The Challenge (2)
The view count was sprinting like a thing possessed.
Unlike the pre-release, which had been locked to a mere seven thousand viewers, the wide release was theoretically visible to every last person on the planet.
And because of that—
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The window displaying the numbers kept seizing up, as if the thing had broken. It stuttered on a one-second loop. Every time it froze and came back, the count leaped by nearly seven thousand.
Only once it brushed a hundred thousand did the surge finally ease.
But that was more than enough.
In a single stroke, Neon Heart's ranking climbed all the way to second place.
The disappointing part, inevitably, was ENTRA's opening barrage. They had more fans than Neon Heart, and in the short term it was only natural they'd sit higher on the chart.
Still, it's a little disappointing.
Looking at the challenge's view count alone, they should have been able to catch up.
Park Siwoo swallowed the lingering bitterness.
But Neon Heart was by no means underperforming. They were freshly debuted rookies, and for rookies to put up numbers like this was anything but common. It was only because they'd been drawing such overwhelmingly good responses until now that any disappointment lingered at all.
"Great work, everyone."
When Park Siwoo spoke, the Neon Heart members answered in kind.
"You worked hard too, Producer."
"Thank you for everything."
Park Siwoo nodded.
"Things are only going to get busier from here, so make sure you rest well today."
"Yes, sir."
"I'll be heading out now."
It was late, and there was someone waiting at home. Just as Park Siwoo turned to leave with that thought, Cha Seungjun stopped him.
"W-wait a second, Producer."
"Yes?"
"Look at this."
He pointed at the screen, his voice thick with disbelief.
"We... we took first place."
Siwoo checked the laptop, and sure enough — Neon Heart had overtaken ENTRA for the number one spot.
And that wasn't all.
First, second, and third place were all monopolized by Neon Heart's tracks.
Holy shit.
Park Siwoo sucked in a breath.
This much?
Title tracks hitting number one was common enough. But for even the album's B-sides to blow up like this was almost unheard of. And for all of them to explode at the exact same time...
Maybe the songs were even better than Park Siwoo had thought.
He opened YouTube on his phone. Neon Heart's music video had gone up at the same time — true to a band, a performance piece of them playing their instruments against a dreamlike backdrop.
The current view count: a staggering two million.
Considering it had only been up for about ten minutes, that was an insane number. The comments were equally staggering — nearly ten thousand of them.
It was, unsurprisingly, a wall of praise. Neon Heart's track had even claimed the number one spot on YouTube's real-time trending chart.
What on earth happened to ENTRA?
No matter how good his own songs were, they should have been able to brute-force the numbers with sheer fan count.
Park Siwoo searched for ENTRA. Their comeback video sat at the very top. He clicked it.
The view count: 1.9 million. A razor-thin difference from Neon Heart.
The quality of the song, however, was heaven and earth. The comments alone made that clear.
Profanity was flying in every direction. Even the view count had mostly been driven up by people coming to see just how badly it had crashed and burned.
Just how bad is it?
Park Siwoo hit play.
It was shocking. A cloying guitar-and-keyboard bed, noisy guitar riffs, and then — the crowning glory — Kim Mir's greasy rap. The moment that rap came in, Park Siwoo could not hold his laughter.
"Pfft."
The song itself hadn't been entirely without a passable quality, but the second Kim Mir's rap dropped, it curdled into something that sounded like a mass-produced Chinese mobile-game commercial. Truly, genuinely garbage-tier rap.
And the comments are nothing but people tearing into Kim Mir.
They're going to have a real mess on their hands.
Park Siwoo chuckled to himself.
That was when Ha Seungjin spoke up.
"I-is this real?"
Park Siwoo turned off his phone and nodded.
"Yes. It's real. Neon Heart just took number one on Bugs. YouTube, too."
A thunderous cheer exploded through the room.
"THAT'S IT!!!"
Ha Seungjin pumped a clenched fist, and that was all it took — the rest of Neon Heart started shouting over one another. Park Siwoo watched them with a warm, quiet satisfaction. He knew their effort better than anyone.
"You all worked incredibly hard. Dinner's on me tonight."
"Wooo!!!"
Cheers erupted from every direction.
And so, once the company dinner was over—
"A-yeon, you worked very hard today."
"Ah, yes..."
He'd had to drive, so he'd stuck to soft drinks instead of alcohol. Which was how he'd ended up in charge of taking a drunken Seol A-yeon home.
Seol A-yeon let out a small groan as she pushed herself up from her seat, the liquor sitting heavy in her.
"Producer, thank you. I'm always so grateful."
"I'm the one who should be thanking you."
"No, you didn't even... anyway, thank you. I'm really working hard... I mean, I am working hard."
"I know."
Drunk, mumbling through clumsy, slurred syllables. Park Siwoo spoke quietly.
"A-yeon, you should head inside. Be careful."
"Ah... yes. I'll be going in now!"
"Have a good night."
"Ah— A-yeon."
"Yes?"
"It's nothing. Go on in."
"Okaaay."
Seol A-yeon shut the car door and was gone. Only then did Park Siwoo turn toward home.
The time was 3 a.m.
I didn't even drink. Maybe I should've just left.
But he was the producer. He couldn't skip out. Park Siwoo rubbed at his stiff neck and headed home.
