T/N: Will post additional chapters this weekend.
Jung Arin remembered a day from a few days ago, when she had hidden in the recording booth because of a piece of underwear and ended up staying up all night without being able to move.
Back then, her knees had felt weak and her arms and legs felt like they were going to go numb…
Maybe that time was better.
“W-wait a second.”
Jung Arin begged, forcibly grabbing onto her legs that kept trembling.
“No.”
“Please…”
“Hurry. Again.”
“Mercy…”
Toward Hyunseung, who was keeping a hardline attitude from beyond the booth.
“Time’s passing.”
But Hyunseung deliberately showed her the time, making her anxious.
“At this rate, a whole day will pass.”
In the end, Jung Arin planted her feet on the ground again and straightened up immediately.
If she at least had a schedule, she could run away or buy some time, but she hated that it was the off season and she had no schedule.
From now on, she should promote harder.
─ When I saw you, I thought that.
Right now, all she had to do was sing hard.
─ I wished the world would just stop.
Please, just get past this part.
─ Even the passing time felt like a waste.
Putting that feeling into it, Jung Arin gathered every last ounce of strength she had and sang with everything she had.
Because the song was good, now that she had gotten to sing a song like this, she wanted to do it well.
She had watched the process of it being made on Face Talk before, but still.
‘I didn’t know it would be this good…’
It had started half as a joke, and she had wondered how you could possibly make a song out of abstract words people just tossed out, like “mongle mongle,” or “sparkle sparkle,” or “chwaaaak.”
Of course, she knew Hyunseung was a genius composer, but she had also thought it might just end as a simple happening.
Yeah, she did, but…
In the end, he had produced a result this perfect.
She had almost gotten branded a pervert thief who steals panties, but at this point it was like she had received a prize instead.
Though it was a prize that was way too harsh.
─ Can I come clos—
“Just that measure again.”
─ Can I come—
“What are you doing? Again.”
─ Can I—
“Catch your breath. Again.”
Jung Arin still couldn’t get past that cursed hurdle she kept stumbling on, and once again had to trudge in place.
Rubbing her tired, dry eyes, she looked at Hyunseung beyond the booth, and she remembered when they first started working together.
“Now, repeat after me.”
“Yes.”
“I am nothing but an ‘instrument.’”
Back then she had wondered what he was even saying.
“Does an instrument exist that can speak?”
“Pardon? No.”
“Then does an instrument have a personality?”
“No.”
“An instrument only makes sound the way the player intends, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
She had suspected it, but from watching him for a long time in her own way, he genuinely saw singers as “instruments.”
But she knew he was the best tuner and player, someone who knew exactly how to play that instrument at its best.
And that he was warmer and kinder than she expected.
Just like now.
He protected her from being humiliated in front of people as a “suspicious intruder” or “stalker fan,” and he gave her a song this beautiful, didn’t he?
Yeah, he really is an angel.
Just as Jung Arin forced herself to keep thinking positively—
“At this rate, the one day we agreed on will be over.”
Hyunseung yawned and checked the time.
“Should I just tell everyone to assemble at the studio right now?”
He lightly shook his phone, smiling mischievously.
Ah.
Take back what she said about him being an angel. For real.
Because everything from production to recording had been pushed through suddenly, Hyunseung didn’t return home until after staying up for two whole nights.
Jung Arin’s recording session took 26 hours, so the promised one day had passed.
But he decided to generously let about two hours slide.
The work ended faster than expected, and since he had slept deeply for the first time in a while and woken up, it felt like his mind was becoming sharp again.
In other words, his condition was at its best.
“Oppa, eat!”
The moment he finished showering with cool water to pull his energy up and came out, Hyuna dragged him to the dining table by the hand.
“What’s all this?”
“Oppa, you couldn’t come home for days, so I figured you were working without sleeping properly. I went all out!”
Just like Hyuna said, on the table there was bulgogi inari sushi with a sweet smell strong enough to stimulate his nose, and a clear egg soup.
