Chapter 117
Leaving the Rock Festival, where they burnt their pa.s.sion, behind, White Moonlight, KangYoon, Lee HyunJi, Kim JiMin, and manager Kim DaeHyun returned to World Entertainment .
“Prez, prez . Let’s do an after party!”
“Afterparty! Afterparty!”
When Lee HyunAh asked for an afterparty, all of them looked expectantly at KangYoon . KangYoon thought about it for a moment before speaking .
“Fine then, let’s have an afterparty . ”
“Wow! You rock, prez!”
Eating out made them joyful . They put down their instruments and headed to a nearby Korean barbecue restaurant .
Kim JiMin sent a text to Kim JaeHoon, who was at KangYoon’s house picking songs, and Jung HyeJin, who was about to go home after work, was caught by Lee HyunAh . Like that, the number of partic.i.p.ants rose and it became an outing for the entire World family .
KangYoon and the company were guided to a room . They took off their shoes and went inside . When the president ordered various types of meat like pork belly, ribs and others, all of their eyes lit up .
“Uugh… Beef . Is there no beef . ”[1]
Though, someone did complain . Lee ChaHee told Kim JinDae off .
“Why don’t you earn as much as JaeHoon-oppa over there before you say something?”
“…You are so cruel . ”
Kim JinDae turned his head away, pouting . However, Lee ChaHee did nothing and grilled the meat as if this were a common occurrence .
Everyone was mesmerized by the sizzling meat when someone unexpected entered .
“Huh? s...o...b..e . ”
Lee HyunJi blinked her eyes several times in wonder . This was professor Choi ChanYang . Kim JiMin also didn’t think that she would see him here today and stood up to greet him .
“Teacher, what brings you here?”
“I visited the company because I forgot something, and then… . ”
He scratched his head in awkwardness . He had briefly visited the company for something but was called here by KangYoon .
KangYoon immediately made him some room and greeted him warmly .
“Welcome . ”
“Thank you for welcoming me . ”
KangYoon told Lee HyunAh to call Park SoYoung as well . She cheerfully called her right away .
“President . SoYoung is around the area with her friends . She’ll be here soon . ”
“Okay, then . ”
Just as the meat was getting fully cooked, Park SoYoung arrived . The members of White Moonlight welcomed her pa.s.sionately .
“SoYoung!”
“Unni~!”
Park SoYoung expressed her greetings to Lee HyunAh first . The members of White Moonlight greeted her warmly and gave her a seat .
When everybody gathered around . It was to give a welcome speech .
“I guess this is the first time everyone has gathered around at a table like this . Although it’s only pork for today, let’s get some beef the next time we do this!”
“Lee . Kang . Yoon! Lee . Kang . Yoon!”
The word ‘beef’ made them more joyful . KangYoon felt his shoulders rising from pride and raised his gla.s.s .
“The slogan for today will be ‘For a better future’ . For a better future!”
“A better future!”
Everyone clanged their gla.s.ses with each other and KangYoon sat back down after telling everyone to dig in .
They started talking about a lot of things and the table became louder again . The members of White Moonlight were quarreling, Kim JiMin and Park SoYoung were quietly chatting, Kim JaeHoon, Jung HyeJin, and professor Choi ChanYang unexpectedly made a good conversation group .
“Well, then . President Lee, you’ve worked hard until today . Receive a gla.s.s from me . ”
Lee HyunJi poured some soju for KangYoon . KangYoon returned one back .
“You’ve worked hard too, director . ”
“Haa, I’m having it easier than when I was at MG . I don’t know how long it has been since I was so motivated when I’m working . The people I work with are fun to work with, and there’s a sense of growth in the company too . This is awesome . ”
“That’s good . ”
Lee HyunJi was serious . There was no intra-company politics war like when she worked at MG Entertainment and could focus solely on her work .
“Though sometimes, your rash actions almost shock me to death . ”
“Hahaha… . ”
KangYoon became awkward . As Lee HyunJi was the type to do everything according to the manual, it wasn’t easy for her to follow KangYoon’s actions .
“Well, with you, you have your reasons, so… I guess it’s fine . If there’s anything I want, I wish you’d tell me beforehand the reason behind your actions . You know, like the sprinkler trucks today . ”
“Looks like I was too headstrong . . ”
“Just be a little bit more considerate about me in the future . That’s fine . ”
KangYoon nodded his head in understanding .
As the party continued, KangYoon stood up and headed to where White Moonlight was sitting . They were having a blast with Park SoYoung in the mix .
“Hm? Prez, over here . ”
Lee HyunAh prepared a seat for KangYoon right next to her own .
