Lately, CEO Park Gyuho had picked up a new hobby.

Let’s see.

It was taking a stroll around the company building.

Considering he’d spent well over a dozen years here, you could call it trite—but recently it gave him fresh feelings every day.

We sure came a long way.

Kwak Siyeon is a Hallyu star now, but back then she was just another actor.

When he left their old company with her, the outside world was cold and harsh.

They’d wait, and wait, and wait all day outside a network building just to meet a PD once. Sometimes a PD, moved by the snow piling on his bare head, would take pity and cast their actors.

Of course, that phase didn’t last long.

He brought in talent like Director Cho Gyuwhan, cast good actors, and the company grew fast.

If there’s one thing I do see clearly, it’s people.

Business begins and ends with people.

An executive doesn’t need to be good at everything. Just seat capable people across fields.

So far, Park Gyuho had succeeded with that management style.

He spotted exceptional business-development chops in the composer-turned-director Cho Gyuwhan and promoted him; entrusted general operations to a division head; staffed the rest with experts and built the company.

But...

I can’t make heads or tails of it.

Strolling past NewBlack’s trophies, he paused.

The one he studied most closely was the photo of their leader ringed by ducklings.

A mystery.

Even for CEO Park, who’d seen his share of people, Sun Wooju was still a mystery.

At casting time, he simply looked like the perfect “fifth member” for the boy group NewBlack.

Then one day he came to and realized this singer was feeding the company—no, practically forcing it to expand.

Lemon Entertainment, whose revenue had hovered around the same mark every year, now breezed past 100 billion won.

Money was basically duplicating itself.

“Hmmm.”

He stared at Wooju in the photo.

Of course he knew their present results were achieved by all five together.

Remove even one and you couldn’t be sure they’d be where they are now.

But there was no denying Sun Wooju stood at the core of the success they were harvesting.

— President Park, since it’s just us... what’s the secret? How did you cast Sun Wooju?

He recalled the question KM Entertainment’s CEO Heo Gangmin tossed out over drinks recently.

Other label heads reacted the same.

What sort of wooing dance did you do to bring in and raise such a monster?

I don’t really know either...

All he’d done was hold an audition when Director Cho said, “I’ve found the fifth member.”

The kid showed composing talent, so he got him a studio; when he said he wanted to do an album, Park trembled while checking the bank balance and buried his face in a pillow and cried—basically that was it.

Like the beanstalk in Jack and the Beanstalk, Sun Wooju just climbed on his own.

An overwhelming growth curve!

Startled by a report, Park once asked Director Cho:

— Gyuwhan. This must be what foresight looks like. The Wooju you cast has...

— Sir.

— Right.

— I didn’t cast him knowing this would happen, either...

— ...

— ...

Even the caster himself said he chose him because “his voice fit the five-part harmony perfectly,” period.

No one expected this level of success.

Maybe that’s why Chairman Park Taejun of TJ Entertainment had been losing his mind lately—storming around in jealousy and regret.

That man too...

Thinking of his old role model, who once shone brighter than anyone, CEO Park let out a wry smile.

Smiling faintly, he stopped before Wooju’s picture and took out a handkerchief.

“Hoooo... Hoooo...”

skritch, skritch.

Carefully, so as not to leave a speck on the face of the company’s highest power, he polished the glass until it gleamed.

After wiping NewBlack’s and Scarlet’s plaques, he dabbed the sweat on his forehead.

Don’t forget your beginnings.

He knew well that the success Wooju brought wasn’t something he, the CEO, earned through his own brilliance.

It was, in a way, like winning the lottery.

Which is why he made a point of touring Lemon Entertainment’s ever-flashier building and reflecting on himself.

What’s mine is not mine. All is form and emptiness; form is emptiness, emptiness is form...

With a beatific smile that would make anyone think of a Buddhist magazine cover, he recited a sutra inwardly.

“Oh—wait.”

No, not that...!

Catching himself forgetting his role for a second, he cleared his throat.

“Ahem.”

Anyway, he would walk the building, tell himself “you’ve worked hard,” offer a little self-comfort,

keep a humble heart—“this is not my achievement,”

and stay wary when others flattered him as “the best label CEO.”

Don’t forget the start. Don’t forget the jajangmyeon without yangjangpi.

Nodding, ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ CEO Park took the elevator down.

In the dim corridor, one office glowed.

Oh dear, at this hour...

Maybe the NewBlack single promo crunch had them busy.

He tiptoed over.

“Which team is this?”

Judging by the spot, Producing and A&R.

He decided to quietly watch them work and move on, and slid along like an octopus.

“Heh.” 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

He was just about to put on a warm smile with his head peeking through the cracked door when—

“Oh! Thank you for waiting!”

Startled by the voice from inside, he blinked.

I didn’t wait that long.

Had they spotted him? He was reaching for the handle when a chorus of booming voices rolled out, and he blinked again.

Huh?

The scene inside was odd.

