Chapter 73: Looking for the Choreographer (1)
After my return to the past, the person I wanted to avoid the most was my ex-wife—Ju Yung-In. There was no deep affection between us, but she was closer to me than anyone else. The memory of her betrayal during my last days still made me shudder. However, the Ju Yung-In in front of me now was essentially a different person. After all, the experiences we had shared in my past life were now a future that would never be realized.
'Right. She's just a stranger now.'
With that thought, I felt a bit more at ease. I poured soju into the glass she held out without any emotion.
Glug glug glug.
Subconsciously, I filled only half of her glass. Somehow, my body seemed to remember how Ju Yung-In didn’t like her glass filled to the brim. The clear soju rippled in her glass. Ju Yung-In smiled slightly with a look of satisfaction on her face.
This time, Ju Yung-In picked up the bottle. "What are you doing? Aren't you going to take a glass?"
Of course, I knew this was her expression of gratitude for catching the paparazzi earlier. But I just wanted to pretend I didn't understand the intention.
I let out a soft sigh almost inaudibly. "I'll just take the glass, but not soju. I have to drive Yoo-Jin home later."
Ju Yung-In flinched and frowned. "Sure...whatever works for you."
The moment she filled my glass full, she opened her mouth again. "Thank you for today..."
I doubted my ears for a moment. This wasn’t like Ju Yung-In at all, who never apologized and took anything for granted.
Clink!
At that moment, she suddenly clinked her glass against mine. The sound of the soju glasses clinking resonated clearly. Ju Yung-In downed her drink in one go and returned to her usual haughty demeanor, standing up from her seat. Then, using the excuse that she was still shocked by today’s incident and had to leave early, Ju Yung-In left without greeting the other staff.
"Let's go, Mr. Kang."
The spilled soju on my hand from the toast with Ju Yung-In felt colder than usual for some reason.
***
"Yoo-Jin, how about you stop drinking now?"
"I can drink more though."
"You do realize your speech is slurred, right?"
After just three glasses of soju, Yoo-Jin’s face had turned as red as a persimmon.
Yoo-Jin playfully stuck out her tongue. "I’m fine~ I’m fine~."
But fortunately, I knew the solution to stop Yoo-Jin from drinking further.
"Let's see, where's my phone? I need to take a picture and show it to Miso. If the kid finds out what her mom is like when she’s drunk..."
Flinch!
Yoo-Jin grabbed my hand with a pitiful look in her eyes. "I'm sorry! Please don’t!"
"So, you’ll stop drinking?"
"Fine~."
Yoo-Jin looked at me with her big, glistening eyes and nodded continuously. Then she surprisingly started drinking only water, quite contrary to her usual self. But in return, she reached for the food more often. She was taking huge bites non stop.
"Hey! You need to chew before swallowing!"
Yoo-Jin hummed a tune while gulping down the meat. "But it melts in my mouth before I can chew~. Hanwoo beef is truly magnificent~."
'Oh my goodness. That’s pork ribs, not Hanwoo. Has she finally gone mad after eating only salad for the whole day?'
But I couldn’t possibly stop her from eating at the dinner party.
That was when it happened. The time was 9:50 PM. My planner for today showed one particular incident.
[Everyday V10]
[Date: February 7, 2020]
-10:00 PM Meeting with an employee of Ace Entertainment.
Before returning to the past, I had joined Kim Dong-Soo's Division 3 after a terrible accident that took Miso away. I remembered having trouble fitting in and feeling out of place. I constantly met with employees from other companies to explore a possible job change. In particular, I met with Chief Lee Chan-Dong, a key figure at Ace Entertainment, to discuss a transfer on this very day in my past life. But I gave up on moving companies when the offer didn’t match my expectations.
'Thanks to that, I lived my life as Kim Dong-Soo’s dog.'
There were only ten minutes left before the event on the planner. But because I had no particular reason to meet him now, I excused myself from the dinner under the pretext of having to drive the drunk Yoo-Jin home.
Yoo-Jin fell asleep as soon as she sat in the backseat. She explained that she usually wouldn’t touch a drop of alcohol but had indulged tonight as she felt safe because I was there with her.
I scolded the sleeping Yoo-Jin while fastening her seat belt. "If she’s going to be so drunk after only three glasses of soju, she shouldn’t drink at all. She doesn’t even have a high tolerance."
"Mmm..."
