Choi Seunghyun imprisoned himself in the recording studio.  Surrounding him were the four red walls that kept everything out from reality.  Instead of pushing back into his cushioned executive seat, he leaned forward and kept doing do every few seconds.  His hard body pressed down against the edge of the table, which compressed the thin white collared shirt between the two surfaces.  He rested his left hand on top of his black Beats studio headphones.  Inside was playing a new song he produced a few days ago.  He would press the plush side against his ear every few seconds.  During this, he would close his eyes as the melody played for a brief time.  His other hand controlled the volume dial on the complex sound mixing board in front of him.  Most people would stare at such a device in disbelief, unsure what to do.  Seunghyun saw this as one of the simplest things in the world.  It was something he could completely understand once seeing it.

            Toying around the dial, he kept his eyes on the giant Apple monitor in front of him when possible.  The volume levels on the screen were fixated on, going from green to yellow from each turn of the dial.  Sometimes he would drop his hand from the headphones and furiously rewind and fast forward between his fine piece.  Finally he settled for a medium between his originally intended volumes for the chorus.  Pulling his hands away from soundboard and keyboard, he only pressed the space bar.  From the headphones played the chorus track as his hands were clamped together, sitting on his lap.  He kept his back straight and closed his eyes while listening to what he spend the entire morning working on.  Once those few seconds were over, he repeated that part again. 

            Seunghyun reached for his briefcase to pull out his black notebook.  There he opened up the beaten up book, where pages of notes and scribbles covered every empty space available.  As he pressed his pen against a fresh new page, he saw his phone near him.  On the screen was his secretary calling him, but he was not able to hear this.  Detecting that he had already missed a few calls from her from the icon on the top left part of his screen, he took off his headphones and placed them carefully on the side.

            “Yes?” Seunghyun immediately answered with a cool tone.  “Oh, the child is here already?  Lead him into the studio.  Also bring me a cup of iced tea.”

            A young man leaned against the front desk as the conversation the secretary had carried on.  He knew he should not be eavesdropping, but he did not stop himself.  Keeping his hands together, he had his thoughts remain silent.  The only indication of what his mind was going through was when he rested his hand on his stomach.  He took a deep breath to calm down his twisting nerves.  Everyone had high regards for Choi Seunghyun.  The man was a legend amongst music producers, being able to create numerous hit songs of all genres.  Even before this producing career, Seunghyun was a well-known underground rapper. 

            This was the type of man to look up to.  Especially when it came to a music career.  Personal life wise was a different story according to most people.

            “Mr. Choi is ready for you,” the secretary hung up on the phone, returning her attention to the curious young man in front of her.

            About three feet away from Seunghyun in the studio was the guest.  He was tall and lean with muscles, covering his features with a baggy letterman jacket and loose jeans that appropriately sat on his waist.  The man’s eyes that easily turned into smiles along with a cheeky grin made him resemble more of a boy than an adult.  Along with him squirming around in his chair and fidgeting with his cap, people commented in the record label building that this was a boy and not a man.

            “Bobby is it?” Seunghyun said while keeping his eyes on the screen.  The sound-editing program preoccupied him still. 

            The sheepish one known as Bobby lowly dipped his head, but nodded quickly soon after a quick hesitation.  Staring at his lap at the moment, he scratched the rim of his snapback and travelled his eyes to Seunghyun.  Despite them having their chairs next to each other, the distance was still far.  They could hear each other when someone cleared their throats or gulped.  Bobby held onto his seat’s end with his free hand and was almost moved closer to the intimidating man.  However, he was stopped once hearing Seunghyun’s voice.

            “Jiyong told me you were interested in having me as your producer.  Why?”

            His words were true.  Constantly for months, Jiyong had been telling his friend about this kid.  Living in America for a few years, Bobby had a good grip onto Korean and English.  However, that was not the appeal of this up and coming artist.  Anyone who had listened to Bobby would say he was one of the sickest rappers to land on the scene.  There was potential.

            Hearing this, Bobby lifted his head to look at Seunghyun.  There was a pause from the former, but he cleared his throat and smiled.  However, he mentally slapped himself when thinking he was smiling too much and tried to downplay this before answering, “Well… I’ve always heard about you, but I’m a fan of the songs you’ve made”

            “But you already produce your own music,” Seunghyun interrupted with a monotone voice.  He kept the same stoic expression while working on the same song from earlier. There was not even a glance towards the boy.

            Bobby was ready to mutter some curses to himself.  He stopped though, knowing to expect this from the infamous music producer.  People warned him that this music producer was strict. Clearing his throat again, Bobby continued with his answer, as he looked straight at Seunghyun, “It’s true, I make my songs.  However, I listened to some of your old work from your rapping days.  They’re quite amazing. With your experience and mentoring, I want you to learn from you”

            Seunghyun pulled away from his computer screen for once.  He spun his chair towards Bobby and leaned back into the seat.  Hands were behind his head as he cocked a brow.  Reaching towards the side, the music producer grabbed his once cold tea and sipped on it before putting away his drink.  Then he dried off his wet fingertips by wiping it with a napkin nearby, speaking during this, “You probably tell this to every executive, producer, or any higher up.  Don’t you, kid.”

