A face-to-face meeting with the director of the management office was agreed upon after a slight commotion.

There were several attempts to inquire about the reason for the meeting with the director, but surprisingly, vague words such as, 'I have something to say' was enough of an excuse.

'Seems like he makes a good amount of money from TeStar.'

Since the money resource was something with emotions, he was clearly trying to be appeasing.

I had even come up with a specific excuse.

And I also think he must have been quite a bit nervous in the management office.

Because a guy, who wasn't even the leader of the group and didn't have much assertiveness outside of the albums and activity plans until now, suddenly put in a request for a meeting.

He was probably racking his brains regarding this unexpected action.

Although, he didn't have to do that for long.

"Then I will go see you tomorrow."

I made an appointment for a meeting for the very next day.

It was the only time I didn't have a schedule during the daytime so it couldn't be helped.

I shrugged as I hung up the phone.

'Hmm... what kind of guesses are they making?'

It wasn't particularly relevant, but I was curious about the circumstances.

And I found out what the company had assumed based on my behavior within five minutes after entering the meeting with the director at 10 o'clock the next day.

"Um... Moondae-ssi, is there anything you are dissatisfied with about the group activities?"

"..."

"It may be frustrating for you Moondae-ssi since you are so talented. But still, it would be more stable to keep going with this trend for another year or so."

After greeting each other, we talked about personal affairs for a while, and then that became the main topic.

'Aha.'

And I noticed from his nuance.

'Did he think I wanted a solo career?'

It was a conclusion that could be easily and quickly drawn.

A first-place winner of a survival show, with good responses to recent individual variety show appearances who received counseling for mental health and anxiety during group activities.

'With that background, it wouldn't be strange even if I really came here to talk about my solo career.'

And there was one more thing that I realized.

'This guy hasn't had many conversations like this.'

If I was really interested in solo activities and came to complain about group-oriented activities, that was not how the conversation should have started.

Suddenly having to hear 'Let's go on like this for another year' before I even brought up anything.

A celebrity who was going through an insecure period must be quite convinced of that.

'No matter what, he should have let the celebrity bring up the conversation first and then pretended to be worried.'

Usually, if you applied to become a director in an entertainment company, you should be someone who has been successful in this kind of work, but this guy was not like that.

'As I thought, he's a parachute hire.'

//TN: Parachute is someone who got the job by having the strings pulled. Almost like nepotism except it doesn't have to be a relative.

Other parts such as the AR department, production, and product marketing, were departments that required professional manpower which is why they scouted experienced workers for those positions.

However, there were a few parachute hires that were given the seat by the stakeholders who probably thought that such management was worth the bribes. When in fact, that part also required expertise.

'Although, this made it easier for me to talk.'

I blankly stared at the inexperienced director, then deliberately nodded my head.

"It would be good if it's stable."

"Right~?"

"However, I'm worried that things might turn into a big problem at this rate."

"Yes?"

I shrugged my shoulders and threw out the bomb.

"Someone from another agency is having a double job here. Will it be fine?"

"...!!"

The director was speechless for a moment, unable to answer.

Then he just smiled and opened his mouth.

"Ah, Moondae-ssi, that kind of thing is off-limits in our company. That person probably just changed jobs and the previous profile has not been updated yet."

It seemed like he thought I was just a young guy who didn't know much and misunderstood.

The more he thought like that the better.

I meekly nodded my head.

"Is that so? I guess I was wrong. It just seemed like you kept giving the same schedules with Golden Age."

"What??"

"I had a filming of this time, and that person was on the phone while talking about Golden Age."

"...! Wh-who?"

"That... who was it? Hold on."

I picked up my smartphone and pretended to look through my address book, then answered as if I just remembered the name.

"Ah, right. It was assistant manager Oh Seohyung of the operations team."

Do you recall?

When Lee Sejin and Bae Sejin had a fight, that was the person who assigned them to the same team and who said, 'It's true that it was my mistake but just don't act too sensitively', when I called in to protest.

