Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols Chapter 519 - Friend (4)

After dinner, following a session of silent dishwashing with Choi Jeho, we went to the living room, and his mother pointed toward his bedroom door.

 

“Choi Jeho, Miho said you should sign these before you leave since you’re already here. She says everything’s ready on the desk.”

 

At his mother’s command, the guy headed obediently to his room.

 

Left alone in the living room, I was looking for a place to sit when the closing door opened again.

 

“Hey.”

 

Choi Jeho gestured from inside the room. He immediately got scolded out loud by his mother for his rude habit of calling a friend ‘Hey’, rather than using a name. As a dutiful guest, I desperately shielded him, saying, ‘Ma’am, Jeho always talks like that; he doesn’t actually mean any disrespect’.

 

On the ivory-colored study desk, two stacks of about thirty sheets of A4 paper sat side-by-side. A memo placed on top of the paper caught my eye.

 

On one of them…

 

【Hello. This is Choi Miho.

Thank you so much for spending time with my brother.

If it’s okay, could I ask for autographs for my Sparkler friends?

My friends told me that you like jjolmyeon, so I prepared some.

I’m sorry to ask for such a favor when you came here to rest.

If you would be willing to sign them, I will never forget your kindness.

Have a happy Chuseok!】

 

……A remarkably long message was written there. Sure enough, next to the A4 paper, a 4-pack of jjolmyeon and a 500ml bottle of an ionic drink welcomed me.

 

I’d seen memos like this often while doing proxy stanning. Whenever people traded photo cards or bought and sold secondhand merchandise, it wasn’t unusual to receive slightly awkward but incredibly polite letters like these. Whether she’d received advice from Jeyoung noona or if it was a skill she’d built up through her own hobbies, she was a talent already perfectly capable of writing business emails.

 

On the other hand, the memo presumably meant for Choi Jeho was incredibly concise.

 

【Sign these before you go】

 

It didn’t even have a period. Even the normally unflappable Choi Jeho seemed dumbfounded. He looked back and forth between my note and his, then let out a scoff.

 

We spread the stacks of paper across the living room table and worked hard on the autographs. I even drew cute little doodles in the margins. For an idol trained to sign fifty or a hundred pages at a fan sign event, thirty pages was a breeze.

 

And before anyone starts questioning my character—I would’ve done it even without the jjolmyeon. If she wanted to give them to friends who like Spark, of course I should comply. With all the sincerity I could muster, I gently blew on each signature so the ink would dry faster.

 

* * *

 

The fan-less fan signing event ended successfully(?). After the ink dried and we gathered the papers, a plate of fruit was brought to the table.

 

We chatted while eating dessert, and before we knew it, it was evening, so we had dinner. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d spent an entire day just sitting around and eating like this.

 

It wasn’t often that I ate this much, but under normal circumstances, I would’ve gone to play basketball or hit a nearby gym to work it off. At the very least, I would’ve gone out for a run around the neighborhood.

 

‘If only I hadn’t been fighting with Choi Jeho.’

 

The guy didn’t say a single word to me unless it was absolutely necessary. Now that the situation was reversed, I couldn’t even fathom what he must have been thinking while promoting with me for years.

 

On the surface, nothing showed, and things were quiet as long as I didn’t provoke him—but the fact that he was clearly hurt by me was driving me crazy. The only reason a disaster hadn’t happened sooner was 100% thanks to Choi Jeho’s indifference.

 

But now that I knew the whole story! Especially now, sitting in Choi Jeho’s room!

 

I felt miserable. The guilt and embarrassment were so overwhelming that I couldn’t even lift my head. Ah, Kim Iwol. Why did you have to redirect all that anger at poor Choi Jeho…?

 

While I was putting on a one-man show of emotional turmoil by myself, Choi Jeho brought in a mountain of bedding. Spreading a set of blankets on the bed, he said:

 

“You sleep here.”

 

“How can I do that as a guest? I’ll sleep on the floor.”

 

“If I step on you in the middle of the night, don’t blame me.”

 

All I’d said was that I didn’t want to inconvenience the homeowner, yet I got a chilling warning in return. Knowing him, he really could step on someone without hesitation. Not out of malice, but purely because he had terrible night vision.

 

“…In that case, I won’t refuse.”

 

I obediently accepted the host’s offer. Getting stepped on by Choi Jeho would definitely result in a hairline fracture. I survived a traffic accident without breaking anything, only to get injured in my sleep? At that point I’d really become a schedule-destroying menace. Even the angelic Jeong Seongbin wouldn’t let me off the hook then. So, I decided to just lie low and protect my body.

 

‘Besides, I came here for a different reason.’

 

I swallowed a sigh. Something as important as reconciliation awaited me.

 

+

[SYSTEM] A work instruction from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ Assistant Manager Kim, are you really sure about this? You won’t regret it?

 

[SYSTEM] A work instruction from the ‘Superior’ has arrived.

▶ I didn’t think you had it in you. You’ve really changed.

+

 

The System appeared over Choi Jeho’s back. As he stood up after bending over, his face was obscured by the System window and the text.

 

“Move. I’m laying out my blanket.”

