Chapter 122
Along with relaxing piano accompaniment, Kim JaeHoon’s voice quietly rang out .
“I no longer — wish anything — of you—”
His voice filled the stage . The relaxing piano accompaniment was then accompanied by an impact of the ba.s.s guitar and the drum .
With more power into the accompaniment, Kim JaeHoon also exerted more force into his voice .
“After all this time — I can — feel my breath — by your side–”
His usual low voice became rougher . With a little bit of a grinding sound, his voice spread across . His rougher-than-usual voice came as a surprise to his fans and the members of the industry .
‘What’s this?’
This song was completely different from the ones he had released before . However, his foundation did not go anywhere . Even the audience, who found it unfamiliar at first, started being absorbed by the song .
‘I don’t think this is oppa’s usual style . ’
‘But it’s so good anyway . ’
‘You’re awesome, oppa… . ’
Both the musical style and the vocal method used in this song was completely different from what the public viewed ‘Kim JaeHoon’s songs’ as . When the 1st verse was over and he started singing the 2nd verse, the audience that were at a loss all familiarized themselves and waved their hands in the air . The banners that were put down were raised as well .
“My love of the past — my pain of the past — but it’s all fine now — come back to me . ”
Kim JaeHoon’s high voice burst out . The audience’s eyes shone with exclamation and surprise when they heard the series of high notes in the G Minor key, a high key for a male to digest .
“Wow… . ”
“Awesome . ”
Although the original plan was to transpose it down to F# Minor, Kim JaeHoon had said that he would do the original key for the showcase, and KangYoon had accepted that proposal . The industry members’ reactions weren’t that different to the audience .
“Looks like Kim JaeHoon prepared a lot for this . ”
“This may as well be the t.i.tle song . ”
“This is freaking me out . ”
The distributors and the TV station members gave their opinions . The heavy depth to the extremely thin vocal range surprised everyone . No one imagined that Kim JaeHoon would bring out a powerful rock .
The song that freaked everyone out ended on that note .
“……”
“……”
A period of silence . Kim JaeHoon was the one to burst the bubble .
“Thank you for listening . ”
Along with that,
*Clap, clap, clap*
Applauses started, then,
“Waaaaaaaaa——!”
Cheers louder than ever before filled Lunas .
Kim JaeHoon was glancing at KangYoon who was standing at the very back of the audience seats . KangYoon had an oblivious face on .
‘You were right, hyung . ’
Kim JaeHoon was rea.s.sured after looking at the reactions of the audience .
That it was worth a try, to have a go at a different genre of music .
***
After the showcase .
Not long later, Kim JaeHoon’s alb.u.m was released .
As this was a new alb.u.m after a long period of no new songs, it received attention from many . There were rumors online, posted by the fans that visited the showcase prior to the release, there was the music video featuring a rising star, named ‘ShinHee’, as well as a showy comeback stage on KS TV’s Music Countdown .
With the addition of PR from other sources, interests in Kim JaeHoon’s alb.u.m became bigger and bigger .
“This is strange . ”
It was 9 in the morning, and it had been 9 hours since the alb.u.m was released .
Lee HyunJi tilted her head in confusion while looking at the results .
“His taking of the 1st place was expected, but I never imagined that the one to take the crown was not the t.i.tle song ‘Time With You’, but ‘Only One’ . ”
KangYoon shrugged his shoulders .
“Looks like our new try left a deep impression on the public . ”
Kim JaeHoon then spoke .
“Isn’t it because of the high notes? I think our country really likes high notes . ”
“They do prefer high notes . Though, this time, it harmonized well with the rest of the music . ”
“You’re right . But even so, singing that in G Minor on all live stages is utterly impossible . ”
Kim JaeHoon shook his head . If he kept singing it in the original key, his voice would deteriorate rapidly . KangYoon said he understood and told him that they should lower the key to F# Minor for most performances . Kim JaeHoon nodded his head .
Lee HyunJi went back to talking about the alb.u.m .
“1st to 4th place is all taken away by your songs, JaeHoon . Although this may be attributed to the fact that this is the first day, we need to prolong this state as much as possible . In fact, our profit from online sales isn’t that much . ”
“Looks like everyone will get busy . ”
“Yes . Are you going to take care of him this time as well, president?”
