Everyday Life (9)
Investing in entertainment stocks required caution.
By the nature of the business, they owned almost no tangible assets; most of what mattered was intangible, which made valuation anything but simple.
If one of their artists transferred elsewhere after a contract expired, the company’s value could plunge in an instant.
Mayble Entertainment had acquired Kim Beom-seok because he had signed with them and because they saw the growth potential in Lunatines, but for the other companies, I planned to buy only around ten to thirty percent.
Dongho senior said,
“Come to think of it, it’s lucky he’s a singer. If he were an actor, there’d be no way he could do this on the side, right?”
“I guess so.”
Actors had to stay tied to the set, but singers only needed to record a song and they could release it as a digital track. Music show appearances and concerts were just matters of clearing the schedule when the time came.
“He’s already got thirty songs written and finished. And from the looks of it, there are dozens more he’s written lyrics and melodies for. When on earth did he make all of these?”
Unlike me, who collapsed the moment I got home and was too busy sleeping to do anything else, he apparently kept writing songs in the cracks between work.
What good was genius, after all?
If the productivity wasn’t there to back it up, it was worthless. But Kim Beom-seok had not only talent; he had a ridiculous, almost deranged level of output to go with it.
One song took him, at most, a day to write and compose. At minimum, half an hour.
And every single song he made that way was a gem.
If he released them all at once, wouldn’t he be able to line the charts up in order?
Dongho senior shook his head.
“I don’t think I could do this even if I died and came back.”
“Nope. Not happening.”
I knew that for a fact, because I’d died and come back enough times to learn one thing for sure: talent you never had wouldn’t suddenly appear just because you were given another chance at life.
That kind of gift was simply something you were born with.
Who would’ve thought my friend was one of those talent freaks?
It would be a waste to use him only as a singer, and it would be a waste to use him only as a fund manager. So he had no choice but to do both.
Maybe I have some hidden talent too?
“You don’t, so stop worrying about it.”
“No, don’t just decide that so quickly—”
While we were talking, Kim Beom-seok arrived at work.
It had only been a few days since he last came in, but he looked completely drained from all the recording he’d been doing.
Dongho senior latched onto him like a remora and fired off a barrage of questions.
“While you were at the agency, did you see Lunatines? Is Annie pretty? Is Jooyoung pretty? Who’s the prettiest? Did you shake hands with them? If you ever end up eating with them, call me too. Tell the girls I’ll buy them something delicious.”
“……”
Does this man have anything in his head besides girl groups?
“How’s the music going? Is it doing well?”
At my question, he answered in a voice that sounded a little rough around the edges.
“Recording again after so long isn’t easy. Except for the songs I’ll be singing myself, I’m thinking of selling the rest.”
“I heard requests for songs are pouring in.”
Kim Beom-seok looked embarrassed.
“It’s not that dramatic, but it does seem like inquiries are coming in from a lot of places.”
“Have you already thought about who you want to give them to?”
“Yes. Actually, that’s part of why I wanted to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
“I want to give a song to Jiyu, and I heard you know her.”
“……”
Would she even remember me?
Jiyu bowed her head politely.
“Hello, senior.”
“Yeah. Hi. Long time no see.”
Surprisingly, she had remembered me.
She was wearing a zip-up hoodie with a hood attached, training pants, and running shoes. She was about 160 centimeters tall, but her face was so small that her proportions looked excellent.
Her name was Jiyu.
She was a female singer-songwriter who was now one of the hottest names in the Korean music scene, which was practically an idol industry in its own right.
The last time I’d seen her, she was only a moderately known name. Now she was a star the whole country knew.
It was just past midnight.
We were in a café in Cheomdang-dong.
Apparently it had been opened by Ji-hyuk, a former idol singer. It was open twenty-four hours a day, and the seats were arranged in cubicles for privacy.
The prices were a little steep, but since privacy was guaranteed, it seemed like a place celebrities frequented often.
“You must be busy. Is it okay to come out like this?”
