Chapter 18 — Golden Counseling
When Teacher Kimsong had first been late, Jo Gwanseok had practically lost his mind.
But after Aran successfully handled the hosting, his grin had stretched from ear to ear.
Live Singing Contest had been running for thousands of episodes, inviting similar trot singers every week, so there had probably been all kinds of accidents over the years.
Teacher Kimsong had simply covered for all of them with her quick wit.
Anyway, back then, Jo Gwanseok had looked ready to bow all the way to the floor in gratitude to both me and the Blue Moon members for helping him survive an unprecedented crisis.
I had only casually asked him to invite Blue Moon again sometime because I was sure he would agree.
Who knew that little seed would grow this well?
Still, Jo Gwanseok’s voice had sounded slightly reluctant when he offered us the appearance.
It wasn’t hard to guess what had happened.
Jo Gwanseok himself probably hadn’t been especially eager to bring Blue Moon back.
Someone above him must have demanded it, forcing him to change the guest lineup.
I accepted without hesitation.
After that, I finished lunch and immediately visited Saram Entertainment.
I wanted to sign the contract for Kim Yoonja’s I Love Party as soon as possible so I could finally relax.
“You really are impatient. I noticed it the first time we met too. Still, since we’re working together now, I suppose I should match your pace.”
Jang Taek laughed in disbelief, apparently not expecting me to show up that very day, then guided me into his office.
Come on.
He knew perfectly well that you had to move this quickly to survive in the idol management industry.
I went through the entire contract with Jang Taek before signing it.
The main point was that Blue Moon’s choreography would be treated not as a copyrighted creative work but as part of the concert production, and Jang Taek would compensate us for that production.
It wasn’t a bad deal.
For Blue Moon, simply gaining as much public recognition as possible through I Love Party would already be a huge success.
We could worry about making serious money afterward.
“First of all, thank you very much for waiting for us.”
“It’s nothing. You seem to have been extremely busy lately. And Kim Yoonja herself wanted Blue Moon involved.”
“She did?”
After my previous visit, Jang Taek had mentioned Blue Moon to Kim Yoonja.
Apparently, that had made her curious, because she had occasionally looked up Blue Moon’s recent activities afterward.
“It was Aran from Blue Moon, right? The girl who sang Man’s Blues on Live Singing Contest. I heard that was what made Teacher Kim start paying attention to Blue Moon too.”
It was probably because Blue Moon had been doing things idols normally didn’t do, just like Kim Yoonja herself.
That was good news.
“So, how much variety can you handle with the choreography?”
I had already picked out the songs from the planned set list that were relatively well known among younger audiences.
“I’d like to use these songs.”
“Hmm… Yes. That’s a smart choice. I was actually going to recommend exactly these.”
Jang Taek highlighted the songs with a fluorescent marker and organized the list.
“After you visited last time, I got curious about Blue Moon and looked them up. They were already talented to begin with. And the current trend suits them perfectly.”
“Thank you for thinking highly of them.”
This was exactly what people meant when they said to row while the tide was rising.
They had gained recognition among older viewers through Live Singing Contest, and now they were appearing at a concert by Kim Yoonja, the Empress of Asia.
A rookie manager might seriously start wondering whether they should just turn the group into trot idols.
But idols weren’t crops.
You couldn’t plant radishes because radish prices went up, then dig up the field because rice prices went down.
Considering each member’s individual dreams, it was better to view this simply as another opportunity for them to gain experience as broader entertainers.
“Is there anything else you want to discuss?”
Jang Taek asked.
I nodded.
“The promotional poster isn’t finished yet, right?”
“No. It should be out soon. Why do you ask?”
“Let’s put Blue Moon’s faces on it too.”
Even though I was receiving photographs from the future, unexpected situations still happened all the time.
In fact, being a veteran probably wasn’t about predicting the unpredictable.
It was more about not panicking when something unexpected happened.
Unlike what I had once believed, not everything in the world moved according to logic.
And when your business involved a bunch of kids…
Well.
Things happened.
It was Sunday morning, and we were waiting for Blue Moon’s turn backstage in a temporary waiting tent at Live Singing Contest.
Their contracts had been renewed, and this time they had even been formally invited.
The members were dressed casually, sitting around and leisurely enjoying the breeze from a fan.
I had also secured Jang Taek’s promise to put Blue Moon on the promotional poster.
Was this how Sun Quan felt with an army of a million soldiers at his back?
Just imagining the beautiful poster design, with our members standing behind Kim Yoonja, was enough to make me puff up with pride.
Now that the schedule was being finalized and everyone was in a good mood after Live Singing Contest, I had been excited all day at the thought of telling the members the good news tonight.
Jang Taek said the poster would be released soon anyway.
Since things had been so chaotic lately, I could simply wait until the poster came out before telling them.
But something even more important was happening today.
The airport photograph of Zeus.
Today was August 28th.
The exact day Zeus would stand at the airport in front of reporters and Geneca fans.
We had already built up plenty of patriotic goodwill with the hanbok profile photos.
It was almost 1 p.m. now, meaning several hours had already passed since the time shown in the airport picture.
While moving from the waiting tent toward the stage, I searched for Astra.
No media outlet had published an article yet.
Once the reporters finished checking the facts, the news would probably break before Live Singing Contest even ended.
“Isn’t it too hot inside the tent? Should I bring another cooling fan? Your makeup might melt off.”
Jo Gwanseok entered the waiting area, unusually polite today.
“We’re fine!”
“It’s really cool!”
The members, excited because they knew they were performing last, sat gathered around the fan and answered energetically.
I wasn’t looking down on Live Singing Contest or anything…
But how nice would it have been if this were the final stage of Music Bang Bang instead?
“You’ll probably go on in about twenty minutes. The ratings are starting to climb right now. This should help promote you even more than last time.”
“More than last time?”
“Of course the response will be better than last time. Back then, you were completely unknown… but Blue Moon is getting a huge reaction online right now.”
At Jo Gwanseok’s words, the members and I all opened the internet.
Happy Counseling Center, the show the Solis members had recorded, was trending together with the keyword Blue Moon.
[Dr. Oh Hyeyoung of Happy Counseling Center tells Solis, who accused senior labelmates of bullying: “Stop lying.”]
[Dr. Oh Hyeyoung sees through Solis’s false testimony: “Distorting reality is the most extreme form of inferiority.”]
[Universe says “We are reviewing the facts” amid controversy over Solis’s false testimony and character.]
This wasn’t just a controversy.
It was complete chaos.
The comment sections under every article were burning hot too.
LOL, they’re straight-up lying on television.
But who even are these girls? They don’t look famous enough to be on Happy Counseling Center. Did Universe bribe someone?
Aran is so freaking cute ㅠㅠ Soliid get lost ㅠㅠ
┗ It’s Solis.
How do you even share a company with girls like that? Blue Moon are saints.
Blue Moon is on Live Singing Contest today.
┗ What? How do you know?
┗┗ I live in Dongducheon. My friend said they saw them near the set lol.
┗ Damn, I missed it because I was watching Happy Counseling Center.
┗┗ They haven’t appeared yet. Change the channel.
According to Jo Gwanseok, viewers were still pouring in.
The ratings had already reached the same peak as the first time Aran hosted the show.
How had things ended up like this?
It hadn’t even been that long since everyone was sitting around in a gloomy mood, talking about whether Blue Moon would disband!
Universe already had its hands full today because of Astra’s Zeus incident.
I never expected Solis to create another disaster this huge.
They said bad things came in pairs.
Apparently, that saying was true.
