Chapter 19 - Relax My Arm?
“Ehehe, a great victory!”
After the recording was over.
Kanade made a V-sign with her fingers and ran to Baek Hyeon-woo.
“Manager-nim, did you see? I won!”
Overturning everyone's expectations, Kanade achieved a complete victory against Da-hee.
It was to the point where Da-hee couldn't properly manage her expression, and her manager was stamping his feet.
On the broadcast, Da-hee's parts will probably be edited out a lot, and it will focus mainly on Kanade.
The production staff had intended to show Kanade making mistakes and looking tearful... but in the end, they would probably fill the screen time with Kanade acting all high and mighty and triumphant.
“I did as you told me, and it really turned out just as you said, Manager-nim! You're the best, Manager-nim!”
“It's thanks to you working hard, Kanade-ssi.”
“Well, there is that aspect, but!”
Watching Kanade speak while puffing out her chest, Baek Hyeon-woo checked the status window once more.
–––––––
[Kanade]
Vocal: B
Dance: B
Visual: A++
Potential: S
Body Condition: 75%
Mental Condition: 100%
– Mental Condition is very good.
– A plus correction is being applied to Visual.
–––––––
Her Mental Condition was a whopping 100%.
It seems she's a kid whose mood really fluctuates easily.
‘On top of that, there are two pluses attached to her Visual. This is a first.’
Baek Hyeon-woo examined Kanade's face once more.
Her eyes were truly twinkling, and she was exuding a charm like a character from a comic book.
If there are two pluses attached, is an expression like this possible even for an A-rank Visual?
“Why are you staring at my face like that?”
At that moment, Kanade blushed slightly and took a step back.
“You haven't by any chance fallen for me, have you? It would be problematic if a manager saw an idol as a romantic interest...”
“Don't worry. You're not my type.”
“That's so mean!”
In that moment, her Mental Condition suddenly dropped sharply to the 70% range.
Just how severe are her mood swings.
“You said it would be problematic.”
“Still, my pride gets hurt when I hear things like that.”
“As an idol, I think you are the most charming. So please recover your pride.”
This wasn't something he just made up to cater to her mood.
Because Kanade, when she had two pluses attached to her Visual, really looked like the most charming idol.
“H-Hm, is that so? So you like idols like me, Manager-nim...”
In an instant, her Mental Condition rose to the 90% range.
The fluctuation up and down was so severe it was almost dizzying.
‘It's distracting, so I shouldn't look anymore.’
As he was thinking that.
The surroundings became a little noisy.
The remaining staff were all flocking to one side.
“Hello, Seo PD-nim!”
“It's been a while!”
Even Da-hee's manager, who had been holding onto the program's production staff and talking about the editing direction, had run over there.
The one they were clinging to was a middle-aged man in a turtleneck sweater.
Watching him exchange greetings with people with a gentle expression, Baek Hyeon-woo dredged up his memory.
“If it's Seo PD-nim...”
“Ah, that's PD Seo Dong-cheol... you don't know him?”
“I heard about him from Team Leader Park.”
PD Seo Dong-cheol is a PD specializing in variety programs who represents TVX.
After raising his stock at a public broadcasting station, he moved to TVX, and he is evaluated as having raised the level of TVX's variety shows by a notch.
He had been making singer or music-related variety shows with the junior production staff commonly called the 'Seo Dong-cheol Division', and Idol Weekly was also planned by this Seo Dong-cheol Division.
“I should go say hello.”
“I-Is that okay? It might be better to greet him when Team Leader Park is here...”
“It's better to greet him when there's an opportunity.”
Baek Hyeon-woo approached Seo Dong-cheol.
At that, Seo Dong-cheol also raised his head and looked toward Baek Hyeon-woo.
“Well now, if it isn't Newstarz's youngest?”
Seo Dong-cheol saw Kanade next to Baek Hyeon-woo and acknowledged her.
“I hear you did something great today too? Just as I thought when I had my eye on you. You have a talent for variety.”
“Ah, y-yes, s-sir, thank you!”
Kanade bowed her head with a very stiff expression.
It seemed she was nervous because she was in front of a high-ranking person.
“Keep working hard in the future. Because I might pick you as a regular for our program later.”
“Yes, yessir! I will work hard!”
The talk about being a regular was probably just lip service, but Kanade repeatedly bowed her head and expressed her gratitude.
“But you, I don't think I've seen you before...”
“Hello, PD-nim.”
As their eyes met, Baek Hyeon-woo immediately bowed his head.
“I am Baek Hyeon-woo from Haram Entertainment, and I've been newly put in charge of Newstarz.”
“Well now, you're a manager?”
Seo Dong-cheol laughed and scanned Baek Hyeon-woo from top to bottom.
“You're so tall and handsome, I thought you were an idol who came for a shoot, haha.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
“Hmm, your vocalization is good, and your posture is upright.”
Saying that, Seo Dong-cheol patted Baek Hyeon-woo's forearm.
“If you get sick of working as a manager, talk to me. I'll introduce you to an agency that picks male idols, haha!”
“M-Manager-nim, are you debuting as an idol?”
Kanade took Seo Dong-cheol's joke seriously and looked at Baek Hyeon-woo's face.
“Aren't you a bit too old to walk the path of an idol now? You have to prepare since high school like me. How about you go into trot instead?”
“No, the PD-nim is joking, so please don't give serious advice.”
As Baek Hyeon-woo retorted to Kanade looking troubled, Seo Dong-cheol laughed heartily.
“Haha, you have good chemistry. It seems like it would be fun if the two of you did a comedy routine, so look into it. A talk show with an idol and a manager, wouldn't that be fresh?”
