Hyunseung dropped by the company cafeteria with Manager Kim for the first time in a while.
“Hyunseung, you really fly out at dawn?”
“Yes, yes.”
“Then shouldn’t you rest at home a bit before leaving?”
Chewing a mouth-sized lump of pork cutlet, Hyunseung stared at Manager Kim as though the question were absurd.
“You’re the one who carpet-bombed me with texts this morning.”
“I did?”
“Don’t you remember? Want me to show you?”
Hyunseung opened the message app and slid the phone across.
— Today’s cafeteria menu is pork cutlet, your favorite
— Guess I’ll be eating at the cafeteria alone for a while!
— Looks like I’ll be monitoring The Moon’s music show by myself today
— Ah, you do know Jaeyi’s song drops today, right?
And the wistful closer:
— Just saying… have fun on your trip
With an embarrassed laugh, Manager Kim placed an extra piece of cutlet on Hyunseung’s tray.
“Eat up! Want me to bring more?”
Shaking his head, Hyunseung spooned up rice and asked in an indifferent tone.
“You do have something to tell me, don’t you?”
“I only figured we’d eat and monitor together….”
“The Moon, Jaeyi—those are just excuses.”
Meeting Hyunseung’s steady gaze, Manager Kim gave a rueful smile. The kid’s intuition was too sharp.
“It’s nothing big. My mother’s improved a lot, so she’s being discharged.”
“That’s truly good news.”
“Yeah. I wanted to see you and thank you properly.”
Hyunseung hummed once, low, then asked.
“By feeding me cafeteria food?”
“You like the cafeteria.”
“This is my meal ticket, though.”
“Want more cutlet?”
A silence passed.
“In any case, I’m glad to hear it.”
Hyunseung added quietly, in all sincerity.
“Before it’s any later, do take her on that trip.”
Manager Kim opened and closed his lips, then spoke.
“I meant to keep this quiet, but Jaeyi has an overseas shoot coming up.”
“Jaeyi’s going abroad already?”
“Not a global push—she got cast for Street Again.”
“Oh, that show where Korean singers busk on foreign streets?”
“Right. Her manager’s new, so I’ll be going along.”
“So you get an overseas trip thanks to Jaeyi.”
Nodding, Kim answered.
“I thought, since I’m flying anyway, I might bring Mother and travel a bit.”
“Good idea.”
“I won’t see much, but like you said, better to go before it’s too late.”
Hyunseung nodded approval, then asked.
“Why keep that from me?”
“We leave tomorrow afternoon.”
“And?”
“You’re landing in Paris first, right?”
“Yeah.”
“We’re shooting in Paris too.”
Hyunseung groaned in despair.
“I didn’t plan on running into you overseas….”
“Hey! I wasn’t hoping to see you there either!”
“Then why the secrecy?”
“I thought if we bumped into each other, I’d spring a surprise, like ta-da….”
Kim’s voice petered out, shoulders drooping.
“You’re sulking?”
“No.”
“You are.”
Checking his watch, Hyunseung stood with his tray.
“Going already?”
“It’s almost time to monitor the kids.”
Kim dropped his spoon with a clatter.
“So we really are monitoring together?”
“You scolded me by text, didn’t you?”
He headed off to return the tray.
“You’re buying coffee after, with lots of gratitude poured in, right?”
“Of course!”
Hurrying after him, Kim added,
“A tall Americano, brimming with gratitude.”
“Tall, huh?”
Watching Kim hurry ahead, Hyunseung muttered,
“Seems his gratitude is exactly one tall-cup’s worth….”
Back in his private studio, Hyunseung held a venti-sized coffee.
“So he was venti grateful after all.”
Seeing his satisfied look, Kim laughed.
“Exactly, venti gratitude.”
Hyunseung suddenly changed expression.
“When’s the music show start?”
“It’s four now, so it’s on. Their slot’s mid-late; should be up soon.”
“Jaeyi’s digital release is at six, right?”
“No, she dropped at one. Chart hasn’t refreshed yet.”
“At one? Why?”
“I’m not sure. The president himself ordered a 1 p.m. release.”