The Producing and A&R staff, wearing the kindest smiles on earth, each held a receiver.

Different vibe from their usual artistic, free-spirited air.

“Hahaha! Yes, of course. Negotiations haven’t been finalized yet. The song you’re waiting for doesn’t have an owner.”

Phones to their ears, they were going, “Hello, this is So-and-so from Happy Lemon Customer Care~,” and he blinked again.

Whenever someone hung up and shouted, “Closed one!” they wrote it on a whiteboard labeled “Bidding Companies.”

On the board it read: “Decline calls from TJ, SNH Entertainment!! — VIP directive.”

“Hmm?”

I never gave that instruction, he thought—then chuckled.

“Wooju.”

If Lemon had a Very Important Person, it was obviously Wooju.

Director Cho and he were, at best, IPs; same tier as the other ducklings.

Anyway—

Interesting.

He knew they were planning to sell leftover camp songs, but he hadn’t expected this atmosphere.

Producers gleefully running a business.

“Perfect timing with your call! We were just about at the deadline. Ah, yes. It’s a perfect fit for a girl group.”

“This one came out of Spaceship’s song camp—imagine the buzz. We’ll push press releases and make sure ‘Spaceship’ lands in the headlines.”

“What? You’re Teen Spirit’s Huiyeon? Then I’m Kim Junhyun. Don’t prank call us.”

Watching, CEO Park went hmm.

Feels like home shopping...

They’d forgotten they were producers and composers.

“Deadline imminent!”

“Negotiable! Yes, we negotiate!”

“What offers have you checked so far?”

They looked like composers by trade and song hawkers by job, and Park rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Come to think of it—

Since Wooju arrived, the company...

The vibe had gotten strange.

Like water spilled across a floor, Lemon staff felt soaked through with NewBlack.

Where did they pick that up? Oh—that’s Wooju’s con-man patter.

“Deadline imminent!”

“Yes, we do custom finishing. What genre do you want?”

“Once you hear this, you can’t leave. Broadcast? That was just a preview~!”

The company was... running... very... well.

It’ll be fine, right?

He worried a bit, but at this point, what could he do.

Following Friday’s Part 1, Saturday’s Part 2 of Sun Wooju’s Rest “Work” Diary also drew a positive response.

— NewBlack’s “Rest Diary” marks K-net’s best rating in the past three years... “Historic”

“The ratings landed fine.”

“Yeah, that’s reasonable.”

“It’s a little lower than I pictured, but it’s fine.”

The numbers were steady, but it seemed we’d hit our real targets.

Dilute resistance to the English track.

Boost anticipation for the new song.

As a public-facing promo, like a subway announcement, interest was high.

— Let us hear METRO more

— Why are you the only ones who get to listen ㅠㅠㅠ

— Feels like a certified banger... like Kim Junhyun-level certified

— What kind of song turns a camp into a composer-bullying party

Unlike other tracks, METRO barely flickered by—so everyone was dying to know what it was.

The “English song” complainers had vanished.

“Okay. That’s handled...”

I checked other reactions.

Biju looked up from his phone, face glowing like it was his own win.

“I think the Not Fine behind-the-scenes is getting a great response too.”

“Yeah?”

Scarlet’s new song, Not Fine.

When the camp pivoted to a B-side contest because METRO was basically done on Day 1,

I’d beaten the other composers to win with that track—the prize was a premium beef set.

— Look at the composers crying ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

— Bully-fun lol

— The prevailing theory is he planned it to tick off the composers

— The organizer taking the beef prize twice in a row... sounds shady, but somehow true

— They must be fuming lololol

— Kim Deokchun is no different from Spaceship... what a personality

— At least Spaceship was polite as a rookie; Kim Deokchun doesn’t even have that

— The song is good

I asked Biju, “Biju, where are the compliments... for me?”

“At the end—‘the song is good.’”

“I see.”

Our second can find a single blossom even in a landfill.

I wanted to ask if a glass with one drop left is still a filled glass, but I let it go.

Whenever Junhyun slipped up and said something to Biju, the next day his rice strangely had a lot of beans.

— Wow. Junhyun hyung’s bowl is basically a bean field!

— I like beans.

Not that I’m scared.

Just a coincidence—but I didn’t feel like testing that coincidence.

Studying the feedback closely, Ri Hyuk said,

“We should probably give a more detailed behind for METRO.”

“I’ll file a request with Studio.”

“People think the process looked fun, but it’s not enough. Folks who were there went ‘wow,’ but the aired cut was super compressed.”

We couldn’t share everything now because of spoilers, but the idea was to unpack it in depth after release.

“Then we can drop a raw, uncut cut. We’re doing that for Scarlet’s Not Fine.”

The uncut making-of for Not Fine was already up on K-net’s account.

The only downer was that our Studio made it but it lived on K-net.

We didn’t own a TV channel, so it couldn’t be helped.

“A little sad, though,” Junhyun said.

“If we posted this on NewBlack’s channel, it’d rack up more views.”

