Leaving the Rock Festival, where they burnt their passion, behind, White Moonlight, KangYoon, Lee HyunJi, Kim JiMin, and manager Kim DaeHyun returned to World Entertainment.

  “Prez, prez. Let’s do an after party!”


  “Afterparty! Afterparty!”


  When Lee HyunAh asked for an afterparty, all of them looked expectantly at KangYoon. KangYoon thought about it for a moment before speaking.

  “Fine then, let’s have an afterparty.”


  “Wow! You rock, prez!”


  Eating out made them joyful. They put down their instruments and headed to a nearby Korean barbecue restaurant.

  Kim JiMin sent a text to Kim JaeHoon, who was at KangYoon’s house picking songs, and Jung HyeJin, who was about to go home after work, was caught by Lee HyunAh. Like that, the number of participants rose and it became an outing for the entire World family.

  KangYoon and the company were guided to a room. They took off their shoes and went inside. When the president ordered various types of meat like pork belly, ribs and others, all of their eyes lit up.

  “Uugh… Beef. Is there no beef.”[1]

  Though, someone did complain. Lee ChaHee told Kim JinDae off.

  “Why don’t you earn as much as JaeHoon-oppa over there before you say something?”


  “…You are so cruel.”


  Kim JinDae turned his head away, pouting. However, Lee ChaHee did nothing and grilled the meat as if this were a common occurrence.

  Everyone was mesmerized by the sizzling meat when someone unexpected entered.

  “Huh? Seonbae.”


  Lee HyunJi blinked her eyes several times in wonder. This was professor Choi ChanYang. Kim JiMin also didn’t think that she would see him here today and stood up to greet him.

  “Teacher, what brings you here?”


  “I visited the company because I forgot something, and then….”


  He scratched his head in awkwardness. He had briefly visited the company for something but was called here by KangYoon.

  KangYoon immediately made him some room and greeted him warmly.

  “Welcome.”


  “Thank you for welcoming me.”


  KangYoon told Lee HyunAh to call Park SoYoung as well. She cheerfully called her right away.

  “President. SoYoung is around the area with her friends. She’ll be here soon.”


  “Okay, then.”


  Just as the meat was getting fully cooked, Park SoYoung arrived. The members of White Moonlight welcomed her passionately.

  “SoYoung!”


  “Unni~!”


  Park SoYoung expressed her greetings to Lee HyunAh first. The members of White Moonlight greeted her warmly and gave her a seat.

  When everybody gathered around. It was to give a welcome speech.

  “I guess this is the first time everyone has gathered around at a table like this. Although it’s only pork for today, let’s get some beef the next time we do this!”


  “Lee.Kang.Yoon! Lee.Kang.Yoon!”


  The word ‘beef’ made them more joyful. KangYoon felt his shoulders rising from pride and raised his glass.

  “The slogan for today will be ‘For a better future’. For a better future!”


  “A better future!”


  Everyone clanged their glasses with each other and KangYoon sat back down after telling everyone to dig in.

  They started talking about a lot of things and the table became louder again. The members of White Moonlight were quarreling, Kim JiMin and Park SoYoung were quietly chatting, Kim JaeHoon, Jung HyeJin, and professor Choi ChanYang unexpectedly made a good conversation group.

  “Well, then. President Lee, you’ve worked hard until today. Receive a glass from me.”


  Lee HyunJi poured some soju for KangYoon. KangYoon returned one back.

  “You’ve worked hard too, director.”


  “Haa, I’m having it easier than when I was at MG. I don’t know how long it has been since I was so motivated when I’m working. The people I work with are fun to work with, and there’s a sense of growth in the company too. This is awesome.”


  “That’s good.”


  Lee HyunJi was serious. There was no intra-company politics war like when she worked at MG Entertainment and could focus solely on her work.

  “Though sometimes, your rash actions almost shock me to death.”


  “Hahaha….”


  KangYoon became awkward. As Lee HyunJi was the type to do everything according to the manual, it wasn’t easy for her to follow KangYoon’s actions.

  “Well, with you, you have your reasons, so… I guess it’s fine. If there’s anything I want, I wish you’d tell me beforehand the reason behind your actions. You know, like the sprinkler trucks today.”


  “Looks like I was too headstrong……”


  “Just be a little bit more considerate about me in the future. That’s fine.”


  KangYoon nodded his head in understanding.

  As the party continued, KangYoon stood up and headed to where White Moonlight was sitting. They were having a blast with Park SoYoung in the mix.

  “Hm? Prez, over here.”


  Lee HyunAh prepared a seat for KangYoon right next to her own.

  “Thanks.”


