Chapter 16:


    Chapter 16


    The sound of a car hornes from outside the dorm.


    Looks like the manager is here. Lets go down.


    It was Yoon Seok-hwan, who came to pick us up at the same time every day.


    Afraid of getting scolded, we quickly put on our clothes and grabbed our shoes that were scattered around.


    By the way.


    Im sure Bi-ju cleaned everything up the day before, but when did it be a mess again?


    Ji-ho, thats not mine.


    Hyung! Thats mine.


    While the culprits who took up 90 percent of the shoes at the entrance were making a scene, Ri-hyuk opened the shoe cab and looked at them with disdain.


    Meanwhile, Bi-ju checked the gas and electricity cords.


    After finishing all this and getting into the Starex on the first floor, that was the end of our morning routine.


    Hello!


    Good morning, manager.


    Recently, thepanys staff had quit one after another, so manager Yoon Seok-hwan was in charge of picking us up from the dorm to the practice room.


    Of course, today was a little different from usual.


    Manager Yoon, who was dressed dandy.


    We were also not wearing our usual tracksuits, but rather decent casual clothes.


    Are you all ready?


    The corners of Yoon Seok-hwans eyes rose through the rearview mirror.


    Today was the day.


    The day we went to Hwai Entertainment for the coboration work.


    Coboration.


    It was an industry term that meant working with another artist.


    To be more specific, it was when artists with different genres or musical colors sang together.


    It was different from featuring, which was often marked as feat. Hong Gil-dong in songs, where the other musician only participated in a part of the song. Coboration meant that the two musicians had equal weight.


    It didnt really matter.


    It was just a convenience to distinguish them, and even the people who worked in the industry were confused.


    I really had a hard time with the featuring terminology.


    Manager Yoon brought up the behind-the-scenes of the negotiation with Hwai Entertainment.


    I thought I was going bald because of them.


    Who? The CEO?


    Everyone in the car burst intoughter at the youngest who suddenly joined the conversation.


    Im sorry, CEO.


    Manager Yoonughed as he took out the memory of the ck box in the car.


    I have to erase the ck box recording every day because of him. What if someone listens to it, really.


    You can turn off that function.


    Its okay. I sometimes use it anyway.


    He plugged the memory into his phone and continued his interrupted story.


    It was a mess because of the song title. Hwai Entertainment said that they were not artists who hadnt even debuted. They wanted to do it with Feat, and we said that it was obvious that they had equal weight.


    They fight over that too.


    Thats why we have a nningpany, you bastard.


    Manager.


    Ri-hyuk, who was munching on a banana in the back seat, asked.


    So what happened?


    We tied it up somehow. I told them that we had a talented kid who couldpose among us. Hes not just singing, but also participating in the song work.


    Manager Yoon looked at me and asked.


    Why did I say this?


    To do well?


    Thats right. You have to do well. Whether the song title will be Jang So-won X New ck or Jang So-won Feat. New ck depends on your hands now.


    It was a word that felt a lot of pressure.


    By the way, Ive never been to Hwai Entertainment.


    You havent been there?


    Ri-hyuk hyung, I originally went to audition for acting. Thats why I came to ourpany in the first ce.


    So his dream was to be an actor.


    I thought he looked like an actor every time I saw him.


    I asked Ri-hyuk.


    Have you been to Hwai Entertainment?


    Im probably the only one whos been there among us. I went there to audition for vocals.


    Oh, the one you got eliminated in 10 seconds?


    It wasnt 10 seconds.


    "You said it yourself, right? You got eliminated as soon as you entered the audition venue."


    "Why did you get eliminated?"


    Ri-hyuk answered reluctantly to my question.


    "They said I looked like I could sing well, but they made me dance first."


    Everyoneughed, except for one person.


    Seomo, who was ranked fifth in the New ck dance hierarchy and had been swallowing tears in his heart, rationalized.


    "It was apany that we wouldn''t have joined anyway, even if they begged us."


    "Oh, really? Hyung?"


