From the moment he started his commute, Joshua felt as if his tie was strangling him, and his steps were far from pleasant.
Step, step.
After he parked his car, Joshua headed toward the elevator and watched the numbers on the display change rapidly.
Just then, a chilly aura settled behind his back.
“You’re coming in quite early.”
At the same time, a voice that was anything but welcome reached his ears.
“Yes. Well, I’ve been busy with work.”
Joshua tilted his head slightly to confirm; standing there was CEO Min, the source of his current unpleasant mood.
“Even after reaching that position, you still work so hard. As CEO, I find it quite reassuring.”
Is he mocking me?
“I’m glad to hear that.”
CEO Min’s words seemed polite on the surface, but they were perfectly designed to get under Joshua’s skin.
“Shall we?”
The elevator arrived at just the right moment.
Step, step.
CEO Min boarded the elevator first.
Tsk, I have to look at that smug face again today.
He looked much younger, yet his natural air of looking down on others was deeply irritating.
It felt as though he was a man born for the destiny of being a CEO.
Beep.
CEO Min pressed the button for the top floor, where the CEO’s office was located, and leisurely clasped his hands behind his back.
“The position of CEO…”
Joshua watched CEO Min before cautiously speaking up.
“It’s quite high up, isn’t it?”
“It certainly is.”
CEO Min nodded slowly in agreement.
“It takes quite a bit of time just to go up.”
At that, Joshua let out a scoffing laugh and added in a sarcastic tone.
“Still, since you rose as quickly and easily as this elevator, shouldn’t you be quite pleased?”
Given the CEO Min he saw at the inauguration and meetings, he should have understood the subtext. In fact, the words were meant for him to understand.
“Hmm…”
As expected, CEO Min’s eyebrows twitched in dissatisfaction for a moment.
“If that’s how it looks to you, then I suppose it must be so.”
He slowly nodded his head again with a calm face.
“By the way, are you going to continue using the name HS? You are, after all, the CEO of the Unice Music Group.”
Joshua, whose irritation grew at that sight, spoke with blatant hostility.
However, contrary to his intent, CEO Min’s expression didn’t change one bit.
“Is that all?”
“What?”
“I’m asking if that’s the only thing you have to threaten me with.”
“Pardon? What do you mean by that?”
However, his voice had dropped to a chilling level.
Right, this is how you should react.
Joshua had expected him to be sensitive since he supposedly kept his identity strictly hidden…
It’s not like his identity is anything that grand.
Having keenly noticed the change in Hyunseung, Joshua continued with a feigned face of grievance.
“I was merely speaking from the company’s perspective. How could I ever dare to threaten the CEO…”
His words were cut short soon after.
“Mr. Joshua.”
CEO Min spoke with a flat voice and a face that showed not a hint of change.
“Does the fact that my identity isn’t known, or that you know my information, make you feel as if you’re holding a weapon?”
He looked down coldly and asked.
“That won’t happen, so why don’t you focus on your own work as I told you last time?”
Then, as if sparing him the effort, he immediately added.
“My upcoming solo album will be released under the name Min Hyunseung. I’m a bit nervous about it, so please keep an eye on it.”
At that moment, the elevator doors opened with a “ding.”
“Go on, get to work.”
Joshua’s face was stained with bewilderment.
“Well then…”
With a slight nod, Hyunseung stepped out of the elevator.
Meanwhile, once the elevator doors closed and he was left alone, Hyunseung stomped on the floor with his uncomfortable shoes that didn’t fit right.
Thump!
It was because he had blurted out something he didn’t even mean, just to put on a show of bravado.
“Why did I say that?”
Hyunseung instinctively reached up to ruffle his hair, but realizing it was fixed with wax, he let his hand drop.
“This is Min Hyunseung.”
He then reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and made a call.
“For this solo album, I’d like to change the name of the original creator…”
He called someone.
“Not HS, but Min Hyunseung.”
The call ended very quickly.
“Sigh…”
Regret washed over him like a wave, but since the words had already left his mouth, there was no taking them back.
Just like the CEO position he now occupied.
Right.
Because he had made his resolve once again.
“Still, since you rose as quickly and easily as this elevator, shouldn’t you be quite pleased?”
As Joshua had mockingly said, this wasn’t a position he had reached easily or quickly.
He had hit rock bottom, traveled back through time, and climbed this path with great difficulty.
He didn’t get here by taking a convenient and fast elevator with the simple press of a button.
He had been scratched by stones, left with scars, and tumbled down cliffs.
He had scaled rock walls and stubbornly made his way back.
However.
To have risen high meant that every direction was now a downhill slope. He would have to be even more cautious.
Because this life had to be different.
Ding!
At that moment, the elevator doors opened, and the massive doors of the CEO’s office were waiting for him.
In the blink of an eye, the release date for Hyunseung’s solo album approached.
“No. I mean, what sudden change of heart made you decide to release it under Min Hyunseung? You’ve been hiding it all this time.”
For that reason, Hyunseung visited the VINCIS office on his way home from work. In truth, rather than visiting, he had been dragged there by Kim Woo-hyun’s incessant nagging.
Something about not being able to miss the release date?
