Updated 12/17/25 | Thank you for waiting.
Thanks to Jess for providing the missing chapter! <3 <3 <3
Mateo hurried his steps to meet Paul, the head of the New York Phil, someone you could call his longtime friend.
No.
To be truthful, as sorry as he was to his old friend, it was a set of footsteps meant to get the answer he wanted.
Thud, thud.
Turning into a quiet alley, he spotted Paul sitting on the terrace of a quaint little café, sitting in a place that does not suit you at all.
“It’s been a while.”
Mateo sat down in the chair across from Paul and gave a faint, easy smile.
“The guy who only contacts me when he is about to forget my face, and then suddenly tells me to meet up, sure comes quickly.”
“Seeing the steam still coming off the coffee, it doesn’t look like you have been here that long either, so cut me some slack.”
Then he added with a mischievous grin.
“And it isn’t just me who did not reach out. You did not either.”
At that, Paul cleared his throat as if he had swallowed something, then slid the small espresso cup on its saucer over in front of him.
Honestly, you are the same as ever.
It was just as Mateo took a sip of the hot espresso.
“Anyway, why did you really call me?”
Paul, resting his chin on his hand and looking at him, asked bluntly.
“It does not seem like you called me out just to talk about music.”
Mateo took his time drinking his coffee, only for a moment.
“If it’s music talk, then it’s music talk.”
“Did you release a new song?”
“Do you think I would call a busy man out for something that trivial?”
“You old man, go grab a passerby and ask them. If Mateo releases a new song, is that trivial?”
Mateo let out a small snort of laughter and continued.
“That’s true too, but that is not why I asked to see you today.”
Then he set his phone down on the table.
Tap.
With a light touch, music flowed out through the speaker.
ㅡ ♫ ♬ ♬
At that melody, Paul’s eyebrows twitched.
And for good reason.
The piece playing from Mateo’s phone was “more than just music,” the very song for which the New York Phil, under Paul’s baton, had done the session.
“Mm…”
Paul carefully looked at Mateo’s face. Judging by the expression that screamed he was dying of curiosity, he looked like he wanted to ask why Mateo had him do a session for this piece.
“I get what you came looking for me to ask.”
“Yeah? Then I do not have to waste my breath laying out an introduction.”
“There is no other reason the New York Phil did a session for this piece.”
Paul moved his lips with a faint smile and added,
“The song was good, and it was a song we wanted to try performing.”
But Mateo, looking thoroughly unsatisfied with that answer, tilted his head and asked back.
“You said you got it?”
“Huh?”
“You do not get it at all.”
“What?”
“The reason I came to find you.”
Mateo continued as he drummed a “tap tap” on his phone screen with his finger.
“I wanted to know about the composer who made this song, Choi Jihyun.”
“Why that person?”
“Why? Like you said, the song is good, and it’s a song I want to analyze.”
Paul could not bring himself to continue speaking. He found himself thinking, Are everyone’s ears really the same?
But he was also surprised that Choi Jihyun’s song had not only satisfied Mateo’s famously sensitive, finicky ear, it had even made him curious enough to come out here.
Yeah. Mateo was the kind of figure known well enough as a legendary shut in that, unless it was official work, it was not common for him to leave his house.
“Could you tell me their contact info, or where they live, something like that?”
“You are going to contact them yourself?”
“Yeah, even an email is fine, so can you tell me?”
Mateo pressed Paul like an impatient man.
“Mm…”
But Paul’s lips did not look like they would open easily, and after a long silence, he finally spoke.
“Sorry, but I do not think I can do that.”
There was a reason: to Paul, Choi Jihyun looked like someone who was extremely reluctant to have personal information exposed to the press.
More than anything, since they might end up taking the post of music director for the New York Phil someday, it would be better not to do anything that might upset them.
“I will at least pass along that you are curious.”
With those words, Paul left, saying he had a concert soon.
Not long after, Mateo stared at the empty coffee cup left in Paul’s place and let out a hollow laugh.
“Hah…”
Just how incredible of a person are they, for him to be guarding them like that?
[ Billboard Hot 100 ]
No. 1 More than just music – Vincent Mah
No. 2 Look at me – Sarah Stewart
No. 3 Black angel – Sarah Stewart
Exactly one week.
Yeah, it took exactly one week for Vincent to step on Sarah Stewart’s head and climb over her.
A song that had been in the 90s just a week ago rose to the throne in only one week.
But no one was surprised. Most people thought it was an outcome that had already been decided.
That it had simply risen to the place that suited Vincent.
LS Entertainment’s A&R team thought so too.
“Hey, I told you I would hit No. 1. Seriously, this is insane.”
“What do you mean insane? It’s obvious. He is Vincent, and he even had the New York Phil attached. There is no way he loses to Sarah.”
“Didn’t you say last time you were a Sarah Stewart fan? You said you were sad you could not see her and you even cried.”
“When did I?”
Just then, Gi Yeonseon, staring at the monitor filled with the Billboard chart, chimed in as if impressed.
“But in the end, they’re all HS songs.”
“Ah, you’re right.”
“Now he’s even taking over Billboard.”
It was just as everyone was nodding at that.
Creeeak.
The door opened, and a tiger, ah, no, the person at the center of this topic, Hyunseung, walked in.
“You big guys are all huddled in front of the monitor, what are you doing? Watching porn in secret or something?”
At that, everyone stepped back from the monitor and waved their hands quickly.
