Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols

With each piece of steaming hot toast in hand, the preparations for their departure to school were complete.

 

Despite the chaotic mess in the shoe rack, they somehow managed to find their shoes while firmly holding onto their toast. I bid them farewell.

 

“Be careful with the traffic, take care of your faces, don’t mess around, and show a diligent attitude.”

 

At this, Kang Kiyeon grumbled with a sullen face.

 

“Our parents don’t nag us as much as you do.”

 

Is that so? I wouldn’t know, since I never got nagged by my parents.

 

“Really? So, our Kang Kiyeon doesn’t care about traffic, doesn’t value his face, and plans to mess around?”

 

Kang Kiyeon, having missed the chance to rebut, grumbled about how the conversation turned out this way.

 

I patted the shoulder of the boy, who had to endure the hardship of early morning school, and spoke.

 

“Kiyeon.”

 

“What?”

 

“I never tell you to study hard, do I?”

 

“…”

 

“Just don’t mess around and come back. Got it?”

 

Then, I gave him a kind smile. Kiyeon shivered at my affectionate demeanor.

 

Wishing them a safe and uneventful day, the three high school students left the dormitory. It was a noisy morning.

 

* * *

 

“So you baked the bread?”

 

Choi Jeho, who got up like clockwork at his usual wake-up time of 8 AM, asked.

 

As I placed the now-cooled toast onto a plate, I answered.

 

“Yeah. I baked extra while making some for the kids. Want some?”

 

“Sure.”

 

Park Joowoo, who didn’t need to attend school since he had already passed the GED, was already munching on his portion of toast.

 

Lee Cheonghyeon had muttered, ‘I’m so jealous of Joowoo hyung…’ as he left.

 

“High school students, huh. Those were the days.”

 

“You talk like you graduated ten years ago.”

 

How did you know?

 

Fearing that I might be accused of leaking secrets about my regression despite not intending to do so, I pretended not to hear Jeho’s words.

 

As I was chewing on my toast, carefully watching their reactions, Joowoo unexpectedly joined the conversation.

 

“…Hyung, what did you plan to do after graduating high school?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“You said you’ve never been a trainee before…”

 

I was planning to go to college.

 

The college I should have gone to but couldn’t.

 

This Joowoo kid, who was known for his sharp insight during Spark days, was an expert at hitting sore spots. Thanks to him, I felt like crying while eating bread.

 

The system had only made my position more difficult. I couldn’t exactly say that I had gone to college in my previous life but somehow couldn’t this time around.

 

Jeho and Joowoo, unaware of how deeply I was hurt, just stared at me blankly.

 

If you’re going to make someone lie, at least provide a model answer too.

 

This situation was cruel for someone like me who had neither the talent for making up stories nor for lying.

 

After pondering for a moment, I chose to answer as indirectly as possible.

 

“I was considering whether to go or not, but in the end, I decided not to.”

 

“…Why?”

 

“Couldn’t pay the tuition.”

 

Why did the regression have to happen right after the registration date?

 

As I was angrily chewing my toast, I noticed the strange expressions on the faces of the guys sitting across from me.

 

They looked as if they had asked something they shouldn’t have.

 

“Why are your expressions like that…”

 

Ah.

 

Did they misunderstand and think I couldn’t pay the tuition because my family was poor?

 

I pondered for about three seconds whether to correct this misunderstanding and decided against it.

 

After all, the money I had now was borrowed from my sister, so it wasn’t entirely incorrect.

 

Even if I had registered at UA right before the registration and put all my money into the college, with my old home gone, I would have had to attend while being homeless.

 

Having returned to the past with just my body, my degree had become Schrodinger’s diploma.

 

I thought of the diploma that had left me and all the money I had saved while enduring hell at Hanpyeong Industry. Did you really have to take everything…

 

Of course, I didn’t have the confidence to explain all these twists and turns to them while maintaining secrecy. Nor did I have any obligation to do so.

 

‘I’ll just say I’m dirt poor.’

 

As I bitterly resolved myself, Choi Jeho, uncharacteristically sensitive, spoke.

 

“Uh… Hang in there.”

 

Of all people, it was an encouragement from Choi Jeho.

 

Not just anyone, ‘that’ Jeho was encouraging someone else without any cameras around.

 

It was such a rare sight that even Manager Nam’s daughter, Jeho’s hardcore fan, probably hadn’t seen it. The world was truly full of surprises.

 

+

 

[SYSTEM] ‘Hidden Task’ completed.

 

▷ Content: Have a personal conversation with colleagues

 

▷ Reward: Exp (10)

 

▷ Total exp: 10

 

▷ Total point: 0

 

+

 

That wasn’t all. As if wanting to encourage a harmonious trainee life, I automatically completed a hidden task as well.

 

While busy building skills, now I had to foster camaraderie too.

 

Even if communication was important in an organization, I felt like the workload was doubling while the exp remained stagnant.

 

* * *

 

The high school students returned one by one in the afternoon.

 

Of course, the place they returned to was the practice room.

 

I handed a handkerchief to Lee Cheonghyeon, who had just washed his hands, and asked.

 

“Did you get home safely? Is your face intact?”

 

“Of course. I returned without a scratch!”

 

“You’ve got the right attitude. Excellent.”

 

“Hyung, aren’t you a bit too obsessed with the safety of our faces?”

 

Lee Cheonghyeon remarked pointlessly.

 

It seemed like he didn’t know how many advertisements he would have to film with his face.

 

I thought of getting insurance for each member’s face before debut, if only to repay UA for their investment in me.

 

“But when do you practice if you’re attending school?”

 

“Seongbin hyung and Kiyeon attend the minimum required days. Art high schools are somewhat accommodating with schedules.”

