Genius Manager Who Hears Voices - Chapter 53



Only Noblemtl

Episode 53

There were a total of two detached houses reserved by Pierstar.

One was their own, a sort of filming location for their reality show, and the other was used as a space for the staff to stay, monitor, and store their equipment.

And their filming continued until late at night.

Gulp.

Shiver shiver.

“Wow, this is the first time I’ve ever been on night watch like this. No, didn’t you say that was a reality show? Who wears an apron and cooks at this hour in the morning? And chicken stew at that.”

The entire front of the villa where the members were was made of glass, so if there were no curtains, the interior could be seen.

In addition, there were lights installed inside and out, so the members’ every move could be clearly seen.

Just like Han Jeong-woo, Hee-sung spoke quietly with only his face sticking out of the water in the pool.

“Just because it’s a reality show doesn’t mean it’s all real. I heard it’s going to be 10 episodes long, so I guess it can’t be helped if they film it all in 3 days.”

“No matter what, I think I need to sleep… … . Really, I think it must be really hard to live as an idol.”

Han Jeong-woo whispered to Hee-seong, who nodded silently.

“But, Manager… … . Shouldn’t we be leaving now? The sun’s going to rise soon. Then they’ll find out we’re here.”

Han Jeong-woo shivered as he scooped up pool water with his palm and then threw it away.

“The water has cooled down now, so it’ll soon be like stream water. Ugh, you said you’d keep the water lukewarm all night.”

Even in the middle of summer, you can never stay in the water at dawn for long.

So, Heeseong paid a whopping 200,000 won and asked for lukewarm water, and the owner listened to his request, even though he looked at him like he was crazy.

So, I was able to hold out pretty well up until now, but as the water gradually cooled down, my body started to tremble.

Heeseong nodded obediently, looking at Han Jeongwoo’s swollen and shrunken finger joints.

“Thank you for your hard work. Go to your accommodation first. I’ll just go and find something for a bit.”

An hour later, Heesung and Han Jeong-woo, who had just finished showering, satiate their hunger with a warm cup of ramen.

No matter what anyone says, ramen is the best after playing in the water.

After quickly finishing a bowl of noodles, Han Jeong-woo let out a deep breath as if he was finally ready to live.

“Whew~ As expected, ramen is best when you take it out of the water, right? It’s been a long time since I felt that way since I was discharged from the military, haha.”

“Thank you, Han Jeong-woo. It would have been difficult to do it alone, but thanks to you, I was able to proceed as planned.”

“Hey, what is it? It’s not someone else’s job, it’s yours. I have to help you with both hands and feet. Thanks to you, I also had a lot of fun, feeling like I was filming a spy drama. It was really thrilling! Hehe.”

If it was just a matter of standing guard, Heeseong could have done it alone.

However, it was impossible to do surveillance and infiltration at the same time, and Han Jeong-woo’s presence in the middle made things much easier.

Even though there were fewer staff members than during a typical broadcast shoot, it was definitely annoying to have strangers wandering around the set at that time.

“By the way, no matter how much I look at it, I can’t feel anything strange. What did you catch, Manager? You said earlier that everything was going according to plan.”

Instead of answering Han Jeong-woo’s question, Hee-sung put his cell phone on the table.

Then I launched the app that said voice recording and touched one of the files at the top.

-Yes, Ji-ae. Even if all the other members leave, as long as you remain in this world, I will work for you until my body breaks. Once a manager, always a manager, right?

-… … Oppa, is it really possible to be this touching? Are you really going to keep that promise?

-Then how can a man say two things with one mouth? You were the first person I heard about in the debut group. So of course you were the one I saw the longest. Hehe. Now you are like family to me.

Han Jeong-woo raised his eyebrows and asked at the voices of the man and woman that suddenly flowed out.

“What is this, Manager… …? How did you record this?”

“When Mr. Jeong-woo was guarding the area earlier, I sneaked in and hid it. I couldn’t just stand guard all night without getting any results.”

“You left your phone behind? Where is it…? You didn’t go inside the dorm, did you?”

Heesung started playing other files sequentially again, this time with only the corners of his lips raised.

-Lena, if your dream is to be a solo artist, you don’t have to stay with the members. To put it bluntly, are you the only one here who can write lyrics and compose music? The group is good, and loyalty is important, but you can’t leave anything behind that you’ll regret. If you say you’re going solo, oppa will follow you no matter what?

– Yuji, is it hard? As the youngest, you can’t help but get picked on by your older sisters. I know that. If not me, who else would know? The company only thinks of it as a business relationship. Just trust me and follow me. I’ll guarantee your future.

The time recorded in the audio file was a whopping more than 5 hours.

The transcript contained conversations between Yong Han-soo and each member of Pierstar, and they were all one-on-one.

In other words, Heesung’s guess that he was gaslighting the members in an octopus-like manner was correct.

Han Jeong-woo asked again, seeing the names and voices of different members flowing out as he skipped through the files.

“Where on earth did you put your cell phone that I can hear these people talking so clearly? Judging from the noise, it doesn’t seem like they’re indoors.”

“It’s on the back gravel road between the two detached houses. I think that’s probably the only blind spot.”

“Blind spot?”

Heeseong explained, nodding his head.

“Since it’s a reality show, I thought there would be cameras installed everywhere in the dorms except for the bathroom. So while Jungwoo was waiting for Yong Han-soo in the pool, I watched from a different angle. No matter how real it is, there must be a short break.”

“Then, on that gravel road, Manager’s cell phone… …?”

