If you ask whether a trainee even has anything worth calling a schedule, that's what someone who doesn't know AP well would say.
Of course, other agencies manage their trainees' schedules too. It would be trouble if problems came up before they even debuted.
But even among them, AP's close management was a bit out of the ordinary.
"Jae-min, this one here, yours. I think something's wrong with it......."
"......."
Because every Wednesday, they went and posted the schedule for every single trainee.
It happened to be Wednesday, and Jun-hyeok hyung, checking the schedule on his phone, asked in a flustered voice. But I couldn't give him any answer.
Because I honestly couldn't understand what was going on right away either.
[Lee Jae-min : No lessons]
The other trainees, even Jun-hyeok hyung, who was going on Recycle, had packed schedules from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., except for a single day off. After that, there was even forced voluntary practice under the name of open practice rooms.
So why was my schedule, when I was going on Recycle too, completely empty of lessons?
Thinking about it after the fact, the answer was simple. Chief Park, who managed the schedules, had pulled strings to pin me down, since I wouldn't move as he pleased.
Hah— I shouldn't have brushed off what Super Strong Dragon said.
'Tell me about it. Good thing you found out, even now.'
Listening to it pour oil on the fire, I felt my face muscles crumple on their own.
"Looks like there's been some kind of error. You'll be taking the same classes as me anyway, so let's go ask about it now."
Just then, Jun-hyeok hyung put a hand on my shoulder, offering a consolation of sorts. That had to be the best answer hyung could come up with.
Behind hyung, the other trainees were staring at me with curious eyes, too. Kim Min-seok, Chief Park's favorite, even had a glint of laughter in his eyes.
That bastard, no matter how I look at it, definitely has something going on with Chief Park.
"Jae-min? You okay?"
Unable to wait even that long, Jun-hyeok hyung shook my shoulder again.
"Yeah. I'm okay. And the schedule....... It's probably right, the way it's posted."
"What are you talking about? There's no way this is right."
Hyung didn't hide how flustered he was as he watched me answer with all the strength drained from my body. At hyung's loud voice, the eyes that had been on their own schedules turned to us again.
Drawing more attention won't do any good, so let's deal with hyung first.
"Then I'll look into this. You go to the lesson room first, hyung."
"No. Something's off. Let's go together. We're going on Recycle together anyway."
"I'm fine, so hurry and go. Coach Bae's famous for being strict about time."
So being a good person also means being annoying sometimes, because you won't back down no matter what anyone says. I never had to argue with hyung like this before, so I didn't know.
'Treat him well while you've still got someone looking out for you.'
Yeah, yeah. Now it's even nagging.
As if life weren't hard enough, my naggers had doubled to two.
"O-Okay. Let's meet up again at lunch, then."
"Yeah, yeah."
But the moment hyung heard the name Coach Bae, his face changed, and he hurried off toward the lesson room. Coach Bae, who was said to have staked everything on dance, was as strict about time as about the beat, so if he was late, he might not get to take the lesson at all.
With hyung, whose face had been full of nothing but worry for me, gone, I felt a little more at ease, you could say.
Right, now let me go do what I need to do.
"Going to ram into Chief Park?"
"Agh! No?! But is it okay for you to suddenly come out like this?"
More importantly, let's do something about this dragon that suddenly appeared. It wasn't enough to chatter inside my head; I never thought it would grace me with its presence in person like this.
At my question, thrown as I scanned the surroundings in case anyone had stayed behind instead of going to lessons, the dragon swished its short tail around and answered.
"Eh, it's fine. Other humans can't see me anyway."
"That sure is a convenient setting."
If it had told me that sooner, I wouldn't have had to put on that ugly display earlier. Unfriendly as always, I'm telling you.
"So, you're going to Chief Park?"
Since Super Strong Dragon was the one who reminded me that Chief Park made the schedules, it seemed to assume I'd naturally go confront Chief Park.
But I'm planning to go to Team Leader Seol, not Chief Park.
"No. I'm going to Team Leader Seol."
"Why there?"
Why, it asks. I'm not explaining this time, either.
"Why are you going to Team Leader Seol, I asked!"