Hyunseung took a spoonful of the egg soup and nodded.
Oh, it’s better than what you get at the cafeteria?
“But if you were going to go all out anyway, you should’ve gone even more all out. Didn’t you go kind of modest?”
Adding teasing that should never be missing from the table, he was about to scoop another spoonful of soup when—
“Min Hyunseung. Soup confiscated.”
Hyuna, whose resistance to his teasing was already solid, snatched the soup bowl away without mercy.
In the end, Hyunseung’s chopsticks just hovered in the air.
Is this what they call, not even leaving you the broth?
‘Tsk.’
Hyunseung smacked his lips in disappointment for a moment.
“Is the part-time job okay?”
He asked casually, toward Hyuna as she continued cleaning up.
“Yeah. I only do weekends.”
“But do you really have to?”
“Yeah. I really have to.”
At that, Hyunseung pulled out his wallet and asked again.
“Is the allowance I give you not enough?”
Hyuna looked at him like she was horrified and stopped him.
“No! Oppa, you give a college student a million won a month, what would be lacking? If anything, it’s too much, that’s the problem.”
“Then why are you doing a part-time job?”
“Anyway, when I get into the main course, I won’t be able to do part-time work because I’ll be studying. Then I’ll have to live off the allowance you give me, right?”
And she continued calmly.
“So while it’s relatively relaxed like this, I want to earn what I use myself and spend it. So don’t give me too hard a time.”
“Just study.”
“I’m studying just fine, so don’t worry.”
Even in his previous life, despite a terrible environment, Hyuna had been smart enough to get into medical school.
It was just that they hadn’t been well-off enough to nurture that intelligence to its full extent.
So in a comfortable environment like now, she was probably doing even better on her own.
“Hmm….”
Even knowing that, he couldn’t help worrying.
“Fine. But if anything gets hard, quit right away or tell me.”
Hyunseung stuffed the remaining inari sushi into his mouth in one bite. Anything more would definitely become nagging.
“I can take care of myself just as well as you can, so don’t worry too much.”
Hyuna finished with that and poked his puffed-out cheek as he chewed, smiling.
Yeah.
It’s not anyone else, it’s my little sister, so I don’t need to worry, right?
“Thanks for the meal.”
Hyunseung soaked the empty plate in the sink tub, then went back to his room, got dressed, and came out again.
“Oppa, why are you going to work in a suit? Isn’t that the suit Dad bought you?”
Hyuna asked with a puzzled look when she saw him.
Maybe it looked strange because he usually dressed casually every day, and now he was putting on a suit to go to work.
But that was how important today was to Hyunseung.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Hyunseung adjusted his collar for no reason and added in a fairly solemn tone.
“I have something important today.”
Hyuna tilted her head like she was curious.
Then she smiled brightly and gave him a thumbs-up.
“You look insanely cool.”
And so, a perfect day began from the morning.
Adjusting his collar, Hyunseung looked at a huge, thick door.
“I’m coming in.”
He said it quietly, then opened the door with both hands and stepped inside.
Step, step.
The dress shoes that his feet weren’t used to yet were fairly uncomfortable, but Hyunseung moved confidently as if hiding it.
“You came quickly.”
Jeon Nam-il spoke, a man in a suit who looked like he was from LS’s internal legal side reviewing documents beside him.
“Have a seat.”
Hyunseung took the seat across from the man who hurriedly gathered the papers.
“If I knew it would be like this, I should have accompanied you as well.”
And he said it in a way that was clearly meant for the CEO to hear.
It was blatantly sarcastic.
He had planned to leave the troublesome acquisition process to the law firm anyway, but….
He wanted to end the conversation between the two of them smoothly.
And besides.
It was also uncomfortable having his face exposed to others.
“If you’re uncomfortable, I’ll tell him to step out.”
The CEO, having caught his intent, said in a polite tone.
It was probably not something he truly meant.