Despite it being their first time meeting face-to-face, Seo Dong-cheol treated Baek Hyeon-woo with a very friendly attitude.
However, Baek Hyeon-woo didn't get excited or carried away by Seo Dong-cheol's attitude.
This was because he hadn't forgotten the tip that Team Leader Park Yeong-ho had given him.
‘On the outside, he seems like a friendly person who jokes around well... but he said his true nature is that of a very cold-headed person.’
Many entertainment agencies try hard to get on Seo Dong-cheol's good side to get their celebrities on TVX variety shows.
But it's said that there are almost no cases where they achieved proper results.
When you meet him face-to-face, he takes a friendly attitude as if he'll grant any request, but that's only for that moment.
If you don't know that and keep pushing it, you'll instead incur his wrath.
‘Did he also say there was an agency that ended up on his blacklist after launching an all-out offensive of flattery and entertainment to get their idol in?’
So don't be mistaken just because PD Seo Dong-cheol treats you well, and don't do anything that oversteps your bounds.
That was Team Leader Park's advice.
“Then keep working hard. Let's see each other for a long, long time.”
Finishing the conversation like that, Seo Dong-cheol turned his head.
Watching Seo Dong-cheol, who was about to talk with other staff members, Baek Hyeon-woo opened his mouth.
“PD-nim, do you have a moment?”
“Hm?”
Seo Dong-cheol turned his head again and looked at Baek Hyeon-woo.
“What is it?”
The staff members who were around made surprised expressions.
Because Baek Hyeon-woo had essentially interrupted Seo Dong-cheol, who was about to converse with someone else.
Has he lost his mind, for a rookie road manager?
Everyone was looking at Baek Hyeon-woo with gazes that said as much.
Even Kanade was tugging on Baek Hyeon-woo's sleeve, feeling anxious.
“Manager-nim, why...”
If Park Yeong-ho had been here, he would have gotten angry.
Saying, you've made your first greeting, that's enough, why are you being so greedy.
He would have scolded him, asking why he was acting so impulsively when he could have just stayed quiet and gotten by.
‘Yes, to just get by without any trouble, I just have to do nothing and stay quiet.’
It was the same during the 'Idol Weekly' recording earlier.
If he wanted to just get by, all he had to do was play the tennis game normally and lose to Da-hee.
Because the production staff was also expecting a scene where Kanade gets thoroughly beaten by Da-hee and makes a tearful face.
If he had done that, it would have gone by without any trouble.
However, Baek Hyeon-woo didn't want to do that.
When the best method was visible to him, there was no reason to deliberately just get by without trouble.
Compromising while being mindful of every little thing was something he had done to the point of being sick of it when he worked at the orthopedic clinic.
He had finally escaped that place and come to the entertainment industry, so there was no need to be like that here too.
It was the same now.
When he could see it so clearly, he couldn't just stay quiet because he wanted to get by without incident.
“PD-nim, is your wrist by any chance uncomfortable?”
“Hm? My wrist?”
Seo Dong-cheol made an expression as if he'd been caught off guard.
“How did you know that?”
“When you were patting my arm earlier, I felt that something was a little strange.”
A moment ago, Seo Dong-cheol had patted Baek Hyeon-woo's forearm while joking that he would introduce him to an idol agency.
At that time, Baek Hyeon-woo had already felt a sense of unease.
“And you've been frequently moving your right hand this way and that since a while ago.”
“Ah…”
Seo Dong-cheol looked down at his own right hand with an awkward expression.
“It's nothing. I sprained it a little while playing with my nephew.”
“How long has it been?”
“Well, I think it's been about two months.”
Two months.
For a simple wrist sprain, the aftereffects are lasting too long.
“I've been getting medicine and electrotherapy from the hospital, but it's not healing well.”
If the ligament isn't severely ruptured, most hospitals perform that kind of routine treatment.
They prescribe anti-inflammatory painkillers and perform physical therapy like ICT, and that's it.
At the orthopedic clinic where Baek Hyeon-woo worked, treating in that way was also the principle.
However... that kind of thing doesn't become a fundamental treatment.
It's merely symptomatic therapy, just relieving pain and waiting for it to heal on its own.
Shall we call it a treatment that just aims to get by without incident.
“May I take a look?”
“What?”
Seo Dong-cheol's eyes widened, and the surrounding staff also stirred.
There were many people who were dumbfounded, as if asking, 'Who are you to examine the PD-nim's wrist?'
“O-Our Manager-nim is originally good at this kind of thing!”
At that moment, Kanade cut in with a nervous expression.
“The unnies in our group also get treatment from Manager-nim!”
“Hm, is that so?”
Was it thanks to Kanade mustering her courage and cutting in?
Seo Dong-cheol readily held out his hand.
“Well, then give it a look.”
It wasn't that Seo Dong-cheol's status window was visible right now.
Because Seo Dong-cheol wasn't a former singer.
However, it didn't matter even if he didn't rely on the status window.
Because he had seen many patients like this over the years.
‘In a case like this...’
Baek Hyeon-woo grabbed Seo Dong-cheol's wrist and quickly examined it.
Using the senses in his fingertips, he confirmed the arrangement of the bones that made up the wrist and the surrounding tendons.
‘Just as I expected.’
Having finished his check, Baek Hyeon-woo grabbed Seo Dong-cheol's wrist with both hands.
So that his thumbs rested in the space between the wrist bones and the arm bones.
“PD-nim, could you relax your arm for a moment?”
“Relax my arm?”
Seo Dong-cheol meekly followed the instruction.
Confirming that the tension had left his arm, Baek Hyeon-woo nodded his head.
Now, all preparations were complete.
“Thank you.”
CRACK!
As the wrist was twisted, the sound of bones being set echoed.