"And seven more of these too, please."
"Of course, I’ll pack them right up for you. Looks like you’re going sowhere today. You’re ordering way more than usual?"
"Yes. Sothing good happened today."
"Then would it be okay if I threw in so cookies on the house?"
"I’d be incredibly grateful!"
A famous bakery near Jamsil.
Ever since Raon joined KJ Entertainnt, it had beco a regular stop.
Raon had always liked snacks like bread, so she stopped by at least once every two days without fail. At so point, the owner had started treating Raon less like a celebrity and more like a regular custor.
And so, while picking out bread and desserts and getting them packed up, Raon chatted lightly with the owner for a mont.
'The kids will like this, right?'
As soon as the renewal eting ended, Raon had left the company planning to buy food and visit the mbers 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 mbers.
Which made sense, because back when she first accepted KJ Entertainnt’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 beco sothing 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 ti, Sion unni!
-Yuri will help too! I think it’d be fun if PD Raon got tied up!
Of course, so of those children didn’t listen and made her suffer headaches, but even that had beco 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 mbers, who usually got by on delivery food or side dishes their parents sent them.
She had bought plenty since so of the mbers were big eaters, so it was fairly heavy, but thinking about how happily they would eat it made it worth it.
Especially—
[Lee Sion Managent Guide 1. Food.]
"For so reason, Lee Sion doesn’t really eat als 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, sotis 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 gourt food and goes around looking for limited-edition desserts or good bread. If you bring things like that, even an enemy can beco 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 soone who had raised Lee Sion for nineteen years were on another level.
While the KJ Entertainnt 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 mbers had often been getting by on kimbap for als, 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 co in person and lower the gauge a little.
'She’s probably asleep.'
Usually, idols had their sleep cut down to extres during promotion periods, so it was common for them to spend the entire day just sleeping during breaks.
So, thinking the Iam mbers 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 apartnt elevator she was used to by now up to the floor where the mbers’ 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 mbers 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 mber 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 sothing was useful, even if it belonged to the enemy, the important thing was having the flexibility to use it.
"Untie 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 mont everyone’s attention had shifted to PD Raon, Seo Ryujin couldn’t resist shouting for soone to untie her, so I imdiately 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 mbers up until just five minutes ago, she still seed 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 an, 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 !"
"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 co when Seo Ryujin stole that role from .
'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 aning, mocked for being pathetic, but I would simply prove everything through victory.
Anyway, that was how we won, but following the other mbers’ opinions that Seo Ryujin seed low on energy, we ended up deciding to do the deep cleaning together after all.
But—
-Hoo···I’m weirdly low-energy today.
The mont 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 mbers softened and ended up excluding her from the deep cleaning entirely.
If I had objected there, I obviously would have beco the trash, so I too had no choice but to agree through tears.
After that, Seo Ryujin had lain on the couch and bossed 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 eting 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 mont and left behind a portrait of it. That was how morable the expression was.
-She’s bolting! Ryu Ayeon, Yuri, grab her!
After that, maybe she sensed the atmosphere turning icy, because Seo Ryujin imdiately tried to flee, only to get caught by us and end up rolled around like a mat.
-I knew sothing was off when you ca 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 mbers.
-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 do all the deep cleaning···.
-So Searchol isn’t just a na 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 mbers and I were taking a short break, eating the bread PD Raon had brought.
"M- too···you have to at least give sothing 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 sothing 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 ti 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 soone over food, so in the end, we decided to untie her.
"Finally···!"
Seo Ryujin was finally free.
The mont she was untied, she shot fierce looks at and the other mbers who had bullied her, but—
"Hey, Ms. Seo. Just eat your bread."
"···."
Maybe she realized that this ti, unlike usual, there were neither mbers 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 ca 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 ti 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 mbers 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 co help ."
"Yes!"
Raon picked out only Shinyu by na, 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 sothing like this sowhere 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 sothing kind, you can be more confident about it! Look at Lee Sion! She does bad things and still acts shalessly proud."
"That is true!"
At those words, Shinyu couldn’t help but smile.
"The truth is, there’s sothing I wanted to say to you in private, so I asked you to help ."
"You had sothing to say to ?"
"Yeah."
But at Raon’s words that she had sothing to say, Shinyu unconsciously tensed a little.
'Did I do sothing wrong?'
Ever since long ago, whenever soone called her aside, it had always ant sothing bad.
-You use that military speech pattern on purpose, don’t you? To stand out?
-Instead of wasting ti 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 soone 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.
-Co 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 mbers too, she had managed to shake off a lot of those old mories.
And while Shinyu was briefly lost in those thoughts, Raon got to the real reason she had called her out.
"At the eting today, the CEO personally had it out with Park Sangmun, CEO Park of UI Entertainnt."
"What? Had it out about what···."
"You’re not with UI Entertainnt anymore."
"What? Don’t tell ···?"
"That’s right. Your contract with UI Entertainnt 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.
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