Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols

Park Joowoo quickly recovered thanks to the members’ sincere attention. 

Of course, my nursing couldn’t be left out. Thanks to my meticulous care, Park Joowoo’s complexion became radiant.

 

Afterward, I took advantage of the weekend evening to kindly instruct them on emergency procedures.

 

“If you notice any abnormal signs, report to Jeong Seongbin immediately and go to the hospital during the day. Got it?”

 

As a consideration, I had the patient, Park Joowoo, sit on the sofa while conducting the special lecture. The rest were all on the floor.

 

In the midst of this, Lee Cheonghyeon raised his hand with a serious face and asked,

 

‘Hyung, should I write this down?’

 

‘Yeah. It’ll be on the test.’

 

Lee Cheonghyeon, who showed an excellent attitude in class, was sent to his room early to compose.

 

Seeing one of them released, the others started listening attentively.

 

The trainees, who had now absorbed the importance of health management and maintaining good condition, evolved into disciplined individuals who ate, slept, and exercised regularly like clockwork. It was a desirable change.

 

The lyrics for the debut song were also completed smoothly.

 

It was exactly the atmosphere I was aiming for. The members’ and company’s reactions weren’t bad either.

 

Seeing everything going so well, I thought something was bound to happen soon, but even the system remained quiet.

 

This was the first time I’d had such peaceful days since becoming young again. How many tears of blood had I shed dreaming of being a high-teen star that was never in my destiny before?

 

“What are you thinking about, hyung?”

 

“I was just thinking even a mouse hole wouldn’t get moldy.”

 

Feeling the warm sunlight of the universe, I focused back on the lyrics sheet.

 

That was because Lee Cheonghyeon and I had been assigned the role of calculating the part distribution, with him as the composer and me as the producing member.

 

“I have some thoughts about which member would suit which part, but nothing feels just right yet.”

 

“It’s your first time doing this, so it’s normal not to have a good sense of it yet. For now, just organize your thoughts.”

 

“Can we really decide this by ourselves?”

 

“The company will review it once too.”

 

Upon hearing this, Lee Cheonghyeon furrowed his brows and began concentrating intensely.

 

“First of all, relax your brows. You’ll get wrinkles.”

 

“Geez.”

 

Geez?

Geez?

 

Here I am meticulously preventing vertical lines from forming on his forehead, and all I get is ‘Geez’?

 

I almost flipped over the lyrics sheet I was holding to draw a human face and explain the cost of Botox by area, but I stopped myself.

 

If I did that, this guy might get distracted again and ask, ‘Why didn’t you pursue a career in plastic surgery instead of becoming an idol, hyung?’

 

Seeing the lyrics sheet crumple in my hands, Lee Cheonghyeon finally relaxed his brows.

 

If only he had done that from the start. These kids always make me repeat myself.

 

“I think… dividing it this way would be the safest bet.”

 

Then I marked on the lyrics sheet the parts that each member sang 9 years ago.

 

After years of doing all-out streaming, distinguishing parts in the songs became second nature.

 

Anyway, only Park Joowoo and Jeong Seongbin could handle the high notes at this stage.

 

It didn’t take long to distribute the remaining lyrics after handing over the blank rap parts to Lee Cheonghyeon.

 

Cheonghyeon watched Kim Iwol’s lyric deconstruction show with great interest from beside me.

 

Then, looking at the lyrics sheet divided with various colored highlighters, he exclaimed in admiration.

 

“Oh, I can roughly imagine how it’ll sound now!”

 

“Right?”

 

I smiled shamelessly.

 

But then Cheonghyeon, who had been staring intently at the lyrics sheet, raised an objection.

 

“But, hyung.”

 

“What?”

 

“There’s no part for you at all.”

 

Oops. I didn’t think of that.

 

I was so focused on perfectly reconstructing the parts that I completely forgot about the existence of sub-vocal Kim Iwol.

 

“Are you planning to run away the day before our debut, hyung?”

 

No. I’ll run away after my debut. I have to debut due to circumstances.

 

However, Cheonghyeon’s eyes, unaware of how desperate I was to debut, were already full of suspicion.

