Hana's text message felt like a shackle tightening around his ankle.
He was standing in a room full of sharks, being ordered by his shadow masters to push Mina into the spotlight. At the exact same time, the queen he'd just sworn allegiance to was demanding he bury Mina under the weight of her own project.
He was fighting a two-front war, and both sides had a gun to his head.
"Is everything alright, Producer Han?" Director Ahn's voice was a cold splash of reality. "You look troubled."
Yoo-jin shoved the phone back into his pocket, his mind racing, desperately trying to find a move, any move, that wouldn't result in immediate annihilation.
"Just company business," Yoo-jin lied, his gaze flicking back across the room to where Jung Sae-ri was charming the investors with Mina at her side. Mina looked like a frightened fawn surrounded by a pack of well-dressed wolves.
[Name: Choi Mina]
[Emotion: Overwhelmed, Anxious]
[Hidden Motivation: Seeking your presence for reassurance.]
She was looking for him. She needed her anchor in this storm, and here he was, plotting how to navigate his own betrayals. The guilt was a physical weight.
"Ensure she makes a strong impression," Ahn repeated, his voice a quiet command. "The Chairman is watching."
Ahn then gave a slight nod and melted back into the crowd, his work done. He had delivered the order. Now it was on Yoo-jin to execute it, no matter how impossible.
Yoo-jin took a deep breath. He couldn't solve tomorrow's problem with Hana right now. He had to survive tonight's problem with TK Group. He had to follow orders.
He plastered a confident, professional smile on his face and walked towards the circle of investors.
"…and her vocal control is simply astounding for someone so young," Jung Sae-ri was saying as he approached. "Producer Han, there you are. I was just telling Mr. Choi here about the incredible work you've done."
A portly man with a diamond watch that cost more than Yoo-jin's car turned to him. "Mr. Choi, CEO of Zenith Capital. Sae-ri tells me you're the man with the golden touch. Tell me, what are your plans for this young prodigy after the OST?"
It was the perfect opening. The exact opportunity Ahn wanted him to take.
"We believe Mina's potential is limitless," Yoo-jin said, his voice smooth and practiced. "The OST is just the beginning. We're planning a full solo album that will showcase not just her voice, but her unique emotional depth. We aim to redefine what a solo female artist can be in this market."
He was selling her. He was selling a future he might have to sabotage.
The investors murmured in appreciation. Jung Sae-ri beamed, her expression radiating approval.
"Bravo," she said. "A clear, ambitious vision. I love it." She then turned to Mina, her smile warm and encouraging. "Mina-ssi, why don't you tell them what kind of music you're passionate about making?"
The spotlight swiveled to Mina. The investors all leaned in, their smiles predatory. This was her moment to shine, to secure the backing of some of the most powerful people in the country.
Mina froze. All the color drained from her face. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Her old trauma, the fear of judgment, was rushing back in this high-pressure environment.
[Status Effect: Performance Anxiety (Severe)]
[Emotional State: PANIC]
Yoo-jin saw it happening in real-time. Her throat was closing up. Her big moment was about to become a catastrophic failure, right in front of the people he was supposed to impress.
He had to intervene. Now.
"Mina is an artist who speaks best through her music, not words," Yoo-jin said, stepping forward slightly, drawing the attention back to himself. "In fact, her dedication is so intense that she's already begun preliminary recordings for her first track. A song that explores the very vulnerability you see now, and turns it into a source of incredible strength."
He was spinning a story out of thin air, creating a narrative of the shy, mysterious artist. It was a desperate gamble.
Mr. Choi, the CEO, looked skeptical. "Is that so? Talk is cheap, Producer Han."
"Which is why we prefer to let the results speak for themselves," Yoo-jin countered smoothly. He looked at Jung Sae-ri. "Perhaps, when the time is right, we could arrange a private listening session for interested parties."
He had turned a moment of failure into an exclusive, high-demand future event.
Jung Sae-ri's eyes sparkled. She understood the move instantly. "A brilliant idea. I'll hold you to that, Producer Han."
The crisis was averted. The investors were intrigued, their interest piqued by the promise of exclusivity. Yoo-jin had saved Mina, and in doing so, had fulfilled Director Ahn's command.
He gently excused himself and Mina from the circle, guiding her toward a quieter corner of the lounge.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice trembling. "I'm so sorry, I just… I froze."
"Don't be sorry," he said, his voice softer now. "You were perfect. You showed them you're a real artist, not a politician. It made them want to know more."
