The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 145

The phone call with Deputy Manager Oh Yeon-ju was quite positive.

A rough outline of the big picture was drawn, and I was able to decide on a course of action.

Sang-hyun recalled the conversation with Deputy Manager Oh Yeon-ju.

“Deputy Manager Oh Yeon-ju. Is it a good time to talk?”

-Ah, Sang-hyun. It’s been a while. How are you doing?

“Just working hard.”

Oh Yeon-ju laughed at Sang-hyun’s words.

-You’re working so hard that there’s a lot of interest in 888 Crew and Lee Sang-hyun in the show business industry these days. You must be getting a lot of love calls?

“So many that I want to change my phone number.”

-That’s understandable. Until now, there haven’t been any underground rappers who can appeal to teenage and 20-something women. Recruiting or signing contracts isn’t my position, but if you’re coming to Ohkyung Entertainment, you have to give me the credit.”

Sizing up Deputy Manager Oh Yeon-ju’s intentions through her voice, Sang-hyun felt that she didn’t know about Dolphin’s information. But it was necessary to check further.

Because he knew the insidiousness of the chaebols [large family-owned conglomerates in South Korea].

“Actually, that’s why I called.”

-Yes? Are you really coming to Ohkyung Entertainment? It wouldn’t be bad to come, but is there really a need? You should just sign a distribution and promotion contract with a major record label. Affiliation contracts are disadvantageous for teams like 888 Crew who make music self-sufficiently.

“Are there any companies in Korea that only contract for distribution and promotion?”

-Well, not among the majors. But if 888 Crew contacts a few record labels, you might be able to negotiate a deal? If you’re interested, should I ask Attorney Lim to look into it? Or Ohkyung Entertainment could make the first move. If rumors spread that we contacted you, other companies can’t just sit still.

“Do you have that much power?”

-I can’t guarantee that I can get a contract done, but I can certainly pretend to try. We can actually review it too.

The more they talked, the more convinced Sang-hyun became that Deputy Manager Oh Yeon-ju didn’t know about this. Sang-hyun thought for a moment and slowly began to reveal the information he had obtained from Dolphin.

“Actually…….”

As Sang-hyun’s story progressed, Deputy Manager Oh Yeon-ju’s responses gradually decreased. The silence over the phone seemed to show Deputy Manager Oh Yeon-ju’s embarrassment.

-It’s a bit strange to ask about our company’s affairs like this, but is that information reliable?

“Probably. Unless Dolphin is an actor who was also cast. And it didn’t feel like that. Was this a completely unknown story to you?”

-Completely. It seems like a story that was carried out excluding me. To be honest, I don’t really understand what the intention is.

“Dolphin said it might be to recruit me.”

-To recruit just one rapper, such a complicated…… Ah, I’m sorry.

“No. Considering Ohkyung Entertainment’s stock price and sales, the assessment that I’m just a rapper is correct. So isn’t it even stranger? To plot something to recruit just one rapper?”

-It seems like something related to internal politics. And if that’s the goal, it can only be the vice president position of Ohkyung Media, which will become independent early next year. Actually, I’m scheduled to take the vice president position. What I’m wondering is why Sang-hyun is being mentioned in internal political issues…… Ah, could it be?

Oh Yeon-ju, who was speaking, seemed to catch something and fell into thought.

Sang-hyun calmly waited for her to continue.

After a long silence, Oh Yeon-ju opened her mouth.

-This is a really rude question, but do you remember how much you received in accident compensation from your parents?

“The loss of earnings was handled through legitimate legal procedures.”

Loss of earnings was the amount of damages that assumed how much income the deceased would have earned if the accident had not occurred. [This is calculated based on the deceased’s potential future income.]

Sang-hyun’s father was 47 years old, and his mother was 45 years old. According to the loss of earnings calculation method, which considers the working age to be up to 60 years old, Sang-hyun received a large amount of accident compensation.

Sang-hyun told her the amount of compensation as he remembered it.

But an even larger amount was the consolation money paid by Ohkyung Group.

-What about the consolation money?

