Chapter 196 : Full Support
Chapter 196: Full Support
I talked grandly and said a lot.
But in the end, what I really wanted to say was this.
I have so many things I want to do! Please let me do all of them!
From my very first day working at Club Sierra.
I had filled an entire notebook with performances I truly wanted to create.
Thanks to CEO Kim Minsoo, I had been able to make quite a few of them a reality. Thankfully.
For example, on nights with a full moon, I would always open with <Lunatic Beat>.
Every song I released under Stay would always be performed as a remix.
The day before the Beginning of Autumn, I would perform <Summer Golden> at a slow tempo to announce the end of summer.
Ah! There was that too.
Whenever it rained, I stubbornly insisted that only hip-hop fit the weather and played a weather mix.
Whenever it was someone's birthday, I secretly prepared a surprise song and revealed it on stage without the audience knowing.
……Now that I thought about it, there really were a lot.
That's why I had always done things that way.
I had always created performances for everyone in my own way.
Maybe they had actually been performances for myself.
While performing here, I had learned more, felt more, grown more... and found comfort.
I raised my head and looked around the waiting room.
Club Sierra.
Rather than simply performing here, it felt like I was building my own world.
It was no longer just a place where I came to work a part-time DJ job.
It had become a part of me.
"Haa......"
Why was my throat suddenly stinging?
Just thinking about having to leave Sierra made my emotions well up.
It was a place filled with countless memories.
It was the place that had made me who I was today.
Perhaps sensing how I felt,
CEO Kim Minsoo spoke jokingly.
"What? Why are your eyes suddenly getting watery, Taeyoon? You must be sad about leaving Sierra, huh?"
I couldn't say anything.
Because every word he said was true.
Seeing that, Kim Minsoo looked flustered and gently patted my back before continuing.
"Yeah, that's understandable. Everyone's first is something special."
I lowered my head deeply.
I didn't want him to see my expression.
"I was the same. When I first opened this place, that was exactly how I felt. 'Let's make a club where everyone can comfortably enjoy performances.' 'Let's find just one DJ who can show people what real DJing looks like.' But Seonghan told me something. He said, 'Where are you ever going to find a DJ like that?' But then......"
Kim Minsoo's hand slowed.
"And here you are. Just like a miracle."
I raised my head and looked at Kim Minsoo.
A miracle.
It had been the same for me.
Back when I first saw the job posting and came to Sierra for the interview.
I had thought this.
If only I could show someone the skills I'd been practicing alone in my room, I'd have no greater wish.
I didn't have to become the main DJ.
Even if it was only a test, that was fine.
I wanted to stand on stage.
I wanted to see an audience enjoying my performance from the DJ booth.
Just once.
Only once.
And my wish had become reality.
Thanks to CEO Kim Minsoo.
Executive Director Kim Jinsoo watched us with a satisfied smile.
I lowered my gaze to the table.
There was a document envelope lying on top of it.
This time, my mindset was different.
There was no hesitation.
Still, one thing was one thing, and another was another.
I wanted to read it through carefully one more time.
"Not today."
"...Huh?"
"I'm way too nervous right now. My heart feels like it's about to burst. I'll go home, read it one more time, and when I'm ready then......"
Kim Jinsoo and Kim Minsoo burst into laughter at the same time.
"Sure, sure. Read it slowly."
"That's right. We'll let you do everything you want to do, so don't worry about things like that."
I really was an incredibly lucky person.
"Yes. I'll contact you soon."
The two of them left first.
I remained sitting alone in the waiting room for a while before opening the contract again.
"Wow......!"
Every single clause was touching.
This wasn't just a contract...
It felt as though someone had turned the ten clubs I'd always dreamed of into an official document.
The first thing that caught my eye was the phrase "Joint Operator."
Then came the sentence stating that I would receive a 5% non-voting preferred share in the Club Lunatic corporation.
As I kept turning the pages, I found an even more moving clause.
[ Party B shall possess independent creative authority over the club's overall music planning and performances, and Party A promises to provide full support without any interference whatsoever. ]
......Full! Support!
