Chapter 64: First Copyright Royalty

In front of our house, there was a really expensive barbecue restaurant.

They only sold Korean beef.

The interior was extraordinary.

And the people going in and out all looked sophisticated.

Whenever we passed by, hyung and I would joke around.

If we ever won the lottery someday, we’d try eating there.

Of course, I thought such a day would never come.

But today.

It actually happened.

“Hyung, let’s go there today.”

“Do you even know how much it costs there? You think just because you debuted, huh? That money will, huh? Roll in like a snowball, huh?”

“You’re saying you don’t want to go?”

“I never said that.”

Sizzle—

On a good day, it had to be meat.

And expensive places really were nice.

Because we didn’t have to do anything ourselves.

The only problem was the atmosphere was a bit……

“……”

“……”

It was awkward.

I didn’t notice it when I came with CEO Kim Minsoo.

But coming with hyung felt a little different.

We just stared intently at the meat without saying a word.

Seeing us sitting there awkwardly, the waitress struck up a friendly conversation.

“You two must be brothers?”

“Ah, yes.”

“That’s nice. You’re both so handsome. Your parents must be so proud.”

“Ah……”

That?

My hyung totally looked like a bandit though?

Was this just customer service?

… I wanted to say that, but I held it in.

I glanced at hyung.

Well, I guess compliments suited him. He was grinning from ear to ear.

“You can start eating. Don’t cut it too small. Enjoy your meal.”

“Hyung, let’s eat. Thank you for the food!”

I dug in right away.

These days I didn’t know why I was always so hungry.

I’d just eaten, and I’d already be hungry again.

It was only after we finished five servings of Korean beef ribs and a bowl of cold noodles each that I spoke up.

“I’ll pay.”

“With what money?”

“Then should we split it?”

“You think I can’t afford to buy you this?”

I might be bad at math, but I was quick at calculating the price of meat.

Even at a glance, it was over 200,000 won.

I pulled the check toward me and said,

“Hyung, I… got my copyright royalty.”

“Oh?”

My first copyright royalty had been settled.

When I heard Han Yujin’s album had exploded in popularity, it felt like a story from the moon.

But seeing a large sum bigger than a regular office worker’s annual salary suddenly deposited into my account—now it felt real.

“Crazy. That’s crazy. You worked hard.”

… What was this?

Was hyung not happy?

He only gave a short reply and kept looking at his phone.

I fiddled with the side dishes until he suddenly exclaimed,

“Oh! I knew it!”

Eyes around us turned briefly.

He bowed apologetically and whispered,

“Have you checked the rankings?”

“Huh?”

“Escaped Kids.”

“How could I check when I’ve been eating meat with you?”

“Here, look. Man… our Writer Stay, he’s done it again.”

Ah. Since the song was released, the rankings must have been updated too.

I took the phone hyung handed me.

[Real-Time Maron Chart]

.

.

3rd: Signum (NEW)

4th: Escaped Kids (NEW)

“4th?”

“Considering the buzz Signum had too, this is huge.”

“I see.”

Hyung went on explaining for quite a while.

For a total rookie, it was apparently an extraordinary feat.

KIM Entertainment wasn’t a powerful agency.

We didn’t have pre-existing fans either.

Yet right after releasing the album, we’d shot up the charts.

Hehehe.

A laugh slipped out.

“Don’t you feel a bit disappointed?”

“About what?”

It seemed hyung had a slightly different thought.

“With Han Yujin, you went straight to 1st place.”

“That’s different.”

“You really think so?”

“Rankings don’t matter. As long as we liked it, that’s enough.”

It had been a meaningful stage.

I’d been able to freely unleash the desires I’d kept hidden.

We truly escaped our cage.

While I went home to welcome the sudden arrival of my dear muse,

I only heard later that a lot had happened.

The fact that our members had shed a few tears was talked about for a long time as a legend.

Moon Jungbae-seonsaengnim kept calling my name, saying, “If it weren’t for that guy, I would never have stood on stage again in my lifetime,” and cried his heart out.

Half surprise, half emotion.

It was a bit of a shame I couldn’t see that scene with my own eyes.

