Episode 124: Collaboration (1)
Around half a day after Soyagok was released on streaming platforms including Cocoa…
“Ah, Yujin-ssi. Congratulations.”
MyWay staff members.
“I already thought the song was good, but wow—Magician for real. Can you come back on Music Square sometime later?”
“Yujin-ah, if you’ve got time, can you take a look at mine too? Hey, what does age even matter here! The one who sings better is the hyung!”
Other MyWay artists, including Go Yo-han and Park Juan.
“Teacher! Huge hit! I felt it during the stream too—it’s an absolute monster!”
“Can I use Soyagok as my assignment track next month?”
“You think you’d pass with Teacher’s song? Don’t even try it, please.”
And even MyWay’s trainees.
Everyone I ran into was showering me with congratulations.
The fuss felt a little overwhelming, but at the same time, I understood why.
“AZ’s only real rivals are time and familiarity.”
Someone had said that in my previous life.
I don’t clearly remember who, but they were probably one of Lee Ahjeong’s fans.
Breaking it down, it meant something like: “The only way to push AZ’s song off number one is when enough time passes that people get so used to it, it stops feeling fresh.”
Of course, after Polaris came back from massive success in the U.S., that statement lost some of its weight.
Still, Lee Ahjeong’s songs had such a rock-solid image of “naturally sitting at the top of the charts” that it was hard to argue against.
‘If even other agencies felt that way, imagine how it is inside MyWay.’
So it made sense that people were going this wild—Lee Ahjeong’s song, right in the middle of being a huge topic, had been dethroned from number one.
And if the person who did it was someone they worked with, talked to, and even learned from? The reaction would naturally be even bigger.
Even if it was only for a very short time.
[(1↑) 1. Love Luck (愛情雲) – AZ]
[(1↓) 2. Soyagok (小夜曲) – Han Yujin]
The chart had already normalized.
Lee Ahjeong’s playful (99% joking) complaint about being pushed to “second place” had quickly become irrelevant—Love Luck shot right back to the top.
Maybe that’s why, mixed in with all the congratulations, there was a faint hint of disappointment in people’s eyes.
The exaggerated reactions were probably partly to cover that up.
Of course, I didn’t mind at all.
‘It was just the opening boost, that’s all.’
Barring rare reverse-chart cases, the peak reaction for any content almost always comes right at release.
Even last month, during the three-way battle between Orion, E-GIS, and Polaris, Orion held strong for about a week after E-GIS and Polaris dropped their new songs before the momentum finally faded.
If you consider the real performance to be what happens after the opening hype dies down, there’s nothing to feel regretful about.
‘I knew from the start it wouldn’t hold.’
That was the immediate follow-up thought after hearing Lee Ahjeong’s “bean line” comment and realizing “Soyagok actually hit number one.”
No matter how well-made Soyagok was.
Even with the massive marketing that blanketed an entire subway station.
Even if it rode that wave long enough to briefly knock Lee Ahjeong down to second place—I never expected the result to last.
‘Of course not. Ahjeong sunbae is world-class.’
Lee Ahjeong’s fandom, AtoZ, had long surpassed national scale and reached global level.
No matter how hard EUJN members streamed—even borrowing family and friends’ accounts—the sheer difference in weight class was impossible to overcome.
I might’ve hoped for a decent run if the opponent were average, but against Lee Ahjeong? Hoping for more would’ve been delusional.
Even if the marketing hadn’t stopped at covering a subway station and had gone as far as putting my face on a giant outdoor LED screen in the middle of Gangnam, expecting anything beyond this would’ve been unrealistic.
‘This much is already insane.’
Honestly, that’s how I feel.
When I first talked about Soyagok with Ailee?
Back then, my expectation for its performance was that it might start reverse-climbing the charts only after Lee Ahjeong’s Victoria promotions were completely over.
The whole point of releasing Soyagok was never about chart domination—it was simply so I wouldn’t bury a song made for Zia and could let my fans hear it too.
I hadn’t even cared about promotion; the album jacket was just a color palette swap of Blue Poem’s.
So reaching third place and pushing Polaris’s mini-album title track Voltex down—even temporarily—was already far beyond decent. It was an overwhelming success compared to what I’d imagined.
That’s why I’m not disappointed.
‘This is all just another step in the build-up.’
My ultimate goals are still the same: the Daesang, and marriage.
Now that I’ve thrown away the easy path of being an idol, I have at least two years—maybe three—of major milestones to watch over. I can’t afford to get hung up on small ups and downs like this.
If this becomes one more step toward that destination, that’s enough.
Hylliy’s production, Orion’s launch, E-GIS’s joining, Project Trinity—all of it is the same.
‘Of course, the beginning really was the joy and fulfillment of creating a “singer” with my own hands.’
But now, even that has become something I have to use as a tool.
Honestly, if it weren’t for those conditions, I might not have pushed this hard.
‘Orion’s launch and the Jooyul merger were unavoidable anyway.’
