‘So this is “meticulously remove anything that could be nitpicked,” huh?’

It was laughable. ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) He could just behave properly himself.

When I obediently held out my phone, Jang Junhu snatched it out of my hand.

It won’t help you anyway.

I had already deleted all the photos that showed the lounge entrance before I came in.

Once that photo had done its job of alerting me to this situation, it had served its purpose.

Whether intentional or not, if something had even a whiff of illegality, I wasn’t going to use it no matter the benefit.

Apparently the system’s thinking matched mine. The moment I deleted all the photos, this notice popped up.

 [SYSTEM] Because Party B has complied with “Professional Ethics,” penalties are waived.

+

Unlike “Tasks,” which give rewards on completion but no penalty on failure, “Professional Ethics” seemed to only punish you when you didn’t comply.

It’s basically telling me not to use loopholes and to conduct activities properly.

To me—who even got conscience pangs if I broke Hanpyeong Industries’ ridiculous internal rules—it felt like a pointless rule.

Even so, he kept my phone for a long while, rummaging through it.

"Hey, take it."

"Yes, thank you!"

When nothing in particular turned up, he handed it back with a sour look.

"But, sunbae-nim."

Rules are rules; I’ll keep them.

"But did Seongbin do something so bad he deserves a major scolding from you?"

Addressing the wrongdoing is a different matter.

What grown man nearing forty leans on a kid whose head hasn’t even dried.

Maybe my words grated on him too, because his eyebrow twitched.

"What do you mean by that?"

"From what I glimpsed outside, it looked like Seongbin was getting scolded by you."

"Hyung, it wasn’t like that...!"

This time, pale as a sheet, Jeong Seongbin clutched my arm.

Smiling, Jang Junhu said,

"He says himself it wasn’t. Watch your mouth when you talk anywhere."

"I think you’re the one who needs to watch your behavior anywhere you go."

"What?"

What I said was that it looked like he was getting scolded.

Which means if he’d just said, “Did it look that way? That wasn’t the situation—I should be careful,” it would’ve ended there.

You flared up and turned it into a fait accompli yourself.

The speed at which his conscience pricked him was world-class.

He really didn’t seem like the type who could be called wise.

And expecting humanity from someone who behaves like this is a joke in itself.

"If that wasn’t your intention, it’s still awkward if people see it wrong and misunderstand, right?"

"Are you lecturing me now?"

"No. I was seriously thinking it over."

I swallowed a laugh as I looked at him—not sure if he intended to press down on me.

Is he trying to create an atmosphere that has zero effect on me, who was trained under Deputy Manager Nam?

Too bad—you’re ten years too early.

"I was thinking whether I should even be in an agency where, without even catching you in the act of scolding a trainee, you seize a passerby’s phone and search it."

Of course I have no intention of leaving. If they told me to get out, I’d be the one begging forgiveness.

But in this situation, everything is unconditionally unfavorable to Jang Junhu.

If I were a trainee who’d spent years grinding at UA like Jeong Seongbin, I’d have no choice but to be cowed by him.

He’s a major industry senior, and we’re supposedly one family eating from the same company pot.

The more you have to lose, the more you shrink in front of someone with power.

But I was a trainee who’d just entered, knowing nothing.

I was closer to the outside world than to showbiz, a newbie with nothing external to lose even if he tried to bring pressure on me right this second.

Unless you want to trend on an issue like: “A famous singer who tried to bury a trainee for whistleblowing his own misconduct... falls from grace.”

Whistleblowers’ reports are always dogged by doubts about intent and evidence.

And I could prove I was actually affiliated with UA with a single contract sheet.

That’s why I could act like a bright-eyed newbie whose sense for reading the room was completely broken.

If he was the sort to rummage a stranger’s phone and even destroy evidence, he couldn’t be totally brainless.

He’s also ten years older than me. He’s old enough to have seen more than a few mud fights.

"Ha, fuck..."

He let out a hollow laugh and muttered.

It looked like he’d reached the conclusion that nothing good would come from “winning” against me here.

He probably even pictured the reaction if he bullied me further for pissing him off and I exposed everything.

“jjh”—is it true he power-tripped on a UA trainee?

└ It’s true. Yep. The poster provided full proof.

└ But just from the post alone, it’s hard to call it outright power-tripping... staying neutral for now.

└ Fuck, can’t we just split these “neutral gear” clowns in half and toss each half to both sides? If you’re gonna chant “neutral gear” every time, might as well pre-split your brain.

Who the hell is “jjh” anyway?

The whole thread is only talking about “jjh”?

└ There was a singer who flashed for a moment and then washed up lol

└ Old man, this is pathetic toward kids about to debut TT

This, too, would only be the mild reaction you get when I haven’t debuted yet.

If I had debuted, people would yammer, “Noise marketing,” “He was rude to a senior,” but to someone like him—who thinks I can leave UA anytime—that hypothetical means nothing.

In the end, he only left me with a warning to watch my mouth and walked out of the lounge. He slammed the door so hard I wondered if the hinge had snapped.

"Hyung... are you okay?"

Like a can dented in the middle of us, squeezed between me and him, Jeong Seongbin asked in a small voice.

