Chapter 610: Chapter 609:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: AgRoseCrystal

Chapter 609

Cocoa Entertainment’s first floor lobby.

Choi Tae-woo, who arrived at work a little later than usual, was waiting for the elevator with a tired face.

“Hey, Manager Choi, hello. Are you just coming in?”

“Ah, yes. The shooting ended late.”

A staff member from the singer team, who seemed to have bought coffee from the first floor cafe, greeted Choi Tae-woo with both hands holding a coffee carrier. Choi Tae-woo quickly nodded at the familiar face.

“Did you hear that the kids made it to the debut group?”

“Yes. I heard.”

“They worked really hard.”

“Thank you for looking after them. They are sincere kids who always do their best.”

In the past, when Seo-jun was the only actor and the actor team had few staff members, the singer team and the actor team knew each other well. But two years ago, when they moved to the new building and a lot of new staff members joined, the actor team and the singer team barely recognized each other’s faces.

But even so, there were some well-known faces in the singer team, and one of them was Manager Choi Tae-woo, who was standing here.

There were three reasons for that.

The first reason was that he was the one who exposed the plagiarism of [Fire], and the second reason was that he was the former manager of four of the trainees who passed the audition that was held along with the move to the new building two years ago. They were former idols.

And the last reason was that Choi Tae-woo still had no actor assigned to him.

‘He’s not a newbie, but…’

It had been almost two years since he joined the company in September two years ago.

All the experienced managers had actors assigned to them, and the new managers who learned the job also got actors one by one. But Choi Tae-woo, who had experience (although with idols), was still unsettled and only went around where he was needed.

‘He works really hard and well…’

The staff member from the singer team quickly erased the pitying expression and continued with a story that Choi Tae-woo would be happy to hear.

“That’s right. And that’s why their skills keep improving. Their scores for the evaluation at the end of this month were also good.”

“That’s a relief.”

Choi Tae-woo sighed with relief and nodded at the staff member’s words.

‘I thought it would be a problem, but I’m glad it wasn’t.’

He didn’t think about it until the audition, but after the trainees passed the audition and started their trainee life, he became careful as he saw them here and there (mostly at the restaurant). Even though he didn’t come in with connections, he felt like he had to be careful because he had worked with them before.

To the other trainees, it looked like their former manager was in a great position as an employee of the agency.

‘He’s in the actor team, but…’

President Seo Eun-chan and Director Kim Sang-jin knew that too.

They debated whether to tell the trainees that Choi Tae-woo and the four trainees had worked together before, but they decided to just tell them. After all, Choi Tae-woo belonged to the actor team, and he wasn’t powerful enough to influence the trainees’ debut.

‘Our company doesn’t debut groups casually.’

Director Kim Sang-jin told the trainees that fact himself.

This was the place that made Brown Black, White, Red Crown, and Blue Moon successful.

Even Amber, the girl group that debuted earlier this year, achieved the first place on the music site and gained popularity that was not like a rookie.

This was the place that never failed.

This was Cocoa Entertainment.

‘So the next group has to succeed too. We’ll only pick the best ones. If you’re not good enough, we might reduce the number of members from the planned five, or we might recruit new trainees.’

‘…What if we all do well?’

The trainees, who swallowed their saliva at Director Kim Sang-jin’s words, looked at the former leader of the idol group who raised his hand and asked like a warrior.

Director Kim Sang-jin smiled.

‘Then the number of debut group members will increase.’

The trainees’ eyes sparkled.

“I didn’t think it would really increase to seven…”

The staff member from the singer team groaned as he said that the work had increased. But his expression was bright. He seemed to have grown fond of the trainees as he met them in person.

“And four of them were all selected. They’re so talented, I wonder why they were buried until now. What did their previous agency do…”

“Haha. That’s right.”

“Oh, I’m sorry!”

The staff member apologized quickly when he realized that it was not something he should say to Choi Tae-woo, who was their former manager. Choi Tae-woo smiled and shook his head. He knew the behavior of the previous agency better than anyone.