“What are we, kids? Like we’d watch something like that?”
Then Gi Yeonseon, who had been sitting in a chair, pointed at the monitor and spoke as if explaining they were not looking at porn.
“We were looking at the Billboard chart, and as expected, Vincent is No. 1.”
“He is.”
“With this song, I don’t think No. 1 will change for at least over a month.”
Then Gi Yeonseon, full of respect, clapped.
Clap clap clap clap!
The other engineers also did not hold back their applause, congratulating Hyunseung.
Clap clap, clap clap clap, clap clap clap clap!
But Hyunseung only looked at the monitor with a completely flat face.
[ Billboard Hot 100 ]
No. 1 More than just music – Vincent Mah
No. 2 Look at me – Sarah Stewart
No. 3 Black angel – Sarah Stewart
To be precise, his gaze was fixed on the letters “Black angel,” which had risen to No. 3.
It was not a song he made, but for some reason his eyes kept going to that song.
Yeah.
To Hyunseung’s eyes right now, “Black angel – Sarah Stewart” looked like “Black angel = Sarah Stewart.”
That was how much Sarah was Black angel itself.
Of course. That would not have been possible without Hyunseung’s arrangement either, but it was a good song, a song that suited her well, so he had only given feedback because he felt regret.
If the sheet music had looked like trash, he would not even have glanced at it.
“It might not be.”
Gi Yeonseon stopped clapping at the sudden words that popped out of Hyunseung’s mouth and tilted his head.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s possible Vincent fails to plant his flag.”
“No way, come on.”
Gi Yeonseon chuckled lightly and waved his hand left and right as if denying it.
But.
Seeing how serious Hyunseung’s expression was, he soon had to lower his hand with an awkward look.
“W, why do you think that?”
At that question, Hyunseung paused as if swallowing his saliva for a moment.
“They say a game isn’t over until it’s over.”
“That’s true, but…”
“Besides, the person with a condition on the line is likely to be more desperate than the one without.”
“A condition?”
“Yes. When someone has a clear thing they want, they get desperate to obtain it.”
Gi Yeonseon could not understand what Hyunseung was saying.
Naturally.
The “condition” and “what he wanted” were all things Hyunseung said while thinking of the promise he made with Sarah Stewart.
Namely, one hundred boxes of misutgaru.
Of course, that bet was made on the title track “Look at me,” but since he received something from her too, if he could make it happen even with “Black angel,” he planned to buy her two hundred boxes, no big deal.
Ah.
Of course, he should tell her to hold back a bit for the sake of her weight, but.
“Anyway…”
Hyunseung, before revealing the purpose for coming here, swept his gaze over their faces and asked.
“Are you all very busy?”
The engineers exchanged looks with each other.
In truth.
An engineer is a job that is busy 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.
Hyunseung would know that too.
So if he was asking anyway, that meant he had something to request, some work to ask for.
As if they had reached a decision, they met eyes and nodded once.
Whoosh.
Then, all at once, they looked at Hyunseung and answered.
“No.”
Because no matter how busy they were, they could not miss the chance to hear his song first.
In front of the mirror, Hyunseung’s chest rose and fell heavily.
Because he was continuing the final practice for the sign language performance he would show at the fan meeting.
“Haa, haa……”
Gu Mingi, watching Hyunseung like that, started clapping.
Clap clap clap clap!
And Hyunseung thought he fully deserved that applause.
It was not a long time, but not even for a single day had he slacked off, piling effort upon effort.
Thanks to that, his body that used to look like a robot had become fairly flexible, and he could express things with finer detail, so it was development worthy of applause.
“Great work. I’ll get going now.”
He had just finished saying that and was picking up his bag without regret when.
“Mingu teacher.”
“It’s not Mingu, it’s Mingi.”
“Same thing.”
“How is that the same thing?”
Hyunseung suddenly draped an arm over Gu Mingi’s shoulder and spoke playfully.
“If you fuss over trivial things, you won’t be able to date.”
“W, why, why is it suddenly going to dating?”
“Since you’re like that too, Mingi, you’ve been dumped for being ‘trivial,’ haven’t you?”
“That’s never happened.”
“Oh yeah? Really?”
Gu Mingi flared up and shouted, “I’ve never dated, so how could I get dumped!” only for a moment.
“Ah…”
He dropped his head as if embarrassed. To end up doing a sudden “virgin confession.”
Tap, tap.
Hyunseung patted Mingi’s shoulder as if comforting him and continued.
“It’s okay.”
Then he added as he held out his business card.
“Then come watch with your family.”
“What is this…”
“You should see the result you helped make.”
Holding the business card, Gu Mingi narrowed his eyes. It sounded like Hyunseung was telling him to come watch the stage of the sign language performance he would put together…
He got that, but why was he giving him this card?
[ songwriter. HS ]
No matter how he looked at it, it was a business card for songwriter HS.
No, wait.
“HS, HS, HS, Hyunseung, Hyunseung, Hyunseung…”
No way?
Gu Mingi stared at Hyunseung with eyes as wide as lanterns.
“Tsk.”
At the same time, Hyunseung brought his index finger to his lips and lifted the corners of his mouth.
And then, after a brief moment.
“Then I’ll assume you’re coming, and I’m leaving without saying goodbye.”
With that, he leisurely waved his hand and left the practice room.
Slide.
Gu Mingi ended up collapsing to the floor as if he had crumpled down.
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