08. Label (1)
I looked around and sat down on the empty chair with Baek Han-gyul. In the cluttered lecture room, many trainees with faces I had never seen gathered together.
Class A, Class B, and the debut group all came without exception.
It seemed like even trainees from Lime's labels had gathered.
There were also some familiar faces. Not me, but the kids who are familiar with Yoo Young.
'Uh? I think he later moved to another agency and debuted.'
'That friend had an accident and went on hiatus indefinitely.'
'Wow, this is a kid who became an outstar just 3 days after his debut.'
Even without my intention, Yoo Young's memory automatically informed the future of the trainees who debuted quickly. As I was exploring the surroundings, I turned my attention to the auditorium door that had just opened.
Team leader Lee Ki-ho...... He appeared with a cheer.
"Now, now, pay attention! It's finally my turn, everyone."
These days, he's busy visiting event venues for casting.
I heard that it's definitely not a joke.
As soon as he came in, he displayed a PPT that looked like he had made it himself on the large screen.
'When did a busy person make that?'
Team leader Lee Ki-ho knocked on the desk and flipped to the first screen. Even before I can admire the thoughtfully placed PPT, his voice catches my ear.
"Idols must be perfect in every aspect, but there must be one thing missing. What is that?"
"....."
Team leader Lee Ki-ho stretched out his body and said. A voice coming from deep in the heart resonates loudly.
"Idols must have no ego!"
What is that.......
My mouth opened, dumbfounded by the confident shout. The other guys looked blankly at Team Leader Lee Ki-ho, probably thinking the same thing. Team leader Lee Ki-ho continued to pour out his words without stopping.
"Idols don't need stubbornness or pride! If you want to be cute, do it. If you want to be aggressive, do it!"
"Dating? Give up. What's the use of that? Are you going to pay for the date with fans' money? If you have to choose between success and love, it's definitely success!"
"Clubs are absolutely not allowed. If you want to dance, go to the practice room. I'll let you use it all day, so you can sleep there to your heart's content. Okay? Does this sound like a joke to you?"
"I will say it well. If you don't have an ego, you might look unattractive. But? It's much better than needlessly building up your ego and getting into a controversy by showing off."
"No, I'm not saying you should be indecisive. I'm just saying that you shouldn't fight with the public and fans for no reason. Do you understand?"
Team leader Lee Ki-ho's eyes were shining with madness as he poured out brilliant sayings.
"My self is important.' Even if these people have a strong ego, they must have good skills and charm so that they don't look like they are worthless. If you can't do that, then don't become an idol and go on a backpacking trip alone and read 42 self-discovery quotes."
Team leader Lee Ki-ho, who was speaking passionately, clenched his fists.
"Or even just not show it in front of the camera. But Idols are jobs where you have to show everything in front of the public 24 hours a day."
Oh... that's right. I agreed with it and looked around, and I saw a variety of reactions, including trainees who listened faithfully, trainees who were fed up with his energy, and trainees who were just sleeping... Is the good personality test score okay if you sleep like that?
"Always be thankful to your fans! Real music and artists are only possible if you have fans!"
No matter how anyone reacted, Team Leader Lee Ki-ho was the same. I heard that there were several incidents at his previous job, but it seemed like he still had them in his mind.
I am impressed by his enthusiasm, as if he is using this opportunity to resolve his resentment.
'Didn't they say that the speech content will be inspected with PPT? I guess that means it was approved.'
Suddenly, an external moral lecturer who was listening to Team Leader Lee Ki-ho's speech flinched.
Pardon. Our team leader has been through a lot of ups and downs.
"Huu...."
Team leader Lee Ki-ho, who had been running wild for a while, took a gulp of water and caught his breath, wondering if he was really serious.
"Anyway, the bottom line is, let's not get into trouble. Do you know how many days employees have to work overtime every time an incident occurs to resolve it? Damn it!"
No. I thought he was sincere, but as he spoke, he seemed angry again.
