Free Web Novel"And seven more of these too, please."
"Of course, I’ll pack them right up for you. Looks like you’re going somewhere today. You’re ordering way more than usual?"
"Yes. Something good happened today."
"Then would it be okay if I threw in some cookies on the house?"
"I’d be incredibly grateful!"
A famous bakery near Jamsil.
Ever since Raon joined KJ Entertainment, it had become a regular stop.
Raon had always liked snacks like bread, so she stopped by at least once every two days without fail. At some point, the owner had started treating Raon less like a celebrity and more like a regular customer.
And so, while picking out bread and desserts and getting them packed up, Raon chatted lightly with the owner for a moment.
'The kids will like this, right?'
As soon as the renewal meeting ended, Raon had left the company planning to buy food and visit the members at the dorm.
She was proud of them for handling the brutal schedule well lately, and on top of that, she wanted to personally deliver the good news they would soon find out anyway—that they would be able to keep going with Iam’s activities.
'I didn’t even realize I’d gotten attached to them like this.'
Originally, Raon had never imagined she would grow this attached to the Iam members.
Which made sense, because back when she first accepted KJ Entertainment’s producer offer, all she had really thought was that she wanted to try planning an idol group just once.
To put it a little badly, they had been a bridge she’d pass over.
Raon had thought of Iam as a step on the staircase from composer to producer.
But looking back on it now, she realized all over again just how arrogant that had been.
'They’re like my kids.'
Now she could understand the feelings of the SY composers who had produced for her in the past.
Songs she had made, sung by idols she had trained herself.
To Raon, Iam had become something beyond just artists under her label—they were like her children.
-If we’d hung PD from the pillar back then, we would’ve gotten first place.
-There’ll be another chance next time, Sion unni!
-Yuri will help too! I think it’d be fun if PD Raon got tied up!
Of course, some of those children didn’t listen and made her suffer headaches, but even that had become familiar by now—to the point where it would feel empty if it were gone.
Carrying the freshly packed bread, still warm to the touch, Raon headed for Iam’s dorm with a light step.
Basically, it was a surprise gift for the Iam members, who usually got by on delivery food or side dishes their parents sent them.
She had bought plenty since some of the members were big eaters, so it was fairly heavy, but thinking about how happily they would eat it made it worth it.
Especially—
[Lee Sion Management Guide 1. Food.]
"For some reason, Lee Sion doesn’t really eat meals I make, but if you buy convenience store food or order delivery, most anger blows over pretty quickly.
She also really likes cola, but if you buy zero cola, sometimes Lee Sion gets even rowdier instead, so be careful.
Her taste isn’t picky, so anything except vegetables is fine, but unexpectedly, Lee Sion enjoys gourmet food and goes around looking for limited-edition desserts or good bread. If you bring things like that, even an enemy can become a best friend."
The secret manual Sukja had handed over during Lee Sion’s contract renewal.
That secret manual described in detail what Lee Sion hated and what she liked, but the surprising part was that it even told Raon when she would need to use that knowledge.
"Sion has a gauge. She doesn’t show it openly, but you can tell by how much her lips stick out. If her lips are sticking out and her brows are scrunched together, then she’s almost fully ready to cause trouble, so please be careful."
As expected, the experience points of someone who had raised Lee Sion for nineteen years were on another level.
While the KJ Entertainment staff had only been sensing it by feel, Sukja’s secret manual had identified it precisely and told them exactly when they needed to brace themselves.
Lately the schedule had been so packed that the members had often been getting by on kimbap for meals, and—
-Hmm···this isn’t tuna?
Raon had received a report from Yunsik that Lee Sion’s vibe while eating kimbap before the break didn’t seem normal, so she had decided to come in person and lower the gauge a little.
'She’s probably asleep.'
Usually, idols had their sleep cut down to extremes during promotion periods, so it was common for them to spend the entire day just sleeping during breaks.
So, thinking the Iam members were probably asleep too and not wanting to wake them from a good sleep, Raon headed quietly to the dorm without contacting them in advance.
She rode the apartment elevator she was used to by now up to the floor where the members’ dorm was located, and—
Ding-dong.
She entered the passcode on the front door and stepped into the dorm.
"I’m sorry, I just really don’t have any energy!"
"It’s okay, Ryujin unni! Just rest a little."
"The six of us are more than enough to handle this!"
"Lee Sion, I think you need # Nоvеlight # to wipe this spot again. The stain’s still there."
"This is···this is kind of weird, though. Why is only Seo Ryujin loafing around while I’m the one cleaning?"
What Raon saw was the sight of the dorm laid to waste, and Lee Sion ferociously scrubbing the floor with a wet rag.
And it wasn’t just Lee Sion. The other members were cleaning hard too, judging by the loud commotion coming from the bathroom.
"Blegh!!! Why is there moldy bread in this room?!"
There was even a scream from one of the rooms, as if cleaning was going on in there too.