    "Can you please be quiet"


    While the youngest smiled at his sincere request, Ri-hyuk started to talk about the Hwai Entertainment building.


    "I was going to give up because of the facilities."


    "Facilities?"


    "It looked decent from the outside, but it was weird inside. I went into the practice room and there were toothpaste stains on the mirror."


    "What. That was a long time ago."


    I said as if to summarize.


    "It could be different now."


    "But Hwai Entertainment has a lot of money, right? It was the secondrgestpany among the ones that participated in the year-end evaluation, after us and DNS. Why was their practice room like that?"


    "That''s true."


    "Wasn''t that when the seniors of Sugarfish were doing well?"


    We all wondered at Bi-ju''s words.


    Hwai Entertainment.


    At one time, it was apany that ordinary people would say "Ah!" when they heard it was the agency of Sugarfish, because the power of Sugarfish in their heyday was enough to threaten the top girl group at the time.


    They must have made a lot of money back then, but why were their facilities like that?


    The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a sloppypany.


    They didn''t even have an official website.


    Usually, if they have a certain size, they would have a website with pictures of their artists, but Hwai Entertainment didn''t have anything like that.


    Well.


    It doesn''t really matter.


    Anyway, Hwai Entertainment was one of the well-known agencies then and now.


    I''ll show you the dance moves I prepared for you


    Follow me, Honey


    A girl group song with a lot of electronic beats mixed in came out of the radio.


    The familiar chorus tickled my ears after the bridge part ended.


    Baby Lla Baby Lla


    Bi-ju hummed the song and nodded his head.


    The other members also sang along to this song, which was hot on the charts recently.


    The singer was none other than Girls On Top.


    Hwai Entertainment was their agency.


    "Girls On Top are really hot. Isn''t this still number one?"


    "Probably."


    "No, it''s not. They only got first ce on the music show once in the first week."


    "Really?"


    Scarlet made aeback in the second week. They must have been second ce for the whole period.


    Thats why their nickname was Beans on Top.


    Girls on Top.


    A four-year-old girl group that was doing well.


    They were famous among the general public for their variety shows and dramas, and in the industry for their good songs.


    A line of digital monsters that followed their senior group Sugarfish from the same agency.


    Their debut album was a flop, but after that, all their title songs ranked within the top 10 on the charts, showing their great poprity.


    The only drawback was that their songs were all simr in vibe.


    Girls on Top seeded with a second-ce marketing strategy.


    They didnt aim for the first ce, but solidified their image as the second ce.


    Thanks to this strategy, Girls on Top approached the public as a friendly second-ce girl group, while the first ce kept changing.


    Until Scarlet appeared the next year.


    In 2012, a rookie girl group called Scarlet, produced by Director Jo Kyu-hwan, emerged and started to push Girls on Top out of their second-ce position.


    Their nickname Beans on Top also changed, and their presence in variety shows also diminished.


    But they were still a well-known girl group.


    Come to think of it, Hwai Entertainment has an amazing lineup of girl groups, really.


    They probably feed thepany.


    I guess so.


    But wasnt Sugarfish more awesome? They were huge when I was in elementary school.


    The 90s-born kids who shared the same memory nodded.


    Sugarfish.


    They were once called the top group of their peak, boasting an incredible poprity, but their glory was short-lived.


    It was because of the controversies of the members.


    One of them was arrested by the police for smoking marijuana with her boyfriend, I think.


    It was a shocking incident at the time.


    The most popr member of the girl group that sang well on music shows the day before appeared on the social page of the newspaper the next day.


    Somehow, Sugarfish tried to continue their activities after kicking out the member, but theypletely lost their lifeline when another member was reported to have an affair with a movie director.


    Five members.


    Jang So-won was one of the three remaining members.


    She was a really amazing person.


    It took a long time for Jang So-won, who fell from a popr singer to the bottom, to make aeback.


    The path of a singer-songwriter.


    Using her ownposing skills, Jang So-won seeded in building a new image by taking advantage of the fact that she was an unpopr member.


    And now she was the most sessful member among the five.


    She participated in drama OSTs and released single albums.


