Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols

My parents were very indifferent to both of their children.

 

They were generally irresponsible and sometimes violent.

 

The environment I grew up in could be described with this one sentence, ‘It wasn’t until elementary school that I realized that people eat three meals a day on average.’

 

My sister and I, who had no luck with guardians, spent our childhood under neglect, abandonment, and dictatorial attitudes.

 

My sister’s childhood likely wouldn’t have been much different from my own.

 

However, despite growing up in the same environment, my sister felt concerned for me, her sibling who was much younger than her, and supported me in every way until I became an adult.

 

Even when I was considering giving up on college because I couldn’t find a way to pay the tuition, or when I was flipping through part-time job listings, trying to hold out at home until I could save up for a deposit.

 

My sister, who tenaciously saved up money, eventually took me out of the house around the time I graduated high school, since I was incapable of looking after myself.

 

And she enrolled me in college.

 

‘I am not just giving this money to you. I’ll collect it all back from you later.’

 

‘…I’ll pay you back as quickly as possible.’

 

‘Yeah, I should get some filial piety from my younger brother in my old years.’

 

‘Would 15 million won be enough to sustain your old years?’

 

‘I’ll get compound interest on it, so it’ll be fine.’

 

‘As expected, members of society are not easy to deal with.’

 

Anyway, with 15 million won in my hands and no repayment period, I was able to completely separate myself from home.

 

From then on I only had to take responsibility for myself.

 

A college friend, who heard about my hardship at Hanpyeong Industry, once seriously asked me.

 

‘If there are so many weird people at your company, wouldn’t it be better to quit early?’

 

Sitting across from him mechanically editing a ‘Hyung Line Cuddly Compilation.zip’ video, my reply was ‘I wish I could too’.

 

Who would want to keep working at a company that paid you so little and worked you like a dog?

 

I even had to put fruit stickers on the faces of boys my age who I barely cared about.

 

But I couldn’t quit. Because I wanted to repay my debt to my sister as quickly as possible.

 

Especially once I became old enough to reach an age where I clearly knew the level of money that someone just starting out in society could save.

 

I couldn’t afford to waste time on changing jobs, so I persevered through sheer determination. My account balance inching closer to my target goal was my only solace.

 

On the day I could finally fully repay my sister’s loan with the money I scraped together by sacrificing my health. We vowed to do whatever we wanted at least once a year while living our lives.

 

Though we couldn’t meet often due to being busy, we stayed in touch occasionally through messenger…

 

‘Are you ready to buy me a bag at the duty-free shop?’

 

‘Are you ready to make me announce a missing person broadcast at the duty-free shop?’

 

‘Try me.’

 

…We had conversations like that.

 

And then, the very next winter, my sister died in an accident.

 

It happened less than 30 minutes after we parted ways in front of a café near my house.

 

Our last conversation was so ordinary that I couldn’t even remember it.

 

That moment was the last time I met my only family member.

 

Was there anyone who hadn’t imagined their deceased family member coming back to life at least once?

 

But the dead did not return. Death was like that; it was the end.

 

My confused mind cooled down. Instead, anger that had nowhere to go filled my head.

 

‘How do I wake up from this dream?’

 

For the first time in my life, I desperately wished the morning alarm would go off, even just one second sooner.

 

So that this terrible sleep would end, and I wouldn’t have to recall the emotions of the past two years.

 

But the alarm did not go off. I felt utterly alone in a silence with no end in sight.

 

+

 

[SYSTEM] ‘Subordinate’ will now undergo ‘Handover’

 

+

 

In front of my eyes, another new message flashed.

 

Say whatever sh*t you want.

 

I pulled the blanket over my head and lay down. If I didn’t, I might end up banging my head against the wall.

 

But there was one thing I overlooked.

 

In a situation where letters appeared in midair, there was no guarantee that any bizarre phenomenon wouldn’t occur.

 

The information about ‘Handover’ flowed one-sidedly into my head as if I were reading a book or document.

 

+

 

[SYSTEM] Handover Progress

 

▷ Notification of Work Period: February XX, 20XX (Synchronized and cannot be changed)

 

▷ Check manual

 

▷ Check processes

 

+

 

As I was about to bang my head a couple of times, I noticed something strange amidst the unfamiliar information.

 

The year that stated the work period was nine years ago based on this year.

 

The season was also way off. Yesterday it was early autumn, but the proceeding period pointed to February.

 

‘It’s not like I’ve gone back in time.’

