EP

“You… bought a label?”

At Hyein’s utterly unbelievable words, Myeongjeon could only respond incredulously. No matter how much money Hyein had, was she really wealthy enough to buy a company with her personal funds?

“Ah, to be precise, I didn’t buy it. I didn’t buy it—I just made a rather large investment…”

Hyein explained what she had done with an expression that showed she had not expected this reaction.

1. Seeing Suyeon pursue music gave Hyein some interest in music as well.

2. But it seemed like a business that could make quite a good profit if you chose the right people. Besides, it didn’t require a tremendous amount of initial capital.

3. So she thought it might be nice to buy a label and support Suyeon at the same time. It would also diversify her business structure.

That was how things had ended up this way, Hyein explained.

“Isn’t that just another way of saying you bought it?”

Was this the heart of a doting mother, or the mind of a businesswoman? Was it even all right to let personal feelings get involved in business? Somewhere on YouTube, Myeongjeon had seen someone say that the KOSPI was undervalued because of something called owner risk. Wasn’t it all because of things like this?

“I told you, I didn’t buy it! Suyeon, Mom just made an investment. An investment in the future.”

“Is it really an investment in the future?”

“…Fine, let’s say I bought it.”

Listening to Hyein’s dejected answer, Myeongjeon thought: What mother in the world would say, “Ah! My daughter is doing music, so I should buy a record label!”? Worrying too much only gets in the way. You’re supposed to raise children by giving them room to grow, so how long was she going to keep coddling her? They had to learn how to fail and taste the bitterness of life before they could become adults.

Myeongjeon was twisting their hair while entertaining these pointless thoughts when another idea suddenly occurred to them.

‘Exactly how much money does Mom have?’

If Hyein had this much money, did Myeongjeon really need to keep earning money by doing sessions and the like? Whenever they needed money, they could just say, “Mom, give me some money,” and Hyein would probably reply, “Of course, Suyeon!” before handing over a huge amount.

As they had that thought, Myeongjeon shook their head and brushed it away. Mom’s money was Mom’s money. They would accept support when necessary, but otherwise, it was only right to earn their own living.

“Anyway, are you saying I should release my EP through that label?”

“That’s right. So, about that…”

“Yes.”

“Would you like to visit the label with Mom? I don’t really know much about labels, you see.”

While Myeongjeon wondered what she could possibly mean, Hyein began explaining again.

The label’s financial condition did not look bad on paper, but there seemed to be some things that needed to be cut away if it was going to be run properly. They needed to check its internal situation and assess the condition of its employees.

“This may just be my prejudice, but people in music are kind of… you know how they can be? They look down on you if you don’t understand art. Something like that.”

“I can’t say that never happens.”

“That’s why I’d like to go with you, Suyeon. You do music, so you’ll be able to communicate with them a little better, right?”

Would living in Seoul’s Jongno District necessarily let someone communicate with a person from Gangnam? Myeongjeon thought Hyein’s reasoning was on that level, but…

“I understand.”

They gave her that simple answer.

* * *

She looked toward the Mercedes S-Class parked near the office. Two people got out: one who clearly appeared to be a working woman, and a high school girl wearing a school uniform.

“The shareholder? Investor? Anyway, they’re coming today, so get your heads on straight.”

“What? Why all of a sudden…?”

“I don’t know. They said they’d arrive sometime before the end of the workday, but I have to leave on an urgent business trip today. Just don’t let the kids cause any trouble.”

Resenting the boss who said that and then ran off by herself, the team leader prayed that the employees would please refrain from causing an incident.

‘Maybe hiring only young people has left us with a few problems in the common-sense department…’

The boss had apparently hired only people who said things like, “I came here to bury my bones in music!” As a result, they worked hard, but… everything besides that was a complete mess.

“Hello~”

“Yes, hello! It’s nice to meet you! I’m Kim Sukhee, the team leader.”

When they entered the office, the employees greeted them. There were not many people: a team leader who looked to be in her forties and a few employees who appeared to be in their twenties.

There was also a Lucky-Goldstar-branded fan, an old but still powerful-looking air conditioner, and… by contrast, the latest-model computers. The surroundings looked terribly impoverished.