“Thanks . ”
“Oppa, the sprinkler trucks today were awesome . I thought I was at a water park . ”
Lee HyunAh told KangYoon about her opinions about today . The other members were the same and chimed in .
“Me too, I never thought that you’d spray water like that at a concert . ”
Lee ChaHee wasn’t that different from Lee HyunAh . They thought that they themselves had to do something as a band on the stage, but they never thought about spraying water at the audience .
“I thought I was performing at a water park too . The people were jumping even while getting soaked… and wow . ”
Kim JinDae seemed still a little excited . Jung ChanGyu nodded his head in agreement .
“I watched an outdoor performance when I was studying in America . One amateur band was spraying water everywhere . It was summer and it was hot . It looked funny at first, but the audience seemed to like it . The weather was hot, and so they needed something to cool them off . ”
“Ooh . ”
KangYoon’s explanation made everyone nod . He had pretty much extended what he saw back then by a huge scale .
“I think the encore song was good as well . People sang along even though this was the first time we sang it on stage . ”
“You’re right . SoYoung, thank you for the great song . ”
Lee HyunAh lightly patted Park SoYoung’s back at KangYoon’s compliment . Park SoYoung, who was sipping soju by herself, was startled .
“Oh, th… thanks . ”
“What are you so surprised about?”
“No, no… nothing . ”
KangYoon’s presence made Park SoYoung tense up . She became very nervous whenever the topic of her song came up . It was as though she was meeting a professor from her university .
Regardless, KangYoon kept talking .
“I’m not knowledgeable about talents, but this song really wasn’t bad . Thank you for the song . ”
“Thank you . ”
After that, KangYoon talked to White Moonlight about the new concert hall before going elsewhere .
The atmosphere at the restaurant was very bright . Everyone switched places and got to know each other better . Gla.s.ses of soju were exchanged, the meat sizzled, and their relationship became deeper .
The highlight for today’s party was the meeting with the other half of Muse, HeeYoon . Although everyone knew who she was, she wasn’t formally introduced to the company . KangYoon decided to introduce her to them at this place, albeit through the phone .
[Oh… h.e.l.lo, there? My name is Lee HeeYoon . ]
HeeYoon was a little surprised since it was still in the morning for her, but still introduced herself properly .
The singers were very welcoming towards this composer who was giving them good music . Kim JaeHoon’s reaction was the most explosive . As he was in the middle of selecting songs, he knew just how good her songs were .
Like that, the joyful afterparty pa.s.sed .
***
The internal construction of Lunas was complete .
KangYoon looked around Lunas along with Lee HyunJi and various construction workers to check on the facilities .
“The acoustics are okay, and there’s no light bleed either . ”
The workers sighed in relief after hearing KangYoon’s comment . If he decided that something wasn’t right and decided to haggle, it would be a great pain . Fortunately, KangYoon wasn’t the type to do that .
KangYoon then proceeded to play back some music from the broadcasting room to check the speakers, and the sound was good as well . He even went outside to see if there was any noise bleeding through . It seemed that they put a lot of soundproofing materials as he could hear absolutely nothing from the outside of the building . Although the building was quite old, this was an amazing job .
“Thank you all for your work . ”
After checking everything, KangYoon shook hands with the workers and finished up . The workers also left with relief .
Seeing the empty hall, Lee HyunJi stretched her shoulders .
“Phew, that was long . ”
“You’re right . But it’s good that we got it ready for autumn . ”
Just as KangYoon said, the timing was very suitable .
It was now September . The heat was dying out and the weather was getting good for an outing . Various performances were heating up as well .
It was not an exaggeration to say that White Moonlight’s prime would start now .
“So White Moonlight is like a pro baseball team with their own stadium . ”
“Hahaha, if you want to compare, I guess that’s true . We got our own venue now, so it will be a fight of advertising . ”
“Looks like I’ll get busy . That’s my job after all . ”
Lee HyunJi pointed to herself in confidence . PR and management was her job at World Entertainment . KangYoon nodded in trust .
After a while, White Moonlight and Kim JiMin arrived at the hall . They were unable to hide their surprise after seeing it for themselves .
“Wow… . ”
Lee HyunAh went up to the stage and stood at the center . She exclaimed again and again and praised the lighting and acoustics of the place .
“It looks like a normal concert hall, but it also looks like a nightclub . This might work as both . ”
“It’s a bit of a hybrid, I guess . ”
“Pfft . ”
Lee HyunAh chuckled at KangYoon’s words . Like what he said, this place could work as both a nightclub and a concert hall .
