episode_0034

Kang Hyeong-man came to pick me up by car every single day for a month until I signed with Brothers Planning and appeared on Naaah.

Thanks to this, our girls’ high school students, who were initially surprised by Kang Hyeong-man’s appearance and intimidation, gradually became accustomed to him and did not mind seeing him.

But the other male students currently occupying the front gate of our school were different.

“… … Ugh.”

As soon as Kang Hyeong-man appeared, they froze in place like animal instinct.

Kang Hyeong-man looked at those guys and showed an annoying look in his eyes, but showed a polite attitude.

“Please don’t block the path and get out of the way.”

… Of course, just because it appeared politely didn’t mean it wasn’t scary.

‘Now is the time.’

I took advantage of that opportunity and ran straight toward the school gate.

For a moment, I was thinking of taking advantage of the frozen break between the male students and getting into Kang Hyeong-man’s sedan.

“… Ugh.”

“Coming out!”

There was a crisis.

As I ran toward the school gate, the male students who had been waiting for me turned their heads toward me, breaking through Kang Hyeong-man’s fear.

But this… .

“Yerin, come slowly.”

“… … .”

“… … .”

The problem was resolved with the appearance of Sang-gu’s brother who got out of the driver’s seat.

Kang Hyeong-man seemed like a scary guy, but Sang-gu was a beast, perhaps because he was big, bald, and had scars on his face.

When Sanggu oppa called me so affectionately, the male students had no intention of approaching me.

“Hello, boss.”

“Okay, hurry up and get in.”

In the meantime, I passed through the male students and got into the sedan.

Kang Hyeong-man and Sang-gu also glanced at the male students once in a while and sat in the passenger seat and driver’s seat, respectively.

Even at that moment, the male students had blank expressions.

I took a look at them through the window and thanked the two people in front of me.

“Boss, Sang-gu oppa. thank you. I was just in trouble… .”

“Yes. But who are all these guys?”

“Yesterday, my new product was posted on the community. You probably came after seeing that.”

“Tsk, it’s already become a bother. When you travel from now on, be sure to take Sang-gu or me with you. Isn’t it a very rough world? You never know, there might be a crazy person among those fierce faces.”

“… Yes.”

As time goes by, more and more people will recognize me. If Kang Hyung-man or Sang-gu would accompany me, I would be able to travel with peace of mind.

But then there was another problem.

“… Still, I’m worried.”

“What?”

“… I was wondering what would happen if people thought our company was a gangster company.”

If you hang out with Kang Hyeong-man or Sang-gu, there will be more misunderstandings in the future.

This will definitely lead to a blow to the company’s image, so what should we do? .

“Hmm… .”

Hearing what I said, only Kang Hyung rested his chin and looked out the window.

“Yerin.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Are we a gangster company?”

“… Ah.”

… Is that so?

When I think about it, all these people in front of me are gangsters… ?

“Of course, we are also making efforts to reduce shadow work, such as loan sharking, and move into brighter areas. still… , it doesn’t mean we aren’t gangsters.”

“… … .”

I am a watermelon right now and I was wondering what I would do if others saw us as watermelons.

“Foot.”

When I thought about it that way, I laughed because it seemed like all my worries disappeared in an instant.

Kang Hyeong-man said with a worried look, probably because he thought I had lost my mind when he saw me suddenly bursting into laughter.

“We are also putting effort into improving our external image these days, so please wait a little longer. I won’t let you harm me.”

“No, boss. That’s not why I laughed.”

“Then?”

“Just… , It’s funny that I forgot that the boss and Sanggu oppa were gangsters.”

It was easy to forget.

The two people in front of me… , because they are the kindest people I have ever met and they are the people who saved my life.

“What if Brother Planning is a gangster company? I don’t care what people think. Because it is a company that is more important to me than anything else.”

“… Yes.”

Hyungman Kang heard my answer and turned his head out the window.

Although he had the same indifferent expression as usual… , I could see a small smile on his lips.

I smiled at his smile and asked.

“But boss. What are you here to do today?”

“Isn’t today the first day of My Idol Academia? I came to pick you up because I thought we could monitor together.”

“Ah… .”

Yes, today was the long-awaited first broadcast day of Naaah.

Thinking about that made me feel like my mouth was dry again.

It feels like a death row inmate about to be judged. I haven’t been able to sleep well since yesterday.

Kang Hyeong-man looked at my face and asked.

“You were originally planning on watching it at home, right?”

“… yes. I tried to do that.”

“Isn’t it obvious that your parents would be crazy if they saw it at home? Let’s just meet at my company. I also called people who would be happy to see you.”

“People I would be happy to meet?”

When I tilted my head, Kang Hyeong-man said with a grin.

“Let’s go eat dinner first. I made a reservation at a good place.”

Kang Hyeong-man said that and took me to a small Japanese restaurant in Gangnam.

The only customers in the store were Kanghyeong, me, and Sanggu, but the chef made sushi in front of us and immediately handed it to us.

This is usually… , it was called omakase.

I had only heard about it and watched it on YouTube, but this was my first time seeing it in person.

Of course, the taste was bad, and the quantity was so large that Hayerin had no choice but to leave it all without being able to eat it all.