“I received quite a large amount under a verbal agreement that I would not inform the media or sue. As you know, Deputy Manager Oh, they originally offered to increase the amount of consolation money even more, but wanted to process it as a double document with a written agreement instead of a verbal agreement.”

-That’s understandable. They couldn’t put the condition ‘do not inform the media or sue’ in the consolation money that receives notarization. You did really well to refuse.

Sang-hyun only refused because he knew the risk of double documentation.

Judging from Oh Yeon-ju’s tone, it seemed like she had noticed something. And Sang-hyun also had something coming to mind through Oh Yeon-ju’s tone.

“Are they trying to pressure you, Deputy Manager Oh Yeon-ju, by using the accident compensation payment process as an excuse? To give up the vice president position?”

-You…… understood?

Oh Yeon-ju was quite surprised inside. Considering his age, Lee Sang-hyun is incredibly quick to read the situation.

Oh Yeon-ju noticed the intentions of Hong Kyung-soo’s line.

Hong Kyung-soo’s team included former Manager Go, who had been fired. Manager Go was the person responsible for the accident that led to the death of Lee Sang-hyun’s parents.

Because Oh Yeon-ju came forward and exposed Manager Go’s accident, Hong Kyung-soo’s line had to go through a difficult time for a while. And the ‘justification’ for Oh Yeon-ju’s attack on Manager Go’s line was the ‘falsehood’ that she was close to Lee Sang-hyun.

Hong Kyung-soo’s line was trying to dig into that falsehood.

But this was a belated plan. Manager Go’s line would have already known that the connection between her and Lee Sang-hyun was just a ‘justification’. And if they wanted to object to that justification, they should have done it sooner.

Because there was no evidence to prove the false justification, and there was no room to dig into it.

Lee Sang-hyun was one of the successful applicants of Ohkyung Entertainment’s audition held in the second half of 2004, and he had a connection with her. No, it was supposed to be.

The audition test video at the time was already discarded for various reasons. Most of the visual materials related to the audition at the time, such as the company’s CCTV entry video, were eliminated. No matter how much you searched, you couldn’t find direct evidence that the relationship between Lee Sang-hyun and her was false.

Lee Sang-hyun was just a trainee who passed the final audition but did not enter the entertainment company.

‘Besides, Lee Sang-hyun’s musical skills are not false.’

When she first met Lee Sang-hyun, she didn’t even know that he was doing music. It was a fact she learned by going to Club Hommie’s performance following Hong Kyung-soo, who had a crush on her.

‘Come to think of it, Hong Kyung-soo wanted to recruit Lee Sang-hyun.’

She remembered that Hong Kyung-soo had highly praised Lee Sang-hyun.

Oh Yeon-ju said to Sang-hyun in a brighter voice.

-Don’t worry. I’ve already checked, but I’ll check even the small things again. It’s strange to push forward with a plan that has so many holes.

Oh Yeon-ju intentionally did not use the words ‘evidence of manipulation of the 2004 audition’. There was no such thing, but she was worried that the contents of this call might be taken through the base station.

Of course, it was impossible because a warrant would not be issued during a company political fight.

Lee Sang-hyun, who noticed this, also intentionally avoided some words, and Oh Yeon-ju was once again impressed.

-No matter how things proceed, Lee Sang-hyun will not be harmed. The worst damage would be that my promotion to vice president is delayed by a few years.

“So, is the recruitment offer to me one of the intentions to shake Deputy Manager Oh?”

-Probably. No, I’m sure. It seems like a trick to shake Lee Sang-hyun by targeting me. Soon, Team Leader Hong Kyung-soo will visit Sang-hyun and threaten him. He’ll say things like legal problems may arise because you falsely received a lot of consolation money.

Sang-hyun thought carefully about what Deputy Manager Oh Yeon-ju said. Considering the context, Oh Yeon-ju’s opinion seemed reasonable.

“If I’m scared, they’ll take the position of the powerful and try to forcibly recruit me. Very unfairly.”

-That’s right. They’ll want Lee Sang-hyun to be scared and answer, ‘I just did what Deputy Manager Oh Yeon-ju told me to do.’

