Episode 69. Business Etiquette Training (2)
Gang Giyeon doubted his own ears.
The sugary voice and warm gaze were plenty strange already, but the conversation topic Bak Ju-u had chosen was something straight out of a fansign event.
It was so natural that one might think he had memorized the entire script, but there was one problem.
Gim Iwol was the type to rarely wear accessories.
'Is he going to chew me out for losing focus again……?'
Startled, Gang Giyeon hurriedly checked Gim Iwol's hands.
Contrary to his worries, a thick silver ring really was on Gim Iwol's left ring finger.
It was a fashion ring their manager, Chanyeong, used to wear all the time. He must have borrowed it for today.
Gim Iwol, shamelessly maintaining his happy energy, spoke.
"Oh my, how did you know I bought a new ring?"
"It suits your hand so well……. Did you buy it recently?"
"Yeah, I got it so I could wear it today."
It was unbelievable.
Who would have thought the day would come when he would hear Bak Ju-u and Gim Iwol saying things like 'I wore it for you' or 'It suits you so well' over silver accessories.
For a brief moment, Gang Giyeon worried that today might be the day the Earth ended.
After that, for a measured three minutes with the timer running, Bak Ju-u and Gim Iwol exchanged a substantial conversation.
Soon, when the timer alarm rang, Gim Iwol stood up and clapped his hands.
"Ju-u, you don't need to practice anymore. Go home."
"Really……? Thank you, hyung."
"Hyung! What about me? I worked hard too!"
"I Cheonghyeon, you get a penalty because you didn't voluntarily grab the doll's hat while Ju-u was delivering his lines."
Facing Gim Iwol's cold attitude, I Cheonghyeon couldn't argue further and backed down.
At that moment, the members of Spark, except for Bak Ju-u, thought:
They wouldn't be sleeping in their dorm beds tonight.
The ominous premonition was not wrong.
Gim Iwol would transform from an angel-like fan into an evil spirit in an instant, seizing the members like mice.
It reached its peak when it was Choe Jeho's turn.
"What's with the silence? You don't want to talk?"
"No, just a moment……."
"Do you think it's funny that I prepared twenty questions to talk with you and even practiced outside the door so I wouldn't trip over my words? Just because I said Cheonghyeon was handsome earlier, you relaxed thinking I'm his fan? If I'm not your fan, I'm not a Spark fan either?"
It had been harsh before, but the feedback directed at Choe Jeho was exceptionally venomous.
Choe Jeho also retorted, implying the words were too harsh, but Gim Iwol didn't back down.
"Do you think I don't know you're not fazed by words like this? And others will say worse. If you can fix it beforehand, improve it before things blow up."
Choe Jeho clicked his tongue. There was nothing wrong with Gim Iwol's words.
But the head and the heart were separate matters.
Choe Jeho furrowed his brow. It was plain to see he was holding back a sigh.
Gim Iwol stared silently at Choe Jeho. And when Gim Iwol's lips opened again, Gang Giyeon tensed up.
What kind of words would he wield this time?
That he couldn't even wait and furrowed his brow despite being told not to? Or that if he didn't want to do it, he should quit?
Either way, he couldn't imagine a picture where the practice room atmosphere improved.
But what came from Gim Iwol's mouth was completely unexpected.
"It's not like you don't have anything you're curious about from the fan. Why are you keeping your mouth shut like that?"
Gim Iwol was clearly certain. It wasn't a guess.
Gang Giyeon quickly exchanged glances with the colleagues sitting beside him. None of them understood where the situation was turning.
But Choe Jeho himself just looked at Gim Iwol sullenly.
Then, after a few seconds, he roughly ruffled his hair and spoke in an irritable tone.
"No, my nuna told me not to go around asking useless questions everywhere."
"Your nuna?"
"She said she fucking hates kids who pry into weird things at school or work, cursing about them every day when she comes home. She especially nagged me to keep my trap shut…… ha, just thinking about it makes me sick."
Is he calling that an excuse right now? Gang Giyeon was shocked.
Now, without fail, a Gim Iwol-style thunderbolt would fall. And they would become ashes drifting through the practice room air…….
"Aha. I understand what you mean."
……?
Gim Iwol, who had been listening quietly, stroked his chin and nodded.
Was he the kind of hyung who was tolerant enough to understand from that kind of explanation? That Gim Iwol?
Gang Giyeon couldn't figure out in what context Gim Iwol had understood Choe Jeho's reasoning.
And that question was resolved by the continuing conversation.
