Chapter 152

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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As soon as I entered the commercial filming site, an unwelcome face was seen.

“Have you been doing well in the meantime? It seemed like you had a lot of worries.”

It was VTIC’s Chungryeo.

‘I’m going crazy.’

Why is he popping out here again.

For reference, I hadn’t even received a hint from the company. Since I came after seeing only the storyboard while they were transporting me because they said a good commercial was caught urgently.

Doesn’t it occur to them that they should at least give a rough word if the person I’m facing is someone I know?

‘I want to quit.’

I really didn’t feel like working.

But even if I show it, it would just be a rumor generator. Let’s just nod.

“Yes. Thanks to your advice, I’ve resolved it well.”

“Ah, is that so? That’s good.”

Chungryeo smiled and reached out a hand.

“Please take good care of today’s filming.”

“I also ask for your kind cooperation.”

I didn’t do any childish thing like giving more strength, but the handshake ended in an instant.

“Then see you in a bit.”

“Yes. Sunbaenim.”

I don’t want to see you.

Recalling the storyboard, I felt a peculiar sensation while changing clothes and preparing for the filming.

The outfit was a training suit in a form that is popular recently. However, the corporate logo was attached.

‘I already know why I’m wearing this kind of clothing, of all things.’

First of all, the filming location was a grass field, and there was a lot of activity during the filming.

It was like this.

“Now, release them!”

At the director’s word, a group of four-legged animals rushed at me and Chungryeo, who were standing on the grass.

It was a group of various retrievers and country puppies that were 3 months old.

“Woof!!”

As I was stroking the napes of this one and that one exactly as shown in the storyboard, there was even one who jumped up to my nose and headbutted me.

‘He’s excited.’

Since one did that, three or four followed in a row and jumped. Hey, don’t lick.

I picked up the fluffy lumps with both hands.

…They do look cute.

“Poo-heung!”

Now he’s coughing in my face. I almost fell over while shifting my hold.

I tried not to stiffen my face in a situation where I was holding four or five and became covered in saliva.

“Cut! Ah, that was good~”

“…Thank you.”

A staff member ran over and fixed my ruined face. It was a hardship for both of us.

“With the feeling of picking up and holding the puppy more reliably and firmly! Smile brightly!”

Right. The ‘reliable feeling’ is important.

Because what we’re shooting now is an insurance company commercial.

To be precise, it was a corporate brand image commercial promoting a large conglomerate insurance company’s support for abandoned dogs and training of guide dogs.

‘Usually, they use people with public name recognition for this kind of thing.’

But it seemed they used me instead as a certain actor who was originally supposed to be appointed for my spot was taken away due to a sexual harassment scandal.

The name recognition among the older generation that just arose in must have had some influence, but…….

“Good boy.”

…The fact that our public friendship with that guy didn’t have no influence at all makes… the aftertaste a bit unpleasant.

Chungryeo was suppressing the pack of dogs with ghost-like hand movements even though the filming was stopped.

The guys who were rolling over and showing their bellies caught my eye. This must be what they call being photogenic.

‘I want to take a photo of one.’

Even so, it was a bit much to deliberately bring a smartphone. It wouldn’t look good.

At that moment, Chungryeo opened his mouth.

“Do you like puppies?”

“…Not bad.”

It happened that the staff had left the spot. Since only the scene was being taken and the voice would be an inserted narration, there was no attached microphone either.

That meant it was a perfect timing for this bastard to talk nonsense.

But the prediction was missed.

“Right? They are quite nice kids. Kind.”

“…….”

“They are easy to handle too. Compliment what’s to be complimented, and scold what’s to be scolded.”

Chungryeo just stroked the dogs while only talking about puppies.

Reflexively, information flashed through my head.

– That hyung donates half of what he received as settlement to an abandoned dog center and things like that?

Could it be true.

No, it doesn’t matter.

“It seems you like dogs, sunbaenim.”

I was planning to kill time until the filming resumed by appropriately going along with it.

But the guy tilted his head to the side.

