Chapter 99
Kim Byeol is a writer.
In ordinary parlance, that meant being a novelist, a profession saddled with grand titles like “person of letters” and “literary master.”
Her father was a so-called literary giant, someone who could be called the greatest among the countless masters of the written word.
Because he had won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
With a father like that, she had naturally taken an interest in literature as well.
“Hee-hee.”
Thanks to that, she had a hobby that was a little old-fashioned for a middle-school girl: visiting bookstores.
Her precious weekend, earned after showing up at school for an entire week.
She visited a bookstore in a department store in a bustling district of Seoul.
Just before entering the department store, however.
She had no choice but to stop dead in her tracks.
A photograph displayed in an exceptionally prominent spot.
Because a huge photograph covering the department store wall had a familiar acquaintance of hers plastered across it.
“Si-yeon…?”
Though she had been dolled up quite a bit, the girl in the photograph was her schoolmate, Seo Si-yeon.
The girl in the photograph was beautiful enough to draw an involuntary gasp.
A black blouse and a white tennis skirt.
The cute ribbon attached to the blouse and the lensless glasses she wore as if she wanted to look a little more intellectual went together remarkably well.
“It really hits me anew how cute she is.”
Well, she looked around for a moment and took a picture, but she didn't feel anything in particular.
She had known from the start that Si-yeon was famous, and since her father and older sister were both fairly famous, she was used to seeing people she knew in street advertisements.
So she naturally entered the department store and went downstairs.
And on the way to the bookstore, she came across an electronics retailer.
“What? There's another one?”
Seo Si-yeon was standing there.
More precisely, there was a life-size standee, with Seo Si-yeon depicted holding a smartphone with a bright, innocent smile.
“This time it's Samyeon?”
The advertising model for Samyeon Electronics, Korea's largest company.
Well, given Si-yeon's level, she figured this was something she could pull off too.
She was the most famous person in Korea right now, after all.
She headed to the bookstore again.
Sehwa Bookstore, the most famous bookstore in Korea.
It was the largest branch of Sehwa Bookstore, boasting the biggest premises and the most books, so it was fairly crowded.
Out of habit, she made her way to the section where the bestsellers were gathered.
Then she looked up at the current number-one bestseller.
“Huh.”
Seo Si-yeon's face was there.
An illustration of Seo Si-yeon rendered in a retro style, and the title written at the top of the book was…
“Seo Si-yeon's Time… What is this, an autobiography?”
She must have spoken a little too loudly, because sharp looks rained down from around her.
She hurriedly lowered her head and picked up the book titled ‘Seo Si-yeon's Time’ from a nearby display.
She normally didn't read autobiographies, but a friend's autobiography was a different matter.
And the moment she turned to the first page.
She read the sentence: ‘The first time I ever felt despair was the moment I realized that the woman who had cared for me so devotedly was not my mother, but an orphanage teacher.’
“……”
No matter how she thought about it, Kim Byeol decided this was not a book she should be reading and quietly closed it.
The shock of that sentence made it impossible for her to focus on any other books, and Kim Byeol had no choice but to leave the bookstore soon after.
After grabbing a quick bite, she stopped by a franchise café she visited from time to time.
She planned to buy a cup of coffee and head home.
When she entered the café and tapped the kiosk…
-What would you like to order?
“Huh? S-Si-yeon?”
Seo Si-yeon's voice greeted her.
There, in the corner of the screen, was Seo Si-yeon wearing the store's uniform.
There was even a set menu bearing her name.
“Is this a collaboration? She doesn't seem like the type to do something like this.”
Kim Byeol tilted her head and ordered the set menu with her name on it.
When she placed her order, they gave her a photocard featuring Seo Si-yeon's face, printed on what felt like cheap stock.
She carefully tucked the photocard into her bag.
* * *
I stared blankly at the messages pouring in from Kim Byeol while my smartphone kept buzzing noisily.
-Wait, what's with the autobiography?
-Lol
-(An emoji of Si-yeon laughing hysterically)
-What's with the emoji, though?
-(An emoji of Kim Seol tossing her hair back)
-Unnie's was fucking hilarious too lol. Yours is even funnier.
