Chapter 74: The Perfect Gambler

I too, finally opened up today.

Strange. Whenever it came to music, I couldn’t help but ramble shamelessly.

Especially when I witnessed such a rare scene like this.

“You write your own songs? A DJ who writes music… rare. Extremely rare. Wow, why am I so thrilled?”

Jeong Jaewook suddenly leaned his face close to mine.

It was overwhelming.

I wasn’t some teenage girl, so why was my face turning red?

He looked like he needed to calm down.

“Wait, wait a minute.”

Jeong Jaewook.

From what I had researched, he was a weighty figure.

When I saw him directing recordings on Manny Entertainment’s official YouTube channel, honestly, I thought I’d piss myself.

Every word that came out of his mouth was razor sharp.

‘Again.’ With just that one word, he turned the entire recording studio into Siberia.

It was a miracle the young kids managed to finish recording without crying.

And that wasn’t all.

The image he showed on idol audition programs was still remembered as legendary.

He left behind countless famous lines.

Not mere harsh words, but venomous stings. If you got hit, you’d think you’d die.

Do you know what a waste of airtime means?

What do you think your strength is?

If anyone stuttered even slightly? Then right away, “If you don’t know, nothing I can do. This is as far as you go.” And he mercilessly pressed the X button.

Since long ago, Jeong Jaewook had shown only the stern side of a tiger producer.

And now, that same Jeong Jaewook…!

“Man, I’m starting to get greedy. Forget about waiting, just hurry and tell me. A DJ who writes music! Seo Rabbit! Kkrrrrrrrr!”

He made a bizarre sound while staring at me.

For a moment, I felt madness in his eyes.

If I didn’t confess right away, he looked like he’d devour me.

Not that I planned to drag things out. We were both busy people, after all.

“I’ve made some pop music.”

“Pop… music? That’s it?”

His voice dropped flat.

Why was he suddenly looking so disappointed?

He widened his eyes at me as if that wasn’t what he had expected.

That was unexpected.

I thought he’d be interested if I mentioned pop music.

And where were we, again?

This was the pinnacle of popular music, the very core of K-pop.

Wasn’t this Manny Entertainment?

Yet for the man leading Manny Entertainment, his reaction felt rather cold.

Was he… not that interested in composers?

“Anything else? EMD, boom bap, that kind of thing. Oh! Wait, wait.”

He snapped his fingers with a loud snap! as life returned to his face.

“Right. That breakdown in the middle of ‘More Than Time.’ You wrote that part yourself, didn’t you? Krrr… Of course. A songwriter couldn’t have touched something like that.”

Well, he got one right.

“Who came up with combining band sounds with live performance? Or wait, did I ask out of order? How did you meet Cheongseong? That wasn’t your first song, right?”

Another barrage of questions made me laugh.

I really liked seeing this side of people.

No matter what position they held in society, how much money they had, or how famous they were.

Before music, everyone stripped off their ranks.

Let’s see. Han Yujin, Oh Jisoo, Kwak Youngho, Kim Minsoo, our UTAR members…

And the countless engineers and producers I had worked with.

It was the same with all of them.

Though in this jungle-like ecosystem we were all competitors, in the end we were people looking toward the same place.

Music. That single, insignificant word made people of all kinds dream the same dream.

“Of course it wasn’t the first song I made.”

“I knew it…”

“I used to just make some beats on my own until I happened to meet a singer and tried writing a song.”

“I see.”

“I wrote trendy dance tracks, tried band songs too. But in the end, my taste leaned more toward beat-driven music.”

“Ah.”

I glanced at Jeong Jaewook.

His reaction was more lukewarm than I expected.

How should I put it.

Something like, Yeah, yeah, forget that stuff, just talk about DJing already!

But there was no helping it.

I had come here today with a goal in mind.

“I had been writing songs even before I started UTAR.”

“It must’ve been tough. Writing songs is hard, right?”

“But I still found it fun. Seeing my songs go up on the chart was amazing too.”

“…Hm? You debuted?”

“Yes.”

Not only did I debut.

I even managed to take first place on the Maron Chart several times.

“What kind of songs? Just the fact that a DJ writes songs is impressive. But K-pop?”

“I’m not sure if you’d call it K-pop. My debut song was for a solo female singer who used to be an idol.”

“…Hmm?”

Jeong Jaewook made an unreadable expression.

He seemed suspicious.

Forget it.

If he couldn’t figure it out even with these hints, then I’d just have to say it outright.

“I only wrote one, but the two-step rhythm track also had a pretty good response.”

Super Ride.

That song was a two-step bass track.

Hearing that, Jeong Jaewook froze for a while.

Then he suddenly rested his chin on his hand, crossed his legs, and—

like a detective straight out of a comic—began deducing.

“A female soloist from an idol background… two-step beat… even a band song with a breakdown, written directly by you…”

He cut himself off mid-sentence and waved his hands.

Then said:

“…No way, that can’t be it.”

Tremble—

The corner of his mouth twitched slightly as he spoke.

“Me? I really like DJ Seo Rabbit, but no matter how enchanted I am, that’s just not it. You can’t just throw that name around.”

To those words, I only answered with a smile.

Chairman Jeong Jaewook’s eyes grew even more clouded with confusion.

“…Haa. Circumstantially, it doesn’t sound all that wrong, though…”

Two-step. Super Ride.

Female solo singer. Han Yujin.

Band song. Breakdown.

Those words circled around and around his mouth like an echo.

“…Huh?”

His voice rose slightly.

His brow furrowed.

His mouth opened just a little.

With that expression, he looked back at me.

