(T/N: [] speech is spoken in Japanese)
[Is it here?]
Producer Akabashi was leading a chubby man with a thick beard in front of MG Entertainment.
[Come quick.]
[Slow down, I’m tired.]
The chubby body definitely did seem like it would induce severe fatigue. He was quite unlike your ordinary Japanese man, who ate relatively little. Producer Akabashi, by his side, sighed at him.
[You should really lose some weight.]
[Why are you talking about my weight now?]
[Fine. The president must be waiting. Let’s go.]
The two people went past the busy lobby and headed to the president’s office. President Lee HyunJi welcomed them there.
[Hello, and welcome.]
[It’s been a while, HyunJi-san.]
[Hello, Akabashi-san. Is the person next to you Oda Futaba-san?]
The man called Oda extended his hand out to shake hands. Lee HyunJi lightly introduced herself and led them to the place. With some snacks, they introduced themselves, and they got to work.
[A concert in Korea, you say. How large are you thinking of?]
[Around 1,000 to 3,000 people as the audience.]
[You’re coming all the way to Korea for this, would that really be fine for you?]
Oda waved his hands, as though he didn’t care about such things.
[I only want a stage where I can enjoy myself with the fans. I don’t ask for a lot of profit.]
[It will be very difficult for us to produce a concert purely for entertainment.]
President Lee HyunJi drew the line there. Many singers were willing to do ‘free concerts’ for their fans, but as a company, that was practically a loss for them. Profit was a very important element. There were many cases where a singer and his/her company fought over this.
Fortunately, Oda wasn’t someone with a biased view.
[What should I do?]
[It won’t be that different from what you usually do. Oda-san can just focus on the stage. As for the audience and the income from the concert, we will take care of it. That is, if you are willing to sign a contract with us.]
[It does make me worry since Korea and Japan are different. I wonder if everything I do will disappoint my fans.]
Producer Akabashi interjected.
[Why do you think I brought you here? How many times do I have to say that there are good people here?]
[But even you only saw him when you planned for the music recording.]
This time, it was President Lee HyunJi.
[You’re referring to Team Leader Lee KangYoon. Team Leader Lee is our pride. I can promise you satisfaction in your concert.]
[Satisfaction, you say.]
Oda hesitated. However, both Producer Akabashi next to him, and President Lee HyunJi in front of him seemed to believe in this man called KangYoon. He became curious about him now.
[Looks like I will decide after meeting this person.]
To strike the iron while it was hot, Oda requested a meeting with this KangYoon, but President Lee HyunJi shook her head.
[It will be difficult right now. He’s currently outside due to a concert. I will tell him to contact you when he comes back later.
[What concert is it?]
Oda looked as though he would go there immediately. However, his expression darkened after seeing President Lee HyunJi hesitate. After a while, she told him that he was working on a breakdancing concert that will take place in Bucheon Art Center, and he stood up immediately.
[Book it.]
[What?]
[Let’s go and see – how amazing this guy really is]
Producer Akabashi was dumbfounded at his friend Oda’s quick-to-action.
The preparation for the concert progressed smoothly.
The new act, ‘Puppeteering’, was also going well as well. Unlike the start, JooAh now had to prepare two pieces, but she was satisfied to le
arn breakdancing. Her personality acted as a mood maker. Since she wasn’t picky about capable people, there were no problems here.
While everyone was busy preparing for the concert, KangYoon was taking a phone call.
– The permission to use the Large Hall has been granted. Congratulations.
“Understood. Thanks for your cooperation.”
– Hahaha. Not at all. Both the center owner and the directors were praising your concert. And to top it off, there’s JooAh. They all said that this will be the best concert of the year, and have decided to watch. Oh, and speaking about that, do you have any….
“Don’t worry about that. I will give you the seats with the best view.”
“As expected. Thank you.”
KangYoon joyfully ended the call there. Some tickets to the Large Hall was nothing. The audience increased from 200 to 500, and now to 1,500.
KangYoon immediately went to the practice room and told everyone.
“Is that for real!?”
The one with the biggest reaction was Bang SanHyuk. He jumped around while grabbing other people’s hands like a little child. In the first place, he was expecting around 200 people, but now it was several times the scale.
