Chapter 161:


    “Hello…”


    My heart sank at the sight of his stunning visual, but he seemed to be human since he said “hello” instead of “why did you kill me”.


    “Ah, hello.”


    I would have fainted on the spot if I were Kyunghwa or Hwijin. I quickly took a deep breath to assess the existence in front of me.


    He had a temporary ID card issued by W hanging below his neck, which meant he was the employee hired for office management.


    “Are you Jinkyung?”


    I didn’t interview him, but I saw his documents and interview results and participated in the final selection, so I knew who I hired.


    He was supposed to have a neat ponytail and a professional appearance…


    “Ah, yes. That’s me. Pleasee in.”He didn’t even blink at the sight of the popr idol in front of him, and calmly led me into the office.


    The office interior was quite nice, thanks to the neat remodeling before moving in, unlike the building exterior.


    It was a luxurious interior that made me feel the money was well spent.


    “All the office equipment is set up, and the wifi and bathroom passwords are on the panel over there.”


    As I looked around the office briefly, I saw a small office with everything I needed, such as a main office that could amodate up to 12 people, a conference room, a lounge, and a snack room.


    As I looked at the clean office, Jinkyung’s bizarre appearance stood out even more.


    He must have been busy with the office organization for a while, so maybe that’s why… I wanted to think that, but this was too much…


    “Thank you. What about the others?”


    There were two more people who came from the headquarters in a dispatch format, but I wondered why he was alone and asked him. He nodded and answered.


    “Oh, they went to the headquarters in the morning and will be back in the afternoon. In the meantime, why don’t you look at the preliminary budget and business n we prepared for next year?”


    He didn’t seem like a very unreliable type, despite his appearance. I dly waited for him to hand me the materials and sat on the sofa in the reception room.


    “Oh,e this way.”


    But to my surprise, he took me to the conference room.


    “I will now start the presentation of the preliminary budget n.”


    Huh…? He was going to present it himself instead of giving me the materials? I was surprised by the unexpected demonstration. He was a mystery to me, as he gave a wless n and presentation.


    Based on the steep growth and active activities of Climax in the second half of this year, he said he would pursue a business that could generate actual profits next year, such as concerts, regr album releases, etc. It was a fairly specific and detailed n.


    Of course, I shouldn’t judge a person by their appearance, but… what is he? I was confused when one of the employees who said he was out came into the office.


    “Uh, hello, Mr. Ise. Hi, Jinkyung. You’re still amazing today.”


    I wasn’t the only one who thought that, as the man who looked like the ountant also came in and was startled by Jinkyung.


    “Ah… I’m sorry, I’m not ready yet… I’ll fix it as soon as possible.”


    What did he mean by that? It turned out that he was supposed to look like the photo on his application. He said he had a lot of personal troublestely and that it wouldn’t affect his work, but he might look unpleasant…


    At first, I was like,e on… but then I heard that Jinkyung was scammed out of his deposit and I shut up.


    Is thispany okay? It was a spicy first day at work that I couldn’t be sure of either way.


    ‘Phew… At least I managed to get everything done.’


    I had to work on the tasks that were piled up until the other employees’ quitting time, so I ended up leavingter than I expected.


    I wanted to leave by 5 o’clock, thinking about what to have for dinner, but maybe it was because of the sense of crisis that I didn’t know when I would see them again if I left today, due to the schedule starting tomorrow.


    Even though it was a neat team of one ountant, one nner, one external cooperation manager, and one management manager, I was busy switching between them and before I knew it, time had flown by.


    The ounting staff were practically unable to handle the broadcasting management tasks, so even though we had dedicated managers for each artist, we were still short of manpower.


    After deciding everything from the additional recruitment n to the end-of-year joint concert schedule, everyone was exhausted.


    ‘There’s no way we can expand our roster of artists for at least six months.’


    I shook my head, remembering how Hwijin had asked me if he coulde to Climax.


    No way, man. I can’t take you in. Don’te.


    I firmly rejected him in my mind as I entered the parking lot of the apartment where our new dorm was. As soon as I did, a cheerful announcement message rang out.


    “What the…?”


    I quickly parked the car in the line before someone else took my spot and checked my phone screen before getting out.


    If it was another call for a unit battle, I was ready to block them right away. But as I looked at the message, I realized it was from Hwijin, the person I least wanted to hear from.


    [H] (an emoticon of a bear with sparkling eyes) 6:28 PM


    What is it? What do you want? I narrowed my eyes and waited for him to get to the point.


    [H] Mr. Lee, are you busy? 6:29 PM


    I wasn’t busy, but… I wanted to start dinner by 7 at thetest, so I was running out of time. If I had known I would be thiste, I would have asked the kids at home to at least set the table.


    I quickly typed and sent a message, regretting myte reply.


    [Me] I’m not busy. 6:30 PM


    [Me] Is something wrong? 6:30 PM


    We’re not even close friends. We have nothing to do with each other. Why would he contact me? I red at the screen with suspicion.


