Crossing to Japan
"Wait, you guys actually came?"
"Yes..."
The very next day after Suyun's "fan meeting plan" was relayed back to Korea. The people who showed up at the hotel where Suyun and her group were staying, looking utterly exhausted, were three staff members who had previously accompanied Suyun and Group Sound during their live tour to manage their events.
"You didn't really have to come all this way..."
"If there's an event, we have to be here."
"I feel like we could have handled it ourselves. We have people here too, you know? Three of us."
Suyun said this without much thought. But the staff members couldn't bring themselves to reply with something like, Do you really think that would work?
If it were Manager Jung, who was close with the staff, or Team Leader Ko, who was at least a "boss" figure, it might have been different. But the person standing in front of them—even if she had softened up quite a bit lately—was the company's flagship star, the leader of the band, the main composer, and the daughter of the company's CEO. Who on earth would dare to speak bluntly to her?
The staff could only stare in silence at Suyun, who brightly insisted, "I think three of us would be more than enough!"
And the one who saved them was none other than their boss.
"Suyun-nim!"
"Yes?"
"Three people is absolutely not enough!"
"Isn't it?"
"We have to book a live house, check if it's legally permissible under local regulations, and promote it on social media! Not to mention preparing free gifts for the attendees, guiding people... How are three people supposed to do all of that? Besides, we still have our basic daily duties to handle. Honestly, even with six of us here now, it feels a bit tight!"
"Is that so?"
"And these people had their own work to do, but they set it aside to come here. If you say things like that to the people who came to help..."
"Ah. I'm sorry."
Suyun's thought was simply: If we have fewer people, we just work with what we have. What was the big deal if the event was run a bit "frugally"?
But as a certain novelist once wrote, a government minister who says, "Let's not stand on ceremony or make a fuss, let's just have our meeting at a cafe!" has no idea how much work must go into organizing an "informal meeting." From asking the cafe owner for understanding to turning other customers away... If they had just held it in a conference room, all they would have needed to do was walk in, set down a few bottles of mineral water, and clear their throats a couple of times.
In particular, Team Leader Ko's opinion was that even if this was an impromptu, unofficial event, letting their "very first event in Japan" turn into a chaotic mess like a random street gathering would be a disaster.
"First, Assistant Manager Kim, please look into live houses! The conditions are: at least 50 seats, and it must be vacant for over three hours. It doesn't matter if we have to pay a premium, and it needs to be within a 10-minute walk from a subway station in Tokyo's 23 wards. And nothing too shabby!"
"Yes, understood."
"Jin-hee, you brought our albums, right? Talk with Suyun-nim to prepare the attendance gifts, and get some signed CDs. And..."
After delivering a grand lecture to Suyun, the staff quickly dispersed under Manager Jung's orderly instructions. Suyun twirled her hair slightly, thinking that what Manager Jung said made sense. Back in her past life, she had been someone whose work was closer to a "backup team," so hearing this kind of talk... she felt like she was adapting quite well to her current position, after all.
"So, you got scolded by Manager Jung?"
"It wasn't a scolding, exactly..."
"That *is* getting scolded. Ehehehehe... I knew a day like this would come for you."
"What do you know?" Suyun muttered grumpily.
Despite her reaction, the giggling on the other end didn't stop. Just as Suyun's temper was about to flare, Iseor finally stopped laughing and moved on to the next topic.
"If we had gone with you, we could have at least helped out a bit."
"You couldn't make it, so what can you do?"
"I know, right? Of all times, our schedules had to clash now."
At any other time, the girls would have jumped at the chance, shouting, "Free trip to Japan!" but this time it was impossible. Even though it was just a YouTube variety show, Iseor was making her very first appearance on one (excluding Suyun). Hyun-ah had landed a session gig, and Seoha was scheduled to appear on another YouTube channel.
"It can't be helped. Schedules are important."
"You're not crying because you're lonely without us, are you? Hmm?"
"Don't talk nonsense."
