Twenty More Songs
RT Entertainment holds a regular meeting every Monday at 10 a.m.
This schedule had been set only in the last few months, after the company finally established a proper system.
The attendees included CEO Kang Beom-jun and the heads of every department.
Until just two weeks ago, the meetings had been buzzing with energy because of the historic first audition for RT Entertainment.
That is, until Kang Beom-jun suddenly canceled the entire audition schedule.
On top of that, this time he had pushed the meeting all the way back to 4 p.m. at his own request.
From the department heads’ point of view, their dissatisfaction had reached its limit.
Oh Do-hwan, head of the Creative Department, crossed his arms and let out a frustrated complaint.
Cha Min-seok, head of the Management Support Department sitting right beside him, offered a bitter smile and spoke up.
“That’s… true.”
Oh Do-hwan nodded in agreement.
In truth, every department head sitting in the conference room had been personally scouted and recruited by Kang Beom-jun himself.
That was why they all understood perfectly.
Just how deeply their CEO cared about RT Entertainment.
When someone like that suddenly canceled an audition, there had to be a damn good reason.
In fact, a few people in the room already knew exactly what that reason was.
Oh Do-hwan glanced toward Yoon Su-ah, head of Marketing, as he spoke.
She answered with a face heavy with exhaustion.
“Excuse me?”
Yoon Su-ah smiled like someone who had already achieved enlightenment.
Right on cue, the conference room door clicked open.
Kang Beom-jun.
Wearing a faint smile, he stepped into the room.
Once Kang Beom-jun took his seat, the meeting began in earnest.
For reference, a meeting is when multiple people gather to share opinions on a given topic.
In that sense, this particular meeting was…
It was closer to a unilateral announcement.
Yet instead of dissatisfaction or disappointment, it sparked pure curiosity in everyone listening.
He had cast some very interesting kids?
The statement implied that Kang Beom-jun had personally brought in people so uniquely talented that he no longer saw any point in holding auditions.
And not just one person—multiple people.
At that moment, Kang Beom-jun stood up and walked toward the conference room door he had entered through earlier.
He turned the handle and spoke with confidence.
Ryu Won and Baek Yerin.
The two of them opened the door and stepped inside before Kang Beom-jun could even finish his introduction.
Kang Beom-jun looked slightly heartbroken at their early arrival.
With those words, Ryu Won scanned the conference room.
As expected, most people were staring with slightly dazed expressions at the sudden appearance of him and Baek Yerin.
They were probably suspicious because the “interesting kids” the CEO had supposedly cast looked like ordinary students at first glance.
Oh Do-hwan, head of Creative, carefully asked the question everyone was wondering.
And then—
Only then did the department heads finally understand why the meeting had been moved to the afternoon.
It had simply been scheduled around the middle schoolers’ dismissal time.
It wasn’t unusual for young students to become trainees at entertainment companies.
But RT Entertainment was different—it was a brand-new startup that had only just begun operations.
The first artist they introduced would carry enormous weight and responsibility.
Wasn’t it a bit harsh to place that kind of pressure on two fifteen-year-old middle schoolers?
That was what most people in the room were thinking.
At least until they heard the tracks Ryu Won and Baek Yerin had recorded together over the weekend.
Kang Beom-jun skipped any lengthy explanation and simply played their work.
It would be far easier to understand after listening once rather than hearing a hundred words of explanation.
He had reached that obvious conclusion, and soon a song began to fill the conference room through the speakers.
The bright guitar riff of the intro blended perfectly with Baek Yerin’s clear, pure tone.
It was an upbeat, sweetly charming song.
The cherry blossom path scattered by warm spring breezes was breathtakingly beautiful. How thrilling and happy would it be to walk that path with “you”?
The track honestly captured those fresh, innocent daydreams.
Ryu Won slowly closed his eyes and listened.
This was the song he had written after walking alone beneath a tunnel of cherry blossom trees, inspired by the scenery. In his previous life, it had been a dutiful child that brought him steady success.
