Golden Road and Park Eun-Bin (3)
Cha Tae-Hee's face turned red, resembling the Rākshasas[1] after seeing Park Eun-Bin and Jang Eun-Yung fighting.
"I was wondering what you were all up to, not showing up backstage…And this was what you were doing?"
Coldness seeped through Cha Tae-Hee's voice.
Lee Ju-Yung and I bowed deeply to apologize. "I'm sorry."
"We apologize."
Park Eun-Bin and Jang Eun-Yung also reluctantly bowed their heads in succession. But their disgruntled expressions remained even with their heads bowed. They didn't seem the least bit sorry at all.
Cha Tae-Hee's bellow echoed through the corridor, akin to a resounding five-octave G note. "Forget it. Summon the chiefs from TK Entertainment and Hoop Entertainment to the broadcast van now!"
"Ah, no, Ms. Cha! Please let me explain about what happened..."
Sung Ji-Hyuk rushed to intervene, but Cha Tae-Hee turned away, expressing her reluctance to engage in any further conversation.
"Ah, seriously. We are fucked," uttered Sung Ji-Hyuk, as his face turned pale.
However, Park Eun-Bin simply snorted and wandered off nonchalantly, as if the situation was not her problem.
'What a bitch. How can she act so nonchalant when this is her fault?'
However, Jang Eun-Yung was no different.
'Jeez. Both of them are ridiculous. They started this mess, and yet they are just going to leave it to the talent agents to clean up after them?'
Then, Jang Eun-Yung nudged me. "Aren't we going? We're late."
She talked as if nothing had happened.
'Does she have the memory of a goldfish or what?'
"Right. Let's go, Miss Eun-Yung."
Lee Ju-Yung quickly gestured for us to leave. After briefly bowing to her, I hurriedly took Jang Eun-Yung to the back of the stage.
On our way to the stage, Jang Eun-Yung didn't bother speaking a single word to me.
***
Park Han-Cheol rushed over after receiving my call. "Hey, Jung Yoon-Ho! What were you doing letting it get this far?"
"I tried to stop them, but they wouldn't listen. There's only so much I can do without using force."
Park Han-Cheol frowned and grumbled as if it was all my fault. However, after listening to my recording of the situation, he stopped blaming me.
"Take this with you when you meet the PD. It will help."
Park Han-Cheol made an awkward expression. "Ahem, ...kid. If you had something like this, why didn't you say so earlier!"
'Not gonna give me a single word of praise, are you?'
After Park Han-Cheol asked me to send the recording to his KkTalk, he quickly rushed off, his sparse hair fluttering in the wind as he ran.
When Park Han-Cheol left, Eun Ji-Yoo, who had been watching me handle the situation, exclaimed in admiration. "Wow, Mr. Yoon-Ho. You're amazing. How did you think of recording in that situation?"
"Park Eun-Bin's temper is well known. I recorded just in case, and bingo—it paid off."
Eun Ji-Yoo looked bitter as she shifted her gaze to Golden Road on stage. "Sigh. I should start recording too. But considering Eun-Yung's temperature, I don't know if it would be of any help."
Golden Road was singing the title track of their fourth mini album, 'Like the First Time! Like Now!', while winking at the audience. Despite the earlier commotion, Jang Eun-Yung was unfazed and casually blew a kiss to the audience. She swayed in her pink, pearl-embellished stage outfit with cute and vibrant movements.
『As before! Like the first time! That look in your eyes toward me~.』
As Jang Eun-Yung, the main vocalist, sang the highlight of the song, the audience began to get pumped.
"Yessssss!"
"Golden Road. Let's only walk the golden path!"
The fans of Golden Road, who made up about 20% of the audience, were waving yellow glow sticks.
I quietly hoped that Cherry Blossom could also receive the same kind of passionate support from the fans. I was confident that Cherry Blossom could elicit even greater reactions if they were given a good song for their next album. After all, I was with Cherry Blossom to support them now.
That was when I heard a boorish laugh from behind me.
"What's with the serious face? Isn't the stage performance going well?"
Lee Dong-Min approached us with his hands in his long coat.
"Mr. Lee!"
Lee Dong-Min grinned and nodded. "Ms. Eun, I see that you are doing well even without Team Lead Cha. You seem quite experienced now."
"Oh, not at all, sir. I still have a lot to learn."
"Nonsense. Who else can handle Golden Road's temperament apart from you? Everyone at the company knows how hard you work. So keep your chin up. Let me know if work gets too stressful."
Eun Ji-Yoo bowed, grateful just to hear those encouraging words.
'This isn't too bad of an atmosphere, is it?'
I thought of a way to transfer Eun Ji-Yoo, who always struggled because of Golden Road, to Singer Division 2.
In a few months, Golden Road's leader Jang Eun-Yung would cause an uproar by demanding for Eun Ji-Yoo to be fired over a costume issue. Fortunately, the innocent Eun Ji-Yoo managed to apologize and got through the situation. But this time, I planned to use that incident to transfer her to Singer Division 2.
Of course, for that to happen, Cherry Blossom would need to become popular and require additional staff.
'Hang in there a little longer, Ji-Yoo noona. I'll make sure you get transferred.'
After finishing the conversation, Lee Dong-Min looked around.
"Wait. Where did Chief Park go? Did he go out to smoke again?"
"No, he went to the broadcast van."
"The broadcast van? Why?"
After hearing my explanation about everything that happened, Lee Dong-Min made a joke with a sneer. "Shouldn't you have kept the recording from Chief Park and let him get scolded a bit?"
"Should I have done that?"
"Hahaha. No, we can't do that to someone from the same company no matter how annoying they are. However, you did very well to think of recording the situation in the midst of all this. Great job."
Lee Dong-Min laughed heartily and patted my shoulder.
***
Standing in front of Choi Eun-Hyuk, Ma Dong-Pal didn't even dare to lift his head.
"Mr. Ma Dong-Pal, did TK Entertainment decide to screw me over or what?"
Coldness permeated Choi Eun-Hyuk's voice.