Chapter 183

“It’s the first time I’m seeing something like this too . Wow… . ”

Min JinSeo exclaimed in a quiet voice while sitting by the window .

The magnificent night view seemed to light her heart as well .

KangYoon approached her and asked .

“Do you want a drink?”

“Hm . Why don’t we enjoy the mood? How about wine?”

“Wine? That’s somewhat strange . ”

The situation was heading in a weird direction, but KangYoon still picked up the phone and called for room service .

Not long later, room service came up and set up the wine on the table .

KangYoon opened the wine and poured her a glass and Min JinSeo closed her eyes and appreciated the fragrant wine…

“Ugh, it’s so bitter…!”

…Or not . Her tastebuds were still too childish to enjoy the depth of the wine .

To her, wine was no different from soju . She even felt that her colleagues’ praises about how wine was the king of alcoholic drinks, were all lies .

KangYoon burst out in laughter after seeing her frown .

“Hahahaha . ”

“…Sir, don’t laugh . ”

“Sorry, sorry . Hahaha . ”

The twist from the ‘perfect’ image gave him a great laugh .

KangYoon barely stopped laughing and spoke .

“You still have childish tastes . ”

“What do you mean, childish tastes? I’m not a kid anymore!”

“Hahaha, I mean you like spicy, salty, and sweet things . ”

The term childish tastes weren’t used a lot at this time . It was no wonder Min JinSeo, who didn’t want to look like a kid in front of KangYoon, became a little grumpy .

KangYoon picked up a piece of fruit with a fork and spoke .

“There, there . JinSeo . Say Ah . ”

“Oh no, sheesh . sir…”

Even while becoming embarrassed, Min JinSeo opened her mouth and ate the fruit that KangYoon gave her .

‘Ugh, so embarrassing…’

Then, she wrapped her hands around her face to cover her embarrassment .

‘How cute . ’

KangYoon couldn’t hide his smile .

Unlike his nervousness from when she first came in, the mood was a lot lighter right now . Thanks to that, he could calm himself down somewhat .

Leaving aside the bitter wine, the two started enjoying the fruits and started conversing .

Min JinSeo looked at KangYoon with gleaming eyes .

“What made you decide to become a producer, sir?”

KangYoon was a little flustered due to the sudden question .

Despite that, Min JinSeo urged him on with her eyes .

“Was it perhaps… a sensitive topic? Perhaps you can’t tell me about it?”

“It’s not like that…”

“…I told you a lot about myself, but I don’t really know anything about you . This is unfair . I want to know too . ”

She completely left out the part about what she heard in Jejudo .

KangYoon smiled awkwardly . Thinking back, he hadn’t told many people about his past .

Looking at her, it didn’t seem like she would pass this opportunity no matter what .

‘Well, I guess it doesn’t matter . ’

It wasn’t like Min JinSeo was a stranger .

KangYoon sighed a little and started telling his story .

“It’s the first time I’m talking about this… It’s somewhat embarrassing now that I have to talk about it”

“Am I the first? Wow, this is an honor . ”

“Yeah . In this industry, some distance is needed to survive .

“That’s… unsettling . You can’t have complete faith in anyone . ”

Sympathizing with what KangYoon said, Min JinSeo smiled bitterly .

KangYoon sipped the wine as though he had remembered some bitter memories .

“When I was a manager, the concept of an ‘entertainment company’ was just taking root . Actually, I became a manager because I heard from someone else that it would earn me a lot of money . I heard that I would earn a lot of money after I get promoted or start my own business even if it didn’t earn me that much money at the start .

“Ohh…”

“Back then, I met my first star . Let’s call her A . A was a rookie that just had her debut . Usually, companies don’t put two rookies together, but the company wasn’t in a good situation . That was why such an incident happened . Anyway, after that, I took on all sorts of jobs as a manager and ventured through the entertainment industry along with A . ”

“Then what happened?”

“To sum it up, A became big . The problem came after that . ”

“A problem?”

