IJLMT 61

Chapter 61

I’ve always been unusually prone to being stopped by people who ask, “Do you know the Way?” These days, their tactics have become even more cunning; at first, they don’t easily reveal their cult-like nature. They might say you look kind or ask for your number, claiming they’re interested.

Out of all the passersby, the cultists always single me out and stop me. It made me feel inexplicably resentful, and when I thought about why, it was probably because I seemed like an easy target.

Don’t men have that secret desire in their hearts? The desire to appear as someone fearsome and intimidating. The desire to be someone others wouldn’t dare approach. Especially when involved in parking disputes or dealing with difficult people.

But thinking about it now, it doesn’t seem all that great. I’m starting to think, in real-time, that someone who looks scary probably has their own troubles. Troubles like unnecessarily prolonged everyday conversations, for example.

“Um… excuse me, w-would you like some, black tea? English Breakfast…”

“No, thank you.”

“Then perhaps coffee? I’ll quickly go out and get some. There’s a Red Bottle nearby. I’ll get you a fresh 1% specialty coffee brew.”

“No, thank you. My job involves meeting people, so I’m very careful about breath odor. I’d appreciate just a glass of water.”

“Oh my, how thoughtless of me… Then…”

Saying that, the man fetched a bottle from the refrigerator. Etri, a premium carbonated water made from mineral water.

‘Just filtered water would have been fine…’

I thought to myself but decided not to say anything to avoid prolonging the conversation. Then I asked the Nova Girls members who came with me.

“What would you all like? Please, feel free to ask for anything. There are cafes nearby, so just tell us and we’ll dash out and get it!”

“Uh… we’ll have the same as Manager-nim.”

The members also seemed to feel strange due to the man’s odd attitude. And no wonder, the man isn’t an ordinary person. He’s the PD in charge of MV production, Won Yong-ha.

The place I’ve come to now is the MV production company, Omega Studio. The name is grandiose, and its substance lives up to it. After all, they made the music video for the famous VTS’s “Cheese.” The filming team, art team, editing team—each is composed of top-notch professionals. They are all proud experts.

Sometimes that becomes a problem. They have high pride and the skills to back it up. Wouldn’t the thought, “I’m the expert, what do you know?” naturally arise? I felt it during my AMD days too; working with outsourcing companies is truly exhausting.

The outsourcing company says their way is right and they’re given unfair feedback, the hiring company asks how they gave feedback that led the result astray, and the person stuck in the middle gets beaten up and falls ill. If the hiring artist’s influence is weak, the feedback sometimes isn’t reflected at all.

I came in person because I thought they’d be in a bad mood. The schedule for producing the music video for Nova Girls’ mini-album ‘Blue Heaven’ B-side track, “Guiding Star,” was quite tight. Amid that, if they heard revision requests, they might openly ignore them.

‘Even if we argue, we need to make revisions if necessary. This is an MV that Japan is also paying great attention to.’

TOSU Theater is sold out. We need to make a big splash now to make our entry into Japan smoother.

I came with those thoughts… But what is this?

“Let’s review it together, and if there’s any part you don’t like, please tell us right away! We’ll work through the night to make it exactly match the image you want!”

The woman sitting next to PD Won Yong-ha, Editing Team Leader Park Ji-yoon, spoke. Then, PD Won Yong-ha frowned.

“Team Leader Park, why would you say that? Whether we pull all-nighters is our business, you only need to ask if they like it or not! Are you putting pressure on the client now, huh?”
“No, no! Absolutely not! I’m sorry, Director Yoo.”

Team Leader Park Ji-yoon hung her head.

‘Oppa, what’s with the atmosphere here? That PD-nim was originally known to be very strict…’

Nari whispered.

‘Exactly.’

The reason was soon revealed.

“And… I’m just saying this just in case, but last year, we produced the special edit video for Gaga Stage Season 1, right? We were commissioned for it.”
“…? Yes, you did.”
“Well, I met a person then, a department head, who had a really terrible temper. So I thought, I’d never take commissions from KBC again, I’d just stick to MVs. We have no personal relationship with them whatsoever.”
“Huh? Ah… I see.”
“And last time you visited, we might have seemed a bit… cold. Please understand that we’re always deeply immersed in our work…”
“I understand.”

PD Won and Team Leader Park Ji-yoon exchanged glances with an uneasy air. It was only then that I started to grasp the situation.

