Chapter 55. The Scariest Person Is Someone You Know
A one-hundred-million-view Austin River shaking his hips right when we were choosing a new song.
I immediately understood that the spam system was showing me a huge opportunity related to that dance.
If Blue Moon danced to that choreography and uploaded it as a Nutube Short under a name like the Homesick Girl Challenge, did that mean Austin River would later copy it?
"Seung-tae. Do that dance again. Dae-hun, replay the song."
"What? Ah, yes."
Seung-tae looked confused.
Dae-hun was already familiar with my sudden mood swings.
He immediately replayed 〈Homesick Girl〉.
Now that everyone was watching, Seung-tae looked embarrassed.
But the song quickly excited him again.
Soon, he began performing exactly the same dance he'd done earlier.
"Hey. Where did you learn that? I thought you were just dancing randomly, but you're doing exactly the same moves."
Random dancing was supposed to be random.
Even if the same person heard the same song, they normally wouldn't reproduce an identical improvised dance.
But Yang Seung-tae was doing exactly that.
The only explanation was that this was already a real choreography in his head.
"H-Hey... I'm still a fairly popular contemporary-dance choreographer. You think I'd just dance randomly? I thought those movements fit the song, so that's what I did."
"Then that choreography doesn't exist anywhere yet?"
"I just danced it, so it exists now."
He rambled about artistic inspiration.
Either way, this dance had apparently been created specifically for the 〈Homesick Girl〉 project.
Then if we continued with 〈Homesick Girl〉 and used Yang Seung-tae's choreography...
No way.
A dance challenge with over one hundred million views...
Could become Blue Moon's?
I wanted to immediately say:
We're choosing this. Start the project now.
But I couldn't.
Everyone had gathered to listen to many composers.
I couldn't simply act like a dictator.
At least I needed to pretend to consider everything.
What choice did I have?
I played the next song.
"Oh. This one is good!"
Our adorable Aran liked it.
"Right? It's good, isn't it? What does everyone else think? This one seems good too, right?"
Dae-hun unnecessarily jumped in to agree.
The next comeback had to be 〈Homesick Girl〉.
This wasn't a situation where Blue Moon copied Austin River and got boosted by his algorithm.
It was the opposite.
People would see Austin's video, follow the link back to Blue Moon, and flood our account with comments like:
[Austin brought me here.]
[Your voice is crazy amazing!!!!!]
Just imagining it made my chest heat up.
There were many other good songs.
But a hundred million views meant international attention.
I couldn't give that up.
And it wasn't as if 〈Homesick Girl〉 itself was a bad song.
We continued listening.
I stayed alert just in case.
But no other song especially struck me.
And Yang Seung-tae didn't repeat that same dance to any other track.
After listening to everything once, the employees shared opinions.
"Hmm. I think I liked 〈Love Hit-and-Run〉 earlier."
"Isn't the title kind of lame? I preferred 〈Fair Love〉."
"We can change the title. Anyway, you think that song itself is better?"
Everyone discussed.
〈Homesick Girl〉 was mentioned too.
But there wasn't enough support to guarantee it would win.
Looks like I needed to manipulate public opinion a little.
"Personally, I liked 〈Homesick Girl〉. The songs you mentioned are all good too, but Seung-tae already came up with a strong point choreography for this one. Wouldn't that let us move faster?"
"Ah. Choosing a song purely because production would be faster is a little..."
Dae-hun objected.
If he didn't know anything, couldn't he just stay quiet?
I'd have to ask Jin-hee to discipline him later.
"Of course we can't choose only because it's faster. But aren't all these songs excellent? We're practically at the point of flipping a coin. If the quality is similar, wouldn't it be better to choose the one we can release sooner? Think how long the fans are waiting."
How frequently an idol released new songs was another factor fans considered when choosing groups to support.
If a group only made a comeback every one or two years, people hesitated to become serious fans.
