Chapter 54: A Powerful Blow

Even if Kim Minsoo seemed a little sloppy, absurd, and prone to completely unpredictable behavior—

He was a man with a powerful blow.

Just like right now.

‘Our CEO? Recruiting STaY?’

Everyone was thinking the same thing.

Come to think of it, this wasn’t the first time he’d shown almost superhuman abilities out of nowhere.

When the idol group ‘Lumière’ debuted—

When securing a famous Korean music video director fell through, he brought in an American director instead.

When the clothing sponsorship didn’t work out, he simply bought the clothes himself.

When only a clumsy demo came in, he whipped up a song on his own.

He couldn’t do anything, yet he could do anything perfectly.

A man of paradox and twists—

That was Kim Minsoo.

Director Woo Chaewon murmured, almost to herself.

“You can’t do everything, but you’re good at everything.”

“That’s a compliment, right? Not bad…”

Kim Minsoo danced around the meeting room, shoulders bouncing.

Suspicious eyes landed on him.

How on earth had such an eccentric man managed to recruit STaY?

Could it be…?

Woo Chaewon asked cautiously.

“CEO, there’s something I want to ask you.”

“Yes, yes. Go ahead.”

“You’re not… playing the ‘money-throwing CEO’ outside the company too, right?”

Even this was phrased as politely as possible.

Because she was genuinely concerned about him!

If he weren’t the CEO, she would’ve blasted him with a rap full of nagging.

What she really wanted to ask was, “Manager couldn’t recruit him, Tomorrow couldn’t recruit him, so just how much did you spend to lure that writer?”

And upon hearing her words, Kim Minsoo—

“Director Woo, what you just said…”

—suddenly stopped in place.

Then he walked slowly, deliberately, toward her, step by step.

“I think that was quite a rude remark.”

Polite, yet firm—his single statement made the KIM Entertainment meeting room go quiet.

Woo Chaewon hurried to smooth things over.

“Oh, I’m sorry, CEO. I was just so excited about bringing in Writer STaY… I really apologize.”

She bowed her head deeply.

Kim Minsoo replied, almost comfortingly.

“You shouldn’t be apologizing to me, but to Writer STaY.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Seo—no, Writer STaY isn’t the kind of person to be swayed by such pocket change. If they were, I wouldn’t have recruited them in the first place.”

Woo Chaewon bit her lip.

‘What… what is this?’

She didn’t understand the situation.

Not only had he gotten all serious over a joke, but now he was suddenly flaunting his closeness with Writer STaY.

“You’ll see what I mean…”

Kim Minsoo put on yet another face.

This time, it was a boyish expression.

Seo Taeyoon.

Just thinking of him made a wide smile spread across his face.

“I worked hard to recruit Writer STaY. How did I bring them in? We were already close. You could say we’ve been friends for a long time. That’s the level I’m at.”

He returned to his usual demeanor.

Snapping his fingers, he added,

“It’s not just Writer STaY. All the members of Wutala are people I’m honored to even mention. Oh, and you should know this—being able to serve these people is all thanks to Writer STaY.”

Gulp.

The only sound in the meeting room was people swallowing.

Writer STaY alone was shocking enough—

But who were they, to have such an elaborate buildup?

“Alright, alright, keep this strictly confidential. Chief Yoon, next.”

At a slight nod from Kim Minsoo—

Click.

The screen flipped to the next slide.

“…Them?”

“Huh… How in the world…”

“Is this real?”

[ Cheongseong ]

The word was displayed clearly.

And with the image that appeared alongside it, the company was once again thrown into an uproar.

Where am I? Who am I?

Suddenly, I found myself experiencing the debut of a rookie idol—a fate I’d never signed up for.

The debut process for Wutala was strikingly similar to that of actual idols.

Meaning—we did everything idols usually did.

‘This… might actually be fun?’

They called me a guest member, but it was the kind of rare experience money couldn’t buy.

