Chapter 2 — Even a Broken Clock Is Right Twice a Day
Talking about the future, huh.
Wonwoo’s dark circles plastered across the front page of a daily newspaper were basically a summary of my entire twenties.
I had already been kicked out of the industry.
Why would I want to see the future now?
Besides, it said pressing nothing would automatically count as choosing option 1.
N came before Y alphabetically, didn’t it?
I had to give them credit for making the message attention-grabbing, but I wasn’t stupid enough to fall for smishing like this.
—Hyung. What are you doing?
“Ah, sorry. Go ahead.”
Daehun, who had been waiting for me to respond on the phone, urged me on.
—Hyung, I didn’t bring up money because I was trying to help you or anything. We really are in a situation where we’d borrow even a cat’s paw if we could. A tiger’s paw would be even better. Even if the tiger’s lost its teeth.
From the way he was talking, it sounded like he genuinely needed me.
Who in the world would willingly work under their junior?
Still, I wasn’t particularly interested in protecting my pride anymore.
Daehun seemed convinced I could make Blue Moon successful.
—Who knows? Maybe you’ll join us and end up becoming the CEO one day.
“A CEO, my ass. …You’re having trouble finding rookies, aren’t you?”
—How did you know? Every time I finally teach someone the job, they quit. It’s driving me insane.
Well, of course.
If he lured people in with ridiculous promises like becoming the CEO, they wouldn’t last long.
Who entered an entertainment agency for the first time without dreaming of making some pretty or handsome celebrity successful?
People simply gave up once they discovered the gap between that dream and reality.
—Anyway, even if you come and nothing improves, I won’t be disappointed, so don’t feel pressured. It’d also be nice if you could reconnect us with some writers or PDs you met while working your previous job.
That seemed to be what he really wanted.
Since I had worked as a manager for years, he probably assumed I still had a few connections left.
But when your house caught fire, this was the kind of world where people didn’t just cut ties.
They shut off the electricity and water too.
Even the people who used to exchange New Year cards with me from time to time were gone now.
All that remained in my life were spam messages sent to a number sold off by some fandom-related company… and idols.
Still, this opportunity did seem worth trying.
Even if I ignored success and money completely…
There weren’t many chances in life to contribute to making an idol group you liked famous.
If Daehun thought my presence would damage their image, he probably wouldn’t have made the offer in the first place.
Of course, I could also satisfy a bit of selfish desire by admiring Serin’s face.
Hadn’t I originally switched over to becoming a fansite photographer because I decided to fully embrace my fanboy instincts?
“I’m not looking down on you or anything, but… There’s something I need to ask because of what happened to me before.”
—What? You’re asking if the girls do drugs or have sponsors or something?
Thankfully, he brought it up first.
—You need money and connections for things like that too. That incident really turned you into a coward, huh? If you’re that worried, come see the girls yourself.
Fortunately, it sounded like they were the same girls I had seen through fan content.
I was the kind of person who would replay even the occasional horribly low-quality video they uploaded until the file practically fell apart.
If even that image had been fake, I probably would have felt pretty empty.
—We finally have a fan signing event coming up. There probably won’t be many people, but… anyway, if you come here, you can meet our girls. See for yourself whether they look like the type to do something stupid. You used to be a Victory manager, so you should at least have an eye for that much, right? …Or maybe not?
“Stop teasing me. You’re going to owe me one hell of a drinking session later.”
—Anyway, I’ll send you the time and address. Make sure you come.
I already knew plenty about the girls’ singing skills, dancing, and talent.
Universe had never properly pushed them even once, but it was obvious what qualities each member could use to succeed.
That was what Daehun meant when he talked about having a good eye.
But those things were bonuses.
The more, the better.
If they had none, it still wasn’t necessarily fatal.
Even someone with absolutely nothing going for them could become a top-tier celebrity if a major agency pushed them hard enough.
Granted, with the trainee market already overcrowded, big agencies had no reason to pick someone completely useless.
The truly important issues were things like drugs or school violence.
Those were absolute dealbreakers.