 

Thanks to that, I couldn’t see what kind of expression Choi Jeho was making. Hmm, maybe that actually made this conversation easier.

 

“Choi Jeho.”

 

“Don’t talk to me.”

 

“You’re right.”

 

The guy, who used to get fed up just by me calling his name, paused.

 

“I knew everything.”

 

The System had said that after I achieved the final KPI, its control over me would weaken. It had been telling the truth. My speech, which had always been blocked whenever I tried to talk about Spark, the past before the regression, or the System, was free today.

 

“It wasn’t just the traffic accident. I knew the lighting was going to fall on stage, too. I received the revelation too late to prepare perfectly, though. Oh, but don’t blame me for the Yoo Hansoo thing; I didn’t know that man was coming to crack my head open.”

 

“What the hell are you doing right now?”

 

Before the traffic accident, I had negotiated with the System regarding the synchronization rate increase caused by that event. There were two reasons for this.

 

One was to buy a bit of time.

 

The other was…

 

“You said I should have spoken up. So I’m doing it. It’s too late now, but… it can’t be helped. Things turned out this way.”

 

…Because I knew a day might come when I’d have to tell my story with my own mouth.

I hadn’t particularly wished for the latter, but the time had come anyway. If anything, maybe that was for the best. I’d saved this opportunity for this very moment. Besides him, there wasn’t anyone else I could tell.

 

The text of the System obscuring Choi Jeho’s face changed. It informed me that the synchronization rate had risen to 94%. Leaking heavenly secrets was definitely tough. My rate went up by 1% just for blabbing this much.

 

“If I hadn’t gone, that child would have died. It was an accident meant to have a fatality. So ‘avoiding’ wasn’t an option.”

 

“Shut up.”

 

“The reason I couldn’t discuss it with you or the others wasn’t that I didn’t trust you, it was…”

 

A sharp pain shot through the bridge of my nose, as though someone had punched me square in the face. My face burned like I had a fever.

 

+

[SYSTEM] The ‘Final Maintenance’ details are being notified to the ‘Subordinate.’

▷ As the ‘Subordinate’s’ synchronization rate has reached 95%, a final check on whether synchronization is progressing normally will be conducted.

▷ The maintenance will take a certain amount of time.

+

 

“Hey!”

 

Choi Jeho shouted. My t-shirt and pants were soaked with blood from my nose. A large hand blocked the area under my nose with a cloth.

 

“…So this is how it happens.”

 

“Just shut up.”

 

“Leaking the secrets of the universe results in punishment. I poured blood after spoiling the Korea-Japan match result, too.”

 

Choi Jeho gripped my nose tight. I thought it was going to fall off. A nasally sound escaped with every word I spoke.

 

“When the lighting fell on stage. I did regret it, just like you said.”

 

The hand that had been about to cover my mouth to stop me from talking flinched at my words.

 

“But it wasn’t because I thought saving you was a mistake.”

 

“……”

 

“It was because I had lost something of my own in exchange. I paid for it with something other than a nosebleed. Even so, it was a matter of life and death; would I really regret saving a life?”

 

Choi Jeho fell silent at my words. Even when I grumbled about what kind of monster he took me for, he remained silent.

 

“And you… you seemed to believe that I hated you because I had a problem with you…”

 

“I told you to shut up.”

 

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

 

My stomach felt scorched and sour. Nausea surged. At the feeling of a fireball rising up my esophagus, I opened my mouth, and something began to leak from the corners.

 

“I was just prejudiced against you. Because of something involving someone other than you.”

 

“Will you stop talking? Hold on. I’ll call 119…”

 

“I wonder why I was like that. You did nothing wrong, and it was just my own personal problem.”

 

The rims of my eyes were uncomfortably damp. I wasn’t sad, but it was strange.

 

“I’m sorry for making you feel betrayed.”

 

+

[SYSTEM] The ‘Synchronization Rate’ is being notified to the ‘Subordinate.’

▷ Current Synchronization Rate: 96%

+

 

The System flickered. The window looked a bit red. I knew my vision turned yellowish when capillaries burst, but this felt different somehow. While I stood there absentmindedly, a cloth covered both of my eyes as well

 

“Stop talking.”

 

He seemed to be trying to bark a command, but his voice sounded pathetic. Is this punk… scared?

 

“But don’t be too upset.”

 

“For f*ck’s sake. You can still talk even in this state?”

 

Choi Jeho nagged me for all he was worth. Even while my face was being rubbed like bread dough, I had to say what needed to be said, so I forced my mouth open.

 

“I’m only telling you.”

 

If my synchronization rate was going to keep rising with time anyway, then I’d rather fill that progress by opening up my heart. I wanted to put off the end forever, but if it had to come, I wanted to give him at least a minimum level of understanding. It was the greatest sincerity I could offer him in return.

 

“I kept my word of loyalty.”

 

The cloth that almost flattened my face finally pulled away when I was on the verge of suffocating. My bright blue t-shirt was now dark and murky.

 

Only then did I realize the entire air smelled of iron, and that my eyelashes felt sticky every time I blinked. When I wiped the corners of my eyes, a smear of blood remained on the back of my hand.