Pen and Paper Translations

Hidden wound up looking like a soaked rat when Jayble suddenly showed up and dumped ice water over his head.

Seriously.

Just thinking back on the humiliation he’d suffered moments ago made his head feel frozen solid.

“You son of a bitch….”

They say even mountains and rivers change in ten years; looks like Jayble’s head got way too big in that time.

What was it that little punk said?

“Just like you look right now. You’re absolutely pathetic.”

Where did he get the nerve to spout something like that, with no fear of heaven?

“All this time, what was I so afraid of that I avoided a guy like this?”

If only he’d stayed meek like when he was a rookie, living with his mouth shut.

“Senior, we’ll be seeing each other often at the shop from now on.”

Back then, ten years ago, he shouldn’t just have kicked Jayble out of the shop; he should’ve buried him socially, once and for all….

“I was young then too, and way too soft-hearted.”

Regretting that he hadn’t completely buried Jaebl in the past, Hidden headed for the hotel sauna.

Shiv— shiv— shiv—

To soothe the body trembling with humiliation and shame, he went into the warm dry sauna.

“Hoo….”

About when beads of sweat began forming on his forehead—

Creeeeak—

A slim-built man came into the dry sauna with a towel covering his face.

Sitting side by side on the hinoki bench, the man quietly opened his mouth.

“Aren’t you calling me a bit too often? At this rate you ought to pay me extra….”

A voice tinged with that distinctive Korean-Chinese accent.

“Considering the job I asked for last time hasn’t exactly produced results yet, bringing up money first is a bit much.”

Hidden clicked his tongue in displeasure.

“We did exactly as requested—maximally provocative content, even doctored photos. If the result wasn’t what you wanted, that’s not on us, is it?”

“All right, all right. Just do it properly this time.”

“Then the fee…?”

“I’ll pay triple what I did before. Tie two people together and take them down in one go.”

Hidden pulled out a USB stick he’d kept carefully wrapped in his towel and added:

“This time I’ve secured solid video. So do it right.”

Through the towel, the man’s scar-riven eyes gleamed as he answered on the spot.

“In that case, it’s doable.”

Taking the USB, he flashed a fishy smile.

“We’ll handle it cleanly.”

Only then did Hidden wear a satisfied smile and murmur to himself.

And then—

Clenching his fist as if making up his mind, Hidden muttered:

“Yeah. Even the most unpopular novel deserves at least one side story.”

His low voice rolling through the sauna sounded ominous enough to portend trouble.

---

On a day in January—the coldest month—the public heated up like the dog days of summer.

[ 〔Video Attached〕 Composer Jayble causes a ruckus at a salon, going beyond mere insubordination… The reason? “His lover, HS.” ]

Just reading the headline alone made Jayble’s head throb.

Apparently…

Hidden had jumped the gun again and pulled some stunt.

— [Video Attached] Yesterday (X date) there was quite a commotion at a certain Cheongdam salon.

[ Composer Jayble came and poured ice water over senior composer Hidden’s head, causing a scene.

What matters most is that the reason Jayble sought Hidden out and committed this act of insubordination was because of his lover “HS”… 

The CCTV attached to the article had been slyly edited so no voices could be heard, but it showed very clearly the part where Jayble dumped the ice water.

The drama “Red Thread” OST assignment HS just took on had, in fact, originally been Hidden’s.

Citing that, Jayble supposedly misunderstood that Hidden had borne a grudge against his lover “HS” and had triggered malicious articles, and thus he did what he did… ]

They’d written that nonsense with painstaking care.

Finally, the “victim” Hidden said in an interview, “It seems there was a small misunderstanding,” and even asked that people not scold the junior he cherished—Jayble—too much.

So he’s even playing the “kind senior” cosplay in the middle of this.

Up to now the public had been quiet for lack of firm proof; but this time, with a “victim” and “video” out in the open, people were boiling over.

↳ Uh… so Jayble and HS really are dating? Otherwise, why would he storm in and cause a scene like that?

↳ Wait… hold on… there could be other circumstances… I’m going neutral for now and watching.

↳ Even if you go neutral and even if it’s not true, dumping ice water on someone’s head shows a character problem.

↳ In the end Hidden’s the only one who looks super pitiful; he had his gig taken by a junior and then got an ice-water shower on top of it. What did he do to deserve that?

↳ What if Hidden is actually HS’s old flame? The poor male lead who lost both his work and his love…

↳ ^ You there. Maybe stop reading so many romance novels.

After that, a string of articles, each twisted to taste, kept going up.

[ Composer Jayble: Beyond insubordination—now a character controversy… ]

[ Jayble causes a scene at a salon? Pours water on senior composer’s head… ]

[ Jayble seeks out Hidden and retaliates on behalf of “lover HS”… ]

[ HS and Jaebl met at a drug party and became lovers… ]

However you looked at it, this time Hidden seemed intent on bundling him and HS together as a set and sending them both under.

Sllip—

Jayble turned his head and looked at Hyunseung’s indifferent face. How could he be so unruffled?

Hyunseung was standing in front of a showcase of instruments in the house, peering at them with curious eyes.

“Hey, what are you going to do now?”

To his irritated question, Hyunseung calmly asked back:

“About what?”

“What do you mean, about what? You saw the articles.”

“Which is why. Why did you do that?”

At that, Jayble pressed his lower lip tight for a moment.

“It wasn’t because of you, so don’t flatter yourself.”

“Then why?”

“I did it for me.”

Right.

He absolutely had not gone to avenge that punk. It was a belated payback for what had been done to him.

Of course, knowing Hidden’s personality, Jayble hadn’t at all expected him to respond to this extent out of wounded pride.

The situation just turned unfavorable.

