Debut or Die

The meeting with the director of the management office was set up immediately after a little fuss.

There were several attempts to inquire about the reason for the meeting with the director, but surprisingly, I was able to defend myself with vague words, ‘I have something to tell him’.

‘I guess you make a lot of money from Testar.’

Because they were resources that had emotions, appeasing them was easy.

I even thought of a specific excuse.

And I also thought that the management division must be secretly nervous.

Because the guy who wasn’t even the leader of a group and didn’t have much self-assertion outside of albums or activity plans suddenly put in a request for a meeting.

They were probably racking their brains among themselves regarding this sudden action.

But they wouldn’t be able to do that for long.

“Then I’ll go see him tomorrow.”

– Ah… Yes

I made an appointment for a meeting the very next day.

It was the only time I didn’t have a daytime schedule during the week, so I couldn’t help it.

I hung up the phone and shrugged.

‘Hmm… How are they going to judge this?’

It didn’t matter in particular, but I was curious about the situation.

And I figured out how the company judged my behavior within five minutes after entering the meeting with the director at 10 o’clock the next day.

“Um… Moondae-ssi, is there anything about the group activities that you find unsatisfactory?”

“…”

“Moondae-ssi, you may find this frustrating because you’re so skilled. Still, going this way for another year or so is best for your stability.”

This was the main point of the conversation after we exchanged our greetings and talked about personal matters.

‘Aha.’

And I noticed in his subtlety.

‘Did you think I wanted to be a solo artist?’

It was an easy and quick conclusion.

Won first place in survival, recently received good responses in a solo entertainment show, and received counseling for mental anxiety during group activities.

‘With those backgrounds, it wouldn’t be strange if I came to talk about my solo activities.’

And there was one more thing I realized.

‘He’s never had a conversation like this.’

If I really came here to complain about group-oriented activities because I was really interested in being a solo artist, he shouldn’t have done that.

It would have sounded like ‘You’ll stay like this for another year’ before I could even bring up the topic.

A self-conscious celebrity would have understood that.

‘The format should proceed with the celebrity bringing up their story first and you pretending to be concerned.’

Usually, if you became a director of an entertainment company, you must be a person who had been successful in this kind of work, but this person was not.

‘As expected, he’s aparachute^[1]Parachute = People who get high-ranked jobs through inside help..’

Other parts, such as AR parts, production, and product marketing, were departments that needed professionals, so experienced workers had been scouted for those positions.

However, the shareholders gave some seats to the parachutes, as if they thought this kind of management was a good trial for them.

In fact, this part also required expertise.

‘Thanks to that, it’s easier for me to talk.’

I stared blankly at the young director, then deliberately nodded my head.

“Stability is good.”

“Right~?”

“But I was worried that something like this might turn out to be a big deal.”

“Yes?”

I threw the bomb with a shrug.

“Someone is going to another agency and working a double job, is that okay?”

“…!!”

The director couldn’t answer for a moment, probably at a loss for words.

And he finally opened his mouth with a smile.

“Ah Moondae-ssi, it’s not possible at our company~ Well, maybe their profile hasn’t gone down yet because it hasn’t been long since they changed jobs.”

He must have thought that the young man he didn’t know well had misunderstood.

The more you think so, the better.

I nodded my head obediently.

“Is that so? Looks like I have misunderstood. It feels like they keep scheduling us with Golden Age.”

“Yes??”

“They were talking on the phone talking about the Golden Age and that I was filming <The Calls of the Past> this time.”

“…! W-Who?”

“Hm… Who was it? Wait a minute.”

I picked up my smartphone and pretended to go through my address book, then answered as if I had just noticed.

“Oh right. Oh Suhyung, assistant manager of the operation team.”

“…!”

Do you remember?

When Lee Sejin and Bae Sejin had a fight, he assigned them to the same team and I called to protest. He was the one who said, ‘It’s our mistake, but don’t get so sensitive’.

Oh, did I really hear that phone call?

