on the way to greatness

teaser, part 3

And just like that, Kwon’s peaceful life at Hybe Corporation was over.

Being a junior trainee manager was one thing. Helping trainees with their needs, making sure they keep the snacking to a minimum, evaluating which ones would be capable to continue next month (and which ones wouldn’t) - those were all things Kwon knew he got.

Working towards forming a cohesive group of girls based on his teams’ evaluations and understanding, all while keeping in mind the needs and strategies of at least a dozen other departments? That was hard.

Even harder? Working with Kim Eunbi on a daily basis. 

“I really think we should be considering -”

“Which one is it this time?” He couldn’t help snapping, voice harsh and low with irritation. “Which one of your pity projects are we supposed to include in the thing that will define our entire careers?”

This late into the night, after hours upon hours of countless stress, Kwon could barely contain himself anymore. He used to think he was so good at keeping up a straight face, remaining cool and composed when faced with a difficult situation. He never had to deal with sharing a room with a grown- woman who absentmindedly hummed Girls’ Generation’s Oh when she worked and tried to sneakily eat pink gummy bears when she thought he wasn’t looking.

Said woman opened , and Kwon could just see the pink stains the food coloring left on her tongue. “I’m not -”

“Oh, come on, spare me the highly unconvincing attempt at justification and let’s get it over with.”

Eunbi pursed before speaking again, “Kwon Wonyoung.”

Kwon tried not to groan out loud. He really did.

“How can you possibly consider her as a potential member?”

“You’re the one who wanted to add her to the list to begin with!”

“I had no problem with adding her to the list.” He corrected, rubbing his temples with his fingers and trying very hard not to scream. “But the Chief Manager is right, we don’t need any connections to GLAM. Do you not know how the rules of this game work?”

“But she’s been with Big Hit for so long!” exclaimed Eunbi, “She’s twenty three, all she did her entire life is train. How can we just discard her?”

“Because,” said Kwon slowly, as if speaking to a petulant child, “It is not our job to care. She took a risk, she wasn’t good enough. It’s not my fault she’s twenty three.”

Eunbi looked at him as if he was the one who wasn’t sensible. “She’s still young! Besides, you’re the one pushing for Takayami Sora! They’re the same age!”

“Takayami Sora can be an asset to the team. She is an extremely good dancer, she’s charismatic, she’s beautiful, she’s versatile enough to be able to perform different concepts well -”

“She can’t control her sarcasm and attitude. That’s a scandal waiting to happen.”

“Everyone is a scandal waiting to happen when the standards are so high.” Kwon pointed out.

Eunbi smiled at him so coldly that shivers ran down his spine. “Now who’s pretending to not know about the game rules? You know about her relationship with that Japanese boy.”

“I don't know actually. We don't have any proof that they're in a relationship, but relationships can be easily broken.”

“Spoken like the heartless bastard that you are.” Eunbi sighed, standing up and gathering her belongings. “I’m going home, there’s no point doing this today, it’s 2AM already and Sihoo was pestering me all day to come home early. Let’s continue with the trainee interviews tomorrow, we need to give a report to Chief Manager Minhyun by the end of the week. I say we start with Ryu Dalyi.”

Kwon swallowed, eyes narrowed into slits as he stared at Eunbi. But if his co-manager knew what she did, she was awfully good at concealing her own psychological victory. Her hair fell over her face, framing it softly. She looked as tired as he felt, but the softness of her expression captivated him. She never looked at him like that.

Without saying another word, Kim Eunbi left. Kwon failed monumentally at not staring at her back.

The door swung shut behind her, and he groaned loudly, spinning in his chair to face the glass windows.

The full moon shone brightly, illuminating his eyes with the worst sort of irony.

Kwon couldn’t contain himself. He smacked his head against the desk and screamed.

Lee Suyun eyed him and Eunbi with the suspicion of a cornered animal.

Honestly? Kwon couldn’t blame her. If he was her (and he never would be, he reminded himself, he was too smart for that), he’d be pissing his pants.

“Why… am I here?” she asked slowly.

