“Where’s chief?”

“He said he had someone to call so he went down first.”

On our way to the elevator, I saw a whiteboard hanging on the wall. It was the various W&U’s celebrities’ schedules. On today’s date, it had ‘Neptune-Next K-Star Filming’. I was really happy when I wrote that at that time…

We met up with Hyunjo and drove the van to Neptune’s residence. I was the driver. Since we had to drive multiple times a day, I couldn’t just leave driving all to the traitor. So I eventually built up my courage to drive and when I did, it really wasn’t all that bad.

“Hello!”

“Yeah, did you all have good dreams last night?”

“We practiced all night!”

Even though it was morning, all the Neptune members were filled with energy. And although they tried to calm themselves down, it was cute to see how their expectations for their first filming were clearly visible.

We definitely were busy together, but why was it while I was in this condition, the girls’ faces looked even better. They adapted to their schedule and once they learned that the first theme was singing, they even put more effort into their vocal training.

Just what was their secret? Was this the power of supervision?

After getting their makeup and hair done at the shop, we made our way to the film studio. I listened to the conversation at the back while driving. Hyunjo grabbed the girls’ attentions and was giving them advice.

“When you do the interview, think wisely before answering. You don’t need to rush to answer, so pick and choose your words carefully. Have you guys watched all the programs Producer Joontae has directed?”

“Of course.”

“They don’t just say it’s the devil’s editing process for no reason. When producers are editing the footage, they don’t care what intentions you had during the interview. They only care about the text. There are even some that ignore the context and just string various words together.”

“We know. We printed out sample interview questions and practiced with each other.”

“Good. I’m not worried about Taehee. Seoyoung and LJ, you guys make mistakes when you flustered so be careful and don’t lose your tempers. And… Songha, you’re the one I’m the most worried about.”

Hyunjo shook his head. When I saw Songha through the rear-view mirror, her blinking eyes showed that she couldn’t accept it. Even I, who was only around for a few days, could understand what Hyunjo was worried about.

“Why me?”

“You don’t express yourself a lot and your straightforward words could easily be misinterpreted. Even your words just now, you asked because you were curious, but if it edited with a weird timing, it could make you look bad.”

“…Me?”

“What’s the point. Your face will be enough so just stick close to your unnis[1] with your mouth closed. I’m also going to keep a careful watch, but you girls need to be careful as well. And when you girls are doing a group interview, try to make it so that it doesn’t get to Songha.”

“Okay. Don’t worry too much, oppa.”

“Sunwoo and Gunyoung. You guys keep an eye out for the girls too.”

“Yes.”

I wasn’t the type to watch a lot of entertainment programs so when I went to investigate them I was surprised. The devil’s editing process was much more intense than back when I watched these programs.

It looked like they would edit aggressively and purposely create controversy. It even looked like they would plan to make one of the cast get insulted to increase the popularity of the program.

Because of this, there were a few that went on interviews crying while saying that they were the sacrificial lambs of the devil’s editing process and also, some who took to social media to fire shots at the producers.

I hoped that it wouldn’t happen to Neptune.

I didn’t know if they received insults due to the aggressive article or if there was something else. I hoped that I could find some hints from the future, but there were no signs of that happening.

It was like it was teasing me, keeping me hanging.

Not much time had passed when we arrived at the Next K-Star studio. In the concert hall-sized studio, the staff were installing all the cameras, light and audio equipment and were busy making sure everything was working.

Since we came early for a preliminary interview, the other idol groups hadn’t arrived yet.

We made our rounds of greeting and were led straight to the interview room. Inside the room, two cameras and lights were installed and some staff, as well as Producer Joontae and a writer, were present.

While the members were putting on their mics, we talked with the producer and the writer. To be exact, Hyunjo was the one talking while Gunyoung and I stood beside him.

“Please take good care of us, Mr. Producer.”

“Why does everyone ask me to take care of them when they come for interviews? If you compared my program to others, I’m not that aggressive. It’s pretty much a documentary.”

Like hell it is.

And quickly Producer Joontae proved his words were false. He would first set them at ease by asking questions like, ‘What were your thoughts on participating in Next K-Star,’ ‘are you confident in getting a high score,’ ‘out of the other seven teams, who would you consider your rivals,’ and then he suddenly handed out a piece of paper.

