Sarah Stewart was sinking past indignation and into a kind of sorrow.
This feeling…
It was not directed at Vincent, who had humiliated her and left.
It was directed at HS.
How could he not even mention it to her, not even once?
Of course.
He has no obligation to tell her something like that, but still.
‘Even so…’
It is not some completely unrelated business. If he is starting a label, couldn’t he tell her?
Unable to contain the anger that suddenly surged up, Sarah Stewart grabbed her phone, meaning to call HS.
But her fingers could not press a single key and just hovered in the air.
‘What if… he didn’t tell me because I’m not an instrument he wants to take with him…?’
That thought suddenly brushed past.
If that really was the case, she did not want HS to confirm it himself and finish her off.
Because if she asked, “Is it really that?” he is the type who would answer, very honestly, that it is.
In the end, Sarah Stewart set the phone down with a sigh.
Thud!
She had been repeating this all day.
Even while working on music.
Even while going to her schedule.
Even while drinking misutgaru.
Whenever that sorrow flared up, she would lift the phone, then set it down again as her heart sank.
“Go home.”
After finishing everything and leaving her manager behind, Sarah Stewart trudged toward home, and a thought of hope suddenly formed.
What if…
He just hasn’t had the chance to contact her yet? Maybe he forgot.
Yes!
If she were an instrument so worthless, he would not have persuaded her in the first place when she said she would not do it and then used her as an instrument.
And after that, he even held misutgaru hostage and made her work with Mateo.
He accepted her concert invitation, and she invited him too, didn’t she?
‘Right, right.’
He even invited her to his home, and they even had some kind of dating rumor, too!
‘If it’s this much, doesn’t that mean he thinks of me as a pretty decent “instrument,” publicly and privately?’
Once her thoughts reached that point, Sarah Stewart immediately lifted her phone and, without a moment of hesitation, pressed HS’s number.
She had even forgotten that she had just referred to herself as an “instrument,” and she cleared her trembling throat.
─ ♬ ♬ ♬
Sarah Stewart chanted in her mind, “Pick up, pick up,” and waited for the ringing to stop.
But the call did not connect easily. What time is it in Korea right now?
She pulled the phone away from her cheek and checked the time, and at that moment—
─ Yeah, what?
A flat voice came softly through the receiver.
“H-Hello?”
Sarah Stewart hurriedly pressed the phone back to her ear, stopping HS on the other end.
─ Yeah, I said why are you calling?
Maybe he was annoyed at being asked twice, because HS’s gruff reply came through.
At that, Sarah Stewart muttered, “It’s been a while.”
Calling on a sudden burst of courage was one thing…
But now that HS had actually picked up, it felt completely daunting to figure out how to start.
─ What is it all of a sudden? Don’t tell me you already finished all the misutgaru?
Perhaps it felt unfamiliar for her to be asking after him, because HS asked in a slightly surprised tone.
“It’s not that…”
Sarah Stewart trailed off for a moment.
“Did you see my song hit number three on the Billboard chart?”
A good topic occurred to her, so she brought it up.
─ You think I check stuff like that one by one?
“I… wouldn’t.”
But HS’s tone, like he was brushing it away, made Sarah Stewart deflate immediately.
Really.
She sank into the thought that maybe he had not told her because she was not an instrument he wanted enough to take.
Before long, a voice cut through the silence on the other end.
─ It’s my album, and you sang it. Of course that’s the result.
Sarah Stewart’s face brightened all at once and she blurted, “Huh?”
It was not that she was truly asking.
It was just an exclamation that burst out, mixed with surprise and joy.
If someone saw her right now, they would think she looked like a companion dog.
Yes.
A puppy wagging its tail like crazy at its owner’s affection.
─ If you’re just going to say the obvious, I’m hanging up.
HS added sharply, as if he had no intention of giving her much time to be happy.
“No, wait, just a second! I really have something to say!”
Sarah Stewart waved her hand in the air like HS was right in front of her, urgently stopping him.
And then she worked up the courage to ask.
“Is it true you decided to start a label with Vincent?”
Before she could even fret, a short “Yeah” came back from the other end.
─ Vincent told you?
Soon after, HS asked that, then muttered, “He said we should never recruit Sarah Stewart, too…”
It was a very small voice, but Sarah heard it perfectly.
“W-What did you just….”
─ Vincent didn’t offer to recruit you?
“Ah, that’s…”
─ As the CEO, I’d welcome it.
“Wait, CEO?”
─ Yeah. Looks like you didn’t hear that part.
Sarah Stewart, flustered, parted her lips blankly and could not continue.
Then…
Did Vincent lie to her? No, why?
Was it just to mess with her?
Only now grasping the situation, she was inside her head stringing together a whole chain of curses at Vincent, when—
─ You’ll be coming to the U.S. soon anyway, so let’s talk properly again then.
HS continued in a calm tone, as if organizing the situation.
