Chapter 108. Go? Or No Go? (1)

Translator: Synopsis

“Bursting out at this part isn’t so bad. Should I switch things out a little?”

“How?”

Kim JaeHoon showed curiosity towards KangYoon’s work. Kim JaeHoon knew about compositions as well, and that was why this was all the more interesting to him. He wanted KangYoon to burst things out even more than it is now. KangYoon worried for a bit before looking for even more sounds.

However, when he played back the sound, the light turned even murkier.

‘Ugh….’

Seeing a darker grey than before, KangYoon shivered subconsciously. Kim JaeHoon also shook his head this time.

“I think it was better before.”

“You’re right. Let’s go at it again.”

KangYoon looked for other sounds to combine. Many types of musical notes harmonized in front of him. When he did that, the grey from the beginning slowly faded out and white became more apparent. However, grey still remained and made him concerned.

“I think it’s good.”

Not knowing that, Kim JaeHoon was happy that his song was good, but KangYoon shook his head.

“I think it will become awkward if we add the lyrics later. I need to make it so that your voice fits the song well. Can I record your ‘ahh’ voice for a second?”

KangYoon plugged in a microphone and gave it to him. Then, he switched the synthesizer to the grand piano and played a G.

“Aah—.”

“Okay.”

After recording Kim JaeHoon’s voice, KangYoon started looking into more things to play. He had to look for instruments that matched Kim JaeHoon’s vocal frequencies.

“Hyung, I’ll be off first then. I have a schedule to do tomorrow.”

“Okay then.”

In the end, Kim JaeHoon ended up falling asleep without managing to see the finished song.

The next day.

Rubbing his sleepy eyes, Kim JaeHoon walked to the bathroom to wash his face. But then, he saw that KangYoon’s room was open. When he passed by, KangYoon was still in front of the computer.

“Hyun!?”

Kim JaeHoon entered his room withoutk knocking in surprise. KangYoon looked back at him with a very tired expression.

“…Oh, you’re up.”

“Yes. You didn’t have any sleep?”

“Uh, it’s this time already? Well, I’m done anyway. I have a day off too. I’ll be fine.”

KangYoon stood up from his seat and stretched his arms out. His body was screaming in muscular distress.

“The intro is perfect now. Listen to it.”

KangYoon played back the song immediately. The brass instruments bursting out all in one go made Kim JaeHoon fall for it immediately. He drowned in pleasure for those 20 seconds.

The introduction ended when his ‘ahh’ voice started.

“That’s a pity. I wanted to listen to more of it.”

“I had no time, so I’ll let you hear the completed version later. But for now, I need some sleep.”

KangYoon couldn’t endure anymore and collapsed onto his bed. Very soon, he could be heard sleeping.

“He worked so hard during the day, and did all that during the night… you’re amazing, bro.”

Kim JaeHoon shook his head while shrugging his shoulders.

In his view, KangYoon was an amazing man the more he saw him.

***

Signing a contract that stated that one party was buying a building from another, KangYoon shook hands with the former owner of the building.

“Will you be coming in immediately?”

“We’ll take place in a week. There’s a lot to do including some construction work.”

“Okay. Although this building is a little old, its location is something I’m proud about. Please use it well in the future.”

The former owner of the building asked KangYoon to take care of the building well since this had many memories from him.

After the contract was over, Lee HyunJi spoke in joy.

“Yes. Now I feel like things are starting to work.”

“We got this a lot easier than we expected. I thought we would only be able to get it by autumn.”

“Well, you did push the budget a little.”

“Hahaha.”

KangYoon lauaghed awkwardly. He felt that he would never be able to buy a building if he kept going into detail.

“Phew… Just as I thought that we got some room in our finances thanks to JaeHoon… Looks like I’ll have to tighten my belt again. Please consider my situation running the company, would you? My waist size decreased by an inch these days.”

“Weren’t you 24 before?”

“Oh? How did you know that? I don’t remember telling you that.”

(T/N: “tighten one’s belt” = live with a lower budget)

The two had a very bright mood between them. Achieving something gave them inexplicable pleasure, and the two knew how to enjoy it.

Lee HyunJi told KangYoon that she would pay the money by the date, and the matters about the concert hall ended there.

A few days later, Lee HyunJi settled the balance. She had already done things like confirming the certified copy of the register or things related to tax. Since this was buying a building, there were a lot of things to do.

Like that, a concert venue under the name of World Entertainment appeared in Yeonnam-dong, near Hongdae.

After everything was over, KangYoon and Lee HyunJi took White Moonlight to visit their new place.

“…It definitely is wide.”

Lee HyunAh was surprised to see a concert hall that took both the first and second floors. It was definitely wide since the second floor was included as well.

“It seems like it wasn’t originally intended to be used as a concert hall, but as a shopping area. But I bought it since its location was good.”

“Well. That’s true. It’s not far from a subway station. If we promote this well, then we might get a lot of people.”

