/
“Yes, I received it today and brought it here. I will send you the sample later.”
“Were you friends? But… Well, that doesn’t matter.”
He seemed to accept more readily than I thought.
“Originally, the song should be released according to the plan, but in this case, I think it should be the opposite. I want to plan again according to the song.”
“The song wasn’t good.”
Oh, we communicated better than I thought.
At the same time, it was repulsive. You knew the song was bad, but you just pushed it onto us because it was troublesome, right?
“If possible, I’d like to get into the meeting right away. I don’t have much time.”
“Hmm… All right. I’ll talk to the planning team again. Since we don’t have time, the members must have thought of something, right?”
“Yes, I am confident that it will go in a good direction.”
The details hadn’t come out yet, but it was an issue that could be decided while coordinating with the planning team.
The president nodded coolly.
“I can’t give you an extra budget.”
‘Fuck, I knew this would happen.’
“At least, make the choreography. Even if the plan is turned over… What about the company’s choreography team?”
“We’re an agency that specializes in actors. There’s nothing like that.”
“…Then what about the choreography team from outside?”
“No extra support.”
This damn company…
“Just match the choreography that already exists, or don’t you have Sunghyun there?” Sunghyun dances really well. Ask him just this once.”
Dancing well and making a choreography are two completely different things, you bastard!
Even if you asked me to listen, it was a company that released an idol group, but the president was very ignorant. If the dialogue of the lower extreme option came out at this time, I would have chosen the line without hesitation.
“…Well, I understand.”
I shouldn’t forget to revise the members’ contracts all at once later. I sighed.
“Then just stamp it quickly.”
“Yes, Hoyoon-ah, here’s the contract.”
“Ah, but, you know.”
“…?”
When the manager, thinking that the talk was over, nodded hard like a doll for a car display and tried to grab the contract and bring me out with him, I took the contract out of the manager’s hand and lifted it up in a flutter.
This was why I came here alone.
“There are two things to fix.”
“What is it?”
“First of all, please rewrite the settlement ratio.”
Does Company 8 Idol 2 make sense?
No matter how short the contract was, this wasn’t right.
At my words, the president and the manager were perplexed and said.
“We don’t have such a bad profit share… Some really weird places don’t even distribute profits if it’s below the break-even point. It’ll only increase the debt. It’s about this much in other places, too.”
“Haha, let’s at least hear about it. So, how much do you want?”
The president, who quickly made up his mind, burst into laughter. I also smiled and said.
“Seven to three.”
“You’re so timid considering you’ve said it solemnly. I’ll think about it. If the company is 70 percent, the other companies are quite….”
What are you saying.
“No, I get 70 percent.”
After I said that, they shut their mouths. A cold silence hovered in the president’s office.
The president took off his glasses and pinched his forehead.
“Hoyoon-ah.”
“Yes.”
“Right now… you’re playing with me, right?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Seo-Seo Hoyoon!”
The manager hastily dragged my arm.
Manager, at a moment like this, you should protect the artist, what are you doing? Well, the president would be the one who actually paid the salary, so he had to say something.
“Right now… It seems you’re very elated after receiving a song, but the initial investment is really difficult, Hoyoon-ah.”
I know. In fact, the company was lousy, but the distribution of profits and respect for artists must be sufficient.
They also didn’t immediately throw away a group that had been active a year since its debut and still remained hopeless. It was more accurate to say that it was neglect.
“I don’t know if you guys will succeed with that one song… You need popularity.”
“Yes.”
“But unfortunately, there are no members with that kind of recognition in The Dawn. Jiwon… He was a trainee in a large group before, so maybe he’s well-known, but you’re not, right?”
He was being direct, pretending to be soft.
It was correct.
If I hadn’t been on this game, that would have been correct.
Now was almost the time for that to come out.
As I waited without saying a word, the president smiled as if he was troubled.
“I’ll think about the settlement a little more. First of all, don’t be too depressed…”
“President!”
Suddenly, the door to the president’s office opened and a person who appeared to be a staff rushed in. The president frowned at the distraction.
“What’s wrong with everyone today?”
“I-I’m sorry. But I’m in a hurry… Oh! Just in time, Seo Hoyoon is here, too.”
“Just in time?”
‘Done.’
I smiled and nodded. He recognized me. A signal had come.
The staff looked at me with a face that either could be resentment or something else and said urgently.
“The company’s phone call is now paralyzed.”
“Hn?”
“Why?”