As Suyun said that, she suddenly recalled a conversation from not too long ago. Something about looking pathetic... Was this one of those moments?
"Still, it is a bit boring without you guys."
"...Suyun!!"
After she uttered that single sentence, Iseor let out a screech loud enough to blow out the phone's speaker. Suyun pulled the phone away from her ear for a moment.
After waiting out the incomprehensible noise, Iseor's voice finally returned to a normal volume.
"So, how many people do you think will show up?"
"Well..."
Suyun twirled her hair slightly. If she could predict that, she wouldn't be doing this. But if she had to make a rough guess...
"It won't be zero, but we shouldn't expect a crowd."
After all, they had announced it completely out of the blue, without even a proper introduction. Just a simple, We're having a fan meeting in a few days~ post.
"Even if not many people show up, it is what it is."
Suyun genuinely felt that way.
Ping!
With a sharp snap, a guitar string popped off the neck. The performance was forced to a halt.
Scratching his head awkwardly, he said, "Well, the string broke."
"Should we take a quick break?"
"Sure."
While he replaced the high E string, the other band members gathered around the table, popping open cans of drinks. After replacing the string and hanging the guitar on its stand, he grabbed a can with an awkward smile.
"It's just not coming together, the playing."
"I think it sounds perfectly fine as it is, Ren-san."
"No, it's just... ah, how do I put it?"
He scratched his head vigorously. How could he explain it? It was a gap in skill that didn't register even to his hobby bandmates—who knew music well and had a decent grasp of the guitar—but was painfully obvious to the one actually playing.
"I'll do my best to get as close as I can. If it doesn't work, well, I'll just have to give up."
"Yeah. Suyun-chan is a genius, so she can pull it off. You're no genius, Yoshida."
"What did you say? Look at your own skills first."
The band members laughed boisterously. Yoshida Ren laughed along, lost in thought. His journey into covering Group Sound had started a few months ago, right after he first heard their music.
An incredible song, paired with a guitar riff that made him think, Hey, maybe I could play this too. That was the very reason Ren, who used to make music alone, had formed a band and gathered these members. Some had heard of Group Sound and some hadn't, but they all shared the same sentiment: "This is great music" and "This is music I want to try playing."
But contrary to their expectations, Group Sound's songs were brutally difficult. Especially the guitar parts. Even though he kept the exact same tempo, the exact same beat, and tried to replicate the exact same touch... the resulting sound and performance were worlds apart.
"But what exactly is different?"
"I don't really know. It feels like... it's lacking some kind of feeling, I guess."
It had been months since he first resolved to cover their songs. Since then, Ren had relentlessly practiced Group Sound's Hanging Garden and Becoming a Star, determined to copy every single movement of Ha Suyun.
Yet, despite all his efforts, he felt like he hadn't even reached 80%—no, not even 70%—of the original. It was a baffling sensation where he couldn't pinpoint the cause. He didn't know where, but something was definitely different.
"Didn't they say she's only been playing guitar for three or four years?"
"That makes no sense. In my third year, I think I was barely plucking strings."
"Still, you play well, Yoshida-kun."
"Not this well. I should watch the video again."
Saying so, he opened Twitter. He wanted to look up the tweet posted by Group Sound's guitarist, Ha Suyun, where she had briefly demonstrated, "You play it like this," in response to numerous inquiries, so he could use it as a reference once more.
And what caught Ren's eye was a tweet pinned to the very top of Group Sound's official Twitter account, announcing an event happening in just a few days.
"Huh?"
"What is it?"
"It says Group Sound is having a fan meeting in Japan?"
"What?"
The members crowded around him. Ren read the tweet aloud to them. It wasn't an official Group Sound fan meeting, but rather a semi-official, semi-unofficial one featuring only one member—the band's guitarist, Ha Suyun.
"It's at a live house."
"There was no prior notice, I wonder what's going on."
The members chatted, all agreeing that they had to go. Ren thought for a moment amidst the chatter, then voiced an idea that popped into his head.
"Hey, should we try contacting the organizers?"
