The Vicious Member Has Returned! Episode 118
Was it thanks to making up my mind to focus on what I could do right now?
"Hello! I'm Jo Tae-uk, the road manager for all of you in ToZ. I'll work hard!"
Right after the music video and track video filming had more or less wrapped up.
Even when I held the face I thought might shake violently if I saw it again in my two eyes, it was better than I'd thought.
"Wow, nice to meet you! I'm Logan!"
"Oh, Mr. Logan! I've seen you all in articles. So, you're from England? I really do watch soccer passionately, you know. The EPL!"
"Really? May I ask which team you like?!"
"Haha, if you're Korean, it's obviously Manchester United! Red! The Treble! How cool is that, right?"
"…
Oh."
No, it wasn't just okay.
How should I put it….
"Man, this is something. I was originally managing an actress. Well, uh… things didn't work out so we parted ways! Anyway. Since this is my second time, that means I can do even better. Wahaha!"
Back then, I thought a hyung who knew drinking games I didn't, made bomb shots, and downed 500cc beers in one go was really an adult.
"Oh, so it's your first time with a male idol? It's my first time working with idols and celebrities too, so let's think of it as both being our first time…."
"Well, if you're curious who it was, you can quietly ask. She was an extremely pretty person too. If we meet next time, I was thinking of having her say hello to you, Mr. Yu-chan!"
"…
Ugh, it's fine. Ha, haha."
Well, he didn't feel that way to me now.
"Um, by any chance… how old are you…?"
"Ah, I suppose our Si-woo is too young to be curious about actresses? Still, if you get a little older, soon—"
"Ah, I'm sorry… but. Uh, I'd prefer it if you didn't… grab my shoulder…."
"Oops, sorry. You just felt like my younger brother. We're exactly ten years apart. I haven't been working as a manager for that long!"
Right. This was it.
The question that had been hovering in my mind was solved in an instant, and it felt like a lightbulb turning on.
At twenty-seven, the same age as that Rex trash who had been drowning in alcohol, pessimistic about life, couldn't manage himself, and was riddled with guilt and regret.
The manager hyung wasn't an adult.
He was just a lousy peer who liked drinking, like that Rex trash back then.
Thinking that way, the manager hyung sometimes looked like a friend, and sometimes like a sworn enemy I wanted to punch in the jaw.
I quickly hid Si-woo—who was holding his own shoulder with a slightly displeased expression—behind me and shouted in the brightest voice I could muster.
"Hello, I'm Chun-yong!"
"Wow, Chun— *snort*. Yes. Mr. Chun-yong!"
Sure enough.
Just like before when he laughed for a long time after hearing my real name, the hyung who reacted the same way this time even went so far as to wipe his eyes with his sleeve.
Ah, I hadn't felt so bad when other people laughed.
But I guess it depends on the person; I felt slightly annoyed.
"Ah, your name is so friendly, I love it. I think I'll get close to you really quickly, Mr. Chun-yong! Feel free to call me hyung. Tae-uk hyung!"
"Haha…."
For a moment, I had to desperately swallow the anger that was welling up and trying to burst out.
Was he crazy?
Get close? Like hell I'd get close.
"Mr. Rex. Mr. Rex?"
"Urk, ah, I'm… dizzy…"
"H-here, you can't throw up here! We have to close the room now, but where did the manager go? Should I call you a designated driver?"
"Uh, the manager hyung, he… urk."
"Hey, hey. Stop messing around and bring a plastic bag. Mr. Rex's manager left first earlier."
"Huh? No, why would he leave a celebrity here alone…."
"They say he does it often. Anyway. If you just stand there like that, Mr. Rex is going to vomit on the floor."
"Urk, the smell of alcohol, gross, ugh…."
"Aaaah! Wait, just a moment!"
After making me drink another round, leaving me at the club, and going home alone with a designated driver?
"…
Yes. I think so too. We can get close. Please take care of me."
Manager hyung.
I forcibly swallowed the resentment and anger that suddenly reared their heads, and replied with a smile plastered across my face.
"U-um. Y-yes. Wow, your eyes…."
Even so, perhaps my anger showed slightly, because I could clearly see the manager hyung flinch at my fierce expression.
There was no need for me to punch the hyung in the jaw right here and delay our debut, which already had a tight schedule.
Because.
"Hah…."
There was someone with an expression that wanted to hit him even more than I did, watching us all this time.
