Chapter 102. Hot Spring (3)

Translator: Synopsis

Inside a club in Koreatown, LA.

6 women were receiving spotlights on a stage. Their colorful voices and fancy performance was giving the audience a great time.

“WHOAAAA— “

“Are You Eddi? Eddios!” (T/N: A pun on ‘are you ready’ I suppose…)

The audience shouted with the official cheering slogan for Eddios. The easy-to-follow melody and the fun dance revitalized everyone. After shouting, laughing, and enjoying their time, the stage was over in an instant.

“Thank you.”

Eddios – the girls exited the stage after bidding the audience goodbye greetings in Korean before leaving the stage. They quickly left the club and got in the van that was waiting. The manager, who was waiting for them, started up the car along with encouragements.

When the car left the bustling district, the woman in the front seat – Han JooYeon – started grumbling.

“How long are we going to perform in Korea Towns?”

Sighed she as she looked at the bags under her eyes through her phone. When they first came to America, their ambitions, such as performing in the Times Square, or appearing on the largest music channel of America, the MMTV, made them excited, but by now, they didn’t even think about such a thing in their dreams. No, it would be more correct to say that they experienced the wall of reality.

As though sympathizing with her words, A tall women by her side interjected.

“It was only a few months ago that we went to New York…. But I think we’re only going around Korea Towns now. There aren’t any news articles about us either….”

“HanYu, you think so too? Actually… me too.”

Sympathizing with what Seo HanYu was thinking, Han JooYeon shoulders drooped. The powerless expression on her face was enough to tell the difficulty of their lives here.

Going around Korea Towns was no different from doing things in Korea. The girls found it very fatiguing that they were going around such biased stages in the largest frontier of music, the Billboard charts. They all wanted to jump into the greatest stage that was the Billboard charts. However, the wall of reality was very thick.

The atmosphere inside the van was very dark. All the girls had dark expressions. At that time, the woman with the tied hair at the very back of the seats, Jung MinAh, spoke.

“We still have a schedule to do. There are people that still like us. Why does it matter if we’re in Korea or America?”

“…….”

Thinking that she was correct, everyone became quiet. She continued.

“Whether it’s the Korea Town’s or the Times Square, we should be thankful that we get to perform at all. Actually, I have it hard to, but we’re still doing well! Let’s just endure until December!”

“Yeah, that’s right. It’s just until December!”

The woman who was using Jung MinAh’s laps as pillows, Christie An, also shouted out loud. The girls all raised their hands cheers in sympathy. Everyone was dearly awaiting December, as though something would happen then.

The van soon became bustling with talks about December. The managers reacted sensitively to that.

The van then headed to their next schedule.

***

– I can’t believe you let me down —

Kim JaeHoon’s distinct low voice rang across the plaza. The visitors, who never even imagined that they would be able to see Kim JaeHoon at a theme park, all ran towards where the stage was in joy, as they suddenly got this rare opportunity to listen to Kim JaeHoon in person.

KangYoon was watching this from the side of the stage.

‘He’s definitely getting his former skills back.’

Looking at the notes from Kim JaeHoon, KangYoon nodded in satisfaction. The more the people gathered, the better his voice seemed to be getting. One lady fan at the front seats had dreamy eyes as though she was enchanted by his voice. No, it wasn’t just her, many of the audience were in similar states.

With Kim JaeHoon showing off his skills, KangYoon also liked it. But at that time, his phone started ringing.

[President Yoo from Rebirth is calling once an hour. It’s somewhat off to block him. What do we do?]

It was a text message from Lee HyunJi. She asked since there might be some trouble if she blocked it and that caused troubles for KangYoon.

‘That Yoo MinSung fella, he’s quite the disturbance everywhere.’

KangYoon immediately gave the word – to block the number. Lee HyunJi had done enough facing off against that guy. She should have heard some vicious words, and she should have felt very frustrated as well. KangYoon also added that she should never call them back whether personally, or in business. When he messaged back, a reply came back immediately.

