I Became the CEO of an Idol Company in a Game – Chapter 1

Author: Cireng

“…Mr. Pyo. Sir! This is driving me crazy. Sir, this is not the time to be sleeping!”

At the familiar pattern, my mind snapped awake in an instant.

“You can sleep in a situation like this?”

Brown hair and an expression that somehow looked wronged.

It was Han Suseok, my secretary and the general team leader.

His surname was “Han,” his given name “Suseok.”

Seeing Han Suseok, the one who used to be nicknamed “top” during his study abroad days in the U.S., wearing that dark brown suit made my head throb.

‘Damn it.’

Again.

After attending a reunion I couldn’t skip because the penalty was 500,000 won, I woke up the next day to find myself possessing the mobile game I occasionally played, “Raise an Idol.”

Ding.

A familiar notification sound rang out.

[(Mission) Save the agency from crisis and make it the number one in the industry.]

[Time limit: 3 years.]

[Reward upon success: Return to the original world.]

“Ha…”

A sigh escaped my mouth on its own.

I was simply sick and tired of this situation.

Why? Because I had already failed nine times.

This was exactly my tenth regression.

The causes of failure were all different.

Ridiculous rumors, scandals, internal company issues… every single day was too eventful to even put into words.

I clenched my teeth and threw myself into work, but it was impossible to cover everything.

‘I’m going insane.’

Just moments ago, I had been watching Spade Joker receive the grand prize at a year-end awards ceremony, shedding tears of joy.

I had been filled with anticipation, believing that I could finally break this loop.

If only that problem hadn’t happened back then, I wouldn’t have had to regress again.

‘I really thought it was over this time.’

At first, during the early attempts, I judged Spade Joker to have no potential, shoved them aside, and tried launching and raising other idols instead.

But I failed every single time.

So I changed my strategy and decided to properly raise Spade Joker.

That turned out to be the right answer… once they got a good song, they skyrocketed.

‘And I thought that was the end.’

My teeth trembled with anger.

I couldn’t understand what I had done to deserve going through something this horrible.

Was this karma for setting the settlement ratio at 1:9 because I thought it was “just a game” before I got possessed?

Or was it karma for working the idols like zombies, never considering their stamina?

‘Or… is it both?’

If that was the case, it felt incredibly unfair.

It wasn’t even in reality… it was just a game.

‘There are people way worse than me in real life. It’s a game, that’s why I did that. So why am I the one going through this? By that logic, people who shoot others in FPS games are worse. Besides, after I got possessed, I treated them as people, not characters.’

“Sir! I’m telling you, this is an emergency.”

I could hear Han Suseok urging me, but I said nothing and looked around.

The wall full of bookshelves, the table in the middle, even the sofa, nothing had changed at all.

‘This system is seriously vicious. If it’s already the tenth time, you’d think it would at least give me something out of pity.’

After repeating this ten times, I had reached the point where I could recite everything Han Suseok was about to say.

‘Spade Joker ran away as a group! This is not the time to be sleeping! Sir, do you really want the company to go bankrupt like this?!’

“Spade Joker ran away as a group! This is not the time to be sleeping! Sir, do you really want the company to go bankrupt like this?!”

The exact lines I had just recalled in my head came out of Han Suseok’s mouth without a single word different.

‘As expected.’

“Sir, even though you rarely came to work and often showed irresponsible behavior, I stayed by your side until the end. Do you know why? It’s because of what you told me when you first established this agency.”

As I looked around, my gaze landed on the nameplate on the desk.

[Ramos Entertainment CEO John Raid Lombardi.]

It was the agency and character name I had set when I started the game.

I had named it on a whim while watching a western movie, but if I had known it would become my real name, I would have at least chosen something normal.

At the very least, I would have used my real name, Kang Hajin.

‘It’s seriously hard to look at.’

Feeling nauseous, I flipped the nameplate over.

“Sir, you are listening to me, right?”

Han Suseok asked, staring straight at me.

“Yeah.”

I answered briefly and stood up.

“Where are you going right now?! I told you they ran away!”

“Exactly. We need to go find them. Let’s go.”

Grabbing the red jacket draped over the chair, I strode forward.

Han Suseok, seemingly not expecting me to say I’d go look for Spade Joker, stood there blinking in confusion.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming?”

“I–I’m coming!”

With a dazed expression, he hurried after me.

