Chapter 11

Chapter 11 – Why Are You There?

“Listeners, good morning! This is Yeo Eunju of 10 O’Clock Date, your Judy, greeting you once again. Hello!”

When she had first arrived for work, she had looked exhausted, her complexion noticeably poor.

That had only been an hour or two ago, yet there was no trace of that tired appearance now.

She was different from when she had been chatting with the members earlier.

Right now, she looked like a calm and composed radio host.

In the entertainment industry, the number of different faces you could switch between was also a kind of skill.

“Today, we’ve invited some guests I think all of you will be very happy to meet. It was incredibly difficult to get them here. The rising stars of the entertainment world who threatened Kim Song’s position as the host of Live Singing Contest for the first time in forty years—the talented idol group, Blue Moon!”

“Hello! We’re Blue Moon~!”

I had felt the same thing during Live Singing Contest, but watching Blue Moon on a broadcast never made me nervous.

Youngchae gave the conversation a sense of trust with her deep, announcer-like voice.

Anna showed off her eccentric charm with every answer she gave.

And Aran, with a level of cuteness she had never shown before, gave idol fans plenty to enjoy.

“You’re all overflowing with charm. From what I know, you didn’t receive much attention before appearing on Live Singing Contest. Is that true?”

“Yes. We went through a pretty difficult time. Right?”

But in the end, the one guiding the conversation was the leader, Serin.

Serin was the best speaker among them, but she never tried to steal the other members’ turns.

She stayed faithful to the flow of the broadcast, using only as much time as she needed and carefully controlling the length of her answers.

Charm wasn’t like a business card.

You couldn’t always make people notice it just because you held it out and showed it to them.

Charm was more like a face.

Even if you tried to hide it, people would naturally notice.

A beautiful person was still beautiful even while wearing a mask, wasn’t she?

Serin’s charm was exactly like that.

When the topic of Live Singing Contest came up, Serin silently turned toward Aran.

She had decided that it would be more effective for Aran, the biggest reason behind the recent buzz, to answer.

“That’s right. We happened to be passing by nearby when we accidentally heard that Kim Song was going to be a little late! So we rushed over and... did it.”

Eunju burst out laughing at Aran’s answer, which had skipped quite a few important details.

“Hehehe. You went there and ‘did it’? What exactly did you do?”

“I imitated Kim Song. I sang 〈Man’s Blues〉 too. And I ate fried ginseng. Everyone, please buy lots of Geumsan ginseng~! It’s delicious.”

She wasn’t even getting paid a single won for advertising it.

Having become an unpaid promotional ambassador, Aran waved toward the camera just like the contestants on Live Singing Contest had done.

“Ah, right. You sang 〈Man’s Blues〉 for us. I think you only hosted for about fifteen minutes? It was a pretty short appearance, but there were so many memorable moments... Since we’re already talking about it, could we hear Song Aran sing a few lines of 〈Man’s Blues〉?”

“It would be an honor!”

Aran stood up and bowed so deeply that her forehead nearly touched the desk.

Then the intro to 〈Man’s Blues〉, the opening song that announced the beginning of Sunday lunchtime on Live Singing Contest, began playing.

Just like during that show, Aran started singing while receiving sweet, affectionate cheers from her unnies.

“Oh, passing years, don’t~ laugh~ at my life~!”

Aran’s voice, much deeper than it had been during Live Singing Contest, filled the recording studio with rich emotion.

It was an amazingly accurate imitation, almost as if Kim Song himself were singing through Aran’s throat.

Yeo Eunju laughed at how funny it was, but she didn’t forget to admire Aran’s cleverness either.

“Wow! Amazing! That was great. Everyone, don’t get confused. Today is a weekday—we’re working~!”

“Thank you. Hehe.”

Before the broadcast, I had heard they wanted the members to sing, so we had agreed on 〈Man’s Blues〉.

But just in case, I had prepared one more song.

Maybe she had decided to turn this into a full live show while she was at it.

Yeo Eunju lowered her voice dramatically, as if she were about to tell the legend of an ancient hometown.

“Ah~ Now that the youngest member has sung, the older members can’t just sit there quietly, can they?”

“That’s right!”

“Then could we hear a group song this time? Our listeners are saying they really want to hear one right now...”

The members weren’t the kind of people who would turn down a chance to sing.

Naturally, they answered yes.

The next instrumental track began playing.

But the moment the members heard it, their expressions started to waver.

They realized something was wrong.

A little earlier, while the members and Yeo Eunju had been happily chatting about puppies, I had handed the instrumental file to the PD.

After hearing there would be a live performance segment, I had urgently contacted Daehun and had him send me the file from his computer.

Did I play their newest third-album song, 〈Moonlight Circus〉?

If I had, the members wouldn’t have been surprised.

Then maybe their second album track, 〈Star Night〉?

Its lively atmosphere certainly suited a morning commute radio show, but personally, I hated their second album.

Then perhaps 〈Love Hill〉, the monumental debut song that announced the arrival of four goddesses into the entertainment world?

Or maybe the fourth album I had secretly kept hidden as a weapon?