Barely steadying my trembling fingers, I turned the next page.
[ Upon signing this agreement, as the club's official brand partner, Party B shall be given priority in collaboration proposals with brands under the KW Group and shall be guaranteed the value of Blackhole as an independent brand. ]
A brand?
Me?
It felt like a dream, yet it was real.
The section about profits, especially, made me read it over several times.
[ Party B shall receive profit distributions based on equity participation as well as brand usage rights, and shall be paid a fixed percentage of the operating profits (15% of net profits) through quarterly settlements. ]
My mouth refused to close.
Even someone like me, who knew nothing about legal matters, could easily understand every clause written throughout the contract.
It was a contract written entirely for me—
For Blackhole.
I also liked the clause stating that, with prior consultation, I could participate in collaborations with other DJs or festivals.
The more I read, the more amazed I became.
"Huaa......!"
Fine, let's set the profit aside.
But when I reached the final sentence, I nearly lost my mind.
Because it was...
So touching.
[ This agreement goes beyond a simple commercial or planning partnership and establishes the shared vision of the Club Lunatic brand growing together with DJ Blackhole. ]
Growth.
A shared vision.
"Ahahahaha!"
There's really nobody here, right?
I hugged the contract tightly to my chest as I freely let my joy overflow.
That's how excited and happy I was.
Club Lunatic.
I couldn't wait to meet it.
One week later.
The three of us sat facing one another again.
"So, we're meeting today because it's good news, right?"
Kim Jinsoo still wore a relaxed smile as he waited for Taeyoon's answer.
Beside the neatly spread contract on the table,
a glossy black fountain pen rested quietly.
"Yes, but this......"
Taeyoon picked up the fountain pen.
It felt heavy and solid.
Kim Jinsoo smiled.
"It's a gift. You'll have many important decisions to make from now on, and I hope you'll remember today every time you make one."
A gift...
At the tip of the fountain pen, the engraved gold lettering gleamed.
I'd only ever seen pens like this in dramas or on the news.
Taeyoon gripped it tightly.
"Thank you."
There was no way he could fail to understand what this fountain pen meant.
It was an unspoken promise that we would write the future of Club Lunatic together.
Taeyoon bowed politely and turned to the final page of the contract.
He had read it so many times that he could practically recite it from memory.
Taking a deep breath, he lowered the pen onto the paper.
Scratch—
The black nib pressed against the page.
[ Seo Taeyoon ]
His neat signature was complete.
He carefully set the pen down and tried to put the cap back on.
"Uh? Why won't this close?"
"...You have to twist a fountain pen to close it."
At that moment, Taeyoon returned to being an innocent young man in his twenties.
Even this clumsy side of him looked adorable to Kim Jinsoo.
As long as a musician was good at making music, that was enough.
When Kim Jinsoo asked if he had any questions, Taeyoon spoke.
"When's the opening?"
"After the remodeling and all the necessary procedures, it'll probably take about three months."
"Ah......"
Thus, in a warm and friendly atmosphere, the Club Lunatic contract was finalized.
As Taeyoon absentmindedly fiddled with the fountain pen, he thought about his next destination.
Backstage.
After this, it was time for him to return—not as a DJ, but as a composer.
"Noona!"
"Holderbit!"
The Han Yujin noona I hadn't seen in a while had dark circles under her eyes, simple clothes, and hair that looked completely out of control.
...In other words, she looked exhausted.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm not."
"You should've gotten some rest."
"I think coming here is what counts as resting."
"That's a lie."
Apparently, the first place she'd come after returning from her concert in Japan was Backstage.
...Why?
"Why did you come here instead of going to the company?"
"I heard Sierra might be closing. Are you moving to the KW Hotel?"
My expression darkened a little.
"Can't you think of it as an expansion?"
"Still......"
"Are you going to miss it?"
Han Yujin nodded rapidly.
That made sense.
Wasn't she feeling something similar to me?
It had been her own little club too.
Of course, she'd been so busy lately that she hadn't been able to visit often.
"I watched all your videos."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. I even watched you battle that scary old man, Guldan."
"It wasn't a battle. It was a dual set."