[What do we do if they come to find us?]

[Call the police, of course.]

[Wouldn’t that make things worse?]

When Lee HyunJi was worried, KangYoon reassured her saying that they will never come to their company. Lee HyunJi also seemed to have thought the same and finished the message there.

Meanwhile, Kim JaeHoon’s song was reaching its peak as well. KangYoon thought to himself while looking at Kim JaeHoon pushing himself with his voice.

‘In the past (previous life) Yoo MinSung was notorious for overseas gambling. He even got famous comedians and actors into this gambling scandal and was at the center of this whole thing. There was even a saying that you should go to Yoo MinSung if you want to know about gambling in the entertainment industry.’

KangYoon remembered this incident very clearly. In his previous life, this was an incident that caused a massive uproar. It involved three famous actors as well as two well-known comedians.

– Cause you – don’t think—

Kim JaeHoon’s voice kept coming out of the large speakers. It was now the ending parts of the song. KangYoon thought about how he should deal with President Yoo MinSung as he watched Kim JaeHoon leaving his immersion into the song.

‘Right now, I don’t know what the people involved in my previous life’s gambling scandal are doing now. My first course of action should be to look into that. There are many things that changed as I returned to the past. I need to investigate this in detail. This is also a very sensitive topic, so I should ready myself well.’

Receiving the cheers from the audience, Kim JaeHoon looked very happy. His figure, immersed in the song, was shining very brightly. His uniquely low, yet rising voice was leading the audience somewhere.

However, would he be able to sing that well if he knew that his previous boss was causing trouble? President Yoo MinSung should have known about this fact and intentionally did that interview to pressure both KangYoon and Kim JaeHoon.

“Only a fool would be led by the nose.”

“What is?”

Just as KangYoon organized his thoughts, Kim JaeHoon exited the stage after the song. KangYoon nonchalantly received him.

“Nothing. Well done. Is your condition okay?”

“Not at all. I think we traveled long enough to circle the entire country three times.”

“If it’s too hard, then just say it to me. I’ll loosen it up for you.”

When KangYoon offered him water, Kim JaeHoon drank the whole thing in one go. Water was awesome for a fatigued body.

KangYoon patted his shoulders and they headed to the van. Even though he said that, Kim JaeHoon had a smile on his face. Although he was currently digesting a tough schedule, it wasn’t like he was continuously doing concerts. There were other schedules intermittently. Thanks to that, he was doing pretty well despite the schedule.

After the concert, they were about to get in the van and leave when some lady fans approached and asked for autographs. When KangYoon asked Kim JaeHoon’s opinion, he kindly decided to autograph them. He even took a photo with them as well. KangYoon smiled in satisfaction seeing that he was taking care of his fans despite the tough schedule.

“Well, a veteran sure is different, alright.”

“I’m still far. Rather than that, hyung, I can really feel your experience. Did you say you were a manager for 7 years? It’s really awesome going around with you. Especially in concerts. I don’t need to concern myself with anything.”

Kim JaeHoon complimented KangYoon for his management skills. Although Kim JaeHoon was a rather easy-going man normally, he became a sensitive perfectionist when it came to concerts. In that sense, KangYoon was supporting him flawlessly in everything. By himself too.

“You overestimate me.”

KangYoon just laughed as always and they left the theme park.

The time was nearing evening rush hour. It would be foolish to take the main roads. KangYoon chose to take roads that people did not usually take. With the car going to roads some of which didn’t even look like roads, Kim JaeHoon had to hold tight. Although the driving wasn’t rough, his head started spinning

“Urgh…!”

“We’re almost there. Hold it in.”

No matter how well he cared for Kim JaeHoon, it wasn’t so easy to do that with bumpy roads.

***

“Easy music; visual music – these are what’s becoming popular. The characteristics of visual music is that it’s easy to follow, but people have to enjoy what they see on top of using melodies that are easy to remember. Following that…….”

