Chapter 147. A One-off Single (5)

Translator: Chamber

Editor: Illidan

Today was the day of the weekly market.

The cast of Modern Farmer was visiting the market in order to sell the apples that they had harvested themselves.

“Wow-!”

Yoo NaYoon exclaimed when she had a look at the rather traditional atmosphere that was full of bustling activity. As she lived her entire life in the city, this kind of traditional market was unfamiliar, yet brought out the curiosity in her.

“Over there, there’s tteokbokki!”

“That looks so tasty!”

Kim HyunJung and Yeri, who were of the same age, gulped when they saw steam coming off the street foods sold at various stalls. There were soondae, Korean-style pancakes, and many other types of food as well which made them hungry.

“Producer~”

Yoon SeulGi appealed her hunger to the producer while acting cute, but producer Yeo WoonHyun mercilessly ignored her. They were supposed to buy some themselves if they had the ability to.

“…So cruel.”

Yoon SeulGi grumbled while kicking at the ground. This was all captured by the camera.

Like that, everyone had to say goodbye to the tteokbokki and had to move towards an empty lot to sell the apples.

The cast was split into two teams. They were going to compete with each other to see who sold more apples. Their dinner would be bought with the profits of their merchandise, and the losing team would be the ones to cook.

“We’ll win!”

“We can’t lose!”

Miri and Yeri ended up in different teams and resolved to do better. The two, who were of the same age, considered the other a rival. Both of them wanted to eat the food cooked by the other.

Everyone started attracting people to sell things. Since there was a camera around, people knew that this was filmed and they gathered around to see what’s happening.

However, spending money was a different problem.”

“Come here. These apples are delicious.”

“….”

Miri awkwardly appealed to a man that was walking around, but he hesitated a few times due to the expensive price and left.

‘Ah….’

They thought that this would be relatively smooth since this was for a TV show and all, but it didn’t go as easy as they had expected. Moreover, this was in the countryside. Rather than current idols, old singers like Song HakTae were more popular here.

Although Modern Farmer was a hit among the masses right now, the faces of the cast didn’t seem as well known and they had little success.

However, there was always an exception.

“Yes, welcome. Madam, how much would you like?”

“Can I pick this and this?”

“Of course. Rather than that one, though, this one looks better.”

“You’re right. Give me that one then. My word, such a pretty lady is good at selling things too.”

“Thank you.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Lee SamSoon! It was her again.

The picky countryside ladies were flocking towards her team. This young fella knew what she was doing, and was pretty to boot.

As more time passed, all the people flocked towards her.

‘What the hell is her identity?’

All of the remaining cast was flabbergasted by her skills. Success? She had already sold her batch of apples and was now selling Nael’s share since they happened to be next to each other.

“Everyone! This isn’t the ordinary apple that you see every day! Ma’am, over here!”

“A~pples, apples are here!”

Nael was completely swayed away by Lee SamSoon’s rhythm and was helping her out subconsciously.

‘I’ve picked up something great today as well!’

Producer Yeo WoonHyun was excited. There was nothing to edit out when Lee SamSoon was in action. Moreover, this time, she wasn’t alone in her heroic deeds. Nael was with her as well. To him, her presence was a blessing.

‘I can’t lose to her!’

Seeing Lee SamSoon’s actions, everyone else’s fighting spirit sparked as well.

That day, the selling of apples ended very successfully, whether it was for content, or for actual mercantile success.

***

XT-Hall in Samseong-dong.

Jung MinAh’s showcase, with the popular celebrity Tayo as the host, had begun.

Although Tayo was very expensive to cast, he had cut down the price of hiring him, since Ailee was going to appear on the same TV program as him. He was paid almost a quarter of his normal rate. This was Ailee’s unexpected achievement. Thanks to that, Lee HyunJi’s gaze was very soft when she looked at Ailee.

Tayo smoothly and wittily introduced the opening singer, Eunha.

“Hello, I’m Eunha.”

When Kim JiMin came out, people applauded. The claps were very loud as the audience seemed to like anyone from the same company as Eddios.

“The warm sunlight — I want to walk this place with you –”

Her plentiful and husky voice pleased the ears of the audience. People opened their hearts up due to the cheerful nature of the music.

The ten-plus cameras prepared by Sace also recorded without rest. It recorded both Eunha, who sang with her eyes closed, as well as the audience who waved their glowing sticks while shouting Eunha. This was all live streamed to the internet.

Meanwhile.

KangYoon was standing behind the stage along with Lee HyunJi.

“That was tiring.”

Lee HyunJi leaned back against the wall and heaved a deep sigh. While KangYoon was at the TV station, she had to prepare for the rehearsal as well as everything else in XT Hall. She had to lead Kim JaeHoon, Kim JiMin, and other singers in this place.

KangYoon smiled.

“Thank you for your work.”

“I don’t think I’m ready to hear those words yet. The showcase has just begun.”

