Jayble, after finishing work on the collaborative album with HS, was practicing the part he would sing on the title track.
“Don’t worry about giving me the guitar.”
He had mistakenly thought he’d trained HS with the guitar.
“Instead, I’ll pay extra—think of it as an appearance fee—and let’s do one stage together.”
He never even dreamed the guy was drawing a much bigger picture.
“Winning bid price plus ₩100 million—call?”
Right. He wasn’t some simple rookie, and yet Jayble had taken him too lightly.
In the end, Jayble had fallen for his own bait. He had to go play the clown at his rival’s fan meeting….
“C-call.”
Well, looked at another way, if it’s one song for a hundred million won, of course you do it. Not doing it would be stupid, no?
Sure.
He had plenty of money, but money is the kind of thing where more is always better.
At least, that was Jayble’s value system.
“I shouldn’t half-ass it if I’m getting a hundred million.”
Jayble slowly loosened his stiff tongue and muttered his rap.
— If you’ve got money, you can do anything.
If he was doing it anyway, he should deliver value worthy of the hundred million.
— But money isn’t everything.
He put rhythm to the lyrics he himself had written down.
It might be childish, but he was murmuring for a while, jotting down his own story in a matter-of-fact way, when—
Thump, thump—!
A hurried knocking sounded beyond the studio door.
“Come in.”
At his flat call, the door flew open and Sim Woo-jin rushed in, looking frantic.
“P-producer!”
Jayble set down the lyric sheet in his hand, as if to say, What is it?
“Did you see the a-article that just went up?”
“What article? Don’t tell me the fact we’re releasing a collab leaked?”
“N-no! Not that!”
Sim Woo-jin took a breath and shoved his phone right up to Jayble’s nose.
“Isn’t that a little close?”
“Ah, ah, sorry.”
When he slid the phone back a bit, the article headline came into view.
[ HS to release new single ‘fallen leaves’ on the 1st! ]
A very familiar name.
HS.
An article about his new song release.
“So he’s releasing. Got it.”
Jayble gave a small nod like it was nothing.
“You’re not surprised?”
At that lukewarm response, Sim Woo-jin blinked and asked again.
“Up until a few days ago he was working on the personal album. When did he even make a new song to release?”
“Well, either he made it beforehand, or he went back and made it.”
“No, but isn’t this guy an actual monster? Honestly, during that last recording I helped on, I was really freaked out.”
And then he started chattering in earnest, stories he’d been sitting on.
“You’re saying the LS Entertainment engineers do that kind of high-intensity work every day. Wow, I couldn’t have endured it.”
“Don’t be so weak.”
“I mean it—Jung Arin and Ahn Jiho still looked fine after recording overnight. Do they all go eat tonics or something?”
Sim Woo-jin, sounding all worked up, kept grumbling without pause.
“And Kim Bomi seemed to hold up better than I expected.”
“She crashed right after. Now she’s gritting through it because she has to rehearse for HS’s fan-meeting stage, but I’m worried she’s going to get sick….”
Muttering, “Pointless worrying,” Jayble snatched the phone from Sim Woo-jin’s hand.
Scroll, scroll—
After he scrolled down the article for a bit, a noisy comment section appeared.
↳ We’re thrilled, but are you sure your health is okay?
↳ The combo of Jiho and HS; this is a “just trust and listen.”
↳ I haven’t even escaped the Hey-Ho loop yet and… another?
Then, when he hit back, another fresh main banner with HS news was already up.
[ HS to unveil 2nd personal album ‘UNM’ at his first fan meeting ]
Scroll, scroll—
↳ It already hurts that I didn’t win, and now you give them perks like this?
↳ I’m starting to hate my non-winner self so much right now;
↳ Anyone selling an HS fan-meeting invitation, please contact me. I’ll pay whatever. First offer 010-XXXX-XXXX
Peeking at the article at his side, Sim Woo-jin spoke up.
“Seriously, HS is too much.”
Jayble muttered in agreement.
“Right, he’s hogging it all for himself.”
“Why don’t you drop a song too while you’re at it, Producer! You’ve got something drafted, right?”
“I’m good.”
He shook his head hard left and right, then added,
“Just let him hog it all for the rest of the year.”
Before long, a smile tinged with anticipation quietly bloomed at the corner of Jayble’s mouth.
Jeon Nam-il sat at the desk in his office and began skimming the articles featured on the main page.
[ This year as well, HS’s year! Plans to storm through the year-end… ]
[ HS to unveil 2nd personal album ‘UNM’ at his first fan meeting ]
[ HS’s seasonal track ‘fallen leaves’: The Moon’s leader Ahn Jiho takes the mic. ]
Articles plastered top to bottom with the name “HS.”
[ He’s done it again. Less than a day after release, HS’s seasonal song ‘fallen leaves’ lands in the Top 10 of the charts! ]
A very natural chart-in. This was natural.
If you fire off events in succession—a fan meeting, a personal album, a personal song release—of course that result follows.
Of course, provided the condition “HS” comes first.
Tap—
Setting his phone down, Jeon Nam-il pressed between his brows and closed his tired eyes.
“Hoo.”
To be very honest, HS was starting to feel a little scary now.
Explosive growth and recognition, a ballooning fandom, and wealth piling up.
Let loose within the fence to graze, and before you know it, he’s bulked up enough to leap over or smash the fence.
Right.
HS now had the power and the means to break free, either jump the fence or break it, whenever he wanted.
