Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols

The seven days of hellish OJT wrapped up without any major issues.

 

Thanks to that, my skill levels, which had been stagnant for a while, saw significant changes.

 

+

 

Performance Evaluation (100)

 

― Vocal proficiency: 10(▲)/20

 

― Dance proficiency: 9(▲)/20

 

― Self-PR: 12(▼)/20

 

― Attendance management: 18/20

 

― Organizational adaptability: 11/20

 

― Total fatigue: 38%

 

+

 

Vocal proficiency went up, and so did dance proficiency.

 

Ever since I learned that going over 40% accumulated fatigue could wreck my nose, I’d been managing it meticulously down to each 1%… and yet.

 

‘Why did my self-PR go down?’

 

It had only been a few days since I last checked, and my self-PR had dropped by one point.

 

I didn’t know it could get a deduction.

 

Scores for non-technical categories could fluctuate, sure, but still, this was a bit much.

 

‘Don’t they give reasons for the deductions?’

 

When an HR evaluation is done, shouldn’t they provide a reason?

 

As I was silently grumbling to myself, the system popped up.

 

+

 

[SYSTEM] Work instructions from ‘Superior’ have arrived.

 

▶ Oh, Assistant Manager Kim! I saw your PT. But compared to the other employees, your PT… didn’t stand out. Since it’s a relative evaluation, there’s nothing I can do about it. I am sorry, okay?

 

+

 

…With a kind explanation.

 

It pissed me off. I understood their reason, so it pissed me off even more. How could I stand out among those great members?

 

Trying to hold onto that one score wasn’t even worth it. As a clumsy beginner, it was better to just quietly stay on the sidelines so as not to get in anyone’s way.

 

I didn’t even want to imagine how much unwanted attention I might draw if I overstepped without knowing my place.

 

‘Anyway, it’s fine as long as my skills improve.’

 

This time, the boost in my dance proficiency felt a bit special.

 

There was no sudden miracle where I became an amazing dancer, but my energy drain from dancing the same routines significantly decreased. It seemed I was using up less unnecessary energy now.

 

The Spark members also seemed to notice the change after just seven days.

 

It was easy to tell just by looking at how everyone was practicing more enthusiastically than usual.

 

The favorable wind that started blowing began to have an impact in various areas.

 

‘Hyung! I went to the A&R team today!’

 

‘What for?’

 

‘I suddenly had a brilliant idea! I wanted to ask if I could make some last-minute adjustments!’

 

Lee Cheonghyeon, who received a creative boost, tweaked the title track right up until the very end of the recording.

 

‘This time, how about putting as much harmony as possible in the high-pitched parts? I think it will feel much richer if there are more components in each section.’

 

‘Sounds good. But, Seongbin, wouldn’t that put too much burden on you and Joowoo?’

 

‘If you don’t build up the harmony to high notes, then I and Kang Kiyeon should join. Or Kim Iwol, you can increase your part.’

 

Jeong Seongbin actively gave his opinion and supplemented the melody part.

 

‘Okay, now let’s take five minutes to brainstorm keywords for image transformation. Ready, go!’

 

‘Hair dyeing, colored contact lenses, face stickers…’

 

‘Wait a minute, my typing can’t keep up!’

 

‘Memorize it. You’re faster that way, Cheonghyeon.’

 

Though I had my complaints about Spark, I’d admit.

 

All the members’ ability to express their opinions had improved significantly compared to before.

 

Thanks to that, the brainstorming was fun. So yesterday, we had a nonstop meeting for about 4 hours.

 

After I sent an email to the planning team with the contents I organized attached, it was already lunchtime.

 

Right then, the manager showed up with a salad pack, and I closed my laptop, asking.

 

“Manager! What happened to that self-produced content that was put on hold?”

 

We’d had to set aside plans for our self-produced content due to sensitive personal issues and the sudden OJT.

 

Tasks that required a lot of effort would be hard to manage due to the stages right before and after the comeback

 

Seeing that the planning team didn’t say anything, I didn’t think there would be any major issues so I put it aside, but it was time to wrap up the big tasks.

 

The manager took the salad pack out of the bag and said with a bright smile.

 

“Oh, that? I heard you’re going to the farm!”

 

Yes?

 

Farm… Where?

 

* * *

 

‘City weekend farm?’

 

‘It’s good for children’s emotional development. So, Assistant Manager Kim, please find out about it and let me know.’

 

That was how my relationship with the weekend farm began.

 

Since I’d taken on the initial task of applying for the weekend farm, I ended up being responsible for everything from buying seedlings to planting Manager Nam’s pot to pulling weeds on summer weekends.

 

One rainy summer day, I even got a call like this in the middle of the night.

 

‘You want me to make a water channel for the field?’

 

‘―Yeah. Well, if furrows are dug beforehand, it should be fine. Assistant Manager Kim, did you dig that?’

 

‘Yes, before I sowed the seeds…’

 

‘―But I can see that the rain is unusual. Assistant Manager Kim, just go and take a look. My wife and kid are insisting on going to the field.’

 

Manager Nam, who wouldn’t let his wife and children get a single drop of water on their hands, sent me out into the pouring rain.

