The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

While my members slept in the waiting room, I took my luggage and headed outside. Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna asked me where I was going. I didn’t become startled by their question because I was prepared.

“The director asked me to have lunch with him.”

“…Sorry?”

“Oh…the director…haha…”

A lunch with their boss was something no employee could refuse or wanted to be part of. Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna quickly left the scene in case I suggested them to join me.

“Then, should we drive you to the front of the company?” Ms. Seung-Yeon said, reaffirming her intention to drop me off only in front of the company.

“I can just call the taxi,” and I refused because I didn’t want to bother them.

“No, no. We would get in trouble if we let you go alone. I will drop you off since any one of us could watch over this place.”

“Yes, get a ride, Mr. Tae-Yoon.”

“Well, if you insist, thank you.” Now that I thought about it, I thought Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna would get a bad reputation if I went to meet the boss while riding in a taxi and agreed with them.

Soon afterward, I went to the parking lot and got in the car. My usual spot in the car was the backseat window seat but today, I was able to ride next to the driver seat. Ms. Seung-Yeon turned on the car engine and softly stepped on the gas pedal. The car departed from the broadcast station, and we headed to the Next Wave’s main office building.

“Why do you have a lunch meeting with the boss today, Mr. Tae-Yoon?” Ms. Seung-Yeon asked while we were moving.

“He just asked me to have a meal with him. It seems he knows I don’t have an afternoon schedule today.”

“Yes, I’m sure he knows since we report you guys’ daily schedule to him every week.”

The truth was that I was the one who asked to see Yoo Won-Dong instead of the other way around, but I knew that people would think weirdly if I told them the truth. It seemed the hardest thing about being a regressor was trying to prevent people from misunderstanding you.

“I suppose you will just make some small talk with him.”

“I think so.”

“Perhaps, he wants to personally take care of the sole artist group in the company.”

“It could be since he doesn’t seem to hate us or anything.”

“Ah, Mr. Tae-Yoon, you didn’t hear?”

“Hear what?”

“The director collects Siren’s goods these days.”

“…Sorry?” I doubted my ears. Yoo Won-Dong collected our goods? He wasn’t inspecting the quality of the company’s products but was collecting them?

“But don’t we not have any official merchandise released yet?” There weren't any goods to collect yet since we didn’t release any products. The merchandise team was already occupied with designing our cheering sticks right now.

“He receives unofficial goods from other fans and even buys some if they look good.”

“…The director uses Bluebird?”

“…Haha…yes.”

I felt chills all over my body. This was the madness of the man who wanted to succeed.

“Anyways, the director’s image in our company is gradually improving. Before, he used to be sort of a frustrating director who didn’t know the idol business well. But now, his image is like a cute director who wants to actively try out new things.”

My goodness. It was surprising that such compliments about the director were coming out of the company. Perhaps, these were the fruits of his efforts. The Yoo Won-Dong I saw not so long ago had been outcasted and insulted by everybody. Yet, right now, he was working hard to assess the current idol market by collecting unofficial goods in private. It seemed we wouldn’t have to suffer another ‘Waacking incident’ from before.

“Anyways, it seems the director really likes Siren and wants to support you all. So, don’t be too nervous when you go meet him. Think of it like meeting an older neighborhood friend.”

It was then I realized why Ms. Seung-Yeon was mentioning all these things. She was trying to make me less nervous in case I was worried about meeting the director. After all, I was nineteen years old right now. I smiled sensing her consideration for me.

“We are already here.”

“That was fast.”

“Then, have a good time.”

The car zipped into Next Wave’s parking lot and stopped in front of the entrance gate specially prepared for artists. Ms. Seung-Yeon stopped the car right near the gate and told me to quickly go in. There was recently a notice to heighten artists’ care because of the uptick in the number of people wandering around the company with cameras. Thus, I rushed inside, immediately got on the elevator, and went to the floor where the director was.

I thought about the word choices I should use while going up. Though this was an idea I came up with while talking to Han Do-Young, I still wasn’t sure whether my plan was possible. Yet, I thought I should still give it a try. If Yoo Won-Dong refused my request, I could ask him to find the sales manipulation company. Thus, I planned to go into the director's room with a light heart, thinking that I could protect Dong-Jun with whatever decision was made.

Eventually, the elevator stopped where the director’s room was. I went outside the elevator and knocked on the door. From inside, I heard Yoo Won-Dong’s voice call out.

“Yes~” His voice sounded slightly expectant. Though he sounded anxious hearing that I was visiting him alone, it seemed he wasn’t completely displeased about the meeting. Eventually, the door opened, and Yoo Won-Dong came out.

“Ah…you really came alone?” He looked slightly disappointed.

“Ah, yes.”

“Please come in. We can head to a restaurant after waiting a bit.”

“I understand,” I said and entered the office. While going inside, I was about to ask Yoo Won-Dong if the restaurant had a private space like a room, “Does the restaurant have a private room…”

‘…?’ Yet, I couldn’t finish my thought when I saw the change in the office room’s interior. First of all, there was a row of dolls using my members and my motifs on top of his desk. Then, there were stickers of us as characters that someone made stuck all over Yoo Won-Dong’s work laptop. On the walls, there were posters from our album and other unofficial posters, slogans, and so on made by fans. If I didn’t know that this was the director’s office, I would’ve thought the room belonged to a high-school girl who was obsessed with Siren.

