First Impression.
First Impression.
In the car, Dad stared at the business card for a long time.
"Da-yeon's family is Hanseong... So she's Lee Jin-seok's daughter..."
"You know them?"
"Who? Da-yeon's parents?"
"Yeah."
Dad nodded, as if he knew about Hanseong.
"Of course~ He's the second richest person in the country, you know."
"...What?"
"Way, way richer than Daddy~"
"Whoa... he's that rich?"
"Yep~"
From what I knew, Hanseong hadn't been that rich.
No—even twenty years later, he couldn't possibly have become that rich.
I'd contributed to building S Company into a global enterprise for the organization, but I'd also played my part in cutting Korea's major corporations down to mid-sized company level.
I quickly turned on my phone and searched the news.
S Company was also caught up in... the War on Crime.
That one article was enough to let me guess what had happened.
S Company with its limbs hacked off.
Even though its limbs were gone, it had been a corporation that shook Korea in those days,
so it overcame the crisis fast and still held the number one spot in the business world today.
And the current CEO of S Company was someone who'd feared me from the time I was young—
the very man who, right after rising to CEO, had ultimately ordered me killed.
To think the representative was that small-minded figure who'd been terrified even of me, when I was nothing but his hunting dog...
"Si-yoon, what're you looking at?"
"Hanseong. Just curious~"
"Your phone was made by Hanseong, too."
"Oh..."
'So that's why he was staring at my phone so intently.'
"Wanna go to Daddy's company today? See Ji-eun?"
"Yeah."
Dad probably wanted to do some work, but he used me as an excuse to head to his label.
As he carried me inside, we ran into the JSM CEO.
Jang Seong-man was looking at Dad.
"Ji-ho!"
"Ah, CEO."
"You punk, do you know how worried I was? You didn't answer your phone for ages."
"I did want to see you, but every time I meet you, CEO, I have to drink."
Dad looked at me, and following his gaze, Jang Seong-man stared intently at me as well.
"Wow... she's incredibly pretty. Seriously, wow... a little angel..."
Ninety-nine out of a hundred people who saw me for the first time lost their wits.
"I know."
Of course, I wasn't pleased with myself—all these fragile bones and muscles.
"Did you come to see your daddy?"
At the tone that treated me like a child and the look I gave him like I was staring at a bug, CEO Jang Seong-man flinched.
"...Uncle's hurt, you know?"
"Grandpa."
Being called Grandpa seemed to shock him even more; he looked at Dad with a wounded expression and said,
"...I think your daughter hates me...?"
"Shave your beard, CEO."
Jang Seong-man touched his chin beard and then nodded.
"Just you wait, little lady. I'll go make myself handsome and be right back~"
"I'm not your daughter, Grandpa."
"......"
CEO Jang Seong-man's shoulders drooped, and he disappeared, his back looking awfully lonely.
"Si-yoon~!"
I gave Ji-eun, who was greeting me so happily, a cool nod and tried to look at my phone.
But Ji-eun had something in her hands.
'Snacks...?'
In the end, I couldn't resist the temptation of the snack bags filling both her hands and stared at them; Ji-eun looked back at me playfully.
"Do you want some?"
"Can I call you Mommy?"
"Ahaha!"
I tossed my phone aside, pulled a snack out of the bag that was bigger than my body, and handed it to Ji-eun.
"Just as I thought... Si-yoon loves mustache snacks~"
Ji-eun tore open the snack bag and handed it to me while looking at Dad.
"When are you going to put the song up?"
"Huh? The one I recorded with Si-yoon?"
"Yeah!"
"I'm thinking I won't post that one."
Flustered by Dad's words, Ji-eun slammed the desk and demanded,
Bam!
"Why?!"
Then she noticed me and apologized in case I'd been startled.
I sat on the sofa and watched the two of them.
"I was just planning to keep it as a memory~"
Ji-eun looked at me, and I met her eyes.
"?"
"Si-yoon, don't you want to let other people hear the song you sang with your daddy, too?"
"Why?"
"Well... because then other people could hear your voice and it'd make them happy, too."
I smirked and crossed my legs.
Dad saw that and scolded me.
"Si-yoon, what did I say? If you cross your legs like that from a young age, it hurts you later."
I uncrossed my legs and said to Ji-eun,
"You're trying to win me over with all this sentimentality, huh?"
"...Huh?"
Dad laughed wryly at my way of speaking.
"Give me a more convincing reason."
"Uh... um... if you release the song, a lot of money will come in, probably...?"
Dad was taken aback by Ji-eun's words.
"Hey, Ji-eun!"
Dad pressed Ji-eun, but I nodded.
"Oh... how much do you earn from it?"
Ji-eun was staring at me suspiciously, as if checking if I was really four years old.
Just then, Jang Seong-man walked in.
"Oh? Hello, CEO~"
Ji-eun stood up and politely greeted Jang Seong-man; Dad, apparently closer to him than I'd thought, met his eyes and said,
"You're back?"
Gone was the tank top from earlier; Jang Seong-man reappeared in a suit with his hair swept up, looking like a clean-cut, handsome middle-aged man.
CEO Jang Seong-man gave Dad's words a casual nod and approached me, his gaze fixed on me.
"How about now? Do I still look like a grandpa?"
"Yep."
At my reply, delivered without a second's hesitation, CEO Jang Seong-man mimed collapsing in shock, bracing his arms on the sofa to hold himself up.
In the end, he accepted his grandpa status and looked at Ji-eun, asking,
"What were you talking about?"
Ji-eun glanced at Dad for his reaction, and when he nodded, she played the song.
"What do you think?"
