Idol Hides His Military Service

“Is it going well?”

“When did you get here again.”

“Just now.”

SY was Korea’s top agency, so they had multiple studios.

And Seyon, the CEO, had personally come to one of them—Yoo Hyunsoo’s studio.

If it had been any other employee, they would’ve jumped and panicked at Seyon’s visit, but Hyunsoo—who might as well have built SY together with Seyon—didn’t look surprised at Seyon’s sudden appearance at all, still sitting in the studio chair, staring blankly at the monitor.

“How’s the work?”

“Not sure. I want to polish it a little more.”

“Do you know how many times you’ve said ‘a little’ now?”

“Is it really okay to oppress a creator like this?”

“You remember when you said you wanted to set up your studio and I dropped a billion won on equipment, right?”

“Seriously, I’ve heard that story about 1 billion won, like, 421 times now.”

“It’s 1 billion won, so let’s hear it exactly 579 more times.”

Yoo Hyunsoo, who’d recently taken charge of producing SY’s rookie girl group VYNNIA, was hard to catch.

The moment the debut album work ended, Hyunsoo shut themself back up in the studio again and went straight into preparing the follow-up album.

Because of that, even Seyon, the CEO, only got a progress report once a week and couldn’t know exactly what was going on.

A situation that should never happen.

But because it was Yoo Hyunsoo, it was possible.

‘Hyunsoo is definitely a genius.’

If you had to pick the number one person responsible for making SY what it is today, no matter what anyone said, Seyon would pick Yoo Hyunsoo.

A top producer who built the foundation of the Korean-style idol music now called K-pop by reshaping American and European music trends to fit Korea—while also racking up extreme love-it-or-hate-it reactions with a unique worldview and cryptic lyrics.

Living up to that reputation, even VYNNIA, who’d just debuted this time, hit the all-time number one record for girl group debut album sales, announcing that Hyunsoo was still very much alive.

‘When Hyunsoo said they’d make a worldview out of Greek-Roman mythology, I thought they’d lost it.’

How many other lunatics were there who would make Heracles from Greek-Roman mythology the worldview of a girl group?

Yoo Hyunsoo, who said they’d turn the Twelve Labors of Heracles into albums, actually went and made a song themed around the Nemean Lion.

“Right, hey. That Swedish composer who came to the song camp last time—did you get in touch?”

“That’s exactly what I came to talk about.”

And a request Yoo Hyunsoo had made of Seyon lately while working on VYNNIA’s follow-up album.

Bring in a composer to help with the album work.

A song camp.

A system where multiple composers, lyricists, and producers gather for a set period and work together—SY had been the first to introduce it in Korea, based on a method used at Motown Records in the U.S.

At these song camps, SY invited musicians of various nationalities in addition to their in-house artists, and if someone had solid skill, they sometimes offered a contract and even collaborated on an actual album.

For SY, it was good because they could get ahead of talented composers who could present fresh music that hadn’t seen the light yet.

For new composers, it was a true win-win, because they got a fair chance to present their music.

Thanks to that, the song camp that had been held every year since 2012 had also been held a few months ago under SY’s host.

And Yoo Hyunsoo had requested that SY bring in a Swedish composer who’d participated in that song camp.

Lucas Ryuberi.

Back then, they hadn’t offered a contract because his music was considered too unconventional and not a match for SY’s color.

But Yoo Hyunsoo hadn’t been able to participate in the song camp because they’d been too busy preparing VYNNIA’s debut album, and after they belatedly got their hands on the song camp results—

-Lucas Ryuberi? You have to grab this guy for me!!! No matter what!!!

They’d shown deep interest in Lucas and strongly demanded that Seyon bring him in.

However—

“I heard he already signed.”

“What? Did he get scouted in the U.S. after that?”

At Hyunsoo’s request, recruiting a rookie composer like Lucas wasn’t a big deal for SY.

So SY contacted Lucas using the contact info they’d had before and offered him a contract.

-Sorry, but I ended up working with the place that sent an offer first.

Shockingly, Lucas was already under contract.

“It’s not the U.S.”

“Then Europe? Damn··· Lucas’s music really does feel more Europe than U.S., so···.”

“Korea.”

“Huh? Korea?!”

And it was with a Korean agency, at that.

***

“Welcome, Lucas!”

“Oh, Raon, long time no see!”

Raon was at the airport for the first time in a while.

Incheon Airport.

Back when she was active, there were times she practically lived on airplanes for an entire month, so after retiring, she hated going overseas and wouldn’t even look at the place—but today, she had to come.

‘Because Lucas is worth it.’

What if you gained the ability to recognize a jewel?

To Raon, Lucas standing in front of her right now looked like a jewel.

To other people, he might look like nothing but a roadside rock for now, but Raon had no doubt that he would soon turn into a jewel.