“The atmosphere has felt a bit off since earlier. You’re not thinking I’m going to cause some trouble for Omega Studio, are you?”
“A-ah, no. Haha… N-no… right?”

Bingo. PD Won scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Ahaha… We are well aware of Director Yoo’s character. Kind, sincere… But lately, in this industry, there’s talk going around that those who show themselves poorly in front of Director Yoo get swept away immediately. That you somehow, like a ghost, manage to crush them…”
“Ah, what are you talking about? Who would I crush?”
“Th-that’s right?”

“Yes. And those who got swept away weren’t people who merely showed themselves poorly to me; they were people who actually did something wrong.”
“…….”

The two gulped. A look of fear crossed their faces. I made no effort to dispel that fear. That way, they’ll listen well to me and the Nova Girls members, right? Respect stems from fear.

“Then let’s talk about work.”

Pointlessly having set the mood, the edit draft was excellent. While training with Yangpa, I’ve become confident that I now have a fairly good eye. But there was nothing to catch. The Yangpa bracelet was also emitting a pleasant scent. As expected of a top company?

But then, Davin opened her mouth.

“This seems a bit different from our intention.”
“Yes, which part?”
“The personified North Star descending to earth and reaching out a hand to the fallen child.”
“We already showed you the storyboard up to the North Star descending to earth, didn’t we?”
“It shouldn’t reach out its hand.”

Is Davin giving correct feedback? Why is that a problem? As I was thinking that, the scent from the Yangpa bracelet didn’t change at all. It seemed to suggest I should just wait and see.

“The Guiding Star believes the child will definitely get up and walk. If it believes, why would it reach out its hand?”
“Then what does the star do after descending to earth?”

When Team Leader Park Ji-yoon asked, Davin answered immediately.

“It must wait.”
“It just waits? With just that, will the viewers feel the star’s warmth?”
“Only those who believe can wait. If you don’t believe, you become restless and make a fuss.”
“Ah… Ah, that’s right. Only believers wait… You reach out because you don’t believe… That makes sense. Wow, a good idea is coming to me! I’ll relay it to the art team right away. Anything else?”

Then Mina spoke.

“I wish the personified star was a bit taller. The feeling in my heart wasn’t of this little kid.”
“That kind of thing is easy to fix… So should we go for a reliable tall man style?”

Hayoung added.

“It shouldn’t be too robust. I want it to feel a bit slender, with a touch of pathos.”
“Aha, does everyone agree?”

Finally, Nari spoke.

“Right. Not a superhuman who can do anything, but a feeling of doing it even though it’s hard for oneself? Warm, gentle…”
“Ah… So… the image you all want is…”

Team Leader Park Ji-yoon thought for a moment, then her eyes widened as if she had realized something. Then, twitching the corner of her mouth, she said.

“…Isn’t this Manager-nim? Director Yoo Hyeon-jae, right?”

The members’ reactions were varied.

“Eep, we’ve been found out.”
“Why would you say that! We were planning a surprise announcement after the showcase.”
“It was hard not to figure it out from what you said now. Nari, what you said was too obvious.”

Team Leader Park Ji-yoon chuckled and asked.

“Listening to this, it seems this song itself was made with Director Yoo Hyeon-jae as the motif? Well, I’ve seen a lot of your story, so it makes sense. Thinking about that story now while thinking about the MV, my heart feels strangely overwhelmed… This feels like it could be a huge hit. Great. Knowing the motif will make it easier for us to revise too.”

She then glanced at me subtly.

Hearing that, I…

“Oppa, your neck is red.”
“Oppa, did you really not know? I thought you might have noticed earlier and were pretending not to.”

I was feeling extremely embarrassed.

“Ahem, hmm, cough. So this song, hmm, was like that.”

When Yuju said she would write a song about me, I was embarrassed but said okay. Because I couldn’t really imagine what it would be like to listen to a song written about me.

But how many times have I listened to Nova Girls’ “Guiding Star” by now? Listening to it, I thought, ‘It would have been nice to have someone like that in my life.’ Someone who believed in my potential when I was at rock bottom. Although now it seems like it’s Yangpa, not a person, who believes in me.

Even after training with Yangpa, the reason I couldn’t find flaws in this MV was solely that. I never thought the North Star could be me.

I knew the Nova Girls members trusted and followed me. But it seems I didn’t realize how deeply they felt. To think they were looking at me with the same feelings they poured into this song…

“Oppa, are you perhaps moved?”

