Adopted

Being a manager wasn’t actually in my original life plan.

When I graduated from university with my degree in Business Administration, I’d figured I’d end up buried in spreadsheets in some corporate office, imagining when I could use my PTO without feeling guilty, and maybe eventually getting married to someone and living life like so many other people do. Instead, I adopted five children.

Not literally…but also…kind of?

My day consists of hearing a lot of: “I’m hungry” “Manager-nim, I think I lost (insert lost item)” and “(member) stole my stuff”. It’s very tiring.

I’m sitting in the HYBE practice room right now and five girls are causing absolute chaos like there’s no tomorrow. Yunah is dancing to some meme song, Iroha was dancing with Yunah, Wonhee was eating strawberries (where did she get them? I have no clue), Moka was lying on the couch next to Minju, who looked like she wanted to go home.

I’ve endured this sight for FOUR. STRAIGHT. YEARS. Yes, they were absolute angels when they debuted. But now? They’re still angels…who cause gray hairs to form. But I’m their manager. Even if I’m thirty years old and responsible for making five girls eat their vegetables, sleep enough, remember various items, drink water, and stopping them from buying plushies and random items every time we pass by a shop.

They even call me Dad sometimes. Not ‘Unc’ or ‘Ahjussi’, but Dad. I guess I should be thankful. But the nickname started from my own staff colleagues.

Kyunghoon, one of the other managers, started calling me Manager-dad and Dad in front of them. He’d be like “Ask Dad.” Or “Manager-dad will know” Why? I haven’t the slightest. But I think the one time I gave Iroha a Pororo band-aid after she hurt her knee was the start of it…

After that, Illit started calling me that too. And I gave up correcting them.

“Five minute break!” I shouted and immediately the girls exploded in five different directions. Yunah and Minju went to get water. Wonhee wanted more strawberries her mom packed. Moka went to go stretch. And Iroha went to get her cotton candy flavored mini candy stars.

Then, the practice room door opened.

“Oh?”

Their heads all turned simultaneously.

“SinB sunbaenim!!” “Hello!!” “Hi!!” Was all I heard being shouted across the room. And in stepped SinB, wearing jeans, a hoodie (which was mine by the way, she keeps stealing them), and a baseball cap (I think it’s also mine, one I bought somewhere in Seoul).

So to explain a little bit, I thought I was going to live a pretty standard life. Yeah, that plan died an embarrassing death. Why? because the universe decided to introduce me to SinB. Like threw her in my general direction. I wish I was joking.

Our first meeting happened at a year-end broadcast while I was still working as a junior coordinator. My entire job consisted of carrying cue sheets, running messages, and praying nobody important noticed me for the wrong reason.

Backstage was hectic. Staff and idols alike were running and moving everywhere. Managers were yelling into phones and someone forgot to mention that someone else had spilled water. Yeah…you see where this is going?

I still remember it. A human being crashed directly into my chest. Scripts flying through the air like someone had fired them from a cannon and for a solid three seconds, neither of us moved.

I was in pain. She was in pain. We didn’t move for a solid few seconds.

That was, until I said, “…Uhh…could you…get off me? Please?”

“Oh! I’m sorry!”

I got up and got a good look at this woman who bumped into me. And I almost fainted when I figured out who it was.

I, just like many many others listened to GFRIEND. Me Gustas Tu was a favorite and I also stanned Viviz for a little bit. Did I expect to run into the woman I stanned? Of course not.

I immediately took a 90 degree bow and begged her not to fire me. But, she looked just as mortified as I did. She just helped me pick up the last of my papers before giving me an awkward little bow.

Then, someone yelled her name from down the hall. “SinB! We’re going!”

She looked between me and the staff calling for her. “I have to go! I’ll make it up to you later!”

“No no, it’s fine sunbaenim!”

She ran off before I could say anything more and I watched her disappear down the hall. I looked down at my cue sheets and the floor and sighed.

“Well, I guess that happened.”

At the time, I assumed that would be the first and last time I’d ever seen Jung Eunbi. Well..let’s just say life had more to offer.

A few months after the incident, I had earned a promotion to a better staff position. It wasn’t glamorous. I was still hauling equipment, coordinating things, checking times, and making sure people were where they were supposed to be. But the pay was better.

I had settled into the general rhythm of corporate entertainment in Korea. Planning, meetings, rehearsals, and the occasional dash of chaos being dripped into my day.

No matter how many music shows you’ve been staff for, you never get used to how chaotic it is. So there’s the few certain things in life like death and taxes. Well at music shows, there’s managers rushing around, camera directors barking directions, and of course, idols wandering the halls.

I was carrying a clipboard toward the main stage when someone stepped out of a waiting room. We almost walked straight into each other. Both of us stopped just in time.

It was a woman. She stared. I stared. And then her eyes widened.

“Holy shit-You’re the guy!”

“And you’re the girl who tackled me.”

She immediately covered her face with both hands. “Did you really have to repeat that again?” And she mumbled something about not running into me literally.

“I promise I wasn’t aiming for you this time.”

“I appreciate the effort.”

“I guess this is more personal growth huh.”

“I guess it is.”

She smiled, letting her hands fall to her sides.

“You’re working here now?”

“Yup. I started a few months ago.”

“Congratulations.” She said as she gave a small round of applause. She looked happy for me, which surprised me than it should have.

“I thought you looked familiar when I passed by earlier,” she admitted. “I kept thinking, ‘That guy looks like someone I tackled earlier.’”

“You’ve been carrying that around for months?”

“…I mean, it’s not everyday I tackle a guy to the ground and send his paperwork into the sky.

“Touché.”