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Chapter 67: Cherry Blossom’s New Song (5)

"Mr. Lee, why don’t we call it a day for now?"

Lee Dong-Min whined like a child with an excited expression. "Huh? But we\'ve just started. Why stop now?"

"Hyung, let\'s do a bit more and then go."

Those in the entertainment industry always seemed to be obsessed with their jobs. It was already 11 PM and I had lost count of how many songs we had modified in just an hour.

"Look at yourselves in the mirror. You two don\'t even look human anymore."

Both of them had eye bags hanging down to their cheeks and bloodshot eyes.

Lee Dong-Min looked at himself in the mirror in the recording studio and laughed incredulously. "Who are you?"

Bang Seon-Woo only then realized his eyes were also bloodshot. "Yikes. Well, shall we stop here?"

"Yes, let’s call it a day."

Lee Dong-Min and Bang Seon-Woo looked at each other and smiled with satisfaction.

"I\'ll drop Seon-Woo off on my way."

"Oh, really? Are you sure?"

"Of course. You drove everywhere today, Mr. Lee. You need to get some rest. And I also have something to talk to Seon-Woo about on the way."

"Alright, then. I appreciate it."

That was when we heard a lively voice from outside the recording studio.

"Mr. Lee~"

It was Sae-Ri.

"Oh? Yoon-Ho oppa is here too? Hi, oppa!"

A high-spirited Sae-Ri approached me for a high-five. "Hi~!"

Smack!

As our palms met, Sae-Ri made a strange sound.

"Sticky~~Rice!"

I didn\'t quite understand what she meant but responded in my own way.

"Buckwheat~~Jelly!"

"Huh? What\'s that~?"

Sae-Ri giggled and added another word—‘Jjondeugi’[1].

\'What\'s that now?\'

I was confused but had no intention of delving deep into an unknown world.

‘I’ll just go along with it, I guess. It must be something like Marco Polo.’

"Jjondeugi~!"

Sae-Ri giggled at my response, seemingly content with my response.

Then, Han Myung-Ho brought in the rest of the Cherry Blossom members, herding them like sheep.

"Mr. Lee! I heard you found us a composer."

"I sure did. Here. This is Mr. Bang Seon-Woo. He\'ll be working with us starting today."

Han Myung-Ho extended a warm hand with a bright expression. “Hello, Mr. Bang! Please take good care of our Cherry Blossom girls!"

Bang Seon-Woo extended his hand like a statue, frozen stiff. "Oh, um, I, I\'ll do my best."

Bang Seon-Woo seemed like he didn\'t know how to react upon facing the celebrities up close for the first time in his life. He looked as if he had seen an alien.

‘Ah, and he’s not the only one.’

Yoo Eun-Ah had stepped into the recording studio but immediately backstepped and ran out when she saw Bang Seon-Woo.

Eun-Bi ran after Eun-Ah and dragged her back in. "Eun-Ah, what are you doing there? Come and greet our new composer!"

"Uh...o-okay."

Cherry Blossom struck a polite pose and gave their idol greeting to Bang Seon-Woo.

"Hello! We are Cherry Blossom hoping to bloom this spring~!"

Although they said it with a lively expression, that slogan really needed to be changed. When Cherry Blossom bowed in a 90-degree idol bow, Bang Seon-Woo bowed back just as deeply.

"Do you guys want to hear a nearly finished song?" Lee Dong-Min asked.

Sae-Ri was the most excited to hear Lee Dong-Min’s suggestion. "Did we already get a song?"

"We did. Now, everyone. Take a seat on the sofa. The song turned out great."

The excited Cherry Blossom members gathered on the recording studio\'s sofa. Lee Dong-Min confidently pressed the play button. The moment the first note of the song flowed through the surround speakers of the recording studio, the Cherry Blossom members’ faces lit up brightly.

"Wow! The intro is amazing!"

The song sounded even better the second time I heard it. The catchy hook seemed like it would stay in my mind for a long time.

When Sae-Ri started to tap her knees to the beat, Eun-Bi began to bob her shoulder. Yeon-Hee was grooving to the music and Eun-Ah was tapping her fingers in rhythm.

After 3 minutes and 50 seconds had passed, Lee Dong-Min turned his chair around joyfully. "How is it? Good, isn’t it?"

Sae-Ri jumped up and gave two thumbs up. "It\'s so, so, so amazing! And I think I should be able to follow the choreography easily with this beat!"

Choreography usually followed the basic tempo of a song, which was why many idol songs were medium-tempo. Sae-Ri, who was not very good at dancing, was the happiest.