The conclusion was that even if Team Leader Hong Kyung-soo shook him, he just had to trust Oh and not be afraid. And in Sang-hyun’s eyes, Team Leader Hong Kyung-soo was a kid.

Oh Yeon-ju and Lee Sang-hyun exchanged a few more words of blessing and hung up the phone. Oh Yeon-ju would now spend a few days looking for any evidence she had missed.

***

Because Hip Hop the Vibe was canceled due to the awards ceremony, 888 Crew got two weeks between the 3rd round of filming and the 4th round of filming.

They started preparing for Hommie Vol.3’s year-end party performance, which was scheduled for Christmas Eve, the day after the 3rd round of filming ended.

Sangmi’s role was very big in this performance preparation.

“Hmm, it’s too difficult to make a set list.”

Junhyung, who was worried about the set list for a while, grumbled. Sanghyun nodded and added.

“I know, right. First of all, shouldn’t we make it mainly with the tracks from the official bootleg? Because it’s the most recently released album?”

“Haven’t we already sung it too much? How about completing the unfinished tracks that we’ve made little by little? Shouldn’t there be a brand new track?”

Minji, who was listening to Junhyung and Sanghyun’s conversation, asked.

“Are you making a new track? Do you have time? You have to prepare for the Hip Hop the Vibe final battle in two weeks.”

“That’s true……. Then should we prepare for Hip Hop the Vibe first, which is urgent?”

“But the last filming day of Hip Hop the Vibe is the 10th. Then it’s only two weeks until the Hommie performance on the 24th, so shouldn’t we do it in advance?”

“Ugh.”

Junhyung grabbed his head. Kim Hwan, who was in charge of performance recruitment, began to further promote Junhyung’s worries.

“There’s still no contact from the public broadcaster, but KMnet seems to want to call us on the year-end special music program. That date is December 23rd. It’s the day before the Hommie performance, so if you want to do it, you have to keep that in mind.”

“Ugh.”

“Ah, and there are more than 30 event requests between December 1st and December 31st. I don’t know how many of them we’ll choose to do, but keep that in mind.”

“Ugh.”

Sanghyun, who had received a separate invitation, added a word.

“Ah, there’s a New Year’s countdown event in front of Seoul City Hall on December 31st. I got an invitation for that. The pay is very high.”

Junhyung, who heard Sanghyun’s words, opened his mouth with an expression of having given up on everything.

“Brain overload signal. Brain overload signal. Emergency recovery system activated. Activated. I’m passing the worry on to Lee Sanghyun.”

Junhyung, who passed the worry on to Sanghyun, lay down next to Sangmi, who was lying on the bed in the studio.

Sangmi, who glanced at Junhyung, said to Sanghyun.

“Why are you so worried? Do everything. Do everything you can and earn everything you can. You always said that? You have to row when the tide comes in.”

“That’s because we can’t prepare everything. It’s hard enough to prepare for Hip Hop the Vibe and Hommie’s performance right now.”

Sangmi said, getting up from the bed.

“Hommie’s performance time is 30 minutes, right? Hip Hop the Vibe’s performance time is 20 minutes. Then, if you add 10 minutes to the 20 minutes of Hip Hop the Vibe’s performance with existing famous songs to make 30 minutes, then the practice time will be reduced…… What’s the problem?”

“Then the songs overlap. It’s like watching things that you’ve already seen enough on TV again?”

“Unnie, oppas are now planning the performance too much from the musician’s point of view. Think from the audience’s point of view. At this Hommie performance, there will be an incredibly large number of audiences that can’t be compared to the last time, right? Because I want to see 888 Crew’s performance that was on TV in person.

Of course, there’s also Stars Records.”

Junhyung nodded and replied.

“I guess so?”

“Then would those audiences want to listen to songs they’re hearing for the first time, or songs they’ve seen on TV? Of course, it’s the songs they’ve seen on TV. How can unnie and oppas not know what I know?”

The expressions of the performers changed little by little at Sangmi’s words.

< Verse 21. Change > End