“What does Neptune think the final ranking would be? From first to last, you just need to write down a rank for each team and why.”

“Wow… We need to write the reason as well?”

“Just a simple reason. It’s going to be anonymous so don’t worry.”

“Is this really anonymous? You’re not going to announce it as Nept— team or —Tune team, right?”

“Hahaha. We will ensure your anonymity. We are going to exclude the names and only announce the reasons. Just letting you know, five out of the seven chose Neptune as last place.”

Seoyoung who relaxed the mood with her charming mannerisms stiffened. Although she was able to quickly settle herself down once Taehee nudged her arm, it was probably caught on camera.

“I’ll read you just a few. ‘Neptune is a group with only looks. Without that, I don’t know,’ ‘They are participating not because of their potential, but because of their company’s influence,’ ‘They look like a group that appeals through looks rather than skills.’ Something like that. How are they?”

I was worried they might agree, fortunately, they were stronger than I thought.

This time, Taehee answered with a calm voice instead of Seoyoung.

“Just like how other groups think, not many viewers will have high expectations for us. In some ways, it’s good. A story is fun when it has a twist. Since we are able to leave a big impression solely through our efforts, I like to believe we received a chance that other teams didn’t.”

I didn’t know because she didn’t talk much, but she was really good at talking.

Because she looked confident and cool without trying, she looked trustworthy in the interview. Like a generous type? I understood why Hyunjo wasn’t worried about Taehee.

But, that’s that. Although they said it was anonymous, their words were harsher than I thought.

Since they had to consider the images of the idols, I thought they would be easier than the survival audition programs with regular people. If it was like this, it was going to be tough.

When I looked to the side, Hyunjo’s expression wasn’t good.

“Jung Sunwoo.”

“Yes?”

“Go to the washroom.”

What in the world was he talking about?

“Go to the washroom?”

“Something good happened to you when you went to the washroom. Twice. Just in case, go to the washroom before they start filming.”

“…Are you serious?”

“I am grasping at straws right now.”

I was half-forcefully chased out of the interview room.

Well, I was going since he told me to, but I was at a loss for words…

I acted like I was deep in thought and walked around the entrance of the washroom two or three times, but nothing happened. There continued to be nothing from my foresight ability.

Damn it, let’s give up.

Since I was at the washroom, I decided to do my business. After washing my hands, I walked towards the interview room.

“Hey.”

At first, I didn’t realize that it was meant for me, but I stopped when I heard the next words.

“Hey, Neptune’s manager!”

When I turned around the man I saw previously, Lemon Girls’ manager, was swaggering towards me.

Since it was quite for a few days, I had forgotten about it, but he really did come.

“I came to see the faces of the terrible girl group that W&U planted in… when I saw someone familiar walking around. You’re that asshole from before, right?”

To come all the way here to fight with me, did this person have too much time on his hands?

“You’re that asshole that was watching in front of the washroom. Did you stumble in front of Producer Joontae and push your group? I saw the articles the next day, you must have been really busy that night, huh? Huh? Just where did this fucking bastard with no ethics come from? Did they teach you that in W&U?”

I was a bit surprised since it had been so long since I had seen someone provoking me so publicly.

When I looked at my surroundings, the only people present were that man and myself.

I wasn’t confident in fighting… But that didn’t mean I should obediently turn the other cheek when I was already sworn at.

“I don’t think that I did anything to get sworn at.”

“What, you asshole?”

The Lemon Girls’ manager tapped my chest.

“Just what did you say to me? Tell me again.”

“It wasn’t like I bribed Producer Joontae to replace Lemon Girls with Neptune, I only took the chance since it was there… When I think about it again, I don’t think I did anything that deserved getting sworn at.”

“What, you asshole?”

I said it again since you asked me to, you asshole.

“Why are you letting out your frustrations on a stranger?”

“Fuck, I was already pissed, but you pissed me off, even more, asshole. You want to get hit, do you? Huh? Are you going crazy to get hit?”

His figure looked even bigger now that I was in danger. With those thick arms and rock-like fists, it would probably hurt if I got hit.

Maybe… Just maybe, I might be hospitalized…

“Hit me, then.”

“What?”

“Hit me. So I can get hospitalized and get interviewed by a reporter.”

I’ll need to call Reporter Park Yoojeong.

“Just where did this crazy asshole come from?”

[1] Unni is what a younger female would call an older female.