Kang Yu-na (2)
"A duet?"
A duet? Out of nowhere?
As far as he knew, nothing about his upcoming schedule had been locked in. On top of that, the popularity of Lotus was still climbing by the day, so he hadn't expected them to drop another song anytime soon.
Lee Hae-jin nodded as if he understood Kim Se-jun's bewilderment perfectly.
"We were surprised too. It came completely out of the blue."
A proposal?
"So this isn't something the company initiated?"
"Right. Kean reached out. They named you specifically — they want to do a duet."
Kean, huh...
Kean Entertainment. A latecomer to the industry, not even ten years old. A conglomerate had acquired it, though, and the company had been growing steadily on the back of that massive capital.
Who do they even have over there?
Unlike Ares Music, it wasn't a place he'd ever paid much attention to, and it wasn't a major agency either, so no particular singer came to mind.
"Who at Kean would I be pairing with?"
At Se-jun's question, Lee Hae-jin swallowed hard.
"Don't freak out, and listen carefully. Kang Yu-na. Kang Yu-na sent a duet proposal."
"...!"
Despite Lee Hae-jin's considerate warning not to be shocked, Kim Se-jun's eyes flew wide. A flutter rolled through his gut, and a shiver crawled straight up his spine.
Kang Yu-na? What could Kang Yu-na possibly want from me?
Even he couldn't make sense of her proposal. If you had to name the most popular singers in Korea right now, she would land in the top five — no, the top three. A stunning face and an extraordinary voice: an artist who delighted the eyes and ears of the entire nation.
I'm not trying to put Jin-ah noona down, but... honestly, they're not even in the same league.
Not in terms of vocal ability — this was about popular appeal. Lee Jin-ah had just scored her first music-chart number one with Lotus. Kang Yu-na, on the other hand, it was easier to pick which of her songs hadn't hit number one. Mention any one of her countless tracks and everyone would go, "Oh! That song!"
"Kang... Kang Yu-na? Why all of a sudden?"
He asked in a trembling voice, but Lee Hae-jin only shook his head.
"We don't know either. We asked around, and apparently Kang Yu-na pushed for this hard. Kean's side actually seemed opposed. They had another singer in mind, but she dug her heels in so stubbornly they had no choice but to go along with it."
What's going on? Why would Kang Yu-na suddenly...?
A proposal from a woman he'd never even met. Kim Se-jun couldn't get his bearings.
"Se-jun. This is a huge opportunity for you. I don't know if you and Kang Yu-na have any kind of relationship, but chances like this don't come around easily."
"Yes. I'm well aware."
He knew perfectly well, from the top of his head down, that it was a good opportunity. He'd put up impressive numbers for a rookie and left a strong impression on the public, but compared to Kang Yu-na he was a firefly standing in front of a full moon. If he made the most of this chance, he might not become a full moon himself — but he could at least become a crescent.
But it wouldn't be a song that's entirely mine.
Even Lotus, which he'd sung in full, had needed Lee Jin-ah's name attached just to get performed on stage. A duet with Kang Yu-na, of all people. It would be good for getting his name out there — but that was about it. The fact that there was no merit beyond that made Kim Se-jun hesitate.
"What? Is something bothering you?"
Lee Hae-jin asked, puzzled, watching Se-jun waver. It was an opportunity anyone would want. He couldn't understand why Se-jun was deliberating with it sitting right in front of him. Caution was a virtue, sure — but this was a moment to charge straight ahead, whether it turned out to be poison or medicine.
"Sir..."
After wrestling with it, Kim Se-jun made his decision and bowed his head.
"I want to release an album. I'll have to decline this opportunity."
Oho. An album.
Lee Hae-jin stroked his chin at Se-jun's bold answer. He understood immediately what wanting to put out an album meant.
It's May now. He wants to drop an album in the second half of the year — not just another digital single.
If he did a duet with Kang Yu-na right now, the second-half album plans would go straight out the window. Even if it wasn't a full studio album — even if it was just an EP — you'd still be looking at four or five tracks out of eight. Working on those songs and doing duet promotions with Kang Yu-na? Even if Kim Se-jun was a genius, that was a realm of impossibility. His body wouldn't survive it.
"That's a fair point. A singer ought to have that kind of ambition. But..."
