The Sunbae Who Paves a Flower Path 4

Nine years ago, Baek Hanje, 17 years old.

‘Uwaaaah!’

Quest Scenario <The Idol Who Walks a Flower Path> will now begin.

I came face to face with the strange phenomenon called the ‘Quest window.’

After that, I carried out the instructions given by the Quest window one by one, raising yACE’s fame and my creative abilities.

Until the quest number exceeded 30, the difficulty was manageable, allowing me to clear two or three per day.

Wish: yACE at the most splendid position on stage

Quest Scenario <The Idol Who Walks a Flower Path>

Q13. Internal discord is the shortcut to destruction. Mediate conflict between members

A chilly atmosphere flows between Kwon Taeyoung and Cha Yeonsu, yACE’s two eldest.

Smoothly mediate the relationship between these two.

Success: Member’s trust, Composition experience +10pt

Failure: Kwon Taeyoung and Cha Yeonsu come to blows

Watching their fight wouldn’t be bad either, but composition experience was more important right now. Moreover, this was as easy as eating cold porridge if I used the maknae’s privilege.

I jumped up and threw open the door to the room the two hyungs used. The 11-pyeong villa that six flop idols shared had the advantage of resolving most matters within five steps.

Inside the room, Kwon Taeyoung was sitting in a chair at the desk, and Cha Yeonsu was lying on a mattress on the floor, both facing opposite directions.

They had fought but didn’t want to worry their younger members, so they were holed up like this in this cramped room.

First, as soon as I saw their positions, the target was decided.

‘Hyung!’

I kicked off the floor, leaped up brightly, and flopped onto Cha Yeonsu.

‘Urgh…!’

yACE’s center, Cha Yeonsu, let out a groan unbefitting his face of a tragic beauty and sat up. Soon he sighed and stroked the back of my head that had landed on his stomach.

‘…Maknae, what? Bored?’

‘Did you two hyungs fight?’

‘Hm?’

‘…Huh?’

‘Don’t fight. You two fighting is scarier than when you scold me.’

Kwon Taeyoung and Cha Yeonsu’s gazes met awkwardly. Both were people who looked after their younger members quite a bit, so they would be shocked enough by the maknae saying such a thing to have a conversation and end the conflict.

Q13. Internal discord is the shortcut to destruction. Mediate conflict between members

Clear

Success reward will be settled.

See? I told you it was too easy.

Having accumulated 65 composition experience points in one day, I giggled to myself in satisfaction.

Definitely, that’s how it was.

That’s how it was, but.

‘Baek Hanje’: Retrieval of all rewards obtained from past scenario quests

And as if that weren’t enough.

Part 1 Additional Penalty – Kwon Taeyoung’s death

This crazy condition is the first quest?

It was an alarm that couldn’t help but make my eyes roll back.

***

“What the fuck?!”

Silence flowed in the meeting room after Baek Hanje’s sudden outburst.

‘Why’s he acting like that?’

‘I don’t know….’

While everyone was just rolling their eyes, Executive Director Choi was the first to rise up.

“Hey, Baek Hanje! ‘This bastard,’ you, ahem, did you just say that to me?”

Executive Director Choi’s pointing finger shifted to Hanje. However, his attitude was somewhat more cautious than when dealing with others.

Because his opponent was none other than ‘Baek Hanje.’

yACE was the group that built K-dum Enter’s headquarters building, a still-living K-pop legend, and the company’s greatest cash cow. Therefore, each yACE member’s position within the company was enormous.

Unlike Kwon Taeyoung, who had become bound to the company by receiving a director position, the maknae member Henzel had consistently been unpredictable from the past.

But more famous than his temperament was his ability as a creator.

The period when Baek Hanje started writing songs and the period when yACE soared toward legend matched exactly. Among yACE’s many hit songs that came from his studio, several were still floating at the top of music charts worldwide even now when yACE’s activities had stopped.

Occasionally, when he felt like it, he would respond to other singers’ requests and give them songs, and those songs had a high probability of hitting the jackpot.

