Raising a Neglected Singer-Songwriter - Chapter 70



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Raising a Neglected Singer-Songwriter Episode 70

70. Return it with interest

As I got out of the van, a familiar underground parking lot greeted me.

A parking lot where he had been in charge of registration just a month ago.

It was also my job to register the VIP vehicles.

Now, on the contrary, I am in the position of visiting as a VIP···.

It is impossible not to feel a new sense of emotion.

one side,

“You’re here.”

The general affairs team, which was in charge of the meeting, was there to greet us.

This is Jo Ah-young, the youngest employee who took over Cha Seong-jun’s duties.

“Wow, senior!! Are you really my senior?!! Awesome?!!”

Jo Ah-young, who reunited with Cha Sung-jun after a month, opens her eyes wide and lets out a sigh of admiration.

I think you said it was a close match.

This is not the Cha Seong-jun I saw at work.

The aura you feel is just that of a celebrity.

“Hello, Ayoung. How have you been? Are you having any trouble at work?”

“It’s a secret… I’m making mistakes little by little.”

After exchanging greetings, I followed Jo Ah-young.

Manager Oh Hae-soo and Director Baek Seok, who came with us specially for today’s meeting.

The destination is the VIP meeting room.

This time, she was invited as a guest to the place where Yuna had previously held meetings.

dripping-

As I knocked and entered the meeting room, I was greeted by friendly faces.

Number one and number two in the general affairs team in charge of the healing concert.

They were the team leader and deputy manager Kim Ok-sun.

“Team leader, assistant manager, it’s been a while.”

The two people respond to Cha Seong-jun’s greeting with a slight eye contact.

Then the two people glanced at the head of the meeting room and exchanged glances.

There was another figure sitting there, both unfamiliar and familiar.

He was a middle-aged man with a dignified yet well-groomed appearance.

‘Huh… Surely, it’s not that person I know…?’

A person suddenly came to mind, but I couldn’t be sure.

Because he was someone you wouldn’t expect to attend a place like this.

At this time,

It was Baek-seok who clearly revealed the mysterious man’s identity.

“Sir, it’s been a pleasure working with you.”

Baek-seok bows politely and greets the middle-aged man.

Only after hearing that title did Cha Seong-jun completely remember who the man was.

‘Are you really CEO Han Jae-ryong?!’

It was the middle-aged, dashing, and handsome CEO of Saehyang Cosmetics, Han Jae-ryong.

Also known by the code name ‘Jaedragon’ among the staff.

“Hello again, Director Baek. Has it been two months since Yuna was selected as the brand model?”

Han Jae-ryong shook Baek Seok’s hand after receiving his greeting.

After that, his hand reached out to Cha Seong-jun, who was standing next to him.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Han Jae-ryong. I heard from the general affairs manager that you’re a member of our ‘Sae-hyang’ family.”

“Yes, sir. This is Seongjun.”

“Well, you’re even more handsome than I’d heard. You’re a talent that’s too good to be only in ‘Saehyang’.”

“You are too kind.”

The aura of a corporate leader is evident in the way he treats all his subordinates with courtesy.

“I didn’t know the president would attend this meeting.”

“Oh, I’m a bit interested in this healing concert. I’ll just sit and watch, so you can pretend I’m not there and talk among yourself.”

When Baek Seok asks, Han Jae Ryong starts to act cute.

I’ll just sit and watch…

This statement should not be taken literally.

The atmosphere of a meeting involving the CEO of a company is bound to change 180 degrees.

In particular, it comes with a great deal of pressure on the other party to the contract.

So, Han Jae-ryong’s role is to be a totem for Saehyang to take the initiative in this meeting.

Anyway, after that, meetings regarding the healing concert contract began in earnest.

What both sides want to discuss is none other than the event costs.

The head of the general affairs team, who was the speaker for Saehyang, was the first to present the event fee they had set.

“Can you do 3 songs for 20 million won?”

It was a cost that was 10 million won higher than the 10 million won that Cha Seong-jun knew before leaving the company.

But honestly, the unit price wasn’t right.

Although Cha Sung-jun is a rookie who has not even debuted for a month,

Considering the current popularity, etc., if you just compare the ranks, it is no less than that of top tier singers.

You should get paid at least 2 thousand per song.

If you buy 3 songs, you get a discount so it’s usually around 5,000 won.

Cha Seong-jun had already expressed his desire to participate in the event as much as possible, regardless of the cost.

However, it was unknown what Baek Seok, a businessman with a clear distinction between public and private affairs, would think.

And finally Baek Seok opened his mouth.

“The unit price is not right. If it were Seongjun, he would have to receive at least 5 thousand for 3 songs.”

MXM Entertainment’s cool-headed leader, Baek Seok, had a gonzo side.

Whether Han Jae-ryong was there or not, I spoke my mind straight.

“Five, five thousand?”

Vice Minister Kim Ok-soon gasped at the amount that was more than twice the budget.

Even the current 20 million won was barely enough to scrape together money from the general affairs team’s budget.