For Blue Moon, who needed to attract passionate fans, even small advantages like frequent releases mattered.
That was the logic I sold them.
Only then did Dae-hun begin nodding.
He hadn't exactly opposed the song.
He simply hadn't seen a reason to support it.
Fortunately, we eventually decided to proceed with 〈Homesick Girl〉.
I immediately checked the proposal in detail.
The composer was someone called Fever Brothers.
Fever Brothers.
The moment I saw that name, one thought entered my head.
Ah.
Knowing the future didn't always make everything easy.
There were people you disliked for no real reason.
They didn't necessarily do anything especially hateful.
Yet somehow, their very existence irritated you.
Sometimes you disliked them so much that you almost wished they'd do something bad enough to justify your hatred.
Fever Brothers was exactly that kind of person.
Fever Brothers was the producer name of a music label called Fever Music.
I'd once visited them in the past to acquire a hip-hop song.
The man had produced hit songs since the late nineties.
Now he owned a proper company and had trained many composers.
He was undeniably a major figure in the composition industry.
Still, simply talking to him made you feel like his delinquent attitude might be contagious.
Like him or not, he was holding the jewel I wanted.
And when you disliked someone for no real reason, sometimes you felt slightly guilty.
I called the number of CEO Lee Jeong-yeol written in the proposal.
He told me to visit the studio.
"Hello. I'm Do Jun-hyeok from Universe."
CEO Lee Jeong-yeol walked out slowly.
His hair was styled in a parted perm.
For some reason, he wore a headband.
He sat on one side of the table and stared at me.
"You planning to keep standing? There's a chair right there. Doesn't your leg hurt?"
What an irritating tone.
He didn't even say, I'm Lee Jeong-yeol.
He began by picking a fight.
This was clearly a man who hated yielding even one sentence.
Did I need to bow my head to get the song?
No.
A song I could only receive by humiliating myself wasn't mine in the first place.
"Could someone bring the CEO his glasses? There seems to be only one chair, but apparently he can't see that."
At my words, a young employee with bright yellow hair quickly brought another chair.
"Thank you."
I thanked him and sat across from Jeong-yeol.
He asked,
"What entertainment company did you say? Uni... what?"
The man looked well over thirty.
Yet he spoke like some delinquent middle-schooler.
"Could someone bring the CEO his hearing aid too? Seems like he can't hear very well."
Jeong-yeol laughed.
"You like jokes, huh?"
"I'm Do Jun-hyeok from Universe. You recently sent us an excellent song proposal, so I came to talk about it."
"Proposal? Me? I proposed a song to some company called whatever-Bus? Ah! Isn't Blue Moon doing well lately?"
I should've printed everything.
His attitude made me want to challenge every single word coming from his mouth.
Still, I'd stop here.
I handed over Fever Music's proposal, which I'd printed and placed in a folder beforehand.
Jeong-yeol casually checked it.
"This is real. Hey, Kang Sang-do!"
The employee who'd brought my chair hurried over.
"Yes, hyung."
"Do you know who sent this proposal? I'm curious who did it without my permission."
Sang-do picked up the folder Jeong-yeol tossed toward him.
He checked it.
Then hesitated.
"I said find out. Didn't you hear me? Or did you forget your hearing aid too?"
"I... sent it."
"What?"
Jeong-yeol's face instantly hardened.
"No, you approved it last time. Your stamp is right here. And I think Blue Moon is good enough. The concept fits them, and they're popular lately."
Jeong-yeol sighed deeply and looked at me.
"Fine. Seems a few conditions got left out when the proposal was sent. For the music video, album-cover design, prerecorded stage set, and the other projects required for launch, you'll have to work with companies connected to us."
When renting a car, I could understand being told to use their affiliated repair shop if there was an accident.
But this?
They were selling a song while forcing buyers to purchase unrelated services.
It was worse than being harassed by street hustlers.
