Episode 112: Push and Pull?
I sprinkle the finely chopped green onions over the gently bubbling clear broth.
After waiting a moment for the onion fragrance to infuse, I scoop up a spoonful to taste.
Slurp.
“Perfect.”
The subtle harmony between soybean sprouts and dried pollack brings out that uniquely Korean paradox—hot yet refreshing.
Click.
I turn off the induction cooktop, neatly hang the apron back in place, and head off.
“Pfft.”
Just yesterday, these steps toward the bedroom felt impossibly awkward.
Who would’ve thought the atmosphere could flip completely in a single day?
Unable to hide the leaking laughter, I open the door. Through the sunlight streaming in, I spot a small hill protruding from the bed.
“You okay?”
“Ughhh…”
The pained groan only makes my smile deepen.
“Come on, first time with fruit wine hangover?”
I tuck away the urge to tease her more,
‘Zia is really weak to fruit wine. Note to self.’
And gently lift the blanket to softly stroke her furrowed brow.
“I made soybean sprout and pollack soup. Sleep a bit more, then get up and eat.”
“Mmm…”
Zia’s head moves faintly up and down.
Seeing she still has enough presence to answer, it doesn’t seem severe enough to need medicine.
“…Where are you going…?”
Then the question slips out in a tiny, creeping voice.
“Just popping by the company for a bit. I’ll be back soon.”
“Really…? Then… let’s eat together when you come back…”
Even half-dead, the way she says it is unbearably cute.
‘Maybe I should just go to the company later…?’
The thought tugs at my ankle for a moment.
‘But no—I should finish quickly while she’s sleeping and come back.’
It can’t be comfortable for Zia to have me hovering while she’s like this.
“I’ll be back.”
I steel myself and start to straighten up from my crouched position when—
Tap tap.
Zia extends her slender index finger and lightly taps her own cheek.
I know exactly what that gesture means, but I’m too embarrassed to say it out loud.
Chuu.
As requested by our esteemed Actress Woo, I plant a light kiss right there. The depth of her furrowed brow eases just a little.
And then,
Swish swish.
“Come back soon…”
Woo Zia-ssi waves her hand dismissively, issuing the royal decree to leave.
This feels a little unfair?
“What about me?”
Even between lovers, give-and-take is important.
Especially a good-morning kiss like this?
No discussion needed—it’s mandatory.
But our Woo Zia-ssi shakes her head firmly.
“Nooo… My breath probably stinks right nowww…”
She’s going to neglect her duty over something that ridiculous?
Haha, no way.
I grab both her cheeks a bit roughly with my hands and deliver a proper, deep good-morning kiss myself.
“Ahh… stoop…!”
She flails, but unable to escape my hold, she can only let out pitiful whimpers.
“Stinky breath? Doesn’t smell like anything to me. I’ll be back.”
Bad breath?
Our princess doesn’t have such a thing.
Anyway, she doesn’t have any.
I leave behind Zia, who’s waving goodbye with a hand she barely managed to lift, and step outside where the air is already starting to feel warmer.
Just then, I catch the elevator display changing from 7 to 6 and hurry over to jab the button.
Our place is on the 5th floor—good luck from the morning.
It’s a building with only three residents anyway.
One of them is currently overseas, so even if I miss the elevator, it’ll come right back. But human mood isn’t always that rational.
With my smile only growing thicker since morning, I wait for the doors to open—and there’s already someone inside.
“Oh, good morning.”
“Good morning, sunbaenim.”
The only possible “early bird” here is Lee Ah-jeong.
I give a light bow and step in. The elevator begins its smooth descent almost immediately.
And it doesn’t take long before I start regretting that decision.
“I heard the concert yesterday. It was really good.”
“Huh?”
“As expected of Yujin-ssi. You sound great even without any equipment.”
Pssshhhhhh.
I swear I can hear the sound of steam hissing out of my ears. It’s probably not my imagination.
“Oh? Look at that face turning bright red. You can blush like that too? If you’re going to do something like that, you should’ve at least closed the windows properly. How’s a single person like me supposed to live with this kind of envy?”
Did I really leave the windows open?
I… don’t remember.
“And why wasn’t any of my songs in the setlist? I’ve sung plenty of love songs, you know.”
“Well… that’s because most of your songs have a female narrator vibe, sunbaenim… Even for me, singing them without practice would be a bit…”
One thing is certain: I’ve already been completely caught in Lee Ah-jeong’s teasing.
“Just kidding. Me not dating is completely voluntary… Really?”
Seeing her wave her hand in the air while laughing at my overly serious explanation finally lets me relax a little.
“But there’s one thing I’ve been dying to ask… What was that last song? I’ve never heard it before.”
“Ah, that one.”
Of course she hasn’t.
“It’s a song I made specially as a 3000-day gift for Zia. That’s why you wouldn’t have heard it.”
That was the real gift I’d kept completely secret for Zia.
The unreleased new song Han Yujin prepared during this break specifically to perform at the bedroom front-row concert.
“You really do everything, huh. You must’ve been busy already, and yet you still found time to make a whole song?”
“Haha…”
“Ha… Is this what they call a difference in talent? I wish songs came to me that quickly too… Then I could really drop an album once a year…”
Please hold back on that.
‘Other singers need to eat too, you know.’
If the apex predator of the ecosystem starts shaking up the industry once a year, what are the rest supposed to live on?
Of course, if I actually said that out loud, someone might call me heartless,
‘Well… that was just the previous timeline.’