"......"
Dad's voice and mine blended together, producing the feel of a trendy children's song.
"Why haven't you released this? Is it because of the advance? Want to sign another blank contract, like before?"
Dad snorted a laugh at the theatrical, playful remark from Jang Seong-man and said,
"It's fine. It's just a song I made to play with Si-yoon."
"Whenever you make something half-heartedly it turns into a massive hit, doesn't it? This is guaranteed to blow up! Perfect for your comeback!!!"
"You know I don't plan to make a comeback, and even if I did, I'd want to wait until Si-yoon's older and at least in elementary school."
CEO Jang Seong-man nodded and went on.
"Okay... still, at least you haven't given up on the dream... You know the contract still stands, right?"
"Of course~"
Seated and listening intently to the conversation, Ji-eun spoke up.
"Si-yoon asked how much money she'd make from this song."
"Hmm..."
CEO Jang Seong-man thought for a moment, then sat down beside me and said,
"Normally, if you're thinking about money when you release a song, it only brings in about one-tenth to one-hundredth of what you expected, you see?"
I nodded, looking at CEO Jang Seong-man's face.
Whatever he'd sprayed around his mouth, there was a weird smell.
"With your daddy's name—a once-in-a-generation genius releasing a song after four years... plus all sorts of reasons... the buzz factor is more than enough."
Talking indirectly about my mom's death right in front of him... I wondered if he was just that tactless, but...
Maybe because he knew CEO Jang Seong-man's personality, Dad just looked slightly uncomfortable and said nothing.
"Even just releasing this domestically, it'd bring in at least billions of won, and with overseas earnings, it could easily reach tens of billions..."
At a price that blew away what I'd imagined, so absurd it was unspeakable, my eyes went wide.
"Mustache snacks... at least 285,715 bags..."
"".....""
"Even eating one every day... I could eat them for 782 years..."
Everyone was staring at me in shock as I flawlessly did division and multiplication at four years old.
Even Dad was aghast in the midst of it.
"A... genius..."
"I know."
"Once in a generation..."
"I know."
I'd never thought of myself as smart in my old life.
But the brain I had now spun sharply. As if it wasn't me.
When I thought deeply, it moved so fast the world around me seemed to stop.
I looked at Dad and said,
"Dad, let's release the song."
"...Is it for the money?"
I pressed my finger to my lips.
"Well... it hasn't really hit me just how much money it is, honestly..."
Dad checked my face in the rearview mirror.
"Lying to Daddy again, aren't you?"
"Yep. It's a white lie."
"......"
When I admitted it so readily, Dad nodded without a word.
"I'm hungry."
"Do you really want me to release the song? If I do... Daddy might get so busy he can't play with our Si-yoon anymore..."
Dad gripped the steering wheel, his expression like he was hoping someone would hold him back.
"Then just don't do it."
"......"
At my words, Dad's face filled with deep worry, as if he were wrestling with a lot of thoughts.
"Haa... Dad."
"Yeah?"
"If you make music, will you abandon me?"
"Absolutely not!!! Daddy only has you, you know?!"
"If you make music, will you stop taking me places?"
"No..."
"If you make music, will you stop making me meals?"
"...No."
"If you make music, won't you sleep with me anymore?"
"......"
"If you make music, won't you play with me?"
"Ah..."
"Well, nothing would really be different from usual..."
"But still..."
Dad finally pulled the car over.
"Daddy... loves music so much..."
"Is that why you couldn't be by Mom's side?"
At my final remark, Dad squeezed his eyes shut.
"......"
Dad had been keeping the thing he loved most under extreme control.
The six hours I spent at daycare every day.
Because of that, for exactly five hours a day, no matter how good an idea he had, the moment the alarm rang, he left without lingering.
As if proving the title Prodigy of the Century wasn't given to just anyone.
As the Prodigy of the Century, Dad had been unable to witness Mom dying, or me being born, because of that very talent.
Because of that trauma, if he stayed in his studio after the alarm went off, he'd flee the place as if a catastrophe were about to happen.
"Dad, you do make music, though."
"......"
"And while doing it, you still spend time with me."
"Yeah..."
"Sure, you probably took me to your workplace because you wanted to..."
"......"
Dad gave me a look that said, you even knew that?
"Anyway, you can't really stop now, can you?"
"...No, if you tell me not to, Si-yoon, I won't do it."
"Yeah, right."
"......"
Of course, if I told him not to, that young dad who thought I was his whole world wouldn't do it.
But when Dad listened to music, when he touched his toy piano, he wore the happiest expression imaginable.
For four years, that man hadn't even glanced at music, for my sake.
I'm not selfish enough to block a young, rookie dad's happiness.
"Just do your music the way you play with me, and show people what you want to show. That's enough~"
"......"
"You said you like me better than music."
"Yeah..."
"Then you just have to manage it yourself. If you're not confident you can, then don't do it, like you've been doing."
Dad let out a sigh and looked at me.
"My daughter's so smart... Daddy made you worry, huh?"
"As long as you know."
"Then... should we just put up the song you sang with Daddy?"
"The one you've been tweaking up till now?"
"Oh... you knew about that, too?"
"Yep."
CEO Jang Seong-man and Ji-eun didn't know Dad had been revising it; they only knew the first version Dad and I had made together.
"Wanna hear it?"
"Yeah."
I experienced firsthand why the rapper Kim Ji-ho was considered a compositional genius.
The melody woven along the piano's tune made me feel like I was stepping into soft clouds.
At the same time, I felt a tangle of emotions.
The way a brilliantly bright blue, clear sky can seem sad on some days...