Then suddenly—

“Wow, shit.”

He slammed his hand on the table and shot up to his feet.

Then, as if moving in slow motion, he looked down at me.

“Now… the puzzle finally fits.”

I too slowly rose from my seat to match him.

His eyes were filled with astonishment.

Maybe even tinged with fear.

I smiled and reached out my hand.

“Not Seo Rabbit, but Stay. Pleased to meet you, Chairman.”

The chairman, with a dazed look, extended his right hand to clasp mine.

“Ha-ha. Incredible. Truly incredible. It feels like I’ve been bewitched.”

Shiver—

Jeong Jaewook nearly fell over in shock.

The very Stay he had been desperately searching for had walked right in?

No, this industry was smaller than people thought.

It was only natural they’d meet someday.

The real reason he was so shaken was something else.

‘Wait… could he have planned all of this? From the beginning up to now?’

Jeong Jaewook barely managed to shake off the goosebumps covering his body.

Good thing he had realized in time.

He almost wasted the chance, rambling about trivialities, instead of properly receiving such an important guest.

That was always his problem.

The moment music came up, another side of him emerged. He couldn’t keep his head straight.

And then he would often miss the real point.

‘He’s clever, isn’t he?’

To the public, to the press, to people in the industry—

He always appeared strict, solemn, and serious. But those close to him had long since noticed.

In this world full of intrigues and dirty schemes,

Jeong Jaewook was one of the rare few who still hadn’t lost his original passion.

Meeting Taeyoon today felt like…

Fan spirit. Yes. That was it.

It was a bit of an outdated expression, but.

The only word that could describe Jeong Jaewook’s heart was fan spirit.

“A young man DJing in a band turns out to be a genius songwriter?”

“Ah, please, don’t say that.”

“You’ve been building all this up just to show me that?”

“Well, yes… but, Chairman.”

“Yes?”

“Would you mind letting go of my hand…?”

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

Startled, he quickly pulled his right hand away.

Then he rubbed his palm against his pants and held it out again.

“Let’s have a proper handshake. Writer Stay.”

Taeyoon bowed slightly and clasped his hand.

“Thank you for welcoming me so warmly, Chairman.”

“As I thought, you weren’t an ordinary DJ.”

“I appreciate you seeing me that way.”

“I mean it. Ah, why am I sweating…”

The situation had changed.

Earlier, it had been DJ and fan. Now, it was songwriter and entertainment chairman.

Both Taeyoon and Jeong Jaewook.

With serious expressions, they sat across from each other again.

A brief silence fell.

Then Jeong Jaewook broke it.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier? Ah, just to be clear—I’m not complaining.”

Taeyoon answered calmly.

“Because you wanted to meet me as a DJ, not a songwriter.”

“Ah…”

“And I too wanted to meet you without prejudice. If I had revealed from the start that I was Stay… then we probably wouldn’t have talked about Avicii or DJ equipment.”

“That’s true.”

Jeong Jaewook nodded.

Even a battle-tested entertainment chairman had moments when his chest trembled with nerves.

This was one of those moments.

The embarrassment of having lost the initiative, the awkwardness of having shown a careless side to someone new, and then…

“Why is my heart already racing?”

The anticipation of finally confirming the true intentions of the songwriter who had playfully led him while hiding his identity.

“My heart is racing too.”

“Eh, liar.”

“It’s true.”

“Then why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“Because you didn’t give me the chance?”

“That’s true. I do talk a lot, don’t I?”

“I enjoyed it.”

If nothing else—

One thing was clear.

He was different from other songwriters. Very different.

Writer Stay.

He had nerves of steel.

In this industry, there was no one who didn’t know the influence of Jeong Jaewook.

Even just meeting him alone, most couldn’t hide their overwhelming emotions.

They would be desperate to sell even one song.

The routine was always the same.

First, talk about how amazing Jeong Jaewook was, how much they admired him, how well they knew Manny Entertainment.

And after that? Predictable.

They’d rattle on endlessly about how sincere they were with their song, how much effort they poured into it, how deeply they analyzed the artist—all to sell themselves and their work.

But Taeyoon wasn’t like that.

How should I put it. He was calm—beyond calm, almost serene.

As if he already knew Jeong Jaewook would be the one to grow impatient first.

If he really had thought that…

“Did you bring a song? Wanting to work with us?”

That was it.

Painful as it was, he had to admit it.

“Yes. The song is ready.”

Taeyoon stayed true to his role as a songwriter.

No matter how confident he was in his song, he couldn’t relax until his name was printed on the jacket.

“If it’s a song by Writer Stay, that’s practically guaranteed quality.”

Jeong Jaewook thought back to Stay’s songs.

They all had one thing in common.

He wrote the lyrics himself.

Not bad.

But the feeling was quite different from idol songs.

“You’d be fine with us pitching the lyrics, right?”

It meant there was one thing he wouldn’t compromise on.

Even if he trusted Taeyoon, he couldn’t just hand over everything.

At the very least, he wanted to keep control over the lyrics.

But Taeyoon was firm.

“The lyrics are already prepared. We’ve even completed a demo with a professional guide vocal.”

“Hm. Idol lyrics aren’t something to take lightly.”

A refined way of saying, Do you not get it?

Surely such a sharp kid wouldn’t miss something so basic?

Looking puzzled, Jeong Jaewook received Taeyoon’s polite, steady reply.

“You won’t need to worry about that part.”

“And why not?”

“Because Lyricist Oh Jisoo carefully wrote them.”

“Ah…”

A sigh escaped Jeong Jaewook.

This kid left no room to poke through…

A perfect gambler.

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