Hyunseung began tidying up to officially vacate the CEO’s office.
Tap, tap, tap-tap-tap.
However.
Tap, tap, tap-tap-tap.
Executive Director Park and Director Kim, who had come to the office claiming they would help him pack, had been glued to their phones for a while now, seemingly busy snickering to themselves.
“If you’re just going to stay on your phones, would you mind leaving?”
It looked quite suspicious that both of them were on their phones at the same time, but Hyunseung didn’t bother to pry.
Whatever it was, they were probably just sharing some trivial jokes. It was more efficient to finish packing quickly than to waste time interrogating them.
“No, no.”
The two of them put down their phones and helped move Hyunseung’s belongings into boxes.
But before long, they were back on their phones, giggling again.
‘What on earth is wrong with them?’
Hyunseung scanned them strangely. They had the faces of people plotting some ridiculous scheme…
At this point, he was getting curious.
Just what kind of plot were the two of them hatching while leaving him out of the loop?
“Ahem.”
Hyunseung cleared his throat pointedly to catch their attention.
“There’s a lot of dust.”
The first to react was Kim Woohyun.
Soon, Kim Woohyun opened the largest window in the office and gave an awkward smile.
‘That makes it even more suspicious.’
Hyunseung stared fixedly at Kim Woohyun, who was doing his best to avoid his gaze, but he didn’t ask.
He simply couldn’t.
He couldn’t bring himself to ask what kind of secret meeting they were having without him.
A man has his pride. He wouldn’t say it even if his mouth were being torn open.
Meanwhile, Kim Woohyun, who had been dusting while keeping an eye on Hyunseung, slipped his phone out once more.
Tap, tap, tap-tap-tap.
He continuously tapped on the chat window, stifling the laughter that threatened to leak out.
In that chat room were Kim Woohyun, Executive Director Park, Sarah Stewart, and even Hyunseung’s sister, Hyuna.
Yes.
Everyone except Hyunseung.
.
.
[ Sarah has invited Villaindaddy and 4 others. ]
Was it last night? Sarah had suddenly opened a chat room.
Huh? Sarah unnie?
Is this a voice phishing scam?
Why isn’t Hyunseung invited?
Everyone was momentarily flustered by the summons from Sarah, with whom they didn’t usually keep in touch.
-I am planning to choose an inauguration gift for Min Hyunseung.
-I am in a situation where I need your help.
A burst of laughter broke out at Sarah’s Kakao message, which arrived ten minutes after the invitation.
It was funny enough that she had mobilized all these people just to pick out a gift.
-What does he like?
-I do not know at all.
Her way of speaking, which clearly looked like it had been run through a translator, triggered more laughter.
She was likely being considerate since everyone else besides her was Korean.
Come to think of it.
She might not be such a bad match for Hyunseung, right?
-Didn’t our ‘Golden Child’ say he wanted a teddy bear last time?
Kim Woohyun, suddenly feeling mischievous, blurted out whatever came to mind.
-That’s right. He sleeps hugging a worn-out teddy bear every night at home, too.
-Oppa is more into cute things than you’d think. Besides teddy bears, he also likes Barbie doll collections.
Hyuna chimed in with perfect timing, even taking it a step further.
-A man sleeps hugging things like that?
-That fellow, how old is he exactly…
Of course, Executive Director Park was the only one taking the joke seriously.
-Is this the truth? Does he like cute dolls? Is his taste in women also cute?
I don’t know why she’s even asking about his taste in women.
After that, Kim Woohyun and Hyuna worked in tandem to list everything Hyunseung would likely hate the most.
Ah.
To be precise, it was for the sake of teasing Hyunseung later.
Yes.
To see Hyunseung flustered when he received the gifts Sarah prepared.
-That Hyunseung guy, didn’t he whine about wanting a diamond ring the other day?
-I believe it was a ring with a ruby.
-Ah, right. A ruby.
Eventually, even Executive Director Park caught on and joined in.