Jiyu puffed out her lips slightly and said,
“Aren’t you the one who’s busier than me, senior? I texted you a few times, but you never replied.”
I made my excuse.
“Ah! I was seriously busy then. There were even times when my phone was off.”
“I heard from my sister. You work at Continue Capital.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s an incredibly famous place, isn’t it?”
“You know it?”
“Of course. Ah! I heard you’re investing in our company too.”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“H-huh, could it be because of me?”
“……Huh?”
Jiyu smiled bashfully.
“There are so many entertainment companies, so when you specifically singled out our company, I thought maybe it was because of me.”
“We’re investing in entertainment companies in general, not just yours. About twenty of them.”
“……Pardon?”
Do sisters like her specialize in misunderstanding things?
As I was thinking that, I saw Jiyu’s pale face turn bright red in real time.
She lowered her head until it was practically buried in her chest.
Worried she might actually explode, I quickly changed the subject.
“You seem even thinner than when we last met.”
“Do I?”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
“Hee, but I still feel good hearing it.”
She had always been slim, but now she was even thinner than before.
“Don’t tell me you’re dieting?”
“Not really. I’ve just been too busy to eat properly.”
Well, she was working this late at night.
Her eyes were full of fatigue too.
“Shouldn’t you be going home and sleeping?”
“It’s fine. I slept a little in the car on the way here.”
She really was working hard for someone so young.
What was I doing at her age again? Probably hanging around pool halls and PC bangs.
“But it really does feel like it’s been ages.”
“We saw each other last week.”
“Huh? When……?”
“At Kyeongtae and Hanbyeol’s wedding.”
“Oh, right. I heard you came to the wedding. I’m sorry. I had a schedule afterward that day, so I sang the congratulatory song and left right away.”
“What’s there to apologize for? But how did you end up singing the congratulatory song?”
“Hanbyeol senior asked me to.”
“It must’ve been hard to clear your schedule, so that’s pretty loyal of you to agree.”
Jiyu smiled proudly.
“Of course. No matter how busy I am, if my seniors are getting married, I should congratulate them.”
She was adorable.
“You also filmed a drama recently.”
“Did you happen to watch it?”
“Yeah.”
I hadn’t watched all of it, just enough to get the gist.
In the first timeline, she’d gotten tangled up with C-Lab and ended up leaving before filming even began. But this time, she filmed according to schedule.
She wasn’t the female lead, but the second female lead. I thought she was playing a quirky college student who liked the male lead.
Maybe because the role suited her image so well, her acting was praised, and the drama blew up far bigger than it had in the first timeline. It was a huge hit overseas too.
Thanks to that, she was steadily cementing her footing not only as a singer but also as an actress.
If she kept growing like this, wouldn’t she become a walking mid-sized company?
Jiyu took a sip of sparkling water and asked,
“Then what exactly do you do at the company, senior?”
“Mostly I analyze companies and invest in them.”
Depending on the situation, I also dismantled conglomerate groups, resolved ransomware incidents, or helped imprisoned chairmen escape Japan.
But those stories weren’t exactly fun, so I skipped them. What was something she’d actually enjoy hearing about?
Just then, one thing came to mind.
“Do you know a game called NightLight?”
“I think I’ve heard of it.”
“In the future, concerts will be possible inside games too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. A character that looks exactly like the singer holds a concert, and the game characters gather to watch. Because it’s a game, things that would be impossible in real life become possible. You could create fictional settings like outer space or the deep sea, and the character could even fly through the sky or perform transformations. Of course, since it’s still a concert, the singing would be live.”
“Wow!”
“Doesn’t that sound fun?”
Jiyu’s eyes shone as she said,
“It sounds incredibly fun. A concert inside a game? I’d love to try that someday. You could make every single thing you imagine real. And since there’d be no limits on space, fans from all over the world could gather in one place.”
“Exactly.”
She really was smart.
For reference, Dongho senior had taken one look at that idea and dismissed it as nonsense, saying, “If you’re not actually seeing the singer, just a character, who’d waste money on that?”
