# Chapter 103
“Hyung. Be honest with me. How many times did you visit Sijin? I won’t get mad, just tell me. Really. I’m just curious.”
It was about the sixty-seventh time Seo Irun had asked me this question since being discharged.
Of course, I never gave an exact answer to that.
“Not that many, I’m telling you.”
“‘Not that many’ meaning about 200 times?”
“No, dude. But what’s with your face? Why are you so gaunt? Shouldn’t you get a skin treatment first? Did time specifically target you? The other guys came out looking fresh, but why are you like this, Irun? What exactly happened to you, huh?”
“Don’t change the subject, Hyung.”
“I’m not changing the subject, you’re seriously concerning right now.”
“You think I’ll believe that?”
Irun’s self-esteem was so firm that it wasn’t easy to tease him.
“And I think at this point, it’s okay if my face isn’t in the best condition. If I’m too handsome, fans might feel intimidated. I’m going to be a singer who proves himself through music now.”
“But if you’re going to continue activities as Crop Five, shouldn’t you maintain the basics?”
“Hyung. Really, why are you like this? I am maintaining the basics.”
Even someone as confident as Irun seemed a bit worried after I kept saying things like that.
I looked at Irun with a smug expression, feeling satisfied.
“Wow. That’s really mean. Is it okay to tease a soldier who’s just returned to society like this?”
Even so, since his discharge came a bit earlier, Sijin took care of him.
“Sijin. Let’s just become independent. Hyung is tormenting me too much.”
“Sure. If Irun hyung starts a company, I’ll go there too.”
“Really? Will you really do that? Will all of you come?”
Irun asked each member one by one, and the members looked at him and grinned.
“I’m going to stay with Seomin hyung until I die though?”
At Jeong Chan’s words, Irun whined, asking if he was going to betray him, while Yeonwoo and Dagyeong drew the line early.
Saying they wouldn’t betray me.
“That won’t do. That’s betrayal. Betrayal of me. You guys are Crop Five. Five. Do you not know what five means?”
To think Seo Irun would change like this.
It seemed like the military had completely ruined Seo Irun.
But everyone liked that side of him, and they even made the wicked suggestion that he should go to the military once more. Irun would wave his hands frantically and sweat each time, and we found that amusing, so we teased him even more.
It wasn’t like we were pretending nothing was happening.
I told Crop Five everything that had happened to me.
And I fully explained that bad things could happen to me or Sijin in the future.
The members were greatly surprised when they heard this, but soon regained their composure.
Then they asked if they shouldn’t perform, and I said that was a separate issue.
While saying that I had no intention of doing as Grandfather wanted, the members accepted it and said they would follow my wishes.
Looking at Crop Five saying they would remain as Grand Tamer’s main group until the end, I wondered if this was the right thing to do.
Whether my mother’s words had any effect was still uncertain.
On Grandfather’s birthday, Crop Five prepared for a performance.
It was the first time they were preparing for such a major performance together after everyone had been discharged.
However, it was carried out in a much more natural atmosphere than usual, without staff following them around.
“Don’t you not need to do makeup separately?”
At my words, the members shook their heads.
“What are you saying, Hyung? This is such an important stage.”
Sijin spoke as if blaming me, and the other members had similar expressions.
“No. I mean…”
In truth, I was sincerely grateful for them going to such lengths.
They packed amplifiers, microphones, guitars, and finally, everyone got into the car.
“Hey. Did we miss anything?”
Irun checked once more, and everyone enthusiastically said no.
“Let’s go properly celebrate this birthday party.”
The equipment looked insufficient for a Crop Five performance no matter how you looked at it, but Crop Five didn’t seem to think so.
“Call her, Hyung.”
As the car was reaching its destination, Sijin spoke, and I nodded and made a call.
“Mom. It’s Seomin.”
—Yes, Seomin. I know it’s you without you saying it. You’re my only son.