 

I tried to cover up the mistake I had made.

 

“It’s not like that. I just forgot.”

 

“How do you forget something like that and not even secure a single line for yourself?”

 

“The harmony of your five voices was so good that I just…”

 

“Are you seriously using that as an excuse?”

 

Cheonghyeon furrowed his brow again. I told him to unfurrow his brow, but he really didn’t listen.

 

“I’m serious. Anyway, we’re short on time, so let’s focus.”

 

There was no time to argue with Cheonghyeon about whether I had parts or not.

 

Although Cheonghyue looked displeased, he didn’t push the issue further.

 

‘The points fans consider important were the intro, chorus, and high note parts.’

 

All the positions that came with titles like ‘intro fairy’ or ‘high note specialist’ had to be distributed to the members.

 

Besides the chorus, I had to avoid the killing parts that were always mentioned in each song. 

 

As a result, I had to find parts that wouldn’t matter who sang them in this song.

 

Thanks to Lee Cheonghyeon’s incredible work on the song, every melody was beautiful, but I still managed to find the most neutral and unremarkable melody.

 

Watching me highlight two lines of lyrics that I had painstakingly excavated, Cheonghyeon asked,

 

“That can’t be your part, right, hyung?”

 

“It is. Why?”

 

“Isn’t that too little? Look at the other members’ parts.”

 

“This isn’t the final version anyway. Besides, our abilities are different, so it can’t be helped.”

 

Evenly divided parts? That would be great.

 

In the idol world, it was common to measure time in seconds and compare it based on skill, meaning only those with the ability could earn their parts.

 

In such a market, nothing could be better than all members sharing parts equally.

 

However, this only applied ‘when everyone has the skills.’

 

Imagine holding a microphone while struggling with dizziness among members who excellently handle live singing while dancing. There was nothing more embarrassing.

 

In the first place, no one would feel upset about my parts.

 

So two lines of lyrics were enough for me.

 

One of them happened to be a line originally sung by Choi Jeho, whom Manager Nam’s daughter passionately adored, but I decided to overlook this as compensation for the hardships I endured as an office worker.

 

Daughter, these lyrics are mine now.

 

However, my perfect plan to use those 14 seconds well and return the part after debut was shattered within a few days.

 

“Iwol. About the parts, can you rework it with Cheonghyeon?”

 

“Yes?”

 

My perfectly distributed parts were rejected at the planning team’s level.

 

I couldn’t understand the reason at all. UA’s operating policy hadn’t changed from 9 years ago to now.

 

‘Didn’t the events at the agency unfold similarly to what I knew?’

 

Reusing the original parts as they were should have been the closest thing to the ‘Final_Part_Distribution’ UA would have released.

 

That was why I forced Jeong Seongbin, who felt burdened about the intro, to take it on, saying, ‘Just trust me on this’.

 

“Your part is too small. Did Cheonghyeon agree to this too?”

 

“No, Cheonghyun pointed out the same issue.”

 

“Still, there needs to be some balance. It’s best if all six of you have similar amounts. Even if we can’t divide it exactly equally, it should be roughly balanced.”

 

But that was not true. Their song was the most perfect when 5 people sang it.

 

This was also acknowledged by the majority of the public.

 

In a certain survival program, a team that covered Spark’s song received all sorts of harsh criticism from judges and commenters.

 

≫ I appreciate your challenging spirit. I’ll give you 3 points.

 

└ Is it out of 5 points?

 

└ out of 100 points.

 

≫ Spark’s songs are truly unique… They make it look easy when the members sing, but try it in karaoke and your throat will explode

 

└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I boldly picked it and then quickly canceled after the first verse ended

 

≫ It’s amazing how they haven’t become popular despite singing so well.

 

They’re not ugly, and they’re not short either.

 

At this point, it’s a talent.

 

└ They have scandals every year, as many as their members.

 

└ They’re a group harsher than seasonal changes. They come suddenly one day, make you cry your eyes out, and leave on their own.

 

≫ I wish the trainees would stop covering Spark songs in survival shows… 

 

The skill gap is just too obvious, it’s off-putting

 

It would be better if they sang more modest songs that match their skill level.

