episode_0096

#96

“You should go in and get some rest too.”

By the time midnight approached, Harin and I had arrived at a café near the dorm.

“No, I’m fine. Manager. I’m more resilient than I look.”

Harin smiled faintly as she took a sip of coffee.

It was hard to believe that just earlier in the day, she had been clinging to the CEO, acting coy. Now, she was completely composed.

“Still… The others are all resting at the dorm.”

“…If not now, when else would I get to be alone with you, Manager?”

She had a point.

Group activities, shared living.

Given my position as the one responsible for as a whole, I didn’t often get the chance to meet with Harin one-on-one.

“So you asked me out just to be alone? For a date?”

“…Yes.”

“Hmm……”

“…Is it… not good? Manager?”

“It’s not that…”

Even though I knew exactly what Harin had done today,

pretending everything was fine and going on a date didn’t sit right with me.

“I’m just worried you might be tired.”

“……Mmm. I’m fine. A little fatigue is nothing. Seeing your face gives me energy.”

“What am I, a fatigue recovery potion?”

“Aren’t you, though?”

Her quick retort left me speechless.

It was flattering that she thought of me that way, but…

“You said you had something to talk about?”

“It feels a little off to bring up work during a date, but… the situation is urgent. I wanted to discuss how should move forward from here. There’s something I need to ask you too…”

“About our activities.”

Thanks to her… *service* to the CEO, we’d managed to avoid immediate disbandment.

But all that remained now was a debt of roughly 2.1 billion won and the severed support from the company.

To keep alive, we’d have to pay off this debt relying solely on the strength of me and the girls.

“Should we go over our schedule first?”

Harin pulled out a tablet from somewhere.

The screen displayed ’s various schedules—though there weren’t many.

“I got this from the unnie who used to handle our schedules at the company.”

“Ah……”

That should’ve been my job.

“Sorry. I should’ve been more attentive.”

“It’s okay. You must’ve been busy, Manager. That unnie said she’s moving to the new group now… She kept apologizing to me…”

“Most of them ended up that way.”

There had been about six or seven staff members assigned to across various fields—promotions, management, lessons.

Now, it’s just me.

“Now it’s really… just us handling everything.”

“……Yeah.”

“It’ll be too much for you alone, Manager… I’ll help from now on.”

“The help would be great, but… are you sure? Just the activities alone will be exhausting.”

“I’m fine. And… this way, I get to be alone with you under the pretext of work, right?”

Saying that with a smile was a little embarrassing.

“Ah. You’re blushing.”

“…Don’t point it out.”

Bickering lightly, we went over ’s remaining schedule.

“We have a music show tomorrow.”

“…Right.”

A schedule Harin had secured.

By offering herself to Park Dong-chul…

We both knew it, but neither of us brought it up.

“I hope a lot of fans come tomorrow……”

“Hmm… Maybe more than last week? Considering…”

There had been that exposure incident.

People curious about it would definitely show up in greater numbers.

“……Because of the exposure?”

“I was trying not to mention that.”

To bury the thought.

Remembering what Harin had to do for Park Dong-chul still made my chest ache.

“Tomorrow… you won’t expose yourself, right?”

“Of course not. You want me to get scolded by the PD again?”

“Right…? I guess. Umm…”

Her reaction was a little odd.

Surely she didn’t… *like* exposing herself?

“Anyway, if a lot of people come, we should try selling albums or merch.”

“Albums?”

“Our fourth album… and the old ones. The ones stacked in boxes in the room next to the practice room.”

“Ah, those?”

“The company’s been pressuring us to clear them out fast… We’ve got merch too, so we should sell that as well……”

“Manager, about that…”

“Hm?”

“What if we held a fan signing event before the broadcast tomorrow?”

“A fan signing?”

“Yeah… Like, if they buy an album, we sign it. Or sign merch for those who buy it. Maybe even include a photo op… Wouldn’t that encourage more sales? Our original fans would come, but there’ll probably be new people too. This could be a chance to really lock them in as fans. I’ve seen complaints online about how we still haven’t held a fan meeting even though it’s been a while since our album dropped.”