So even other divisions would lie down in his studio and stage sit-ins to receive songs during rookie debuts or important comebacks. Of course, the decision changed according to his mood.

Similarly, Division 4 under Executive Director Choi also frequently requested help and would have to continue doing so in the future.

So he tried to endure somehow, but.

“Wow, ha. You should stop talking bullshit too. …Are you really crazy?”

Baek Hanje raised Executive Director Choi’s blood pressure once more.

‘No matter how precious a genius, he’s still a green kid!’

It was an excessively audacious attitude toward an executive much older than him.

Just as Executive Director Choi was about to say one more thing, Kwon Taeyoung first shook Baek Hanje’s shoulder, then snapped his fingers right in front of his eyes.

“Baek Hanje. Look at hyung.”

“…Huh?”

At the leader’s familiar gesture, his gaze, which had been strangely cast into empty space, snapped back sharply.

“It’s been a while. Since you spaced out like this.”

“…Uh…. Um….”

Only then, as if realizing this was a meeting room, Baek Hanje looked around. Then immediately.

“Ah. Did I just say ‘this bastard’ out loud?”

“……”

“Ah shit, it really has been a while… Then I’ll try to salvage this from now on. Just a moment.”

After roughly tousling his bangs, he suddenly whirled around toward Go Won.

“Right, actually I said all that to you, you. Punk. Go Won? This whole situation happened because you’re being so wishy-washy like that. Huh? If you have something to say, say it so people can hear.”

Baek Hanje strode across the meeting room and stood in front of the problematic Go Won.

“Come on, say it.”

Since Baek Hanje, who already had somewhat thuggish corners to his appearance, was standing there with a rough attitude, it really looked like Go Won was being threatened.

“……”

‘Oh, but not bad.’

However, in the midst of all that, Baek Hanje was admiring him inwardly.

His mouth was firmly shut, but the look in his eyes watching me was fierce. This must have been what he was hiding clenched in his fists.

“Sunbae-nim.”

Just then, a small call came out that seemed barely audible to the person right in front. Go Won’s voice had a lower register compared to his pretty appearance.

“……”

After that, it was silence again. A puff of breath leaked from the corners of Baek Hanje’s lips as he watched him.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re glaring daggers at me, but I got what you’re feeling.”

Baek Hanje then roughly pulled away and looked around the meeting table.

“He says he wants to try having a skilled producer do one last revision. That would be me, right? Hey, kid. Don’t just stay quiet, you should have said that from the start. You and I need to talk separately later.”

“Hey, Baek Hanje….”

“If even I can’t make it work, then discuss handing over the song again at that point. Then I’ll head to my studio.”

It was obviously something he’d just made up. Even though everyone knew that, no one could say anything back.

Baek Hanje brazenly finished what he had to say and left the meeting room.

“Henzel seems to have gone back to his crazy days from seven or eight years ago. Is that what it takes to be a genius?”

Shin Namwon muttered to himself loud enough for everyone to hear.

The contextless and inappropriate behavior was explained simply by the fact that the subject was Baek Hanje.

And the mere fact that Baek Hanje had taken on the song work brought hope to Division 5 and anxiety to Executive Director Choi of Division 4’s face. He eventually turned his head with a grumble.

Only Go Won’s gaze remained fixed on the exit door for a little longer.

***

My studio was created with more care than most executives’ offices at K-dum Entertainment.

The view outside the window was verdant, various equipment and instruments were arranged by type, and the recording facilities were at the level of having moved an entire studio.

It was a gift from the company, with the message ‘produce lots of songs here and do plenty of producing.’

After returning to the studio and confirming the door was closed, I collapsed heavily into the chair that was like my other half.

Only after roughly rubbing my face to gather my wits did I grit my teeth and speak while looking into empty space.

“Quest window.”

Pop.

Wish: ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■.

Quest Scenario <The Sunbae Who Paves a Flower Path>

The Sunbae Who Paves a Flower Path

Final Success Reward – ■■■ ■■

Failure Penalty

① Go Won: ■■

② Baek Hanje: Retrieval of all rewards obtained from past scenario quests