Looking at Hyunseung’s face, which showed so little thought, Jayble let out a deep sigh.

“Either way, this one’s my fault, so I’ll take responsibility.”

“What for?”

“Because this all happened after I went to see Hidden.”

“You were sure Hidden was the one who blasted out those rumors about me, so you went and took revenge on my behalf, didn’t you?”

“I am sure… but I told you, I didn’t do it for you.”

At that, Hyunseung smiled soundlessly and said:

“In any case, I bear responsibility too. I took the job from him.”

“But LS Entertainment isn’t doing anything right now, are they?”

“Who says we’re not doing anything?”

“I haven’t seen a single rebuttal article. No official statement either….”

Hyunseung was about to refute him when…

Ding!

A crisp alert tone sounded from his pocket.

[ Kim Dad: Thanks to the articles that went up today, we caught the tail. ]

Checking the text, Hyunseung’s lips curled with a mischievous smile.

“What kind of message makes you grin like that?”

He answered with brimming confidence:

“Looks like Dad just found the one who’s ‘it.’”

“Dad?” Jaebl echoed, tilting his head.

So his father’s a lawyer?

Ah.

So that’s why he’s been so calm.

“Pass along that I’m counting on him, would you?”

“You can contact him yourself.”

“How would I do that?”

“…Do you two not even have each other’s numbers….”

“You’re a weird one, you know that.”

Misunderstanding entirely, Jayble decided that Hyunseung’s bold, composed attitude came from inheriting the blood of a “legal professional” father.

---

Meanwhile, Lee Eun-woo let his eyes take in the wide conference room and said,

“Wow. I can now say I’ve made it. I’ve set foot in what they call the finest entertainment company conference room in Korea.”

For some reason his tone sounded like he was snarking, which Kim Woohyun didn’t like; but since they’d called him because he said he’d found leads, Kim decided to let it slide this once.

Ha.

But of all people, why did this guy have to be the one to come?

Then Eun-woo suddenly lowered his voice and asked,

“So, are Jayble and HS actually dating?”

“…What?”

“You can tell me on the sly. I’ll keep it to myself.”

That feather-light tone. Those annoyingly waggling brows.

What the hell is this punk?

For a lawyer, isn’t he a bit… careless?

“I’m politely declining questions unrelated to the job.”

“How is it unrelated? With gay rumors swirling, what could be more important right now than checking the facts?”

At that, losing his temper a bit, Kim blurted, “Our East—!” then trailed off.

“Eh? Our East?”

“A—anyway, it’s not true. HS isn’t gay, and he and Jayble are nothing more or less than senior and junior composers.”

Looking oddly disappointed, Eun-woo smacked his lips, said “I see,” and then, suddenly sharp as a detective, pressed on:

“Then what about the bigger issue: the drugs?”

“Of course that’s not true.”

“Don’t just defend him. Verify it precisely. If the prosecution comes knocking and it turns out to be true, we’re the ones who get screwed.”

“Our kid doesn’t even smoke.”

“The way you start every sentence with ‘our, our’ tells me you and HS are extremely close.”

The carefree air vanished; in an instant, Eun-woo’s eyes turned razor-keen as he continued,

“I’ve seen plenty of cases where people believe that firmly and then get blindsided.”

“What are you implying?”

“Even parents often don’t know what’s in their own child’s heart; how would colleagues know each other’s inner lives? I’m saying we need to be exact.”

Kim hesitated for a beat.

“Absolutely…”

He added, in a hard tone:

“None of it is true.”

“Great. Good.”

Smiling lightly again, Eun-woo added,

“This kind of job runs on trust, so I’ll put my trust in you, Manager Kim Woohyun.”

Unlike with Hyunseung, Kim just couldn’t get a read on this guy.

“Then, back to the point—did HS take work away from Hidden? Is that a fact?”

“In one sense it is, and in another, it isn’t.”

“Could you explain a bit more?”

“Originally, yes. Hidden was set to handle the overall OST for the drama Red Thread.”

Nodding vigorously to show he was following, Eun-woo listened.

“But one of the songs HS had previously sold to the company outright was going to be used for the drama OST, and since he wrote it, he asked the drama side if he could take it on himself.”

Kim paused a moment, then added:

“As a result, the drama chose HS over Hidden. It wasn’t ‘stolen.’”

“People generally do call that taking away someone’s rice bowl.”

At that, Kim scratched his jaw, looking sheepish, then decided to concede quickly.

“If you put it that way, then yes—that part is true.”

After all, from Hidden’s point of view, he could feel that way.

But for the drama staff, isn’t it only natural—especially for promotion—to pick the composer who’s far hotter right now?

Honestly, a veteran like Hidden surely knows that; to Kim, this all just felt like childish thuggery on Hidden’s part.

“This bit, anyway, isn’t something that’ll cause legal trouble.”

Muttering as if to himself, Eun-woo then met Kim’s eyes squarely.

“As I hinted over the phone before I came, after seeing today’s articles I dug into Hidden just in case—and we found the shell company.”

“So it really was Hidden….”

“Yeah. Looks like he commissioned it. We also confirmed quite a large sum changed hands.”

Pushing up from the table, Eun-woo said,

“Well then, shall we go end this game of hide-and-seek?”

“Right now?”

“Yes, right now. I think I need to bring along someone who looks as scary as you, Manager.”

“You just told me to my face that I look scary….”

Kim blinked. Eun-woo had suddenly slipped a spike-studded knuckle duster onto his hand.

“What is that?”

“Just…”

Hesitating for a moment, then shrugging like it was nothing, Eun-woo added,

“For intimidation?”

It was one of those moments that makes you realize anew what a wide variety of people coexist in this world.