The next day, after finishing the music video shoot and returning to the company, chaos had broken out.
“Wow.”
Entertainnt reporters were camped out in front of Lemon Entertainnt.
I saw so unfamiliar foreigners too—probably paparazzi. Add in Hailey Blue’s Korean fans and the usual sasaengs, and it was a madhouse.
“There are so many people.”
Junhyun said with a hum.
“Can we even get out? ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ Ri Hyuk might get blown away.”
“I’m not that light.”
As Ri Hyuk trembled, we all peered out the tinted windows at the crowd.
Junhyun looked a bit serious and said,
“Should I try to break through carefully, hyung?”
“Junhyun.”
“Yes?”
“You’ll end up on the front page.”
“I’m not that reckless.”
Junhyun snorted and the other kids giggled, when Minki hyung in the passenger seat said,
“Don’t worry. I’ll clear a path.”
“Ooh!”
“See why I’m team leader.”
Minki hyung laughed, put on a baseball cap, and got out to part the crowd so we could drive in.
Then—
“Excuse , now—!”
Reporters converged, and Minki hyung was swept into the throng like a general at the Battle of the Salsu River.
“Wow, he’s drifting away...”
We watched Minki hyung disappear, then checked our phones.
The reason for the uproar was the Arican top star herself.
“Hailey Blue heads straight to Lemon Entertainnt upon arriving in Korea? Teases collaboration with NewBlack”
“Who is Hailey Blue, who announced a collab with NewBlack? Forbes’ highest-earning female singer”
“[Photo] Hailey Blue: ‘Take pictures of my hanbok. My look is **-flawless’”
Photo news even showed her in hanbok entering the building.
The company was clearly in ergency mode.
“Hailey Blue is coming? Why wasn’t this told to us?”
“We just found out too.”
“Oh.”
Everyone else seed to know as if it were planned: “An Arican singer’s surprise visit?” In reality, it wasn’t planned at all. She was just a free spirit.
“But hyung, how do we get out of here?”
I called Hailey while looking at the people surrounding the car.
Her fairy-like blue-haired face appeared on video.
“Hey~ Why aren’t you coming in?”
“Hailey, we have a problem.”
“What problem?”
When we showed her the scene outside, Hailey laughed and said,
“Hold on. I’ll help.”
“Hailey.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t use drastic thods.”
I imagined her storming out screaming “Get lost, you ***!” at the paparazzi.
Hailey pouted.
“What do you think I am?”
“I’m just worried.”
“Ha, then I guess I’ll have to give up on coming out.”
She abruptly ended the call.
Soon the front doors opened and two burly bodyguards, each over six two, appeared.
They parted the crowd like Moses splitting the Red Sea.
“Let’s get out.”
We stepped out and photographers snapped pictures. The entertainnt reporters we knew asked,
“What kind of collaboration are you doing with Hailey Blue today?”
“We don’t know either.”
“Is the collab single really coming out on October thirty-first? Is that why you’re here?”
“It seems so.”
Reporters kept asking questions but we silently slipped into the building.
“Huff, huff...”
Minki hyung panted relief beside us. We thanked Hailey’s bodyguards in English.
“Thank you.”
They nodded solemnly.
Riding the elevator with the guards who made Junhyun look tiny, we heard—
“Ding—”
The two guards, huddled in the corner, got off somberly.
Jiho waved and said, “See you later,” and they waved back gloomily.
On the top floor, we entered the CEO’s office.
“There you are, kids!”
Our CEO was drenched in cold sweat, and Hailey Blue sat calmly, legs crossed, enjoying tea ti.
“Hey!”
“Long ti no see, Hailey.”
The blue-haired singer greeted each of us with hugs. The CEO exhaled in relief.
“I need to know English to communicate. Otherwise nothing makes sense.”
“Good job, CEO.”
As he wiped his forehead, we sat on the sofa and I asked Hailey,
“What were you talking about with the CEO?”
“Just worldly chatter.”
Hailey yawned widely, stretched her arms behind the sofa in her elegant black hanbok with a jade hairpin. Her fairy face—
“Geez, the jet lag is killing .”
Her undignified behavior caused cognitive dissonance until I rembered the downstairs crowd.