“It was just when A’s name was being spread far and wide . Her songs became known, and events started streaming in . Back then, the company had a lot of debt, but it just happened that the due date for the debt was approaching very shortly . In the end, they had no choice but to transfer the rights of A to another company to earn money . Without her agreement . ”

“What!?”

Min JinSeo’s eyes widened .

A company that transfers the rights to a celebrity without her own agreement? This was nonsense . She found it absurd .

“Couldn’t she just sue them for that? Such a contract is nullified after all . ”

“You’re right . If it was now, then she wouldn’t have to upkeep such a contract . There are precedents now that say that such a contract cannot exist . However, back then, there was no precedent, and there was no systemized structure for the transference of rights . In the end, it would become an arduous legal fight . You know, it’s nonsensical for A to get caught up in legal matters when she was just rising to be a star . It would be better off to show up on TV more frequently if she had the time . ”

“Haaa…”

Min JinSeo was flabbergasted .

She knew that the treatment of celebrities was bad even until just a few years ago . However, she did not imagine that such a thing had taken place .

KangYoon calmly continued .

“Back then, I couldn’t do anything . I tried begging the presidents of both companies, but they only told me that a kid should stay out of it . I looked into legal measures… but A, who had no time to spend with legal matters ended up going to that company against her will . ”

“What happened after that?”

“She was doing well at first . But it only lasted a short while . In the first place, her new company was infamous for spending celebrities as short-term stars . After her contract, A left the entertainment industry, never to be seen again . ”

“…… . ”

Min JinSeo became silent .

She had heard episodes about the absurd things that happened in the entertainment industry in the past . However, she did not know that it was this bad .

She found KangYoon, who didn’t lose his way despite those conditions, amazing .

“I seemed to be quite hot-blooded back then . I will make the singers I’m in charge of sing to their heart’s content without worries – that was my thought back then . Perhaps that’s what led me to become the person I am today . ”

KangYoon put down the empty wine glass .

In the past, his ‘other’ past, he challenged becoming a producer with those thoughts and failed miserably . He started his own entertainment company and raised many singers, but he repeated his failures .

However, right now, he was doing extremely well .

KangYoon was proud of his achievements for the past many years .

Min JinSeo dragged the seat forward and approached KangYoon .

“…I didn’t know that you had such thoughts . ”

“This is quite embarrassing . It’s somewhat cheesy too . ”

“Not at all . You’re really amazing . You really are…”

When Min Jinseo raised her thumb, KangYoon responded with a grin .

She then switched topics with a somewhat stiff expression .

“Phew, perhaps I should have become a singer rather than an actress . ”

“You want to put your talents to waste? I don’t think that’s right . ”

KangYoon waved his hands dismissively .

He didn’t know that much about acting, but he did know that Min JinSeo shined the best when she was acting .

However, her next words made him freeze up .

“If I did, I would be with you right now… right?”

Min JinSeo grabbed KangYoon’s hands .

“I am really envious of the people at World . They are singing the songs they want and they have complete faith in you . While I… I can’t even trust my own company . Honestly… it’s exhausting . ”

Her hands, which were grabbing KangYoon’s, trembled .

KangYoon patted her shoulders with his other hand .

At that moment,

She suddenly jumped into his embrace .

“J, JinSeo . ”

“…Please, let me be like this for a moment . ”

She buried her face in KangYoon’s chest .

KangYoon hesitated for a moment before stroking down her long hair to console her . Then, she twitched for a moment before speaking with a trembling voice .

“You know… I’m having… a real hard time recently . ”

“…… . ”

KangYoon wordlessly patted her back .

Although he was in an awkward position in his chair, he still tried his best to console her .

An unknown amount of time passed .

She looked up towards KangYoon with teary eyes .

“JinSeo, Jin…!!!!!!!!”

Smooch

Her lips touched KangYoon’s .

***

Kim JiMin’s absence meant that the studio was In MoonHee’s .

After warring with the school children at elementary school, she had another war waiting at World Entertainment .

The opponent of the war was Japanese .

