Chapter 3. To Ten Years in the Past (2)
writer:
??? update:2022-08-19 17:20
Translator: Synopsis
‘This unbelievable thing actually…’
Leaving the MG Entertainment office building, KangYoon couldn’t hide his smile. Initially, he would become a ‘team member’ for a failed singer. Now, he’s in charge of JooAh. And the leading position of ‘planning team leader’ at that!!
‘Was there this kind of cronyism? Hahaha!!’
Due to not being able to hold back his laughter, the supermarket owner looked at him as if he was looking at a crazy man, but KangYoon wasn’t bothered.
Instead, he showed good manners by buying coffee and cigarettes.
KangYoon lit a cigarette in a secluded alley.
Typically, cigarettes didn’t suit his tastes, but today, it felt strangely good.
Looking at the dispersing smoke, he felt that all of the fatigue today was being relieved.
“Excuse me.”
While he was wallowing in delight, there was someone who approached him. It was a tall girl in a school uniform.
“What is it?”
“Excuse me, but can you light me one?”
KangYoon fell into confusion. A female student in a school skirt was asking him to light her one. He was dumbfounded since he had a little sister.
“I don’t have any.”
“I just saw you putting it in your pocket.”
The girl confidently pointed towards KangYoon’s pocket. KangYoon could only deeply sigh, and he looked at her acting as if she was getting back something she lent.
“I do have one, but I don’t have any to give to a student. I don’t think this is right.”
“…If you don’t want to, then you should just say so, there is no need to preach me right?”
The girl complained.
KangYoon blinked his eyes at those rough words.
And so, he was about to scold her when he blinked continuously, looking at her familiar face.
‘Wait. Isn’t this girl Jung MinAh? From EDDIOS?’
She looked younger than the Jung MinAh he knew of, but it was certainly her.
The group with seven girls, EDDIOS was a group which had a thick fan base due to each members’ individuality. There was a strong fan base, and the songs were good too, but due to the bad relationships between its members, there were rumors about their discord, and in the end, they would disband. Jung MinAh, with a tall height and a vibrant expression, boasted popularity between both the male and the female populace.
KangYoon was about to pass it off as being unlucky, but he thought that it wouldn’t be right just to leave a member of EDDIOS, who was once the big star in the world of singers. Moreover, they would work for the same company in the future.
“You, aren’t you a trainee of MG Entertainment?”
“Who are you to concern yourself with whether I am or am not one?”
“A cigarette when you’re a trainee. You’re not even a successful singer. What are you doing?”
“Like I said, who are you to stick your nose into this?”
Jung MinAh came out strongly. Her personality was originally one that hated to lose. However, KangYoon also wasn’t someone who would smoothly pass this by.
“I originally had no relations with you, but I do now. I’m an employee in MG Entertainment. You are Jung MinAh right?”
“You know me?”
“I know very well. You are talented in dancing, and you are an unofficial trainee that decided to be put in the next girl group. Are you relieving yourself just because you were put in there? You’re even smoking.”
“…..”
Jung MinAh was mad. It was because there was not a single thing wrong with what KangYoon was saying. No, it pricked her because he knew too well. Moreover, to say he was in the same company… If he knew who the trainees were, then it was likely that he leaned more towards field work rather than paperwork. Jung MinAh couldn’t continue speaking.
“To pop the champagne so early is bad. For a trainee, it starts for real when you become a si-”
“I was dropped.”
However, an answer that was completely out of KangYoon’s expectations flew at him.
“I was pushed out from the next girl group. Satisfied? If you aren’t going to light me one, then please go away.”
KangYoon panicked in his own way. This kind of past, he never heard of.
‘Jung MinAh was dropped? No way. Then did she get dropped once and get selected again?’
KangYoon’s head spun rapidly. As far as he knew, it was the season when MG Entertainment was preparing its next groups. It was a period where trainees sweated beads to get selected for the next girl group and boy group. But Jung MinAh was dropped? He didn’t know that such a past existed.
“Why were you dropped?”
“I tripped in the selection audition. I was scolded a lot with words like ‘are you going to be like this in practice too’ and the like. And was dropped. HAHAHA!!”
Jung MinAh didn’t understand why she was explaining all of this to him. However, she was doing whatever she liked. Whatever her heart compelled her to do.
“I won’t get in with my singing, so, I should just light one to get rid of the stuffiness. If you aren’t going to light me one…”
“Then are you going to end it like this? Is this the end?”
