Spring, the Season of Harvest (7)

"A song?"

Chief Lee Taeshin licked his lips.

The few seconds it took to open his chapped lips felt like an eternity.

"We got one."

"Ah."

"We finished the guide track{1} and are currently working on the lyrics."

"Who's it being produced by?"

This felt like I was in the future.

My words felt like they were caught on my throat, but somehow, words were flowing smoothly from my mouth.

My voice sounded excessively calm and unfamiliar.

"I don't know if you've heard of him. His name is DOM…"

"Domi?{2}"

"DOM. He's an unknown songwriter."

Chief Lee Taeshin laughed like he heard some amazing joke.

DOM, huh?

I had heard most songwriters while preparing for Neptune's mini-album last time, but it was my first time hearing this name.

Still, since I knew his name, I could probably figure out his contact info with a few calls…

But what would I do when I have it?

They've already finished the guide track so what was I going to do?

"It's been too difficult to get songs from famous songwriters."

Chief Lee Taeshin continued to talk.

"If we rush over because they tell us they have a song for us, it's usually a song that has been rejected constantly over the years. Ah, of course, we're grateful even for that. There have been cases where songs like that became hits. But…"

He lowered his voice.

"We couldn't bear the costs. We don't even have enough money to prepare outfits so the girls have been repairing them on their own."

A bitterness flashed on his smiling face.

Because he kept scratching his hair, it looked like a rat's nest.

"Since Neptune has their own songwriter, you probably don't have to hunt for songs anymore."

His gaze momentarily fell on Lee Taehee.

"Royal Family OST is still first. I'm been listening to it nonstop as well. The OST was so good, I wonder how great the album will be… If you have any songs left over, could you let us…"

Chief Lee Taeshin waved both his hand when he saw my eyes.

"Ah, no, I'm always speaking nonsense like this. You must need a ton of songs for Neptune's full album so there's no way any songs would be leftover."

Just as I was about to speak,

"Pretty Girls! Where are you? You have to be on standby now!"

"Ye-yes! We're coming!"

Chief Lee Taeshin quickly gathered the Pretty Girls members at the staff's call.

"Chief Jung, then we'll be taking our lea-!"

"Could I get your business card?"

I held him back and handed him my business card from my wallet.

"If you have time, I would like to grab a few drinks…"

"Of course, of course! Any time!"

Eyes bulging, Chief Lee Taeshin accepted my business card. Then he fumbled through before handing me his. The staff calling for Pretty Girls began to sound irritated. Mouth opening and closing, Chief Lee Taeshin rushed over to the staff.

I looked at the card in my hand. It felt like more like Pandora's Box than a business card.

One that contained blessings and evils.

Tightly gripping this thin piece of cardstock, I turned around.

A Pretty Girls member glanced at me as she passed by.

The moment our eyes met, my vision swam.

What the heck?

My ability didn't activate no matter how much I begged it, and now it activated twice in a row.

Without the time to think about it, I concentrated. I could see a computer screen through my static-filled vision. My fingers slowly rolled the mouse wheel. Straining my eyes, I recognized what was on the screen.

It was an article.

There was a picture. It was the girl just now. The Pretty Girls member.

I scrolled down. A caption was boldly printed under the picture.

{Pretty Girls Jung Jei feels undeserving of her title, "The Second Lee Songha"}

My feet seized. I stood in the doorway again.

My eyes looking back at Jung Jei.

Albeit slowly, my mind had been working until now, but it seemed to have finally broken down. The caption still lingered in my eyes.

The Second Lee Songha?

She'll be called that? Her?

She gave off a milder impression compared to the overwhelming Lee Songha.

Maybe it was because of the mole next to her eye, but she had a wistful yet attractive…

I was examining her face, but she suddenly stretched her hand out.

"Can you give me one too? Your business card?"

"Oppa!"

A voice dragged me out from my thoughts.

Im Seoyoung was crouching next to the sofa as she looked up at me. She looked nervous and restless. She put so much strength in her eyes that her eyelids were trembling.

