Empathy (3)
“Producer Seo Geonwoo.”
The moment Jiyoung’s firm voice rang through the studio, every gaze snapped toward the far end of the judges’ panel—to Seo Geonwoo himself.
Seo Geonwoo unlaced his fingers, slowly lifted the microphone, and spoke.
“There’s no reason to turn down a chance to work together. I gladly accept.”
Seo Geonwoo Team: Han Jiyoung /
The instant her name blazed across the giant screen in bold letters, a chorus of pained groans erupted from the other four judges’ seats as if on cue.
“Aigoo, this is just too much.”
Kang Soyoung shot Jiyoung a resentful look and pouted.
“I’d been sitting in the waiting room spinning fantasies about what song I might try with Jiyoung! The second I saw Senior Seo Geonwoo’s face I knew my chance had flown out the window.”
Terry Oh toyed with his orange-tinted sunglasses and gave a bitter little smile.
“Well, I figured this might happen, but having it snatched right in front of me still stings pretty bad.”
No one swallowed a thicker lump of regret than Kim Taesung.
He kept his expression carefully blank, yet the fist resting under the table was clenched white-knuckle tight.
This time I really wanted to put the perfect wings on her with my own producing.
It wasn’t a businessman’s greed. It was pure hunger as a creator.
But standing before Korea’s greatest living master, all he could do was click his tongue and let it go.
While the judges traded their good-natured grumbling, the MC reined the energy back in and called the next name.
“All right! Our first matchup is already scorching hot. Next up, the second-priority pick! Audience score second place—Kang Minhyuk, please come forward!”
Jiyoung returned to her place and stood silently, eyes fixed on Kang Minhyuk’s back.
Anyone but him, please.
She prayed hard inside. If he had any sense, he wouldn’t want to be paired with her either.
Standing center stage, Kang Minhyuk gripped the mic and couldn’t quite open his mouth. His gaze flicked restlessly across the judges’ panel.
As the silence stretched, the MC asked carefully,
“Contestant Kang Minhyuk, do you need more time? We know how huge a decision choosing a producer is. If you’d like, we can give you as long as you need.”
At the MC’s considerate offer, Kang Minhyuk closed his eyes, then opened them again. The wavering light in them hardened into something terrifyingly solid.
“No. I’ve made up my mind.”
He pulled the microphone close.
“I want to work with Producer Seo Geonwoo.”
Jiyoung’s brow twitched, just barely.
She wasn’t the only one startled. Even Seo Geonwoo himself—the man who’d been chosen—widened his eyes in genuine surprise.
“Well now…”
An awkward sound slipped from between his lips.
Beside him, Park Jinwoo covered his mic and let out a dry chuckle.
“Putting the two of them together and making him cut one right before the stage… for a producer, that’s pure torture, isn’t it?”
He was right. The setup was awkward for the producer and the production staff alike.
Seo Geonwoo’s thoughts began to tangle.
Kang Minhyuk.
He’d been one of the contestants Seo Geonwoo had eyed most hungrily on the waiting-room monitors.
Han Jiyoung and Kang Minhyuk.
Locking the two most coveted monsters in one studio and building music together—just imagining it was thrilling enough to make his blood race.
But in the end, I’ll have to kill one of them with my own hands.
He exhaled a long breath and lifted the microphone. Cameras and eyes locked onto him.
“You’re handing me a really difficult decision. Aigoo…”
Seo Geonwoo shook his head as though truly troubled.
“Still—he was one of the contestants I absolutely wanted to work with from the start. I accept.”
Seo Geonwoo Team: Han Jiyoung / Kang Minhyuk — MATCHING COMPLETE
The moment both names locked side by side on the giant screen and the red “Matching Complete” stamp slammed down, a collective sigh of relief burst from the remaining eight contestants as if they’d rehearsed it.
“Haa… I survived. For real.”
“Dude, I literally couldn’t breathe just now. I kept thinking, what if I end up on a team with Jiyoung or Minhyuk?”
“That team is straight-up the death group. Might as well call it the finals already. Whew, thank god.”
“Honestly whoever gets cut is going to be a waste, but I’m so glad I’m not in there.”
With the twin walls named Kang Minhyuk and Han Jiyoung now locked onto each other in the same team, the rest of the contestants patted their chests like people who’d just staggered back from the gates of hell.
As the studio air loosened strangely, the MC cranked the energy up again.
“Whoa, we’ve already got a massive big match locked in from the semi-finals! Let’s keep rolling. Third-priority pick—Han Doyun!”
“……Excuse me?”
Hearing his own name, Han Doyun—who’d been standing in the back, relaxed with relief—jerked upright, eyes going round. He seemed completely unable to believe he’d actually placed third in overall audience scores, and hurried to center stage in a fluster.
“Uh… I’m third?”
Looking bewildered, he glanced between the audience and the judges, then brought the mic to his lips.
“I want to keep working with the person who brought me this far. My choice is Producer Park Jinwoo.”