“That’s true. They didn’t teach them properly, and they even learned bad habits. They’re so happy that they fixed them thanks to the teachers.”

“It’s because the kids worked hard. It’s hard to change habits.”

While they were talking for a while, the elevator that was on the upper floor went down to the basement and came back up to the first floor.

“It would be nice if all seven of them debuted. Sometimes there are cases where the group falls apart or the members change right before the debut, even though it never happened in our company.”

“That’s right.”

[First floor.]

As the voice from the elevator flowed out, the elevator door opened. The staff member from the singer team and Choi Tae-woo, who were about to step into the elevator, widened their eyes. There was a person holding a violin case.

It was Director Ahn Da Ho.

…No, why is Director Ahn Da Ho here?!

Cold sweat ran down the backs of the two staff members.

“Hi, hello! Director Ahn! Oh, I, I forgot to buy cookies! You go ahead!!”

He quickly moved away from the elevator and looked enviously at the staff member from the singer team, who said that and ran away. Choi Tae-woo quickly got on the elevator at the voice of Director Ahn Da Ho, who called him, ‘Aren’t you coming? Manager Choi?’

“Hi, hello. Director!”

“Yes. Manager Choi too…”

Something seemed to come to his mind and Director Ahn Da Ho stopped talking.

Choi Tae-woo glanced at Director Ahn Da Ho in the brief silence.

A violin in the director’s hand. There was only one person who needed that and made the director carry it himself.

Actor Lee Seo-joon was here!

“Manager Choi.”

“Ah. Yes!”

He was a little excited, wondering if he could see his face, and Choi Tae-woo quickly answered Director Ahn Da Ho’s call.

“Isn’t today your day off? I heard that Actor Bae Seung-won was shooting until dawn.”

“Ah, yes! That’s… I had nothing to do at home…”

‘So you came to the company?’

Director Ahn Da Ho looked at Choi Tae-woo’s complexion. He was very tired.

He knew that he was diligent and passionate about his work, but he had to rest when he needed to.

“Resting well is also part of the job. Manager Choi. Especially when you’re in charge of driving.”

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

Choi Tae-woo sighed and nodded.

He was a little… no, quite anxious these days because he was the only one who didn’t get an actor assigned to him, so he felt frustrated if he didn’t do this. But he was right. If he drove while sleepy, he could drag not only himself, but also the actor and the other party into trouble.

“I’ll go home right away.”

As he looked at him, Director Ahn Da Ho opened his mouth after thinking for a moment. He was going to tell him next month, but he thought it would be okay to tell him today.

“Then rest properly from now on… And follow me for a moment today.”

“Yes? Yes. I understand.”

Choi Tae-woo nodded at Director Ahn Da Ho’s words and pressed the elevator button. The fifth floor. That was where the singer team’s recording studio was.

“How was the shooting with Actor Bae Seung-won?”

“Ah, there were some NGs, but it ended well. We took enough breaks during the shooting, so Actor Bae Seung-won’s condition was fine, and I think we can proceed with the next schedule without any problem.”

A violin and a recording studio.

Choi Tae-woo wondered what was going on and quickly answered.

“And contrary to the third team’s expectation, the director and the writer didn’t seem to have such a bad relationship. They both had strong tones, so it looked like they were fighting, but when I listened carefully, it was a constructive clash of opinions that helped the work.”

“Did they listen to the actors’ opinions as well?”

“Yes. They even allowed some ad-libs…”

Choi Tae-woo’s report continued until they arrived at the third recording studio.

***

[Third Recording Studio]

“Hello!”

The noisy Blue Moon members greeted Director Ahn Da Ho as he entered the recording studio. They expected him to be there, since he was always with Seo-jun, so they weren’t surprised.

The recording studio, which they thought would be quiet, became noisy. Director Ahn Da Ho, who was momentarily startled, checked their faces and smiled.

“Are you guys coming back soon?”

“Yes. We came to see what’s going on during our break time. Is that okay?”

“As long as Seo-jun is okay with it, it’s fine.”