Ah, but did I really overhear that phone call?

'Of course, I didn't hear anything.'

Would someone really make a phone call like that in a place where the celebrity in charge could easily overhear you without being shot in the head?

But I was certain about the suspect.

'There's no one else but that guy.'

First of all, the people in other roles did not need to do something like that.

As I said before, they were made up of professionals who have been scouted.

This meant that there was no need to take part in this kind of industrial spying as there would be no issues with changing jobs.

There were no incentives so there was no need to vainly dream of it.

However, it was a different case for the operations team.

T1, who underestimated the need for expertise in management offices in the entertainment industry, filled the place with parachute hires with a cheap listing of dubious careers on the market.

In addition, they put in newcomers who didn't know what they were doing to fill the headcount.

In short, they were a group that did the job the worst in this company. They most likely had a lot of complaints and had no particular attachment to this job.

'Then the odds that they were bewitched by petty profit is high.'

Then the following step was simple.

'I just had to see if there are any guys who overlapped.'

Golden Age's agency wouldn't suddenly recruit someone they weren't familiar with, so they must have seduced someone they had met and worked with.

Therefore, I checked the history of Traveler, Golden Age's agency.

If the guy was usually this good at his work, there was a high possibility he came from a strand of a different rank.

And, sure enough, the testimonies I looked for already flooded social media.

Wonder Hall. It was a famous agency known for producing large male idol groups well.

'Hmm, that's obvious.'

Then, that was it.

All that was left was to find the guy in our company whose tenure and career history overlapped with the CEO and the employees from 'Wonder Hall'.

'The structure of our company's internal network was borrowed from T1.'

I was just grateful for their complacency in casually giving celebrities of the company the right to access the documents.

Anyway, as a result of checking it, there was only one person in the management office whose history overlapped.

It was Oh Seohyung, the assistant manager of the operations team.

Then, all the circumstances matched.

'I can see why he's working so hard over there.'

Since he was already open to it, he just had to look for the opportunity. That was why all the things he oversaw became noisy.

"The assistant manager might have thought that sharing good variety shows was efficient. Still, I thought it would be better to focus on one place."

The important thing here was that you should never go at it in a way that made the celebrity seem like a bully. It meant that you shouldn't give the other person a chance to rationalize this issue with the conclusion, 'It seems that the celebrity is overthinking it'.

This guy should have the doubts firsthand and realize the seriousness. And I should talk like I didn't know anything about it.

"Thinking about it, I kept seeing a lot of overlap with Golden Age, so I wondered if it was for the sake of cost-effectiveness."

"Do your schedules overlap?"

"Yes. That is right. And there are many cases where we appear together in articles and posts... I thought we were working together because it was troublesome to arrange it otherwise."

"..."

If he didn't realize the seriousness behind these words after I said this much, he wasn't a damn parachute hire, he was just a dumbass.

Fortunately, the director's complexion turned red, then pale, and then returned to normal again. It seemed like some realization and anger came and went from within.

"I see... Hmm, I understand. I will talk about this issue with the assistant manager. I understood well what you said, Moondae-ssi."

"Yes. Thank you."

Of course, I didn't really expect him to get a hold of himself and handle this neatly.

See this for example.

"Moondae-ssi. Still, this could become a problem in the future so it would be better not to talk about this anywhere else until this matter is resolved."

I knew this would happen. This bastard was afraid that his reputation would be damaged.

It was understandable. This was at a level that the moment it was leaked to the outside, TeStar's fans would be sending protest trucks.

I meekly nodded my head.

"Of course."

For your information, I was, obviously, lying.

"Well thought out."

The director saw me off without the time to question or think about why I requested the meeting.

'Seems like he's out of his mind.'

I clicked my tongue in my mind and headed to the recording studio that I got under the excuse of 'I'll be recording while I'm at the company'.

The employee of the AR team, who was asked to adjust the sound, was finishing a short chat with the second manager who had come in advance.

