# Chapter 74
Things we hadn’t even considered when first planning the cover contest had naturally fallen into place.
“Even if I don’t win, I think I’ll remember doing this program with Hyunshin sunbaenim for a long time. I feel like I’ve definitely learned about the right mindset toward music.”
Listening to Dagyeong, whom I’d always thought of as young, speak so seriously, I couldn’t hide my satisfaction.
* * *
The God Ki Hyunshin Cover Contest lowered its magnificent curtain.
The winner emerged from among the ordinary citizen participants, breaking everyone’s expectations, but there was no backlash.
Instead of powerful vocals, he sang the song in his own style, suited to his own tone.
And Ki Hyunshin said he highly valued someone who sang with their own voice, giving it their all.
Since that was what he had hoped for in the cover contest, it seemed meaningless for others to object.
People who had been supporting and watching the cover contest together responded positively, saying the ending was truly “so God Ki Hyunshin.”
[It’s strange. It feels really strange. Crop Five was hardly at the forefront, but I feel like they carried the whole thing from beginning to end. Crop Five themselves are world-class top stars, and in some ways, they’ve achieved greater musical accomplishments than Ki Hyunshin. But they didn’t flaunt that at all, and instead carefully practiced and sang their senior’s songs. Why do they look so big doing that?]
[I’ve thought about this a lot too. They treated someone else’s songs so preciously that I felt grateful. They must have done hundreds of performances like this, but they never took the stage lightly, practicing over and over—it moved me to tears.]
[I’m starting to hope that God Ki Hyunshin will finally be able to sing again. As someone who has supported and loved God Ki Hyunshin for a long time, I think I’ll be forever grateful to Crop Five.]
[Despite having risen this high, these people are neither rude nor arrogant. Ki Hyunshin must really like them. You know what? Compared to when the program started, the musical abilities of each Crop Five member have improved tremendously. From the outside, it might seem like Ki Hyunshin rode on Crop Five’s fame, but what’s visible isn’t everything.]
└I felt that several times too. Just comparing their performances from the preliminaries to what they sang at the end, the difference is huge. I’m already looking forward to Crop Five’s next album.
The Crop Five members themselves acknowledged this point.
The anticipation for the new album was greater than ever before.
After finishing the final shoot and the company dinner, Crop Five, Ki Hyunshin, hyung, and I gathered again at hyung’s house.
A few meaningful glances had already established what we all wanted to do.
Hyung made special custom cocktails for each person, saying they’d worked hard.
Of course, there was a cocktail for Ki Hyunshin too.
Ki Hyunshin drank what hyung made for him, showed a satisfied expression, and said he hadn’t expected it, clearly pleased.
With a comfortable feeling, everyone sat in their favorite spots and chatted cozily.
Ki Hyunshin talked about his album and asked what we thought about including rap in his songs, and we almost simultaneously burst into laughter.
It was because we thought it would be hard to find something that fit Ki Hyunshin’s songs less.
He might not have been serious either, as he laughed along with us.
For a while, light conversations like that went back and forth, and several times Ki Hyunshin mentioned his composer friend who had passed away first.
It was the first time since I met him that Ki Hyunshin had talked about this.
I thought he didn’t need to force himself to talk about painful things, but he seemed determined.
“After that guy left, the hardest and most resentful thing was… that he hadn’t created any bad memories. I thought if I could forcefully think of something, I might be able to forget him and let him go, but there was nothing to feel disappointed about. Traces of him remained in every moment of life, and it was unbearable. When setting the table, washing dishes, or grocery shopping—always.”
Listening to his words, the painful emotion was transmitted without any filter, to the point where it was difficult to be there.
If just listening was this hard, I couldn’t even bear to look at the person who had to go through it directly, wondering how difficult it must have been for him.
“Ironically, because he was such a good guy, I felt like I was gradually disappearing because of him. I didn’t want to sing anymore. Ah, that’s good. Those kinds of words. I hated realizing that words that would have naturally come out if he were by my side no longer came out. But now. I think I can try. My songs. I’ve come to know that there are people who like them, and I think maybe I can sing for those people… Above all, I’ve developed a desire. To sing. Songs.”
