Top Management

TM Chapter 173

TL: emptycube / ED: Isleidir

“Is this a spectacle to you?”

The sparks landed on us. No, on me.

The Team 2 Leader scanned me with angry eyes.

“Jung Sunwoo, what are you doing here?”

I came for a show.

Rather than saying my true thoughts, I lifted the plate.

“I wanted to give Chief Lee a slice of cake. Would you like one as well?”

“Hey, are you here to pick a fight with me? You’re just going all out, aren’t you?”

His reaction was cold. His beard, which I wanted to shave whenever I saw him, trembled.

Chief Lee Bongjoon, who was acting like a bystander a step away from me, became surprised as if I had declared a challenge. I flinched when I looked at the plate. It was a pile of mushed bread and cream. It looked like a huge seagull poop.

Oh right, I did mash it with my hand. I had forgotten because I was preoccupied with Son Chaeyoung.

I was about to tell him that this was a mistake.

“Oh good.”

I heard a voice from above.

The director, whose face and scalp were shining, was standing on the stairs.

“The CEO wants to see you.”

CEO Baek Hansung?

The director beamed as he looked at both me and the Team 2 Leader.

“Both of you.”

No matter how many times I’ve been here, the CEO’s office always gave me a peculiar heavy feeling. I felt like I now had some experience in society, but whenever I sat here looking at CEO Baek Hansung, I felt like a newbie who was at an interview.

Still, there was one more person here for the interview today, the Team 2 Leader.

It wasn’t just me who felt this way. It looked like he needed a cheongsimhwan^{1}.

“I heard that people liked Pretty Girls’ first performance. Team Leader Park was fussing over it.”

CEO Baek Hansung said while drinking tea.

His classic suit and leisurely attitude made it seem like he just popped out of a magazine. Why did it seem like he was getting younger every time I saw him?

I stopped my wandering thoughts and replied,

“It seemed the positive audience reactions at the event helped the performance. There are so many fancams that we can’t even count them all. Babel thanking us on social media was also helpful.”

After the night of festivities, Babel’s company spread a press release regarding the accident as soon as the sun rose. They also publicly thanked Pretty Girls for filling in the time on social media, though I didn’t know if they were trying to maintain a good public image or being sincere.

Thanks to that, Babel and Pretty Girls rose up on the real-time search rankings.

Tons of reporters were calling me, so there was nothing more to say about the PR Team. People must be going on about how they didn’t tell them about the university performance ahead of time and how there were waiting for the official showcase date.

As I spoke, CEO Baek Hansung listened while tapping his armrest.

He was also smiling faintly.

“We’ll have lots to discuss once this is over.”

I also had a lot I wanted to say.

CEO Baek Hansung was silent after saying this. Was this all he wanted from me? I put down my teacup and looked to my side. The Team 2 Leader’s shoulders flinched. He briefly glared at me.

The director stretched his round arm and patted my shoulder.

“Well, since an event like this occurred, Making Film’s ratings probably won’t drop. Oh wow, Lucky Charm will get another trophy for his display.”

“You really like to count your chickens before they hatch.”

The Team 2 Leader joined in.

“Wait until you see their music results.”

“Counting my chickens before they hatch? Weren’t you the one who said that the movie that rookie Song Inho is doing is going to be a huge hit even though it hasn’t premiered yet?”

The director asked with a smirk. The Team 2 Leader suddenly coughed. When the topic changed to Song Inho and his movie, his eyes began to shift even quicker. The Team 2 Leader looked at me, the director, then CEO Baek Hansung before replying,

“Cough, that’s because I got a glance at it. The movie is really well made.”

“I hope so. You know that 13 million people went to see Alive, right? Nam Joyoon might get an award if he’s lucky.”

The Team 2 Leader immediately frowned.

“Now really, we need to show our cards too. Inho is a true talent. Although he’s sometimes stubborn, we just need to control him better in the future. He plays a pretty big role in the movie, so he’ll become famous once it does well in the box office.”

“Really?”