‘This really is the sort of job no one could do unless they were young.’

Myeongjeon thought back to their old life. Even in their day, employees at record companies and labels had not made much money. Still, the people who continued running such businesses or working in that field despite being constantly short on money were, in their own way, people who believed in contributing to the music industry.

‘It’s impressive in a way, but it also seems foolish. Isn’t it like throwing your life away?’

“Please sit over here! As for the coffee… we don’t have much here. Jonghyeok! Go to Twosome and buy some coffee.”

“Oh, no~ It’s all right.”

“No, but you’re our investor. An Americano? A café latte? Ah, latte. And your daughter?”

Myeongjeon answered and looked around the office again. In the meantime, Hyein handed over her card.

“Our CEO had to go on a business trip today. If we’d known you were coming, he probably wouldn’t have scheduled it…”

“Oh, no… You don’t have to worry about it that much. I just want to look over a few documents, have a cup of coffee, and then leave.”

While they exchanged this and that, an employee returned. He set a cup of coffee and one or two desserts on the table, then began eating the desserts in the bag himself.

‘Is that really all right?’

They had been asked to buy coffee, so why had he brought desserts—and why was he eating all of them himself? Myeongjeon considered getting angry, but decided to let it go.

Would a few tens of thousands of won spent on desserts really matter to someone who had bought a company to support her daughter? The employees were probably craving some sugar, too.

“I heard about your main sources of income earlier. Could I see the relevant documents?”

“Ah, the documents… They’re here, but they haven’t been organized yet.”

“I only want to get a sense of the overall flow. There are things you can’t tell from the paperwork alone.”

“I’m sorry. Just a moment. Heeju, bring me all the documents related to music sales.”

The team leader frowned at the reply that they were not prepared at the moment. Hyein took a sip of coffee and answered, “Just show me whatever you have prepared for now.”

‘Let’s summarize this…’

The team leader and Hyein seemed to be roughly finished sorting through the documents. Summarizing what Myeongjeon had heard in the meantime, the label’s situation was as follows.

1. It manages around 5,000 songs through distribution services and the like. It manages about 100 bands and singers, and directly manages around 30 people.

2. The internal employees review the songs. They are not particularly thorough, and the label loses money in some areas.

3. There is no production team or rehearsal studio. Artists have to handle their own production, though the label can introduce outside personnel and locations when necessary.

4. It handles indie charts, merchandise shops, and physical album production. It also collaborates with visual artists for these projects.

‘There’s a lot that needs fixing.’

If that was how it sounded to Myeongjeon, how must it have sounded to Hyein? Nevertheless, Hyein smiled like the seasoned businesswoman she was and began asking about other things, mostly music-related.

“I did make an investment this time, but I don’t know much about labels. What kind of work do you mainly handle?”

Perhaps because this was a different field from the one she had been discussing earlier, which was her area of expertise, her previously chilly voice had softened. With the atmosphere relaxed, the employees began excitedly talking about themselves.

“Filtering the people who contact us is hard in itself!”

“Is that so?”

“Of course. You might not know this, but music requires trained ears, you know? You have to train yourself to listen. The kind of music that ordinary people hear and say, ‘Oh, that sounds nice~,’ is just easy listening.”

“A label like ours has to pursue something beyond that. But if your ears aren’t trained, you won’t understand it. You have to listen to a lot of music before you can tell.”

Perhaps they simply enjoyed having an important person listen to them. Even as the team leader’s brow furrowed deeper and deeper, the employees continued rambling without any real structure.

“You probably don’t know, but~” “People who do music know these things well, but ordinary people don’t.” “People who know, know it all. You have to be trained to understand. Even if you listen, you probably won’t get it.” They kept making statements that subtly looked down on other people.

Myeongjeon was dumbfounded.

It was a habit anyone could have, and a way of speaking anyone might use. But casually speaking that way despite meeting someone extremely important was an entirely different matter. Besides, when Myeongjeon had listened earlier, the employees’ ears had not seemed particularly sharp. How could they talk like that?

