Chapter 168. The Fight of the Century
As expected, Moon Hee-jung was good at her job.
She had managed to recruit Kerins.
Kerins was the artist whose Super Bowl Halftime Show was still considered the greatest among the countless performances in the event's history.
We were already entering the fight with an overwhelming advantage thanks to Michael alone.
And now we could even use Kerins's songs.
A few days later, I heard there would be a final production meeting, so I flew to America.
The members came with me.
But we still hadn't revealed either Michael or Kerins.
Meaning the Super Bowl producers I'd seen in the future video still looked down on me and Blue Moon.
I booked the members a nice hotel in California and attended the producers' meeting alone.
Originally, the singers scheduled to appear were supposed to attend too.
But if these people weren't going to show me any trust, I saw no reason to extend them any extra courtesy.
"CEO Do Jun-hyeok of Universe! Nice to meet you. You're much taller in person than you looked on video."
A producer named Randy Stafford offered me his hand.
He was a middle-aged man wearing a suit with thin vertical stripes.
He had a long nose and pointed shoes, which somehow made it uncomfortable to stand face-to-face with him.
There was another reason I felt uncomfortable.
Randy Stafford.
I'd seen him in the future video.
He was the man who had strongly argued against Chairman Lewis and insisted that Blue Moon be moved to the opening show.
"Ah, yes. Nice to meet you, Mr. Randy Stafford."
I deliberately made some small talk, hoping to peek inside his head.
He told me useful things.
The finals would be in February, so the final rehearsal would be held in January.
Things like that.
But he barely shared any personal thoughts about Blue Moon.
"We're far behind the others in recognition, so we're very honored you invited us."
"Hahaha. Not at all. They look like a wonderful group. It's not like people sing with name recognition, is it?"
That's true.
Then why are you trying to shove us into the opening show?
I felt the same kind of frustration I'd felt while talking to the United Talenet Live planner.
At least with that guy, I could understand it.
His eyes had gone wide at the money, and he'd changed his mind afterward.
But Randy was different.
We hadn't submitted any detailed stage plan after accepting the invitation.
And I didn't intend to.
We hadn't even revealed that we planned to bring in featured artists.
Yet right now, he was acting extremely friendly.
Was he simply being polite because we were talking face-to-face?
Of course.
But if he genuinely believed featured guests were important enough that a stage without them should be moved to the opening show, couldn't he at least give me some advice?
There were still three months before rehearsal.
It wasn't too late to tell me now.
Yet Randy didn't say a single word about featuring.
He simply wanted Blue Moon out of the Halftime Show.
If his advice caused Blue Moon to bring in featured artists, then later he wouldn't be able to use that as an excuse to exclude us.
So he was intentionally pushing me and Blue Moon into a corner until it was too late.
Then, once there was no time left, he planned to use the lack of featured artists to knock us out.
In other words, he was deliberately cornering us so he could get rid of us properly.
Fine.
Then I had no intention of revealing our featured artists now either.
If you're going to push us into a corner...
I'll push you into one too.
When the time came, I'd simply say, Actually, we have featured artists too.
Then you wouldn't have anything left to nitpick.
"All right. It looks like everyone except Blue Moon is here, so let's begin reviewing the stage concepts."
Lewis announced the start of the meeting.
He still seemed completely unaware of what Randy was plotting.
The singers were also in the room observing the discussion.
Austin River.
British Spearman.
Doctor Andre.
Lady Gagarin.
Mary Wild.
They were all excellent artists.
But none of them were on the same historical level as Michael or Kerins.
Every singer had brought their company's own producers with them.
According to Anna, some of the other four performers didn't like Blue Moon very much.
I didn't know exactly which ones.
I looked through the stage plans they'd submitted.
I'd written and submitted a fake plan to hide Michael and Kerins.
Looking at theirs, I was glad I had.
Their plans all looked fake too.
Or at least like they'd hidden their key weapons.
I knew none of these artists were planning to perform without collaborations or special guests.
Yet not a single one of their proposals mentioned any featured artists.
"Universe's proposal is excellent. Maybe because it came from outside America, it feels very fresh."
A producer named Megan praised it.
She was so obviously forcing the compliment that she was probably on Randy's side too.
They wanted me to feel satisfied and proceed exactly as planned.
"Anyone can write a good proposal. The artists here are all the kind of people who win through sheer skill, aren't they? I'd rather hear the songs directly."
"Well, that's what rehearsal is for."
When I subtly pressed them, Randy immediately poured cold water on it.
"True, but rehearsal is the finishing stage, not the planning stage. I'm not saying everyone needs to perform right now, but shouldn't we at least be able to hear the audio they'll actually use?"
The producers began exchanging glances.
Randy and Megan did too.
Lewis looked completely oblivious.
This place was a silent battlefield.
"All right. Fine. Just the MR tracks."
"Yes."
So everyone gathered their backing tracks and played them.
They were all event arrangements of their own famous songs.
But there were subtle sections where the melody changed.
That was where their special featured artists would be inserted.
You people...
If you're going to lie, at least do it properly.
I'd just submitted the normal MR for 〈Hippie〉.
"As expected of legendary artists. Even hearing only the backing tracks makes my heart race. You're not secretly hiding some massive weapon or anything, are you? Hahaha. That would be terrifying."
Silence.
Every single one of them had invited some huge guest.
Even with famous singers, if everyone did that, this stage was going to turn into complete chaos.
This was exactly why too many cooks were a problem.
After finishing the not particularly pleasant meeting, I headed toward my American ride, the black luxury Starius.
"Mr. Do Jun-hyeok?"
Someone came running after me and called out.
I turned around.
It was Austin River.
"Yes? What is it?"
"Nothing, really. I just wondered if you noticed anything while listening to the MR tracks."
What was this?
Was he a spy?
Probably not.
If I wasn't supposed to notice, there was no reason for him to ask such an obvious question.
And it wasn't like they had any reason to specifically keep Blue Moon in check.
Besides, Austin River might actually be friendly toward Blue Moon.
He'd left tons of comments during the 〈Homesick Girl〉 challenge.
Personally, I even felt a strange sense of connection with him.
He probably wanted to give me some advice before we got into trouble.
"I think I know what you want to talk to me about, but we'd better not have that conversation."
"Why?"
"Because it'll make things more difficult for me."
They couldn't realize that I already knew we needed featured artists.
If they did, they'd try some other method to push us out.
And figuring out what that method was would give me endless stress.
California.
Peaceful all year round.
Well, there had been bullets flying through the air once.
We'd left plenty of time before our return flight, so it was perfect for a surprise vacation.
The best vacation wasn't running around sightseeing.
It was recovering your stamina.
