‘I’m going to open the window. I don’t like the sll of smoke.’
‘Vapes don’t sll that much.’
‘They do. Open the back windows too.’
At Choi Jeho’s words, Unseop pressed the window switch. Only when the outside air started flowing in did it feel bearable again. Lee Cheonghyeon’s coughing also began to subside.
Choi Jeho knew many managers smoked, but not many were this inconsiderate.
It wasn’t like he cussed the guy out and said, ‘Don’t f***ing smoke in the car’, but Unseop’s expression still soured. Then again, why should Choi Jeho care? He was even more pissed off.
‘You don’t smoke, Jeho?’
‘No one in our team does.’
So take out the stink before you co in, dumb***. He bit back the words rising to his throat.
With the tension in the air, the car soon grew quiet. In Chanyeong’s car, when Park Joowoo played music, everyone would hum along, or when Jeong Seongbin threw out a topic, the mbers would pounce like bees in a heated debate.
But now, beyond the rearview mirror, Lee Cheonghyeon just silently turned his face to the window, brushing at his clothes now and then, probably trying to keep the smoke sll off.
Perhaps wanting to lighten the mood, Unseop spoke.
‘You don’t drink either, Jeho? I’ve never seen Spark have a get-together.’
‘Yes.’
Choi Jeho replied curtly, not wanting to prolong the conversation.
‘You don’t seem like soone who can’t handle alcohol, though. Why don’t you drink?’
‘I can’t drink.’
Kim Iwol had once advised him: when people bring up alcohol, it’s better to just say you can’t drink rather than say you don’t like it. Choi Jeho followed that advice to the letter.
Unseop chuckled at his response.
‘You get used to it if you keep drinking. You’re just not used to it. You probably haven’t been through many company dinners yet, right?”
Unseop’s stubbornness wasn’t just limited to his work.
He’d give Park Joowoo, with his sensitive palate, a different drink than he’d requested, insisting, ‘You have to try new things. Who knows? You might like it!’. And when Kang Kiyeon was on a strict diet, Unseop brought him fried rice, saying one al wouldn’t hurt.
Even soone as indifferent about food as Choi Jeho was starting to feel fed up.
His true feelings slipped out.
‘Why should I eat sothing I don’t want to?’
‘Is being a picky eater sothing to be proud of?’
‘It’s not like I’m picking things out of my food every ti. How does not drinking alcohol suddenly an I’m a picky eater?’
The conversation beca tense.
Unseop drove with a sullen expression. Choi Jeho wasn’t about to try and appease him. Nor was he the type to get loud and petty either.
So it looked like they’d spend the whole ride to the practice room in uncomfortable silence.
Until Unseop started looking at his phone while driving.
Not at a red light, but while the car was moving, with passengers inside.
You’re not even watching the road? What kind of urgent ssage could it be?
Choi Jeho’s gaze shifted to the phone. His sharp eyesight caught a glimpse of sothing he wished he hadn’t seen.
‘Are you playing a ga right now?’
A poker ga, cards flipping across the screen. Effects flashed, showing how much Unseop was winning.
‘I was just checking for a second.’
‘You think that’s a valid excuse?’
He knew his tone was sharp.
But he didn’t regret it, and Unseop remained nonchalant.
‘I only looked for a second; you’re overreacting. You were watching , Jeho, you know I only looked briefly.’
‘One distraction might not cause an accident. Two will.’
‘What are you implying?’
‘Wait, both of you, calm down.’
Lee Cheonghyeon reached between the driver and passenger seats, trying to diate.
‘This isn’t going to cause an accident. I’ve been driving for years.’
‘Huh.’
Choi Jeho scoffed.
‘If we crash, I’ll take responsibility. Happy?’
‘And how exactly? You think traffic accidents are so kind of joke?’
‘Hyung, stop it!’
Lee Cheonghyeon’s face paled as he hit Choi Jeho’s arm.
Even Lee Cheonghyeon knew Choi Jeho wasn’t wrong.
But provoking the driver would only make things worse. Choi Jeho was only saying this because he wanted Unseop to focus on driving, but this was counterproductive.
Choi Jeho sighed and backed down. As if seizing the opportunity, Unseop muttered,
‘You should work on your temper, Jeho. You’ll get in trouble acting like that.’
At that mont, Choi Jeho decided.
He didn’t want to work with this man.
And that it would be better for everyone if he didn’t.
As soon as they got out of the car, Choi Jeho dragged Lee Cheonghyeon towards the practice room. Lee Cheonghyeon scolded him, but he didn’t budge.
‘Why provoke the driver? You could have told him later!’
‘It’s better to say sothing before he causes an accident.’
‘…….’
‘You think that guy should keep working as our manager?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Thought so.’
Having secured agreent, Choi Jeho continued towards the practice room.
Or rather, he tried to. Lee Cheonghyeon held him back.
‘But do you think he’ll actually be fired? Iwol hyung said it wasn’t easy to fire soone. Manager Unseop hasn’t caused a major incident like Yoo Hansoo.’
‘So we should just let it slide?’
Lee Cheonghyeon was silent at Choi Jeho’s words, a sign of acquiescence.
So, Choi Jeho spoke frankly.
“He keeps staring at his phone while driving, for f***’s sake.”
“…”
“Even phone calls should be hands-free. Am I overreacting?”
As he turned around after his final remark, Choi Jeho saw Kim Iwol, for the first ti, completely devoid of any humor.