“This is your second time in Korea, right?”

“Yes. The first time was at the last song camp.”

Raon and Lucas chatted about this and that as they left arrivals and headed to the airport parking lot where the car was waiting.

Raon had first run into Lucas at SY’s song camp.

-Korean idol music is so interesting!

Raon remembered meeting that naive, earnest Lucas, who’d come all the way from Sweden—half a world away from Korea—just because he liked K-pop.

Back then, Lucas and Raon were both being pushed out at SY’s song camp.

-Why is Raon suddenly saying she wants to learn producing?

-Singers get that producing disease once they build up seniority, don’t they.

-You said you hated SY and left when your contract ended, but you still come to the song camp? What kind of move is that.

In Raon’s case, people resented her because she left SY, yet still participated in the song camp saying she wanted to learn producing.

-And what kind of music is this, exactly?

-This isn’t even ‘no fundamentals,’ it’s just a total mess···.

-Who even invited Lucas?

In Lucas’s case, the musical direction he pursued was so unfamiliar in Korea that it wasn’t easily accepted.

Because of that, Raon and Lucas stuck together all through the song camp, talking about music, communicating in Korean at times and English at times, and they got quite close.

And Raon was sure.

‘Lucas’s music is going to hit, no matter what!’

That Lucas had talent beyond even Yoo Hyunsoo, the best composer Raon knew.

Honestly, this was something only Raon could’ve recognized.

Raon’s disastrous failed U.S. expansion back when she was a singer.

But that attempt didn’t leave her with nothing.

Working with famous local labels for that U.S. push widened Raon’s perspective far more than before.

Because of that experience, back at the song camp, Raon could recognize the value at a glance in the original, new music Lucas presented—electronica-based, built on Jersey club and breakbeat.

Raon was the only person on-site who recognized Lucas’s true value.

No—more accurately, only Raon could recognize it.

-Raon, actually, I work under a stage name.

After they got close, sticking together at the song camp, Lucas quietly told only Raon his stage name.

‘To think John Press, who charted high on the UK Singles Chart, was Lucas.’

The monster rookie composer who appeared out of nowhere on the UK charts—that was Lucas’s hidden identity.

“It was so hard working in Sweden.”

“Our company has a studio, so from now on, you can work there with us and finish the rest.”

“I want to see Iam as soon as possible! If it’s Iam, they can definitely pull off the music you and I made perfectly!”

“First, we can go to the dorm, unpack, and meet them slowly. You’ll be seeing them until you’re sick of them.”

“I listened to the songs you made a ton, Raon. If they pulled off those tracks, then the kitschy (Kitsch) songs we make will definitely suit them too!”

Like this, Raon—who knew Lucas’s talent and also knew his secret identity—thought Lucas was the optimal partner for collaborating on Iam’s producing.

For the debut album, they’d been too pressed for time to ask for Lucas’s help, but while preparing this follow-up album, the first thing Raon did was contact Lucas and propose they make an album together.

Raon had fully prepared to persuade him in case the proposal didn’t land.

But she didn’t need to.

-I’m Yours!

Lucas, who was a K-pop fan, was already a fan of Iam.

After that, Raon and Lucas built the album by sharing work online and sometimes debating things out.

But collaborating only online had its limits, so Raon got Sanghyeok’s approval and invited Lucas to Korea for this album work.

‘On my own, I can’t beat Taesu or Hyunsoo.’

Raon definitely had talent for producing.

But when her opponents were the kind of people who would absolutely be included if you listed the top five producers in Korean music history, Raon alone wasn’t enough.

But if she had Lucas with her, she could face them head-on.

***

“Ms. Sion, what’s wrong?”

“This is really my settlement money?”

“That’s correct. I attached the detailed breakdown, so please check it. If there’s anything difficult to understand, I can explain it, and if you feel you need verification, I recommend getting help from a professional and checking whether there are any strange parts.”

I couldn’t really hear what CEO Kim Sanghyeok was saying.

-Come to the CEO’s office alone today at 3 p.m., without telling the other members.

CEO Kim Sanghyeok had asked me to come to his office alone while I was working out at the gym like usual, then coming to the company and doing training with the members.

Back then—

-What is it? I didn’t cause an incident today.

—I’d been tense, wondering if something blew up again.

And that made sense, because CEO Kim Sanghyeok was the kind of person who never called us in unless there was a reason.

So what the hell is it?

I arrived at the CEO’s office at the right time, thinking it over.

I knocked and went in, and CEO Kim Sanghyeok welcomed me like he was happy to see me, and even personally brewed tea for me, so I couldn’t help getting even more tense.

After that, while we drank tea for a bit, he started asking about what had been hard lately, or if there was anything I wanted to suggest to the company.

