44. Gift (5)
"Oh my, what's going on here?"
Team Leader Lee Ki-ho greeted us and smiled faintly. Normally, he would have gone out on a casting trip, but I heard in advance that he was at the company today, so we came here. I smiled with satisfaction and handed the things in my hand to Team Leader Lee Ki-ho.
"I came to thank you. Team Leader Lee helped a lot before. I'm sorry I couldn't come to see you because I was busy, so I took the time to say hello."
When I handed him coffee, Ji Young-heon followed suit and handed him the drinks he was holding. Then, the Rookie Development Headquarters employees who were leaning over the partition looked around and came out one by one.
"I bought everything from Americano to iced tea, so you can have whatever you want."
"Oh my, you must be busy, so why bother......."
Team Leader Lee Ki-ho waved his hand as he watched the employees receive their drinks. It was obvious that he was uncomfortable with the way his eyes were twitching, but he decided to go out shamelessly.
A minor child came to us with a gift to say thank you, but it wasn't like he was being rude.
As expected, Team Leader Lee Ki-ho guided us to a room inside the office while holding a cup of coffee.
As soon as I entered the room, I sat down on a chair. It was a sign that the conversation would be long.
Seeing that, Team Leader Lee Ki-ho said.
"Are you busy with label work these days?"
You're drawing a line right now with us.
Team Leader Lee Ki-ho sat down at the head of the table and leaned his upper body against the chair. I looked at him with a smile on my face.
"If I said no, I'd be lying, but it's okay because everyone is helping me."
"That's right. I heard that Lime is busier than us. Are you okay?"
As I glanced at Ji Young-heon, an assistant came in with a good sense. Team Leader Lee Ki-ho waved his hand and shook his head.
"No~ I've already handed over all the lawsuit materials to the legal team, and we're okay."
Of course. It's not common for someone to complain about their situation in a place like this.
In a situation where the mood was flowing well, I secretly touched Lee A-ram, who was sitting next to me.
"...Thank you for helping me with my work like this."
"That's right. Thanks to the team leader taking time out of his busy schedule to help me, things went smoothly. Thank you."
Team leader Lee Ki-ho stopped moving for a moment at my response. He then turned the ballpoint pen he was holding in his hand.
'This guy...... seems to have noticed our intentions in coming.'
He really is a ghost. Usually, compliments like this are taken as courtesy.
Team Leader Lee Ki-ho tapped his pen on the table and spoke softly.
"No matter how much we are divided into labels, we are one family~ Of course, we help each other when things get tough."
If we translate it, it would be something like 'You and I are clearly in different organizations. I will help you to some extent, so it would be better to keep the line moderately.'
"Still, it's not easy to help when you are in different organizations. I am always grateful."
"Haha, it's an honor to hear that from the label's general producer."
He really is like a loach.
Look at how he subtly changes the subject of the conversation.
'Originally, I was going to show off team leader Lee Ki-ho and naturally appeal to him that he is necessary for the label.'
Maybe because he was quick-witted, it didn't work. But if I was going to back down now, I wouldn't have tried in the first place. He's acting lenient towards us now, and even though he's being lenient towards us now, we don't know what will happen later.
"I feel embarrassed when you praise me like that. I still have a lot of shortcomings."
"Hey~ I heard from people around me that you're doing well. When you came to see me a few days ago, everyone was praising you?"
"As I said before, I'm receiving a lot of help from people around me."
My forehead almost tense up because of the conversation going around and around. I took a deep breath and maintained my expression.
'I shouldn't whine about coming to the label here. This is about making the other person want to come to our side.'
It was a topic that Team Leader Lee Ki-ho would be interested in.......
When we continued the conversation without giving an inch in the meaningless time, it was none other than Seol Yi-soo who broke the tense atmosphere.
"Now that I think about it, I really enjoyed the character education that Team Leader Lee Ki-ho gave last time...!"
I could see cracks forming in Team Leader Lee Ki-ho's expression that seemed like an iron wall at those words. It was a really tiny crack that was hard for an average person to notice, but I was able to recognize it because I had been observing him all along.
"Hmm....."
I looked at the corners of Team Leader Lee Ki-ho's eyes, which were squinted by about 0.2cm, and listened to Seol Yi-soo's words, just in case.
"Ah, did you feel really touched when you heard Team Leader Lee's speech back then?"