─ This doesn’t feel like something to talk about over the phone.
Sarah Stewart swallowed hard, then opened her lips like she had made a major decision.
“CEO.”
Of course, HS recoiled and snapped, “What is that, a side effect of overdosing on misutgaru?”
But.
“I’ll assume you’ll be giving me an official recruitment proposal, and I’ll wait.”
Sarah Stewart did not care and finished in a very polite, very businesslike tone.
She wanted to make it certain, using this call as a pretext.
─ Uh, well, fine.
With HS’s bewildered answer, they ended the call with the usual, perfunctory greetings.
Then blue veins bulged on the tightly clenched fists Sarah Stewart was making.
‘Vincent, you bastard.’
If you added a comic sound effect, it was the kind of fist that could be described as “Crack,” from how much anger it held.
Meanwhile.
Hyunseung drove his car not to his own building, but somewhere else.
Screeeech.
After parking smoothly, Hyunseung got out and moved with familiar steps.
Hyunseung had always been confident, but lately he was even more confident than before.
Probably because things were going smoothly exactly the way he wanted.
And people say a position makes the person, don’t they?
It was never his original goal at all.
But in any case, since he had decided to become the “CEO” who would lead a label, he thought it would be good to maintain this kind of attitude.
Thud, thud, thud!
When Hyunseung knocked on the thick door that looked like solid iron, a booming sound rang out like it might break.
Before long, the door that seemed like it would never open, opened smoothly.
“You’re going to break the door.”
A familiar face greeted Hyunseung.
“It feels like you opened it too late.”
“It took ten seconds.”
It was Jayble.
“Seriously, you’re so impatient.”
Jayble tossed out a barb and walked inside first, as if telling him to come in.
Hyunseung followed him into the studio.
‘Still the same.’
It is a space that is a bit too flashy and luxurious to call a studio.
Of course.
It also had plenty of instruments worth coveting, so to Hyunseung it was a joyful place, like an amusement park.
“You’re already busy enough. What’s so important that you had to come all the way to my studio?”
Even Jayble’s sneering tone felt pretty familiar now.
“I’m not exactly thrilled either, but it’s something I have to say face-to-face.”
When Hyunseung answered back, Jayble let out a small laugh and handed him a canned coffee he had pulled from the fridge.
“I only drink iced Americanos.”
“Just drink what you’re given, say what you need to say, and go.”
Even while speaking gruffly as if he couldn’t be bothered, Jayble took the seat across from him.
With eyes like a child waiting for a folktale.
“Do you remember the guitar you sold me?”
At that question, Jayble grabbed the bridge of his nose and answered.
“I regret that, very, very much.”
“Do you?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t something I should’ve let go like that.”
“Good.”
Hyunseung added with a bright smile.
“I’ll sell it to you again. No, I’ll just give it to you.”
“Why are you doing this? You’re making me nervous.”
“Of course, I’m not just giving it to you.”
“Of course.”
Jayble, who had briefly held hope, showed obvious disappointment and shook his head.
“You’re going to ask me to do some little talent show at your fan meeting again?”
“No, I wouldn’t hand you that guitar for something that small.”
“Then what is it?”
“I’m going to establish a label soon.”
Then Jayble spread his palm and cut him off.
“Wait.”
Hyunseung brushed that palm aside and said bluntly,
“Why are you interrupting me when I’m talking?”
But Jayble continued in a firm, unyielding tone, scolding him.
“I know what you’re going to say, and you can’t do that.”
“What, exactly.”
“As your senior, I’m telling you—what you’re doing isn’t right.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Leaving the legal side aside, you shouldn’t do that even ethically.”
Hyunseung, who had been listening quietly, let out a soft sound of acknowledgement for a moment.
“You really jumped the gun.”
He added as he stood up.
“I was just saying I wanted my label and the O and M label to be on good terms and work together.”
Then, clicking his tongue like it was a shame, he picked up his coat.
“If it’s something that wrong, something you can’t do ethically, then it can’t be helped. I’ll be going.”
Feeling Jayble’s stunned gaze slowly following him, Hyunseung smiled leisurely.
“When you have time later, come by my label. I’ll let you play the guitar once.”
After finishing, Hyunseung turned and counted in his head.
One.
Two.
Three.
“W-Wait a second!”
At the same time, from behind him, he heard Jayble’s urgent voice trying to stop him. There it is.
“Do you want an iced Americano before you go?”
Hyunseung suddenly remembered the time Jayble had lured him with a guitar.
“I want it… I want it…!”
Back then, he had been so dazzled by the guitar that he drooled and said he wanted it.
Now the situation had reversed.
That guitar is in his hands.
And Jayble too….
Is in the palm of his hand.
He is clever and capable, and he also holds an inside director position at the O and M label, so there was no way he would refuse the proposal Hyunseung had laid out.
“For me, less ice, venti size.”
As Hyunseung said that, a victor’s smile floated on his lips.
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