Park Jinwoo lifted his microphone with the faint smile of a man who’d been waiting.
“The growth you’ve shown since I gave you that Super Pass in round one has made it completely worth it. This time I’ll draw out Han Doyun’s true color perfectly. I accept.”
From fourth place onward, the contestants’ producer nominations rolled forward quickly.
Yet amid that cheerful matching process, one face alone kept crumpling: Kim Taesung, head of Luminous Entertainment.
Because not a single contestant was naming him.
At first he forced himself to stay casual—Well, that can happen. Those kids all lean heavily singer-songwriter.—but as the ranks kept sliding backward and contestants kept calling other producers’ names, his expression visibly hardened.
Kang Soyoung, sitting beside him, finally looked over with pity, covered her mouth with one hand, and whispered,
“That’s why you should’ve been nicer all along.”
It was only a short line, but it carried a painful truth and a lot of history.
Was this the karma of five years spent chasing nothing but money and commercial success, swinging a bloodless, tearless blade through the industry?
Rumors already whispered viciously through the business: “Get on the wrong side of Luminous’s Kim Taesung and he’ll suck the marrow from your bones.”
For contestants who needed to prove their worth right here in this competition, a producer who would find their real voice and real color was everything.
A producer who erased individuality for pure commercial success and forced them into clothes that didn’t fit was the worst possible choice.
Ugh. My karma. My own damn karma.
Kim Taesung clicked his tongue bitterly inside and swallowed a deep sigh.
In the end, once every high-ranking contestant had chosen, the leftover lower-ranked contestants who’d been held in reserve filled the remaining empty slots. Contestants with no options left were reluctantly assigned to Kim Taesung’s team, and the semi-final producer matching was complete.
“All right! That wraps up the matching of five teams and ten contestants who will walk the semi-finals together!”
With the MC’s vigorous cry, the final bracket blazed across the giant screen at center stage.
■ Seo Geonwoo Team : Han Jiyoung / Kang Minhyuk
■ Park Jinwoo Team : Han Doyun / Lee Seojun
■ Kang Soyoung Team : Choi Harin / Park Sujin
■ Terry Oh Team : Baek Taehyun / Yoon Jiu
■ Kim Taesung Team : Jeong Seungwoo / Song Jaemin
A few days later.
GW Entertainment headquarters, Gangnam.
Kang Minhyuk and I sat at opposite ends of a wide luxury leather sofa, as far apart as the furniture would allow.
Seo Geonwoo, who by rights should already have been here playing us the track and discussing parts, still hadn’t appeared—only a staff message that a last-minute schedule had delayed him a little longer.
The strongest rival.
And the opponent in a brutal deathmatch: practice the same song, then one of us would be cut, humiliatingly, right before the stage.
Left alone with that person in a sealed soundproof studio, anything less than heavy air would have been unnatural.
Ugh, I’m going to suffocate.
I wanted to pull out my phone just for something to look at, but it felt like losing some invisible staring contest, so I forced my spine straight and stared holes through the mixing console in front of me.
That was when Kang Minhyuk, unable to bear the crushing silence any longer, carefully opened the conversation.
“Um, Jiyoung.”
“Yes?”
When I turned my head, he offered a slightly awkward smile.
“Back at the dorms I saw you carrying a game console around. Do you like games?”
Games? Completely unexpected small talk. I answered, a little flustered.
“Uh, yeah. I do.”
My short affirmation visibly brightened the stiff expression on his face.
“Oh, really? I love games too! That console you were carrying around—it’s a Switcher, right? Every night before I sleep I play Island Decorating.”
Kang Minhyuk chattered on, happy to have found common ground.
Someone that big, lying in bed every night carefully pulling weeds and decorating an island…
Island Decorating? Isn’t that game completely boring?
Just chatting with animal neighbors and paying off debt—what kind of fun was anyone supposed to find in a bland healing game like that?
A real game should have blood flying, sweat pouring, razor-edge control, and pure impactful action…
I was deep in an internal lecture on the true philosophy of gaming when—
“Jiyoung? Are you listening?”
Kang Minhyuk waving a hand in front of my face yanked me out of my thoughts with a jolt.
“Huh? Ah, sorry. I was zoning out… What did you just say?”
“Ahaha, you must be really tired. So, um, if you ever want to visit my island…”
He laughed sheepishly and was about to continue when—
Click.
The heavy soundproof door opened with a solid thud, and someone strode in.
“Aigoo, sorry. The earlier schedule ran longer than I expected.”
A white-haired man entered with a warm, good-natured smile.
Producer Seo Geonwoo.
Gulp.
I swallowed dryly without meaning to. My eyes went straight to the external hard drive in his hand and the mixing console.
Play it for me. Let me hear your music!!
The single reason I had chosen him without a second’s hesitation as my first-priority pick.
I wanted to hear, with my own two ears, the real sound forged by the number one name in Korean pop—the living legend who led an era.