 

I turned my gaze to the window, where there should still be plenty of greenery. But through the window, I saw a few bare branches.

 

‘…!’

 

What I saw outside the window was the cool winter itself.

 

The sun was out, but the window was fogged up, and I could clearly see the branches without leaves swaying in the wind.

 

‘Where is my cell phone?’

 

I reflexively looked for my phone. It was placed right next to the pillow as usual.

 

But the model was different from mine. To be exact, it was different from what I ‘currently’ had.

 

What I had in front of me was the 2G phone I had used nearly ten years ago.

 

I had bought it when everyone else was using smartphones because I wanted to focus on my studies and the cost of the device was too much.

 

A brick phone capable of restricting caller ID showed up in a society where 90% of adults used smartphones.

 

So many things were strange.

 

The face of Center Emperor Choi Jeho, who was much younger than I last remembered, and the phone, which I had clearly thrown away a long time ago because it would not turn on—they all pointed to only one possibility.

 

I entered my old password on the lock screen as if possessed. Miraculously, the password was unlocked.

 

What was even more incredible was the date floating on the phone.

 

‘…Nine years ago.’

 

It was the exact same date as the work period notified in the system, and it was the time when I had looked up English words with this cell phone.

 

The year when Center Emperor Choi Jeho, who was my age, was 20 years old, and Spark was running toward their debut goal.

 

I felt like all the blood was draining from my body.

 

I ran my hands over my dry, no, my rejuvenated face, now about 3,400 days younger than yesterday.

 

Noona…

 

I am f*cked…

 

* * *

 

A sunny winter morning.

 

A room so quiet that it was peaceful thanks to the other person sleeping soundly.

 

Sitting there, I opened my eyes and suddenly found myself 9 years younger.

 

But now, my older sister and future were being held hostage and I was being forced to become an idol (29 years old/office worker).

 

I checked my face dimly reflected on the screen of my cell phone that had been turned off.

 

Even on the black screen, I could see that my complexion had noticeably improved and the dark circles had decreased significantly. It was exactly the face I had when I had just graduated from high school.

 

‘I really have become younger.’

 

Maybe the reason I felt so refreshed when I woke up was because I had actually gotten younger? If that was the case, I felt like I should feel a little sad.

 

If I was the only one getting younger, it would have been a different case, but since the time had been reversed, it would be more accurate to say that I’d gone back to the past.

 

If I could use the internet, I could verify this more clearly. But that was out of the question with this brick phone.

 

I suddenly had an ominous premonition.

 

‘I couldn’t have died and come to the afterlife or something, right?’

 

I knew it sounded crazy, but if this was the afterlife, it might explain why letters were appearing before me.

 

However, the likelihood of a 29-year-old man dying in his room while making a banner for an idol announcing their disbandment was as improbable as the current situation.

 

Something had definitely gone very wrong, but it didn’t seem like I had suddenly died while living a perfectly normal life.

 

In addition, a person who died like that had to debut as an idol in the afterlife?

 

That was insane.

 

It was more reasonable to think that time had actually been reversed.

 

‘Wait.’

 

If time itself had gone backward, wouldn’t it mean that I didn’t need to debut as an idol to save my sister?

 

I could just meet her right now, convince her to listen to me, and ensure she lives a long life.

 

I quickly searched for my sister’s number in my contacts. But the phone book was completely empty.

 

My phone, which used to be full of numbers for company CEOs, now had an unsettling emptiness it shouldn’t have.

 

Fortunately, I had my sister’s number memorized. I quickly dialed it and called.

 

—The number you are calling now is not available.

 

But the response I got was an unexpected automatic message.

 

I checked the number again and it was definitely the right number. Something was off.

 

‘Noona has never changed her number.’

 

It didn’t matter. If I couldn’t contact her, I could just go visit her.

 

I grabbed my phone and got out of bed.

 

But my momentum did not last long.

 

‘Where was noona’s house?’

 

I couldn’t remember the name of the neighborhood or building where my sister lived. Other memories were vivid, but it was as if I only remembered that part of it.

 

When my thoughts went crazy at this point, an additional long writing appeared.

 

This time, it was more like a document than a message.

 

+

 

[SYSTEM] ‘Subordinate’ is being notified of the ‘Life Reuse Manual’.

 

▷ Life is considered reused when you wake up at a point in the past based on your previous life.

 

▷ Once the reused life begins, returning to the previous life is not allowed.

 

▷ Memories and knowledge acquired in the previous life can only be used within the permitted scope. If violated, sanctions will be imposed.

