Kim Woo-hyun recalled the day he first joined LS Entertainment as a road manager.
His very first day at work.
The senior staff member he met in the underground parking lot didn’t even bother with a polite greeting or a warning about avoiding trouble. Instead, he fired off a question right away.
“How long are you planning to stick around?”
The man’s face looked worn out, like someone who had not slept for days. More than anything, there was even an inexplicable wariness in the way he looked at him.
Back then, Kim Woohyun did not know why he was being looked at like that, but the more it happened, the more his stubborn pride flared up.
“I’m going to bury my bones at LS Entertainment.”
It was the bravado of a twenty-year-old.
“You crazy bastard. Is this a grave? Why would you bury your bones here?”
Maybe the senior liked that about him, because the senior smiled as if he did not dislike him and tossed him the car keys.
It’s been fifteen years since then.
As if keeping that promise, Kim Woohyun worked like he really meant to bury his bones there.
Thanks to that, he seized titles like the first, the youngest, and the shortest time among those who started as road managers, and rose all the way to the position of division head.
Of course, it was not like he had never wanted to quit. Sometimes it was so hard he could not bear it, and he had secretly written a resignation letter more than once.
But he could not quit. He had to take full responsibility for his sick widowed mother.
After Hyunseung came in, he stopped treating things like “performance numbers” as just part of the job, and started working with a sincere hope that things would go well for him…
It was pretty fun.
Probably because he gained financial breathing room and his heart became calmer.
Yeah.
If it had not been for Hyunseung, there was a high chance he would still be stuck in his previous role and he would still be gasping under the weight of his mother’s hospital bills, unable to even dream of owning a home.
And that was not all.
He would have kept obsessing over results every day, eyes bloodshot as he hunted for prey.
In other words, Hyunseung was a lucky charm that changed his life.
“In that sense, would you like to join our label as our first rookie employee?”
But then, from that lucky charm’s mouth came a question he truly did not expect.
“What?!”
Hyunseung frowned, blocking his ears.
“No, why have you been screaming like this since earlier?”
“Because you keep saying things that shock me!”
“If my eardrums end up bursting at this rate, are you going to take responsibility?”
“Uh, no, that can’t happen, no.”
Kim Woohyun immediately covered his own mouth and shook his head.
Because Hyunseung’s eardrums were precious.
But that did not mean his startled heart calmed down.
Yeah, it would be harder not to be surprised after getting a proposal like that.
He had never imagined Hyunseung was planning to start a label himself.
Had he not been the kid who did not care about results, money, or achievements, and just worked for “fun”?
And the guy who coldly said he only made songs, and the rest was the company’s job?
That same guy suddenly saying he would start his own label?
That meant he would not just make songs anymore, he would be in a position where he had to take responsibility for everything.
Ah.
This had to be because someone put useless thoughts in the kid’s head.
Who was it?
Could it be Executive Director Park? Somehow, he had been taking extra care of Geumdong lately… so he had been drawing a big picture like this?
Yeah.
That slippery eel definitely seduced our naive Geumdong.
“Wait, wait.”
Then Hyunseung waved a hand in front of his face and continued.
“Stop imagining weird things, and just choose whether you’ll join or not. For your information, if you’re late, it’s first-come, first-served, and we close.”
“Hey, you punk, switching jobs isn’t something you decide that easily…!”
“Why are you making it so hard when all you have to do is come and eat the meal I’ve already set up for you?”
Hyunseung kept talking, then asked:
“Are you scared?”
That face was not unpleasant either, so Kim Woohyun ended up chuckling along. No, this was not something to laugh about.
Yeah.
Moving nests is heavy and frightening too. It needs careful thought.
And yet why did it feel like such an easy, sweet, cozy path?
“You little punk, have you ever seen me scared?”
“You look scared every time you run into Executive Director Park.”
“No, that’s because the director’s build is just… By the way, did you offer anyone else before me?”
“It’s my first time.”
“The phrasing is kind of weird, but still, it’s nice that I’m your first.”
Looks like he would not be able to keep the vow he spat out on his first day at work.
The next day, early dawn.
Maybe summer really was ending, because the sun that should have been slowly rising was still hiding.
Inside the headquarters building where sunlight did not reach, pitch-black darkness had settled.
“Hoo, hoo.”
And yet there was a place lit brightly.
Clank!
It was the company gym, which would not be an exaggeration to call Executive Director Park’s playground.
As expected. Today too, he had dumbbells on him as heavy as the weight of life itself.
Hyunseung, who came to the gym, walked up to Executive Director Park’s side.
Thud! Thud!
In case he got startled and dropped the dumbbells, Hyunseung deliberately stomped his feet hard to make his presence known.
“Sir.”
But he did not even glance over, and did not answer the call either. Hyunseung quietly sat down on the bench beside him.
When the set ended, he would talk to him.
“Hoo… Someone who doesn’t even work out, why are you here?”
Just as expected, the moment Executive Director Park finished a set, he spoke.
It was scolding laced with mockery, but Hyunseung was fine with it, because he knew it was just his way of speaking now.