Mina asked.

“Hmm… So, when do you expect the revisions to be completed? For our schedule, the sooner the better.”
“If these are all the feedback points, we could complete it even within today.”
“I see.”

Then Hayoung said.

“It’s my first time seeing Oppa blatantly change the subject like this.”
“We should sing this song every time Oppa comes.”
“No, we should do it occasionally for impact.”

Without even looking at the members, I said.

“…Alright. Please contact us after you proceed.”
“Yes.”

Team Leader Park Ji-yoon said with a smile.

“Director-nim, you’re the cold city man type, huh? Ruthless to enemies but warm to the artists under your care, something like that…”
“See you next time.”

I hastily wrapped up the meeting.

[ Nova Girls ‘Blue Heaven’ Showcase Live Stream Stage, TOSU Theater All Venues Sold Out! ]
[ Capturing Hearts Even Before Japan Debut Begins? Japan Is Crazy for Nova Girls Now! ]
[ SERF Completely Denies Responsibility for Hanwoon, “We Only Made Legal and Efficient Investments” ]
[ SERF Artist ‘Night Butterfly’ Announces Surprise Korea Performance, Ticket Sales Start Next Week ]

It was about three weeks until the showcase performance.

“SERF seems very conscious of us.”
[ SERF is receiving all sorts of ridicule in both Korea and Japan right now. While also under pressure from the government, they must have tried hard to somehow turn public opinion. ]

Akita Shinichi spoke from the other side of the video conference screen.

Night Butterfly is one of the flagships promoted by SERF. A three-member female rock band, they’ve gained immense popularity with their unique vocal style, reminiscent of scraping metal. It’s the same in Korea; when you check Japanese song rankings in Korean karaoke, Night Butterfly songs are always in the top 1 or 2 spots.

[ An idol and a rock band shouldn’t be compared on the same line, but they could be compared in terms of production value. They seem to want to calm the attention focused on Nova Girls and elicit reactions like ‘But SERF is still skilled,’ ‘I love Night Butterfly so much!’ ]
“You mean a competition in production.”
[ It seems they will invest quite a bit of capital on their end for this. We are also confident in our production… To be honest, I’m a bit greedy. I don’t even want to hear an evaluation that it was close. ]

Akita spoke in a solemn voice. No wonder, it’s the idol market he’s jumping into after 10 years. Add to that Kamisumire, always noted for its production. Just surprising the audience isn’t a good state. It has to be a state where they are bound to be surprised.

[ Even if it means spending a large budget, we plan to show the best from the very beginning. What kind of progress we’ve made in 10 years… ]
“Hold on. Aren’t you thinking of something incorrectly now?”

Now, I can feel it even without Yangpa explicitly telling me. Is it because I studied a lot with Yangpa?

[ Huh? ]
“What you need to show isn’t technical prowess. You need to think only of Nova Girls and their song. How advanced the technical prowess is isn’t important.”
[ ……. ]

Akita on the screen closed his mouth.

“Nova Girls’ songs talk about ‘the specialness within the un-special’. A feeling of showing off or boasting shouldn’t enter.”
[ …This is embarrassing. At the same time, I feel greatly relieved. Yoo Hyeon-jae, joining hands with you was really the right thing to do. ]

Akita said with a hint of a smile.

[ My mind was momentarily caught up in proving that Kamisumire is superior to SERF. That must be a big issue for you too, Hyeon-jae-ssi, yet you always think of only the correct answer. I just needed to think of Nova Girls and the song… ]

People of that age often stubbornly insist they’re right, but it seems intelligent people like Akita and Lee Jong-mook don’t cling to such stubbornness.

[ There’s still time, so let’s think one more time. Hyeon-jae-ssi, what do you think is the most important thing at a Nova Girls concert? ]
“It’s making people see Nova Girls as themselves. Not as someone different from me, someone dancing spectacularly on stage, but as someone like me, a version of myself I could have been.”
[ So, the important thing is to make them think of these people, who should be the most special on stage, not as un-special? ]
“Isn’t the thing a person considers most special themselves? They need to consider Nova Girls as special as themselves.”
[ Ah… ]

Akita’s eyes widened, and he contemplated something for a while. Then he spoke.

[ I realized something as soon as I heard. What if… we did it like this? ]

At that moment, the scent from the Yangpa bracelet intensified fiercely.