| Episode 141. Fourth Round: Emergency Strategy Meeting (2)
Anyone at UA would know how capable Kim Iwol was.
As a joke, people at the company used to say, “Did we hire a new employee instead of an idol?” Though now, those words could no longer be said as a joke.
Even in the eyes of Jeong Seongbin, who had dreamed of becoming an idol for a long time, Kim Iwol was in a league of his own. He wasn’t a professional idol, but he was definitely a professional at something.
“Iwol? He’s good at his work. Smart, too. You can tell at a glance that he’s sharp.”
“Iwol organized this? He’s seriously meticulous.”
“If Iwol was the one who suggested it, then it’s worth trusting.”
Just how many compliments about Kim Iwol had Jeong Seongbin heard already?
If it had only been his public image, then perhaps it would be one thing, but Kim Iwol had a good reputation even among the members closest to him. Seongbin himself relied on Kim Iwol a great deal.
And yet there were people who were particularly harsh toward Kim Iwol.
One type was people like Jang Junhu or Yu Hansu, who either had poor public reputations or felt inferior to Kim Iwol.
The other was Kim Iwol himself.
Kim Iwol’s self-deprecation was habitual. Jeong Seongbin didn’t know whether Kim Iwol himself was aware of it, but having spent years belittling himself, Seongbin recognized that nuance better than anyone.
At first, he thought he must have been mistaken. What could someone like Kim Iwol possibly lack?
But it hadn’t been a mistake. Kim Iwol was harsh on the members when it came to pointing out their work attitudes, and toward himself, he was strict in every area, including his work attitude.
It was while watching Kim Iwol that Jeong Seongbin first realized admitting one’s shortcomings and failing to recognize what one was good at were two different things.
He worked while sleeping four hours at most, and when things were busy, only an hour or two in snatches. Anything he lacked compared to the members, he filled in somehow through practice.
Even when he was so busy he barely had time to breathe, he still visited the fan café every day, and when a great stage video came out, he looked proud. Seeing that, Seongbin could feel that hyung truly liked the fans, that he truly wanted to put on a good performance.
And yet Kim Iwol, when an important moment came, would say things like……
“It’ll definitely be cooler if you do it without me.”
……things like that. Without seeming frustrated or disappointed, with a perfectly calm face.
“I don’t know exactly what hyung is thinking. But if we just leave him to think he isn’t that important to the team…… I think I’d feel terrible.”
At Jeong Seongbin’s words, the members pressed their lips shut. Each of them was recalling a different example, but all of them were picturing similar sides of Kim Iwol.
Jeong Seongbin glanced at Choi Jeho and Kang Giyeon. If Kim Iwol participated in the stage, the ones who would effectively suffer the most would be those two.
The two of them had already revised the entire formation once due to Kim Iwol’s withdrawal, and they were utterly exhausted.
“I know it’ll put a bigger burden on Jeho hyung and Giyeon. There are ways to have hyung sit separately on the side stage, or only have him participate in the recording, but I’d like us to think about it together. I’ll take part as much as I can in anything I can help with……”
As if he had no face to show them, Jeong Seongbin lowered his head.
The answer came back more readily than Jeong Seongbin had expected.
“I mean, I’m on break, so I don’t mind. Instead, please let me push my bedtime back a little just for this week.”
“I don’t mind either.”
“We’ll have to redistribute the parts too, right? I’ll do that with Juu hyung!”
“Yeah. Seongbin, you focus more on the outfits and…… the other stuff.”
The members, who had been trained harshly by Kim Iwol, each found what they needed to do on their own.
And so, everyone began discussing how they could stand on the live broadcast stage together with the seriously injured Kim Iwol.
* * *
Even today, nearly three days after I had been hospitalized, I was still not in my right mind.
My head hurt horribly, I kept getting dizzy, and whenever people occasionally came by, I had to grit my teeth and pretend I wasn’t in pain.
Repeating this over and over made me feel like I was going insane. No matter how I thought about it, using Pain Relief to stop Yu Hansu had been the right call. If I hadn’t, far from subduing Yu Hansu, I would have collapsed onto the floor and been unable to move.
As I was wondering things like, How do people in movies keep fighting so well even after getting hit with metal pipes…… the manager came to my hospital room.
“How’s your body?”
“I’m much better. The doctor came by on rounds earlier, and they said I’m recovering quickly.”
The nurse who dressed my wounds had also said the injuries were healing unusually fast. So fast that she seemed to wonder if she had seen it wrong. Thanks to that, it looked like I would be getting another MRI.
So I asked the system to leave the surface at an appropriate level and focus on treating the wounds inside.
I wanted to return to society, not get taken to some rare-human research institute.
“I heard you asked the kids to bring you your laptop.”
As he said that, the manager handed me a phone, incomparably smaller than a laptop.
“But the kids told me not to bring the laptop. They said you’d work if I gave it to you.”
“What?”
“I thought you would, too, so I didn’t bring it. Instead, you need to be able to contact us if something happens, so keep your phone with you.”
