An Exhausting Day

Han So-yeong's eyes slowly fluttered open, and light blurred hazily through the slits.

As her vision gradually returned, she found herself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling.

This wasn't the office. Where was she?

She rolled her eyes sideways and spotted some squid-faced guy next to her.

"Tch… Is this hell? I should've done some volunteer work while I was alive."

"Did you hit your head too?"

Park Gi-dong shrugged as if to ask what on earth she was talking about.

"What happened to me?"

She could tell it was a hospital, at least.

"The doctor said…"

Gi-dong held up his fingers one by one as he spoke.

"Symptoms of overwork, a hairline fracture in your ankle, and a sprained wrist."

"…"

"You tumbled so enthusiastically they said your whole body got wrecked. Haha."

An IV in her arm, a cast on her left foot, a bandage on her right wrist.

Lying there, Han So-yeong took stock of her condition.

"…Ah."

No wonder it hurt like hell.

"How long have I been like this?"

"Three or four hours?"

Three or four hours—the meeting was long over by now, then.

"Gi-dong-ah, drive for me."

"Huh?"

"We've got to go. There's damage control to do."

As Han So-yeong fumbled for the crutches beside the bed, Park Gi-dong stopped her.

"On the way to the hospital I already called the office staff and rescheduled the meeting with the merch company."

"Oh?"

Gi-dong had actually done his job for once.

Before she could even express her surprise, he added,

"And your mom called, by the way?"

"Huk!? You snitched on me?!"

"No, when would I have had the time… The call just happened to come in and I picked up."

"What'd she say?"

"She told you to stay put and rest in the hospital. Otherwise she'd come find you and snap the other ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠leg too."

"Urgh…"

Knowing all too well her formidable mother's temperament, Han So-yeong meekly climbed back onto the bed.

The swaying IV line brushed her shoulder.

An unexpected moment of rest had found her, yet it felt thoroughly uncomfortable.

If the meeting was handled, there was nothing urgently pressing.

Why does this feel so unsettled?

Like she'd forgotten something. What was it?

Staring hard at the white ceiling, she retraced the moment she'd collapsed.

She'd packed up, come out, been rushing down the stairs, and stupidly wiped out.

Rolled all the way down.

Security came running—

Ah?

She remembered the moment when, face-planted on the floor, she'd only managed to turn her head sideways.

Pale skin, striking features that a mask hooked over his chin couldn't hide.

And above the man's head, the corridor lights shone down brightly.

It was like a halo, and before she knew it she'd blurted out something stupid.

Crazy! An angel, my ass!

He didn't hear that, right?

She wanted to die of embarrassment.

It was probably Kim Do-yoon.

If Muse Family had someone who looked like that, she'd have known long ago.

Coming up from the basement, and the fact that Park Gi-dong had once raved about how handsome he was…

Finally found the reward for working at an entertainment agency.

She hadn't seen a celebrity, but whatever he was, the eye candy was spectacular.

"Do-yoon-ssi is seriously handsome, huh? What's the deal?"

"The composer? I told you before."

"Coming from you, I didn't take it seriously…"

"Hey…"

Gi-dong grumbled, but it didn't reach Han So-yeong's ears.

Having someone like that at the company might actually make coming to work enjoyable.

"I could look at him every day and never get tired of it. Honestly the best benefit package."

"Spare me the thirst… Think about your age, noona."

"What's wrong with my age? I'm still in my twenties. And who said I was going to do anything? People have to be in the same league. I don't even look at trees I can't climb."

"You've barely got any twenties left… Hrk! This is a hospital room! Don't swing those crutches! Uwaaagh!"

Han So-yeong's crutch planted squarely into Park ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Gi-dong's back.

Only after landing one solid blow did she set the crutch down and lie back on the bed.

"Hah."

Her body was a wreck, but at least one arm was intact. Lucky she could still hit people.

Out of habit she picked up her smartphone and opened her inbox.

Fifty-one unread emails.

Just scanning the subject lines was enough to make her sigh.