Lee Hae-jin understood — that hunger was something any singer should have — but he couldn't help the thick residue of regret. A duet with Kang Yu-na, then an album release. He had no idea whether the duet would sink or swim, but if it took off, it would clearly have a massive impact on the album as well. And from an artistic standpoint, he'd been quietly looking forward to what kind of music Kim Se-jun and Kang Yu-na might create together.
"Haa. All right. We'll decline to Kean appropriately. You just keep doing what you've been doing — don't worry about it."
Ares Music put the artist's opinion first. No matter how good the opportunity, they couldn't force an artist into something they didn't want. Lee Hae-jin forced the words out, and Kim Se-jun bowed deeply at the waist.
"Thank you."
"I'm sorry — what did you just say?"
"I'm saying Ares turned us down. They said the timing isn't right."
"What is that supposed to mean? She works Lotus in the first half of the year, then does a duet with me in the second half. How is that not perfect timing?"
Cha Tae-gyu, the president of Kean Entertainment, was floundering in front of Kang Yu-na. He was the president in name, but everyone knew who actually held the real power at Kean. If she refused to renew her contract tomorrow, he would be out on the street by nightfall — and no one understood that better than he did.
"Forget Kim Se-jun. Let's go with Lim Tae-hyun, like we originally planned. He's been sending positive signals this whole time, and you two don't have bad chemistry, do you? A proven name like Lim Tae-hyun will get a better reaction than some complete rookie."
He was trying to soothe her, but Kang Yu-na was not remotely satisfied.
"I don't want Lim Tae-hyun. That oppa keeps trying to cling to me. Did they actually turn us down? You didn't go and lay the groundwork against this yourself, did you?"
She narrowed her eyes and shot him a look. Cha Tae-gyu waved both hands hard, denying it with everything he had.
"Hey. Hey. You think I'd do that? What's our company motto? Kang Yu-na is God. How would I ever change your decision on my own?"
"Ugh, please stop saying stuff like that. It's so embarrassing I could die. I'll renew even if you don't talk like that. Hmm... then why did they turn it down?"
"For real? You mean it? Should we just write up the contract right now, Yu-na?"
Cha Tae-gyu started getting carried away while Kang Yu-na sat lost in thought, but she didn't even pretend to hear him. He let out a long sigh, then spread both hands and gave a helpless little shrug.
"Come on, Yu-na. Why are you so hung up on Kim Se-jun? Honestly — is doing a duet with him even going to help you? I really don't see it."
"It will help. Absolutely. I can guarantee it."
Even faced with Cha Tae-gyu's doubts, Kang Yu-na answered his anxiety in a voice that brooked no argument.
It really was a shock.
She had gone back and watched Bae Jin-goo's Music Camp on Lee Jin-ah's recommendation. At first, it hadn't moved her at all. She'd just smiled along at Lee Jin-ah's variety-show stage. Then, somewhere in the middle of the broadcast, Kim Se-jun had appeared, and she'd watched him step onto the stage with a small flicker of expectation — curious how good the person Lee Jin-ah had praised until her mouth went dry could possibly be.
His stage had opened on the quiet voice of a gayageum. It was unusual. Fresh. She discovered the charm of that instrument for the first time. And when the accompaniment ended and he began to sing while playing, Kang Yu-na sat up from the half-reclined sprawl she'd been in. His stage made her eyes fly open before she even realized it.
"What is this..."
The words slipped out on their own. It wasn't vocal prowess so dazzling that admiration burst out of you. But there was a pull to it — something that drew a listener in whether they wanted to go or not. Eyes and ears equally delighted, Kang Yu-na fell for his stage completely.
"He's good."
Not good at singing. Good at the stage. He didn't have Lee Jin-ah's practiced gestures or expressions, and yet he held the audience in the palm of his hand.
"Now I get why they called him a genius."
And why they said he was born for the stage. The unpolished, natural gestures. The unstudied expressions. All of it had been natural, and all of it had shone under the lights.
That was when I decided. I wanted to stand on a stage with him, just once.
"Fine, I hear you. But I haven't given up yet, so keep it on hold."
"Huh? For real? What are you planning to do?"
Unease crept across Cha Tae-gyu's face at her words. She was a kid who looked out for the company, a kid who had never once caused a major incident. Plenty of people loved her for a temperament that didn't match a superstar's — but even Kang Yu-na had one small flaw.
