A Summons to Cheongdam-dong

"Young-hoon oppa, I had no idea parting from someone you love could hurt this much.

It's enough to make me think back to my first love from when I was a kid.

This isn't even one of the songs you sang for us last time… Oppa, are you seriously a genius?

Just how many songs do you have stockpiled away?"

Naturally, hundreds of songs composed by Hines sat stored in Young-hoon's head, but he could hardly come out and say so.

Just what kind of man was Archmage Hines, that he created so many songs? Not that I'm complaining — this is a blessing for me, no doubt about it.

Having savored the heartrending lyrics of the breakup song, PD Shin Hye-yoon let out something between a sigh and a breath of admiration before speaking up.

"Wow! It's like a beautiful love story. It honestly feels like you turned your own experience into a song — I love that about it. The sorrow of parting sweeps in and grips a corner of my heart until it wrings me dry. What's this song called?"

"Hmm, how about 'After Farewell'? Oh, and please don't misunderstand — it's absolutely not based on my own experience. I'm still a pure soul, you know."

"That works. It fits the lyrics perfectly."

"By the way, Young-hoon, how soon can you have this song finished?"

"I could hand over the track today, as it happens — but the final recording really depends on Five Girls and Producer Yoo Sung-hoon."

From Jae-man's standpoint, the sooner it was finished the better, so he shot Sung-hoon a pointed look, applying pressure without ever quite saying so.

"You can have it done by the end of next week, right?"

"No way! Absolutely impossible! Even at a dead sprint I'd need at least two weeks."

"Then that puts us at the end of October… Hye-yoon, is that workable?"

"The end of October shouldn't be a problem… Hmm, then let's start by getting 'A Loving Heart' finished as quickly as possible. And for 'After Farewell' — couldn't Five Girls record it with just a piano accompaniment? We don't need a polished final version. Right now, all we need is to convey the feeling."

Jae-man decided the rapidly unfolding situation needed someone to direct traffic.

"Then here's what we'll do. 'A Loving Heart' will be finished by Tuesday of next week, and 'After Farewell' — piano accompaniment with vocals laid over it — Hye-yoon will hand it to you by Wednesday. That work for you?"

"Perfect. I have a meeting with screenwriter Lee Na-yeon and the MBS PD next Thursday, and I'll do everything I can to get both songs placed as OSTs. If they're selected… you know what my fee is, right?"

"Got it. I'll treat you to a nice dinner."

"In that case, Jae-man oppa, Sung-hoon oppa — and Young-hoon, you can all clear your schedules for next Thursday, right?"

"Well, Sung-hoon and I can manage… but Young-hoon, who knows?"

Since Young-hoon was still a company man, carving out daytime hours for outside business was honestly a burden.

"PD Hye-yoon, I'm an ordinary office worker, so I have a hard time making time during the day. I could probably manage anything after eight in the evening… but why exactly do I need to clear my schedule?"

"Ah-ha~ That's because when we hold production meetings, sometimes the writer or director wants to meet the original creator in person. And besides, I figured it wouldn't hurt for you to build relationships with people like them."

Just then, President Lee Jae-man abruptly tossed out a question.

"By the way, Hye-yoon — how old are you this year?"

"Huh? Oppa, where did that come from? You don't just ask a lady her age! Why are you suddenly curious about my age?"

"Ah, no reason. I just figured you were around Young-hoon's age…"

"And how old are you, Young-hoon?"

"Me? Thirty-two."

"Then you're older than me. I'm thirty this year."

"What? Really?! You don't look a day over your mid-twenties!"

"Heh, Young-hoon, you're not an ordinary office worker at all, are you? Your job starts with 'con,' doesn't it? You're so smooth-talking you sound like a con artist."

"Ah, that… my line of work deals with a lot of people, so I suppose silver-tongued things slip out without my noticing. But I mean every word I'm saying right now. PD Hye-yoon, you really do look like a mid-twenties Song Hye-kyo."

Jealous of the saccharine atmosphere between the two, Hye-in cut into the conversation with a waspish tone.

"Ugh, oppa, that's way over the top. So what, PD Hye-yoon looks the same age as us?"

"No, you Five Girls girls look like you're in your late teens."

