The Toxic Member Has Returned! Episode 178
* * *
Flutter—
Inside the sedan heading toward the set for TioJ’s repackaged album jacket shoot, Sin Giho was leafing through the album-related documents he had received from Mun Yunha.
The documents said that TioJ’s repackaged album would be an extension of the concept from their previous “Hide-and-Seek” album, while focusing on a more casual image.
“…
Tsk.”
After checking through to the last page, Sin Giho tossed the papers roughly onto the seat beside him and clicked his tongue lightly as he looked out the window.
‘It would be a problem if it did too well, but it would also be troublesome if it flopped.’
During the meeting for the repackaged album, when Sin Giho had grabbed hold of Gim Chun-yong and spoken as if he didn’t care whether the album succeeded or failed as long as they could secure investment, that had only been half true.
What Sin Giho wanted was control.
In other words, he wanted TioJ’s repackaged album to neither do too well nor flop too badly, so that it could become a leash he could use.
For him, having lost the major lifeline that was the Chinese market and now struggling to find a way to survive, nothing was more important at the moment.
‘For now, the primary goal has been achieved. Whether it’s a good song or not, we got Logan’s song in—the son of the people we’ve marked as potential investors. So this time comes next.’
Since President Do Jaechan was someone scouted from outside, Sin Giho wasn’t the type to immediately sense the rise or fall of an album from its concept or songs.
There was only one thing he looked at.
Metrics.
[SNS Real-Time Keyword Trends
1. Ledix Comeback
2. #Meet_Me_in_a_Dream_Mongjungmongseol
3. TioJ Self-Content What
4. Relay Dance Quiz
5. Yeonu Concept Photo]
[ Ep.0 “Pilot” Views: 848,762 ]
How many people listened and watched.
And among them, how many actually went as far as making a purchase.
For now, Sin Giho had already sufficiently confirmed the amount of buzz TioJ, currently in their hiatus period, could mobilize through the self-produced content that had recently been uploaded.
Doing their best within what was possible, and receiving an appropriate response accordingly.
‘I heard they filmed it in a rush, but the response isn’t bad. No, it’s not just not bad—it’s good. At this rate….’
Sin Giho, his head full of such thoughts, looked obviously sensitive and burdened with worries to anyone who saw him.
In a way, it was only natural.
AG’s tiger, who checked only the metrics and built plans through them.
A cold-blooded man with no manners who was only good at work, a selfish director who believed in nothing but numbers—Sin Giho.
And such a man was, of all things, personally making an appearance at the repackaged album shoot of the idol group he had planned.
“…….”
The secretary, who checked Sin Giho’s appearance through the rearview mirror, swallowed nervously, his face tense.
He didn’t know the details, but his boss was doing something he normally never did.
This was clearly different from visiting the competition set of a survival program or attending a debut showcase.
There was a world of difference between going because he absolutely had to show his face and seeking a place out even though there was no need to.
On top of that, Sin Giho had never visited even “that” Liu Wei’s filming sets like this.
It wasn’t as if he was sending instructions over text, telling them to do this or that.
He was going in person to look at their faces? To see whether they were doing well or not?
…
A person who wouldn’t know the details even if he saw them, and in truth probably had no interest?
‘Ugh, I hope nothing happens today!’
Even as he smoothly reverse-parked, unlike his chaotic thoughts, anxiety swelled up inside the secretary’s heart.
“…
Um, Director Sin. Shall we go? We’ve arrived.”
“Good. Lead the way.”
And that secretary’s worries continued right up until they arrived at the set.
No, it would be more accurate to say that the worries were cut off there.
Because at that album jacket shoot…
“Holy! Welcome, welcome! I heard you were coming!”
“What….”
“Oh, please sit down, Director! I was wondering so much when you’d arrive!”
“No, what are you doing instead of working….”
“Please wait just a moment, Director. You see, our coffee truck is here. I’ll bring you something.”
A flood of hospitality that Sin Giho had not once expected in his entire career as a director poured down on him.
* * *
The Director Sin Giho in Gim Chun-yong’s memories had always been the same.
