The Moment I Meet You
At this point in the interview, the reporter asked if they could listen to the main OST. After a brief moment of hesitation, Music Director Park Hyun-tae agreed to play the track on the condition that it would not be leaked. Thus, the moment they stepped into the listening room, the reporter was greeted by an unexpected figure—one of the most hotly discussed individuals in the current Korean music scene.
"Is this for real?"
Staring intently at the monitor, Iseor turned her head to throw a question at Suyun. Suyun merely kept her gaze fixed on the distant window. She had nothing to say.
What on earth was she supposed to say?
She couldn't exactly say, 'Actually, my past life was Suh Myung-jun, and I just made up some random nonsense back then because I had nothing else to say.'
'Should I have kept my answers shorter and cut the conversation off? But they kept asking such detailed questions...'
She had made up the story on the spot, and whenever she found herself cornered, she had brushed it off with excuses like, "He didn't share any details beyond that." After barely managing to deflect the questions, she had subtly hinted that she didn't want it published by asking, "Will this part make it into the article too?" but...
'Why did they have to write that down too? Seriously, people don't call them clickbait journalists for nothing.'
Suyun had completely forgotten that she was the one who provided the bait in the first place, thinking she might as well stir up some attention. While Suyun was busy beating up the innocent reporter in her mind, Iseor spoke up.
"You and that... Suh Myung-jun person."
"Yeah?"
"You guys must have been really close. People don't usually share stories like that, do they? Personal stories from their past."
"Uh... well. Yeah. Hm... Were we... close?"
"If you weren't close, he wouldn't have told you something like that. Don't you think?"
"No, well... sure, let's just say we were close."
Suyun glossed over it. She had absolutely no idea how else to respond.
Iseor looked at Suyun with a slightly sorrowful gaze.
Her friend. A girl who always walked around with an indifferent, half-bored expression. Yet, she had a bit of a temper underneath, which made her fun to tease. Even when Iseor and the others teased her to the point of crossing the line, she was mature enough never to lose her temper in a way that crossed the line back.
Deep inside that mature exterior, there might be emotions burned to ashes.
She had lost two people. One was her father. And the other was her master.
Most people her age hadn't even lost one person close to them, let alone two. Suyun had lost both of them in such a short span of time.
'Seeing how she still remembers an anecdote like that, does it mean it remains as a scar inside her, even if she doesn't show it?'
Iseor resolved to treat her a little better from now on.
Of course, she would never realize that all of this stemmed from a massive, bizarre misunderstanding.
A few days later.
It wasn't the kind of news that would make the entire internet erupt, but it was certainly enough to send a massive ripple through the music community. An official press release was uploaded online.
The Korean Music Awards, or the KMA.
Despite its grand nickname as "The Korean Grammys," it didn't hold quite the same mainstream authority as the actual Grammys. However, because it evaluated music solely on its artistic merit—completely disregarding chart performance and genre boundaries—it was still widely regarded as the most prestigious music award ceremony in South Korea, even if its criteria could occasionally be subjective.
And Group Sound had made their mark on those very awards.
By becoming the most-nominated artist, they had once again thrust their name into the spotlight. They were nominated for Song of the Year, Album of the Year, Musician of the Year, Best Rock Album, and Best Rock Song—a total of five categories.
The reaction was instantaneous.
Not from Label Echo Sound, but from another entity entirely.
Even if a production company is absolutely certain a drama will succeed, no marketing department just sits idly by. Furthermore, this wasn't just decent news—it was spectacular news. Studio Giant, the production company behind You from the Next Door, began aggressively pumping out promotional articles like mad, even though the main OST hadn't even been officially released yet.
The articles and viral marketing began spreading indiscriminately into entirely unrelated online spaces, prompting the general public to wonder, "What on earth is the KMA anyway?"
Of course, there was naturally a backlash as well.
There were always people who, when everyone else said "yes," felt compelled to say "no" just for the sake of it. People who didn't really know much but opposed things simply because others were making a fuss. They existed everywhere, and this case was no exception.
To make matters worse, the production company had decided not to pre-release the main OST, opting instead to unveil it through the drama itself on the day of the premiere.
While the expectations of many—if not the entire nation—focused on the project, the premiere date of You from the Next Door was drawing closer and closer.
An exhausting, grueling day.
'I'm not some tragic female lead in a drama. Seriously, why is today of all days like this?'
She muttered to herself as she trudged along.
The street was illuminated by the yellow glow of the streetlamps. It was a slightly chilly March night.
She had resolved to make a proper go of it. It had been a month since she returned to college. The friends she used to greet every single day were gone, replaced only by juniors and people she only recognized in passing. Even the few familiar faces merely offered a brief, "Oh, you returned? I see..." before vanishing from her sight.
The professors showed no interest in her, and neither did anyone else.
Was the school life she had poured so much effort into nothing more than her own self-satisfaction?
A past thrown away in vain. A GPA squandered in vain.
Whispers of "That's her" echoed through the campus. The things she had loved about this place had long since vanished. All that remained were the cherry blossoms that always lined the path to school.
She kept walking.
Her destination was a dilapidated apartment complex with open corridors. Its only redeeming quality was the cheap rent, and its only pride was a single, massive cherry blossom tree towering beside the building.
She fumbled in her pockets for her keys, wondering when on earth the landlord would finally install a digital door lock.
But her pockets were empty.
"No, wait... ugh... where are my keys..."
She rummaged through her bag, but they were nowhere to be found. Not in her pockets either. Where could they have gone?
In a fit of frustration, she slammed her fist against the iron door, channeling all the negative emotions she had accumulated throughout the day.
Thud!
"Should I just go to a public bathhouse..."
A small spiderweb hung near the light on the ceiling. A few gnats hovered around it, and a single spider was perched nearby. Before she knew it, a gnat got caught in the web, struggling desperately as the spider slowly crept toward its prey.
A gentle breeze blew.
Fluttering cherry blossom petals drifted through the air, carrying a faint, swaying floral scent.
'...But cherry blossoms don't have a scent.'
The thought suddenly crossed her mind.
Beneath the tree where the cherry blossoms fell, she slowly lowered her head.
A sudden, overwhelming scent of flowers washed over her.
The light from the room leaked out.
A sharp nose. Eyes filled with sorrow.
And then, she met him.
In the cold wind of March,
I stood frozen in place,
But the moment I met you,
Spring finally began.
"Excuse me. Why are you hitting my door?"
The next-door neighbor was standing right in front of her.
"Am I seeing this right?"
"Yes. You are seeing it correctly."
"There's nothing wrong with my eyes?"
"I told you, yes."
Immediately after the final scene aired, someone in the master control room muttered under their breath as they stared at the numbers on the ratings graph.
Was this really a rating that could come from a first episode?
It was a metric that made one highly anticipate the headlines of the articles that would flood the internet the next morning. And those headlines turned out exactly as many had anticipated.
Naturally, the final ending scene quickly became the talk of the town.
The song that had adorned the climax of the first episode, drawing the audience even deeper into the story, was also beginning to generate massive buzz.
And the results of that buzz manifested clearly.
It was an unprecedented view count, a milestone that even the members of Group Sound themselves had never experienced before.