Become A Music Monster Overnight! [EN]: Chapter 59

18. Tokashi

“I’ll offer you the position of Planning Director. The salary will be competitive with the top three entertainment companies. Also, I’ll staff the planning department with people you want as much as possible.”

“!!!”

Tokashi wondered if he was dreaming.

That’s how groundbreaking Youngchan’s offer was.

Not only the director position and salary, but more than that, staffing the planning department with the people he wants is truly unbelievable.

It means he would have the power of personnel management, and this alone would greatly increase his authority within the company.

-Swish!-

Seeing that he was too surprised to answer, Youngchan handed him the prepared documents.

“You can see the detailed contract terms in this. If you don’t like something or have any requests, please feel free to add them. I’ll be waiting for a positive response.”

With those words, Youngchan started to get up, but Tokashi’s trembling voice stopped him.

“Really… You really trust me, it seems.”

“Yes, I do.”

Tokashi’s eyes lit up at Youngchan’s words, which were calm but more confident than any other words, and he said:

“I’ll do it. The contract.”

“Yes?”

“I’ll sign the contract. I’ll resign and come out tomorrow.”

“No… about that.”

“Thank you for trusting me. I will never regret this choice…”

Youngchan was taken aback by Tokashi’s sudden outburst, but he quickly remembered his personality.

He recalled his tendency to push forward like a tank when he felt it was the right thing to do.

‘Director Hong Euichan is the same way; geniuses certainly don’t hesitate when it comes to their intuition.’

Usually, this kind of intuition changes in proportion to self-esteem, but it seems that Youngchan’s offer had a big impact on his previously crushed self-esteem.

That’s why he’s rushing in with such confidence.

‘Looks like I’ll be getting home late tonight?’

Youngchan knew from experience that it was best to run with Tokashi rather than try to calm him down when he was fired up.

Thanks to that, Youngchan postponed getting up and ordered another coffee.

And as he expected, the meeting with Tokashi didn’t end until well after midnight.

Tokashi had stayed up all night, but he went to work looking more energetic than ever.

“What, is there something good going on? You look like you’re in a good mood today?”

Tokashi nodded vigorously at Team Leader Go Uri’s words. Her eyes were sunken, and her motivation had long since run out.

“Of course. There’s really good news.”

Team Leader Go Uri’s eyes lit up at Tokashi’s clearer Korean than ever before. She knew from experience that Tokashi, who often mixed Japanese and Korean when he was in a bad mood, spoke proper and refined Korean when he was in a good mood.

And that was a positive sign for her too.

She knew that if something good happened to Tokashi, who was her mentor and teacher, some crumbs would fall on her as well.

“What is it? What is it? Please tell me.”

“Hahaha.”

“Hmm. Ah! Let’s go for a cup of coffee. I’ll pay.”

“Hahaha.”

Go Uri, frustrated by her boss who just kept laughing without answering, dragged him to the rooftop.

On the way, she encountered an unnecessarily expensive vending machine, and after much deliberation, she put money into a canned coffee vending machine. As a penny-pincher who had been living in Seoul for five years, it was a somewhat extravagant expense.

-Clunk-

She made a loud noise opening the can to show that she had bought the canned coffee, and handed it to Tokashi, saying:

“Here you go~. Please tell me while enjoying a cool, sweet coffee. What is it? That good news!”

“Uahaha.”

Tokashi, who continued to laugh even after receiving the canned coffee, stopped laughing at some point and emptied the can in one gulp.

“Oh, that precious thing.”

Go Uri felt like her blood was drying up as she watched the canned coffee, which cost a whopping 800 won [approximately $0.60 USD], disappear in vain. But fortunately, thanks to that sacrifice, she was able to satisfy her curiosity.

“I received a scout offer.”

“A scout offer? Where? Which company offered it? It’s not a small or medium-sized entertainment company, is it?”

Tokashi shook his head, crumpling the empty can in his hand at his junior’s barrage of questions.

“YC.”

“YC? Was there a YC? Oh. Could you be talking about *that* YC Entertainment?”

