That day, Jin Miso headed straight home after finishing work. She navigated her commute in a throng of people, spent the day on the job, and then returned. Even that routine was enough to leave her face visibly weary.
“Whew…”
Kicking off the shoes that had been tormenting her feet, she felt the tightness from her chest release as soon as she stepped into her cozy home. She trudged into her room, hung up her bag and coat, then took a warm shower.
Afterward, she grabbed a can of beer and sat down at her computer. This was her one bit of personal time when she could truly smile. First, she put on her headset and powered up the computer.
Whirrr…
The computer tower hummed to life, and the screen lit up. As always, she mentally recited the order of her routine:
- Play her music playlist.
- Open a certain portal site’s news and article section.
- Open the forums on which she was a member.
Though shy in real life, she was lively and bold online. Indeed, those forums were Jin Miso’s domain, her main activity zone—her home ground.
“Hmm, let’s see…”
She scanned through the day’s news:
[ The Giant of Digital Distribution, Taichi Sakamoto, Recognizes Rising Composer ‘HS’ — The True ‘Midas Touch’? ]
[ Man Records’ Owner, Taichi, Sets His Sights on Newcomer Composer ‘HS’—Who Is He? ]
[ LS Entertainment Officially Announces: “We Are Carefully Considering Man Records’ Collaboration Offer.” ]
[ Taichi Sakamoto Says His Korea Trip Is “Solely to Do Business with Composer HS”—Causes a Stir ]
A slow smile spread across her face as she read the headlines. Yes, she had become incredibly active online lately to support this person called “HS,” who kept appearing in the articles.
As a child, she had once been obsessed with a boy idol group, devoting all her time and resources to adoring and cheering for them. It was then she naturally grew to love music.
Even after her ultimate favorite idol group disbanded, she continued to support various singers and genuinely loved their music, listening to a broad range of genres.
Eventually, she happened to hear Seo Jini’s “Walk with Me,” and the raw, comforting voice moved her so deeply that she spent many a night shedding tears without restraint.
Later on, she went to a festival, caught a performance by a rookie named Jung A-rin, and found herself enchanted by a voice so clear and pure that it made her feel like she’d become a carefree, innocent person again.
Of course, to truly fall in love with a singer’s voice, there has to be a good song behind it, right?
Enthralled not just by the voice but by the songs themselves, she stepped away from idol music for a while. She even joined fan cafés for Seo Jini and Jung Arin to show her support.
Then she stumbled upon one surprising fact—
Both of them were composed by the same songwriter. Soon after, that songwriter released his own album.
His songs were beyond exceptional, burrowing into the darkest corners of her lingering sorrow.
“Who is HS, really?” she wondered.
Her growing curiosity about “HS” led her to gather all the information she could, but it was as though he didn’t really exist. Almost nothing was known about him.
Could he be someone as shy and introverted as me, who hates being in the spotlight?
While keeping her support for him mostly in her heart, she came across his first official interview article.
Q: We heard you intentionally delayed releasing your personal album because you wanted to challenge the famous composer Jayble via your music. Yet you’ve been lagging behind him in the charts—how do you feel about that?
A: It’s a sure thing we’ll win; I don’t even know if we should call it a “challenge.” There’s always a chance the tables could turn. I’m confident. If Jayble is up for it, I’d propose a “char-delete match” (a bet in gaming where you risk deleting your character). To be direct, that’s basically a “retirement match.” If he’s not confident…
Her heart pounded violently, reminiscent of the day she first fell for that boy idol group in her childhood. She could practically feel her pulse hammering in her ears.
He was everything she was not: bursting with confidence, self-esteem, and the guts to speak his mind. Even from the article alone, it was obvious.
[ G(od)HS ]
In time, she became so deeply fascinated with HS that she personally started a fan café called “GHS.”
“Only one day left…”
As HS’s first fan, she had sunk into a state of worry. After all, HS was in a donation wager with Jayble, and with just two days left until the outcome, HS’s victory was still far from certain.
“At this rate, HS is going to lose.”
She had done her utmost, streaming HS’s album tracks every day and posting promotions all over various communities. But Jayble’s fandom was enormous and solidly united, making it hard to catch up.
Still, as always, she had to keep doing what she could.
She clicked on the articles, ready to copy and paste them, and opened the comment sections.
“Huh?”
But there was hardly any need—those comment sections were already on fire.