But something as high-risk as Project Trinity—I probably wouldn’t have jumped in this aggressively without knowing the future.
Maybe that’s why, when Zia pushed me toward this Project Trinity thing,
She never said anything like “It’s okay if you fail.”
Zia probably already vaguely knows that every misstep I take pushes our wedding back even further.
In that sense, I really am lucky.
‘So many people helping me out like this.’
Whether all this good karma is mine or Zia’s, I’m not sure.
Well, who cares—good is good.
***
[Content Planning Team ▶]
The moment I stepped out of the elevator and turned my head, a plastic sign pointing exactly where I needed to go caught my eye.
I quickened my pace past the sign, and soon I saw the face I was looking for rise from between the partitions with a bright smile.
“Ah, Yujin-ssi. You’re here?”
“Hello, Assistant Manager Shim.”
The staff member from the content planning team who’d come to help during Soyagok’s live stream—one of the few who hadn’t transferred to BNW along with Lee Ahjeong.
And now, for this particular project, he’d become “MyWay’s on-site coordinator.”
“Wow. Congratulations. I already knew it during the stream—this was going to be huge.”
“Second place?”
“Come on, you know that’s not what I mean.”
Assistant Manager Shim Byeong-jun laughed heartily at my joke before gesturing toward one of the meeting rooms.
Inside the room, now just the two of us, he brought up the topic first.
“I heard from BNW that Lee Ahjeong-ssi already explained most of the details to you, Yujin-ssi.”
Hearing that made gratitude toward Lee Ahjeong well up inside me again.
The real reason she’d come to see me this morning wasn’t just to playfully sulk (99% joking) about me pushing her song down to second place.
Her true purpose in coming to find me was:
“Yujin-ssi. Since things turned out like this… how about we do a collab? I’ll cover Soyagok, and you cover Love Luck. Sounds fun, right?”
To turn what could have ended as a one-off buzz (“someone challenging AZ’s throne”) into a full-blown fireworks finale of a festival.
Naturally, there wasn’t a single reason to refuse.
Both Love Luck and Soyagok were lyrical, love-themed songs built on acoustic sounds—perfectly suited for a cross-collaboration.
‘Leeching off Ahjeong sunbae’s name value… who would feel ashamed about that?’
I’d already milked Shooting Star dry—what’s one more time?
It had never been hard before—why would the second time be any different?
Linking up with Lee Ahjeong in a positive, high-profile way would also put pressure on the Project Trinity side, and the benefits gained from that would later become another stepping stone toward the success of my grand goals.
“Yes. I’ve heard everything.”
“Great. The official cover will probably be framed as filming for INDEX on AZ.”
INDEX on AZ.
The irregularly scheduled live-performance-style program on Lee Ahjeong’s YouTube channel, timed to her activity periods.
For a world-class artist with a fandom at that level, its reach was comparable—if not superior—to the Midnight Café appearance that came out of Shooting Star.
Naturally, there was no reason to refuse that either.
“I can finish arranging Love Luck for myself quickly. I can also arrange Soyagok for you to sing, sunbae.”
“Haha. You don’t have to go that far. BNW said they’ll adjust the schedule to fit yours—when would work best for you?”
It was just a guest appearance on an already-established program.
Logically, I should be the one adjusting to their schedule—but the fact that they were willing to accommodate me probably meant BNW had heard about my current situation.
“Any time works for me.”
But that didn’t matter either.
“The sooner the better, actually.”
“When both sides are conceding this much, it actually makes coordination harder, haha. Got it. Then I’ll coordinate with BNW on this end.”
“Instead of calling it compensation… I was thinking of bringing a few gallery members along. Would that be okay?”
“Gallery? Ah.”
There was no way Assistant Manager Shim didn’t already know what BNW knew.
He was talking about Chaekyung, Nari, and Soyoung.
‘Skipping a day of exercise… isn’t ideal, but…’
Giving them a little breather wouldn’t hurt.
Above all, this was a rare chance to witness world-class talent up close.
For the kids, it was an opportunity that wouldn’t come around often.
‘I’d love to bring every single trainee if I could.’
Even if BNW and MyWay were practically one body now, that would still be crossing a line.
“If that’s the case, they’d probably say it’s fine to bring all the other trainees too.”
“Ahjeong sunbae would definitely say that…”
“But?”
“But there’s a difference between me saying it and Ahjeong sunbae saying it.”
Hearing that, Assistant Manager Shim burst into another hearty laugh.
“If that’s how you feel, Yujin-ssi, I’ll talk to them. If they push back, we’ll just push harder.”
Knowing full well that his bold words were mostly bravado.
And understanding exactly what kind of heart made him volunteer for something he didn’t even need to do.
The thought suddenly crossed my mind again—whether all this good fortune was mine or Zia’s.
“Haha!”
I ended up laughing out loud, just like he had.
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TL Note:
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[This series is in the “Regressed Idol” collection]
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