Chapter 78 - Isn't This Dereliction of Duty?

Slurp.

After slurping up the rest of the cup ramen noodles, Yoon Si-kyeong put down his chopsticks.

“Haram Entertainment? Is that by any chance Yeon-ah noonim's company?”

“Do you know CEO Baek Yeon-ah?”

“Of course I do.”

Yoon Si-kyeong said with a laugh.

“I even had drinks with Yeon-ah noonim a few times in the past. Though I haven't seen her lately.”

“Actually, I am CEO Baek Yeon-ah's nephew.”

“Huh? Really?”

Baek Hyeon-woo took out a business card from his bag and held it out.

“Somehow, I've ended up working as a manager at my aunt's company.”

“Baek Hyeon-woo, seeing as your last names are the same, you must really be her nephew.”

Yoon Si-kyeong looked at Baek Hyeon-woo as if it were strange.

“But how did you recognize me?”

“Actually, I came to the Super Marine Festival because I wanted to see WAVE's performance.”

“Ah, so you were our fan?”

Actually, the WAVE fan is Seo Na-eun, but he just let it slide.

“Then should I give you an autograph? Ah, I don't have a pen right now.”

“You don't have to worry about it.”

“Really? Then a handshake at least...”

“Yoon Si-kyeong-nim.”

Baek Hyeon-woo hadn't spoken to Yoon Si-kyeong to particularly interact with him as a fan.

Besides, there wasn't much time right now.

Rather than interacting while having a heartwarming conversation, it would be better to get straight to the point, even if it's somewhat rude.

“Isn't it time for the 'Music Big Show' rehearsal right now? Why are you eating cup ramen here?”

“What?”

Yoon Si-kyeong looked at Baek Hyeon-woo with a surprised expression.

“You, by any chance... did Tae-joon hyung send you? To come find me?”

Yoon Si-kyeong frowned, mentioning WAVE's leader, Jeong Tae-joon.

“Why is Tae-joon hyung making another company's manager do this kind of thing? Good grief...”

“Yoon Si-kyeong-nim, that's not it.”

“Cut the '-nim' (sir) crap. What kind of entertainer is a '-nim'.”

Saying that, Yoon Si-kyeong tapped his own knee.

“Go and tell Tae-joon hyung. That I have something I need to practice alone so I'm skipping the rehearsal, but I'll be there for the main broadcast, so don't worry.”

“Why do you have to skip the rehearsal?”

“I told you I have something to practice!”

“Weren't you just eating cup ramen?”

“Ugh…”

Yoon Si-kyeong, who had nothing left to say, contorted his face.

“I-I can eat some cup ramen. Originally, cup ramen is most delicious when you eat it while playing in the water.”

“Yoon Si-kyeong-nim.”

“I told you I'm not a '-nim'...”

“By any chance, did you skip the rehearsal because your knee hurts?”

In that moment.

Yoon Si-kyeong's eyes widened as he stared at Baek Hyeon-woo's face.

“You, how…”

“As I thought.”

Since a while ago, Yoon Si-kyeong had been frequently tapping his right knee.

It was a sign that something was uncomfortable.

“May I take a look for a moment?”

“Take a look, what do you mean...”

Baek Hyeon-woo lowered his posture on the spot and examined Yoon Si-kyeong's knee.

Because he was only wearing swim trunks, it wasn't difficult to examine his knee.

“It seems you don't have anything like arthritis.”

“Hey, do I look that old to you?”

“Degenerative arthritis of the knee appears often in the elderly, but for people who use their joints a lot, it can also appear in those under 40. If you're a dance singer, you have to be careful.”

“……!”

Hearing Baek Hyeon-woo's words, Yoon Si-kyeong flinched.

“Still, it seems you don't have arthritis yet, so you don't have to worry.”

“Hey, what on earth...”

Yoon Si-kyeong felt bewildered.

He couldn't understand what on earth the young man named Baek Hyeon-woo in front of him was trying to do.

It's true that Yoon Si-kyeong had been feeling pain in his knee for some time.

He had received physical therapy and was prescribed medicine at the hospital, but it continued to hurt, so it was difficult to perform the new song's choreography.

That's why he had to keep skipping group practice.

The reason he skipped today's rehearsal was also because he wanted to rest his knee, even for a little bit.

“It seems your knee must have been quite painful, but have you told your manager or the other members?”

“I'm not a kid... why would I bother saying that kind of crap.”

Yoon Si-kyeong retorted in a stiff voice.

“I'm a pro too. I take care of my own body.”