“I guess that’s true. But, still. You’ve worked hard while I wasn’t here.”

What if Lee HyunJi wasn’t here? KangYoon couldn’t imagine such a thing. Only because of her presence could he focus on the program at the TV station. Gaining a colleague like this wasn’t easy.

Lee HyunJi waved her hands and spoke.

“Aaah, there’s no next time though. President, you take care of everything music-related next time. I’ll take care of the business side of things.”

“Hahaha.”

She shook her head as though she had enough.

Even the usually calm Kim JaeHoon and the adorable Kim JiMin changed into different people when they went up on stage. Through the dry, dress, and camera rehearsals, she had gotten her fair share of the pickiness of singers.

“It’s howling? Low? High? To my ears, they sound the same. I don’t know how they can be so sensitive about the sound. Am I really the director of an entertainment company? I felt pathetic. I should study some more music theory or something….”

“Well, if they had the same level of knowledge as ordinary people, they would be hard-pressed to be called singers.”

“I guess that’s true.”

Kim JiMin’s part was nearing its end. The audience sang along with her while passionately calling out her name, and Kim JiMin received their energy and properly came to an end.

“Thank you.”

“Waaaa—!”

When Kim JiMin exited the stage, Tayo appeared again. Now, it was Jung MinAh’s turn to come up. Seeing that the atmosphere was heated up already, he introduced Jung MinAh without talking much.

Along with his introduction, Jung MinAh appeared, which made the people that arrived here to watch her all cheer out loud.

“So this is the start.”

Lee HyunJi held her breath when she saw Jung MinAh lightly introduce herself. KangYoon was the same.

Soon, the bold sound of brass came out and Jung MinAh started stepping rhythmically. When she got to the point of doing an elbow stand, the entirety of XT Hall cheered out loud.

Lee HyunJi was satisfied, yet worriedly spoke.

“That’s a super cool dance. The reactions are good as well, but that move right there, I’m worried that it may take a toll on her body.”

KangYoon was aware of this already.

“You’re right. It will be difficult to stay active for a long time with that dance. In the first place, I asked the crew leader Bang to create a powerful dance only suited for well-cushioned stages. B-boys and B-girls get injured frequently, but we can’t afford to have MinAh doing the same. Her activities will be over in 2 weeks so it should be fine.”

“If you say so… But isn’t the activity period a little short?”

“Stimulus will only last a little. We were prepared to make losses with MinAh anyway.”

Their real objective was Eddios. He wasn’t trying to profit off the girls individually. His real intention was to stage a grand comeback for Eddios.

Lee HyunJi understood, but she still spoke worriedly.

“But we were able to profit off almost everything we did until now, so it’s a little pity about MinAh. Looks like you should get to work, president.”

“It does look like that.”

Lee HyunJi showed disappointment about the use of budget. This was especially the case since KangYoon had never taken losses in doing something until now. However, this time, they had no choice since the investment was quite high.

While the two were talking about various things, Jung MinAh’s stage finished.

“Thank you!”

“Waaaa—! Jung. Min. Ah! Jung. Min. Ah!”

When Jung MinAh thanked them, Aries, Eddios’s fan club, cheered out loud enough to fill the entire hall. Tayo waited for them to calm down a little, but time was lacking in order to cool down the heat.

In the end, Jung MinAh raised her hand with an awkward expression and they died down.

Jung MinAh, now standing with Tayo, started conversing on stage. He asked about what the fans wanted to know in a smooth manner – from how she had been doing until now to the most important topic, about Eddios.

“Hm… If I do well, I guess?”

“Hahaha.”

Jung MinAh wittily replied to the question that asked when Eddios would make their comeback.

“Although not yet. We will definitely release an album within the year. We’re all doing our best to meet you again in our best forms, so please wait a little more.”

The fans applauded at her answer. Even the fans that had no interest in Eddios were surprised by her answer.

Her words also spread through the internet through the stream.

***

“Ah dammit….”

Producer Yang SangChul was taking heavy steps while biting his lips. Next to him was chief producer Kim ChooYeon.

In front of the president’s office, chief producer Kim ChooYeon grabbed onto producer Yang’s shoulders, hard.

“I’ll ask you again. Are you crazy? Who told you to boycott MinAh’s stage?”

“No, I didn’t boycott her. I really didn’t get anything.”

“Shut up, you damned thing. Do you think their CEO is an idiot? He came here multiple times to look for you.”

“….”

“Urgh, idiot. You should boycott what you should. Why do it on someone as big as MinAh… Forget it. I’m not involved in this anymore.”

Chief producer Kim ChooYeon knocked on the president’s office while suppressing his thoughts. He heard a deep voice telling them to come in. When the two entered, a luxurious mahogany chair turned around, showing the grumpy face of the CEO.

The president abruptly stood up and pointed at the two.

“Kim CP (chief producer), you damned f*cker. Are you sane? How are you managing your juniors?”

“…I apologize, sir.”