‘Of course, I didn’t.’

Would you make a phone call like that in a place where the celebrity you were in charge of could easily hear you unless they got shot in the head?

But the suspect was definitely him.

‘It can only be him.’

First of all, the other departments had no reason to do that.

As I said before, they were made up of professionals that had been scouted.

That meant they had no problem changing jobs even if they didn’t spy on the industry.

There was no incentive so they had no reason to try.

But the management division was different.

Underestimating the expertise of the management division in the entertainment industry, T1 filled it with parachutes and cheap businessmen of ambiguous careers that had already appeared in the market instead of scouting experienced workers.

And they even add newcomers who didn’t know anything to fill the head count.

In short, the worst division in the company. There were a lot of complaints about them, and there was a high probability that they had no particular attachment to this work.

‘Then the odds of having a parasite is bound to be higher.’

Then the next step was simple.

‘I just need to see if someone overlaps.’

The Golden Age’s agency couldn’t have hired someone they weren’t familiar with, so they must have tempted someone they knew and had worked with.

So I checked the history of Golden Age’s agency, Traveler.

Usually, if they were such a good worker, it was highly likely that they came from another formation.

And sure enough, the testimonies I was searching for had already overflowed on SNS.

-The CEO worked at Wonder Hall and took Iljoon and a few people with him and became independent. No wonder the trainees had Wonder Hall’s vibes ㅠㅠ

Wonder Hall. That famous agency was good at producing large boy idol groups.

‘Hmm, it’s obvious.’

Then, it was decided.

For the rest, I just had to find the guy in our company whose tenure and career history overlapped with the CEO and his employees from Wonder Hall.

‘The company’s internal network structure is derived from T1.’

I was just grateful for their complacency in giving their celebrities high access to documents.

Anyway, as a result of looking around, there was only one person in the management division whose history overlapped.

[2019. 06. 01. – 2021. 01. 04. Wonder Hall ENT On-site assistant and paperwork]

Oh Suhyung, the assistant manager of the operation team.

Then all the circumstances fit.

‘I can understand why he’s doing a rough job over there.’

Since he had already made up his mind, he only had to adjust the assortment. That’s why there were complaints in everything he was in charge of.

“The assistant manager might have thought that sharing a good entertainment show would be efficient, but I thought it would be better to focus on one place.”

The important thing here was, he shouldn’t have done it by blaming the celebrity.

That meant I wouldn’t give him a chance to rationalize this issue by saying, ‘The celebrity must be overthinking~’.

This guy should have his own doubts and realize the seriousness of the situation. I said as if not knowing anything.

“Now that I think about it, I keep seeing a lot of things overlap with the Golden Age, so I wonder if he’s working with cost-effectiveness in mind.”

“Your schedules overlapped?”

“Yes. They did. And there are many cases where we appear together in articles and posts on the Internet… It was annoying so I thought they might be working together.”

“….”

If he didn’t notice the seriousness behind these words, he wasn’t a f*cking parachute, but an idiot.

Fortunately, the director’s face turned red, then white again, and then returned to normal.

That meant something like realization and anger came and went inside.

“Is that so… Hmm, right. I’ll talk about this substitution issue. I understood Moondae-ssi’s story.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Of course, I didn’t really expect him to be alert and handled it neatly.

Take a good look.

“But Moondae-ssi, it could be a problem later, so I think it would be better not to say anything about this until the matter is resolved.”

I knew this would happen. This bastard was scared it would damage his reputation.

It was understandable. The moment this was leaked to the outside world, he would most likely receive a truck of protest from Testar’s fans.

I nodded my head obediently.

“Of course.”

By the way, this was of course, also a lie.

“Well thought out.”

The director saw me off, not even having time to ask or think about why I requested a meeting.

‘I’m going crazy.’

I clicked my tongue inwardly and headed to the recording studio I had set up with the excuse ‘I’ll take care of the recording while I am at work’.