The manager spoke to me first.

"You came, Moondae~ Did the talk go well?"

"Yes, it was fine."

"What did you talk about?"

"Umm... I was asked to keep it a secret."

"Ooh?"

It wouldn't be surprising if the AR team staff, who was touching the devices beside us, had their ears doubled.

'They must be curious.'

It was the same case for the second manager as he lowered his voice for no reason and asked.

"Why, why. Are they letting you do a solo?"

"Ah, that wasn't the topic, though..."

"What is it then??"

"Hmm... Hyung, you belong to the management office so I think you might be able to hear about it."

"What is it??"

Now, the hint that it was about the management office came out well. The AR team staff must have also picked it up.

I intentionally paused, and then just shook my head.

"I can't say. Well, he asked me to be quiet about it until something was resolved."

"Ah~ I'm really curious!"

"I'm sorry. I don't think I should talk about it."

"Eyy, I got it!"

Now, the nuance that there has been a pretty big problem broken out, was also spilled.

Perhaps the AR team staff would also have something to talk about once this schedule was over and they went back.

Such as, 'Some big problem must have occurred in the management office!'

Wouldn't this be a fun side dish for a boring company life?

Now, as soon as the management office showed signs of picking it up, there would be people coming out who would be curious and try to dig out what was going on.

Then, it wouldn't take long for the rumors to spread from the inside.

'I'll bet 1000 won that it will reach the director by the end of this week.'

And that was what happened.

Three days later, there was news about the director of the headquarters making a fuss trying to track down more evidence and the people involved.

* * *

"Moondae-moondae, you know what?"

"What?"

"Someone in the operations team was selling our information to another agency! My gosh~ It's really scary."

Keun Sejin made a fuss as he was sitting on the sofa in the living room. Perhaps he thought it was relieving that the bastard was caught.

I smirked.

"I know right? Was he caught?"

"Yeah. But... I heard that it was one of our members who reported it on his own."

"...Is that so?"

"Yeah. That's just what was said."

Keun Sejin grinned.

"And I'm just saying this, but you've been working hard, Moondae-ya~"

Keun Sejin patted me on the back and went into his room.

'Did he realize?'

He's such a comfortable guy for not needlessly interrogating me.

And conversely, there were people who were inquisitive about every detail.

"Wow~ The atmosphere at the company is no joke!"

It was the second manager.

In the middle of my personal schedule, he said, 'Wasn't this the thing you talked about?' as he excitedly talked about the company situation.

"How is it?"

"I heard the director was contacting the other company directly! Ah, assistant manager Oh has already been called!"

It was understandable.

The approval bot was just trying to fill his work term quietly, but since such a large-scale problem broke out, he was bound to be angry about it.

Besides, once a rumor of this kind was out, there was only one way to fix the atmosphere again. The approval bot that worked at T1 should also know it well.

It was a public execution.

'Of course, it would only be limited inside of the company.'

So, with the industrial spy taken, they were pressuring Golden Age's agency over whether to sue and publicize the spy.

Of course, the result was likely to be unconditional surrender.

'It was over the moment they got caught.'

This was neither a battle about weight class nor a battle about public opinion if Golden Age was raised to be their first group.

This was a head-on conflict between a subsidiary of a conglomerate with a broadcasting station backing them and a smaller agency, so since the smaller agency was at fault, the large company even had justification.

'As long as the evidence is secured, they can't gamble on it anymore.'

No matter how smart and well-operating Golden Age's agency was, if they wanted to continue their business, they would have no choice but to lie low and be careful about their movements.

'They'll be muzzled for a while.'

Any media manipulation and viral business that had TeStar involved would have to be stopped with tact.

And what this meant was that Golden Age's side should keep their mouths shut despite the public reactions to , which would be now aired.

'This is much more comfortable.'

I leaned my back against the sofa, lying down.

All the advance preparations were completed. The weekend, when the program was to be aired, was right around the corner.