‘Thinking about it together with the dessert incident… their work habits are obvious. Hyein will probably end up letting all of them go through recommended resignations.’

‘If that’s the case, I suppose I could just let a remark like that slide.’

However, the person being told, “You want to listen to it once? You probably won’t understand…” was Mom, no matter what else she might be.

Myeongjeon could not stand it.

“Your choice of words is a little rude.”

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t understand why you keep subtly looking down on us by saying that we don’t know anything while you know everything.”

The investor’s daughter, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly spoke up. One of the employees, Jihye, opened her mouth to ease the slightly awkward atmosphere.

“We’re not looking down on you…”

“You are looking down on us, aren’t you? No matter how I listen to it, that’s what it sounds like. And frankly, I’m not sure you even have the right to say that.”

Jonghyeok thought that was absurd. Wasn’t she looking down on the employees while accusing them of looking down on her? Were they allowed to look down on other people?

“But what we said is true.”

“Your words are true? What exactly is true? I heard earlier that the songs you review don’t generate particularly good profits, either.”

“I’m sorry. Our employees are a little…”

The team leader immediately apologized to the “daughter” and gestured to Jonghyeok to apologize as well.

But Jonghyeok had no intention of apologizing. More precisely, he had been willing to apologize to the “investor” until he heard those words. After that, his temper had flared completely.

If we did something wrong, then we did something wrong. But did being an investor make her all-powerful? It was true that she didn’t know music, wasn’t it? Did she know everything just because she listened to it? We respected her expertise in management, and she should respect ours in music. Wasn’t that how it was supposed to work?

“That’s going a little too far.”

“You’re the ones going too far. Saying that to a random person on the street would be rude, so is it really all right to say it to an investor? You don’t seem all that talented yourselves, either.”

“No, Suyeon. Mom’s fine.”

As the atmosphere suddenly heated up, the “investor” began by trying to stop them.

But Jonghyeok thought he could not back down now that things had come this far. Even if he apologized at this point, it would only be humiliating, and it would not resolve anything anyway.

Jonghyeok was not doing music now, but he had once played some guitar and made some music. So what was this girl doing swaggering in with an investor’s business card? And she was not even the investor herself—she was only her daughter.

“If you don’t seem to know anything about music, can’t we say that? We appreciate the investment, but does handing over money make you an expert? We don’t know everything, either, but how much do you know?”

“Kim Jonghyeok! What the hell are you talking about? What the fuck are you doing right now—”

“Is music really that easy? Can you identify a song that will succeed just by listening to it? If you think you know more about music than I do, why don’t you try playing that guitar over there a few times? Do you even know how to handle an instrument?”

In the midst of the serious atmosphere, the investor suddenly let out a snicker. And the “daughter” grabbed the guitar with an expression of slight disbelief.

* * *

“So what happened?”

“Once I played the guitar, they quieted down. It completely killed the mood. Later, that person—whether he was the CEO or whatever—called and apologized, practically begging Mom for forgiveness.”

“There really are people like that.”

“There are all kinds of people in the world. I don’t know why people like that only seem to gather around me, though…”

Myeongjeon took a long sip of coffee. What happened after that? Had they been fired? They would probably proceed with a cleanup. It seemed Hyein had been thinking along those lines from the beginning, too.

“It can’t really be helped. Places like that have a lot of people working for little pay on nothing but passion. So, in that respect, um…”

“Doesn’t everyone work for little pay?”

Iseo, who had been trying to defend people she had never even met, was sunk by Seoha’s comment. The atmosphere had been full of laughter. While Myeongjeon read and replied to a pointless check-in message from Juhyeon, Iseo spoke up again.

“I think people like that are kind of amazing.”

“What, treating someone who acquired their company like a musical ignoramus?”

“No, not that… They feel like people who have nothing to lose. They say Koreans instinctively fear what comes afterward, that we live imagining the worst. But people like that don’t think about what comes next at all. Isn’t that amazing?”

“How does someone become like that?” Iseo muttered. At those words, Myeongjeon suddenly found inspiration for a song—from that attitude of not thinking about what would come afterward.