Oh, come to think of it.
Tomorrow was the weekend. He parked the car, taking that as a small mercy.
Yena's... probably asleep.
Given the hour, she would have gone to bed by now. Park Siwoo pressed the door lock as carefully as he could, so as not to wake her, and stepped inside.
Contrary to his expectation that the lights would be out, the house was brightly lit. He looked around — and then, from somewhere, came a quick patter of footsteps. At the same moment the recording studio door opened, and Lee Yena appeared, hands clasped demurely in front of her.
"Siwoo, you're home?"
"You haven't gone to bed yet?"
"No."
Lee Yena smiled, shy and warm.
"I wanted to see your face before I went to sleep..."
"......"
"You must be exhausted. I'll take your briefcase."
She slipped the briefcase out of Park Siwoo's hand. And then—
"Did you drink? Want me to make you some hangover soup?"
"No. I didn't have a single glass."
"It was a company dinner, though?"
"It was."
Lee Yena looked up at him with a face that asked why. But she didn't press.
"I'll hang up your suit. Go wash up."
"Thank you."
Park Siwoo handed her the jacket he'd been wearing. And then—
"The lunchbox was delicious, by the way. Thank you for packing it."
"Oh — you ate it all?"
"I did. The members all said it was wonderful, too."
"Did they? I'll pack more when I get the chance."
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it. Go on, wash up."
"Alright, then."
Leaving her behind with a little puff of laughter, Park Siwoo went to shower.
When he came out, roughly toweling the water from his hair as he stepped into the living room, Lee Yena was at the kitchen sink doing the dishes. The lunchbox from today.
"Yena, I'll do that."
Park Siwoo hurried to her side. But—
"It's fine. I'll do it. You just rest."
"But..."
"This is the kind of thing a woman does. So go on, sit down!"
He hadn't expected those words to come out of her mouth. Park Siwoo's eyes widened a fraction — and then he pulled on the rubber gloves sitting beside the sink. A spare pair. That, at least, was fortunate.
"I'll soap. You rinse."
"You really don't have to."
"It's a matter of conscience."
"Heh. So we're all the way at conscience now?"
Lee Yena giggled and took a step to the side. Park Siwoo moved into the space she'd left and started on the dishes.
They'd only just begun when Lee Yena tossed out a line, light as anything.
"Doing this together, we feel like a married couple."
He flinched. A tremor ran through Park Siwoo's body.
Lee Yena giggled and asked,
"Don't we?"
"We do, but..."
Would she still be able to do this, knowing he was a divorcé? Park Siwoo turned the thought over. And in that time, the dishes were done.
"Whew. All finished."
"Thank you for the help."
"Are you going straight to bed? Want me to spread out the blankets?"
"No, I'm fine. More importantly, Yena."
Park Siwoo hesitated a moment, then spoke.
"Would you like to have a drink with me?"
"W-what? Really?"
Lee Yena's eyes went round as saucers. She looked a little startled — then a gentle smile spread across her face.
"I'd like that. I just need to grab the wine over there, right?"
"Yes. I'll get the glasses."
They set everything out and sat down. Wine, cheese, and crackers. Park Siwoo looked at it for a moment, then opened the bottle with the corkscrew and poured into Lee Yena's glass. Watching it fill all the way up, she giggled.
"Are you trying to get me drunk?"
"Of course not."
At that, Lee Yena clicked her tongue, looking faintly disappointed. Park Siwoo poured a glass for himself as well.
"Alright — cheers!"
On Lee Yena's word, they tapped their glasses together. Park Siwoo took a generous sip. It was a fine red, and the aroma was excellent. The alcohol content, of course, was nothing to sneeze at either.
"Mm, I'm getting tipsy."
Lee Yena murmured it — but for someone saying so, her face was perfectly fine. Not even a hint of color.
Maybe it's better to say it now.
Park Siwoo looked at her and thought.
If she finds out I'm a divorcé, she might pull away.
But not telling her was a problem of its own. It would mean using her feelings. That was also why he hadn't been able to push Seol A-yeon away easily — because his relationship with Lee Yena wasn't complete.
"Yena."
After turning it over, Park Siwoo finally spoke.
"What?"
Her eyes went wide. Park Siwoo smiled, bitter at the edges.
"Meaning I'm a divorcé."
"What?"
This time it was Park Siwoo's eyes that went wide.
"I know you got divorced, Siwoo."
"And even so..."
"What do you mean, 'even so'? Getting divorced once is pretty common these days. I don't think of it as a flaw... but even if it were, your charm is more than twice as big as that."
"......"
Park Siwoo closed his mouth. Lee Yena — this woman — really was...
"So don't worry so much. And there's no need to rush into a decision, either."
At her words, Park Siwoo clenched his fist.
A woman, by nature, wants to hold onto her man. And yet Lee Yena hadn't tried to lock him down. She'd given him time — even knowing he could go out and meet someone else.
She's a good woman.
And he was a terrible man for still not being able to take her hand after she'd said all that. The wound of divorce did not heal easily — not easily enough, even, to let him confess to a woman like this.
Park Siwoo smiled, bitter at the edges.
And right at that moment—
"Urgh...!"
Lee Yena grimaced.