            Widening his eyes, Bobby shook his head, “It’s not like Mr. Choi.  I really do mean what I say.  You’re the only producer that I want to work with.”

            Seunghyun crumpled the napkin and tossed it into the trashcan nearby like a basketball.  The ball perfectly swooshed and landed into the trashcan, which he witnessed with a faint proud smile at this small action.  After this, he stood up from his chair and looked down at Bobby. 

            “Follow me kid,” Seunghyun said as he save his files on the computer, then left the room.

            Bobby stared while listening to the producer’s words.  He quickly nodded and rushed out of the room once the producer left, making sure to stay a step right behind.  He turned off the lights in the room before catching up with who was hopefully his new mentor.

            Through out the week Seunghyun had Bobby shadow him through out the former’s schedules.  They would attend meetings together or recording sessions.  Sometimes dinners, but only due to them were being work related events.

---

            “What does this do?” Seunghyun asked.

            “Bobby, did you hear what I said?” he repeated, but stopped turning the dial on the soundboard in the recording studio.  With those words said, there was a sharp look to the man’s eyes.  He narrowed them at that second when seeing the younger man not respond at all.  Bobby could only scratch his temple with his cap as his answer.  His mouth was open, but nothing came from it.  Instead, he later on sipped from his one of many cups of coffee that day.  He glanced at the clock.  It was already seven at night.

            Watching this, Seunghyun held up his hand to the girl group recording in the booth.  Bobby was not sure who it was.  This was the third girl group he already met from this week alone.  Right now, the other man did not care what their name was. The music producer pulled in his microphone, speaking to the girls across from him, “Take a five minute break.  Drink some tea or something.  Your throats need it.”

            All the girls stood there as blank expressions formed.  They turned their heads to each other, mouthing something which Seunghyun could somewhat understand from by reading their lips.  Before he could return his attention to Bobby, he spoke into the mic again while holding down the talkback button, “Yes.  I said you could have a break.  Be back here like I said.”       

            From that confirmation, the girls sprinted out of the recording booth and ran out into the hallways.  Seunghyun turned to everyone in the room and signaled them out of the room with his head.  One look and everyone followed, including Bobby, who was popping his jacket’s collars to cover his neck and face some more.  He was close to the door.  Only two feet left.

            Seunghyun had his head down, but held up his hand, “Not you, kid.  Stay here.”

            Bobby was smart enough not to test Choi Seunghyun after shadowing the latter for an entire week.  Keeping that thought in mind, the boy abashedly swerved by his heels to the man before dragging himself back to the soundboard.  Once there, he stared at the dials that he was asked about only a few seconds earlier.  His eyes were wandering back to Seunghyun, but would rush back to the dials only a split second later.  Seunghyun saw this.

            “You’ve been wanting me to mentor you, but you’re not even listening to me,” the producer said as he tapped his fingers against the table.  He lifted his head to get a better look of the scared boy, who kept his head down.

            Bobby took a deep breath as his eyes closed before speaking up, “Mr. Choi, I do appreciate you taking me in this week. However, I’m really exhausted and this is-”

            Seunghyun already cut off the boy as he swished his hand, shaking his head at this, “I had the same amount of sleep as you.  Possibly even less, but do you see me performing under a hundred percent?”

            Silence was only in the room before the music producer sighed loudly.

            “Answer me, kid.”
            “No sir,” Bobby said with his head dropped.

            Ready to say another word, Seunghyun had his mouth opened.  However, he closed it when hearing the door opened.  A woman had entered the room.  She appeared to be tall from her long legs that were further elongated from her heels.  Her black high skirt that cut off a few centimeters away from her s emphasized her tiny waist.  One could say she had one of the smallest waists ever as it was like an ant’s.  Her long hair was down and cascaded down her back, but some of it swept over parts of her eyes. 

            Her eyes were her most noticeable feature of them all.  While they were large and circular, they did not have the typical doe eyed feature to them.  Instead they were bright and alert, those full of character.  Underneath her eyes were small, but the right, amount of fat that maintained a fresh appearance to her.  Strangely enough, she was a matured beauty.  However, she had a young aura and look to her. 

            “Sorry for barging in.  I see that you’re busy, so I’ll stop by later,” the woman quickly said.  Her words were in a careful slow tone like as though she was trying to think out her next sentence.  Bobby observed how her eyes were fixated on Seunghyun.  The same could be said for the man, who glanced at the beautiful lady every once and awhile.

            As she was about to close the door, Seunghyun stood up from his chair.  Without hesitation he walked over to her and asked in his same cool tone, “Sojin, how are you?”

