Killian slowly committed the sight of Hyunseung walking ahead of him to memory.
His hair looked neat, yet stray tufts poked out here and there.
He seemed slim, yet the firm contours of his physique were clearly visible beneath his well-tailored suit.
And his shoes, which shone so brightly that not a speck of dust could settle on them, had creases in the heels as if he had been treading on them.
He’s a hard one to figure out.
Austin, the previous CEO, was a man so meticulous that not a single flaw could be found in his appearance.
Every crease, every strand of hair.
He was the type of person who looked like he would never tolerate anything out of place.
He was a man who suited the position of CEO better than anyone.
However, the new CEO seemed somewhat clumsy. No, to be more precise, he seemed free.
Of course.
Judging by his performance in the meeting, he didn’t seem to be a purely carefree person.
“Why don’t you focus on your duties as an internal director? Don’t do anything that tarnishes Unice Music Group’s reputation.”
Killian recalled Hyunseung’s face as he sharply cornered Joshua in the meeting earlier and felt a chill run down his arms, which he subconsciously rubbed.
That was brutal, truly.
Joshua had hosted the meeting, but it was a meeting in name only. His intention to establish dominance was blatant.
And yet, despite only being given information that the distribution release couldn’t be blocked until the end due to regulations…
It was as if he had done his research beforehand.
Hyunseung picked out exactly the kind of things that would provoke a reaction from Joshua, as if he had known him for a long time.
Yes.
Like someone facing a mortal enemy.
I like that he’s not just some soft, young kid.
Killian followed behind Hyunseung for a while.
I’m curious.
He suddenly realized that the reason he was currently following Hyunseung was ‘curiosity.’
And for good reason.
As someone who had worked as an engineer for a long time, he felt that listening to a song allowed him to grasp the personality of the person who made it to some extent.
However, the songs he made were different. Far from grasping his personality, it was a struggle just to follow the track. But was it unpleasant to listen to?
Not at all.
The song, which seemed like it could bounce off in any direction, eventually harmonized to reveal a clean silhouette.
Yes.
This man was the embodiment of all those things.
“Why do you keep following me?”
Hyunseung, who had stopped walking, turned his head slightly and asked.
“Because I’m very curious.”
“About what?”
“About what kind of person the CEO is.”
At the reply, Hyunseung frowned and hurried his pace once more.
Step, step.
Killian continued to pursue him.
No.
He walked behind him.
“Wait for me.”
For the first time, Killian thought that if it were this person, it might be alright to follow behind him.
Sarah Stewart was shifting her weight restlessly, looking much like a puppy with separation anxiety.
The news of the new CEO of Unice Music Group…
In other words, yhe news that Hyunseung had arrived for his first day of work spread through the building and soon reached Sarah’s ears.
As soon as Sarah heard the news, she wanted to run to him.
However, she couldn’t bring herself to move easily and had been hesitating the entire time.
Should I go? Should I not? Go? Don’t go?
Sarah felt like she wanted to pluck petals off a flower to decide. Though, the conclusion was likely already set.
Knock, knock.
A knock was heard.
“Sarah.”
The person who visited the studio was Andrew.
“You contacted me this morning, right?”
He had come by after checking Sarah’s message late.
“I heard Min Hyunseung had his first day today?”
“Not Min Hyunseung, he’s the CEO now.”
Andrew firmly reminded her.
“I know you two are close, but you must use his title in front of others.”
“I get it. Anyway, is it true he came to work?”
“You could just ask him yourself.”
“How can a mere employee ask the CEO directly?”
Andrew let out a hollow laugh at Sarah’s shameless retort. Her excuse was incredibly lazy.
“Did you two have a lovers’ quarrel or something?”
“Me? With him? Oh, no way!”
“Huh? Looking at your reaction, I’m right. Definitely.”
Sarah huffed and denied it, her face turning bright red in an instant.
But as the saying goes, the stronger the denial, the more it sounds like an admission.
That jerk…
The truth was, she couldn’t contact him because she was embarrassed.
It was childish, but she had even gifted him a teddy bear that shouted ‘I love you,’ yet there had been no word from him since.
No!
He gives her grain powder shakes just when she’s about to forget him, and lets her sing his songs just when she’s about to feel hurt.
After shaking a person up like that, he goes and….
Is he a playboy?
Just as Sarah was huffing and kicking the floor for no reason.
“But, it’s probably better if you don’t go see him right now.”
Andrew added with a somewhat serious face.
“It’s not exactly the right timing for a dramatic reconciliation.”
“Why not?”
“Seeing as you’re asking, you guys definitely fought, didn’t you?”
Of course, he quickly teased her again with a mischievous smile.
“I said we didn’t!”
After a brief moment of Andrew calming the screaming Sarah.
“Anyway, he’s probably not in a very pleasant mood right now.”
He added, the smile disappearing from his face again.
“Did something happen?”
“A lot happened.”
“What exactly happened?”
Andrew fell into a dilemma about whether to answer Sarah’s prying questions.
If he told her….
Knowing Sarah’s personality, she certainly wouldn’t stay still.
“Ask him yourself later.”
Andrew chose to keep his mouth shut. There are cases where speaking causes problems, but rarely does keeping quiet cause issues.
That was one of the secrets of how Andrew had survived in this place.
“If you don’t tell me, I’m going to barge into the CEO’s office right now and ask.”
“Sarah, the situation right now is a bit….”
