Time had flown by like an arrow since the preliminary meeting.
It felt so fast that it was as if time wasn’t just passing—it was melting away.
Seon-ho was extremely busy.
Part of it was due to preparing Hye-mi’s third stage performance for Tomorrow K-Star, but the real reason behind the busyness was Manager Kwon Hosan.
It was because Manager Kwon had truly entrusted Seon-ho with every schedule related to Idol War.
Of course, that didn’t mean Kwon Hosan was slacking off.
Since they had to raise Personal Color’s public profile as much as possible before the first broadcast of Idol War, he was just as busy.
He called in every connection he had—real and flimsy alike—to secure radio gigs, major event spots, and variety panel appearances.
He was meeting so many people that it felt like he spent more days out of the office than in, and when he did show up, he always smelled like alcohol.
While Manager Kwon was working to boost Personal Color’s external visibility, Seon-ho focused on raising their internal quality.
He concentrated on their stage and music.
Among all tasks, lyrics were what he put the most effort into.
Seon-ho collaborated with a famous lyricist hired by MOK to help Personal Color write lyrics, and he adjusted the composition to suit the gradually forming words.
In truth, Personal Color thought the lyrics they were writing were purely fictional storytelling.
Because the content was so common.
Verse 1: Best friends who’ve grown distant due to a misunderstanding.
Verse 2: The two confess their regrets and clear up the misunderstanding.
Chorus: The reunited friends joyfully sing together once more.
This was the fictional story given to Personal Color.
At first, the members had written the lyrics from a third-person perspective. It was a defense mechanism—they didn’t want to expose their true feelings.
But human creativity isn’t infinite.
“Again!”
When the lyricist had said “again” for the tenth time, the ‘me’ inside the lyrics started to show.
When you keep squeezing and squeezing, the raw sincerity of the creator inevitably surfaces.
That’s exactly what Seon-ho and the lyricist were aiming for.
In that way, the lyrics to “Vivid” gradually came together, and Seon-ho revised the song accordingly.
Normally, lyrics are written to fit a pre-made song. But Seon-ho revised the song to fit Personal Color’s lyrics.
He had done the same for Autumn Leaf, tweaking the music to reflect the quiet joy he sensed in Hye-mi and Su-rim’s emotions.
That was Producer Han Seon-ho’s greatest strength.
Although lyrics were where Seon-ho poured the most attention, choreography ended up taking the most time.
Truthfully, he didn’t know much about dance.
But he couldn’t just ignore it.
He didn’t want to prepare for Idol War with the complacent thought that “the dance team will take care of it.”
That mindset wouldn’t be enough to fend off PD Nam Yunsoo’s malice, who clearly wanted Personal Color eliminated.
Seon-ho watched Personal Color’s recorded dance practice videos more than a hundred times, trying his best to offer feedback.
At the same time, he watched foreign choreography teams and compared their work to Personal Color’s. He also looked up performances by successful domestic teams.
And this effort led to an unexpected result.
The choreographer came to him and apologized.
“I’m sorry.”
“Huh?”
“I honestly didn’t think Personal Color had a shot. So I think I subconsciously choreographed it in a way that was easier to teach. I’m sure there were better routines I could’ve created.”
“You apologizing to me—does that mean your mind’s changed?”
“It’s not so much that I changed my mind… I just got embarrassed. After watching your bloodshot eyes while replaying the practice footage over and over.”
The choreographer said, with resolve, “I’m going to redo the choreography. I’ll pour every joint of my body into this routine, so you can look forward to it.”
Seon-ho laughed at the expression pour every joint.
“If you do that, what about the next choreography?”
“I don’t know. I’m thinking of this as the last one of my life.”
Seon-ho shook his head.
“It can’t be the last. You still have to do the choreography for round four.”
Through Seon-ho’s eyes, the choreographer felt the trust Seon-ho had in Personal Color.
“Seon-ho.”
“Yes?”
“When Idol War ends, let’s have a drink—me, the choreo team, and the Personal Colour kids.”
“Sounds good.”
“I hope… that drink comes as late as possible.”
Seon-ho had once been moved by Manager Kwon Hosan’s sincerity.
It was partly thanks to him that Seon-ho started pouring everything into Personal Color.
But now, it was Seon-ho’s own sincerity that was starting to move the people around him.
The choreographer created a new routine with everything he had, and the lyricist was speechless at Seon-ho’s persistence and passion. Kwon Hosan and Jung Jiwoon were pushing themselves to not fall behind the rookie.
Finally, Seon-ho’s drive spread to Personal Color themselves.
The members had always practiced diligently—but their motivation came from a desire not to make mistakes.
More specifically, they didn’t want to burden the team by making a mistake.
But at some point, they began talking about harmonies in the song. About their stage positions.
It was no longer about the individual.
They were talking about the team called Personal Color.
Ten days before the first Idol War recording.
Seon-ho felt that he had done everything he could.
What remained now was whether Personal Color and “Vivid” could move the viewers’ hearts.
And…
Whether he was ready to shake PD Nam Yunsoo’s heart as a Corleone. *It’s a reference to The Godfather movie the one An Jia talked about.