Kim JiMin tried walking up to the stage as well . Her impression was different from White Moonlight’s though .
“This place… . ”
Unlike White Moonlight, who was filled with excitement, she looked very nervous . In a few days, she would hold her first performance here . She imagined people in front of her…
And that made her thrilled .
While everyone was excited about the new place, KangYoon was nervous for another reason .
‘I don’t know how the other places will act . ’
The owners of other places should be aware of the low rental prices of Lunas right now . However, none of them had taken action yet . KangYoon was nervous because he didn’t know what they were up to .
KangYoon asked Lee HyunJi about the schedule . She looked at her phone to answer .
“Next Friday is the first performance here . White Moonlight is up first . ”
“When does a team other than White Moonlight perform first?”
“It’s the next day, a Sat.u.r.day . Though, there’s something strange . We’re full for this month, but there’s no one that’s coming to book the next month . We got a lot of calls from bands up until last week… but there hasn’t been any in the last few days . I wonder if the clubs around here are pressuring them to do so . ”
KangYoon answered calmly at Lee HyunJi’s worried tone .
“That’s what I think as well . Don’t rent their hall . Isn’t that what they pressured them into?”
“Isn’t that collusion? It should be illegal . ”
“It will be harder to catch them if there is no solid evidence . They won’t blatantly say You, don’t think about performing here again since you’ve performed once over there, or the like . They will use all sorts of other excuses, and that makes it harder for anyone to catch that they are colluding . A single individual has to prove it against several others… there’s no way public servants are willing to do that for us either . ”
“That’s scary . But then, would they really have colluded? I thought they’d fight us fairly, like, using package prices . ”
Lee HyunJi was still skeptical about the whole collusion theory . Her opinion was that the other venues would put out package products or something .
KangYoon shook his head .
“It would be good if they did that . Though, it won’t be easy . The clubs take priority over the bands . If the clubs collude with each other and stop the rentals together, the indie bands will lose all places to perform . ”
“If we report it to the police, they will definitely get caught . The Fair Trade Commission isn’t there for show . ”
“They will use all sorts of related legal articles as an excuse . They aren’t idiots, so they won’t deny everyone outright . If it was me, I’d use the excuse that we’re full . There’s no time slot available, so what can anyone do about it? We have circ.u.mstantial evidence, but no solid proof . Even if we do report it, it will take a lot of time . ”
“Time… that’s fatal . Indie bands are critical about time since they may lose whatever few fans they have if they don’t perform regularly . ”
“It’s cruel . They don’t have any time to make the reports either . Even if they do report and get justice served, the bands will get harmed as well . Street performance? If all the indie bands went on the street to perform, there would be complaints about the noise . It would backfire on them . Also, the band that did the report will get shunned by everyone else in the industry . It will only be a bad cycle . No one would report them ever again and the cycle continues . ”
“Ah, so frustrating . Then what do we do now?”
That was the problem . Lee HyunJi was frustrated . At this rate, they may close Lunas without many achievements due to the collusion from other clubs . She thought that KangYoon did all this because he had a solution .
“We need to break that . ”
“Break what?”
Lee HyunJi tilted her head at KangYoon’s words .
“They have no intentions on bringing down the prices of their locations . However, we are giving out our service at a cheap price . They are colluding with each other so that they won’t let any bands perform at ours . However, speaking from the bands’ perspectives, would they really want to keep performing at a place that’s more expensive AND has worse equipment?”
“Of course not… oh . ”
Lee HyunJi clapped in realization . From a consumer’s perspective, it was natural to prefer to use cheaper and better quality alternatives .
“We have a lot of time on our hands . We have no reason to go bankrupt even if we let this place rest a little . However, they will have more and more complaints piling up at their doorstep . Also, bands aren’t the only things we can hold here . Sedy’s fan meeting will be the start . ”
“That’s true . The other places are specially-built for live performance clubs, but Lunas is different . We were talking about indie bands so I didn’t think about the other things we could do with this place . ”
“Actually, we have the upper hand . Although I did mention reporting to the police and whatnot, they can’t keep holding the bands forever . There will definitely be strayaways . One will become two, two will become four and it will rapidly increase after that . What we need to do is to provide them not only a place to perform, but other things as well so that the bands that aren’t using this place will be envious of those that do .
“That’s a clear answer . So, they will pretty much self-destruct . ”
“Yes . There’s one more, important thing . ”
“Something important?”
KangYoon’s eyes lit up when Lee HyunJi asked .
“We’ll also approach the owner of those clubs one by one and make them switch sides . ”