NOVEL NEXT Chapter 30 - Personal Connection Chance
“CEO.”
“What?”
“Did you perhaps know? That Yerin was moving to our house.”
“Hm? Wasn’t that something you knew too?”
Kang Beom-joon looked at me with a puzzled expression.
…Was I really the only one who didn’t know about this?
“Will it be okay?”
“What?”
“From the agency’s standpoint, it’s better for Yerin to live alone, right?”
“You’re right that unnecessary rumors might arise. But it’s fine because you’re there.”
“?”
“?”
Isn’t it rather not okay?
My and Kang Beom-joon’s reactions showed we couldn’t understand each other.
Anyway, the reason I visited RT Entertainment today was because Kang Beom-joon said he had something to tell me.
“We’re planning the first audition that we couldn’t hold before.”
“An audition…”
Hearing those words, a thought suddenly occurs to me.
If I hadn’t sent that email asking for feedback on my self-composed song to Kang Beom-joon, RT Entertainment would have introduced an artist who passed the audition to the world by now.
I remember the results were unexpectedly above average.
It was proof that Kang Beom-joon’s eye for talent wasn’t wrong.
If that process hadn’t happened in the first place, there wouldn’t have even been room to take me, who was an aspiring composer in my previous life, along.
“Why? Is there some problem?”
“No. It seems like a not bad idea. The current structure of RT Entertainment is a bit deformed compared to regular agencies.”
An entertainment agency running only with Baek Yerin.
The problem is that it’s running too well.
Starting from digital releases and albums, to various advertising and sponsorship revenues.
Regardless of scale, RT Entertainment might be the agency raking in the most money at the current point.
And all of that is being achieved with just Baek Yerin’s existence alone.
It was proof certifying how ridiculously high Baek Yerin’s current recognition has risen, and if there’s a positive side, there’s always a negative side too.
No celebrity can be active 365 days a year.
Moreover, Baek Yerin is still a student, so there are relatively more restrictions on her activities.
Simply put, it meant she had less time available to be active as a singer compared to other artists.
Well… it was that she was showing that level of performance and revenue even with those restrictions.
“Anyway, rest periods are something absolutely necessary for artists too. At least I don’t want to work our agency’s artist harshly because I’m crazy about money.”
“It’s not because you’ve already earned so much your belly’s about to burst?”
Kang Beom-joon shrugged with a bitter smile.
It meant he wouldn’t deny the current situation that had become so abundant thanks to certain people.
He continued:
“Ah, by the way, Yerin was very positive about this audition.”
“Really? Certainly, being active alone as RT Entertainment’s artist must have some burdensome aspects.”
“Haha. You know Yerin well but also don’t know her well.”
“Pardon?”
“Anyway, I’ll just tell you it’s definitely not what you’re thinking.”
Kang Beom-joon said so with eyes full of confidence for some reason.
It’s a bit unsettling, but there was one point I wondered about more than that.
It’s fine to just hold an audition.
But seeing Kang Beom-joon telling me directly like this face to face…
“It seems like you want something from me.”
“Right. I think we’ll need your help a bit for this audition.”
“Hmm… You’re not asking me to be an audition judge together, are you?”
“Kya, as expected, you’re sharp.”
“?”
When I made a puzzled expression, Kang Beom-joon tilted his head.
And Kang Beom-joon sighed as if he understood something and said:
“Hah… Do I have to explain this with my own mouth again? Now, who’s our agency’s only composer?”
“Well… it’s me for now.”
“Right. And whose composed songs are all playing around in the upper ranks of music charts, and who composed the masterpiece ‘Your Photo’ in just one day?”
“That’s… me too.”
“Lastly, who first recognized and discovered the talent of the genius singer Baek Yerin?”
“……”
…It was me.
I want to say “Why are you suddenly being such a crazy fan?”, but the problem was that all of those were facts.
And riding that momentum, Kang Beom-joon continued:
“So we need your outstanding talent and eye for this audition.”
“Well… I don’t mind. As long as I judge the audition with my face covered as much as possible, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”
“Right. Thanks for understanding. And anyway, you’ll have to work with the person who passes the audition, so your opinion is the most important overall.”
“W-wait a moment. Is the person working together perhaps me?”
“There’s no other composer in our agency besides you, so who else would it be?”
“There’s you, CEO.”
“I appreciate the compliment, but I know my place well. And if I did that while having you, I’d be cursed to high heaven for doing strange things with the money Yerin earned.”
