Genius Idol’s Strategy to Conquer the Entertainment Industry

Chapter 184

It was a perfect moment, like being drawn into a scene from a romantic movie.

The boy’s expressions and movements as he played a well-known song in the late afternoon sunlight were gentle and affectionate, like someone drifting through an old dream.

Then, at some point, the sound gained strength, and the music ran excitedly like a child playing in the playground until sunset, running towards their distant parents.

Long ago, the sound of the instrument played by the boy who had eagerly awaited a moment like this was clearer than the color of the clear sky.

Such an unhesitating attitude made the boy, who had grown up so much that it would surprise anyone who knew him as a child, look like someone who had been practicing this song diligently until just yesterday.

“Was ‘Chopsticks’ always this good of a song?”

“When I played it, it was just really noisy.”

“He looks really cool playing the piano well.”

On Raon perfectly covered the relatively lacking Muk Hye-sung, just as he had confidently said he would.

It seemed like the two had been playing together for a long time.

The foreign violinist who joined in with a smile and an elegant curve of his violin also contributed to making the moment even more special.

“Who is that…?”

The production crew, who had been delighted with the unexpected special guerrilla performance by On Raon and Muk Hye-sung, were not initially pleased with Christine’s sudden appearance.

They were worried that someone who didn’t know anything might jump in out of enthusiasm and ruin the performance of the two main characters who were already doing well.

As the producer, contemplating whether to have the staff remove Christine from the scene or let her be, watched Christine take out a violin from a crimson case slung over her shoulder, a writer recognized Christine just in time and spoke up.

“Isn’t that person the one?”

“Who?”

“The one advertised all over the road for the recital on the way here. I think that’s the person from the poster.”

“Really?”

“I understand why the producer is worried, but don’t you think she might be good?”

“Well, that would be great…”

In the meantime, Christine had roughly finished setting up her instrument and stood a bit away from the piano, lightly placing her bow on the strings while thinking about when to join in, imagining Jang Hae-na.

After checking Christine’s photo on the phone that the youngest writer searched, the producer decided to watch and wait.

“This could be a big hit rather than a flop.”

Several citizens watching the slightly flustered production crew nearby had this thought.

“Wasn’t this pre-arranged?”

At that moment, Christine’s violin boldly blended into the piano.

The captivating melody drew the engrossed audience even deeper into the ever-changing and unfolding music.

“She’s good.”

“She really is.”

“Wow… Hye-sung and Raon look so cool doing this.”

“People really do look different when they handle instruments well.”

“Should I learn the piano too?”

“But there’s a limit to how different someone can look.”

“Do you want to die?”

“It’s a pity. If I had known, I would have brought better sound equipment.”

“Make sure to record her too. Get permission later to air this.”

“Got it.”

“Hey, this is really good. Did they originally play the piano? I don’t think I’ve heard anything like that.”

“I’m not sure either…”

“Just record it well.”

The performance ended all too soon, leaving everyone there wanting more.

“Encore! Encore!”

Unfortunately, neither Muk Hye-sung, On Raon, nor Christine could accommodate the audience’s encore requests as they had other commitments.

Muk Hye-sung and On Raon, exchanging satisfied glances, stood up and politely responded to the audience’s applause.

“Thank you.”

Christine also bowed gracefully.

“[Thank you.]”

A housewife, who had come out for a spring outing with her child in a stroller, applauded generously for the performance that made her momentarily forget the fatigue of childcare.

A college couple on a date, an elderly man walking with a cane on the trail, and even the production crew capturing the scene with their cameras all felt the same.

* * *

Christine said she was in Korea briefly for her recital.

She had come out sightseeing and, hearing the tune I played from afar, became curious about the song and came closer. Then, upon hearing my continuing performance, she felt a sense of familiarity.

She said it resembled the style of a well-known colleague of hers.

Unable to hold back, she boldly took out her instrument, which she always carried, and joined our performance.

“[By the way…]”

Christine pointed at the camera nearby with the hand not holding the violin and asked,

“[Are you two celebrities? It looks like you’re filming.]”

Wasn’t it too late to ask that?

“[Yes. We’re singers. K-pop! Idols!]”

“[Oh, K-pop. Now I get it. My daughter loves it. You must play the piano as a hobby… For a hobby, it’s quite high-level.]”

“[Thank you.]”

“[So, are you two in the same group? Colleagues?]”

No matter how you looked at it, Muk Hye-sung didn’t seem to be the same age as me.