Director Ahn Da Ho nodded and greeted the engineer (who helped with the narration recording of [Fire]) as well. Then he handed the violin to Seo-jun.

“Here’s the violin.”

“Thanks. Da-ho hyung.”

As Seo-jun took the violin, he noticed Choi Tae-woo behind Director Ahn Da Ho and smiled brightly.

“Oh? Manager Choi is here too? Hello.”

“Hello!”

Seo-jun grinned at the cheerful greeting.

After exchanging greetings for a while, Seo-jun entered the recording studio with the violin.

He felt familiar with the recording studio, since he had been here before for the narration recording of [Fire]. Maybe not as much as the Blue Moon members who were standing behind the glass wall, but still.

“I’ll check the violin for a bit.”

-Okay.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

As the Blue Moon members, Director Ahn Da Ho, and Choi Tae-woo settled down and sat down, Seo-jun took out the violin from the case.

‘It’s good. The tuning is right.’

He was a bit worried because it was a violin that the company used for public purposes, but it was of good quality and well maintained.

‘As expected of our company, huh.’

Seo-jun smiled slightly and rested his chin on the violin. Then he started to play lightly to warm up his fingers. His left fingers tapped the strings of the violin like dancing, and his right hand holding the bow moved like rowing a boat.

‘One, two-’

The melody that moved slowly like counting the beats soon began to flow faster.

Even though it was his first time playing the violin, he seemed to have mastered it as if he had been playing for years. Seo-jun’s color was deeply embedded in the melody of the violin.

“–!”

He finished the practice with a splendid climax and smiled.

“I’m done with the practice. I think we can start recording now.”

***

From the intense melody that squeezed their hearts to the slow and stable melody that relaxed their shoulders. The Blue Moon members, who were amazed by the contrasting performance, expressed their admiration and regret at Seo-jun’s words.

“Practice… That was practice, guys.”

“Ha. Ha. Ha.”

“…I was thinking of learning the violin, but I guess I should give up.”

“But what song is that? It sounded good.”

“Right? Wouldn’t it be nice to use it for the next song?”

Jung Eun-sung asked for Director Ahn Da Ho’s permission and asked Seo-jun through the microphone.

“What song was that just now?”

“Huh?”

Seo-jun tilted his head and Jung Eun-sung pressed the button and spoke into the microphone.

“I want to know so I can use it for the next song.”

“This was just a random play.”

‘…?’

Silence fell over the recording studio. Seo-jun shrugged his shoulders and said, not knowing or caring.

“In other words, an improvisation?”

The engineer and Choi Tae-woo opened their mouths wide, and the Blue Moon members sighed. Only Director Ahn Da Ho smiled quietly.

“…That talent monster.”

“How fun would it be to live like that every day.”

“Right?”

“Noona. Did you record it?”

Baek Yi-hyun asked the engineer, who shook her head.

“I couldn’t. He said it was practice.”

Jung Eun-sung asked Seo-jun.

“Can you play that improvisation again later?”

“Sure.”

As if it was nothing difficult, Seo-jun answered cheerfully and Kim Si-hoon rubbed his forehead.

“…I’m going crazy. He remembers everything even though it’s an improvisation.”

“We already knew that Seo-jun has a good memory. But I think we might not remember it.”

“Right? Even if Seo-jun plays another song, I think we’ll say ‘That was it!’…”

The Blue Moon members nodded silently at Park Yi-deun’s words. It seemed like that would happen.

“Can we record now?”

“Ah! Yes!”

Jung Eun-sung quickly moved away from his seat at Director Ahn Da Ho’s words, who smiled slightly and spoke through the microphone.

“Seo-jun. We’ll start recording now.”

“Yes.”

Seo-jun rested his chin on the violin and took a breath. He looked up as the engineer finished preparing for the recording and gave him a signal.

A silent space where no sound could be heard.

Seo-jun’s left hand lightly tapped the strings of the violin and his right hand moved the bow leisurely. The violin performance began with a soft melody.

No.

It wasn’t Seo-jun.

It was the well-grown,

Gray Vainy.