Chapter 43: Seniors (Part 2)
Yes, yesterday's second update
Thanks for the rewards from "Bone Ash", Argle and Blue Breeze of Gemini!
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It is still that slightly desolate and dilapidated small building, the daytime business of "littlemonkey" is unnoticeable, but if one has the courage to pass through the two burly men guarding the entrance, pass through the dark and gloomy corridor, push open the thick and heavy door, people may be surprised to find that the bustling world behind the door is so different from others.
Flickering laser lights, swift light spots dancing on the walls and floor, darkness flashing in a unique way in this space, mournful and illusory stage colors jumping and changing, shaking the heart with dull drumbeats and piercing disc scratches. Along with the hysterical music shocking the air, in the center of the dance pool, dark shadows are looming, that is the image of people wildly swaying left on the retina. Occasionally, there will be whistles and screams from the sofas and boxes on the second and third floors, as if coming from a distant world, entering the brain to become a touch of beautiful fantasy.
Not long after bringing Hae Soo-yoon here, Ahn Joon-hee instructed Choi Moon-seok to renovate the bar again. The expanded underground space was increased to two floors, with the dance floor moved to the second basement level and the first floor connected to the ground floor as a VIP room.
He didn't want to make a profit from it, An Junhe wasn't interested in that little money. He had cultivated it with his own hands and had also been influenced by his personality. Moreover, he had privately funded it. Recently, Cui Wensheng, who had gradually become famous, naturally looked down on this small benefit, so he still used it as a safe place to entertain his own people.
From Busan, initially only a group of over 20 people, now the scale is slowly expanding, and the obvious effect is this bar, with more people than last time.
An Junhe walked through the corridor and into the chaotic bar, a dark-skinned young man with an ordinary appearance, even a bit silly, came over.
"Brother!" The two men hugged each other briefly, and the young man called out respectfully.
"Wen Sheng, why didn't you go home on New Year's Day?"
"I just got back, those shops can't be unmanned." He said, leading the way first: "They are all in the second-floor private room, brother follow me, some little guys don't know you."
"Hmm!" Just as he responded, An Junhe saw a young man with a nose ring sitting on a nearby sofa, staring at him with an odd expression, seemingly recognizing his celebrity identity. The young man was hugging a little girl and pointing over here, giggling and saying something, before noticing Choi Mo-seung standing beside An Junhe with a stern face, and hastily ran away in a fluster.
"Stinky brat... Brother, don't bother with him, I'll teach them a lesson later..." Cui Wensheng said with an unpleasant expression.
It's indeed become unfamiliar!
As he watched the light spots flying by, the dark and flashing faces of strangers in his dreams, An Junhe sighed slightly. This is the inevitable development of the club, but to be honest, he didn't want Cui Wensheng and others to continue mixing. Although Korea's underworld was rampant, there were actually not many benefits to being a gangster. In this country where gangs could openly kill police officers with knives, even if you were the boss of a gang, you might die inexplicably in your own home one day.
From the beginning, he never thought of letting them go on like this. By the middle of 2005, when the red giant next door launched another attack on the raw materials market and encountered resistance from international capital, Ahn Jun-he was ready to arrange for them to be whitewashed. Especially this year, some of his former comrades-in-arms in the army will retire. In South Korea, military service is divided into two types: one is compulsory conscription, and the other is voluntary enlistment. Compared with conscription, volunteer soldiers usually have more opportunities for training, such as after the new recruit period, they are generally automatically converted to contract professional soldiers and can be promoted, just like Ahn Jun-he. If it weren't for his family relationship that led him to retire early, he would have been qualified to attend military school at that time, and upon graduation, he would have been assigned to a unit as an officer.
Of course, professional soldiers are not lifelong, and a batch will retire every year. These professionally trained soldiers, except for their military skills, have no other skills, some can stay in the assigned unit, naturally it's good, but some can't, they have to wander on the edge of society, gradually becoming a social scourge, which has been a headache for the government in recent years.
An Junhe was preparing to gather those retired comrades and establish a security company - the government encouraged this kind of resettlement of retired soldiers, which was a rare power that could be grasped in one's hands, walking between white and black without a tragic ending.
Of course, these are just ideas in his mind for now and have yet to be put into action!
Led by Cui Wensheng, they went upstairs to the second floor. In the dimly lit corridor, a familiar figure was leaning on the railing of the second floor, holding a wine glass and looking at the crowded dance pool below.
Xiang Wen waved his hand, indicating that he was busy, and An Junhe walked to the side of the figure. As soon as he stood still, he heard her say impatiently in a loud voice: "Stop hitting on me, I'm waiting for someone!"
"Hai Lin sister, why are you so angry?" An Junhe called out with a smile. He Zhiyuan, who had just taken a sip of wine, spat it out and frantically patted his chest while turning to look at him. Then, laughing, he punched An Junhe's shoulder: "Hey, little rascal! You were scared by the phone call earlier, now you're taking revenge... why did it take you so long to come over?"
"Traffic jam on the road!"
"What a lousy excuse!" She rolled her eyes. "Forget it, come with me, they're waiting for you!" With that, she led him into a nearby private room.
A specially soundproofed private room, without the deafening noise from outside, with thick wooden doors closed, the passionate music outside seemed to have become a distant world's muffled cry, faint and hollow.