 

└  You’re expecting too much from rookies.

 

Some of these posts were unclear whether they were praising or subtly criticizing Spark.

 

The system should have given me the original 5-member Spark’s audio files instead of a hologram scheduler.

 

Then I could have plugged the audio into the planning team staff’s ears to persuade them.

 

I felt a headache coming on. But as someone with no power, I had no other choice.

 

“Understood. I’ll rewrite it.”

 

I was a genius at repetitive labor, doing it again if they asked me to.

 

In the end, I had to bow my head to Cheonghyeon, saying I was sorry, and redistribute the lyrics again. I felt ashamed.

 

* * *

 

After a 100-minute discussion between me and Lee Cheonghyeon, an emergency meeting with the planning team, and a meeting with the Spark TF team, the parts were finally confirmed without any issues.

 

When I watched the behind-the-scenes of the recording, I saw them casually writing their names next to the lyrics on an A4 sheet with a pen, so I thought it would take about 10 minutes to decide. But as expected, nothing was ever easy.

 

Once everyone’s parts were determined and the choreography designed by Choi Jeho and Kang Kiyeon was finalized, the trainees began their live practice in earnest.

 

This meant that all practice sessions involved both singing and dancing.

 

For someone like me, who could only master one thing at a time, singing and dancing while maintaining eye contact was more challenging than organizing a web spreadsheet at 4 AM.

 

Trying to conquer two mountains at once made me feel like my head was about to explode.

 

Whenever that happened, I thought of Hanpyeong Industry.

 

‘Assistant Manager Kim, isn’t it boring to do the same thing all the time? The CEO wants us to organize an in-house study group. Why don’t you take charge and come up with some ideas? Oh, and make sure to hand in the report before I leave work.’

 

‘Oh, Assistant Manager Kim. I heard that the CEO’s closet won’t open, you should go and take a look.’

 

When I remembered those memories, I couldn’t help but keep practicing.

 

I’d rather meet my end in the practice room than return to the Hanpyeong Industry to create a study club and open other people’s closet door.

 

Maybe because I practiced so hard that my shoes’ soles were wearing out, I eventually reached the point where I could dance even right after waking up, and the system recognized my mastery of the choreography.

 

+

 

[SYSTEM] ‘Task’ completed.

 

▷ Reward: Exp (5)

 

▷ Total exp: 95

 

▷ Total point: 0

 

+

 

That wasn’t all.

 

The problematic self-cam finally secured about 10 episodes worth of content, allowing us to start full-scale video editing.

 

Concepts, subtitles, and effects for each member had already been organized and handed over to the planning team.

 

This time too, I actively used web novel keywords. If I had read beyond the preview, I could have gotten more ideas. I should spend at least 10,000 won on it when I get my paycheck.

 

As a result of stockpiling a decent amount of content:

 

+

 

[SYSTEM] ‘Task’ completed.

 

▷ Reward: Exp (5)

 

▷ Total exp: 100

 

▷ Total point: 1

 

+

 

I was finally able to earn a point for what felt like the first time in a million years. My heart swelled with pride.

 

I invested the point into vocal proficiency, thinking about the recording session that was coming up soon.

 

+

 

Performance Evaluation (100)

 

― Vocal Proficiency: 7(▲)/20

 

― Dance Proficiency: 6/20

 

― Self-PR: 12/20

 

― Attendance Management: 18/20

 

― Organizational Adaptability: 10/20

 

Total exp: 0%

 

+

 

Since it was impossible to manually invest in proficiency once it reached 7 points, the last thing I could raise with experience points would probably be dance proficiency by 1 point.

 

‘Still, it’s not bad to have come this far.’

 

Without the system’s help, let alone debuting, I would have been picking up Manager Nam’s cigarette butts next to the Hanpyeong Industry building entrance by now.

 

Although the road ahead was a fiery one, I thought it was fortunate that I hadn’t been roasted yet.

 

However, peace in the workplace and society never lasted long.

 

Along with the autumn wind, it seemed an early storm was brewing at UA, heralding a harsh winter.