Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols
SS Chapter 37: Experience! The Scene of a Breakup (3)
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TL: FoodieMonster007
"First, Kiyeon. Find and read a well-reviewed but discontinued work."
"What? Do you have any idea how horrible that is?"
"Next, Cheonghyeon. Delete the list of items in your shopping cart."
"Wait a minute, hyung," Kang Kiyeon protested. "Are you really telling me to read a comic without knowing the ending?"
"You're telling me to delete a wishlist I've been building for two months?" Lee Cheonghyeon cried. "Hyung, are you a devil?!"
"The moment you let them sit there for that long, they were no longer yours."
Lee Cheonghyeon and Kang Kiyeon screamed and shouted, but it was useless. Jeong Seongbin’s calm gaze turned to Park Joowoo.
"Joowoo, you…"
"……"
"Are banned from repotting plants for one week."
"…!"
Park Joowoo’s already pale face turned even whiter. This was uncharacteristic of Jeong Seongbin, who was usually lenient only with his friends. Park Joowoo pleaded with his leader, his expression desperate.
However, Jeong Seongbin did not give in. At the incredibly harsh command, Park Joowoo despaired as if the sky had fallen. Even his posture looked pitiful.
"I'll skip Jeho-hyung."
Only Choi Jeho escaped Jeong Seongbin's sharp arrows. Unable to accept this, I immediately protested.
"Why, Seongbin? You've been giving Choi Jeho preferential treatment ever since the Ginseng Sleep Murder notebook incident. It's really upsetting."
"Jeho-hyung is skilled at facial expressions, and he's already been banned from weight training."
Choi Jeho, who had been listening quietly, looked thoroughly unimpressed. It was true he struggled to chisel his thick body into an idol's physique. It was also true the guy would waste away if he didn't work out, so I couldn't argue further.
"Iwol-hyung, you're also good at acting, so I don't think you need to do anything special."
"No. Joowoo said we should be together through thick and thin. Whether it's rain or snow, I'll face it with him, so give me a trial."
"Then could you just follow a simple rule?"
"What is it?"
There was no need to make a fuss. At worst, I would be banned from Dotion or have my laptop taken away. I had experienced that before, so it wasn't as scary as the others were making it out to be. As I tried to act composed, Jeong Seongbin spoke.
"No communication with Daeyeon-hyung."
"…What?"
For a moment, I doubted my ears. I felt like the male lead in a drama, facing a father-in-law who says, 'Take this and break up with my daughter!' At least the couple in the drama is connected by love.
No contract existed between Manager Daeyeon and me. This meant my situation was worse than the male lead's.
"You'll ride in Euion's car, and in the group chat, you can only send emoticons for confirmation."
"No! Do you know how small and subtle the signals are from someone who's about to quit? If we're apart, I won't be able to detect those signals and I'll end up letting our manager go without a single meeting! Why do I have to do that!"
"Listening to you, one would think Daeyeon-hyung is quitting the day after tomorrow."
Choi Jeho, failing to read the room, added fuel to the fire. When I screamed at him not to say such horrible things, the guy made a fed-up face.
This was all happening because they had never gone through a resignation meeting with Jeong Seongbin. If they had experienced repeated talent drain, they wouldn't even dream of such a vicious idea.
"If I'd known you were going to give such a harsh trial, I would have told you to give Choi Jeho something to do from the start. How can I stand by and watch him live so peacefully?"
"Seongbin-hyung. Before Iwol-hyung passes out, let's give Jeho-hyung something too."
My strong protest was easily accepted. Choi Jeho meekly agreed to join spArk's breakup experience.
"I won't wear any clothes with orange in them, so stop your damn fussing."
Thanks to that, I wouldn't have to see the orange clothes I had been nagging him to throw out for years. Yahoo!
"What are you going to do, Seongbin-hyung? You're not planning to make the members this sad and then get out of it yourself, are you?" Lee Cheonghyeon, whose shopping cart had been completely emptied, demanded venomously.
Jeong Seongbin wasn't that kind of disloyal leader. The only question was whether the restriction he imposed on himself would be on a similar level to the other members'. He wasn't the type of freeloader to get out of it alone.
"Of course not. How can I be a leader without leading by example?"
It was a manly comment from a man reborn as a well-rounded leader after leading five rowdy members. Speaking calmly, Jeong Seongbin took out his phone. His fingertip moved toward the BubblePop app. When he opened the application, his own chat window and a list of the spArk members' chat windows he was subscribed to appeared.
"I… will not look at the members' BubblePop for one week."
Each time Jeong Seongbin tapped the screen, an alarm turned off. The pupils of his members, who knew all too well how their boss watched over BubblePop day and night, trembled.
"Will you be okay, hyung? Aren't you overdoing it?"
"Yeah. They say a person is no good if they change too suddenly."
"You don't have to go that far, Seongbin-ah…"
Despite his younger brothers' worries, Jeong Seongbin was resolute. It was a resolve you couldn't watch without tears. Saying it like this makes Jeong Seongbin seem like a weird guy, and it's true he does have a weird side, but anyway.