And so, an absurd gift list was being completed.
Time passed quickly, and finally, Hyunseung’s inauguration party was held.
Of course.
Hyunseung had earnestly requested, “Please, anything but a party.”
“Is there not a saying, ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’? Since you have come to Unice Music Group, please follow our traditions.”
Because Austin had flatly refused, the inauguration party was held on the grandest scale since the company’s founding.
First, a formal inauguration for the press took place, and then everyone moved to the banquet hall.
Clink.
Hyunseung raised a champagne glass that felt out of place, clinked it against Austin’s, and surveyed his surroundings.
Austin probably intended to have him make an impression on the remaining people before he fully stepped down.
However, while people were gathered in small groups at other tables, clinking glasses.
Clink, clink.
No one approached Hyunseung first.
Everyone was smiling as if they were enjoying the party, but they were eyeing Hyunseung warily from the corners of their eyes.
It was understandable.
Here was a composer who had received unbelievable preferential treatment from Unice Music Group.
And yet, he was an ungrateful bastard who took Unice’s artists and started his own label.
Above all, he was a brat who lacked business experience and was far too young.
That was how they likely saw him.
They had surely only voted in favor because they couldn’t withstand Austin’s pressure.
There was probably no one who fully accepted him as the CEO yet.
And above all, it was all true.
Unice…no.
To be precise, it was true he had been receiving special treatment from Austin, and he had indeed set up a label in America with Vincent.
Since Unice Music Group wasn’t just a distributor but also produced actual records, VINCIS was no different from a competitor.
It must have felt like quite a threatening competitor.
But when the CEO of that competing company suddenly came to sit on top of their heads, there was no way they would like it.
In terms of age and experience, they likely thought an amateur who was lacking in many ways had simply been born under a lucky star.
However, Hyunseung thought that since things had turned out this way, he would show them properly.
Yes.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t do it; it was just that he hadn’t done it yet.
In his previous life, the number of people he had met while climbing higher and higher would be more than enough to fill a truck.
Those meetings hadn’t been entirely useless.
Returning to the past, they had helped him in ways he didn’t even realize.
And they had brought him to this position.
Although the position of CEO of Unice Music Group hadn’t been his goal, it was an ideal spot to have the power to take care of his people.
So… he had to do it right.
Grip.
Just as Hyunseung’s hand tightened around his glass.
“It is a pleasure to meet you for the first time, CEO.”
A man who looked relatively young for the setting approached and offered a polite greeting. Of all times, he had to come while Austin had briefly stepped away.
“Yes, and you are?”
Hyunseung asked for his identity, thinking things had just become troublesome.
Since the man was related to him anyway, he must have approached to say hello, so it wouldn’t hurt to know who he was.
“My name is Joshua. I am the General Director and a board member. It is an honor to serve under the renowned composer HS as our CEO.”
Just as Hyunseung was about to grab the hand he held out.
“Joshua?”
He dwelled on the name.
“Did you perhaps already know about me?”
At that question, Hyunseung’s eyebrows twitched. Of course he knew.
‘I almost didn’t recognize him.’
Compared to the time he knew him in his past life, the man was only about seven years younger.
Because his face was so different, he might not have recognized him if he hadn’t listened closely to the introduction.
Seeing as he still looked fresh…
It must be before he started touching drugs.
Of course.
Joshua probably asked that with a boastful intent, meaning, ‘Did you already know of my reputation?’…
But Hyunseung knew his other reputation very well.
“You don’t happen to be unable to speak English, do you?”
Joshua, assuming the lost-in-thought Hyunseung didn’t understand him, asked again.
“I have heard much about your reputation as a talented director. It is an honor for me to meet you as well.”
Hyunseung adjusted his expression toward Joshua, showed off his fluent English, and shook his hand.
Then, as if by agreement, the grip between their joined hands gradually tightened.
“Since they say your composing skills are so incredible, could I perhaps learn a thing or two from you later?”