“We sold it to the network. Nothing to be done.”

Recently MyTube had gotten more accessible across ages.

Even our Kim Deoksun said, “On MyTube someone said you got your face fixed... do they think that face looks fixed?”—that’s how much she was watching.

So reach was better, but legacy TV still carried weight.

Uploading only to MyTube had a ceiling on impact.

There’s a reason Jiho’s web drama “Shin-E” is aiming for a platform like NetPlus.

“It’d be nice to have some kind of platform of our own...”

“Huh?”

“Nothing.”

I thought it through, decided it was above my pay grade, and looked away.

The internet brimmed with takes on the reality show.

[NewBlack’s Song Camp canceled after Episode 1 lolol]

[NewBlack Song Camp exploitation controversy (humor)]

[K-net uploads Scarlet’s Not Fine raw composing behind full]

I skimmed comments about newly recruited composers too.

— Lemon benefits are real?

— Vacuuming up composers

— lolol the legendary song camp that ended after one episode

— They’ll rename it “workshop” and do it next year

Well now.

What an idea!

— (Famous composer’s SNS who watched the show.jpg) Asked if camps usually run like that—answers a firm no lol

— If they still go knowing they’ll get filtered, it must be great there... nobody quits

— See? Told you Spaceship’s personality is actually good

I smiled... then trembled at the comments below.

— Is this a paid plant by Joo Sun??

— Spaceship viral everywhere lately;

— I’m not buying Spaceship

Grind.

“Hyung? You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

I have such a nice personality.

It pained me that the public didn’t see it.

“I have an extremely nice personality.”

“Achoo...!”

The maknae rubbed his nose. “I must be developing an allergy to nonsense.”

“Hey.”

I shoved Ri Hyuk’s face toward him.

“Compare me relatively. What’s my personality like?”

“Compared to Ri Hyuk hyung, you’re practically Mother Teresa. Compared to him, you’re like the idol world’s pope—Jade Emperor vibes.”

“Hey!”

“Why hit me?! He started it!”

He wasn’t wrong.

“Ow! Ow!”

Right to get hit...

He still hadn’t learned that no matter who starts it, the one who ends with the meanest line gets hit the most.

Anyway, I smiled at the warm reactions to Sun Wooju’s Rest “Work” Diary.

Anticipation for METRO was soaring—great for the main job.

As a side hustle, the variety show was a hit too.

And most of all...

[Ding-dong!]

I smiled at the email that just arrived.

[Song Camp Track Bidding Status]

A report on the auction for camp songs from the Producing Team.

Which company had requested which song for which artist, plus the team’s internal opinions.

Biju asked, “How many calls came in yesterday?”

“A total of 89.”

“Huuuh...”

Eighty-nine might not sound like much, but that was after filtering out the “poke the bear” tire-kicks.

Meaning: all prime cuts.

Eighty-nine serious inquiries after the broadcast—“That’s on the market, right? What’s the price?”

With the ducklings crowding around me, I calmly went through the report.

“Hm...”

Final say on distribution rested with me.

Not as in “This song goes to X!”—Producing would send “We think A is best,” and I’d make the final decision and send it back.

“How are you going to split them, hyung?”

“Give them to the teams they fit best.”

Dumping to the highest bidder only helps in the short term.

These tracks were made by me and our Lemon Producing Team.

For a singer, a song is a weapon, like swords and spears for warriors.

Give the blade to the fighter who’ll wield it best; that’s how a smith earns a name. Same here—give the song to the artist who’ll make it shine.

If those artists rack up good results, it becomes, “Whoa... a Lemon track,” strengthening the brand.

“Scarlet already took what they needed, so this one—like Producing says—fits La Rose best.”

“Agreed.”

“Seconded.”

The ducklings nodded without thinking.

“This one to E-Plus-B, Eunseong’s team... ugh, I hate it. He’s doing well and gets cocky...”

“Can’t do that,” Ri Hyuk shook his head.

“Don’t get mired in personal feelings. Make the call clean. That’s not how you decide.”

“Then we’ll send it to Eunseong’s team...”

So this is what being a Joseon king feels like.

Every time I try to do what I want, some Censorate official pops up to go, “Are you serious?”

After sending the final distribution memo to Producing—

“Pffhaha! Did you see this?”

The maknae, reading the mail, asked:

“Among yesterday’s callers, there were people pretending to be Teen Spirit and Street Boys.”

“Legendary prank calls.”

“Puhahahaha!”

“Ha... hahaha...”

“Ha ha...”

We were about to say, There’s no way Teen Spirit would call directly, when our smiles faded.

I pulled out my phone and typed in a mostly dormant TenTen News group chat.

Me [Those who called our company yesterday]

Me [DM me]

Numbers started clearing fast.

We were chuckling with the kids, imagining Hanbin or Jihoon going “What’s he on about lol,” when the pings began.

Hanjo [It’s me..]

Huiyeon [It’s me.. hyung]

“...”

“...”

You actually called... you guys...