"That's right, that's right. He speaks so well, and there were so many things I could relate to that I kept thinking about it even after the training session was over. Especially when he was looking for a member of a certain group at the club...."
The glint in Seol Yi-soo's eyes... It seemed like he was really impressed rather than trying to make Team Leader Lee Ki-ho stand out. Either way, it didn't feel bad.
Before Team Leader Lee Ki-ho opened his mouth, Ji Young-heon gave his final support.
"I wasn't there at the time, so I don't know exactly, but the members of our group often mentioned it, so I heard about it too."
...Of course, we never mentioned the character education session to Ji Young-heon. We didn't have a personal conversation to the point where we could talk about such a topic.
So this is just a matter of observing the atmosphere and adjusting to us.
'The timing was perfect.... Our manager will do well in social life.'
He did a great job of intervening based on a guess. As expected, Team Leader Lee Ki-ho tapped the table with the tip of his ballpoint pen. His mouth was still smiling, but he rolled his eyes as if he was thinking deeply about something.
"...Hmm, I'm glad you found it so impressive."
"I was really impressed!"
I could see Team Leader Lee Ki-ho's lips twitching at Seol Yi-soo's sincere words.
'The reason Team Leader Lee Ki-ho quit as a manager was because he had a lot of memories of being fed up with the entertainers from the entertainment company he used to work for, right?'
Team Leader Lee Ki-ho and Seol Yi-soo were having a heated debate, as if they were getting along. I sat quietly and listened to their conversation, wondering what method would work best for Team Leader Lee Ki-ho.
As the debate grew heated, I cautiously opened my mouth.
"I think we can communicate well with Team Leader Lee. I will visit you often in the future."
"No, you don't have to~ I'm busy."
He still showed his intention to refuse, but he didn't look as angry as before. He seemed to really like the conversation with Seol Yi-soo. I looked at Ji Young-heon and Team Leader Lee Ki-ho exchanging numbers, then turned my gaze to Seol Yi-soo.
'Is this what you wanted?'
Seol Yi-soo's expression almost made me laugh. Even though he knew everything, he was acting like he didn't know.
'Yes, thank you.'
After answering with my lips, I fixed my expression. It seems that Seol Yi-soo is more sly than I thought.
"Go in carefully~"
After seeing Team Leader Lee Ki-ho off, we left the new building and headed to the practice room.
Seol Yi-soo asked cautiously first.
"Will Team Leader Lee Ki-ho come to us?"
"We'll have to wait and see."
I shrugged my shoulders at Seol Yi-soo's subtle question. Team Leader Lee Ki-ho's guard was so solid.
'If we keep pushing this atmosphere, I think he'll come.'
I realized something from today's incident. Snakes like Team Leader Lee Ki-ho are weaker to pure people like Seol Yi-soo than to people who hide their true feelings and talk.
"But is this okay?"
"Yes?"
"Um, I was worried that if we brought someone from another company to our side, we'd get cursed at......."
Seol Yi-soo spoke gently, as if he was worried. Contrary to his tone, it was an accurate point.
I shrugged my shoulders as if it was okay.
"It's okay. If it's as I expected, there won't be a problem. Yi-soo-hyung and A-ram-hyung just need to say hello to Team Leader Lee often."
"Okay, I understand. I'll trust you."
"...... Okay."
Unlike Seol Yi-soo, who answered cheerfully, A-ram followed us quietly.
I thought I knew the reason, but I scratched my cheek at the ambiguous silence.
'There's no need to be so upset that he couldn't catch the wind properly. I took A-ram because I had a reason.'
If it weren't for A-ram, there would have been no reason to go, and if that had happened, it would have been difficult to have a smooth conversation with Team Leader Lee Ki-ho.
Seol Yi-soo patted A-ram on the back.
"A-ram had a hard time too."
"...... No."
A-ram shook his head. His attitude toward Seol Yi-soo was particularly awkward.
Maybe because Seol Yi-soo was the one who took care of him the most when he was not in his right mind, he seemed embarrassed to see his face. He was also very obedient to Seol Yi-soo.
'Yeah, be friendly. You'll have to go to the hospital together later.'
One has insomnia, one has trauma. It's only the beginning of debut, and already there are so many things to manage.
It's better than having an accident, though.
'Wait. But Aram, are you mentally okay now?'
Suddenly, I got worried. Although things have been resolved and things have brightened up a lot, I was worried that he might have trauma from this incident and avoid fans. That absolutely cannot happen.
