Chapter 23

Chapter 23 — The Magpie That Repays Its Debt

“Wasn’t it seriously amazing? Have there ever been female idols who could dance that well? I still can’t believe it. Haha…”

“Exactly. And they only prepared for two weeks. Until right before the stage started, I thought it would be enough if it just looked like a fun event performance. I never expected it to become one of the best stages in the history of the special.”

“Jin Youngchae, was it? I heard she even helped fix New Eight’s outfits. Their original clothes were kind of tacky, but after she changed them, they ended up looking the best.”

PD Seo Hoedong took a sip of soju as he spoke, and the other producers laughed and agreed with him.

Was it because this was a private gathering?

Or was it because he had been that satisfied with Blue Moon’s stage?

The cold Seo Hoedong from the filming site was nowhere to be seen.

Right now, he was just like some friendly neighborhood uncle.

“The ratings for the time slot Blue Moon was originally supposed to perform in and the ratings for the slot they actually performed in were almost double. Did the company share any of those results with you?”

That was true.

The ratings for the early and late stages of Music Bang Bang were so different that they could almost be called completely different programs.

Daehoon, who had been watching the influx into the fan café, had been excitedly saying that it might finally be worth holding a fan meeting.

Apparently, there had been around a thousand new members.

If the ratings were really twice as high, then around five hundred of those members could probably be credited to the schedule change.

It was 12:30 a.m.

I had been invited to the Music Bang Bang after-party near the broadcasting station and was currently sitting in a bar.

“What’s your secret? How did Blue Moon change so completely the moment Do Junhyeok joined?”

Seo PD was in an extremely good mood right now.

The only slight issue was that he had alcohol in him.

Still, I had to make the most of this opportunity and plant about a hundred seeds while I could.

“There’s no secret to a good performance. The members have to honestly work hard for a good performance to come out. If I could improve their dancing by dancing myself, I’d spend every day in the practice room.”

“Hahaha. Well, that’s true. Ah~ Still, it was a great decision. Putting Blue Moon in that exact spot, I mean. Who suggested them first again?”

“Yes! It was me!”

The youngest PD raised his hand high.

“Good, good. I don’t really have anything to give you, so I’ll at least pour you a drink. That kind of thing is instinct too. Instinct. You understand? You were able to think of Blue Moon in that situation because you understood what kind of group they were and what kind of group the viewers wanted. Good job.”

“Thank you!”

“Do Junhyeok, have a drink too. Changing the performance order today was also a very good decision.”

I knew why Seo PD had invited me here.

It wasn’t simply because he wanted to have a drink after seeing me again after a long time.

Actually, that probably wasn’t the reason at all.

Seo PD was giving me the chance to make myself known to the other producers.

Starting with the young PD who had first suggested Blue Moon, I exchanged business cards and had short conversations with staff members seated throughout the room.

Back when I first raised Victory, I had actually been awkward at socializing, so I hadn’t done this kind of aggressive networking.

“There was Live Singing Contest, then this Chuseok special. And soon, you’re participating in Kim Yoonja’s concert too, right? I heard you somehow slipped them in without anyone noticing.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The final PD I was speaking with asked me that.

“I think it was a really good choice. I don’t know exactly what Team Leader Do Junhyeok has planned, but at this point, the fans look ready to start fundraising just to see Blue Moon release a new song.”

At those words, Seo PD suddenly slapped his knee as if he had just remembered something.

“That’s right! Do Junhyeok, when is Blue Moon releasing a new song?”

I had been planning to bring it up with Ohsoo after the I Love Party Super Concert ended.

If you kept fans waiting too long, even their anticipation would eventually disappear.

The veteran Apollo members might have resigned themselves to Blue Moon not releasing anything because they weren’t popular before.

But if they still didn’t release a new song after blowing up like this, the fans would grow frustrated enough to beat their chests and eventually leave.

“The plan is already there. But although we’ve gained popularity, we’re not actually earning any money yet. I think the new song will have to wait until we’ve gathered enough funds.”

How much could the appearance fee from Live Singing Contest possibly be?

And how much would Music Bang Bang pay them?

They had gained popularity, but that popularity hadn’t turned into money yet.

“You joined an agency without much capital, and now you’re going through every hardship imaginable.”

“Pretty much. Hahaha.”

Back when I was with Victory, at least the company had financial backing.