Joshua asked with a perfectly smooth face.
‘It must be quite painful, so he’s been a good actor since back then?’
“Composing isn’t something that can be done just by learning. It would be better to focus on improving what you’re already good at. In many ways.”
Hyunseung replied, curling the corners of his mouth to match Joshua.
The tone was gentle, but the words were laced with mockery.
“Haha, are you trying to break me in as soon as you arrive?”
Joshua laughed off the remark, but he wasn’t a fool who didn’t understand the meaning.
If this man standing before him was indeed the man he knew from his past life.
“Still, to ruthlessly crush a precious employee’s dream like that, you are too much.”
Seeing the gaze hidden behind the smiling face containing a hideous gloominess…
Yes, it was him.
“I’m the type who believes it’s better to nip a bad bud in the bud immediately.”
Hyunseung retorted coldly.
At that, Joshua’s expression stiffened for a moment.
“Shall we toast?”
He raised his glass again with a friendly smile.
Clink.
Hyunseung clinked against Joshua’s glass half-heartedly and drained the rest of his champagne in one gulp.
“You must have been very thirsty.”
It was because of Joshua, who kept scratching at his nerves with that smiling face in front of him.
‘Truly, a bad bud must be cut off before it rots everything.’
Hyunseung resolved that if he were to rise as CEO, he would have to deal with Joshua first.
‘Right, this guy…’
Just as Hyunseung was about to recall his past history with Joshua.
“Since we’ve toasted, we should try to get along, right?”
Joshua, who refused to leave despite the obvious discomfort, flashed a shameless grin.
“Unice is already in an uproar over welcoming a new CEO, so please, I ask that you don’t cause any incidents or accidents over trivial matters like before.”
Wait, was he being shameless, or was he trying to give advice?
“Trivial matters…”
What Joshua was referring to was likely the recent exposure of Baddy that had caused his downfall.
In other words…
Don’t cause trouble over ‘trivial’ things like racial discrimination, and just quietly keep your seat.
“Since you seem to know a lot about me, do you happen to know my nickname as well?”
Hyunseung asked as he slowly refilled his champagne glass.
“I wouldn’t know that much.”
“Geumjjoki.”
“Pardon?”
“My nickname is ‘Geumjjoki’ (Golden Child). In Korea, we call kids who cause trouble ‘Geumjjoki.’”
Joshua stared at Hyunseung strangely before adjusting his expression again, answering as if trying to cater to him.
“In a way, it’s a nickname that suits your youthful face well.”
“But no one can stop a Geumjjoki. No one except Dr. Oh Eunyoung.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“If you want to stop me, then bring Dr. Oh Eunyoung. But that doctor is very busy, so she’ll probably be harder to recruit than I was.”
At the increasingly incomprehensible words, Joshua lost his pace, and his face twisted awkwardly like a crack in a muscle cell.
However…
Perhaps because there were many eyes on them, he quickly regained his smiling mask.
“The new CEO is more humorous than the former. Is it because you’re young? Give me another glass as well.”
He countered with a bright smile and held out his glass.
For an instant, Joshua’s face from his past life overlapped with the face before him, making him feel nauseous.
‘I can’t stand to look at him anymore.’
Hyunseung pointedly filled only his own glass, drained it in one gulp, and added curtly.
“I think everything that needed to be said has been said, so please go bark somewhere else.”
“Excuse me? What did you just say?”
“If I keep stopping to pay attention every time a dog barks, I won’t be able to go the way I want to go, will I?”
At those words, Joshua’s face turned a mottled shade of crimson.
My Golden Kids (요즘 육아 금쪽같은 내 새끼) is a Korean parenting reality program in which families seek help for children experiencing behavioral, emotional, or communication difficulties. Child psychiatrist Dr. Oh Eun-young observes the family’s daily life, explains the possible causes of the child’s behavior, and gives the parents practical, personalized strategies to improve their relationship and home environment.
Viral episode from that show. Trigger warning.
Leave a Reply