People said it was the kind of song that made you automatically search for it the moment spring arrived.
And now Baek Yerin’s voice had been added to it.
What would people say about it this time?
Ryu Won gently opened his eyes.
What he saw was every department head sitting there with their mouths hanging open, completely speechless.
Oh Do-hwan’s eyes were wide with shock as he urgently asked Baek Yerin.
She nodded with a bright, sunny smile and answered confidently, “Yes!”
Cha Min-seok, sitting beside him, turned to me with a grave expression.
“Yes.”
At Kang Beom-jun’s shocking announcement, Cha Min-seok instinctively swallowed.
If the next tracks were the same quality as “You Are Like Cherry Blossoms”…?
He wasn’t the only one thinking it.
The department heads now listened to Ryu Won and Baek Yerin’s music with expressions far more serious than before.
By the time they finished the third song—ending with Rewind—they had all realized one undeniable truth.
They were standing at the very center of an event that would send massive shockwaves through the music and entertainment industries.
No one answered Kang Beom-jun’s question.
More precisely, they could only smile bitterly because they couldn’t possibly answer.
It had been a rather wicked question, after all.
Ryu Won and Baek Yerin.
This duo guaranteed success by their very existence. How much further that success could be amplified was now entirely up to RT Entertainment.
Thanks to that realization, the department heads’ mouths wouldn’t stop moving. The conference room instantly overflowed with energy.
The most common suggestion, as expected, was to release an album as quickly as possible.
Four songs had already been presented, plus one more that hadn’t been recorded yet due to time constraints.
With a total of five tracks, they could release a mini album soon and announce Baek Yerin’s dazzling debut.
There was no real room for objection; in fact, it seemed like the very first thing they should do.
It was actually quite unusual in today’s music market for a rookie to debut with a mini album.
Producing and securing enough songs to fill an album required significant investment from the start.
Who would take such an inefficient risk on a newcomer whose success was impossible to predict?
But Baek Yerin possessed talent that more than justified the exception.
Moreover, with Ryu Won’s songs already prepared to fill the album, there was no longer any need to weigh costs against potential returns.
However, one major problem remained.
‘A mini album… huh.’
It was Ryu Won himself.
He wasn’t entirely satisfied with how the conversation had naturally drifted toward a mini album.
After all, for Baek Yerin’s debut—a monumental event—were they really going to release only a mini album?
‘That feels a little disappointing.’
Having worked in this industry before, Ryu Won knew better than anyone what was most effective and realistic.
The people in this room were the same. They all had established reputations in their fields, so their opinions were practically the established wisdom.
But established wisdom was only the most reasonable judgment given the current circumstances.
What if those circumstances themselves were completely overturned?
‘Is this just greed…?’
From another perspective, it could certainly look like greed.
Especially since it might place a direct burden on her and no one else.
While Ryu Won was lost in thought, he felt a gaze from the side.
It was Baek Yerin.
In a whisper quiet enough not to disturb the meeting, she asked him.
“?”
Ryu Won suddenly remembered their second meeting.
She had told him back then that something you could share with others was a “worry,” while something you couldn’t tell anyone was a “secret.”
From that point of view, this matter was…
Ryu Won confessed his concern honestly.
If things grew bigger because of his own greed, it could place a heavy weight on Baek Yerin’s shoulders.
But she simply looked at him with that bright smile and asked back.
Ryu Won felt like he had been struck in the head with a hammer.
When he thought about it, the answer was so obvious.
All of this had begun with his own greed, which meant he had a duty to take responsibility for her.
How?
His voice carried firm determination, and his eyes changed.
Baek Yerin sensed it instinctively and tilted her head in confusion.
Because Ryu Won had suddenly started counting on his fingers.
After finishing whatever mental calculation he was doing, he clapped his hands once—loud enough for the sound to echo through the entire conference room.
In an instant, every eye turned toward him.
And what he said next would completely change the situation they were in.