[Name: Choi Mina]
[Emotion: Relief, Gratitude, Embarrassment]
[Hero Worship (Intensified)]
He had saved her, and in doing so, had only deepened the chasm of his own deceit.
The rest of the evening was a blur. He networked. He smiled. He played the part of the genius producer. But his mind was on the ticking clock of Hana's ultimatum.
The next morning, the atmosphere in the Special Projects Team office was thick with dread.
The progress meeting was in an hour. Director Park had specifically requested a "full, detailed presentation," which everyone knew was code for a public execution. He was still furious about losing control of the team, and this was his chance to reassert his authority.
Yoo-jin stood before the whiteboard, a marker in his hand. The entire team was assembled, looking at him with worried eyes.
"Okay," he said, his voice grim. "This is a hostile meeting. Director Park isn't looking for updates. He's looking for weaknesses. He's looking for a reason to say we're failing."
He drew a line down the middle of the board. On one side, he wrote 'MINA'. On the other, 'HANA'.
"Our official story is that both solo projects are proceeding at an equal pace," he began. "Mina, your primary focus is the OST. Your solo album is in the 'conceptualization and demo' phase. We have 'Echo' as the confirmed title track, and Eun-bi is developing two other potential B-sides."
It sounded plausible. It was also a complete fabrication. They hadn't done any work on Mina's album beyond the OST.
He then turned to the other side of the board. "Hana's project is in the 'intensive production' phase. Ji-ho, you'll present the three new demo tracks you and Hana worked on all night. I want full musical breakdowns. Eun-bi, you'll present the lyrical concepts. Min-hyuk, you'll handle the technical specs."
Ji-ho and Eun-bi exchanged a look of sheer panic. They had been forced to help Hana, but they didn't know the reason why. To them, it looked like their producer was inexplicably favoring the artist who had lost the competition.
"Producer-nim," Eun-bi said, her voice hesitant. "This… this looks really unbalanced. It looks like we're putting all our effort into Hana's album and completely neglecting Mina's."
It didn't just look unbalanced. It was. It was the 80/20 split Hana had demanded.
This was the moment. The moment he had to sell the lie to his own team.
"That's the point," Yoo-jin said, his expression hardening into a mask of cold strategy. "We're going to feed Director Park exactly what he wants to see."
He looked at them, one by one. "He thinks Mina is our golden goose. He thinks Hana is a washed-up problem child. We're going to let him believe that. We'll present Hana's project as being far more advanced, more polished. He'll see it as a waste of resources. He'll attack us for it."
He let that sink in.
"And when he does," Yoo-jin continued, his voice a low, conspiratorial whisper, "we let him. We let him think he's found our weakness. It will make him arrogant. It will make him underestimate us. And while he's focused on trying to sabotage what he thinks is our failing project—Hana's album—we will be secretly pouring everything we have into making Mina's OST and her subsequent album a national phenomenon."
It was a brilliant lie. A classic misdirection. It explained his actions, gave the team a unified strategy, and painted him as a ruthless genius playing 4D chess against their enemy.
It was also the complete opposite of the truth.
He watched their faces, his skill feeding him their reactions. Confusion turned to reluctant understanding, and then to a dawning, grudging admiration. They bought it.
[Team Morale: Stabilized]
[Trust in Leadership: Increased]
He had successfully manipulated his own found family. He had united them against a common enemy, all while secretly serving the agenda of his two hidden masters.
"So we're clear?" he asked, his voice leaving no room for argument. "We go in there, we show him our 'unbalanced' progress, and we let him think he has us on the ropes. Stick to the plan."
They all nodded, a new fire of determination in their eyes. They were a team again, ready to follow their producer into battle.
As they filed out of the room to prepare, Mina hung back for a moment.
"Producer-nim," she said, her voice small. "Is that... is that really the plan? To pretend to neglect my album?"
"It's the only way to protect it," he said, the lie feeling heavier each time he spoke it.
She looked down at her feet, then back up at him, her eyes filled with that unshakable trust he had so carefully cultivated. "Okay. I trust you."
She turned and left, leaving him alone in the room with the whiteboard. The two names, 'MINA' and 'HANA', stared back at him, two fronts in a war he was fighting against himself. He had survived the night. He had survived the morning.
But as he looked at his grand, deceitful strategy, a cold dread washed over him. He was building a throne for Hana on a foundation of lies, and he was using the trust of the one person who believed in him most as the building blocks.
And he knew, with a certainty that chilled him to the soul, that when this house of cards finally came crashing down, everyone was going to be buried in the ruins.