Everyone was so absorbed in cleaning that none of them even realized Raon had arrived.
But among them, one especially out-of-place person caught Raon’s eye.
"Ugh···so the way I feel, having to part ways because I can’t renew my contract due to company opposition, doesn’t matter, huh··· Fine, I’ll clean too, Sion. Even though the left side of my chest hurts terribly···."
"Fine! I’ll do it, okay!!!"
"We’ll understand today, Captain."
"Yunkyung is right! Ryujin unni’s in a hard situation, so we need to help!"
That was Seo Ryujin, comfortably sprawled on the couch, sipping coffee through a straw while issuing orders to Lee Sion with the tips of her toes.
***
"It’s still not enough."
"Captain, should we post this on Instagram?"
"Maybe we should?"
"You can’t do that!!!"
"Why not, PD!"
"You’re a girl group! Please, let’s refrain from posting pictures like that!"
"But we posted the one where I was wearing the sign that said I’m a traitor."
"We can’t let even Ryujin’s image get wrecked too!"
"This is member discrimination!"
At Yunkyung’s bold attack, imitating Kurosawa Yuri’s trademark style, Raon clutched her forehead and groaned.
'I raised them, but they turned out splendidly.'
If something was useful, even if it belonged to the enemy, the important thing was having the flexibility to use it.
"Untie me already!!!"
"Be quiet, Searchol! Shinyu, go smack Searchol on the ass!"
"Yep!"
Smack!
"Aaagh!!! Geum Shinyu, you put your whole soul into that just now, didn’t you?!"
"It can’t be helped! This is a disaster Ryujin unni brought on herself!"
In the brief moment everyone’s attention had shifted to PD Raon, Seo Ryujin couldn’t resist shouting for someone to untie her, so I immediately suppressed her by ordering Shinyu to deal with it.
Seo Ryujin was currently tied up in a blanket and lying on the living room floor like a caterpillar.
Even though she had been beaten with pillows by the members up until just five minutes ago, she still seemed to have strength left.
"Shouldn’t we let her out by now?"
"Ahem! That’s exactly why you got played by Seo Ryujin in the first place!"
"No···I mean, that’s true, but···."
In the middle of all that, Lee Gahyeon suggested maybe this was enough and they should untie Seo Ryujin now, but I didn’t even pretend to hear it.
"Eek! Yuri, don’t stab me!"
"Hahaha! Sion-chan, look at this, Ryujin-chan’s wriggling!"
Right now, Lee Gahyeon was the only one whose heart had softened.
Yuri was gleefully poking Seo Ryujin’s soles with chopsticks, and—
"If we stick tape on this and roll her around, won’t that clean the floor?"
"You’ve grown a lot wiser lately, Ryu Ayeon!"
"Naturally."
Ryu Ayeon was showing the madness of wanting to use Seo Ryujin as a human lint roller.
Usually I was the one who got tied up in a blanket. To think the day would come when Seo Ryujin stole that role from me.
'Shinyu was right.'
But this was all Seo Ryujin’s own fault.
A sacred 3-on-3 bloodbath with the dorm’s deep cleaning on the line.
As always, that holy contest had ended according to the law that justice always wins—with Team Lee Sion’s victory.
It was kind of like how Huang Gai sacrificed his own body as a bitter flesh stratagem to make the enemy let down their guard. You could say I sacrificed myself and brought the other team crashing down.
The others, who didn’t understand such profound meaning, mocked me for being pathetic, but I would simply prove everything through victory.
Anyway, that was how we won, but following the other members’ opinions that Seo Ryujin seemed low on energy, we ended up deciding to do the deep cleaning together after all.
But—
-Hoo···I’m weirdly low-energy today.
The moment we were about to start cleaning, Seo Ryujin started making it extra obvious how listless she was and pretending to be sad, and the other members softened and ended up excluding her from the deep cleaning entirely. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
If I had objected there, I obviously would have become the trash, so I too had no choice but to agree through tears.
After that, Seo Ryujin had lain on the couch and bossed me around with her toes.
I wanted to fold those toes like origami on the spot, but it had been a march of hardship endured with ultimate patience.
Still, was it not said that no flower stays red for ten days?
Seo Ryujin’s power did not last long.
-What the hell happened to this dorm?!
Raon had suddenly barged in while we were doing the deep cleaning.
At first, she had looked like she was about to start nagging after seeing the dorm in total chaos, but even to Raon, the sight of Seo Ryujin lying alone on the couch must have stood out.
-PD, just leave Ryujin unni alone for today!
-What?
-We know everything too···that Ryujin unni’s company is using the trainees as hostages to block her contract renewal!
-What nonsense are you talking about! We literally had a meeting about that today, and it’s all been resolved!
-What?
-Seo Ryujin, didn’t you get contacted? CEO Choi said it would be better to tell you directly.
-···.
Raon’s question, and Seo Ryujin falling silent.