"If you don't accept those terms, I don't think we can work together. Haha. This song has plenty of other buyers. Or would you like to look at some other tracks? We probably have songs we can sell Blue Moon without those conditions. I'll recommend them personally."
What kind of garbage studio was this?
They used a good product as bait, then tried to sell you something else once you arrived.
Like a used-car scam.
Apparently, they specialized in stabbing hopeful agencies and idols in the back.
"We received this proposal, went through our internal process, and already began planning around it. You can't suddenly change the conditions now."
"Did we sign a contract? We didn't. Why are you blaming us because you started planning by yourselves?"
Trashy businessmen were often extremely knowledgeable about anything that protected themselves.
Cheap threats wouldn't work.
Still...
This was the future Austin River 〈Homesick Girl〉 challenge.
The final decision maker refused to move.
There was nothing I could do immediately.
I had to leave.
After spending enough years watching the entertainment world, I realized I'd been deeply mistaken about something since childhood.
I used to believe everyone who appeared on television had proper morals and respectable personalities.
Not only genuine entertainers who acted or sang.
Famous painters.
Writers.
Composers too.
There was absolutely no basis for that belief.
Having talent didn't cause Kant or Confucius to appear and personally polish someone's character.
Of course, you didn't need to become a manager to have that illusion broken.
Whenever people heard that some celebrity had used drugs or assaulted someone, they were still shocked.
Deep down, people seemed to imagine celebrities surviving on morning dew.
I did too, to some extent.
Whenever I saw someone with a useless personality and astonishing talent, the unfairness of the world still annoyed me.
Wouldn't it be nice if only kind kids like Serin and Youngchae received talent?
Unfortunately, experience taught me that wasn't how the world worked.
So Lee Jeong-yeol could absolutely be the man personally responsible for all those excellent songs.
That wasn't impossible.
Still, I had never felt this suspicious for no reason.
I thought the Solis members from Team 3 were fairly rude.
Yet I never underestimated their potential.
If they worked hard with those personalities, the unfairness of reality could still support the possibility that they'd rise to a normal level of success.
But Jeong-yeol felt different.
Why?
...I didn't know.
Still, I could investigate.
I knew someone who understood the music-production world better than me.
I left Fever Music's studio, got into my car, and called Im Sori from Soul Studio.
"Yes, Team Lead Do... ah, CEO Do. This is Im Sori."
"CEO Im Sori. You know the people at Fever Music, right? What kind of people are they?"
I asked directly.
Im Sori paused.
"Ah... those people..."
Apparently, she had something to say.
She carefully chose her words.
"You know about the news article from the drunk-driving incident, right?"
"Yes. It was a huge issue."
It had been scandal involving CEO Lee Jeong-yeol.
He hadn't killed anyone.
But he'd driven while completely drunk and sped through a police sobriety checkpoint.
The public had attacked him viciously.
At the time, Jeong-yeol coolly admitted everything.
He also casually revealed the reason he'd driven drunk.
Apparently, while drinking, he'd suddenly heard that one of his composing crew members had been badly injured.
He first called a designated driver.
But after waiting too long, he got behind the wheel himself.
The crew member's medical documents and the designated-driver call records were both released.
It was true.
The only strange part was that the crew member's injury had turned out to be fairly minor.
Jeong-yeol explained that because he was drunk, he'd exaggerated the seriousness of the news in his head.
He received the full legal punishment.
Eventually, the public forgave him under the logic that as long as he continued producing good music, that was enough.
The entire controversy ended quickly.
"Everything I know is secondhand too, but Fever Music is famous as a trashy studio. There was also a lyricist named Kang Ha-do. He used to work there until a few years ago and came from amateur rap. He actually killed someone while driving drunk. He's in prison now."
What an unpleasant group.
They acted arrogantly toward clients, and one of them had committed an even bigger crime.
Since someone actually died, Lee Jeong-yeol probably personally helped bury the incident.
"Keep going."
