Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Episode 13. Delinquent Girl and a One-Night Stand (2)
Kim Yuna was a singer known for being cold.
Whether she won awards or lost them, she always remained expressionless.
People even went so far as to describe her as the daughter of a northern duke.
However.
That Kim Yuna.
Was crying in front of me?
“Please don’t go. I was wrong.”
A voice filled with tears rang out.
There were not many people who could hear that and simply walk away.
No, there probably weren’t any at all.
Park Siwoo stopped walking and turned around.
At some point, Kim Yuna had left her seat.
As if she were a tragic heroine, she tightly clenched both fists and let tears the size of droplets fall one after another.
“Leaving like this wouldn’t be right either.”
Park Siwoo sighed inwardly.
Then he walked up beside her and spoke quietly.
“Please stop crying. Your makeup will get ruined.”
“But…”
“We’ll talk a bit more, so stop crying.”
Only after he said that did Kim Yuna’s sobbing seem to calm down.
But her still-wet eyes looked as though they would burst into tears again the moment he got up and left.
Ha.
With a sigh, Park Siwoo asked her,
“Do you even know what you’re apologizing for?”
“Yes…”
She spoke in a strained voice.
“For being rude… hic!”
So she did know she was in the wrong?
As Park Siwoo’s eyes grew cold again, Kim Yuna hurriedly continued.
“I’m sorry. So please, sign the contract. I really want to receive songs from Guitar Hero.”
“Is that how someone who really wants something behaves?”
Park Siwoo replied coldly.
Of course, if he were to sign a contract with her as things stood, it would be advantageous for him.
Though overshadowed by Lee Yena’s fame, she was an incredibly talented singer.
If she were to sing his songs, it would be far greater publicity than Lee Yena’s cover.
However.
“There are plenty of excellent singers other than Kim Yuna.”
More than anything, Park Siwoo did not trust a woman’s tears.
That was something he had learned from his ex-wife.
“……”
As Park Siwoo maintained his consistently cold attitude, Kim Yuna pressed her lips tightly together.
Her large eyes began to glisten, as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
Her mistake was thinking that if she pushed strongly as someone of her level of beauty, she could take control of the negotiation.
If only she had known, she would have quietly signed the papers.
Because of her mistake, she was about to lose a song from Guitar Hero.
Worse, she might end up being disliked by the country’s top composer.
And if the contract fell through because of that, her grandmother’s treatment…
“I’m… sorry… I’m sorry…”
In the end, she burst into tears and lowered her head.
Tears filled with regret and apology rolled down her cheeks.
At that moment, Park Siwoo’s eyes flashed.
At the same time, he placed a pen down on the desk with a click.
Startled, Kim Yuna looked up at him.
“Very well. I’ll forgive you this time. Instead—”
Park Siwoo took out a contract.
Originally, it would have been a contract containing the best possible terms in the industry…
But Park Siwoo crossed out that section with his pen.
Then he rewrote it with reasonably decent conditions.
It was still a good contract, but considering her value, the terms were far from sufficient.
Park Siwoo handed the contract to Kim Yuna.
If she truly wanted his song, she would sign it.
As if to confirm that thought, Kim Yuna spoke in a tearful voice.
“If I sign… will I be able to receive a song from Guitar Hero…?”
Park Siwoo nodded.
“Yes. I will compose a song for Kim Yuna. However, there is a condition.”
Kim Yuna swallowed hard.
Starlight Entertainment was known for its internal corruption issues.
Perhaps Park Siwoo might demand something improper from her.
In fact, ever since her performance had declined, the company’s director had been subtly making advances toward her.
Had he suggested marriage?
He was an utterly grotesque pig.
In contrast, Park Siwoo was…
Broad shoulders.
Sharp jawline and nose.
Eyes large enough to rival a woman’s.
A flawless handsome man.
Kim Yuna’s eyes trembled slightly.
At that moment, Park Siwoo spoke.
“If I see any abuse of power within our company, I will not provide a song.”
Kim Yuna’s eyes widened in surprise.
Then she muttered blankly,
“Sleeping together request…”
“Pardon?”
Park Siwoo frowned.
What is this woman even talking about?
When he looked at her with that meaning in his eyes, Kim Yuna’s face turned bright red.
“N-no, it’s nothing. I’ll sign…”
She grabbed the pen and signed.
Park Siwoo silently watched her.
In truth, he had been skeptical about contracting with her.