“Apologize? Will apologizing solve anything? How are you going to solve this problem? The media is pouring bucketloads of insults about how we are discriminating singers!”

Their boss threw the papers right at them. Chief producer Kim Choo Yeon closed his eyes in fear, and producer Yang SangChul carefully picked up on the papers.

– Public TV boycotts MinAh?

– The tyranny of public TV stations. Can it be allowed to stay this way?

– Is there a place for small-scale entertainment companies?

There were screenshots of news articles from the web on those papers. These articles all speculated that public TV stations did not allocate a stage for MinAh of Eddios and as a result of that, she only had one cable TV stage.

Producer Yang SangChul felt wronged.

“P, president. Running a program is the authority of the producer. Trashy journalists blabbing about w….”

The president considered that a nonsensical excuse and shouted.

“Shut up! Who are you to say anything? Hey, Kim CP, how are you educating your juniors?”

“…I’m very sorry.”

“Ah, forget it. Rather than that. Hey, you damned PD (producer), listen carefully. Your fault is that you gave something for those trashy journalists to bite on. Why give them something that they can grab onto? You were absent when that World CEO came to visit? Do you think that person is an idiot? Only coming when you just happened to not be here? Being absent for 3 times in a row just doesn’t make sense! Actually, forget that. What the hell does it mean by ‘working outside of the office’ in a liaison team? All they do is sit in front of the phone every day!”

“Authority of the producer? Responsibility follows authority. Why do you think they’re saying all those things? It’s because of abusing authority! Why did you have to make them broadcast live to the internet when there’s a damned TV station? If we gave them a slot, they wouldn’t have had to do such a thing.”

“…Did they say such a thing?”

“Hey!”

Another lump of paperwork flew at him as well. Producer Yang SangChul felt like crying. This was the first time he had eaten so many insults ever since he had become a producer.

“Hey, Kim CP. Get that bastard out of my face, NOW!”

“…Hey, get out.”

Chief producer Kim ChooYeon glared at Yang SangChul. Producer Yang SangChul appealed with his eyes, but this senior of his was cruel.

“Seonbae-nim…”

“Ah, get out already!”

In the end, producer Yang SangChul left with teary eyes.

The president’s office was left with two people – the president and the chief producer.

“Hey, swap that guy out.”

“Yes, president.”

“…It’s a good thing that the other stations did the same. If we were the only ones to do that… Phew, I don’t even want to imagine.”

“…I’m sorry for not managing those below me….”

Chief producer Kim ChooYeon looked down. The president lit up a cigarette while offering him one as well. Chief producer Kim also sighed while accepting it.

The cigarette seemed to have toned down the president a little and he spoke in a deep voice.

“For now, salvage the situation. Do a MinAh-special stage this weekend or something about it to get out of this situation. Do NOT think that time will solve this problem.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And swap that guy out at all costs. He’s a cancer to our company.”

Chief producer Kim ChooYeon nodded his head strongly.

Not long later, one producer of a popular program was transferred to a non-popular program.

***

President’s office, Yerang Entertainment.

President Kang ShiMyoung was taking a call while stirring the cup of coffee that the lady secretary had brewed for him.

“What? Wait a minute, what did you just….”

However, he had to let go of the teaspoon hearing the other person’s words.

– The company is not in a good situation right now. The media as well. I shall call you at a later date.

And the call ended one-sidedly. As this rarely happened, president Kang ShiMyoung was flabbergasted.

‘Sace, huh…’

President Kang ShiMyoung couldn’t hide his surprise. Using a method like partnering up with a web portal that’s looking to expand to other fields and streaming the entire showcase live to the internet to overcome this problem… Moreover, this happened in XT Hall as well. The visitors were spreading rumors on the internet about how it was so great.

– The first live broadcast of a music showcase. MinAh. The effects?

– MinAh’s showcase stage. Ends on a great note.

– Eddios’s comeback countdown? MinAh’s showcase ends very successfully.

“Haa….”

Looking at the endless articles about Jung MinAh, president Kang ShiMyoung sighed.

“I’m sure that they re-directed their funds to do that. This comeback-like debut definitely did take place since there was a showcase. But people must be talking about why there isn’t a TV show that shows her.”

There were several hundred videos about MinAh on the video platform Tune. Sace also did their best to promote MinAh, so they were getting all the PR they needed through the internet. Moreover, her performance this time didn’t just emphasize her feminine beauty but also the cool charm about her as well which satisfied both genders so the number of views was rising endlessly.

President Kang ShiMyoung bit his lips.

“…I knew I had the right feeling. World will not end like this.”

The Korean music market was already concentrated. And he did not have any intention of sharing the pie with a latecomer. Chasing the forerunner while cutting the path of the latecomer. This anti-competitive strategy was the foundation of Yerang Entertainment.

“…I’ve met a difficult opponent this time.”

President Kang ShiMyoung creased his brows. His opponent this time wasn’t as easy as he had thought.