Chapter 30 of 35

Chapter 30

Chapter 30. An Angry Crowd Never Loses

“Your company's level really dropped, huh? You're working with someone I've never heard of.”

What did Teacher Yang know?

When it came to this industry, he was practically a complete ignoramus.

Unfortunately, Im Sori, who considered herself a Yang Seung-tae fan, had just suffered a mysterious defeat without even being present.

“If you don't know her, search her name. You're going to be very surprised.”

“She's famous?”

Yang Seung-tae finally searched Im Sori's name.

Then he exclaimed in surprise.

“Whoa! Soul Studio? She's the CEO there?”

“Yes.”

Soul Studio had been named by taking one syllable each from the names of its co-CEOs, composer Im Sori and lyricist Na Ullim.

Soul Studio itself was famous.

The secret behind its name, however, was about as little known as the fact that the word bazaar was originally foreign.

“...Then in terms of idol songs, there's practically nobody better.”

“Exactly. And she works in an incredible number of different fields.”

Yang Seung-tae continued searching through Im Sori's career.

Apparently, he'd realized this project was much more serious than he'd first assumed.

He became noticeably quieter.

“She even handled background music for a modern East Asian painting exhibition recently. This woman seriously doesn't limit herself at all.”

“Exactly. You think I chose her for no reason? Her sensitivity across genres is excellent, and she's flexible in the way she thinks. She'll probably arrange the song so it suits your choreography perfectly.”

Even I was impressed by how quickly I'd responded.

With this mouth, couldn't I sell out floppy disks in the twenty-first century?

“Sounds pretty good.”

Got him!

I'd just caught both rabbits at once.

A genius composer and a genius choreographer.

“The song is the most important part, right? Is she coming tomorrow too? Dance is supposed to match the music, so we'll probably need to interact often during the project.”

“Ah, you're saying I should summon her tomorrow? Of course I'll respect your wishes. Understood.”

“No, when did I say you should summon her?”

The moment I ended the call with Yang Seung-tae, I immediately sent Im Sori a message.

[I'm truly sorry after making the proposal myself, but it seems you'll need to visit our company personally to meet Choreographer Yang Seung-tae. If your purpose is really to confirm his participation, it might be good to explain the song while you're here too. Would tomorrow be too sudden?]

Her answer came immediately.

[I'll see you tomorrow!]

And so, an unofficial first meeting was scheduled for early the following afternoon.

When word spread that young master Yang Seung-tae and industry leader Im Sori would be visiting Universe, Dae-hun, Oh Su, and I came to work early in the morning and began polishing every corner of the company.

We looked like enlisted soldiers preparing for a military inspection.

“Because of that bastard Team Leader Cheon, I spent all yesterday being questioned and didn't sleep at all. Am I supposed to be happy about this meeting or not?”

Dae-hun complained.

As Cheon Gi-hong's direct superior, Dae-hun had been summoned for questioning as a witness.

Ever since noon, he'd been making a fuss about how many terrifying-looking people he'd seen there.

If he wanted to make a fuss, he should save it for all the work involving Solis that had now been dumped onto him.

“Working with Soul Studio is one thing. But how did Choreographer Yang Seung-tae happen?”

“I've known him for a long time. Blue Moon needs a major rebound with this comeback, doesn't it? Even with the best composer and the best choreographer, success isn't guaranteed.”

When I answered, Oh Su gave me a very positive smile.

He'd seemed troubled when the topic of cost came up.

But investing your entire fortune into something with real potential was perfectly rational.

After finishing the first round of cleaning, we had an early lunch around ten.

Then we returned and called a professional cleaning company.

The bathrooms.

The hallways.

The practice rooms.

Every pane of glass in the building.

By the time everything had been disinfected until not even a stain remained, the appointment time was approaching.

“CEO, you came in a suit. Good. Stay inside the CEO's office as much as possible. Spread your work everywhere and pretend to be extremely busy.”

“Got it. But if nobody calls me, it'll be obvious I don't have anything going on. Should I ask a friend to call me?”

“Just say it's an internal call. It'll be fine.”

We all went to our assigned positions and waited.

Yang Seung-tae arrived first.

Thirty minutes early.

“Ah, Teacher! You're here. It's been a while.”

