manager yejin

   there would be no resolute end to this ongoing saga if she quit; that would only bring her instability. with ahyoung’s father still not answering her calls and management refusing to give her that promotion they had been hinting at, yejin found herself been constantly thrown in between the two. she knew full well that the company was going to shift blame onto her when primera was over but they had been going for a long, long time and it wasn’t like people were going to forget about them when their discography was so long. the nation’s girl group, it would stay. “it’s not like that. this has been going on for years and they still refuse to listen to me even though i’m trying to make their life easier. why on earth would you not listen to that? they could even take all the damn credit.” everything was always made more complicated than it needed to be. the woman would have quit but she needed a plan, she also needed to say goodbye to that dream of finally getting that promotion. “it doesn’t work like that. there is no scrambling, just a fine exit. everyone’s replacable and that includes me. they’re not at all sentimental.”

    the manager was grateful to see that jaein was the one that interrupted her and not one of the young idols that wanted to throw a punch at her; they really needed to learn the art of timing. the other had been a big help, she couldn’t deny it and the worst part of it was... she could trust him. that never seemed to happen before but he accepted her stance on many things and ahyoung loved spending time with him. she couldn’t have asked much more from the other. “ahyoung is fine but she’s at home and i’m here. do you see why this is growing to be a problem? i work so i can provide and i don’t even get to see her anymore.” the woman forced herself to take a deep breath as her emotions ran high. “in real life, you’re given no choice.” everything was always her responsibility and while she was good at handling it, it didn’t mean that she was any less sick of it. she felt like she was failing because she was left to it, the pressure always on her and she had a hard time accepting that sometimes she would fall short.

      yejin had other responsibilities other than this and she felt like solar should have grown to understand that. however, she was always met by difficult people who tried to make things harder than they needed to be. the woman wasn’t the easiest person to get along with but she got the job done (management only complained when she was going up against them). hearing the other mumble underneath her breath, yejin shot her a glare. she had been working here long enough to know when someone was making a snide remark about her... she had just wished that the girl had more sense in her than to say something about her like that when she was only a few meters away. cowardly, that’s what yejin called it. rudeness towards her wasn’t going to fly well so instead of taking the other up in her offer, she’d retaliate. “well you certainly seem to think you’re the wise of the wise the way you just entered my office. we don’t have the same troubles or responsibilities so i highly doubt you can help me. you also seem to disguise whatever comment you were wishing to say to me, no doubt something unnecessary. i have no desire to speak with people like that.” yejin wasn’t going to let it pass by. it had already been established that she was in a foul mood so how the other was acting was unnecessary.

     sitting on the edge of her desk, the woman looked towards dongwoon as he tried to dramatically deliver his lines by dragging it out. she knew that if she did that, nothing would ever get done. yejin could have done with being a little more polite when it came to her interactions with others but didn’t see the point in it if it was going to delay processes. “you still haven’t improved on your skillset? beggars can’t be choosers.” she muttered. asking him to do it had worked in her favour, even if he was laughing at her for doing so. she was resourceful and was going to use every opportunity handed to her. “ahyoung is fine but i don’t really want her here. she has these ludicrous ideas of wanting to become an idol and while i’m not into crushing her dreams just yet, i wish to avoid feeding into them. also there’s the possibility of ruining my image as some think that i don’t have one maternal bone in my body. i’d like to keep it that way.” she pulled a smile towards him. “they always are but this is retalliation. i’m always the one to cause them it before it comes back to me. some people just don’t listen.”

    yejin didn’t mind sydney, she was one of the more tolerable people around here but the other should have known not to push her when she was like this. looking towards the other with narrow eyes, she let out a small tut of disappointment. “how is that a helpful comment?” yejin wasn’t someone who left right on the dot of her day but it wasgetting to her thinking that the nanny was spending more time with her daughter than she was. ahyoung was more important to her than her job but people wouldn’t have guessed that with the hours she worked. a few knew that she was a mother, a single one at that no thanks to the father, but she wasn’t the type to broadcast her personal life atwork. “please don’t start. i’m just ready to go home but the executives won’t stop emailing me about booking more for the primera members. guess it’s just up to me now and i would rather they told me their plans than having me work in the dark constantly, but hey, what’s new? i was a sucker to think that things would change, an absolute sucker.”

   yejin should have stayed in pr management than insisting for an opportunity that offered a more hands up approach. as no promotion followed, she was afraid that she had been locked intoa dead end job. everyone loved primera but the group was old and couldn’t continue to run if they had no direction. for now it was a matter of booking the women into variety shows as well as modelling but sorting that out was a job and a half when it came to liaising with the other companies. of course she was trying to convince herself. “do you think that i’ve just decided to become a really enthusastic team member? how believable is that narrative?” it wasn’t even close to being believable but it was worth a shot. the more the girl talked, the older yejin felt. “god, you’re making me feel ancient. stop right there.” yejin’s attitude wasn’t the most pleasant but it got things done, thankfully. “no, you can’t imaginee. no one can. everyone else thinks that they have it so hard but they should try be me for the day. most of them would crack within the first hour. at least i’ve got this far holding it together.” flicking through papers, the woman sighed. “is there anything you need more for? if not and you’re free, i have more than enough things for you to be getting on with.”