"Huh? Were you awake?"
"Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm."
‘She must be talking in her sleep. At least she's behaving.’
I finished fastening her seat belt and went back to the driver's seat to start the vehicle.
But then, I heard a strange sound.
Krrrrr!
"What's going on?"
I tried to start the engine again, but the noise continued
Krrrrr!
Despite having a mileage of just 250,000 km, my minivan had broken down.
‘Is the battery dead because it's too cold?’
I was about to call the insurance company when I heard a knock on the window.
Knock knock!
Click.
I opened the door and got out, only to let out a hollow laugh. The person knocking on my car was Lee Chan-Dong, the influential chief of Ace Entertainment—the leading entertainment company.
It seemed the event noted in my planner was coming true after all.
"Are you Assistant Manager Jung Yoon-Ho?"
"I am."
"Hi. I am Lee Chan-Dong from Ace Entertainment. It’s nice to meet you. Here is my business card."
I handed him my business card in return. While looking around the surroundings, Lee Chan-Dong quickly noticed the condition of my car.
"It looks like your battery is dead. Let’s connect it to my car and see if we can revive it."
"Thank you so much."
After connecting the jump cables, Lee Chan-Dong started his minivan's engine.
Vrooom!
"It will take about 20 minutes to charge the battery. Would you like to go over there and have a coffee or something?"
I took out a thermos containing coffee I had brewed earlier. "I feel a bit hesitant to leave my actress alone. Why don’t we just talk here? I have some coffee prepared."
"Wow. The aroma is incredible."
Lee Chan-Dong took a few sips of coffee before getting to the main point. "Actually...Jin-Hee from our company was caught in the hidden camera incident today. She almost faced a huge embarrassment."
"Ah, yes. I hope Ms. Park Jin-Hee wasn't too shaken up."
And as I had expected, Lee Chan-Dong brought up the topic of a company transfer. "...Mr. Jung. Would you be interested in joining Ace Entertainment?"
I immediately declined Lee Chan-Dong's offer without hesitation. "No, I'm not interested."
I liked working at Hoop Entertainment. However, Lee Chan-Dong didn't give up easily. In fact, he became more assertive.
"But still, I hope you would consider it. Our company actively supports talent agents with potential in their entertainment industry endeavors."
‘Potential? Entertainment industry endeavors?’
Only then did I understand why Lee Chan-Dong approached me. Ace Entertainment wasn't interested in my achievements as a talent agent., but they were attracted to the media attention I got as a 'star talent agent' with Yoo-Jin.
Given that I was at the center of attention for saving Jang Jun-Hyuk and appearing in The Human Stories with Yoo-Jin, they wanted to use me. But that made it easier for me to refuse the offer.
"Thank you for the offer, but I have no intention of becoming a celebrity. I believe being a talent agent is my true calling."
"Oh, I didn't mean to suggest you quit being a talent agent. Mr. Jung, what I mean is..."
Despite his continued explanation, I shook my head to indicate I had no interest in becoming a celebrity. Lee Chan-Dong took a final sip of his coffee with a look of disappointment.
"That's a pity. If you ever change your mind, please contact me."
I disconnected the jumper cables from my car after the charging was complete and started the engine.
Vroom!
Lee Chan-Dong left with a look of regret on his face. "Oh, good. The engine started. Then I’ll see you again sometime."
As I watched him go, I muttered softly under my breath, "And I have no intention of joining a company that's doomed to fail, Mr. Lee."
Ace Entertainment was currently at the top of the industry, but it would face a tremendous ordeal and collapse in three years.
***
Several days had passed since we recruited the genius composer Bang Seon-Woo. Now that the song for Cherry Blossom was complete, it was time to find a choreographer and lyricist.
Bam-bam-bam!
As I went down to the usually quiet underground recording studio, I heard it was filled with vibrant sounds. But I stopped in my tracks when I noticed the song being played was definitely the hit song ‘Shortcut’ by Epil K, though the instruments used and feel of the music were different. It was also Bang Seon-Woo's 11th composition. Despite being registered for copyright, one particular incident still hadn't disappeared from my planner.
[Everyday V10]
[Date: July 1, 2022]
-01:00 PM Funeral Hall No. 8, Suwon St. Mary's Hospital. Bang Seon-Woo's Funeral. 9 AM.
‘I just don’t get it. What could possibly happen...?’
The incidents written in my planner were based on my knowledge of the future from my past life.