"Seongbin, I understand your resolve. Let's do our best and shoot the best music video!"
I didn't hold back my encouragement for Jeong Seongbin, who had made a difficult decision. Watching our heartwarming scene, Choi Jeho muttered.
"You guys are sure having fun."
And so, another night of meetings came to a close.
The detox experience showed its effects immediately. In just seven days, spArk had become a group of tragic male protagonists. Everyone's eyes filled with sorrow.
Lee Cheonghyeon, who still remembered some items even after emptying his cart, was in the best condition. Jeong Seongbin couldn't have been unaware of his younger brother's memorization ability. He must have deliberately chosen a task that wouldn't make Lee Cheonghyeon feel left out but also wouldn't be a huge blow, considering he was struggling with his studies and work. He was a considerate guy.
Choi Jeho also held up reasonably well. He would take out his orange clothes, but then immediately put them back in the closet and pick something else. He even threw away a few of those faded orange rags. I was so proud of him that I bought him a few new outfits when I ordered my own clothes.
Choi Jeho also abided by the weight training ban that Jeong Seongbin hadn't even ordered. Instead, it seemed he had done some other kind of training somewhere. While he looked to have moderately broad shoulders and a good build, his muscles showed their definition whenever he danced or crossed his arms, creating a physique optimized for a male idol.
I had thought that bulking up without ruining his proportions or making his silhouette look bulky was a talent in itself, but perhaps being able to control his body's balance like this is this guy's true talent…
Starting with Park Joowoo, things got a little tougher. Just watching Park Joowoo stare beyond the veranda with his wistful, moist eyes was heartbreaking.
The hidden micro-manager, Jeong Seongbin, also showed strange symptoms. Several victims, after sending a BubblePop and putting down their phone, met Jeong Seongbin's intense gaze. It was so scary that they were on the verge of shoving their phones at him, begging him to just look at their BubblePop instead.
"Seongbin-ah, look at this. I really didn't say anything weird."
"I believe you, hyung."
"And stop staring at me with that gleam in your eyes."
Who would have thought our gentle leader had this side to him? I couldn't believe that his leadership, which allowed him to act as the boss in a group of guys his age, stemmed from monitoring BubblePop.
I confessed my mental anguish to Choi Jeho, the only one who seemed unfazed by the empty-eyed Jeong Seongbin, but all I got in return was, "Isn't it your fault?" He was saying that Jeong Seongbin had his dark transformation because I gave our leader so much trouble.
The way those two got along so perfectly was suspicious, especially since Jeong Seongbin always looked favorably on Choi Jeho. There must have been a bribe exchanged between them. Just let one thing slip. I'll report it to the Sparklers immediately through BubblePop.
Even Jeong Seongbin, who was suffering so much, was nothing compared to Kang Kiyeon and me. The two of us spent a hellish week.
Kang Kiyeon finished the masterpiece, whose only flaw was said to be 'the lack of a next chapter', in just two days. Then, he lived like a wreck for the next five days straight.
"They could have at least finished the episode before they left…"
His empty muttering was utterly pitiful. Morning and night, the guy would search for the work on portal sites, read the word 'discontinued', and deny the unchanging reality.
I… became a wreck. Is it really something to act like this just because I can't communicate with Manager Daeyeon?
It was. All I could think about were the things I failed to do for my managers. When I closed my eyes to sleep, all I could see was Manager Daeyeon's tired face as he headed home after a long drive. I should have treated him better. If I had, this week wouldn't have been so long and difficult…
When I messaged Manager Daeyeon, [You can't quit within the week.], he sent back a cheerful reply, [ㅋㅋDon't worry], not knowing my heart.
This was all Manager Chanyoung's fault. My anxiety was doubled because our manager had been promoted. If their positions were the same, Manager Daeyeon might have at least mentioned it to Manager Chanyoung if he was thinking of quitting, but it's hard to bring up such things to a superior, so he would just keep his mouth shut.
There was no way Manager Daeyeon would exude a rebellious aura to Euion, the youngest manager. The Manager Daeyeon I had seen so far was not that kind of person. For these reasons, I became an anxiety doll every day.
Besides spArk, there were now too many people around me that I had to hold onto. It was Manager Daeyeon I was forbidden from contacting, so that's all I'm talking about, but I would have clung to anyone's leg if they were the subject. I was thoroughly hooked by the devilish UtopiA.
Swallowing my tears, I finished another long practice today. When I checked my phone, the chat window with Manager Daeyeon, which had been quiet for a week, had moved to the top. Instead of the preview 'Don't worry', a new message greeted me.
[The week is over, right?]
[Contact me when you're ready to leave]
Completely won over by Manager Daeyeon, the master of push-and-pull, I found my light again. Whether it was HeartbreakNam, PartingNam, or RegretNam, I was filled with motivation at the thought of unleashing the inner strength I had built up over the week.