The Sacred Manager Life - Chapter 29

After finishing the team leader meeting, Team Leader Park Chanhyuk called us into the conference room.

From his expression, it seemed like the meeting had gone well.

“Before we start, let’s give a round of applause.”

The team members, clueless about what was happening, clapped their hands.

Then, Team Leader Park looked straight at me and burst into laughter loud enough to shake the room.

“Red Blossom is getting new members.”

A moment of silence filled the room.

Manager Song Seungjun, Senior Onyu, and I all stared at each other, as if we had just lost our minds.

We had expected the chairman to approve it, but in that moment, I simply wanted to share the joy.

A few seconds later, we erupted in cheers, hugging each other as if the room itself would collapse from our excitement.

“The round of applause we just gave? That was for you, Juwon.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, man. You pulled this off in just a month.

You brought Soyeon into the mix, got the girls’ dorm situation sorted, rushed to Busan the moment Sera got kidnapped, and even brought in a new member before the chairman had even approved it.

If I didn’t give you some credit for this, I’d be the biggest jerk alive.”

I had thought this was just the beginning, but looking back, a lot had happened in just one month.

I had pushed myself so hard that even Team Leader Park was acknowledging it.

“You know Chie has to audition before signing the contract, right?

Team Leader Baek, the choreography team leader, a sub-producer, and I will be there.

I’ll let you know the date later, so tell Chie to prepare well.”

“Yes, sir.”

“If Chie passes, she’ll be the fourth member… We could go ahead with a comeback like this, but it’d be better to have one or two more.

No matter how much we focus on quality, a four-member group is too small.”

The fourth generation of K-pop groups has fewer members than the second and third generations, but the ideal number for a girl group is still six.

That many members make the stage feel full, and it allows for better role distribution when designing an album concept.

“A four-member to six-member group doesn’t have much difference in maintenance costs.

The chairman knows that, so he won’t complain if we add one or two more members.”

In the future I foresaw, Red Blossom had five members.

I just needed to find one more.

“Let’s fill the numbers before anyone starts objecting. Juwon, you probably don’t know much about this yet, so Onyu, pull the trainee lists from Teams 3 and 4.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Can we bring in trainees from other teams?”

“There’s no strict rule against it, but it’s usually not done. Especially in a company like ours, where team divisions are very clear.”

“Then how do we recruit them?”

“This time, the team leaders agreed to it. Do you know why?”

“No idea.”

“Because they don’t think any trainees will accept. Just because we pick someone doesn’t mean we can take them—it requires their consent too.”

Oh.

“Think about it. Who would willingly join a failed girl group that flopped twice? And it’s not even a new group.”

“If we find a good trainee, we’ll have to convince her first.”

“It won’t be easy. But if you ask, it might be different. Right now, the two most famous people in our company are Soyeon and you.”

He chuckled.

How famous can a manager really be?

Teams 1 and 2 are boy groups, so they’re not relevant.

Our targets are the trainees from Teams 3 and 4.

Since we’re adding members, not forming a new group, we need trainees who are ready to debut.

Chie trained for two years in another company.

We need members like her.

“You should be the one to tell the girls that we’re adding members.”

“Shouldn’t you be the one to tell them, Team Leader?”

“I didn’t do anything—you tell them. Besides, do you think they want to hear it from me? You’re in charge until the comeback. I’ll handle discussions with the other teams.”

Yeoreum and Rina are working part-time today, and Sera went to visit her grandmother with her little brother.

I wanted to tell them in person, but only Chie would be at the dorm right now.

‘I’ll stop by the dorm for a bit before heading home…’

There was one more person who played a huge role in making all this happen.

I felt like I should thank her properly, so I pulled out my phone.

*

“…So the chairman gave us permission to add new members. If it weren’t for you, Soyeon, we never would’ve made it this far. From the dorm situation to the cover dance video—seriously, thank you.”

“That’s great news. But why are you thanking me over the phone? Shouldn’t you say this in person?”

“I know, but you didn’t come to the office today. That’s why I’m calling. I’ll thank you properly when you’re back.”

“I want to hear it today.”

“Are you coming to the office? I’ll wait until you get here.”

“I’m too tired to go out. So, Juwon, you should come here.”

“Where?”

“My house.”

“What?”

*****

I couldn’t win against her stubbornness, so I ended up at Cha Soyeon’s house in Pyeongchang-dong.

It was a detached house with a parking lot big enough for ten cars.

“Wow… how is this house so big?”

After passing through a luxuriously landscaped garden and climbing a set of stairs, I was met with a mansion that looked like an art museum.

