There I was, baggage in one hand, an envelope in another and my pitiful self in front of a white metal door. The corridors of the apartment block seemed pristine and I felt that my mere presence was the one soiling its look. Then again, I was going to be a sore thumb anywhere in Korea so I might have as well gotten used to being out of place. Before I had been suddenly thrown into the mosh pit that was the Korean entertainment industry, I had been a former hotel manager with a few years of experience under my belt. I really meant a few because one could count with one hand how many years I had used my diploma in tourism management and I meant former because I had been kicked out by management. Incompatibility was the reason that they had flung at me when I questioned them but cost-cutting was most definitely it.

Now for the reason why I am suddenly right smack in the middle of urban South Korea, you see, it was my uncle who was the cause for this mess. He had been one with a web of connections. In fact, his network of peers run so deep it was rather hard to distinguish whether the people who attends his lavish annual birthday parties were just distant relatives or business partners. He was just amiable with everyone that investors, stockholders and entrepreneurs fall onto his lap like shibas on a July summer. So, it was no surprise that he had befriended people with very prestigious appointments overseas including some of the top billing in the entertainment industry in Korea. He came to me with an offer – an opportunity to use my management skills to the test. He said it was some sort of “performance review” to see if I was really worth my salt. Being unemployed for about seven months, I immediately shook his hand. My mistake was not asking for more detail because the next thing I knew, I was shoved into an airplane to Seoul. He had imparted with me an envelope containing a letter which stated how “this is a chance of a lifetime and you should embrace it and work hard.” … just in case his friends in high places see me as valuable enough of an asset in their companies. That was the thing. I was a hotel manager so I expected to be heading at least the housekeeping division of some hotel down in Busan or something … not a girl group.

And there I was once again, at the white corridor of some apartment complex. I was about to be received by some singers who would take me in as their manager even though I do not know a single about their career or the entire Korean pop culture. This was the most outrageous form of winging it that I have ever done in my life. Thankfully, my uncle’s friend have not left me to the vultures completely. He armed me with nine thick dossiers about each member of the alleged girl group that the previous manager apparently wrote. Each dossier must have weighed at least a couple of kilograms but the wisdom they contained all but made up for the weight that was slowly pulling my spine backwards. I barely read a page of each dossier but I can already derive the conclusion that this was going to be one hell of a gig. Different needs, preferences, wants and even goals were listed on each dossier like the previous manager worked for a military intelligence agency and not JYP Entertainment. I could barely even recall their individual names and faces yet I was getting ready to manage the hell out of this group. I pressed the electronic bell diligently. It was the most agonising minute of my life, standing with a pair of queasy legs and a jetlagged mind. I flicked the lint of my coat and subtly pressed misshapen follicles of my head of hair. I was going to be their manager so I pondered to myself, might as well look the part. My long awaited moment had finally arrived for the door began to emit a sort of creak, as if it had been recently oiled but not enough lubricant had been applied to the joints. It just kept on revealing the innards of the matte white apartment with each inch that it moves. Finally, long flowing hair crept up from behind the door and I was about to see my very first subordinate. I had not even memorized whose mugshot belongs to who and how to tell a Mina apart from a Tzuyu but at that moment, I just told myself.

"Let's wing it."