All of them needed replies.

The problem was her injured right hand—she couldn't type properly.

She tried with her left, but the speed was so abysmal she gave up.

Should I make Gi-dong do it?

Han So-yeong looked at Gi-dong in the corner, rubbing his back.

…Can't trust him with it.

Call Representative Hye-min?

No. If she were going to be any help, she already would have been. She even handed over the company seal.

So who was left…

When she'd previously assigned Do-yoon the stage planning document, the result had been pretty clean, hadn't it?

Besides, Yeong-il was properly the main producer.

Music and content-related matters were closer to his domain.

Things like selecting MV contractors or accepting ads related to the artist's image—it wouldn't be strange for a producer to handle those either.

And on the artistic side, he'd probably see better than I would.

Do-yoon was severely shy around people.

She'd handle the phone communication from her hospital bed, and ask Do-yoon to take care of the work that needed typing.

"Ahem ahem!"

She pulled out her phone and instinctively cleared her throat.

The ringtone sounded a few times.

"Ah, hahaha, I must've startled you. I'm fine. I'm not usually like this, but I was in such a rush I made a complete fool of myself."

The ends of her words were rolled up softer than when she normally spoke with Do-yoon.

At the brighter tone of voice, Park Gi-dong—outside her field of view—scrunched his face as if he'd seen something he shouldn't have.

"Ahem, the thing is, I contacted you because I have a favor to ask."

"I've injured my hand and ended up hospitalized, so it's interfering with work. The way you handled the stage direction plan last time—could you help with the things that need typing?"

"Hup! Thank you. With you helping, Do-yoon-nim, I can finally breathe easier. Please prioritize the ones I've already checked. They're all things you can handle however you like, so feel free to review them and draft the proposals and email replies for me, would you?"

She'd told him to take it easy to lighten his burden.

But proposals related to composer Yeong-il, Lunari's MV concept direction, accepting or rejecting ads, selecting outside contractors, and so on—

In truth, once you linked them all together they were weighty matters. Do-yoon would handle the first pass, and So-yeong would take them for a second review.

"Yep yep! Thank you, Do-yoon-nim! If you have any questions, contact me anytime!"

The call ended, and she set her phone down politely with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠both hands.

Somehow she'd expected Do-yoon to hem and haw before agreeing readily—and sure enough, he'd said he would help.

She wasn't hoping for perfect work, just a temporary fix would be enough.

"The composer really is a kind person. As kind as his face."

"Oh, please."

Declaring he couldn't stand to look at this unnaturally friendly Han So-yeong, Park Gi-dong left.

In the meantime, Han So-yeong tried to catch a nap to shake off the fatigue.

About an hour passed like that.

"Krr— Ugh! Ow."

She'd rolled over onto her injured hand while tossing, and her eyes snapped open.

Han So-yeong checked her phone on pure reflex.

"Huh?"

A message from Do-yoon said he'd finished reviewing all the work she'd asked about.

Don't tell me he only looked them over with his eyes.

It hadn't been an amount you could finish in an hour.

Uneasy, she logged into the company account and examined the proposals and draft replies Do-yoon had saved.

"…?"

He'd done it properly?

How was he this fast?

Even on the music-related items, he'd included detailed elements Han So-yeong hadn't even thought of.

Because of his timid, people-avoiding image, she'd expected his work to be cautious too.

But just as she'd glimpsed last time, he was bold and swift.

It was the same when we talked about music.

Was he the type who focused really well?

Looking at the proposals where he'd freely laid out his opinions even on the matters she'd been agonizing over, she was genuinely surprised.

For her, every single one of those decisions had always been a source of stress.

This time, let's just go with all of this as is.

With her mind at ease, she decided to process everything exactly the way Do-yoon had proposed.

It had been a dynamic outing.

I mean, seriously—I was climbing the stairs when someone dove down the flight right next to me!

I'd nearly sat down on the spot from the shock.

In the process I'd dropped the peach mint pudding I was eating and given the cleaning staff extra work.