“I’m planning to leave it to manager DaeHyun . I’m planning to focus on White Moonlight and JiMin . ”
Kim JaeHoon looked slightly disappointed, but KangYoon lightly patted his shoulders .
After that, Lee HyunJi showed Kim JaeHoon his new schedule . Although it wasn’t as tight as it was in May, there were plenty of countryside events and TV shows .
“That’s a lot, though not as much as what I did in May . ”
“You don’t need to go that far . We need to relax a little and look forward to the future . ”
“The country-wide tour?”
KangYoon nodded at his words . Lee HyunJi then asked back in surprise .
“Wait, a country-wide tour? That won’t be easy considering our current finances . Doing one at the end of the year is definitely a stretch . ”
“Doing it this year is definitely impossible . We’ll consider the time after we get the proper results from this alb.u.m . If it does well with us doing many events, we should be able to do one by Spring or Summer . ”
“That sounds a little early, but by that time, we should not be short on finances, and JaeHoon-ssi should also have plenty of time to practice . ”
Like that, matters about Kim JaeHoon were done with .
Kim JaeHoon had a schedule to attend to, so he left the company with manager Kim DaeHyun .
Lee HyunJi and KangYoon were the only ones left in the office now . Lee HyunJi brought up another topic while getting a cup of water .
“White Moonlight is steadily gaining popularity with regular performances, and once JiMin has her debut, we’ll finally be able to be considered as a mid-scale company . Though, it should still take more time until we don’t make losses . ”
“White Moonlight has plenty of achievements already . At the very latest, they should be able to become a major band by Summer next year . If we advertise that HyunAh is skilled enough to rearrange songs for JaeHoon, the band industry should take that . We should advertise while leaking some news .
“President, please stop giving me work . I’m tired . ”
When Lee HyunJi joked around, KangYoon coldly replied to her, with a giggle .
“I refuse . ”
“Don’t do this to me . ”
“I have to . ”
Lee HyunJi giggled .
Since the company was doing well, the atmosphere was good as well . Then, Lee HyunJi talked about something else . It was about other members of the industry .
“I ran into director Lee HanSeo the other day . ”
“I heard he visited America . Did you hear anything about that?”
“He met up with Eddios . ”
“Eddios, huh……”
KangYoon groaned . Talking about Eddios always tugged at his heartstrings . It was as though he was suffocating .
Lee HyunJi continued .
“There’s not a lot of time left until MG’s contract with the girls is up . He went to check what their next move was . Unfortunately, I heard that all of those girls had no thoughts in extending their contracts with MG . ”
“No wonder . They shouldn’t want to stay in a company that used absurd strategies to practically ruin them . ”
KangYoon shook his head .
Lee HyunJi was able to feel how KangYoon felt towards MG Entertainment . Although it wasn’t shown explicitly, he was enraged . Feeling him, she calmly talked to him about Eddios .
“Director Lee HanSeo wished that the girls would continue their profession, even if they had to join another company . However, It’s not like they come at a cheap price, considering their fame . I can guarantee that it would take triple the amount we spent with Kim JaeHoon . ”
“You are being conservative with the amount there . ”
“Well, the girls do have a long period of absence in Korea, and there’s DiaTeen that contributed to that number . Their value has gone down considerably . However, we still can’t say that they have no possibility of making a comeback, and above all… there’s a complicated situation . In any case, if we do get Eddios, then we need to invest money into future alb.u.ms as well . The contract deposit, the investment in the alb.u.m, and their treatment as first-rate stars… other companies should come to the judgment that it’s more economical to raise a new girl group from scratch . They have their own set of trainees, so it should be cheaper to select a few from that batch . ”
“I guess that’s true . ”
Although enraged, KangYoon could rationally judge the situation .
It had been 4 years since their debut, and Eddios ‘was’ a girl group that ‘once’ did well . Well then, would he be able to get back his investment if he did invest in them? From a business standpoint, there was no way he couldn’t consider that .
“What would you do, president?”
