Chapter 65
I mentioned this before, but I’ve been enjoying music itself for so long that, while working as a composer, I can’t even remember when I last found music fun.
Of course, things changed considerably after I entered this life and began performing onstage myself, but…
In any case, because music had been boring back then, what I became obsessed with was how successful the songs I wrote were.
In other words, their results—album sales, digital chart rankings, and things like that.
Naturally, since music wasn’t particularly fun, I didn’t care what critics said. That was why critics hated my songs, but my songs back then resonated extremely well with the public.
The reason was simple.
‘Because I left my ego out of it and wrote the songs people wanted.’
Even now, I still like achieving worldly success.
Of all the songs I’ve written in this life, the one I’m most fond of is glassy sky. You might wonder why I cherish glassy sky, which I sang with Blooming, instead of Goodbye, My Four Seasons, which I performed in the final, but…
‘Because it had the best results.’
At present, glassy sky is by far the strongest contender for Song of the Year at the year-end awards ceremony coming up next week.
For reference, second place is Jellypop. Although it was a song I wrote in my previous life, it’s the second-best-performing song I’ve released in this life.
In other words, the affection I have for the songs I composed myself is proportional to the achievements those songs have made.
In that sense, “To My Youth,” which I gave Blooming this time…
“Why is it number one?”
It looked like it would become a song I could grow quite fond of.
Watermelon TOP 100
1. To My Youth - Blooming
2. Jellypop - Seo Siyeon
3. Next to you - Starlight
4. Goodbye, My Four Seasons - Seo Siyeon
5. glassy sky - Blooming, Seo Siyeon
“Why are there so many of my songs?”
“Hehe. First place… First place!!”
As she said that, Yu Seol-ha sprang to her feet.
Her body shot upward like Archimedes discovering the difference between the volumes of gold and silver, and I couldn’t help flinching.
“Heh.”
“You already did this once with glassy sky.”
“First place is thrilling every time.”
I gave a small nod at Yu Seol-ha’s words, as if in agreement. Right, first place felt good no matter how many times it happened.
“I’m treating everyone today! I’ll take you to the Korean restaurant my family often goes to!”
“…Really?”
“Ooh. That place is insanely good, though.”
“We’ve got to go there.”
The Blooming members besides me seemed to know which restaurant she meant. They had probably been there often, since they had been friends for so long.
I didn’t feel particularly left out. I was already looking forward to it.
I was curious how delicious a Korean restaurant that had satisfied the palates of these rich girls could be.
What I didn’t know was that, despite their appearances, all the Blooming members had grown up as ordinary commoners, so their tastes were hardly refined. They were the sort who would happily mix spicy seasoning into gukbap and wolf it down even if I took them to a neighborhood soup-rice restaurant.
“Let’s go right now!”
I also didn’t know that the restaurant charged upwards of one million won per person.
* * *
“Come to think of it, I just had a thought.”
“Hm?”
“Jellypop used to be number one, but thanks to you, it’s been pushed down to number two, hasn’t it?”
“…You wrote this one too.”
“Well, I was just saying. It’s been almost two months, so I suppose it was about time it came down. But it’s kind of fascinating seeing my song get beaten by a song I wrote myself.”
Jo Na-eun, who was sitting beside me, snorted at my lame joke.
“Actually, aren’t you the only person who could do something like this?”
“It’s also possible because it’s only been six months since Singerstar ended.”
Several top-tier idols were scheduled to make comebacks from the end of the year through the beginning of the next.
Considering that, it would start slipping down the charts soon.
‘Wait a minute. They probably won’t be able to make comebacks because of the epidemic, though?’
The thought suddenly occurred to me, so I hurriedly searched the news for anything related to the epidemic.
It seemed that it still hadn’t reached Korea.
If this epidemic entered Korea, music shows and everything else would be shut down completely.
Naturally, schools, academies, and companies would all but come to a standstill, and society would be dyed gray. If anyone tried promoting an album during that time, the entire country might beat them to a pulp… A frightening period was approaching.
‘Still, my album was timed perfectly.’
