Charity auction.

It was a word Raon hadn’t thought about in a long time.

"What is this···, CEO?"

Raon’s brain was trying to refuse the unbelievable situation now in front of her, hypnotizing itself that this was a dream, but—

"Please, just look at it once! I’ll live like a good person from now on!"

Right beside Raon, Lee Gahyeon was already grabbed by the Paldo Man filming crew and begging, and that voice was forcibly waking her up to the fact that this was real.

"How could you··· do this to me, CEO!"

"Raon, you’re basically my entertainment-industry mentor."

"And you sell off someone like a mentor?"

After filming ended, CEO Kim Sanghyeok had said he prepared food for Raon and the members because they’d worked hard, and lured them into going to the waiting room.

But what was waiting in that waiting room they arrived at with excited hearts was none other than the Paldo Man filming team.

-This special episode is Paldo Man: ROTC Officer Candidate Edition!

The crew, thrilled, explained that this Paldo Man was specially scheduled as an ROTC officer-candidate edition just for the two of them, toward Raon and Lee Gahyeon, who’d walked in with big smiles without suspecting a thing.

-Oh, really? Then I should stop by home first and pack clothes and toiletries—

Of course, Raon proved she hadn’t spent sixteen years in entertainment for nothing, immediately looking for a way out—

-I already packed all your stuff!

-Kim Yunsik, you bastard—

Yunsik, who hadn’t shown his face at the set at all, appeared and blocked the door with a trunk in his hands, saying he’d already packed all of Raon’s stuff in advance.

And next to Yunsik, Jiu was standing there holding Lee Gahyeon’s trunk, packed from the members’ dorm.

"Jiu, you weren’t this kind of person!"

"Gahyeon, I’m going to do my job too! You do your job too!"

"This is insane! No wonder I didn’t have any schedules for the next few days after today’s broadcast!"

Even as Lee Gahyeon wailed, Raon was speechless at how Jiu was steadfastly putting the prepared trunk into Lee Gahyeon’s hands—when did Jiu become such a professional manager?

"If you give up, Raon, it gets easier. I’ve been there, and it’s not as bad as you think."

"Uaaaaah!!! Does it make sense to go on a program I never even went on when I was active, now that I’m a producer?!"

In the middle of it, Raon screamed while shaking with betrayal at Sanghyeok, who tried to “comfort” Raon by talking, but—

"Kids these days don’t know how important promotion is. Back in my day, if there was even a single chance to promote, we jumped in without caring about fire or water. I’m only not stepping up because I don’t want to crush the kids’ spirits, but if I really wanted to—"

"···Stop!"

Sanghyeok spoke calmly like he was recalling a faint old memory, and Raon couldn’t refute a single word.

"I’ve got chills. Wasn’t that Raon PD possessing you just now?"

"I got chills too! It’s exactly the same as when Raon PD scolds us!"

"I think the CEO’s memory is insanely good!"

It really was word-for-word what Raon used to say, to the point that the Iam members were freaking out, saying it was exactly like Raon.

"When we leave, when will we come back~"

Right next to Sanghyeok, Lee Sion was humming and grinning.

Raon felt like she would collapse from pre-army stress if she didn’t smack Lee Sion on the back, but—

"Nice. I knew this side would give us footage even before departure."

"We should get going soon if we want to make the check-in time."

"Alright, now please board the vehicle waiting in the broadcast station parking lot. We’re going to Goesan this time."

Because a camera was excitedly filming her, Raon couldn’t achieve the goal of smacking Lee Sion on the back.

"CEO, Lee Sion, I will never forget this today···!"

"Waaah, seriously, why am I always the one who goes to film nothing but suffering?!"

Being dragged out by the Paldo Man staff together with the miserably crying Lee Gahyeon, Raon had no choice but to spit out a line like some third-rate villain.

***

Everything returns to its proper place.

Didn’t they say everything in the world ultimately goes the way it should?

"Yeah, you really have to keep your heart nice."

"What?"

Watching Raon and Lee Gahyeon get dragged out by the Paldo Man filming team made me realize all over again that justice was still alive in the world.

Raon, who tried to tear me in half after I set up an insanely awesome stage for her, and Lee Gahyeon, who never stopped slandering me on a daily basis.