Above all, Kim Woo-hyun seemed extremely shocked by the news that Hyunseung would be active under his real name. Or was he pouting?
“Now that I’m perched on the top floor of Unice, I can’t keep it hidden forever anyway.”
“Then why did you keep it so tightly under wraps like some precious treasure until now?”
“Even if my name gets out, I’m someone who doesn’t have a single friend anyway, so it’s fine. It means my private life is very clean.”
“It’s a bit hurtful when you put it like that.”
A bashful Kim Woohyun scratched the back of his head and awkwardly shifted his gaze to the tablet screen.
“Anyway, since you’re here, shall we do some monitoring together?”
“Do we really need to go as far as monitoring?”
“I haven’t even seen your face since you went to Unice and started adjusting. I should at least use this as an excuse to see you.”
At Kim Woohyun’s words, Hyunseung hesitated for a moment as if feeling sheepish.
“So, how’s the reaction?”
He loosened his tie and leaned back on the sofa.
“For now, well…”
Kim Woohyun trailed off. Judging by his reaction, it didn’t seem to be an explosive success.
Well.
Unless it was under the name HS, this might be a natural result.
It wasn’t extensively promoted, his identity hadn’t been revealed, and above all, it wasn’t a mainstream genre.
It stung, but he had to admit it.
High-End Fusion EDM was still too far ahead for the general public to embrace.
“Hyunseung.”
Kim Woo-hyun watched Hyunseung’s face gradually darken and called out softly.
“You know that saying you like.”
“Me? You mean, ‘Are you scared?’”
“Not that, you elementary schooler.”
He pressed his hand to his forehead as if he couldn’t help it.
“An awl in a pouch.”
He met Hyunseung’s eyes warmly and added.
“This song will surely become widely known to the world. It has to, right? Because you’re the one who made it.”
This kind of atmosphere was quite cringeworthy.
“You rascal!”
Just then, the office door burst open, and Executive Director Park stormed in, radiating heat.
“You ignored all my calls…!”
Then, as if he had just finished working out, he showed off his pumped-up arm muscles and hoisted Hyunseung up.
“Ah, put me down this instant.”
Hyunseung struggled in disgust, but Director Park kept his legs planted firmly on the floor and continued.
“No matter what work I do, I’ve told you so many times that physical strength must back you up. How do you expect to survive with a body that’s lost all its muscle?”
On the surface, it sounded like nagging to work out.
But because Hyunseung knew the meaning behind it, he couldn’t truly get angry.
Though he didn’t say it, he must know that Hyunseung was going through quite an ordeal at Unice.
So he was telling him to temper his body.
“Mental strength comes from physical strength. As someone who has survived this industry on physical strength alone, I guarantee it.”
Since it was something Director Park had always said, Hyunseung understood.
Fierce corporate politics.
It was a message of support to survive within them.
“Ah, seriously, Dad, you smell like sweat. Put me down quickly.”
But he couldn’t stand the smell of sweat.
“I’ll put you down if you promise to come work out three times a week.”
“How can I come three times a week?”
“It’s all a matter of will. You can do it if you want to.”
Hyunseung decided he needed to get off this ride before he got motion sickness.
“Alright, I get it, I get it.”
“Good, that’s more like it.”
Having secured the promise, Executive Director Park finally set Hyunseung down with a satisfied smile.
Just what kind of body does he have that it keeps getting bigger?
Hyunseung looked at Director Park’s physique as if looking at a weapon.
“What about Elder Lee Duseok? He contacted me today…”
He casually asked the two of them.
“Look at the time. The elder went home a long time ago.”
At that, Executive Director Park immediately asked back, saying he had wanted to ask anyway.
“By the way, how did you manage to win over Elder Lee Duseok? Even when the former CEO begged and pleaded for him to return, it didn’t work.”
“Have you forgotten how I won over the Director and the Board Member?”
Hyunseung asked with a relaxed smile.
“Competitiveness?”
“Rudeness?”
The two answered simultaneously as if there was no need to think about it.
“……”
Hyunseung went silent and lowered his head for a moment.
“Skill.”
He slowly raised his head and gave a playful smile.
“I won him over with skill.”
The two looked at Hyunseung’s face, then chuckled and agreed that it was true.
“Then we don’t have to worry about this album either.”
Director Park gave a hearty laugh and patted Hyunseung on the back.
“Yes, of course.”
Hyunseung nodded confidently at those words.
“If people don’t know there’s an awl in the pouch yet, I just have to make them put their hand in the pouch.”
He pulled out the phone from his pocket and shook it.
“Of course, it would be a bit unseemly if I did it myself, so I’ll do it through someone else’s mouth.”
A text message from Lee Doo-seok was displayed on the screen.
[ If. people. don’t. yet. know. there. is. an. awl. in. my. pouch. shouldn’t. we. just. make. some. holes? ,,,ㅇㅂㅇ;; ]
He still hadn’t been able to ask about the identity of the emoticons.
Notes:
- “An awl in a pouch” is an idiom meaning that exceptional ability cannot remain hidden forever, just as a sharp awl will eventually pierce through its pouch. The later references to putting a hand inside the pouch and making holes are deliberate wordplay based on that idiom.
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