Executive Director Park looked at the dumbbell in his hand. No matter how hard and exhausting it was, it was a weight he had to lift, and a homework assignment.
He does not overdo it.
As his body was crumbling day by day with the acceleration of aging, rather than focusing on increasing the weight like before, he was focusing on maintaining it.
Clank!
He finished one set.
Clank!
He finished two sets.
Clank!
Only after finishing six more sets in succession did he put the dumbbell back in its place.
Then, roughly wiping away the sweat pouring down like rain, he headed for the shower room.
Whoooosh!
Standing there under lukewarm water, his excited heart calmed do—calm down, my ass.
“I came to make you a scouting offer, Executive Director Park.”
The kid’s words, which he had tried to shove aside with exercise, came back to him, and his heart rate shot up even more than when he was working out.
In all his years, it was the first time he had ever received a scouting offer from a composer punk.
Of course, he had received enough scouting offers to be annoyed.
But since no one had ever offered terms that would make him betray his loyalty, he had always rejected them on the spot.
Yeah.
Executive Director Park was more than satisfied with LS Entertainment.
Salary, position, treatment…
He felt he lacked nothing in every respect, and he even thought it would not be bad to retire honorably just like this.
After all, he was soon nearing fifty, so there was nothing more to be greedy for.
That was what he thought, but….
“Go over to America and take everything they set up—the table, the spoon, even one chopstick—and occupy it.”
He did not know why those words made him feel a strange thrill.
Was it because a guy who looked like he did not have a speck of greed revealed a massive ambition for the first time, and that excited him?
Or was it that the thing called “ambition,” which he thought was already dead, had been coiled up inside his chest all along?
And on top of that…
Did he not say he would even support a home and the kids’ tuition? This kind of unprecedented condition was also a first.
Since the kids had lived in America, would it not be good to continue their education there again?
That thought flickered through him.
“And he said he’d set up a gym, too….”
Honestly, putting aside things like that as trivial welfare benefits.
What truly seized Executive Director Park’s ear was what came next.
“For the record, don’t worry about whether the label will fail. I’ll be the CEO, and the inside director will be Vincent.”
Why did that line make him feel such immense relief?
“CEO, Min Hyunseung….”
If you looked at it strictly, it was the words of a greenhorn composer punk who had debuted only about three years ago, saying he would start his own label as CEO.
So why did it sound so tempting?
Whoooosh!
Executive Director Park scrubbed his dry body hard under the pouring water.
It was to calm his complicated feelings, even a little.
But rather than calming down, it felt like the stain was spreading wider.
“Jeon Nam-il…”
Because the face of Jeon Nam-il—his long-time superior and the CEO of LS Entertainment—rose on the mirror.
Yeah.
Even though it was an illusion, that face with not a single opening…
Truly.
That face you could not even begin to guess what he was thinking.
No.
A face that felt like you should not try to know what he was thinking.
At the same time.
The face of that guy who looked precarious, and yet not just confident but arrogant, overlapped on the CEO’s face.
“You know I’m not the type to back down quietly either, right?”
That damn lightning bolt of a guy.
“Hoo…”
Executive Director Park turned up the water temperature. A sudden chill enveloped his entire body, causing goosebumps to rise on his forearms.
Thud!
After a moment, Executive Director Park finished his shower, shaking his hair dry with a towel as he thought.
‘HS and Jeon Nam-il…’
He knew he must quickly decide which battlefield he would face.
Back in the studio, Hyunseung sat down in front of the table right away.
He looked calm on the surface, but the fingertips holding the pen trembled slightly.
Rustle, rustle.
Soon, Hyunseung’s hand wrote the name “Jeon Nam-il” on the notebook.
To confess honestly, he had completely forgotten about the existence of “Jeon Nam-il.”
Ah.
Of course, that did not mean he was a presence that would not even become an obstacle.
For now, he was the biggest mountain among the mountains Hyunseung had to climb.
Yeah.
No matter how much it was Hyunseung, CEO Jeon Namil, who had built his position and endured for a long time in this industry, was a very threatening opponent.
Before being just one person, he was someone who led a massive corporation.
In other words….
He possessed the power to erase Hyunseung from this industry without leaving even a trace.
Ah.
Maybe he had forgotten about Austin David too.
Well, Vincent would handle that on his own.
“This is why we really have to build up power.”
Rather than shrinking as he brought his rivals to mind, Hyunseung decided once again that he had to make the label succeed and build up his position and power.
Of course. If he were leaving alone, there would not be much of a problem.
“But I can’t do that.”
No matter what anyone said, he intended to take Kim Woohyun with him. And Kim Woohyun would likely be thinking the same.
And if possible, he would take Executive Director Park too, along with a few other instruments. Of course, only if they truly wanted to go with him.
If they did not want to, he could not drag them along by force, could he?
If any damage occurred as a result, he intended to take responsibility for it.
“First…”
He should check how many people would go to the battlefield with him. Since there was still an album about to be released, there was no need to rush.
Fighting the war would come next.
Rustle, rustle.
Then Hyunseung’s hand holding the pen wrote down names without hesitation.