The two of them getting hauled off to Paldo Man was, in a way, only natural—

"Raon PD was the one you sold off!"

"Let’s let the small stuff go."

While I was giving Seo Ryujin a quick lesson for picking at me about how I’d “sold them off” and made them pay the price for trying to secretly sell us off, the other members had already finished packing up and were ready to head back.

"Everyone worked hard performing today. There are no schedules after this, so go back to the dorm and rest."

CEO Kim Sanghyeok told us today’s schedule was over and we should head back.

But—

"Uh, but our managers went to take Gahyeon and Raon PD, so how do we get back?"

"That’s why I came. The content team was supposed to take you back, but they’re busy too, so I decided I would."

"What?"

Both the van and the managers who usually moved us around had vanished to transport Raon PD and Lee Gahyeon to Goesan, so I was thinking maybe we’d have to take taxis.

Hearing that the CEO himself would take us back made me and the members all freeze in shock.

"Get in."

And it wasn’t a joke—CEO Kim Sanghyeok’s SUV was really waiting for us down in the underground parking garage.

"Ohh, CEO, this kind of service for us!"

"Compared to how much you and the staff work, this is nothing."

"Sheesh."

I couldn’t help marveling at the unexpected experience of the company CEO driving for us.

In military terms, it was like a battalion commander—no, a regimental commander—personally driving the officers home after training.

Sure, it was tighter than the van we usually rode, but we were down one member, and it was a pretty big SUV, so when we all sat packed together, it felt kind of fresh.

"Our company really treats us well. In Yuri’s company, there are entertainers who don’t even get vehicle support and have to take public transportation."

"That’s right. The company always takes really good care of us."

"I love our company so much!"

Maybe the other members were excited because we were riding in the CEO’s car for once, because they were chattering away, sharing impressions.

'Yeah, the company really does pay a lot of attention to us.'

I nodded along while listening.

Even I, who didn’t know much about the entertainment industry, knew at least that KJ Entertainment and the people there were doing a lot for us.

-Damn. Your company really treats you well?

I remembered talking with senior singer Jihyun, who I’d gotten close to through the Pink Spell connection.

In the middle of the conversation, when she found out our dorm was a luxury apartment in Jamsil, she’d freaked out, saying that kind of thing wasn’t common even at big agencies, and it was a perk you only got if you were an idol from one of the Big 3 agencies.

And that wasn’t all.

-Some of the ads and events that came in this time were turned down for your condition. You might be dissatisfied, but we don’t want schedules that interfere with activities or push your health too far.

The company was cutting down the flood of ads and events coming at us—not us.

Even the charity-auction content itself, which was the reason Raon and Lee Gahyeon got dragged to Paldo Man, was something they came up with because they couldn’t reject all the incoming casting requests.

[KJ is kinda growing on me]

「I thought they were going to run a one-year short-term project group around doing events and ads nonstop and just suck them dry

Why are they putting out albums often and even working hard to make in-house content?」

⤷Yeah, honestly the profit is overwhelmingly from events and ads

⤷Other places should learn from this too

⤷This reminds me of that agency that made idols go dark when they should’ve been actively promoting, and just ran them around events nonstop

⤷This is why Iam’s fandom has been exploding lately

⤷They keep feeding fans stuff they’ll like, so you come to watch the in-house content and end up fully hooked

In an ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) entertainment industry where getting cursed at no matter how well you do is basically the default, it was rare enough that fans were pouring out praise for the company’s moves.

"We’re here at the dorm."

"Thank you, CEO!"

Maybe the members’ nonstop hymn of praise for the company during the entire drive had made him feel shy.

CEO Kim Sanghyeok, who’d only been giving short acknowledgments the whole time without much reaction, told us the car had arrived at the destination.

"Ugh. Preparing that stage was exhausting."

"Starting tomorrow, we have to prep the program and the next stage again."

"I’m hungry. We need to eat breakfast-slash-lunch."

"What should we eat, sisters? If it’s salad again even today, I’m staging a coup with my colon."

In front of the apartment parking lot we arrived at, as the members got out and started talking about dinner—

"You all worked hard today, so I’ll buy you a meal."

