72 – Genius Producer. (4) 72.
The new song's title was decided as Crack.
Of course, it wasn't a name I chose—it was a name Won Seongmin chose. And Won Seongmin was writing the English lyrics for Crack, planning to release an English version too.
Was he thinking of using it overseas? It wasn't an impossible idea. Blue Aka was more famous abroad than in Korea.
If that happened, would I be making an overseas debut too? The thought made me want to seriously root for Blue Aka.
Anyway, as soon as we finished working on Crack, winter break ended.
Which meant it was time to go back to school.
"Ughhh, I don't want to go to school."
"You're done once you have your graduation ceremony."
"I know, but I still hate it! Just send me straight to Seolwon Arts High already!"
Suyeon muttered as she flailed around on the bed. I snorted and smiled. Suyeon wanted to enroll at Seolwon Arts High as soon as possible.
"Aren't you going to work on music during spring break?"
"No, I have to."
Suyeon answered firmly. Well, there was filming for a program called Star Kingdom during spring break, but I was only helping out.
We'd have plenty of time to work together.
"The Cloud stuff is only until spring break, right?"
"Probably."
I nodded. Once school started, there'd be no time to work for Cloud. I had to make my own songs to keep my scholarship, but more importantly, I had to work for Suyeon.
The freshman concert in June, the Practical Music Department concert at the end of July, the Winter Festival in November, and the school festival in December.
Preparing for all of that meant there was no way I'd have free time. So I decided: raising Cloud only until spring break.
Still, Cloud had grown enough to be satisfying. I tapped on my phone and went into the Cloud channel. The latest upload, Pop, Pop, had 50,000 views.
Sure, there were songs worldwide with tens of millions of views. But everything we uploaded was sung with Korean lyrics.
Compared to songs sung in English, of course the views would be lower.
And even so, 50,000 views was genuinely great.
Besides—
"Next song is that one, right?"
"Yeah."
We still had one cheat key left.
If you compared the view counts of the songs we'd uploaded to Cloud so far, the highest was Rough.
After that came Winter Wind, Summer Rain, Pop, Pop, and I Hope You're Like Me.
And aside from Pop, Pop, the other songs all had something in common: they weren't songs I wrote. They were covers—existing songs rearranged by us.
So for the next upload, we were preparing another cover. But this time, instead of covering a Korean song, we were covering a foreign song.
Not just any foreign song—we were planning to cover the current Billboard #1.
If there's honey to suck, you should suck it while you can, right?
§ § §
Coming back to school after so long, everything was the same as before. I mean, how much could change during a break?
I sat at my seat and leaned against the desk, and someone tapped my shoulder.
"What."
Even without looking, I knew who it was, so I answered irritably. Sure enough, a familiar voice came back.
"Come on. It's been a while. Aren't you being too cold?"
At the whining voice, I scratched my head and sat up. Kim Taeyoung sucked in a sharp breath and threw both hands up.
"Oh my god—look who it is! You cut your hair!"
"...That was the freshest reaction I've seen from anyone."
"I've been practicing variety shows lately."
Kim Taeyoung replied with a good-natured grin. Right now, Kim Taeyoung was living the trainee life. Just like in my previous life, at a company called ONE.
ONE.
An entertainment company that would later be called one of Korea's Big Three agencies.
But that was the future. Right now, ONE was just an average entertainment company.
The reason ONE became a Big Three agency was Kim Taeyoung. Thanks to Kim Taeyoung becoming beloved not just in Korea but worldwide, ONE joined the ranks of the top agencies.
Of course, it wasn't solely because of Kim Taeyoung. But he was the one who laid the foundation.
It was kind of ridiculous how amazing he was.
"So when are you debuting?"
"No idea. Probably next year? We don't have many trainees, and the trainee level isn't that high either."
I smiled at his brutal assessment. Among those "not that good" trainees was the future leader of an idol group that would be loved by many.
Originally, Kim Taeyoung signed with ONE only after graduation and became a trainee then. After one year of training, he debuted.
But this time, he signed at seventeen and started training early. Same company as before, but the timeline had moved up.
The future I knew was changing.
Because of me.
This wouldn't change Kim Taeyoung's future for the worse, right?
"So what did you do over break? No way you just lazed around."
"I kept working. Worked with Blue Aka, and worked with my little sister too."
"Your sister? Right—she got accepted into our school, didn't she? Helping with events or something?"
I nodded.
Kim Taeyoung let out an exaggerated, regretful sigh.
"Then I won't be getting a song. Damn, I want a song too."
"Did you already reserve one or something? Why do you keep asking me for your song? You've got a company now—ask your company."
"What am I supposed to do? Your songs are better than the company composers'. I'm telling you, I think the best song in the world is Da Capo."
Was I supposed to thank him for loving my song, or call him insane?
If he just liked my songs purely, I'd be grateful, but Kim Taeyoung said that because he wanted me to give him songs.
After thinking for a moment, I snorted and said—
"If you want my song that bad, make an official request, you punk."
"An official request?"
"I joined a company."
"Right…"
Kim Taeyoung nodded—he'd already heard I signed with a company. Then he seemed to realize what I meant, and let out an "Ah," in admiration.
"Right, that's a way. Okay. Once my debut's decided, I'll file a request immediately."
"You can just decide that on your own?"
"Well, I'll ask the company. And if they say no, I can just sign the contract myself, right? I've got money."