The gradient of anger that rose in real time was amazing. Even Baek Han-gyul, who was next to him, was looking at team leader Lee Ki-ho with pitiful eyes, saying, 'You're doing that again.'
'Still, aren't there relatively few kids who cause accidents at Lime Entertainment?'
I'm not saying optimistically that the kids are good, but because the management is very strict.
Planet members were obsessed with self-management, including their personal lives, to the point of obsessiveness, and Ter, a junior group, heard that leader Nine was watching the others.
"It's not that there are no accidents, but compared to other companies, it's a fairyland."
The female groups and actors seem quiet on the outside, but I'm not sure about that.
As I was thinking about the celebrities that belong to the company, one of the employees waved at Team Leader Lee Ki-ho. It seemed like the allotted time had finally ended.
"Thank you for your hard work~"
Team Leader Lee Ki-ho, who had been biting his lip, was greeted politely with a shiny face.
"There's a lot of good stuff to talk about."
I rolled my eyes at the voice I heard. There was a handsome man smiling gently.
From the middle, Team Leader Lee Ki-ho continued to share his experiences and complaints, and he seemed to be deeply impressed by them as he kept exclaiming in admiration.
"The part where the team leader went from club to club looking for a member of a certain group that disappeared in the early morning and got caught by the club guard was really heartbreaking."
"..."
"The part about blocking another member from talking nonsense on SNS while drunk by throwing his body was explained so vividly that it felt like watching an action movie."
...... Isn't that too deep? I was taken aback by the unique emotional point of the man. The other trainee next to him seemed a little relieved.
'But who are they? I don't remember them.'
With a face and style like that, there's no way they wouldn't have debuted....
Just before I fell into a trance, I raised my head. The other trainees were chatting with their close friends while the morality lecture was being prepared. I looked back at Baek Han-gyul.
"Come to think of it, is it okay for you to be next to me like this?"
"Huh?"
"Oh, now that I look, everyone seems to be in similar classes or labels."
When I asked, "Do you have close friends?" Baek Han-gyul nodded. Then he quickly smiled as if nothing had happened.
"It's okay. I usually go to various places, so everyone is like that."
Is it because you have a wide network of connections? If so, it might be more helpful than I thought.
I asked him this while filling in the information that was missing from my memory.
"Then do you know who those people are?"
I pointed to the place where the trainees who had been impressed by Team Leader Lee Ki-ho's speech were. Normally, I would have just ignored them without much interest, but now my intuition was telling me that I had to know them.
Baek Han-gyul opened his eyes and looked at them, then nodded.
"I know. I think he's a secret trainee from a new label that was recently established."
"A secret trainee from a new label?"
"Yes. I don't know the exact conditions, but I heard that they brought him in after negotiating with a school that Lime is close with. Oh, and I heard there was casting."
You don't know the details, but you know too much...? As if he read my mind, Baek Han-gyul added an explanation.
"I heard it because someone I know is a student at that school."
Someone he knows.... I heard that when you're a trainee, the more people you're close with, the easier it is to transfer to another agency, so sometimes you make connections, but for some reason, it seems like he made it because he wanted to become close with them.
Even now, I can feel the twinkling eyes right next to me. The person in question is Baek Han-gyul, even without me saying anything.
"But why are you asking that?"
"Just because, since it's my first time as a trainee, there are a lot of people I don't know...?"
"Ah! That could be."
"Yeah, then do you know who that person is? Oh, that person too."
"I know, in the same B class as me..."
I was lost in thought while listening to Baek Han-gyul's explanation.
A new label under Lime. This was something that had never happened before since Yoo Young returned. Was this also the butterfly effect that occurred because of Han Awon's accident?
'I shouldn't rely too much on Yoo Young's memories.'
I lightly concluded and poked Baek Han-gyul's arm as he yawned. While we were talking, the lights in the lecture room went out, indicating that the moral lecture was ready.
We all shut our mouths and stared straight ahead. These kinds of behaviors will also count toward our personality evaluation scores, so we should be careful.
