“Instead, please put some conditions on the invited attendees this time.”
So not a lottery like the previous fan meeting, and not ordinary ticketing either, but inviting people with conditions attached?
“Because there is something I absolutely want to show them.”
And what does it mean that he wants to show it specifically to those who meet the conditions?
Just as Kim Woohyun tilted his head and was about to ask what he meant.
Ding!
The phone in his pocket buzzed and chimed crisply.
“Uh…”
When Kim Woohyun checked the notification that said “New message from Director Choi,” he hurriedly unlocked it.
[ That kid is back now, right? ]
[ Have him attend the executives’ meeting right away. ]
[ Bring that kid along too. ]
In the text, “that kid” had to mean Hyunseung.
And if he wanted him to attend together, it had to be a meeting convened in relation to Hyunseung.
Most likely, they wanted to check regarding the consecutive work with artists under the Unice Music Group.
No, not to check.
Perhaps to keep watch in case he was preparing to transfer.
Even if by some chance Hyunseung had received a scouting offer from Unice Music Group and was preparing to move, he had no intention of stopping him.
He simply intended to help as much as he could so that he could settle in over there.
Even if he ended up being ostracized by LS Entertainment, no, by Jeon Namil.
That would be his way of repaying the favor he had received from Hyunseung.
One could say it was not an exaggeration to say that Hyunseung had saved his mother, so he should at least be that prepared.
“Hyunseung.”
Kim Woohyun gently called to Hyunseung, who was looking at him.
“Are you very tired right now, by any chance? You still have not fully adjusted to the time difference, right?”
“I slept a lot on the way back to Korea, so I am relatively fine. Why?”
“Then I am sorry, but we need to attend the executives’ meeting together.”
At that, Hyunseung scratched the back of his head as if troubled.
“Right now? I cannot right now…”
“Do you have some urgent schedule?”
“Well, it is not extremely urgent, but…”
“What kind of schedule is it?”
Then he rubbed both his forearms and answered.
“I need to go work out before I lose muscle.”
Kim Woohyun ran a hand down his gaunt face and called to him again.
“Min Geumdong.”
“Yes?”
“Come with me.”
At once, Hyunseung was grabbed by Kim Woohyun’s rough hand and dragged out.
When he reached the president’s office, Kim Woohyun sat to the left of Director Choi with Hyunseung.
At the head seat sat Jeon Namil, and to his left, as always, sat Executive Director Park, showing off his imposing build.
Slurp.
After the formality of greetings, only the sound of Jeon Namil drinking tea could be heard. It was a suffocating moment.
But with a calm face, Kim Woohyun studied Hyunseung’s profile.
In the past, from the moment he brought Hyunseung to the president’s office, he would have felt uneasy and on edge as if holding a time bomb, but not anymore.
Letting go of the personal desire that Hyunseung must remain with LS Entertainment made his mind feel at ease.
Slurp.
Just then, as Kim Woohyun leisurely savored the fragrant taste of the tea like the president did.
“Did you have a pleasant little outing?”
Jeon Namil sent his gaze to Hyunseung sitting at a distance and asked.
“Yes, it was a meaningful time.”
At Hyunseung’s formal answer, Jeon Namil nodded lightly and went on.
“I hear the song you gave Sarah Stewart has been number one on the Billboard Top 100 since its release.”
“If you called to congratulate me, that is fine. In any case, ‘Look at me’ will have to give up its spot soon.”
At that, the president slightly lifted one eyebrow and spoke.
“You must be confident that the song you gave to Vincent Mah will also take number one on Billboard this time.”
Hyunseung shook his head side to side and answered firmly.
“No.”
“Then…”
He stared into the distant air as if recalling something, then opened his mouth.
“Because another track from Sarah’s album might take number one again.”
At those words, all eyes turned to Hyunseung.
If “another track from Sarah’s album” meant anything, it probably referred to Black angel, another track on the current album that had been number one on the Billboard chart until recently….
That one, too, had Hyunseung’s arrangement in it, did it not? At least among the people in this room, none were unaware of that fact.
Executive Director Park glanced sidelong at Hyunseung and thought.
That punk… in the end he is saying, as if it is nothing, that he intends to take it all for himself.
“That aside….”
The one who broke the endlessly stretching silence was President Jeon Namil.
“But why are you trying to go as Choi Jihyun again?”
With sharp eyes glinting over the teacup brought to his lips, Jeon Namil went on.
“At this point, when you have made the stage name HS known beyond the high wall called Billboard, I was very curious why you would attempt such a thing.”
“Hmm…”
“If you want to truly establish yourself on Billboard, would it not be good to make sure the name HS is firmly known, even if you have to borrow Vincent’s fame?”
As he listened quietly, Hyunseung faintly knitted his brow and murmured, “Borrow his fame…”
“If it gets out that HS worked with the New York Phil, someone might blab that he is the same person as Choi Jihyun.”
Leaning back slowly against the sofa, he went on.
“In that case, it would be as if I had committed fraud against the entire nation, and it would be disgraceful in many ways.”
