Devil’s Music

Snap and Neminem competitively laid down their raps. However, rushed by time, the quickly produced raps failed to satisfy them, and they ended up tearing up their own lyrics to start anew.

They were struggling with writing lyrics, as they found themselves featuring in someone else’s song without having main lyrics of their own.

Within a few days, Fantagio's American branch was completed, and although not officially open, Byungjoon began commuting to the Manhattan office, carrying a contract for a feature.

Though an outsider, Byungjoon was recognized by the school officials due to his familiar face, greeted the security guard, and entered the school where musicians were working in the recording studio. He couldn't help but smirk as he opened the door to the studio and saw the large figure of Snap crouching on a folding chair, clutching his head in frustration.

Neminem, in a similar pose, looked relatively smaller and thus less pitiful.

"Um... hello, I'm Manager Kay."

Snap glanced at Byungjoon through his sunglasses and waved his hand casually. Neminem also just raised his hand, indicating that he knew he had arrived, prompting Byungjoon to laugh awkwardly.

"Let’s not stay here, come to our branch office. You can just record here."

Snap, who had been suffering from back pain, immediately stood up and stretched his back at Byungjoon's words.

"Haha... actually, I only got into the office yesterday myself."

"Come on, Neminem. It's too uncomfortable here."

Neminem silently followed, and Byungjoon led them away.

Though it was a walkable distance from Juilliard, Byungjoon, being with celebrities, could not risk any incidents and had a car waiting outside the school. Within less than two minutes, the three arrived in front of Fantagio’s red brick building.

The building wasn’t tall but had a sizable five-story structure, still without a sign.

After getting out of the car and looking up at the building for a moment, Snap limped into the first floor, where a security guard approached to inquire about their visit.

In a situation where it was awkward to ask someone so obviously recognizable what they were doing there, the security guards, seeing Byungjoon follow, simply stepped aside and pressed the elevator button for them.

"We're being treated like outsiders."

Byungjoon laughed as they stood in front of the elevator.

"Sorry, the director instructed to staff the American branch entirely with Americans, and since the employees just started, they aren’t fully operational yet. Please understand." 𝐑�

Snap nodded absently as they entered the elevator and whistled when he saw the buttons.

"Whew, it's not just a five-story building, there are five basement levels too?"

Noticing the button for the fourth floor labeled "Kay," Neminem asked, "Is the fourth floor Kay's personal space?"

Byungjoon pressed the fourth floor button, smiling.

"Yes, that's right. The entire 230 square meters is for Kay, as he is Fantagio's flagship star. The basement levels four and five are parking, levels one through three will soon become practice rooms for Fantagio's artists and are still under construction, the first floor has the lobby and rooms for interviews and meeting external guests, the second floor is currently unused, the third floor is for staff offices, and the fifth floor will be for management. There’s also a plan to include a terrace and relaxation areas on the roof."

As the elevator ascended, Snap enviously looked at the floor indicator showing 'Kay' instead of the number 4.

"Man, I don’t have anything like this, doesn’t it look impressive, Neminem?"

Neminem chuckled as they stepped out of the elevator.

"Why don’t you make one at your place?"

"Our house is all my space; why would I need this!"

"If you’re jealous, you lose. Just get off."

Neminem gasped as they got off at their floor.

"Wow, this is killer!"

Upon exiting the elevator, the first thing they saw was a wall of white marble. They had to walk down a separate corridor to the left to reach an automatic door, to ensure that Kay's music work was not disturbed.

The marble adorned both the walls and floor, with engraved live photos of Kay and stills from his music videos.

Whistling as they looked at the photos, Neminem and Snap approached the automatic door.

"This way," Byungjoon said as the door opened, and Snap exclaimed in amazement.

"Wow, it’s not separate; it’s all one space?"

The 230-square-meter room was a vast single space. The only divided area was the recording booth set up in one corner, making the large space seem even more expansive.

One wall of the room was entirely made of glass, with a beige leather sofa that seemed to seat more than ten people at one end.

Next to the sofa was an island-style kitchen that felt more like a cafeteria than a kitchen, with an espresso machine that could be seen in a professional cafe, a large refrigerator, and various dishes and pretty cups.

Snap ran to the refrigerator, opened it, and yelled, "There's no alcohol!"

Although the fridge was stocked with drinks, Snap was disappointed by the lack of alcohol. Byungjoon laughed and pressed a button on the wall next to the kitchen, and a compartment with wine, whiskey, and beer appeared. Snap brightened up and took a bottle to inspect it closely.