Like a raccoon that had washed cotton candy, I just held the phone quietly in my hand.
After that, we talked about who would be responsible for paying the surgery and hospital bills.
Apparently, UA had paid all the hospital fees. I was also told that even if I reached a settlement with Yu Hansu, I did not need to hand the settlement money over to the company.
“The company knew there was trouble between you and PD Yu Hansu, so we have to take responsibility. The company will pay all the costs of your treatment, so don’t worry about it. All right?”
The manager also told me to receive psychological counseling if I needed it, saying he would bring me a list of clinics later.
“And Iwol, there’s something I want to ask. Are you feeling all right right now?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
The manager pulled over the chair in front of the cabinet and sat down.
“It might be an uncomfortable topic. Is that okay?”
“Of course. Please speak freely.”
“Mm……”
I wondered what on earth he was hesitating so much to say, but then a word I hadn’t expected came out.
“Can I ask how bad your relationship is with your parents?”
If he was bringing up my family at this point……
“Is it because of the guardian?”
“Hm?”
It was likely because they had tried to contact my guardian during the surgery.
Sure enough, the manager avoided my gaze.
It was impossible for me to contact those two directly. The system had placed restrictions on me.
But what if I borrowed the mouth of a third party?
“If you happened to get in touch with my parents……”
If someone who could see their contact information and contact them reached out on my behalf, I could ask about my older sister.
At the very least, I wanted to know where she lived, or what she was doing these days.
“Ah, about that.”
And then the manager fell silent.
An issue about my character had erupted only recently. With even my personal information having been dug up, there was no guarantee that news of me hadn’t reached those two.
In an instant, my heart sank. It felt as if someone had poured cold water all over my body.
“They said they didn’t want to be involved with me?”
It was fine if they wouldn’t sign as my guardian or anything else.
It was fine even if they said whether I got surgery or not was none of their business, so not to contact them just because they were my family in the records.
But they could have given me one chance to talk to them, couldn’t they?
The resentment that had been about to turn toward the system scattered and disappeared. Even without the system, those people would have been like this.
“Iwol.”
The manager called my name and patted my shoulder.
“In the future…… when there are matters related to your family, what would you like the company to do?”
It was a kind consideration.
If I followed my heart, I wanted to say I didn’t care, that they should cut them off without even asking.
“I told you we could meet halfway. Why come all the way near my place?”
“You worked overtime yesterday too, didn’t you? If you’ve got a conscience, buy your big sister a meal.”
“No.”
I decided to suppress everything and endure it.
“If they contact you for any reason, please make sure to tell me. There’s something I want to say.”
For my sister’s sake.
* * *
After the manager left, I checked the messages that had piled up.
There were tons of messages from all sorts of people asking how I was.
The Berion members were one thing, but even Polo and Yur had sent texts worrying about me and wishing me a quick recovery.
Wondering why everyone was making such a fuss, I searched for articles and found that the titles were ridiculous. Just from the articles, you would think I was hovering between life and death.
“Of course everyone’s shocked when they report it this sensationally.”
As the manager had permitted, I posted on the group’s official account that I was resting well, then slowly sent thank-you replies to the backed-up messages.
Lastly, I logged into Bubble Pop, which I hadn’t been able to check properly for several days.
Countless messages had piled up in the inbox.
≫ Iwol, are you okay? Don’t overdo it, no matter what, and get lots of restㅠㅠ
≫ Iwol, don’t be sick
≫ I miss you! Rest well and get better quickly so you can come back soon!!
≫ Iwol, if anyone bothers you from now on, wave carrots in both hands and shout their name first. Noona will take care of everything for you
I slowly moved my fingers and sent a short message.
Iwol
[I kept you waiting a long time, didn’t I? I’m sorry for contacting you so late.]
A minimum of ten messages a day had been my iron rule. Guilt came rushing in like a tide.
Even so, the fans greeted me warmly.
≫ Kim Iwol, apologies are forbidden
≫ What do you have to be sorry forㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Are you okay?
≫ Iwol, noona is on her way to set UA on fire right now
≫ Yeah, babies don’t apologize for things like this
I still hadn’t built up a resistance to a few words that appeared often…… but what mattered was the sincerity contained in them, so I accepted them gratefully.
“Assistant Manager Kim, why are you always carrying around headache medicine when you’re so tall and lanky?”
“You got heatstroke because there was nothing to eat? You’re doing this on purpose because I turned off the fan on your side, aren’t you?”
“Assistant Manager Kim, I’m going crazy because of the employees. Everything is the flu with them. If everyone has the flu, who’s going to do the work?”
As if to keep my eyes from turning into those of a dead fish, my mind kept superimposing Department Head Nam over everything.
I was already the most grateful person in the world even without thinking about things like that, so I wished it would stop.
Instead, I made a resolution. I would communicate like crazy to make up for the days I had missed.
And so, I chatted excitedly with the fans until I fell asleep. Without even seeing “Bubble Pop 999+” appear in the real-time trends a few hours later.