 

▷ If it is determined that memories and knowledge from the previous life hinder the tasks in the reused life, the use of these memories can be restricted without the consent of ‘subordinate’.

 

▷ To make life reuse go smoothly, additional tools (resumes, schedulers, etc.) will be provided.

 

+

 

I didn’t fully understand what it meant, but one thing was clear.

 

Something had gone very, very wrong.

 

I simply woke up because my eyes opened, but my life had already been processed as reused.

 

It felt like receiving a product that had been defective from the beginning and being told that opened items were non-refundable.

 

There were times I wanted to change my lifestyle, but I didn’t mean changing my whole life.

 

By the fourth point, I wanted to give up thinking altogether.

 

Simply put, it seemed that if I tried to achieve the final reward of reuniting with my sister through any illicit means without fulfilling the KPIs, compulsory measures would be triggered.

 

For example, by erasing memories that served as the link to meeting my sister.

 

‘If I go to the place where the accident happened and vow to wait until noona arrives…’

 

I tried to remember my sister’s death anniversary and the location of the accident.

 

And I failed. I couldn’t recall anything, as if there was a hole in the back of my mind.

 

* * *

 

What were the odds of someone suddenly reversing the flow of time in their life?

 

And not only that, what if you were forced to change careers to something you’d never considered, with your family and future held hostage?

 

What were the chances that the assigned job was to become an idol who had to sparkle and shine?

 

And if you refused, you would have to work at the company that made you work overtime for seven consecutive days a week for the rest of your life?

 

I didn’t know for sure, but I could tell this was a case of being royally screwed.

 

I went through stages of denial and anger and finally reached the state of resignation.

 

As long as there was a condition that my sister could live, there was no option for me to refuse.

 

Even when my sister was alive, I couldn’t repay her enough. How could I refuse it?

 

I also didn’t want to get involved with the hellish Hanpyeong Industry anymore.

 

So the only option left was to debut gloriously as part of a 6-member boy group…

 

Debut… with Spark?

 

It was chilling. I felt a cold blade piercing me, darkening my vision.

 

Objectively speaking, Spark wasn’t a bad group.

 

It was just that I personally held a grudge against them. Looking at each member’s individual abilities, they were so good that I should be begging them to accept me.

 

K-pop idols in our country could largely be classified into:

    

When categorizing into three groups.

 

Spark straddled both the problematic idol category and the bashed-for-no-reason idol category.

 

All the members had clean public histories. They didn’t do drugs.

 

But Spark was a group that established itself as a new issue maker in the entertainment world, frequently embroiled in all kinds of controversies starting with personality issues.

 

≫ If you want to learn noise marketing, look up and look at Sprk

 

└ Sprk isn’t noise marketing, they’re just noise

 

└ More like the marketing king, their recognition skyrocketed whenever an issue blew upㅋㅋ

 

Let’s imagine that I joined this group.

 

When an ordinary person like me joined a visually stunning group that was criticized for everything but their looks, you’d anticipate the following reactions:

 

≫ One rotten apple spoils the barrel. He single-handedly brings down the standard look of the group. That’s a talent in itself.

 

└ There are five first-class members and one subpar member so of course the barrel is soiled, I don’t need to tell you which one’s the subpar one

 

└ Is that really the standard of an idol’s looks? It’s disheartening

 

Similarly, it was easy to predict their reactions when an ordinary person like me joined a gem of a group known for their exceptional talent.

 

≫ One rotten apple spoils the barrel. He single-handedly ruined the show. That’s a talent in itself.

 

└ Watching him made me cringe, but he’s so brazen about it. At least his mental strength is top-tier.

 

└ Having top-tier mental strength means no sh*t when the main part is subpar

 

It seemed like my existence would just add fuel to the fire of this already controversial group. Just the thought of it was a nightmare.

 

Why did it have to be me?

 

Why did it have to Spark?

 

I could think of at least 200 people who would want to debut with Spark more than I did.

 

I stared at the still-floating message in the air, my eyes probably devoid of any light.

 

Then, there was a part where I suddenly caught my eye.

 

+

 

▷ To make life reuse go smoothly, additional tools (resumes, schedulers, etc.) will be provided.

 

+

 

Additional tools.

 

Was it like a welcome kit? Hanpyeong Industry didn’t provide anything like that because they were jerks.

 

I glared at the screen, pondering how I could get those so-called additional tools.

 

Then, a new screen really did appear.

 

In front of me was a familiar resume layout.

 

It was none other than my own resume, Kim Iwol.