The day of the fan meeting.
"I don't know why I'm so nervous."
"I'm shaking more than I did for the concert in Korea."
Standing outside the live house, the staff members exchanged these anxious words. Even when preparing for the Jangchung Gymnasium concert back in Korea, they had never worried this much about making mistakes or things going wrong, but now those thoughts kept creeping in.
"Maybe it's because we're in a different country..."
For the past few days, they had done everything they possibly could to prepare. They had scoured every corner of Tokyo to find a live house that met the conditions specified by Manager Jung Yuyoung. They had rushed to find a manufacturer willing to produce a small batch of merchandise on short notice, paying a premium in cold hard cash. They had nagged Ha Suyun to sign all the CDs.
They had also prepared special gifts for the premium members attending the fan meeting, set up Japanese guidance signs, and made arrangements for a cover band that had asked if they could perform. Yet, through all of this, one question constantly weighed on their minds: the turnout.
"Assistant Manager Kim, how many people do you think will show up?"
"Me? Well..."
The staff knew that hundreds of people showing up was out of the question. If hundreds of people could attend a fan meeting announced out of nowhere just a few days prior, major labels wouldn't have looked down on Group Sound in the first place. Then the question was whether they would even get dozens, and the staff was pessimistic even about that.
"It's not like all our fans live in Tokyo, and it's not like the only people who like our girls are those with absolutely no plans."
"Right?"
There were plenty of reasons. Having a girlfriend, having a lecture, having other plans, or simply feeling too lazy to go out. Everyone lives their lives with countless reasons. No matter how free it was, no matter if it was the first fan meeting, and no matter if it was Ha Suyun, it was hard to overcome the weight of the circumstances that life and time created. It would have been different if they had announced it a month or two in advance.
"Still... I don't think it'll be completely empty."
"Just looking at the Twitter replies, there were quite a few. It'd be great if even 10% of them showed up."
"But most of those replies were like, 'I have plans so I can't go, sob sob.'"
"Exactly. It might be fine for students, but once you're a working adult, it's hard to just go somewhere on a few days' notice. Jin-hee, you must feel that now that you're working too."
"Wow... Seriously, when my friends who haven't found jobs yet text me the night before saying, 'Let's hang out tomorrow!' I want to say something, but I just end up thinking, Get a job first and see how you feel..."
The rookie employee grumbled. Assistant Manager Kim watched her for a moment before bringing up something that had crossed his mind.
"How many people did Suyun-nim say she thinks will come?"
"Ah... Suyun-nim also said she expects a small crowd. It feels like she's not expecting much in the first place."
"I wonder if she'll be okay."
"Pardon?"
"Suyun-nim has never performed in front of a small audience before. I'm worried she might be shocked."
"She's never performed for a small crowd?"
"From what I heard, even her smallest gig had over fifty people. If fewer people than that show up this time, I'm worried it might get to her."
"She might not look it, but Suyun-nim is actually quite fragile. Emotionally, I mean," Assistant Manager Kim said.
Hearing this, employee Lee Jin-hee nodded in agreement. Anyone who had worked at Label Echo Sound couldn't help but realize: behind Ha Suyun's blunt and tough exterior lay a blunt, fragile, and clumsy child who needed looking after.
Of course, if Suyun herself had heard this, she wouldn't have just felt like flipping a desk... she would have actually flipped it and trashed the office.
While shouting, "What on earth do you take me for?!"
"That's why I'm worried."
"Well, I'm sure she'll be fine. She'll handle it well."
The staff's worries, however, were completely unnecessary for two major reasons.
First, in her past life, Suyun had performed in front of an audience of literally one person... meaning she wouldn't just be "pretending to be fine" with a small crowd; she would genuinely, truly be perfectly fine with it.
And second...
"Is this where the Group Sound fan meeting is?"
"Yes! It's not time for entry yet, so please line up over here!"
As the scheduled time drew near, far more people than they had ever anticipated began to arrive—to the point where they had to form a massive queue they hadn't even prepared for.