It looked exactly like when I used to be a company commander and had to do sit-downs with “special management targets” I needed to keep an eye on, so a slight sense of unfairness surged up in me right then.

-Now I should get to the point. Ms. Sion, this is your Q2 settlement statement.

Sanghyeok handed me a few sheets of paper.

And when I saw it, my hands started trembling.

70,890,540 won.

A massive amount—seventy million won—was written there as my settlement amount for Q2 of 2016.

“Like I told you when we signed the contract, settlements will continue on a quarterly basis going forward, and in Ms. Sion’s case, because you don’t have an original agency, your settlement was calculated exactly according to the contract ratio, so it’s probably a larger amount than the other members’···.”

Sanghyeok’s words, explaining the settlement amount to me, were going in one ear and out the other.

‘This isn’t even annual salary—this is a quarterly settlement?!’

The biggest amount of money I’d ever touched in my past life and this life combined.

Sure, compared to what my Bitcoin account—currently sleeping quietly—would make me in the future, it was small, but even so, this was an insane amount.

If I invested this money straight into Bitcoin, then in ten years, I’d probably be unbelievably rich.

Wasn’t this a heaven-sent chance to recover the countless Bitcoins I lost in that old computer fire incident?

“Of course I can’t force you, but I recommend that Ms. Sion not disclose the amount you received to the members.”

“Huh?”

“As I mentioned earlier, because Ms. Sion has no solo ads and no original agency, you received a larger settlement amount compared to the other members. If the other members find out how much Ms. Sion received···.”

CEO Kim Sanghyeok’s explanation dragged me back to reality from the future where I was thinking about making a Korean edition of Kongming’s Three Kingdoms.

‘Oh, right.’

Unlike the other members, I was under a one-year contract only with KJ Entertainment.

Even at the time of the contract, I’d been told that because of that, unlike the members who had to split profit with their original agencies, my settlement would be distributed to me directly.

“Have the other members already gotten their settlements too?”

“No. For the other members, it will be sent to their original agencies after excluding our KJ-side costs. But because of the costs incurred during their trainee ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) periods, I think at the earliest, it would probably be around next quarter before they receive a settlement.”

“Really?”

Like I thought, this settlement was probably something only I was getting.

“Because Iam’s activities went so well, if things continue like this, next quarter, the other members will be able to receive even more than what Ms. Sion received now, so you don’t need to worry too much.”

“Yes···.”

And maybe he noticed what I was thinking, because CEO Kim Sanghyeok reassured me, saying the other members would be able to get their settlements soon too.

But for some reason, I didn’t like that.

“Then, could you maybe do an additional settlement for the other six members using half of my settlement amount?”

“Huh?”

“Um, like thirty million won! If it’s thirty million won and you split it between six people, it comes out evenly, so just that much somehow···.”

“Ah··· I’d have to look into it, but is there a need to do that?”

At CEO Kim Sanghyeok’s words, tilting his head with a face that clearly didn’t understand, I nodded.

‘Money matters.’

Money was definitely extremely important for living.

I mean, I’d jumped into Idol Ground 100 just to get one million won, didn’t I.

But—

-When I get my settlement money, I want to buy my parents gifts. I’ve never properly given them a gift even once.

-I want to buy my grandma an air conditioner. She keeps saying one fan is enough···.

-I hope that day comes soon.

I remembered the time I’d accidentally ended up talking with the members about settlements.

Everyone’s situation was different, but I didn’t like the idea that I’d be getting mine first, ahead of the members I’d suffered together with for the last three months.

I didn’t think I’d made this much money because I was great all on my own.

‘We all did this together, so I want us to get it together.’

If someone heard it, they might call it a stupid thought.

But anyway, once Bitcoin goes through the roof later, I’ll have more money than I can ever use alone, so right now, I wanted to spend it the way my heart pulled me.

“Even if Ms. Sion gives up part of the settlement and distributes it to the members, it’ll go back into their original agencies, so in the end, there won’t be any money that actually ends up in the members’ hands.”

“Is that so?”

“So instead, I think it would be better if Ms. Sion personally gives the members gifts or something for them.”

However, CEO Kim Sanghyeok’s words sounded reasonable—saying that even if I did that, the members wouldn’t actually be able to receive it, and that it would be better for me to buy gifts for them instead.

“I’ll do that, sir. But could I maybe go home for two days?”

“Home? Ah··· because of the settlement money. Hmm, it’s not a particularly busy period right now, so I’ll tell the managers.”

“Thank you!”

As I wrapped up the settlement conversation and was about to leave, a thought popped into my head, so I asked CEO Kim Sanghyeok for two days off—today and tomorrow.

‘Wait for me, Madam Sukja!’

I couldn’t just let an event this big pass.

It was time for Grand Prince Suyang to show up.