Lee HyunAh walked forward. Since this place was very wide, her voice echoed quite loudly. Hearing that, she tilted her head. Though, KangYoon spoke as though he understood what she was thinking.

“I’m planning to do a proper acoustic reconstruction here. The clubs near here mostly had horrible acoustic construction with tight spaces. I’m planning to do one properly even if we have to spend a lot of money.”

“Oooh, I’m definitely looking forward to that.”

Lee HyunAh exclaimed out as though this was her dream coming true. The rest of her band was the same.

Lee HyunJi calmly told them.

“The reconstruction will begin next week. We’re planning to use the 3rd and 4th floors as waiting rooms for the performers. We’re planning to use this entire building as a small concert hall.”

“Wow… this isn’t a joke. Is it?”

Lee HyunAh gulped. She was worried that a small company with not a lot of members was going beyond its capabilities. Seeming to notice that, Lee HyunJi calmly told her.

“This is an investment from us to you. You did hear about it, right? You’ll be the ones playing here every week. It will be troublesome for us if you don’t get us any achievements even when we prepared all this for you, right?”

“Th… that’s right.”

Unlike KangYoon’s words, Lee HyunJi’s words pressured them. They now felt the responsibility. The fact that KangYoon stayed silent meant that he implied the same.

After thinking for a while, Lee HyunAh replied in a serious voice.

“Don’t worry, director-unni. This investment. We’ll never let you regret it.”

“Okay. I’ll look forward to that then.”

Lee HyunJi turned around and headed to the place where the broadcast studio will be. She implied that the rest will be up to KangYoon.

“Sheesh. Everyone, listen to the Director’s words well, okay?”

“Yes.”

Thanks to Lee HyunJi’s heavy words, White Moonlight had a slightly heavy atmosphere. Everyone calmly followed behind KangYoon.

KangYoon stood in the empty space where the stage would be. Right now, there was nothing there. KangYoon talked about the facilities he would bring in.

“Over there, we’ll bring a mid-sized speaker. I want to decrease the number of monitor speakers as much as possible. I want the stage as clean as possible, after all.”

“But don’t we need one for each instrument?”

Kim JinDae’s words brought about KangYoon’s agreement.

“Yes. We do need them. If it’s possible, let’s replace them with headsets or in-ear mics. It may be more expensive to do, but it will be a lot better. However, we’ll have to get them ready since other teams performing here may use it.”

“Yes. If we have sufficient monitor speakers and a mixer with enough channels, I think it will do.”

Replied Lee ChaHee. KangYoon also thought that she was right.

KangYoon asked White Moonlight about the things they needed on stage. They each had their own instruments anyway. However, a drum kit and some amps were still necessary. Since they were things that other bands required when they performed here, they decided that they would buy them, and they wrote down other things they needed as well.

While discussing that, time passed by in a flash.

After having a look around the 3rd and 4th floors, Lee HyunJi came back down.

“Let’s go now, then.”

When Lee HyunJi lead the way out, everyone followed suit.

Inside the van heading home, KangYoon asked the members of White Moonlight.

“We need to decide on a name for the hall. What do you think would be good?”

“A name?”

Lee HyunAh shook her head saying that this wasn’t her forte. Everyone pondered seriously about the name.

At that time, Lee HyunJi, who was driving, just threw one out of nowhere.

“How about Lunas?”

“Lunas?”

When KangYoon showed curiosity, Lee HyunJi continued.

“Luna is the goddess of the moon, isn’t it? White Moonlight, Luna. Goddesses. Don’t they seem related?”

“That’s good. How about it?”

“It’s good!”

Kim JinDae thought that it was very cool, while Lee ChaHee thought that the name was more suited for a coffee shop, but everyone rather liked the name.

On their way back.

World Entertainment’s new concert hall, Lunas, was born.

President Choo ManJi of Yoonseul Entertainment was all smiles recently.

His 5-girl idol group, DiaTeen, was doing very well in the absence of Eddios, while other entertainers of his company was rising as well. Thanks to that, the stocks of his company was rising by the day. The shareholders and directors all looked at him very pleasantly.

However, despite all that, just one thing was not to his liking.

‘Ah, Eddios… I need to crush that Eddios once and for all.’

In his own office, he was tearing his hear out while looking at a news portal about entertainers. In the article, the journalist said that he or she was going to compare the charm points of Eddios and DiaTeen and compared their respective leaders, Jung MinAh and Kang SeGyung.

‘Why is our SeGyung second!’

The article said that Jung MinAh was superior to Kang SeGyung by about 55:45. This was a much better result than before where it was mostly 80:20 or 70:30.

The problem was the comments section. It was as though Jung MinAh had some fanatic followers of her own, as the comments section all talked about Jung MinAh. Although DiaTeen received positive feedback, many people found her lacking when compared against Jung MinAh. Especially regarding dancing.

However, he was cool-headed.

