Trainees who have to debut even a little younger, and an idol market that changes so fast it makes the hard-won data look pointless.

Those two things meant that time was money.

But UA couldn’t rush. The reason was simple.

There weren’t enough people to do the work.

UA had tried to launch a new line of business with only its existing staff, without a single person in charge of an idol team, and only recently realized how arrogant that was.

“We need a manager who will handle only Spark!”

The realization came far, far too late. No manpower, no experience, no knack for the job... the end of a company that had nothing else.

Still, UA had at least a shred of conscience.

The company saw the youngest trainee, Kim Iwol—who practiced during the day and, for some reason, worked at night, getting as ground-down as the staff—and made a decision. And they brought in a new specialist as fast as they could.

They hired a team-lead-level career hire who had launched idol groups before and had a long track record in entertainment.

UA thought this was the best support they could give the trainees.

They didn’t expect that their own trainee, Kim Iwol, would, exactly three days later, be overcome with the urge to resign because of the new face.

“New personnel will be assigned... huh.”

The news Manager passed along wasn’t all that surprising.

By this point I figured UA would feel the need for manpower.

Even if it’s the same entertainment business, the idol business is a field UA is trying for the first time. There’s no way you can run that with just your existing people.

What matters is what kind of person the newcomer is.

Thanks to proxy-stanning, I don’t actually know much about UA’s internal affairs.

When fans talk about an agency, it mostly skews toward operating policies and activity plans.

≫ You XX bastards, how does it make sense for the photocard image quality to be this trash XX XX

└ Been stanning idols for years and never seen this before... a new chapter in album sales history

≫ First-week sales were 500k last time, so why on earth did you only prep 300k for the first pressing this time? The kids are busting their asses to get results and the company’s grabbing both ankles

≫ Early debut, I figured UA didn’t know what they were doing since it was their first idol group

Now they just seem to believe fans will spend no matter how dog-shit their work is, so they’ve let go

Can’t believe I’m dropping a group because of the agency for the first time in my life

└ Can you at least drop quietly? Why are there so many people who have to announce to the whole world that they’re quitting the fandom, XX nobody cares

Most of it was criticism soaked in anger like that.

So unfortunately I have no information about the person who’s coming.

What good is knowing the future seven years from now. I don’t even know the future seven days from now. Irony at its finest.

“They’ll probably be in charge of your producing. Iwol, you’ll have a lot to learn, too.”

“So does that mean we’re getting an idol team now?”

Jeong Seongbin asked.

He must have been pretty uneasy that the company didn’t even have a team in charge of idols.

He’s been a trainee for a long time, so he would’ve seen and heard things; that makes sense.

Manager answered Jeong Seongbin’s question.

“Soon enough, I think? They graduated from a good university and have worked several times at idol agencies. You’ll be able to rely on them a lot.”

Sorry, but I don’t trust people’s academic backgrounds and resumes. Manager Nam also graduated from a good school.

Listening to Manager’s explanation, I slipped in a question.

“Could we maybe hear their name in advance?”

“Oh, my head. I didn’t even tell you PD-nim’s name, did I? It’s PD Yuhan Su.”

Manager said it.

It wasn’t an unfamiliar name.

A person my body remembers on instinct—and, in a company like UA, where if the whole company got dragged it got dragged together and no single person took all the beating, the one and only person who got seized from all directions and pelted with stones.

≫ I’m begging you

Please get rid of Yuhan Su XXX

Do that and I’ll forgive every dog-shit album you’ve put out so far

The “kick UA’s PD out” that was Sparkler’s lifelong ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) wish in the early days.

The PD at the center of that wish was none other than Yuhan Su.

If you tried to list out all of Yuhan Su’s achievements, two days and nights wouldn’t be enough.

Including the “Cyborg Warrior” that keeps showing up in my dreams to torment me—those precious masterpieces were all born from Yuhan Su’s hands.

And that’s not all.

Under the banner of strengthening each member’s identity, Yuhan Su even did something monstrous like making Park Juu take a vow of silence at a fan meeting in the 21st century.

The community’s reaction back then was...

It’s hard to even recall. Even as a twenty-nine-year-old adult, it was scary.

They got cursed out so much that even UA—who looked immortal and healthy off the amount of cursing they’d already taken—couldn’t withstand the fandom’s onslaught and posted an apology.

An apology stuffed with bullshit like, We wanted to give fans a new experience, it was part of reinforcing the concept, but it seems that didn’t come across.

Even so, maybe UA was the kind of company that cherishes a hire once they’ve made it, because they didn’t toss Yuhan Su aside easily.

And so, during Spark’s golden time—three years—Yuhan Su royally tanked the albums.

If you think about it, it was strange. The things Yuhan Su had made before weren’t that bad.

If anything, quite a few idols who were said to be directly produced by Yuhan Su hit mid-level success or better, or got fresh attention.

“So why was it only after coming to UA that the talent for evil blossomed wide open, that’s what I’m saying.”

If only the producing aimed at Spark had taken the express train to hell, there were roughly two likely causes.