– The buzzed-about <Idol War> finalizes its cast lineup!
– Jesco, A.S.A.P and five other teams confirmed for .
– PD Nam Yunsoo: “We prioritized charm over popularity—each team’s unique strengths will captivate audiences.”
– What charm will High School in Melody’s heroine Ahn Jia show as a singer?
Even before the official press release, Idol War’s casting was a hot topic.
But once the article was published, it didn’t just stay hot—it exploded.
Literally.
The comment sections were on fire.
The primary cause of the inferno was fan arguments.
└ Jesco and A.S.A.P are not the same. Jesco failed as soloists and regrouped, while A.S.A.P succeeded solo but wanted to come back as a team.
└ What nonsense. Jesco’s solo flopped?
└ Did you even look at chart rankings?
└ Did you check album sales?
└ LOL album sales? Everyone knows Jesco’s agency bulk-buys their own albums.
└ Got proof?
└ Yeah. Go on second-hand sites—hundreds of sealed Jesco albums being dumped. Nobody’s buying them.
└ Jesco, A.S.A.P—it doesn’t matter. In front of Soul Mate, they’re all equal.
└ What? Where’d this no-name come from?
└ No-name is Personal Color. Do you even know how many members Soul Mate’s fan cafe has?
└ But seriously, why was Personal Color even cast?
└ For real. At least Dream Girls and Soul Mate are rookies with potential. Personal Color has been flopping for three years straight.
└ Maybe they cast them to push An Jia? She’s in a KBM drama now.
└ First time I even heard An Jia was an idol. But I looked them up and Personal Color’s songs aren’t bad—why’d they fail so hard?
└ They lack desperation. The songs are okay, but you don’t want to listen again.
└ Shut up and stan Dream Girls.
Fans bickered endlessly, but the general consensus was clear:
Jesco and A.S.A.P were title contenders.
Black Label and Ladies Day were promoting new members.
Dream Girls and Soul Mate were rookies getting exposure.
Personal Color was… An Jia.
That was the conclusion.
However, a very small number of Personal Color fans had quiet hopes.
It was because Prefer, the producer of the chart-topping “Autumn Leaf” by Cha Hye-mi and Jung Su-rim, and “Girl in the City,” had created Personal Color’s new song.
└ I saw the pre-released vivid teaser video, and the chorus sounds amazing.
└ Ah, I really hope our Personal Color finally breaks out this time. I wish people would stop ignoring them…
└ Exactly. I hope the producer Prefer pulls it off this time.
└ But I’m a little worried. “Autumn Leaf” was a remake, and “Girl in the City” was an arrangement of “Man in the City.” But “Vivid” is an original song, so…
└ Still, “DNA,” the number one hit, didn’t come out of nowhere. Cha Hye-mi shot up after getting a Prefer song, so it’s possible for Personal Color too. Show us, Personal Color!
└ Show us! Personal Color!
└ Personal Color!!
For the first time in ages, posts were popping up on the free board of Personal Color’s fan cafe, which used to struggle to get even a page of activity a month.
And most of the posters were placing their hopes on Prefer.
Meanwhile, time steadily passed, and the first filming of Idol War was now just a day away.
With empty eyes, Kwon Hosan and Han Seon-ho walked down the company hallway like zombies.
Employees sipping coffee in the break room turned their heads quickly, feeling guilty just for enjoying a relaxing moment.
They hadn’t done anything wrong, but seeing Kwon Hosan and Han Seon-ho in their current state made even a cup of coffee feel like a luxury.
A moment later, once the two completely disappeared down the corridor, the chatter in the break room resumed.
“Han Seon-ho’s not cut out for acting.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Even if you put zombie makeup on him, he still looks too handsome. What director would like that? If you put that face next to the lead actor, it’ll just steal all the audience’s attention.”
“Come on, good looks are always a plus.”
“That’s only true when you’ve made it to lead roles. Even Taewon, now a public star, got kicked off set all the time when he was unknown. Because he was too handsome.”
“Now that you mention it, Seon-ho and Taewon do look a bit alike.”
The guy in the gray sweater, who had been rambling about Seon-ho’s face, changed the topic.
“Isn’t Idol War filming tomorrow?”
“Yeah. That’s why the two of them are wandering around like that.”
“Director Kwon really handed over Idol War to Seon-ho, all the way to the end.”
“He’s lost his mind.”
Within MOK, Kwon Hosan’s bold moves were stirring up a lot of talk.
It was understandable, since the tasks Seon-ho was handling weren’t things a first-year manager should be doing.
They were responsibilities that required at least manager level experience.
But Seon-ho and Kwon Hosan didn’t let the negative rumors shake them. Day by day, they stayed the course.
And to everyone’s surprise, Seon-ho was doing an excellent job—so much so that Kwon Hosan jokingly started calling him “Manager Han.”
The reason Seon-ho was so capable was simple.
He’d already done all this once before.
If you swapped “Personal Color” with “Cha Hye-mi,” “Kwon Hosan” with “Park Cha-myung,” and Idol War with Tomorrow K-Star, there was no real difference in the work from when he’d managed “Autumn Leaf.”