CEO Kim Minsoo personally proved himself to be the “money-throwing CEO.”

The treatment was so lavish, I wondered if I even deserved it.

First, we took what I guess you could call profile photos.

A profile photo is usually the kind aspiring celebrities take with a lethal expression, trying their hardest to look as handsome as possible.

Just imagining it made me cringe to the bone.

“Taeyoon, smile.”

“They can’t see it under the mask anyway.”

“A person with a kind heart can see through a mask.”

“…?”

Wearing masks, we had a surprisingly fun shoot.

The masks were ones CEO Kim Minsoo had gone all the way to Japan to personally acquire.

Compared to these, the ones on King of Mask Singer were nothing.

With me—Seo Rabbit—at the center:

The lion was Dorion, the tiger was Gitaiger,

The monkey was Banamong, the dog was Bausong.

And the vocalist—Bear Moon.

A perfect lineup had formed!

“Uh-hahaha. Minsoo really spent big this time.”

“The mask quality is insane.”

“Whoa. It’s not stuffy at all.”

The people who had called it childish were nowhere to be found.

Even the teachers were completely absorbed in the alternate-character roleplay. Good thing, too.

Second came the music video.

It was a story packed full of the band’s ideas.

A village where time had stopped—

and to that, they added the concept that everyone there wore a mask.

“Taeyoon, how much do you think making the music video cost?”

“Hmm… a lot. Maybe… fifty million won?”

“Ha-ha-ha! So naive. I’d say at least two hundred million.”

“Yikes!”

Filming in short sleeves at minus ten degrees to capture a bright summer day was tough—

But it was really, really fun.

Enough that the music video became what I looked forward to the most.

And finally, the thing CEO Kim Minsoo put the most effort into—spreading press releases.

[KIM Entertainment, unrivaled band ready to debut. “Please look forward to it.”]

[The Kids Who Escaped Us, a fresh 6-member band.]

[A new monster appears! KIM Entertainment ready to soar higher than last year.]

[We’ll show you an authentic band! What is ‘Wutala’?]

It almost felt like too much.

Yet, the public’s reaction was cold.

Maybe because KIM Entertainment’s name value wasn’t that high.

There was no way they had core fans who would follow them just for the company.

[Isn’t Wutala fresh? I heard they even have a DJ.]

↳ What’s that, you nerd.

↳ KIM Entertainment’s viral push is wild.

↳ Who even stans bands these days;;

↳ DJ? Oh, you mean that person who makes a super “deadly” face while doing scratch sound?

[Am I the only one excited for The Kids Who Escaped Us? A band idol would be sick.]

↳ Nope, not an idol, bye.

↳ Yeah, okay, next KIM Entertainment employee.

↳ LOL, yup, you’re the only one excited.

↳ Even if they were idols, it’d be the same. Sync the guitars and it’ll just collapse.

Negative comments overflowed.

But those people would still complain even if The Beatles or Michael Jackson came back to life.

What I focused on were the positive reactions.

[Isn’t it a bit much to bash them before they’ve even debuted?]

↳ I’m fine with the mask idea.

↳↳ Guessing who they are would be fun too.

↳ A band DJ is seriously awesome, though.

↳↳ True that. A band with a DJ really elevates the mood. Gives a Linkin Park vibe.

I only looked at the ones that worked in my favor!

While sitting in the Sierra waiting room, staring intently at my smartphone, someone suddenly snatched it away.

“You’re gonna burn a hole in your phone.”

It was CEO Yoon Seonghan.

After making sure we were the only ones in the waiting room, he whispered.

“Why so gloomy? You look like someone who just read a forum bashing Wutala before debut.”

“Ah, hyung, I told you not to use that tone. You sound like CEO Kim.”

“Those forum kids are musically clueless anyway. Don’t mind them.”

“I’m not. But why are you whispering like that, it’s ticklish. With the music outside, no one can hear us.”