“It’s okay Dalyi, you’re not being reprimanded for anything.” Eunbi told her with a sickeningly soft voice. The younger girl’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

“You must’ve heard about trainee evaluations conducted by management.” Kwon said, clearing his throat. She turned her gaze at him, eyes retaining their suspicion. He took a sip from his cup of coffee and met her gaze with a declaration of a challenge.

“This is Kim Kwon, and I’m Kim Eunbi,” his co-manager said.

For the first time since she entered their office, Dalyi’s eyes widened. “Oh. Like IZ*One.”

Eunbi cocked her head, “I’m sorry?”

“Kwon, Eunbi.” said Dalyi, as if it was obvious, “You’re Kwon Eunbi together.”

Kwon choked on his coffee. 

“Oh, like IZ*One-sunbaenim!” exclaimed Yang Solbi, eyes sparkling with delight.

Kwon tried very hard not to groan.

“Your names sound kind of familiar together.” said Takayami Sora, before realization struck. “Oh, like Kwon Eunbi-sunbaenim!”

Kwon dodged Eunbi’s heeled attack as he face palmed.

Hong Eunchae grinned devilishly and tried very hard not to snicker.

“Oh, like -”

“Yes,” said Eunbi, gripping her steaming mug of coffee with white-knuckled hands, “Like Kwon Eunbi from IZ*One.”

Kwon Wonyoung smiled sheepishly, “Someone told you that before?”

“Yes.”

By the end of the week, when they finished at last with trainee Seo Yerim, Kwon was ready to die alone in a dark corner of his overpriced flat. By the looks of it, Eunbi wasn’t doing all that better.

Everyone knew about the interviews. The rumors spread like wildfire among the trainees, who became more cautious and desperate at the same time.

This was made even worse by the fact that the managers of Le Sserafim’s team were starting to conduct their very own interviews. Even NewJeans’ team, which was supposed to have been sealed shut for over a year now, was snooping around. Some of the trainees (like Seo Yerim, if her not-so-subtle smirks were anything to go by) quickly realized that more than one group was being prepared for debut, and tried to squeeze out as much information as possible. Others started up. Most started staying up for hours on end at the company, training harder. Kwon noted that some have dropped a noticeable amount of weight.

It made every day feel even more like a battlefield. But Kwon’s only ally was Kim Eunbi, who was seemingly busy fighting him at every step of the way.

Kwon had never felt so exhausted in his life. Eunbi, he noticed grimly, had sallow skin and hadn’t even barked at him all day.

Even Chief Manager Lee Minhyun noticed.

“That bad?” he asked them after they handed him their weekly report.

Kwon wanted to tell him that it was easier to graduate with top marks from SNU than to work with Eunbi while crumbling under the mountain of pressure from Hybe executives and national anticipation about the company’s new girl groups. 

Instead, he said, “June is already ending, we're supposed to enter production in less than a month, yet we have no tangible lineup in mind. It’s proven difficult to find girls that can fit all three concepts of the sub-units, as well as look cohesive in one overarching group whose concept we still don’t know.”

Minhyun raised an inquisitive brow, “Why would you do such a thing, then?”

“Sir?” asked Eunbi.

Minhyun looked at them in that way of his that always made Kwon seem very young and stupid. “Bang Sihyuk and Kim Taekwang’s vision obviously revolves around the sub-units, not the group itself. No one said that members need to fit all three. Have you studied other groups with a concept like that?”

“If you exclude Loona where the units were nothing but a marketing stint, there’s only really NCT,” said Eunbi, ruffling quickly through her files to pull out the analysis the two of them had written, “But it’s a different situation. They don’t have one overarching group, for one.”

“Their units are also quite similar in concepts,” added Kwon, “Though they have members like Mark Lee that can shift themselves to fit most concepts, their members mostly stick to one or two units, even Lee Taeyong.”

“Well, there you have it then,” said Minhyun, “It doesn’t matter if the unit concepts are too different. Treat each of them like its own group, and think about which trainee would fit. After that, we’ll think about how to mash them all together into one group. It might not even prove to be a problem, so let’s not make it one before we must.”