Moon Beomjae
Kang Hajun
Seo Jini
Jung Arin
Yoon Jaeyi
Lee Hyoeun
The Moon
…
Jayble
He excluded Sarah Stewart. Since his partner’s only request was “exclude Sara Stewart,” he intended to respect that much.
More than anything, even just Vincent would be a massive blow to Austin, but if he also took Sarah Stewart….
No matter what happened, something would happen.
“Hmm…”
Out of these, who should he take?
And out of these, who would follow him?
If they all came, it would not be bad, but because everyone had their own interests tied up, even if only half came, it would still be a fine start.
Then…
Should he see who responds first?
Tap, tap, tap, tap!
On the screen reflecting Hyunseung’s excited face, a notification showed that the group text had been sent successfully.
After sending the text, Hyunseung spent time on calls with people regarding the album that would be released soon, 『The timing is off』.
First, he spoke with Austin about the most important parts: release and promotion, and even finalized the date.
Then he called in order: Jo Kyungmi, Jo Yeri, and Sarah Stewart.
The Jo-jo mother and daughter still seemed to be maintaining a chilly atmosphere, but whether they liked it or not, it was a duet.
They would meet again anyway, and it was up to them to reconcile through the opportunity given.
And since Sarah Stewart was whining that she had gained weight with activities coming up, he hurriedly hung up.
The last call he made was…
Mateo.
Not because he had anything in particular to say, but because he was curious.
Had he eaten with Sara Stewart, and had he gotten to mooch any misutgaru.
Judging by the way Sarah complained about gaining weight, it seemed like he had not gotten any….
─ I mooched both food and misutgaru.
Still, luckily, it seemed he did get to mooch.
─ But the problem is, I mooched scolding along with it.
He answered in his usual surly voice, but it felt less sharp than before.
“Are the two of you keeping in touch at all?”
─ Do you get replies from her, at least?
“Yes, with me she’s annoying enough to message first—”
But before he could even joke once, Mateo coldly hung up.
It seemed like he was not keeping in touch with Sarah Stewart.
“Well, if it were a relationship that could flip over like flipping a scallion pancake, there wouldn’t have been any need to make a song for it.”
But a bond of blood sometimes was a relationship that could recover from one very small trigger.
“I’ll just watch and see.”
He thought about calling back to tease him a little, but it felt like he might genuinely get hurt, so he decided to stop here.
No.
Maybe it would be more accurate to say that he had run into a situation where he could not make any more phone calls.
Yeah.
Hyunseung’s studio had turned into a marketplace in the blink of an eye.
“Hello!”
“Hyunseung!”
“Composer!”
Even though the studio was fairly large, it was nowhere near big enough to hold this many people.
And that was not all.
With others barging in without even changing out of their stage outfits, the studio became absolute chaos.
“So what is it you wanted to say?”
The people Hyunseung had written in his notebook earlier had all gathered.
Just from a single message that said, [I have something to say].
Ah, except for Jayble.
As for that person, he could just coax him again with a guitar later, so he would set that aside for now.
“Okay, quiet for a second.”
Hyunseung said, pressing his index finger to his lips.
“I didn’t expect you all to come running over from just one text.”
At that one gesture, the people who had been exchanging greetings all stopped at once and looked at Hyunseung.
“Then, since you’re all here anyway, I’ll say it right away.”
As Hyunseung began speaking, the room went quiet as if someone had splashed cold water.
As if they were waiting for a major announcement at a banquet, eyes sparkling.
Hyunseung….
Was he about like the crown prince, the main figure of that banquet?
“Who wants to go to America with me, raise your hand.”
Hyunseung’s question was simple.
“Me.”
As if it were obvious, people shot their hands up.
What, it’s this easy? Just as Hyunseung hesitated, startled,
“Where in America are we going to play?”
Jung Arin asked brightly, her hand raised high. It seemed she thought he meant going on a trip.
“We’re not going to play.”
Hyunseung corrected sharply.
“I’m saying let’s go work together.”
At this point, they should catch on.
“Are we holding a fan meeting in America too?”
But Jung Arin asked back with an innocent face, as if she understood nothing.
“Whoa, it really does seem like Hyunseung’s popular in America these days! That’s insane! That’s so cool!”
“I,-I’ll go anywhere no matter what…!”
“America’s kind of a hassle, though.”
After that, Lee Hyoeun, Yoon Jaeyi, and Seo Jini muttered like a local broadcast.
“If it’s Vegas, that’d be even better. When I was young, there…”
“Just tell me the date, and I’ll go straight from Japan.”
“You are buying the plane tickets, right? There are four of us, so round-trip tickets to America aren’t a joke.”
Moon Beomjae, Kang Hajun, and even Ahn Jiho added in.
Everyone was convinced he was talking about a fan meeting.
“This is a problem…”
Hyunseung rubbed his forehead and shook his head side to side for a moment.
“It’s not a fan meeting, and you don’t need round-trip tickets either.”
He placed his hand at his waist, slowly swept his gaze across the faces of those seated in the room, and added,
“As the CEO of the label company I’m going to establish, I am proposing exclusive instrument contracts to all of you.”
In a very low, calm, businesslike tone.
“The choice is yours.”
Maybe because Hyunseung was unfamiliar like this, or because they were shocked….
“…Huh?”
They only stared at him with completely blank faces.
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