But Yeon-Hee asked skeptically, "Is this really our song? What if we end up losing it to Golden Road sunbaes or something?"

"No, that won’t happen. Mr. Bang is exclusively a composer for us Singer Division 2."

Eun-Bi exclaimed in disbelief at Lee Dong-Min\'s answer, "Mr. Lee! Show us the contract!"

"What contract?"

"The contract that states that Mr. Bang is exclusively with the Singer Division 2!"

"Hey! I can’t show you that!"

"Oh, right. There\'s a confidentiality issue... I forgot."

Even the usually composed Eun-Bi seemed a bit off.

Bang Seon-Woo seemed embarrassed and looked like he wanted to crawl into a mouse hole, awkwardly looking in the exact opposite direction of Eun-Ah.

Anyway, there was no opposition to the song from Cherry Blossom members.

"And Mr. Bang was scouted by Yoon-Ho. You guys should be really nice to Yoon-Ho."

Suddenly, all eyes in the recording studio turned to me. I looked away as I felt awkward.

Yeon-Hee was the first to speak up. "Yoon-Ho oppa is always like a fairy godfather."

"Yes! He totally is!"

When Sae-Ri agreed, the others also nodded vigorously.

"Oppa. If we succeed this time, it will be all thanks to you."

"Honestly, I agree. If we can\'t succeed with a great song like this, who can we blame? Let\'s practice hard, Sae-Ri."

"Yes, I got this, Eun-Bi unnie."

The first song was chosen easily with no disagreement.

But then, Lee Dong-Min, who had been smiling contentedly, suddenly laughed. "Yoon-Ho."

"Yes, sir?"

"Do you know any lyricists or choreographers by chance?"

There was anticipation in Lee Dong-Min\'s eyes. He seemed to really think I could do anything.

"Of course I do!"

Everyone\'s faces lit up once again.

***

It took a while for me to leave with Bang Seon-Woo because of the excited Cherry Blossom members who kept insisting that I sign an exclusive contract with Singer Division 2.

Woo Yeon-Hee blocked my way, Sae-Ri clung to my back like a cicada, while Eun-Ah and Eun-Bi grabbed my arms as they refused to let me leave without signing an exclusive contract.

Thanks to Han Myung-Ho\'s intervention, I was finally able to leave the recording studio. After coming down to the company\'s underground parking lot, I called Yoo-Jin. Hearing that Miso fell asleep after waiting for me for a long time made me feel guilty.

-Oppa. You\'re coming early tomorrow morning to pick me up, right?

"Yes, I’ll see you tomorrow. Take a good rest. Maybe order some fried chicken for a late-night snack."

-Okay, I will. See you tomorrow.

But something was odd. Despite suggesting she order fried chicken, Yoo-Jin\'s voice sounded subdued. Normally, she would be ecstatic and almost shouting with joy.

‘She must be upset because I disappointed Miso.’

I thought I should visit early tomorrow and put my phone back in my pocket.

"Seon-Woo, get in."

"Thank you."

While driving Bang Seon-Woo home, I started telling him about the entertainment industry. Even though he was just a composer, it was important to know how the industry worked

Listening to my stories, Bang Seon-Woo opened his mouth with hesitation. "...Until yesterday, I was just cooking pork soup, and now this... I can\'t tell if this is a dream or reality."

His voice was laced with tears. The fact that he found a glimmer of hope in his hopeless life thanks to me weighed heavily on my mind.

"Just trust me. I\'ll handle all the tough and challenging parts for you."

Wiping away his tears, Bang Seon-Woo nodded. "Yes, I\'ll trust you—just like my mom said."

When I returned to the restaurant with Bang Seon-Woo, it was just past midnight. However, Kim Chun-Ja was there waiting for Bang Seon-Woo in front of the restaurant, still awake at this late hour.

"You’re back, Seon-Woo."

"Yes, I got 10 million won as a bonus for signing the contract, Mom!"

"Really?"

"Yes, really!"

I felt a lump in my throat as I watched the two of them hugging, crying, and laughing.

Kim Chun-Ja offered to give me a drink and let me sleep over, but I politely declined and headed home. Just then, my phone rang.

"...Why are they calling at this time?"

I answered the phone with trembling hands. From the other end, I heard the voice of the person I had always hesitated to call after I traveled back in time.

-Son?

My heart started racing.

-Did I wake you up?"

I took a deep breath and replied, "Ah, no. What\'s up? Did something happen at this hour?"

