Top Management

Chapter 148: Competent or Incompetent (1)

TL: emptycube / ED: Isleidir

“What? What did you say?”

The Team 2 Leader asked with a dumb expression on his face.

My complicated thoughts from this abrupt article were blasted away thanks to the Team 2 Leader. Should I say, no matter what my concerns were at this moment, I wanted to concentrate on the Team 2 Leader’s reaction?

Everyone was secretly glancing at the Team 2 Leader. Their gazes looked like they wanted some popcorn for the show.

Belatedly understanding the situation, the Team 2 Leader roughly pushed employees aside and looked at the screen.

“Wh-what the hell is this?!”

“It seems like someone trying to screw over that ‘team leader, who didn’t have a good eye’?”

The Team 3 Leader kindly replied.

He looked like he was watching the world’s funniest comedy.

“Although they didn’t reveal the team leader’s name, I think anyone with enough connections will figure it out. Look at this. There are tons of upvotes on comments like ‘Does that team leader hate W&U?’ and ‘Shouldn’t he write an apology?’ You’re suddenly so famous.”

“Wh-what kind of lunatic…!”

The Team 2 Leader’s complexion alternated between red and blue as if his blood was flowing in reverse.

Not a care for his colleague, the Team 3 Leader continued nonchalantly,

“I know, right? Who shot their own team in the back? There are always people like this no matter how many times I tell them to be careful of what they say. What a mess.”

“Who was their source? Jung Sunwoo! Was it you?!”

As expected, the sparks flew onto to me.

I smiled at the Team 2 Leader, whose veins were bulging as he glared at me, and replied,

“No. If I had an interview with a reporter, do you think they would have only asked me stuff like that?”

They probably would have had tons they wanted to ask from my relationship with Nam Joyoon to my nickname as ‘Midas’s Hand’. Also, if I wanted to anonymously spill some secrets about the Team 2 Leader, it wouldn’t have ended with such few lines. There would be just too many things to talk about.

Anyways, the Team 2 Leader seemed to accept my explanation as he changed his target.

“Then who is it? Which bast-!”

“Don’t accuse random people and check your own team.”

The Team 3 Leader said, his face now devoid of a smile.

“What?”

“Seeing as they knew exactly what you said, it looks like it was one of those who attended that meeting with you. So stop checking out whether other teams are on fire and go blow the fire out in your team.”

“You-!”

The Team 2 Leader stopped. Then he looked around the office. Besides Team Leader Park, who was on the phone, everyone was looking at him. There were even a few people whose gazes alternated between the Team 2 Leader and their phones.

In the end, the Team 2 Leader fumed out of the office, only leaving the words that he wouldn’t let the bastard who did this off easily.

A mix of laughter and coughs spread in the office. I had also begun laughing at some point. The Team 3 Leader was even holding his stomach in laughter. Kim Hyunjo narrowly caught him before he laughed himself off his chair.

“Oh my god. This is a monumental embarrassment. This is why you need to be kind to others. How are you going to track someone who purposely said that under anonymity? He’s the type to care a ton about his reputation. He’ll be busy with that for a while.”

The Team 3 Leader tapped my elbow and whispered,

“Hey, Lucky Charm. Was it really not you?”

“I didn’t. If I did that interview, it wouldn’t have ended with embarrassment.”

The Team 3 Leader burst out laughing at my answer.

“What’s so funny here? It looks like I’m the only one having a crisis.”

Team Leader Park came over after ending her call with a publication.

She placed her hand on my shoulder and asked in a quiet voice,

“Did you ever receive something from Mr. Nam Joyoon? Like money perhaps?”

I stopped laughing.

“Never, why?”

“A reporter said he heard something like that while he was investigating. That you received a lot of money from Mr. Nam Joyoon to get him on Alive’s cast. Like a ‘1+1’ deal with Lee Songha. They were wondering if it was true.”

“That’s complete nonsense.”

What large sum of money would someone who starved to buy movie tickets have?

This was so ridiculous that it would even make Lee Songha lose her appetite.

“Who’s the source?”

“I couldn’t figure that out. The reporter removed it from his article because he couldn’t confirm the facts and wanted to check with me first. It seems like there are some people who are jealous of Mr. Nam Joyoon’s success. The press knew that nothing would come out of writing a baseless article.”

Saying this, Team Leader Park grabbed the mouse. She refreshed the page. There were a few more articles about Nam Joyoon and me besides the exclusive article just now. I concentrated on the articles again.

“Tabloids have started publishing already.”

Team Leader Park clapped her hands.

“Let’s quickly send out a press release so that rumors don’t even get the chance to grow!”

*

In the blink of an eye, Nam Joyoon’s name was up on the real-time search rankings.

Alive getting the best opening score, my name, and Team Leader Park’s press release/human documentary about Nam Joyoon and me. This was the result of all three.

Alive appeared on the rankings again as well.

SBE Film thanked us for the support and sent out a press release about Nam Joyoon’s casting incident. It even included Director Choi Sungwon’s comments. Thanks to all that, bad rumors didn’t get the chance to surface.