“Ahem. Your face, at least, I remember perfectly. You haven't changed. Unlike your company.”

Damn him.

The moment he decided this was repayment for a favor, my jokes stopped working.

“Ah, you're talking about Pantheon, where Team Leader Do used to work. Our company is embarrassingly small in comparison, isn't it?”

Oh Su, who had overheard us, stepped in with a sales smile.

Yang Seung-tae immediately looked uncomfortable.

I'd told the man to stay in the CEO's office.

Why had he come out?

“What? No, no! It's smaller, sure, but the facilities actually look much better. We were just talking among ourselves.”

Sweating, Yang Seung-tae retreated toward the corner of the hallway.

Maybe he'd remembered being glared at by Team 3 at Pantheon for creating “weird dances.”

Inside the office, Dae-hun swallowed hard like an elementary-school student waiting for a cleanliness inspection.

“Then, Director. I'll go attend the planning meeting.”

“Yeah, Team Leader Do. Work hard.”

I'd specifically told him to act that way.

Still, the arrogance looked far too natural to be acting.

Neither of them was pleasant today.

I took Yang Seung-tae into the meeting room we often used for monthly meetings.

Then I began explaining Blue Moon's original concept.

My idea was simple.

Blue Moon had originally attempted bizarre cyberpunk because they wanted to show something new.

They had failed spectacularly.

This comeback would be their second attempt.

And because the second attempt absolutely had to succeed, I'd shamelessly contacted him despite how long it had been.

“Cyberpunk is cool.”

“Cyberpunk is cool. Blue Moon wasn't. Anyway, Im Sori will be here soon too.”

“Ah. I'm nervous.”

Yang Seung-tae squeezed his eyes shut.

He'd been worked like a dog under Pantheon's Team 3.

Now he would be collaborating with Im Sori, someone talented across many fields and especially expensive within the entertainment industry.

Maybe he'd even lost sleep because of the pressure.

We waited another five minutes.

“Hello. I'm Im Sori from Soul Studio.”

Im Sori poked her head into the meeting room.

The moment she saw Yang Seung-tae, she jumped in surprise and introduced herself.

Her face instantly turned bright red.

She looked exactly like an obsessive fan meeting her favorite male idol.

Yang Seung-tae was young and reasonably handsome.

Apparently, that helped him attract fans like Im Sori.

“Now that everyone's here, let's begin the meeting immediately.”

“Yes.”

Im Sori entered the meeting room and took a laptop from her bag.

She connected it to the meeting-room internet cable.

Then...

There it was again.

A PowerPoint presentation on the projector.

Team Leaders like Jang Won-sik and Kim Sun-young at Pantheon had always done the exact same thing.

“F-First, I'll explain the material I prepared after analyzing each Blue Moon member's strengths.”

Im Sori began a surprisingly systematic presentation.

By the time she reached the members' chemistry with one another, the material had become increasingly complex.

Whenever that happened, she frequently stumbled over her words.

Probably because Yang Seung-tae was sitting in front of her.

Yang Seung-tae already knew about Im Sori's reputation before coming.

So he listened seriously to every detail instead of casually dismissing anything.

Watching both of them become nervous around each other was rather entertaining.

After finishing her analysis of Blue Moon's concept, Im Sori finally played the long-awaited [export3].

Only one day had passed.

Yet the song had already developed far beyond the version I'd heard at Soul Studio.

“This is currently the near-complete version. It needed to be cheerful but calm, pastoral but urban, modern but mysterious. I rearranged it into what I believe will best display the members' charms, so it's probably somewhat different from the version Team Leader Do Jun-hyeok heard previously.”

“It sounds much better now. Teacher Yang, what do you think?”

Yang Seung-tae touched his cheek thoughtfully.

“I really like the drum beat that starts quietly underneath from the middle.”

“Ah, the drum beat.”

Im Sori immediately scrolled through the project and isolated the drum track.

A simple rhythm came from the speakers.

Boom, boom-clap. Boo-boom-boom-clap.

“This sound helps the early piano accompaniment and the later MIDI processing naturally blend into the overall tempo. If you suddenly divide or combine beats randomly, it can sound extremely unfamiliar...”

