Chapter 72: That Face, That Sense, That Voice

‘You don’t even greet?’

The line proudly ranked as the #1 “petty complaint entertainment company old-timers throw at trainees”.

Other variations included:

‘Don’t you know who I am?’, or, ‘You must have just come in recently?’, and lastly, ‘What’s your name?’

Taeyoon had just heard two of them at the same time.

So it wasn’t so strange that he immediately sprang up and said:

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you.”

It was a greeting he had carefully chosen, deliberate and polite.

And yet.

“What? Nice to meet you?”

The sharp retort came back.

The Signum members fidgeted nervously.

Only Taeyoon calmly asked back without fluster.

“Ah, have we met somewhere before? I’m not very good at remembering faces.”

Going in and out of KIM Entertainment and ToMe Entertainment, he had exchanged greetings with countless men in suits.

This director, that general manager.

Why did all the older men in higher positions look so similar?

It was hard to remember them one by one.

That man could very well have been one of the suited guys he had greeted back then.

And if someone asked why a suit from another company was here? Well, he wouldn’t know.

It was an industry with frequent job-hopping anyway.

That’s what Taeyoon thought as he added:

“With such a stylish General Manager, there’s no way I wouldn’t have remembered. This is really…”

“…Stylish? Huh.”

Second-in-command at Manny Entertainment.

Casting Division’s General Manager, Go Junbok, was at a loss for words.

Had he ever seen such a cheeky trainee?

What? Stylish? It didn’t sound bad but…

A trainee with such witty remarks didn’t recognize him?

The more he thought about it, the more absurd it became.

“You, what’s your name.”

“Seo Taeyoon.”

“Why are you hanging around chatting with your senior instead of practicing? Isn’t it time for choreography practice right now?”

“Me…? Choreography, you mean?”

“Oh? So you’re trying to wriggle out of this, huh…?”

For a moment, his words faltered.

Go Junbok fell into confusion!

He started getting mixed up.

That face, that sense, that voice.

He was definitely a company trainee.

Not just a trainee, but an ace. He couldn’t be wrong.

Then why was it a face he had never seen before?

There was no way he wouldn’t know a trainee like this.

He watched every single monthly evaluation without fail.

Just what in the world was going on…?

At that moment, one of the Signum members, unable to bear it, whispered softly:

“General Manager, actually…”

But Go Junbok immediately cut them off.

“Hey, enough.”

Trying to shield him like that—it must mean he was indeed a trainee.

Adjusting his glasses, Go Junbok began his lecture.

“You, I’m letting it slide just this once. First is greeting, second is greeting. Didn’t you learn that? You’re already skipping it. Later when you debut, are you going to ask a PD, ‘Who are you?’ too? If someone looks older, just bow first. Got it?”

“Oooh…”

Even in that increasingly tangled confusion.

Taeyoon listened to Go Junbok’s words with bright eyes and replied:

“Thank you for the advice that will become blood and flesh for me.”

After all, he was still a senior in life.

It was a ridiculous situation, but there was no harm in listening to an elder’s words.

On the other hand.

Looking at Taeyoon listening so earnestly and uprightly, Go Junbok…

‘…No matter how I look, it’s strange.’

He was getting even more confused.

This wasn’t the vibe of a trainee at all.

No matter how much training they received, trainees couldn’t hide their awkwardness.

But this one had not a single clumsy part from beginning to end.

Calm, seasoned.

He hadn’t even greeted the General Manager, yet he came out so confident?

That couldn’t be ignored.

And it wasn’t because he was some old-timer stuck in his ways.

It was simply his way of showing affection.

If he didn’t establish dominance early on, this kid would walk around the broadcasting stations with his neck in a brace.

Personality, manners, this and that.

It was better to hear unpleasant words from family than to hear them outside.

Today, he planned to properly put the kid in his place.

“Are you on the debut team?”

“I’ve already debuted.”

“…What? How could there be a rookie I don’t know? What nonsense is he spouting?”

Go Junbok suddenly turned to Signum, who had been standing quietly.

“Yehwan, is he in your team? Since the band concept didn’t work, did you recruit a visual member? …When?”