"The child who you gave your business card to is only 22 years old!"

"What are you talking about? She's only a year younger than you."

"She's a child! Since you're 29, oh my god, there's a seven-year difference!"

"That's true. But I don't thi-"

"You were in elementary school when she was born!"

"No, I was probably in preschool."{3}

"Then when she was in middle school, you were in the army! An army mister!"

"… That's true."

She didn't give me any time to think.

With a quick sigh, I looked around. It seemed Lee Kwanwoo and the stylist had left as I only saw Lee Taehee and LJ. Both were staring at me with their earphones out and phones down. They stared at me like they were observing me.

But why were there only three?

"Where did Songha go?"

"I'm here."

The heck?

Lee Songha was sitting right next to me like some earthbound spirit.

"I've been sitting next to you for a while now."

"Euahh, this is big. A big problem."

Making a fuss, Im Seoyoung grabbed my knee.

"Oppa, were you the time to fall in love at first sight?"

"I have no idea what the heck you're talking about."

"Don't tell me you want to date her or anything, right? When she's seven years younger than you?"

"What does age got to do with it?"

Lee Songha hastily joined in.

"There's no order to marriage."

"What?"

"No, not this. What I mean is why does age matter when you're going to age at the same rate? It wouldn't matter if there was a seven or even a seventy-year difference."

"A seventy-year difference probably won't do."

Lee Songha blankly opened and closed her mouth at my words. She didn't seem right. Her dark eyes were moving quickly as her brain churned.

LJ casually said,

"Well, age doesn't matter. But she looks too much like a minor. Songha, when you're next to her, she looked so much younger than you."

"I do look old for my age."

Lee Songha nodded her head in agreement.

I was so dumbfounded that I laughed.

Thinking this was an opportunity, Im Seoyoung added,

"That's right. She looks like a minor. If you date her, you'll be handcuffed…!"

"You, acting like this to me, is an illness. Also, who's going to date who?"

"You gave her your business card!"

"Ah, so we're dating if I give her my business card? There are probably hundreds of people in this industry that have my card so am I King Uija{4}? I just gave her one. You all have my business card too. The one I gave you to commemorate me becoming a chief."

"This. I have it right here."

Lee Songha looked through her bag and took out a business card. My business card.

"Why do you carry that around?"

"I have another at home. This is my lucky charm when I'm on the go."

"Ah, okay."

Lee Songha put the business card back and stretched her hand out.

"Give me a new one too please."

"You said you already have two. Why another one?"

"The design seemed to have changed when I glanced at it."

I couldn't really understand, but I was used to it now.

"… Why are you collecting different designs?"

"Seoyoung unni collects dolls with different faces too."

Im Seoyoung was dumbfounded as she shouted,

"Hey! Songha, how dare you compare that to this! The details of my dolls are completely different!"

"The details on these are very different too."

Lee Songha firmly kept her hand out.

"Please give me one."

"Okay, it's not like it's valuable or anything."

"Then two please."

I gave her all but one of my cards in my wallet. The corners of Lee Songha's closed lips kept creeping up. She wasn't the type to express her happiness when companies sponsored shoes or bags that cost tens of millions of won, yet here she was. Maybe I should hand out my business card whenever she feels down?

I leaned against the sofa with this foolish thought.

Soon, Lee Kwanwoo and the stylist arrived with snacks. The waiting room became as loud as normal. Lee Taehee put her earphones back in her ears, and Im Seoyoung mumbled her lines. Lee Songha was standing in a corner practicing their choreography.

There was only one person still staring at me.

LJ kicked the floor. Her chair wheeled towards me.

"I'm just telling you this for your own good. Don't fall for it."

"For what?"

LJ came close and whispered,

"Fall for temptation."

*

Although I didn't know why LJ said that to me, it fit perfectly with my situation.

As I really was suffering from temptation.

Two snakes perched on each on my shoulders and whispered,

'Just swallow it. You can do it. It's not like they officially started recording.'

'And what if it rots inside you. You might really become a piece of trash in the future.'

