“A lot of things are going to change so we can focus on managing the two of you from now on.”
CEO Kim Dae-myeong had summoned the two of us as we approached our debut.
“First is your dorm. I know Yujin is currently staying at Chanhwi's house, but if that continues after your debut, people will talk. And if something goes wrong, it could cause trouble for Chanhwi's family as well. The lease is already signed, so you can move in this weekend.”
We were finally getting a dorm.
As I listened to CEO Kim Dae-myeong, I studied Yujin's face beside me.
That bastard had been asking about a dorm ever since he joined as a trainee, so I expected him to be happy. Instead, his reaction was a little subdued. Rather than pleased, perhaps he was relieved?
He had been watching his step all this time.
No matter how much my parents said it was fine, living in someone else's home must have been uncomfortable.
“Next, we've hired a manager who will be in charge of you. The manager will receive some training, then start working with you this weekend.”
A manager.
As trainees, all we did was go back and forth between home and the practice room, so there was no need for a dedicated manager. Once we debuted, however, we would have countless schedules, making a manager essential.
What kind of manager would we get?
The first person who came to mind at the mention of a manager was Team Leader Gong Min-hyeok, who had managed me before the regression.
He had stayed by my side for ten whole years after my debut, so I remembered him clearly.
‘Would he be managing another singer by now?’
I had joined a different agency than before the regression, so I had no way of knowing. I only hoped he was working with someone better than me, who had done nothing but give him grief until the very end.
“Lastly, we've also decided on a group name for the two of you.”
A group name.
I had been so preoccupied with the title song and the other tracks that I had completely forgotten about it.
Before the regression, I had debuted as a soloist and simply used my own name. But if we were debuting as a group, then of course we would need a group name.
What kind of name would we get?
“Sun & Moon.”
““It sucks.””
Amazingly, it was the first time Yujin and I had ever shared the same opinion.
“Who in the world suggested that......?”
“Ahem. It's a name I thought of after listening to your song.”
“......I don't know who came up with it, but I think it's truly excellent.”
Yujin looked at me as if I were pathetic, but I only shrugged.
It was the CEO's suggestion. We had to do as the boss said.
“I thought you might dislike it, so I prepared several other contrasting names as candidates. First, Ji-su suggested Black-and-White Twin Heroes. She said the martial-arts feel was nice, or something?”
“......”
“This one was Mi-yeong's idea: Angel & Devil. AAD for short.”
“......So that's why your NeoTube channel names are like that too.”
“Sun & Moon. I like it.”
The two of us realized that we had no choice but to convince ourselves there could be no better name than Sun & Moon.
CEO Kim Dae-myeong chuckled at our answer.
“I knew you'd choose Sun & Moon. The name came to me the moment I heard your song. You two certainly have different personalities and different styles, but your synergy is extraordinary. I'm certain you'll become singers unlike any the entertainment industry has ever seen.”
CEO Kim Dae-myeong was not wrong.
As individuals, we had both reached the summit of our respective fields, and we would do so again.
The name Sun & Moon was a fitting link between the two of us.
***
“The manager's late.”
“When is the manager going to get here?”
We had piled all our belongings in the parking lot in front of the apartment and were waiting for someone.
“Late on the first day. Already slacking.”
“Exactly.”
We were waiting for our new manager.
“But if you hadn't packed so much stuff in the first place, we would've reached the dorm by now.”
The manager was the one running late, yet somehow I became the target.
Did I have that much luggage?
Yujin had only packed some clothes when he came to our house, so he barely had anything. I, on the other hand, had gathered up everything in my room that seemed useful.
Once I had collected it all, I thought we would need a moving company. As luck would have it, our new manager had offered to bring a car and carry our things, so we were waiting for her.
“What kind of person do you think our manager will be?”
“Who knows? Oh, is that her?”
A van of the sort celebrities often used pulled to a stop in front of us.
“I'm sorry. I'm very late, aren't I?!”
“......A woman?”
A short-haired woman in a black suit stepped out of the driver's seat, catching both of us off guard.
Neither of us had expected our manager to be a woman.
She straightened her clothes in front of us, then bowed and greeted us politely.
“It's nice to meet you. I'm Lee Eun-ha, the road manager who'll be responsible for the two members of Sun & Moon from now on. I look forward to working with you.”
“......”
When neither of us responded, Eun-ha asked cautiously.
“Um, you are Sun & Moon, right?”
“Oh, yes. That's us.”
I had been too startled to speak.
“The things behind you are the luggage we need to take, right?”
“Oh, no. I'll carry that.”
While we were still flustered, Eun-ha walked over to the boxes and asked about them.
I was about to stop her, since I could hardly let a woman carry our luggage.
“Hup. This is pretty heavy. Do you have exercise equipment in here or something?”
“......Huh? Oh, yes. Something like that.”
The box Eun-ha had lifted contained several items, including a thirty-kilogram dumbbell, so it was extremely heavy.
Yujin and I had needed to carry that box together when we moved it.
She could lift it effortlessly by herself?
We stared blankly at the astonishing sight.
Belatedly remembering that the luggage needed to be moved, Yujin and I hurriedly loaded it into the back, then climbed into the van.