Unfortunately, there was no secret fourth album waiting to be revealed.

The instrumental currently playing was 〈Strong Love〉, the debut song of their junior group, Solis.

“This is Blue Moon performing 〈Strong Love〉!”

The members looked at me through the glass wall of the recording studio, asking with their eyes what was going on.

If I had sent the wrong file, they were telling me to quickly replace it with their latest song, 〈Moonlight Circus〉.

But it wasn’t a mistake.

Far from being a mistake, 〈Strong Love〉 was my bold move to change the entire situation surrounding Blue Moon’s possible disbandment.

No manager would ever use a hard-earned live performance opportunity for their unknown idol group to make them sing someone else’s song.

After all, one of the few unquestioned rules of idol management was that promoting your own songs as much as possible helped future activities.

But didn’t I have a strategy?

Ordinary actions weren’t going to change anything.

The public’s ears were far too busy listening to the top girl group Evilis to spend their time listening to Blue Moon’s songs.

What the members needed to show right now wasn’t a good song.

It was Blue Moon’s unique charm—the kind of charm that remained visible even behind a mask.

Once the members realized I wasn’t going to do anything, they seemed to understand my intention.

They made up their minds and grabbed their microphones.

It had probably been a long time since they had sung this song.

In a way, this was also my gift to them.

They had practiced the song endlessly, day and night, yet had never actually gotten the chance to record it for an album.

Even those practice sessions had been a long time ago.

Still, I trusted the members’ skill, wit, and diligence.

The Blue Moon members I knew would be able to sing 〈Strong Love〉 immediately, the way a bride recited the Lord’s Prayer or an engineering corps sergeant recited the Soldier’s Creed.

And if I had to guess, they would perform it with several times the power Solis had.

Serin took the opening part.

It wasn’t really a song suited for a debut track.

A debut song should have a dramatic melody and fast tempo to leave a powerful first impression.

But the opening of 〈Strong Love〉 was gentle and quiet.

Serin began almost as if she were whispering.

Then she smoothly raised the tempo and handed the next part over to another member.

Their distribution of parts was natural and perfectly balanced.

You could have told me they had been promoting this song for months right up until yesterday, and I would have believed you.

Before the song even ended, I checked the real-time chat room on the 10 O’Clock Date website.

– Wow, isn’t this one of the best idol live performances ever? ㄷㄷㄷ

– Hmm~ Nice song. Did you go grocery shopping?

– Oh... Blue Moon? The Blue Moon that appeared on Live Singing Contest?

– Seriously... Is this really the same end-of-the-century cyberpunk idol group Blue Moon I know? My heart feels strangely proud.

– Who was the girl who sang the opening?

┗ Youngchae

┗ Anna

┗ Jin Youngchae

┗ Kim Song Kim Song

┗ Aran

┗ Ha... Does not a single person here actually know?

The response was explosive.

It wasn’t only Serin, who had just shown off unbelievable vocal ability.

Youngchae, Anna, and Aran were also beginning to get their names known little by little.

While I was reading the comments, the PD sitting beside me showed me the rapidly rising listener count.

“People who just joined are asking what song this is. They say nothing comes up when they search for ‘Blue Moon Strong Love.’ We’re getting flooded with text messages. I listened to them too, and their skills are no joke. They must’ve felt pretty frustrated staying unknown all this time.”

They must’ve felt pretty frustrated.

The PD didn’t have the power to end Blue Moon’s years of obscurity.

But strangely, that one sentence acknowledging how unfair those years must have felt comforted me more than a hundred compliments.

My eyes started to sting, so I tilted my head upward.

Anyone watching me would think I’d been Blue Moon’s manager for ten years.

Fine.

Why not?

It had only been a few days so far.

I could just build those ten years from now on.

Ten years.

Twenty years.

We just had to stay together for a long time.

Twenty years from now, I’d make sure each of you had your own major program like 10 O’Clock Date.

Once the song ended, Yeo Eunju, clearly impressed from the bottom of her heart, widened her eyes like someone riding a roller coaster and started applauding.

It was the most genuine expression I had seen from her so far.

“Wow! You really can sing! Especially you, Serin! That level of skill is hard to find even among singers known for their vocals. Your voice is incredibly clear, but it’s also very strong. With that level of skill, you probably would’ve attracted attention even if you had appeared on an audition program.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Serin smiled awkwardly and simply thanked her.

“But why did you sing another artist’s song instead of a Blue Moon song?”

It was a sensitive question for anyone who knew the background situation.

Still, Serin skillfully packaged the truth into a harmless answer.

“This is a song by a group from our agency called Solis. Our own songs have a cyberpunk style, so we thought another song would fit this time slot better. Solis’s new song happened to have a slightly different feeling, and we thought performing it might help promote them too, so we chose this one.”

“Oh... Our juniors are still young too. Seeing you take care of your younger group like that makes me reflect on myself.”

While praising them, Yeo Eunju glanced toward me with a somewhat suspicious expression.

Maybe she thought I had been wasting the talents of these incredibly skilled girls all this time.