“One p.m.….” Hyunseung murmured, puzzled, but if CEO Jeon Nam-il said so, there must be a reason.
Kim set a tablet on the table.
“Screen’s too small. You ought to buy a TV.”
“It’s my personal studio.”
“Wall-mount won’t take space.”
“It’s my studio.”
“Big screen helps monitoring.”
Realizing resistance was futile, Hyunseung looked to the tablet.
♪♪♪
A cutesy boy group was dancing to a nursery-rhyme-like tune— the kind he used to write for in his past life. It made money, even if the idols were worthless as instruments.
In this life I only work on what’s fun.
The scene changed: The Moon took the stage.
“Hey, they’re on.”
A fierce beat opened; the members snapped into formation and lifted their chins.
“Seeing them like this, they really are handsome.”
“Frankly I’m better-looking, no?”
“Ugh, you’re infuriating. Still, hard to deny.”
Hyunseung’s eyes went back to the screen. An Jiho glared down the lens like he meant to devour it— the exact image Hyunseung had pictured while composing. Live vocals steady; they must have practiced hard.
His lips curled into a crescent.
“Sounds better than in the studio.”
The once-slippery Jeonghyuk, the too-soft Woomin, even the shaky Chanyoung— in reality the picture in his head was coming alive. A quiet thrill welled up.
Partly, this was penance; a weight lifting off his chest. And proof that the feeling he’d had in the corridor was right.
So they’re really making a scene.
Kim noticed the exploding live-chat next to the video.
“Feels like they just blew something up, huh?”
“Looks that way.”
—These hyungs came to put the idol scene in order
—So this is what it takes for HS to pick you
—Yo, chill, they’re tearing the stage
—Our Eungheon Jiho, uu, eungheon, does it again!
Night fell.
In a small conference room in LS Entertainment, lights blazed. Team Leader Kwak, Manager Kim, Jaeyi, and her manager waited for the charts to refresh.
“Jaeyi, you fly tomorrow. Go home and we’ll call.”
“It’s a daytime flight, I’m fine. It’s my song; of course I should check too.”
Each fiddled with laptops and phones, silence thick in the room.
Tap, tap.
Jaeyi scrolled through articles on her phone, expression dim.
[K-Singer Star winner Jaeyi releases single “The Only One I Had”]
[HS pick Jaeyi’s official debut, 1 p.m. digital release…]
Her manager spoke softly.
“Don’t worry. You have the K-Singer Star crown and the HS pick tag. Reaction will come.”
Jaeyi nodded, but her face stayed stiff. Those very tags weighed on her. After winning, being “picked” and saved— what if she still failed? She didn’t crave huge fame, only to sing her songs to someone. Yet with HS’s name attached, wasn’t some success mandatory?
Seo Jini had stirred a Japanese boom, Jung Arin thrived on variety shows; Moon Beomjae was legendary, Kang Hajun conquered Korea then Japan. Even The Moon…
The Moon keeps updating their own legend
—Is he crying? lol cryingㅋ
They looked like a triumphant comeback.
“So good….”
Jaeyi realized that steady vocals were only the minimum; expressions changing with every word and total stage command were baseline for singers now. In comparison, she had only learned not to shake. Her online buzz was sympathy votes born from her misfortune— the easiest kind to gain, and to lose.
Can I survive in this scene?
Deep in thought, she heard Team Leader Kwak.
“Midnight in a minute.”
He and Manager Kim only planned to jot the chart rank for the report. After all, it was an HS track.
Please….
Jaeyi clasped her hands.
Ding—!
When she opened her eyes, nothing had changed.
“Um, has the chart updated?”
“Yeah.”
“Did I… make the chart?”
Kwak glanced over his laptop at her, puzzled.
“Why ask something so obvious?”
Manager Kim added,
“Right, as if a Hyunseung song would miss the chart.”
And so the inevitable chart-in occurred.
TOP 100
1 Yoonseul – Kang Hajun
…
5 Dear my Beethoven – HS (feat. Moon Beomjae)
…
19 To the One Who Had Only Me – Yoon Jaeyi
…
45 le seul – The Moon
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