Meanwhile, the expression on the face of the general affairs team leader, who was watching President Han Jae-ryong’s expression, also hardened rapidly.

There were signs that the mood was starting to become heavy.

A crisis situation where the meeting could easily be ruined.

at that time,

“······However, the artist himself expressed his strong desire to participate in Saehyang’s concert. We at MXM Entertainment have decided to respect the artist’s wishes as much as possible.”

“That means-”

“It will be Seongjun who will make the decision.”

At those words, all eyes in the meeting room turned to Cha Seong-jun.

In such a gaze,

‘What should I do···.’

Cha Seong-jun was lost in thought.

Cutting event fees too low is poison to artists.

Because if a similar event occurs in the future, it will set a precedent and the price will be lowered.

Therefore, the event cost Maginot Line agreed upon with Baekseok in advance was 30 million won.

Ten million won more than 20 million won.

however,

‘If we were to make 10 million won more here, the general affairs team would be devastated···.’

Cha Seong-jun is the one who knows the inside story well.

It was obvious that the current 2,000-degree belt would have been tightened to the limit to make it.

‘then······.’

After thinking it over, Cha Seong-jun slowly opened his mouth.

“Three songs for 20 million won… I’ll proceed as is.”

“?!”

The eyes of the team leader and deputy manager Kim Ok-soon, who had been depressed, widen.

“I, really···?”

To the two people who asked back in disbelief

“yes.”

Cha Seong-jun smiled gently.

30 million won… Of course it’s a waste.

It’s also good to use in [stores].

However, the album has already earned 800 million won.

More will continue to come in the future.

Penny wise, pound foolish.

I didn’t want to lose my relationships with good people by chasing profits too much.

Therefore, Cha Seong-jun chose loyalty to his former coworkers.

“Seongjun… Thank you so much.”

“No. I have a sense of duty to the General Affairs Team, having worked hard together for five years.”

Cha Seong-jun gives a thumbs up to Vice President Kim Ok-soon.

That was when.

“Hahaha, loyalty! That young man really knows how to be cool. In this day and age, how can you give up 30 million won for loyalty?”

Han Jae-ryong, who was observing the meeting, burst into laughter.

‘Huh? Why are you laughing?’

Cha Seong-jun looks puzzled at Han Jae-ryong’s incomprehensible reaction.

Han Jae-ryong, who had been watching Cha Seong-jun with a strange gaze, gave instructions to the general affairs team leader.

“Mr. Seongjun, you said the original event fee was 5,000, right? Let’s proceed like that, General Affairs Team Leader. Please apply for an additional budget. I will approve it.”

“Is that true, sir?”

“Don’t you think there is a sense of loyalty to our company that we have worked hard together for five years?”

This time, Han Jae-ryong gave a thumbs up to Cha Seong-jun.

It was a generous distribution worthy of the CEO.

Cha Seong-jun blinked his eyes blankly at the unexpected conclusion.

Oh Dae-su opened his mouth wide and couldn’t close it.

Baek-seok also swallowed his admiration quietly.

Thanks to that, the rest of the time was friendly again.

I heard an explanation about the healing concert schedule, and finally signed the contract.

“Then I’ll see you on the day of the concert.”

“Take care on your way in, Seongjun! And thank you for the signed CD! I’ll make sure to pass it on to the team!”

After waving to the team leader and Kim Ok-sun, I got into the van.

After leaving the parking lot.

Cha Seong-jun spoke to Baek-seok in the passenger seat.

“Thank you for your hard work, Director. And… I’m sorry. I didn’t offer 30 million won at first, but I said okay for 20 million won.”

“What are you talking about? Thanks to that, we ended up signing a contract worth 50 million won. You’re very resourceful.”

Baek Seok, who had praised Cha Seong-jun, continued speaking.

“Besides, I think it left a pretty good impression on President Han because Seongjun was the first to express his intention to yield. It was a very opportune time.”

“Huh? Is this the right time?”

When Cha Seong-jun asked again, a meaningful smile appeared on Baek-seok’s lips.

“The contract with Saehyang Homme’s male model ended on December 31st.”

*

wednesday.

The reunion between Cha Sung-jun and Ye Seon-ha took place on the set of their second music video, ‘Jaywalking.’

“Thank you for calling me back.”

“I’m more honored to see you again, Senior. Oh, and this is-”

Now, while handing out signed CDs in a fairly familiar manner, he quickly brought up the topic of challenges.

Then Yeseon-ha smiled and said.

“The response on TokTok was really good. If you look at the latest videos, 1/3 of them are DMLC challenges? There are a lot of foreigners too.”

Literally, the DMLC Challenge was quite popular.

The one who started the trend was the icon of TokTok, and the dancer who created the challenge choreography, ‘Likee’.

Likee shouted out ‘DMLC’ and fellow dancers joined the challenge, and then famous talkers and ordinary people followed the trend and jumped into the challenge one after another.