But that misunderstanding could easily be cleared up by showing her a few news articles about Wonwoo’s Area Gate scandal.

I hadn’t even memorized how many toilets there were in the Universe building yet.

The rest of the broadcast continued with almost nothing but praise for the members.

Without breaking the flow, Yeo Eunju had Serin briefly cover several songs famous for their difficult high notes.

Basically, she was telling them to show off every special talent they had while they had the chance.

Anna couldn’t dance because the studio was too small, so she instead participated in a quiz about world capitals and didn’t get a single question wrong.

The highlight was when Yeo Eunju asked for the capital of Nepal, and Anna immediately recited—

“Sri Jayawardenepura.”

—like she was chanting some kind of spell.

The chat room completely exploded.

Eventually, the broadcast ended.

As Serin helped the staff clean up the area, the PD watched her with obvious interest and smacked his lips.

“You mostly promote as a full group, right?”

“What? ...Yes. Not mostly, actually. Always.”

They still weren’t experienced enough to split up and handle multiple schedules at once.

“That girl Serin seems to be getting the best reaction. Could she appear again? It would be even better if all the members could come.”

I didn’t show it on my face, but inside, I was extremely grateful.

Now that Blue Moon had attracted attention, it would be best to promote them aggressively.

Unfortunately, our company car was basically a pile of junk, so we weren’t exactly in a position to do that.

Right now, I could run a hundred steps and still be lucky to secure a single schedule.

Tears of gratitude were flowing inside my heart.

But before those tears could somehow make it onto my face, Serin gave me a small smile.

I found myself admiring her smile for a moment before snapping back to reality and answering.

“Hmm. We’ve been getting quite a few requests since Live Singing Contest. I’ll need to check the schedule first, but it should probably be possible.”

“That’s great!”

I accepted the PD’s proposal while pretending to be relaxed without overdoing it.

I bought them chicken yesterday.

Maybe today I should buy pizza.

With that, the PD and I started discussing a recurring segment within 10 O’Clock Date that he wanted Serin to appear on.

They were simple things like guessing song titles or reading listener stories.

After choosing a date, we made a verbal agreement.

I was packing up our things when I saw Yeo Eunju leave the studio and walk down the hallway.

I quickly followed her while calling Daehun.

“Hyung! Ah~ Serin really showed off her skills properly today!”

“Hey, Daehun. Are the Solis girls at the company right now?”

Daehun sounded confused by the sudden question about Solis, but answered anyway.

“Yeah. They don’t have any morning schedules, so they’re still at the company. Why are you asking about Solis?”

“Then their van should be there too. Drive it over here and take our girls back to the company. I’m hanging up.”

“Crazy bastard. Somehow, I’m not even surprised anymore.”

I ended the call and told the members to wait for the department head before heading out to the parking lot.

Yeo Eunju’s dead puppy.

Of course, the death of any living creature was sad.

But objectively speaking, it had nothing to do with me.

Countless people were dying even at this very moment.

So why had that particular picture of her puppy been sent specifically to me?

But...

Every spam message I had received so far had always been connected in some way to either me or Blue Moon.

Of course, now that I knew about it, I couldn’t simply ignore a poor animal that couldn’t even speak for itself.

But more importantly, I had no idea how this might be connected to Blue Moon.

That meant I needed to investigate it thoroughly.

I got into the Starex and followed Yeo Eunju’s car.

A sticker reading BEGINNER DRIVER was stuck to the rear window.

From how crookedly it had been attached, she was probably such an inexperienced driver that she barely had the mental capacity to check her rearview mirror.

Thanks to that, following her was easy.

Yeo Eunju’s car entered Premium Hill in Hannam-dong, an ultra-expensive apartment complex sometimes called the modern-day Gyeongbokgung Palace.

There were probably surveillance cameras everywhere around here.

If someone noticed me unnecessarily, it would become troublesome for both sides.

I parked the van far away on the roadside and hurried after her on foot before I lost sight of her.

The moment I entered the apartment complex I had only ever heard about, I felt like someone might come running over at any moment and throw me out.

And sure enough, a security guard in the distance started walking toward me.

I casually spun the Starex key around my finger, slipped it into my pocket, and gave him a small nod.

He had probably already noticed me anyway.

At this point, all I could do was act relaxed.

It worked.

The security guard casually returned my greeting as though it were perfectly normal and continued walking.

I stepped onto the winding road running through the complex and spotted the back of Yeo Eunju’s car.

I started running again.

She parked in front of the building at the far end of the complex.

Then she got out and suddenly shared a light hug with a man.

That was probably the boyfriend she had mentioned, the guy who sometimes looked after her dog.

I didn’t really care who the culprit was.

But if possible, I hoped it was you.

Yeo Eunju had taken good care of Blue Moon during today’s broadcast, after all.

I already felt like I owed her something.

I moved closer so I could see her boyfriend’s face.

After finishing the hug, the man turned in my direction.

The moment I saw his face, I became certain.

The culprit was that bastard.

He wasn’t just the kind of trash who hit dogs.

He was the kind who hit people too.

It was none other than—

Nam Wonsu of Pantheon Management Division One.