Saturday.
Ban Jeon contacted him.
[Joo Sung, can you be here by seven tomorrow morning?]
Joo Sung checked the time and stared at his phone in disbelief.
[Seven? What kind of schedule starts at the crack of dawn?]
[A manager gets up at three in the morning whenever there's a schedule.]
[You insane bastard.]
Only then did Joo Sung realize that the life of an idol manager was far more grueling than he'd imagined.
The next morning.
Joo Sung hurriedly finished getting ready and arrived in front of Building 101 at Royal Palace, where Ban Jeon had told him to go.
A little while later, Ban Jeon showed up.
“Ohhh, Joo Sung. Seeing you first thing in the morning, I realize you're really ugly.”
“You get around just fine after looking in the mirror, so I figure I'm doing pretty well by comparison.”
Joo Sung looked up at the apartment building.
“So this is where idols live these days?”
“This is our agency president's parents' place.”
“What?”
“The company rents it from them, but we're paying about one and a half times the market rate.”
“Bwahaha! That's so like your agency president.”
Ban Jeon let out a snort of laughter.
“By the way, I know you barely ever use your PTO, so I'm touched that you're taking this much time off because of me.”
Joo Sung didn't answer.
‘I was just tired of my boring life, too.’
That was how he honestly felt.
“Hey. Hey, you.”
“Hm?”
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing. Let's hurry upstairs.”
Joo Sung followed Ban Jeon into the apartment building.
The truth was, he was a little nervous.
Friends was the hottest girl group in South Korea right now.
The thought of meeting its members in person was more intimidating than he'd expected.
“Joo Sung, I already told the girls you were coming. You just need to say a quick hello.”
Ban Jeon pressed the elevator button as he spoke.
“Oh, and the lady who helps with cleaning can't come for a few days because of a personal matter, so the place is going to be kind of chaotic. Don't make any weird faces.”
“They're probably too busy running through their schedules to keep things tidy.”
Joo Sung answered confidently.
Then the doors opened.
“Come on in.”
Joo Sung opened the front door and stepped inside—then froze.
‘Huh?’
Clothes that were impossible to tell whether they had been worn or not were strewn all over the living room.
Stacks of unopened gift boxes, apparently sent by fans, were piled up in one corner like a mountain.
Cushions and blankets were tangled together on the couch, and even half-finished drinks were rolling around on the floor.
“Is this a place where people actually live?”
“That’s why I told you not to make any weird faces.”
Just then, one bedroom door after another began to open.
The members emerged into the living room with faces fresh from sleep.
They were in pajamas, their hair tousled.
It was a perfectly ordinary sight.
And yet, it was different.
‘Wow.’
Joo Sung thought instinctively.
‘They really are beautiful in person.’
Even without any styling, they had an aura completely different from that of ordinary people.
Joo Sung found the corners of his mouth lifting before he realized it.
Ban Jeon didn't miss it.
“You little punk. Pretty, huh?”
“What is?”
“What do you mean, what? The girls.”
Ban Jeon gestured toward the members.
“Girls, say hi. This is my best friend, Kim Joo Sung, the one I told you about. He'll be following me around for the next few days to learn the manager's job.”
“Hello.”
“Hi.”
The members greeted him in tired voices.
But one of them approached Joo Sung with an especially bright expression.
“I’ve been curious about who the best friend Joo Sung was that our manager kept talking about. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
She smiled brightly.
“Hello. I’m Mugunghwa. I look forward to working with you.”
Joo Sung was a little flustered by her far friendlier attitude than he'd expected.
“Oh, yes. Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Joo Sung.”
“Come on, you can relax around us. Ban Jeon said you’re older than we are.”
“Even so, I couldn’t presume—”
“Can I call you Joo Sung?”
“I’d actually be honored.”
“Then I will.”
Gung-hwa smiled.
Joo Sung naturally smiled back.
But the moment he glanced around, he felt a subtle sense of wrongness.
No one else was smiling.
The other members watched Gung-hwa and Joo Sung’s conversation as if it had nothing to do with them.
‘What’s going on?’
Joo Sung sensed something strange from the very first meeting.
“All right, that’s enough introductions. Let’s get to the salon.”
Ban Jeon hurriedly moved things along.
After dropping the Friends members off at the salon, Joo Sung sat down with Ban Jeon at a nearby café.
“Ban Jeon.”