Stubbornness, and greed.
They were the same engine that had driven her into the ranks of the greats. They were also the temperament that insisted every decision she made had to be realized, and that had given him more than a few headaches in the past.
"Yu-na. Please tell me you're not about to storm over to Ares Music and throw a tantrum. Lee Hae-jin is over there. He's a senior in this industry. You don't pull that kind of stunt."
"...!"
I knew it...
Watching her flinch, Cha Tae-gyu let out a deep sigh and pressed a hand to his forehead. Kang Yu-na stopped on her way out the door and turned only her head, looking back at him with a wistful gleam in her eyes.
"You think it wouldn't work? Senior likes me a lot, you know."
"That's just being a nuisance. And if you ask me, it probably wasn't the company that said no — it was Kim Se-jun. So don't go making trouble for Ares Music. Go convince Kim Se-jun instead."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Ares Music has zero reason to oppose this. They should be bowing in gratitude. If we got turned down, it means the artist side refused. Besides, Ares is famous for it — they respect the artist's opinion."
"Oho. Not bad, President. So you didn't just luck into that chair with seniority."
"Haa... Just don't go over there and start making demands."
"President. I am not a child, you know."
She pushed her lips out in a pout, tossed the complaint over her shoulder, and headed out. Cha Tae-gyu shook his head slowly. Superstar or not, she was only twenty-four. To him, she was still a long way from grown.
"Hyung-nim. Are you truly not going to eat?"
"Nah. I'm not hungry. You go ahead, Joo-sung — eat plenty."
Kim Se-jun waved Lee Joo-sung off from the waiting room they'd come to for SBC's music broadcast, Music Jungsim.
"Anyway, how long are you going to keep calling me Hyung-nim? I told you, just call me hyung."
"Ah, my apologies. It's become a habit. It doesn't correct itself easily."
Lee Joo-sung answered in a hurry around a mouthful of his lunchbox. A physical-education major through and through, he kept using the ultra-formal Hyung-nim even after Kim Se-jun had told him to relax.
"Fine... just eat a lot..."
"Yes. If Hyung-nim wants something as well, please say so. I will go buy it at once."
"Thanks. Oh — and today's schedule ends with this, right?"
Lee Joo-sung was just swallowing his rice to answer when a knock sounded at the waiting-room door. Both their gazes swung toward it, and Kim Se-jun answered the knock without much thought.
Is it my turn already?
Expecting a staffer come to tell him to get ready, he started to stand and reach for his gayageum — and then the door opened, and a woman walked in.
"...!"
"Cough— hack! Kang... Kang Yu-na?"
Lee Joo-sung hadn't quite finished swallowing. Rice grains flew as he choked and coughed. How startled did a person have to be to do that? Kim Se-jun felt a flicker of pity for him — and then he, too, was staring at the unexpected visitor with wide, startled eyes.
"Ah... hello?"
"Hello. Was I being terribly rude?"
Kang Yu-na tilted her head at the sight of Lee Joo-sung. Kim Se-jun shook his.
"N-no, not at all. I think my friend here was just a little too surprised. But what brings you...?"
Kang Yu-na wasn't even on today's lineup.
More than that — her last activity had been last year. The fact that a singer who hadn't done a single thing this year had suddenly appeared in a music-show waiting room made no sense at all. Well. There was one guess that came to mind. The duet proposal that had come in from her not long ago.
"Ah, there was something I wanted to talk to you about."
I knew it.
"Ah — I'm incredibly grateful for the duet offer, but the company was opposed—"
"Why did you turn it down?"
"...."
She cut him off. Her gaze locked onto his, clear and unblinking, and a cold sweat slid down Kim Se-jun's spine. He whipped his head toward Lee Joo-sung, silently begging the man to do his job as a manager.
You thick-headed oaf!
The manager who was supposed to protect his artist had forgotten that duty entirely. Lee Joo-sung was staring at Kang Yu-na's face in a complete daze, utterly gone. Kim Se-jun ground his teeth.
"As I was saying again, the company—"
"And as I was saying again — why did you turn it down?"
Kang Yu-na smiled sweetly as she spoke. Kim Se-jun's face crumpled. Inwardly, he reached for Lee Hae-jin.
You said you'd handle it just fine, sir...