A Thousand Faces (Soon to be Published)

Chapter 17

"So, what do I need to do?"

An urging tone, suggesting to cut to the chase and speak directly.

His tone was not one of helpfulness, like "What can I do to help?" or "How can I get started?" Instead, the boy leaned back in his chair and nonchalantly blurted out his question, his face filled with boredom and frustration.

The team members in the meeting room suddenly straightened up, their bodies tense with surprise and nervousness. What was this? The participant was the boy, but they all felt like they were being interviewed by him. It was a strange feeling.

Park Jun-gil was perplexed.

Things were constantly deviating from the picture he had been anticipating.

He thought that if things continued this way, he might end up completely blocked by this person.

'I should have set the mood and broken his spirit right away if I had known he was like this.'

But he was just a kid. No experience or skill. For many years, he had dealt with many people who had come into this business with a lot of bravado, not knowing what they were doing. It was time to stop playing with him and get down to business.

'Breaking a kid like him is nothing. I can just put him in his place without making him too discouraged.'

*Coughing*

Park Joon-gil straightened up.

The boy in front of him was staring at his face, waiting for an answer.

"Usually, the less experience you have, the easier it is to approach anything. Well, that's how it goes. I actually like that Junwoo doesn't seem nervous."

He said it with a deliberately twisted smirk, implying, "How dare someone like you, who's nothing special, stand before us?"

"Lucky for us."

An expressionless face, with no noticeable change in reaction. Park Jun-gil was taken aback. So, when is he going to get to the point? He wondered if he had been too circumspect and the other person failed to catch on.

"By the way, Junwoo, you probably don't know this, but do you know how much this program costs to produce? It's an unprecedented scale, but it's over 200 billion won. There's no shortage of people who want to make a name for themselves by participating in this program. You know the idol group UNIQ, right? And then there are the investors. We were actually quite worried about whether you could do it well."

"Yes."

Yes? Is that it? At this point, there could be various questions to ask. Or perhaps, overwhelmed by the sudden influx of enormous scales, he might be left speechless. However,

"...? Junwoo?"

A face trying to stifle a yawn. No, at this point, it wasn't just an intentional effort to hold it in. Junwoo, after wiping his nose with a sniff, tilted his body slightly and blinked a couple of times. Could it be that he finds this conversation boring?

"...Junwoo. Are you listening to me?"

"Yes, I am."

It feels like talking to a wall. That face isn't exactly crestfallen or confused. It's more of a bored expression as if asking, "Is that really important?"

It was a tedious boredom, as if questioning why bother dressing up the already read situation so elaborately and urging to get to the point. Unfortunately, despite Park Jun-gil's awareness of this, he didn't give up and continued speaking.