***

The sun had completely set, and darkness covered everything outside.

Without streetlights, you wouldn’t be able to see even a step ahead.

The members of Spade Joker sat by the Han River, their faces hidden by caps and masks.

Coming from all over, they had once shared a grand dream when they first began their trainee lives.

To become successful idols.

But reality wasn’t sweet.

At first, they gritted their teeth and endured, believing trainee life was supposed to be difficult.

Whenever a fellow trainee and friend was suddenly eliminated without warning or reason, they felt anxious and uneasy, but they buried those feelings and kept practicing.

“Phew.”

As if on cue, the members of Spade Joker let out a collective sigh.

They could only resent their past selves for foolishly believing everything would be solved once they debuted.

“I’m tired.”

The leader, Cain, spoke in a weary voice.

He knew he should lead and comfort the members as the team leader, but he couldn’t.

There wasn’t a shred of emotional room left in him.

When he first made it into the debut lineup, he had been so happy he felt like dancing.

It meant he was one step closer to his dream.

But as time passed, that joy faded.

The settlement ratio stayed at 9:1, and the general team leader doubled as their manager.

If there was a schedule and the team leader was busy, they had to travel uncomfortably with the CEO.

Despite never having composed or written lyrics before, the company told them to create songs themselves to cut production costs.

The songs the members taught themselves to make were terrible.

Not even worthy of being called B-grade.

With songs like that, reaching number one was impossible.

[Spade Joker, scheduled for a comeback in the second half of the year. However, expectations are low.]

[Spade Joker, the idol group with the most comebacks this year. But what about the results?]

[The public shakes their heads at news of Spade Joker’s comeback.]

Even when searching their name, the article titles that came up were nothing but disastrous, since the company didn’t even release promotional articles.

[Seriously asking out of curiosity, why does Ramos Entertainment not sue them? Mockery on SNS is one thing, but even the articles are mocking them.]

↳ That company’s always like that.

↳ You can’t expect anything from them. They even disband active groups suddenly. They literally made history in the entertainment industry. They once even moved offices without telling their own artists.

Just a few SNS posts were enough to understand how Spade Joker was being treated.

To the agency, “Spade Joker” was nothing more than a money-making machine.

“What do we do now?”

The youngest, Leejoo, asked worriedly.

Exhausted from endless schedules, events, and concerts, they had left their dorm impulsively and ended up at the Han River, searching for an open space.

“I don’t know. Let’s just not think about anything.”

“Sora’s right. Let’s just stay like this for a bit. Thinking only gives us headaches.”

After that, silence fell.

The air around them felt heavy, as if weighed down.

“We’ve been active for four years, and we haven’t achieved anything properly.”

They had plenty of work, but it brought neither money nor fame.

Every activity was meaningless.

While idols who debuted around the same time performed at university festivals, cheered on by crowds, Spade Joker didn’t.

They spent four to five hours traveling by car to rural local festivals.

Even there, the audience was mostly elderly, so they couldn’t even perform their own songs.

They had to sing trot songs endlessly before stepping down.

Whenever that happened, it felt strange.

It was as if the passion they once had when they first dreamed of this path was being slowly eaten away.

Their hearts felt empty.

“It doesn’t make sense that we don’t even attend year-end award ceremonies.”

The main dancer, Juseok, let out a bitter laugh.

“They say there’s no benefit and it’s just a waste of money. Is that something an entertainment CEO should say? Do you think all those other companies are stupid for sending their idols? Are they idiots or something?”

Resentment toward the CEO, John Raid Lombardi, began to pour out.

“Do you not even remember what you said when you first brought us in? You said you’d make us shine. You told us to trust you just once. But what is this? Honestly, if the company had just supported us properly, I wouldn’t blame you. I knew becoming a successful idol was hard.”

“Same. If the company had just done the basics, I would’ve blamed myself instead. I’d have found all the reasons in me.”

They didn’t need to say more to understand each other.

“How much longer do we have to endure like this?”

“Three more years.”

It was a seven-year contract.

Now in their fourth year, three years remained.

Realizing they were only halfway through made their expressions even darker.

***

After roughly getting the address from Han Suseok, I left the driving to him.

“The Han River? Sir, why the Han River all of a sudden?”

“Do they have money? Do they have a car? If they feel suffocated, where else would they go besides the closest place? to the Han River.”

Han Suseok seemed to understand immediately and started the engine.