T/N: Yunis will be Unice (Music Group) moving forward.
Sarah trailed after Hyunseung with her head hung low, like a criminal being escorted.
Soon after, once she stepped into a space that seemed to be a studio, she finally lifted her head and couldn’t help a small “Oh,” slipping out.
Because it was the studio of a Korean composer, she hadn’t had very high expectations, but it was larger than she’d thought.
And it was equipped with gear that looked even better than what she had in her own studio.
What’s more, the instruments stored on one side of the studio were, at a glance, numerous in variety and the sort of things that were quite hard to obtain.
Especially…
“That guitar…”
Sarah’s gaze stopped on a guitar whose bearing exuded an uncommon dignity even among the other instruments.
It was clearly the guitar the legendary guitarist had cherished most while alive. No matter how long she waited, it never went up for auction, so she hadn’t been able to get it.
“To think it’s in this person’s hands.”
Since Sarah was closer to a singer-songwriter than a pure vocalist, she had a lot of interest in instruments like keyboards and guitars.
Of course, she could play fairly well, too.
Gulp.
Hyunseung saw Sarah swallow her saliva, but pretended not to notice.
Because that was a guitar Jayble had given him (*in truth, he’d paid a markup to buy it).
Moreover, it was a guitar he’d wanted since his past life, and one he’d only managed to get with difficulty in this life, so he had absolutely no intention of parting with it.
“I’m playing the track.”
Wanting her to hurry up and take those greedy eyes off his Beloved Item No. 1, he quickly started playback.
Tap.
As he hit the space bar, Sarah straightened her posture as if nothing had happened.
Then, through the speakers, a dark minor key poured out.
─ ♬ ♬ ♬
At this point, wasn’t HS someone who didn’t so much adapt things to her voice in a minor key as just put a lot of minor into songs to begin with?
Ah.
Of course, gloomy as it seemed, the little bursts of melody that popped here and there were good. But she didn’t show it.
It was the last pride she had left.
“He really is skilled…”
Before long, as it moved to the chorus, the flower of the song, the melody rose vertically as if nothing had happened.
Naturally, the song’s mood also changed 180 degrees.
“Is that even possible?”
And it wasn’t a flow that just screamed for the sake of it; at the seamless parade of high notes, Sarah found her body bouncing along before she knew it.
“I want to sing it, I want to try singing it.”
She went beyond wanting to sing it herself right now. She even felt the urge to lay down accompaniment, too.
Suddenly her hands itched, and her lips were going dry.
Gulp.
Watching from a little distance, arms folded, Hyunseung gave a faint, amused snort.
Just then, the song ended.
Only then did Sarah come to her senses and notice Hyunseung looking at her and smirking.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because it’s funny.”
“What on earth is?”
Hyunseung let out a humming sound for a moment at that question.
“Because it’s exactly as I imagined.”
With that, he got up from his seat and, with a strange little “Heave-ho,” shouted a funny grunt.
Now that he had faced the person called “Sarah Stewart” properly and listened to the song together, the thought had flashed by that he should revise the track once more.
But really, if one were to personify a voice, would it feel just like this?
How could a voice and a personality line up so exactly?
“So…”
Hyunseung asked in a high-handed tone,
“Are you going to sing it, or not?”
The momentum at this table had long since flowed his way.
“Do I have to choose right now?”
“I trusted you and played you a new song, so give me your answer right here and now.”
Swept along mercilessly, Sarah gnawed at her nails with a flustered face.
Tap, tap.
Wasn’t she going to make herself bleed at this rate? Just as that thought crossed the mind…
“I…”
Then, as if she’d come to a decision, Sarah opened her lips.
Executive Director Park learned from a report that the new song Hyunseung had made wasn’t for “our Hajun,” but rather was a song to be given to Sarah Stewart, known as the goddess of Billboard.
Of course, if he thought only from the company’s standpoint, it should have been welcome news that they would be working with an artist from the Unice Music Group.
“Tsk…”
But on a personal level, it was intensely disappointing to Park that a song wouldn’t be going to Kang Hajun, who was like his own child.
Since it had come to this, he’d at least have to make sure the work with Sarah Stewart went smoothly and use the opportunity to establish a cooperative relationship with the Unice Music Group.
However, what worried him was the anxiety that, because of that kid’s personality, he might ruin the entire thing.
And Park wasn’t the only one worried about that.
“Geumdong, I wonder if he’s doing all right.”
Kim Woohyun was also pacing with a worried face.
“This is taking rather long.”
He’d thought they were just having a simple meeting today, but there had been no word from Hyunseung.
“That kid, still no contact?”
Having heard that Sarah Stewart would be visiting the headquarters today for a meeting, Executive Director Park barged into the head office and asked, prodding for an answer.
“No, not yet…”
“What if, what if, the whole thing fizzled out because of his personality?”
“No way. Even so, when it comes to work, Hyunseung tends to handle things professionally, so let’s trust him and wait.”
Park hummed and hawed for a moment.
“Look, he’ll act like he isn’t, but you know the CEO is pinning big hopes on this, right? It’s a chance to build a bridge with the Unice Music Group.”
Then, in a low voice, he added,
“This is something that absolutely must not be botched.”
At that, Kim Woohyun could only fidget with his poor phone, unable to respond.
Please… let a text come in from Hyunseung bearing news of victory.
Just then, the black phone screen lit up with a flash.
Kim Woohyun hurriedly unlocked the pattern before it even vibrated.
[ Why did you call so many times? ]
It was a text from Hyunseung, but it wasn’t the update he’d hoped for.
Brrrrring!
Unable to wait any longer, Kim dialed right away.
“Oh?”
