Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols - Chapter 171



Only Noblemtl

| Episode 171. Office Remodeling

The first day of filming for ‘In My Office’ has arrived.

The meeting time I was told was 9 o’clock, but I didn’t want to get stuck in traffic on my way to work, and I wanted to check out the atmosphere on site in advance, so I left early and ended up arriving two hours early.

“Lee Wol-ah, there’s still a lot of time left. Do you want to wait in the car?”

“No. There’s still a lot I don’t know, so I have to go and learn quickly. I’ll go to the site right away!”

So I’m just wandering around the scene without getting in the way.

It was my first time seeing something like a drama shoot. It was quite interesting because it had a different atmosphere from a music video shoot.

‘The set was well made.’

I heard that they rented an empty office from an existing company and filled it with props, but the props showed signs of use. I thought that the props team must have worked hard.

As I was leaning against the wall and glancing at the scene, the director’s expression gradually became more and more serious.

The way he alternately pointed at the paper in his hand and the partition seemed to suggest that something was seriously wrong.

“No, the installation team just left it like this and then withdrew?!”

The director’s shout hit the scene. Everyone’s eyes turned to the director.

“Did you even look at the layout? Man, these newbies are really hitting the mark.”

The director was roughly tossing his head. No one dared ask the director what was going on.

The expression on the assistant director’s face, who was looking at a piece of paper that appeared to be a layout chart next to the director, also became serious.

“How long do you think it will take if the installation team leaves now?”

“Even if I come right away, I’m on my way to work… … . I may arrive on time, but I don’t think I’ll be able to finish the work on time.”

“How can all the actors come at 9 o’clock? No, they’re not even people who’ve only worked for a day or two. Why would they make such a mistake?”

Eventually, discussions began to arise about calling back the withdrawn installation team.

I quietly observed the situation and then cautiously asked a staff member who had just separated from the director’s group.

“Excuse me, is there a problem?”

In response to my question, the staff member looked around and whispered.

“You know, our male protagonist’s seat. It’s in the wrong place.”

“Where are you sitting?”

“There is a separate seat for the team leader, but it looks like the installation team arranged the seats exactly the same as the office next door to this company. They didn’t look at the layout.”

In a field where cameras have to move back and forth dozens of times in one space, this could be considered a major problem.

But still, isn’t it just a matter of moving the seat to its original location? It doesn’t seem like it would be that difficult.

“Should we move now?”

At that time, there was also a suggestion from the other side to change the table arrangement.

There are more than a few men here, so moving a few tables and organizing props would be a very tough task, but it could be done in two hours.

However, the director’s permission was not granted.

“Is it enough to just move the seat? The LAN cable! All of that is already molded, but are you going to tear it all down and start filming? Or are you just going to show the main character’s computer not being able to connect to the internet every time? Don’t you know that the viewers are zooming in on all that?”

The point was that you can’t touch the internet cables laid on the floor. That’s usually not the case. Unlike furniture companies, LAN cables are installed by a separate construction company.

But, there are only a few computers, and at best, you can only connect a LAN cable to the port… … .

“Hello, Director. I’m really sorry for interfering.”

“Mr. Lee Wol? Why are you here so early?”

“I hurried a little because I thought it would be bad if the youngest one was late. But would the problem be solved if Team Leader Ji moved to another position?”

The director made a strange expression at my words.

“Yes, that’s true… … but it’s not easy right now. Let’s have a meeting first… … .”

“I, I think I can do it… … I’ll work carefully, so can you organize it for me?”

A look of disapproval passed through the director’s eyes.

That makes sense. There’s no time, and I’m the one who’s stepping forward, but to others I’m just a twenty-one-year-old kid.

“I appreciate the passion, but this is all intertwined. I had to pre-process the lines so that they wouldn’t get caught on the camera or the actor’s feet. So if I tear this down, it’s a bit difficult.”

“Yes, I will keep that in mind and organize it.”

“What did you say?”

In episode 1, I had only two lines to say.

I stopped by the shop early in the morning for these two lines. After filming is over, I have to go and come up with ideas for a fan meeting. It means that even if I squeeze out all the time, it won’t be enough.

But it was hard to bear that the installation team had to come just for this and that filming was delayed while changing the table arrangement.

I took the backpack I had been carrying since the Do Young-hwan audition from the car and placed it on the floor.

And inside he took out a handful of cable ties.

I put on the work gloves I had been carrying since I started lighting charcoal in the drum, and then I started to peel off the mold on the floor. Just the necessary area.

If you were going to use it in an actual office, you would have had to match the line number so that the IP address wouldn’t be tangled.

But it’s different if it’s on a small scale like a filming set.

There won’t be any conflicts with a few PCs, and since none of them will be doing any real work, just being connected will be fine.