To Westerners, it seemed like Muk Hye-sung and I were of similar age.

The way she spoke felt like she was dealing with someone much younger, like a colleague’s child.

“[No. The person next to me debuted almost 20 years before me. He’s my senior.]”

“[…Really?]”

“[He’s almost forty.]”

With Muk Hye-sung’s calm explanation, Christine could roughly guess Muk Hye-sung’s age and was amazed for a while, uttering all sorts of exclamations.

The camera was capturing all of it.

Foreigners’ awed reactions toward Koreans had always been a popular theme on our country’s broadcasts.

Ah, that must be why there are so many videos on YouTube compiling my moments of loving Korean things.

Anyway, after that, Christine treated Muk Hye-sung with a bit more respect.

Though it seemed she still saw him as a sibling rather than a child.

“[I have a schedule now, so I’m going to leave… By the way, what was the title of the first song you played?]”

“[Ah, it’s our song called ‘Dream’. It’s our new release.]”

“[I see. The second one arranged as jazz was excellent, but I also really liked the first one.]”

For some reason, hearing that made me feel surprisingly good, as if the energy I had spent on the performance was being replenished.

Just then, a writer who had been eagerly waiting for an opportunity beside me asked if I could ask Christine in English if it was okay to use the footage of the performance.

I conveyed the writer’s request to Christine.

“[Oh, sure. Of course.]”

Fortunately, Christine readily agreed and handed the writer her business card.

“[This is my business card. If it airs, please contact me via the email on it. I have a performance in Korea soon, so it would be great if you could also promote that.]”

“Okay, okay. Thank you very much!”

The writer, delighted, kept the business card.

Christine took a photo with us to post on social media to brag to her daughter, then had a brief interview with the production crew before going her way.

* * *

Unlike her manager who stayed cooped up in the hotel, Christine habitually brought her instrument out, which turned out to be a good decision.

Feeling uplifted, Christine made a call somewhere.

“[Jana…]”

Luckily, the other person answered before Christine’s high spirits could cool down.

“[Hello, Hae-na.]”

“[What’s up?]”

“[I met your son.]”

In fact, Christine had known that On Raon was Jang Hae-na’s son for a long time.

It was a long time ago, but she had briefly seen young On Raon during a visit to Jang Hae-na’s house.

On Raon’s transparent amber eyes, which significantly influenced his stunning appearance, were so similar to Jang Hae-na’s that it was impossible not to know.

Pretending not to recognize On Raon earlier was due to Christine’s mischievous nature that flared up at any given moment.

‘I even did an interview. She’ll be surprised when she sees the broadcast later, won’t she?’

Meanwhile, Jang Hae-na was taken aback by Christine’s unexpected words.

“[What?]”

“[I was in a lovely forest, and there was this handsome guy playing ‘Chopsticks’ just like you used to, so I joined in. The kid is really handsome and plays well. He reminds me a lot of you. By the way, it was being filmed. Is your son a K-pop star? Jessica would be thrilled to know…]”

Jang Hae-na didn’t have the time to listen to Christine’s long story.

“[Sorry, Christine. I’m a bit busy right now. I’ll hang up.]”

“[What? Hae-na? Hae-na!]”

The call was abruptly cut off, and Christine, wide-eyed, stared at her phone’s screen showing the call had ended, muttering in confusion.

“[What’s going on…?]”

* * *

“I’m hungry. Let’s go eat.”

“Let’s do that.”

Despite having snacked on hot dogs and cotton candy from street vendors, momentarily forgetting we were in the middle of a shoot and had to manage our diets, we still hadn’t had the brunch we initially intended.

After walking around the wide forest, drawing attention, and playing the piano with all our might in an unplanned performance, we were really hungry.

We moved to a famous pork cutlet restaurant we had arranged for filming cooperation and devoured the highly praised cutlets.

Then we visited a nearby arcade to fill up the rest of our shooting time, and on the way back to Muk Hye-sung’s house with the mics turned off for a while.

Muk Hye-sung asked,

“Why didn’t you mention it earlier?”

“What? Mention what?”

“That you’re Hae-na’s son.”

Ah, I was so surprised by the unexpected coincidence that I forgot.

This person also knew my mother.

“I just thought saying I was a fan would look cooler on the broadcast. Saying I’m a fan of my mother would look really cool, right?”

Muk Hye-sung, who had been staring at me silently, soon awkwardly patted my head.

The Ten to Ten filming ended.