“……”
KangYoon couldn’t give an answer that easily . This was business . It wasn’t something that his personal feelings should affect . There were many people that relied on KangYoon’s decision to live .
Lee HyunJi seemed to have understood what he was thinking .
“Director Lee HanSeo carefully brought up his opinion – he asked us whether we can take Eddios . ”
“……”
“He seemed to feel responsible for the girls . He wanted to take responsibility for having lost Eddios’s stand in their company . ”
“Strictly speaking, it isn’t his fault . He would have done all that he could do to stop it from happening . ”
“He seemed torn because he couldn’t prevent MG from sending the girls to America . Anyway, I replied to him that this wasn’t a decision I could make . ”
“Okay, then . I’ll decide after I think about it . This isn’t a decision we should make light of . ”
KangYoon no longer brought up the topic . Lee HyunJi also didn’t speak about it as she realized that KangYoon needed time to think about it .
After that, they talked about Kim JiMin and White Moonlight before ending the morning meeting .
***
Lunas was doing well .
Although they had a pretty bad time for a couple of weeks in October since no bands booked the place, there were other events such as Lee JunYeol (Sedy)’s fan meeting, as well as other local events that took place . There was also White Moonlight’s regular performance as well . This ended up piquing the interests of many indie bands . When Kim JaeHoon’s new alb.u.m showcase topped them all off, they received reservations again .
When this happened, other venues throughout Hongdae that tried to figuratively destroy Lunas entered a state of emergency . The cheap prices and the better equipment were simply too compet.i.tive . Lunas was getting more popular with indie bands as more of them started preferring to book Lunas above others . When the popular indie bands disappeared from their respective venues, the owners of those businesses had a serious headache .
In the end, small venues started receiving reservations from those that performed in Lunas again . It started with one, but now there were many that did the same
President Yoon ChangSeon, the owner of Green Light, had a headache at the moment .
“Ugh . ”
His office was located above the club, and he was currently walking around panicked .
“Does that Luna’s place get any profit off their business at all? Why is it not allowing us to earn any money?”
He blamed Lunas for everything .
Previously, Green Light was considered to have better facilities and cheaper rent than other venues, but it was overtaken by Lunas in both of those aspects . With that being the case, he still couldn’t decide to innovate his own place . He was worried that he would not be able to get his investment back .
In conclusion, he wasn’t able to do anything .
He panicked about the situation when his phone started ringing . When he accepted the call, he realized that it was from Yerang Entertainment .
“Ah, yes . Greetings . ”
Unlike usual, Yoon ChangSeon was very polite . He was acting polite towards a secretary, which was very rare for him . The secretarial office spoke of their matters very simply .
– The president has approved the matters from last time . If you lower the prices, we shall make it up for you .
“Is that true? Thank you very much . ”
– Please send us the receipts and the required doc.u.ments . Well, then .
The business-like tone from the phone ended . Even though it was quite a stiff call, Yoon ChangSeon’s face brightened up a lot .
“Good, very good! You’re all dead now!”
He cheered himself up .
The price and the facilities .
He now had one weapon to fight against Lunas .
***
November .
World Entertainment was sailing smoothly .
Everyone did well with their respective workloads, and the company was running well .
Lee HyunJi employed a new manager for Kim JaeHoon and got that person to take over Kim DaeHyun’s job . Yoo JiHye, the new manager, was a generous-looking woman in her early 30s . She had experience working as a costume coordinator, and she had a cheerful personality which made Lee HyunJi pick her . She judged that this new manager would be able to take good care of Kim JaeHoon considering her personality and her previous work experience . And just as she had thought, manager Yoo JiHye did well on her first day of supporting Kim JaeHoon .
Recently, Park SoYoung frequented the company . However, no one bothered her about it . In fact, Kim JinDae said that she would be employed here once she graduated from university . Though, he did get scolded by Lee ChaHee for that .
However, neither KangYoon nor Park SoYoung mentioned employment when they conversed .
On one chilly day .
KangYoon was packing his stuff at home .
(T/N: For those of you that don’t remember Park SoYoung:
1 . KY took HY to a trip and ran into the guitar-playing girl, and HY made friends with her
2 . She was almost conned by a fake entertainment company but KY saved her .
