| Episode 8. Establishing KPIs (1)
The company was beginning to put together the debut team.
In other words, if I slipped up here, I would fail the task of debuting with Spark.
Since there was almost nothing I knew how to do, I was in a position to clutch my heart and plead, “Heavens, please give me just a little more time……”
But for some reason, even the Spark guys, those once-in-a-century men of talent, wore dark expressions.
Min Jugyeong, seeing their faces, smiled as if she felt sorry for them.
“Everyone, relax. Okay? You’ve all worked so hard until now, so think of it as the day you’ll finally be rewarded and do your best, all right?”
After Min Jugyeong dropped that breaking news bomb and left, silence hung over the practice room for a while.
Only after Bak Juu went into the vocal room first, and even Choe Jeho picked up an empty water bottle and went outside, did the rest of them creak back to their own places.
It was my first time hearing about it, sure, but these guys must have known at least that the evaluation period was approaching.
Seeing them look that gloomy, the first thought that came to mind was, “Just how harsh are these evaluations……?”
Failing the evaluation and getting dropped would be a big problem.
But even if I barely scraped by, whether the Spark members would accept me, whose skills were leagues beneath theirs, was also an important problem. Separate from the fact that I found them uncomfortable.
Was I getting ahead of myself when there wasn’t even anyone saying they’d let me scrape by yet? Really, my thinking was too shallow.
I rubbed my parched face a couple of times. I felt the dry, crumbly exhaustion that came when quitting time drew near.
At times like this, when my confidence hit rock bottom, I needed a spell to boost my spirits.
“If I worked that hard for that paltry salary, what can’t I do……” That kind of thing.
Besides, the reward this time was something that couldn’t be converted into money.
They said they’d even bring a dead man back to life, so I ought to be grateful. On top of that, wasn’t this a chance to erase that hellish Hanpyeong Industries from my career?
Some people would want an opportunity like this and never get it. Worrying was nothing but the complaint of the well-fed.
I firmly strapped an iron mask disguised as a sense of responsibility onto my face.
Let’s go for it shamelessly.
* * *
Jeong Seongbin, who had been asked by Min Jugyeong to help the newbie, kindly explained the evaluation to me from beginning to end.
Starting with the evaluation date, Jeong Seongbin told me in order what new trainees usually prepared and what the guidelines were.
“……If you do it like this, your evaluation prep will be more or less done.”
“So there isn’t exactly little to prepare.”
“Well, the rankings come out every time.”
With a calm face, Jeong Seongbin said something that sounded like Assistant Manager An from the marketing team.
Assistant Manager An had always looked haggard from giving KPI reports every morning.
Jeong Seongbin’s face contained a whole world of suffering much like his.
I offered modest thanks to Jeong Seongbin, who had finished explaining while even mixing in words meant to reassure me.
“Thanks.”
“Pardon?”
“You must have a lot to prepare too, but you keep helping me.”
Hearing my words, Jeong Seongbin widened his eyes. As if he hadn’t heard such words many times before.
It did seem like something he wouldn’t have heard much within Spark. Most of them were the type to handle their own work alone.
In fact, except for I Cheonghyeon, all the Spark members weren’t particularly expressive by nature.
There was nothing good about being stingy with greetings and gratitude. Once I finished worming my way into the debut team, I’d probably have to make them say at least “I see” once a day.
Since I was in a position of being carried by others, wouldn’t the cost-benefit calculation only balance out if I contributed something too?
But Jeong Seongbin himself said something so warmhearted that my calculating thoughts felt embarrassing.
“I’m not the only one, though. Giyeon said that next time, if you mix up left and right again, he’ll tie you up in front of the mirror and teach you.”
“I’m so grateful I could get a runny nose.”
From far away, Gang Giyeon shouted, “What about me?”
“Oh, that you’re the best teacher.”
Hearing me, Gang Giyeon made a face like he had no idea what I was talking about.
Gang Giyeon seemed to require an explanation, but I didn’t bother adding anything.
Just honestly complimenting them had already drained the positive energy I could spend on Spark for the day.