However, when Kim Yuna burst into tears a second time, the red thread tied around her hand suddenly flashed and changed into a golden thread.
Then explanations followed one after another.
[Conditions have been met.]
[The red thread information has been revealed.]
Ding!
[The thread system has been activated due to fulfillment of specific conditions.]
[Golden Thread: A connection that will greatly benefit you.]
[Red Thread: Your actions can turn the target into either a golden thread or a black thread.]
[Black Thread: ???]
Seeing the thread tied to her hand change into gold, Park Siwoo changed his mind.
He decided to invest in Kim Yuna.
It was an investment with a 100% guarantee of success.
“I’ll be going now.”
Park Siwoo stood up from his seat.
He hadn’t noticed earlier because he was preoccupied, but his height was massive.
His head reached roughly his chest level, even though she was on the shorter side.
“Goodbye…”
Kim Yuna bowed politely toward Park Siwoo as he left.
Thud.
The door closed, and Kim Yuna collapsed weakly into her chair.
“Haah…”
Melting into the chair like slime, she struggled to hold up the contract.
The terms were not bad.
Of course, compared to the contracts she had received recently, it was on the worse side.
But she had received worse contracts before.
From the very agency she was currently signed to.
“They immediately lowered the conditions just because my performance dropped a little.”
It wasn’t that her singing ability had worsened.
It was because she had failed to find a good composer, causing every song she sang to flop.
Yet the contract she had just received guaranteed a song from Guitar Hero.
And the terms were not bad at all.
“That kind of contract… and they just gave it to me.”
He hadn’t asked for sleeping arrangements or even a kiss.
The only request he made was to avoid abuse of power.
“Could this be… an investment in me?”
By not explicitly calling it an investment, was he telling her to figure it out herself?
Kim Yuna clenched her fist.
“If the songs are good, I can rise again.”
No, perhaps.
She might even surpass Lee Yena, whom she had once considered an insurmountable wall.
If that happened, she could earn enough to buy the 5.6 billion won treatment for her grandmother’s illness.
“I will definitely succeed.”
For the sake of Guitar Hero, who invested in someone as lacking as her, and for herself as well.
Determination filled Kim Yuna’s eyes.
After finishing the contract with Kim Yuna, Park Siwoo returned to the company.
However.
“Where have you been until now? Are you getting too full of yourself just because the CEO is backing you?”
The head of the division seemed tireless despite the heat.
The moment Park Siwoo entered the department, he began to nitpick.
“You should at least stay in the company!”
He knew what happened when a salesperson stayed only in the office.
Yet he raised his voice, picking on him over trivial matters.
“Looks like you’ve been quiet since then.”
People don’t change easily, after all.
As Park Siwoo was thinking this, the head of the division shouted,
“Team Leader Park, are you even listening to me? Huh?”
“I hear you.”
“If you hear me, you should respond!”
“……”
Instead of replying, Park Siwoo took a step forward toward him.
That alone instantly closed the distance between them.
As a result, the already noticeable height difference became even more obvious.
It was like comparing a dwarf and an elf.
A short, heavyset division head with a head that looked massive.
A tall, handsome Park Siwoo.
“Pfft…!”
The stark contrast made the surrounding employees struggle to hold back their laughter.
Hearing that, the division head’s face turned bright red.
Trying to hide it, he instead raised his voice.
“What exactly do you do? Don’t get cocky just because you signed with Guitar Hero! That’s all you’ve done and nothing else…!”
Signing with Guitar Hero was no small achievement, but that wasn’t important to him.
“I even arranged a contract promise with Twy this time. And you? What have you done?”
“I signed a contract with Kim Yuna.”
“Kim Yuna, of all people…! What?”
The division head’s eyes widened.
The same went for the employees.
“You signed with Kim Yuna?”
“Wait, that northern duke Kim Yuna?”
“I heard her contract is ending around now…”
However, everyone remained skeptical.
Even though her performance had slightly declined, Kim Yuna was still at the top of the industry, and no one believed she would sign with Starlight Entertainment.
The division head seemed to think the same, smirking.
“Now you’re lying?”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
Park Siwoo took out a document from his bag and handed it over.
There, unmistakably, was Kim Yuna’s signature.
The division head muttered in shock.
“I… it’s real…”
At that moment.
“Te-Team Leader Park! The CEO is calling for you! She says she has something to discuss regarding performance bonuses…!”
The personal secretary of the CEO, Cha Ye-seung, brought the matter to a decisive end.