Chapter 73
‘Who came?’
Juha tilted his head as he entered the house.
He couldn’t think of anyone who would visit his home wearing a suit and dress shoes on a weekday afternoon.
At the dining table sat his mother and a man in a suit. Just seeing that not-unfamiliar back made Juha’s steps come to a halt.
The man slowly turned his head.
Juha stood frozen, staring blankly at the man.
“It’s been a while.”
It was Jung Changseon, the CEO of Serona Entertainment who had cast Juha and ultimately abandoned him.
“CEO…”
Juha looked at Jung Changseon with vacant eyes. He was someone Juha had seen every day for six years, but now, meeting him for the first time since leaving the company, there was an inexplicable awkwardness in the air.
“CEO Jung said he had something he wanted to talk to you about and came to visit.”
His mother spoke without being able to meet Juha’s eyes.
Now that he looked, there was a fruit basket in the kitchen, decorated as lavishly as a bride’s wedding dress. Seeing the fruit basket as large as the wound he had given Juha made it seem like looking at a wrongly delivered package.
Given his mother’s usual personality, she would have turned Jung Changseon away at the door, but since this was an important time for Juha, she seemed unable to do so.
The person who had planted dreams in Juha, but also made him taste the frustration of losing those dreams. Juha clenched his fists, hiding his emotional turmoil. For now, he wanted to know why this person had come with that huge fruit basket without even calling Juha first.
“…Yes. Mom, please go inside. I’ll talk with him.”
“Together…”
“You came to talk with me, didn’t you?”
Cutting off Jung Changseon’s words about wanting to talk with his mother present, Juha spoke in a clear voice.
“Yes…”
Jung Changseon nodded, accepting Juha’s wishes. When they terminated the contract, Juha was a minor, but now he was an adult. So there was no need for a guardian anymore. Since Jung Changseon had only seen Juha until he was 19, this kind of attitude from Juha must have felt awkward.
Juha’s mother glanced around briefly before going into her room.
As they sat facing each other across the dining table, silence fell. Memories from the past that had been buried while focusing on auditions came flooding back into Juha’s mind without order.
Jung Changseon had worked as a manager for 15 years, learning the ins and outs of this industry. He had rolled around in the entertainment industry as much as one could roll. Based on his experience, he had gone independent with small capital to establish Serona Entertainment, and when his girl group hit it big, Jung Changseon became recognized as a rising producer in the entertainment industry.
Though Juha’s official trainee period started at 14, he was 12 when he received a casting offer from Jung Changseon at Serona. From that time, Juha had secretly visited Serona several times without his parents knowing. Each time, Jung Changseon would welcome him, show him around the company, and buy him delicious food.
Because he was someone Juha trusted and followed like a father, hearing the words “I don’t think we can work together” from his mouth was cruel.
That day was still vivid for Juha.
‘Why… why?’
‘You’re just not ready yet. I know you work hard, but with that level of talent, I can’t put you on stage.’
Seeing Juha’s despairing face, Jung Changseon rattled off various other excuses like how Juha’s character overlapped with another member, but they were all reasons Juha couldn’t accept.
After training him for six years, he still wasn’t ready? The company didn’t debut a boy group every year, and the other Metabolic members had even less training time than Juha. Jung Changseon had watched Juha closer than anyone for six years and knew his effort and passion well. Even knowing how desperately Juha wanted to debut, he had destroyed all the time Juha had invested with the light words “you lack star quality.”
‘Let’s prepare a little more.’
There was no conviction in Jung Changseon’s voice. Juha couldn’t not know that this was just polite torture of hope given to someone he’d kept for six years.
‘No, I want to quit here…’
With a trembling voice, Juha had uttered those words and left the CEO’s office, crying all the way home on foot that day. The cold wind cut through his school uniform and the frozen tears on his cheeks made his face sting, but nothing could hurt Juha more than losing everything he had worked for while dedicating more than half of his teenage years. Juha walked across the Han River bridge and stood on the overpass crossing the main road, looking at the light Seoul’s night poured out. He had thought he could become someone who sparkled like that, but his efforts had betrayed him, and Jung Changseon, whom he had followed like a father, had also abandoned Juha.
How could he forget the despair he felt that night?
“Juha.”
Thanks to Jung Changseon’s low voice, Juha escaped from his sad reminiscence.
“…Yes.”
Juha answered after swallowing his dry saliva once.
“Thank you.”
Jung Changseon spoke with a bitter smile at the corner of his mouth.
“What… do you mean?”
It was incomprehensible at first hearing.
When he left Serona that day, Juha never looked back. He was afraid that if he went anywhere near, he might end up begging to be let back in.
But after a few months, he suddenly visits his home and the first thing he says isn’t “I’m sorry” but “thank you.”
“Thanks to you, ‘Butterfly Dream’ hit number 1.”
Jung Changseon’s voice trembled unusually.
“…”
Hearing those words, Juha felt like laughing bitterly inside. Wasn’t he shameless? The person he abandoned had saved him.
“Sinjo and the other kids all cried.”
Jung Changseon continued.
They had reason to cry. How much had they suffered during debut preparations? Juha recalled Sinjo, the leader of Metabolic. Though a year older than Juha, Sinjo had entered as a trainee a year later than Juha. Unlike the prickly Juha, Sinjo was kinder and more sincere than anyone.
Despite doing his best under enormous pressure as a leader, their debut song “Butterfly Dream” peaked at only 52nd place.
While the actual debuted group struggled without even breaking the top 50, Juha, who had been eliminated from Metabolic, had made that song reach number 1.
It didn’t feel very pleasant to be thanked.
“Metabolic and I have nothing to do with each other anymore, so I just did it as a competition task. You don’t need to thank me.”