'Am I misunderstanding something about Seon-Woo’s death?'
But there was no way to find out the reason behind Bang Seon-Woo’s death at the moment. All I could do was to be more vigilant from this point on.
As I opened the door and entered Studio 2, I could see Bang Seon-Woo and Lee Dong-Min with their disheveled hair. They seemed so deeply engrossed in their work that they had forgotten the time.
Lee Dong-Min seemed pleased as he shouted 'okay.' "Seon-Woo, I think we should be good with finalizing the song like this."
But Bang Seon-Woo shook his head firmly. "The mid-range sounds empty. How about we enhance it a bit?"
"Honestly, I can't tell what's missing. Isn't it perfect already?"
"Wait a minute. What I mean is, if we adjust it like this..."
Bang Seon-Woo selected a viola, added it to the existing track, and played it.
Once again, the magic unfolded.
'This is amazing!'
Just by adding one more instrument, the mood of the song became much richer.
Lee Dong-Min exclaimed in admiration, "Kid, you’re really something."
"Oh, not at all, Mr. Lee. Hahaha."
After giving a high-five to Bang Seon-Woo, Lee Dong-Min noticed my presence. "Oh, Yoon-Ho. When did you get here?"
"Yoon-Ho hyung!"
Lee Dong-Min and Bang Seon-Woo greeted me with bright expressions. But I frowned and opened the door to the recording studio as I reprimanded them.
"You two, how long have you been here without going home?"
Bang Seon-Woo and Lee Dong-Min glanced at each other and held up three fingers.
‘Three days? Really? And why are they smiling proudly about that?’
"Seon-Woo, your mother must be worried. So even if you can’t go home every day, at least stop by every two days. And call her often."
Bang Seon-Woo scratched his head and made an apologetic look. "Okay...I will."
"So, Yoon-Ho. What brings you here? You must be busy with Yoo-Jin’s schedule," Lee Dong-Min asked.
"Don’t you remember, sir? You asked me to find a choreographer and lyricist."
"Oh, right."
"I’ll send you their profiles via KkTalk."
K-talk!
As I sent the profiles of the choreographer and lyricist via KkTalk, Lee Dong-Min’s expression changed from joy to disbelief. "Park Seon-Nyeo?"
Choreographer Park Seon-Nyeo was currently a star aerobics instructor MeTuber with 150,000 subscribers. Famous for her dancing skills since childhood, she mastered everything from classical to contemporary dance. However, she switched over to becoming an aerobics instructor due to the lack of respect for choreographers in Korea. But in a year, she would be recognized by an American producer for her potential after becoming the top aerobics instructor MeTuber in Korea and would be hired to create choreography.
The result would be a huge hit. She would then change her name to 'Eight Angels' and oversee the choreography and concert performances of North America's top dance artist, 'Catzfinger.'
However, she was currently running 'Park Seon-Nyeo Aerobics' in Guro and uploading videos on MeTube.
Lee Dong-Min looked puzzled as he couldn’t understand my intention. "You want to hire an aerobics instructor for idol choreography?"
"Yes, sir."
"Was she originally an idol choreographer? Are there any videos of her choreography or something?"
‘Videos?’
There were, but they were only accessible to members of a Nave webpage exclusive to subscribers of 'Park Seon-Nyeo Aerobics.'
"You have to register at her aerobics studio to get access to the videos."
"Can't we just tell her we want to hire her as a choreographer and ask her for the videos?"
I shook my head. "She dislikes entertainment agencies. If an agency contacts her, she'll just ignore it."
Lee Dong-Min tilted his head. "Why is that?"
"Apparently, her pride was hurt when TK Entertainment and Big Star Entertainment paid her too little for her choreography. Since then, she’s been reluctant to work with any agencies."
Agencies often didn’t pay separate fees for choreography. Hiring a choreographer as a dance lesson trainer was the best they could hope for. In some cases, the agencies would simply tell the choreographers not to come back after using them as backup dancers on stage a few times.
Disappointed by this reality, Park Seon-Nyeo was avoiding contact with agencies.
"But how do you plan to bring her on board? Do you know her personally?"
"Nope. Not at all."
However, I knew the conditions she agreed to when she first accepted an offer for idol choreography in the U.S.
But Lee Dong-Min looked troubled upon hearing the conditions. "Yoon-Ho, do we really need to go that far?"
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