Chapter 82. Winter Is Coming
Billy Aaron visited the U.S. headquarters of Talent Holdings surprisingly often for an artist under the company.
Once someone reached his level, most communication with the company could be handled through occasional phone calls, and routine work-sharing was almost entirely automated.
But Aaron had always been interested in the company's management itself.
He visited headquarters often enough to keep an eye on the employees, so he was well aware of the atmosphere after Vice Chairman Park Gwang-ho, who had supposedly gone to Korea for a short trip, ended up becoming a criminal.
Park Gwang-ho, who had been excellent at his job, suddenly disappeared.
And his younger brother, Park Gwang-cheol, took the chairman's seat.
At first, the executives welcomed him while pretending to worry that some green kid who knew nothing had suddenly come in.
It didn't take long for them to realize that assumption had been completely baseless.
It was almost as if Chairman Park Jong-moon had returned in a younger body.
Park Gwang-cheol handled the work with incredible familiarity.
He quickly became close with the employees.
The same went for Aaron, who frequently visited the company.
Apparently, coming to the American headquarters and serving as chairman for a while had only been a kind of introductory ceremony to show his face.
Unfortunately, Park Gwang-cheol spent only a few weeks there before returning to Korea.
After finishing his day, Billy Aaron came out of the bath, loosely tied back his hair, and began dabbing moisturizer onto his face.
He'd be going to Korea soon for a performance.
No reason to show off blemishes and advertise that he was a Westerner more than necessary.
Emil Lipa, who had been talking with him on the phone for quite some time, asked,
"So you're saying the strategist who stopped former Vice Chairman Park Gwang-ho's scheme and put Park Gwang-cheol in the chairman's seat was that guy Do Jun-hyeok?"
"Yeah. Those members who came to your concert were originally singers considered impossible to revive too. Chairman Park Gwang-cheol said Do Jun-hyeok was the one who raised them all the way to where they are now."
Seen through Park Gwang-cheol's perspective, the man named Do Jun-hyeok sounded practically immortal.
If someone like that had taken an interest in meteorology, he probably would've predicted the weather down to the second.
Maybe even showing up at Emil Lipa's concert had been carefully planned.
When Park Gwang-cheol first asked him to work on a song for a Korean girl group called Blue Moon, Aaron hadn't been particularly pleased.
He knew almost nothing about Asian idol groups.
Apparently even the newly appointed Chairman Park Gwang-cheol had his patriotic side, because he was asking Aaron to produce a song for a Korean group.
Still, refusing wasn't easy.
He decided to at least research them first.
Once he started watching clips of Blue Moon's career, he became somewhat interested.
No.
The more he watched, the more his interest grew.
At first, they had been girls in glittery costumes performing songs and choreography that looked almost like performance art.
But with every release, their stages had gradually become something that could work even in the global market.
Aaron could already imagine several ways to give them an American treatment without destroying their existing identity.
"Anyway, I gained a ton of Korean fans this time. You know how kind I am. I think that really moved the Korean fans."
"I'm sure it did."
The reason that concert clip had become a huge topic wasn't Emil Lipa's kindness.
It was because the Korean female rapper who had turned down a world-class singer's invitation was an interesting story.
Apparently, she'd had another schedule afterward and had no choice but to refuse.
That had been the right thing to do.
Still, doing the right thing all the time wasn't easy.
How difficult was it to turn down someone on Emil Lipa's level?
If the artist had been able to refuse so cleanly and leave, then the producer managing her probably valued principles and rules quite highly.
That attitude must have been clearly passed on to the artist.
"Anyway. So you're handling Blue Moon's next song. What's the ambition?"
"No. I'm not producing Blue Moon's new song. You already experienced it yourself, but that Do Jun-hyeok guy doesn't hand Blue Moon over easily, even to people like us."
"What are you talking about?"
The new song Park Gwang-cheol had asked him to work on wasn't for Blue Moon.
It was going to be the launch song for Do Jun-hyeok's second revival project.
For the third competition stage, I only touched the concept and the basic atmosphere, then let the members and trainees create the details together.
Of course, if they asked me for help along the way, I helped.
Being an unknown idol was hardly a situation anyone could feel optimistic about.
Yet these trainees had always practiced with positive attitudes.
It was an extremely desirable kind of positive energy.
But after hearing who knew what from the Blue Moon members, at some point they started believing almost everything I said.
Especially Choi Sarang.
She asked for advice because one of her movements wasn't reading clearly, so I told her to extend her elbow first and straighten the forearm afterward.
That genuinely was the best solution.
After that, Choi Sarang started calling the choreography I'd suggested "the movement of success," an intentional pitch variation "the crack of success," and my repeated demands for breaks "the rest of success."
She didn't seem to be mocking me either.
She genuinely believed it.
That somehow made it more uncomfortable.
Maybe because of that, the final result came out great.
The four-member Blue Moon and the three-member Univ combined into a seven-member Universe all-star group capable of delivering a perfect performance.
They brilliantly pulled off a dance track that I'd never even dared attempt before.
For the first time in a while, I brought in Apollo's elite photographers and had them record the third competition performance with all their heart and soul.
It almost felt like returning to my roots.
Once the performance ended, the audience finally unleashed the applause and cheers they'd been holding back.
If the reaction was this good, why the hell were their scores so stingy?
Still, there was no better gift than thunderous encouragement.
If possible, I'd learn the Lion's Roar myself and scream it at the members every day.
The members clearly felt deeply rewarded by the stage too.
They'd danced hard for the first time in a while and were naturally out of breath, which created perfect ending expressions.
Their makeup hadn't smudged.
There was just enough sweat.
Exactly natural.
Those damned camera directors never held these golden ending expressions long enough.
Every single frame was premium material that deserved to be paused, printed, and stared at until the paper wore out.
"As pretty as possible! Make them look as pretty as possible!"
I shouted at the photographers while imagining browser image tabs filled with ending screenshots of Blue Moon and Univ.
The photographers immediately started gushing.
"Aaaagh! I swear, Kim Sol is definitely the next Kim Serin!"
"Why are you already talking about the next generation? Blue Moon hasn't even finished sunrise yet!"
It was true that Blue Moon was still only at sunrise.
But Kim Sol was also two years older than Serin.
The phrasing was slightly off.
Still, the fangirl energy was unmistakably that of my own people.
"Wow~. CEO Do Jun-hyeok. Looks like you'll take first place in the ratings again. Blue Moon's performance power is incredible."