Park, who had been lounging apathetically on the sofa, shot to his feet as well.
“Is the meeting over? What did he say?”
He hadn’t even picked up yet, so how was he supposed to answer questions?
“Just a second, I haven’t—oh! Hyunseung.”
As Kim tried to ask for patience from Park…
—Hello?
… a welcome voice came from the other end of the line.
“Did the meeting go well?”
—Wasn’t really much of a meeting.
“So, did you decide to do it? What happened? How did it go?”
—What do you mean?
Leaning in close to the phone to eavesdrop, Park snatched it away in exasperation.
“Kid, what else would I mean! I’m asking if you decided to work with Sarah Stewart.”
—Trainer, is that you?
“That’s right!”
Answering boldly, Park glanced at Kim’s face, then hastily corrected himself:
“I mean, since this is work hours, you should call me Executive Director Park.”
—Ah, right. But why are you with the general man— I mean, with the Division Head?
“That’s not the point right now, I’m asking you to update us on the meeting.”
A beat of silence hummed through the receiver.
—Please cancel the reservation on the company villa.
Back came a meaningful reply.
“Huh? Then… don’t tell me…”
They had reserved a standalone company villa to meet Sarah Stewart’s condition of “3. Provide a space where she can live independently (but not a place like a hotel where staff are stationed).”
If he was saying to cancel that, didn’t that mean there was no longer any need for her to stay there?
—She said she doesn’t even like having a cleaning lady there.
At that, Kim hastily took the phone back.
“Oh? Don’t tell me Sarah Stewart said she couldn’t work because of that? Then I’ll have the cleaning staff leave right now, so…”
He was firing off words like a machine gun when—
—I decided to bring her to my place.
(T/N: Yoooo whaaaat)
An utterly unexpected answer cut him off.
“Uh…?”
“Uh…?”
Even Park, who was listening in, seemed to have a brain freeze; the two stared blankly at each other’s faces.
Can you even fathom what he’s saying right now?
—Anyway, I’ll be in touch later.
With that, the call ended limply.
Click.
The room was steeped in silence for a good while.
Then, Park scratched his chin with a grave look and spoke.
“Isn’t this… him using his power as a composer to gratify his desires as a man?”
He couldn’t help worrying that, before long, there might be a scandal between the two.
Hyuna had come home and was spending a languid evening.
Wearing a stretched-out T-shirt and fluttery “fridge pants,” she had roughly tied her hair up.
So what?
“This house really is the best.”
She was lying on her side on a wide sofa that matched the open living room, mindlessly flipping TV channels, when—
Beep-beep-beep.
From the entryway, far away, she heard the door lock opening.
“Oppaya?”
Dad had gone to his room early, so at this hour the only person who would come home was her older brother, Hyunseung.
Indeed, it could only be her brother…
“Oppa, you’re early—who are you?”
A foreign woman was walking in along the entryway hall.
And following behind her was her brother, Hyunseung.
“O-oppa, who is this?”
Hyuna was completely flustered. Her brother had never brought even a single friend home before.
It was enough to make her wonder if he had no friends at all.
Even if he had brought a male friend, she would have been startled, but a woman—and a foreign woman at that?
Was the reason Oppa didn’t date because he preferred foreign women?
“I—is she your girlfriend?”
At her question, Hyunseung knit his brows and answered in a tone tinged with annoyance,
“No. She’s someone you know, too.”
At that, Hyuna said, “Me?” and looked over the woman’s features one by one.
She felt like she’d seen her somewhere, but since she didn’t know a single foreigner personally, she couldn’t put her finger on it.
“What do you mean, someone I know?”
“Sarah Stewart.”
“Sarah Stewart? Who on earth is—gasp!”
Hyuna suddenly clapped a hand over her mouth. Sarah Stewart as in the singer-songwriter known as the goddess of Billboard?
No.
Why on earth was someone like that in their home?
“T-the Sarah Stewart I know?”
“Yeah. The Sarah Stewart you know.”
Having received this second confirmation, Hyuna let out a squeal loud enough to shake the house, then clattered into her room to change her clothes and came back out with a pen and paper in both hands.
“C-could I have your autograph?”
“Who asks a guest who’s come to the house for an autograph?”
Shaking his head as if embarrassed, Hyunseung watched as Hyuna, unfazed, smiled shyly and said, “I’m a fan.”
“How does such an exalted person end up in our humble home…”
“Here you go.”
Unbothered by Hyuna’s gushing, Sarah coolly signed and then turned to Hyunseung to ask, “I thought you lived alone?”
“If I were a man living alone, I’d never have invited you.”
“What is that supposed to mean? If it were going to be like this, we should’ve gone to the villa.”
“You said you don’t like places with cleaning staff. So when I asked if our house would do, you said, ‘Let’s do that.’”
“You didn’t say you lived with family.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t, either.”
Judging it a waste of energy to continue bickering, Sarah shook her head and asked,
“So where am I staying?”
At that, Hyunseung took her suitcase for her and headed for the room he’d cleared to use as a guest room.
“I can carry it.”
“No, it’s fine.”
Watching her brother and Sarah Stewart bicker their way into the guest room, Hyuna stared with wide eyes.
Because it was astonishing enough that her brother had become someone who worked with people of that caliber.
“This is not a picture I ever imagined…”
And she was freshly struck by the fact that next to Sarah Stewart—pretty enough to be called the goddess of Billboard—her brother’s looks did not fall behind.
Then, as something suddenly flashed through her mind, Hyuna clattered off toward Dad’s room.
“Dad! Oppa! Oppa—!”
T/N: HS saying “If I were a man living alone, I’d never have invited you.” — much respect to you, sir. <3
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