Once he finishes this personal track, personal album, and fan meeting, that’ll add even more force to the fandom.
At this point….
It was unknown whether Jeon Nam-il could still control HS.
Of course.
He wouldn’t let him go easily, but if HS turned his back, Jeon wasn’t confident he could keep him in his grasp.
Always.
Life had gone the way he wanted, as he intended.
And yet….
In front of a peerless, unpredictable genius who exceeded expectations, Jeon Nam-il was starting to feel just a little afraid.
For now, all he could do was grant what HS wanted before he bolted, and not rattle his mood.
Yes.
“Time to start granting HS’s request.”
In truth, he could have granted it right away; it would have been no strain. But he’d put it off for months simply to buy himself a little more time.
Beep—
Jeon Nam-il immediately dialed his secretariat’s hotline.
It was time to pull out the card that would hold HS by the ankle.
“Would you come to the CEO’s office, please?”
Of course.
Who knew how long that card would remain valid.
Before anyone knew it, the streets were brimming with year-end atmosphere.
fallen leaves was coming up on one month since release.
[ TOP 100 ]
1st fallen leaves – Ahn Jiho
2nd A.N.P – Seo Jini
.
7th Yeunsul – Kang Hajun
8th To You Who Had Only Me – Yoon J
9th Dear my Beethoven – HS (Feat. Moon Beomjae)
10th le seul – The Moon
.
38th Peekaboo Family – YellowFong
Needless to say, it had been holding the No.1 spot steadily.
Of course, year-end seasonal songs would soon surge up the charts, but since this was a fall seasonal song, that was inevitable.
Even so, earlier releases were, thanks to the fan meeting’s influence, steadily muscling their way back up into the Top 10.
“Wow, oppa, I think you’re really amazing!”
Hyuna, seemingly just amazed, checked the charts every day and clicked her tongue. Maybe it was just his imagination, but her aegyo seemed to have increased lately.
“So, she likes it when you buy a practical car,” Hyunseung thought as he sat facing her, deciding he’d buy her an even more practical gift next time.
“Come on, try it.”
At that, Hyuna rolled up her sleeves and asked,
“But who holds a fan meeting this early in the morning?”
“We’re not starting right away. We have to do rehearsal.”
“Ah, rehearsal!” Hyuna nodded and brushed her brother’s hair back.
“I’ll start with makeup and then do your hair.”
Today Hyuna had volunteered to be a one-day stylist for her brother running the fan meeting.
Hyunseung didn’t exactly feel confident, but as he felt the fairly deft hand spreading foundation over his face, he closed his eyes.
Tap, tap, tap.
When the soft puff on his cheeks made him twitch as if it tickled, Hyuna smacked his forearm.
“Hold still.”
At times like this, she seemed kind of fierce.
“By the way, are you really not coming to the fan meeting? I told you to bring Dad.”
“Mm….”
“Don’t be like that. Bring him over later for the official fan-meeting time.”
Silence fell for a moment.
“No.”
When he opened his eyes at the sudden quiet, Hyuna was grinning with a mischievous face.
“If I watch you doing fan service, I might not be able to hold back and start cussing.”
“That’s all to feed you….”
“More than anything, my friends think I didn’t win. What am I supposed to say if I run into them there?”
“Just say you scalped a ticket.”
Hyuna burst into giggles and, teasing, asked,
“Is a fan meeting some kind of concert?”
“It’ll be basically a concert.”
“Anyway, I’ll just stay home and pray that you don’t cause any incidents.”
Then she tapped his lips with the puff, as if to say he should stop talking.
After that, a few sweeps of the brush later, she told him to open his eyes.
“Hey, it looks good, right?”
“Hair’s left, so hush.”
Hyuna grabbed a bit of hair sticking up and picked up a round brush.
Whirr, whirr.
Warm air heated his forehead.
Somehow…
He felt odd. Embarrassed? Or… nice? One thing was certain: in his previous life, this would never have happened.
The only thing that had changed from his past life…
…was his attitude.
“Okay! Look in the mirror!”
At Hyuna’s words he opened his eyes and checked his face with a hand mirror.
“I think it’s okay.”
“How’s my skill?”
“My face did all the work, probably.”
“Ugh, annoying.”
Shuddering like she’d had enough, Hyuna stepped back, and Hyunseung picked up his trademark, his signature helmet with the flame emblem.
“W-wait—!”
“What?”
“You’re going to wear the helmet at the fan meeting?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Then why did we do hair and makeup?”
“You said you wanted to.”
“Aigoo, my neck…”
Watching Hyuna knead the back of her neck and groan, Hyunseung spoke lightly.
“If my face gets revealed, you’re the one whose life gets annoying.”
At that, Hyuna said nothing and simply held his gaze.
Right.
Even in his past life, she’d probably had a tough time just because she was his little sister, and he didn’t want that for her again this life.
When a lot is known about you, it’s easy to become the target of a witch hunt….
“…”
“…”
A silence of unknown meaning fell between the siblings facing each other.
“Oppa.”
After a brief hesitation, Hyuna spoke.
“I’m always proud to be your sister.”
She added a single sentence full of sincerity.
“So don’t worry about that. Live doing whatever you want to do.”
Hyunseung couldn’t say anything to that.
From his past life on….
He felt sorry to his little sister who had always warmly cared for him and respected the lives of her family over her own.
All he could say now was—
“I’ll be back.”
Just that one sentence.
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