What Happened at the Pre-Production Showcase
◇ What Happened at the Pre-Production Showcase ◇
The production showcase proceeded smoothly under the stewardship of Shin Dong-hyup, one of the nation's most famous MCs.
The writers, directors, and cast members came out to the front of the stage to offer their greetings, after which the event moved on to photos and a question-and-answer session.
Most of the questions and answers felt extremely ceremonial and unremarkable, as if everyone had rehearsed their lines in advance.
Young-hoon had expected something special from a production showcase, but to put it in a nutshell, the much-hyped banquet offered precious little to eat.
Time flowed on, and the first half of the pre-production showcase came to an end.
The banquet hall was laid out with a buffet spread that any five-star hotel would have been proud of.
Young-hoon and President Lee Jae-man found a spot hidden from the eyes of the crowd and filled their plates, quietly seeing to their hunger.
After a while had passed, the second half of the showcase got underway.
The highlight of the second half was, of course, the OST reveal, and Park Han-gyu fired the opening shot.
True to his reputation as Korea's premier ballad singer, he was nothing short of peerless.
Lee Soo-hee, the second singer, also drew thunderous applause from the audience.
At last, it was Five Girls' turn.
Their first song was 'After Farewell,' which had yet to be released on any music platform.
The moment Five Girls finished pouring their hearts into the song, the banquet hall abruptly transformed into a tearful reunion scene straight out of the separated-families broadcasts.
Young-hoon winced. Oh no.
They had sung a heartbreaking ballad at such a festive occasion—he could already picture PD Shin Hye-yoon and the production staff giving him an earful about it later.
Contrary to his expectations, however, the atmosphere in the hall only grew more heated.
People wiped away their tears even as they clapped, and the whole place descended into a delightful kind of chaos.
Once the mood had settled somewhat, Five Girls began singing their second song, 'A Loving Heart.'
It was a sweet, utterly charming song—lovers sitting together in a flower field on a warm spring day, whispering their tender, budding love to each other.
The mood of the banquet hall shifted once again.
Hearts still heavy from the piercing sadness of the farewell song now felt as though they might burst with refreshing sweetness, drawing smiles from everyone's faces without their even trying.
'A Loving Heart,' too, was met with a firestorm of enthusiasm from the crowd.
People were beside themselves, exclaiming that after today, the internet would surely be flooded with 'After Farewell' and 'A Loving Heart.'
Young-hoon, too, boldly staked his claim on the number-one spot of the real-time search rankings.
The faces of the Five Girls members as they finished their songs and left the stage were bright as well.
They all looked relieved and flushed with excitement, as though a heavy burden had finally been lifted from their shoulders.
No one could dispute that the songs were good.
But there had been some disappointment that they hadn't generated much buzz since their digital release—so seeing people's passionate reactions today renewed his hopes all over again.
Watching the girls rejoice, Young-hoon thought to himself:
This is the end of the misery and the start of the happiness, girls.
For so many long years, Five Girls had toiled in obscurity, ignored and coldly treated, tasting the bitterness of the unknown.
So the passionate attention and support they were receiving now must feel like pure bliss.
Once they were swept up in this relentless schedule, there might come a moment when they felt worn down.
But that would be the whining of the well-fed.
Because they knew better than anyone just how unhappy they had been without popularity, they would navigate it all with wisdom.
They would be grateful for the busy schedule and strive to live each day to its fullest.
Young-hoon turned his gaze to President Lee Jae-man, seated beside him.
The man was too busy wiping away the tears streaming from both eyes to notice.
For the time being, he would be walking on air, just like Five Girls—as if living inside a dream.
But the day would come when work piled up and he began craving some breathing room in his life.
When that happened, striking the right balance between work and leisure would be the wise path to a happy life.
Of course, that was not something to worry about now.
No one can know what the future holds, after all.
Young-hoon and Jae-man deployed their invisibility technique and quietly enjoyed their meal.
Just then, a text message arrived from PD Shin Hye-yoon.
That last message did not bode well.
I suppose I'd better go.
Whenever PD Shin Hye-yoon seemed to be in one of her sharp-mooded spells, it was far more profitable to comply obediently than to dig in his heels for no reason.