Cold as ice, not particularly interested in Arrows unless it involved Liu Wei.
A person who, despite being involved in the idol industry, paid greater attention to investment and securities than to singing or dancing.
That had been made abundantly clear in the way he treated Gim Chun-yong when he had only recently fallen into being Rex-trash.
“…
Psychological counseling? A visit to a psychiatrist? Is that necessary?”
“Ah, um. Yes! Rex knows how to take care of himself… of course! Haha, but still. Somehow, it seems other idols do this kind of thing?”
“…….”
“Huh… The person himself is keeping his mouth firmly shut.”
The former manager, Jo Taeuk, had been busy dragging Gim Chun-yong around to bars as eye candy.
No matter how much of a pleasure-loving piece of trash he had been, it wasn’t as though he had focused solely on using Gim Chun-yong.
Ah, the eye candy’s mental state has collapsed, so today he says he doesn’t want to drink and is holed up in bed.
In any case, if he was going to go around with him, he had to keep his mentality intact enough to go to clubs—that was the point.
Jo Taeuk, who didn’t even know that one had to abstain from alcohol when taking psychiatric medication, had, just once,
personally taken Gim Chun-yong to Sin Giho and preached that fact to him.
The member’s mental state was far too poor.
So please let him go to the hospital!
Unlike Jo Taeuk, who was chattering frivolously beside him, Gim Chun-yong, who had been observing Sin Giho’s expression from behind the long bangs covering his eyes, remembered exactly what Sin Giho said next.
“…
If it becomes known that he’s going to that hospital, how much more will his commercial value drop?”
“P-Pardon? What did you just say….”
“No, forget it. Bring this matter to President Do, not me. And don’t come to me again with anything similar.”
“…….”
In the end, Gim Chun-yong did come to go to the hospital, but that was only because of the decision of AG’s existing management, who loudly proclaimed artist-first principles.
Even after seeing Gim Chun-yong’s ruined state, Sin Giho had placed his commercial value and usefulness on the scales.
Where could he be used?
And how could he be sold off?
At the time, it couldn’t be said that Sin Giho’s judgment had been entirely wrong.
After all, Gim Chun-yong, who had become Rex-trash in the end, had served as an excellent shield for Liu Wei’s escape to China, and he had helped Sin Giho, who had run off with him, until the very end.
However.
What mattered was that the team Sin Giho was in charge of now was not Arrows, but TioJ.
There was no member through whom he could exert influence, and the current Gim Chun-yong was not Rex-trash.
“Chun-yong? Here’s your coffee! You had quite a lot of requests, unlike you, so I put in some effort. It should be good.”
“Ah, yes! Thank you. …
I’ll come by again later!”
“Haha, of course. Good luck with the jacket shoot!”
“Yes.”
Holding the coffee handed to him by the coffee truck owner, Gim Chun-yong headed toward Sin Giho, his sharp eyes flashing.
‘…
Honestly, I don’t like him. There’s no way I could. But that doesn’t mean I can afford to set myself against Director Sin right now.’
Whatever one said, the person with the highest authority who could ultimately bring in investment and decide the specifications for TioJ’s next album was Sin Giho.
There wasn’t a single thing about him that Gim Chun-yong liked.
If he could, he wanted to simply throw an uppercut at him and spew out things like, “What makes you so great that you abandoned Arrows?”
But Gim Chun-yong was far too desperate a person to ruin things by being swayed by his immediate emotions.
Toward the members, toward his family,
and toward the fans.
He was a desperate person, full of venom from the feeling that he had to atone.
“Um, if everyone’s okay with it, can we talk for a bit? Tomorrow, at our jacket shoot… apparently a guest is coming, haha.”
That was why, the moment Gim Chun-yong received Mun Yunha’s message saying, [Tomorrow that dogshit old fart is coming to the jacket shoot,]
he gathered the members.
Name: the Great Tiger Countermeasure Meeting.
“Ah, Chun-yong heard too. Mm… That’s right. I was debating a little over whether to say it or not. The director is coming to our repackaged album shoot….”