I felt my soul being ground away and closed my smartphone.
Naturally, I hadn't written that.
It was a book written by a separate author based on my story.
Kim Seol had suggested it as a way to promote me, saying publishing a book was another form of promotion, and Lee Ha-jun had swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.
If it had flopped, it would have been merely a little embarrassing, but because it was doing well, it was fucking humiliating.
What I had clearly told them was merely the extremely monotonous life trajectory of a person named Seo Si-yeon.
Aside from going on Singer Star, I hadn't really done anything, but it had been dressed up in extremely flowery descriptions and grandiose prose before being released to the public.
Perhaps because of that, Seo Si-yeon's autobiography was proving fairly popular in its own right.
Thanks to that, I got to experience the rare distinction of ranking first on both the bestseller and music charts once again.
Probably not something I'd ever do again in my life.
“The royalties should be quite substantial, so you can look forward to them.”
“Well, that's nice.”
These days, I'd been so busy shooting commercials that I barely knew which way was up, but my bank account was growing fatter accordingly.
Well, most of that money was headed straight to the bank.
The bank that had lent me money while all the others turned me down was now set to collect a very healthy sum in interest.
The most terrifying part, though, was that despite all this bullshit, I still hadn't paid off the debt.
Now that I thought about it, the house really had been insanely expensive.
It was an incredibly nice house to live in, in many ways, though.
“So why did you call me today? It's not a day I come into the office.”
“Ah. Right. I called you because a lot of work has been coming in for Mikansai, and I thought it would be good if you could sort through it.”
As Lee Ha-jun said, Seo Si-yeon's activities had been so busy that I hadn't been able to pay much attention to Mikansai's activities.
Edge over had peaked at number two on Billboard Japan and was currently holding steady in the lower-middle ranks.
Naturally, that was an excellent result, and offers for all kinds of commercials and tie-ins had been pouring in.
“Turn them all down.”
“I think that's for the best as well.”
Mikansai was in the middle of building up its clout.
There was no need for pointless outside activities that might get in the way under these circumstances.
Seo Si-yeon had already grown as much as she could, and was at a point where commercials could instead expand her market presence, which was why she had been doing them on such a large scale.
Mikansai's situation was completely different.
“Then, for your next activity…”
“I'll go with the song I've been preparing. Hmm…”
This was the first time I'd been able to promote properly with a company behind me.
“I've already written the song. I'm only releasing one song as a single this time too… More than anything else, I want to put a little more effort into the music video.”
“It seems you've got a very clear direction this time.”
“This was always the direction I wanted to go in.”
Mikansai's goal was to stand at the highest point among Japan's internet singers, a scene that had begun with Vocaloid.
If music was the most important thing for achieving that, the next most important was a music video that struck right at otaku sensibilities.
At this point in the early 2020s, no one knew how large this market would become, nor that music like Mikansai's would take root as the mainstream of Japanese music.
But I knew.
I knew that taking first place in this market could also become the road to becoming number one in J-pop.
The top Korean soloist.
The top name in Japanese music.
Even if the former had greater global recognition, the latter's income was so much higher that they couldn't even be compared.
Because the scale of the concerts was incomparably larger for the latter.
The ceiling for a Korean soloist was Sangam, with its 50,000-seat capacity.
But in Japan, the peak was the 80,000-seat Nissan Stadium. What's more, there were venues the size of Sangam in every city, so a single tour could generate revenue beyond imagination.
Korean idols and singers didn't bust a gut trying to break into Japan for no reason.
The heights you could reach, and therefore the scale of the profits, were entirely different.
It was no coincidence that a considerable proportion of major idols' income came from Japan.
Seo Si-yeon was a producer known to only a handful of people in Japan, while Mikansai was an artist with a fair degree of public recognition.
That was why I felt that making inroads into Japan as Mikansai would be faster than doing so as Seo Si-yeon.
And if I revealed my identity once I felt I'd reached a certain peak?
I could enjoy the bonus effect of drawing attention in both Korea and Japan.
“Hee-hee.”
“So what's the title of this song?”
“White noise. Want to listen?”
Lee Ha-jun nodded lightly, and I put the earphones in his ears.