Now, we had to start from street begging.

“If you just manage to get a decent new song, I think they’ll explode. That next song is going to be really important…”

“Exactly. How many idols ever get an opportunity like Blue Moon has right now? If they don’t release a new song, it’d be such a waste.”

The PDs agreed.

Seo PD searched through his pockets for a moment, then stood up.

“Do Junhyeok, come with me for a second.”

“Yes? Where are you going?”

“Just to my car.”

I put on my shoes and followed Seo PD outside.

It was September and the weather had started cooling down a little, but even late at night, the air was still warm.

Seo PD passed through the barrier of the paid parking lot and opened the passenger-side door of his car.

Was he about to give me a large amount of money or something?

He leaned only his upper body inside and rummaged around for a while before pulling out several business cards with slightly worn corners.

“You helped New Eight’s stage earlier, right? Your own team must have been nervous and busy since it had been a while since their last music show, but you still fixed New Eight’s costumes.”

“Yes.”

“…I was impressed.”

Full support for a hardworking manager.

It seemed Seo Hoedong had liked the costume-remodeling incident enough for that support to begin.

All I had done was pretend to fix the magpie’s broken leg because I wanted a better stage order.

Was heaven really helping those who helped themselves?

“Anyway, you said you’d release a new song after I Love Party, right? These people are good at what they do. If you think of it, give them a call.”

I checked the business cards he handed me one by one.

There were people I had worked with back at Pantheon.

There were also professionals I had never personally dealt with but had heard plenty about.

In other words, even without this introduction, I knew who they were.

“I know those guys are famous. Still, they probably handed me their cards because they wanted to network with me. If you go there and mention my name, they’ll at least serve you some snacks, won’t they? I’ll put in a good word for Blue Moon too.”

That made sense.

Seo Hoedong might not work at an agency, but no one knew what kind of opportunity could arise if you made a good impression on him.

That was one of the reasons I had worked so hard to get on his good side.

Worried that I might lose the cards, I immediately saved every number written on them into my phone.

A new song for Blue Moon…

And receiving a song from a major studio like one of these…

This gift was worth far more than a million in cash.

It felt pretty good to finally establish my position inside the company.

Music Bang Bang had ended successfully, and I Love Party was still ahead of us.

The outlook was good.

And everyone in the company knew it.

But unlike what they expected, even with the future messages, there weren’t many more useful activities Blue Moon could do.

At Music Bang Bang, they had sung a Four Boys song.

At the I Love Party concert, they would only be backup dancers for Kim Yoonja’s songs.

They couldn’t keep performing cover songs forever.

And if they foolishly brought out something like Moonlight Circus again, the attention from the major fandoms that had finally begun focusing on them would disappear in an instant.

It was time for a new song.

As quickly as possible.

I took out the bundle of studio business cards I had carefully stored in my locker.

Seo Hoedong PD had said they would treat me well if I mentioned his name.

If this had been just a casual introduction, he wouldn’t have walked all the way out to the parking lot while drunk just to hand them to me with such determination.

Maybe he had even spoken about me to them beforehand.

Holding the cards, I went straight to the president’s office first.

“Do Junhyeok, what brings you here?”

Ohsoo asked as he took his hands off the keyboard.

“I think it’s about time Blue Moon released a new song. I came because I wanted to discuss that.”

“Ah, a new Blue Moon song?”

Ohsoo replied with the confidence of someone saying not to worry because everything had already been handled.

“We’ve already requested a song from Epic Music. I told them to pay special attention to it this time, so I think you can look forward to it.”

“Epic Music?”

Epic Music was a composition studio I had only heard about after coming to Universe.

That meant it wasn’t particularly famous.

And when a composition studio wasn’t famous, it usually meant it wasn’t very good.

How could I judge their ability without even hearing their songs?

I had already heard three of them.

All three of Blue Moon’s singles from their first to third albums had been produced by Epic Music.

And even Strong Love, the one song that sounded somewhat decent, had actually been made by another studio.

“Ah, I’m against it.”

“Against it? You don’t like Epic Music?”

“Of course I don’t. Honestly, President, you don’t really like them either, do you?”

Surprisingly, Ohsoo didn’t argue.

He nodded.

“Honestly, no. But what choice do we have? We can’t afford anything else right now. Besides, Blue Moon’s sound has already been established through Epic Music, so it might be better to continue with them. And we can’t exactly wait until we gather more money.”

