Song Recording (After Farewell)
He had to visit the recording studio, but the office atmosphere was vicious, and he couldn't quite summon the courage to clock out early.
Park Dae-ri, watching Young-hoon squirm at the desk next to his, finally piped up.
"Assistant Manager Kim, is something wrong? Why are you fidgeting like a puppy that needs to pee?"
"Honestly, I have somewhere I need to be. But with the mood in this place and the other teams watching, I can't exactly walk out."
"Aigoo, you timid little Kim. You need to take a page out of that lunatic Hong Dae-ri's book. That bastard makes other people clean up the messes he makes himself while he's off gallivanting outside — if you've finished your work for the day, then leave! Why are you still sitting here?"
"Come on, still, with everyone watching like that…"
Just then, Manager Kim called out to Young-hoon in a voice deliberately loud enough for the other teams to hear.
"Assistant Manager Kim! I heard your mother came up from the countryside today, hm? Hurry and clock out — take her out for a nice dinner. It must be exhausting waiting for you out there."
"But the other teams haven't even left yet, and it feels like I'd be imposing…"
"Nonsense. It's past quitting time and your workload is all caught up — why would you care what the other teams think? If you can't do it today, you do it tomorrow. Get going and be good to your mother."
Young-hoon was deeply grateful to Manager Kim for his thoughtfulness, and quietly resolved to repay the kindness someday.
Yeongdeungpo and Yeouido were only a single bridge apart, so it wasn't a far trip. The only problem was that it was now the height of rush hour — the roads, as expected, were jammed solid with cars fleeing the office.
He'd been to Solbit Recording Studio once before, so finding it was easy. It was 7:30 when he arrived.
He hurriedly yanked open the studio door, and — they must have been waiting for him, because everyone rose to their feet and greeted him warmly.
"Hello, Teacher!"
The voices boomed, as energetic as ever — that was Five Girls for you.
Sung-hoon and CEO Lee Jae-man greeted him too, as if they'd been on standby.
"Welcome, Teacher."
Apparently word had gotten around that everyone was to call him "Teacher" now — even Sung-hoon. He no longer used "hyung," just like before.
"Sorry I'm late. You haven't started recording yet, have you?"
"Our parents haven't even arrived, so how could we little chicks possibly start before them?"
Hye-in grumbled under her breath — and, of course, someone immediately smacked her down for it.
"Hye-in, that's no way to speak to Teacher. He told us he might not make it today, and this was him squeezing us into his schedule anyway. She's just cranky from waiting, so please don't mind her. We've all been here since this morning running rehearsal takes, so we can go straight into the actual recording."
"By the way, has everyone eaten?"
"Eating before you sing throws off your pitch, so we ate three hours ago. You must not have had anything yet, rushing straight here?"
"Don't worry about me — let's just start recording. If I get hungry, I'll grab something quick at the convenience store out front."
The recording proceeded smoothly from there. The girls had clearly practiced plenty — there wasn't a single spot that grated on Young-hoon's ear. Even the veteran Producer Yoo Sung-hoon looked satisfied.
But smooth or not, recording apparently still took upwards of three hours. When Young-hoon picked up his phone to check the time, it was already pushing past eleven. They were wrapping up now, though — the session would likely finish within half an hour.
Sung-hoon had absolutely nothing to worry about while Five Girls laid down their vocal takes. The song itself was superb, the singers were genuinely skilled, and their preparation had been thorough — it looked like there'd barely be any post-processing to do.
"Excellent work, everyone. Five Girls clearly put in a lot of practice. The song is so strong that there wasn't a single rough patch. Post-processing should only take a day or two."
"Great job, all. Recording's done and my stomach's growling — how about we grab some quick food and a draft beer at the chicken place up front before we call it a night?"
Everyone cheered at Young-hoon's suggestion. The Five Girls members welcomed it with particular enthusiasm — three hours of recording had left their throats parched.
As they settled in at the chicken joint and clinked their glasses, CEO Lee Jae-man casually asked Sung-hoon a question.
"Sung-hoon, you've worked hard on this one. Be honest, as a professional — what's your read on the song?"
"Well, speaking purely for myself… 'After Farewell' is a hundred out of a hundred, and 'A Loving Heart' is a hundred and one out of a hundred."
Joo-yeon, who'd been eavesdropping on the two men, jumped in with a jab.
"Teacher Yoo, so you liked the last song better, hm? And here we practiced this one so very hard…"
"Ahem. This is purely my personal opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. In my judgment, both songs are guaranteed to become beloved classics worldwide. The reason 'After Farewell' scores a point lower than 'A Loving Heart' is simple — I believe a story about being in love lands a little sweeter with people than a story about parting. In other words, I think 'A Loving Heart' will be loved just a tiny bit more than 'After Farewell.' Hence the extra point."
At Sung-hoon's clever analysis, Five Girls burst into applause.
"Wow! Teacher Yoo, you're the best!!"
Producer Yoo Sung-hoon set the girls' praise aside and turned to Young-hoon with a serious look.
"Um… Teacher Kim Young-hoon, I have a favor to ask."
"A favor? If it's something I can do, I'll hear you out. Go ahead."
"Could I ask that, going forward, any songs you write or compose be recorded here at our studio whenever possible? Working with Five Girls this time reminded me all over again of how fulfilling this work is. I'd like to keep feeling that satisfaction for years to come."