"What? Oppa, do you actually work at LK Electronics? You're not secretly a con man, are you?"

"Why, you little— If you don't believe me, just come down to my company and call me yourself. You know where we are, don't you? Yeouido…"

"Aigoo, oppa, how can you take a joke and treat it as serious?! There goes a thirty-something ajussi for you."

With the talk of work more or less wrapped up, Jae-man decided it was time to wrap up the gathering itself and proposed a meal.

"Well, it's about that time — shall we grab dinner before we call it a day?"

"Sounds good. Since we've made the trip all the way out to Seongnam, why don't we go up to Namhansanseong and have some baeksuk before we part?"

"Then dinner's on me — consider it payment for a great OST."

"What are you talking about? A guest has come all this way; the host should do the treating."

"Oh please, oppa, your company's supposedly struggling. Cheapskate!"

Hye-yoon pulled out a corporate card and brandished it with supreme confidence.

"I have a corporate card, so I'll write it off as a business expense. In exchange, if the songs turn into a monster hit, you'd better remember to buy me something delicious."

"Yay! Meat!"

With Su-min's gleeful whoop, the whole party headed off to the baeksuk restaurant.

All Sunday long, Young-hoon lay in his one-room apartment like a zombie, dead to the world and dead to everything else. In the blink of an eye the day was gone — and then at last it was Monday morning, and like every office worker on earth, Young-hoon dragged his soulless feet one at a time toward the office.

The moment he clocked in, Deputy General Manager Cho, his team leader, called a meeting, and Young-hoon was duly chewed out, yet again, by Cho and Deputy Hong.

The moment the song I made for Five Girls takes off, I am quitting this company for good. Deputy GM Cho, Deputy Hong… even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if it's just so I never have to lay eyes on those bastards again, I will quit!

Still, time oozed reluctantly forward, and before he knew it, Thursday had arrived and with it the end of the workday. Cho and Deputy Hong had gone out on a field assignment that morning, and — as expected — there was no word from them, presumably planning to knock off from the site.

So Young-hoon was mentally preparing to leave right on the dot himself when Park Dae-ri sidled up to him.

"Assistant Manager Kim, it's quitting time — want to grab dinner together somewhere?"

"Huh? Don't you have a girlfriend? Not seeing her tonight?"

"What's a girlfriend for, seeing her every day? Once or twice a week is plenty. Besides, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"To me? Well, all right then."

Young-hoon and Park Dae-ri crossed over to Yeongdeungpo and settled into a samgyeopsal joint inside Yeongdeungpo Market, where they got a bottle of soju going.

"Assistant Manager Kim, Deputy GM Cho and Deputy Hong have been acting shady lately. The two of them whispering together every single day, and the moment I walk over they clam up and pretend to be busy with something else. It's just suspicious. This past Monday, I ran into the two of them at the Yongsan Electronics Market while I was out on a field trip — and they were meeting with one of the market merchants."

"Huh? What would those two want with a Yongsan merchant? You don't think they're running a dumping scheme, do you?"

"Our company's phones aren't selling these days, and yet Deputy Hong's handset sales numbers are TOP, right? I'm pretty sure they've colluded with the market merchants and are dumping inventory. And Deputy GM Cho is desperate for his promotion next year — he won't blink at any means necessary. My gut says they're playing games with the phones."

"Ha. Even so, that's just theft. If they throw the whole market price into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠chaos, who ends up eating the losses? It all comes straight back to the company, doesn't it? What's the point of getting promoted through crooked means? Guys like that always end up causing a far bigger disaster down the line."

Park Dae-ri sank into thought for a moment before finally forcing the words out.

"Looking at it, that's no legitimate way to do business, I agree. So what do we do? Should we slip a complaint letter to the company's audit office?"

"Don't you dare, Park Dae-ri. You think guys pulling a dumping scheme wouldn't have covered their bases for exactly that? And how many S University alumni do we have in this company, huh? Guys like you and me could poke at this and come away with less than nothing. Just play dumb and look the other way. Worst case, even if they do get promoted, do you think they'll be working with us? Come year-end they'll rotate off to some other department. Or else we transfer out."