“He’ll receive an award this year. A big one.”

The Team 2 Leader replied to the director, but his gaze was on me.

However, his glaring gaze quickly disappeared at the director’s next words.

“You need to get Son Chaeyoung under control first. I heard she’s back?”

“… That is…”

“What are you going to do about her?”

With nothing to say, the Team 2 Leader licked his lips. It was completely different from when he was talking about Song Inho.

CEO Baek Hansung, who was silent until now, spoke,

“Her tantrum is lasting longer than usual.”

He sounded like he was dealing with a child. He slowly rubbed his chin.

“It’s getting a bit troublesome now.”

“All sorts of rumors spread if an actor rests for too long after a failed project.”

The director added with a click of his tongue.

“The Chinese investors seem especially concerned about this. Mermaid out of Water, that completely failed in China. They sold the publishing rights at a high price, yet it ended up like that. There’s no way her image is good. She needs to quickly start a new project and brush off Mermaid out of Water’s failure.”

The Team 2 Leader, now with a dark complexion, said to CEO Baek Hansung,

“I’ll give her what she wants and console her, so that we can decide on a drama or movie. You know her. Although she stirs up trouble at the company, she works hard once she signs a contract.”

“That’s only when you find a project she likes.”

“I’m trying to gather as much as I ca-”

“In the past.”

CEO Baek Hansung cut him off.

“Chaeyoung mentioned you being her manager, correct?”

He asked, looking at me. He leaned closer.

“Chief Jung, no, what if you become Team Leader Jung? Get Chaeyoung under control.”

“Pardon?”

“Just temporarily.”

He added with a smile.

My mind began to churn quickly when the Team 2 Leader roughly grabbed the table.

“CEO!”

His action knocked over a teacup, and it rolled on the table.

The Team 2 Leader had tried to have me manage Son Chaeyoung in the past, but this was a completely different situation. He was trying to order me back when I was a new chief. However, this situation was more like he was being pushed out for not being able to handle her.

The Team 2 Leader shot up from his seat.

“A week! I’ll persuade Son Chaeyoung in a week.”

*

The second day of that week.

I stopped my minivan on my way to work. Someone was calling me. A very unpleasant caller.

-It’s me. You know my number, right?

Even if I didn’t, I would immediately know that she was Son Chaeyoung. That was also a talent. To make someone’s heart beat irregularly with a few words.

“I know. What is it?”

I thought she would reply right away, but she took a breath and said.

-Let’s talk.

What did she want?

I wondered as I looked at the coffee shop window before giving up on guessing.

I sipped on my strong coffee. I needed the caffeine. I never expected to talk to Son Chaeyoung at a coffee shop, but I did come out, thinking that I might get a hint regarding that repeated vision if we talked. I still wasn’t up for it.

Although she could be considered someone who had a large presence in my career as a manager, we barely ever talked to each other alone. And even those weren’t pleasant memories.

Once in the hotel hallway last year. I told her that we should start by apologizing to each other if we were going to actually talk, but her reply was ridiculous. It was so ridiculous that I remembered every word.

‘I don’t do stuff like that.’

‘Why?’

‘I just don’t!’^{2}

I was still speechless when I thought about it again.

The other time was in a meeting room. She talked about how it was a given for me to be her manager as she told me she asked CEO Baek Hansung to make me her manager. Her words then were still vivid in my mind.

‘I’m telling you that I’m going to groom you.’

‘So stop playing with that child and come when I tell you to.’

It came as a bigger shock because it was right after I had seen a shocking future.

I recalled a memory I wanted to erase from my mind. The one where Son Chaeyoung, holding a baby, called me her manager. I didn’t see that future again, perhaps because I refused that time. Still, it occasionally came up in my silly dreams.

All the memories of us together were like this.

Once that would be ridiculous if they appeared in a dream.

Would my silly dreams get new material today?

I looked outside the window as I drank coffee. Raindrops slid down the window. A couple drops fell when I ordered coffee, but it was pouring quite a bit now. People without umbrellas were gathered below store eaves to avoid the rain. It seemed they didn’t see today’s weather forecast.

