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Chapter – 03
A melody was lingering in my mind.
Probably…
It was the result of years spent as a manager, experiencing countless stages until those moments had soaked into my body.
Soon, music began flowing from my fingertips…
The low chords gradually surged like a storm.
This is it…!
Once I caught the feeling, there was no stopping it.
At that moment—
Song-i was looking at me with sparkling eyes.
She seemed excited, even humming a little tune with effort.
“Ra, la-la~♬”
It started as a playful sound, but her pure voice was surprisingly pleasant.
I met Song-i’s eyes.
I wanted to connect more deeply.
And then it happened.
Her voice began to grow louder, as if pulling the melody from the piano keys.
The lyrics were completely improvised.
But the child naturally followed the rhythm of the unfamiliar melody, as if tearing her emotions into sound.
At first, I thought it was just a coincidence.
Just something she liked because it sounded nice.
But…
Her expression, with eyes closed, kept changing moment by moment, and even while reaching high notes, she never once gasped or lost control of her breathing.
“…This is insane.”
Soon, the melody began to slow down.
The three-minute short piece was coming to an end.
“Song-i, you…”
I looked at her in shock.
Song-i smiled brightly.
How could her voice never crack even once?
Even with such high notes.
“Since when have you been singing this well…?”
“Really? I sing well?”
“Of course! This is a really high key, it’s hard to sing in the original key.”
Thinking back, I had always lowered the key by one or two steps when doing cover songs.
And yet she was handling it effortlessly.
“Mom told me not to sing…”
“Huh? Mom? Why?”
But at my praise, her face suddenly darkened.
“She said I can’t become an entertainer.”
“……”
Only then did I remember.
At some point, my wife had suddenly and firmly told her that whenever Song-i tried to sing, she would always stop her.
Back then, I had been overwhelmed with work.
I couldn’t interfere with my wife’s parenting either.
Maybe Song-i had once sung in front of her.
“Song-i, have you ever wanted to become a singer?”
I knelt down to meet her eyes.
“Hmm… I don’t know.”
She definitely had talent.
“Then how about this?”
“…How?”
“I’ll write lyrics, and you try singing along to the melody.”
“…Can I really sing?”
“Of course.”
“Okay!”
She was still too young to become a singer.
But I didn’t want to bury this talent.
And I, too…
Didn’t want to let this newly found future simply drift away.
I finished composing the song close to midnight.
Song-i had already fallen asleep.
“Tomorrow I need to go to Song-i’s new school…”
After handling the transfer process, I planned to find work immediately.
My daughter was only 11 years old.
She got out of school around 2–3 PM, so someone had to take care of her afterward.
“I guess I’ll have to contact Mom.”
For now, I planned to find even temporary daily work.
“Maybe I should start a YouTube channel…”
Creating a channel was familiar.
Back in my Magu Entertainment days…
I had personally created and managed the channel for the girl group I worked with, “Frency.”
“What should I name it…”
My daughter’s name was Jung Song-i.
My name was Jung Hwi-eon.
Something simple and friendly would be good.
“Ssong-i Broadcast”
But I clearly had no naming talent.
The next day.
“First day at your new school. You can do it, right?”
“Yes!”
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a car.
When I worked, I used company vehicles, and normally I used my wife’s car, so I never felt the need to buy one.
“If we walk, it’ll take about 30 minutes… should we take the bus?”
“I like walking!”
Song-i didn’t seem to mind at all.
She just held my hand tightly, smiling brightly.
“I love being with Dad!”
Why…
For a moment, I almost cried.
I had always postponed spending time with her because I was busy.
By the time Song-i was eleven, there were probably very few days we even ate facing each other.
…I really was too careless.
As she entered adolescence, the distance between us only grew.
Looking back, I hadn’t fulfilled my role as a father when she was young, so she couldn’t rely on me.
Feeling guilty, I casually patted her head.
Just that alone made Song-i smile like an angel.
Inside the teacher’s office, soft sunlight poured in.
As I handed over the documents, she smiled brightly.
She was soon to become Song-i’s homeroom teacher.
“Student Jung Song-i, right?”
Her voice was calm and kind.
Song-i seemed to like her a lot, smiling nonstop.
“Yes, that’s right, teacher.”
“What a beautiful name.”
After carefully reviewing the documents, the teacher picked up her pen.
Her handwriting was very neat.
“Song-i, I look forward to seeing you. My name is Joo Seo-hyun. You can call me Teacher Seo-hyun.”
“Yes! Teacher Seo-hyun!”
She seemed very friendly.
She quickly got close to Song-i, joking around as if they already knew each other.
“Everything is done now, sir.”