"Makgeolli? What's this?"

"Haha, it's a traditional Korean drink. Try it later."

"Later? There’s no later with alcohol. You drink it as soon as you see it."

Snap attempted to open the makgeolli, but Byungjoon reached out to stop him.

"Haha, you have to shake it first. Give it here."

After shaking the makgeolli and opening the bottle, Byungjoon handed it to Snap, who didn’t even wait for a cup and directly took a swig from the bottle, grimacing.

"Gah! What is this taste? It's like cream soda with sugar poured on it, yuck."

Byungjoon chuckled as he tried to offer a cup.

"It's not like single malt whiskey or beer that you drink without side dishes. Try it with Korean snacks next time. Now, this way, please."

On the opposite side of the kitchen, next to the elegantly decorated recording booth control box, was a long desk.

Whether it was initially designed as a space for composing, various instruments were set up, and, for collaborations with other musicians, several comfortable chairs were placed.

Byungjoon led them to what he called the "chairman's chair," a luxurious and comfortable looking chair.

"Feel free to work comfortably here. I'll let Kay know."

Snap settled comfortably into the chair and closed his eyes.

"Phew, comfortable. The folding chair at the school was so small, my butt barely fit."

Byungjoon operated a button next to the control box, and a king-size bed descended from the wall.

"Use this if you need a rest. Since you might not know how to operate it, I'll leave it down."

Neminem jumped onto the bed with excitement.

"I'll work here!"

As Neminem bounced on the mattress, seemingly pleased with it, Byungjoon smiled.

"Let’s start with the featuring contract. Here’s the contract."

Byungjoon handed Snap and Neminem their respective contracts.

"As requested, the contract offers each of you a song in exchange for the feature. The song will be provided within a year from the date of signing the contract, and the song's duration is specified to be no less than 3 minutes and 23 seconds."

Neminem glanced over the contract quickly and took out a pen to start writing lyrics.

"The part where we pay additional costs when we receive the song is missing?"

"Ah, Kay’s side refused that, saying it wouldn’t be right to take additional money from people who came to help in difficult times."

"Hmm, that's nice. I’ll sign right away."

After signing, Neminem handed the contract back and then reached out to Byungjoon, who knew what it meant and smiled as he pulled out another contract. Snap looked up and saw Neminem was signing another, much thicker contract.

"Hey, what’s that?"

"Oh, I'm moving here."

"What? Seriously?"

"Yeah, it's a company with Montana, Kay, and Shizuka. They've just launched in the U.S., but they're well-known enough, and with Kay there, there’s no way it will fail. I'm going to stick with Director Lynn, that woman is a genius."

"Damn! When did you start thinking that! You didn’t even discuss it with me!"

"Why would I discuss it with you? We’re in different companies. Are you my boss? Plus, you don’t even have a company. You've been out of Death Row for a while, haven’t you?"

"That’s... true."

"So what’s it to you, you solo album guy."

As Neminem reviewed the contract, he asked Byungjoon.

"The second floor is empty, right? I’d like to have my space, although I do have a studio at home."

Byungjoon happily nodded.

"The director has considered that part."

As it became apparent that the remaining second floor would become Neminem's space, Snap became anxious.

"Let's share it!"

Both Byungjoon and Neminem turned to Snap, who handed over his signed featuring contract to Byungjoon.

"I'm signing up too. Make the contract so

I share the second floor with this guy."

Caught off guard by another big contract, Byungjoon's smile reached his ears.

"Haha, understood! I'll prepare it right away since you’ll be working here. I'll have the contract ready in no time."

As Byungjoon excitedly took the elevator down, Neminem glared at Snap.

"Hey, you're just jealous and want in here, aren’t you?"

"Shut up, you coward. I’ve been thinking about this since before, watching Director Lynn’s moves and the Fashion District music video and future plans."

"Damn, it’s embarrassing to have a smaller space than Kay."

"Kek, we know we can’t compete with that guy musically, keke. We're both losers now."

Struggling to retort, Neminem chuckled.

"Well... it’s hard to argue against that. Once he really starts, it's unavoidable. Just look at the song ‘Earth,’ it makes you wonder what we’ve been doing with our music all this time."

Even Snap sighed in agreement.

"That’s right, staying close might at least keep us in the trend. How did we end up like this, damn it."

>

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