"What would I not be okay about?"

"That’s a relief. ...Um, did you say the manager called me?"

"Oh. I lied about that to get into the lounge."

"What?"

"More importantly, Seongbin."

"...Yes."

"You have something to talk about with us, right?"

At my words, he hesitated, then nodded.

It was the second emergency gathering, after the sparks-flying stare-down between Choi Jeho and Kang Giyeon.

Even in his own mind, he hadn’t been this kind of person from the start.

He’d always had a knack for working hard and not giving up.

He was certain that the time he put in would someday become his asset.

So the years as a trainee weren’t hard at all.

Not until he met a senior who was far too difficult.

“A trainee?”

“He is, but he’s sung for a long time and he’s really good. Euni acknowledged him too.”

“Hyung, don’t you think I’m past the level where I should be receiving a song guided by a trainee?”

Was the problem that someone inexperienced and green like him had taken on guiding someone who’d already debuted?

Or was his skill really so lacking that it was embarrassing to put it out there?

“Hey. You recorded like this and no one in A&R said anything?”

“I kept listening to your guide, you know? Your voice isn’t exactly a ‘public-friendly’ tone. People will get tired of it.”

“I heard you’ll be main vocal when they form your group? If you’re the main, won’t your team be doomed?”

Whatever the reason was. And before he even figured out what it was.

Every time he ran into Jang Junhu in the hall, in the lobby, he had to listen to “honest advice” dressed up as industry-senior candor that wasn’t given to just anyone.

Those words were almost never helpful. They only left wounds in the listener.

To him, those barbs were no different from knives.

Unfortunately, to Jang Junhu, his “polite to elders, humble, never slacking on self-censorship” came off as “easy prey.”

It didn’t take long for teasing to turn to mockery, mockery to criticism, and criticism to outright abuse.

Low monthly evaluation ranks. Feedback that put on the form of praise but couldn’t hide its disappointment.

Above all, the fact that he himself had failed to produce results for years—these were proving Jang Junhu’s words true.

By the time it became a given that the guide would be handed specifically to him, and once he finished recording, every little thing would be nitpicked by Jang Junhu— 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

He began to think he really was incompetent.

“If you just keep doing what you’ve been doing, the day will come when you’re recognized. Really.”

That is, until a blunt new colleague who owed him no consideration said exactly what he most wanted to hear.

Silence filled the practice room. Only the faintest little sighs came from him, nose tip flushed red.

After hearing everything, the first thing I felt was guilt.

I’d gone to do his song guide for that human garbage, not knowing he was trash, and been happy about getting EXP.

What came next was anger.

A few years ago, he would’ve been just a middle schooler.

He took out the frustration of his own failed rebound on a kid twenty years younger, over several years?

It wasn’t something to be tolerated, and I had no need to try to understand.

At this point my head could only come up with filthy curses.

This motherfucker...

There are things a person can do and things a person can’t do.

Even I, who had to do twenty hours of overtime a month because of Spark, am living and dying with these kids—who the hell is he to throw that kind of fit.

Forget watching my mouth—I wanted to barge in with, “Excuse me. Is Mr. Jang Junhu here?” and set the room on fire asking whether he could still call himself human.

Next to me, Choi Jeho was already spitting curses.

"Fuck, isn’t that bastard out of his mind?"

"I’m just as pissed, but let’s not swear in front of the kids."

It wasn’t his fault, and two older guys raging at random would only make the younger ones watch our mood.

I swallowed the anger and asked him,

"Seongbin, how would you like this to be resolved?"

If he wanted an apology, I was ready to post a public exposé until that man’s face was mosaicked out on every news portal. I was good at clinging on in the muck.

But he seemed to want everything to be quietly buried.

"I don’t want to... be talking with that sunbae any more than now. Even if it’s for the sake of resolution."

"Okay. Still, continuing to do anything together with him isn’t a good choice. Do you agree on that point?"

"...Yes."

"Then at least inside the company, move in pairs. On the way home from school, Giyeon, keep an eye out a bit."

"Okay."

"And if you hear any nonsense anywhere, tell at least two members immediately. Got it?"

We kept brainstorming measures to separate him from Jang Junhu.

"What if another guide offer comes in? As far as I know, to keep it easy inside the company they’ve been handing it to trainees up to now."

"I’ll practice till my throat tears and I’ll go."

At Lee Cheonghyeon’s worry, I raised my hand and volunteered.

Better my throat bleeds than sending these punks into the line of fire.

After a thirty-minute meeting—

"Lastly, Seongbin, I want you to do just two things."

"Y—yes."

"One: never think you’re lacking."

I looked at his still-babyish face—the kind of face that probably couldn’t spit harsh words even if you told him to.

I’d barely ever looked him straight in the face before, afraid all the bottled-up bitterness would spill out.

"And when you feel a bit better later, bring me everything that could count as evidence of how that man mistreated you."

That fucker. Like I’m going to just let a capable newbie be taken from me.

Right now we haven’t achieved anything, so we can’t take revenge.

I’ll show you just how grimy the black heart of a working adult can be when it comes to protecting promising sprouts.