    He’s not going to ask me for advice again after some mental breakdown, is he? I couldn’t hide my uneasiness as I got out of the car. Hwijin quickly got to the point.


    He knows how to talk when ites to this.


    [H] Well, the thing is, I’m going to be a regr guest on an observational reality show for about a month starting next week. 6:31 PM


    [H] I heard you moved to a new ce recently. Do you mind if I…e to your housewarming party? 6:32 PM


    ‘…?’


    I had told him not toe in my mind, but instead of saying he left the agency, he asked me if he coulde to my housewarming party. I tilted my head in confusion.


    While I was dying my answer, a message from Hwijin arrived with an emoticon of a bear with big, round eyes.


    [H] There’s someone around here who likes wine, so I got a lot of good wine as a gift. 6:33 PM


    [H] I’ll bring some for sure when Ie to your housewarming party. 6:33 PM


    It was a well-known fact that Cheon ise was a great cook and a foodie, proven by his appearances on various shows. He proposed with confidence that a foodie would also enjoy good liquor.


    But to be honest, I wasn’t very interested in expensive drinks. I didn’t mind having them paired with my meals, but… did I really need to? I didn’t feel any excitement about drinking expensive liquor by itself.


    When I was living as Lim Hyun-seong, I used to joke that I grew up too hard and didn’t know how to waste money.


    But I didn’t skimp on food, so maybe that wasn’t true… or maybe food and drink were different things.


    [Tranted Text]


    Anyway, to cut to the chase, it wasn’t a very appealing offer to me.


    Instead of giving a long answer, I sent him a bear emoticon that looked like it was pondering, which was one of his frequently used messenger stickers.


    [Me] (Emoticon) 6:35 PM


    He immediately sent me three crying bear emoticons in a row.


    [H] (Emoticon) 6:35 PM


    [H] (Emoticon) 6:35 PM


    [H] (Emoticon) 6:35 PM


    How annoying. Eating dinner was my priority, and since appearing on the show wouldn’t hurt us, I decided to postpone my decision for a while.


    [Me] I’ll talk to the schedule manager and get back to you. 6:36 PM


    I wanted to go home and have dinner as soon as possible. Maybe it was because I had to use my brain a lot as a leader today. I felt hungrier than usual.


    [H] Okay, the shooting date will probably be December 18th! 6:37 PM


    December 18th… That means the broadcast would be around Christmas or the end of the year. They would probably ask us to prepare a housewarming party sh Christmas party.


    It was a moment when a crack appeared in my n to spend a devout and peaceful day on the holiday.


    ‘But we’re not in a position to refuse.’


    The production team would do their best to create a buzz during the Christmas season, and as a group that still valued every bit of recognition, it would be helpful to show a friendly side.


    Since I was determined to actively pursue the main quest, I had no reason to decline.


    [Me] Alright, I got it. 6:38 PM


    I barely sent a message that was half-eptance and half-rejection, then opened the door lock and entered the house.


    “I’m home.”


    I greeted them as if I was a father who had brought money from outside. I couldn’t get rid of that feeling.


    As soon as I took off my shoes, I smelled something delicious from the kitchen.


    It wasn’t the greasy smell of fast food like chicken or pizza, but a fragrant and healthy smell.


    This smell was…


    “Oh, you came early? I thought you wouldn’t be here until seven, so I just started steaming it.”


    As I tilted my head and headed to the kitchen, Yi-jun was standing in front of the stove, looking into the pot.


    It turned out that he was steaming lotus leaf rice in the steamer.


    “What’s with the lotus leaf rice?”


    “Oh, Seon-woo’s family came to pick him up earlier and gave it to us. They said they made it themselves at Seon-woo’s maternal home.”


    “Oh…”


    I couldn’t tell what was inside the lotus leaf until I opened it, but the smell alone was perfect.


    Four pieces of lotus leaf rice steaming in the steamer. That meant Seong-won was going to eat with us too.


    “Did you prepare any other side dis besides the lotus leaf rice?”


    “Nah, I can handle the steaming, but cooking is beyond me.”


    “I’ll take care of it.”


    I pud his wrist away as if to shoo him out of the kitchen and kicked him out.


    I quickly found the frozen pork stir-fry and put it in the microwave to defrost. Then, Kyunghwa came out of his room and into the kitchen.


    “Ah… you’re here? It’s already dinner time.”


    He looked like he had been napping in his room, his eyes slightly swollen.


    “Yeah, is Seong-won still in his room?”


    I asked as I moved the meat to the pan and stir-fried it.


    “Yeah. He had a meeting until five and then wrapped it up and disbanded.”


    Even though I had quit the show, they let me go back to my room and rest in the living room.


    “You did well. Let’s eat quickly.”


    I thought I could talk to Hwijin about his offer to appear on another show while we ate. He said he bought some side dis from the market. I felt my mouth water at the thought of having a more delicious dinner than usual.