Hyunseung slowly shook his head side to side and answered.
“How can I say I’m uncomfortable right in front of someone.”
Then he slowly turned his head toward the man and met his gaze.
“Just sit.”
It was a kind of warning.
Don’t butt into the conversation, and you’re not dealing with someone you can take lightly.
“You’re only going to add commentary if a problem occurs anyway, aren’t you?”
At that, the man who had been about to stand hesitated for a moment, then sat back down with a stiff face.
Soon Hyunseung turned his gaze back to the CEO and asked.
“If we were going to proceed the way I said, I don’t think you would have brought in legal counsel… what exactly do you dislike?”
“Everything else is fine. However, regarding the equity transfer and handover….”
“No.”
Before the CEO could even bring up his counterargument, Hyunseung cut him off and added.
“I can yield or accommodate you on other things, but that one thing, I can’t.”
It wasn’t that he particularly wanted the equity.
It was just…
Because he felt that if he backed down before even properly taking the first step, they would chew him up endlessly until nothing but bones remained.
“Min Hyunseung.”
At that moment, the man across from him called him in a flat tone.
“As I told you once before, I believe I explained that it’s essentially like a down payment.”
But Hyunseung kept his eyes fixed solely on the CEO as he continued.
“There’s also a reasonable justification, that I will provide the songs I created.”
No, he was pressing him.
“More than anything, I didn’t ask you to just give me LS equity, and I didn’t tell you to hand it over for a pittance either.”
So why?
Why are you choosing this?
“Ahem.”
The man cleared his throat again and rustled the papers, but Hyunseung spoke first.
“As it happens, a song came out too, and I was preparing to release it through LS Enter before my contract period ends…”
He even added acting, like he truly regretted it.
“It’s extremely unfortunate to hear this kind of talk the moment I step over the threshold of the CEO’s office.”
In the end, it was a warning: if they didn’t accept the equity matter— no, if they irritated him any further— then not only this song, but also future songs would not be given.
“That’s the first I’ve heard of that…”
The CEO, seemingly flustered, raised his eyebrows. For a brief moment, Hyunseung thought he might miss those eyebrows later.
Soon Hyunseung leaned his loosened body back against the sofa, unlike Jeon Namil, and spoke.
“It’s like a kind of final work.”
It was an attitude that someone might call arrogant enough to be reckless, but to Jeon Nam-il, it didn’t look arrogant.
“No. Before I leave LS Enter, maybe I should call it an inheritance I’ll leave behind for the people who remain?”
Because the results he had shown made his current attitude understandable.
“Hah…”
Jeon Namil let out a sound that could have been a hollow laugh or shock.
But Hyunseung continued, like a flood had burst.
“I have no intention of becoming enemies with LS Entertainment. I want to maintain a smooth and equal relationship.”
A warning, advice, and a threat.
“The equity is nothing more than a device to create that kind of relationship. So don’t make it too disappointing.”
This should be enough.
If they kept bothering him any further.
Then he would have no choice but to draw the sword he had sharpened and kept sheathed.
“…”
An indescribable silence spread through the room.
“…”
It was such a heavy stillness that no one could even properly swallow once.
Especially, the in-house legal counsel couldn’t even move his eyes properly, stiffly watching the CEO’s mood.
“Yes…”
At the CEO’s glance, the man immediately understood and held out a pen, a stamp, and an ink pad.
Rustle, rustle.
Hyunseung flipped through, signing and stamping here and there.
Rustle, rustle.
Then the documents passed into the man’s hands and then came back into Hyunseung’s hands again.
“Min Hyunseung… CEO, you’ll need to sign as well.”
“Yes.”
“We’ll keep one copy per company, one for LS and one for VINCIS.”
Hyunseung took out the stamp he had kept in his inside pocket.
Rustle, rustle.
As he flipped through the papers, sharp enough to cut his hand at any moment, he thought:
Finally.
The day had come to put a period on this long fight.
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