While we sat watching Hailey yawn, the CEO asked,
“What would you like to drink?”
“We’ll have drinks.”
“The CEO treats you to that.”
Really? The CEO frowned, brought a Lemon-branded bottle of water, and handed us glasses.
Hailey blinked and asked,
“Is this person your boss or agent?”
“In Korea, the record label and agency are usually in the sa company.”
“So you save on commission.”
Ri Hyuk interpreted for the curious CEO. The CEO bead and Hailey smiled, “Nice guy.”
He chuckled as he listened to the English conversation.
“Should I interpret for you, CEO?”
“It’s fine. I get the vibe. That’s enough.”
While we drank water and processed the bewildering situation, Hailey said,
“I ca here for the Blue Moon project.”
We nodded. During a TV interview we’d composed a Halloween song called Blue Moon on the spot and had been emailing back and forth—revision, revision one, revision two.
Her last ssage said she’d visit soon to finish the song.
“But I didn’t expect you to co so soon.”
“I’m not the planning-ahead type. I didn’t know I’d be able to et you right away.”
She frowned at her phone.
“My agents and PR are freaking out.”
“They must be if they’re just hearing this now.”
Thinking of the LA ti zone, her agents were probably asleep when soone woke them with “Hailey’s in Korea.”
I could picture the PR team breaking out in cold sweat.
She shrugged her shoulders.
“I feel bad now. I’ll buy them a Ferrari later.”
“...”
I imagined her agent pumping a fist in joy. As I thought Hailey must owe us an apology too, she continued,
“I ca for Blue Moon’s recording. Remote recording has limits.”
“That’s true. You need the atmosphere.”
“I’ve done so recording, but I want to tweak parts I’m not satisfied with. Is your schedule free?”
“Yes, today is fine.”
Hailey smiled and said,
“I also want to discuss promotion.”
“Promotion?”
“You know I have a knack for picking hits.”
She was hailed as a genius by Billboard and music magazines when she debuted as a singer-songwriter.
“In that sense, we need to invest in Blue Moon. This song has sothing special. You know, Sunny?”
“It’s a good song, I agree.”
Blue Moon was indeed a good song. I wasn’t sure if it was this good, but she seed confident.
I said,
“It should perform well on US charts. It has retro lodies.”
I wasn’t sure about Koreans, but Aricans would like it. In revisions she’d referenced Arican hits of the past, crafting a classic Halloween vibe.
An eighties or nineties movie-style Halloween feel, with a gayageum-like traditional string intro for uniqueness.
“That’s why I ca. Usually I’d leave it to my agent or label, but I thought it’d go off track.”
I empathized. I’d heard the other side was reluctant to compromise.
“Hailey.”
I smiled and said,
“Thank you for coming. But we can’t decide everything here ourselves...”
“Really?”
At that mont, CEO Park Gyuh o, hearing Ri Hyuk’s interpretation, said,
“Wooju, do as you like. Ha-ha-ha!”
“...”
I almost said, Please stay out of this, CEO, but I cleared my throat and gestured for permission to speak.
“Then shall we talk about promotion?”
Hailey’s promotion ideas fell into two main categories. One was the music video.
“Like Thriller, we need to feature a fucking terrifying monster!”
“Hailey, please mind your language... And where did you learn ‘fucking’?”
“Korean fans on Twitter use it as an exclamation.”
I almost told her not to use it in Korea, but I softened the warning and she understood.
She continued,
“We don’t even need actors. I saw Jiho’s acting on NewBlack TV—that creepy ping-pong ball lady.”
“You saw ?”
“No, I turned it off because I’m too scared.”
As Jiho whimpered, Hailey said,
“We’ll film a music video with monsters like that. Lots of CG. And you, Biju, will dance.”
“?”
“I’m terrible at dancing!”
She grinned.
“You have actors, dancers, rappers—a complete gift set. Use them.”
“Will you just sing?”
“I’ll fund it.”
“You can just stand there. We’ll handle everything.”
She was like a child with a new toy, eyes sparkling, “Isn’t it going to be fun? It’ll be so fun, right?”
“Radio promotion and other boring stuff the label will handle.”