Comments and social media posts mentioning Nam Joyoon increased explosively in a day. The pictures that were taken back when Nam Joyoon went to a screening with his family also spread online, and the number of people interested in Nam Joyoon grew.

-Who knows who this Nam Joyoon is? Why is someone I’ve never seen or heard about on the real-time search rankings?

-He was an unknown actor for ten years and is now experiencing a meteoric rise after appearing in Alive.

-I looked for information about him because I became interested after watching the movie, but there really wasn’t anything. I think he joined W&U. I hope he works hard.

-Ah, he became a star after joining W&U? The company really is what makes or breaks a celebrity’s career.

-It’s not W&U, but due to Chief Jung Sunwoo’s support. There’s an official article. Nam Joyoon was rejected in a meeting with W&U, but Chief Jung didn’t give up and stuck with him. Then Nam Joyoon became a break-out star in a few months.

-The hell? This can’t be done by luck. He really must be skilled.

-Chief Jung, please work with me!

Even after Nam Joyoon and Alive dropped from the ranking, my name remained on it.

The number of articles actually grew as time passed. At first, they were simply spamming articles with the official press release as their base, but at some point, special articles with interviews with pop culture critics and people from the entertainment interviews began popping up as well.

The articles asked how much of an influence a celebrity’s company and manager had on their success.

They implicated Nam Joyoon and me as well as Neptune with a special focus on Lee Songha.

I was monitoring people’s reactions to Nam Joyoon, and around half were about him and me. Jung Sunwoo, Midas’s Hand, digging up talents, secret, 2 years of success. Articles, posts, and comments overflowed with such keywords.

It was stifling.

“It’s all about Jung Sunwoo.”

I heard someone say from behind.

A blanket over his shoulders, Kim Hyunjo came over while yawning. I looked at the time, and it was late. I thought that my surroundings had been noisy not long ago, but it was now quiet. Only Kim Hyunjo and I were left in the office.

How long was I sitting here like this?

I rubbed my dry eyes, and Kim Hyunjo sat down next to me and said,

“Maybe you’ll be offered a suitcase full of money at this rate?”

“Please don’t joke like that.”

“It’s not a joke though? Don’t you know how many kids in this industry are grasping at straws trying to succeed? To those unknown singers and actors, I bet you look like a lifeline than a straw.”

I frowned.

I had already received a ton of call today. There was an acting coach who asked me to look at some profiles of the kids he’s teaching as well as calls from people whose daughters, sons, nephews, and nieces have been trainees for a few years now.

Whenever I received a call like that or read an article about me, I felt like a hammer was falling on my head. Maybe my height decreased by ten centimeters today. It wasn’t like this in the past, but at some point, I started feeling the pressure.

“But aren’t you going to go home? Go rest.”

“I was just worried about something.”

Even if I went home, I didn’t think I would sleep a wink.

“Why haven’t you gone home, chief?”

“I was listening to a few songs sent by the A&R team. I welled up with emotions while listening to the songs. I thought, ‘They became this successful, huh?’ Although we haven’t collected all the songs, there are more than their mini-album already. The quality is better too. I think we’ll have a difficult time choosing tracks.”

“What do we do if the album flops?”

I suddenly asked without knowing.

It felt like something locked up inside me for a long time finally broke out.

Kim Hyunjo, who had been smiling happily, stared at me. Wide awake.

“Hey, don’t say that. It’s bad luck. Even more so if you say it. Why? Do you think it’ll flop?”

“That’s not it, but I’m just a bit worried. It’s an important album. It needs to be a success-“

“And are other albums not important? They are always important. And what can you do about it? If you did everything you can, yet it somehow manages to flop, then we just need to make the next one a success.”

Kim Hyunjo said as though it was obvious.

“Even if Neptune’s album does flop, they aren’t at such risk that their group will be disbanded. The problem is that the number of bad Songha fans will increase. But we can handle that as best we can. Now that Songha doesn’t an immediate project lined up, Neptune can go on an entertainment show as a group… What’s with your expression?”

“Pardon?”

“Your expression is very strange.”

I didn’t know about my face, but I was feeling a little strange.

I spoke what was on my mind.

“No, I just don’t think I’ve been thinking about what we’re going to do if it fails. Only how will it not flop, nothing can go wrong. We need to make it a success no matter what. Is there any surefire way? Thoughts like that.”

When did I become like this?

Was it after seeing Pretty Girls’ future?

While I was thinking this, Kim Hyunjo asked me with a strange expression,

“You’ve never messed up in a big way since you started working? Not once?”

“… Nope.”

“Maybe that’s why. It’s true your record is amazing in the management business, but there’s no need to be so focused on that. Is your life over if you fail? Nothing happened during the two years after Neptune’s debut so am I trash? No, thinking about it now. I think I used a bad example.”

Kim Hyunjo coughed.

“Even CEO Baek, a man of great ability, failed multiple times trying to break into Hollywood. If everything you do works out, then that’s abnormal. If that’s true, then go and establish your own company. Take me along with you.”

