As soon as he came back from meeting Lee Duseok, Hyunseung contacted MisutSarah.
No.
It would be more accurate to say he notified her.
[ If “Look at me” does not take back No. 1, you will not be getting 100 boxes of grain powder, you will barely get even 1 box. ]
Not even five minutes after he sent the text, Sarah called.
In a peevish voice she whined, asking if that was something she could control at will.
But that was not the kind of thing that would soften Hyunseung.
“Then I will help you, so do not add a single word of backtalk.”
With that, Hyunseung set his “Look at me No. 1 recovery plan” into full motion.
“Are you hungry?”
— All of a sudden?
“Shall I feed you?”
The first thing he did was to use Gae Jinsang (Gye Jinseong) to announce exclusively that Sarah Stewart’s “Look at me” was composed by HS.
After that, everything flowed very naturally, like water finding a channel and running with the current.
[ [Official] Composer HS, Sarah Stewart’s newly released “Look at me” enters the Billboard chart… ]
[ [Exclusive] HS says Sarah Stewart is only a springboard, “I am no longer satisfied with the domestic market,” foreshadows full-scale overseas activity ]
Just as interest in the “three-lifts-total-500 challenge” was dying down, the entertainment pages were once again plastered with the name “HS.”
“ Our God-chis, how is his very first overseas singer Sarah Stewart, and on top of that it is the album title track, the class is truly different, my chest is swelling ”
↳ But the title track is getting beaten by an album track; for reference that album track is written and composed by Sarah Stewart lol
↳ Hey, commenter above, get your facts straight; if you check the song credits, Black angel was arranged by HS too
↳ What matters right now is that God-chis might leave our arms and go overseas… I never even got into a fan meeting by lottery… we cannot let him go like this…
↳ If you truly love him, you should let him go so he can move on to a wider world, right? ^^~@
As the news spread far and wide that HS made Sarah Stewart’s new songs, the online communities, and the domestic music charts as well, changed significantly.
[ TOP 100 ]
No. 1 Look at me — Sarah Stewart
No. 2 Villain daddy — Moon Beomjae (Prod. HS)
No. 3 To me — Lee Hyoeun (Prod. HS)
No. 4 Only After the Flower Falls (Red Thread X HS) — HS
No. 5 Black angel — Sarah Stewart
No. 6 Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人) — Lee Hyoeun (Red Thread X HS)
No. 7 The Forest You Left — Park Shinhoo (Red Thread X HS)
No. 8 Winter Tree — Lee Young-ah (Red Thread X HS)
No. 9 letter — Jayble X HS
No. 10 Villain — Jayble X HS (feat. Ahn Jiho)
Perhaps Vincent Mah’s influence really was great, because until just recently the No. 1 spot on the overall domestic chart belonged to “Black angel.”
However, after the articles related to HS came out, the ranking of “Look at me” shot up drastically, and they succeeded in snatching away the No. 1 spot overnight.
In truth, what meaning did rankings like this have for Hyunseung?
After focusing on music for more than two years, the top 10 of the charts had become Hyunseung’s private playground before he knew it.
Right, in the industry these days there was even talk that if you could bump just one HS song out of the chart, you were a success.
Only right now rankings and even a single piece of promo material were precious. For the “Look at me” he made to climb back to No. 1 on Billboard, he needed to be able to get his hands on the instrument called Vincent.
“Whew…”
Hyunseung had finished everything he could do domestically.
In fact, he could have tried to cut a deal with Austin, but if they got No. 1 that way, Vincent might not acknowledge it, so he did not contact him.
Instead, thanks to Lee Duseok quietly lending a hand, several overseas media outlets were pouring out promotional articles related to “Look at me.”
Sarah Stewart also opened a new personal social media account and uploaded a live video of “Look at me,” doing what she could.
Right.
He thought this was enough media play.
However, was it still not enough to overcome Vincent’s influence?
[ THE HOT 100 ]
No. 1 Black angel — Sarah Stewart
No. 2 Look at me — Sarah Stewart
.
.
No. 9 fuckkkkkk — Sarah Stewart
No. 10 JJOL?z — rmftmd
There were no changes on the newly compiled Billboard Hot 100 chart.
“Ah, damn…”
Faced with a result he almost could not believe, Hyunseung crushed a can with a crunch.
“If it is like this, it is all going down the drain…”
Meanwhile, when Vincent finished his schedule early, he hurried back to the building like someone who had hidden treasure there.
“Hm…”
But when it came down to it, he only paced the empty hallway, unable to go in anywhere.
“Why is she not coming out even once…”
Just then, as Vincent was tapping the toe of his shoe pitifully, the door at the very end of the hallway he had been prowling opened cautiously.
The one who stepped out from beyond the door was none other than Sarah Stewart.
“Ah, you scared me.”
