Lee Sol kept blinking her eyes until the song came to an end.
Unlike before, she couldn’t offer any reaction or exclamation.
Click.
The playback stopped automatically.
“Do you think you can do it?”
It wasn’t until Hyunseung turned his chair to face her directly.
Blink, blink.
She could only stand there with a dazed expression, blinking repeatedly.
“Ye-yes?”
Hyunseung frowned at her reaction and asked again.
“I asked if you have the confidence to feature on this track.”
Lee Sol and Han Seulgi looked at Sung Wooyoung with troubled faces.
However, Sung Wooyoung was in a similar state. He was merely staring back at Han Seulgi and Lee Sol with a face full of bewilderment.
“Why is everyone just walking on eggshells?”
Hyunseung asked sharply, looking back and forth between the three of them. Lee Sol inhaled sharply at his words.
She almost let out a hiccup.
Lee Sol clenched her slender fingers as if trying to suppress it.
It was because she didn’t want him to see her trembling fingertips.
‘Is he testing me?’
Lee Sol’s eyes darted along the floor tiles as she fell into thought.
In truth, the song Hyunseung played for them was…
‘Is this even a song a human can sing?’
Though she had never been to one, it was the kind of track one might hear in a club.
A track with an intense, fast beat that grabbed the ears—the kind commonly referred to as ‘EDM.’
The thing that made it slightly different was…
Every section and every interval had a completely different vibe.
Yes.
One moment, sounds like traditional Korean instruments could be heard.
Then suddenly, using lo-fi techniques, it threw a curveball that felt like listening to 90s West Coast hip-hop.
However, since the song was fundamentally dominated by intense beat sounds, she had no idea where or how she was supposed to sing.
It wasn’t that she disliked the song.
Despite being someone who didn’t usually listen to this genre, and having heard it only once, it was so addictive that it hummed softly in her ears.
Only…
No matter how much she thought about it, wasn’t this a song that suited mechanical sounds better than a human voice?
Or perhaps a voice processed with Auto-Tune…
Therefore, Lee Sol was confused about whether Hyunseung was being serious, or if he was testing whether her gratitude was genuine.
“Lee Sol, you tell me.”
However, looking at Hyunseung’s eyes, which were as cold as the middle of winter, it didn’t seem like a joke he was tossing out just to test her.
“I-I’ll do it.”
Lee Sol finally replied, squeezing her eyes shut.
“Not ‘I’ll do it.’ I asked if you’re confident.”
Hyunseung asked again, as if cornering her.
Lee Sol met Hyunseung’s gaze in midair.
This is a test.
“I-I am confident!”
Lee Sol was certain that Hyunseung was testing her right now. So, she answered even more firmly.
“That’s more like it.”
Hyunseung gave a faint smile, looking satisfied.
“Phew.”
Only then did Lee Sol exhale the breath she had been holding.
Just a little bit.
It was true she had harbored a tiny hope. Could I really start promoting again?
But more than anything, she wanted to repay him out of gratitude.
So…
Even if she wasn’t confident, she had to do it.
And she had to do it extremely well.
.
.
.
It was exactly five hours after she made that resolution.
“Heave, heave…”
Why was she so out of breath when her part wasn’t even that long? It felt like she had entered a hell with no exit.
“Ugh…”
Lee Sol forcibly suppressed the rising urge to gag, clutching her trembling legs as she straightened her upper body.
“Don’t push it. Swap with Han Seulgi.”
Hyunseung instructed Lee Sol through the talkback to stop being stubborn and come out, but…
“No.”
Lee Sol shook her head, her face pale.
“Do as you wish.”
Hyunseung didn’t particularly intend to stop Lee Sol any further.
Once recording started, he wasn’t the type to show warm mercy to an ‘instrument.’
“Uh, ugh…”
With an unidentifiable groan, Lee Sol stood before the microphone again.
In truth, a part of her had hoped Hyunseung would stop her one more time.
But what could she do?
She had decided to do well, and she had resolved to succeed.
Even if he hadn’t given her any time to practice and had kept her standing in the booth for five hours with only a single bottle of water.
Yes.
Even if he was obsessively demanding her to produce sounds with her raw voice that seemed like they could only be made by a machine, like some kind of pervert.
Despite all that, she had to do it.
“I told you to cut out the bending. Is that so hard?”
No matter how much he rebuked her.
“Can’t you even contract your throat muscles at will?”
Even if he demanded the impossible.
“I’m not asking you to make instrument sounds with your throat. More breath than now, and again.”
Even if it was constant repetition, over and over.
“Again, again!”
She would endure, and she would succeed.
Just then.
The sound of the talkback connecting crackled through the headset.
“I-I’ll try one more time.”
Lee Sol stood up straight again, reacting automatically like a private first class under strict discipline.
“Come out.”
“Yes?”
“I said come out.”
“Why…”
However, the answer she got was unexpected.
“I said come out because we’re done for now. How many times do I have to tell you?”
“I-I’m coming out.”
Fearing he might change his mind, Lee Sol scrambled out of the recording booth and took a deep breath.
Is this what it feels like to be released from prison?
The very quality of the air entering her nose felt different.
“Phew…”
Her joy in savoring the air was short-lived.
“Han Seulgi, get in.”
She turned her head away in pity as she saw her fellow member entering the booth like someone being dragged to a slaughterhouse.
She simply couldn’t watch.
Seulgi must have been exhausted from the long flight, but because Hyunseung told her not to sleep because her throat would tighten, she had been waiting for nearly six hours, sitting blankly. Not only that.