Conventionally among people… it means a sign of puzzlement.

“Is it a like? I’m not sure. Anyway, it’s comfortable not to raise one.”

Until this point, I thought he meant it was bothersome because puppies require care.

“In the past, I raised a dog every time I started again, but after a bit of time passed… rumors of being a habitual abandoner spread.”

“……!”

“I would have doubted myself too? When I checked, the breed of dog I raised before changed every time I spoke. Hmm, after it was proven not to be the case, did talk of schizophrenia come out…. Hahaha, it was completely ruined then!”

Chungryeo laughed out loud. It gave me the chills.

“…Were they not the same puppy?”

“Pardon? Haha, it’s a bit much to raise even a dog as exactly the same every time.”

“…….”

Chungryeo stopped laughing.

“I tried it, but it’s not good. If I can’t bring it because things got tangled, it makes me unnecessarily concerned and uncomfortable.”

I was speechless.

The problem was that I understood why this bastard… went crazy.

I responded as calmly as possible.

“…Since you have no reason to start again now, I think it would be okay for you to try raising a new one.”

It meant to give up.

“You’re overflowing with confidence. By any chance… is this the last mission? Did it come out that way after calculating as I told you?”

“…….”

No reaction is the best policy.

However, this bastard interpreted the silence as an affirmation.

“Congratulations. But do you believe that?”

“……!”

“Haha, it’s a joke. Based on my experience, it will be correct. They don’t lie about such things.”

The imagination of crushing the Grand Prize trophy into that face was comforting.

“…Hmm, then it’s really…… the end.”

The expression drained from the guy’s face in an instant, and he took his hand off the dog’s belly.

‘…Wait.’

He wouldn’t do some bullsh*t while saying things like ‘Try again just once before it’s all over,’ or ‘There’s no chance once it’s over, the timing is now only.’

Let’s lay the groundwork right away.

“VTIC sunbaenims wouldn’t have any groups to compete with even if you just maintain the status quo. Isn’t the current state the best?”

“Well… it’s okay.”

Chungryeo was indifferent.

And he picked up the back of a puppy’s neck.

“It’s not that I perfectly like it but… hmm, well… it is so. I should adapt.”

“……!”

It was a circuitous declaration of surrender.

‘Done, f*ck.’

I felt like my lifespan was decreasing. I suspected whether cold sweat was flowing on my forehead.

But Chungryeo’s words did not end.

“But hoobaenim, I think it would be better not to let your guard down too much.”

Please, I want to stop hearing bullsh*t.

Before I knew it, I was stroking a dog. A thoughtless, blank furball was a comfort.

And fortunately, Chungryeo’s next words were not bullsh*t.

It was the voice of cold reason.

“In this occupational group, ‘popularity’ is a limited resource. That is, if another team earns the resource well, it means my resource is leaked. It was always like that. Especially if limited to domestic, it’s even more so.”

“…….”

Is it a metaphor for VTIC and Teastar?

But an unexpected name popped out instead.

“A group belonging to Traveler that debuted this year is doing quite well. Pay some attention to them.”

Traveler, it’s Gold 1’s agency.

In other words, what he’s saying was advice to keep in check Gold 1’s group, which is a decent rookie.

‘…Deliberately?’

They aren’t at a weight class to keep in check yet, and if done wrong, it could end up just giving them a narrative for no reason.

Besides, they are guys who debuted after the period Chungryeo knows, anyway. It means Chungryeo hasn’t confirmed the future of these guys.

But since there was no need to scratch that bastard ‘deliberately,’ I just nodded.

“I will keep it in mind.”

“Don’t just say so, um…… seeing them, the songs were good. But the composer doesn’t belong to the company.”

Chungryeo laughed.

“It’s good to buy off the composer.”

“……!”

“It’s easy and convenient. If the song is so-so, that’s the end.”

“I’ll consider it something I didn’t hear.”

“Sharp as a knife. Got it. But don’t forget it.”

‘Why has this bastard become so talkative.’

