Save a Failed Idol’s Life

#023. Negotiation and Persuasion 

When I returned to reality, the cold atmosphere of courtesy greeted me. 

“That crazy punk ran away after talking about himself again.”

Yejun glared at Seongwon’s back as if he was about to grab him by the collar. 

“Shouldn’t we talk more?”

Sunwoo walked back and forth nervously.

“If we can’t talk to him, what should we  do?”

“But it is difficult to change the song…I had a hard time talking with the team leader. They kept trying to bring in a reggae style that didn’t match the season.”

He sighed and messed up his hair as if he was in trouble. His slightly curly light brown hair was disheveled.

I’ve raised my sense of responsibility at best, but I can’t let it go down because of something like this.

I got up from my seat.

“Wait a minute. I’ll talk to Son Seongwon and come back.”

Then Sunwoo looked at me with sad eyes.

“Will Seongwon Hyung open the door?” 

What if he doesn’t open it? I’ll have to call a locksmith and get it in.

For such a guy, the answer was to go strong as a counterattack. Whether or not he locks himself in a room as narrow as a cowhide.

I had to show him a lesson that I wouldn’t let him live up to his stubbornness. 

“First, all three of you stay here. I will talk to him.”

I calmed down and stood in front of Seongwon’s room alone. I tried turning the handle, but of course, it was locked.

“Son Seongwon. Let’s talk for a minute.”

“….” 

No answer came from the other side of the door. I knocked on the door once more with the back of my hand.

Is he crying? No, he won’t cry, right? If he had grown up for six years.

“Don’t ignore it. If you don’t answer, I’ll open the door and go in.”

Then I could just barely hear the sound of the blanket moving inside. 

“Do you want to see me scream loudly and embarrass you in front of all the kids? Do you think I can’t?” 

From what I’ve seen so far, this guy hates being embarrassed in front of other people the most.

He was a guy who always held his chin up high and lived for his good taste, so it was natural in a way.

He wouldn’t even want me to counterattack by shouting, making a big scene, or breaking in after the door was opened.

“I said I wouldn’t sing that song earlier.”

Only then did the answer return from beyond the door.

“So let’s talk a little bit. Don’t just say no.”

“I have nothing to say.”

What would you do if I were there? Whoo. In that case, I had no choice but to use the trump card on this side as well.

“Are you bothered because it’s a song you prepared for ‘Teenager Singer Star’?”

I whispered between the cracks in the door, and a surprise sound leaked from inside as if a fire had been lit.

“Did the planning team leader tell you all of that?”

I guess he’s starting to talk about it now. I answered with a slight click of tongue.

“No. The other kids don’t know. So if you don’t want to get caught, open the door.”

Kiik—! 

The poor maintenance made the hinges spin and made a loud noise. Seongwon was staring at me through the narrow gap in the door.

“Come in.”

It was a time of negotiation and persuasion.

As soon as I stepped into the room, Seongwon immediately closed the door. There was a strange damp smell in the room.

It’s not that it’s unpleasant. The unique smell of aqua remained light.

“How did you know?”

Seongwon immediately grabbed my collar. My back automatically hit the wall, causing a tingling pain down my back. 

‘I didn’t want to confirm like this that my back wasn’t normal.’

I gritted my teeth and answered with pain.

“I know more than that. Even the things you don’t want to tell other guys.”

It was bluffing. Well, if I use the system, I can dig up as much as I want.

I wasn’t hot-headed enough to waste my money on the damn kid.

“You wanted to be a singer, right? Not an idol.”

Instead of answering, Seongwon flinched his big body. He’s not a kid. I couldn’t accept a grown man’s whining.

“No matter what the outcome is, you’re on the same boat until this comeback. Do you think you can ruin your last group activities like this and do well as a solo artist in the future?”

As if those words were like setting fire to a fuse, Seongwon grabbed my collar again.

Even though I’m never pushed by my physique.

Seongwon’s hands gripped the collar tightly, and my toes moved away from the ground.

“So what, are you threatening me?”

He looks at me with his eyes open. You’re going to catch someone with your expression.

But if I were scared here, I wouldn’t have said anything at all about opening the door. I answered without the slightest hesitation.

“If you follow this activity without a word, I’ll make you appear in ‘Star Discovery’.”

“What?”

Seongwon’s eyes widened at the unexpected words, and his hands relaxed. Thanks to that, I could put my feet on the ground again and come down. 

What is ‘Star Discovery’? 

It was a program in which unknown singers took off their rank badges and only competed with their singing so that only their skills would show.

The winner was invited to various contests or music programs hosted by the channel, as well as prize money.

It was famous for its fierce competition because it was a program aired as a special feature only on holidays.

‘This must be pretty tasty bait.’

They’ve already done the third round, so now they’re about to do the fourth round. There was no way that anyone didn’t want to go to a position where the topic and profitability were guaranteed.

‘Well…I don’t know if he can actually win it. If the Cheonsu Group joins as a sponsor, it won’t be difficult to include at least one member.’