            Sojin stared at the ground in that moment before trying her best to make eye contact with Seunghyun.  However, her eyes would never exactly make that connection.  Instead, it would stare at different parts of the room or his face. 

            Finally she shrugged her shoulders, “I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”

            Nothing more was said as she left the room quietly.  The man that Bobby spent his entire week only stood there in silence.  Then he muttered without turning to the boy, “Let’s call it a day.”

---

            Huffing and puffing was all Bobby did for the past thirty seconds.  He tried his best to keep his legs up and walk towards the cab in front of the street tents.  Leaning against him was an extremely drunk Seunghyun, who barely had his arm around Bobby for support.  His head was low as he mumbled incoherent words.  With each word said, it reeked of alcohol.  Bobby tried his best to hold onto his breath in order to avoid inhaling any of this scent.  He never had to do this, even when he partied heavily at nightclubs with other musicians and record label producers. 

            For the past few hours, the younger one was dragged to one of the street tent restaurants.  All they did was eat and drink.  However, the producer was constantly drinking through the night.  There was not a stop until the owner of the tent thought it would be best if Seunghyun went home for the night.  Instead of fighting back, the drunk only agreed to this request.  He could only think of one person. 

            Almost stumbling onto the ground, Bobby was able to catch his stance while holding up Seunghyun.  Finally Bobby was able to push the producer into the cab.  At first, the younger one held onto the car door and leaned his head inside to tell the driver the directions to Seunghyun’s place.  However, he stopped once he took a glance at the drunk.  Unlike his usual stoic and collected self, there was a weak man laying on the car seat in a haphazard manner.  Legs were sprawled.  Tie was loose.  Mumbles could only be heard from the man.

            Bobby helped Seunghyun sit up, pushing the latter onto one side of the cab.  Then he sat inside the cab too.  He looked into the man’s wallet and found the address needed.  After that they made their way to Seunghyun’s apartment.

            Cars barely moved.  If anything, they were able to move an inch or two every few minutes.  Honking could be heard from different directions.  Some drivers had half of their bodies out of the window.  A few were yelling at other cars.  The others were trying to see the progress of the traffic.  Little to none.  People tried to switch lanes with little success.  Despite how bright Seoul was at night, people would just see small lights illuminating the streets. 

            In the white Hyundai cab smacked in the middle of this trap, the driver was playing the traffic report.  It had been repeating the same words.  In the backseat, Bobby perfectly lip-synched the report.  He even eventually added hand movements to his improv act.  Meanwhile Seunghyun was lazily sitting in his spot the entire ride.  His head rested against the once cold window, staring at the same sight for who knew who long.  He caught the young rapper’s performance from the reflection close to him.

            “I better not see you lip synching.  Ever,” Seunghyun muttered.

            Once hearing these words, Bobby stopped his mini act.  Instead, he pushed his back more into the hard black leather seats.  His hands rested on his stomach and tapped out a beat.  In the front seat, the driver reached for the volume dial on the radio.  Slowly the traffic report became louder, despite the same words being repeated again.

            “Turn off the radio,” Seunghyun demanded.

            The driver turned his head to his customer, obliging to it.  Now with silence, it made the once awkward ride even worse.  Bobby even stopped with his mini body drumming session.  Letting his eyes travel around the car, he finally spoke up, “Can we play some music?”

            Seunghyun said something before the driver could, “Sure. As long as it’s not your album.  I want to listen to something different.”

            Despite the first part of the man’s answer, Bobby took out his iPod and tried his best to smile.  He scrolled through his library.  He was stuck though.  What song to play?

            “Mr. Choi, is there a song or album that speaks to you?” Bobby suddenly asked.  At that same second though, he wanted to kick himself for saying that. 

            “Are you trying to sound poetic kid?”

            “No,” Bobby said, but hesitating afterwards.  He had his finger on his chin momentarily before continuing with his words, “I want to know if there’s any song important to you.  Maybe because you like the sound?  Maybe you like the message?  Fine, what is your favorite song?”

            From this response, Seunghyun’s head went back with a snort, “You’re deeper than I thought, kid.”

            Bobby sighed deeply before returning back to his iPod.  He was scrolling through the library once again as words flew past his eyes.  At this rate he was ready to press the shuffle button.  However, he heard a decent response.

            “Play Songs About Jane.”

            Hearing this, Bobby was quiet at first while trying to figure out who sang the album.  Seunghyun saw this from the corner of his eyes, deciding to help the boy out, “It’s by Maroon 5.  I’ll play it.”

            While saying these words, Seunghyun sluggishly took out his phone. In that relaxed, but rare and sloppy pose, he searched through his music.  Bobby watched as he tilted his head.  Questions wandered in mind. After being hounded around for a week, he thought this was his turn to finally ask something and get an answer from it.

            “Why this album?”

            With his finger right on top of the play button, Seunghyun closed his eyes.  He sighed deeply as his shoulders dropped, responding under his breath, “I guess you could say this is really just songs about her.”

            Then Seunghyun played the first song on the album.