After such an enchanting dinner, we headed to the Brothers Planning building.

Now it is a building with quite a nice interior. We headed to the monitoring room on the second floor, where a large monitor was installed.

As I opened the door to the monitoring room, I asked Hyungman Kang one last time.

“So who are the people I would be happy to meet?”

“I’m waiting inside. Come on in and have a look.”

‘Who is it?’

I tilted my head and went inside.

And when I opened the door, what greeted me inside was… .

“Yerin.”

“Yerin-!! I missed you-!!”

“… Teacher Suhyeon. And Teacher Jiwoo.”

My first trainers were Kang Soo-hyun and Lee Ji-woo.

**

It’s not that I haven’t been in contact with Kang Soo-hyun and Lee Ji-woo all this time.

However, we had only contacted each other through chat or phone and this was our first time meeting in person.

First love, first job, etc… .

For anything, the first time is always special.

“Teachers… .”

As soon as I saw these two people, who were my first trainers, I couldn’t hide my joy.

This may have been the same for both of them, as Kang Soo-hyun, whose default expression was as cold as mine, looked at me and smiled.

“Yerin, it’s been a while.”

And Lee Ji-woo, who is usually emotional… .

“Yerin-!! Hehehe… ! How long has it been since this… ! how have you been? Nothing bad happened, right? Why did I lose so much weight again?”

He ran straight to me, hugged me, and pressed his whole body against me.

Although their reactions were polar opposites, I could tell that they were both happy to see me again.

This was the same for me too.

“I have been doing well. What about teachers?”

I asked Kang Soo-hyun while stroking the small figure of Lee Ji-woo in my arms.

“Don’t do this here, let’s sit down and talk.”

Following Kang Hyung-man’s words, we sat on the sofa prepared in the monitoring room and talked.

and… , Soon I heard something surprising.

“… yes? Teacher Jiwoo, what do you say… ?”

“Hehe, I decided to sign an exclusive contract with Brother Planning.”

That was the news that Lee Ji-woo would become the exclusive trainer of Brothers Planning.

“… No, until a month ago, you said you would run away after your one-month contract ends because the company atmosphere was scary… .”

“It was like that at first… , Now I’m getting used to the atmosphere… , I also knew that the other employees were nice compared to their appearance, and more than anything… .”

Lee Ji-woo whispered, making a circle with his fingers.

“… I heard you gave me a lot of this, hehe.”

… Was it because of money?

How much money did they have to pay to catch Lee Ji-woo, who wanted to run away from Brothers Planning?

So, out of curiosity, I turned my head towards Kang Soo-hyun and asked.

“If that happens, Teacher Su-hyeon will also join Brothers Planning… ?”

but… .

“No… , He also offered me an exclusive contract. … I refused. I’m planning to leave this industry.”

“Ah… .”

It seems that Kang Soo-hyun did not accept the contract.

It’s unfortunate, but I couldn’t help it.

Kang Soo-hyun had already said that she would leave the entertainment industry after signing this temporary contract.

“Then… , Teacher Soohyun, what will you do next?”

“My friend recently opened a cafe, so I’ll live there and help out.”

I can tell because I learned it directly from her.

Kang Soo-hyun had an incredible ability to give vocal training to someone.

I worked at JJ, one of the top three entertainment companies, for several years and proved my abilities… .

But why does she suddenly want to leave this industry?

‘Did something happen at JJ?’

I wanted to ask what the story was, but I couldn’t because I felt it would be rude.

“… … .”

“… … .”

This interrupted the flow of conversation for a moment.

Lee Ji-woo must have sensed this awkwardness and immediately asked me to fill in the gap in the audio.

“Yerin, what about you? How have you been so far? What happened in Naaah? I’m curious, I’m dying!”

“Hmm… , that… .”

Instead of answering Lee Ji-woo’s words, I looked at the clock.

The time is now 9:54.

It was 6 minutes before the first episode of My Idol Academia aired.

“I think I’ll be able to check it out on TV soon.”

“… … .”

“… … .”

Everyone in the monitoring room closed their mouths, probably nervous about what I said.

A few more minutes passed in silence like that.

At 9:59, Kang Soo-hyun and Lee Ji-woo opened their mouths.

“… Yerin, I heard you did well on the grading stage and received an A grade. Then it will be okay.”

“Yes! The teachers also watched you tube! The production crew provided a lot of screen time, right? It’ll probably be like that on broadcast too.”

“… I don’t know.”

Kang Soo-hyun and Lee Ji-woo spoke positively, but I actually couldn’t let go of my tension.

No matter how good you are on set… Didn’t I see with my own eyes that we could end up losing?

‘I’m talking about Hyejeong’s level. I decided to go with B.’

‘Producer Shin looked at Grade A’s face and said that it would be better for Lee Hye-jeong to be left out. So I got off.’

‘It’s unfair… , It’s so unfair, Yerin… . Ugh… .’

Unfortunately, it was the production team’s responsibility to decide whether the contestants won or lost on the show.

Ding.

[22:00]

“… Let’s start now.”

I wonder what decision the production team, who were no different from the devil to Lee Hye-jeong, would have made for me… , Now it was time to check.