  “Oppa, the sprinkler trucks today were awesome. I thought I was at a water park.”


  Lee HyunAh told KangYoon about her opinions about today. The other members were the same and chimed in.

  “Me too, I never thought that you’d spray water like that at a concert.”


  Lee ChaHee wasn’t that different from Lee HyunAh. They thought that they themselves had to do something as a band on the stage, but they never thought about spraying water at the audience.

  “I thought I was performing at a water park too. The people were jumping even while getting soaked… and wow.”


  Kim JinDae seemed still a little excited. Jung ChanGyu nodded his head in agreement.

  “I watched an outdoor performance when I was studying in America. One amateur band was spraying water everywhere. It was summer and it was hot. It looked funny at first, but the audience seemed to like it. The weather was hot, and so they needed something to cool them off.”


  “Ooh.”


  KangYoon’s explanation made everyone nod. He had pretty much extended what he saw back then by a huge scale.

  “I think the encore song was good as well. People sang along even though this was the first time we sang it on stage.”


  “You’re right. SoYoung, thank you for the great song.”


  Lee HyunAh lightly patted Park SoYoung’s back at KangYoon’s compliment. Park SoYoung, who was sipping soju by herself, was startled.

  “Oh, th… thanks.”


  “What are you so surprised about?”


  “No, no… nothing.”


  KangYoon’s presence made Park SoYoung tense up. She became very nervous whenever the topic of her song came up. It was as though she was meeting a professor from her university.

  Regardless, KangYoon kept talking.

  “I’m not knowledgeable about talents, but this song really wasn’t bad. Thank you for the song.”


  “Thank you.”


  After that, KangYoon talked to White Moonlight about the new concert hall before going elsewhere.

  The atmosphere at the restaurant was very bright. Everyone switched places and got to know each other better. Glasses of soju were exchanged, the meat sizzled, and their relationship became deeper.

  The highlight for today’s party was the meeting with the other half of Muse, HeeYoon. Although everyone knew who she was, she wasn’t formally introduced to the company. KangYoon decided to introduce her to them at this place, albeit through the phone.

  [Oh… Hello, there? My name is Lee HeeYoon.]

  HeeYoon was a little surprised since it was still in the morning for her, but still introduced herself properly.

  The singers were very welcoming towards this composer who was giving them good music. Kim JaeHoon’s reaction was the most explosive. As he was in the middle of selecting songs, he knew just how good her songs were.

  Like that, the joyful afterparty passed.

  ***

  The internal construction of Lunas was complete.

  KangYoon looked around Lunas along with Lee HyunJi and various construction workers to check on the facilities.

  “The acoustics are okay, and there’s no light bleed either.”


  The workers sighed in relief after hearing KangYoon’s comment. If he decided that something wasn’t right and decided to haggle, it would be a great pain. Fortunately, KangYoon wasn’t the type to do that.

  KangYoon then proceeded to play back some music from the broadcasting room to check the speakers, and the sound was good as well. He even went outside to see if there was any noise bleeding through. It seemed that they put a lot of soundproofing materials as he could hear absolutely nothing from the outside of the building. Although the building was quite old, this was an amazing job.

  “Thank you all for your work.”


  After checking everything, KangYoon shook hands with the workers and finished up. The workers also left with relief.

  Seeing the empty hall, Lee HyunJi stretched her shoulders.

  “Phew, that was long.”


  “You’re right. But it’s good that we got it ready for autumn.”


  Just as KangYoon said, the timing was very suitable.

  It was now September. The heat was dying out and the weather was getting good for an outing. Various performances were heating up as well.

  It was not an exaggeration to say that White Moonlight’s prime would start now.

  “So White Moonlight is like a pro baseball team with their own stadium.”


  “Hahaha, if you want to compare, I guess that’s true. We got our own venue now, so it will be a fight of advertising.”


  “Looks like I’ll get busy. That’s my job after all.”


  Lee HyunJi pointed to herself in confidence. PR and management was her job at World Entertainment. KangYoon nodded in trust.

  After a while, White Moonlight and Kim JiMin arrived at the hall. They were unable to hide their surprise after seeing it for themselves.

  “Wow….”


  Lee HyunAh went up to the stage and stood at the center. She exclaimed again and again and praised the lighting and acoustics of the place.

  “It looks like a normal concert hall, but it also looks like a nightclub. This might work as both.”


  “It’s a bit of a hybrid, I guess.”


  “Pfft.”


  Lee HyunAh chuckled at KangYoon’s words. Like what he said, this place could work as both a nightclub and a concert hall.

  Kim JiMin tried walking up to the stage as well. Her impression was different from White Moonlight’s though.