As if he’s receiving animal therapy with a lump of puppies, he brings out words smoothly.

“Preparation for the next scene is almost finished~ 3 minutes standby!”

Fortunately, the sound that filming would resume soon echoed everywhere. People were running around busily.

‘This is the end.’

The next cut is the last for filming with this bastard too. I held back a sigh.

And just before the filming restarted, a small voice was heard.

It was a slightly hesitating tone.

“…The problem you spoke of, was it resolved well?”

“…….”

I slowly opened my mouth.

“Reasonably.”

“I see. Well… if you change your mind, or if a worry arises, contact me.”

“…I understand.”

Well, it was less chilling than before.

“Woof! Kying!”

The filming ended smoothly. Chungryeo finished filming first and left due to schedule problems.

And I returned to the dormitory carrying several sets of training suits as gifts, which were exactly the same as the training suit covered in dog hair.

As everyone had left the place for additional choreography practice, only one person who finished early was in the dormitory.

It was Cha Yujin.

“You’re here.”

“A gift??”

“Yeah. Take it.”

“Wow!”

I was plagued by a strange deja vu while looking at Cha Yujin who was gleeful after receiving a training suit.

‘…Isn’t that guy closer to a dog than me?’

Although I actively adopted it, it was a world of peculiar nicknames.

* * *

A few days later, the title choreography was completely mastered.

“Phew, choreography video complete!”

“Ah, good~”

After finishing the choreography video filming a bit early, some time was left. Without exception, everyone lay on the wooden floor and enjoyed a rest.

“Cha Yujin, you’re wearing that again?”

“It’s comfortable!”

“Ah, will it be okay if the… lo, logo appears in the choreography video…?”

“Ah, I asked and they said it’s okay. Don’t worry.”

“Heh, look at hyungnim’s speed~”

Cha Yujin was wearing the training suit I brought as a commercial filming gift for a long time.

‘Next time, that guy will be the one shooting a commercial.’

I chuckled and turned on my smartphone. Since the album pre-order had started and the cover design had been revealed, I was planning to monitor the reactions.

“Mo, Moondae-ya. Want to do a face mask?”

“Sure. Thanks.”

Although the air conditioner was running, it was hot because we moved excessively as a group. I turned the screen while using the ice pack Seon Ahyun handed over as a neck pillow.

‘It’s okay.’

Both the album covers produced by dividing the concepts into black and white for the ink-and-wash painting concept and color for the traditional painting concept received favorable reviews.

– It must be a traditional concept, I love it so much ㅠㅠ
– Victory for waiting for hanbok
– I’m going crazy looking forward to the photo cards

At first, I had a hard time dissuading the company when they said some crazy bullsh*t like, ‘Since it’s 7 solo songs, how about 8 album versions in total including the group on top of 7 colors for 7 people?’

‘It was a relief that the words to put in stickers for decorating the album or making it one of several random types among 8 worked.’

Because if the 8 versions had passed as they were, the department head would have slammed the approval without asking or questioning.

‘Come to think of it, I heard the department head was flying away soon.’

Since I had many things to talk about with company people recently from the new album to variety stage production, I heard many rumors like this too.

It was a rumor that the department head was leaving soon.

‘I should proceed quickly while the approval bot was there.’

Since the future was opaque, I had to pull and eat quickly when I could pull.

I checked the plan for resolving the status abnormality and changed the search terms for monitoring indifferently.

“Wa, want to drink water?”

“Uh… thanks.”

Seon Ahyun gave something again. I accepted the water with a slightly lukewarm feeling.

I was thankful, but I felt sorry because it brought to mind things like a bread shuttle.

‘Shall I do some monitoring for him.’

I tried to search Seon Ahyun’s name on SNS without much thought.

Then the popular search term was auto-completed.

[Seon Ahyun Dating]

“……?”

“Moondaemoondae what are you do……?!”

Big Sejin, who was cutting in, froze upon seeing the screen.

And I was also a bit flustered.

‘Seon Ahyun?’

It was an unexpected… dating rumor.
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