A smile naturally formed while listening to Mom’s voice.
“Where are you, Mom?”
—I’m outside. My usual walking course.
“Where exactly?”
Mom told me her location, and we exchanged glances.
Mom’s walking course was fixed.
It seemed like we had timed it well.
After hanging up, we soon began setting up at the place where Mom would arrive.
“C-Crop Five!!”
“Oh my god. This is crazy. Oppaaaaa!!”
“Wow, they must be doing busking.”
“Oh my god. To think I’d see Crop Five busking!!”
People who saw us started spreading the news on the spot, and soon a cloud-like crowd gathered.
Crop Five finished preparing for the busking and waited for Mom.
The number of people continued to increase in the meantime.
And finally, Mom’s figure appeared.
With her slender body saying, “Excuse me, excuse me,” as she gradually came forward, people made way for Mom, and Dagyeong was the first to spot her.
“Hyung. Mother is here.”
That was the signal.
When Sijin picked up the microphone and greeted, fiery cheers poured out.
“Hello. We sincerely thank those who haven’t forgotten us, Crop Five, and have been waiting for us. Even if you didn’t come to see Crop Five and were just passing by, we’ll believe that.”
People laughed loudly at Sijin’s words.
“I’ve been waiting here since yesterday to see Crop Five!”
“I took a taxi when I heard Crop Five was here!”
“Congratulations on your discharge!!”
Crop Five seemed to be savoring the fact that they were back in the midst of those cheers.
Originally, they should have been performing at Grandfather’s birthday celebration, but they refused that and prepared busking for Mom.
When I heard that, I really wondered if it was okay to let them do this, but I ended up laughing when they said my opinion wasn’t important from the beginning.
Mom was looking at us, wondering what was going on.
Her overwhelming emotions were clearly visible.
“The first song we’ll play for you is one I made while I was in the military. It was extensively modified by Grand Tamer’s A&R team to the point where you might wonder if it’s the same song, but thanks to them, it turned out to be an incredibly great song. The lyrics I originally wrote survived. Please congratulate me.”
Laughter and applause erupted from various places at Sijin’s cheeky words.
“This song is written for the person my beloved person loves.”
“No, Oppa!!”
Such a scream burst out immediately, but people drowned it out with thunderous applause.
They seemed to think Sijin was joking when he said “the person my beloved person loves.”
“The title is ‘Mama.'”
At those words, the reaction changed a little.
If it was a song for a lover’s mother, people seemed confused about whether this was a confession that he had a lover.
However, Sijin didn’t say anything more about it and looked at Crop Five.
The music started with accompaniment from Jeong Chan and Seo Irun.
Those gathered there couldn’t help but realize why Crop Five was Crop Five, and why Han Sijin was Han Sijin.
An explosive performance unfolded, showing that the popularity Crop Five gained and the success they achieved were definitely not something they obtained by chance.
* * *
Various celebrities from the political and business worlds, key figures from Seyoung Group, and his relatives gathered to celebrate Chairman Kang Youngsu’s birthday.
He occasionally asked his new secretary if Seomin and Crop Five had arrived.
Each time, the only answer was “not yet.”
None of the singers from Grand Tamer had come, and other hastily arranged singers were arriving one after another.
Grand Tamer hadn’t unilaterally declared a boycott, and they had given ample notice, so a response could have been made if desired.
It was Chairman Kang who prevented that.
He thought Grand Tamer would bend their will, but he ultimately lost that battle.
His mouth tasted bitter as he waited.
“Um… Chairman.”
The new secretary had newly taken his place by Chairman Kang’s side after he drastically reorganized the personnel around him.
Eun Won, in his mid-40s.
It was a name difficult to forget once heard.
When Chairman Kang heard the name, he immediately thought of “grace” and “enemy.”
Although not kept very close, he was a person with whom he had shared a considerable amount of time, and who had tenaciously held his position whenever Seyoung faced difficulties.