“I came to see you today, Executive Director Park.”
At that, Executive Director Park gripped the dumbbells with both hands and answered firmly.
“If it’s work-related, come to my office later. Don’t interrupt my sacred time.”
“You know I don’t have patience.”
“Such a thing to brag about.”
Executive Director Park, as if he could not win, let go of the dumbbells again and straightened his upper body. Then he roughly wiped off his sweat with the towel beside him.
It was a gesture telling him to go on and say it.
“Today, I….”
For a moment, he thought about teasing him a bit, like he did with Mom Kim, but he decided against it.
Yeah, in Kim Woohyun’s case….
Since he was planning to take him no matter what, he spoke like a slippery eel sliding over a wall.
But in truth, changing jobs was not something light.
“I came to make you a scouting offer, Executive Director Park.”
Hyunseung spoke casually in a low, settled tone.
Judging by the way his eyebrow twitched, he was not unshocked, but his face was calmer than expected.
It was if he had somewhat anticipated Hyunseung would bring up something like this.
“I’m not sure what you mean exactly.”
Perhaps because they had gotten closer, the cool gaze of Executive Director Park that was hard to see surfaced.
Because of that, Hyunseung found it hard to read exactly what meaning he held as he asked back.
“When you make an offer, shouldn’t you properly explain the context and details?”
Executive Director Park added in a surly voice and stood up.
He knew it, but today his build looked even more massive.
Yeah.
This was who Executive Director Park was. A person with pressure that made people feel fear just by looking at him.
If he could take someone like that, there was nothing better, but he had two children he adored more than anything, so it would not be an easy choice.
“I’m planning to leave LS Entertainment soon and start a solo label. Not in Korea, in America.”
So he decided to say everything and give him time to choose.
This was honestly something he could propose openly because there was trust.
“I don’t know whether I should call it fortunate, but it looks like you’re not planning to acquire LS Entertainment.”
Executive Director Park, as if relieved, wore a peaceful expression for a brief moment.
He probably remembered what Hyunseung had once tossed out as a joke.
And more than anything, wasn’t he one of the founding members who built LS Entertainment from the beginning?
Since it was a company he had poured all his youth into, Hyunseung knew his loyalty would be different too.
So even if the kids’ issue were resolved, he would not be able to abandon LS easily.
“I’m not the type to steal someone else’s carefully set table.”
“Sounds like you’re saying that for me to hear?”
“Yes. Literally, I’m not good at it, so you do it for me instead.”
Ah, of course, Hyunseung had no intention of giving up on him easily either.
“Go over to America and take everything they set up—the table, the spoon, even one chopstick—and occupy it.”
He picked words that would tempt him, to lure him.
But Executive Director Park looked at him strangely and asked back.
“Why are you saying something that isn’t like you? You’re not the type full of ambition.”
“To protect myself and my family, I realized I need at least some ambition.”
Then Executive Director Park made an ambiguous expression that Hyunseung could not read, and he could not continue, only saying, “You…”
Whatever emotions were overlapping… he was shaken. And at a time like this, he needed to land the decisive blow.
“We’ll support your family’s place to live in the U.S., and your kids’ tuition in full until they graduate college. And don’t worry about whether the label will fail. I’ll be the CEO, and Vincent will be an inside director.”
Then he smiled and continued.
“Most of all, we’ll set up an in-house gym too. We’ll stock it completely with the best equipment.”
At that, Executive Director Park’s eyes wavered.
Good, he took the bait.
Hyunseung, as if he had already reeled in a big fish, held a relaxed smile inside his mouth as he added,
“Don’t decide right away. Think it over slowly, then give me your answer.”
Then just as he started to walk away leisurely, as if he had finished his business…
“Does CEO Jeon Nam-il know?”
Executive Director Park’s cool voice came through. No, should he say it was a voice thick with unease?
“Not yet.”
Hyunseung only turned his head slightly and answered briefly.
“You know what kind of person Jeon Nam-il is… are you prepared?”
In Executive Director Park’s question, there was a strange kind of expectation.
“I haven’t even thought about it, so I don’t know.”
When Hyunseung shrugged and said that, Executive Director Park came right up close and scolded him.
“How can you not have thought about the most important thing!”
“I forgot.”
“Going to war and forgetting your gun… what a thing to brag about.”
“Well, it’ll work out somehow.”
“You know Jeon Nam-il dotes on you, but if you say you’re taking key personnel and leaving, you know he’s not the kind of person to let you go quietly.”
At that, Hyunseung’s eyes gleamed as he asked back.
“You know I’m not the kind of person to back down quietly either, right?”
As expected, Executive Director Park could not answer, only moving his lips slightly.
Hyunseung honestly did not care how CEO Jeon Nam-il would react.
If he had even the slightest negative influence on his future, Hyunseung intended to fight a war, gladly.
Yeah.
If you go to war and you don’t have a gun, isn’t it just a matter of fighting with a knife?
“Then I’ve said everything I needed to say, so I’m going.”
With that thought, Hyunseung left the gym.
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