Juha answered calmly, hiding his complicated feelings.
“Juha.”
Jung Changseon called Juha’s name quietly again.
“…Yes.”
“Want to come back?”
“Ha…”
Juha burst out laughing audibly.
It was true that Jung Changseon had inwardly regretted not renewing his contract with Juha. However, keeping Juha with a contract renewal without any debut schedule would have been nothing more than a collectible for Jung Changseon’s display case.
“I’ll adjust the profit ratio better than what the Metabolic kids get. Even if you debut through My Idol, you’ll need an agency. Wouldn’t it be better to work together somewhere familiar?”
Jung Changseon calmly presented his conditions. But now, hearing such words from Jung Changseon, Juha even thought he was shameless.
“How do you know?”
Juha asked, suppressing his anger.
“Know what?”
“How do you know I’ll debut?”
“Because you’re good. You were good then and you’re good now.”
Jung Changseon answered matter-of-factly as if it were obvious.
“Then why didn’t you let me debut back then?”
Because you’re good. Jung Changseon saying that was so detestable that Juha’s voice trembled.
Jung Changseon couldn’t say anything. He wasn’t shameless enough to pressure Juha after hearing those words.
Objectively speaking, returning to Serona could be convenient for Juha in many ways. The staff had known him for six years, and thanks to the quite good working environment, the staff hadn’t changed much. Without taking any risks, Serona would be perfect conditions for immediately signing a contract and starting activities. Moreover, if they raised the settlement ratio, it could be better than other companies in many ways.
But Juha’s heart couldn’t accept it.
“Even if you don’t debut this time, I’ll arrange a debut within a year. Even as a solo artist.”
After much consideration, Jung Changseon presented an additional option.
Juha listened to his words while quietly clasping his hands together with interlocked fingers.
“Butterfly Dream” had reached number 1 on the Subox Chart.
It would be difficult to maintain the number 1 position on the music chart until the judging scores were tallied, but it was a ranking that Metabolic, who couldn’t even enter the top 50, couldn’t dare dream of. To save the dying Metabolic, Jung Changseon was trying to pull back up Lee Juha, whom he had personally pushed off the cliff with his own hands. If he could just secure Lee Juha, he would throw out any words now. Juha had become able to read that much.
“Want to… think about it a little more?”
Jung Changseon asked gently.
That quiet tone, that composure uncharacteristic of people in this industry – he had been fooled by it, but he was someone who would easily discard Juha’s six years in the face of success.
There was no one to resent. Back then, he had been lacking, so he had been dropped from the debut group. But if Juha had any problems again, Jung Changseon would abandon Juha once more with that composed face. If he abandoned him once, why couldn’t he abandon him twice?
Though he usually wore a warm, father-like mask, trainees and affiliated entertainers were just products to him. Not releasing unprepared products to the market was a businessman’s basic principle. But not considering that there was a person inside that product was what hurt Juha.
“No. I’ll just give you my answer now.”
“Alright.”
Expectation clearly showed in Jung Changseon’s eyes.
“There will never be a contract with Serona again.”
Juha looked straight at Jung Changseon and spoke.
“…Ah, um…”
Jung Changseon momentarily lost his words, not expecting such firmness.
“Juha. Don’t think only emotionally. Coming to Serona will definitely benefit you too. We have a history together…”
“…”
Juha nodded slightly toward Jung Changseon as if telling him to continue.
“Starting now, we need to begin media promotion articles and coordinate individual advertisement contracts so you can jump right in when the audition ends. I’m getting contacts from places too.”
Impatience crept into Jung Changseon’s voice. Seeing someone who rarely wavered acting like this made Juha even more confident in his decision.
“No. I won’t think about it anymore. If you came looking for me, other places will definitely come looking for me too, so I’ll take my time considering contracts.”
Juha spoke firmly.
“…”
“The ending wasn’t good, but I was grateful for how you took care of me until then. So let’s leave it at this. Please be careful going home. I have to prepare for tomorrow’s camp, so I’ll rest now.”
Juha stood up, bowed politely with composure, and went into his room. Jung Changseon made a silent gesture to try to stop him, but Juha pretended not to see and turned away.
With a thud, the door closed, cutting off the air from the living room.
“Haah…”
Juha let out a soft breath and leaned against the door. From the living room, there was no sign of life, as if no one was there.
Even after Juha left, Jung Changseon couldn’t easily leave. He must have had many thoughts. When Lee Juha was under him, he was a minor, so Jung Changseon had probably come thinking he could easily manipulate him.
However, it wasn’t mere revenge – Juha really didn’t want to go to Serona. He wanted to end all six years of being trapped there and start fresh in a new place with new people.
Clatter.
The sound of a chair being pulled as Jung Changseon stood up could be heard.
“Ma’am, I’ll be going now.”
Jung Changseon greeted with his characteristically polite manner of speaking and left his house. When the sound of the front door closing with a ‘ttiriri-‘ was heard, Juha slumped down right there and leaned his back against the wall.
‘It’ll be okay…’
Surely other places besides Serona would contact him, right? Now that he had made such bold declarations, Juha began to worry inwardly.
What he feared most was that Serona might be the only place that wanted him.
The moment he exhaled, Juha’s cell phone rang. It was another unknown number. He suddenly remembered thinking that there had been many spam calls today.
‘Who is it?’
Just as he was puzzled, he suddenly had a good feeling. Juha hurriedly answered the phone.
“Hello.”
-Is this Lee Juha’s cell phone?
“Yes. But who is this?”
-Hello, this is Team Leader Baek Seyeong from Dadam Entertainment. I’d like to discuss contract matters – could we meet sometime?
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
well i knew his decision is based on business but idol world is too cruel for minor