Then, scratching his chin, he paused and opened his mouth.
“Above all.”
The playfully raised corner of his lips came as a bonus.
“It just sounds like it would be fun, does it not?”
After he finished, Hyunseung swept his gaze over the faces seated there and even gave a rather annoying little shrug.
Right at that moment, everyone except Jeon Namil dropped their heads with an “ah, right” expression.
That blasted fun.
They clearly knew the word “fun” would naturally come out of Hyunseung’s mouth, yet they could not stop him.
Because they had not heard it for a while, they had forgotten.
Soon after, Hyunseung locked eyes with Jeon Namil in the air and asked.
“Has your curiosity been somewhat satisfied?”
For a moment a powerful aura collided between the two.
“Yes.”
President Jeon was the first to avert his gaze as he answered.
“It has been sufficiently resolved.”
Then, without adding another word, he lifted his teacup from the table. The first to rise from his seat was Hyunseung.
“Then, I have something urgent, so I will take my leave.”
But Jeon Namil’s gaze was fixed not on Hyunseung, but on the tea leaves swirling in the cup.
“Very well.”
“See you next time.”
Soon after.
Thud.
Hyunseung left the office, and behind the teacup, a subtle smile bloomed at the corner of his lips.
At the gym he had not visited in a while, as Hyunseung took in the musty smell of sweat, he felt a sense of ease.
Huff, huff.
In the distance, a man with a familiar build was lifting a dumbbell and breathing hard.
Shlakk, shlakk.
Shaking a shaker bottle in one hand, Hyunseung approached the man.
“Wah!”
He made a noise from behind to startle him, but the man lowered the dumbbell slowly without reacting.
“You are not surprised?”
“Of course not.”
“That is boring.”
Executive Director Park gave a wry smile at the plainly disappointed Hyunseung, then jerked his chin at the shaker bottle and added,
“Kid, if someone comes shaking a shaker bottle like that, would you not be a fool not to notice?”
At those words, Hyunseung looked at the shaker bottle in his hand and let out a soft sigh.
To make such a mistake…
“That was not like me.”
Then the man, no, Executive Director Park, held out a dumbbell to him and said,
“You have not worked out for a while, so you must be a noob again. Let us do a test while we are at it.”
Those words fired Hyunseung up. He had indeed not been able to work out recently and felt like he was losing muscle…
Just as Executive Director Park said, a foreboding thought crept in that he might have become a noob, but he could not say something weak.
“Then shall we measure deadlift right away.”
“Okay, go.”
With Park spotting him, Hyunseung went straight into a series of high intensity lifts known as the big three: deadlift, squat, and finally bench press.
“Hah…”
Soon his entire body was drenched in sweat, and Hyunseung sprawled on the floor, panting hard.
“Good grief.”
Looking down at him, Executive Director Park teased,
“You turned into a noob in no time.”
“No, I did not.”
“What do you know? You barely got to three hundred.”
He was frustrated, but he had nothing to say. He himself felt he had become a noob.
He resolved that wherever he went in the future, he would choose hotels with well equipped fitness facilities.
As he drank his shake, Executive Director Park asked casually,
“Are you really expanding your territory overseas in earnest now?”
“Rather than that, I am just expanding the kinds of instruments.”
Then, in a sarcastic tone, he muttered, “In the end that is the same thing.”
“Hmm?”
Poking Park in the side with his elbow, Hyunseung asked playfully,
“Are you saying that because you are worried you will have to work out alone from now on?”
At that, Park whipped his head side to side.
Of course, it was true that working out alone would feel empty after working out together.
But that was not important at all. Even Park himself could not make sense of his feelings or thoughts right now.
If the kid who would not listen and would not let Team 1 put up results said he was going abroad, he should actually feel refreshed and happy.
Yet when he thought of the kid going somewhere else, no, going even farther away, he felt strangely regretful.
“My mood is really rotten.”
Right, it seemed he had grown attached to the kid. The kind of “annoying affection” that is scarier than any “information.”
“That is not it.”
Feigning nonchalance, Executive Director Park answered firmly, then squared his shoulders and went on.
“If you make a name for yourself on Billboard, that is good for me.”
“Why?”
“You did not forget you promised to give our kids their debut song, did you?”
Then he put Hyunseung in a headlock and said,
“When you get even more famous later, are you going to go back on your word?”
“Ghk, ghk, there is no way that will happen, so please let go of this stone chain.”
After chuckling at Hyunseung’s reddened face for a moment,
“Work hard and become famous.”
He tousled his wet hair mercilessly and spoke teasingly.
“So I can benefit properly.”
Soon after releasing the headlock, Executive Director Park sprang to his feet.
“Hey.”
He added in a tone that carried authority.
“Starting tomorrow, do not skip. Come work out. I will retrain you.”
At that, while fixing his disheveled hair, Hyunseung snapped a salute.
“Yes, sir.”
“All right, dismissed.”
Executive Director Park grabbed his empty shaker bottle and walked away at an easy pace.
Right.
If possible, he wished for the kid’s limitless growth.
In body and in fame.
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