It took some time before the recording aired. We recorded on Tuesday, and the show aired on Friday. In the meantime, we filmed live streams for various YouTube channels.
The digital release happened already, and the music video was uploaded on Hee-yeon’s personal channel. When the show aired, the live stream videos were pre-scheduled to release gradually.
Views from the music video were still unimpressive, but this was just the beginning. We decided to take it slow and patiently wait for our big break. This was a luxury we could afford thanks to a great performance on ‘Yeol’s Music Notebook.’
Yoon-jung had been promoting the show on her channel since Thursday, and she was at it again today on the day it aired. Since she was part of the same girl group as the member who appeared on TV, it also helped her attract some attention. The viewers were also happy.
It wouldn’t have been this way had she started the streaming after becoming famous. But since we were practically unknown, the viewers were on the edge of their seats.
“President Kang! Hee-yeon is acting weird! She’s eating her snack with the wrapper still on!”
“Ah.”
Hee-yeon pulled the snack out of her mouth, having been chewing on it with the plastic wrapper still on. She seemed extremely nervous as the show was about to start.
“I told you, the recording went well. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“President Kang, did she really do well?” Jin-ah asked. Knowing Hee-yeon’s personality, she found it hard to believe.
“Yeah, just watch the broadcast. Oh, it’s starting.”
The members and I gathered around the TV. As the show started, we all fell silent — the room filled with tense anticipation.
– Now, shall we introduce our guest? Our first guest today is a member of the new girl group, Blue Sherbet. Hee-yeon Lee with ‘Wish Upon the Moon’!
Hee-yeon walked to the center of the stage, and the camera focused on her still figure and the audience’s surprised faces. For dramatic effect.
The next scene showed Hee-yeon lifting her head and starting to sing, capturing the audience’s attention and leaving them in awe.
“As expected of Hee-yeon…”
“She’s the best, seriously. How can she sing so well?”
“Hee-yeon, you did great!”
The members complimented her happily. But Hee-yeon’s face only grew paler. It was because the interview was up next. The interview she claimed she couldn’t remember at all.
– Hello, I’m the greatest singer, Hae-chun Lee.
“…!”
“…?”
“…!”
The members couldn’t stop laughing during the interview, holding their sides and shedding tears of laughter. Seeing them laugh, I sighed in relief.
‘Thank goodness.’
The broadcast was just as entertaining as when they were recording. I was watching the show with satisfaction. But soon, I felt baffled.
‘Huh?’
Twenty minutes had passed, but Hee-yeon was still on TV.
“What the… They didn’t edit this?”
Most of the lengthy recording made it on air. Even the cover song and the playful interaction with Hae-yeol made it. This was an unexpected windfall.
***
There was a natural turn of events. Reporters wouldn’t miss out on such a buzzworthy event.
[Hee-yeon Lee from Blue Sherbet, The Star of ‘Yeol’s Music Notebook’!]
[Who is Hee-yeon Lee? Search ranking #1!]
[Amazing Rookie That Caught Hae-yeol Yoo’s Attention. “Want to work together?”]
[Is This The Rise of a Quirky New Musical Genius?]
From the moment the interview aired, ‘Hee-yeon Lee’ climbed the search rankings, hitting the top spot by midnight and staying there through the early hours of the day. This was only possible because there wasn’t anything else particularly noteworthy that day and because it was late.
Though being the top search query wasn’t as big of a deal as it used to be, it was still a godsend for us. However, clicking on the top search result only led to the aired footage of ‘Yeol’s Music Notebook.’ There wasn’t much content on Hee-yeon, who was practically an unknown rookie.
Some viewers lost interest, but others gravitated to the music video. The viewer count on the music video was visibly increasing with each refresh, and the comments and likes on the video meant the change was positive.
– Came from the broadcast, the music quality is insane :O
– her beauty = music video’s quality! The umbrella scene at 01:32 is legendary. Almost feels like an actress.
– Wow, I’m hooked. Seriously though. This is gonna keep me busy for a while.
– The song is amazing. No wonder Hae-yeol liked it.
– Huh? lol Yoon-jung, get her on your show! XD Why keep her hidden?
The show’s ratings weren’t particularly high, but the clips of Hee-yeon were spreading like wildfire. They were spreading quickly because they were so entertaining. The members and I couldn’t hide our excitement as the reactions grew more widespread over time.
“Hyuk, we made it!”
“Hey! Jin-ah!”
“Let’s be happy now, Hyuk!”
“Don’t call President Kang ‘Hyuk’!”
As we were joking around, my phone buzzed. It was LOAN.
[President Kang, thank you so much. Without you, I would have never known about my talent. I won’t ever forget what you’ve done for me. Thank you very much.]
“Ah.”
I needed to hurry and help LOAN become independent. I needed to act fast. Hae-yeol’s comment had started drawing attention to composers as well.
People in the industry would soon be scrambling to recruit LOAN. Following LOAN, I also received messages from Jong-woo and Eun-chul.