"Ugh, shit— all you've got is a loud voice. If Park's position is managing trainee schedules, Team Leader Seol's is managing the practice rooms."
"So what?"
What the heck. Is this really the Super Strong Dragon who wrote a smash-hit idol story? I have to explain every little thing like this?
"On the surface, Park looks like he has a bit more power, but in reality, Team Leader Seol is the real top dog. If she doesn't allow it, nobody can get into the practice rooms, lesson rooms included."
"Oh. So you're going to Team Leader Seol to find an empty practice room?"
"Exactly."
Still, having it say something at least makes things feel real. Before and after coming back alike, nobody ever asked me anything, so I'd been feeling a little left out.
"Hope it works out as well as you think."
"Thanks, even if you don't mean it."
It seemed like a tail swayed in the afterimage of Super Strong Dragon as it silently vanished, but that must have been my imagination, right?
***
"Team Leader Seol, may I come in?"
"Yes."
Having left the group room like that, I went to find Team Leader Seol as I'd said. I planned to find any spare practice room at all and get in there to try doing something on my own, somehow.
It'd be a waste of the life I got back to just sit there because the road was blocked.
'Good job, Lee Jae-min.'
Yeah, yeah. You can go back in now.
"Jae-min, I had a feeling you'd come."
"Hehe."
Seeing Team Leader Seol sigh the moment she saw my face didn't make me feel great.
Then again, facing an ill-starred trainee who had barely grabbed a chance by insisting on trying to debut, only to have his lessons cut as some kind of fallout, who could smile?
"I tried to block at least that much, but it was beyond me. I'm sorry."
"Not at all. I was expecting it to some extent."
There was no subject or object. But Team Leader Seol and I understood each other.
Chief Park was someone who'd only dirty our mouths if we brought him up anyway, so letting the words trail off was enough.
"Still, you have to give me credit for holding out when everyone was against it, you hear? Do you know how hard it was pitching it to the CEO with all those people objecting?"
To lighten the mood, Team Leader Seol spun her tale of heroism from the meeting held over my appearance on 'Star Recycle.'
I'd only seen AP's CEO a few times, but I remembered the CEO as someone of few words. How hard it must have been to persuade someone like that.
"Thank you. You really are the best, Team Leader Seol! Ah, now that I think of it, I heard Chief Park objected too?"
"Where'd you hear that? Don't tell me he already called you in?"
"Yes. I'm just on my way back from seeing him."
"Ugh—"
The story Team Leader Seol went on to tell with a sigh followed a course so predictable it was almost familiar.
"Well. Since you brought it up first, I'll say it too, but Chief Park did object the most strongly at that meeting."
"......."
What on earth reason did he give for objecting?
I got the answer right away as Team Leader Seol continued.
"Chief Park said he couldn't let you appear because the two of you are working on a project together. The CEO asked what on earth this project was that even the CEO didn't know about, but......."
A project. Isn't that dressing up bleeding a trainee dry a little too prettily?
"He never answered in the end, did he."
"......."
Team Leader Seol said nothing to that and lowered her gaze.
He couldn't have said it. At least it's a comfort that the CEO really knows nothing. Absurdly enough.
'Look, look at that face. That's why you're a pushover. A born pushover.'
Of course, the best policy is to breezily ignore whatever Super Strong Dragon chimes in with after seeing my face.
"Still, the CEO actually agreed."
"Toward the end, there was even shouting about how they could send out a kid with barely any years in. But you know it too. Our CEO is someone who always takes on anyone who shows even a little 'potential.' The CEO believed in your potential."
Potential. If the CEO had placed hope in potential that even I hadn't believed in, then it's only right to repay it!
First, let's secure my practice room. A sad smile is my specialty.
"I'll never betray that trust. But, Team Leader Seol...... couldn't you open up just one empty practice room for me?"
"Actually, I was already looking into that, but that man has taken over the entire main building. I can still free up the annex, though. How about it?"
Chief Park. What a meticulous bastard.
Let's smile for now. Muscles, hold on.
"Anywhere you give me, I'm grateful."
"......Jae-min."
As expected. I can see Team Leader Seol's expression rapidly souring.
I'd say that's a success?