Park SoYoung was currently taking notes of things that the professor was speaking about at the front. Her notebook was already full of various colored ink. The lecture from the man that was just over his 40s was easy to follow and fun.

“…Let’s stop here for today.”

The lecture ended. The students revitalized again after the tough lecture.

Park SoYoung also stretched her arms as she stood up. Her skinny stomach peeked out between her T-shirt and jeans.

“SoYoung. Wanna go for a round?”

“Sorry, I have reports to do.”

“Oh well. Do hang out with us later.”

Park SoYoung refused the male senior’s offer and headed to the library. She was very popular at college with her small figure, yet confident personality. Moreover, it wasn’t like she boasted, so the girls didn’t exactly hate her either.

After eating a few pieces of bread for dinner, Park SoYoung headed to the library. She booked a seat in the study room and went upstairs to borrow some books and started writing her report. Due to the conservative mindset of the professor, she had to write the report by hand.

(T/N: I’m not sure about other countries, but in Korea, you have to ‘book’ your seat in the study room of the library. Otherwise, you can’t use it. It’s usually full during the exam period.)

‘Baroque or Rococo or whatever….’

After writing the report until her hands started hurting, she even confused a musical style with an architectural style. Although she had good concentration, she couldn’t win against the pain in her hand and stood up.

‘I’ll rest for a bit… ugh.’

Park SoYoung left the study room and headed to the vending machine outside the library. She was about to insert a coin but she slipped and the coin fell on the floor.

“Argh, dammit!”

When she vented out her frustration, a couple nearby flinched and walked away. Not seeming to mind, Park SoYoung picked up the coin and bought a can of coffee.

‘Do I have to stay up overnight?’

She was worried since the deadline was close, but then, her phone started ringing. It was a foreign call. A 213 area code of a +1 country code. It was from America. There was only one place she would receive a phone call from in America.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Is it HeeYoon?”

– Oh? You know immediately now?

“Hehe, sure I do! How have you been doing?”

It was from her friend, HeeYoon. Park SoYoung’s voice became much brighter hearing her friend’s voice she hadn’t heard for quite a long time.

When Park SoYoung voiced her concerns about the expensive foreign calls, HeeYoon relieved her by saying that she had enough money for that.

– So, after graduation is a problem everywhere. It’s hard to get a job nowadays, right?”

“HeeYoon, you must have it good. You have your brother. You can make all the songs you want….”

There was faint envy contained in her voice. In Park SoYoung’s perspective, KangYoon would be lenient with HeeYoon’s songs since it was his sister’s. However, the response she got completely broke that.

– Do you know how hard nagged me when I first sent him a song? At first, he told me to do it again after hearing just the intro. I was about to cry when he told me to do it again when he didn’t even listen to the first verse.

“Well, KangYoon-oppa might be the person to do that. A veteran like him should have been exposed to many kinds of songs.”

– SoYoung, you should give my brother your song too. You can have him evaluate it. You’re going the songwriter route, aren’t you?

“Eek? My song? No way. How can I do that?”

– Who knows, you might coincidentally make a great song. My brother doesn’t consider reputation when it comes to work.

Park SoYoung’s face reddened when she heard that. This was very different from the time she let KangYoon listen to her song for her college entrance exam. What’s more, she didn’t have confidence in herself – is she really at a level where she could show her work to others?

Not seeming to mind, HeeYoon finished the call saying that it was time.

– If we talk more, the call would be too expensive. I’ll call you later.

“Okay. Have a great time there. Are you coming to Korea this year?”

– I’m not sure. I should be able to go there at least once though. I guess I have to meet the members of the company.

“See you at that time then.”

Park SoYoung finished her call with her friend.

Although this was an enjoyable call, every time they hung up, she felt rather bitter.

‘How am I supposed to live on?’

She continued to compare herself against HeeYoon and worried about the future.

***