Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: Rxel
Chapter 172
January 7th.
It was the day they had agreed to pick up the members from Director Jo’s house.
The car that Manager Seo Minki and Manager Yoon Seokhwan were riding entered the alley.
“Wow, the house is really huge.”
“I know, right?”
He had heard that it was a luxury house in Pyeongchang-dong, but it was more like a mansion at this point.
As Yoon Seokhwan got out of the car and pressed the bell…-Come in!
…the door opened automatically before he could finish. Yoon Seokhwan tilted his head.
‘It seemed like he was in a hurry…’
It was definitely Director Jo Gyuhwan’s voice, but he sounded unusually exhausted.
‘That’s strange.’
He wondered as he climbed the stairs leading to the yard.
As far as he knew, Director Jo didn’t have any albums in production recently. He didn’t have any songs he was working on either.
Investors and outsiders were usually handled by the head of the department and the President, so Director Jo, who was in charge of production, had no reason to be worn out.
Besides, he was a person with amazing stamina.
He was the kind of person who would smile gently and walk around even after staying up for three nights in a row.
There was only one possibility…
‘It’s not our kids, is it?’
He laughed it off, thinking it was impossible, but he gasped when the front door opened.
“…Director?”
A person with dark circles under their eyes came out to greet him.
“…Good morning,” they said in a hoarse voice.
“What happened to you?” he asked.
Before Jo Gyuhwan could answer, he heard a commotion from the second floor.
“Seokhwan Hyung! You’re here!”
“Wow, Manager-nim! It feels like we haven’t seen you in ages! How about a high-five to celebrate?”
“Manager-nim, I got in shape, right?”
…Junghyun?
“Junghyun?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
Are you sure?
Junghyun smiled smugly, as if he knew what was going on in the manager’s mind.
“I worked out at the Director’s house and it was really effective. I also drank protein shakes.”
“…You’re banned from exercising for a week.”
Someone’s face fell, and a burst of laughter followed.
He couldn’t focus on the conversation that ensued.
“By the way, Hyung. I made the title track for our next album.”
“What…?”
“I saw Bijoo dancing in the living room and I composed it, and Rihyuk agreed to write the lyrics.”
“What… What?”
He thought it was a joke, but it was true.
He had no idea what had happened, but it was clear that the people he was in charge of had done something again.
He could tell by their faces.
Unlike Director Jo, who looked like a storm cloud with rain pouring down, the members were smiling brightly and had flowers on their lips.
Director Jo washed his face and said, “Let’s go.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Hard work… I’m sorry, I’m tongue-tied.”
He felt a pang of sympathy as he looked at his face, which seemed to have lost its soul.
Woojoo couldn’t believe it was time to leave.
He looked around the house from the entrance. He wanted to remember the time he spent here.
Then he turned to Director Jo, who was leaning against the wall.
His eyes were empty, like a person who had lost his vitality.
“Director.”
He flinched.
“Thank you for everything. You were so considerate and made us comfortable. I wanted to live here forever.”
Was he touched?
Woojoo looked at his pupils, which shook for a moment, and said earnestly, “We’ll repay you.”
“No, it’s okay. Just go and rest.”
The siblings shouted as if they didn’t like what he said.
“We’ll make you happy.”
“Thank you, sir. May you live long and prosper.”
The other person chuckled briefly at Junghyun and Jiho’s greetings. Then he said goodbye to them.
“Well, I had fun with you guys for a week. I’ll invite you again when I have a chance, so come and visit.”
“Really? Can we come again?”
Woojoo poked the youngest’s ribs, who was trying to butt in without any tact.
“Thank you!”
They bowed their heads as he waved his hand at them.
With his warm smile as the last thing they saw, the door closed.
But as they were dragging their luggage, Woojoo remembered something he had forgotten.
“Oh, right.”
“What is it?”
Woojoo answered Seokhwan Hyung.
“I left something in the living room.”
Woojoo grabbed the doorknob just before it closed and opened it, and Mr. Jo looked startled as if he had seen a ghost.
He ran to the entrance as soon as he saw him.
“Why, what whywhywhy.”
He blocked Woojoo’s way like a goalkeeper blocking a penalty kick as he tried to take off his shoes and go in.
“Oh, I left something behind.”
“…Okay, hurry up and get it,” he said with a resigned face.
Saying he had left something in the living room, Woojoo went back to get something and then came out again.
“Bye, sir!”
Mr. Jo waved his hand.
He only smiled calmly for a moment.
As soon as Woojoo left, he went straight to the door and locked it.
Then he leaned against the door and took a deep breath.
‘Finally.’
His heart was pounding.
‘Finally they’re gone.’
He looked through the peephole to check. He saw Woojoo’s back as he dragged his luggage down the stairs.
He watched until the other disappeared completely down the stairs.
“Hoo…”
He let out a long breath.
He looked around the empty house and felt like crying.
‘How lucky I was all this time.’