“Welcome.”

As I entered the foyer, Cha Soyeon greeted me in casual clothes.

Her outfit covered more than Yeoreum’s, but her bare legs were still distracting enough to mess with my heartbeat.

“My legs are prettier than Yeoreum’s, right?”

“Huh?”

“Nothing.”

She walked toward the living room.

If I had to compare, Yeoreum had the advantage in length, but Soyeon won in skin tone.

I sat on the sofa and took in the wide-open windows and the stylish decor of the living room.

“Your house is amazing. I thought places like this only existed in movies.”

“Apparently, it won some kind of architectural award, but I don’t really know much about that.”

“Do you live alone?”

“Yes. My parents passed away early, and my grandfather… well, things are complicated.”

She must be talking about the grandfather who assigned her bodyguards.

Come to think of it, very little is known about Cha Soyeon’s family.

“I’m sorry. I knew about the accident, but I still asked without thinking.”

“It’s okay. It was really hard back then, but now that I think about it, maybe that was when fate started leading me to you.”

Saying it like that just made me feel guiltier.

I quickly changed the subject.

“With a house this big, you must have a lot of rooms.”

“Seven bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a separate fitting room.”

“Wow… No wonder people always talk about Pyeongchang-dong.”

“Since I have so many rooms, you can come over whenever it’s too late to go home. My house is closer to the company anyway.”

“How could I sleep at a woman’s house alone?”

“You’re more old-fashioned than I thought. What, are you scared I’ll eat you up?”

She moved closer to me.

I saw a glimpse of her cleavage, and quickly pulled away.

“Come over and let me use your arm as a pillow again. I slept so well that night. It’s been a long time since I had such a good night’s sleep.”

She had looked comfortable in my arms that night.

I had watched her sleep for thirty minutes while pacing around the rooftop.

“The thank-you thing was just an excuse. I actually wanted to hear something you didn’t get to say that night.”

“Something I didn’t get to say?”

“Right before I fell asleep on the rooftop, you were about to say something. It was about ‘that person’… wasn’t it?”

So she did hear it before falling asleep.

That’s why she called me here.

“That person… what do you call him, Juwon?”

I had planned to tell her anyway.

I felt like I didn’t need to hide anything from Cha Soyeon.

After all, like me, she had also received a new life with the help of a divine being.

“I called him God.”

“God….”

“I was planning to tell you everything anyway, so I’ll start now. How I met Him.”

And so, I began telling her about that night—the night I made a wish upon a shooting star.

*

“So… are you saying that this divine spirit is inside your body?”

“Well, since I can talk to Him, He must be somewhere. I don’t know exactly where. If I speak to Him in my head, He answers. Sometimes, He even starts the conversation.”

“That’s amazing. It’s like you have two souls.”

“Honestly, after that night, so many unbelievable things have happened that I’ve just gotten used to it.”

“Now I understand how you handled that guy with the knife. That was His power, wasn’t it?”

“You’re disappointed, right? Because it wasn’t my own ability.”

“Of course not! If anything, I’m even more moved. You have this incredible power, yet you only use it to help others. Do you know how amazing that is?”

“That’s just how it works. This power can only be used with good intentions. It was never meant for my own selfish desires.”

“That’s exactly why He gave it to you. Because He knew you would never use it for the wrong reasons. He trusted you.”

“Is that how it works? That’s kind of embarrassing.”

I scratched my head and chuckled, and she suddenly pulled me into a tight hug, looking at me like I was the cutest thing in the world.

“S-Soyeon…?”

“As expected from the man I chose. You’re a truly good person, Juwon.”

“Wait, what do you mean chose…?”

“Now that I’ve made up my mind, don’t even think about running away. I’ll chase you to the ends of the Earth.”

She looked up at me with a mischievous smirk.

“I suppose I can’t expect you to stay tied down to one woman just yet. That part, I’ll let slide. But if a girl says she likes you, bring her to me first. I need to see if she’s worthy of you.”

Her thoughts were completely running wild again.

“The Red Blossom girls don’t need my approval, though. They’re fine.”

“I’ve never had feelings for any of them. As their manager, that would be completely inappropriate.”

“Oh no… what about Yeoreum? You’d better not say that in front of her. You know how crucial this time is, right? Mental support is also part of your job as a manager.”

The more we talked, the more I found myself getting swept up in Cha Soyeon’s pace.

Why was I even explaining myself like this?

In the end, we compromised—I promised to think about it after I helped Red Blossom rise to the top as a first-tier girl group.