‘This is because each of their members have strong characteristics. Jung MinAh for dancing, Han JooYeo for singing, Lilie (T/N: Ailee?) for acting cute. A month or two of difference is really hard to overcome. I don’t think there’s much difference in their skills… We were pushed back in marketing.’

During Eddios’s debut days, MG Entertainment’s marketing was very strong. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the biggest girl idol group fandom was made back then. President Choo ManJi didn’t try to clash head-on against that fandom, and slowly shaved away from the outer rim. If he did clash head one, DiaTeen may have been buried way before. Eddios was that strong back then.

However, the moon wanes after it’s full. With Eddios’s long-term stay in the US, their fans had left them, and were slowly becoming more and more forgotten. It wasn’t like they achieved any success there either. However, it was unknown what the directors at MG were thinking, and they didn’t seem to have any intentions on bringing them back.

‘Are they planning to not contract them again? Although I did hear that they were raising a new girl group, but I’m not sure if they’ll be as strong as Eddios… Did they ask for something unreasonable? I wouldn’t know.’

Although he didn’t know about the internal affairs of another company, this was an opportunity for him and DiaTeen. He closed his browser, then called for his secretary.

“Secretary Han. Call SeGyung in her practice room to come up.”

– Yes, sir.

After a brief while, a lady with a short violet hair entered his office.

“Sit.”

She greeted the president and sat down.

“SeGyung, is practice going well these days?”

“Yes. We’ll have our comeback soon, won’t we? Everyone’s trying hard.”

“Well, you girls can take care of yourselves now.”

He asked about their progress. Kang SeGyun talked about how they’ve been doing lately.

After that discussion, President Choo ManJi went into topic.

“The title song this time, why don’t we get it from another place this time?”

“Another place?”

Kang SeGyung tilted his head. Until now, the title songs for all of their albums were composed internally within the company. She also didn’t question her company’s style. But now, they were getting an external one to do one for them.

“Are you trying to give a change?”

“Change? Well, I guess you can say that. You know, the hot composer these days. You’ve heard of him haven’t you? About Muse.”

“Yes. Of course I have. You mean the one that rose through Korea ONE STAR, right? He’s pretty famous nowadays… and people all said that Jay Han won the program thanks to him.”

“The internet was one thing, but this side was an uproar too. He should have gotten quite a lot of requests this time, I think. But seeing that he’s still quiet, I think he’s being cautious. Maybe he’s trying to raise his value… but I heard that he’s at World Entertainment, where Kim JaeHoon is currently at. I think he has good senses, and I think it would be pretty good to ask him for a song this time. If the song is good, we’ll have to invest. Let’s go there with me tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

After everything was over and Kang SeGyung was about to leave, President Choo ManJi stopped her.

“SeGyung.”

“Yes? Do you have something else to talk about?”

“Let’s put some filler in your nose when you do your comeback this time.”

“Eeek? Why? My nose is quite high already! I don’t want to do it!”

“It’s just a joke.”

When President Choo ManJi giggled, Kang SeGyung shivered.

***

“This is the primary shopping list for the equipment we need. There are things that aren’t sold domestically, so you’ll have to look into a lot of things.”

“I’m not that knowledgeable with musical equipment….”

Jung HyeJin was worried after receiving the list from KangYoon. However, KangYoon told her about foreign music sites and blogs that explained in detail.

“If you see here, there are websites that lead you to where you can buy them. Compare their prices and calculate the date they can come in the country by, as well as the taxes. The construction can only start once they’re all in place.”

“Okay….”

Jung HyeJin sighed deeply saying that she got another difficult workload. Understanding her, KangYoon added one final line.

“After this is over, I’ll give you vacation and a bonus.”

“Please leave it to me!”

Her eyes were suddenly lit on fire.

After his work was over at work and he was about to go down to the studio, Lee HyunJi stepped into his office. Behind her were two guests.

“President, you have guests.”

“Guests?”

When KangYoon saw, it was a man with narrow eyes and a thin body. Behind him was a lady with a short, violet hair that looked to be an entertainer.

“Whoa. It really was you, Mr. KangYoon. No, I guess you’re President KangYoon now. It’s so nice to see you here.”

“President Choo?”

KangYoon stood up from his seat and accepted the hand that was offered to him. Although this visit was outside his expectation, he met the guest with a bright smile.

Jung HyeJin gave them coffee and the four sat down on the sofa.

The first words came from President Choo ManJi.

“I only heard that you started your business a while ago, so I wasn’t able to send you any flowers. Please excuse me.”

“Not at all.”

KangYoon shook his head. He was curious about President Choo’s business with him. After briefly talking about recent matters, President Choo ManJi’s business came out.

“I want to buy Muse’s song.”

“Who is going to sing it?”

President Choo ManJi pointed at the lady next to him.

“DiaTeen. I wanted to see the composer that is producing many good songs nowadays. I heard that I could meet one here.”

A song for DiaTeen.

Although this was unintentional, didn’t this mean that he had to create a song for Eddios’s competitors by his own hand?

KangYoon felt somewhat strange at this offer.