Even if he skips practice or rehearsal, if he does it properly on the main broadcast, there's no problem.

No matter how bad his physical condition was, it was Yoon Si-kyeong who would grit his teeth on stage and show a proper performance.

“It's not like the pain will disappear just because I tell those guys, so why do I have to talk honestly? I'll just get nagged for no reason.”

“At least if I were your manager, Yoon Si-kyeong-nim, I would have hoped you'd tell me honestly about your current physical condition. So that we could prepare for any unexpected situations.”

“Prepare for what... Hey, where are you touching right now!”

Feeling a chill, Yoon Si-kyeong pushed Baek Hyeon-woo's hand away.

Because Baek Hyeon-woo's hand had been gradually climbing up his thigh and was going inside his swim trunks.

“Yoon Si-kyeong-nim.”

However, Baek Hyeon-woo's gaze was cold.

“Your painful knee, I can fix it for you.”

“What?”

Yoon Si-kyeong couldn't believe his ears.

“You can fix my knee? How can you?”

“Because the cause is clear.”

Saying that, Baek Hyeon-woo placed his hand near his own groin.

“Right now, Yoon Si-kyeong-nim, you have a problem with the muscle called the rectus femoris.”

“The rectus femoris…?”

“It's a part of the quadriceps femoris that gets trained when doing squats.”

Baek Hyeon-woo swept his hand down from his groin to above his knee.

“The rectus femoris is a muscle that starts from the part of the pelvic bone called the anterior inferior iliac spine and goes down to the patella, the kneecap. It plays a role in extending the knee and flexing the hip.”

“……?”

“If this rectus femoris is in bad shape, it hurts as if it's throbbing deep inside the knee. Even if there is no inflammation in the knee.”

It hurts as if it's throbbing deep inside the knee.

Hearing that, Yoon Si-kyeong's eyes widened.

Because it matched exactly with Yoon Si-kyeong's symptoms.

“And it's difficult to stand up after sitting, so you have to support yourself on your knee to stand up. Also, when going down the stairs, you feel like your strength isn't properly going in, which makes you feel anxious.”

“Th-That's right. It's that kind of feeling.”

The symptoms he just mentioned were also identical to what Yoon Si-kyeong had been feeling.

“How on earth do you know all that...”

“I worked as a physical therapist before I started working as a manager.”

“What? A physical therapist?”

Yoon Si-kyeong felt flabbergasted.

A manager who's a former physical therapist, that's an unheard-of story.

“I just came back from getting physical therapy at the hospital a while ago...”

“Where did you receive the treatment?”

“They attached things like suction cups to the top, bottom, left, and right of my knee here and ran an electric current through them?”

“It seems you received ICT treatment on your knee.”

Baek Hyeon-woo nodded.

“That has no real effect.”

“What?”

“Because the cause of the pain is not in your knee.”

Saying that, Baek Hyeon-woo reached out his hand again.

This time, he touched the area near Yoon Si-kyeong's pelvic bone over his swim trunks.

“You have to treat here to get better.”

“Agh…!”

An intense pain was felt.

It hurt so much that Yoon Si-kyeong stretched out his leg without realizing it.

Although he almost kicked Baek Hyeon-woo, Baek Hyeon-woo had already moved out of the way, as if he had expected it.

“Wh-Where did you just press?”

“It's the rectus femoris I mentioned earlier. The rectus femoris's trigger point.”

“Trigger point?”

“It's also called a pain trigger point. You can think of it as the point that is the root of the symptoms.”

Baek Hyeon-woo said in a calm voice.

“The rectus femoris's trigger point is near the groin, so in the medical field, there are many cases where this area is not treated properly. Because you have to take off the pants and pull aside the underwear to perform physical therapy.”

“Uh… is that so?”

“However, if this place is treated properly...”

In that moment.

Baek Hyeon-woo firmly pressed the relevant area again with his finger.

At that, an intense pain was felt again, and Yoon Si-kyeong writhed once more.

“Uuuugh!”

“The thing that wouldn't get better no matter how much physical therapy you gave the knee, it gets better in one go.”

This bastard, why is his finger strength so strong?!

Yoon Si-kyeong was on the verge of going crazy from the pain, but he didn't push Baek Hyeon-woo away.

Because a refreshing feeling had begun to appear in his knee.

“This should be enough.”

“Ugh…”

Even though Baek Hyeon-woo took his hand away, a tingling feeling remained.

It was truly a merciless acupressure.

“Now, please stand up and try moving your knee.”

“Aigoo…”

For now, Yoon Si-kyeong tried to do as he was told.