"I can easily do that much. But what are you going to do about lessons? You can't spend a month like this. Even if I look after you, there's a limit."
On top of that, I'd gotten talk of private lessons out of Team Leader Seol herself, so just calling it a success was underselling it.
Then shall I drive the final nail in?
"I can do it. Just as you and the CEO trusted me, I'll definitely bring back meaningful results from Recycle."
"'Star' Recycle."
"Yes. 'Star' Recycle."
I don't get why everyone's been so obsessed with the program name lately, as if it's such a huge deal whether Star is tacked on the front or not.
Anyone who knew about it called it nothing but recycling anyway.
"So which part of the annex can I use?"
At my voice, which popped out bubbly and out of place, Team Leader Seol looked up in surprise. But soon she shook her head and burst out laughing too.
"With that attitude, I think you can do anything, so that's a relief. The annex code is 0426#. For reference, you can use the entire annex."
"The entire thing?"
This is a perk I never even imagined.
I'd thought I'd be lucky to get a single practice room in a corner at best, but Team Leader Seol turned out to be someone of far bigger ambitions than I'd imagined.
"Yes. All of it. The dance studio inside, the vocal room. You're welcome to use the workroom too, all of it. This is all thanks to Chief Park's rock-bottom memory, forgetting there's even an annex."
"Looks like in trying to break me, he ended up just helping me."
Listening to Team Leader Seol's playful words, my true feelings slipped out too. Then Team Leader Seol's eyes quickly turned icy.
"Lee Jae-min, what was the first thing you learned when you became a trainee?"
A mistake. But I still had a chance to make up for it.
To protect my annex, I recited what I'd learned from Team Leader Seol the moment I joined AP as a trainee.
"Watch your words, watch your actions. I'll keep it in mind!"
"Good. Then get going. If anyone looks for you, I'll call right away, so keep your phone on ring mode at all times."
"Yes. Thank you!"
At Team Leader Seol's instruction, I bent at the waist until my nose nearly touched my knees. I'd never thanked anyone like this, so I thought this sort of thing was all poetic license, but it actually works.
Allowing a trainee to carry a personal phone during practice hours, and on ring mode at that, was an unheard-of privilege.
Of course, she was probably doing it in case Chief Park came looking to harass me, but who cares? It's all in how you read it.
'Wow— your skull's more of a dazzling flower field than I thought.'
Ah. When I go to the annex, I'll have to hear this in person, huh. With a mocking look on that stubby little body, too.
My steps, which had felt like they could take flight at any moment, slowed in an instant.
***
Bee-dee-deep—
The annex I entered as the door lock released showed off its sparkling interior the moment I turned on the lights.
"Wow— guess they keep cleaning it even though no one uses it."
"Why'd they build this and not use it? Is AP that loaded?"
The moment I talked to myself, Super Strong Dragon popped out.
It's definitely better to have a physical form than it just saying its piece in my head and running away. The scariest part is getting used to that bizarre shape too. The human capacity to adapt!
"Well— I don't really know either, but probably because there aren't enough trainees to use this place too?"
The annex was tucked inside an alley 10 minutes' walk from the AP main building, and it was built 6 months after I was selected as a trainee.
Back when K-POP's popularity was booming, they'd built it to rake in more money, but supposedly, thanks to all the other agencies that sprang up like bamboo shoots after the rain, they couldn't gather as many trainees as they wanted.
Honestly, though, it seems more like they spent too much building the annex and couldn't afford to take in more trainees.
"Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure it was Park who insisted on building this."
"Doesn't AP need to fire that guy first?"
"I agree a hundred percent."
It's nice, and not boring, having something that talks back instead of just talking to myself when a memory suddenly pops up. If I'd been here alone without even Jun-hyeok hyung, it might have been a bit much.
"So what are you going to do from here?"
But thanks to its sharper-than-expected question, I couldn't say anything for a while. Still, I can't just stay like this.
"I know. Team Leader Seol said she doesn't have time today either, so maybe I'll just watch the mirror and try dancing by myself."
"Then want me to take a look?"
"Huh?"
What's a dragon going to do? Sure, I can't do anything alone, but this isn't quite the development I was hoping for?