The manager tilted his head. Although it was a very small company, there were no actors so popular that the phone call would be paralyzed so quickly.
“Did someone have an accident? Jiheon, is he dating? Or did he do drugs?”
“No, no… It’s not like that.”
The staff hurriedly waved his hand. He glanced at me.
“To be precise, it is related to Seo Hoyoon…”
Ah, Joo Woosung did a good job.
Woosung, thank you
I smiled leisurely, but the president and manager had ridiculed faces.
“Joo-Joo Woosung and Seo Hoyoon, what kind of collab it is… Or what kind of new project Seo Hoyoon is going to be working on. Joo Woosung’s fans and investors are suddenly calling like crazy.”
“Joo Woosung? That Black Call? What does he have to do with Hoyoon?”
“Three hours ago, a video of Joo Woosung and Seo Hoyoon on Insta was uploaded, and he said that he really cares for him, has a good personality, and is the perfect younger brother from head to toe…”
“Pfft.”
Ring!
[I got it!]
Why did he add such embarrassing words? I definitely had decided everything, including the video and the contents to post…
‘Shit.’
It must have hurt Joo Woosung’s self-esteem. I got goosebumps and brushed my arm and promised a next time.
“How did this happen? Were you close with Joo Woosung?”
The manager asked in bewilderment.
Close? Ridiculous.
Of course, it was all made up by me.
I remembered Joo Woosung from a few hours ago.
This morning, he muttered bitterly when I mentioned what I wanted.
‘…You want me to take a picture with you and upload it to Instagram?’
‘Yes, please post some pictures with the concept of close neighborhood dongsaeng. I’ll contact you when the upload time is up.’
‘Is that all you want?’
No, there’s more, Woosung.
How can I use a precious asset like you for one-time use and throw you away?
‘Yes, that’ll do.’
But I pretended there was no more.
Let’s get to know each other slowly
When I answered confidently, Joo Woosung bewilderedly accepted the offer.
‘Okay. Well, I… I thought it was a huge deal.’
‘Right, it is.’
Well, it would be nice. Instead of money, he just had to click on Insta a few times.
But, it wasn’t just a personal account. It was Joo Woosung’s insta, ranked 14th in the number of followers. That one post was worth tens of millions of won.
Even if he just posted one sentence, ‘I will work hard’, it would be featured in a platform entertainment article [Resolve for the New Year… ] It was that SNS’ insta that just popped up.
It didn’t end with articles. A bigger reaction from the fans would explode.
Fans already knew his private life and the stories of close acquaintances. There were many people who follow his friends’ accounts to see at least one more picture of him.
But suddenly, on Insta, Joo Woosung, who only posted advertisements, showed up with someone that no one ever heard of or seen before?
‘Of course, they’ll look up who it is, then.’
I didn’t want to pretend to be close to Joo Woosung, but Joo Woosung was raising a cat. After waving a foxtail grass a few times, a video worthy of being uploaded to Instagram was completed.
‘Aigoo, I guess my cat likes Hoyoon.’
‘Your cat seems to like me more.’
‘…You’re crossing the line.’
Joo Woosung was good at acting, so after filming and monitoring the video, Joo Woosung and I looked close as if we had known each other for 10 years.
My face was also polished and decorated at a special salon, and I worked hard to raise my charm level during that time, so even with Joo Woosung, I didn’t come out too bad. An important point.
While monitoring, I praised Joo Woosung.
‘Joo Woosung-ssi is good at acting.’
‘Really, get on your knees and bow down…’
Ignoring Joo Woosung’s dejected murmur, I came out to the front door to return to the company. And I patted the cat that wandered near my ankle as if to greet me. Joo Woosung looked betrayed.
‘What’s this? You don’t do that to me.’
Joo Woosung must be a fool when it comes to cats. I didn’t have time to deal with the fool anymore, so I came straight to the company.
That’s what happened.
“How do you know each other?”
“We have a close hyung-dongsaeng relationship.”
But I had no intention to tell you everything.
In the ambiguous atmosphere of the office, the staff hesitated, and then he opened his mouth again, thinking he should report to the president till the end.
“So, Seo Hoyoon-ssi, a controversy suddenly occurred within the Black Call fandom. I think it’s being talked about in the community as well. Seo Hoyoon-ssi, are you a trainee, or if not, are you entering The Dawn as a member… If you’re a member, they’re asking when you’re making a comeback. Of course, there are complaint calls from fans…”
In a fit of anger, the fans called and asked where Joo Woosung would get involved. I expected that kind of reaction.