Startled, Seonghan-hyung slid all the way to the edge of the sofa.

“Wutala’s gonna do great. Don’t worry!”

“No need to shout it like that.”

Honestly, he’s a man of extremes.

Probably sent by CEO Kim Minsoo to spy on me.

I hadn’t been able to drop by KIM Entertainment much lately because I was so busy.

“You’re not gonna tell anyone it’s you, right? You’re going by the stage name Seo Rabbit anyway.”

“That’s right. But I’m sure the club folks already know.”

“Better keep them quiet.”

“Why bother? If rumors were gonna spread, my photo would’ve already been going around as the real face behind Blackhole.”

“That’s true. But still—”

He ruffled my hair like crazy as he continued.

“How do you manage to look good with your hair all messy like a magpie’s nest? If someone else tried it, they’d look like Muteoldosa.”

“What’s that?”

“You don’t know Muteoldosa?”

“First time I’ve heard of it.”

Phew.

I didn’t know what Muteoldosa was, but I could tell Seonghan-hyung had the wrong idea.

Do you know how much effort I put into this styling?

People might think I didn’t care and just showed up however I felt like, but it was all intentionally styled.

The hair had to be slightly messy and a bit windblown to really capture that dynamic feeling.

I put ambition into the barely-there, almost-hidden parting in my hair.

Sometimes, when the styling didn’t quite work out, I even used a fan for help.

Hyung didn’t know any of that…

“Don’t touch it!”

“Hold still, I’ll make it look even cooler. Huh? Why are you looking at me like that? Oh my, our Rackhole is scary. Your eyes look like they’re about to rip.”

Ah, maybe I glared too much.

Still, for some reason, he just kept chuckling.

“Aren’t you busy?”

“Wutala’s debut prep is more or less wrapped up. I guess things will only start getting busy now.”

Wutala had finished their debut prep in one swift go.

There was nothing lacking.

Instruments? Vocals? DJing? There had to be at least one weak spot, but there wasn’t.

“I’m heading out. Looking forward to your performance tonight.”

“Yes, hyung. Get home safely.”

Our goal was just one thing—

To make our music and tell our own story.

I thought that would be enough.

But…

“Sigh, these punks… Should we just rip off our masks and show them?”

“Hey, Minsoo, call Kyungsoo. Tell him to pull all the ads from those rude broadcasting jerks.”

“Oh, right. He’s a chaebol, isn’t he?”

“First, everyone calm down…”

We’d run into an unexpected roadblock.

Apparently, someone had taken issue with us.

“Hold on—a DJ?”

“Yes.”

“A band? Masks?”

“Yes…”

“Let’s change this lineup.”

“Excuse me?”

KBC Music Stage’s main PD, Chun Hanyeong, rolled up the paper in his hand.

The eyes of the writers and staff shook violently.

But the youngest writer, Choi Juhui, stood her ground and answered clearly.

“They’re rookies from KIM Entertainment. They’re a bit different from the DJs you might be imagining. When the DJing break hits in the middle, the stage really explodes. Thanks to DJ Blackhole lately…”

PD Chun Hanyeong cut her off with a dry expression.

“Hold on.”

“Yes?”

Choi Juhui quickly lifted her head.

Her expression was like a puppy caught in the rain.

The PD leaned in and asked,

“What exactly am I imagining?”

The surprised eyes of the writers and staff turned to PD Chun Hanyeong.

PD Chun Hanyeong—

He was someone overwhelmingly favorable toward bands.

Heaven and earth knew it.

He was the kind of person who openly declared that he became a PD with the mission to revive Korean band music, even spouting such rhetoric while calling himself a band otaku.

He was the man who once flipped the broadcasting world upside down with the bizarre and money-losing concept of an “Indie Band Special.”

And yet—why was he acting like this now?

“Go on, tell me. What exactly am I imagining?”

Was he really coming at us like this?

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