A Tenacious Bond (2)
A few days later, I visited the Luminous Entertainment building.
This time it wasn't the practice room—it was CEO Kim Taesung's private studio.
I opened the door to find him sitting on the sofa.
Ordinarily cameras and VJs would have been crammed into every corner, but for this final round the production team had shown some consideration. They meant for us to compete on the finished product alone, without filming the songwriting process itself. Thanks to that, the full two weeks would be entirely ours.
"Oh, you're here?"
Kim Taesung cleared his throat loudly and rose from his seat.
"Well, the rules are set that way. Let's do a good job of it, just the two of us."
He put on a benevolent smile, as if trying to show the proper courtesy of a partner.
"But CEO—I'm curious. What ranking criteria put you in fifth place?"
"...About that."
His voice shrank to a mosquito's whisper.
"It was the contestants' preference ranking... apparently."
I bit my lip hard to hold back the laugh that threatened to burst free.
Come to think of it, the semi-final matching came flooding back. The higher-ranked contestants who had held producer choice rights had ignored him as if by prior agreement. In the end he had been left without a single nomination and forced to form a team with whoever remained.
Kim Taesung scratched the back of his head roughly, looking thoroughly embarrassed.
"Well... people might just prefer styles like Park Jinwoo or senior Seo Geonwoo. Enough of the sad stories. So, Jiyoung—what kind of song do you want to do for this final..."
"CEO."
I cut him off cleanly.
Kim Taesung looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"Before that—please speak casually."
His head drooped with a soft thud. He looked up at me as if he truly could not comprehend what he was hearing.
"Suddenly? After all this time?"
"Yes. I've been thinking about it since last time. Ever since I blew up with the reverse-trend hit, you've been going 'Jiyoung-ssi, Jiyoung-ssi' nonstop... Honestly, it's way too cringey. I'd rather you just treat me roughly like before. It's more comfortable that way."
"Haah... Fine. Jiyoung-ah."
He lifted his head. Awkwardness still filled his eyes, but a far more human energy was back.
"So what the hell song do you want to do?"
The casual speech from his mouth was welcome.
I pulled an external hard drive from my bag and shoved it onto his desk with a soft thud. Kim Taesung narrowed his eyes.
"And what's this now?"
"Songs I've worked on for the past month. I wrote them here and there while prepping for the semi-finals."
His eyebrows twitched. He looked back and forth between the hard drive and me, then let out a somewhat dejected hollow laugh.
"So you're saying you'll do the final stage with songs you made yourself, without any help from me? Then I'm just supposed to stand there like a scarecrow lending my name?"
"Come on, CEO. Do you really think I'm that cold-hearted?"
When I answered slyly, he stared at me as if he couldn't believe his ears.
"Objectively speaking, aren't you exactly the type who could pull that off without blinking?"
"Excuse me? That hurts."
"Hurt, my foot."
Kim Taesung sank deep into the chair, his expression drifting into old memories.
"Try remembering your trainee days for a second. Do you have any idea how many times I grabbed the back of my neck because of you? A girl that fierce and stubborn... Who was the one who dug her heels in and swore she would never take the path the company told her to, no matter what?"
"Stop—please just stop."
I waved my hands in pure disgust. Hearing him resurrect my five-years-ago self made long-buried dark history sprout up fresh and vivid.
Looking back, my attitude as a trainee had been completely off the rails. In this industry you digest whatever the CEO tells you, whatever song they hand you. Yet I had fought him every single day, claiming it wasn't my musical path, that it had no soul, and on and on.
I was a total spoiled brat.
Remembering that version of myself, I could finally understand a little why Kim Taesung had said he couldn't keep me under his wing.
He seemed to enjoy my flustered face and burst into a hearty laugh.
"Still, thanks to that I gave the song you threw away to Naeun, so it worked out in the end, right? You're not going to get jealous of her now, are you?"
"Jealous? Of course not. I'm happy if Naeun does well."
I meant every word. Her bright energy had been a perfect match for that track.
"While we're on the subject—when exactly is Naeun debuting?"