Young-hoon explained the situation to President Lee Jae-man and asked him to look after the Five Girls members.
Then he made his way to the head table.
The moment Young-hoon approached the head table, he nearly jumped out of his skin.
Someone he had never in a million years expected to see here was sitting squarely in the seat of honor.
And that someone, the instant he spotted Young-hoon, looked equally startled.
"What the—?! What on earth are you doing here?"
It was none other than Chairman Jang, the man he'd been drinking with just yesterday at Uncheonggak.
"What brings you here, Chairman?"
President Joo Young-ki, PD Shin Hye-yoon, screenwriter Lee Na-yeon, and PD Lee Hyo-young all froze in astonishment at the revelation that Young-hoon and Chairman Jang knew each other.
"Why? Is this a seat I'm not allowed to occupy?"
"No, it's not that. You just caught me completely off guard."
"Well, you're one to talk. What brings you here?"
At that moment, PD Shin Hye-yoon cut into their exchange.
"Chairman, the gentleman here, Kim Young-hoon, wrote the lyrics and composed the music for the songs that lovely girl group just performed. That's why we invited him today."
"Is that so? So the man who saved my life and gave me a new lease on it wrote songs like these as well?"
The people around them were startled all over again by the Chairman's words.
President Joo Young-ki was flabbergasted.
"Excuse me?! Chairman, your... savior of life?"
"You don't need to know about that. Young-hoon, weren't you just an ordinary salaried worker? An assistant manager at LK Electronics, wasn't it?"
"That's right, Chairman—I did write and compose that song you heard earlier. And I am an assistant manager at LK Electronics."
"Oh ho! So you're a man of many considerable talents. Then what's your relationship with those girls over there?"
"They're a girl group called Five Girls. One of the members is a younger friend from my hometown. She's the daughter of my father's drinking buddy."
"I see. So that's the connection. Then how much did that girl group agree to receive per OST song? They probably didn't get paid much, I'd wager?"
Young-hoon had a nagging premonition that this conversation was about to take a very strange turn.
Sensing that he needed to quietly extract himself from this situation, he fudged an answer.
"I really couldn't say. Five Girls' agency signed the contract directly with Sinabro Production, so..."
"Come now, you're telling me you had no involvement in the contract? I'd say you were more than involved. You might as well claim a maiden gave birth to that child. Come on, be honest with me—what figure did you settle on?"
Feeling that this was decidedly not the moment to answer, Young-hoon glanced over at Hye-yoon.
Sure enough, she had apparently been waiting for exactly that cue, and she jumped into the conversation.
"Chairman, we paid them a perfectly reasonable amount."
"Is that so? Hey, President Jung. Give up your seat."
There was an edge to his voice, as though something had rubbed him the wrong way.
Chairman Jang, without so much as a by-your-leave, ordered the man called President Jung seated next to him to vacate his spot.
And President Jung, without a word of protest, did exactly that.
Anyone seated at the head table has to be one of the major investors...
So Chairman Jang must be an ultra-super-omega 'gap' among gaps.
Having cleared the seat, Chairman Jang beckoned Young-hoon over.
"It's hard talking up at you like this. Sit down and let's have a proper chat."
Young-hoon fidgeted awkwardly, then took the seat President Jung had vacated.
"Now, let's go over this again. I know President Joo well, and I know that stingy skinflint would never pay new singers properly for an OST. So out with it—honestly."
President Joo Young-ki, looking visibly displeased, spoke up.
"Chairman, I am not a skinflint. I spend where spending is called for."
But that remark only seemed to grate further on the Chairman's nerves, and his voice climbed another octave.
"Yes, yes, I heard you! So how much did you pay the man who saved my life?!"
President Joo Young-ki shot a helpless look at PD Shin Hye-yoon.
Having apparently made up her mind about something, she turned on the charm.
"Weeell~ Chairman, the truth is our production budget was short, so we couldn't pay them much."
At that, Chairman Jang exploded.
"I HEARD you already!! So how much did you pay?! Give me a straight answer before I tear this entire banquet hall apart!!