"You, CEO?"

"Yes. Not with the corporate card, but with my own card. But since eating out is limited, is braised kimchi okay? There’s a place nearby that does it well, and they can do takeout."

"Yes!"

"Sounds good!"

At the CEO’s dignity as he told us to go up first and that he’d even buy us dinner for our hard work, me and the members had no choice but to swear loyalty.

"Ah, but since six of you have to eat, it’s a lot. I don’t think I can carry it all by myself—could you help me, Sion?"

"Of course!"

"Thank you."

Since it was for a group, it was obviously going to be a lot anyway, and I’d already been thinking I should help, so when he asked first, I accepted gladly.

Soon, the other members went up first, and I got back into the car with CEO Sanghyeok as he started driving again.

But—

"Having Sion around really makes the team lively."

"As expected, you recognize my hard work, CEO."

"Isn’t that obvious? Honestly, I’m always nothing but grateful to you, Sion."

"Huh?"

After a bit of silence once we started driving, he suddenly launched a surprise compliment that threw me off.

"Thanks to you quietly taking care of things with Ryujin that could’ve turned into complaints, Iam has been able to promote smoothly up to now."

"Ahem."

I’m weak to direct praise, so I awkwardly avoided his gaze and played dumb.

"Actually, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about one-on-one today. That’s why I set this up."

At CEO Kim Sanghyeok’s words, question marks floated over my head.

One-on-one talk—what exactly did he want to talk about that he separated me from the members and called me out like this?

"To me, and to KJ Entertainment as well, you and the other Iam members are meaningful artists."

Maybe he sensed my confusion.

After a brief silence, he continued, but his expression was the same as always—no real change—so I couldn’t get a read on what he was building up to say.

"I never thought of Iam as just a tool for the company’s profit from the beginning."

"Yeah, that’s true."

"That’s why I was curious. Whether you and the other members had any discomfort while promoting as Iam, and whether there was anything lacking in the company’s support."

"Um···for me, it’s been good. I can’t swear for the other members, but I think it’s probably the same."

"Is that so?"

We stopped at a light, and after he finished speaking, CEO Kim Sanghyeok looked at me in the passenger seat.

"I think you, the other Iam members, and everyone working at KJ Entertainment right now are all talents far beyond what a new agency—and a CEO like me—deserve."

When he continued, his face was still blank like always, but his eyes were different.

Eyes like he’d made up his mind about something.

"Sion, do you have any intention of extending your contract?"

"What?"

"If you accept a renewal, then starting with you, I want to seriously push for the group’s contract renewals with the Iam members."

At Sanghyeok’s words, like he’d reached a decision, I couldn’t say anything at all.

***

"She really is popular. Popular is popular."

A middle-aged woman sitting on the sofa, watching the commercials on TV.

"Honey, is Sion on yet?"

"Not yet! The ads just started, so it’ll take a few minutes."

"I’ll be right out!"

Sukja found her husband’s voice ridiculous as he said he had to wash up because he needed to watch their daughter’s first drama appearance with proper reverence.

Usually, even if she nagged him to wash up already, he only dragged himself up right before bed, but now he was making a fuss, saying he had to watch the drama their daughter appeared in and would postpone bathing—so it made sense.

'No matter what, the way he acts really is just like Sion’s dad.'

Every time she saw father and daughter lying around on the sofa together, Sukja’s blood pressure rose.

Still, lately it had gone from two to one, so she could hold back her anger a little.

While Sukja was thinking about how Sion’s behavior was a carbon copy of her father’s, and yet how she somehow didn’t inherit even a sliver of that gentle personality and wondering who she took after, Sukja’s eyes caught the drama title on the TV screen.

[I Kiss Tomorrow You]

It was UBS’s new drama that had been a hot topic even before airing, thanks to the combination of Korea’s most popular writer Kim Hyunsuk and the male actor Yoo Jinseok who’d been doing well lately.

Even though only episode 1 had aired, it was already making waves—so much that the women at the bathhouse Sukja went to three times a week were all shouting in unison that she had to watch it.

"Now it’s starting! Hurry up and come out!"

And in that drama, Sukja’s daughter Sion was about to appear.