3 . She entered uni, and Prof Choi ChanYang is one of her professors .
4 . She composes stuff)
“So over there is autumn weather in terms of Korea, right?”
KangYoon stuffed a few sets of underwear, one autumn coat, and one winter coat, as well as his toiletries into his carrier . When he added a laptop for work and a few other doc.u.ments, his carrier was stuffed full .
And finally, he checked on his airplane ticket and his pa.s.sport .
Looking at that, Kim JaeHoon asked him .
“You’re going to America so suddenly . Did something happen to miss HeeYoon?”
“Nah, I have some business to do . ”
“Looks like it’s someone important . ”
KangYoon only smiled faintly and did not elaborate further .
Next day at dawn .
KangYoon headed to Incheon International Airport . Lee HyunJi offered him a lift, but he declined . He took an airport coach and arrived at the airport . After he finished his flight procedures, time went by in a flash .
[We will now be boarding pa.s.sengers to Los Angeles in Gate 24 . Please head towards… . ]
He bought some stuff from the duty-free store like some cigarettes, and it was time to board already . KangYoon moved past the gate and eventually sat down at an economy seat .
‘I’ll definitely become a president that books the first-cla.s.s ticket . ’
His seat was by the window and he resolved to himself such .
Like that, he took a 12-hour flight to LA .
When he arrived, HeeYoon had come to meet him .
“Oppa!”
HeeYoon seemed to have missed him a lot and immediately rushed into his arms .
“Oppa, what are you doing here?”
“I have someone to meet . ”
“Me?”
KangYoon chuckled at HeeYoon’s joke and put his arm around her shoulder .
The siblings talked about a lot of things throughout the night .
HeeYoon talked about her friends from uni, while KangYoon talked about the musicians that sang HeeYoon’s pieces . HeeYoon blushed in embarra.s.sment when she heard that the musicians that received her songs all praised her .
After spending the entire night like that, KangYoon was only able to sleep in the morning . When he opened his eyes again, it was already past noon .
‘Let’s visit them . ’
KangYoon went to a local rental car center and rented a car . He drove towards the American branch of MG Entertainment . He parked on a paid car park nearby before heading towards a cafe where he could view the entire company building .
After a simple meal and a cup of coffee, he turned on his laptop .
‘There’s pretty much no one going in and out . ’
MG Entertainment’s branch company was very quiet . There was almost no one that entered or exited the building, and there was absolutely no noise coming from the building as though no one habited it . He almost wondered if he came to the wrong place .
However, he still waited .
3 hours had gone past . Although he could visit the building and meet the girls himself, he wanted to avoid rumors popping up . Although this was a roundabout method, he had to undertake it . He thought that Eddios was indeed worth the risk .
When the sun was about to set, one person opened the door and left the building . It was a girl wearing tight training clothes with a ponytail .
‘Found one . ’
After discovering the girl, KangYoon’s eyes shone . He then quickly packed his stuff before leaving the cafe .
***
“Haa… . ”
The girl walked down the street with a sigh . It was no fun to practice by herself . She wished the others could practice with her at least . People started ditching practice one by one . Even Han JooYeon, who loved singing, holed herself up in her room saying that it was all pointless, not to mention other members .
“Ailee, that girl will get fat if she keeps rolling around in food like that . ”
She blamed Ailee . She thought that the others would come to practice if she asked, but now, it seemed that no one was motivated to practice .
“Well, I guess we’ve done plenty enough . ”
She frowned as she thought about bitter things . Everyone else was just lazing around not doing anything, what could she change by herself? Nothing was worth it .
She lightly shook her head .
“Yes, let’s end it here . ”
“Let’s end what here?”
Just when she was about to give up .
But then, she heard the voice of a man from behind her . She freaked out before turning back . When she did, she saw a man she never imagined she would see here, smiling at her .
“A, ahjussi?”
“MinAh, it’s been a wh… . ”
“Ahjussi!”
Without being able to finish his greetings, she rushed into the man’s arms . All of her emotions burst out and the man’s clothes became wet with her tears . The man lightly patted her head and back .
The scorching red sunset reflected off the two .