How exactly did this man become an analyst?
“I asked to see you today because I’ve got something I want to talk about.”
“S-something to talk about? With me?”
“Yeah.”
Why was she so startled?
Her wide-eyed reaction made her look like a pure white rabbit.
“W-what is it about?”
“Work.”
“Ah, work……”
She looked a little disappointed.
Don’t tell me she’d misunderstood again?
“You know Kim Beom-seok, right?”
“Of course. You told me about him last time. I’m seriously, seriously a huge fan. I’ve listened to every song he’s released digitally. I still listen to them whenever I’m in the car.”
“Which song do you like best?”
“I like them all.”
“If you had to pick one?”
“Hmm, then Farewell Letter.”
“That’s my favorite too.”
“I saw the article that came out this time too. It said he signed with Mayble Entertainment. So does that mean he’s releasing new songs?”
“Yeah.”
“Will he do concerts later too? I’d like to go see him.”
Seeing how excited she was, it didn’t sound like flattery; she really was a fan. Then again, their musical styles were somewhat similar.
Still, if she was a fan, that made this a lot easier to say.
“That works out well. That’s actually why I asked to meet you.”
“Why is that?”
“I’ve got a few songs I’ve written, and I was hoping you’d sing some of them.”
I was out here running around for my employees like this. No wonder workplace satisfaction stayed high.
Apparently this had come out of nowhere, because Jiyu looked stunned.
“Huh? Really?”
“Yeah. An offer will probably go through the agency, but I wanted to ask how you felt before that. Even if I know nothing about music, these are really good……”
“I’ll do it.”
“Without even hearing what the songs are?”
“Yes. I’ll do it no matter what.”
She didn’t sound polite; she sounded genuinely happy.
“Aren’t you curious about what kind of songs they are?”
“I am.”
“I already recorded a guide track. Do you want to hear it?”
“Yes, yes. I want to hear it.”
I handed her the earphones connected to my smartphone.
She put one side in her ear, then held out the other toward me.
“Let’s listen together.”
Did we really need to?
I put the earphones in.
When I hit play, a familiar voice flowed out. It was a voice I listened to all the time while working, but hearing it like this made it feel new again.
It was a national loss that someone like that wasn’t a singer.
When I looked at Jiyu, she had her eyes closed and was moving her head slightly in time with the song.
……Isn’t she a little too close?
There was nothing we could do about it; the earphone cord just wasn’t long enough.
When the song ended, Jiyu opened her eyes.
“Can I listen to it again?”
“Sure.”
She listened to it several times right there, then quietly hummed along under her breath.
“Do you like it?”
“I love it. It feels exactly like my kind of song.”
The title was The Girl Searching for a Dream.
Originally, it had been sung by a female singer named Ga-young.
Even back in the first timeline, while I was listening to it, I’d thought it would suit Jiyu perfectly. I hadn’t expected it to actually end up in her hands this time.
“He said he’d even do the featuring if you want.”
Jiyu looked like she didn’t know what to do with herself.
“Really? If you turn around later and say it’s not true, I’m going to be so disappointed.”
“That won’t happen, so relax.”
“Please tell Kim Beom-seok senior that I’m grateful.”
“I’ll give you his contact info, so tell him yourself.”
“Okay. I will.”
Jiyu covered her mouth and yawned. By now, her eyes were half-closed too.
“You’re sleepy, aren’t you? Let’s head out.”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m tired too.”
That was a lie; I wasn’t tired at all. I was just worried she’d collapse right here and fall asleep if we stayed any longer.
We got up from our seats and left the café. Out front, her manager and car were waiting.
“But why did you keep smiling at me earlier?”
“Did I?”
“Yes. You did.”
“I was just in a good mood.”
Watching someone whose future had turned out well because of me was a pleasant thing.
Jiyu bowed her head politely and said,
“Please be sure to contact me again next time.”
“Got it. Get home safely.”