“This is natural.”
Of course, JooAh was an exception. She was already immune to the series of miracles that KangYoon kept pulling off. It was just like how a girlfriend would act lukewarm if she received flowers on her birthday after receiving a handbag the year before.
“Now, the problem is how to sell all these tickets. To sell all 1,500 of these….”
That’s when their cheers died down. Just because they procured such a large space didn’t mean that everything was over. While everyone was worried, KangYoon was actually not worried at all.
“… I’ve asked professional internet websites, and also uploaded the street performances you did. We are also advertising pretty well through social networking services, and I’ve told JooAh’s fan café and posted on MG’s homepage that she would be appearing. We should be able to sell all fifteen-hundred tickets with ease.”
“…….”
Everyone was dumbfounded by KangYoon’s quick actions. They always wondered what KangYoon was doing in the office with all that paperwork, and they didn’t imagine that it was related to this. Their remaining doubts about him were all erased now.
But this wasn’t the end.
“When I looked at the contents, I found out that we needed some equipment like neon lights, So I ordered most of the things we could rent with our current budget. The tickets, the equipment, and the contents are done…. Is there anything else you need?”
“…….”
Now, they were beyond dumbfounded and were shocked. Even Kim DoMin, who stayed next to KangYoon for the longest time out of all of them, was in the same situation. They only wondered when KangYoon had taken care of such big matters.
‘Why are they so surprised?’
Only JooAh, who knew him well, clicked her tongue.
“Everyone, applaud the team leader!”
Along with Bang SanHyuk’s shout, everyone started clapping loudly. KangYoon, who was actually quite upset about how they treated him before, felt good and smiled.
Practice resumed, and the team started sweating again. At that time, KangYoon headed to the Large Hall of Bucheon Art Center. He had to talk with the professionals there about how to set up the lights and other equipment.
“Hello.”
KangYoon greeted them politely and started working properly. From the light director to the sound director, and the special effects director, everyone said their thoughts to KangYoon and they worked on the designs.
“The floor is slippery, so I think we have to minimize using the dry ice machine. If something goes wrong, they might be injured.”
“The smoke from the fog machine rises upwards. You won’t be able to produce the desired effect on this piece.”
At KangYoon’s words, the special effects director turned stern. KangYoon also agreed with those words.
“Why don’t we go with something else instead? We must emphasize the dancing, so we’ll go with something simple rather than something fancy.”
“Understood. Then should we go with lasers instead of smoke effects?”
“That sounds good. I’d love to see pillars of fire, but I guess that won’t happen, right?”
“Hahaha, you’ll get beaten by the owner.”
KangYoon progressed his work even while having some joking banter with the special effects director.
The important element in lighting was that no light could leak from the outside. KangYoon knew well that, due to the characteristics of the art center, light usually wouldn’t leak in, but he still turned off all the lights and observed whether any light was leaking in.
Working with the three of them, time went by in a flash.
“Thank you for your work.”
After a light drinking session with the directors, KangYoon separated from them. Since they had already come to a negotiation, they would be able to set up the stage and get ready for the rehearsal.
When he got on the train home, fatigue overcame his body. KangYoon leaned on the wall and dozed off.
His day passed by like that.
“Sheesh, why did I forget my wallet….”
Having returned from school, HeeYoon grumbled while throwing her shoes off in frustration at the door. (T/N: No shoes allowed indoors in Korea (and Japan)) She forgot her wallet on her day of dialysis…. So, she had to make a roundabout trip to her house.
She was about to take the wallet she left on top of the table when she found a letter on the postbox. It didn’t look ordinary and was even written in English.
‘What is this? Is this for my brother?’
The receivers’ names were “LEE KANGYOON and LEE HEEYOON”. Since her name was on it, she picked it up. She ripped it open to read it, but she frowned immediately.
‘It’s all in English?’
The letter paper was luxurious and was even rimmed in gold, and it was all written in English. In the end, she put the letter in her bag and headed to the hospital.
