Chapter 19
Naturally, a single assumption surfaced in my mind.
‘Min Sang-hyuk… he probably knows.’
Ji-hyeok looked over the lyrics of a self-composed song that his friend Oh Jun-seong had asked him to check.
Waiting rooms were always boring, so it was fortunate that he at least had something to kill time with.
His friend Oh Jun-seong would also appear on today’s broadcast, but he was currently locked away in his own waiting room due to poor condition.
‘Man… these lyrics are depressing…’
Han Ji-hyeok looked at the lyrics Jun-seong had asked him to review and felt uneasy.
Trying to release a song with lyrics like this…
At that moment, the door opened and Jun-seong’s manager, Min Sang-hyuk, walked in.
“Ji-hyeok hyung! Please have one of these.”
What Min Sang-hyuk held out was a common energy drink.
“Hey, don’t you know I don’t drink stuff like that before singing? Even if you’re Jun-seong’s manager, I didn’t know you were this indifferent to me.”
Ji-hyeok scolded him jokingly, and Min Sang-hyuk replied awkwardly.
“I know, of course… But if I hand them out to everyone and skip your room, you’ll feel left out, right? Hahaha.”
“Well, that’s true. Leave it there. I’ll drink it after it’s over.”
“Yes, hyung! Fighting today!”
“Alright, thanks.”
After finishing his greeting, Min Sang-hyuk turned to leave, but Ji-hyeok suddenly called him back.
“Sang-hyuk!”
“Yes, hyung!”
“Has Jun-seong been going through something lately? Why are his self-written lyrics like this?”
“Self-written lyrics?”
“Yeah. Stuff about having no more attachment to the world and all that…”
“Really? Self-written… He didn’t mention anything about writing a song…”
“Is that so? Hmm, alright.”
Ji-hyeok suddenly thought that maybe Jun-seong was secretly working on it without telling anyone, so he didn’t say anything further to Sang-hyuk.
This wasn’t just an assumption anymore.
The more I thought about it, the clearer the picture became.
I had definitely mentioned the lyrics themselves.
And those exact lyrics later became known to the world as my suicide note.
Even if he initially ignored what I said, after my suicide—when the content of the note was revealed—no matter how stupid someone was, they wouldn’t fail to connect the dots.
Yes. If that’s the case, everything fits perfectly.
Why someone like Sang-hyuk, who had no real ability, was sitting in the powerful position of Head of Management…
“Team leader?”
I heard Kang Hye-ju call out to me in confusion.
“Ah… yes?”
“You suddenly looked very serious. Is something wrong?”
“Ah… no, it’s nothing.”
Even though Kang Hye-ju was right in front of me, my thoughts were entirely focused on Min Sang-hyuk.
After hearing my answer, Kang Hye-ju continued speaking.
“So, the management division has to be handled very carefully. Especially Ahn Jun-gyu’s team. Honestly… it’s a bit awkward to say this, but Min Sang-hyuk is basically a scarecrow—well, I guess I don’t need to say more than that.”
I nodded.
Yes, if Sang-hyuk was still the same person I knew before, that would probably be true.
“And lastly, there’s something I want to say.”
Kang Hye-ju’s expression became serious.
Right. I should focus on this conversation.
“Yes, please go ahead, deputy team leader.”
She paused briefly, wearing a heavy expression, then nodded once before speaking.
“Chief Choi probably wouldn’t want me to say this…”
Something Chief Choi wouldn’t want said…
Just that one sentence made me concentrate fully on her words.
“How do you think things ended up being decided like this?”
Her serious topic began with a question.
How could such a decision be made after refusing the public training session?
Rather than a simple question, it felt like she already had a theory.
“Honestly, when I got Chief Choi’s call last night, I found it a bit strange too.”
After hearing my answer, Kang Hye-ju laid out a premise.
“This is only my guess…”
“Yes, please go on.”
“I think Chief Choi probably bet his shares on this.”
“…His shares?”
“Yes. Again, this is just my speculation.”
Choi Il-seon… betting his shares.
That means he had shares in the company.
Kang Hye-ju began explaining the reasoning behind her guess.
“When Reunion first started, the representative was the current CEO, Oh Jun-seong. But Chief Choi also invested shares and started the business together. That part is publicly known.”
Ah, so that’s how it was.
That meant Choi Il-seon wasn’t just a simple executive.
If he held shares, he was both management and a shareholder.
Now I understood why he had been able to push things forward somewhat independently.
Of course, technically having shares doesn’t allow you to do whatever you want, but it certainly gives you influence within the company.
“On the surface, CEO Oh Jun-seong and Chief Choi don’t appear to be in conflict. The CEO owns far more shares anyway. Though honestly, we can’t know what’s really going on in his mind.”
Kang Hye-ju continued.
She explained that Oh Jun-seong had once tried to buy Choi Il-seon’s shares but failed because Choi refused to sell them.
She also mentioned that Oh Jun-seong had a strong obsession with those shares.
And judging from the incident in the training room, he was the type of person who would never tolerate a young road manager.
“I think there must have been conditions attached to this decision. Otherwise, CEO Oh Jun-seong would never have approved it. If conditions were involved, Chief Choi must have offered something valuable to the CEO… and I think that was probably his shares.”
The more I listened, the more reasonable her speculation sounded.
But if that was true, it was an enormous burden for me.
Why was Choi Il-seon going this far?
“So what I want to emphasize is this: doing your best isn’t enough. You have to succeed. Since Luminous is already a successful group, to be evaluated as having improved, there must be clearly visible results. That’s why it’ll be even harder.”