"The annoying targets your nuna mentioned—people who pester her, or underclassmen and upperclassmen she doesn't care about, that sort, right?"
"Yeah."
"They approach with impure intentions and keep clinging to someone who dislikes it, so it's filthy."
"Exactly."
To summarize: Choe Jeho's nuna, tired of repeated approaches, had issued a special order to Choe Jeho, 'Don't live like that, especially keep that dangerous muzzle of yours shut,' and Choe Jeho was diligently trying to carry it out.
"I wasn't sitting there without thinking either. It took a long time because I was worrying whether this question was a decent one or not."
"That much I like. But your nuna said that because the other party harbored malicious intent and asked over-the-line questions. Are you a bastard who harbors malicious intent toward your fan? Or are you planning to run your mouth without knowing your place on site? I'll just—"
"How does that connect like that?!"
"Otherwise, be grateful and converse with sincerity and care. If you think it's over the line, I'll keep you in check."
Then the two of them nonchalantly continued the fansign rehearsal. And in a very serious attitude at that.
Gang Giyeon thought the eldest hyungs were out of their minds. But he was relieved that a fight hadn't broken out, and grateful that Choe Jeho was someone who could also ask questions calmly and diligently.
* * *
I stood in the middle of a familiar campus.
Students busily passing by, the beating sunshine, raucous laughter heard from afar. Even the pleasant weight on one shoulder.
Walking inside the student union as usual, I saw the club room where I spent the most time after lecture halls.
Beyond the door, as always, the seniors' chatter leaked out loudly.
When I opened the door and went in, the seniors gestured for me to come in quickly, as usual.
Even though it was a band club, this place was full of gossip. They talked as much as they played instruments.
And everyone was interested in the unlovable youngest.
"Iwol, what do you want to do that you came to the business school?"
I had come to university but wasn't studying hard, just doing private tutoring and convenience store part-time work all day long.
Otherwise, I just endlessly played the shared bass in the club room; it must have looked quite strange to people.
But I had never deeply thought about the future. A person struggling just to survive reality becomes short-sighted.
I opened the bass case and answered.
"Wouldn't I apply anywhere that accepts our major?"
"You're not thinking of taking the civil service exam?"
The senior asked again.
I heard almost every day about how people in the department were struggling preparing for the civil service exam.
I had neither the time to prepare for months or years nor living expenses, and I was too busy collapsing into sleep when I got home to even consider it.
So I answered with an awkward smile.
"Just anyone can become a civil servant?"
"Hey, don't fill the kid's head with empty dreams. He needs to go on an audition program on Enet or something and become a singer."
"Aren't you the one filling his head the most?"
The actual vocalist didn't even come to the club room, yet the seniors surrounded and cornered me.
They passionately discussed how far I might go if I appeared on an audition program, and what songs I should choose for a higher chance of winning.
After chatting like that for a while, the seniors always reached almost the same conclusion.
"Hey, it's fine. Iwol just needs to go out there. Nothing to worry about."
"Iwol, if you debut later, you can't forget me, okay?"
"If Iwol becomes a top star because of you, he'll probably say in interviews that he overcame the seniors' oppressive hazing and grew musically."
"What are you saying, it's totally because of you."
I didn't have much to say in the midst of that.
The only thing I could do was perfectly set up the bass that a Cosmos graduate senior had passed down.
Just as usual, after finishing preparing for the ensemble practice, at the moment when I was about to tune up to start practicing—
An alarm rang from beside my head. At the same time, my eyes opened.
The wooden ceiling still right in front of my face told me that what had just happened was a dream.
It was funny. The memory was vivid enough to appear in dreams, yet the current me couldn't even enter that club room.
"But the funniest thing is that I did end up debuting."
Even if I didn't seem like I'd become a top star, the long-awaited debut day had dawned.
Instead of growing through the seniors' oppressive hazing, I had grown through the System's blood-draining unfair contract.
As if knowing today was the contract expiration date, the System bastard had shown its face since the crack of dawn.
+
[SYSTEM] A work order from 'Person in Charge' has arrived.
▶ Deputy Gim, you know today is the HR evaluation deadline, right? Don't be too pressured. If Deputy Gim has done well so far, the evaluation will be good, and if not…… well, that's how things go. I hope it goes well. Don't forget that I'm always cheering for Deputy Gim.
+
Did you think I'd get pissed off again if you spoke like this?
Unfortunately, you're wrong.
Because until just yesterday, I had been killing myself doing debut song practice, fansign practice, and fan meeting practice as part of my routine, so now I was actually looking forward to the debut.
Come, oh sweet debut.