Kim Taesung was silent a moment, as if sorting through the schedule in his head, then spoke.
"Probably a few days after the final episode of Voice of Legend wraps. We'll drop the music video right away, then go straight into music-show promotions."
He jerked his chin toward the external hard drive on the desk.
"Did you only write them, or did you finish demos too?"
"Half and half. Some just have the structure mapped out; others already have guide vocals on them."
He let out a short laugh. Unconcealable curiosity glittered in his eyes.
"I can't stand not knowing. What the number-one chart singer in Korea spent a whole month making in her room. Mind if I listen?"
"That's why I brought it."
I shrugged. Kim Taesung connected the hard drive to his main computer as if he'd been waiting for the chance. While he scrolled the mouse wheel and dug through the folders, I sank deep into the sofa and watched his back.
Truthfully, when the final-round matching results came out, I had quietly cheered inside.
Being teamed with Kim Taesung is actually better.
People might have mocked him for ranking fifth in preference, but I knew better than anyone how sharp his ear was as a producer. Right now I desperately needed someone who would criticize my music without filter and evaluate it through a professional lens. Rather than a yes-man who only heaped on praise, Kim Taesung—who would spit out cutting remarks if he had to, just so long as he pinpointed every weakness—was the perfect partner.
A short while later, the songs I had composed began to pour from the studio's high-end speakers.
"..."
While the music played, Kim Taesung said nothing. He leaned back in the chair, eyes closed, lightly tapping the desk with his fingers to keep the beat.
When the track ended and silence settled, he muttered without opening his eyes.
"Next one."
I quietly played the next song.
We spent a long time listening to everything I had worked on. Every so often Kim Taesung would frown and rewind a specific section to hear it again.
When my tracks finished, it was his turn.
"Alright—now mine. I wasn't just sitting around either."
The time spent sharing each other's music stretched longer than either of us had expected. Kim Taesung shut off the last track and spun his chair around to face me.
"So, Jiyoung. After listening through everything—any song you particularly want to do?"
"I'll go with whatever the CEO decides."
My answer must have caught him off guard; his eyebrows shot up.
"Now, of all times? You really..."
He shook his head as if dejected.
"There's a limit to how much you can mess with someone."
"I'm not messing with you. I'm serious."
I wiped the smile away and met his eyes squarely.
"CEO—you've changed. Or rather than changed... maybe I should say you've returned to the starting point?"
His pupils trembled minutely.
"What are you talking about?"
"The songs you played today. They're not the ones that obsess over commercial viability like before."
He seemed to grasp my meaning. Looking a little sheepish, he briefly turned his gaze toward the window, then busily moved the mouse. He began alternating between one track from my hard drive and one of his own. The two rhythms meshed in a strangely natural way and filled the studio.
"Don't these two have a similar texture?"
Kim Taesung asked as he nudged the speaker volume a little higher.
I closed my eyes and focused on the sound. Sparkling synths, sophisticatedly fractured drum patterns, and that unique languid yet dreamy atmosphere.
"Definitely."
I nodded.
"Retro sensibility... more precisely, city pop from Japan's bubble-economy era in the eighties."
He slapped his knee.
"You get it after all. Yes—that's exactly it. Sophisticated yet somehow lonely, glamorous yet empty. That unique emotional color."
He turned the chair so he faced me fully.
"It was the late eighties. I lived in Japan for a few years because of my father's company work. Tokyo's dazzling neon signs, the car lights racing through the night streets... I was young, but that air is still vivid. Half of my musical roots were formed then."
He grabbed the mouse again and layered the two tracks while he continued.
"Listening to your song and mine side by side, the inspiration I thought I'd forgotten is just pouring out. Jiyoung—let's go with this for the final."
His voice was full of conviction.
"I'll write a brand-new song. How about it?"
"Sounds good. When the CEO is going that far, I can hardly back out."
"Great. It's decided."
Already excited, Kim Taesung placed his hands on the keyboard.
"Two days is plenty. No—I'll finish it within a day."
Watching his confident, smiling back, I quietly left the studio.