His unrefined emotions seemed to be infused directly into his clumsy words.
After speaking, he smiled as if embarrassed.
“I’m not good at talking. So that friend almost always did the talking for me. Because of that, I think his absence felt even bigger.”
“That’s not true, sunbaenim. You speak well, sunbaenim.”
He laughed at Dagyeong’s words.
“I’ll do well. I’ll really do well. That friend would definitely not like it if I lived without even singing… I’ll stay strong. Thank you for helping me be strong. Thank you so much.”
Ki Hyunshin seemed to be struggling to contain his overwhelming emotions.
Hyung and Ki Hyunshin decided to drink a bit more, and we left for the dorm.
“Hyung. Can’t you just keep living with us in the dorm like before? These days you come so infrequently that it feels like we’re only connected through work.”
At Jeong Chan’s words, the members chimed in, saying it was true and that they felt secure only when I was in the dorm and it smelled like me.
Normally, that level of conversation could be taken as a joke, but at that time, the road manager was driving.
We try to hire people who will work long-term, but it’s a place with frequent job changes.
Even Crop Five’s road manager had already changed several times, and rumors about Crop Five tended to spread around those times.
No matter how thoroughly we tried to manage things, false rumors would often be distorted into accepted facts after passing through a few people.
Grand Tamer is strongly recognized as a subsidiary of the Seyoung Group.
Especially since both hyung and I are the chairman’s grandsons, people seem to know that if they get involved with us in the wrong way, they’ll have to face a conglomerate’s legal team, so no one has caused any major problems so far.
But there have been quite a few times when small sparks have flared up.
The usual Crop Five would have keenly noticed that I was conscious of the road manager, but at that time, perhaps due to the power of alcohol they had been consuming since the company dinner, they showed absolutely no restraint.
At least Sijin was staying alert and appropriately cutting off conversations or changing the subject to prevent any truly dangerous talk from emerging.
I was so tense wondering who might say something strange next that my shoulders were completely stiff by the time we arrived at the dorm.
As soon as we got out of the car and entered the dorm, I started lecturing the members.
“Have you all decided to live without thinking? Don’t you consider that if other people hear that kind of talk, they might find it strange?”
Sensing that the atmosphere was different from usual because I was speaking so deliberately, the members flinched and exchanged nervous glances.
“Um… did I make a mistake, hyung?”
Seo Irun asked cautiously, and I told them which of their comments in the car could have been potentially dangerous.
The members seemed to gradually come to their senses, and it was evident they were tense upon realizing that I considered this issue serious.
“Hyung, you don’t trust the road manager?”
Jeong Chan asked in an even more careful tone.
“It’s not that I don’t trust him, but I don’t trust him either.”
At those words, the members suddenly burst into laughter.
“What does that mean? Then you don’t trust him.”
“I want to trust him. I don’t want to be suspicious. But protecting you is more important to me. I worry because you all seem too careless. The fact that your value is skyrocketing and many places want you means that someone who had that position until now has lost it. And it means that people who were aiming for that position have lost their opportunity. How do you think those people will feel about you?”
Crop Five seemed to realize this wasn’t something to just laugh off.
“Those people don’t end as just individuals either. There are organizations that need those people to do well. There are people waiting for you to fall, and if you don’t fall on your own, there are people who will try to make you fall so they can get ahead. I’m saying you’re like day-old puppies. Not knowing how scary tigers are.”
The guys who had been listening seriously suddenly seemed to find this funny, their lips twitching.
“I’m really worried about you all. Why are you so naive? Huh?”
“Ah, that’s a bit humiliating, hyung. To hear those words from you.”
At Seo Irun’s words, the other guys also nodded slightly.
It was frustrating.
Why? Why me?
“I understand what you’re worried about, and I’ll really be careful from now on. What you’re saying is right, but I hadn’t thought about it. And it seems like we tend to open our hearts quickly once someone’s face becomes familiar.”
As I listened to Yeonwoo’s words, a sigh escaped me without realizing.
That was the problem with these guys.