“Hey!!”
Finally, Jung MinAh shouted. But the thing she showed were tears. Tears filled with sorrow and anger.
“What are you, ahjussi, to… me… why are you…”
“……”
Puberty would always produce ups and downs in emotions. Perhaps it’s due to the overflowing emotions? Or perhaps it was due to the piled up stress? Jung MinAh started crying sorrowfully. KangYoon, who was getting angry at her, panicked for a bit before tapping her shoulders.
“It’s just once. And in MG Entertainment, Jung MinAh, how many can hold a candle to you in dancing? This is not the decisive factor.”
“…..”
“Try again, and you can definitely do it. Alright?”
Jung MinAh felt strange. This was definitely the first time she saw him. And she was scolded and even consoled by such a person. It was the first time something like this happened.
“…..”
“…..”
For a moment, silence flowed. Jung MinAh, who controlled her emotions, raised her eyes, which were red.
“…Thank you. Nobody believed in me like this before.”
“Oh, really?”
“Thank you, even if it’s just empty words. I just… needed some consolation, I guess. This has never happened before… Ha. It’s funny.”
Perhaps she also felt that it was funny, but Jung MinAh showed an awkward smile. However, KangYoon spoke with confidence.
“It’s not empty words. It’s based on many sources. You will definitely become a singer. A big one at that.”
“…..”
“So don’t go ruining your body with something like cigarettes and start again. Alright? Don’t destroy your body.”
“…. Yes.”
Finally, Jung MinAh smiled a proper smile. Of course, the tears and the smudged makeup made her face a mess, but her unique beauty didn’t go away.
“Ayyy. This was one of the things I enjoyed.”
“Stop it. Your lung capacity will drop.”
“Ok. I’ll try stopping, but I don’t even know your name. Who are you, ahjussi?”
They spoke as if they were close friends until now, but she didn’t even know his name. Jung MinAh was curious about him. He had an ordinary impression, but his eyes had unusual depth, and his body had strength.
“I’m Lee KangYoon. We will eat from the same pot from now on, so please take care of me.”
“Me too. What’s your department?”
“Heh, that’s a secret.”
“Whaat? Tch, being childish.”
KangYoon and Jung MinAh became friendly in no time and were talking without holding anything back.
It was the first meeting between Jung MinAh, whose name would shake the world as MG Entertainment’s girl group’s core, and KangYoon……
After returning home, KangYoon was pondering about the light from the singing.
‘It doesn’t appear through the TV or computer videos, huh.’
He concluded that it only appeared when he looked at the performance directly. If that was so, then how should he use this? KangYoon fell into thought.
‘Returning to the past is an incredible miracle in itself, but to think that I would ‘see’ singing. Why did I become able to see it? Perhaps it was due to that homeless man?’
He finally remembered that he handed a 10000 Won note to a homeless man who said he was hungry.
[Tell me anything you want. I will grant them all.]
Incomprehensible stuff that he will grant them all. KangYoon wanted to start over. And those words became a reality. With an inexplicably strange ability to boot. No matter how much he thought about it, that could be the only reason.
It became night, but KangYoon didn’t turn on the light in his room. He wanted to sort out his thoughts.
‘I returned to 10 years into the past, and I gained an ability to ‘see’ singing. And today, I changed the original future.’
He was put in charge of JooAh, a top-tier singer, and not the doomed singer he was initially assigned. He even got acquainted with Jung MinAh, who he never had any interactions with before. KangYoon was satisfied with the results of his hard work. However, he was also afraid.
‘JooAh’s album planning. And in Japan to boot… I was put in charge of a massive project right off the bat. However, if it’s the me now…’
He was sick and tired of failing. He didn’t even want to think about failing anymore. There was no longer a Lee KangYoon, who was chased by loan sharks while being called the minus’s hand, anymore. KangYoon resolved again and again that he would never think of something like failing again.
He started over like how he wanted.
‘Yes. I will start over. Again!! I will definitely succeed, and become happy!!’
In the dark room, KangYoon decided on the direction of his future. I will erase something like an unfortunate future here and now. I will make a bright and sparkling future with my own hands – like this.
“Oppa, you there?”
“Oh, yeah. HeeYoon, you’re home?”
“What are you doing? It’s pitch black. Are you sulking? Kya!! Oppa, what is it!!”
Right at this moment, KangYoon, who tightly hugged his little sister who just came back from school, was happier than anyone else. And I will make this happiness bigger – he decided.