– こんにちは (Hello)

In MoonHee wrote down a lot of things while watching the self-learning Japanese video on the computer .

‘Ko… what?”

She was a teacher herself, but studying wasn’t easy .

Despite that, she did her best to learn and took down a lot of notes .

30 minutes passed like that .

After one lesson, she finally stretched her arms out and stood up .

“Ugh, it’s so hard . Enka or Inca or whatever… Japanese is too hard!”

She was studying Japanese per KangYoon’s instructions . Perhaps English would have been better…

However, she had no choice since it was the president’s orders .

Just when she was rejecting studying a foreign language with the entirety of her body, the door to the studio opened and Lee HyunJi entered .

“D, director . ”

“Hello, Miss MoonHee . Did I interrupt you?”

“N, no . ”

In MoonHee panicked .

She was worried that Lee HyunJi may have heard her complaints . She was new here, and if she was picked on by her superiors already, then things would go wrong…

However, unlike what she thought, Lee HyunJi softly smiled and spoke .

“Is Japanese coming along well?”

“It’s not easy . I’m really bad at learning languages…”

When In MoonHee sighed and shook her head, Lee HyunJi sat down next to her and turned to her learning materials .

“Is that so? Why don’t we have a look at it together then?”

“What?”

In MoonHee’s eyes widened . Studying together with the company’s director? She couldn’t imagine that at all .

As Lee HyunJi’s position was similar to that of the vice-principal’s at school, this came as a huge shock to her .

“Sit down . We don’t have a lot of time to spend with this since you have to practice singing as well . ”

“Yes!”

In MoonHee sat down after answering loudly .

***

After a short schedule in China, KangYoon returned to Korea .

Lee HyunJi came to pick him up even though the plane arrived early morning .

They were putting the luggage inside the car when Lee HyunJi found something strange about KangYoon .

Lee HyunJi asked out of curiosity .

“President, did something good happen to you?”

“What?”

“You… look like you’re in a good mood? Hmm, did you get something good to eat without me?”

KangYoon shrugged his shoulders at the sudden attack .

“Haha, nothing like that happened . Perhaps I’m in a good condition today . ”

“Really? That’s strange, I can feel that something has changed about you…”

Usually, KangYoon had a soft atmosphere around him, but people still found it hard to approach him . However, that latter part was gone right now .

She wanted to know the reason, but she didn’t force him .

The two drove to the company immediately .

His body was tired, but his position as the president did not allow him to rest that much .

“Hyung, you’re here . ”

When he opened the studio door, Kim JaeHoon, who had arrived earlier, greeted him while putting down the score in his hands .

KangYoon expressed his joy and went straight into the topic at hand .

“Was the song you got from the girls okay?”

“It’s definitely better than before . I’ll have to see the final version to be sure, but it’s good . ”

“Really? And it doesn’t strain your voice either?”

“My vocal cords aren’t glass, you know…?”

When Kim JaeHoon waved his hand dismissively, KangYoon chuckled .

KangYoon opened the music file and the score that HeeYoon had sent over on his PC and played the music . Soon, the speakers produced piano sounds while KangYoon had a look at the score on the monitor with sharp eyes .

‘Hm…’

Scores that produced white light seemed very natural to him right now . The music wasn’t too high either . It only went up to C5 . Kim JaeHoon found that to be a bit of a pity, but he still seemed satisfied with the music .

Seeing the fading white light, KangYoon turned around to Kim JaeHoon .

“Not bad . So all that’s left is the rearrangement . ”

“I want the chorus to be a little rounder . Oh, are you doing the rearrangement?”

Kim JaeHoon inwardly wanted KangYoon to do the rearrangement . KangYoon seemed to have noticed that and nodded with a smile .

“Should I? The materials are good, so I should be able to make something good out of it . ”

“Please take care of it, hyung . ”

“You should get some practice too . Why don’t you write the lyrics yourself?”

“I will . I think I’ll make one soon since this song feels good . ”

The talk about Kim JaeHoon’s single proceeded like that .