“Tch, he didn’t even come during our Hide-and-Seek promotions, but now he’s making a fuss. Can’t we just pretend we don’t know? Siyeong noona said before to just ignore Director Sin more or less!”
“Hwaseong, Siyeong noona is one of the founding contributors….”
“Phew, I find him a little scary. You know, back then, when we were having our concept meeting, he only kept saying no, no….”
“Right… Chun-yong, hyung… he also… took you… aside….”
“Huh, I did say okay because he said he’d let me include my song. But it still bothers me a lot!”
TioJ’s reactions, excluding Gim Chun-yong, were all the same.
Awkward.
If possible, they just wanted to pretend not to know.
He fully understood that feeling, and that too was a method, but Gim Chun-yong wanted to take a different approach if he could.
Now that Liu Wei wasn’t on the team,
if they wanted to make Sin Giho pay attention to TioJ and provide more support, that wouldn’t be enough.
“I think a little differently. Um… everyone might not like it, so just hear me out first.”
“Huh? Chun-yong, what is it? This is the first time I’ve heard you talk like a teacher! You’re like a teaching assistant.”
“What’s a teaching assis… ahem. Anyway. We have to keep seeing Director Sin from now on, right? So I’m saying it’s a bit much to just pretend not to know.”
“Huh. That makes sense. So, Chun-yong hyung, what is it you want to do?!”
“I don’t know if everyone’s seen that movie. It came out roughly five years ago….”
There was an old saying that if you wanted to catch a tiger, you had to enter the tiger’s den.
But once you entered the den, how were you supposed to catch it?
With a spear? An arrow? A sword?
And if it wasn’t a real tiger, but a person merely borrowing the name, how were you supposed to catch him then?
Fortunately, Gim Chun-yong could faintly guess the method.
“Ugh, ah… Manager hyung. I can’t drink any more today….”
“Hey now, Rex. If you go back to the dorm right now, it’ll be like a funeral home. Just drink here and die. That bastard Sin Giho, in the end, he even took that secretary with him, apparently. Wow, seriously, I never imagined it.”
“What do you mean, hic. What are you talking about?”
“I mean the secretary who was always waiting on that bastard! He ended up taking him and running. Fuck, he took everything that benefited him, that’s what.”
“No, I’m not really… interested in that. The members, they probably aren’t feeling too….”
“Hey. That’s why I’m telling you to drink more. You think they’d be happy to see your face?”
Thanks to the person who had stayed by Sin Giho’s side even at the moment he fled to China with Liu Wei.
‘Damn it. I should’ve just gone back to the dorm to see the members then. …
Forget it. Thanks to that, I can use it like this now. Manager hyung is helpful sometimes too.’
After briefly clenching his teeth at the memory from back then, Gim Chun-yong soon put a bright smile back on his face and slowly moved his feet.
Toward Sin Giho, who was standing alone by the coffee truck a short distance away from the shoot, with all the TioJ members cleared away.
With every step he took toward him, his fists trembled, but still.
Gim Chun-yong wasn’t stupid enough to ruin things for that kind of reason.
“Ah, Director! Here’s your coffee. Haha… I don’t know if it’ll suit your taste.”
“I don’t need this kind of—”
“—It’s black, with four extra shots, cinnamon powder, and two ice cubes. The cup is exactly twelve ounces.”
“…
What?”
All of Gim Chun-yong’s judgment was contained in that one cup.
“…
Huh. So what you’re saying, Chun-yong, is that we should cater to his tastes? Like in that movie.”
“It’s a little different, but similar. We only need to give him exactly what he wants.”
“Ah, I’m telling you, that ‘what he wants’ seems kind of hard. That director is way too picky! Just look at how he always wears that stiff pomade and stiff suit!”
“No, there’s an answer. Ji Hwaseong, you punk, trust your hyung a little.”
They said the devil wore precious clothes befitting his dignity, didn’t they?
Then AG’s tiger drinks black coffee—that was it.
“It’s all right, isn’t it?”
Gim Chun-yong looked straight into Sin Giho’s wide-open eyes, bared his sharp canines, and smiled brightly.
Just try saying you don’t like it.
Because I’ll pour the coffee on your face instead of into your mouth.