However, he immediately flinched in surprise.

“Huh…?”

Just as Baek Hyeon-woo had said earlier, until now, Yoon Si-kyeong had to support himself on his knee to get up from a seated position.

But now, he could stand up nonchalantly.

“How did this...”

He moved his knee here and there.

He also tried jumping from side to side.

However, he felt no pain at all.

“Ah, it doesn't hurt?”

“As the rectus femoris has been released, it no longer irritates the knee.”

“I-It can be fixed this simply?”

“It was easy to treat right now because you were in your swim trunks.”

“No, even so...!”

Yoon Si-kyeong felt flabbergasted.

“What have the hospitals been doing all this time? They could have fixed it this easily, but they didn't? Because they didn't want to treat me after pulling aside a man's underwear? Isn't this dereliction of duty?”

“How about you, Yoon Si-kyeong-nim?”

“What?”

“Isn't skipping a rehearsal without permission before a performance dereliction of duty?”

“……!”

Yoon Si-kyeong's eyes widened at Baek Hyeon-woo's point.

“Hiding your physical condition from your manager or other members because you don't want to be nagged is also not the right attitude for a pro singer.”

“……”

Baek Hyeon-woo stared at the speechless Yoon Si-kyeong with a cold gaze.

The reason Baek Hyeon-woo was speaking in such a strong tone was because Yoon Si-kyeong had been acting in a way that was very wrong for a pro singer.

“A while ago, there was an idol singer who went on stage while enduring a painful ankle.”

“What…?”

“And that singer twisted her ankle on stage and ruptured her ligament. Several months have already passed, but she still hasn't been able to make a comeback.”

“……!”

The example Baek Hyeon-woo was giving right now was the story of She's On's Yuri.

“If that singer had properly informed those around her about the state of her ankle, the people around her would have stopped her from going on stage. Then the incident of her getting a severe injury wouldn't have happened.”

“……”

“Today, your symptoms were not that dangerous, Yoon Si-kyeong-nim. However, later, symptoms that can lead to a serious injury might appear. At a time like that, what do you think will happen if you continue to hide it from those around you for the reason that you don't want to be nagged?”

His opponent was a singer who has enjoyed popularity in the entertainment industry for over ten years.

He was not an opponent that Baek Hyeon-woo, a mere manager, should be lecturing like this.

Nevertheless, the reason Baek Hyeon-woo was speaking in such a strong tone right now was because he thought this was truly for Yoon Si-kyeong's sake.

Rather than just sending Yoon Si-kyeong off without saying much while trying to read his mood, and having him get a serious injury later... it's better to speak strongly, even if it means taking the risk of incurring his anger.

That was Baek Hyeon-woo's way.

“Every summer, many people wait for your songs, Yoon Si-kyeong-nim. If only for those people, I hope you will show a truly professional side of yourself.”

“……”

Yoon Si-kyeong bit his lip and said nothing.

However, Baek Hyeon-woo knew that Yoon Si-kyeong wasn't enraged by this advice.

————

[Yoon Si-kyeong]

Vocal: SS

Dance: C

Visual: A

Potential: A

Body Condition: 75%

Mental Condition: 80%

————

After the treatment was finished, his Mental Condition on the status window was being continuously maintained in the 80% range.

If Yoon Si-kyeong had felt a strong displeasure at Baek Hyeon-woo's advice, his Mental Condition would have been greatly shaken.

“An acquaintance of mine also came all the way here today because she wanted to hear your songs, Yoon Si-kyeong-nim. I hope you will not betray the expectations of such people.”

“Hmm…”

Yoon Si-kyeong, who had been listening silently, opened his mouth as if to say something.

However, right at that moment.

“Huh? Yoon Si-kyeong…?”

Perhaps the changing room was crowded, as Seo Na-eun, who had just now changed her clothes and come out, was looking this way.

On her upper body, she had a windbreaker over a rash guard, and on the bottom, she was wearing short pants layered over water leggings that came down to mid-thigh.

“H-Hyeon-woo-ssi, what on earth is going on...”

The singer she likes is with Baek Hyeon-woo.

At the unexpected situation, Seo Na-eun couldn't even properly complete her sentence.

Just as Baek Hyeon-woo was contemplating how to explain, the sound of Yoon Si-kyeong clicking his tongue was heard.

“And here you are, on a date at the beach with your pretty girlfriend, yet you're rushing me to go to rehearsal?”

“Pardon? G-Girlfriend?!”

Seo Na-eun made an expression so surprised it was as if she would faint.