“Yeah?”
“Can I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
“Why do they ride in separate cars?”
Ban Jeon’s expression hardened.
Joo Sung immediately raised a hand.
“You don’t have to answer if it’s uncomfortable.”
“It’s not that.”
Ban Jeon let out a sigh.
“I don’t even know where to start.”
“I got a rough idea just from seeing them this morning.”
“Yeah. You got the right impression.”
Ban Jeon took a sip of coffee.
“Things between the Friends members are the worst they’ve ever been.”
“Between Gung-hwa and the other members?”
“No.”
Ban Jeon shook his head.
“They all hate each other.”
“Then why does Gung-hwa ride separately?”
“President Simbo ordered it.”
“Why?”
“Because Gung-hwa makes the most money.”
Joo Sung laughed as if he couldn't believe it.
“If the conflict is this bad, shouldn’t they cut back on promotions and work things out first?”
Ban Jeon gave a dry chuckle.
“Hah.”
“What?”
“Do you think this industry works like some teen drama?”
He said it with a laugh, but his eyes were bitter.
When Joo Sung saw Friends emerge after getting their makeup done, he was amazed all over again.
‘So that’s why they’re the biggest group.’
All five members had distinct personalities.
Each had a different charm, and when they stood together, those charms came alive even more strongly.
And yet, for some reason, his eyes kept going to one person.
Mugunghwa.
They were all flowers.
But Mugunghwa alone stood out overwhelmingly.
Joo Sung wasn’t the only one.
The salon employees kept sneaking glances at Mugunghwa whenever she passed by.
Gung-hwa approached the two of them.
“What?”
“Hm?”
“Looks like the manager’s friend has already become my fan.”
Ban Jeon snickered.
“Looks that way. Joo Sung, you’re about to start drooling.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh?”
Ban Jeon looked at Joo Sung’s face, then laughed.
“You really are drooling.”
“What?”
Joo Sung ran into the bathroom.
He checked the mirror.
It was true.
“Damn it.”
Joo Sung washed his face.
But there was a problem more serious than the drool.
His heart was still pounding.
‘So this is what an idol does to you.’
Joo Sung barely managed to calm himself down before heading to the set.
The music show.
Fans waited for hours to watch a broadcast that lasted barely an hour, but Joo Sung learned that day that the singers themselves had to stay glued to the station all day long.
Rehearsal.
Makeup.
Wardrobe check.
Another rehearsal.
They grabbed quick naps in between and checked their phones.
Joo Sung watched as the Friends members moved nonstop without a moment to rest.
‘So this is how they live.’
Even people who hated Friends probably couldn’t hate them for no reason if they saw this firsthand.
Just then, Somang burst out laughing while looking at her phone.
“Gung-hwa, look at this.”
“What is it?”
“Hahaha. I think your anti-fans are seriously talented writers.”
Ban Jeon’s expression hardened instantly.
“Somang.”
“Yeah?”
“I told you not to look at that site, didn’t I?”
“You’re so funny.”
Somang snickered.
“It’s a site where our fans write and hang out. Why shouldn’t I look at it?”
“Yeah. Originally, it was a place for our fans to interact.”
Ban Jeon’s voice dropped.
“But are the posts going up there now really being written by our fans?”
“Who knows?”
Somang shrugged.
“Someone can like our group and still not want to acknowledge Gung-hwa. She has plenty of solo fans anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Somang, you keep—”
Just then, Gung-hwa stood up.
“Ban Jeon.”
Everyone’s attention turned to her.
“I’m fine, so just let her look.”
Gung-hwa forced a smile.
“I’m going to step outside for a minute.”
Gung-hwa left the waiting room.
One of the stylists hurried after her.
A heavy silence settled over the room.
Joo Sung didn’t know what to do and could only look around, trying to read the room.
Then Jin-ri, who had been quiet until now, spoke up.
“Somang.”
“What?”
“Gung-hwa is the one having a harder time than anyone right now. Why do you keep saying things like that?”
“Jin-ri.”
Somang’s voice turned sharp.
“Who do you think is ruining the team atmosphere right now? Everyone keeps tiptoeing around her, saying ‘Mugunghwa, Mugunghwa.’”
“Did you just call her Gung-hwa?”
Jin-ri’s expression hardened.
“She’s a year older than you. If she’s older, you call her that.”