-Oh, I didn’t realize how late it was because I just finished bathing and putting the kids to bed. There’s nothing serious going on. I just wanted to hear your voice. I’m sorry for calling so late.

"No, it\'s okay. I told you I usually work till dawn, remember?"

The person who called with a bright voice was Sister Mikaela, who ran the orphanage where I grew up in.

In my past life, I never called her \'mom\' even though she always referred to herself as such. I thought she was a fake mom when I was younger. And as I grew up, it just didn’t feel natural to call her that. But only after she died did I realize that Sister Mikaela was indeed my mother.

I would never have survived the orphanage life without her. Despite her love and care, many kids at the orphanage didn\'t appreciate her. After traveling back in time, I never managed to call her because I didn’t know where to start. But it was as simple as a son calling his mother to say hi, just like how she called me.

\'I\'m sorry, Mom.\'

I resolved to start calling her \'mom\' from now on.

"W-wait a moment. Let me park the car."

Holding back my rising emotions, I pulled over. And for the first time, I called her ‘mom’.

"Uh... M-Mom. What\'s up? Why did you call?"

There was a brief silence—and then I heard sobbing from the other end of the phone.

‘Calling her ‘mom’ isn’t too hard after all. Why did I hesitate for such a long time?’

My heart grew heavy hearing her weeping. Sister Mikaela—no, Mom—tried to stop her tears and spoke.

-N-nothing much. I just... wanted to hear your voice.

This had always been the case. She usually had no reason to call me but just wanted to hear my voice.

In my past life, I would have hung up without much thought. But after having a second shot at life, I knew why she was calling me.

“Are the kids giving you a hard time? Do you want me to go over right now?”

The location of the orphanage was Gyeonggi-do Gwangju, and the traveling time was not too long.

-N-no. It’s too late for you to come all the way here. I’m fine. I’d be too worried that I won’t be able to sleep if you came now. Come for a visit later when you’re not busy. Everything is fine here.

Once I called her ‘mom,’ doing so for the second time wasn’t so hard.

“Okay. Give me a call if anything happens because I want to listen to your voice more often, Mom. No—actually, I’ll call you every night from now on.”

A voice brighter than before came from over the line.

-Calling you tonight was a great idea, son. I didn’t expect you to call me ‘mom’.

Upon hearing how emotional she sounded, I felt sorry for not being able to call her ‘mom’ earlier.

“I’ll call you more often from now on. Oh, and Mom, make sure you get a medical examination done this year, no matter what.”

-Okay. There’s nothing I won’t do for you, son. I promise to go this year.

In five years, she would be diagnosed with stomach cancer just like me. Although her surgery was successful, her cancer would suddenly spread to a different organ and she would die. I couldn’t let that happen again.

I mustered up courage once more.

“I’ll visit soon, Mom. And you know I always...love you. Right?”

-Yes. I always love you too, my son.

“Me too.”

Just like that, we continued our conversation, chatting about simple and everyday topics.

That night, I was able to sleep soundly and without any worries for the first time since I traveled back in time.

***

The next morning, I headed to the hotel as soon as I opened my eyes. When I opened the door, Miso, who was wearing her PowerTuff Girls pajamas, jumped out and welcomed me.

“Uncle Yoon-Ho~.”

“Miso~.”

Miso ran into my arms and then puffed her cheeks as if she suddenly remembered something.

“Hmph!”

“What is it~?”

“Hmph! Hmph!”

Miso turned away in my arms. It seemed like she was protesting because I didn’t visit her last night when I had promised her I would. But having already expected that she would be upset, I brought her a doll.

“I’m sorry, Miso. Work ended later than expected last night. But I brought you a gift.”

Only after giving her a PowerTuff Girls doll did Miso deflate her pufferfish-like cheeks.

“Hehe, it’s pretty.”

Miso hugged me tightly with the doll in her hand.

“Where is your mom, Miso?”

“Mom is taking a shower!”

I could hear the water running in the washroom. I sat in the living room of the suite and watched the kids channel with Miso while listening to her experience of living in a hotel.

Click.

Then, Yoo-Jin came out of the shower and greeted me.

“Oh. Hi, oppa.”

“Hi.”

“Give me a moment. I’ll be back after drying my hair.”

“Okay.”

Yoo-Jin went into the room. But I noticed that she was subtly pouting her lips, seemingly upset.

‘What’s going on?’

At that moment, Miso approached me and began to whisper the reason her mom was upset.

“Uncle Yoon-Ho. Mom is...”

1. Chewy snack that is made of sweet potato and pumpkin and contains konjac ?