I'd finished mixing and was coming up from the basement.

With a clatter-bang and a thud, a person came tumbling down.

The distance between us closed in an instant; I went white as a sheet, then had no idea what to do as the woman writhed in a bizarre way.

If the security guard who came running with a "Huk! Manager-nim?!" hadn't been there, I might not even have realized that person was Han So-yeong—and I probably wouldn't have dared to act like I knew her either.

If that had happened, would I have become a corpse-dumping suspect? No, even so I would've at least hit 119…

To think I'd meet Han So-yeong like this.

First impression…

I'm only saying this now.

Writhing on the floor and then making eye contact—it was a scene that put horror movies to shame.

Terrifying. I hope it doesn't show up in my dreams.

I'd better keep that a secret from Han So-yeong, who's suffering in a hospital bed.

How hard must things have been for her to ask me for help with work?

I don't want to add any more psychological pain.

Right now I was logged into the company account, checking the emails one by one.

Han So-yeong had said they were simple things, too.

There's no way she'd dump anything complicated on me.

So I worked through them simply.

The new song Mmnya needed that drowsy, soft, fluffy atmosphere of waking from a dream.

On that point, the art style in Studio B's samples was closer to the feeling.

Studio A was clean, but a bit stiff.

It's the first MV. If we cheap out now, we'll regret it later.

No matter how cheap it is, if the art doesn't come out the way we planned, there's no point.

Money isn't what matters.

Go with B.

Next!

Portfolios were attached, so I opened them one by one.

Samples showing their video editing skills. YouTube edits, Shorts, fan-edited music videos, and so on.

Everyone looked more or less the same, but one out of the five stood out.

Someone who'd mainly edited livestream clips, and their sense of rhythm was good. The cut timing locked perfectly onto the music.

I listed out the strengths and weaknesses I'd seen for each of them.

Then I wrote that I recommended the last person.

So-yeong-nim would look and decide.

Alright, next!

I knocked them out one by one like that.

I had no idea how many song work and ad requests came in for Yeong-il and A-il.

I never knew because the manager always organized them and passed them along.

I'm grateful all over again.

For the finish I wrote reject, reject, reject, reject, then checked the clock.

A little over an hour, maybe.

Finished faster than I expected.

For something she'd called trivial, there had been a fair amount—but once I just went with whatever I liked, it wasn't hard.

After messaging Han So-yeong to check them over, I flopped down on the bed.

The recording for Mmnya was done now; all that was left was prep for release timed to the MV drop.

"Have to wait again, huh."

Writing a song and releasing it properly. All of that is fine.

I just hate this endless waiting time.

Next time, what if we just register the copyright and upload the song to YouTube first?

These days people use YouTube more than music sites anyway, so that's where most of the reaction comes from.

Might not be bad?

While I was imagining that,

the time I'd promised Yu Nari arrived.

We were supposed to have a meeting about broadcast content.

She'd said to call anytime after dinner.

I wasn't actually hungry so I hadn't eaten dinner, but it probably just meant she wanted to start late, so I called right away.

Today's been ridiculously hectic.

My mental stamina is in tatters.

I'm short on physical stamina.

Would home workouts help if I tried them?

"Why?"

Yu Nari greeted me with a bright smile, but I hesitated at what ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠came next.

Huh? Why my home address.

I sat there blankly silent, so Yu Nari went "Ah!" and continued.

"Ah."

Scared me for a second.

My sanctuary.

The place that had protected me for six years.

But the company had already been sending packages to my home address.

If it was Yu Nari, maybe it was okay to tell her.

She didn't seem like the type to do anything stupid.

A smile slipped to the corner of my mouth at that pure goodwill that knew nothing.

Yu Nari would never know what kind of resolve I was speaking with.

"No, the address is—"

Actually saying it out loud felt strangely different.

I wanted to keep it secret forever, but maybe someday there'd be a day I could spill the story of my past.

"Hoo…"

Today really was… in every possible way, a day that sucked the soul right out of me.