“Ah, that was good. Want to go for a drink? You got time?”

“Call.”

We moved to a quiet pub.

We had a lot to talk about.

I sipped my cocktail and kept glancing at hyung.

After meat and some alcohol, he should be in a good mood.

Taking the chance, I asked casually,

“Hyung, how’s working at the company?”

He replied like it was nothing.

“Well, same as always.”

Then he picked up his glass and swirled it.

“You’ve been there for a long time.”

“Right?”

“What’s it like, being affiliated somewhere?”

Hyung lifted his head and looked at me.

He probably understood without me having to explain.

I was standing at a crossroads.

Should I belong somewhere?

Or drift around as a freelance composer?

Starting my own company was something for the future, so I set that aside for now.

“Mm… it depends on where you belong.”

“Really?”

“Our company originally… No, Taeyoon.”

He stopped mid-story and looked me in the eyes again.

After staring at my face for a while, he suddenly asked,

“What’s your dream?”

“Huh?”

Normally, I would have laughed it off.

Told him not to say such cringey things.

I’m twenty-three now—would I even have something like that?

But today was different.

Hyung’s expression was dead serious.

I lost my smile too.

Because with an important decision ahead of me,

His question felt like it might lead me down the right path.

“Dream…”

I had thought about that before.

Until high school, I’d wanted to become a cool bass player.

I’d imagined thousands of people singing along to the songs I made.

But in the end, I chose another path.

That’s what dreams are.

They’re dreams because you can’t achieve them.

Music was like that for me.

The more distant, the more precious. The more out of reach, the more it shone.

That was all there was to it.

So I simply said,

“I want to make a lot of money without anyone knowing me.”

“Why do you want to make a lot of money?”

Hm. I hadn’t thought about that either.

Because everyone says having money is good?

Because money is the measure of success?

And…

Because that damned money was why my family had to live apart.

That too, was all there was to it.

“Yeah, why did I want to make a lot of money? I don’t even know?”

Today, I made a lot of money.

And I’d probably keep doing so.

No—more precisely, ever since I secured my spot at Club Sierra, I’d been making quite a lot of money.

Well, by my standards anyway.

Even so, nothing about me had changed.

Only the numbers in my bank account went up.

Sure, it was reassuring, but that was it.

Seeing me deep in thought, hyung said slowly,

“Then let’s revise that. You want to make music happily without anyone knowing you. Like that.”

“Oh? That sounds good.”

“Is it right?”

“Yeah. That’s it.”

“Can I ask what you plan to do from now on?”

I just nodded silently.

“First, what about school?”

Why was he asking something so obvious?

I answered right away.

“I’m going back. It’d be a waste not to.”

“Composing?”

“I’ll do it.”

“UTAR?”

“I’ll do it.”

“Blackhole?”

“Of course. I’ll do it all.”

“You’re gonna do everything? You got ten bodies or something?”

If I just kept going like now, wouldn’t it work out?

It wasn’t too much to handle.

“I want to do it all, so what else can I do?”

“Alright, let’s say that’s the case. For now, your biggest concern is how to move forward as a composer, right?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

“Normally, it’s common to sign with a publishing company or an agency…”

His explanation was simple.

For freelance composers, surviving without a network or business sense was difficult.

Even as a freelancer, you’d need to work with a company that could handle publishing or distribution.

In other words, rather than being a pure freelancer, most people worked as “independent composers collaborating with a publisher.”

“I want to write a variety of songs.”

“Then exclusive contract is out for now.”

“They say it’s stable. Is that true?”

“Yeah, but your freedom gets restricted a bit.”

Ugh. I didn’t like that.

Simple feedback or collaboration was fine.

But I was afraid of being forced into a mold.

It wasn’t some grand reason like “I don’t want my freedom constrained, I want to do my music.”

It just seemed harder to create music tailored perfectly to someone else’s taste.

“So here’s the thing. I’m thinking of joining a label.”

This was the main point.

CEO Kim Minsoo had made me quite a good offer.

He was planning to create a label under KIM Entertainment.

A label that also handled publishing.

Setting aside the percentages and everything else—

It seemed like there wouldn’t be any restrictions on my Blackhole activities or UTAR activities.