Fearing she might interfere with Hyunseung’s directing, she had even practiced standing in the hallway like someone being punished.
‘But, Seulgi…’
There’s nothing this unnie can do for you.
Lee Sol clasped her hands and prayed that her younger member would survive that prison… no, that hell.
After finishing his workout, Executive Director Park headed to Hyunseung’s studio for the first time in a while.
Thanks to doing lower body exercises for over an hour, his muscles were acting up as if they were about to tear through his skin, but…
“Ah, delicious.”
Executive Director Park looked highly satisfied, as if even that pain was a good thing.
“I wonder what the kid is up to?”
On top of that, he thought it wouldn’t be bad to have a second round of upper body exercises with Hyunseung if he wasn’t busy.
Now that the 4Way incident and the Baddy incident had both been more or less settled, wouldn’t it be good to work out in celebration?
Come to think of it.
When he was in Korea, he used to work out purely out of obligation.
Or else he would work out to relieve stress when his mind was complicated or things weren’t going well.
But since coming to America, he only had memories of working out leisurely because he was in a good mood or things were going smoothly.
Perhaps that was all thanks to that kid, Hyunseung.
Yes.
In a way, Hyunseung was acting as the massive pillar of VINCIS, handling everything.
Of course.
He didn’t handle the administrative work.
But fitting for a music production company, he created great songs and, through those songs, elevated his own value and the brand name of VINCIS.
As a result, in a short period, they were able to achieve an M&A with a world-class distributor like Unice Music Group.
Especially since the press conference, Hyunseung’s standing had been rising higher and higher.
It didn’t just mean he had more fans.
The public’s trust in the name ‘HS’ had grown.
He had gained trust not only in his music but also in himself as a person.
↳ It’s not just that he makes good songs. He came over from Korea, founded VINCIS, and even took over Unice Music Group, right?
Of course, the kid is very resourceful, just like me.
Should I tell him to change his name to Min Suwan? (Suwan means ‘resourcefulness’)
↳ Usually, people can’t even speak up when they’re being racially discriminated against, but it’s cool how he responds so confidently.
How dare they try to discriminate against Hyunseung? It won’t even work on him.
↳ That guy isn’t just handsome; he’s a true man who knows how to take care of his own people.
Yes, yes, our Hyunseung takes very good care of his people.
Of course.
He still lacks the muscle mass to be a true man.
“Tsk.”
Executive Director Park muttered while looking at his phone.
“I really should drag him along and make him work out.”
The moment he made that decision, he arrived in front of the studio.
Beep-beep-beep-click.
He unlocked the door and opened it.
— Thump, thump, thump!
The heavy air from inside rushed out, and at the same time, an ear-piercing beat exploded.
“What is this?”
Executive Director Park slowly looked around the recording studio.
Empty, crumpled water bottles were rolling around on the table.
‘Who are they…?’
Two unidentified women were sprawled out on the sofa, sleeping with their hair as blankets.
‘Wasn’t that kid in that kind of relationship with Sarah Stewart? Why two women…?’
Director Park looked around to find Hyunseung.
— Thump, thump, thump!
He soon spotted Hyunseung standing in front of a DJ booth in the corner of the studio, wearing a headset and spinning records in a trance.
At such an important time, when making another song to climb the Billboard charts wouldn’t even be enough, the kid was skipping his workouts to do that.
Anyway, it’s all because Kim Woohyun spoiled the kid too much.
‘That is…’
However, Director Park couldn’t bring himself to interrupt.
Partly because Hyunseung’s appearance, looking every bit like a DJ, was unfamiliar, and partly because he was so deeply immersed.
‘It’s been a while.’
Director Park felt like it had been a long time since he had seen Hyunseung like that. In the first place, he rarely saw him actually working.
To be ignoring the fact that his hair was soaked with sweat as if he’d just come out of the shower, and focusing all his nerves on the song…
Furthermore.
Because that work was DJing, it felt very fresh and unfamiliar.
Fanatical.
Yes, just as he was watching, mesmerized by that intensely fanatical appearance.
— Scccrrraaaatch.
The record scratch occurred, and the vibe changed to something similar to the songs he used to enjoy in his youth.
‘Is this…?’
Executive Director Park felt the rough, masculine romance of a gangster, which had been buried deep in his heart, starting to boil over.
Yes.
This was West Coast hip-hop, the kind he heard back in the 90s.
— If you can kill him, kill him
Soon, a female voice, youthful yet brimming with ambition, spat out a rap as if to tear the beat apart.
‘Just what kind of song is he making?’
Just as Executive Director Park was slowly moving toward the DJ booth as if possessed…
— Thump, thump, thump.
The song hit another curveball. Was it the sound of a drum? The sound of heavy drumming and a sophisticated beat intersected in a very fast, off-beat rhythm.
‘What is it, really?’
The female voice, pouring out ad-libs rapidly to the beat again, was indistinguishable as either human or machine.
“Hyu… Hyun…”
The moment Executive Director Park made his presence known to Hyunseung, unable to contain his curiosity.
“Oh?”
Hyunseung looked up and spotted Director Park.
Shh.
He gestured toward the women sprawled on the sofa and smiled silently, putting his index finger to his lips.
Nod, nod.
Director Park nodded as if possessed by the sight.
Soon, he raised a thumb toward Hyunseung.
Yes.
If it’s him, what does it matter if it’s this kind of song or that kind?
It’s going to be a hit anyway.
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