<Episode 8>
It was a refreshing morning.
I woke up even before my phone alarm went off.
“Getting the song sorted out really clears my mind.”
After stretching lightly, I got out of bed.
Even while brushing my teeth, a tune kept slipping out, and my head bobbed along unconsciously.
‘So far, everything is going smoothly.’
If things kept going like this, there would be nothing more to wish for.
With light steps, I headed to work.
“Sir.”
Just as I was about to enter the office, a staff member from the PR team called out to me.
“Is there something you wanted to say?”
“Well… there’s a new desk in the corner.”
The staff member pointed toward a corner.
There sat the desk I had hastily prepared last night for composer Han Youngjoo.
“We signed a composer. She’ll be coming in today, so I’ll introduce her before work starts.”
“Ah, yes. Understood.”
With that, I entered the CEO’s office.
Sitting down, I briefly reviewed the documents Han Suseok had organized.
I was roughly planning out today’s tasks when Han Suseok came in.
“I brought the resumes for Spade Joker’s manager position.”
I slowly flipped through them.
Among them, I saw that guy… the one who had caused an incident and forced me to regress.
[Name: Kim Hyungjung
Age: 26
Experience: Manager for boy group ‘Zet Stray’ for 2 years / Actor Chae Yoonseo’s manager for 1 year.]
This was the résumé that had caught my eye back then.
He looked kind, spoke clearly during the interview, and had solid experience.
I had thought there was no need to look further.
‘But that wasn’t the case at all.’
Even if he had experience, it was his first time working here, so I thought he just needed time to adjust.
Being a little late to schedules, making mistakes due to excessive enthusiasm…
They were annoying but minor enough to overlook.
So I just gave him a few warnings and let it go.
Never once suspecting that Kim Hyungjung had been planted by an obsessive fan of Spade Joker.
‘I didn’t even know something like that was possible.’
Thinking about that time made my teeth grind.
‘Ha… I’m lucky I didn’t break a tooth back then and have to go to the dentist.’
He had been hired by an extreme fan who wanted to file a contract termination lawsuit against the agency.
The fan didn’t care if they couldn’t see Spade Joker as idols anymore; they just wanted them to be free.
‘It’s shocking enough that fans like that exist, but the fact that someone actually took the job is insane. I never imagined errand agencies would handle something like that.’
The reason he deliberately showed up late to the scheduled meeting was to collect recordings of me verbally abusing a manager.
The mistakes he made at work were because he was distracted trying to leak internal company documents.
It was a complete disaster.
On top of that, his entire background was fake.
Apparently, he worked at some kind of errand agency and fabricated an identity to join the company.
I still had no idea how that was even possible.
‘We’re still a company, did we not even do basic background checks?’
Well, thinking about it, it made sense.
We only had about ten employees, so tasks weren’t properly divided.
Especially since the people with “team leader” titles weren’t doing their jobs properly.
“Han Suseok.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Let’s remove this person.”
I handed over Kim Hyungjung’s résumé.
“This person?”
Han Suseok quickly skimmed it and looked at me, confused.
“Yes.”
“Are you sure? I think you might’ve mixed him up with someone else. He has solid experience and no red flags.”
He asked again, as if confirming.
But no matter how many times he asked, my answer was the same.
“It’s him.”
Just thinking about the funeral wreaths that were sent to the company back then made me sick.
Fortunately, he hadn’t found Spade Joker’s unfair contract.
But he did expose other issues, like the company failing to hire proper composers and choreographers, and leaving them in a living space unfit for human habitation.
The situation escalated into articles and eventually even made the news.
If the system had given me a mission to become the most talked-about company, I wouldn’t have needed to regress… it was that impactful.
At least I regressed before ending up in prison.
‘That was the one time I was truly grateful for regression. Avoiding a prison ending… that would’ve been horrific.’
“Han Suseok, think about it. Doesn’t it seem suspicious that someone with this kind of résumé would apply to our company… especially for an unknown idol group?”
“That’s true.”
Objectively, an experienced applicant choosing a company like ours made no sense.
“So I looked into him. Turns out, he’s a scammer.”
“A scammer?!”
Han Suseok’s voice rose sharply.
Unable to believe it, he shook his head wildly and even slapped his own cheeks.
“What do you mean, a scammer?”
“He was hired through some errand agency. A fraud.”
“To scam our company?”
Han Suseok sounded baffled.
As if wondering what there was to gain.
‘Honestly, there’s almost nothing to gain from scamming us.’
If money were the goal, our company wouldn’t be the target.
If Spade Joker were top-tier idols, maybe someone would try to poach them… but that wasn’t the case either.
There was simply nothing here worth targeting.
“You remember that fan who kept emailing the company about Spade Joker?”
“How could I not? They sent long emails every single day asking for better treatment. Recently, they even started sending letters. It’s disruptive, but since there are no threats or insults, we’ve just let it slide. But why?”
“They hired him. To file an unfair contract lawsuit and set Spade Joker free.”
Han Suseok froze.
His eyes stayed open, completely still.
“Han Suseok? Han Suseok?”
I waved my hand in front of his face.
After a while, he finally snapped out of it.
“Is… this confirmed?”
“Yes. I heard it directly from the person involved.”
Not in this timeline, but around the 3rd or 4th regression.
Still, it wasn’t fabricated.
“That’s shocking. Is that why you rewrote Spade Joker’s contract?”
“Well… you could say that was part of it. Hearing that made me think about a lot of things. I felt uneasy… and also guilty toward them. Anyway, that’s why we’re removing this guy.”
Han Suseok nodded.
“Understood. We definitely can’t hire him. That’s terrifying, creating a fake identity just to get hired…”
I was just grateful he accepted it so quickly.
“Then the others are fine, right?”
“Yes.”
“We should be more careful when hiring people from now on.”
“Right. Please take care of that.”
Han Suseok nodded firmly.
“And if possible, I think this person would be good.”
“This applicant has the weakest résumé, though.”
“That’s true, but they also have the fewest disqualifying factors. And being a manager isn’t something you can handle without strong mental resilience. Sure, Spade Joker members are easygoing, so they won’t cause stress… but once comeback prep starts, it’s not just day-night reversal. You barely sleep.”
Being a manager required real passion.
The pay wasn’t great, and the working conditions weren’t good either.
‘When I avoided Kim Hyungjung and hired someone else, they still ran away after I trained them.’
If they came back after a day, that was already lucky.
Many just disappeared entirely.
Some quit by throwing resignation letters in my face.
Others simply vanished, leaving Han Suseok and me to cover their workload.
It only made things harder.
‘Spade Joker’s lack of recognition made even securing music show slots difficult… so honestly, I understand.’
If it were a popular idol group, it would’ve been easier.
Work would be divided, and they wouldn’t have to beg writers or PDs.
If they were lucky, they might meet a kind PD.
Otherwise, even after buying coffee, they’d get scolded harshly.
I had experienced it myself.
I once offered a vitamin drink to a PD while asking for a music show slot, and got chewed out endlessly.
I had suspected he wasn’t listening when I introduced myself as “CEO,” and it turned out he really hadn’t heard it.
Since I was only in my mid-thirties, he must’ve assumed I was just a team leader or manager.
He later apologized after finding out, but it clearly wasn’t sincere.
If that’s how he treated a CEO, how would he treat a manager?
“Understood.”
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