[I’ve decided to focus on making music videos from now on. I decided on this as my career thanks to you. Thank you for trusting me with work even though I’m inexperienced. I’ll support Hee-yeon, Blue Sherbet, and K Management all the way! Good luck!]
[I’m glad the reception is good for the music video. I didn’t have any experience, but it was something I worked hard on. If I grow enough to direct commercial films in the future, I’d love to work with Hee-yeon again. I’ll work hard to get to her level. I’ll be looking forward to that day.]
I shook my head with a smile. They would have succeeded on their own anyway. I sent thoughtful replies to each of them, then approached Hee-yeon. She was blankly staring at the comments.
“Hee-yeon. You can look for today, but after that, you shouldn’t read the comments for the time being. There will be more trolls appearing in the comment sections from now on.”
“…Okay.”
She seemed fascinated. All this reaction from just one broadcast was overwhelming.
“President Kang! What is Hee-yeon doing next?”
Everyone looked at me with curiosity. I shrugged. What else?
“She’s going to do events.”
“Oooh! Events!”
“Wow!”
“…”
“Events? Really?”
We were lucky this time. Getting a lot of interviews about her song meant that she also shone on variety shows.
Though her unique personality would bring more requests to appear on variety shows, we needed to decline them all. She needed to minimize her appearances on variety shows and build her artistic side and depth.
Now that she was introduced to the world, her personality wouldn’t get much attention. Variety shows were still more likely to do more harm than good.
***
The next day, Director Park of HS Entertainment smirked as he read the articles in his office. He had already heard the music and seen the music video.
“Yes, I knew they’d be able to pull off this much.”
He had once sought to recruit such a talent, after all. An essential asset for his promotion to director.
It was different now.
That talent had left him and was making his own way. Thanks to that, the executive position that had been within his reach was now out of his reach.
Director Park closed the browser with a cold gaze.
“Enjoy it while it lasts.”
Falling now wouldn’t hurt them much. The real pain would come when they fell from the height of their success. Just like he had.
“First… I should send my congratulations, shouldn’t I?”
LOAN, the newly emerged hotshot composer. He planned to lure LOAN in with a light push.
“When times are tough, people tend to prefer stability in a big company.”
Director Park was 100% certain that LOAN would soon join the company.
***
LOAN was feeling overwhelmed. His song was receiving so much love.
Since ‘Yeol’s Music Notebook’ aired, he stayed up all night to look at reactions. He couldn’t stop looking at people’s responses. He even translated the occasional English and other foreign language comments.
I wonder what foreigners think of my music, was the thought on his mind.
“This is crazy… Wow… this is crazy…”
– But seriously, the cinematography is insane. It looks low budget tho, crazy.
– Shut up. Everything is just a backdrop for that yellow dress. That’s her being shy isn’t it? What am I supposed to do with myself when she makes that face with that cold expression…
– *Warning* This video may cause a heart attack.
– *Warning* This video may change your identity. If you’re in another fandom, you may find yourself moved to this one.
– No one’s talking about how amazing the music is?
└ That’s a given at this point.
The reactions weren’t cooling down. They were getting more fired up. It was all compliments on the video, Hee-yeon’s looks, her style, her singing, and the music.
“…”
On top of that, he received countless messages on SoundCloud. Since Hyuk told him to remove his contact information, only his DMs were filled with messages. Among them, one stood out.
[Hello, LOAN. This is HS Entertainment.]
The message was astonishing. They wanted to recruit him to their publishing team. It was surreal. Getting a message from HS Entertainment was beyond his wildest dreams.
“Wow, even HS wants to recruit me now,” LOAN marveled as he deleted all the messages, including the one from HS Entertainment.
Surprised or not, joining a company was a separate matter. He already had no interest in joining a specific company anymore – or any other company, for that matter.
If anything, HS Entertainment’s offer only made him feel more grateful to Hyuk. If Director Park knew about this, he might’ve been shocked to his core.
LOAN read over Hyuk’s response again. It said that Hyuk would help him become independent.
“Make money and have me join your team soon, President Kang.”
Before Hyuk went back in time, it was the type of comment LOAN gave to HS Entertainment after they brought him into the light.
LOAN continued to look at the song’s responses. Then, he saw a comment that made him do a double-take.
– Gratz on 100th place.
“What?”
***
“O-o-one hundred! We’re in one hundredth place! We’re in one hundredth place!” Jung-han yelled as he threw his hands back, eyes wide open.
‘We’re finally up,’ I thought and smiled.
Now that we were in one hundredth place, we could see ourselves as a boat with its sails catching wind. At this point, it didn’t matter if you watched the show, the clip, or nothing at all. This was the moment our song would appear in public areas like bars, restaurants, stores, and cafés.
“President Kang! Shouldn’t we be taking advantage of the momentum?”
“It’s fine. For now, our ranking will climb naturally even if we stay still.”
I wasn’t worried about our rank falling because this song had the horsepower to push through.
“Even if we don’t do anything, the public will.”
—