Aigoo. Baby Yujin here.
Climbing the solo singer pyramid is too hard, waaah.
Naturally, I can’t voice that genuine sentiment—drenched in sky-high tension—in front of Lee Ah-jeong.
“Want me to send it to you?”
Before she can gush any more, I change the subject.
Fortunately, she bites the bait immediately.
“Huh? You have a recording?”
“Yeah. Zia’s voice is in it a little, but not enough to interfere with listening… There, I just sent it.”
“Huh?”
For a second, Lee Ah-jeong doesn’t seem to understand what I mean.
Then she checks the video that just arrived in her messenger, and her eyes go wide.
“Wait—this is from yesterday?!”
“Yeah.”
Exactly.
Yesterday’s bedroom front-row concert had exactly one fancam.
And that’s also the reason I’m heading to the company right now.
Let me remind myself once again: my true role includes just as much of the “singer” share as the “producer” share.
Sure, I did give the fans the gift of the Blue poem, but given MyWay’s situation—where we had no choice but to focus entirely on Hylliy and Orion—the fact that there was less activity compared to Shooting Star definitely left some lingering regret.
“I was thinking of just cutting out a bit of Zia’s voice for fan service and uploading shorts versions to the café or YouTube. I’ll talk it over with Ailee first.”
It does feel a little guilty to pass this off as the event I did for Zia,
‘Well… it should be fine, right?’
Right now, most of my fans show a lot of goodwill toward my relationship with Zia (even though they don’t know her true identity, of course).
That conclusion comes from occasionally checking in on the EUJN fan café and the minor gallery under my name—so the margin of error shouldn’t be too big.
“Hmm… The composition is actually killer. If we trim Zia’s voice cleanly, it might really work…?”
“Right?”
And above all,
In the current music industry ecosystem pyramid, a relatively weak solo male singer trying to climb higher needs moves that are almost desperate like this.
“But…”
The elevator finally reaches the first floor.
Lee Ah-jeong, who had been staring intently at the video on her phone while walking unsteadily, only lifts her head after the clip ends and asks,
“After seeing this… do you really think Ailee will stop at just that? I don’t think so.”
Yeah.
Honestly, that’s what I’m a little worried about too.
***
“So, Yujin-ssi? When are you planning to work on the new song?”
As expected.
Dark circles even deeper than before frame Ailee’s eyes, where madness is already starting to seep in.
“I was just thinking of cutting out a short highlight and—”
The cautious suggestion I tried is immediately cut off by her intensity.
“Mmm… No way. If it were just covers from other singers, maybe. But you made a song like this and you’re just going to let it go? If that was the plan, you shouldn’t have shown it to me at all.”
“Haha… Ailee, calm down first—”
“Honestly? If I had my way, I’d just do a little screen correction on this video, wipe all the audio, re-record it fresh, and turn it straight into a music video. The vibe, the lyrics—everything works. You show me something like this and then tell me to calm down? Come on, Yujin-ssi, that’s too much.”
It seems the madness has completely broken her brakes.
“…is what I want to say. Tch. Can’t be helped. This is MyWay. If the artist wants it, that’s how it has to be.”
Fortunately, the madness doesn’t last long.
With a nuance that could be read as “I regret joining MyWay for the first time,” Ailee finally gives up.
Seeing her like that, I can only awkwardly scratch my neck.
Of course, I know.
‘She wants to release the song.’
When I think of all the singers who want to put out music but can’t, this is clearly a blessed complaint.
But,
‘I have plans too.’
If I’m going to use it anyway, I might as well do it properly, right?
“Here’s my plan for now. Since we have to edit out Zia’s voice anyway… I was thinking of uploading to the café starting next Monday. One per day.”
“Excluding the new song, that’s exactly seven tracks… Perfect for filling a full week. A nice size for a surprise reverse fan gift.”
“And… right when the fans think it’s over, I drop the new song. As a short. Just one verse.”
In that instant, the madness I thought had disappeared reignites in Ailee’s eyes.
“The new song?”
“Yeah.”
“Huh… Heh heh… Ha. Hahahahahaha!”
Ailee’s empty laughter gradually catches fire with madness.
“I feel a little bad saying this, but—”
“Go ahead, I’ll listen.”
“Are you actually sane?”
“Hmm. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”
“Hahahaha! No, seriously—are you crazy?! You’re planning to play push-and-pull with the fans?!”
Push-and-pull… when she puts it like that…
‘Wait… is it actually push-and-pull?’
I couldn’t exactly deny it, so I just kept quiet. Ailee, regardless, stroked her chin and continued muttering to herself.
“Tease the fans with a short clip of the new song… let them get really worked up… then when they’re banging on the door demanding the full version and official release, act like you can’t help it and drop it…”
It’s a simple method that can barely even be called marketing, yet it’s guaranteed to work on fans.
“But… are you sure this is okay?”
Ailee, who had instantly read my thoughts, suddenly asked with a hint of worry.
“What do you mean?”
“If this goes according to plan, the timing’s going to overlap. With Aejeong-un.”
She spoke as if concerned that my attention might get overshadowed.
I answer calmly.
“You said it yourself earlier, Ailee. It’s reverse fan service. It’s just fan service—so what could possibly be wrong with it?”
“Well… that’s true, but…”
By the time Lee Ah-jeong’s mini 6th album promotions wind down, it’ll probably get some reverse-chart action at best.
No matter how good the song is, Aejeong-un is a daesang-level title track—there’s no way it’ll lose out in a head-to-head, right?
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