[Commenter 1]
I read Taichi’s interview and listened to every HS track from start to finish. There’s not a single skip—it’s insane. Quality is out of this world. I’m bursting with pride, practically floating on patriotic hype LOL.
↳[Reply] That’s what I’m saying! Taichi Sakamoto is known worldwide as a musical genius, and if even he’s saying he wants HS, that’s all you need to know.
↳[Reply] You have every right to feel proud. Word is he flew to Korea just to see HS for business—like, are you kidding me?
[Commenter 2]
Seriously, who is this guy? What’s the connection that Taichi would pamper him so much like that? ;;
↳[Reply] Try listening to his songs yourself—wouldn’t you want to pamper him too?
↳[Reply] For real, “Our HS can do whatever he wants!”
↳[Reply] What do you mean? A genius recognized another genius, that’s all.
[Commenter 3]
But if Taichi’s rooting for him this hard and he still loses to Jayble, that’ll be humiliating…
↳[Reply] I just checked the charts—it doesn’t look like he’s going to lose. Looks like he’ll be taking the #1 spot any minute, LOL.
↳[Reply] Also, Taichi isn’t exactly “helping” him—haven’t you read that he came here solely because of HS?
↳[Reply] Yeah, exactly. Reading the full interview, it’s basically Taichi throwing himself at HS.
She paused reading comments and went back to the music platform she used regularly.
Charts, charts, charts…
If the comments were this positive, it might mean the charts had turned in his favor, too. Perhaps her beloved “HS” was now proudly at No. 1. Her fingers rushed as she navigated to the real-time charts.
“#1! …Jayble.”
Her excited voice sank. She’d once enjoyed Jayble’s music, but today the name just grated on her nerves.
“#2 HS, #3 HS, #4 HS…!”
At least, from 2nd place onward, songs from HS’s personal album were lined up as if expanding an empire. She relaxed. Yes, the man she had come to admire was just that sort of person.
He’d resurrected Seo Jini, who’d been dismissed as a has-been; discovered the gem that was Jung Arin; held his own against the nation’s top composer Jayble without losing an ounce of confidence.
All she could do was trust him, cheer him on, and wait.
Immediately, she opened the forums she frequented. After copying and pasting the articles, she wrote new posts focusing more on HS the person rather than just his songs.
Yes, there was a chance he could still lose this wager.
Sure, that would be heartbreaking for a fan, but ultimately HS’s music would see the light of day. She was convinced it would become a classic, lodged in people’s memories for a long time to come.
And she believed the day would come when everyone cheered for “HS.”
There were only twelve hours left until Jayble and Hyunseung’s “donation wager” came to an end.
“Phew…”
Following Team Leader Gwak’s sigh, Manager Kim sighed back in unison, then laughed heartily.
And for good reason—HS was today’s talk of the town, ablaze with more buzz than ever.
Taichi’s interview had served as the perfect spark. It burned bright in communities, news articles, comment sections, music platform reviews, and even on foreign music critics’ blogs.
“Goodness, there’s even a fan café for that brat now? Not that many members yet, though.”
“Apparently some mention of his looks in that interview became a hot topic.”
Sure, some comments or posts expressed ridicule or spite. But as the saying goes, haters are fans too, in a way—any buzz that keeps “HS” trending is good news. He’s conquered everything from 2nd place onward; now, all that remained was to topple the undisputed No. 1.
But the problem was that only half a day remained. From here on, it was a race against time. If they had more time, Hyunseung would surely win. At least now the possibility of victory was in sight.
Even so— It was impossible to not feel anxious.
“I tried to act calm, but we’re down to the wire. I popped a calming pill on my way to work this morning.”
“I was about to ask Hyunseung how much he plans to donate so we could prep a press release, just in case.”
“Ugh, where on earth is that guy? We’ve also got new collaboration proposals from Man Records to show him.”
Manager Kim was texting Hyunseung again, pestering him to come quickly.
“Right, I need to ask him about the donation too…”
“Would you stop with that jinxing talk?!”
“I’m just kidding. He’ll win. Public buzz usually converts into real results, you know.”
With that joking remark, Team Leader Gwak dove back into his work. Surrounded by computers, a laptop, a tablet, and his phone, he was busy monitoring reactions and firing off messages.
“Team Leader Gwak?”
“…”
“What are you doing?”
“Yes.”
“Are you listening to me?”
“Yes, yes.”
Even as Manager Kim posed questions, Gwak’s eyes remained glued to his screens. He was busily pulling together articles, community posts, and social media chatter praising “HS,” plotting how to spin them for maximum effect.