I corrected her mistake without hesitation.
"Right. A dual set. I also watched the one where you invited those KW executives for a performance. I added all of them to my playlist. Old songs really are nice."
"Should someone making the trendiest music be saying something like that?"
We spent a long time catching up.
How her concert in Japan had gone.
What had been disappointing.
What songs she wanted to sing next.
"I've already written a song."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You're releasing a new album soon, aren't you?"
"Oh yeah! No wonder I wanted to come here first."
She still looked tired,
but her voice somehow sounded stronger than before.
As we continued talking, evening had already arrived.
Han Yujin picked up her smartphone and asked,
"You haven't eaten yet, have you? Let's go get spicy tteokbokki."
I shouted playfully.
"Tteokbokki? Aren't you supposed to be managing your diet? Tteokbokki? Manager-hyung! Yujin noona says she's going to eat tteokbokki~"
Han Yujin replied with a dejected face.
"You can yell all you want. He won't hear you. Manager-oppa didn't come."
"Huh? Why not?"
"Ddoli crossed the Rainbow Bridge yesterday evening."
"Ddoli?"
"Yeah. My manager-oppa's dog."
Han Yujin pulled up a picture and showed it to me.
"So cute. He still looks like a puppy."
A tiny Maltese that had turned fifteen this year.
Apparently, he'd been losing his strength rapidly lately.
"Isn't it strange? On the day I came back after my concert, he was so happy to see me that he wagged his tail like crazy. Usually, he just lay there because of his heart condition."
"Ah......"
Why was it that bad premonitions were almost never wrong?
"And then the next morning, when we woke up......"
Han Yujin couldn't finish her sentence.
"Is hyung okay?"
"I don't know. I couldn't figure out what to say to him, so I just told him not to come in and to get some rest. Nothing anyone says can really comfort someone at a time like this."
"He must be having a hard time."
"I'm more worried about his mother than I am about him."
Watching her absentmindedly stroke her phone as she murmured those words, I realized she must have loved that little dog very much too.
"Have you ever had a pet?"
"No. Never."
Sadly, not even once.
When I was little, I'd begged my parents to give me a younger sibling.
And when that wasn't possible, I'd begged them to at least let me have a puppy.
But Mom had firmly refused.
She told me over and over that bringing an animal into your home required an enormous sense of responsibility.
Maybe that was why.
Even after becoming an adult, I'd never imagined taking responsibility for another life.
Instead, whenever I saw a dog being walked around the neighborhood, I would always walk over to say hello.
Sometimes the owners would even let me play with them.
Whenever that happened, I'd carefully stroke their soft fur and gently place a finger on their tiny front paws.
The warmth.
The beating heart.
Those things were truly moving.
But the feeling of pouring all your love into such a small, soft little life...
And the grief when that life left you.
Those were feelings I still didn't fully understand.
Even so, I wanted to get closer to that emotion.
When a life that had completely filled someone's world disappeared,
could music fill the emptiness left behind?
For a moment, I found myself wondering.
"What about you, noona?"
"I did. Back when I was a trainee, my dog passed away. I couldn't even eat for ten days. Looking back now, our CEO was such a warm person. They waited for me and told me to come back only after I'd recovered."
"They really were a wonderful person."
"Yeah."
Perhaps remembering that time, Han Yujin wore a rather wistful expression.
I didn't know what words would be best in a moment like this,
but there was one thing I definitely wanted her to pass along.
"Noona."
"Yeah?"
"When you see Manager-hyung, tell him this for me. Tell him Ddoli was happy because he got to spend his life with him."
"...Okay."
We ended up talking about Ddoli so much that I never got the chance to let her hear my new song.
After seeing her off, I sat there blankly for a while.
The emptiness left behind by a small life.
I still didn't know how deep that loss truly was.
But perhaps music could express feelings that words never could.
It was an unusually quiet night.
I didn't want to let this emotion simply pass by.
A piece of music that didn't need to be shown to anyone.
A piece meant solely to comfort one person.
A song that didn't need applause.
A song where it was perfectly okay to quietly cry.