“No! This person is…”

Just as Lee Yehwan began to explain—

Brrring—

The General Manager’s phone rang.

“Hold on.”

The General Manager pulled out his phone, looked at the screen, and suddenly gasped.

Then he quickly straightened up into a respectful posture and answered the call.

“Yes, Chairman.”

Oh, yeah. Where are you?

“Ah, I’m in the lobby to carry out the mission you entrusted to me, Chairman.”

Sorry, something suddenly came up.

As the short call continued—

Murmur, murmur.

The employees’ gazes all gathered in one place.

The whispers of those watching this rare spectacle stopped all at once.

From far away—

Like Moses parting the sea, the crowd split into two.

Someone appeared, walking proudly through.

Just in time, I also just arrived at the lobby.

It was Chairman Jeong Jaewook.

From a distance, he looked toward General Manager Go as he walked.

Oh? You’re scolding the kids?

“Chairman, well, you see…”

Well, well.

He had sent him down to properly receive the guests, but here he was, gathering them up and lecturing them about etiquette and principles like a schoolteacher.

Chairman Jeong Jaewook approached with the dignified gait befitting a chairman.

Slow, graceful.

General Manager Go. Do you really want people to call you an old-timer? Do you know how important the mission they’re carrying out is… Huh?

At that moment, Jeong Jaewook’s steps froze.

He had looked lofty and confident just a second ago.

But suddenly, with the phone still at his ear, he stiffened dumbfounded.

“What do you mean old-timer, Chairman. I was merely giving advice to a talent who could become the future of Manny Entertainment…”

Suddenly.

Hey!

“Hey!”

The General Manager’s phone and the lobby rang with a thunderous voice.

The source of the voice—

Chairman Jeong Jaewook’s face was flushed red.

Tap tap tap tap—

Throwing away his usual elegance, the Chairman strode forward with a heightened urgency.

He rushed over, grabbed Taeyoon’s shoulder lightly, and shouted hastily:

“This is not someone you can lecture so carelessly!”

I’d never been an office worker, so I wasn’t sure, but I roughly understood what kind of situation this was.

It was a scene that often appeared in dramas.

“Have you lost your mind?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Ah, so this was what corporate hierarchy was.

The man who had been spitting as he lectured had instantly become a meek lamb, bowing repeatedly.

By all appearances, General Manager Go Junbok was being harshly scolded by Chairman Jeong Jaewook.

Jeong Jaewook.

I might not have known much about the industry, but I knew this man well.

They said he was a living legend in the entertainment world.

The very person who had taken idols eating raw ramen in basement practice rooms and put them on the Billboard charts.

“I knew you’d cause trouble someday.”

“Th…at…”

“Talking down to people just because they’re younger, seeing everyone beneath you—that needs to change. What’s everyone staring at? Listen well. This isn’t just for General Manager Go. You think just because someone’s young they’re a trainee, and if they’re a trainee, you can grab them and nag? Is that it?”

“…I have no excuse.”

But this man.

Contrary to his generous and kind-looking face, his eyes were sharp.

It felt like ice, not words, was shooting out of his mouth.

Kwak Youngho, Kim Minsoo.

They were different from the CEOs I had encountered so far.

They had the charisma befitting the heads of companies with a market cap over ten trillion won.

In short, they were a bit scary.

This kind of atmosphere was a first for me.

“If I said my guest was coming, shouldn’t you at least have thought, ‘Is it this person?’”

“Wait, wait. Please listen to me for a moment.”

“What.”

“I mean, how could anyone look at that face and think he was your guest? Of course, we’d think your guest would be someone older. Am I the only one? Assistant Manager Kim, Manager Yang. You’re just standing there watching? Don’t just spectate, answer.”

Hmm? Without realizing it, I got drawn into the dialogue.

It felt like I was being scolded too. I straightened my back.

“Haha. That might be true…”

“I did wonder if he was a trainee I didn’t know about.”

“He seems to get along well with the Signum kids.”

Why was everyone agreeing in such a serious atmosphere?

Why were they suddenly looking at me!

