Chapter 47: Temporary Manager

“By the way, Kang Woo-joo, about when you sleep…….”

“Huh?”

Woo-joo shouted, his voice suddenly rising like someone with a guilty conscience.

“Ah, that? You mean the hugging? That’s just my sleep habit. I used to get teased a lot during training camps with my teammates. They said I’d just hug whoever was there. I, I should have told you in advance, but I wasn’t really conscious of it.”

Woo-joo moved his chopsticks with awkward hand movements.

He emphasized that it was an unconscious sleep habit and an unavoidable action he did to anyone.

This was because Woo-joo himself didn’t know.

He didn’t know his sleep habit involved hugging someone so passionately.

And for good reason—most of the time when he slept with his teammates, he’d wake up in the morning sleeping just fine by himself rather than hugging anyone.

“…You do that to your other teammates too?”

Ji-tae’s voice dropped quite low.

However, Woo-joo was in such a state of panic that he didn’t notice the change.

“Yeah, yeah. That’s why I was kicked out to single rooms a lot. I just hug them regardless of who they are.”

“…….”

The corners of Ji-tae’s mouth, which had been busy chewing his food, slowly sank downward.

The speed at which he picked up side dishes slowed significantly.

Because of what Woo-joo just said, his appetite had completely vanished.

“Hey, still, yesterday happened because you were making a fuss about the cockroach, so I’m not giving you a separate apology.”

Ji-tae nodded slowly.

Kang Woo-joo was a fool.

To think he was saying such things when Ji-tae was the one who should be receiving an apology.

Ji-tae decided that the moments during the early morning when he had kept pulling back Woo-joo, who had been tossing and turning to leave his embrace, would remain a secret he’d take to the grave.

“But you look good today?”

“Hm?”

Woo-joo stopped eating and stared intently at Ji-tae’s face.

“I guess you actually got some sleep yesterday? I was worried you wouldn’t be able to sleep because I made things uncomfortable.”

“Uh, well.”

Ji-tae gave a vague answer.

Just as Woo-joo said, he had been able to sleep soundly yesterday.

To be precise, sleep had come easily from the moment he had Woo-joo securely in his arms.

It was truly a mysterious thing.

“Still, sleep in your own room starting today. Surely you aren’t saying you still can’t sleep because of the cockroach, right?”

“No. I’ll sleep there.”

Ji-tae swallowed his regret along with his soup.

Honestly, he hated bugs, but it was true that he wanted to sleep with Kang Woo-joo again.

He even had the ridiculous thought that he hoped a cockroach would appear again today.

However, the writers had come by this morning after hearing the story and sprayed pesticide everywhere.

Apparently, bugs appeared quite often in the staff’s lodging as well, so they had the medicine prepared in advance.

“You said you have some schedules starting this week, right?”

“That’s right.”

Since the movie had become a huge hit, he wasn’t taking on major jobs due to the variety show filming, but there were still many places looking for the rising rookie actor.

While he hadn’t chosen his next project yet, it seemed several schedules like commercial and pictorial shoots were occasionally lined up.

As the two were sharing a quiet conversation, the doorbell rang.

The only people who would press that button at this house were the production crew.

“I’ll go.”

Woo-joo rose from his seat and walked to the front door.

He naturally thought someone had rung the bell to visit, but he was wrong.

Checking the envelope that had been slipped through the crack of the door, Woo-joo knew what it was without even looking.

It was a mission envelope.

Was this program always this full of missions?

Woo-joo scratched his face.

Whether it was because the chemistry between Woo-joo and Ji-tae was so good that they were trying to create various scenarios, it was already the fourth mission.

“Won Ji-tae, let’s look at this after we eat.”

“Another mission?”

“Yeah.”

After finishing breakfast and even the dishes, the two sat solemnly in the living room.

It was a plain white envelope, no different from usual, but the energy felt strangely different.

He had a strong intuition that this would be on a completely different level from the missions the crew had given them so far.

Woo-joo swallowed hard and opened the envelope.

As he unfolded the paper, there was considerably more content written on it compared to before.

“It’s already been two weeks since you became each other’s roommates! Do you feel like you’ve gotten to know each other a bit more and become closer?”

Woo-joo read the contents aloud stiffly, like a student giving a presentation at school.

