The song “WHO DO U LOVE?” exploded like a depth charge in the European and American music scene with the global release of MONSTA X’s first English album, “ALL about Luv.”
With its unique melody and heartfelt performance, the song successfully entered the Billboard charts, elevating MONSTA X’s international recognition to a new level.
As the Producer of this hit song, the name Liang Yunbegan to gain a little recognition in the industry.
Of course, Liang Yun himself, far away in a rented room in a corner of Seoul, wearing baggy shorts and slippers while eating instant noodles, had no real sense of any of this.
He still lived a two-point-one-line life, either zoning out in his small Producer studio at the company or playing games in his rented room.
Until one afternoon, he received a message from Director Kim Ji-yeon, the content of which was very simple: “Producer Liang, the first royalty payment has been deposited into your account; please check it.”
He groggily put down his game controller, paused the character battling a giant dragon on the screen, and then lazily opened his mobile banking app.
When he saw the long string of zeros after the account balance, which he counted several times, the instant noodles in his mouth splattered all over his computer screen with a “poof.”
His eyes widened like brass bells (you sang it, didn’t you?), his breathing stopped, and his mind went blank, as if struck by a hundred-thousand-volt current.
“Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands… hundreds of millions? Holy crap… Is this real?”
He counted again with trembling hands, finally arriving at a number that made his heart pound—several hundred million Korean Won.
Although it wasn’t as exaggerated when converted to RMB, for a student who had been poor for over twenty years, this amount was simply astronomical.
His first reaction wasn’t ecstasy but panic: “Did the system glitch? Did the bank make a mistake? Will this money be taken back tomorrow? Is it considered theft if I spend it now?”
“What’s wrong? Did you see your wife run off with someone else? Why are you freaking out?” His roommate, Fang Zi, poked his head over and asked curiously, seeing Liang Yun’s dazed expression.
Liang Yun rigidly turned his head, like a rusty robot, and handed his phone screen to Fang Zi, his voice trembling: “Fang… Fang Zi, help me look, is this ‘Happy Beans’ (a game currency)?”
Fang Zi initially didn’t think much of it, but when he saw the numbers on the screen, his eyes instantly widened, and his game controller dropped to the floor with a “smack.”
“Holy shit! Liang Yun! You robbed a bank, didn’t you! And you didn’t take me with you?”
Fang Zi immediately wrapped his arm around Liang Yun’s neck, shaking him excitedly, “No, you wouldn’t even dare to rob a convenience store. This… this is the money from your song? You’re awesome, brother, you’re rich!”
He excitedly pulled out his phone and started searching, “Let’s go! I’ll take you out to splurge! A house in Gangnam! We can’t buy one, but we can rent a big one! And a Mercedes! Think about that sleek design! How cool would it be to drive around with that three-pointed star!”
Liang Yun was shaken dizzy by him; he kicked him with a “Go to hell” and finally managed to break free.
He looked at the glittering things on Fang Zi’s phone, but his heart felt no ripples; instead, he felt it was very distant from him.
He thought for a moment, then said to Fang Zi with a serious expression: “Fang Zi, come with me somewhere.”
Fang Zi thought he had finally come to his senses and asked excitedly, “Where are we going? To look at houses or cars?”
“Yongsan.”
“Yongsan? What are we doing in Yongsan?”
“Buying a new computer case to upgrade my battle gear. My old buddy no longer matches my current worth,” Liang Yun said earnestly. This chapter was copied from novelping.com without permission.
Fang Zi’s expression instantly darkened; he looked at Liang Yun, silent for a full thirty seconds, then finally let out a long sigh: “You… you’re a lost cause.”
So, on that bright sunny afternoon, while countless people imagined how this newly popular Producerwould squander his first pot of gold, Liang Yun was dragging the lifeless Fang Zi on a “pilgrimage” for tech geeks in the electronics mall in Yongsan.
“Boss, this motherboard won’t do; there aren’t enough power phases to support an i9. I want that’Snowflake,’ yes, the white one, it looks good!”
“The RAM must be G.Skill Trident Z Royal! The frequency must be at least 6000! What? The timings are too high? That won’t do; I need stable frame rates for gaming!”
“Graphics card? Of course, it has to be an RTX 4090 ROG Strix! What? Out of stock? Then I’m not leaving today!”
In the computer store, Liang Yun was like a different person, bantering back and forth with the owner, effortlessly spouting all sorts of technical jargon, his aura fully unleashed.
He could debate with the owner for half an hour over the brand of a case fan and was willing to spend hundreds of thousands of Korean Won more for a few milliseconds less latency.
His roommate, Fang Zi, listened, feeling drowsy, as if he had been abducted by aliens and was eavesdropping on an interstellar meeting he couldn’t understand at all.