But it was fine. For a celebrity who lived off fame, antipathy was much better than indifference.
“…Get out.”
“Yes!”
The staff quickly left. The president seemed troubled.
“President.”
I decided to nail it here.
“If you leave it up to me, I’ll put The Dawn’s comeback this time on the 3 top music charts.”
“What? 3 top music charts?”
The president’s face changed.
“I heard it became difficult last time…”
The atmosphere became gloomy when the topic of music charts suddenly came out, as if I didn’t know about it.
‘Hm, Mango has become difficult.’
A year ago, as the existing real-time chart was reorganized into 24-hour aggregation, the chart had been fixed to rank almost at the brick level. For a rookie idol to enter as a new entry, it was literally like picking stars from the sky.
I looked at the president softly.
‘But I know one, and I don’t know two.’
“Yes, you know it well.”
However, I swallowed the words inside and smiled at the president, gently coaxing him.
“It’ll enter the charts. Don’t worry.”
“…With just your words?”
“P-President.”
“There are many people who open their mouths. There are many stars who gain popularity after being briefly illuminated. I need a solid indicator. It’s possible in one day.”
“One day?”
The manager next to me was appalled, but I smirked. This guy was trying to get a head start again…
“Yes.”
Of course, it didn’t work. I lifted the contract.
“I said earlier that there are two things to fix.”
“…”
“One is the adjustment of settlement ratio.”
Second… When I slowly turned my gaze to the president and manager, the manager gulped.
It was great to have an audience.
“The second is the penalty clause. If I fail to enter the chart in the digital music show within a day after the release with this activity, let me double the amount of investment that has been invested in The Dawn so far.”
“Seo Hoyoon!”
The manager’s voice could be heard clearly. The president only sent me a sunken gaze as if he was looking right through me.
I pretended to be calm, but in fact, I knew that the number I threw in was irrational.
There were five members, and I heard that the trainee life in the Daepasong project wasn’t that long, so assuming it had gone for a year or two, it cost about 300 to 400 million won. So if you doubled this, it was at least 600 million.
I didn’t have to do this, but naturally, I had to risk something to adjust the contract while talking about the cancellation fee. If I just talked nonsense about fixing the settlement ratio without betting anything from my side, it wouldn’t matter even if I brought out the song or I came out on Joo Woosung’s insta.
At the end of his gaze, the president seemed to have understood my intention.
“I guess he’s still sick, talking some nonsense…”
“Okay, let’s double the penalty.”
“Yes?!”
The president nodded. And took the contract.
“The settlement ratio, 7 to 3 is too much… Let’s make it 60 for the company and 40 for you.”
“I get 60 and the company gets 40.”
There was a brief war of nerves
“Five to five?”
“No, I get 60.”
Go get it!
“55 to 45?”
“I get 60.”
Go get it!
It was similar to the scene of the negotiating king from an old drama. And the president burst into laughter.
“You’re so stubborn.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
“It’s not a compliment. Alright, I’ll adjust it separately only for you, Seo Hoyoon. It’s not like my business is losing anyway. I’m saying this in consideration of the penalty.”
I knew this president would do that. It was good that I came separately without telling the members. Whether or not the contract would be revised later, I had achieved my goal now.
I nodded and got up.
“Please add it again and call me when the contract is complete. I’ll stamp it.”
“Hoyoon.”
“Yes?”
“We’re not such a bad company. You can back off now. I guess I was caught up in your bluff just now, but… Now or never. From then on, you must take responsibility for your words.”
Hurray. It sounded soft, but he was saying I really should pay the penalty if I failed.
Well, whether it was going to be an unfair contract later… Maybe he was just saying it on the assumption that I would fail.
“Haha. Responsibility…”
I had been responsible.
Even when I was living as an evil PD and promised to make the cast a star by doing all kinds of things. Even when I lost my parents and promised to take good care of my brother at the funeral.
I always kept my promise no matter what.
“Of course, I’ll take responsibility. What are you talking about?”
“…”
I bowed down after saying so. The president’s bitter eyes turned to me.
When I shrugged my shoulders and left the office, a system window popped up.
Ring!
[Quest Arrival!:
Seo Hoyoon-ssi, you have crossed the river you cannot cross.
I’ll give you a quest.
The Dawn’s comeback song in the charts.
Upon success: Fame 100, Charm 20, Dance 20, Vocal 20
Failure to succeed: Consider filing for bankruptcy. It’s better than debt!]
“What the.”
I laughed at the last line.