Chapter 189

Chapter 189

Raise Three Idols Well And They’ll Launch a Confession Attack.

Episode 189: Creating Distance

While resting my hands on the keyboard and staring blankly at the ceiling in the office, I heard a knock.

After rubbing my dry face and trying my best to look normal, I said it was okay to come in, and Oh Yoori entered holding beer in both hands.

“Not even trying to hide it anymore?”

“Yo, I hid it until just now. Obviously.”

“…I should’ve gotten rid of Oh Jinwoo’s mini fridge.”

“Deal with that later. For now, let’s drink.”

I let out a deep sigh but still accepted the can Oh Yoori handed me and took a sip.

I looked like a complete wreck to anyone, but without that, it felt impossible to stay sane.

Oh Yoori looked at my face, shook her head, and said,

“Judging by that face, Gyeoul unnie must’ve finally pulled the trigger, huh?”

“…You knew?”

“I didn’t know they’d crash in this fast. But I did find out that Gaeul unnie and Yeoreum unnie promised to date Taeyang ssam. No idea how it would turn out, but I knew it was fucked.”

“…”

A petty part of me thought, ‘Why didn’t you tell me earlier?’ but objectively, even if I had known, there was no stopping it.

Even if I’d avoided it, it would’ve just happened somewhere else, sometime else. Honestly, I was lucky it hadn’t been on a rooftop or inside a light aircraft.

“So, did you also promise to date Gyeoul unnie after her contract ends?”

“…Yeah.”

Oh Yoori gave a hollow laugh at my lifeless answer and spoke, half-mocking herself.

“So in a four-member girl group, three promised to date the manager at the same time? Haha, people say the entertainment world is a demon realm and an animal kingdom—guess I’m experiencing it firsthand. Is this like… normal?”

“…No. If this were normal, I would’ve never set foot in this industry.”

“Right? Like there could be two people like you in this world.”

“…”

While sipping our non-alcoholic beers and sighing, Oh Yoori suddenly seemed to remember something.

“I mean, this is all because you flirt like a lunatic! You should’ve kept it moderate! You flirt like you breathe!”

“When did I ever flirt? Do you think I’m insane, flirting with underage idols?”

This is unfair. I’m not a madman.

Oh Yoori let out a deep sigh and said,

“Huh… So you lived your life thinking that way? No wonder this is all your karma. With that face! Doing every act of devotion! Sticking by them like treasure, taking care of everything! Uprooting their traumas from the core and smashing them! How is that not flirting?!”

Her intense reaction made me doubt myself, but I cautiously protested.

“No… that’s just what any adult should do. Anyone with the ability and heart would obviously act the same.”

Oh Yoori pounded her chest in frustration and said,

“Why are you throwing ‘obviously’ around? You think there’s someone else in the world crazy enough for that kind of self-sacrifice?”

Isn’t there? There are so many people in the world; there must be some.

…Or not.

“…And it’s not like I’m good-looking. I’ve been insulted for looking greasy or sickly plenty of times.”

“When, and from whom, did you hear that?”

“…Uh, well.”

I mostly heard it from Seri, the idol I managed before the regression, didn’t I?

…Now that I think about it, she kept at it obsessively every time she saw me.

What, did she hate me that much?

Nah, even if we parted ways bitterly when the company collapsed, our relationship wasn’t that bad. She wouldn’t have lied.

Maybe she just meant for me to self-reflect and take better care of myself?

She was one of the few people from my last life who left a mostly positive memory, even though I got metaphorically smacked in the back of the head, so I didn’t want to think badly of her.

“Basically, a trusted kid told me that. That since my face is hopeless, I should meet someone who doesn’t care about looks.”

“…”

“How would someone like me flirt with kids nearly 10 years younger? If I ever pulled that crap, they’d run screaming from how gross it is.”

Oh Yoori grabbed her head while muttering something like, “Feels like you got gaslighted, no matter how I look at it.”

Nope. No way. Seri wouldn’t gaslight me. It’s not like she had anything to gain.

“Alright, let’s cut this talk here. Because no matter what, it already happened.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I want too.”