 

“What about you?”

 

“There’s no such flexibility at my school. But since my school is close and Kiyeon’s school is far, it balances out when you consider the commuting times.”

 

Indeed, Kang Kiyeon was stretching nearby with a very regretful expression.

 

“You should have time to sleep though. I’m worried.”

 

Kang Kiyeon responded.

 

“Hyung, you practice every night.”

 

“I’m almost done growing, so it’s fine for me.”

 

“Me too… They say some people still grow even in the military.”

 

That’s their story, not yours.

 

Kiyeon’s height hadn’t changed since debut. This was a fact that Kiyeon himself had revealed.

 

‘Did I have a growth spurt? Sparkler… We agreed not to talk about our heights.’

 

‘Isn’t Kang Kiyeon taking this too seriously? It’s hilarious.’

 

‘My height hasn’t changed since either my junior or senior year of high school…’

 

‘Kiyeon, you’re not going to cry, are you?’

 

In other words, this was his last chance for a growth spurt.

 

In this crucial time, missing the golden hour and staying awake day and night would likely not end well.

 

While everyone else was growing taller, what would he do alone?

 

With such a lack of sleep, it was no wonder he wasn’t growing. Considering his diet of just bread and salad, it was even more understandable. Who knew where he got his protein.

 

‘If possible, I should try to secure time for the kids to sleep… if not, I’ll have to at least make them drink milk in the morning.’

 

Was there always this much to consider when debuting idols?

 

I wasn’t sure, but I couldn’t deny that being able to do something was far better than being able to do nothing.

 

That night, I bought two packs of low-fat milk for Kang Kiyeon as we walked through the early spring night breeze, and only then did we return to the dorm.

 

‘Maybe I should have applied to change my career to manager instead of idol.’

 

It was a regretful night.

 

And this regret would soon fully blossom.

 

* * *

 

For a while, my schedule was quite stable.

 

These days, my daily routine was…

 

7:00 Wake up and bake bread for the high school students (+make sure Kang Kiyeon has his low-fat milk)

 

8:00 Have breakfast and get ready for practice

 

9:00~24:00 Practice and other activities

 

00:00~00:30 Wash up and reflect on the day’s practice

 

00:30~ Contemplate the future, devise plans for Spark’s revival, etc.

 

…It was very monotonous. Occasionally I made French toast, which they seemed to enjoy.

 

Preparing for the next monthly evaluation was also going smoothly.

 

Because my vocal proficiency improved, I could instinctively tell where and how my singing was lacking.

 

By combining the issues I identified with the training routes the members must have received, I could roughly predict the feedback I would get by the next evaluation.

 

All that was left was to choose songs that would best demonstrate my improvement based on the expected feedback, and this part was also neatly resolved.

 

Jeong Seongbin, Spark’s human jukebox, immediately pulled out twenty songs in a day after hearing my conditions.

 

I had only jokingly mentioned it because he seemed so apologetic about me baking bread a few times.

 

‘The number of songs is fewer than last time?’

 

‘Listening to each one is a hassle. I considered your preferences from the last list and the song you sang during the evaluation, and I narrowed it down… Do you prefer having more options?’

 

‘No. You’re a genius.’

 

Thus, the evaluation preparation was progressing smoothly.

 

Now I just needed to upgrade my dancing from a runaway train to a steam engine level.

 

By the way, my goal for dancing was simply not to derail.

 

“You really have no talent for dancing.”

 

“They say when you join a company for a month, that’s when you’re the most incompetent.”

 

“What kind of analogy is that?”

 

Just as I resolved not to derail, Choi Jeho lifted my elbow. Apparently, the angle was off again.

 

Sure enough, Choi Jeho immediately pointed it out.

 

“You can see the angle is off if you look in the mirror. Haven’t you gotten used to it yet?”

 

If my body could do parallel processing to that extent, I wouldn’t be struggling like this.

 

I missed being taught by Kang Kiyeon, who was strict but at least had a more humane perspective than Choi Jeho.

 

“You need to be able to perform at least one cover dance well enough to have something to say during the interview.”

 

“Interview?”

 

“Our company does individual interviews at the beginning of the month. With the CEO, the Manager, and the management team.”

 

Buddy, shouldn’t you have told me about this earlier?

 

The thought of an interview with the CEO was utterly dreadful. There was nothing as unproductive as a meeting with those in power.

 

Right then, the system appeared between me and Choi Jeho, brightly highlighting a new task.

 

+

 

[SYSTEM] ‘New task’ has been assigned.

 

▷ Content: Conduct the first interview with the CEO

 

▷ Reward: Exp (10)

 

+

 

If I shifted focus during a conversation with someone, rumors might spread that I was seeing things.

 

I quickly read the key points and turned back to Jeho to ask,

 

“What do they usually talk about?”

 

“Not much. Just about how you’re doing as a trainee and how you’ve been performing lately.”

 

That’s bloody important.

 

Don’t you know how tiring company life becomes if you’re labeled as someone who doesn’t fit in?

 

‘Well, he’s not the type to care about such things.’

 

I recalled my last interview with Manager Nam.

 

That one-man talk show where he had talked about how he was diligently praising Assistant Manager Kim to the higher-ups and how it awkward it made him feel. And finally, he had requested to quickly finish that banner or whatever his kid had asked for

 

I sincerely hoped that UA’s CEO had no expectations of me.

 

And that, even if he had a kid who was an idol fan, he wouldn’t bring such personal matters into the workplace.

 

As if Choi Jeho’s words were foreshadowing, a few days later, the trainees were notified of their individual interview times.

In previous chapters I might have used the word 'Director' instead of 'CEO', but now I am switching to CEO. I am sorry for the confusion,