But, for some reason, they were all looking in the same direction.

What was going on?

I followed their gazes. I saw a woman riding a bike. Drenched in the rain.

She should at least pedal faster if she wasn’t going to rest under the eaves, but she rode leisurely like she was on a picnic. She occasionally brushed her hair and looked up at the sky.

Rain should be dripping in her nose.

It almost looked like a drama shoot with a sprinkler.

As soon as I thought this, the woman’s face became clear.

Oh, my god.

I quickly left the coffee shop and got in my minivan. I drove towards the coffee shop entrance. I hoped I was just seeing things, but the woman, Son Chaeyoung, was still leisurely riding her bike.

People with umbrellas looked at her with wide eyes.

I parked my minivan nearby and rolled down the window.

“Get in.”

Discovering me, Son Chaeyoung stopped pedaling.

Then she brushed her hair away with both hands. With a brightly smiling face. Only then did people recognize her and start taking out their phones. Some were looking at me.

Damn it, I guess it would be better if I just acted like a manager.

I got out with an umbrella. I got Son Chaeyoung in the back seat and folded the bike into the trunk. As I drove away, Son Chaeyoung waved at the people outside. When we grew distant, she rolled the window back up.

I called the PR Team and told them that photos might have been taken. Then I opened the glove compartment. I felt a towel amongst the snacks Lee Songha put in. I took it out and threw it behind me.

“You’re getting the car wet.”

“It’s already soaked. You should have told me if it was going to rain!”

“Why should I?”

Was I her weather station?

I was already dumbfounded by her first words.

“Also, if you didn’t want to get soaked, you should have pedaled faster. Why were you going so slowly?”

“It’s weird if I pedal quickly!”

“Do you think your appearance just now wasn’t weird?”

“That was weird too? Ah, damn it. This pisses me off.”

Wow.

“No, why did you ride a bike in the first place? Without sunglasses at that?”

“I don’t have a manager right now.”

“You could have called a taxi.”

Don’t tell me she didn’t even know how to call a taxi?

It was ridiculous, but she was Son Chaeyoung.

“Don’t you know that people forget you if you don’t do anything in this industry? I need to show my face and have pictures taken of me so that people don’t forget me while I’m on my break.”

Oh, really?

“Then you can just do a project.”

“Why? Do you have a script you want to give me?”

“Nope.”

If I did, I would have already given it to Lee Songha.

Anyways, listening to her, it seemed she had no plans on retiring.

The future I saw was excessively brief, so all I knew was that she retired at the height of her career.

How could I know if that was this year, the next, or a few years later?

My foresight ability was quiet since the repeated vision. I thought that it might be because I decided to get myself involved with Son Chaeyoung. Just in case, I thought that this was useless information to me, but it still didn’t activate.

I shook my complicated mind. Even after doing this, my mind would become messy with these thoughts.

Like a windshield that got wet no matter how many times the wipers wiped it.

“Why did you want to see me?”

I asked first.

Son Chaeyoung looked at me through the rearview mirror. She seemed to have dried her hair as the towel hung on her shoulders. Her silence made me even more uncomfortable. She lowered the window a bit. The rain noisily resounded in the car.

“Didn’t CEO Baek Hansung mention me?”

Son Chaeyoung asked back.

“He probably did. Asking if you were interested in managing me. No?”

“Something like that.”

“Seeing as how the team leader began saying that he’ll do anything I ask, it means that fire’s been lit on his back. I don’t plan on dousing that fire. And CEO Baek Hansung won’t just watch idly with his personality.”

A strange smile hung on her lips.

“He’ll definitely ask you once more. At that time, no matter what.”

Our gazes met on the rearview mirror.

Son Chaeyoung continued,

“Tell him that you won’t be my manager.”

^{1} Been a while since this has been brought up. It is a medicine that is supposed to calm your heart.

^{2} Sorry, this is probably not exact, it is difficult to find quotes from prior chapters.