She was right.
It’s much easier for an unknown team to show improvement by achieving moderate success.
But for a top-tier group to produce even better results—that’s far more difficult.
But why was she telling me all this?
Probably because she wanted me to understand the weight of the situation.
Rather than carrying the burden alone, she wanted me—the team leader—to share it.
“Earlier I said I was in a bad mood. Sigh… if my words sounded harsh, I’m sorry. But I wanted to be honest about my feelings and move forward toward the goal together.”
Listening to Kang Hye-ju speak honestly, I realized that her blunt words earlier had simply been her way of opening up.
The things she said about Choi Il-seon’s shares weren’t strictly work matters.
They were more like an expression of her sense of mission and a declaration of how she wanted to work with me.
Kang Hye-ju.
She was definitely someone I needed to get along with.
At her age, being a team leader in a major entertainment company meant she was highly capable.
Even with Choi Il-seon’s support, someone without ability could never hold that position.
Her knowledge of the music industry and management would be a huge help to me, since I still hadn’t fully grasped the modern K-pop scene.
Fortunately, it felt like a sense of camaraderie had begun between us today.
The conversation seemed to be wrapping up.
“Deputy Team Leader, thank you for what you shared today. For Luminous, once the results of training start to become visible, we’ll be able to finalize the concept. So we can start detailed planning then. For now, I don’t think we’ll need an official TF team meeting for about three weeks.”
“Ah, so you’re saying we should focus on training first.”
“Yes. That’s the top priority.”
“Understood. If you need anything or have questions, feel free to contact me anytime.”
“Alright.”
As soon as I stepped into the hallway after finishing the conversation with Kang Hye-ju, my thoughts started racing again.
Min Sang-hyuk.
He knows.
But what can I do right now?
I can’t force him to confess out of conscience.
And I obviously can’t say that I’m Han Ji-hyeok.
Just bringing up the topic is impossible.
Besides, thirty years have already passed.
Even the statute of limitations would make any reckless exposure meaningless.
‘There’s nothing I can do right now.’
Still, the possibility that Min Sang-hyuk knows the truth is extremely high.
I can’t act on it now, but someday this situation might become useful.
I checked the time.
4:30 PM.
Luminous’s makeup and outfits would be finished soon.
Then we’d leave for the broadcast.
I had parked the car in front of the main entrance and waited for about twenty minutes.
Then a message arrived from the makeup team.
Luminous was ready.
The trainees would be coming down soon.
As I absentmindedly stared at the entrance, the doorway suddenly seemed to light up.
Everyone entering or leaving turned their gaze toward Luminous.
They looked completely different from their surroundings.
It felt like the background was black-and-white while only Luminous had been colored in.
The ones walking out now weren’t trainees.
They were true top stars.
Perhaps because it was for a broadcast, today’s makeup and outfits were especially striking.
I had only seen them as trainees who bickered and laughed together.
But now—
‘Yeah… I see why Luminous is popular.’
The realization hit me strongly.
As expected from a team formed with intense focus on visuals at Reunion, once they were styled for a national broadcast, every member sparkled.
It was on a completely different level from the provincial event before.
Especially Serin.
She had never once lost the title of top visual among all idol groups.
And today, her beauty seemed almost unreal.
The rear door of the van was open, and Miren climbed in first.
“Oppa! Did you wait long? Look at us! What do you think? Today’s outfit concept turned out really well!”
“Yeah, haha. It did. I almost didn’t recognize you.”
“What?! What does that mean? Are you saying we usually look bad? Hmph!”
As expected, the moment Miren opened her mouth, she was back to being her usual self.
“Hahaha. I’m saying you all look pretty.”
Since it was a broadcast, another vehicle carrying the staff would depart separately, and Team Leader Kim would come directly to the site.
He usually came separately, so we just had to leave now.
At that moment, Mujin, who had been on the phone, spoke urgently.
“Oppa, Team Leader Kim says wait a moment. Don’t leave yet.”
“Huh? Really?”
I briefly turned my head to answer, then looked forward again and saw Team Leader Kim Junho running frantically through the entrance.
When the rear door opened, he approached and spoke in an excited voice.
“Team Leader Yoon, we might have to leave earlier today!”
“What happened?”
Instead of answering me, Team Leader Kim spoke to Serin.
“Serin, could you host Star Mode today?”
“…What? Host Star Mode?”
Star Mode The K-Pop.
An RBS broadcasting station K-pop program.
The show Luminous was scheduled to appear on today.
But suddenly asking Serin to host?
“Solmi got into an accident. We need an answer quickly. They’re urgently looking for someone.”
Solmi was a member of another idol group from a different company and the current MC of Star Mode.
Hearing this sudden news, Serin looked completely flustered.
“Ah…”
“It’s not live, so how about trying it once? The lines will appear on the teleprompter. We need to decide quickly.”
Make this kind of decision quickly?
Well, the broadcasting station must be in chaos trying to find a replacement.
If she wouldn’t do it, they needed to know immediately.
Serin, who had been frozen, finally spoke.
“Uh… Team Leader Yoon. What… should I do?”
Ah.
Why is she asking me?
But I’m the one responsible for Luminous going forward.
Maybe it really is my role to make these decisions now.
Even small choices can affect a group’s image.
And that image directly affects the success of the next album.
Yes.
This was something I should decide.
‘Damn…’
When I turned around, Team Leader Kim and all the trainees were staring at me.
Waiting for my answer.
