The wager that began in the PR department “HS vs Choi Jihyun” was growing ever larger.
“Okay, everybody, the criterion is who can hold the No. 1 spot the longest.”
The already-popular “A.N.P Challenge” reached its climax once HS himself joined in, and the song roared to No. 1 on the chart.
But the MV for Choi Jihyun’s solo album title track “Blue Spring” just would not cool off; as juniors kept uploading cover videos, a single day later…
[ TOP 100 ]
1 Blue Spring – Choi Jihyun (feat. Kim Gwang-jin)
2 A.N.P – Seo Jini
…it succeeded in taking back first place.
“Management Team 2, who are you betting on?”
“HS, of course!”
“Then Management Team 1?”
“We’ll stake everything on the new rising power.”
“How about Marketing?”
“Uh… surely HS will end up winning…?”
“A&R Division?”
“Uh, keep this from HS, okay? We’re picking Choi Jihyun.”
The pot had grown big enough to fund a full team dinner for the winners. From the morning commute, participants gathered on the roof terrace, cigarettes in hand, watching the chart on their phones.
“Choi Jihyun’s on top again! I’m so pumped right now!”
“Let’s push a massive marketing blast using HS’s challenge video!”
“Hey, no unfair favoritism, please.”
“Then can we switch back to Choi Jihyun?”
“You’re going to switch every single day the rank changes?”
“N-no! Seriously, just one last time!”
What was it about this bet that made full-grown adults so childish?
Some tried to game the rules; others changed their pick every other day as the lead flip-flopped.
Among them, the PR department (the originators) stood firm behind HS.
Just then…
“Et-chis! The view-count is shooting up, wheee!”
The rookie in PR shouted while staring at a Shorts clip.
[[MuCore] Short but explosive—HS’s A.N.P challenge “E-, Et-chis”]
Views 31.91 million
Likes 86K Comments 5.3K
Seeing the number climb hour by hour, the PR folks felt even surer they’d backed the right horse.
“Honestly, I never imagined HS would appear on a music show and do the challenge.”
Team Leader Gwak nodded.
“Yeah, I didn’t either.”
“You didn’t, boss?”
“Nope. Especially not wearing that helmet.”
He glanced at the Shorts clip. “Really.”
“Well, the more outrageous the helmet, the faster the views rise which is good for us. Of course, HS himself probably hates this situation.”
When he first saw the clip, Gwak had been shocked too, but the laughter soon followed. He could easily picture the face HS must have been making inside that helmet.
“Why would he hate it?”
“Because… that’s just the kind of guy he is.”
The rookie cocked his head, not getting it, then asked cautiously:
“Uh, chief…?”
“Mm?”
“Choi Jihyun is a real person… right?”
Gwak all but jumped. “What do you mean?”
“Well, uh… the rumor says he’s AI.”
Just like the old urban legends around HS, creepy rumors were beginning to swirl about Choi Jihyun too.
Embarrassed by the “E-, Et-chis” affair, Hyunseung stayed hidden for two days, then finally showed up at his studio.
He fervently hoped that no one would come looking for him, but…
Knock, knock, knock.
Manager Kim burst in almost the moment he arrived.
Yet before scolding him about the challenge, Kim brought startling news: the visit fromYunis Music Group.
“If Yunis’s people came in person, there has to be some complicated backstory!”
“No matter how I think about it, nothing comes to mind.”
“When you were traveling Europe, did you go around flirting? Maybe you dropped something without realizing.”
“I told you, I didn’t drop anything.”
“Then how does the New York Phil and now Yunis show up at our door?”
Hyunseung conceded the point with a nod. Yunis Music Group was the world’s largest distributor-slash-label conglomerate; they rarely moved first. Usually everyone else knocked on their door.
For them to come unofficially just to meet him… It was odd indeed.
Still, his curiosity didn’t really spark right now.
“Think hard, will you?”
He closed his eyes, pondering.
“Hmm…”
“Anything come to mind?”
“Absolutely nothing.”
Kim deflated onto the sofa.
“Anyway, they said they’ll schedule another visit later.”
“Fine. We can ask then.”
Kim suddenly leapt up.
“You sly devil.”
“What?”
“Pretending none of this mattered to you…”
Hyunseung stroked his arm at Kim’s teasing tone.
“I should’ve known when you agreed to appear on TV. You had a secret weapon up your sleeve.”
“Please, let’s not talk about that. I’m already regretting it…”
Kim, clearly amused, played the Shorts clip right in front of him, snickering.