    Unfortunately, she didnt have a hit song yet.


    The song I sang at the audition, or the one I used for the arrangement at the end-of-year evaluation, was an average song that ranked 70th on the monthly chart.


    Of course, it was an amazing achievement for us who hadnt even debuted.


    What happened to the other Sugarfish seniors?


    I dont know, except for Jang So-won senior.


    I heard that Baek Hyang senior quit and went to school or something. Lisa senior is living as a musical actress.


    Theyre all doing well.


    Then what about the other two?


    I dont know. Theyre probably not doing well.


    The topic of the conversation moved to another direction.


    Maybe it was because of their status as trainees who had a foot in the entertainment industry, but they seemed to have a lot of rumors they heard.


    They were telling each other what they knew.


    I frowned as I watched them.


    What are they talking about?


    It felt like watching entertainment reporters on TV saying things like Miss A or Mr. B and gossiping.


    And it seemed like I wasnt the only one who thought that way.


    The eyes of Seok-hwan hyung, who I could see through the rearview mirror, were grim.


    Are they going to get scolded?


    But before I could say anything, Yoon Seok-hwan cut in.


    Hey, kids.


    His voice was cold and the air froze.


    The four trainees who were chatting in the back seat widened their eyes.


    He looked angry, unlike usual.


    What are you doing now?


    The members stiffened at the managers sharp gaze.


    Im asking you.


    The atmosphere was like before a storm.


    What are you doing now?


    Are you not going to answer?


    We were talking, sir.


    Bi-ju looked around nervously and Yoon Seokhwan stared at the kids in silence.


    A cold silence.


    I was also tense, sitting in the passenger seat.


    He drove without saying a word for a long time.


    It was as if he wanted us to think about what we did wrong.


    Unlike the youngest and Junghyun, who didnt catch on, Ri-hyuk sighed and Bi-ju made an oops expression.


    After about five minutes, Yoon Seokhwan spoke calmly.


    Kids.


    Thankfully, his tone was gentle.


    I dont mind if you gossip about the entertainment industry among yourselves. Thats fine.


    But dont you think you should keep those stories to yourselves?


    Were sorry.


    I dont like how it looks either, but how do you think it looks to others?


    He shook his head.


    It doesnt matter if Im the only one here. I wont spill anything you do wrong. But youre not going to debut? Youll have a road manager or a stylist soon, are you going to do this then?


    At this point, Jung-hyun and Ji-ho also made an oops expression.


    Road managers are really tough, kids. When celebrities make ten million won a week, they barely make a hundred a month. Itsmon for them to quit for a mere hundred thousand won more. Do you think they wont spread what you said when they go somewhere else?


    Yoon Seok-hwan emphasized.


    The entertainment industry is small, kids.


    You havent experienced it yet. A story you tell in the car can spread to the whole set the next day.


    He looked around at the nodding kids and turned to the youngest.


    And Ji-ho.


    Yes?


    The youngest shrank his shoulders, afraid of being scolded.


    You know you were careless with what you said about the CEO, right?


    Im sorry. Ill be careful next time.


    Stop saying youre young, youre young. Be careful. Got it?


    The youngest nodded at Yoon Seok-hwans emphasis to think before he speaks.


    We might have felt bad depending on the person, but we all agreed with his calm tone.


    We had no choice.


    He wasnt speaking with emotion, but telling us what we did wrong and how to be careful in the future.


    It was a manager-like action.


    Unlike fans who love us no matter what we do, managers have to tell singers what they need to hear from an objective standpoint.


    And Seon Woojoo.


    Yes, sir.


    Here ites.


    You know you made the biggest mistake, right?


    Im sorry.


    The younger ones might not know better. But youve been to the army, you know what kind of remarks are problematic. If this happens again, you have to step up and take action. Got it?


    I wanted to say that I was going to do that, but I admitted it was my fault.


    So I bowed my head and said.


    Im sorry, sir.


    Please do well, Woojoo.


    Seok-hwan hyungs eyes looked gloomy as he looked out the window.


    I cant always be by your side.