"…Mr. Tae-uk. Why on earth did you bring up an actress to the ToZ members? Do you want a scandal before they even debut? Why are you trying to have them greet her?"
"Come on, hyung-nim. It's not like I was really going to introduce her. I was just making small talk to get close with our ToZ, small talk!"
"I'm not your hyung-nim, Mr. Tae-uk. Please mind your honorifics."
"Oh, come on. Why are you being so strict…."
"I said, mind your honorifics."
"…
Yes, sunbae-nim."
The man who had been glaring at the manager hyung for a long time at his unpleasant reaction carefully approached us.
A man who seemed even taller than Hwa-seong, with dark circles heavily set over his haggard face, had a low voice to match.
"…
Hello. I'm Yu Ho-bin, here today to train Manager Jo Tae-uk."
"Ehh? Ho-bin hyung, you came out for training? Wow, it's so good to see you like this! Are you going back to fieldwork now?"
"No. That's not it. …
I'm busy too, but the company said I'm the most free. I'll only accompany you for this reality filming, then go back to the office."
"…
That's a shame. Honestly, I thought Ho-bin hyung would become our manager. So I thought that's why it was taking time."
"……."
At Jae-ha hyung's soft, beautiful voice, Yu Ho-bin, who had fallen silent for a moment, soon spoke again with an indifferent, tired face.
"…
Anyway, since we have some travel time, let's depart first. If anyone needs to use the bathroom, please go quickly."
"Oops. Then I'll take a quick bathroom and smoke break! I'll be right back!"
The manager hyung dashed off clamoring like that, and while Yu Ho-bin headed first to the front seat of the van.
After being the first to exchange brief greetings with the manager hyung, Yu-chan hyung, who had been hanging back, subtly spoke to Jae-ha hyung.
"Hey, Jae-ha."
"Hm? Yu-chan hyung, what's up?"
"That person who came to train. You just said you thought he'd be our manager."
"Ah, yes. Ho-bin hyung has a lot of field experience too. He also knows me, Hwa-seong, and Si-woo. But… I guess it didn't work out after all."
"What do you mean, didn't work out?"
"That's… it's kind of a complicated situation for me to talk about. Sorry, Yu-chan hyung."
"Oh, no. If it's like that, it can't be helped. What are you sorry for! You apologize for everything, haha."
After eavesdropping on that conversation for a moment, I claimed the very back seat of the van faster than anyone else among the members.
"Hmm…."
"Yu Ho-bin, Yu Ho-bin."
I thought he looked familiar because he had come before for training.
Hearing that he knew Jae-ha hyung, Hwa-seong, and Si-woo—who had trained at AG for a long time—and that he had extensive field experience, his identity suddenly came to mind.
"Long time no see, SwanCam! I missed you all so much. Hello, hello, did you eat? Yeah, I came to see our Odettes before going to the recording studio! Later, for a bit…."
"Su-in noona, I have the car waiting down—ah. I-I'm sorry."
"Hm? No! Everyone, you know Ho-bin, right? Ho-bin, say hello to the Odettes."
"Ah, hello… I'm, uh. The person who… takes care of the Lady Swan noonas… yes. That's who I am."
"Ahaha! Who introduces themselves like that!"
—the road manager for the Lady Swan sunbaenims.
After I entered AG, the Lady Swan sunbaenims had virtually no activities, so I never had the chance to learn who their manager was.
Well, I had been doing the survival show for months; there's no way the company wouldn't have prepared a manager.
They must have prepared one, but things fell through.
Once I processed the information that he was a manager who had only done office work for the Lady Swan sunbaenims for a long time, a natural conclusion followed.
First.
If I used this well, I could replace our manager hyung—who made my fists tremble just by looking at him—early on.
*Slide—* Kim Chun-yong: Hey
- Kim Chun-yong: Hey, X
- X: Yes? Did the sun explode? Suddenly sending messages first
- X: Ah ㅡㅡ wait
- X: Kim Chun-yong, you must have something to demand from me again
- X: I'm sick of this relationship where you only extort things from me
- X: Even when it's not like that, find me sometimes! I'm lonely! Am I just that kind of existence to you?
- Kim Chun-yong: Yeah yeah
- Kim Chun-yong: And stop with the cringy talk, please. Are you a drama queen?
- X: ㅡㅡ Why did you message me?