A person who gathered grain-like people and maintained balance whenever chaff-like people agitated and shook the company.
On the day he returned after talking with his second daughter-in-law, Chairman Kang quietly called him in.
After that day, Secretary Eun successfully carried out the mission to investigate the people around Chairman Kang and uncover the truth about his second son’s death.
The words of his second daughter-in-law were frighteningly accurate.
Chairman Kang felt his heart being torn apart when he learned it was the doing of those he had been using like his limbs.
When the secretary asked how he wanted it handled, Chairman Kang told him to take care of it and report back, and the secretary did so.
The people who handled the matter were all trustworthy, and after hearing that there was no need to worry about this being revealed in the future, Chairman Kang said:
Why should I worry about what Secretary Eun has done?
Secretary Eun bowed and said:
That is correct, sir.
When Chairman Kang asked if he should now find new people, Secretary Eun asked if he could prepare them himself, and Chairman Kang nodded.
Just that, from now on, the person who would be using these people would not be him but Seomin, so they should be tailored to Seomin’s taste.
Things were progressing secretly like that.
Crop Five never appeared at the venue, and Secretary Eun approached him.
“I hear Crop Five is performing today.”
Though he tried to act uninterested, he couldn’t help but urge him to speak in more detail.
“I will show you the video.”
“No, just explain,” would have been the appropriate response, but he ended up looking at the tablet Secretary Eun was showing him.
It was because he wanted to see where on earth Seomin had taken Crop Five on such a day.
“It’s a park near your second daughter-in-law’s house. It’s where she usually takes walks, and it seems Crop Five has prepared for busking. It appears that as their first performance after all members have been discharged, they prepared busking for your second daughter-in-law. The first song they sang is called ‘Mama,’ which Han Sijin supposedly composed and wrote the lyrics for while in the military. He says it’s a song sung for the person his beloved person loves.”
He was about to snap that there was no need to lay out such trivial details, but listening to it, they were all things worth knowing.
“This is footage taken by the security personnel you sent. Besides this, there are quite a few videos taken by people at the scene and uploaded to the internet. The busking is still ongoing.”
“There are so many people, we should pay more attention to protecting my daughter-in-law.”
“I sent two more people.”
“Good. Well done.”
He was a person without any gaps.
There seemed to be almost nothing to think about since Secretary Eun’s arrival, as there was nothing separate to order.
“‘Mama,’ huh. The insolent boy.”
He would probably grimace with big, round eyes if asked when he would make a song for his grandfather, but while watching the video, Chairman Kang’s heart became cheerful.
“Not bad. He has guts too. Yes. If he gets tired of doing this, he might ask me to hand over Seyoung later. Until then, I’ll just raise him well.”
Secretary Eun smiled and bowed his head.
“And.”
Chairman Kang called Secretary Eun closer with a serious face.
“Send back the singers invited today. We failed in our invitation. If the invited singer doesn’t come, I think it’s right to leave that stage empty. It’s just noisy.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
When Secretary Eun hesitated, not knowing what to do with the tablet he was holding, Chairman Kang took it.
A moment later, the music that had been filling the space was cut off.
While the people gathered there looked at each other, not knowing the reason, Chairman Kang was listening to Crop Five’s songs through wireless earphones.
“Mama” had already ended, and other songs had followed and just ended, with Crop Five calling Seomin to the center.
Seeing both Seomin and Crop Five with bright faces without a trace of worry, he felt his bile twist.
Seeing them not coming where they were supposed to come, but going somewhere else and having fun among themselves…
He was envious.
‘The insolent boy.’
A smile spread across Chairman Kang’s face without him realizing it, and Crop Five’s songs resounded again.
Thinking that he was happy to see his grandson smile, he gestured to call Secretary Eun and returned the tablet.
Crop Five’s songs lingered in his ears like echoes.
And Seomin’s bright smile too.
The sunlight pouring into the garden was brilliant.
<End>