“So, tell me. If you do, I’ll wait quietly. I promise.”
Who could stop this stubbornness?
“Sigh….”
Andrew sighed, holding his forehead as if he couldn’t help it.
“An emergency meeting was held this morning.”
He checked his surroundings once and added.
“And it wasn’t hosted by the CEO, but by another director who gathered the executives.”
“And?”
“I suppose the old guard banded together to try and break the spirit of the newcomer.”
“Are they all idiots? Does he look like someone who would be intimidated by anyone?”
Sure enough, upon hearing that, Sarah questioned him as if she were about to run out that instant.
“That’s true too, but they probably wanted to see if he was a CEO who would maintain a friendly relationship with them.”
She then muttered “Friendly?” to herself and scoffed as if it were absurd.
“Are their eyes just for decoration? Does he look like someone who lives his life forming friendly relationships with others?”
She let out a series of mocking laughs, sounding utterly flabbergasted.
Wait.
At this point, wasn’t she subtly insulting Hyunseung?
“Sarah, I thought you liked CEO Min?”
“L-like him? Who! I just like his songs!”
At this stage, Andrew began to have reasonable suspicions that Sarah might truly love Hyunseung’s songs more than the man himself.
“Anyway!”
Sarah jumped out of her seat and asked.
“To sum it up, a bunch of old geezers banded together to bully our boy, right?”
Wait, so she does like him?
Our boy….
Andrew’s eyebrows twitched in surprise at Sarah’s choice of words.
“That’s not it.”
He dismissed it firmly.
Yes.
He was definitely not the one who got bullied.
“Judging by the expressions on their faces when they came out, it looked like they were the ones who got done in.”
Andrew had been instructed by Austin to look after Hyunseung well, so upon hearing that a clearly malicious emergency meeting had been called, he had canceled all his appointments to wait in front of the conference room.
Creak.
He couldn’t forget the expressions of the executives as they left the room.
It seemed like…
Yes. Their faces were stained with something like humiliation.
Or they looked shocked and terrified.
“Well, I knew it!”
Sarah swept her hand over her chest in relief and then started boasting loudly.
“He’s definitely not the type to just sit there and take it!”
A moment later.
“But why can’t I go? Didn’t he win?”
She asked, tilting her head in confusion.
“Sarah, this isn’t a matter of winning or losing.”
“Huh?”
“In the end, the CEO made enemies of the entire board on his very first day.”
“He usually makes enemies with everyone anyway, so he’ll be fine.”
“But as the CEO, he can’t just keep doing that. And he’s not the type of person who wouldn’t know that.”
Andrew added with a heavy, troubled groan.
“Even if he seized victory in the battle for dominance and got to release the track as he intended, he’s essentially lost his own people. He’s sacrificed an arm for it.”
Sarah, who had been listening quietly, suddenly frowned and said, “Wait a minute….”
“Those people, they held a meeting to block Hyunseung’s release?”
She asked, her eyes widening fiercely.
“That might have been the excuse to call him out, but they probably wanted to block it if they could. The genre of the song being released this time is a bit….”
Just as Andrew was cautiously continuing while gauging her reaction.
“What about the genre!”
Sarah shouted, cutting Andrew off ruthlessly as if she didn’t want to hear another word.
“What’s wrong with High-end Fusion EDM!”
Andrew blinked slowly. H-high-end Fusion EDM? What on earth is that genre?
It was an utterly incomprehensible genre to him.
“The nerve of those people who know nothing about music, sitting at their desks and just flapping their gums.”
Sarah continued to curse them while defending Hyunseung, her anger still not dissipated.
Ah….
Should he say this or not?
“Sarah.”
Andrew decided it would be better to speak now to prevent a larger incident later.
“The person who pointed that out was Joshua.”
“What…?”
Yes, if she found out later that the person she usually followed was the one who spearheaded the opposition to Hyunseung’s release, the shock would be even greater.
Joshua, having returned from the meeting, hadn’t eaten a single bite of bread even though lunchtime had long passed.
He felt that if he put food into a stomach stained with humiliation, it would just surge right back up.
“Judging by how you say my song doesn’t even sound like music, it seems you have absolutely no talent for composing.”
Those words kept digging deep into his brain.
“That son of a bitch….”
Joshua ground his teeth, clutching his chest which felt like it was about to explode.
How dare he judge whether I have talent or not?
Right then, from beyond the office door, a knock was heard.
“It’s Sarah.”
He heard a familiar voice.
Wait a second…
Wasn’t Sarah close with that fellow? Even so, surely not as close as I am, having directed her since her debut and shared the same roof for so long.
Yes.
I should coax Sarah into revealing his weaknesses.
Creak.
Joshua threw the door open with a bright face, as if he had never been scowling.
“Sarah!”
The moment he greeted her warmly, something flew from Sarah’s hand, slammed into the office wall, and fell, making a loud noise.
Thwack!
“S-Sarah?”
Turning his head, he saw the expensive fountain pen he had bought for her lying on the floor. He had bought it for her because she said she composed by drawing scores manually….
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Joshua asked, rebuking her.
“I’m asking you, for the sake of Unice, don’t do anything and just watch.”
“What? Watch what?”
“Watch what kind of massive trouble the new CEO causes and how he transforms Unice.”
Sarah took a step closer to Joshua and whispered lowly into his ear.
“Keep your mouth shut and just watch.”
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