If the Cheonsu group is difficult, at least the Cheonsu Hotel will fully support me.

If you think about how normal program casting works, the casting for ‘Star Discovery’ would have happened around the beginning of September.

The broadcast will be ALL live anyway, so what to do when I go out and come back… It’s up to me. 

Seongwon’s eyes were shaking because of the negotiations he hadn’t even thought of.

“Think carefully. Do you want to live in obscurity for the rest of your life and be forgotten? Or take the last chance.”

I could hear Seongwon’s teeth grinding.

“You want to continue singing.”

Seongwon’s hand trembled at the sentence that seemed to drive a wedge.

“Then you should listen carefully to what Hyung has to say.”

Seongwon turned his head away from me and clenched his teeth.

Negotiation principle number one.

Make the other party clearly aware of the other party’s condition and position.

Second. Make an offer where the penalty is clearly perceived if the other party refuses.

And lastly—.

“Let’s go out. We have a lot of work to do. We have to make it work this time. Everyone knows you’re the kind of guy who would do it.”

Ugh, I felt sick to my stomach, but I was an adult.

It was nothing like standing upright and stroking the hair of a kid who couldn’t say anything but hateful words.

‘I will thoroughly reward and punish the other person’s reaction.’

Now that Seongwon had broken his stubbornness, it was my turn to feed him carrots.

When Seongwon was dragged into the living room while forcibly maintaining a smile on the face, the expressions on the members’ faces were very good to see.

“Seongwon Hyung, are you okay?”

Play

Unmute

Sunwoo hesitated and wandered in front of Seongwon. I blocked Sunwoo with one hand and put Seongwon on the sofa.

“First of all, we’re running out of time, so I’ll quickly organize the things that came up during the meeting.”

“Y, yeah…” 

Yejun also had a confused look on his face, but I continued talking without even giving him time to turn on a local TV station.

“Editing and writing lyrics, we have to do it ourselves. Because I rejected the song that the team leader was pushing, it seemed that the aim was entirely misled.”

“What? Where is such a thing? If the company doesn’t do that, why do they take the commission?”

Of course, I had the same thought.

“That’s it.I think it was meant to be Floss’s new summer song, but it sounded like they were trying to recycle the old ones on us instead.”

“If it’s summer, it’s not the right season at all.”

“Yes, that’s the problem, so we refused. He said that they would prepare as much as possible so that we wouldn’t have to spend extra money.” 

Kyunghwa didn’t miss the timing and summarized the main points well. I said while looking at Yejun so that the flow wouldn’t be interrupted. 

“So what I’m saying is. Can I ask you to arrange it?”

“Me?” 

Well, why do you look so surprised when you say that you are good at writing your own songs?

“I’ve never worked on a song for business before….” 

“Try it this time. The fact that the member participated in the production will be a good promotion. It’s the last one.”

When I added a cheat-key remark at the end, Yejun nodded slowly.

“Okay. I’ll give it a try.”

After that, I took a deep breath and continued.

“For the time being, we try to solve the lyrics within ourselves. I’m going to leave the final review and sensible refinement to the experts. Lastly, think of it as a window where we can say what we want to say to our fans and use it.”

When I quoted an interview with a producer idol that I had seen while searching for data at first glance, everyone looked quite convinced.

“Last…” 

Sunwoo murmured softly, but I didn’t feel the need to comfort him. 

“Then what about the concept and choreography?”

I answered quickly, drawing in hard currency.

“The detailed concept and planning will be done by me and Kyunghwa. I’ll look for a professional choreographer.”

As long as you have money, there will be nothing you can’t do.

Ah. There’s something you can’t do—the float. I corrected myself and checked the members’ expressions.

“If you all understand, I’ll send you a file, so organize the images or lyrics that come to mind. Kyunghwa, you should start the meeting again with me from now on.”

“Okay, would you like to go to the table? I think it would be better to keep your notes in a notebook and put them in order.”

“Yes. First, I’ll send it to the chat room for music files via messenger and move it there.”

After the specific roles each of us had to play were subdivided, it felt like we could see a little bit of a path.

Seongwon still didn’t seem to feel refreshed, but—.

We’ll have to talk about that one more time later. Once we succeeded in drawing cooperation for now.

“What can I do?”

Seongwon went back to his room. Yejun went into a room where there was a computer and lightly touched it.

Sunwoo, who was left alone in the living room, looked at me awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

“As you listen to the sample song, organize keywords or lyrics that you think would suit something like this.” 

“Yes! I’ll do my best!”

Sunwoo nodded his head desperately.

“Let’s start.”

When Kyunghwa put the notebook on the table where he was sitting first, he felt his head clear.

“You. You’re so reliable today.”

Kyunghwa smiled and laughed lightly.

Of course. How long has it been since I endured as a businessman and overcame it? 

“Stop talking nonsense and focus. If we produce results quickly, the company says they will show us something this time.”

Unknowingly, a sharp sentence came out again, but it didn’t matter.

[Remaining period until test end (contract expiration): 161 days]

The full-fledged journey to survive as an idol has now begun.