The rooftop terrace of LS Entertainment was a place where rumors about incidents and accidents never stopped.
Hearsay, idle talk, rumors.
It was no exaggeration to say most of them were born here, passed from mouth to mouth and distorted along the way.
And lately there was a strange rumor inside LS Entertainment.
“Of all things, he went and locked himself up.”
The subject of that rumor was, as expected…
“Sounds ominous enough to be a rumor about our Geumdong1.”
“Correct.”
“Yeah, that air of the extraordinary, it sounded like Geumdong.”
Kim Woohyun turned his head toward Team Lead Kwak and added, “Anyway, he is a real in-house celeb.”
The ominous, out-of-the-ordinary rumor, the in-house celeb, all referred to Hyunseung.
“He is an in-house celeb, sure.”
Team Lead Kwak gave a dry chuckle and agreed.
At the very least, if you had to pick the hottest person in the company, it was Hyunseung.
So, if celeb means celeb, then yes.
“So what was that about this time?”
Kim Woohyun jerked his chin toward the employees who had been chattering about Hyunseung a moment ago and asked.
“Ah.”
Team Lead Kwak opened his mouth to explain, then paused.
“Literally that he locked himself up, I guess you could say.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Kim Woohyun asked back in exasperation, but Team Lead Kwak only wore a meaningful smile.
“If you go to the studio yourself, you will see what I mean.”
“Come on, are you going to be petty like that?”
“Haven’t you not seen Hyunseung around for a bit? I am deliberately giving you a chance to see him.”
“Very kind of you, sure!”
With that, Kim Woohyun headed straight off the roof toward Hyunseung’s studio.
Soon after, standing stock-still in front of the studio, Manager Kim understood why Team Lead Kwak had said he would see if he went.
“What is this?”
In front of the door were two or three neatly tied bags that looked like empty delivery food.
“Why all of a sudden…?”
On the studio door, several locks had been installed.
“What even is all this…?”
To anyone else, it would look almost like a national security office.
One, two, three, four, at a glance there were four locking devices he could see.
All at once, a pang of hurt washed over Kim Woohyun. He had been busy lately and not visiting, but still, if he had installed this kind of thing, he could have at least said something.
“No, this is not the time. He is bound to be hollow-eyed and working while practically starving again.”
Kim Woohyun decided he had to check on Hyunseung’s condition.
He quickly reached to press the bell, then flinched and stopped.
Because, above the button, a piece of paper, as if torn hastily and stuck on with a single bandage strip, dangled there.
The moment you press this doorbell, a curse begins. Nothing will go right, and your line will be wiped out for four generations…
There is only one way to break the curse. Within exactly 44 minutes, send this message to the four people you are closest to…
On that paper, in handwriting that was obviously Hyunseung’s, the letters were scrawled.
It looked like it was quoting one of those old chain-letter curses that had been popular long ago.
Really, at times like this, he was still such a kid.
Ding-dong.
He peeled the paper off and pressed the bell to announce he was here.
‘This is the first time I have ever pressed this bell.’
For some reason, nerves crept up on Kim Woohyun, and he cleared his throat and spoke.
“Hyunseung, it is me.”
He felt, a little, no, a lot, cringey.
“Mm…”
Even at the cost of that embarrassment, he called out, but there was no answer from inside.
Knock, knock, knock.
As always, Kim Woohyun rapped on the door at steady intervals.
But, either he was not inside, or there was absolutely no response.
“Where did he go….”
With a meeting to attend soon, Kim Woohyun decided, regretfully, to turn back.
“Hyunseung, I am going….”
He lowered the hand he had placed on the door with a sigh.
“Director Kim?”
A voice beside him made him turn his head, and there stood Kang Hajun staring blankly at him.
“Ah, right. I keep forgetting you are now the head of division, sorry.”
“No, it happens. You came to see Hyunseung too? But he is not here, seems like he is not inside.”
“Ah, I did come to the composer’s studio, but not to see him.”
Then Kang Hajun shook the delivery bags he had in both hands.
“I just came to deliver his food.”
And with that, he naturally swapped the bags at the door, taking the empty delivery bags.
“What-what are you doing?”
Kim Woohyun looked at him in disbelief and asked back.
“Do you have a second job now?”
Kang Hajun laughed, “You joke well,” and explained.
“The composer has not come out at all the last few days. So I am just passing him food like this.”
Hearing the explanation, Kim Woohyun looked even more at a loss, his face showing shock.
At that moment, there came from inside the door the sounds of clank, thunk, rattle for a moment. The door cracked open, a thin arm shot out, and snatched the delivery bag quickly.
And soon after, with a thud, the door closed again.
“Hajun, you are going through a lot.”
“At least he is not starving, that is something.”
“So good-hearted.”
I mean, is this Oldboy or what?
Now he understood why a grim rumor was circulating in the company that HS had locked himself up.