“Ah. Like when the rhythm suddenly twists and that's what makes it exciting?”

At Yang Seung-tae's comment, Im Sori clapped her hands in agreement.

“Exactly! As expected of Choreographer Yang Seung-tae... Would you like me to show you a version with that kind of feeling?”

“Huh? You can do that right now? The accompaniment has this strangely mysterious quality, so... I think giving it a slightly staggering feeling could be interesting.”

No wonder she'd brought such a thick laptop.

Im Sori checked several composition samples and sound sources.

Then she practically tore apart the entire instrumental and rebuilt it.

“I've thickened the original shuffle accompaniment... mixed in a little jazz... and blended some dubstep reverb into the opening. You'll feel it immediately when you hear it. It'll sound almost sticky.”

Then she played the song.

She was right.

Yang Seung-tae had asked her to twist the rhythm sharply.

Instead, she preserved the actual beat, filled the empty space with reverb, and then used delayed offbeats to create a wonderfully staggering groove.

Anna's rap would fit perfectly if it entered first during this section.

Yang Seung-tae nodded with an extremely impressed expression.

Seeing that, satisfaction spread across Im Sori's face as well.

And just like that, Yang Seung-tae and Im Sori's participation became completely fixed.

As expected of Im Sori.

If composition were a school subject, there was no chance she'd ever fail.

“Thank you for all your hard work. It must have been surprising to attend such a suddenly arranged meeting.”

After sending Yang Seung-tae home first, I spoke with Im Sori for a while.

The meeting had lasted several hours.

The sky outside was already turning red.

“No. I'm the one who's grateful. If I'd quietly handed the song to TakeF, it would've ended up completely wasted. Instead, I can give it to a project involving members this talented and Teacher Yang Seung-tae.”

Then, as if she'd suddenly remembered something, Im Sori asked,

“What are you planning to do about the Jackpot manipulation suspicions you showed me yesterday?”

The broadcasting rights to Jackpot still belonged to KBC.

Director Kim Chang-bae, the Vending Machine himself, had been actively involved.

But I'd already caused chaos at KBC once.

If I revealed my identity and directly accused the program of manipulating votes, it would practically mean declaring all-out war on KBC.

Even if I did absolutely nothing, TakeF was destined to collapse.

Maybe it would be because of Nam Won-su and Sayaka's relationship.

Maybe somebody else would expose the manipulation instead.

I didn't know.

Even if I raised the allegations myself, nobody knew where the legal process would lead.

If the Jackpot side insisted that every suspicious pattern was simply coincidence, even a judge would have trouble.

As long as there remained even a one-in-a-hundred-thousand or one-in-ten-million chance of the pattern occurring naturally, the possibility couldn't be completely excluded.

To legally destroy Jackpot, some prosecutor who firmly believed such a coincidence was impossible would still need to gather more definitive evidence.

“I'm going to contact the agencies of the idols who were eliminated from Jackpot; Japan and give them my evidence.”

Personally, I couldn't afford a long legal battle or a power struggle.

Japanese agencies that stood to gain from exposing the manipulation were different.

Even if the legal fight became a long war, the evidence was already strong enough for the court of public opinion.

An angry crowd could be more frightening than the law.

If those agencies used my evidence to raise the controversy, Japanese fandoms would generate enormous firepower on their own.

In public-opinion battles, victory often depended on who got the fandom behind them first.

We didn't even need to wait for a final legal judgment.

That alone would bring at least some justice.

Even if I didn't expose it, someone eventually would.

But right now, I was also the person who could expose it the fastest.

Even at this very moment, TakeF and the other high-ranking idols were probably appearing on multiple television programs and stealing opportunities from other idols.

“I hope they lose far more than they gained.”

“I agree.”

I walked Im Sori to her car.

“Ah, wait. Could you send me the version of the track you played during the meeting earlier?”

“The one with the lead vocal added? Of course. I'll send it through messenger right now.”

Im Sori took out her phone and sent me the file on the spot.

Its filename was:

[N.Dolphin]

The moment I saw those letters, my blood began racing.

It finally felt as though the huge chain of events that had begun with following Nam Won-su had reached its first conclusion.

“You look like you have something urgent to do.”

Im Sori smiled as she got into the driver's seat.