  “This place….”


  Unlike White Moonlight, who was filled with excitement, she looked very nervous. In a few days, she would hold her first performance here. She imagined people in front of her…


  And that made her thrilled.

  While everyone was excited about the new place, KangYoon was nervous for another reason.

  ‘I don’t know how the other places will act.’


  The owners of other places should be aware of the low rental prices of Lunas right now. However, none of them had taken action yet. KangYoon was nervous because he didn’t know what they were up to.

  KangYoon asked Lee HyunJi about the schedule. She looked at her phone to answer.

  “Next Friday is the first performance here. White Moonlight is up first.”


  “When does a team other than White Moonlight perform first?”


  “It’s the next day, a Saturday. Though, there’s something strange. We’re full for this month, but there’s no one that’s coming to book the next month. We got a lot of calls from bands up until last week… but there hasn’t been any in the last few days. I wonder if the clubs around here are pressuring them to do so.”


  KangYoon answered calmly at Lee HyunJi’s worried tone.

  “That’s what I think as well. Don’t rent their hall. Isn’t that what they pressured them into?”


  “Isn’t that collusion? It should be illegal.”


  “It will be harder to catch them if there is no solid evidence. They won’t blatantly say You, don’t think about performing here again since you’ve performed once over there, or the like. They will use all sorts of other excuses, and that makes it harder for anyone to catch that they are colluding. A single individual has to prove it against several others… there’s no way public servants are willing to do that for us either.”


  “That’s scary. But then, would they really have colluded? I thought they’d fight us fairly, like, using package prices.”


  Lee HyunJi was still skeptical about the whole collusion theory. Her opinion was that the other venues would put out package products or something.

  KangYoon shook his head.

  “It would be good if they did that. Though, it won’t be easy. The clubs take priority over the bands. If the clubs collude with each other and stop the rentals together, the indie bands will lose all places to perform.”


  “If we report it to the police, they will definitely get caught. The Fair Trade Commission isn’t there for show.”


  “They will use all sorts of related legal articles as an excuse. They aren’t idiots, so they won’t deny everyone outright. If it was me, I’d use the excuse that we’re full. There’s no time slot available, so what can anyone do about it? We have circumstantial evidence, but no solid proof. Even if we do report it, it will take a lot of time.”


  “Time… that’s fatal. Indie bands are critical about time since they may lose whatever few fans they have if they don’t perform regularly.”


  “It’s cruel. They don’t have any time to make the reports either. Even if they do report and get justice served, the bands will get harmed as well. Street performance? If all the indie bands went on the street to perform, there would be complaints about the noise. It would backfire on them. Also, the band that did the report will get shunned by everyone else in the industry. It will only be a bad cycle. No one would report them ever again and the cycle continues.”


  “Ah, so frustrating. Then what do we do now?”


  That was the problem. Lee HyunJi was frustrated. At this rate, they may close Lunas without many achievements due to the collusion from other clubs. She thought that KangYoon did all this because he had a solution.

  “We need to break that.”


  “Break what?”


  Lee HyunJi tilted her head at KangYoon’s words.

  “They have no intentions on bringing down the prices of their locations. However, we are giving out our service at a cheap price. They are colluding with each other so that they won’t let any bands perform at ours. However, speaking from the bands’ perspectives, would they really want to keep performing at a place that’s more expensive AND has worse equipment?”


  “Of course not… oh.”


  Lee HyunJi clapped in realization. From a consumer’s perspective, it was natural to prefer to use cheaper and better quality alternatives.

  “We have a lot of time on our hands. We have no reason to go bankrupt even if we let this place rest a little. However, they will have more and more complaints piling up at their doorstep. Also, bands aren’t the only things we can hold here. Sedy’s fan meeting will be the start.”


  “That’s true. The other places are specially-built for live performance clubs, but Lunas is different. We were talking about indie bands so I didn’t think about the other things we could do with this place.”


  “Actually, we have the upper hand. Although I did mention reporting to the police and whatnot, they can’t keep holding the bands forever. There will definitely be strayaways. One will become two, two will become four and it will rapidly increase after that. What we need to do is to provide them not only a place to perform, but other things as well so that the bands that aren’t using this place will be envious of those that do.

  “That’s a clear answer. So, they will pretty much self-destruct.”


  “Yes. There’s one more, important thing.”


  “Something important?”


  KangYoon’s eyes lit up when Lee HyunJi asked.

  “We’ll also approach the owner of those clubs one by one and make them switch sides.”


  [1] In Korea, Beef is a LOT more expensive than pork and is therefore considered a luxury food in Korea.