 

‘Manager… I’ve cleared the water channel and are heading back.’

 

‘― Oh, good work!’

 

‘― Honey, are you sure we shouldn’t go check? Aren’t all the peppers going to fall?’

 

‘― No, it’s okay.  I got in touch with the farm staff, and they’ve looked over everything.’

 

‘― In this rain? Running a farm must be tough…’

 

I so wanted to shout back to the concerned wife that her husband had sent a colleague from the Hyeongpyeong Industry, not a farm employee, into the storm.

 

I thought that would be the last time I’d get my hands dirty with soil.

 

“Here’s your outfit, hyung.”

 

Resigned, I took the pants that Kang Kiyeon handed me. The pattern was flashy.

 

“Who picked this out?”

 

“Joowoo hyung.”

 

Our Joowoo, you have quite the knack for selecting uniforms. You even found pants that are perfect for farm work.

 

Park Joowoo glanced at me and asked, perhaps sensing my mix of amusement and pain.

 

“Hyung… If you don’t like it, I can swap mine with yours.”

 

“No, I like it.”

 

I didn’t want to be seen on the camera as a 21-year-old adult male who stole his dongsaeng’s poppy pants because he didn’t like the cosmos-patterned one.

 

At that moment, Choi Jeho, who had finished changing his clothes, appeared from the next room.

 

“Hey, is this supposed to be the right length?”

 

With his bare ankles visible.

 

The bottom hem of his black pants, covered in peony designs, flapped well above his ankles.

 

“Finding capri pants that fit your height must be tough, huh?”

 

People should have a sense of decency.

 

I took out a pair of ankle-high socks that I had brought just in case and handed them to Choi Jeho.

 

“Put these on. Unless you want to end up with a rash from the grass.”

 

“A rash?”

 

“Yes, something like that.”

 

I was even kindly giving him advice to pull his socks up to the top of his pants if he didn’t want bugs to get in, when I heard a staff member’s voice outside.

 

“Spark, we’ll start filming in 10 minutes!”

 

“Oh, yes!”

 

Oh shoot, I hadn’t even changed yet.

 

The cameras were all covered for us changing our clothes, so I took off the T-shirt I was wearing with relief.

 

Then, as I bent down to pick up the team shirt that had just been handed to me—

 

“Hyung!”

 

Jeong Seongbin called me urgently.

 

I tried to turn my head toward the sound, but Jeong Seongbin was a step faster.

 

Jeong Seongbin turned my body so that my back was facing the wall, and he asked in a voice so small that I could barely hear him.

 

“What’s wrong with your back, hyung?”

 

“My back? What about my back?”

 

I reached back, wondering if a bug had landed on me, but I didn’t feel anything.

 

Jeong Seongbin looked dazed.

 

“No, that’s…”

 

What’s going on?

 

Do I suddenly have a dragon tattoo on my back?

 

Later, the system might say something like, ‘Assistant Manager Kim, is it appropriate for an office worker to have such a tattoo? That’s a deduction in attendance rating for you!’

 

Just the thought alone gave me a headache.

 

As I was momentarily out of sorts, Jeong Seongbin took me to the next room. Everyone was busy changing their clothes, so no one paid attention to me.

 

Jeong Seongbin closed the door behind him and spoke carefully.

 

“There’s, uh, huge scar on your back, hyung…”

 

“A scar? Oh, that.”

 

The moment I heard the word scar, my thoughts that had been going on in a million directions stopped in an instant.

 

Right, I do have one.

 

When I was a kid, it happened when I was running away to avoid getting hit and ended up tripping.

 

Unluckily, my back got cut open by the corner of the table, and my skin was all torn.

 

‘But still, it’s not big enough to be called huge, is it?’

 

The scar was definitely huge at first.

 

But noona came home just in time and took me to the emergency room, so I was able to get it stitched up right away.

 

Noona insisted that having a huge scar on a grown man’s back would scare people, so she nagged me into getting scar removal surgery when I was a student.

 

‘I guess someone unaccustomed to scars might get surprised.’

 

Especially since it was our first time changing together, so he must be even more thrown off.

 

I spoke to Jeong Seongbin as nonchalantly as possible.

 

“I got it from a bad fall when I was little. It’s shrunk a lot since then.”

 

“Shrunk? This?”

 

He was exaggerating. At most, it was like a slightly thick line now.

 

“Yeah. I never said anything because it wouldn’t show when I’m wearing clothes, but should I cover up my scar when I go on air? Like a tattoo?”

 

“I don’t know much about that either, but, hyung… I think it might show through a white T-shirt.”

 

“It’s not that bad. If it’s a thick enough shirt, even a white one should be enough…”

 

…But as I answered like that, I felt something off.

 

As much as Jeong Seongbin genuinely cared about his teammates, wasn’t he overreacting a bit?

 

Just because of a scar, not even a dragon tattoo?

 

I went to the mirror in front of the room and turned my back to it.

 

Then I turned my head slightly and checked the mirror.

 

“Huh?”

 

Wait a minute.

 

What’s wrong with my back?