His eyes were deep, dark, and cold—just like always, but more so now.
“I think we need to report this to the company.”
Jeong Seongbin said with a serious expression. As he was about to stand, Kim Iwol stopped him and left the practice room. Park Joowoo asked where he was going, but he received no answer.
Kim Iwol returned shortly after, holding a small tal chip.
“What is that?”
“The mory card from the dashcam.”
He replied to Lee Cheonghyeon’s question while rummaging through his backpack, his gaze fixed on its contents. He pulled out a small device, resembling a portable charger.
While Kim Iwol turned on the shared laptop, connected the device, and read the mory card, no one dared to speak. The atmosphere around him was different than usual.
Kim Iwol, his face expressionless, focused on the screen and the earphones. Only the clicking sound of fast-forwarding filled the practice room.
A few minutes passed. Having confird what he needed, Kim Iwol closed the laptop.
“I’m going upstairs. Soone copy this file for .”
That was all the explanation he offered. Before anyone could stop him, Kim Iwol stord out of the practice room.
* * *
On the way up to the office, the system kept flickering in front of my eyes.
▷ Reduced perception of negative emotions effect is currently active.
Didn’t I adjust this last ti? Not that it mattered right now.
‘He was playing gas while driving.’
The dashcam audio clearly captured Lee Cheonghyeon’s coughing and Choi Jeho’s attempts to reason with Hong Unseop in a (relatively) calm voice.
Incompetence was tolerable. Stubbornness was difficult but manageable. Everyone had their awkward and immature phases.
But recklessness was a different matter. This was unacceptable; I had no intention of tolerating it or waiting for him to improve.
He was ssing around while driving. With passengers in the car.
He forced food on soone who clearly couldn’t eat it, then acted like they were the one in the wrong.
‘This is f*cking infuriating.’
My head throbbed. My blood pressure felt like it was spiking.
Normally, I would’ve asked for a ti when she was available for a eting, but I couldn’t afford to waste even that. I went straight to Ms. Min Jukyung.
“Iwol! What brings you here?”
Ms. Min Jukyung greeted with a smile.
“Please replace our manager.”
The office went dead silent the mont those words left my mouth. Ms. Min Jukyung quickly ushered into a eting room.
“Is Unseop’s constant failure to relay announcents wearing you out? Would it still be hard if Chanyeong acted as the main manager?”
She asked.
I understood how difficult it was to find a manager. I had worked in recruitnt for years.
The requirents were demanding: A young person with a driver’s license, willing to work long, irregular hours for low pay.
And the job entailed much more than just driving. Not many people were eager to take on such a role.
I knew all that. Really.
“He was looking at his phone while driving.”
“What?”
“He said, ‘One glance won’t cause an accident.’”
I didn’t have to bend over backward to accommodate the company’s situation forever.
“I’d rather get my driver’s license and drive myself than let soone like that drive the mbers. It would be safer for everyone.”
I wasn’t going to compromise on this matter. Even if I was criticized for being disrespectful or inconsiderate.
Because of *ssholes who drove like that—my sister was dead.
* * *
Ms. Min Jukyung imdiately summoned Hong Unseop. This triggered a massive gathering of the dedicated team, Spark, and even the CEO.
The hearing surrounding Hong Unseop lasted a grueling hour. We had to endure the slow, frustrating process of verifying facts and listening to his excuses.
“Why did you miss the file Iwol asked you to deliver? And why did you lie about not receiving it?”
“I didn’t lie.”
“You said you never received it. But we’ve got the record right here.”
Hong Unseop spewed lies that were blatantly easy to disprove—without so much as blinking. Like it was second nature to him.
And the mont he felt cornered, he shifted the bla to soone else.
“Mr. Iwol explained it in a confusing way, so I couldn’t help it.”
“Are you saying this is the artist’s fault?”
“I didn’t an it like that.”
“Mr. Unseop, stop ssing around and speak clearly.”
At the CEO’s words, Hong Unseop put on an aggrieved expression.
What was he so aggrieved about? He hadn’t done anything right. Did he think it was unfair that everyone was criticizing him?
If he found this little scolding so upsetting, he shouldn’t have gone around telling Choi Jeho to fix his attitude. If he didn’t like being told off, maybe he shouldn’t have done it to others in the first place.
I was exhausted. At this point, it felt like Spark could be excused from the eting, but the company didn’t even bother to say a word about letting us leave, and that made angry, too. I was also upset with Manager Chanyoung, who must’ve known there were issues with him but still kept quiet, trying to resolve the situation by himself.
Would it kill them to let us off the hook from this kind of stress just once? I already had so much to worry about.
As Spark gained popularity and beca busier, the areas beyond my control would only increase.
I couldn’t shield them from every hardship.
I was already anxious about missing sothing crucial, like with Kang Kiyeon…
My vision felt hazy, like I was walking through fog.
Even with sitting there like that, Hong Unseop continued making excuses until the very end.
“So, it was just that one ti…”
“Producer Yoo hitting over the head was also ‘just that one ti.’ Is that why he got a second chance?”
Silence fell over the eting room at my words.
They might think I was being disrespectful, but they couldn’t refute it. Not a single person in this room.
“…Since the rest is a matter for the company to discuss, we’ll excuse ourselves.”
With those words, I stood up from my seat. The mbers quickly followed after . The sound of chairs scraping against the floor filled the eting room with noise.
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