CHAPTER 125

Cherry Blossom's New Song (2)

Kim Woon-Sik stared at me intently. He seemed curious about how I figured out he and Ace Entertainment had signed an exclusive contract. After all, Kim Woon-Sik had never once signed an exclusive contract with an agency given his immense pride.

"This is just my guess, but I'm assuming they might have threatened to end the deal if you gave us a song. Am I right?"

Kim Woon-Sik's face hardened even more. "Who are you?"

When he burst out in anger, I was 100% confident that my guess was correct.

Lee Dong-Min squinted his eyes and smirked. "I told you he's our company's secret weapon."

Kim Woon-Sik glared at me for a moment, then soon let out a deep sigh. "Sigh. I thought I had hidden it well, but how did you know?"

"If it wasn't for that reason, a composer of your caliber wouldn't have said you have no songs left."

Kim Woon-Sik pushed Lee Dong-Min away and sat on the sofa.

"Move over. Ah, this is frustrating."

Then, he finally opened his mouth after drinking a lukewarm glass of water. "Damn it. I guess I can't lie to someone who already knows everything."

Kim Woon-Sik began to explain everything. According to him, Ace Entertainment had recently signed a one-year exclusive contract with all the well-known S-class composers, offering huge signing bonuses. As expected, it was a process to concentrate on producing songs for Girlfriends7. It turned out it wasn't entirely a lie that Kim Woon-Sik really had no songs left.

Furthermore, it was also true that he had been pressured by the heads of major entertainers like TK Entertainment, SJ Entertainment, and Bigstar Entertainment.

"Especially that guy Ma Dong-Pal—he came on strong. He said my deal with them would be forever done if I gave a song to Cherry Blossom."

"Hey! If you were facing such circumstances, you should have said so earlier!"

Lee Dong-Min's annoyance made Kim Woon-Sik burst out in anger. "Fuck. I was embarrassed to tell you I signed those contracts for money! Okay?"

"I've been clinging to composers like a fool, not knowing that."

As Lee Dong-Min sighed deeply, Kim Woon-Sik lowered his voice as if he felt sorry for not telling him earlier. "I'm sorry about that. Technically, even talking about this to you is a breach of contract. So please don't mention it anywhere, okay?"

Lee Dong-Min's expression twisted. "You jerk. As if I would do that."

"Anyway, all the other S-class composers are also tied to Ace and TK Entertainment as well."

Eventually, we concluded that there were no other S-class composers who could give us a song. However, this made it easier to introduce the future hit composer I knew.

***

Lee Dong-Min left the studio feeling defeated and started sighing as he looked up at the sky.

"Sigh. Do I have to leave it to Jee-Tae after all?"

We were already scheduled to release a new song on KBC Music World on April 24th. To do that, we needed to have the song and choreography by the end of this month at the very least so that Cherry Blossom could practice before performing it on stage.

"Mr. Lee, I actually happen to know a talented composer."

Lee Dong-Min turned around in surprise. "Who is it? Is it an S-class composer?"

I shook my head. "The talent is not just S-class, but much beyond that... Can you trust me just this once?"

Lee Dong-Min looked at me doubtfully. But eventually, he nodded. "Well, who else do I trust but you at times like this? And if it doesn't work out, we can always turn to Jee-Tae. Let's just go for it. Now is not the time to be picky."

With Lee Dong-Min's permission, I gave him the address of a shop in Garibong-dong.

***

When identifying the most successful composer at the moment, the name most frequently mentioned was undoubtedly Epil K. He was the one who produced Petite More's hit song 'Bling Bling.' But in two years, Epil K would face a lawsuit for plagiarizing songs from an unknown composer, Bang Seon-Woo. The lawsuit, which would involve as many as twenty songs, would cause a huge uproar.

Bang Seon-Woo, who was a broke amateur when he created those songs, would protest that he had no idea how his works ended up with Epil K. But Epil K, the top composer earning billions annually, would easily win the lawsuit by hiring a large team of lawyers.

Afterward, Bang Seon-Woo would suffer from depression and make the extreme choice of taking his own life. He couldn't bear seeing the songs stolen from him continuously topping the charts. This tragic event was still noted in my planner.

[Everyday V10]

[Date: July 1, 2022]

-01:00 PM Suwon St. Mary's Hospital Funeral Hall Room 8. Bang Seon-Woo's funeral service. Starts at 9 AM.

I had also attended Bang Seon-Woo's funeral to pay my respects in my past life.

'If only I could meet Bang Seon-Woo and purchase his songs at a fair price…'

I was convinced that I could not only solve Cherry Blossom's new song issue, but also prevent Bang Seon-Woo's death. I could pave a smooth path for Cherry Blossom's future.

Screech!

I stopped my vehicle in front of an old pork soup restaurant in Garibong-dong.

Lee Dong-Min looked puzzled. "Is the composer you're talking about here?"

At that moment, a loud voice came from inside the shop. "Gwi-Nam~ Take care of the customer!"

"Ah, seriously. Mom! It's been so long since I changed my name to Seon-Woo. Why do you still call me Gwi-Nam!?"

"What's wrong with your name? Seon-Woo? Why abandon a fine name like Gwi-Nam for something like that?"

"Ugh, just forget it. From now on, I won't respond to you if you don't call me Seon-Woo!"

"Is that the way to talk to your mother?"

Walking past a lady speaking in a thick Gyeongsang-do dialect, a man came out of the shop.

"You can give me the keys."

The timid-looking man, who donned a pair of thick horn-rimmed glasses, was originally named Bang Gwi-Nam. The genius composer, now named Bang Seon-Woo and who met an untimely death in my past life, was extending his hand to me.

"Mr. Bang Seon-Woo?"

"How do you know me? Ah, you must have heard our conversation just now."

Bang Seon-Woo scratched his head, thinking we had heard his earlier conversation with his mom.

I stepped out of the vehicle and handed him my business card. "No. We actually came here specifically to meet you, Mr. Seon-Woo. Could we talk after you finish work? I am Jung Yoon-Ho from Hoop Entertainment."

Bang Seon-Woo looked bewildered. "You're from an entertainment company? For me? But why?"

"Didn't you upload sample songs to an amateur composer's website? We came after hearing those."

"That's impossible. It's a small website with fewer than fifty members..."

I didn't know the website's current size but it would become a much bigger site in a few years. Nonetheless, I continued to pretend to be clueless. "If you don't believe me, there's no other way to explain."

"A-are you for real?"

Then, Lee Dong-Min, who was standing beside me, also presented him with his business card. "I'm Lee Dong-Min, the chief of Hoop Entertainment. This guy is telling the truth."

"I-it's Lee Dong-Min!"

Bang Seon-Woo was startled as if he had seen a famous celebrity.

'Well, Lee Dong-Min is indeed somewhat famous in the music industry.'

"It seems like you're busy now, so we'll wait. We haven't eaten yet anyway."