I hadn’t planned anything at all, but by sheer coincidence, I’d narrowly avoided the deadline. If that counted as skill, could I call it skill?
I thought about it while chewing on the meat that had been grilled.
For the record, the taste was nothing short of heavenly. I finally understood why chaebol families sought out this restaurant.
If I kept eating things like this, my body would become incapable of eating Neulneul Orphanage’s cafeteria food…
Since we were all together with people from the company, the conversation naturally turned to the WMA taking place next week.
WMA, the Watermelon Music Awards.
It was one of the most prestigious popular music award ceremonies in Korea, and a dream awards ceremony for idols.
Naturally, the ceremony also included performances. The venue was supposedly KSPO Dome. For once, I thought they had set aside their greed and booked a reasonably sized venue.
Blooming and I had each been assigned one solo stage, along with one song to perform together.
Considering the impact we had generated this year, I thought we should have been given at least two songs each, but behind-the-scenes circumstances were bound to get involved in things like this.
“…I’m really sorryyy…!”
It was the result of a power struggle between agencies.
The Big Three entertainment agencies had already finished assigning stages among themselves, then arranged to fill the remaining time with other singers.
Fortunately, they had enough conscience to hand the opening song over to my joint stage with Blooming, but it was still an utterly unlikeable move.
Separate from the personal fondness we had developed for each company head through Singerstar, from the perspective of mid-sized and small agencies like ours, we could only wonder what kind of punks they were.
“How is that the CEO’s fault? They’re the ones in the wrong!”
“Right, right!”
“H-honestly, I think it’s a little strange for a group that hasn’t won anything on the monthly chart to take the closing stage…”
“Exactly!”
I agreed with that too. Even if they had achieved success on Billboard and were leading K-pop’s expansion overseas…
“They haven’t even won anything on the weekly chart…”
Wasn’t it a little much for a group like that to take the closing stage?
No, if they had given the closing stage to Starlight, I could have understood it.
Their fandom was strong, and they hadn’t gone winless on either the weekly or monthly charts.
But RPS, the male idol group taking the closing stage this time, had never won anything at all. Their only achievement was reaching number twenty-five on the Billboard Hot 100.
‘Wait a second. Isn’t that incredibly impressive?’
Come to think of it, perhaps they did deserve to take the closing stage after all.
Well, whatever. If not, then not.
* * *
There were a great many awards I could aim for at this WMA.
I’m not exaggerating. There were so many that it was difficult even to mention them all individually.
Even so, let’s list them all.
First, naturally, since I was a rookie, I could aim for Female Rookie of the Year. It would be strange if I didn’t win it.
Then there was Composer of the Year, an award given to composers, which was also within my reach.
The song awards—Female Dance, Band, and Ballad—were all awards I deserved to receive as well.
The Top Ten award, given based on digital performance, was something I obviously had to win.
Finally, there were the three grand prizes.
Artist of the Year.
Album of the Year.
Song of the Year.
I hadn’t released a full-length album yet, so I couldn’t win Album of the Year, but it was only right that I receive the other two.
Because I had overwhelmed everyone in both digital performance and overall impact.
However, since the WMA was so idol-friendly, I was also considering the possibility that they might not give them to me.
Well, if that happened, the WMA organizers would receive an enormous amount of abuse.
“…This place looks way too expensive.”
“It’s fine. I’m charging Dad’s card anyway.”
“…Ah.”
Looking around, I saw that only we were here.
It was a luxurious room that looked to be roughly fifty square meters, with all four walls decorated with expensive furniture and ornaments.
Directly in front of us was a fairly large screen displaying catalogs of all kinds of clothing.
Yu Seol-ha tapped various buttons on the panel as if she were familiar with the place.
“Ooh.”
The screen was filled with dresses that looked, at a glance, like they would cost an insane amount of money.
“It’s our first awards ceremony, so you have to wear something pretty! Here! Pick one, Siyeon. Which of these do you like?”
“Uncle’s paying, but you’re the one taking all the credit.”
“Sorry, but do you actually have anything in a junior size?”
“…Probably?”
I could only let out a deep sigh at her carelessness.