She said, “But that could be tricky.”
“Why?”
“I got into a big fight with radio DJs last ti.”
“You didn’t hit them, right?”
“No, just cursed.”
“That’s fine.”
Hailey nodded. Then Jiho asked,
“Aren’t there music shows in the US?”
“Music shows?”
I explained Korean music show promotion and Hailey said,
“There are talk shows. You go on, chat with the host, hype your album with lies, then sing a song at the end.”
“I see.”
“But I don’t know how it’ll go.”
Junhyun smiled and said, “You fought, huh?”
“Yes.”
We all laughed, and the CEO chuckled seeing the mood.
Aside from the music video, the rest of the promotion would be handled by her team. Results would depend on the song’s performance.
We concluded the Blue Moon discussion, applauded, and said,
“Shall we go finish the work?”
Producer Na Sangyun and Lemon Entertainnt’s producers entered the studio.
“What’s going on?”
“Hailey texted yesterday she'd visit soon.”
“Uh-huh.”
“But she ca today.”
“...”
NewBlack looked off into the distance and the producers smiled warmly—they understood.
Inside the studio sat a bearded foreigner.
“Oh!”
He was one of Arica’s top album producers—famous in the industry if not to the public.
Our two producers and Ri Hyuk’s interpreter greeted him.
“Nice to et you. I’m Eddie Green.”
He looked exhausted and nodded.
“You were called here too?”
“Yes.”
“I woke up at dawn. Soone knocked, told to get in the car for Hailey’s flight...”
The Arican producer’s suffering face made Lemon’s composers look at NewBlack and think, “So endearing.” “Suddenly lovable.” “Our mischievous Dooly is a fairy...!”
NewBlack burst into happy giggles.
Hailey unbound her hair and entered the recording booth while Wooju took the console. Eddie Green said,
“You’re Blue Moon’s composer?”
“Yes.”
“Here’s my card. If it does well, take with you.”
Everyone laughed. Jiho peered through the booth glass and said,
“What’s Hailey saying?”
Hailey mouthed dynamic curse words. The familiar sound made NewBlack laugh, and Eddie Green thought, ‘What unique friends.’
Usually people shrink at Hailey’s quirks, but they treated her like a neighbor.
“All right, let’s start!”
With Wooju holding the talkback, recording began. A gayageum plucked eerily then faded into retro sounds. The composers nodded to the fast beat.
‘Still good on the second listen.’ A dreamy yet popping pop song.
To Eddie Green it evoked neon-lit arcades or nightti amusent parks. Colors: red, yellow, purple, and vivid blue.
He admired how the song conjured unfamiliar past mories.
‘Did she co-write this with soone else?’ The result showed whenever another hand guided the work.
Hailey’s clear tone shone like water, interweaving seamlessly with NewBlack’s parts, lending the track sophistication.
‘At least it will chart.’ Since Hailey releases it under “Blue Black,” initial flow was unknown, but it was strong enough for any unknown singer to find success.
Hailey’s rise wasn’t only due to music but her knack for trends and business instincts. Her devoted effort always had a reason.
‘Where did she find friends like these?’ I thought I should build a friendship from this.
Then I saw a sheet of paper peeking from a closed drawer, full of notes—curiosity flared. I gingerly opened the drawer when suddenly—
[Awoooooo-!]
A siren recorded by the main vocal blared.
“...!”
A heart-stopping siren and a voice announcing “You are surrounded!” I slamd the drawer shut, but the alarms continued.
[Thief! Thief!]
[He’s stealing my hyung’s stuff!]
The maknae’s booming voice echoed. It felt like a criminal starring at police chopper lights.
Everyone’s gaze turned to Ri Hyuk, who rushed over and reached into the drawer. Click. The switch offended the noise.
‘What was that?’ he said.
“It’s a security device.”
“...”
“There are a lot of important materials.”
No wonder even the studio door locked automatically.
As Hailey clapped, “shibal great,” Eddie Green looked dumbfounded until Lemon’s composer smiled warmly and said in broken English,
“Welco to Lemon Entertainnt.”
NewBlack and the staff laughed together. At their center, Wooju sat revered like a cult leader.
“Let’s get to work.”
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