“That’s… true.”

I’d wanted to organize a fan meeting, but with the company in this state, it was impossible.

Even if we started preparing now, renting a venue alone would be a hassle, not to mention everything else.

Back in the day, smaller idol groups used to hold them in neighborhood playgrounds… Should we try something like that?

Fan meetings aren’t just about managing fans—they’re also opportunities for revenue, from ticket sales to on-site merch.

For us, desperate for money… a profit-driven fan meeting was necessary.

“So… What if we held a quick fan signing at the broadcasting station right before filming tomorrow? Even if it’s just in the hallway, we wouldn’t mind…”

“…Alright. Let’s prepare for it.”

We didn’t have much time,

but if we wanted to sell albums and merch, we had to do *something*.

“The PD won’t complain… will he?”

“Doubt it. As long as it’s not too big, it should be fine. I’ve seen other idols do similar things.”

“That’s a relief. I’d hate for him to nitpick and… and…”

Harin suddenly trailed off.

What’s this?

She started hesitating, avoiding my gaze.

*Gulp.*

After swallowing hard, she finally spoke again.

“……Manager.”

“Yeah?”

“Um… There’s something I want to ask you……”

“……What is it?”

“It’s just……”

Fidgeting with her fingers, she kept stumbling over her words.

After a few deep breaths, she finally looked at me with resolve.

“Do you… like it when I……”

Her face was burning red as she spoke.

“When I… do things… with other people?”

***

“Unnie~ I’m done showering. Your turn.”

“Mmm…”

Eunchae gave a small reply to Sea’s words.

It was her turn to shower, but Eunchae just sat there, gripping her phone.

“S-Sea, I’ll be right back. I’m going out for a bit.”

“You too? Sarang unnie said she was going out to buy something earlier.”

“I’ll be back soon. Really.”

With those words, Eunchae left the dorm.

She descended the villa stairs and slipped into a secluded alley nearby.

Only after confirming no one was around did she finally answer the call that had been ringing incessantly.

[Baek Pansu]

“……What.”

“Kehehe… I believe I told you to answer my calls immediately.”

“Th-there were people around! I answered, didn’t I?”

“It took over a minute. But fine, I’ll let it slide this once.”

“Tch……”

“I heard your CEO changed today… With the company in such dire straits, he even reached out to us for money, only to lose management rights in the end.”

“Is that why you called?”

“It’s important. Our advertising contract was a private agreement with the CEO personally… Now that things have changed, there could be complications.”

“…Isn’t that good? Means we don’t have to deal with you anymore.”

“No, no. Do you know how much we paid? That wasn’t just for one performance.”

“……Just how much was it?”

“We agreed on 100 million per session. We already paid the CEO 100 million after the last broadcast… But today, he’s completely gone silent.”

“Tch…… So what?”

“From our perspective, sales saw a slight boost after the covert ad, so we’d like to continue… Kehehe… And I’d love to keep seeing you too, Eunchae.”

“…I-I said I’d meet when I have time!”

“Well, that’s one thing, but the ad is a separate business matter tied to a contract. So, we’d like to sign a new agreement with your new CEO to continue the covert ads… What are your thoughts on that?”

“With the… new CEO?”

Eunchae turned Baek Pansu’s words over in her mind.

100 million per session.

For , burdened with 2.1 billion won in debt, it was an enormous sum.

If they could earn that just by exposing themselves once more on broadcast…

“Not a fan of the idea?”

“No, it’s not that…… You said the last ad was a personal deal with the CEO, right?”

“Correct. A company officially engaging in such activities would be… problematic.”

“Th-then…! The new contract… shouldn’t be with the CEO……”

“……?”

“What if… you made the deal directly with me?”

The number *100 million* swirled relentlessly in Eunchae’s mind.