Kim Hyoseop couldn’t put down the teacup, because he felt like his mouth was getting drier and drier.
Slurp, slurp, slurp.
He was repeating the act of drinking in small breaks, frequently.
Knock, knock!
With the knocking sound, Ahn Jiho came in.
“It seems like he’ll arrive soon.”
At those words, Kim Hyoseop put down the teacup and straightened his collar.
The person Ahn Jiho had said would arrive soon was none other than Composer HS.
He couldn’t know exactly why HS was coming to see him.
Even Ahn Jiho, who delivered the news, said he didn’t know the reason either, and only told him to meet him first.
In a way…
In many meanings, HS was like a lifesaver, so even if he suddenly said they should meet, there was nothing that would be a problem.
He was just puzzled.
Why would he want to meet him? The worry that maybe now that things were going well, he might be asking for a sales fee for the song did also cross his mind, to be honest.
No matter how much it was a call from a benefactor…
Being forced to consider the worst-case scenario first was like the order of this industry.
“CEO?”
Ahn Jiho sat down in the seat across from him and asked.
“Why are you so nervous?”
On the face asking that, a hint of laughter was sitting.
A kid who had only suffered for a long time, having met a pathetic CEO.
What was so good that he was smiling like that.
Watching Ahn Jiho like that, the tension that had wrapped around Kim Hyoseop’s whole body sank all at once.
“No, I’m not? I was completely comfortably enjoying tea time.”
“Come on, that’s a lie. You were sitting totally like a statue.”
“It’s not that, I was sitting with good posture.”
Answering smoothly, Kim Hyoseop laughed along with Ahn Jiho.
They say there’s no finger you can bite that doesn’t hurt, but just like there are fingers that hurt especially, and look especially pretty.
To Kim Hyoseop, Ahn Jiho was that kind of finger, too.
More painfully than the other kids in the group, and more pretty.
So when he looked at Ahn Jiho, a smile came out on its own like this.
Even when there were hard things, when he saw Ahn Jiho, strangely he got strength.
And that was because, among the members, he was the one whose heart was the softest, acting like the oldest and leader, took care of all the members and didn’t once complain even with lacking support.
Instead, he was the one who loudly said he was grateful they didn’t give up on “The Moon,” and that if they succeeded, he would repay it big.
And he was also a tough one who was keeping those words, as if to show them.
“Oh, I think he’s here.”
Right on time, Ahn Jiho’s phone rang.
“I’ll go out and greet him.”
With an excited face, he burst out of the CEO’s office. To the point it was hard to believe that things had creaked from the first meeting, it seemed the kid trusted and followed HS quite a lot.
Just from one visit from HS, seeing him run out smiling like a child.
Before long, from beyond the CEO’s office door, noisy voices could be heard.
Knock, knock, knock.
With the knocking sound, the door opened, and HS came in, pushing Ahn Jiho and the other members aside as if he was annoyed.
Creak, thud.
It looked as if he were some kind of hero of children.
Ah.
Of course, the children were The Moon, led by Ahn Jiho.
“Hello.”
HS greeted him with an upright posture.
“Oh my, you must have worked hard coming all this way. I could have gone instead… First, come here and sit comfortably.”
Kim Hyoseop took a low posture as if he would even bow back to HS and motioned for him to come.
“You don’t have to be that kind.”
Perhaps because that attitude was very burdensome to him, HS took a seat at a bit of a distance.
“Ah, but to me you’re like a benefactor…”
“I didn’t give you a song out of pity, so strictly speaking, I’m not a benefactor. I only gave a song, and the ones who succeeded are The Moon, so I think you should only be grateful to The Moon.”
Then he shifted his gaze to the teacup placed in front of him.
Kim Hyoseop immediately noticed that gaze and picked up one unused teacup and the teapot, and asked.
“If warm tea is okay, would you like a cup?”
“What tea is it?”
“Yes? Warm peppermint….”
“Ah, I’m not on the mint-choco side, so I think it’s fine.”
At this moment, Kim Hyoseop hesitated. Should he laugh? Should he not? It did seem like a joke meant to loosen the mood…
But because his face was so serious, it didn’t sound like a joke.
“Do you perhaps have coffee?”
“Would hot instant mix coffee be okay?”
“No, I’m an iced-americano-until-I-die type.”
At another line that he couldn’t tell was serious or a joke, Kim Hyoseop broke into a cold sweat as he watched for cues.
Wasn’t this the person who, when he had seen him before, had consistently kept a very arrogant and high-handed attitude?
Did he change his concept in the meantime?
Kim Hyoseop didn’t really know HS’s temperament, and as someone heading toward the end of his forties, it was a way of speaking he found quite difficult to understand.
“H-haha… so you’re iced-americano-until-I-die.”
When the awkward laughter ended, a quiet silence flowed in the room.
At the same time, cold drops of sweat ran down Kim Hyoseop’s back.
‘What is this exactly?’
Just as he carefully rolled his eyes and examined HS’s face closely.
“Did you pay off that mountain of debt?”
HS asked in a flat tone. They did look small, but he had never said their debt was like a mountain.
Before he could even figure out whether Ahn Jiho had told him, or whether he was quick to notice, another question came flying.
“When are you moving offices?”
“We don’t have that much room yet, so we’re thinking of getting a new office sometime next year, but why….”
“Just, because I was curious.”
HS answered his question roughly, then pressed his lips tightly again.
He couldn’t tell whether he had something on his mind, or if he really had stopped by just to ask how he was, but as the silence continued, Kim Hyoseop’s mouth became dry again.