“Is that what matters right now?”
“And Ban Jeon’s friend is here to help us. Do you really have to show him this side of us on his first day just to feel better?”
“He was going to find out eventually.”
Somang shot to her feet.
“He’s going to see nothing but this from now on.”
“Hey, Mal-ja, stop.”
Jin-ri said it without thinking.
Somang’s expression instantly hardened.
“I told you not to call me Mal-ja.”
Somang opened the waiting room door and walked out.
BANG!
Ban Jeon sighed and followed her out.
Jin-ri looked at Joo Sung.
“Hahaha. That was a lot to take in, wasn’t it?”
“Uh.”
“We’ve been like this constantly lately.”
Joo Sung smiled awkwardly.
“Well, people fight when they’re young. Sometimes fighting brings people closer, too.”
The staff in the waiting room burst out laughing at those words.
Joo Sung let out a relieved sigh to himself.
‘That worked.’
But a little while later.
Ban Jeon entered the waiting room with a heavy expression.
“Jin-ri.”
“Yes?”
“You know Mal-ja—I mean, Somang—hates that subject. I only just managed to calm her down.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
Ban Jeon smiled at Jin-ri.
“I know how hard it is for you as the leader. Thanks for holding on without showing it.”
After a brief pause, Ban Jeon continued.
“But Jin-ri, let’s be careful about bringing up Mal-ja from now on.”
“Yes, Ban Jeon.”
Ban Jeon looked around the entire waiting room.
“I know things are hard right now, but let’s all work together so that someday we can remember this time as a memory.”
“I’ll try harder, too.”
The staff began moving again.
Joo Sung watched Ban Jeon.
‘He’s impressive.’
Even in a difficult situation, Ban Jeon never let go of his responsibilities. It made him look a little cool.
Some time later.
Ban Jeon held out his phone to Joo Sung.
“This is the site where the fans hang out.”
Joo Sung looked at the screen.
The Friends message board.
He read a few posts.
[Mugunghwa, is she really never going to get into an accident or something? I get so pissed whenever I see her while watching our girls.]
[Anyone else throw up after seeing Mugunghwa’s fake tears on Music Convenience Store this time?]
[Yep! That was me.]
[Day 50 of praying for Mugunghwa to leave the group.]
Joo Sung read several posts, then silently handed the phone back to Ban Jeon.
“This is where Friends’ fans are gathering?”
Ban Jeon sighed.
“It wasn’t like this before.”
“Then what was it like?”
“They cheered on our girls, talked about organizing mass streaming and voting when an album came out, and comforted each other when things got hard.”
Ban Jeon’s expression darkened.
“But at some point, posts started appearing one by one calling for everyone to exclude Mugunghwa.”
“One by one?”
“At first, there were only a few people.”
Ban Jeon gave a bitter smile.
“Now most of the posts are attacking Mugunghwa. Anyone who disagrees gets driven out instead.”
“But did Gung-hwa do something to the fans?”
“That’s what I can’t figure out.”
Ban Jeon shook his head.
“I feel like I’m going to lose my mind.”
“So that’s why you asked me to help?”
“Yeah.”
Joo Sung took the phone again.
He read through the posts one by one.
At first, he thought they were just ordinary hateful comments.
But the more he read, the stranger they seemed.
The wording was similar.
The claims were similar, too.
Even the times they were posted overlapped in a suspicious way.
And there was one thing stranger than all the rest.
‘Why is the fan-café administrator leaving posts like these up?’
Joo Sung stared down at the screen, thinking.
The voices cheering for Mugunghwa at the live audience broadcast had been overwhelming.
But in the online space where the fans gathered, the mood was the exact opposite.
The atmosphere in real life and on the internet was completely different.
‘Something’s off.’
Just as he did when investigating insurance claims, Joo Sung went back over the posts one by one.
And little by little, he became certain.
‘This…’
The look in Joo Sung’s eyes changed.
‘Someone is organizing an anti-Mugunghwa campaign.’
It wasn’t simply a group of fans who disliked Mugunghwa.
Someone was deliberately creating this atmosphere.
Joo Sung lowered the phone.
“Ban Jeon.”
“Yeah?”
“This is more serious than I thought.”
The excitement of a fan seeing an idol for the first time was gone from Joo Sung’s face.
In its place was the look of someone who wanted to dig into something properly for the first time in a long while.