She clutched her heart and glared, startled to suddenly run into Vincent.
“What are you doing here?”
By nature, almost no one used this hallway. Let alone that, Vincent had absolutely no reason to be here.
Yet, when she opened the door and stepped into the hall, she saw Vincent with a glad look, as if he had been waiting for her, so there was no way not to be surprised.
“Just passing by.”
Even as he said it, Vincent thought it was a pathetic excuse.
But it was not like he could flat out say, “I was waiting for you,” right?
“Then get going.”
As expected, Sarah swept her eyes over him suspiciously, then jerked her chin as if to tell him to move.
“Or move aside.”
Vincent strode right up to Sarah. If he had been going to step aside just because she told him to, he would not have come here at the cost of his pride.
“What if I do not want to move?”
“What are you trying to pull?”
“Just saying we should talk a bit, since we are under the same roof.”
Their gazes crossed tensely in the air for a moment.
“I have nothing to say. I am going.”
Sarah brushed past Vincent coldly.
Only, she could not take more than a few steps before she had to stop.
“This time you took someone else’s song, huh?”
At Vincent’s snide tone, Sarah’s face twisted as she turned back.
“So what?”
“I just find it funny that you bragged so loudly you would never take another composer’s song, and yet you took some weird composer’s song.”
“Weird composer?”
“Yeah, it was all over the news. That Sarah Stewart took a song by a Korean composer named HS.”
Vincent paused to sift through his recent memories.
“I actually ran into that HS person at the building not long ago.”
He let out a hollow laugh and added,
“But then he suddenly started spouting nonsense at me about becoming his instrument, and about how he gave you a song.”
“To you? You have got to be kidding…”
“At the time I thought it was complete garbage, but the latter part turned out to be true.”
More than Vincent’s sneer, what made Sarah burn was the fact that HS had taken an interest in Vincent.
“That guy does not seem all there. Did he get some dirt on you or something?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, honestly, the title track he supposedly gave you was not bad, but the song you made yourself is definitely better.”
Hearing praise from Vincent out of the blue, Sarah let out a disgusted grunt and asked back,
“What are you playing at?”
“I am just stating facts. I think ‘Black angel’ is much better than the title track.”
Vincent did not care about Sarah’s reaction.
“And I am not the only one who thinks that. You can tell just by looking at the Billboard chart ranking right now.”
His goal was clear, and in order to achieve it, he did not care how Sarah treated him.
“Since it has come to this anyway, how about changing the title track even now?”
“Stop meddling in other people’s business and go do your own work.”
“I am telling you something that could help you right now.”
Vincent stretched both hands out in exasperation and elaborated.
“Just change the title track altogether, and push ‘Black angel’ in earnest. I will even help you, as a special favor.”
“You will help me?”
“Yeah, I will remake the song and release it. Then it is good for you as the original artist too, right?”
“So that was your goal.”
“Drop the hard feelings and think. Do not cling to some song made by a weird guy. You should solidify your footing on Billboard with a song that can really go.”
Vincent had only one objective.
To get the original artist Sarah’s consent so that he could remake “Black angel.”
And since he had made up his mind to remake a rival’s song even at the cost of his pride, he would set the stage so that “Black angel” could achieve utterly sensational numbers never seen before.
Of course, considering that the biggest beneficiary would be the original artist Sarah Stewart, it left a bad taste, but once the board was set, he could adjust things in a way that benefited him as much as possible.
As expected, Sarah too seemed to think the proposal he laid out was not bad, as she hummed under her breath with eyes gently closed.
“Hmm…”
Then she carefully opened her lips.
“Let me ask just one thing.”
“What?”
“Why are you so fixated on the song ‘Black angel’?”
At that question, Vincent echoed “Fixated?” for a moment.
“Yeah, to be honest, I was very surprised when I listened to your songs this time.”
He carried on, putting the feeling he had then into his voice, as if he were listening to “Black angel” right now.
“Especially in the final bridge section, I got goosebumps. It felt like a blackout swept over my eyes. I did not know your ability was at that level…”
Then, face touched with emotion, he caught his breath and added,
“Since debut, it is the first time I ever thought I would like to really sing a song, even if it was a remake.”
Listening with calm nods, Sarah then gave a sly smile and asked back,
“But it looks like you do not know the most important thing.”
“What do you mean? There is something I do not know?”
As Vincent pressed her again, facing Sarah who only smiled meaningfully at his question,
“What do you mean?”
At last, Sarah lifted her chin and answered,
“That ‘Black angel’ you are so fixated on was arranged by that weird guy too. Especially the final bridge section you are talking about, that weird guy replaced the whole thing.”
“Huh? I… what…”
When Vincent could not get any words out, Sarah pressed the advantage.
“If you want consent for a remake, do not grab me. Go grab that weird composer and ask him.”
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