The Idol Training Simulation I Messed Up

Chapter 3

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Did Monochrome renew their contract?

No news at all, it’s so quiet.

└They probably did?

└No official announcement.

└Hoping they leave Newma.

└If Newma has any conscience, they should let them go now.

└Would they have neglected them if they had any conscience in the first place?

━━━━━━━━━━━━

***

The road wasn’t congested, and the car smoothly arrived at the company’s underground parking lot.

As a first start, it felt alright.

Getting out of the car and taking the elevator, something suddenly came to mind.

“By any chance… is Iris here too?”

When I suddenly brought it up, Secretary Choi had a puzzled expression, then quickly understood and answered.

“If you’re talking about the Iris members, they’re not here but….”

As the glass elevator ascended, the view became much brighter.

Secretary Choi pointed behind me and continued speaking.

“They should be over there.”

Over there?

Turning my head in the direction Secretary Choi pointed, I saw a building next door, glistening in the sunlight.

As the elevator went up, the large billboard on the building’s exterior came into view.

Hanging on the billboard was a large poster of Iris.

‘Huh? Isn’t this the company building?’

When I looked at Secretary Choi, he smiled awkwardly, seemingly reading the question in my eyes.

“I should have explained more in detail. To manage artists more intensively from this year, we separated the labels. Iris is managed over there. The CEO went overseas for that matter.”

They were focusing on managing artists, yet only handling Iris. What about Monochrome?

‘…I guess they want me to manage them.’

Getting off the elevator, I paused and looked up at the adjacent building through the window.

It turns out Newma Entertainment used the current building but recently purchased the building next door.

Boldly displayed on it was the label name ‘Newrain.’

Rain, Rainbow… They probably linked it to Iris, symbolizing a rainbow, hence ‘Newrain.’

The game’s setting seemed to tell me to focus solely on Monochrome.

While I hadn’t forgotten my purpose, I felt a bit deflated, having had some expectations.

Seeing my downcast expression, Secretary Choi, who was waiting nearby, spoke up.

“Although it’s a separate label, it’s interconnected. If you wish, we can call them over… Should I ask them to come and greet you?”

“No. It’s fine.”

Calling them over for greetings seemed too much like exercising power.

My idol enthusiasm was my own business. I needed to focus and concentrate on Monochrome.

Even though I was curious, it wasn’t to the extent that I couldn’t wait to meet them immediately, so I turned my attention to the inside of the company.

What would an entertainment company look like? It should have practice rooms, recording studios, and workspaces, right?

With such thoughts, I followed Secretary Choi’s guidance. The place wasn’t particularly unusual, like in my imagination, but looked like a regular office. Even an entertainment company had separate floors for handling office work.

“Not as many people as I thought.”

“Due to the major restructuring from the label establishment, it might be a bit chaotic for a while, but we’ll stabilize it as soon as possible.”

“Uh. Yeah… Okay.”

No, I didn’t mean to complain about the chaos…

Secretary Choi constantly checking my mood and speaking cautiously was hard to get used to.

My final position had been just an assistant manager, and suddenly I became an executive. I still had more of a staff mindset than an executive one.

Rather than the chaos, how should I describe this atmosphere…

‘It feels like they’re about to withdraw.’

Here and there, desks were empty, and people were packing their belongings.

Judging by the different colors of the employee IDs, it seemed like those moving to the ‘Newrain’ building next door had come to pack their things.

Those who were sitting and working were just silently staring at their monitors.

Well, since there had been a restructuring, the setting would be that I parachuted into the company.

Is it okay for so many people to be gone?

Passing by the desks and entering a separate room, there was a neatly organized office desk and bookshelf.

It was the office where I would start working today.

‘Oh. It’s really nice, prepared just for me.’

The uneasiness was momentary, and I felt refreshed again. It was another space assigned to me, following the house.

Until recently, I had been working like an ant between desks, but now I have a personal office!

The sunlight softly filtered through the frosted window.

As I looked around contentedly, Secretary Choi brought in a group of casually dressed men, contrasting with his own neat appearance.

These were the five people to whom I would dedicate my next two years.

“Hello! We’re Monochrome.”

When I first saw their profile pictures, I thought they were ambiguous, but seeing them in person, they were distinctly different from ordinary people.

Though they were bare-faced, with tousled hair as if they had just taken off their hats, and wearing casual clothes, presumably coming up from the practice room, it was hard to distinguish who was who.

The young man who seemed to be the leader introduced them and bowed, followed by the other members bowing in unison.

‘So, idols… don’t always have a greeting style.’

You know, like ‘Your rainbow! We are Iris!’ those kinds of greetings.

I knew Iris’ greeting style because I had been too curious and watched just one video. Just one.

Although I didn’t call them here just for greetings, the more static atmosphere than I expected naturally put me into business mode.

“I’m Shin Joo-in, the new executive director. I’ll be managing all affairs related to Monochrome. Please take care of me.”

Though I felt the most awkward about pretending to be the boss, I decided to speak comfortably.

The leader of Monochrome was only a year younger than me.

None of them seemed to mind, responding with “Please take care of us” and bowing again in unison.

This was really hard to get used to.

“Let’s sit down.”

In front of my desk, there was a separate sofa and table for guests.

