TL by Miru
I'm a Genius Idol but My Passive is Sunfish: Episode 7
The origin of this situation was as follows; Let's go back to half an hour ago.
ID Entertainment had already sent out a press release announcing that AIM's junior group would be debuting soon, and the preparations were almost finalized.
But last night, a phone call sent the alarm bells ringing at ID Entertainment.
It was for this reason that the CEO, who was on a business trip abroad, returned home in a hurry.
'I told them to be careful with their behavior.'
The staff, waiting for the appearance of the final boss, followed suit.
They needed to get things in order before rumors of the rookie group's demise reached the ears of investors.
"There were no reporters who had followed since they haven't made their debut yet. However, I think a few sasaengs might have witnessed it, but it's hard to determine it."
//TN: Sasaeng = stalker "fans"
Being a trainee at a major agency. Sometimes there were sasaengs following even before debut if their debut was confirmed.
"Where is this guy who caused the accident?"
"About that... His phone is off so he couldn't be contacted..."
As the elevator door opened, you could see the sign for the President's office in English.
The desk across the room was the seat of the secretarial team. However, no one was occupying it.
"You can't do this here. If you keep this up, I'll have to call security."
"Please. I really need to talk to the President."
"And just how many times have I said that the President is not present right now...!"
A scuffle took place in front of the President's office entrance. Contrary to the adamant tone, the secretarial team did not use much strength as they couldn't bear to savagely kick out the trainee who appeared to be in bad shape.
"What is going on?"
The three people looked back in surprise at the sudden voice. They were so preoccupied with each other that they didn't seem to notice the presence.
"President...!"
The ghastly pale secretary hurried over. Raising one hand, the man who returned approached Ha-Rang.
The girl who accompanied him had to even receive surgery, but the guy in front of the man looked fine except for the gauze on his face and arms.
'Park Ha-Rang. Was he the main vocalist for this rookie group?'
The man's eyes were cold as he scanned Ha-Rang.
'Although, not anymore.'
The buds of strife had to be pruned in advance. If an infamous guy was made to debut, they were bound to create trouble once they got a little seniority. To carry a time bomb that could explode at any moment?
'Not unless I'm crazy.'
The man could see the boy's lips parting as he looked at him. It was obvious what would come out of that mouth, but the man still asked.
"What do you want to talk about?"
Ha-Rang knelt down on the cold marble floor.
His hands, clasped together at his feet, visibly trembled. But the man's gaze was still cold as he stared down at Ha-Rang.
"I- I was wrong! Please give me one more chance."
The lines did not go beyond his expectations. A smirk escaped the man's lips.
There were more than just the two of them here, but neither Ha-Rang nor the man could care less. For Ha-Rang wanted to be forgiven. While the man had no intention of accepting it from the beginning.
"Just one more chance, if you give me just one more chance, I swear something like this won't...!"
"I see. I'm sure this incident has left you with many feelings."
The man cut off Ha-Rang's words, who begged for his wrongdoings again. Ha-Rang's eyes lit up with hope at the fairly positive tone.
But the words that followed were despairing.
"I will not ask for you to be punished. Even so, the fact that ID has already worked hard enough just to let you in the debut team has not changed."
A relentless notice of contract termination was dropped on him.
"We do not have the authority to control Park Ha-Rang-ssi's life, so we will not stop you if you want to debut in another company after leaving this place."
"P-president..."
"However, our ties end here. So, I recommend you leave while we are ending on a good note. Because Park Ha-Rang-ssi will be the only one at a disadvantage the more you make a fuss."
It was a threat disguised as good wishes. Tears welled up in Ha-Rang's eyes. A sad cry broke out, and the man who had been looking down at him turned away.
With an annoyed face.
The man impatiently tugged at his tie. He didn't even bother to push his way in with someone sitting in front of the door.
"President Jung is here."
"Ah, yes. Right now, we are conducting a joint evaluation in the practice room."
At most, a few employees would be sent.
The man's face crumpled even more from the other company's obviously purposeful behavior for coming to other people's company.
'Even their president doesn't know how to be ashamed for coming here.'
He had heard that US had also started forming a debut group, and it seemed like they were intent on being earnest about it. But perhaps, this was also an opportunity for himself.