“…Thank you.”
The transfer process was completed.
After confirming Song-i entered the classroom, I left the building.
The school my daughter would now attend was Nokwon Elementary School.
I had heard the building was renovated five years ago.
It was small in size but had excellent teachers.
Judging by the homeroom teacher, I felt some trust.
[So, you moved in safely?]
After a few rings, my mother’s voice came through the phone.
“I just finished the school transfer and was about to go look for work.”
[Oh dear… you worked at that company for so long. Can you really do other work?]
She had always worried about me.
Especially about the divorce, which she strongly opposed.
But I couldn’t tell her it was because of my wife’s affair.
With her personality, she might collapse on the spot.
“I’m still young, it’s fine.”
[Young, huh…]
“Mom, are you free today?”
[Yeah. After groceries, around 1 PM.]
“Could you take care of Song-i after school for a bit?”
She grumbled for a moment, but eventually agreed.
[Don’t go looking for hard work.]
“Okay, thanks.”
Relief washed over me knowing Song-i would be taken care of.
I pushed open the door to the daily labor placement center.
Inside was extremely cramped.
I’ll just do this temporarily until I find something.
I needed to survive immediately.
But I had no job experience.
Originally, I wanted to use my manager experience and return to the entertainment industry.
But CEO Choi Magu would definitely be watching me.
Magu Entertainment was already firmly established in the industry.
Pushing me out would be easy.
He wouldn’t just leave me alone.
Me—someone who could throw mud into the life of my ex-wife, who was just beginning to rise as an actress.
I was familiar with this place since my twenties.
Next to the cheap coffee vending machine…
Several old chairs were lined up, already occupied.
People who had arrived before me.
Most were in work clothes.
“Is this your first time here?”
The staff behind the desk looked up.
I nodded immediately.
He slid several forms toward me.
Name, age, contact info, experience…
…Entertainment industry idol manager experience.
The only thing I could write—but here, it meant nothing.
I left it blank and moved on.
“Looks like a beginner.”
A man cleared his throat and spoke in a rough voice.
I forced a smile.
No need to make friends, but no reason to be disliked either.
“There’s a job site available today. Can you go?”
And then…
Maybe because I was young,
I got assigned work within five minutes of arriving.
“Mom, thanks.”
“Take care of your body. Look at you.”
My mother immediately noticed my condition.
She had probably guessed I had just come from a construction site.
“By the way, what’s that?”
She pointed at the piano in the corner of the living room.
“You can play piano? Song-i said you’re good at it.”
“No, not really.”
I had forgotten something from staying up late working.
The sheet music I had rewritten last night.
Song-i was already holding it.
“She was waiting for you so eagerly. She really wanted to sing.”
“Hehe, I’ll show you our duet soon. It’s late—are you staying?”
“I have work tomorrow. I should go.”
After saying goodbye to Song-i, my mother left.
If I had a car, I would’ve driven her.
A slight regret remained.
“Dad! Dad! Hurry!”
Song-i urged me.
“Alright, alright. Let’s set up a tripod and record this, okay?”
“Okay!”
She shouted happily.
She had many questions about school and new friends.
But she was so desperate to sing that I postponed everything.
Then…
I pressed record.
“I named the channel ‘Ssong-i Broadcast.’ What do you think?”
“Hmm… too ordinary.”
“Then give me a better idea later. For now… let’s just film from behind so her face isn’t shown.”
“Okay!”
I thought of it as just a hobby.
A precious time to spend with Song-i.
“Let’s start.”
“Yes!”
Her small hands held the sheet music tightly.
I didn’t even need it.
The melody was already in my head.
A quiet night.
Under a small lamp, the old piano softly glowed.
I took a deep breath and pressed the keys.
A gentle prelude flowed.
A rising melody.
As the music intensified, Song-i clutched the sheet music tighter.
And then…
She began to sing.
A voice so pure it was hard to believe it came from an 11-year-old.
“An 11-year-old’s chilling live performance that’s unbelievable”
The video was uploaded early morning after editing.
I didn’t expect much since it wasn’t peak viewing time.
But then…
Views: 1,024,387
“…One million views?!”
Likes: 280,000
Comments: about 27,000
Even the girl group Frency had never reached numbers like this before gaining fame.
Even after becoming popular, they had never hit one million views in a single day.
Only top-tier idols could achieve such numbers—and yet Ssong-i Broadcast had done it within 24 hours of launching.
“…90,000 subscribers in one day?”
Is this a dream?
I rubbed my eyes and refreshed the page again and again.
“And trending video #1?”
But nothing changed.
Realizing it was real, my hands began to tremble.