Just as the two of them were trading soju shots and swapping the bitter tastes of working life, Young-hoon's phone suddenly rang. He checked the caller — it was Hye-yoon, whom he'd met recently. Careful not to let Park Dae-ri overhear, Young-hoon answered in a hushed voice.

Hye-yoon peremptorily ordered him to her office and hung up. She sounded faintly irritated, and to Young-hoon the whole thing was nothing short of baffling.

Granted, the age gap between them was small, and she was beautiful enough to make you go whoa, so he wasn't exactly uninterested — but they'd met all of once, and Young-hoon knew his station in life. A woman as gorgeous as Hye-yoon had no earthly reason to be drawn to an ordinary guy like him.

This had to be a business matter, clearly — and yet her tone had an oddly petulant edge, the kind a girlfriend might turn on a boyfriend, and it left Young-hoon completely off balance.

Beside him, Park Dae-ri had been watching the whole exchange and asked curiously, "Who was that? Your girlfriend?"

"Nah. What girlfriend? You know perfectly well I don't have one. Just a junior from back home. She wants me to buy some insurance — I've been dodging her on purpose."

Young-hoon mumbled out the excuse, afraid Park Dae-ri might catch on. What he was building right now was something no one could know about yet.

"This won't do. I'd better head out. Everything we talked about here tonight stays between the two of us — if this got mishandled, it could blow up into a major incident."

"Got it. Your secret's safe. Now go — you've got somewhere to be."

"Right. See you tomorrow."

Parting ways with Park Dae-ri, Young-hoon hailed a taxi and raced off toward Gangnam. The address Hye-yoon had given him was a ten-story building, flashy from the very first glance, and Sinabro Production occupied the ninth and tenth floors. Arriving only at 8:30 p.m., Young-hoon was able to walk straight into the tenth-floor conference room without a single person stopping him.

There were a good ten people inside, and mercifully, three of them he could pick out on sight: President Lee Jae-man, Producer Yoo Sung-hoon, and PD Shin Hye-yoon.

"Welcome, Mr. Kim Young-hoon. Thank you for making the trip."

Hye-yoon greeted him with a bright, welcoming face. The voice on the phone had carried an odd chill, but now she was smiling like sunlight — and Young-hoon had absolutely no idea which rhythm he was supposed to dance to. In the end, he concluded that meekly doing as she asked was the wisest course.

"How do you do. I'm Kim Young-hoon. I was summoned here so suddenly I'm still a bit dazed, but I look forward to working with you all."

"Let me introduce everyone. First, screenwriter Lee Na-yeon, who will be writing the script for 'Love After Separation'; PD Kim Pil-joon; our company's CEO, President Joo Young-ki; and PD Lee Hyo-young of the MBS Drama Programming Bureau…"

Once the introductions of the remaining people in the conference room were done, President Joo Young-ki spoke up.

"Good evening. I'm Joo Young-ki, CEO of Sinabro Production. 'Love After Separation', which begins airing on MBS in early December, is the work of screenwriter Lee Na-yeon — the top romantic comedy writer in Korea — so we expect it to open with a baseline 20 percent viewership right out of the gate. And if Five Girls' 'A Loving Heart' and 'After Farewell' are placed as the drama's OSTs, the synergy should send the ratings soaring past 30 percent. That's why I wanted so much to meet you, Mr. Kim — the original creator of both songs."

Screenwriter Lee Na-yeon's eyes sparkled as she turned to Young-hoon.

"I've listened to music my whole life, and I have never once heard a song this beautiful and this sad. Inspiration for the leads' beautiful, heartbreaking love story keeps flooding in — I feel confident I can write this script superbly. I believe this could be the finest work of my entire career. And I had no idea the original composer was someone so young and handsome. If only I were about ten years younger — I'd have made a play for you myself. What a shame."

One after another, the rest followed suit with remarks of their own, though to Young-hoon it all passed in a pleasant blur.

Well, long story short, it all boils down to: 'Let's build a great show and hit it big.'

Every time screenwriter Lee Na-yeon and one or two of the other women in the room laughed and leaned in to talk to him, the hardening of Hye-yoon's gaze had to be nothing more than Young-hoon's imagination.