Listening awkwardly to their words…

“Still, since I said an important guest was coming, you should’ve been more alert.”

“You should’ve told us beforehand.”

“Fine, it’s all my fault for not relaying it properly. Satisfied?”

It seemed I was the cause of this incident.

Now the situation was becoming clear.

In summary, that General Manager Go had mistaken me for some trainee he was seeing for the first time.

And Chairman Jeong Jaewook was scolding him for not receiving his guest properly.

Well, considering I had been hanging out with the Signum kids, it was understandable.

But even if his expression was harsh, nothing Jeong Jaewook had said was wrong.

There were plenty of people who immediately spoke down just because someone looked younger. I had experienced it many times myself.

But I never snapped back, asking why they spoke like that.

If they picked a fight over age, it would only sour my mood.

It was easier to just hear it and let it pass.

“Anyway.”

As I was watching this play out with interest, like an audience member in the front row—

Go Junbok suddenly stepped up to me and bowed.

“I apologize for my rudeness.”

Ah… This wasn’t the scene I had wanted.

I had been a little flustered, sure, but I hadn’t thought it was rude to that extent.

So I bowed back politely and replied.

“Rudeness? Not at all. It was a situation quite understandable for a mistake. Thank you for your kind words. Greetings are indeed important. I learned a lot thanks to you.”

All around, exclamations of “Oh…” rang out, and Jeong Jaewook was looking at me with satisfaction.

This wasn’t really something worthy of admiration, but—

This company had an oddly intriguing side.

Despite the tense atmosphere, everyone still spoke their minds.

“Still, it would’ve been better if you’d said from the start he was your guest… Ahem. Well, what’s done is done. You said you were a DJ, right? No wonder you seemed unusual.”

This man was like that too.

He did watch the Chairman’s mood, but he couldn’t hold back what he wanted to say.

Just as I was about to answer, Jeong Jaewook stepped forward sternly.

“You just can’t keep quiet, can you. If you knew who this person was, you’d regret those words.”

“You said he’s a DJ. That DJ thing…”

Go Junbok swallowed the rest of his words.

What he really wanted to say was:

‘That DJ thing—what’s so special about it.’

It was undeniable that DJs were trending.

But putting a handsome kid on stage who only pretended to do it wouldn’t change anything.

He knew Jeong Jaewook was well-versed in DJs.

So of course, he wouldn’t have brought someone sloppy.

But still, so what?

He wasn’t Seo Rabbit or Blackhole, was he?

Even if he fumbled along, he’d only be called a knockoff.

“Do you think he’s just some DJ? If you don’t know, just stay quiet… Ugh, forget it. You wouldn’t understand anyway.”

Jeong Jaewook smiled slyly, the corners of his mouth lifting.

He could immediately guess what General Manager Go was thinking.

‘There’s no reason to make things uncomfortable right at the first meeting.’

He wasn’t new to business, after all.

In front of the murmuring staff, to boast childishly—‘Hey, this guy is the famous Seo Rabbit from UTAR, you don’t even know?’—that wasn’t his style.

Equipped with the attitude of a max-level professional, Jeong Jaewook turned to me and said:

“It’s noisy here. Shall we move? Let’s go up to my office.”

“Yes.”

The staff started murmuring again.

His office?

Had I heard that right?

If it was the Chairman’s office at Manny Entertainment, people half-jokingly called it the ‘sanctum’.

Chairman Jeong Jaewook’s very own private den.

Yet here I was, walking toward the elevator side by side with him as if it were natural.

Seeing my back as I left, the staff turned to pester the Signum members, throwing out all sorts of guesses.

“Wow, I thought I’d die from the tension. But he’s really the Chairman’s guest?”

“Tell us. Why was he with you guys?”

“Who is he? A DJ? Are we managing DJs now too?”

“Why are you keeping quiet? Say something.”

“Haha, we don’t really know either.”

“…?”

The Signum members exchanged resolute glances.

‘Keep your mouth shut!’

‘You know we can’t say anything until hyung himself tells them, right?’

‘Of course. He trusted us with this.’

It was their fragile kind of loyalty.

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