raknovel Chapter 10 | As long as it's not SM, it's fine.
Chapter 10 | As long as it's not SM, it's fine.
The living room became a little quieter at night.
Not long after, Cao Rouli came out of the room again, carrying a pillow in her arms. She leaned against the other side of the sofa without saying a word immediately.
After a while, as if remembering something, she turned to look at Cao Yisen again.
"Oh, right."
She asked casually, "And what about you? What are your thoughts on working for an entertainment company?"
It wasn't a test, nor was it interrogation. It was more like an older sister confirming her younger brother's feelings.
Cao Yisen leaned back on the sofa, looked up at the ceiling, and thought for a moment.
"actually……"
He paused, as if choosing the least complicated way to put it.
"I'm planning to give up."
The words came out so naturally that even he couldn't help but chuckle.
Cao Rouli paused for two seconds, then turned to look at him.
"Give up?"
She repeated, "You?"
"Um."
He nodded, "...I don't really want to go through that anymore."
He spoke calmly, without a hint of self-abandonment.
"I used to feel like I had to do something, to prove something."
"Now I feel that it's good enough to live a peaceful and stable life."
"I don't need anything spectacular, let's just be more laid-back."
Cao Rouli did not respond immediately.
She looked at him, her eyes showing no disappointment, but rather a hint of seriousness.
"That works too."
She nodded. "Knowing what you want is better than rushing in blindly."
She paused for a moment, then asked:
"What about those companies? Are there any you particularly don't want to work for?"
Cao Yisen reacted almost reflexively.
"Anything but SM is fine."
His tone was crisp and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.
Cao Rouli raised an eyebrow, but did not ask why.
"Okay," she said. "Then I won't ask in that direction."
She lowered her head and thought for a moment, "Then I'll contact some old friends. I'm quite familiar with fromis_9."
"What's the position?" She looked up at him. "Operations? Assistant? Planner?"
Cao Yisen immediately sat up a little straighter.
"Anything will do," he said, "as long as—"
He paused for a moment, then added very seriously:
"As long as they're not trainees, it's fine."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a pillow flew over. Not heavy, but accurate.
It hit him squarely on the shoulder.
"ah!"
Cao Rouli feigned anger, "There's an active idol here, what do you mean by that?"
Cao Yisen was startled by the pillow and instinctively caught it.
No, no.
He quickly explained, "I was talking about myself!"
"I'm tone-deaf," he said sincerely. "Going on stage would be a disaster."
Cao Rouli crossed her arms and looked at him with an expression that said, "Keep making this up."
"What's wrong with being an idol?"
She snorted, "Is it shameful?"
"It's not shameful at all."
Cao Yisen immediately changed his tune, saying, "I'm the one who embarrassed myself."
"I'm stiff when I dance and sing off-key. Standing on stage only makes the audience question their existence."
He thought for a moment, then added very seriously:
"I'm better suited to staying backstage."
This time, Cao Rouli couldn't help but laugh.
"You're talking all sorts of nonsense now."
She shook her head. "You weren't this talkative before."
"Maybe I've come to terms with it," he said, shrugging.
She laughed as she snatched the pillow back from his hands and hugged it to her chest again.
Don't worry.
She said, "I won't let you get on stage."
"If you really want to become a trainee, I'll be the first to stop you."
Cao Yisen breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's good."
She looked at him, her tone becoming a little more serious.
"But surrendering is surrendering."
She said, "At least don't just throw yourself into some corner."
"You're not that kind of person."
Cao Yisen didn't refute, he just nodded.
"I know."
—------------------------------
Cao Yisen woke up very early the next day.
It wasn't the alarm clock that woke me up, but that long-lost feeling of being wide awake, with nothing weighing me down.
Cao Yisen lay on the bed staring at the ceiling for a while, his mind not immediately conjuring up a to-do list. In his previous life, at this time, he would have already pored over the pre-market meeting materials countless times, but now, he was simply awake.
A faint noise came from the living room.
He got up to wash up, and when he went outside, Cao Rouli had already changed her clothes and was packing her bag.
"woke up?"
She turned to look at him. "Perfect timing, I have something to tell you."
Cao Yisen nodded and sat down at the dining table.
"You should prepare at home today."
She said it casually, "You have to go to Seoul for an interview in a couple of days."
He froze for a moment.
"So fast?"
"It's not exactly fast."
She put her phone in her bag. "I asked last night, and the process is stuck at this time."
She paused for a moment, then added:
"Big Hit's".
This time, he didn't have the same obvious reaction as yesterday.
He simply raised an eyebrow.
Which department?
"I guess it's the finance department."
Cao Rouli said, "It's more internal, not like the front desk."
She looked at him. "Aren't you studying accounting? This is a good fit."
Cao Yisen took a second to realize that this was the body's resume.
Pace University, New York, Accounting major.
A very clean line.
"I guess so," he chuckled. "At least it won't give me away."
Cao Rouli smiled too.
"That's fine then."
She said, "Don't be too nervous, it's just a chat about the background, process, and compatibility."
"Your English is fine, and your major is correct, so don't belittle yourself."
Cao Yisen nodded.
"I know."
She glanced at the time and put on her coat.
"I'm going out today," she said. "You can prepare at home."
Don't forget to eat.
"it is good."
Cao Rouli went to the bank first.
She had visited that branch in Busan many times, but this time, her feelings were different.
When the staff handed her the documents, she looked down and read them page by page.
IZ*ONE's settlement money. The number isn't outrageous; it's not as much as the settlement money of top-tier celebrities, but it's not meager either.
She looked at the string of numbers and suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.
It wasn't about money, but because—this marked the end of a phase for her, a phase that was about to truly come to a close.
"If I were to rent an apartment..." she asked, looking up, "what's the general rental market like in Seoul right now?"
The staff member was taken aback for a moment, but quickly realized what was happening and began to explain.
Deposit, location, transportation.
As she listened, she silently compared the two in her mind.
Don't live too far from the company. Don't be too high-profile, but be safe.
She didn't mention Cao Yisen, but simply nodded and noted down a few key points.
In the afternoon, Cao Yisen was home alone.
Several printed documents were spread out on the table.
The architecture of HYBE.
Finance department branch.
Publicly available financial reports from recent years.
He didn't watch it quickly.
He was even a bit perfunctory. It wasn't that he wasn't serious, but rather that these things were just too familiar to him.
They were so familiar that it almost made him laugh.
"Finance Department..."
He repeated it in a low voice.
In his past life, he stood at the end of the money flow; in this life, however, he must start anew from the most basic point.
He closed the file, leaned back in his chair, and looked out the window.
The sky in Busan is clear, without any screens or flashing red and green lights.
Cao Rouli returned in the evening. She looked a little tired, but not the kind of exhaustion from being drained by work. It was more like she had finally finished something she had kept on her mind for a long time.
"How's the preparation going?" she asked as she changed her shoes.
"That's about right," Cao Yisen replied. "At least we're not completely clueless."
She nodded.
"That's good."
She didn't talk much about the bank or the house. She simply went into the kitchen and started cooking something simple.