Finally, after spending an entire afternoon and a huge sum of money, Liang Yun returned home satisfied, clutching a brand-new computer that could be called a “performance beast,” and also swept up a pile of out-of-print games and limited-edition figures.
Looking at his room, filled to the brim with various games and anime merchandise, he let out a long sigh, feeling that at this moment, his life was complete.
A few days later, Director Kim Ji-yeon called him to the company again.
Looking at Liang Yun’s faded T-shirt, whose original design was almost indiscernible, and his worn-out sneakers with nearly flat soles, Kim Ji-yeon couldn’t help but smile wryly.
“Producer Liang, I heard you recently came into a considerable amount of money?”
“Ah? Ah, it’s… it’s alright. You know, right? Hehehe,” Liang Yun reverted to his social anxiety mode, scratching his head awkwardly.
“I thought you’d buy some new clothes or move to a better place,” Kim Ji-yeon looked at him, shaking her head helplessly.
“Never mind, that’s your freedom. However, the company is very satisfied with your performance this time, so we’ve decided to entrust you with a more important task. This is both an opportunity and a further test for you.”
As soon as he heard the word “test,” Liang Yunimmediately tensed up, unconsciously straightening his back.
“The company has a group of very promising trainees; they are our most important strategic layout for the next few years, arguably the future of the company.”
Kim Ji-yeon’s expression became serious, “I hope you can audit their end-of-month evaluations and provide some suggestions for their musical direction from a Producer’s perspective. Of course, most importantly, you need to custom-create an original song for them that can stand out in the evaluation. The quality of this song will directly relate to whether they can debut successfully and also to your future position in the company.”
Liang Yun listened with trepidation, especially when he heard the words “the future of the company”; he felt a huge mountain weighing on his shoulders.
Then he realized, “Trainees? And… girls?” His voice was trembling.
“Yes, a group of very beautiful, very lively girls. Two of them have already debuted, so their skills should be good,” Kim Ji-yeon smiled, trying to lighten the mood.
“This is a great assignment; countless people in the company are fighting for it.”
Liang Yun’s face, however, fell.
To him, this was not a great assignment but torture!
The thought of facing a group of chattering girls, especially those sparkling female trainees who represented the company’s future, made him feel his vision go black, and his stomach churn.
“Um… Director Kim, can I… can I refuse? I feel my abilities are still…” he struggled softly.
“I’ve already told the children. Tomorrow afternoon at two o’clock, Practice Room 3. Don’t be late.”
Liang Yun instantly cowered, like a duck whose neck was squeezed, unable to utter a single word.
Forget it, forget it.
A good man doesn’t fight with women; a wise man knows when to yield.
He thought, comforting himself.
The next afternoon, Liang Yun arrived at the company half an hour early.
He held the practice room address given by Kim Ji-yeon but got lost in the company building.
Starship’s building had a complex internal structure, with winding corridors and almost identical doors.
His social anxiety flared up; he didn’t dare ask for directions and could only walk with his head down, relying on the unreliable indoor map on his phone, wandering around like a headless chicken.
As he walked, he muttered softly to himself: “Practice Room 3… Number 3… Zone A or Zone B? Why is this map still spinning in circles…”
He was completely immersed in his own world, oblivious to the fact that the door of a practice room ahead suddenly burst open just as he was about to reach it.
A tall figure, accompanied by a waft of fragrance, bounced out of the practice room, ready to leave, while Liang Yun, head down, looking at his phone, walked straight and unprepared towards that figure.
Just as the two were about to collide, the figure displayed astonishing reaction speed and core strength.
She pivoted on her toes, arching her body backward at an incredible angle, narrowly avoiding the “human cannonball” Liang Yun.
Liang Yun, finally realizing the danger, slammed on the brakes, but his feet stumbled, and he lunged forward, finally stopping abruptly less than ten centimeters from the girl’s nose tip, thanks to his tenacious will to survive.
In that instant, Liang Yun felt as if he had been paused; the entire world fell silent, leaving only the girl so close, who, to him, was too beautiful to be real.
The practice room was large and brightly lit.
The girl in front of him wore a simple white T-shirt and black sweatpants, her hair tied in a neat high ponytail.
Sweat dampened her temples, adding a touch of vividness and reality to her exquisite face, for which Liang Yun couldn’t find any adjectives.
Her large eyes were clear and bright, like a deer’s, now slightly wide with surprise and curiosity due to the sudden “attack.”
Liang Yun remained in his lunging posture, staring blankly at her, his brain completely frozen.
He had seen beautiful women before, but this girl in front of him made him truly feel the “dimensional wall” for the first time.
She didn’t seem real; she was more like a meticulously crafted perfect work that had stepped out of a manga.
The two of them stood there in an extremely awkward pose, face to face, staring wide-eyed at each other.
“So beautiful…” Liang Yun unconsciously spoke.