So, we finished finding the culprit, but it didn’t magically fix this whole mess.

As we put our heads together facing the bleak reality, she asked,

“Do you have a plan? Or at least a policy?”

“I don’t have a plan, but I do have a policy.”

“What is it?”

“Break all the promises.”

“…Wow.”

Oh Yoori, amazed for some reason, gaped like a fish and asked curiously,

“You’re seriously gonna do that?”

“Of course I have to. What, am I supposed to keep up this crazy setup where three idols under my care all promised to date me after the contract ends? Then what, four of us all date at once?”

I had no intention of doing that, and neither would the girls.

What am I, communal property? How the hell do people even date like that?

Before even talking about five years later, the current idol-manager relationship itself is already wrong.

“But you could pick one and date them, right?”

“Picking just one is how we got into this mess. If I suddenly say I only love one of them and ask the others to forget their promises, do you think it’ll magically calm down?”

Oh Yoori nodded like she agreed.

“Yeah, obviously that won’t work.”

“Exactly.”

“If it comes to that, no joke, you might actually bleed, Team Leader Seon.”

“That’s right… huh?”

…What’s with all the talk about bleeding?

“Wait, Yoori, about this bleeding thing…”

“Then how are you going to break the promises?”

“…Uh, right. If I just say right now, ‘Let’s pretend those promises never happened,’ it might trigger the worst-case scenario I’m imagining, so that’s a no-go.”

I still couldn’t forget Gaeul’s sunset-backed smile, or Yeoreum’s bugged NPC-like loop of confessions amidst the screaming light plane.

I genuinely felt that my choices could put the girls in real danger.

…Gyeoul might be cuter compared to the other two, but her outbursts weren’t anything to scoff at either.

“Then what should we do? Realistically, they won’t just back off even if you try to reason with them.”

“They need to realize on their own that this kind of relationship can’t move forward positively.”

“…That sounds very appealing, but how exactly do you do that?”

I explained the plan I had in mind to Oh Yoori, who was tilting her head.

“From now on, I’m going to treat them purely professionally. Even though I don’t think I was flirting like you said, to avoid any misunderstanding, I’ll remove all emotions when dealing with them.”

“…Wait, like ignoring them completely and not even saying hi first?”

“No. That would leave negative feelings. What I need to do is maintain a purely neutral, professional relationship—not positive, not negative.”

Oh Yoori stroked her chin, looking like she was running calculations in her head.

Soon, she spoke seriously, seemingly done with her mental math.

“I don’t think it’s a hopeless method. The risk isn’t that big either. Right now, it feels like all the unnies’ emotions are just too intense. Even just stopping the fueling of that would help.”

“Exactly. Besides, even if they’re caught up in all this, Gaeul, Yeoreum, and Gyeoul are all smart kids. After creating some distance, they’ll be able to assess the situation objectively and realize that continuing on this path would only lead to ruin for everyone.”

Then, Oh Yoori raised her hand like something was bugging her and asked,

“Wait, you called it ‘creating distance’?”

“Yeah, creating distance. Nothing beats it for objectively assessing and thinking things through.”

“…You sure that’s okay?”

“What do you mean?”

Oh Yoori started sweating nervously and said,

“Will the unnies even be able to handle that?”

I spoke with absolute confidence.

“I said it before—I’m avoiding negative experiences. I’ll stay professional. No hurtful words, and I’ll still be considerate of their emotions and condition.”

“But what if even that’s too hard for them and they break?”

“Yoori, I think you’re seriously underestimating those three girls.”

Han Gyeoul, Yoo Gaeul, Jin Yeoreum.

All three were strong kids with righteous, resilient hearts.

They overcame deep personal grief to become the hottest idols in the country—they were able to because of that strength.

“Trust them. They’re not the type to crumble over something like this.”

“…”

After hesitating and thinking it through, Oh Yoori finally nodded and said,

“Yeah, you’re right. They might love too hard sometimes, but they’re not weak people.”

Then she smiled lightly, reassured.

“I mean, it’s not like anything major could happen from just this, right?”

And so the next day, I immediately started creating distance.