Due to the previous incident, ID urgently needed a main vocalist. Of course, the group wouldn't be ruined for debuting like this, but it would make it regrettable.
'It's not too late yet.'
After thinking about it, the man decided on his destination.
"Let's go there."
It didn't happen often, but if the two companies' interests aligned, he was willing to give away their trainees.
Even if the trainees' affiliation would change, it was a guaranteed debut. It was better for them to join another company's debut group than to be on the edge of their seats waiting for the next group of ID to come along.
As far as he remembered, there was no trainee with good enough vocals in ID to debut right away. Therefore, at best, the kind of talent US would covet was the dance position.
'They are probably already hiding their best trainees, but I have no choice but to make a deal.'
They still had time to spare. We did not.
In front of the practice room that he arrived at. A beautiful voice resounded through the widely opened door.
The man asked the employee who was following him.
"Who is he? It's my first time seeing his face."
The man's eyes intently stared at Baek-Ya. When asked if he was a trainee of US, the head of a rookie development team nearby answered.
"He is a trainee at our company. I understand that it has been a little over two weeks since he joined."
"His vocals are good. Is he from the academy?"
"No. He said that he has never learned before. He has a good voice, so I am looking forward to his development in a few years. He has also been working hard on following along the training."
"Is that so."
The conversation ended, but the man did not move from his position.
The staff members were bewildered at the CEO who stopped right in front of the practice room. The man simply stood there until Baek-Ya's singing was over.
And when the voice stopped singing, he spoke again.
"Let's go with this friend."
"...What do you mean?"
The team leader asked back, clearly not understanding the man's words.
"His looks are also fine... He'll look good no matter where you put him."
A small smile crept across the man's lips as he looked at Baek-Ya. Perhaps not listening to the team leader's words, the man turned around, rubbing his chin and muttering to himself.
"Will you not go in?"
"No. It's no longer necessary. We will sign the contract with that friend and have him join the dorm right away."
"A contract? Does that mean that Han Baek-Ya-gun should really join the debut team? But he is still very lacking in dancing."
But the man was stubborn.
"A choreography is something you just have to memorize. Dancing is something he can improve on over time."
"Yes, but..."
At that moment, the shortest-lived trainee in idol history was born.
* * *
After signing his name, Baek-Ya headed to a small studio inside the company. Baek-Ya, standing in front of a white wall surrounded by camera equipment, took several test shots.
From close-ups to upper-body shots, side-profile to full-body shots. They needed profile pictures of Baek-Ya to send to the Planning Team and the Art Department right away.
「Actually, this group has been in the making for quite a long time already. Much of the preparations had already been done, and only the album concept photos are left...」
The team leader had told him that one of the members was leaving the company for personal reasons and that Baek-Ya would be taking his place.
And what the members have been preparing for a year, Baek-Ya only had three months. He had to finish it in three months.
「The schedule is very tight, but we will support you as much as we can. 」
Baek-Ya finished his short flashback. For a moment, he was reminded of Dong-Man's tearful face but quickly shook it off.
"Baek-Ya-ssi seems to be about 175 cm. Am I right?"
"Yes? Yes! I am 175.2 cm."
When told that the shooting was over, Baek-Ya approached the monitor. The images of himself on the screen were unfamiliar. Anyone seeing the pictures would know that he was about to die of awkwardness.
After selecting a few of the best shots, the photographer added Baek-Ya's physical information underneath.
[Height 175 cm / Weight 60 kg]
He clearly had said to be 175.2 cm, but 0.2 cm was omitted.
With a face that said, 'It might be insignificant to you but it's a very precious number to me, so how could you leave it out', he turned to look at the man. His eyes trembled with resentment.
The man even wrote down the weight that even he himself didn't know about.
"My weight, how did you..."
When Baek-Ya cautiously spoke up, the man shrugged his shoulders.
"When you do this job, you can just roughly tell. Good job."
"Yes... Thank you for your work..."
Baek-Ya weakly replied.
He couldn't throw away the lingering attachment to the decimal point but couldn't say anything to the photographer who didn't even look at him.
The man, who finally made eye contact, simply told him that the shoot was over and that he could go down to the practice room.