Slurp, slurp, slurp.
Just as only the sound of drinking tea could be heard in the room.
“I thought about it a lot, actually.”
HS’s lips, shut tight like an iron fortress, opened carefully.
As if he was about to bring up something heavy, the voice that sank down was heavy, as if cutting across an underground tunnel.
“I wondered if it might be rude, but I think I have to say it. Thinking about it, I found I had a bit of desire.”
Only the word “desire” buzzed in Kim Hyoseop’s ears.
Just like what he had worried about, did he come to demand payment for the song now?
Kim Hyoseop tapped a calculator in his head, calculating how much extra money he could put out right now..
Even if he pulled everything together, it would never be an amount that could satisfy HS. His price would have risen again compared to then.
Thump, thump, thump.
As Kim Hyoseop couldn’t hide his anxious look and shook his leg, HS slowly swept his gaze downward over him and continued.
“I haven’t even started talking yet, so why are you trembling like that.”
“Ah, I’m sorry. Please speak.”
“Right now, the mood is like I’ve become a loan shark.”
“Huh? Ah, no. It’s something we should have given in the first place….”
HS tilted his head and asked.
“What are you going to give?”
“Huh? Well, of course, the cost for the song you gave….”
“Didn’t I say before that I wouldn’t take that?”
“Ah, y-yes, you did. But you just said you had desire….”
Then, cutting him off as if he was frustrated, he said flatly.
“The desire I have is not money.”
Not money? Then what is it that he has desire for?
No matter how he thought about it, among what he had, there was nothing that seemed like something HS would desire, so he couldn’t understand his words at all.
Just as Kim Hyoseop’s eyes shook uneasily.
“The thing I’m saying I have desire for is The Moon and TM Entertainment.”
An unexpected answer came from HS’s mouth.
“Huh? Wh-what did you just say…?”
“I said I have desire for The Moon and TM Entertainment. Is that hard for you to understand?”
“No, it’s not that, it’s just….”
It was clearly a polite way of speaking, but in that somehow oppressive atmosphere, Kim Hyoseop’s body shrank without him realizing.
It might be an embarrassing thing to say that, being in his forties, he felt an unknown pressure from someone in his twenties….
HS really was different from others.
He had felt it once before too, but in an instant, HS let out an aura that overwhelmed the atmosphere of the room.
So, even leaving aside the hit songs, he must be receiving the public’s love.
“What exactly is it that you have desire for? I want to know whether you want some shares, or whether you’re saying you want to seize management rights entirely.”
But Kim Hyoseop was not just some ordinary potbellied man in his forties.
Even if he was the CEO of a small management company, he was someone who had survived in this field for over twenty years.
He might not know how to succeed, but he knew well how to survive.
“My answer will likely change depending on that.”
To survive, Kim Hyoseop opened his eyes wide and put strength into them.
“Ah.”
Seeing him like that, HS let out a small exclamation as if he was surprised.
“I see.”
He let out a small laugh. To Kim Hyoseop, that laugh felt less like it was annoying, and more like a turning point where the mood loosened.
“I will proceed with acquiring shares, but you should use that to pay off the remaining debt and move offices.”
As if his feeling was right, HS’s expression had softened as if nothing had happened.
“I have no intention of taking management rights. I’m just making an offer to come under my company and try working together.”
“Huh? W-wait a moment.”
Surprised at the unexpected offer, Kim Hyoseop asked back.
“Your company… are you saying we should come under LS Entertainment?”
“That’s not it. Are you disappointed?”
“No, I’m not. It’s not that! Then what company are you talking about…”
As unpredictable answers kept coming back, Kim Hyoseop trailed off and looked at HS’s lips.
Because he judged it was wiser to just wait for the words to come out of that mouth quickly.
“I will establish a label in the U.S. soon. If TM Entertainment comes under it, The Moon’s overseas expansion will also become advantageous.”
This time, the words “overseas expansion” struck into his ears.
They were words like a very sweet dream, yet so unrealistic that he couldn’t even ask back rashly.
Why are you making that offer? Do you want all of TM Entertainment’s shares?
Those questions just wandered without a place, only inside his throat.
“There’s nothing I want separately.”
As if he had read his mind, HS continued right away.
“I also plan to acquire only a portion of the shares by calculating it precisely, and I have no intention of touching management rights or the system at all.”
“Th-then what am I supposed to do?”
“Keep believing in The Moon like you do now and grow TM Entertainment well.”
In this field, I learned there is no goodwill without a price.
That the world only joins hands and coexists together when the calculation of benefits matches.
But these were conditions that were generous, too generous.
Even if it was “under” him, he said he would not interfere with management rights or the system at all, and that he would go through a proper acquisition process for the shares.
If that was true, then not only could they handle all the remaining debt, but they could also even consider moving to a wider place.
More than anything, he could even dream of The Moon’s overseas expansion, which he cherished like children.
“Th-then…”
Suspicion and excitement tangled together, and Kim Hyoseop carefully opened lips that wouldn’t easily fall.
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
You never know, do you? He could demand that you give up 100% of the shares or tell you to sign exclusive contracts with the artists he wants….
However HS strayed from his expectations and anxieties until the end.
“Keep growing TM Entertainment and The Moon well, like you do now.”
“Wh-why, why give this kind of opportunity…?”
“It’s not an opportunity, it’s an offer. Think it over well and contact me.”
Truly.
He had never met someone this unpredictable.
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