On the way to the dorm, we finally introduced ourselves and talked.
“How old are you?”
“I'm twenty-four.”
At twenty-four, she would have just graduated from university and started her career.
So that explained the outfit.
I wanted to talk longer, but the dorm was closer than expected, so the conversation ended there.
After parking in front of the studio apartment building marked on the navigation system, we each picked up our luggage and headed upstairs.
I had heard it was on the fifth floor and worried we would have to climb the stairs over and over with all these things. Fortunately, it was a modern building equipped with an elevator.
We entered the code for the keypad lock and opened the door, only to stare in shock.
Yujin was the first to speak.
“I want to go back.”
“You can't. We signed a lease. We can't go back.”
I barely managed to catch Yujin as he turned to leave, forcing us both to face reality.
“Wait, should we just go back?”
I did not want to face reality either.
There was no need to look around the dorm.
One room and one bathroom. That was all.
It was so cramped that once we put all our belongings down, there would barely be enough room for the two of us to lie down.
“We have to succeed.”
We needed to escape this tiny room as soon as possible.
“The room is clean and nice.”
Our new manager apparently saw things differently.
“There's a microwave, an induction stove, a washing machine, and even an air conditioner. It's fully furnished. It doesn't look like you need anything else, and you can buy small necessities at the supermarket out front.”
I watched her carefully inspect every corner of the place and asked.
“Have you lived on your own a lot?”
“Oh, I moved to Seoul and started living alone when I was in university.”
Oh, that explained it.
Eun-ha ran her index finger over the windowsill, brushed off the dust it collected, and said.
“Then shall we start by cleaning?”
We bought cleaning supplies at the supermarket, then began cleaning and unpacking.
“You don't have to help us with this.”
We had called the manager because we needed help moving our belongings. Yujin and I could handle the cleaning ourselves. Even so, Eun-ha shook her head and insisted on helping.
“I'm your manager.”
Perhaps because she was new, she was brimming with determination. It reminded me that the road manager I had before the regression had been just as fired up on his first day.
‘Back then, too, I'm sure......’
When I looked back at Eun-ha, I could see that her business suit was making it difficult for her to move.
“Don't wear a suit starting tomorrow.”
“Pardon?”
“When you work with people like us, you'll have to run around all day, and there will be times when you have to wait in the car all night. How can you wear something so uncomfortable? Starting tomorrow, dress comfortably. Hmm, I mean jeans, and sneakers or canvas shoes instead of heels.”
“Oh, okaay.”
Eun-ha drew out the word and tilted her head to one side, looking as though a question had occurred to her.
I wondered why she was looking at me like that, then realized this was not the sort of advice a bastard who had only just stopped being a trainee should be giving.
“The managers you see on TV or NeoTube aren't always dressed in suits, are they?”
“Oh, that's true.”
Only then did Eun-ha nod in understanding.
“For a moment, I thought you might be a veteran rookie, Mr. Chanhwi.”
“?!”
The sudden remark nearly made my heart stop.
A singer who had fallen all the way to rock bottom had returned ten years into the past and was pretending to be a rookie, so I really was a veteran rookie.
Fortunately, once I finished giving her advice, the tension eased, and I was able to talk naturally with our new manager.
Most of the conversation was about the two of us. Knowing as much as possible would help her too.
“He may not act like it, but he's incredibly fussy. He barely moves a muscle at home, yet it's always, ‘I don't like this. I don't like that.’”
“Hey. When did I ever......?!”
“At the barbecue restaurant last time, you......!”
Eun-ha watched the two of us bicker and asked with fascination.
“Didn't you say you met about two months ago? You seem much closer than I expected.”
At that question, we looked at each other with incredulous expressions and answered at the same time.
““No!””
“You startled me. If you aren't, then you aren't. Why are you shouting?”
***
We had plenty of complaints about the dorm, but surprisingly, we had already adapted to it so well that it felt no different from my room at my parents' house.
Just before dawn.
I was chopping vegetables on a cutting board with a rhythmic tap-tap when something stirred near my feet, so I spoke to it.
“You awake?”
“......Yeah.”
The answer came from nearby.
The room was so small that the mattress lay right beside the sink, which was how I knew Yujin was awake.
He sat up with his eyes half-closed, apparently still groggy, and I asked.
“Sleep well?”
“You snore really loudly.”
“Yeah. Can't you see my cheek?”
“......What's wrong with your cheek?”
Yujin rubbed his eyes, then looked at my slightly swollen cheek and jumped in surprise.
I had never realized it when we lived at my house because I was the only one who slept on the bed, but this bastard's thrashing was a work of art. Didn't he slap me across the face in his sleep? Then, when I turned away to avoid that, didn't he drive his elbow into my back?
I wondered if he was actually awake and checked, only to find that he truly was asleep, which made the whole thing even more absurd.
We needed to buy a bed as soon as possible.
“If you're awake, get moving.”
“Okay.”
Without needing detailed instructions, Yujin unfolded the low table and set out the plates and utensils.
His ability to understand what I meant from the slightest cue was the kind of coordination that could only come from spending a long time together.
If Eun-ha, our manager, saw this, she would surely insist once again that we really were close.