(Still) 29th October 2024

Hyunsoo nudges Hwajae in the ribs, “you okay?”

“I’m fine, why?”

“You kept drifting off during recording just now.”

“Why, did I?”

“Hyung, you totally did. Don’t even attempt to deny it,” Sigan spits in mild disgust without even looking up from his phone.

“Must have found one of the girls attractive or something,” Hyunsoo observes thoughtfully.

“That is totally in hyung’s character!”

“You’ll need to stop painting me as some girl crazy dude.”

Sigan shrugs unapologetically, “but you are girl crazy. I see no untruth in the statement.”

“You guys need to stop pretending that I’m the only one who does stuff like this, and need to stop making a big deal out of something that isn’t.”

“So you admit that you were drifting off?”
“Even if I was drifting off, how would I know that I was drifting off, because as I remember you saying, I was drifting off.”

“Whatever,” Hyunsoo says, dismissing his argument with a wave of a hand, “I don’t know if that argument made sense, and I’m not going to waste my brain cells trying to figure out if it does. Just, which girl is it?”

“I think Jinhee noona is really pretty,” Sigan throws the bait, waiting for Hwajae to bite.

Hwajae hums in response.

-

“What’s up?” SeonIn asks the first thing when Sujeong phones her late at night, “don’t tell me nothing because you don’t ever call me at this time of the night if there’s nothing up.”

“You know, the company where I work at?”

“Yeah? What about it?”

“So the company approached me and said something about their sister company looking for young talent, and asked me if I wanted to transfer over.”

“That’s not a sign for you to make yourself scarce, is it?” SeonIn’s voice comes over concerned even over the phone.

“Don’t think so. They had a fairly senior staff come to speak with me. They said that they were lacking young talent, and it happens that NOEL at this point is unable to efficiently make use of all their young talent—”

“That’s a euphemism for they hired too many people and now don’t know what to do with them.”

“So they asked if I wanted to transfer over because they were in need of young talent. They’ve already seen my portfolio and liked what they were seeing. Sister company also said that even though the junior staff is different, when it comes to senior staff, both companies use the same people quite often.”

“That doesn’t really make much sense.”

“I know, but I asked the staff over at NOEL, and they said that a good number of the senior staff working on projects on both sides are from the same pool of people. Something about both companies having a long standing working relationship.”

“Then why aren’t they one company?”

“Because NOEL is an entertainment conglomerate with a music division, which has only become well known recently. The sister company mostly just does music.”

“Okay, then what do you think about it?”

“I’m seriously considering taking the bait.”

“Why? You’re working in a big company, why would you want to transfer over to a smaller one?”

Sujeong hesitates for a long while, “because I’m not really happy in NOEL. Don’t get me wrong, most people are perfectly fine and nice people. But you know, there’s that who seems to like picking on me ever since I revealed that I have to be back home and therefore can’t go drinking with them. Maybe she’s lonely or has no one or something, but it doesn’t change that I get picked on, and I don’t appreciate it, especially seeing that she is kind of a higher up.”

“But sometimes it’s better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”

“And the sister company is staffed with more mature employees.”

“That is not a good thing. How are you going to see any cute guys that way?”

Sujeong giggles at SeonIn’s concern, “let’s say, my dear girl, that I’m not really very crazy about a workplace romance. So I’m really quite fine with that. Plus, a more mature presence will hopefully mean less pressure to drink at night. Hopefully it’ll mean people work more normal hours. Hopefully people will understand when I say that I have to be back home.”

“But you’re working at a big conglomerate. You can rise higher in a big conglomerate.”

“I don’t know if I’m not thinking far enough, but I see this as a short term to a medium term move. Anyway if I ever rise to senior composer-lyricist level, the precedent dictates that NOEL will employ your services anyway. So I don’t think it makes that much of a difference. Smaller companies also hopefully means a more homely atmosphere, and seeing that they lack young talent, hopefully better training. Apparently it’s more hands on too.”

“Is your pay any h