As always, HeeYoon had a light consultation session with the doctor and started her dialysis. Although she became fatigued after the dialysis, it seemed that her body was getting better, as now she was capable of doing everyday things even after the dialysis. Of course, it was difficult to do something that strained her muscles, but the doctors were surprised to see her recovery.
While the machine was at work, HeeYoon took out the letter to see if she could read anything off it.
‘What does that mean?’
She could read ‘Hello’, no problem. However, the rest were the problem. The ‘grammar’ she learned at school was all useless. The sentence structures that her English teacher talked about all the time seemed to have no relation at all to this letter.
“Hm? What’s up with that letter?”
But a young intern doctor seemed to be interested in her letter and approached her. He read through the letter a little bit before translating it fluently.
“Dear Mr. KangYoon, Ms. HeeYoon. Thank you for your patronage at our XX hospital. Regarding the kidney transplant we had discussed last time……”
“Wait, kidney transplant!?”
(T/N: I don’t see a ‘Hello’ anywhere… And why is this a physical letter and not an e-mail)
Shouted HeeYoon in surprise. She was so loud that it rang out across the quiet hospital room. HeeYoon asked again in a small voice in embarrassment.
“Wh…… what does it say about the kidney.”
“Can you give it to me for a sec?”
After receiving the letter from HeeYoon, the intern doctor started interpreting the letter. The contents were that HeeYoon’s turn for the kidney transplant was here and that she should come to the US as soon as possible. The specific details would be given later.
“…….”
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep it a secret for you.”
The intern doctor gave the dumbfounded HeeYoon back the letter and started going around the wards again. He also didn’t forget to say that he would keep it a secret for her.
Left alone, HeeYoon grabbed her thumping chest.
‘A transplant…?’
Normal, becoming normal again? Could She live just like the others of her age?
HeeYoon’s chest started thumping rapidly.
Saturday, May 16th.
D-day.
Large Hall, Bucheon Art Center.
People started gathering 2 hours before the designated 5 p.m., at 3 p.m. From young students to JooAh’s fans with posters, even middle-aged men could be seen as well.
‘Not bad.’
KangYoon walked around the lobby and analyzed the audience. He was worried that the audience was only comprised of JooAh’s fans or teenagers, but that did not happen. His marketing strategy – advertising across multiple media – was effective.
“There there there! You should….”
Inside the yet-to-open hall, the team was undergoing a dress rehearsal with Bang SanHyuk. The team was dressed in their costumes as well and did a run-through of all the pieces they were doing today. They also checked if the floor was too slippery or not, or whether the lights were too bright or not as they practiced.
And now, there are 40 minutes before it begins.
People started entering. The audience immediately filled the seats. Behind the closed curtains on the stage, the team members of Battlemonsters did a final round of practice.
“Fuu….”
JooAh was also at the rehearsal. Although she only appeared in two of the pieces, she still did her best. She had to put on a mask and had to be in perfect sync with the rest of the breakdancing crew, so the pressure on her was very high.
The final rehearsal was over, and the stage was cleaned as well.
“I heard JooAh was appearing today.”
“Wow, they must have spent a lot of money on this. But I still like DoMin-oppa more.”
“JooAh for me….”
People had their own expectations of this concert as they sat down. Some of them even brought posters and glowing sticks.
While the audience was laughing and chatting, the time for the performance arrived.
-Ten.
A deep voice of a man came out from the voice. The chatting fans all looked around to see what was happening.
-Nine.
The lights darkened slightly. People realized that the performance was going to begin soon.
-Eight.
People started shouting along. Even though there were no signs anywhere, everyone’s reactions were amazing.
Like that, the numbers kept decreasing.
5, 4, 3, 2…, 1. The curtains slowly rose and the lights on the audience’s seats darkened.
And zero.
All lights turned off and the spotlight suddenly shone the center of the stage. And along with a dun-dun sound, a trio’s dance began. It started off with just rhythmical beats, but then eventually other sounds joined in as well and it burst out with a loud cymbal crash. With that, all the lights turned on and a man did a back handstand and grabbed everyone’s attention.
“Kyaaaaaaah~~~~!!”
Along with the cheers that resounded across the hall, Battlemonsters opened their stage.