And unlike singing ability, they weren’t things you could identify just by looking.
“Fine. I got it. Hang up.”
After ending the call and waiting for a moment, a text arrived.
It was the fan signing schedule Daehun had sent me.
The poster was surprisingly well made.
Not like many people were going to see it.
“…Huh?”
Apparently, another message had arrived while I was on the phone.
A number was displayed over my messaging app icon.
It was from the same spam sender that had asked whether I wanted to see the future.
The message preview showed “1/10.”
That meant either an extremely long web-sent message…
Or an attached image.
[Web Message]
Would you like to see the future?
(Image)
It was a fairly large image file.
As for the photo itself, it looked like someone had taken it at a fan signing event.
“What the hell is this?”
The people holding the signing seemed to be a girl group, but only their backs were visible, so I couldn’t identify them.
The fan standing directly across from them was wearing a black mask, making his face impossible to recognize as well.
Basically, it was a photo that contained no useful information.
Still, it didn’t take long for me to notice something strange.
“What’s with this headband?”
This wasn’t actually a photo of the fan signing event.
At the center of the picture, one of the girl group members was wearing a headband.
The headband sat right in the middle of the frame.
Even someone who wasn’t a photographer could tell that the headband was the true subject of the image.
“…This is a hidden camera.”
The teddy bear head was tilted slightly because of the camera’s weight.
And the right ear bulged a little too, probably because an antenna had been installed inside it.
If you looked at it without suspicion, it seemed completely harmless.
But once you approached it assuming something was wrong, suspicious details appeared everywhere.
The whole situation looked somewhat dangerous.
But in the end, this was still spam.
I didn’t even know whose fan signing event this was.
And the perfectly convenient angle of the photo almost made it look staged.
It wasn’t my problem.
I didn’t even know why they had sent me something like this.
“Seriously? So some hidden-camera creep is my future?”
What an irritating spam message to the very end.
I tossed my phone aside and decided to watch a rerun of the national variety show Challenge, Four Heavenly Kings! instead.
Daehun hadn’t been exaggerating when he said hardly anyone would come to the fan signing event.
An hour had already passed since the event started, yet fewer than thirty fans had shown up.
Still, the members didn’t seem bothered.
They chatted among themselves and enjoyed the event.
I had planned to stand about five steps away and quietly admire their beauty without drawing attention.
But with the whole place practically empty, being unnoticed was impossible.
“Hyung. Why do you keep standing all the way over here? Come closer and introduce yourself.”
“N-No, I… I’m comfortable here.”
These were people I had only ever seen occasionally through Nutube videos and vlogs…
Still, embarrassment wasn’t the only reason I kept my distance.
People’s true nature was something you could only see properly from a few steps away.
That had been my biggest mistake while working as Wonwoo’s manager.
I had gotten too close to Wonwoo.
“Hyung, you seem to like Serin. Come over and talk to her.”
“Hey! What are you saying?! It’s not like that. Do you know how big the age gap is?”
“Who said anything about dating her?”
Because Daehun kept running his mouth without reading the mood, every member ended up noticing me.
We had only bickered for a moment, yet all four girls turned toward me at the exact same time.
Like soldiers standing in formation.
Having four beautiful women suddenly stare directly at me was unbelievably nerve-racking.
And among them, Kim Serin’s beauty was absolutely overwhelming.
Her face was perfectly balanced, without a single awkward feature.
Just looking at her was enough to melt the heart that Wonwoo’s drug scandal had frozen solid.
A face like that would already have been enough if she simply stood there elegantly.
And yet she could sing and act too.
And apparently, she was good at both…!
Seeing her in person made the Kim Serin I thought I knew until now feel like some impossible person from a dream.
But contrary to Daehun’s assumption, Serin wasn’t my favorite member.
Sitting beside Serin and staring at me as well was their main dancer, Jin Youngchae.
Her back was perfectly straight, and her slender neck looked thin enough to snap if someone pushed it too hard.
Her posture made it seem as though she had been attending noble social gatherings and learning etiquette since childhood.
Right.
If you had a neck like that, obviously you should wear short hair.