Ah…
Realizing how pressed they were for time, Manager Kim thought maybe it would be best to just fetch some water and pray. He was heading for the sofa in the corner of the PR office when:
“Manager Kim, are you that worried?”
“Huh?”
“It’ll be fine. The charts update twice more today.”
“Oh… yes…”
Manager Kim tried to steady himself, observing how steadfastly Gwak returned to his work. He, too, closed his eyes in silent hope.
The fire ignited by Hyunseung and Jayble was raging; he couldn’t bear seeing Hyunseung alone burned to ashes. Yet there was nothing else they could do immediately.
They’d thrown a sizable bone to the public, and the public was gradually gathering. All they could do was hope word spread on how good it was, drawing even more in.
The storm had already arrived. Sensing that a major incident was brewing, they hoped a really big one would break out.
Knock, knock…
At the sound of someone rapping on the PR room door, they looked up to see Hyunseung wander in, hair a mess.
“Oh, Hyunseung! Good timing. We wanted to ask how much you’ll—”
“Stop bringing that up!”
Manager Kim chided Team Leader Gwak for his joking, then led Hyunseung aside.
“Hey, we’ve got something to show you—that’s why we called.”
Hyunseung, looking disinterested, shuffled over and sat down. Manager Kim pulled out neatly compiled documents from his file.
“It’s a new collaboration proposal from Man Records.”
“Can I just rest and read it after everything’s over?”
“Tomorrow ends the wager, right? It wouldn’t hurt to at least take a look before then.”
He added a line he knew would pique Hyunseung’s interest:
“Who knows, there might be something fun in it.”
True enough, Hyunseung nodded at that, took the proposal, and began skimming it. His previously listless eyes turned sharp with interest.
“Hmm…”
- Album [Confessional (告解聖事)]: Japan-wide distribution of included and self-composed tracks, plus some localized versions.
If he entered the Japanese market through Man Records, it would put him at a significant advantage. And if Man Records handled the localization themselves, that would be quite reassuring.
Well…
He wouldn’t need to go back and forth to foreign studios supervising every detail.
Lowering his gaze further, he came across something that piqued his curiosity:
- Proposal for new music production
- Support for creating and distributing a local-market album in Japan
- OST production for “Zebra Studio” animated projects
- Collaboration on the 20th-anniversary album of the pop band “BOS”
- …
- …
- …
- Production of game OST for Japanese developer “Nin-Six”
He mentally dismissed a few of the options as he read. But upon seeing the seventh item, he froze and involuntarily muttered,
“Number 7…”
Yes: “Nin-Six,” the Japanese game company that had created “Animal Island,” which Hyunseung had been playing until quite recently.
“No. 7? Are you saying you want to work on that?”
Manager Kim observed Hyunseung’s reaction. His gaze trembled slightly in apparent excitement. If Hyunseung were to say yes on the spot—
That would bury any loss to Jayble under the big news of this collaboration… not that I actually want him to lose…
“Rabibobet-dow…”
But instead of answering directly, Hyunseung started mumbling a language Manager Kim couldn’t understand.
“Huh? Are you in or out?”
“Rabibobetta-oo…”
“What language is that?”
“Boop-boop-baddu, rabibebboo…”
“Speak Korean, for crying out loud!”
Manager Kim’s head pounded as he listened to Hyunseung reply with strange gibberish. He just couldn’t fathom what was going on in the guy’s head.
As Manager Kim debated whether to start thumping his own chest in frustration, Team Leader Gwak called out,
“Manager, the next chart update hits in one minute, at exactly 7:00 p.m.”
“Right, check it right away.”
At that moment, anything related to Man Records or Taichi or collaboration proposals vanished from Kim’s mind. The tension in the room was palpable enough that one could hear nervous swallowing.
After a few clicks on the mouse…
“What the… this is insane…”
Team Leader Gwak covered his mouth, staring wide-eyed at the screen. Then, like a malfunctioning puppet, he slowly turned his head.
“What is it? Why are you looking like that?”
Kim rushed over, heart pounding, and peered around Gwak’s shoulder to see the computer screen.
“What… is it…?”
On the real-time music chart displayed—
“It’s really happened…”
At the very top—No. 1—the name of the track and artist were ones they knew all too well:
TOP100
1. Dear my Beethoven (Feat. Moon Beomjae) – HS
Listen to this fan-made version <3
This is my first 5 chapter/week as promised!
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