The AR team employee, who was asked to adjust the sound, was having a brief talk with the second manager who had come beforehand and was about to finish their work.

The manager talked to me first.

“Moondae, you’re here~ Did you have a good talk?”

“Yes, it was fine.”

“What did you talk about?”

“Hmm… He asked me to keep it a secret.”

“Huh?”

I wouldn’t be surprised if the ears of the AR team employee, who was touching the device from next to us, grew twice as big.

‘You must be curious.’

It was the same for the second manager, so he asked me with a low voice.

“W-Why? Moondae, is he letting you go solo?”

“Oh, it wasn’t that kind of talk…”

“Then what it was about?”

“Hmm… Hyung is in the management division, so maybe it’s okay for you to know.”

“What is it??”

Well, the hint that it was about the management division worked pretty well. The AR team staff must have picked it up.

I deliberately paused for a while, then just shook my head.

“I am not sure. He asked me to be quiet until it’s resolved somehow.”

“Ah~ I’m really curious!”

“I’m sorry. I don’t think I should say it.”

“Oh, got it!”

Now, the implication that a pretty big problem broke out also spilled.

Perhaps the AR team staff had something to say after this schedule was over.

‘A big problem must have happened in the management division!’

Isn’t it a fun snack for a boring company life?

Then, when the management division showed signs of patching up, there would be people interested in what was going on.

Then it wouldn’t take long for all the rumors to spread inside.

‘I bet 1,000 won it will reach the director’s ears within this week.’

And it was exactly what happened.

Three days later, there was news that the director was looking for additional evidence as well as the people involved.

* * *

“Moondaemoondae, do you know?”

“Know what?”

“The operation team said someone was selling our information to other agencies~ Oh my gosh, it’s really scary.”

Sitting on the sofa in the living room, Keun Sejin made a fuss. He probably thought catching the bastard was such refreshing news.

I smirked.

“Yeah. Did they get caught?”

“Yeah. But… I heard one of our members reported it on his own.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah. Really.”

Keun Sejin grinned.

“And I am just saying this, but you’ve worked hard, Moondae~”

Keun Sejin tapped me on the back and entered his room.

‘Did he notice?’

It was nice that he didn’t pry around.

And on the contrary, there was a person who came and chatted a lot.

“Wow~ The atmosphere at work is no joke!”

The second manager.

In the middle of my personal schedule, he said, ‘Isn’t this what you were talking about?’ and excitedly talked about the company situation.

“How is it?”

“I heard the director contacted the company directly! Ah, they already called Assistant Manager Oh!”

It was understandable.

The payment bot was trying to fill his time period quietly, but since such a large-scale problem had exploded under the surface, he couldn’t help but get angry.

In addition, once the news got out, there was only one way to restore the atmosphere. The payment bot that worked at T1 knew this well.

Public execution.

‘Of course, it’s limited to inside the company.’

So, with the industry spy getting caught, they were pressuring Golden Age’s agency over whether to sue the spy and make it public.

Of course, the result was most likely an unconditional surrender.

‘It was over the moment he got caught.’

Regardless of whether they had raised Golden Age to be a first-class team or not, this was neither a fight of weight class nor a fight of public opinion.

It was a head-on struggle between an affiliate of a large company and a small agency with broadcasting stations behind them, and this time the small agency was at fault so the large company even had the justification.

‘As long as the evidence is secured, they can’t remove it.’

No matter how clever and skilled Golden Age’s agency was, if they wanted to continue operating, they would have no choice but to lie down and watch their moves.

‘They’ll be silenced for a while.’

They would have to stop the media play and viral business that intertwined with Testar.

And this meant the Golden Age’s side should keep their mouths shut despite the public response to <The Calls of the Past> which would be broadcasted now.

‘This is much more comfortable.’

I lay back on the sofa.

All the preparations I had done in advance were complete. The weekend when the program would be broadcasted was just right around the corner.

• 1. Parachute = People who get high-ranked jobs through inside help.