“Thaaat’s right. I met with the CEO yesterday.”

“YC Entertainment’s CEO? It’s YC. You really met that person? Why didn’t you call me? You handed over your work to me and left work alone!”

Go Uri showed a resentful expression at Tokashi’s words that he had met YC.

That was because she had always made it obvious how much she liked YC.

In fact, she was a top member of the Black Tiger fan cafe, Black Cat, and was recognized for making her own merchandise at her own expense.

Her bucket list had changed from buying her own house to meeting YC, so this alone would give you an idea of her fandom.

However, Tokashi was unmoved by his junior’s scolding. He barely suppressed the laughter that was leaking out and continued to speak.

“You’ll see him too.”

The anger on her face turned into a bright smile at the words that she would see him too.

“That’s right. You said you got a scout offer. What do you want to eat, *sunbae* [senior colleague]? I’ll buy you lunch today.”

“…It’s okay. It’s going to be a snack anyway.”

“Haa. Okay. Eat pork cutlet.”

“You idiot! No way.”

Tokashi, who was dumbfounded that the best she could offer was pork cutlet, which was only 1,000 won [approximately $0.75 USD] more expensive than other restaurants, blurted out Japanese-Korean.

“I’m not kidding. I’m going to tell them today and resign in a few days. You should prepare to resign too.”

“Yes? Why me?”

YC Entertainment was a new company, but it had completely solidified its position as a mid-sized entertainment company with the success of Lee Naeun. In addition, if Black Tiger releases an album this year and achieves the same results as last time, it will quickly rise to the top of the mid-sized entertainment companies.

So she had expected Tokashi to accept the scout offer. But she hadn’t received an offer herself, had she?

“Tell Kangchan to prepare to resign too, besides you. I got permission from YC Entertainment.”

“Yeeees??”

“The position will remain the same. For your information, the salary will be competitive with the top three entertainment companies, so think about it.”

“!!!!”

Her heart was about to explode just from the fact that she would be able to work in the same building as YC, but when she heard that the salary would be competitive with the top three entertainment companies, she momentarily blacked out.

“*Kichigai* [crazy]! Asshole! You’re bleeding from your nose.”

Tokashi, who was seeing for the first time that a person could get a nosebleed from being too happy, had a hard time holding her back as she was about to fall over, spouting Japanese-Korean.

“I will resign.”

He finally uttered those words that he had wanted to say dozens of times a day, or rather, tens of thousands of times throughout his time at Mania Entertainment.

And his resignation was accepted as if they had been waiting for it, like a lie.

That was because the company’s situation was getting worse and worse, and there was talk of another restructuring internally.

“Hmph!”

In other times, he might have been depressed by the company’s reaction after working there for six years, but not now.

That was because he had already painted a brilliant future with YC the day before.

+++++++++++++

“…You’ve really practiced a lot.”

He thought that this might be the last time he could live like an ordinary person, so he even gave them a vacation on purpose.

However, their skills had improved a lot during the holidays, to the point where it was embarrassing.

When he first brought them into the company, the evaluation criteria based on his memories were largely divided into three categories.

Visuals, singing, and dancing, and the grades were given in alphabets.

Good Night (Ari A-B+B+, Yuna B+B-C+, Jihun B+B-C)

Baby Fox (Lee Chaeyoung BAA-, Lee Yeonhee A-BB-, Kim Ayoung S-BC+)

Even based on the standards at the time, their visuals had already exceeded the passing line a long time ago, and their singing and dancing were no less than those of any top-tier idol.

Those girls showed that their dancing and singing skills had improved by at least one grade, except for their visuals.

‘Actually, it’s more accurate to say that they’ve found their skills rather than improved them.’

That’s because they had been forced to take a long break, not a vacation.

However, Ari of Good Night was a different story.

Ari had jumped several levels in less than two months and reached the same level as Lee Chaeyoung. I was embarrassed by the change, as if the person had changed, but I was able to understand the situation.

“Come to think of it, the environment was harsh.”