The members standing by the door came in and sat down one by one.

‘Seeing them up close, wow, their proportions… they really are celebrities.’

It was my first time seeing celebrities up close, and I was amazed by the faces of the seated members.

They, too, were glancing at me cautiously.

Then I made eye contact with one of them. Realizing I had been staring too much, I quickly shifted my gaze to the desk.

On the desk, documents related to Monochrome were prepared. Things like business plans.

“It looks like there’s no set plan for group activities yet.”

“……”

…What is this atmosphere?

Ah! Did I sound like I was complaining?

I recalled how Secretary Choi had quickly assured me he would stabilize the company after observing my reaction earlier.

When a superior makes a seemingly meaningless comment, the subordinates would worry and ponder over its meaning all day.

I cleared my throat, softened my voice as much as possible, and spoke again.

“Ahem. Plans are there to be made. Do you have anything you want to do?”

“……”

Why aren’t they answering?

They were just looking around, checking each other out without responding to my question.

“Is there nothing you want to do?”

“……”

“……Are you not going to have any activities?”

“……No, that’s not it.”

After remaining silent all this time, the member who seemed to be the leader spoke in a subdued voice.

Why weren’t they speaking up? A surge of frustration welled up.

Two years. I had to make Monochrome a top-tier group within two years.

The hope I had felt just a moment ago vanished, replaced by anxiety.

I remembered the conversation window with my mother that had changed to (Unknown).

What would happen if I failed the quest? What would happen to my mother? To me?

We were now bound by the same fate. Yet, I couldn’t tell what the other crew members of this ship were thinking.

“So, you have no opinions about your activities?”

Still, no response.

My voice might have carried some negative emotion, as the atmosphere grew even heavier.

The members, sensing the tension, all hung their heads, as if to say they would do as they were told…

‘Could it be… because they’re game characters?’

I had momentarily forgotten that this world was based on “My Enter.”

After all, in the game, they only moved according to the schedules I set.

“Alright. You can all leave.”

At my words, the members stood up, bowed again, and left in a group.

Seeing them sitting there silently with their mouths shut, I realized there was no way I could conduct the kind of meeting I wanted.

However, while I had gaming experience, I had no experience in the entertainment industry.

If the members didn’t cooperate, progressing with the quest would be difficult.

After pondering for a moment with my head in my hands, I ordered Secretary Choi to bring the leader back.

The one who had at least spoken might be the leader. If it was one-on-one, he might say something.

Knock, knock.

After waiting a bit, the leader entered with a knock.

Seeing the expected member enter, it confirmed he was indeed the leader. So…

“Yeo Woohyung?”

“Yes.”

Yeo Woohyung. Age 27. Leader.

I mentally repeated his name, trying to remember his face.

Maybe because the previous meeting had ended on a bad note, Yeo Woohyung came in and stood with his head lowered.

“Sigh. I’m sorry, but it’s my job to lead you guys. However, I still don’t know this job well. So, if you have any thoughts, I’d really appreciate it if you could share them.”

I said this remembering their earlier hesitant, cautious demeanor, rather than assuming they were robot-like game characters ignoring my questions.

If they really had no opinions and only moved as told, it would be a very tough road ahead.

The members would just be scarecrows, and I’d have to struggle with the other staff.

“Is there really nothing you want to do?”

Please. Say there is.

“…I…”

Yeo Woohyung finally spoke up, maybe responding to my desperate plea.

Yes! Please tell me you have some will!

“…I want to release a self-composed song.”

“A self-composed song?”

His unexpected answer made me ask reflexively.

Thinking about the game, I expected something like wanting to release an album or planning a concert.

‘A self-composed song? Did the game have a self-composition system?’

It didn’t. In “My Enter,” you just decide on the budget for an album, and it would automatically arrange composers and lyricists to produce the album.

There wasn’t even a composition skill category in the members’ stats.

Yeo Woohyung raised his head and, seeing my blank expression, hurriedly waved his hand.

“No, I don’t mean I want to release an album with self-composed songs. If an album comes out, maybe as a track on it, or even just as an online single… Or, it’s fine just to upload a video.”

As if interpreting my lack of response negatively, his goals shrank as he spoke.

At this rate, he’d act like it was never mentioned, so I hurriedly raised my hand to stop him.

As soon as I raised my hand, Yeo Woohyung immediately clammed up with a “Hup!” and a brief silence followed.

“Then why didn’t you say anything before?”

“Uh…”

Yeo Woohyung rolled his eyes at my question. It seemed he was also thinking hard.

It was clear he was choosing his words carefully.

A thought flashed through my mind. I quickly raised my hand again to stop him from answering.

“Wait. Did you… mention this to the company before…?”

Flustered, I inadvertently slipped into formal speech.

In my softest and most gentle tone, I asked the new question, and Yeo Woohyung rolled his eyes again.

‘Ugh!’

Seeing that, I could roughly guess what was going on.

Because I could see myself as an employee overlapping with his situation.

The more difficult something is to say, and the more challenging the person you have to say it to, the more carefully you choose your words.

Yeo Woohyung’s hesitant response must have been something difficult to tell me, the (supposed) company CEO’s daughter.

So, in essence… I was the root of the problem.