Chapter Sixteen (First Update, Seeking Recommendations)

  The power has been out for several hours, I ran half the city and finally found a net cafe with electricity to upload. Sorry it's late! The second update might also be delayed, my laptop is running low on battery and the internet cafe is too noisy to write.

  Thank you Argle, 伤心⊙, Resplendence, 情何以堪418, and 北风千骑 five classmates for your rewards! Thank you to 苍龙翔空 classmate for urging me to update!

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  On the eve of Mid-Autumn Festival, some music communities and portal websites' music sections suddenly appeared with many posts recommending the same song. Since tomorrow is a statutory holiday, many people have spare time to browse online casually. Someone accidentally discovered that even though they only saw a post's link, out of boredom they clicked on it to listen, and then became immersed in it.

  One by one response, appearing under these topics:

  "Great! Listening to this song brings back memories of my last relationship."

  "I'm so sad... The wound of a lost love hasn't healed yet, I knew I shouldn't have come in."

  "Great lyrics, great rap, unfortunately the song is incomplete, is there a complete version?"

  “…………”

  Compared to posts recommending other famous singers' songs in the community or dedicated sections, these replies seem very weak and may be submerged by other topics with just one refresh. However, they will soon emerge again, slowly being seen and followed by more and more people. At the same time, some of Bao Er's fans also joined this spontaneous promotion.

  In the fan club, there were wails and howls, but fortunately, those who thought their goddess had fallen were in the minority. Everyone could see that the screenshot seemed to be from a gathering, where some fans who knew Ahn Jun-hee was, brought up his information, indicating that this should be an internal SM gathering, so most people can still look at the issue rationally. After eliminating the possibility of rumors, most people's attention focused on their collaboration song. It's been a long time since we heard Baekhyun's Korean song, now finally seeing some signs, how could his huge fan base let it go? Excitedly sharing the theme link everywhere, making this audio clip's influence spread out gradually over the night.

  But An Jun-he didn't know about this, and that night he went back home from the company and went to bed early without even logging into his fan club. The next morning, he got up early and boarded a flight to Busan.

  An hour later, I arrived in Busan and took a taxi after getting off the plane. As we drove through this coastal city, which was currently in its rainy season, I occasionally leaned against the car window and looked up to see rows of high-rise buildings cutting into the gray sky like a saw blade, with stratocumulus clouds above that were rolling like waves, filling the entire sky and extending far out to sea. Occasionally, sunlight broke through the thinner cloud layers, casting strips of light on the distant ocean surface. The sea breeze was cool and damp, much like the mood of many people now.

  For Koreans, although Mid-Autumn Festival is a joyful holiday, when it comes to this day and the first traditional activity is held, what still lingers in people's hearts is sorrow and nostalgia.

  This tradition is sweeping tombs and paying respects to deceased relatives.

  Sitting in the car, they passed through the city in silence and arrived at a cemetery on the outskirts of town. They walked up the stone steps, and An Junhe looked up at the top of the mountain where wisps of cloud were rising, feeling somewhat melancholy.

  It's been half a year since I last came here. The desolation of early spring has given way to another cycle, and the lush greenery in my field of vision is about to wither again.

  He carried the offerings into the cemetery, he came a bit early, there were still few people worshiping at this time, rows of tombstones stood under the gloomy sky, crowded yet empty, the cold wind blew by, and the muffled sound of firecrackers and mournful crying made the air even more desolate.

  He found the tombstone where his parents were buried, put down the offerings, and began to sweep away the fallen leaves. The small broom scrubbed against the cement floor, making a soft rustling sound, as the dry yellow leaves piled up in front of the tombstone. Then he opened a bottle of purified water, dampened a towel, and wiped clean the tombstone that had been covered with dust and dirt for half a year without anyone to tend to it. As he busied himself, he slowly began to speak.

  “…Dad, Mom, I'm sorry. It's been half a year since I came to see you. Although there are all sorts of reasons, but in the end, it's just that I didn't dare come, just like how I don't dare stay at our old home either. I'm always afraid that I'll suddenly burst into tears... Heh, Mom has always taught me to be a man, and if a man is always crying then he must be very embarrassing…”

  "...Now, I and Zhixiu don't live in our hometown anymore, we moved to Hancheng, and started my career there too. We're quite busy usually. But you can rest assured, I'm taking good care of Zhixiu, it's just that her leg hasn't recovered much, and she's also a bit afraid of contacting outsiders, so I didn't bring her this time. However, I've been trying hard to find some friends for her, and I believe she'll get better and better. You don't need to worry about us down there..."

  "...my older uncle and aunt have some misunderstandings about me, my cousins are also being restrained by them, we've lost contact for half a year now, only Yingjun is still with me, but don't worry, I'll clear up the misunderstandings with them later, on dad's side there aren't any relatives, Zhixiu and I only have them as family..."

  He spoke in a low, murmuring voice until he had wiped the tombstone clean and was kneeling before it, gazing at the black-and-white photos of his parents that were once again clear. Only then did he pause, dazed. A moment later, he took out yellow paper and lit incense, arranged offerings of food, poured two cups of strong liquor onto the burning pyre, and then, amidst the flames and smoke, knocked his head to the ground several times with a loud thud.