I thought about the schedule that was coming up soon.
"Hyung, is the in-person fan signing okay?"
An in-person fan signing is an abbreviation for a face-to-face fan signing event, and it was a type of event where we met fans directly, communicated with them, and signed autographs.
In the past, there was only one in-person fan signing event, but in the era of viruses, since it was difficult to gather with an unspecified number of people, a one-on-one video call fan signing event was created.
Aram frowned at my words as if asking what was wrong. He suddenly felt embarrassed.
"Why is that all of a sudden?"
"I wonder if you've become reluctant to meet fans in person because of what happened last time."
"What are you talking about? Are the sasaengs who harass me and the fans who cheer me on the same?"
"No, no. They're not. Oh."
I said something obvious.
I ruffled my hair with my hands floating in the air. Then, Lee Aram added something.
"At times like this, I have to be nice to the fans who love me. What on earth do you think of me as?"
"Um....... Sometimes that happens, so I asked just in case."
"It's not me."
Lee Aram, who had said that clearly, walked ahead. He seemed to have been agitated by my words because he was walking more briskly than before.
When I looked at Seol Yisoo, he smiled and said that it was my fault this time.
'I was too narrow-minded.'
Well, if that's not the case, then that's fine.
I followed Lee Aram with a light heart. Ji Youngheon was called to the company, and our destinations were different, so it was just me, Lee Aram, and Seol Yisoo walking here.
When we arrived at the practice room, I saw the members bickering as usual. As soon as they saw us, they ran over to us.
"Uh! Uh! I have a question!"
"Calm down, Hangyul."
"What's going on?"
When Baek Han-gyul showed his excited face, Seol Yi-soo stepped forward and stopped him. After the practice room door closed, I stared at Baek Han-gyul and asked.
"Aren't you going to practice......?"
"That......."
"Aren't you going to practice?"
Baek Han-gyul, who saw my gaze, hid behind Seol Yi-soo and stuck his head out. He was so big that he didn't look cute at all.
Naturally, Hwang Bo-kyun came between me and Baek Han-gyul and calmed me down.
"Young-ah, there's something I want to ask you before practice."
"What do you want to ask?"
I wanted to hear what he had to say, so I linked arms. Hwang Bo-kyun laughed loudly and sat us down in the middle of the practice room.
"Our fan signing event. The fans just buy the album and come by drawing lots, right?"
"Huh?"
What does that mean? I almost made a dumbfounded face like Lee A-ram just a moment ago. Hwang Bo-kyun quickly noticed my thoughts and looked around.
"Oh, that's not it...?"
"That happened before."
"Then how is it now?"
I paused for a moment to catch my breath, wondering how to respond to Hwang Bo-kyun's words.
In the beginning, when I was working as Planet, yes, we did a lottery system. If you bought an album, you were automatically entered into a draw, and a winner was chosen at random.
Since it was a method that depended on luck, you could win even if you bought just one album, but you could also lose even if you bought a hundred albums.
However, the method has changed now. I recently found out that these days, most people choose winners through a so-called 'line-up' method instead of a lottery. The sales company selects people in order of how many albums they buy, and then the lottery is held among the top selected people.
This is also why fan sign cuts were created.
When I calmly explained this fact to the members, their expressions became subtle.
"That's... too commercial...?"
That's true, but....... Why are you making a disappointed expression on your face?
I furrowed my eyebrows in frustration. We were also taking the latter method, but it wasn't my will.
"That's right. But this is beyond my authority."
Since Lime Entertainment set the method, what can I do? The powerless subsidiary label has to follow it.
In fact, I couldn't interfere with this even when I was at Planet. They didn't even tell us that it would be done this way in the first place.
"So are you saying that there are people who can't come to the fan signing event even if they spend hundreds of thousands of won?"
"Well, the amount will vary depending on our popularity. Famous people have to break the basics of a few hundred to go to a fan signing event."
A brief silence fell over the practice room.
Soon after, the members got up one by one and stretched.
"The fans did that to see us, so we have to work hard too."
"Yeah, we'll work hard at practicing and at the fan signing event...... We'll work hard..."
The members, with determined expressions, stretched and discussed what kind of conversations they would have with the fans at the fan signing event. They already had a strong sense of caring for their fans.
What should I say? I think they've developed a sense of responsibility.
'It wasn't intentional, but the reaction isn't bad, is it?'
It was really fortunate that they were all gentle and simple guys.
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