If this had been the Middle Ages, a painter might have seen Seo Ryujin at that moment and left behind a portrait of it. That was how memorable the expression was.
-She’s bolting! Ryu Ayeon, Yuri, grab her!
After that, maybe she sensed the atmosphere turning icy, because Seo Ryujin immediately tried to flee, only to get caught by us and end up rolled around like a mat.
-I knew something was off when you came out after that phone call!
-How could you try to hide that?!
-I really didn’t think even Ryujin unni would do this to us!
Seo Ryujin had gotten thoroughly shaken out like laundry in a washing machine by the furious members.
-It’s because of you guys! In that situation, how was I supposed to say the problem was solved! If I had, you would’ve made me do all the deep cleaning···.
-So Searchol isn’t just a name for nothing! Beat this bastard severely!
And only after suffering a good long blanket-beating of fury did things more or less settle into the current situation.
"Hmm, delicious. They used good butter."
"It’s really good!"
"The egg tart is Yuri’s!"
"I bought plenty, so eat slowly!"
There was still a little cleaning left in the dorm, but for now the visible areas had been tidied up, so the members and I were taking a short break, eating the bread PD Raon had brought.
"M-Me too···you have to at least give me something to eat!"
"The only thing you’ll get is this, Searchol."
Tap tap.
Seo Ryujin, still tied up, started thrashing around and demanding that she be given something to eat too, so I dusted the bread crumbs on my hand toward her mouth.
"Ptooey! You want to die?!"
"I guess it’s about time to untie her."
Watching Seo Ryujin flop around like a fish after bread crumbs went into her mouth was entertaining too, but there really wasn’t much more miserable than discriminating against someone over food, so in the end, we decided to untie her.
"Finally···!"
Seo Ryujin was finally free.
The moment she was untied, she shot fierce looks at me and the other members who had bullied her, but—
"Hey, Ms. Seo. Just eat your bread."
"···."
Maybe she realized that this time, unlike usual, there were neither members on her side nor any justification she could lean on, because she simply sat down quietly and ate the bread.
"Seo Ryujin can handle cleanup afterward."
"What?"
"Whaaat?"
"···I’ll do it."
The bread that had been wiped out in an instant by the combined power of Ryu Ayeon and Lee Gahyeon, who could go toe-to-toe with anyone when it came to eating.
Just as I was about to make Seo Ryujin deal with the aftermath—
"It’s fine. You all just rest. I’m heading out anyway, so I can clean up on my way out."
"PD Raon!"
"Damn."
Raon, who had only been watching us eat, said it was time for her to go and that she’d clean up on the way out.
"No! We’ll do it!"
"That’s right! How could we make PD do that···."
But in true Confucian-nation fashion, the members all rushed forward saying there was no way they could dump work on an elder, and on top of that our producer—
"Then Shinyu, just come help me."
"Yes!"
Raon picked out only Shinyu by name, and in the end the two of them headed out carrying the trash.
'What is this uneasy feeling?'
But as I watched them, I felt a familiar sense of déjà vu, like I had seen something like this somewhere before.
***
"Thanks, Shinyu."
"It’s nothing! I barely did anything···."
After they had finished sorting the trash they brought out, Raon brushed off her hands and thanked her.
Shinyu waved it off, saying it was nothing much, but—
"If you did something kind, you can be more confident about it! Look at Lee Sion! She does bad things and still acts shamelessly proud."
"That is true!"
At those words, Shinyu couldn’t help but smile.
"The truth is, there’s something I wanted to say to you in private, so I asked you to help me."
"You had something to say to me?"
"Yeah."
But at Raon’s words that she had something to say, Shinyu unconsciously tensed a little.
'Did I do something wrong?'
Ever since long ago, whenever someone called her aside, it had always meant something bad.
-You use that military speech pattern on purpose, don’t you? To stand out?
-Instead of wasting time learning producing, go practice singing more!
-Tsk. You think the other kids are getting private training because they have money to burn?
Ever since childhood, starting with the dialect she had picked up from living with her grandmother, and then because she had shown interest in producing, Shinyu had constantly been singled out or criticized.
Maybe because of that, in the past, whenever someone called her aside, Shinyu had a habit of shrinking in on herself.
'It’s gotten a lot better because of Sion unni.'
But not anymore.
-Come here, my living body pillow!
-Yep!
Thanks to Lee Sion, who called for Shinyu at all hours and had her do even tiny things together, and thanks to the other members too, she had managed to shake off a lot of those old memories.
And while Shinyu was briefly lost in those thoughts, Raon got to the real reason she had called her out.
"At the meeting today, the CEO personally had it out with Park Sangmun, CEO Park of UI Entertainment."
"What? Had it out about what···."
"You’re not with UI Entertainment anymore."
"What? Don’t tell me···?"
"That’s right. Your contract with UI Entertainment has been terminated, and right now you’re free. You know, free?"
At that shocking news, Shinyu could only stand there with her mouth hanging open, listening in a daze.