"What is an ideal human? First, from the perspective of Confucianism and Taoism......."
As the moral lecture continued, the trainees who couldn't overcome their drowsiness began to fall asleep. I straightened up and kept smiling.
The lecture was really crazy boring, but I couldn't let it show because of my attitude score.
'This is... okay, let's think of it as a broadcast.'
In the end, I hypnotized myself to chase away my drowsiness. I'm currently on a live broadcast. A broadcast where even a little bit of slackening your eyes could cause controversy over your attitude. If you're not careful in a broadcast, you might hear people say, "'Your' Oppa ended up with the dongtae eyes who is overflowing with fan love ㅋㅋㅋ." A broadcast where every action is observed and analyzed in seconds.
[느그
동태눈깔
Just imagining that made me lose sleep. This is the best when you're tired. My body, which had become stiff from maintaining the same posture, slowly turned to relax my muscles.
"....."
Baek Han-gyul, who was next to me, had already fallen asleep and was tilting his head back. I gently lowered his head. He was sleeping like that, and his throat will be sore.
"...... The highest good of Taoism is like water. It flows from top to bottom. It shows humility."
......That's right. Didn't they say that the more rice ripens, the more it bows its head?
I inwardly agreed with the lecture I heard. The character education was stimulating because it wasn't taught by a professional instructor, but the moral lecture was literally a 'lecture'. The content was basic middle school morals.
As I regained my senses through hypnosis, distracting thoughts mixed in my head.
'Hmm... Now that I think about it, Yoo Young graduated from middle school. Should I take the GED exam later when I have free time?'
Come to think of it, I have to go to the military too? I calculated the date while rubbing my chin. Since Yoo Young is still 18, if I can achieve my goal within 5 years, I won't have to go to the military instead.
As I was wasting time with useless thoughts, the lecture was already over. I stretched and patted Baek Han-gyul on the back to wake him up.
"...hoooaaah, was it done?"
"Oh, did you sleep well?"
"My neck is a little sore, but I think I slept well."
I guess so. As I got up from my seat, Baek Han-gyul also got up in a hurry. The way he followed me closely was like a duck following its mother.
"Where are you going now?"
"The practice room? There's not much time left for the evaluation."
Unlike my answer, Baek Han-gyul looked at me with a questioning face as I stood in front of the lecture room door. Wait, there's a reason they woke up so quickly.
"Huh? It's Han-gyul. Hello... Uh, Young-ah?"
"What, why are you here?"
As I grabbed each of my teammates, Baek Han-gyul noticed the situation and slowly backed away. Of course, Baek Han-gyul didn't let go and grabbed them.
"...What's going on right now?"
Finally, even Lee A-ram came out of the lecture room. I smiled with satisfaction.
Leaving my teammates with pale faces behind, I grabbed Baek Han-gyul's shoulder. He looked at my face and shook his head vigorously.
"No one ran away."
"Oh, good job. I've been helped a lot in many ways today."
"No, thank you. Have a nice day."
I said to my teammates as I watched Baek Han-gyul's back quickly disappear.
"Let's go practice. We have to finish the major inspection today."
"...That crazy guy."
Kim Jung-hyun couldn't hold it in and swore. Aren't you being too resentful? These guys, after all the good things I've done for you.
When he made a resentful expression, our teammates became even more resentful. One of them even retched, saying that his stomach was churning.
Should I throw a carrot at this point.......
I wanted to throw them all away, but I let it go. I'm the oldest here, so I should act like an adult.
I spoke calmly to my teammates.
"If we start practicing now, I'll make sure you get off work by 2 o'clock."
It was currently 10 o'clock. I stretched while thinking about how to distribute practice time efficiently.
Only then did the teammates who had been watching me, move. They asked back as if they wanted a definite answer.
"...We go home at 2 o'clock?"
"Of course."
I don't lie. Probably.
I answered calmly and smiled.
"Then let's go practice."
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