“Which one?”

I answered hyung honestly.

There was no one else who could give me objective yet perfectly fitting advice like he could.

“A label under KIM Entertainment.”

“Exclusive?”

“No.”

“What’s the publishing split?”

“80:20?”

“Huh?”

Hyung’s eyes widened.

“Then that’s a total win.”

“Really?”

“With a label, you’ll also get producing opportunities. If you’re composing, you should try planning things yourself too.”

Producing. Just hearing the word felt good.

I remembered all the times I’d been frustrated standing by during Han Yujin’s album recording.

“Then I should think about it seriously.”

“Nice. Congrats, you punk.”

Hyung raised his glass.

I clinked mine against his with a cheerful “clink!”

Today, the sound of glass hitting glass was especially pleasant.

“So, who’s going to be the lucky one to get the next song from Writer Stay?”

“It’s not about luck. I’m still thinking.”

I was thinking about Signum.

But for some reason, the words wouldn’t come out.

“No thoughts about my company?”

“Tomorrow Entertainment?”

“Yeah, we’ve got a lot of big names too.”

“Right, you do.”

“What, you’re not even considering your big brother’s company? I might get a little hurt, you know?”

Wow… It finally happened.

Hyung said he’d be hurt!

He was grinning, so clearly it was a joke—but even as a joke, it was something I wanted to hear.

“If you hadn’t said that, I might’ve been disappointed instead.”

“You punk. As if I could really say that. Just kidding. Keep trusting your instincts like you have been. You’ve earned that right.”

“Oh? I was actually planning to give Tomorrow Entertainment a song.”

“Really?”

“Sometime.”

“So you’ve already recorded it?”

“If you say so.”

As the night deepened, so did our conversation.

About Mom, about Dad.

And then, the question I’d really been wanting to ask today.

“Hyung, let me ask you something too.”

“What?”

“Do you have a dream or something?”

“Ah.”

Hyung brushed his arm dramatically.

I thought he’d joke it away.

“I did.”

“What was it?”

“That I’d play guitar and you’d play bass?”

Hyung smiled faintly and lifted his glass again.

When was it…

When we were little, hyung had told me.

That someday, we’d make music together.

Hyung, I really wanted that too.

“……”

But today—

I couldn’t say that out loud.

Because it felt like I’d already come too far.

The next day.

On his way from the bus to Sierra as usual—

“Hey, hey, come here.”

“Hyung?”

At the bus stop, Yoon Seonghan quickly pulled Taeyoon into his car.

“What’s going on? And what’s this car?”

“From now on, you’re riding in this car.”

“Huh?”

Taeyoon looked around the car.

It was an ordinary compact sedan.

“There’s chaos in front of the club. You’ve got a mask, right? A hat? A hoodie? Good. A van or a luxury car stands out, so we’ve gotta keep it low-key.”

“Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

And so they arrived in front of Club Sierra.

A crowd ten times the usual size was gathered.

Murmur murmur—

“Is it really true?”

“You think it is?”

“I think it is.”

“You think we’ll even get in?”

“I wish Blackhole would take off the mask.”

It was all because of one post on an online community.

[ (Speculation) Doesn’t Blackhole and UTAR’s DJ look like the same person? ]

The style’s really similar… Sierra? Anyone who’s been there, tell us what it’s like.

↳ Oh? Sounds plausible.

↳ Plausible, my ass lol. You think Blackhole’s the only DJ in the world?

↳ Isn’t Blackhole young? That Seorabitt guy seems older.

↳↳ For real;; The group has a kind of middle-aged vibe.

↳ Even watching the videos, I can’t tell.

↳ Blackhole’s way better. Seorabitt’s just performance, right?

↳ I’m going to Sierra today. I’ll see for myself. Wait for me.

Seeing the crowd in front of Sierra, Taeyoon’s jaw dropped.

This wouldn’t be easy.

But there was a way.

He explained his plan to Yoon Seonghan.

Whisper whisper.

Mumble mumble.

After hearing it, Yoon Seonghan said—

“Oh, that’s pretty convincing.”

It actually sounded kind of fun.

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