He often felt lonely when he was alone at home.
But now he realized how blessed he was.
“Guys?”
Like a child checking for ghosts, he wandered around the living room on the first floor.
There was a scene like that in Dooly the Little Dinosaur.
Gogildong tried to get rid of Dooly by putting him in a box, and putting him in the fridge with chains wrapped around him.
But no matter what he did, Dooly always came back to Gogildong’s house and said, “Gildong.”
Fortunately, there was no answer in the house.
“…They’re gone.”
He finally regained his peace of mind.
Jo Gyuwan sat elegantly on the living room sofa with his legs crossed and sipped his coffee.
He pressed the remote control button and classical music flowed out.
He closed his eyes slightly as he listened to the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Symphony ‘Choral’.
What a blissful and peaceful moment.
He thought as he drank his coffee.
“…?”
He saw an envelope on the corner of the table.
‘Did they leave it behind?’
He laughed when he saw the postcard in the envelope.
It was decorated with a Christmas tree, and as soon as he opened it, a song played.
Next to it was a message from Woojoo and the members, thanking him.
Except for Jiho’s message saying, “I’ll come again!”, they were words that made him smile naturally.
He felt a warm feeling in his chest from the morning and was about to smile.
Vroom-
“Ahh!”
He screamed at the robot vacuum cleaner that passed by behind the sofa.
“Woohoo!”
They shouted with joy as the manager dropped them off.
“An apartment!”
“Apartment! Apartment!”
This was their new place, unit 1103 on the 11th floor of building 101.
They were wide-eyed from the moment they entered the lobby on the first floor.
-10th floor.
They pressed the button and a voice came out. They looked at each other.
“Wow. Hey. Now there’s a voice when you press the button in the elevator. Can it do that too?”
“Just a moment.”
Bijoo reached out his finger. While they all held their breath, Bijoo pressed the 10th floor with a stern face.
-10th floor, canceled.
“Wow…”
They exclaimed as they looked at each other.
“Wow, it can cancel if you press it by mistake.”
“We must have come to a really nice place.”
They spontaneously sang along in the elevator that went straight up to the 11th floor.
They were overjoyed when they entered the place.
It had a spacious living room and a sunny balcony, but the best part was that it had three rooms.
“Wow.”
“Wow. Is it true that there are three rooms?”
They were overwhelmed by the emotion.
“Really, we were so sad when everyone else was doing ‘We’re roommates!’ on reality shows.”
“I know. We were all roommates.”
“That’s in the past now.”
Bijoo smiled happily as he looked around the spacious kitchen. Meanwhile, Rihyuk, who had gone ahead, came back in a hurry.
“Did you see?!”
“What?”
“There are two bathrooms!”
They were all shocked.
“Is that true, Rihyuk?”
“Really, there are two.”
“Now the bathroom hell in the morning is over.”
They remembered how hard it was every time they had to go out for a morning schedule.
There was only one bathroom, but five people who needed to use it. It was a nightmare.
They all looked up at the sky with one heart.
“Thank you, boss.”
It seemed like the boss was sparkling in the sky. They heard a hallucination of him laughing and saying, ‘You’ve worked hard, haha.’
While they were all absorbed in looking around the house, Seokhwan Hyung asked, “Did you decide on the room arrangement?”
“We decided when we stayed at Director Jo’s place. Junghyun gets the big room. The rest are me and Jiho, Bijoo and Rihyuk.”
“…Is it because of the snoring?”
“No. It’s not.”
Woojoo ignored the look that followed him.
It was true.
When Junghyun picked his straw, he saw the yellow tip and thought, “Wow, he got the master bedroom!” But in fact, all five straws in his hand were painted yellow.
It was a secret that only the four of them knew.
Just then, Junghyun called Woojoo.
“Hyung, where should I put this?”
Bijoo and Rihyuk were holding the trophies, having started to unpack.
They were the trophies for the Mango Chart Rookie Award, the HBS Music Awards Rookie Award, and the ones they got for winning first place on music shows.
“Um…”
Woojoo looked at the shelf in the living room and pondered. Then he pointed at it.
“Let’s put them all up there.”
“Wouldn’t it be a bit cramped? How about we split them between the upper and lower shelves?”
“Let’s leave the bottom one empty.”
Woojoo shook his head and said, “So we can fill it up again.”
The brothers silently smiled and crammed the trophies into one space.
After the two managers left for a meeting, Dowon-ssi stayed and helped them with the heavy luggage.
When they finally finished unpacking, they ordered Chinese food and spread newspapers on the living room floor.
“Manager, have some of this. My dad says this fish meat is the best part of the scorched rice soup.”
“Are you sure you have enough?”
“Have this too. It’s hot, so blow on it.”
All kinds of toppings from the sweet and sour pork, fried chicken, and scorched rice soup flew onto the plate that the manager was holding.
He said in a perplexed voice, “I’m fine.”
“You didn’t even eat the pork belly last time. It’s our turn to treat you.”