If it’s like that, how could there not be rumors?
“Hajun, in that spirit, I will ask you to keep rationing out food now and then. I will deliver coffee when I can.”
Still, what can you do?
Again, he must be making something tremendous, so there was nothing to do but wait quietly.
Arriving at the conference room, Kim Woohyun headed straight to the seat next to Director Choi and sat down.
It was something he could do because he had been given the title of head of division.
Ahem, ahem.
Chief Oh, who had arrived early and was seated some distance from the head of the table, cleared his throat in annoyance as he watched Kim Woohyun.
However, there was nothing Chief Oh could do.
The gap between them had now truly widened, and even if he did not like it he could not keep sulking.
“Director Ki— ah, Division Head Kim, it has been a while.”
Reluctantly, Chief Oh rose, bowed his head to Kim Woohyun, and greeted him.
“Maybe because you are head of division now, you look radiant these days.”
“Do I? Thank you for the compliment.”
Kim Woohyun lifted his shoulders slightly and gave a casual wave as if to say sit down.
At that very moment, Chief Oh’s face looked as if the words “so annoying” were written on it, but that in itself was amusing to watch, so he left it alone.
Soon after, once the CEO entered the room, the meeting began in earnest.
With the cold snap about to end, it was time to conduct the final check of the management division’s “spring” plan.
First, our Geumdong’s drama OST would probably proceed in line with the drama’s May broadcast, so there was still a bit of time.
“Then what is he working on now?”
So thought Kim Woohyun, spacing out for a moment.
“Head of Division.”
A voice called him, and Director Choi lightly poked his side, making him start and look around.
“Yes?”
His eyes met the CEO’s in midair.
A brief, unreadable silence passed.
“Now…”
With a subtle expression that revealed nothing, the CEO asked, “May I ask a question?”
Kim Woohyun straightened his posture and boomed, befitting his build, “Of course!”
He was so hearty that if you only heard the voice, you could mistake it for the army.
Then, the CEO leaned forward from his recline and began.
“As you surely know, they say Min Hyunseung has holed up in his studio and is not coming out lately.”
He let the sentence trail for a moment.
“In the recent report you submitted, it only said the drama OST production was complete.”
Lightly brushing his lip with a long finger, he asked,
“Then what is he working on now?”
Huh?
Was it just his imagination that the CEO’s expression looked oddly excited?
Right.
He was not the type to show feelings on his face.
Very occasionally he would show a surface smile, but that was purely a brief, businesslike thing.
“You know, of course, Head of Division?”
At this final question, Kim Woohyun pressed his lips together.
What to do…?
He had not seen him lately, and apart from the drama production he had received no separate briefing.
“Well…”
As Kim Woohyun hesitated, wondering how to answer,
“In fact, HS is currently allowing no one to visit, so even I have not grasped what he is working on.”
He confessed frankly.
“As soon as we finish the meeting, I will try to reach him again and submit a report as soon as possible.”
He dressed it up, but really, was that not the truth?
Right now, Hyunseung had locked himself up and was focusing on work while living on the fried dumplings Kang Hajun passed to him.
Strictly speaking, he had not heard in Hyunseung’s own words that he was working on a song, but he was not going to be meditating for days on end in the studio.
Which meant, he was surely creating another jaw-dropping track.
Tsk.
But what is he really working on? With spring coming, maybe he is producing a bright season song?
“I see.”
The CEO nodded slowly, as if a bit disappointed, and added,
“If he collapses, it will be a big problem, so even though you are busy, please keep an eye on him.”
“Ah, yes, I will do that.”
For some reason, Kim Woohyun felt like he had become Hyunseung’s homeroom teacher.
Or rather, maybe the parent would be closer…
Meanwhile, Executive Director Park’s mouth itched to talk.
Honestly, what he wanted to say was,
“Right now, that kid is producing a knockout song with me as his motif!”
he wanted to shout that.
In truth, though he could not just openly show how pleased he was because of worry about his child’s reaction and considerations of face, inside, he was happy and proud that Hyunseung had made that proposal.
What had he said again?
That he planned to work by using an audio file with his voice recorded, to express a father’s heart toward his daughter?
Well, whatever it was, did it not mean he was the kid’s “muse”? (T/N: lmao stop)
Above all, he had never even heard the tiniest rumor that the kid had written a song with Kim Woohyun as the motif.
If so, among the people in the company, was he not the first?
“Heh.”
Without realizing it, Executive Director Park let out a laugh.
Ahem, ahem.
He rubbed his nose with an awkward face.
“How odd. Is spring here already? Why am I suddenly sneezing…?”
The room froze in an instant.
Clap.
Executive Director Park clasped his hands together and forcibly lifted the corners of his mouth.
“Let us continue the meeting!”
Even to himself, it was truly an embarrassingly poor excuse.
- “Golden boy” ↩︎
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