- Kim Chun-yong: I have something to ask
- X: Again, again with the solemn build-up. Oh my, Rexy-Rex.
And second.
To do that….
"Oops! I still came back pretty fast. Let's depart now, everyone. ToZ members! Get in the van!"
"Ah! Yong-yong hyung took the good seat first! Don't you want to switch? A cool hyung who yields to his dongsaeng—you'd want that image, right?"
"…
Haha. You're the one who was late, punk. And no, I don't want to."
I shoved my phone— which had been exchanging absurd messages with X—into my pocket and smiled nonchalantly at the members who were getting into the van late.
Right. There was no need to rush right now.
The reality show camping trip we were going to film was two days long.
First, we'd spend tonight at the accommodation in Gapyeong, and start filming in earnest from tomorrow morning, so….
"Did you set the navigation? Set it properly so we don't get lost. You do know where we're going, right?"
"Uh, well, I've been to Gapyeong a lot for MTs…."
"Set it. Now."
Yu Ho-bin scolding the manager hyung over there.
So, the total time I'd be with our new manager candidate, whom I had my eye on, was three days.
I just had to resolve things within that time.
"H-hm… hrm."
"Hm? Is this Chun-yong's part?"
"Yes, well. Our song is good, right? I think it'll do well."
Right. I thought it would do well.
And now, again….
it was timing for things to proceed smoothly.
* * *
The next morning, after spending a day at an accommodation in Gapyeong.
My ToZ members, having finished putting on their mics, headed to a private campground where one camper van was parked in each designated area.
Perhaps because it was sort of the finale, the camper van pre-set by the reality show production crew had a splendid drawing of a six-leaf clover—the signature of this ToZ album—on it.
"Wow, did they draw these one by one? It's drawn really nicely."
"That's probably not it. Printing? Or a decal?"
"Well, either way, it feels good. It really feels like we're debuting…."
"Oh? Hyungs! Wait. There's something here on the table!"
"It looks like… a letter. The production crew seems to have left it behind…."
Reflecting PD Joo Cheol-young's philosophy that "the ratings will be good if we create a feeling of only the members being together," the letter was written as follows.
"Wait. I'll read it to practice my Korean. Um. …'ToZ members. Since you came to the campground early in the morning, you must be really hungry now'."
"Hey, Logan. Your English pronunciation is too native. I don't think it helps with your Korean practice?"
"Oh, Chun-yong hyung. You're interfering with my studies! Ahem, I'll start over… 'First, you will start by going grocery shopping with the allowance we gave you. Its name: the Telepathy Meal!'"
It was one of the frequently used concepts in reality shows.
One team goes grocery shopping, and one team stays behind to cook.
The shopping team discusses what to eat and buys ingredients matching that food; it's a mission where they can only eat when the cooking team makes exactly the right dish.
Of course, since sadly there could be a disaster where they can't eat anything at all, an additional mission is attached according to the "telepathy" element.
The cooking team writes down snacks they want to eat separately on a note, and if the shopping team buys matching snacks, they share them.
"Wow! This looks fun! Then let's split into teams and decide who goes shopping first? Rock paper scissors? Or palm flipping?"
Using Hwa-seong's excited voice as background music, I slowly rolled my eyes.
Normally, I can't cook besides boiling ramyeon. I would have joined the shopping team because I was worried about the kids, but….
"…How about we split into hyung team and dongsaeng team? And the young, sturdy dongsaengs go shopping. Everyone's hungry, so I think doing it this way quickly would be good."
"Ugh, I totally agree. Totally agree. I'm so hungry right now I think I'm going to die."
"Awesome, then can I just buy and eat one ice cream? With the production crew's card?"
"Oh, I do agree, but this is proceeding very quickly…?"
I heard Logan's puzzlement, but I had a reason why it had to be this way.
The closest mart from this campground is a 40-minute round trip by car.
Naturally, the shopping team members had to be accompanied by the manager hyung to go to the mart.
So, I deliberately stayed behind here to….
"…Cigarettes, a bit… further away…."
"It's fine… they can't even… see…."
From afar, in a place the cameras couldn't see, I was planning to work on Yu Ho-bin, who was scolding the manager hyung.
"…
Hoo."
Having finished formulating a plan in my head, I draped my arms over the shoulders of Logan and Hwa-seong—who were handing the basket to Si-woo—and grinned widely.
"Go and come back, dongsaengs."
Your hyung will try to secure us a new manager.