To the question of whether they had become closer, the two only let out awkward coughs.

[To further understand and become closer to each other during the remaining two weeks, please become each other’s managers!]

“…Huh?”

Woo-joo let out a low groan, unable to move on to the next sentence.

Ji-tae was equally flustered.

To understand each other better and become closer?

Did the production crew still think he and Won Ji-tae didn’t look close?

[You will take turns playing the role of manager for one week each. You must accompany each other to all external schedules.

Week 3: Kang Woo-joo → Won Ji-tae’s Manager

Week 4: Won Ji-tae → Kang Woo-joo’s Manager]

Come to think of it, the meeting he had with the writers right before filming began suddenly came to mind.

Before the pre-interview, he had been asked to discuss his schedule during the filming period.

After consultation, they had shared and adjusted their schedules for smoother filming, and it was clear they had done so for this mission.

In summary, it seemed they were to support each other by becoming managers for a week.

Since neither Woo-joo nor Ji-tae had set a tight schedule in the first place because of the <Living as Two> filming, it didn’t seem particularly difficult, but it was still quite an unexpected mission.

It seemed they intended to make the most of the fact that Woo-joo and Ji-tae worked in different fields.

“A manager……”

As Woo-joo lowered his gaze, he saw another sentence written right at the bottom.

[This mission begins immediately starting today.]

***

The first to take on the role of manager was Woo-joo.

It meant he had to personally support Actor Won Ji-tae, which naturally made him feel at a loss.

Won Ji-tae was a celebrity.

Even Woo-joo, who was an outsider to that world, knew very well that the role of a manager who helps and takes care of every little thing was very important.

“…What’s your schedule for today?”

“I have a pictorial shoot and an interview today… Ah, wait a second.”

Ji-tae’s phone let out a short ring at the perfect time.

Taking that opportunity, Woo-joo was worrying about how to perform the manager role when Ji-tae suddenly tapped his arm.

A messenger chat room was open on the phone screen Ji-tae showed him.

Naturally, his eyes went to the name of the person he was talking to first.

He saw it was saved under the blunt name ‘Manager-hyung.’

The message he sent contained a concise summary of the key points Woo-joo needed to do as a temporary manager for the week.

To Woo-joo, who had been feeling lost like a buoy drifting on the open sea, the text was practically a lighthouse.

“I’ll send this to you too.”

“Okay.”

Woo-joo’s phone screen lit up for a moment.

No matter if it was a ‘mission’ for a broadcast, external schedules were an important matter.

Truthfully, he didn’t think he could do it perfectly.

Rather, as an athlete, Woo-joo knew very well that being overly ambitious could ruin things.

His goal was firm.

He might not be able to avoid mistakes entirely, but he would do his absolute best to pull his own weight.

While Ji-tae was preparing to head out in earnest, Woo-joo finished his preparations early, sat on the sofa, and diligently studied the summary provided by Ji-tae’s manager.

First, the core point seemed to be that he just had to follow Ji-tae around.

Driving during transit was a natural necessity, and it was written that during commercial or pictorial shoots, it was good to check his condition so he wouldn’t get tired and provide him with things like water or snacks.

Since it was very common for shoots to be delayed or for additional schedules to arise, it was also important to notice and handle these situations quickly and leave a good impression on the filming staff.

Besides that, there were many small things to take care of, such as looking after his meals, monitoring the footage with him, and taking photos for SNS whenever he had time.

They say there’s no job in the world that isn’t hard, but it occurred to him that the profession of a manager was quite a struggle as well.

Below that, precautions to take as ‘Ji-tae’s manager’ were also listed.

This ‘manager-hyung’ seemed to have a very meticulous style.

Or perhaps all celebrity managers did this much?

Then again, it was a self-evident fact that the celebrity in charge had to maintain their best condition to produce good results at work.

“Don’t turn the radio on loud in the car. Avoid spicy food when ordering or bringing meals. He prefers sweet coffee, and always have chocolate snacks ready to give him when he gets sensitive?”

I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere before.

Come to think of it, it was similar to what parents of high school seniors who were in an extremely sensitive state do.

Woo-joo didn’t know much about that since he had lived with his back quite turned to studying from the start and had never given up on his dream of being a volleyball player, but that was how it was when he thought of his younger sister during her exam years.