J Entertainment, where she used to be, was definitely too poor in every aspect to allow her talent to bloom. She probably hadn’t even learned from a proper teacher since joining Good Night.

Rather, she was busy becoming a teacher herself and teaching her younger siblings.

That’s why her skills have improved so much by learning from the best teachers I brought in after searching through my memories.

‘Still, I didn’t know her talent would be this great.’

Especially in the case of singing, she seemed to be able to work as a solo singer no less than Lee Naeun if she was taught well.

In short, Ari was also a genius.

‘I should teach her how to compose.’

She said she knew how to play the guitar a little, so it didn’t seem like it would be difficult to get started.

Anyway, if I were to talk about these alphabet grade standards, it would be roughly like this.

If C+ is a trainee grade, then B- is an idol grade.

A- and above can be said to be talented, and S and above are grades given only to those with genius inspiration.

Of course, this is the grade set based on large entertainment companies such as YC Entertainment.

Although not all of them are like that, it is correct to raise them by at least one to two grades from the entertainment companies below that.

‘In that respect, Kim Ayoung is also a cheat character.’

Perhaps that’s why she received an S- grade even though her visuals, which are the most important thing for a celebrity, hadn’t fully blossomed.

That also meant that she was the talent who would shine the most when Tokashi started to seriously grasp the planning concept.

“If she does well, she’ll become a game changer.”

Game Changer

This is a term used when a particular weapon system can change the landscape of a war or conflict.

In that respect, Kim Ayoung’s visuals had that much potential.

‘Yeah, these six can really cause an accident.’

That’s right.

I couldn’t bring all of Baby Fox, so I was planning to re-debut them as a new girl group with the Good Night members.

And as I changed my mind, the overall harmony of these people was so well-matched that it seemed like fate.

I was worried that I might have seen it wrong, so I brought Director Hong Euichan, who was about to go to the United States, to examine it, and I was able to confirm that my thoughts were not wrong.

“The overall harmony is good. Especially that Kim Ayoung, did you say? I’m most looking forward to that friend. Even if you give her any role in Chungmuro [Korean Hollywood], she’ll stand out more than most leading actors.”

“…Is it that much?”

“I’m not even a firefly compared to the CEO, but she has a certain decadent beauty, and above all, her base is pure. I want to capture her in my lens right now.”

With that, Director Hong Euichan praised her pure beauty.

Decadent beauty is also a cheat, but pure beauty is what has no less destructive power for women from ancient times.

“The funny thing is that men can’t control women who are really born with pure beauty. No matter how many accidents they cause and how many ugly things they do, they can’t get properly angry. What should I say? It feels like I’m the bad guy if I get angry for no reason?”

Director Hong Euichan thought for a moment and continued, not understanding what he meant.

“There’s something like that, isn’t there? It’s clear that the woman did something wrong, so the man got angry, but suddenly the woman starts crying and he’s busy comforting her.”

“Ah!”

I was able to understand immediately with that example.

*Seonjip Pilseung* [preemptive tears, guaranteed victory].

In other words, the saying that if you show tears first, you will definitely win, is a term originally derived from *Seonsu Pilseung* [preemptive strike, guaranteed victory].

This technique was so effective that it was called a guard-impossible technique.

Director Hong Euichan smiled and continued as if I understood.

“Real pure beauty is dozens of times stronger than that. Even a stone Buddha will be at a loss.”

“That’s… really scary.”

“That’s right. That’s why women who are born with this kind of pure beauty need to be well-educated in character. It can devastate the surroundings.”

“…..”

Director Hong Euichan showed a dumbfounded expression to me, who was speechless in surprise.

“The CEO doesn’t need to worry. Pure beauty or whatever, if the CEO decides to do it, they’ll try to take out your liver and gallbladder.”

“Ha..haha. You’re going too far with the jokes.”

“You’re doing that again. It’s not a joke…”

I casually ignored his grumbling and decided to seriously consider how to take care of Kim Ayoung in the future.

────────────────────────────────────

────────────────────────────────────