Should I at least be optimistic that Ohsoo wanted to release Blue Moon’s new song quickly?

No.

There was no way to be optimistic about Epic Music.

I had no desire to make Blue Moon perform another bizarre RoboCop dance for their fourth album.

“You know Seo Hoedong PD, right? I’ve known him fairly well since my Pantheon days. When he heard that I was managing Blue Moon, he introduced me to several studios.”

“Studios? Which ones?”

“These are the business cards he personally gave me.”

I handed over the cards.

Ohsoo looked through them and immediately seemed flustered.

“They’ll probably be expensive, but Seo Hoedong PD confidently said they’d treat us well. Wouldn’t it be worth at least having a consultation?”

“Still, all these places are expensive… Are you sure they’ll give us a discount?”

“Probably. What else could ‘treat you well’ mean besides money? I’ll at least contact them.”

Ohsoo didn’t look particularly pleased, but he couldn’t openly oppose it either.

This was exactly why I had waited until my position in the company was stronger.

While the other teams were creating disasters, I had been bringing back bundles of gold.

At this point, calling a composition studio I wanted wasn’t even something I needed permission for.

I picked up a card that read Soul Studio.

“I’ve known this place since my Pantheon days. I’ll call them first.”

The Apollo fan café was celebrating like crazy.

Not only were old ghost members who had maintained their memberships while focusing on real life returning, but existing Astra fans were also flowing in, greatly increasing the activity of the café.

It was a truly heartwarming exchange of support.

From what I could tell, Apollo currently consisted of four main types of fans.

First, there were the hardcore fans who had supported Blue Moon continuously for the two years since debut.

Then there were the communication-focused fans who joined because of Aran’s “Kimsong & Aran Aegyo Video” and mainly consumed Blue Moon’s V Live content.

Next came the visual fans, who had fallen for the members’ looks starting from the hanbok photos on Universe’s website and mostly shared photographer pictures.

And finally, there were the girl-crush female fans who had joined after falling for the members’ dancing skills during the Music Bang Bang cover stage.

The ones having the most fun right now were the girl-crush female fans.

That was because Blue Moon’s upcoming schedule as backup dancers for I Love Party had already become public knowledge.

They probably just vaguely expected the members to look cool.

Of course, we had to meet those expectations.

But beyond that, we needed to produce a much bigger result—something strong enough to turn temporary interest into long-term support.

I showed the members the reactions from the fan café.

“There are reactions like this, so I think we should use them as reference and do an interim check on the performance we’ve prepared so far.”

“An interim check?”

“Yeah. Let’s record it once as if it were the real stage.”

Just because regular idol fans had expectations didn’t mean we could make the choreography completely idol-like.

Those fans were also watching with some understanding of the situation.

Either way, the members had to dance well.

And most importantly, it had to feel special.

What Apollo wanted from Blue Moon right now was exactly that.

Something special.

At my suggestion, Serin lined the members up in front of the mirror again.

Anna walked over to the amplifier and was about to play I Love Party, but then stopped.

“We’re backup dancers, but there’s no singer. How is this supposed to be a real rehearsal?”

As if the answer was obvious, all the members turned to look at me.

I set up my phone camera in the middle of the mirror and stood in the center.

Teacher Kim Yoonja mostly sang while standing in one place.

Her only real movement was occasionally walking toward the audience to shake hands.

So all I had to do was stand there awkwardly.

Then when the chorus went—

I looove party~

—I could spin around in place and wave a towel.

After watching the recording together, Serin said,

“I think it’s actually pretty good. We stand out well too.”

Anna and Aran seemed to agree with her, but Youngchae looked like she had a different opinion.

“…I guess. It isn’t our stage anyway. Backup dancers can’t stand out more than the main singer…”

Youngchae spoke reluctantly.

“Right.”

I Love Party was Kim Yoonja’s stage.

If Blue Moon tried too hard to stand out by wearing glittery clothes or making the choreography more intense, they would probably just get criticized.

“Still, couldn’t we split the attention fifty-fifty?”

I continued.

“We’re not covering every single song for her anyway.”

“Fifty-fifty? How?”

Serin asked.

The answer was simple.

Just like everyone had become Four Boys during Music Bang Bang…

For I Love Party, everyone could become Kim Yoonja.