  The dark stratocumulus clouds seemed to have lowered even further, and before long, a fine misty rain began to fall slowly, with gusts blowing over from the sea surface, carrying a faint salty smell of seaweed, which blew the dense rain threads askew, and the fallen leaves on the ground also fluttered up.

  The weather is getting colder.

  In the cool rain, he sat cross-legged in front of the grave, stayed for a while, then put his hands into his pockets and left silently.

  More than an hour after he left, the cemetery was visited again by a group of middle-aged men led by several men wearing raincoats and holding umbrellas. Seeing the offerings and the ashes that had been burned in front of the tombstone, a young man stammered: "Junhe has been here."

  The three middle-aged men in the lead were silent, and no one else dared to speak. They placed the offerings brought with them in front of the tombstone. The younger ones went up to kowtow, while those of the same generation quietly looked at the clean inscription and photos on the tombstone.

  After the worship was over, the three middle-aged men silently left, leaving the younger generation to look at their backs in silence.

  At this time, Ahn Jun-hee was already on a flight back to Hancheng. At the same time, something happened within S.M Company.

  Today, Kwon Boa, who was supposed to be resting, didn't go home. From the "Hemingway" coffee shop, he followed Lee Soo-man and had too many of Lee's marks on him, even his attitude towards work was like that. He is also a bit of a workaholic. In the past, when he only handled company affairs, he often didn't return home at night. Now, as Ahn Jun-hyuk's manager, there are more things to take care of - currently, most of them are still in the planning stage, such as what he is doing now, which is about creating a mini-album for Ahn Jun-hyuk.

  Singer's first album, even if it's just a mini version, isn't something that can be done by simply saying so. It requires considering the style based on market positioning, then preparing songs and contacting producers according to the positioning and style. If possible, it's also necessary to plan ahead whether an MV needs to be filmed and make a budget.

  The company positioned An Jun-he as a powerful idol because he not only has the conditions to become an idol - young, handsome appearance - but also has good singing skills and acting skills. However, with this positioning, it's hard to find songs that can showcase his vocal abilities and distinguish him from ordinary idols.

  "Alright alright alright, thanks for the hard work Li, I'll treat you to dinner another day!"

  Hanging up the phone, looking at a part of the demo sent by Li's assistant on the computer, Quan Baogen rubbed his forehead and was about to continue screening.

  At this time, the office door was suddenly pushed open and a middle-aged man rushed in with great momentum. Quan Baogen was still stunned when the man pointed at him and scolded him loudly: "Quan Baogen, you're not satisfied with harming others, now you've set your sights on our Bao'er, right? I'm warning you, it's best to modify those posts online immediately, otherwise I'll report to Director Li and make sure you can't get away with this."

  Quan Baogen was baffled and stared at the man, exclaiming: "What's wrong with you?"

  This man is also a veteran of the company, and like him, was promoted by Li Xiufull. He has been serving as Bao'er's assistant since last year. Although his position seems lowly, he has always been somewhat arrogant due to having Li Xiufull backing him up.

  However, he remembered that his relationship with this person was not very good, but it wasn't bad either, and he had never offended him, completely unable to understand what he was singing about.

  That person saw his bewildered expression and thought he was pretending to be confused, so angry that he trembled with rage, grabbed the computer in front of Quan Baogen, logged onto Never Search, pulled up a large number of web pages, then slammed the mouse heavily and shouted: "Still pretending? Look for yourself!"

  The search results yielded many web pages, most of which were from various communities with similar content, all discussing An Jun He and Bao Er collaborating on a song, accompanied by video screenshots. In the pictures, An Jun He is playing an electronic piano while "deeply" singing with Bao Er.

  Just seeing these pictures, Quan Baogen was delighted. The background of the picture is very familiar, it's the stage of last night's internal gathering, but he wasn't there yesterday either, and unexpectedly, An Junhe actually had a duet with Bao'er.

  I remembered yesterday on the bus, I was joking that even if Junhe and Baoer had a scandal, they would still be thrilled. Who knew that joke would actually come true?

  Seeing him smile, Bao'er's assistant was even more furious and shouted: "You still have the nerve to laugh, stop hyping immediately! That An Junhe under your hand is not worthy of being rumored with Bao'er, a toad wants to eat swan meat, it's just self-inflicted!"

  "How can you talk like that?" Quan Baogen frowned, dissatisfied: "I didn't know about this matter at all, who knows which trainee spread it out, and pay attention to your tone, is Junhe worthy of Bao'er? It's not up to you, a little assistant, to point fingers!"

  "You...!" He didn't expect him to be so blunt and confrontational. The person who had always been flattered because of Li Xiuman and Bao'er was thoroughly enraged, "Fine, fine! I'll go find President Li right now and convene a management meeting. You just wait to get fired, you bastard!"

  Having said that, he slammed the door and left in a huff.

  In the office behind him, Quan Baogen had a cold smile at the corner of his mouth. A month ago, this sentence could still threaten him, but now... Ha! With the support of those directors, it's not clear who will be fired yet!

  He thought about it and took another look at the search results on the screen, casually clicking into one to take a look. He wasn't really clear about this matter either, and he was curious - what song had Junhe and Baoer collaborated on?