But it sure seemed like a pretty big ing problem. Groups were usually built around one core concept, with each member carefully picked to fit it. That’s why NewJeans kept its members under such a tight lock. Why Bang Sihyuk and Kim Taekwang ignored such a fundemental law of idol group production was beyond Kwon’s imagination.

“So basically, we need to build not one group, but three.” Eunbi said as she leaned against the wall before their own office and ran a hand through her hair.

“Four is more likely,” he corrected, “There’s no way we can ignore the big group, the entire brand name depends on it.”

“You’d think anyone of the higher ups would’ve realized that, right? Considering they have years of experience with it. We're industry fetuses and we can clearly see the problem.”

“I don’t think most of them see it, though.” said Kwon, “They came up with BTS, right? But they only ever had them for years before TXT, and Enhypen was a survival show, rigged as it probably was. They had a lot of beginner's luck. They’re pretty new to all of this, and they’re drunk on money and power and think that they can do everything. How much experience does Bang Sihyuk really have when it comes to coming up with group brands? Kim Taekwang’s not that much better, himself.”

“But then what was that about the algorithm, big data bull they told us before?”

“Well, money still needs to be earned. You can take risks, but not too many risks before it becomes not profitable to do so.”

“God, I hate this so -” Eunbi’s obnoxious Zico ringtone rang, and she picked it up mid-sentence, “Oh, Sihoo, honey, hi! Yeah, I missed you too.”

Kwon wanted to vomit.

“Oh, I just came out of a meeting with my boss, what about you? Ooh, really? I don’t know if I can go home yet, I think there’s still more work..?”

Eunbi looked at him, the question on her lips. Grimly, Kwon shook his head. Even if (and that was a big if) in some wicked alternate universe he would've wanted to indulge her moron of a boyfriend, in their stupidly complicated reality they had a pile of papers and emails to go through before they could start what remained of their meager weekend.

Eunbi nodded, “Yeah, sorry babe, I can’t. I still need to - what? Yeah, I know it’s the weekend - I - I know, but what do you want me to do? Sihoo, you know how important this job is to me, I can’t just - Babe, come on, don’t be like that - Sihoo -”

Kwon could hear the line go silent. It took Eunbi a few moments to lower her phone from her ear.

She sighed heavily, and for the millionth time these past weeks looked as tired, as thoroughly exhausted as Kwon felt.

“How do you do that? Maintain a relationship with a job like ours?” She asked him, and he felt a sincerity to her question that forced him to answer without his usual spite.

“I don’t. We’re not so different from idols, except our pay is . But we all give up certain aspects of ourselves for the things that we believe in. I want to do great things, I know I can’t be a regular person to do that.”

Eunbi looked up at him, surprise in her eyes. “You want greatness too?”

“Naturally.”

He wanted everything. 

“And you’re not going to even try to maintain some sort of normality?” She asked. “I… don’t want to break up with Sihoo.”

“I tried.” Kwon told her honestly as the moonlight reflected on his face. “It never works out.”

“Maybe it just didn’t work out for you?”

“Maybe. You’re free to try, Kim Eunbi. You can tell me how it went when you’re a thirty-year-old housewife with three kids and clinical depression.”

“Sihoo wouldn’t -”

“Wouldn’t he? Doesn’t he want the most regular life for himself?” He said, jeering at her to mask the surprise (and embarrassment and disappointment) he felt at knowing so much about her boyfriend’s character. “In what world would he be willing to marry someone who has to stay up late in the office and go on world tours and figure out how to make this ing mess of a group into super stars?”

He knew he lost her at the exact moment her eyes lit up. “You think we could do that? You think Pop Girls can become that big?”

He smirked. “Naturally, they’re a Hybe girl group. And they have me.”

Eunbi rolled her eyes, but Kwon thought he could see amusement flash across her face. “And for a second I thought we were having a genuine conversation. I forgot you’re a ing .”

His smirk grew into a wolfish grin as he opened the office door and gestured for her to go in. “Why? Have you been staring at it? I don't think it's appropriate between colleagues.”

They still had so much to do if they were to achieve greatness. Their work had just begun.

upperclass themes 2014 ©