Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols Chapter 499 - Dare to Deceive

People don’t only feel tired when they’re sleep-deprived. Sometimes they’re exhausted because they’ve slept too much. It was contradictory, but plenty of people around me would agree.

 

“You want to borrow money?”

 

— Yeah.

 

Having slept less than four hours a day since the beginning of my debut, then increasing it to six hours thanks to the power of the three-patience notebook, the power of seven hours of uninterrupted sleep was tremendous. It took me quite a while just to process that the caller was Choi Jeho.

 

‘Wait… was he out filming earlier?’

 

There were a few guys whose schedules were still packed right up until we were set to leave the country. They were mostly fixed schedules or recordings booked months in advance. While I had already found substitutes for things like my music show MC role, it was hard to back out of appearances where a specific person was requested. Choi Jeho’s schedule fell into that category.

 

I forced my heavy eyelids open and asked.

 

“What’s the name of the plant Joowoo brought home last week?”

 

They say if someone suddenly asks to borrow money, you should suspect a scam first. No matter how groggy my mind was from exhaustion, you could never be too careful about voice phishing.

 

— Luminous?

 

Surprisingly, the person on the other end really was Choi Jeho.

 

It had taken Park Joowoo an entire week to come up with a name for the potted plant he’d adopted the previous week. Thus, the name of the plant had only been revealed as a surprise inside the car on the way home today. No one had even had time to spoil it on BubblePop yet, so it was impossible for it to show up in a search. Furthermore, Park Joowoo didn’t have just one or two plants; unless you were a fellow roommate, it was difficult to pinpoint exactly which new friends had moved in between the week before last, last week, and this week.

 

“Do you remember how many photos of Kiyeon I said I wanted to hang in the company lobby?”

 

— Two.

 

It was undeniably Choi Jeho. I ruffled my hair aggressively to chase away the sleep.

 

“It really is you. How much do you need?”

 

— …2,000.

 

It was a huge amount to borrow from a colleague. Which made it even stranger. If it had been a request for 100 or 200 thousand won, it would be one thing, but an amount that would normally require a bank loan left me thoroughly confused.

 

Though it hadn’t been officially publicized, Choi Jeho had recently bought an apartment in Gwangju for his mother and sister using the settlement money he had earned. Since that must have cost a fair amount, it was plausible he didn’t have cash on hand. It made sense if something had happened to his family and he needed emergency funds while his savings were depleted.

 

‘I already know his account, so if I send it there, it won’t be a wire transfer scam…’

 

As I rubbed my eyes and opened the banking app, a thought suddenly struck me.

 

“Choi Jeho.”

 

— What.

 

“Do you need exactly twenty million won?”

 

When people suddenly needed a large amount of money, they usually borrowed smaller portions from several people instead of asking one person to cover everything. It was easier that way.

 

Choi Jeho remained silent for a long time before speaking.

 

— …No.

 

“How much do you actually need?”

 

— 100 million.

 

It was a staggering amount. But at the same time, I was glad I asked.

 

‘If he borrows 20 million each from five people, that’s 100 million…’

 

Damn it, Better for me to handle it than let the younger members hear him asking to borrow money. I never imagined the transfer limit I’d increased in case I ever ran into my older sister would end up being used for this.

 

With trembling hands, I found Choi Jeho’s account among my bookmarked transfers. Perhaps because I was on a call or because it was a late-night transaction, a pop-up appeared: ‘Is someone asking you over the phone to transfer money?’

 

I had thoroughly verified his identity, and I was sending it to an account I had traded with many times, not a new one. But regardless, if this bastard ran off with my money, I would chase him to the depths of hell to get it back…

 

“I sent it. Check it.”

 

— Huh?

 

“I said I sent it. So don’t talk to the kids about money.”

 

— Hey, wait a second.

 

“Take care of whatever’s urgent, and once filming’s over, come back to the dorm and tell me everything. I’m going back to sleep.”

 

I wanted to grab Choi Jeho right then and there and demand he explain every detail of his situation, but he had a schedule. And I was too tired. It wasn’t a suitable situation for either of us to continue the call.

 

Having lost sleep over the past few days due to dreams of being beaten up over my self-composed song, my desire for sleep was too powerful to resist through willpower. So, whatever Choi Jeho said, I just told him to finish his shoot well and hung up.

 

Exactly three minutes later, Choi Jeho called again.

 

“What now? I told you you can explain later…”

 

— It was for a broadcast!

 

Choi Jeho shouted from the other end. Various voices mixed in: ‘Mr. Iwol, It’s me, ○○○!’, ‘We’re filming ○○○○ right now!’.

 

“…Pardon?”

 

My drowsiness vanished as if it had never existed. I bolted upright and turned up the brightness of my phone. At the very top of the screen sat an unread message from Choi Jeho.

 

* * *

 

The events of last night could be summarized as follows:

 

Introduction: On the variety show Choi Jeho appeared on, they played a common ‘Phone Mission’ game where the team that ‘borrowed the most money from an acquaintance’ would win a specific round.

 

Before getting to the middle of the story, though, there’s something you need to know. Usually, the ‘surprise’ phone calls viewers see on screen are arranged in advance to obtain the party’s consent.

 

‘Surprise’ was just a term for dramatic effect. Naturally, Choi Jeho followed the same rules to avoid actually startling the other person. Since he couldn’t ask the younger members for money—even if it was just for a show—he chose me through the process of elimination. Before the call, he clearly left me a message saying, ‘I’m going to call you for a mission’.