Up until then, the distance between Gang Giyeon and me had been one end of the practice room to the other……
But when I came to my senses, only Gang Giyeon and I were left in the practice room.
UA’s practice schedule ran on a 9-to-10 system. It was a schedule that deserved to be reported to the Ministry of Employment and Labor at any moment.
As for me, since I had to deal with my feet practically melting away, I practiced extra every day on top of that.
But Gang Giyeon, whose level was clearly different from mine, didn’t seem to have any intention of going home today either.
If he was hurt, he should just go home early and rest. He was clearly trying to make up for the practice he’d missed.
For my part, I felt more comfortable being alone in the practice room. It was the same principle as self-study at night—if the student supervisor was standing right behind your back, even studying you could do wouldn’t get done.
Even having to spend all my time with Spark was already a kind of torture.
Every time I saw their faces, I felt pressured, like I ought to be cutting them out from the background.
The brave are the ones who gain freedom.
To secure my precious alone time, which was only about two hours a day, I cautiously spoke to Gang Giyeon.
“Giyeon, aren’t you going in?”
“What about you, hyung?”
“The teacher told me to practice a lot.”
“You practice for about half of break time too, hyung.”
“You guys went to the trouble of helping me. I should at least do the basics.”
Hearing me, Gang Giyeon thought about something for a moment before answering.
“Then remember the parts that aren’t going well and tell me tomorrow. I also have more practicing to do today.”
No, you go home. I’m saying I want to be alone.
It also bothered me to have an injured person keep moving around nearby.
The sight of Manager Han from the accounting team collapsing from a herniated disc was still vivid in my mind.
To my eyes, Gang Giyeon’s ankle was a risk factor itself. I didn’t want to see someone collapse again.
“You hurt your ankle. Shouldn’t you rest more?”
“They said it’s fine as long as it’s not a move that puts too much strain on it.”
Seeing how the answer came right away, it seemed he’d asked the hospital this and that. What a meticulous guy.
Before I could ask more, like whether a minor really didn’t need to go home, Gang Giyeon went off to the opposite corner of the practice room.
Seeing that reminded me of Spark’s magazine interview.
『Q. There’s an anecdote that you were in charge of turning off the practice room lights?
Seongbin: It wasn’t just me. All our members were like that. I think there was always at least one person staying behind to practice more. Everyone was diligent, and we all really wanted to do well. More than anything, we absolutely wanted to debut. (laughs)』
I also thought of the Job Planet reviews attached to Hanpyeong Industries that I’d seen before coming back to the past.
To summarize it in one line……
“They said it was probably a company like a lighthouse whose lights never went out.”
At least Hanpyeong Industries looked, from the outside, like the lights never went out.
But this damn practice room was buried underground, so whether young trainees sang or danced all night, nothing could be seen from outside.
Even after practicing like this and debuting, Spark hadn’t won first place for over three years. It was hard to believe, but that was reality.
Because the idol world into which Spark debuted was such a thorny path that comparing it to an abruptly scheduled company dinner on a Monday evening would be an insult.
If they debuted after working that hard, they should have promoted more fiercely.
From my standpoint, as someone who had to run monitoring in their place, I was nothing but grateful that Spark hadn’t promoted passionately.
But to fans, it probably hadn’t looked good.
What kind of group turned on a live broadcast only once during a promotion period?
“Well…… now isn’t the time to think about others.”
I immediately got to my feet. I had a very, very long way to go.
How much time passed like that?
“Are you going to stay longer?”
While I was in the middle of wrestling with myself in the mirror, Gang Giyeon turned off the music and asked.
“It’s 11 now.”
“11?”
The clock really was pointing to 11 at night.
It had been a while since I last felt this cornered, not since Department Head Nam asked me to change the office desk arrangement by tomorrow.
In this situation, even if I went home, the only thing that would come back to me was karma.
Having grown into an adult who could at least see one step ahead, I decided to stay a bit longer for tomorrow’s me and asked Gang Giyeon.
