Before going to the CEO’s office.
“If someone saw us, they could really misunderstand what this looks like.”
Hyunseung was trapped in Executive Director Park’s burly forearm.
It was so solid, it felt like his body was tied up in iron chains.
“So let go of me.”
“No.”
“I can’t breathe, seriously.”
“Endure it.”
Maybe because he’d slacked off on working out lately, no matter how he tried to break free, the arm wrapped tightly around him didn’t budge.
“Executive Director, is this why you work out?”
“Yeah, punk.”
“Ah, Mom, say something to him.”
Hyunseung looked at Kim Woohyun to use the “mom” card right away, but—
“How am I supposed to say anything to the Executive Director….”
He just stood a step away and looked at him.
“Okay, I get it, so please let go.”
In the end, Hyunseung coaxed him as if admitting defeat.
Because if he didn’t do this, he wouldn’t be able to get out of the restraint.
“Liar. You’re going to kick the door and run straight to the CEO’s office.”
“No, I’m not a kid. Do you think I’d be that lacking in basic sense?”
“Then promise me. Going to the CEO’s office is after we pick a day—hey!”
Just as Executive Director Park’s arm loosened.
“Then you’ll just get old, is that any better?”
Hyunseung quickly slipped out of his hold and burst out of the studio.
“You punk!”
“Geumdong!”
He heard the two of them calling after him desperately, but they didn’t chase hard.
Since they were inside the building, the eyes of people around them would follow.
Like that, Hyunseung got into the elevator to head straight to the floor where the CEO’s office was.
Ah.
I should call first.
─ ♬ ♬ ♬
A cheerful ringtone played for a moment.
─ Why?
A surly voice came instead of a greeting. Why, he sounds like he’s sulking.
“Don’t tell me it’s still night there?”
─ No, it’s early morning.
“Perfect. Then I’ll talk a bit longer.”
Hyunseung was just about to continue.
─ No. Short. Just the point.
Vincent’s firm answer stopped him mid-sentence. More than curt, he seemed extremely busy, so Hyunseung agreed right away.
“That was the plan.”
Because Vincent was going back and forth between sites and meetings, not only for the label building construction but also to secure an exclusive distribution line.
Should he say thank you for taking some of his burden too?
“I’m going to tell the CEO of LS Entertainment today that I’m terminating my exclusive contract, and also about establishing the label ‘VINCIS.’”
At his words, on the other end of the line he heard a snort of laughter.
─ The timing’s good.
Then Vincent added in a bold tone.
─ I’m on my way to tell Austin too—terminating my exclusive contract and establishing the label ‘VINCIS.’
“Perfect timing.”
─ Yeah. If we just pay the termination penalty, it should end without any major trouble. Austin isn’t the kind of person to interfere with our business in a petty way.
“And if he does interfere?”
─ I’m not the type to just take it. You aren’t either, right?
“That’s true.”
Hyunseung nodded as he answered, then.
“But that’s not what I was going to tell you.”
As he continued, Vincent asked, “Then what?”
And then Hyunseung adjusted his phone into his other hand and said,
“From now on, tell Austin exactly what I say.”
“I have a proposal.”
Hyunseung met Jeon Nam-il’s eyes precisely, to read what was inside him.
But he couldn’t read a single emotion in those eyes.
Well, of course.
One thing was certain: he wasn’t even showing the slightest agitation.
He was calm and quiet.
Hyunseung felt his momentum cool off all at once.
It wasn’t according to plan, and he had come in a burst of temper, but it was a step filled with resolve.
Yet Jeon Nam-il wasn’t even looking surprised. He wasn’t even asking what the proposal was.
It was as if he knew what Hyunseung was going to say.
“In that case, would you like to hear what I have to say first, or the proposal first?”
In the end, Hyunseung was the one who spoke first.
“Let’s hear what you came to say first.”
Jeon Nam-il opened his properly set lips and answered calmly.
It was truly the tone of a CEO.
Without getting easily riled up, without showing impatience, maintaining honorifics, but with pressure flowing underneath.
“It isn’t a simple matter, but I’ll summarize it simply and tell you.”
Following Jeon Nam-il, Hyunseung also straightened his back and continued in a serious tone.
“With this year’s exclusive contract as my last, I formally request termination of my exclusive contract with LS Entertainment.”
Jeon Nam-il narrowed his eyes, about to ask right away.
“Could it be somewhere else—”
Hyunseung raised one hand and cut him off.
“One more thing. I plan to leave here and start a label.”
At those words, Jeon Nam-il’s pupils trembled slightly.
“I see…”
Then he answered after a slow pause.
“The label I’ll establish will be based in the U.S., and I plan to work mainly on Billboard, so we likely won’t clash much.”
At that, Jeon Nam-il let out a short, incredulous laugh and muttered.
“I don’t know if I should be happy about this….”
Bitterness lingered at the end of that laugh.
Soon Jeon Nam-il hardened his expression again and asked.
“Then what is the proposal?”
Instead of answering, Hyunseung wiped at the corner of his mouth.
In truth, it was to hide the laughter trying to leak out.
Ah, of course, it wasn’t a situation to laugh in.
But what could he do about it, if it kept trying to come out?
“I’d like to propose that the label I establish and LS Entertainment form a collaboration relationship.”
Hyunseung, barely holding it in, drew a deep breath and finished.
It seemed he had been amused before making this proposal.
In fact, this was a proposal he had thought up on the spot.
Because of TM Entertainment, maybe.
A safer way had come to mind to go a little more roundabout this situation.
“Hm?”
Jeon Nam-il, quick-witted, seemed unable to grasp it immediately this time, and looked at him with a vague hum.