This is why rich kids are—
I wasn't sure the company would put up with that kind of stubbornness, but if it was Kim Taeyoung, it might actually work. He was famous for ignoring company objections and doing things his way.
It was a well-known story that he changed the composer for his debut album and pushed through a collaboration album with an overseas artist—both were Kim Taeyoung's unilateral decisions.
And those decisions led to massive results.
The composer switch was praised as a god-tier move (the original composer's song later got hit with plagiarism allegations), and the collaboration album became the stepping stone for going global.
After that, apparently no one at the company dared to interfere with Kim Taeyoung.
Which meant I would probably end up handling Kim Taeyoung's debut album.
"...You know I'm a producer, right? If you work with me, you listen to me from start to finish."
"As long as a good song comes out, I can handle that much."
Kim Taeyoung nodded, looking pleased.
…Seriously. Me handling Kim Taeyoung's debut album?
I was wondering if that was really okay, when Kim Taeyoung changed the topic.
"By the way, did you hear about Jin Sohyang?"
"Huh? What?"
"Big-time hit. It's no joke. It's still #1."
"This week makes it two weeks in a row at #1, right?"
"Yeah. The album's definitely good. At this rate, isn't Jin Sohyang going to become a top star?"
"She will."
I turned on my phone and went into a streaming site. #1 was Hwayangyeonhwa's title track, and #3 was one of the B-sides.
And further down—around #50—Rough, the track I worked on, was charting too.
I stared at it like it was unbelievable.
In my previous life, I never charted even once.
But this time, I ranked at #50 immediately.
And yet I wasn't that happy.
I couldn't tell if this was because of Hwayangyeonhwa's power, or because the song I worked on was actually good.
Even if it wasn't my song, most of the tracks on Hwayangyeonhwa's album were charting anyway.
"Ah… I don't know."
I lay back down on the desk.
I wasn't confident.
I'd come to like the songs I made, but that didn't mean I was sure the public liked them.
If I was going to work as a genius producer, I couldn't be acting like this.
Ugh.
I let out a short sigh.
§ § §
School started, but that didn't mean we actually had classes. During class time, everyone chatted however they wanted, and the teachers didn't really scold them.
There was nothing to teach anyway, so they just told us to get ready for second year.
The only reason we even came to school at this time was for the graduation ceremony and the homeroom assignment coming up soon.
For someone like me who'd always just slept at school, it was good news.
I could sleep as much as I wanted without worrying about anyone's eyes.
Not that I'd ever cared in the first place.
After sleeping through class, I attended the final major class for first year—Teacher Ha Hyoju's class.
Teacher Ha Hyoju was the only teacher who actually liked me, and she smiled warmly, happy to see me again.
"Did you have a good break?"
"Yes. How about you, ma'am?"
"I was fine. So you signed with a company?"
"Yes. It just kind of happened."
I said that, scratching the back of my head.
Teacher Ha Hyoju spoke as if she were proud.
"Signing with a company at eighteen. That's impressive."
"I haven't even done any activities yet."
"At that age, even a composer signing a contract is impressive. But you're not a composer—you're a producer. That makes it even more impressive. To think I have a student like you. I'm really proud."
Not knowing what to say, I just gave an awkward smile.
With her praising me that much, I didn't know where to put myself.
"So, do you not have a company, ma'am?"
I changed the subject.
I remembered what Seo Chaerim had said to me recently. She wanted to bring Teacher Ha Hyoju to MM Entertainment no matter what.
So she was persuading CEO Seo Hoon right now.
At my question, Teacher Ha Hyoju frowned slightly and answered.
"Not right now. While I was taking a break, I got an offer for a teaching position. I haven't signed with a company yet."
"Hmm. I see."
"But."
Up to there, Teacher Ha Hyoju smiled.
"I think I'll probably sign with a company again next year, or the year after."
"Ah, really?"
"Yeah. But I'd have to quit teaching."
Her words were so sudden that I looked startled.
"You're going to quit?"
"Yeah. I don't think I can handle teaching while living as a composer. This class takes more preparation than you'd think."
After saying that, she hesitated for a moment, then added, "This is a secret," and lifted her index finger to her lips.
I nodded.
Then… does that mean Teacher Ha Hyoju would come to MM Entertainment too?
But as I thought that, I frowned slightly.
I'd never heard of a composer named Ha Hyoju.
Thinking about it, it was strange. She was a teacher at Seolwon Arts High, the best of the best—and yet nobody knew the name Ha Hyoju.
Even when I searched, nothing came up.
Was she a composer with no released tracks?
But Seolwon Arts High wouldn't hire someone like that.
So she was hiding her identity.
Who was she?
"Can I listen to a song you worked on?"
"Sorry."
Teacher Ha Hyoju smiled and refused.
And considering that when I'd asked before whether she had a separate stage name, she said it was a secret, she really was hiding it.
"Instead."
Then she spoke again.
"Do you want to hear the song I'm working on right now?"
"Yes. I'd like that."
I nodded. It might be a song I already knew.
Teacher Ha Hyoju operated her laptop and played a track.
Music flowed out of the laptop.
A tropical house song that made you feel excited just from listening. A very familiar melody—unforgettable after hearing it once, the kind you'd hum without realizing.
And at the same time, it was a song that was extremely familiar to me.
Wait—this?
Huh?
Why is this song—
I looked at Teacher Ha Hyoju with a confused expression.
This song—I knew it. A song I could never forget. One of the tracks I'd worked on as a singer in my previous life.
A song by the composer CM.
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