Chapter 13
Snap!
A sound of pencil breaking came from somewhere. The atmosphere froze suddenly and not even the sound of breathing could be heard.
“W-What did you say?”
Producer Park was the first to speak.
He looked particularly agitated. His shoulders heaved up and down as anger and slight panic appeared on his chubby face.
Everyone was looking at Lee Hyun as if asking, ‘What the hell are you saying?’.
“Mr. Lee Hyun. Do you know what you are saying? If you are just making baseless…”
The director’s kind voice was nowhere to be seen as he looked at Lee Hyun, but he cut him off.
“I’m not making any baseless assumptions.”
“Then, are you saying that Troublemaker is copied?”
Lee Hyerin asked him as she secretly glanced at Producer Park’s face.
“Yes, I’m basically saying that. I also have proof that Troublemaker is copied from another song.”
“You! Don’t just say anything.”
Producer Park glared daggers at him but Let Hyun was unfazed.
“Like I said, I have proof.”
It was small, but Lee Hyun was able to see some panic on Producer Park’s face when he said the word ‘proof’.
Lee Hyun’s confidence grew, noticing that.
“Mr. Lee Hyun. Can you show the proof to all of us?”
He nodded at the director’s words and looked at the A&R team employee who was the first one to speak.
“Can you search for a song called ‘Rain check’? It’s a song by a Mongolian singer.”
The employee nodded and started searching for the song on her laptop.
Producer Park’s face distorted when he heard Rain check getting mentioned, but he tried to calm down and act normal.
“I found it.”
“Can you play it with Troublemaker?”
The A&R employee nodded and began playing both the songs.
She first played Troublemaker. Everyone was already familiar with this song, but they focused more this time.
After it ended, the A&R employee quickly played Rain check. It was a song by a relatively unknown Mongolian singer and everyone was shocked listening to it.
It was because the melody of the song was really similar to Troublemaker. Honestly, it was almost alike.
Only the lyrics were different.
‘He probably thought that no one would notice it because he copied an unknown song.’
Lee Hyun looked at Producer Park whose face had gone pale.
When he had first listened to Troublemaker, he thought that it was a groovy song.
At the same time, he also felt that he had heard it somewhere before, but it took time for him to remember where.
‘I would not have noticed if I hadn’t worked with the singer of Rain check in my past life.’
The composer of Rain check was an unknown Mongolian singer currently, but in the future, he would contract with Top Entertainment.
Lee Hyun had also gotten to know him that way. As he was working on a song with him, he had listened to every one of his previous songs.
That’s why he knew about ‘Rain check’.
“Producer Park!!”
The director suddenly shouted. Anger was visible on his face, but he tried to suppress it because Lee Hyun was here.
“D-director, I didn’t know about it. I swear that I didn’t copy it.”
Pleading was the only thing Producer Park could do, but no matter what he said, the truth was in front of everyone.
“Ah, I will deal with you later.”
The director said as he frowned.
He knew that this was not the place to deal with Producer Park. He was enraged, but he hid it, and looked at Lee Hyun.
‘If not for him, then…’
The director felt gratitude towards Lee Hyun.
If he hadn’t known that the song is copied, he would have selected it as the title track.
Then, by chance, if it had come to view that Troublemaker is copied, then he doesn’t even know what would have happened.
They were already taking a big risk by having Lee Hyerin make a comeback.
Taking more risk was akin to foolishness. There was only one thing that can be done here now.
“Let’s go with Never give up for the title track. It’s bright and matches well with Hyerin. Moreover, it’s… original.”
The last part was a direct taunt at Producer Park, but Lee Hyun was too happy to glance at him.
He immediately stood up and bowed towards the director.
“Thank you.”
“I should say the same to you. If not for you, there can be huge trouble for us.”
The director said as he smiled at him.
The meeting ended after that and everyone quickly dispersed. They don’t have a minute of break because of the album.
The director also left the room after thanking Lee Hyun again. He even offered to treat him to dinner someday.
‘It’s finally over.’
Lee Hyun thought happily.
His song became the title track and he even made connections with a director. It can’t get better than this.
As he was thinking about that, he suddenly felt someone’s gaze. It was Producer Park who was looking at him like he could kill.
‘He would probably get a scolding.’
Lee Hyun thought and returned a bright smile at him.
Producer Park’s face distorted after seeing him smiling, and he quickly left the room.
“Mr. Lee Hyun!”
When everyone had left, Lee Hyerin approached him.
“Miss Hyerin. Is there something you need?”
“I just wanted to say thank you to you.”
“Thank you?”
Lee Hyun asked, tilting his head.
“Yes, if not for you, the director would have chosen Troublemaker and I would have to sing a plagiarised song. Honestly, I didn’t like it from the start.”
Lee Hyun nodded his head as he understood and Lee Hyerin continued to talk.
“Actually, I don’t like Producer Park too.”
“Is there a reason behind it?”
“Well, um, that fat pig would try to touch female trainees and singers during recording. There is not one bad rumour about him.”
“Ah.”
It looked like there was more to Producer Park other than plagiarising songs. He seemed to have a very bad reputation in the company.
“I don’t think you would see him soon.”
“Yeah.”
Lee Hyerin said with a bright smile.
Even though she was in her 30s, she looked just like a young woman. Her smile was just like a rainbow after heavy rainfall.
But Lee Hyun didn’t have much reaction to it.
‘I have to be careful of women.’
After getting betrayed by his wife, Lee Hyun had started to be on guard against all sorts of women.
It’s not like he hated them. He just wants to maintain a work relationship with them. Nothing more than that.
“By the way, are you free currently?”
Lee Hyerin suddenly asked.
“Why?”
“I just wanted to invite you for lunch. We can talk more about the song…”
“I’m sorry!”
Before she could even finish her words, Lee Hyun rejected her proposal.
Lee Hyerin was surprised to see Lee Hyun rejecting her so quickly. He didn’t even think about it before rejecting.
“I have some work to do. Sorry!”
“N-No, it’s fine. I understand.”
Lee Hyerin waved her hand as she said that. She had invited him to show his gratitude, but Lee Hyun was adamant about it.
‘He’s weird.’
She had no ulterior motives in inviting Lee Hyun to lunch, but him rejecting her so quickly was surprising for her.
No matter what, Lee Hyerin was still prettier than many girls.
Men don’t reject her invitation so quickly. It was even surprising for her to ask someone for lunch.
That’s why she felt that Lee Hyun was weird. At the same time, she felt more curious about him.