“…Okay. Thank you.”
Dowon-ssi smiled awkwardly and started to eat the food they gave him.
After a while, they finished their meal and saw off the manager who was going back to the company.
“Then I’ll see you later.”
He smiled and greeted them, and the brothers winked at Woojoo as if to tell him to say something.
Woojoo opened his lips right away.
“Manager, before you go, there’s something I want to say to you.”
“What is it?”
“Thank you for what you did.”
Woojoo bowed his head and he blinked.
“What I did?”
“Not today, but another day. The first day of the New Year.”
“Oh.”
He looked at Woojoo and he smiled.
“I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t even say thank you properly… Thank you very much.”
The brothers nodded their heads vigorously.
Dowon-ssi scratched the back of his head and waved his hand as if to deny it.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m just a meddlesome person…”
But they just smiled silently.
He said he was meddlesome, but they knew how hard it was to care for them like that.
That was why they gave him a gift they had prepared in advance.
His large hand took the gift box.
“What is this?”
“It’s a gift we’ve been wanting to give you. We were going to give it to you on the 31st of last year, but… somehow we ended up giving it to you now.”
“You don’t have to give me anything…”
“We gave the other two managers gifts too, so don’t feel burdened. It’s like our tradition.”
He smiled and said, “Thank you. I’ll take it.”
He smiled gratefully at them and took the box with him.
And before he left, Woojoo called him.
“And there’s one more thing before you go… I’ve been wanting to tell you this for a long time.”
“…?”
“Please speak comfortably. Hyung.”
“…Hmm.”
“Try it now.”
“O…kay.”
He tried to speak casually, and they nodded their heads. Their acting expert said, “You need to lower your tone a bit.”
“Okay.”
“That’s it.”
“Okay.”
Soon, the front door was filled with loud laughter.
At the same time.
An office in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul.
“Okay, now we need to talk about the casting…”
The PD, Sung, who was sitting at the head of the table, opened his mouth.
“Last time we met, I asked you to bring some good candidates. Did you all prepare?”
The writers who were tapping on their laptop keyboards immediately started to name some celebrities.
Most of them were unknowns, and some of them were people he had never heard of before.
It was only natural.
This place, Kiwoom Production, was a small-scale outsourcing company.
They were in charge of a few current affairs and culture programs from HBS, a terrestrial broadcaster, but they were not very important programs.
The new program they were launching was the same.
It had a low-rated time slot and a tight budget.
Of course, they couldn’t afford to cast any famous celebrities.
“Hmm…”
He heard various names, but the PD’s expression didn’t brighten up.
‘Maybe I should just cast someone within the budget.’
He wanted to find someone who would suit the program well, since he had put some effort into it.
He was thinking of narrowing down the candidates from the writers’ suggestions.
One of the writers had a confident expression on her face.
“Yeongji, do you have any opinions?”
“I think I found the perfect person, Director.”
Everyone turned their heads at Seo Yeongji’s words. She spoke with a self-assured tone.
“Remember what we agreed on at the last meeting. We had two ideal conditions for our cast.”
First, they should have some historical knowledge.
Second, they should have an attractive appearance that appeals to the young audience.
As everyone recalled the two conditions, she turned her laptop around and showed them.
“Take a look at this.”
Two videos played.
One was of five idol members wearing strange clothes and comforting a crying child at a movie theater.
“Oh, I’ve seen this. It was pretty hot on SNS last time.”
“But who are they…? Their faces look familiar, but I can’t recognize them because of their makeup.”
Then, the second video played.
“Oh, it’s New Black.”
New Black, who appeared as a guest on HBS MTV’s ‘Idol Show’, showed off their beauty.
The writers smiled involuntarily.
“Listen. Here.”
Seo Yeongji emphasized and turned up the volume.
-As I said earlier, the reality of Gwanghaegun…
-Rihyuk. Gwanghaegun was overthrown by Injo’s coup. I’m the one wearing the crown right now.
-Wasn’t the Byeongjahoran during Injo’s reign?
The two members of New Black exchanged historical jokes with ease.
As soon as they saw that, a chorus of ‘oh’ came out of the mouths of the production staff.
Writer Seo asked, “Don’t they fit our criteria perfectly?”
“Well, yes, but…”
Negative opinions flowed out.
“You know, I’ve heard some things from my contacts in the music industry. New Black is one of the hottest groups right now… They must have a lot of offers from everywhere.”
“That’s right, it would be hard to match their appearance fee.”
“They probably wouldn’t want to come on this kind of program. Unless they have weird tastes… Honestly, what would they lack to come here?”
Positive opinions popped up right away.
“Well, there’s no harm in trying. You never know.”
“Stop saying this pro, that pro. What’s wrong with our program?”
“That’s right. That’s right. It’s so beneficial.”
At that, the ones who expressed skeptical opinions swallowed their words.
‘What’s our pro?’
This was a children’s educational program, you people…