"Oh? Didn't I promise you that already, the last time we met? Hmm — well, let me lay out my thinking again. I intend to work Five Girls to the bone. We signed a slave contract — they promised to keep performing even after they get married."
Young-hoon flashed a faintly sinister smile and carried on.
"I'm planning to make them at least ten full studio albums, minimum. That's a good hundred songs, right? And I hear CEO Lee Jae-man is thinking of putting together a boy group, too. Say we give the boy group another ten albums — put the two together, that's roughly two hundred songs."
Hye-in, who'd been listening to the exchange between Young-hoon and Sung-hoon, tossed in a remark of her own.
"Oppa, when exactly did we sign a slave contract with you?"
"What, you don't like it?"
"No, I love it, that's the problem. Girls, what do you all say?"
"Spending a lifetime with our dear oraboni? I couldn't be happier."
"I'm in favor too…"
"Wahaha! Oppa belongs to me, so naturally I'm the owner of the slave contract!"
"Ooh, so that means Oppa buys us meat for the rest of our lives?"
Reactions erupted from every corner of the table. Something in the middle of all that had gotten a little… strange, hadn't it? Probably just his imagination.
In any case, with everyone in high spirits, Sung-hoon turned to Young-hoon and offered his thanks in a voice thick with emotion.
"To think you'd give me an opportunity like this. I swear, I'll serve you with my life from here on out."
"Oh, come on now, don't overdo it. Can't say too much yet, but I have no intention of stopping here — I plan to grow this company big. Big. And when that day comes, Producer Yoo Sung-hoon, you'll be coming under my umbrella as well. To put it precisely: under CEO Lee Jae-man."
"And when might that day be?"
"I'd say you'll need to move under CEO Lee Jae-man's banner around the time we record Five Girls' fourth studio album?"
"Oppa, we're getting a full album too? Are you already planning it?"
"Hye-in, let's settle on one form of address. Either it's Oppa or it's Teacher."
"Mmm～ don't wanna. Okay, then — Teacher in any official setting, Oppa in private. Deal? And this table right here is private. Girls, agreed?"
Every face around the table nodded along.
"Hoo… fine, have it your way. Anyway, here's my thinking: come November, you girls won't be able to rest even if you want to. You'll be promoting through at least January, working three more OSTs in that stretch, and then around May, when things quiet down, we'll release the full album."
"Oppa, wait — three more OSTs? Did another request come in from somewhere?"
"Hmm, nothing's confirmed yet, but… I'm thinking of doing a drama project around February."
"So our oraboni will be writing the drama script too?"
"That's the plan, but we'll see when we get there. You girls better prepare to work hard, too. You've got to row while the tide's coming in."
"Of course! We lazed around for seven whole years after debut, so from now on we're going to promote until we drop!"
"That's the spirit, Ga-eun — you're always bursting with energy. And girls, you're all practicing hard for 'Returned Love,' right? We need to finish recording by November 15th, before things get hectic."
CEO Lee Jae-man chimed in from beside him.
"I spoke with Producer Yoo Sung-hoon this afternoon, and we've agreed — recording will be finished by November 15th, no exceptions."
"Good, that's settled, then."
The chicken was nearly gone and midnight had come and gone. It was time to break up the party — and once again, CEO Lee Jae-man's tact was a hundred out of ten.
"Now then, Teacher Kim has to be back at the office in the morning, so shall we start winding down?"
"Sounds good. I'm rather tired today, actually."
Young-hoon hailed a taxi, made it home, washed up, and collapsed into bed.
And so another day slipped by.
* * *
Friday.
Once again, Young-hoon was first through the office doors.
He pulled out his work notebook and went over the day's schedule. Nothing outside the company — only internal matters, and nothing else. Everyone else called it Burning Friday. It didn't apply to Young-hoon. For him, it was Dying Friday.
Only five days of October remained. In terms of working days, he had exactly three left — today, and Monday and Tuesday of next week.
Just like yesterday, today was a war against shipments. Among Young-hoon's dealers, there were hardly any products expected to go unshipped. A few TVs had been stuck, but he'd resolved that yesterday through a senior on the TV factory's shipping team. All that remained now was a handful of washing machines — under ten million won in value. He'd watch the situation through today, and if it wasn't resolved, he'd swap the orders out for other products, and fast.
While he was lost in these thoughts, most of the staff had finished arriving. For some reason, even Hong Dae-ri had shown up on time today.
The busiest employee during the morning hours was the team's youngest, Staff Member Kim Jin-man. He had to print out yesterday's performance figures — first the sales support team's tables showing order and revenue progress against targets by organization and by product, then the team's own figures recalculated dealer by dealer, individual by individual, and printed one by one. Today there was a new addition: the unshipped inventory status table by product. Sure, anyone could check unshipped status through the system on their own, but the whole point of painstakingly printing out performance sheets was for the report. They were supposed to be on the team leader's desk before he arrived — but today, for whatever reason, the tables from the sales support team came in late, only showing up a good thirty minutes after the team leader got in.
Which was why irritation was plastered thick across Deputy General Manager Cho's face at the moment. He knew perfectly well that it was the sales support team's fault for sending the sheets late. But he swallowed the frustration anyway and called the revenue closing meeting to order.
"You all know that Hong Dae-ri here played a big role for us this month, right? But here's the thing… orders came in at 120 percent of target — so why is the shipping rate so pathetic? And while I was out on a business trip yesterday, the sales support team leader came by, I hear? How much extra target did you squeeze out of that man?"
Deputy General Manager Cho's tirade was just getting warmed up.