“What about you? Aren’t you going?”
“I’m going to do just a little more.”
“Go home early. You won’t grow taller.”
The expression of the guy who had worked himself to the bone only to be nagged about holiday-style by a stone that had rolled in from nowhere was not good.
Still, endure it. I’m only saying this because I know you won’t make it past 180 in the future.
Your future self gets seriously stressed about that.
Although fans called him a 173cm giant puppy and “super cute Giyeonie,” it seemed to bother him even more because there happened to be a lot of tall kids in the group.
As an aside, I also went through quite a bit of trouble because that guy alone dipped down so much.
One hundred forty characters wouldn’t be enough to explain how troublesome it was to edit SNS headers because of him. I’d even wanted to impose a strict ban on uploading vertical photos, so that said it all.
Still, I couldn’t make a kid who’d only just graduated middle school walk home alone in the middle of the night. Especially not one with a bad ankle.
I pushed aside the uneasy feeling and cleaned up my things.
Outside the building, which we left after a full fourteen hours, a knife-like wind was blowing.
The weather showed no sign of warming up, and every time I breathed out, white vapor came from my mouth.
“How’s your ankle?”
“Hyung, you ask that really often.”
“Your bodies are your assets.”
Hearing me, Gang Giyeon pursed his lips as if he was about to say something, then stopped.
He had no sense of caution about injuries. These guys didn’t know how scary hospital bills were.
It seemed like the trainees as a whole urgently needed occupational safety and health education. If they were forced to sit through twenty lessons each, they’d take care of themselves whether they liked it or not.
But I did feel a bit bothered about nagging Gang Giyeon that he wouldn’t grow taller if he slept late.
Wasn’t every single word from a superior dogshit to any working adult?
Though my existence was probably more like a mousetrap than a superior, feeling sorry was still feeling sorry.
I pointed to a convenience store whose lights happened to be on and asked Gang Giyeon.
“Want to stop by the convenience store before we go?”
Then, without even hearing Gang Giyeon’s answer, I pushed him inside. Of course, considering Gang Giyeon’s ankle, I did it very gently.
Maybe his stamina was hanging by a thread, because Gang Giyeon was pushed into the convenience store without any strength.
“Pick what you want to eat.”
“Why?”
“I nagged at you. It’s a sign of apology.”
They said a truly sincere apology was made through monetary compensation.
Gang Giyeon, whose nose tip had reddened from the wind, listened to me and made a reluctant face.
“When did you…… Oh, telling me to go home early?”
“Yeah.”
I herded the hesitating Gang Giyeon in front of the refrigerator.
After thinking for a moment, Gang Giyeon picked up an ion drink.
I was about to tell him to get something expensive, but then I remembered that this guy was an idol under extreme self-management who didn’t even put dressing on his salad, and obediently paid for it.
Even though all my assets amounted to this precious 15 million won.
If I was buying one drink for a student who had done physical labor until 11 at night, I felt like my sister would understand. It wasn’t like I could use that money for college anymore anyway.
When I handed over the paid-for ion drink, Gang Giyeon bowed his head.
“Thank you.”
“It’s just something that cost 1,200 won. If anything, I should thank you for helping me practice.”
“I’m not helping you. I’m saving you.”
“That’s true.”
After that short exchange, we walked toward the dorm in silence. It was a suffocating commute home, like one taken with a coworker.
After passing even the alley that was as dark as my future, we arrived at the entrance of the villa where the dorm was.
At the entrance, I gestured for Gang Giyeon to go in.
“What about you, hyung?”
“I’m going to a karaoke room. I got permission from the manager in advance.”
“Why a karaoke room?”
“To practice.”
Gang Giyeon looked like he was thinking about something.
Right. You must also be disappointed that the practice room isn’t open twenty-four hours.
I was the type who felt more at ease getting things done even if it meant pulling an all-nighter rather than letting work pile up, so I understood that feeling well.
“Well, I’m not only going to the karaoke room.”
Hiding my dark intentions, I gestured for Gang Giyeon to hurry and go inside.