 

Choi Jeho confirmed that the time he was recording was too early for me to be in bed. And as always, he was certain I would see the message within 30 minutes of receiving it.

 

The tragedy began the moment I failed to see the message because I was dead to the world. While Kim Iwol was snoring away, the mission train departed the station without him…

 

Development: Choi Jeho assumed I had seen his message and mistakenly thought, ‘Kim Iwol is diligently playing along for the sake of his colleague’s smooth recording’. Following his teammates’ instructions, Choi Jeho asked to borrow 20 million won. When the teammates sensed an ‘OK’ was easily coming, they told him to raise the limit to 100 million, and he followed orders.

 

Twist: I actually sent 100 million won and kindly pressed the ‘Yes’ button on the screen that asked, ‘Would you like to request a transfer confirmation from Choi Jeho?’

 

Conclusion: The transfer notification immediately flew to Choi Jeho. Checking the alert, Choi Jeho realized that Kim Iwol had sent 100 million won and that the person on the other end of the line had not read the advance notice he sent. Thus, Choi Jeho hurriedly called back to reveal that it was a recording.

 

On the broadcast, everything was shown except for the industry secret that phone missions were staged. Apparently even Choi Jeho’s teammates and the production staff had assumed I knew the situation and transferred the money to make the segment feel more realistic, only to find out the truth later after Choi Jeho confessed.

 

The post-broadcast reactions were beyond devastating.

 

≫ A friendship where you casually lend someone 100 million won.

“How much do you need?”

→ Transfers 100 million

This is a whole different level of swagger.

└ The friendship I knew isn’t even friendship.

└ If that’s what a friend is, I definitely don’t have any friends.

└ Idols rake in money, so what’s the big deal ㅋㅋㅋ

└ People keep saying celebrities have lots of money, but if someone suddenly called you in the middle of the night asking to borrow 100,000 won—or even a million—could you really lend it without even asking why?

└ It’s not like Kim Iwol grew up sheltered and clueless about the world… he definitely lent it with a big heart.

 

≫ It’s my first time hearing his voice that groggy, so he really must have taken the call while sleeping, but he sent it without even asking the reason.

At the same time, the fact that he thoroughly verified the caller’s identity first is so Kim Iwol.

└ Iwol is going to film a voice phishing prevention ad soon.

└ Seeing how he said he was going straight back to sleep after sending the money, he must have been really tired. It’s so sad but funny how he snapped awake when they told him it was a hidden camera ㅠㅠㅠ

└ The way he equipped his Idol Vocal Cords the moment they said it was filming: ‘HELLO, THIS IS SPARK’S IWOL!!!!’ ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ But just like Iwol said, you really have to be careful of !voice phishing scams!…! Iwol said he only sent it because the identity was verified and it was an account Jeho usually used. There’s no harm in being careful, so everyone watch out ★★★★★

 

≫ CJH is one thing since there were cameras, but KIW’s tone of voice is the same whether he’s in front of the camera or in private.

Besides calling him by his full name, there’s not much difference.

His unique way of speaking is the same.

└ ㅋㅋㅋ The first idol in broadcast history to verify an identity using a roommate’s plant name.

└ An idol who doesn’t curse? Likable.

└ I guess their conversations are usually like that, seeing how CJH didn’t think it was weird ㅋㅋ

└ Their dry back-and-forth where only the two of them are somehow perfectly in sync… my own precious comedy duo…

 

Best friends, they say. To have it widely known that I’m besties with Choi Jeho of all people! Why him! Why Choi Jeho!

 

≫ Seeing how they both like basketball and soccer, if they had gone to school together or been in the same class, they would have been really close ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Their overall vibe is kind of similar. Even their visual style.

└ At first glance, they seem alike, then when you first get into the fandom, they seem completely different, but after following them for a long time, they somehow start looking alike again. Such a weird same-age duo…

└ The funniest part is that they both think the other one is an incredibly strange person.

└└ Agree with the comment above ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

 

≫ You know that feeling when they look more comfortable because they don’t try to look close?

Usually, if they don’t act affectionate enough, people ask ‘Do they hate working together…?’ or ‘Don’t they care what the fans think…?’

But Jeho and Iwol just do their own thing indifferently, yet they don’t look awkward or uncomfortable.

└ Isn’t it because they are the types to look out for each other subtly without invading personal space??

└ Maybe it’s because they’re both just stoic except for when they’re working? Give them a pizza blanket—they’ll use it. Give them a floral shirt—they’ll wear it.

└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Iwol is crying ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

 

Perhaps because the recently aired variety show was the school visit, people had become obsessed with pushing the narrative that Choi Jeho and I were genuine best friends beyond simple co-workers.

 

It was miserable and agonizing. Choi Jeho and I were complete opposites in terms of personality, so why couldn’t people understand that we were simply incapable of becoming close? I was pretty sure there were MBTI compatibility charts floating around the internet, and I strongly insisted that someone needed to check the compatibility between mine and Choi Jeho’s MBTI.

 

After seeing the broadcast, Lee Cheonghyeon commented that the maknaes feel very reassured because the older brothers get along so well. Because I was so sad and heartbroken, I strongly appealed to Jeong Seongbin that I wanted to have a healing time by not sharing a room with Choi Jeho at all during the tour. Jeong Seongbin laughed until he was on the verge of tears and said he understood. There wasn’t a single person in the world on my side.