   it was music to her ears when the drunk idol told her that she was scary. yejin was a businesswoman and desired to be intimidating so this was great validation. now all that was left was for her to get that promotion, the promotion that felt like it was a million miles away despite working hard towards it. management didn’t like her, she was a woman, had opinions and had no problem speaking ill of them; they deserved it and everyone knew it. primera had been a great group but it was running to the end of its course. solar being solar didn’t want to give up in it just yet and that meant she was trapped with the group; the woman was still bitter over being rejected for the valetta managerial position. they wouldn’t let her move on and that frustrated her. “thank you for the compliment.” she would rather have people be afraid of her than walk all over her.cursing underneath her breath as she anticipated what was coming next, the woman sighed and looked away. this wasn’t in her job description and she was sick of having to deal with it all the time. if people were acting like this, they didn’t deserve to be here. stepping out of the room for a moment, shecame back with a mop and bucket. “you’re going to clean this up yourself.” she wasn’t going to sugarcoat anything. for once, she wanted an idol to clean up their own mess; she wasn’t going to do it for him.

if solar were more supportive of her, yejin would have had the time to have a much needed sit down with her members to discuss their feelings as well as new opportunities (she wouldn’t have thought twice about managing one of them as a soloist). there were issues that needed to be addressed and if this volume of administration continued, she wasn’t going to get anywhere. “people should call me a miracle worker.” her ego was large, everyone knew that but she had worked hard and wasn’t going to let her hard work go unnoticed. “got to keep at them. they’re more interested in what you’re doing than doing their own job. i appreciate the compliment.”

     stopping in her tracks at his ‘instruction’, her eyebrows automatically raised towards him. the woman wasn’t incompetent, they wouldn’t have hired her otherwise but she felt like she kept getting the short straw in everything. she was coming to realise that others hadn’t wanted to manage primera for a reason but she had thought that she was talented enough to iron the group out and make it better than before; evidently she thought too highly of herself. she still did this for the money, for her daughter but she hardly got any time to see the girl these days and she was starting to feel like a failure, something that did not sit well with her no-nonsense attitude. “excuse me? are you telling me how to do my job?” shaking her head, the woman groaned and sat back in her seat. “a tea would be fantastic, a fantastic time to redeem yourself from whatever just left your mouth... for your sake, i’ll say you misspoke.”

   “hmmm...”  that was all she was going to say on the subject. yejin had worked here for too long to not be able to smell a hungover idol from a mile off. in her opinion, the young ones in other groups got away with far too much and she was pretty sure that if she had come into work in such a state, she would no longer have a job. she understood there was certain pressures that came with being an idol but they had been aware of this when they signed their contract and everyone worked hard here, not just them. the woman was unable to stop herself from rolling her eyes as his arrogance sone through - there was nothing she hated more than an arrogant hungover idol. “oh, really ? with that arrogance i almost mistook you for a soloist. there’s plenty more of you and you are replacable, so don’t for one second think that you create jobs for us because that’s an idiotic way of thinking, to say the least.” he was making his bed with her and he would have to lie in it. yejin stopped in her tracks as the excuses came. “are you still drunk? that’s all of us, not just you. please keep yourself iin check.” oh, the things she did in order to provide! everything simple felt like a struggle with these people and she wasn’t enjoying it anymore.

 yejin thrived on pressure. she loved stepping up to the plate when no one would, it brought her such gratification that she was unable to stop. sadly, she should have been like everyone else who stepped away from primera when it was in crisis; the woman’s ego drove her to make hasty decisions. she believed she could turn it around and now she was stuck with a mess, a mess of pure genius nonetheless, but it was still a mess that was attached to her. another voice joined in on her rant and she stood up straight, blinking her eyes several times and gradually pursing her lips. “i wasn’tborn yesterday...” the silnce that followed that could be cut wiith a knife as she proceeded to stare at him for a lengthy period. yejin had a problem with faking it but when it came to turning a blind eye, she was a pro. “ah, finally. an intelligent thing comes out of your mouth. you had me worried for a second. a latte would be great and while you’re at it, please call howon and tell her i’ll be late back.” her babysitter, of course. the girl wouldn’t be happy about it but she should have been grateful as it meant more money for her in her life of part-time work. scribbling down some digits onto a post it note, she held it out to him. this was a time where she got way above her station and started treating idols like assistants. “thank you ever so much.”

“i love my job, i love my job, i love my job.” the phrase carried on repeating as the woman tried so hard to convince herself that it was the truth. every day she woke up with the intention to prove herself. in order to get to the top, she needed to seize an opportunity but that was hard considering that they were never given to her. primera had turned into a sinking ship and everyone knew it. she had tried to get the job to manage legacy but solar had rejected her. rejected after ten years of service? she sept more time here than with ahyoung and this was how they repaid her. yejin was intimidating and she did have a temper but it was the result of pent up frustration at the higher powers in the company. “why must i do everything myself? was i the only one born with brain cells? i was meant to leave two hours ago and now this is a shit show...” management could tell her off another hundred times and it still wouldn’t alter her behaviour. yejin was good and she knew it; why did they have such a tough time of accepting that?