This way, you can just change the lines in a rule-of-thumb manner without having to change the entire table layout.

As I bit into a few cable ties and worked hard to tie up the wires, old memories came to mind.

Those were the days when I had to buy insulating tape and wrap bare wires myself, and was mobilized for molding work every time the office was moved.

Thinking back now, I think I did all those things because I was crazy.

Because the existing cable management was neat, the work desk only had to be moved two or three times. I crawled under the desk again, tied up the protruding cables, and re-taped the molds that had been torn off.

Finally, I kicked the mold with my foot to check that it was not dislodged.

“Director, is this the right way to end it? If you check the location, I’ll move the props!”

The director, who had been blankly staring at me, nodded.

That’s what I told you. It’s not a difficult problem.

I smiled brightly and moved the prop to the new seat. Then, the first time, I heard a staff member say, “Mr. Lee Wol, stop working and go and wait!” and the second time, I had to hear the manager say, “Lee Wol, sit down until someone calls you!”

* * *

“So? You went and did some more work?”

Lee Cheong-hyeon said as if he was tired of it.

“Otherwise, filming will be delayed. What should we do?”

“They say acting takes up a lot of time, and it really is.”

“What I’m saying is.”

This time, I agree with Lee Cheong-hyeon. After all, despite being on site all day, all I could contribute was two lines: ‘Sir, here’s the information you asked for’ and ‘For now, I think I know that going home on time is wrong.’

By the way, Mr. Ha Seo-myeong, you did the same ad-libs you did during the script reading on set. I almost lost my heart.

“Brother, that was the role of an office worker? A stockbroker?”

“Yeah. Why? It doesn’t suit you.”

“No, it’s weird because they match.”

“What the hell are you talking about… … .”

As I was shaking my head and taking out my diary, Lee Cheong-hyeon spoke from behind me.

“But it’s really strange.”

“what?”

“You know, hyung. Why does it not feel awkward to look like a company employee?”

For a moment, my heart almost stopped.

In fact, Lee Cheong-hyeon was calm and composed.

“My brother is not the type of person who wants to act like a professional. I think he was just a regular office worker.”

“Have you forgotten that I was a trainee with you guys since I was twenty?”

“That’s why it’s strange.”

I wanted to lighten the mood, but Lee Cheong-hyeon was strangely serious.

“Is it something like aspiration for a company employee? Or is it a future hope?”

“No way.”

When I was a high school student, it was my future dream, but I have no aspirations at all. I want to live a single-person household, away from the benefits of the four major insurances, including the company.

“Come to think of it, my brother knows a lot about us, but he really doesn’t talk about himself.”

It stung. From these guys’ perspective, there must have been a point where they felt like I was looking right through them.

“Do you have any questions for me?”

“Not a lot.”

“But you don’t ask?”

I opened the page I had bookmarked in my diary. Around this time, I had jotted down some ideas related to the fan meeting… … .

“I don’t think my brother will answer.”

… … The hand stopped.

I looked at Lee Cheong-hyeon, who was lying on Choi Je-ho’s bed and working on his laptop. The guy didn’t avoid my gaze.

Still, I couldn’t say, ‘If you have any questions, just ask.’

“See? You can’t just ask me right away, right?”

Lee Cheong-hyeon knew my feelings very well.

“But hyung, if you have any difficulties at work, tell me about it.”

“……suddenly?”

“Our brother touches everything anyway.”

Lee Cheong-hyeon shrugged his shoulders.

“So, tell your hyung to talk to the members about it. That way, there will be a balance.”

With those words, Lee Cheong-hyeon turned his head back to the laptop screen. He looked a little awkward and embarrassed.

I pretended not to know about those feelings and left the room with my diary and pen.

* * *

In the past, I went to Spark’s fan meeting exactly once.

At the time, UA was obsessed with verifying identity to an extreme, and I didn’t use the account of Manager Nam’s daughter to do proxy ticketing because I thought personal information was valuable… … That’s what happened.

That day, I had never received so much attention since I was born. I remember many people giving me free stickers as a gesture of their love, perhaps worried that I would feel left out.

So, how was Spark’s fan meeting itself?

What are you talking about? It was X boring.

Choi Je-ho is looking into space, Park Joo-woo is staring at the ground, Kang Ki-yeon is talking nonsense, and Lee Cheong-hyeon is the only one running around like he’s lost his way.

If I were Jeong Seong-bin, I would have called everyone to the waiting room after the fan meeting and told them to pack their bags and leave if they didn’t want to do that. Seong-bin, you should never leave this team.

‘Right now, everyone is trying to do something… … .’

How can we give the best fan meeting to our sparklers?

A large-scale meeting for this was held today in a filthy basement practice room.