Meanwhile, when it came to appealing to foreigners, the power of world star Yuna and Monsta Z, who have a global fandom, was great.

As evidence, the units for views and likes are different.

The video with Yuna is 10M.

The video of Monsta Z’s Jiwoong and Jaymin singing together is also 5M.

They recorded 10 million and 5 million respectively.

Of course, even considering that TokTok’s videos are shorter and thus have significantly higher views than YouTube, the number was incredible.

Also, there were a lot of comments on Yuna and Sungjun’s palm heart ending, and the flow of the content was like this.

Yuna is so cute, she looks like a cat turned into a person.

The two handsome men and beautiful women look good together, get out, they don’t look good together.

But who is the man? He is handsome.

The song is good, but should I listen to other songs?

At first, they were people who came to the video because of world star Yuna, but later they left because they became a fan of Sungjun.

This could not have been more perfect marketing.

Meanwhile, ‘SHYine’s’ momentum is also impressive.

2M, it got a whopping 2 million views.

This is someone who isn’t even a celebrity!

It was thanks to the hooking ending that Seol Hye-yoon had painstakingly planned that it worked.

Although her face is covered, a woman with a nice body who looks like she could dance well at first glance shows off a surprising quick-witted performance art, and at the very moment when she is about to take off her helmet and reveal her face, the video ends.

People are going crazy and delusional.

– Who the hell is this charming and messy Durahan helmet girl!!!

The surge of interest led people to her YouTube channel.

There, they encountered Shine’s main content, a cover song video.

I discovered another charm and naturally pressed the subscribe button.

in result,

[SHYine – 800,000 subscribers]

Seol Hye-yoon was quickly approaching her goal of 1 million subscribers.

Ye-seon Ha, who checked the views of the three teams, sounded a little worried.

“I’m not confident about my number of views, so what if I’m compared?”

“Hey, that’s not possible. It was ‘Pink Rose’. And isn’t ‘Your House’ also causing a stir overseas right now, Senior ‘Mijin’?”

It wasn’t an empty promise, it was real.

The recently concluded drama ‘Your House’ quickly signed a copyright contract with Flexnet.

There was an article that said that it ranked in the top 5 in over 40 countries immediately after its release.

Anyway, I filmed the challenge with Ye-seon Ha, who had regained her confidence.

The background is a set that embodies a crosswalk.

The purpose was to create aggro by revealing a spoiler that they would be filming the ‘Jaywalking’ music video with Ye-seon-ha.

And, as expected from a girl group from the past, they showed off their dancing skills that hadn’t rusted during the preliminary round.

Saying you have no confidence is just crying.

This challenge ended with Ye-seon Ha crossing to the other side of the crosswalk, and Seong-jun Cha waiting with his feet stomping, then running as soon as the green light turned on.

Next,

“Okay, you two. Let’s keep that same energy and work hard for the actual filming.”

Director Choi Seok-yong, who also directed the second music video, announced the start of filming.

*

At that moment,

Saehyang Cosmetics CEO’s office.

The expression on Han Jae-ryong’s face as he sits at his desk is unusual.

With a face that seemed deeply thoughtful,

I’ve been looking at Sungjun’s profile for several minutes now, after he attended the healing concert meeting a few days ago.

Meanwhile,

“······Righteousness.”

Han Jae-ryong blurts out a word quietly.

Loyalty.

An old-fashioned romance that is now hard to see or hear.

For Han Jae-ryong, who led the current company while being influential in that era, it was a word he missed the most.

But who would have thought I’d hear that again from such a young and fresh-faced friend?

The lips slightly rise.

Then Han Jae-ryong picked up the receiver and called someone.

After a while,

“Sir, did you call?”

“Oh, I’m here.”

The one who visited the president’s office with a knock was Saehyang’s marketing director.

Han Jae-ryong asked.

“Sir, is it true that we are selecting a new male model for our Saehyang Homme this year?”

“Yes, that’s right. We are currently contacting agencies and planning companies to list candidates, sir.”

“Nothing has been decided yet?”

“Yes, as fast as possible-”

I wonder if he was called in because work wasn’t progressing well.

It was the moment when the nervous marketing director was about to answer.

“If you don’t have a set friend, let’s go with ‘Sungjun’ as this model.”

“Yes? Seongjun··· If that’s the case···.”

“MXM Entertainment has a new singer. He was a member of our ‘Saehyang’ family. When I met him, he was really nice. He’s a man with a sense of loyalty, and he fits the image of Homme.”

President Han Jae-ryong’s grand appointment where he immediately calls people and installs new models.

Besides, what on earth does ‘loyalty’ mean?

It was understandable that the marketing director would be confused and questionable.

Indeed, those who rose to executive positions were different.

“Yes, I understand. I will proceed accordingly.”

I just faithfully carry out the boss’s orders.

So the marketing director leaves.

Han Jae-ryong, who was left alone again, stroked his chin with a look of satisfaction.

If you receive goodwill, return it with interest.

That was Han Jae-ryong’s duty.