Sarah Stewart hastily asked Andrew to stop sending the additional contract.
“Why? Weren’t you the one who wanted to release it quickly?”
Andrew asked, as if he couldn’t understand Sarah.
Wasn’t she the one who threw every kind of hysterics, saying she wanted to release it fast, but the track wasn’t coming out?
Moreover, she had even openly told Austin it was childish and ordered him to hurry up and change the contract terms….
And now suddenly she wanted to stop?
Sarah closed her eyes as if in thought, only for a moment.
“I just can’t do ‘so-so.’”
“What do you mean?”
“That song HS helped arrange.”
“What about that song?”
“I tried recording it myself…”
Then she clenched both fists tight and added,
“I think it’s inferior to ‘Look at me,’ the one I recorded in Korea.”
Seeing her lightly trembling clenched fists, even saying this seemed to wound her pride.
Well, wasn’t she the so-called Billboard goddess, hailed as a genius at least when it came to musical talent?
Right.
When it came to music, Sarah pursued perfection more than anyone, and because she was a kid with her own convictions, the company tended to respect the track with little interference.
For Sarah to….
In a way, wasn’t she acknowledging that someone else’s musical talent surpassed her own?
Even if… even if it hurt her pride, it seemed she had no choice but to accept that the Korean composer “HS” was more capable.
‘How admirable.’
To readily acknowledge someone more outstanding than yourself is harder than it seems.
If the stubborn Sarah could acknowledge it this readily, just how amazing a person was this HS?
Even Austin, the CEO, pretended otherwise, but he very much seemed to want to recruit him directly.
Judging by his involvement in setting the contract terms, it was certain.
Those terms were so “shocking” that calling them “unprecedented” wouldn’t even cover it.
Indeed. When “HS” received that contract, how would he react? What if he said he’d come to Unice Music Group right away?
Ah. If he’s a person recognized by the CEO, all they could do was welcome him with open arms.
“Alright, the contract is ready, so let me know as soon as it’s finalized.”
“Okay.”
“Oh, right. Did you decide on the title for that song HS helped arrange?”
At that question, Sarah briefly recalled the first time she met HS.
“Black angel.”
Along with the title, she quietly added the feeling she’d had that day.
“The moment that man laid his hands on the score, my song fell.”
“‘Fell’? Isn’t that a bad thing?”
“It’s not that. Once you listen later, you’ll know what I mean.”
With that, an enigmatic smile bloomed at the corner of Sarah’s mouth.
‘She’s oddly bright these days.’
Watching Sarah smile in that moment, Andrew, ironically enough, found himself wanting to meet this HS in person.
‘I really want to meet him at least once…’
Watching Sarah frown slightly as she peered at the screen, Andrew asked casually,
“But what kind of person is HS, really?”
“A weirdo, I told you.”
“Not that. Physically, what does he look like?”
At that, Sarah mentally traced Hyunseung’s features one by one.
‘He was quite decent, actually.’
For an East Asian, his bright golden eyes sat in rather deep-set lids.
The bridge of his nose ran smoothly and straight, and lips flushed with a reddish tint arced up in a clean curve.
‘His build was good, too…’
In truth, eccentric as he seemed, judged on face alone he had looks that anyone would find striking.
‘No, no!’
But then Sarah, remembering Hyunseung’s face as he teasingly sipped that misutgaru (grain drink) pack, screwed up her expression and answered,
“Just… you know, not bad, I guess.”
“According to our digging, he supposedly boasts outstanding looks.”
“Must be a face that goes over well in his country.”
At least in Sarah’s mind, “HS” wasn’t a handsome man, just an annoying one.
Of course.
Not only annoying.
“Anyway, I’ll contact you again once all the work is finished.”
With that, Sarah practically shoved Andrew out of her studio.
Then she immediately sent HS a text.
[Since you agreed to help with the arrangement, how about seeing it through to the end?]
Quality of the song came before pride.
Lee Hyoeun curtly “click” ended the call that kept coming.
Bzzz, bzzz, bzzz—!
A name popped up on the screen with obsessive persistence: [ Yoo Jini ]
It was, of course, Chae Yoojin.
In the end, Lee Hyoeun went so far as to block Chae Yoojin’s number.
Brr, brr, brr—!
But then, instead of calling, Chae Yoojin tried a voice call.
“Don’t pick up, don’t.”
Hyoeun muttered to steel her softening heart.
“Be hard.”
Since the day she heard Hyunseung’s heartfelt advice, she had made up her mind about exactly one thing.
“For others no more. Do it for you.”
She wouldn’t butt in anymore. She wouldn’t involve herself in other people’s lives. She would live only for the sake of her life and her people.
To do that, she had to be able to cut off, mercilessly, those who weren’t “her people.”
First of all, the Chae Yoojin who was now pouring her emotions out like mad over chat was definitely not her person.