Kim Hyunjo chuckled as he imagined it before continuing,

“Don’t feel so pressured by the press calling you ‘Midas’s Hand’ and all that. Are you some national representative? Just think of it as an extra card in your hand. Think about it. Thanks to you, Nam Joyoon reached the top of the search rankings.”

Kim Hyunjo slapped my back and added,

“That’s why you should just enjoy your work. Have fun. You’re going to go bald if you continue at this rate.”

I didn’t get a wink of sleep.

For three days now.

However, tonight was different from the past two days. Until now, my mind felt complicated like it was tangled in knots, but it felt like the knots unraveled a little tonight.

I kept thinking about Kim Hyunjo’s words.

Why did I feel so much pressure? Why was I so stressed?

It was like Kim Hyunjo said. It wasn’t like my life was over after a single failure. Of course, it would be better if I continued not to fail.

However, did I really need to success ‘no matter what’?

No matter what, no matter what method I used?

Why did I feel like I had to do whatever it took to succeed? Just why?

After lightening the pressure weighing on me with this question, my thoughts gradually became clear.

There was no guarantee that Lee Taehee’s song would be a success, it also wasn’t predestined for failure either. Like Royal Family and Alive.

Of course, Pretty Girls’ single would be a success.

There was a likely chance that it would succeed even if Neptune sang that song.

However, would I be the same person if I did that? After doing that, could I still scorn Son Chaeyoung’s past actions, call Choi Gunyoung a traitor, and consider the Team 2 Leader’s actions as underhanded? When I might be no different from them?

Let’s continue doing as I’ve been.

Let’s not dirty my soul and care about what methods I would use.

After deciding this and clearing my thoughts, I decided to sleep.

*

-But chief, it seems like you’re in a great mood today?

A reporter I didn’t know the name of said in a friendly voice.

-Your voice seems happy…. Ah, thinking about it, there’s no reason you wouldn’t be happy. Alive sold more than two million tickets. Mr. Nam Joyoon’s popularity soared after appearing on the search rankings yesterday.

“That could be the case. I slept really well yesterday. It was really refreshing.”

I replied while driving into an underground parking lot.

I was on the phone with reporters all morning. My name was still clinging onto the real-time search rankings even after a night has passed. Articles were being published at a steady rate, and it would be beneficial to Nam Joyoon if my interview was referenced in an article.

Maybe thinking it was another card in my hand really did help.

They say that life depended on one’s outlook. Let’s enjoy work and be happy from today onward.

I parked the van and said,

“I have to get on the elevator now. If you don’t have any more questions…”

-Ah! Chief, just one! One last question!

The reporter hastily replied.

-Did you not see anyone after Mr. Nam Joyoon? A celebrity who you thought would succeed.

Pretty Girls immediately crossed my mind.

-Oh, seeing as you aren’t replying right away, I guess you did see someone. Could you-!

“You’re going to write an article as soon as you hang up.”

-No, I’m just curious! Just curious!

The reporter desperately asked about it, but I ended the call without giving him a proper answer.

Then I turned off the engine and thought in my seat.

Even if I didn’t bring over the song, I still had the information.

The information that the unknown Pretty Girls would be reborn with their next single. That they would be first on the charts for at least 2 weeks with the song produced by DOM. I also knew that Jung Jae would be so successful that she would be called the ‘second Lee Songha’.

I felt like I could make good use of this information. In a way that both sides could benefit.

Now that I thought about it, he mentioned that the Pretty Girls’ company wasn’t in a good situation. That the girls had to tailor their own outfits because they didn’t have the funds to get it done. Thinking about how much money it costs to make a single album…

Just as I decided that I needed to call Chief Lee Taeshin, my phone rang again. It was an unknown number this time.

“Hello?”

-Excuse me, is this Chief Jung Sunwoo of W&U?

The voice sounded hesitant like she was cautious.

I thought she would be from a broadcasting company or reporter, but she seemed different.

“Yes, that’s correct. Who is this?”

-I am Jung Jae of Pretty Girls. We saw each other at a live broadcast not too long ago.

Jung Jae?

“Ah… I remember.”

My reply was delayed because it was so unexpected.

Although I did give her my business card that day, what business did she have with me?

-I was wondering if we could meet when you have some time.

“Me? What… Is this regarding Pretty Girls?”

-No, I left Pretty Girls.

What?

I jolted up from my seat.

“I’m having trouble understanding. Did you say you left Pretty Girls?”

-Yes, because I wanted to work with you.

Now I was even more confused.

Just what was she saying?

-You kept looking at me that day. Were you not interested in me? I will work really hard. Producers have told me that my talents were wasted on Pretty Girls, and although we don’t have a lot of fans, I have the most.

“I think you are misunderstanding something.”

She cut me off and urgently said.

-If you tell me your price, I can immediately prepare it. I’ll do anything you tell me to if it’s not money that you want. So, Chief Jung, please take care of me. Like Lee Songha sunbae. Like Nam Joyoon sunbae.