…
That’s a bit strangely persuasive.
But honestly, I’m a bit hesitant.
In this life, I resolved to write songs only for Baek Yerin.
Perhaps that resolution might be my own greed. It might be a childish thought.
Nevertheless, I as a composer am that kind of foolish guy. And I think it’s because I’m that kind of foolish guy that the current me exists.
At that moment, Kang Beom-joon said with a slightly serious expression:
“I know well what you’re thinking now. You’re surely thinking about Yerin. Because you’re that kind of guy.”
“……”
“But have you ever thought about what Yerin herself thinks about that part?”
“That’s…”
It’s not a thought I’ve particularly had.
From the start, I’m not sure what Baek Yerin has been thinking recently.
Suddenly moving to our house, readily accepting this audition matter.
At that moment, Kang Beom-joon gave me a bitter smile and said this:
“Then let’s do this. If there’s no one you want to make songs for from the audition, we’ll act like the audition never happened.”
“…Is that really okay?”
“Well, what can we do? From the start, I tend to fully trust your eye as a composer. If there’s no one you like, it literally means there’s no talent. And you’re not the type to lie about this kind of thing either.”
I nodded at Kang Beom-joon’s words.
I was just grateful for his consideration, and it was exactly as he said.
No matter how much I want to make songs only for Baek Yerin, you never know if someone who truly moves my heart appears.
Well… that probably won’t happen, but.
But at this time, I didn’t know.
That such a person would appear from quite a close place.
That because of that, RT Entertainment’s historic first audition would be cancelled again…
At this time, I didn’t expect it at all.
.
.
.
…But you know.
While talking with Kang Beom-joon today, there was one thing I realized.
“If you’re thinking of recruiting other artists besides Yerin, does that mean you’re thinking of recruiting other composers someday too?”
“Wow, Ryu Won. That was a bit funny just now? Your jokes have improved a lot lately.”
“?”
“How could we recruit when a composer like Ha-on is standing firmly like this from the start? At least they wouldn’t be able to come here because they wouldn’t want to be compared.”
Simply put, it was like this.
If artists are added to RT Entertainment in the future, I might end up being in charge of all those people…
Shit?
Isn’t something going seriously wrong here?
* * *
Seolhwa Arts High School.
A place where talented high school students gather from all over the country. Among celebrities who will receive a lot of popularity and love in the future, quite a lot are from this school.
And among such students, there was one student who stood out the most recently…
“Se-ah, please decorate the end of this performance practice stage.”
There’s something called performance practice at Seolhwa Arts High School.
It’s a big event that happens once for 1st years, and once per semester for other years, and it’s a process prepared to gain actual performance experience.
Anyway, if it was just that much, it definitely wouldn’t have had the feeling of a big event.
Seolhwa Arts High School’s performance practice has the big characteristic of being open to the public.
It means that even if you’re not affiliated with Seolhwa Arts High School, you can come to see the performance on the performance practice date.
And thanks to this point, many entertainment agencies come to see the performance practice directly.
Especially, interest tends to increase rapidly as the order goes towards the end.
Traditionally, the order of practice performances tends to be decided by the major subject teacher, and they push back students they think have higher potential.
In other words, it meant the last order was the most outstanding student in that year.
And Ryu Se-ah proudly won that last order.
“So which student are you thinking of preparing the performance with?”
The major subject teacher in charge of this performance practice asked Ryu Se-ah.
Currently, the Applied Music Department that Ryu Se-ah is in is divided into two majors.
Vocal major and Composition major.
And when taking the performance practice evaluation, there’s actually only one option given to vocal major students.
Going on stage together matching with a composition major student.
Purely, that was it.
But this year, one problem arose.
One student in the 1st year Applied Music Department dropped out due to personal circumstances.
Since the student who left here was a composition major, one vocal major student had to prepare the stage alone.
In such cases, there are methods of covering an existing song or using personal connections.
After all, given the characteristics of an arts high school, there’s a high possibility of having people around who do music.
Especially for a student who’s already affiliated with an agency even more so.
Ryu Se-ah was thinking of using this point.
“Can I perhaps use a personal connection chance?”
“Personal connection chance? Do you perhaps have an acquaintance who does composition?”
At the major subject teacher’s question, Ryu Se-ah nodded.
And for some reason, she grinned.
Yes. That’s exactly it.
As it happens, there was one composer among the acquaintances she knew well.
Moreover.
“Yes. If you allow it, I think I can show you the best stage.”
Quite an amazing composer.