“Why? I was so proud watching you.”
“Enough.”
“How about launching a real broadcast career?”
“Spare me.”
“I bet you’d be great on TV…”
Hyunseung sighed and cut him off.
“Could you stop bringing up that video? It’s making me want to not renew my contract.”
Kim blanched and hurriedly switched topics, pulling up the chart on his laptop.
“Anyway, it’s neck and neck.”
“What is?”
“Choi Jihyun versus HS, HS versus Choi Jihyun!”
Waving both hands like an MMA announcer, Kim looked so excited that Hyunseung chuckled.
“You seem happy today.”
“Of course! That Manager Oh has been driving me nuts lately.”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing important. The point is, Jihyun and HS are dead even.”
Kim had already forgotten Yunis’s visit and was bubbling over.
“The day before yesterday HS was no. 1, yesterday Jihyun, today HS again! Online, everyone’s betting on who’ll take tomorrow.”
“Honestly, does it matter?”
“Technically no, but people in the company started a pool on who’ll hold no. 1 the longest.”
“Did you bet?”
“N-no?”
Kim clamped his mouth shut. Management Team 2 had in fact been the first to leap into the pool, staking all on HS. But given how unpredictable the race was, he’d decided not to mention the bet to Hyunseung himself.
Clap!
Kim clapped to change the atmosphere.
“So, got any ideas for your next project?”
“Well, I’m looking for some new instruments.”
He tapped the console absently.
“Maybe something overseas…”
“Out of the blue?”
“Thought I’d broaden my reach.”
“Funny you mention it. I just got your tarot read today.”
“…And?”
“The cards say you shouldn’t step outside the country for a while.”
Hyunseung smiled wryly.
“Then I’ll let the overseas come to me.”
Kim snorted but couldn’t object. After all, three times already: Man Records, the New York Phil, and now Yunis. Foreign powers had come knocking.
“Let me do another spread, see if you and the overseas vibe.”
“Your tarot’s bogus anyway…”
“It’s not bogus! C’mon, pick three cards.”
He humored Kim and drew. The manager scrutinized them.
“Hmm… You can go abroad, but…”
He scratched his chin, then added:
“…only if you take me with you, everything goes smoothly?”
Hyunseung merely shook his head.
Yep. Bogus tarot.
Hyuna attended her department gathering. The venue was a tiny street bar famed for generosity. It filled fast once all the med-students arrived.
Haaah…
Seniors from the clinical years would be there, so attendance was mandatory; she came out of obligation.
But she immediately wished she hadn’t. She should have faked an excuse.
Because… her very first (but now ex) boyfriend Min-woo was also present.
“Hyuna, can we talk after the gathering?”
He sat next to her.
“I have nothing to say.”
She kept her voice low so others wouldn’t hear. If she talked any more, she’d weaken. She wouldn’t bad-mouth his mother, either; better to end it clean.
Just then…
“You know once you hit the clinical years you’ll never get to play, right?”
A senior hoisted his beer and shouted. Min-woo shut his mouth.
“So party hard this second semester! Date all you want! Drink a lot! It may be the last carefree time in your lives!”
The crowd roared “Yes, sir!” and clinked glasses overhead.
ZZZZZ—
As Hyuna turned to sip her beer:
—[You’re at your department party, right?]
It was from her brother.
[Yeah, told you this morning.]
She texted back, then stuffed the phone away. Lately Oppa was acting like a second dad, constantly checking her schedule. Well, thanks, but still.
“Hyuna, not drinking?”
“Oh. No!”
Pressed by a senior, she chugged.
One glass, two, three… Voices rattled the tiny bar; her cheeks flushed.
“Did you order quick-delivery?”
The owner asked. Everyone asked around, “Did you?” “Who did?”
“Excuse me…”
The delivery guy finally spoke up.
“Is Ms. Min Hyuna here?”
Every eye turned to her.
“M-me? I didn’t order anything—”
She walked over, bewildered. Maybe she ordered food while drunk?
“This is from Mr. Min Hyunseung. Don’t know him?”
“Oh, that’s my brother!”
The name rang familiar. People whispered, “Hyunseung? You have a brother?”
“Just a sec.”
The courier shuttled in and out, unloading countless boxes.
“Here. 31 Mac-books. Count and sign, please.”
“Y-yes. One, two, three, four, fi—”
She tapped each box, then suddenly yelled:
“W-wait a minute!”
Sobriety slammed back.
“Thirty-one MacBooks?!”
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