[ Hyoeun, I’m really disappointed in you ]
[ I really thought we were friends ]
[ Wait; did you block me? ]
[ Aren’t you going to regret this? ]
[ Hey; if you read it, answer ]
[ You set me up on purpose, didn’t you? ]
[ Don’t make something you’ll regret ]
Maybe this was her true nature?
At last.
Only after she blocked not just Chae Yujin’s number but all her social-media accounts as well did Hyoeun’s phone fall quiet.
In the heavy silence that swallowed the room, a thought suddenly came to Lee Hyoeun.
Maybe.
From the very beginning, it might have been a relationship masquerading as friendship.
Right. Maybe “friend” was the bramble vine she used to bind her.
And was it only Chae Yujin? People hiding their faces behind monitors didn’t really know her, yet poured verbal abuse at her like they were her own mother.
They treated her like irredeemable trash, were bent on gnawing away at her self-worth, and dragging her down to the bottom.
Of course.
That, too, was only some people.
‘Even if I got up on the cutting board myself, is being hacked to pieces somehow justified?’
From the day she resolved to become a singer, Lee Hyoeun had engraved that saying on her heart every day, and now she began to doubt it.
No matter how she thought about it….
No answer came to mind. Was this even a question with an answer in the first place?
But.
One thing was certain: celebrities were people like anyone else.
If someone cursed you, you got hurt; if you met someone who supported you, you gained strength just like an ordinary person.
Right.
There’s no one in this world who “deserves” to be cursed. So why had she thought she had to endure it all if it was thrown at her?
At that thought, Lee Hyoeun sprang to her feet. She felt like doing something, anything.
If Hyunseung knew, he’d call her a meddler again, but what could she do? She was the kind of person who felt at ease only if she did this.
This wasn’t a problem handed to her alone, so she couldn’t just cover her eyes and pretend not to see it anymore.
“Ahem, hm—!”
Lee Hyoeun set the camera angle on her phone, then stood in front of it.
“Hello, everyone.”
She opened her mouth with an awkward smile.
“The reason I’m recording and uploading a video today is….”
Meanwhile, instead of the contract he’d been waiting for from Sarah Stewart, Hyunseung had to receive an audio file.
Well, it didn’t matter either way.
All Hyunseung wanted was to hurry and listen to Sarah sing.
Since he could listen like this, should he say his objective was achieved?
Tap.
Hyunseung flipped on his headset and played the file she’d sent.
Using Sarah’s voice as a bow, how would the score he’d mentally “performed” while fixing it be reborn?
─ ♬ ♬ ♬
As the backing track flowed out, Hyunseung’s head lightly bobbed forward and back in time with the rhythmic accompaniment.
─ ♬ ♬ ♬
The notes embroidered over the score in Sarah’s hands put on the clothes of melody and danced on the beat.
─ ♬ ♬ ♬
He’d known from the start it was a good song. Even a glance at the score showed the placement of the notes was quite intriguing.
It’s just that the last bridge section ruined everything.
If his memory was right…
Before long, the section he’d corrected on the score would come up.
Right.
He was extremely curious how Sarah Stewart had performed it.
If left to his heart, he wanted to skip right to that passage and listen, but…
Holding himself back, Hyunseung quickly typed into a text window the parts he thought should be re-recorded.
Of course.
He also wrote suggestions for how it would be good to sing them.
After the chorus of the second verse, the bridge—the turning point of the song—approached.
Snap—
The moment he heard Sarah’s voice sink down, a chill wrapped his whole body as if he’d entered a cave.
─ Come deep into the darkness
How can a human voice be this dark?
─ You can come in more.
It didn’t feel like her voice was being forcibly dragged into a minor key. It felt like a hand beckoning, “Come this way.”
─ Don’t be scared.
Yes, into pitch-black darkness.
─ Darkness isn’t a bad thing
Hyunseung checked the file name and gave a brief smile.
<black angel>
It was a title that suited a voice like the leader of fallen angels very well.
Then as the song ended, Hyunseung’s hands moved very busily.
He sliced the recording into fine sections, added light mastering touches, and appended comments.
He hadn’t intended to touch it if he could help it….
But his ambition boiled up; there was no way he could just leave it as is.
Of course.
Sarah Stewart wasn’t the kind of eccentric to leave it as is either.
Tap, tatatatak, tap!
Hyunseung’s hands swept fluidly over the keys for just a moment.
Dding!
A prompt reply arrived from Sarah Stewart to the text with the fragmented audio files and attached comments.
MisutSarah: ok, I’ll check.
Looking down at the saved contact name “MisutSarah,” Hyunseung smiled in satisfaction.
Hetruly felt proud of himself for coming up with such a killer nickname.
.
.
At that moment, on NewTube, a challenge video by Lee Hyoeun had been uploaded.
[ An anti-malicious-comment challenge with yourself! ‘to me’—let’s do it together! ]
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