It felt like their forked tongues churning my brain.

It was the same even if I took a cold shower. It didn't clear my mind. It only resulted in goosebumps. I couldn't act rashly. A single step. It felt like I was standing a crossroad where a single step could change everything.

At some point, my alarm rang.

I took a break from my worries and moved.

The day was brightening outside my window.

"Chief Jung, why do you look so haggard? Did you have a hard time falling asleep?"

The SBE Film project producer asked as he stuck his head out from the back seat of the bus.

Not only did I have a hard time falling asleep, but I didn't sleep at all.

"Producer, your face is all puffy. Did you not sleep?"

"I didn't sleep a wink. It's always like this for me the day before a release. I always get nightmares if I fall asleep. Like the opening scores crawling along the bottom or hearing people talking badly about the movie while I'm in a stall. Stuff like that."

Everyone on the bus was similar. The actors, managers, and staff, who had gathered for the commemorative shoot, were all nervous and tired wrecks. In fact, even Director Choi Sungwon was yawning nonstop.

"Still, maybe it's because I'm with you, but it feels different from the past."

The project producer said in a joking manner.

People sitting close to us joined in,

"Instead of praying to God, Buddha, or the gods of heaven and earth, I might start praying to Chief Jung Sunwoo."

"Mr. Sunwoo, don't tell me you poured all your luck in Royal Family. You left a little for us, right?"

"Do you sense anything about today's results?"

"I am not a shaman."

The staff laughed with rigid faces at my words.

I looked behind me. Lee Songha and Nam Joyoon were sitting next to each other amongst the actors. Within this mood of excitement and nervousness, only they looked calm as a pool of water. An employee from SBE Film was filming the actors.

The bus stopped in front of the Yeongdeungpo multiplex cinema. People were gathered here to see actors enter as it seemed they failed to get tickets for the screening where the actors greeted the audience. There were even DSLRs with huge lenses.

"Lee Kihwan! Oppa, you're so amazing! Please go in slowly!"

"Hey, it's Park Saeryung! Her face is the size of my first… Oh my god, hey! It's Lee Songha! Look at her face!"

"Amazing! We'll definitely go watch your movie! We'll watch it ten times!"

I heard excited voices in the crowd. The actors were in the middle as the staff and security escorted them inside. As the people here were experienced with events like this, they smoothly arrived in front of the theatre showing Alive. Looking inside, it was already packed with people.

With Director Choi Sungwon at the front, Lee Kihwan and Park Saeryung entered while waving their hands. The theatre erupted. Screams and cheers echoed. I saw a few of these before, but they weren't as intense as this one. Well, the cast was simply too splendid.

I said to Lee Songha,

"I'll be waiting here so good luck with your lines."

"Yes, I'll be back soon."

Lee Songha went in with steadfast steps. Even though it was her first time attending an event like this, she didn't seem nervous at all. Well, she did perform in front of thousands of people and went around to market her drama. She was no longer the rookie who would be startled by a few hundred people.

I turned my gaze and looked at Nam Joyoon.

"Hope you have a good time, hyung."

"I'm going because you told me to, but…"

"It's not me. SBE requested this. To go to these stage greetings."

After scratching his neck, Nam Joyoon walked in front of the audience seats.

It would have been great if they entered after the movie, but since this was an event before the actual screening, the audience's reaction was relatively lukewarm. They were clapping out a respect, thinking he was an actor since he came at the end of the procession.

I clicked my tongue in regret when Nam Joyoon suddenly stopped. His surprised eyes locked on a single spot. Curious, I checked to see if people he knew had come.

It didn't take long. In the middle of the audience, a handful of familiar faces sat in a row.

{1} Guide Track – Track that roughly lays out the structure of the song.

{2} It could sound like 'Domi' to Jung Sunwoo because of the actual sentence structure here. Also, Chief Lee Taeshin gives him a more Korean pronunciation after.

{3} So FYI, Koreans count age differently. Koreans consider themselves 1 when they are born.

{4} Legend/myth where he had 3,000 court ladies