the fact that the person in front of me was my colleague’s father.
Because of that, I had to show off my ‘answer with a loud voice’ technique that I only used in UA.
And this time, I successfully carried my father’s luggage and headed to the kitchen.
At that moment, my mother’s scolding came down.
“No, why are you telling this to the kid? I told you it was heavy because there was fruit in it!”
“Oh no, I forgot.”
“It’s not that heavy, so it’s okay, Mom!”
I was afraid of being caught in a fight between whales and shrimps, so I quickly explained.
When I opened the shopping cart with Jeong Seong-bin, this time again it was full of colorful plastic containers.
“Is there anything you can’t eat, Yiwol? The lady said she packed a lot of food for you, but I’m worried that you might have nothing to eat.”
“Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll eat it all!”
“This guy only eats chewy noodles, but he eats all the vegetables inside!”
The answer came automatically because of the memory from Hanpyeong Industry where you had to drink even if it was a solo drink given by your boss… … But Lee Cheong-hyeon struck the trigger.
I can’t figure out why he’s so obsessed with my taste.
“Do you like being scared of Yiwol?”
“Haha, just a little bit!”
It seemed that after the two of them passed away, I would have to have a long conversation with Lee Cheong-hyeon in the room.
Look forward to it. I’ll give you an unforgettable lesson.
So, after we finished packing up all three of our huge shopping carts, we were finally able to gather in the living room.
I decided to take a ride in the car while the guys chatted with the adults.
I’ve been entertaining guests for years, but I just sit there and order around because it hurts my pride.
‘It feels strange because it feels like I’m in a steam room.’
I quickly placed seven cups of warm mugwort tea and a glass of lukewarm water for myself on a tray and headed to the living room before any more musty memories came flooding back.
Park Joo-woo, who saw that only my water was transparent, asked.
“… …Why do you just drink water, hyung?”
“To prevent tooth discoloration.”
If you can’t do anything about your face, shouldn’t you at least keep it neat?
The expressions on the faces of the guys looking at me were so subtle that my efforts to improve the average visuals of the group seemed insignificant.
I know my shortcomings well even if you don’t look at me like that, so I hope you don’t emphasize them with your eyes.
While I was receiving the members’ warm gazes, Jeong Seong-bin’s parents visited the members one by one and asked about their well-being.
“I heard Kiyeon hurt her ankle last time. Is it completely better now?”
“Yes, I’m fine now.”
“Jeho, you’ve grown so much since I last saw you. How did you grow so tall?”
From what the two of them said, it seemed like they had been watching the trainees for a long time.
At the same time, for some reason, a scene from a weekend drama kept popping up in my head.
So, that’s the scene where the prospective mother-in-law says to the female protagonist, “How country. You’re too low-class to hang out with our son!”
‘If you say that an unheard of scoundrel joins your son’s group that he has been training for years, it’s understandable that you would think that way.’
The side dish you mentioned earlier might have been a real-life version of the ‘I put it in without making you sad’ bag.
Even for me, if I had to spend seven years on the same boat as Jeong Seong-bin, who had come from somewhere else, I would have felt like my heart was going to burst through the roof.
After greeting my parents and all the guys, it was finally my turn.
“Lee Wol-i… … .”
I quickly thought about what would come next.
‘What made you think you could become an idol?’
or not…….
‘Are you really going to stay at UA until you debut?’
Or else.
‘Do you often hear that you’re not very tactful?’
The moment I thought about this, I had a strong desire to run away.
My heart was pounding harder than during the stressful interview I had at Hanpyeong Industries.
You shouldn’t so easily doubt the actions of others, especially adults.
It was as if my head was using all the energy in my body to think bad thoughts.
After a second that felt like a thousand years had passed, Jeong Seong-bin’s mother spoke.
“Isn’t it difficult being a trainee?”
“yes?”
And I was taken aback. It was the kind of thing I had never expected to hear.
Who in the world doesn’t have a hard time?
Even though I had the ridiculous condition of debuting as an idol, if I could really save my older sister, I had to think of it as a precious opportunity that others would not have been able to obtain.
Besides, the colleagues who were supposed to debut at the same time were guys who had some accidents but were guaranteed to be skilled.
In this situation, venting one’s grievances was a luxury.
I answered with a smile.
“Yes, I am working hard!”
… … said. Very honestly.
* * *
Jeong Seong-bin’s parents stayed for about an hour and then passed away.
I asked them if they should at least eat dinner before leaving, but they both stubbornly refused. They said they would be bothered by the kids resting.
When I asked Jeong Seong-bin, surprisingly, he said that both of them were planning to go home right away.
When the adults in my house go out, they don’t come home for about three days.
Well, as I grew up and listened to stories, it seemed like in most families, the family would gather at home at night.
In order to comply with the house rules, we divided the living room into sections and while we were cleaning up the rooms where guests had been, Jeong Seong-bin approached me holding an empty cup.
I was washing the dishes to make sure the guys’ hands wouldn’t get soaked in cold water, especially for the fans who loved the hands holding the mic.
“Is that a cup that needs to be washed? Leave it next to me.”
“No. Hey, hyung. I’m sorry about today… … .”
“What? Did you spit in the cup on your way here?”
Manager Nam would sometimes spit near my shoes because he was upset. That’s why I hate people who spit on the street.
But what Jeong Seong-bin confessed was not something of that unpleasant nature.
“Was it very uncomfortable when Mom and Dad came?”
“huh?”
Jeong Seong-bin continued speaking with difficulty, fiddling with the handle of the cup.
“I know you’re not the type to be shy, but I think you seemed a little nervous today.”
Nervous? Not embarrassed?
‘I just thought… I was a bit out of it because it was the first time I encountered the situation.’
Come to think of it, my judgment was also flawed.
If I had the personality to not adapt to the new environment I encountered, I would have either failed the CSAT or failed the interview for a job at Hanpyeong Industries.
However, I did not fail the CSAT, and unfortunately, I did not miss the Hanpyeong Industry interview.
I wondered if I was embarrassed because of my subconscious need to look good. There were countless people in my life who I had to look good to.
‘There were probably about twenty people in college who should have looked good.’
It meant that there was no reason to be anxious about wanting to look good to someone.
If so, the conclusion is one.
‘Are you nervous about looking bad in front of your coworker’s parents?’
X sells but this makes sense.
No, it didn’t make sense except in this case.
If he had met the family of someone he knew, there wouldn’t have been much to do, but he was all alone, freezing, beating drums, janggu, and even playing the ocarina.
At this point, it’s gone beyond worrying about making a slip of the tongue in front of adults.
I said, trying to hide my embarrassment with a cough.
“I didn’t have many opportunities to talk to people my parents’ age. It was just because I wasn’t used to it, but I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all.”
“Really?”
“Oh. You both took good care of us. So don’t be sorry.”
I answered indirectly to Jeong Seong-bin, who seemed to have an apology written on his forehead.
In the first place, it wasn’t something Jeong Seong-bin should apologize for. Apologies are only given when people like my family members come.
I imagined that situation for a moment and then realized I had done something wrong.
I was feeling so fucking f*cked that I almost dropped one of the few glass cups in the room into the sink.
As I was trying to clear my complicated mind, there was a place that came to mind.
The question was how Jeong Seong-bin noticed my strange psychology.