“…Director?”

Perhaps, Yoo Won-Dong felt a sense of pride from seeing my response. “I’m monitoring the idol market these days. After receiving all sorts of things, the goods just piled up,” he said boastfully.

“I’m still getting used to things, so my daughter looks over my speech and tone when I write comments, but…I’m improving.”

I imagined how shocked our fans would be to realize that they had shared goods with Yoo Won-Dong. They would think in horror, ‘The person I shared gifts with good intentions is actually my favorite idol group’s company director?’ It was unbelievable.

tgrf

“Well, there’s that. Should we head to the restaurant now?”

“Ah…yes.”

“Were you asking if the restaurant had a private room? It is so you don’t have to worry about it. Just follow me.”

“Yes…haha…” I tried to pull myself out of my initial sense of shock and think positively of the situation. As Ms. Seung-Yeon said, it appeared Yoo Won-Dong liked Siren. If that was the case, I thought I could go all out.

***

Yoo Won-Dong stared at the nineteen-year-old man sitting next to him. The driver was smoothly turning the car through corners and moving farther away from the office building. He looked like a successful businessman heading for a lunch meeting if it wasn’t for the fact that a man—no, a nineteen-year-old ‘child’ was riding beside him.

‘But of course, he’s no ordinary child.’ Yoo Won-Dong didn’t think Tae-Yoon was just a child. After conversing with him a couple of times, he realized that Tae-Yoon had a quick wit and the way he talked was different from other people his age. Tae-Yoon clearly didn’t have much experience working but it felt as if he was much older than he was. Furthermore, the way Tae-Yoon talked as if he could see through people surprised Yoo Won-Dong the most.

Thus, Yoo Won-Dong didn’t think of Tae-Yoon as a child but considered him as a young manager in his company. He knew it wasn’t natural for him to think about a nineteen-year-old in this way. Yet, as two people working together under the same company, he thought this was preferable to someone being too childlike. Still, he had hoped for all the Siren members to come together.

‘This isn’t good…’ Tae-Yoon came to see him alone. After a couple of meetings with him, Yoo Won-Dong noticed that Tae-Yoon was calmer when he was with his other members; but when he was alone, he had a tendency to propose provocative deals. Thus, Yoo Won-Dong had hoped that Tae-Yoon would visit him with the others so that he would mind his words more carefully. Yet, since Tae-Yoon had already come to him alone and Yoo Won-Dong couldn’t send him back, they were here now.

Though it made Yoo Won-Dong a bit nervous, it was all right. He had already studied plenty about the idol market and he was confident that he could calmly answer any question coming his way.

‘But am I really getting nervous in front of a nineteen-year-old…?’ Yoo Won-Dong wondered if he was overthinking things in front of someone his daughter’s age, and as he thought these things, the car stopped in front of the restaurant. The driver came out and opened the door, and both Yoo Won-Dong and Tae-Yoon stepped out. When they entered the restaurant, the staff guided them to their reserved room.

It was a room with good sound insulation and was quite a distance from the other spaces. After sitting in front of the table, Yoo Won-Dong planned to pick the goods on the menu first.

“You probably couldn’t eat too well because you are in your activity period, right? You should go after eating something tasty today. This place’s galbi set is really good,” he said. There was a tendency for people to become looser and more pleasant after eating. Even the same words would come out more softly. This was the reason they were having a meeting while eating.

Yet, Tae-Yoon simply glanced at the menu and put it down. Then, he said, “I asked to eat lunch together but truthfully, my intention isn’t to really have a meal.”

“…” Yoo Won-Dong didn’t take his gaze off the menu. He intuitively sensed that if he placed the menu down and met eyes with Tae-Yoon, they would have to begin conversing without being able to take a single bite of food. Yet, because Tae-Yoon relentlessly kept staring at him, he had no choice but to put the menu board down.

“Haa…” Yoo Won-Dong felt slightly out of breath whenever he saw Tae-Yoon do this. He knew what sort of emotions he was feeling right now. When he first joined Jaeil Group, he got the same feeling while waiting for feedback on the business proposal he made. It was a secret he had kept well that after he got chewed out for the plan, he shed tears in the bathroom stalls. He hoped that he could have a different ending today.

“Are you aware that G&B Entertainment is preparing an album by plagiarizing our content?”

Yoo Won-Dong felt a foreboding feeling then and answered. “…I have been keeping an eye on them.”

“But you know how we have to get a Triple Crown All-Kill in our next activity period?”

“…Yes.”

“I think Bleshu’s debut would hinder our plan to reach Triple Crown All-Kill, so I was wondering if you had any connections inside G&B Entertainment.”

“…” Yoo Won-Dong closed his eyes and nervousness rose in his heart. Then, his worries solidified into shape as Tae-Yoon continued.

“If you have any connections with the G&B Entertainment investors, I was wondering if you could put pressure on them to withdraw their investments. It would be most preferable if you put pressure on the company’s director to nullify Bleshu’s debut.”

Tae-Yoon was trying to order him to do the unbelievable again—finding another company’s investors and stopping Bleshu’s debut?

‘That’s insane?’ Who would expect such an order to come out of a nineteen-year-old? This was the age to study for the college entrance exams and study exam guidelines. Yoo Won-Dong began to thump his fist near his chest. Though he didn’t eat anything yet, he already felt like he had an upset stomach.