Either Yuhan Su suddenly went senile, or the company suddenly collabed something weird onto Yuhan Su’s proposals.

Either way, it was a headache. I already felt like my whole body was dressed in that pickled-radish-on-a-keyboard look.

Still, would things really have gone that far just because of Yuhan Su personally?

From the start, when work goes wrong it’s never one person’s fault. That’s how company work is.

Maybe Yuhan Su did try, but UA was simply too small a vessel to contain Yuhan Su.

So instead of snapping straight into red alert, as soon as it turned night I logged into Job Planet and Work.com at the dorm.

Then I searched companies where Yuhan Su had stayed or collaborated, matched for job category, cross-checked the timeframe, and found reviews that seemed to be referring to him.

The reviews were, overall, despairing.

≫ A company where everyone’s nice except for exactly one person who spoils the whole barrel

If they don’t kick that person out, there’s no fix. Keep working like that forever. I’m leaving.

≫ When your boss puts in no sincerity and makes garbage, your job is to clap for it—an extreme profession

You get to feel like Hong Gil-dong who can’t call garbage “garbage”

And in the end that person takes all the awards... If you want your career stolen, come on in

≫ The company is trash and the boss is even bigger trash

Pros: there’s exactly one person with a problem

Cons: that human doesn’t leave

Having trawled every corporate-review page by legal, shadowy means, I thought:

“Feels like we’re X’d.”

Personality seems rotten, for starters. And judging by the repeated phrase “career thief,” their own ability doesn’t sound all that great either.

But they get good evaluations at the company and monopolize the awards?

That’s 100% the trace of office politics. The really nasty kind.

Maybe UA wanted to give rude little me a good hard spanking.

Unless the idea is to make me taste the bitterness of society so I’ll grasp just how hard debuting really is, I can’t see why UA would do this to me.

“Ha...”

A sigh slipped out. I really didn’t want to work.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take many days for Yuhan Su to enter UA.

At the same time, a small face-to-face was arranged for us and Yuhan Su, who would be taking charge.

We could have just greeted each other in a conference room. But UA, a company proud of its warm atmosphere, went out of its way to reserve a place for lunch so we could eat together.

Thanks to that, we had our first meeting at a pot-rice place.

After everyone finished introducing themselves, Yuhan Su spoke.

“Choi Jeho, was it? I watched Jang Junhu’s MV and had high expectations, and you don’t look bad in person either. CEO, you must’ve had a hard time gathering trainees.”

You start by rating faces the moment you see us? This is already not easy.

I couldn’t just sit there with a long face, so I did my best to smile with only my eyes like back at Hanpyeong Industries, and Yuhan Su looked over at me.

“You’re Kim Iwol, right?”

“Yes.”

I re-equipped the social smile I trained at Hanpyeong Industries.

And he was wearing the same smile. F***, we’re really X’d.

“I heard a lot from the CEO and the Planning Team. I hear you’re really interested in planning?”

“I’m not much, but yes.”

Couldn’t we talk about this separately? I just want to eat at a restaurant.

But like an idiot who only knows work, Yuhan Su wouldn’t stop.

“The ideas weren’t bad. Plenty that needs refining, though. Having drive is good.”

He didn’t sound like he thought anything was good, but I expressed my thanks as gently as possible.

Yuhan Su’s “evaluation of a plucky trainee” continued.

“Still, it’ll be better to focus on practice for the time being. You only decided to do idols recently, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Being eager is good, but a lot of kids try to do this and that and end up screwing up both. I’ve seen a lot like that.”

While Yuhan Su droned on, all I could do was pray hard for the pot-rice to come out fast.

If the other side is the one telling me to shut up for now, what could I possibly say.

A sneaky glance at the others showed their expressions weren’t great.

It’s good they’ve gotten quicker on the uptake, but after all the times I’ve explained how important expression control is, it’s a shame they still haven’t learned enough.

Maybe trying to be considerate since we’re kids, the CEO spoke.

“From PD Hansu’s perspective there must still be things that are lacking. Even so, Iwol has good sense, so PD Hansu, lead him and raise him well.”

It sounded like acknowledging Yuhan Su, but there was a barb in there.

Don’t cut me off from planning entirely, in other words. Better than being a kite with its string cut.

Maybe Yuhan Su wasn’t totally oblivious, because he kept nodding, going, “Of course.”

After I thought “I wish we’d just eat and disperse” about a hundred times, the food we’d been waiting for arrived.

At the CEO’s “Eat a lot,” I offered a big thanks, and after confirming that the CEO and Yuhan Su had each taken the first spoonful, I opened the lid of my pot-rice, and Yuhan Su said:

“CEO, since we’re on the topic of planning—”

“Mm, what is it?”

Let them chatter between themselves, whatever.

I kept my eyes fixed on the rice like a child trying hard not to butt into the grown-ups’ conversation.

While I was counting how many chestnuts were in my portion, Yuhan Su said something that made me doubt my ears.

“Their debut album. I think we need to scrap the plan and do it over—at least for the MV.”

Steam rose in soft billows from the pot.

My vision went hazy. Like my future.