“Whenever I had time, I would go there and smoke a cigarette. The members would also sit on the sofas there from time to time. I thought I could get something meaningful out of it.”

Since the filming concept itself was to film the members for 24 hours, there was no instance of all of them appearing at once.

Manager Yong Han-soo waited there and when a member came out, he would exchange a few words with them and then go back in.

I thought that if that continued all night, I would definitely get something out of it.

Since it was a blind spot without cameras, it wasn’t that difficult for Yong Han-soo to hide his cell phone when he was away.

“Wow, you’re really amazing, Manager. At this level, you should be working for the government, not the entertainment industry. Why, there are things like that, like the National Intelligence Service.”

“I only managed to hide a cell phone, but anyway, it was worth the night’s vigil.”

Han Jeong-woo asked cautiously, looking at the cell phone on the table.

“Then what are you going to do now… …? Since you recorded it secretly, I’m afraid you might end up in trouble with your manager.”

Heeseong smiled, confident that that wouldn’t happen.

“I think that if I close my eyes for a bit, there might be some welcome guests.”

***

As Heesung said, a group of people did visit the filming set the next day.

To be exact, it was the team leader and executive level people at GEM Entertainment, and the information was found out while listening to Yong Han-soo’s recorded conversation the day before.

But the problem was their attitude as soon as they saw Heeseong.

“Why is this guy here? Didn’t you say we rented this entire villa?”

“Oh, yes. That’s true, but I heard these two people reserved a separate room at the end… … . They said they came for vacation.”

“Vacation? Seriously, this isn’t even funny. There are so many pensions and resorts in Jeju Island, why did you book this place? It’s the day our kids are filming?”

GEM Entertainment headquarters director Joo Seung-ik glared at Hee-seong with eyes full of caution.

“Tell the owner here that he’ll give you a full, no, full, sum of money, and that we’ll reserve everything, including the annex. Let’s reserve the room today.”

“… … Yes? Oh, today?”

“Don’t you understand? Shouldn’t this have never happened in the first place? It’s just a girl group photoshoot, so how can you let any outsider come and watch? Huh?!”

“No, that’s not it… … This person is Jeong Hee-seong, the hottest person these days… … .”

“Whether it’s hot or not, meet the owner immediately and resolve the issue. Until then, filming will be halted.”

Everyone looked at Seungik Joo and Heeseong alternately with faces stained with bewilderment.

Because I thought, is this something that needs to be done like this?

However, Heeseong seemed to have a rough idea of ​​the reason.

“You don’t have to do that. I was just about to check out today anyway. Are you Chief Seungik Joo?”

“Do you know me? I don’t think I’ve ever met you before.”

“I’ve heard about it little by little. I wanted to meet you once, and you came at a good time.”

There was only one reason why he showed such hostility from the very first time they met, even though they had never met before.

Because Heeseong is a manager who doesn’t belong to any organization.

This was not ignorance, but a kind of strong sense of caution.

We could not help but know the extent of his abilities through rumors and articles, and Pierstar had already expressed his intention not to continue his association with GEM.

In that situation, I thought that he was trying to pull off an obvious trick by visiting this place among the many accommodations.

So, after receiving a report that Heeseong had visited this place last night, the head of the headquarters, Joo Seung-ik, personally flew here on the first plane.

From the other side’s perspective, who had no idea about the situation, it was an attitude that could only be seen as a natural response, as they were worried about losing the members.

Hee-sung slowly walked towards Seung-ik Joo with a kind smile as if he understood.

And then she spoke softly, in a voice that only he could hear.

“I think it would be best to clear up any misunderstandings first… … If you don’t mind, could you buy me an ice cream?”

***

After a while, Huggins, the luxury ice cream brand that was paid for with a corporate card, was placed in front of Heesung.

At Heeseong’s words that if he was going to buy it, he wanted to try it, one of the staff went to the convenience store in the resort and bought it.

It used to be so expensive that I couldn’t even think of eating it, but when I scooped up a big piece with a spoon and put it in my mouth, it tasted good.

“What is this? What is this USB?”

“You bought me such expensive ice cream, so shouldn’t I pay for it? Haha. What’s in it will be a great help in renewing the members’ contracts.”

“… … Renewal of contract?”

At the mention of contract renewal, Joo Seung-ik’s eyes, which had been filled with caution, changed slightly.

“I told you, I think we need to clear up the misunderstanding first. A baby loach was making a mess of the pond, so I went to do some scooping for him. Now it’s up to you, Chief, to decide what to do with the baby loach that you caught.”

With that, Heeseong asked while sticking a spoon into the ice cream container.

“The head of the headquarters must have also come from a managerial background, right?”

“Isn’t that obvious? It’s not common for people to come up here without any experience.”

“Then, I guess the director’s cell phone also has an automatic call recording function set up?”

“It’s essential. For managers, it’s like a document and a seal. They have to keep it because they don’t know what someone might say. That’s why all of our GEM managers have a rule that they only use mobile phones with that function.”

As expected, it was as expected.

I asked because I remembered something I had heard from Jeongwonho the other day.

I once mentioned in passing why managers don’t use Company A’s cell phones.

I thought that would come in very handy today.

“But why are you suddenly asking about the automatic call recording function?”

Heesung smiled with satisfaction at his question.

“Ask Mr. Yong Han-soo to give you his cell phone for a moment. Then listen to the automatically recorded call made around 8:20 p.m. on July 8. The answer to your question will be there.”

Genius Manager Who Hears Voices