In the spacious private room, only three people were seated. A young man wearing glasses and another robust man were playing cards while chatting in a low voice. In another corner, a woman who kept drinking wine did not join them. Judging from her continuous drinking, she seemed to be in a very irritable mood!
As the door creaked, music suddenly burst in and was gradually blocked by the sound of footsteps. The three people's eyes all looked over, and Ha Ji-won laughed and put her arm on Ahn Joon-young's shoulder, pushing him hard: "Hey, today's big spender has arrived, why don't you hurry up and fawn?"
It seems she has a very good relationship with these people and is completely unreserved when chatting with them.
"Don't provoke me, today you can drink whatever you want, okay?" An Junhe was pushed by her and stumbled, then slightly bowed to the three: "Hello, seniors Kim Jong-kook, Sung Si-kyung, Baek Ji-young! I'm newcomer An Junhe, please take care of me in the future!"
These three people in front of you are Cheng Shi Jing, known as the Prince of Ballads, Jin Zhong Guo, who was a huge hit with his solo last year, and Bai Zhi Ying, who was once known as the Queen of Latin Dance.
Since preparing for the album, An Junhe has been constantly strengthening his understanding of the music scene. The most important thing is to recognize the appearance of those seniors, so as not to be embarrassed by not recognizing people in the future.
Not to mention the three people in front of me, who are all very famous in the music industry. There's Kim Jong-kook, who rose to fame just last year and is always in the newspapers. And then there's Sung Si-kyung, a ballad singer who holds concerts every year and was extremely popular in Busan. As for Baek Ji-young... it's not nice to bring up that incident. Compared to the others, she's probably the least famous person in this room right now, considering her career is currently at a low point.
Looking at his respectful appearance, Seo Joon-oh, who was still holding the sign on the other side, stood up and stretched out his hand: "I didn't expect Ahn Jun-hee to recognize me too, but he doesn't look like a newcomer at all." This senior in the ballad world, with glasses on, looked elegant and refined, but when he smiled, it was very bright.
Compared to him, the tall and burly Jin Zhongguo seemed like he should have a more open personality, but instead appeared very shy. He also shook hands with Ahn Jun-hee, and after holding back for a while, said: "I really liked that TV drama of yours."
"Haha, I also like senior's songs, last year when I was in the crew, I often listened to them, especially when acting out crying scenes."
"Hehe......" Jin Zhongguo scratched his head, looking very silly.
After chatting with the two for a couple of sentences, Ahn Jun-hee came to the front of Baek Ji-young in the corner and said respectfully, "Senior, hello!"
"Oh, you're doing well too." Baek Ji-young, with a slightly low and husky voice, forced a smile. "I really liked your 'Sorry, I Love You', I cried several times while watching it. And your song 'Snow Flower' is amazing, your singing skills are impressive, using nasal cavities and resonance to cover up the immaturity of your vocal line... you must have studied classical music before? Our experiences are similar."
"Oh, you're also?"
"Ah!" She took a sip of her drink, cleared her throat and laughed: "I used to study vocal music too, but later was..." Suddenly, she thought of something and her face darkened, stopping mid-sentence. Next to her, Ha Ji-won pushed Ahn Jun-ho aside, gave him a look, then called out: "Stop all the nonsense, it's already noon, hurry up and take us to lunch."
An Junhe suddenly understood and smiled wryly, "Alright alright, you win today!"
He immediately took a few people out of the bar and found a Korean restaurant nearby.
This decision obviously dissatisfied several people. Cheng Shi Jing, who had a lively personality, shouted as soon as he entered the private room: "Hai Lin previously guaranteed that he would cut you down with one knife, thinking that at least we could have Chinese food or Western food, but it turns out we're having Korean food instead. In that case, I might as well go home."
"Hmm, maybe it's not as good as what I did." Kim Jong-kook also said with a shy smile, looking around the decorations of the room.
Of course, this was just a joke. In fact, the three of them knew that the main reason they were gathering together today was because Ha Ji-won hoped that Ahn Jun-hee could become friends with them and receive their care in the future. Since everyone had a good relationship with Ha Ji-won, they naturally wouldn't refuse to show her face, plus Ahn Jun-hee was quite mature in his dealings, so it felt very comfortable spending time together, even though it was a short period of time, thus they didn't have too many worries.
After some fuss, the dishes were slowly served, and after two cups of hot wine on the table, the atmosphere gradually became fiery. Ha Ji-won, as a link between the two sides, has been working hard to deepen their relationship. Sung Si-kyung, Kim Jong-kook, and Baek Z-young intentionally made friends with each other, and Ahn Jun-hee also deliberately catered to them, and soon they were talking very congenially.
As seniors, they deliberately confined the topic to the music industry and took the opportunity to impart their experience to An Jun-he. After a few rounds of drinks, Cheng Shi-kyung occasionally mentioned Kim Jong-kook's new album this year, jokingly saying: "Jong-kook, reveal when you're releasing your album! I don't have any plans for an album this year, so it doesn't matter to me, but we have to let Jun-he avoid you!"
"Haven't decided on a date yet!" Kim Jong Kook, who had just picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks, had a slightly flushed face, "The second title track hasn't been received yet, so it's uncertain when it will be released."