Then I’ll have to explain again.
“I want to handle my domestic stage through LS Entertainment.”
“The reason?”
“Is there any special reason. You handle things well.”
Adding a bit of lip service too.
Ah.
Of course, it was praise based on fact.
“And if I refuse that proposal?”
As he asked, Jeon Nam-il’s eyes flashed sharply, as if they might pierce him on the spot.
But who was Hyunseung? Not only did he not flinch at a mere look, he lifted the corner of his mouth as if he found this situation fun and answered.
“I didn’t come here considering that choice, so I don’t really know.”
“So you thought I would never refuse.”
“More or less.”
“Since you’re Min Hyunseung, I figured you would.”
Jeon Nam-il’s voice was low, but the threatening edge from earlier had been withdrawn.
“LS Entertainment handles things cleanly. So I can’t accept Min Hyunseung’s proposal out of personal feelings.”
Then, as if dealing with an outside company, he added in a very formulaic tone.
“Let’s set another date and discuss it with a collaboration contract on the table.”
That was enough. Thinking so, Hyunseung was just about to stand up right away.
“Yes, then I’ll be going.”
“Ah, wait.”
Jeon Nam-il stopped him.
“Are you planning to take our in-house artists as well?”
He asked with no rise or fall, as if it had nothing to do with him.
“I was thinking about it.”
When Hyunseung answered immediately, Jeon Nam-il let out a small laugh, as if it was fairly interesting.
“They say they should fulfill their contract period. After that, I don’t know what choice they’ll make.”
Hyunseung also, as if it was all none of his business, scratched the back of his head and added in a flat tone.
“If we collaborate, there might not be any reason for them to come over, right?”
Jeon Nam-il’s laughter grew a bit larger.
That didn’t mean he burst out laughing.
He just shook out the laughter that had escaped once.
Before long, with a face that revealed nothing again, he said,
“It seems you’re better at threats than I expected.”
“It’s not a threat. I’m reducing what you have to worry about.”
With that, Hyunseung gave his greetings and turned away.
No.
He was about to turn away.
“Ah, right.”
Remembering something suddenly, Hyunseung turned back and asked.
“For employees, you just submit a resignation letter and that’s it, right?”
Jeon Nam-il, caught off guard, let out an unconscious, “Huh…,” a small exclamation.
“We’ll talk about that issue next time as well.”
Hyunseung left the CEO’s office thinking it was the first time he had seen his human side.
At the same time.
Unlike Korea, this place where warm sunlight poured in through wide floor-to-ceiling windows was….
The CEO’s office inside the Unice Music Group building.
“Come and sit.”
Vincent moved in big strides toward Austin, who gestured to him. As always, he greeted Vincent with an appearance that didn’t have a single inch out of place.
“It feels like it’s been a while since I saw you.”
Vincent also showed a friendly air as he sat down.
Even though he had come bearing news that wasn’t very welcome.
“It’s hard for a CEO and an exclusive artist to meet often. We’re both busy.”
“That’s true too.”
After the conversation that began with light pleasantries continued for a moment.
“Now then, shall I hear why you demanded this meeting?”
Austin leaned his upper body forward and met his eyes.
In that moment, the loose atmosphere pulled taut.
His gaze was pricking at Vincent’s skin like it would sting.
The David Austin Vincent knew was….
Shrewd.
He didn’t mean it in a bad way. He thought it was one of the virtues a person needed to run a corporation this enormous.
It just meant.
He was quick at calculating and deciding, and he knew very well how to handle people.
“I have one piece of good news and one piece of bad news. Which would you like to hear first?”
“Are you asking whether I want to take the whip first, or eat the candy first?”
Then all he had to do was let Austin calculate quickly how he should handle Vincent and make his decision.
“That’s right.”
“Then I should take the whip first.”
Vincent said, lifting the corner of his mouth.
“I formally request termination of my exclusive contract.”
At his words, rather than being surprised, Austin swept back his neatly set hair and muttered with a sigh.
“This is something. Last I knew, there’s still half a year left on your contract….”
Then, interlacing his fingers, he asked.
“Who is it?”
His voice had sunk low enough to feel like it could pierce through the basement of the building.
“Who dared to run a tampering operation on an artist under Unice Music Group?”
Normally, no matter that it was Vincent, he would have flinched at that icy question.
That was how frozen the atmosphere in the room was.
But right now, Vincent was showing off a confident presence like a fearless twenty-year-old who had nothing in the world to fear.
“Since you seem pretty angry from taking the whip, I’ll give you the candy.”
As if he had something to rely on.
No.
As if he had brought an army of a thousand and ten thousand.
“That shameless someone is Composer HS.”
“What? Just now, what did you say…?”
At Vincent’s confident answer, Austin blinked slowly.
“I plan to establish an independent label together with Composer HS.”
“W-wait. I’ve basically gained an enormous competitor. How is that candy?”
Then, as if snapping back to his senses, he asked urgently.
Austin was so shocked he even forgot the fact that he had grabbed a doorknob he hadn’t wiped.
‘Huh?’
Vincent, seeing that, was also startled and looked at his hand.
Because for someone as severely obsessive about cleanliness as him, it was impossible.
“Even if it isn’t candy…”
That was how much Austin’s thinking had broken down right now.
“If I soften it with the word ‘partner’ instead of ‘competitor,’ will it sound a little sweeter?”
Vincent stretched out his words playfully and smiled.
And then, just as Austin was about to begin with, “Then….”
Vincent added the next words.
“We’ll give Unice Music Group the distribution line rights for our label, ‘VINCIS.’”
In a tempting voice, as if handing him a very special privilege.
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