But since the employees didn’t know this backstory, Kwon Hosan’s decisions seemed odd to them.
“No matter how lucky a newbie is, something like preparing a program can’t just happen by chance.”
“He’s lucky?”
A pretty young woman joined the male employees conversation.
The senior male employee responded.
“Super lucky. As soon as he took over, Hye-mi hit number one on the charts. Then, as soon as he took on Personal Color, they landed a public broadcast variety show.”
“They didn’t just land it—Han Seon-ho brought it in.”
The guy in the gray sweater added, prompting the woman to ask,
“Wait, a newbie really brought that in? I thought it was just a rumor.”
“Nope. I heard it directly from Team Leader Choi. The CP mentioned Seon-ho’s name himself. Several times.”
“Wow… How did he pull that off?”
“They say Han Seon-ho’s really close with the Idol War CP. Like older brother–younger brother close.”
“No way, isn’t the CP for Idol War Manager Kim? There’s a huge age gap between him and a newbie.”
“Guess that just shows how close they are.”
The gray sweater chimed in again.
“Actually, I think Seon-ho’s not so much lucky as he is well-connected.”
“Connected?”
“Yeah. He’s tied to Prefer, who made two chart-toppers with Tomorrow K-Star, and CP Kim at the public broadcast station. Plus, he’s close with Hye-mi, and even has links to Jung Su-rim and Oh Hanbit. They say he’s really tight with Director Yoo Ayeon from W Entertainment too.”
“Han Seon-ho’s close with Director Yoo from W? For real?”
“Yeah. They talk on the phone a lot, and whenever they run into each other on site, she’s super happy to see him.”
“Damn, what kind of newbie has a goldmine of connections like that? What school did he go to? Was it a broadcasting college?”
“No idea.”
The man in the gray sweater shrugged, and the senior employee shook his head.
“Still, whether it’s luck or connections, program setup won’t be that easy. Shows where idols compete are real wars. What can a three-month rookie do? Even team leaders come back from those gigs with dark circles down to their chin.”
“True.”
“What the hell is Director Kwon thinking?”
“Maybe he’s planning to jump ship to a competitor? Remember that guy who caused a mess and left? Uh… Jeon Heeseong? Was that his name?”
“Oh, that rude jerk? He’s a chief director for Dream Girls now.”
“No way? Then the vibe at Idol War must be intense. I heard Jeon Heeseong’s been trash-talking our company too.”
“Maybe Director Kwon is avoiding Idol War to keep from seeing Jeon Heeseong?”
“Could be. Their positions have flipped now, after all.”
“Director Kwon used to be really successful… How did he end up stuck with Personal Color…”
“But hey.”
A quiet female employee suddenly spoke up.
“What would happen to Han Seon-ho if Personal Color blows up?”
“Blows up? Like how?”
“Like hitting number one on the charts, or winning Idol War.”
Her comment made the senior employee snort.
“Don’t be ridiculous. The company spent three years pushing Personal Color for An Jia’s sake and they still ended up in a coffin. And now they’re going to rise from the grave just because of a rookie who’s been here three months?”
“I mean, it’s just a hypothetical. Like, what if I won the lottery?”
She continued.
“Seon-ho started out as a contract worker, right? But after Hye-mi hit big, he became full-time.”
“Yeah.”
“So if Personal Color makes it, maybe he’ll be promoted to manager?”
“Maybe if he had three years under his belt. No way a first-year becomes a manager. But… if that did happen, the company might at least give him the title as a formality.”
“A formality?”
“Yeah. Like letting someone work with their artist of choice and giving them a manager title if that artist succeeds. It’s basically just for show.”
“Why is that just for show?”
“Because they’d obviously pick an already popular artist. Just pick someone hot and maintain the same status. Easy win.”
“Oh.”
Listening to the exchange, the man in the gray sweater interjected.
“Then would Han Seon-ho pick Cha Hye-mi? Or Personal Color?”
“Are you stupid? If he had the chance, he’d aim for someone from Blacklist or July Girls. Why would he pick Cha Hye-mi or Personal Color?”
“I mean… I just have a feeling he might choose one of those two.”
“Cut the nonsense and get back to work.”
The senior employee got up first, and the gray sweater guy cleaned up behind him and left the break room.
Meanwhile, the van Seon-ho was driving for Personal Color had pulled out of the parking lot.
As he drove far from MOK, the KBM broadcasting building came into view. Seon-ho picked up his phone.
–We still have some things to discuss, don’t we?
The recipient was Nam Yunsoo, the producer of Idol War.
TL : There are four levels of idol managers in Korea.
- Road Manager : This is Han Seon-ho’s current title, where he handles transportation and scheduling.
- Manager : This is a higher level role similar to a road manager. The manager oversees logistics, schedules, and coordination with other teams. Seon-ho used to handle all these responsibilities for Hye-mi during Tomorrow K-Star, since MOK did not properly support her.
- Chief Manager or Team Leader : This is a senior level role, where one manages multiple managers and teams, like Kwon Hosan and Park Cha-myung.
- Director : This is the higher level role, where one manages artist promotions and company strategy. Yoo Ayeon is the only one we know with this title.
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