Managers & Money (4)

Perched on a desk was a dark-eyed and suited man. He sat hunched over his desk with his glasses uneven on his eyes. His desk was covered in clutter. Album plans, merch prepeations, concept photos, schedules, meeting times. His coffee mug was stained with too many sips. 

A phone light lit up his reflection in his glasses. Using a hesitant finger, he scrolled through youtube comments of the latest radio show interview ASCEND had done. 

K looks so sick here :( 

omg their joonie's voice is so hoarse 😭😭😭

The fact they couldn't edit out their exhaustion says a lot…

He scratched at his skin, drawing blood and skin alike. He truly couldn't understand why the group still seemed so down. He had lessened the workload they were allocated in the last week or so. He held a meeting with Mr. Jeong as the focus, yet by Mr. Jeong's words, everything seemed fine. 

He scrolled once more.

Omg at 4:59 Reggie looks so worried for our Joonie :((( 

Hyun-ah! Please get more rest!

Joonie and Mi-yo r such cuties 💗

Reggie and Joon-woo feel so ingenuine here….

A knock at the door knocked the man out of his trance. 

He flinched up, adjusted his tie, and evened out his glasses. He cleared his throat before speaking in a low cold tone, "Come in." 

The double doors slowly propped open. He was expecting Team Leader Changmin…

But the beer-bellied Team Leader was not the one to enter first. 

It was the very 'Joonie' mentioned in the comments still shining on his phone. A distressed looking one… 

"CEO-nim… They wanted to have a word with you." Team Leader Changmin explained as Mi Yong also flooded into the office. 

They both looked just as tired as they did in the interview he had been monitoring. Perhaps there was a hint of fear in their exchanged glances as well. 

"CEO Park, it's about Mr. Jeong-ssi…" Mi Yong prompted by Joon-woo's saddened eyes. 

CEO Park clicked his tongue. There couldn't have been foul play, could there? Mr. Jeong had managed for one of their soloists previously before she fell out with the company. He was a dedicated manager, he thought. Was he wrong?

Joon-woo's piercing gaze was sensitive enough to make CEO Park question such trust.

–+–

"Can you even do anything right? It's just one performance, it's not hard at all."

"If I get scolded again because of you, du-ho, just try to seem happy? This is why fans don't like you that much you know…" 

"That make-up artist is such a bitch, you know, Joon-woo? She's always–"

"--acks? Just stick to the diet, it's an easy one to follow. If you think this is too little, then you should see what my old artists ate…" 

"-yong why didn't you answer my call? I need Reggie up and ready for this shoot… Huh? Because of you we will be late, what kind of leader are you?"

"Are you stupid? Making a mistake in a live broadcast?"

CEO Park tapped angrily at his desk. He watched Joon-woo and Mi Yong's anxious expressions and couldn't help but fume. 

All of this was going on behind his back?

"Are… you guys okay?" He asked, first. 

Mi Yong seemed surprised by the opener question. He locked eyes with Joon-woo for a second. 

"Mm… Yes, CEO-nim. We just thought we should bring this to your attention before it stirs controversy…" Joon-woo spoke for his elder of six years, playing with his hands. 

"Okay…" CEO Park sighed and clenched his fists. He couldn't look at his artists without feeling a twinge of guilt boil in his chest. "Good…"

Team Leader Changmin's face was grim beside the idols. 

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I'll… I'm gonna take it from here, then. Please return to your dorm and rest." He tried to keep his serious tone, his composure, but just imagining the things that slip past the seems made his mind spin faster. "Team Leader-ssi, please, collect the rest of the group and take them to the dorm…" 

Team Leader Changmin nodded, locking a knowing glance with the exhausted-eyed CEO.

As soon as the group left the room, the CEO dialed numbers into a hand phone to his right. Across the smaller, two story building, speakers rang out the attention of every worker. 

CEO Park held the phone to his mouth and spoke with his mouth moving carefully. Ignoring the shake in his hands, the bag that weighed his eyes, and the pumping in his heart, he spoke. 

"Jeong Min-Jun, please report to room 119." 

–+–

Relief flooded through Joon-woo as he exited the expansive office. Team Leader Changmin anxiously watched Mi Yong and he back and forth. Back and forth. And as they traversed empty, staff-less hallways, the silence was only hunger. 

Joon-woo was expecting a much more… mild reaction to their abuses. Perhaps it was the licks of trauma still wetting his skin, or his expectations of the industry. Perhaps it was from the harsh weigh-ins and the overbearing workload. But he thought the CEO who he had only met once before, would treat this issue as a one action issue. He thought the CEO would scold, maybe even remove Mr. Jeong from ASCEND and place him back with the company's flopping soloists. 

But the man seemed sorry. He seemed scared out of his pants at the thought of ASCEND being verbally abused behind his back and it put unknowing sparks of hope in Joon-woo's belittling hope. He was sympathetic. Joon-woo had never seen a CEO of all people be half a good person. Was he being gifted a weight off his chest? 

Mi Yong patted Joon-woo on the back and leaned on his shoulder as they approached the elevator. Though Joon-woo hated the motion if not from Reggie, he accepted it. His dear leader was plenty stressed, more so than Joon-woo and the CEO alike. 

Joon-woo cast a look at Mi Yong's tired burdened eyes and couldn't help but wish to give the man a cold hard beer as he loved.

Team Leader Changmin, from the corner of Joon-woo's eye, probably took the sight as a means to keep a distance. The sight of a 24 year old leader lying and relying on the youngest member was a sight and a half he didn't want to see. 

The Team Leader cleared his throat when the elevator door opened. 

Joon-woo led his Hyung into the space with an arm around his waist. Mi Yong seemed… mildly surprised in his exhaustion, but in matters like this, even Mi Yong couldn't crack a joke or mock Joon-woo for the maknae he was playing the part of.

"I'm sorry if our CEO and staff seem… frightened." Team Leader Changmin began, "We haven't had much profit as a company for years, I believe, maybe more. So we're a little… unsure how to handle the workload of success you guys have brought in. I think that's what led to this–" 

Joon-woo shook his head, "Team Leader-nim, please don't apologize for something you are not responsible for."

Team Leader Changmin flinched at the grown tone Joon-woo wore. Was this really the 18 year old who seemed worried to star in a sexy concept?

"No. We should've paid more attention to your well being. You guys are our artists who have gotten us raises and bonuses yet we let this… abuse slip out of sight." The Team Leader insisted, "Let me promise you, we will make up for this in the best way we can." 

Joon-woo nodded and looked to make sure Mi Yong was off his shoulder and looking not in the direction of Joon-woo for once. 

"Please do." He mouthed for only the Team Leader to catch. For Mi Yong, for Reggie, Jung Hyun-Ok, Ryeo Hyun, and even the prick Baek Du-Ho. He didn't like seeing the people that had pulled him out of his hell fall into their own. Joon-woo could never forgive himself if he let the history of Cheerleader repeat. 

Joon-woo's stomach growled with hunger and thirst and a want to have rest. 

"Do you want to have chicken for dinner? On me?" Team Leader Changmin asked, slightly smiling to the embarrassed flush filling Joon-woo's cheeks. 

"Only if you're okay with it, Senior." Joon-woo replied, the elevator door opening to the ground floor of their company.