The Daughter of a Conglomerate Family Has Debuted - Chapter 275
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“Well everyone, we’ll be heading down now. Please enjoy the rest of the show! We’ll also be enjoying it together with you from backstage.”
“That’s all! This was Flora!”
“Thank you!”
As we gave our energetic farewell, thunderous cheers erupted.
We came down from the stage with bewildered faces, continuously bowing our heads in greeting.
The venue’s reaction was so good that we didn’t know what to do with ourselves. We didn’t even need to hype up the atmosphere – the venue was already heated.
Of course it would be. This was the first Korean visit of a beloved artist they had been eagerly awaiting for years, but couldn’t dare to expect. How could they not be excited?
Thanks to that, we as the opening act received cheers for every single action and were able to successfully finish our stage.
We enjoyed it from start to finish as we came down.
“Great work!”
“You worked so hard!”
The staff were still moving around frantically. When we came down from the stage, everyone still stopped and smiled while greeting us since we were guests. We greeted each staff member individually as we headed back to the waiting room.
“Wow, that was fun.”
“Wasn’t the response way better than expected? I was really worried there’d be no reaction at all since the audience didn’t come to see us!”
“It felt kind of like a festival, right?”
Until we went up on stage, everyone had bad expressions due to the chaos, nervousness, and strange cold treatment… But sure enough, after going up there, everyone’s expressions brightened as if nothing had happened.
Watching the members excitedly chatter about what happened on stage, my anxiety eased a little.
‘Yeah, this is good enough.’
Because I was thinking about having to succeed in the mission, I had actually forgotten the real purpose until I went up on stage.
What I needed to do wasn’t the mission, but safely succeed in the given schedule and stage, and finish it enjoyably.
‘If only it were something that could be solved by me being a little anxious.’
It’s a situation where I just have to wait for the system to give it directly, but I kept trying to rack my brains to do something, so nothing actually got done and I just got a headache.
After going up on stage, it feels like my head is clearing up too.
‘Let’s go home and refresh.’
Flora’s truly final activity – now we’ll be entering a rest period for several months while preparing our next album.
If it’s an opportunity the system will create on its own, then it’s something time will eventually solve. With a somewhat detached expression, I nodded lightly and organized the luggage in the waiting room.
Naturally, we couldn’t meet Lyla Bale and Cael Arden, who were the main characters of this fan meeting, since they were currently on stage. Instead, their staff came in to express their gratitude, and we left the hall with expressions that said “of course.”
Leaving behind only the impression that ‘it was fun anyway and a good experience.’
***
It was a month later when I unexpectedly heard news about Cael Arden.
Around the time when the leisurely life of resting well and managing my condition was starting to get boring, and when Da-min and I were starting to go to the studio more frequently, the company suddenly called for me.
There’s no particular reason to call me now, right? I thought as I left the song Da-min and I had been working on for a while and headed to the conference room.
“Excuse me.”
The conference room I entered with a knock. Inside were Manager Seong Ji-soo and an external schedule and marketing staff member I’d seen often. As soon as they saw me, they wore broad smiles and gestured for me to come in quickly.
“Ji-ye, you’ve rested well now, right? Did you have a good time at your family home too?”
“Ah, yes. I rested well.”
For reference, I spent 3 weeks out of the one-month rest period at my family home. There was a suggestion from my family to go on a trip together when I wasn’t busy, and there wasn’t much time to show my face to my family except at times like this.
Judging from Ryu Ji-ye’s past memories, spending three weeks with family in such comfortable rest would probably be a first in Ryu Ji-ye’s 21 years of life.
My family seemed to judge that Ryu Ji-ye had finally matured properly and would do well on her own even if left alone, so they didn’t nag at all.
How are you planning to live from now on, shouldn’t you start paying attention to studying now, grow up a bit, what’s the point of sending you to school if you don’t go, live with some manners, we didn’t raise you like that, etc…
My family no longer said such things, and instead shared concerns about my condition and in-depth reviews of the broadcasts I appeared on and songs, allowing me to have a harmonious and peaceful rest.
Thanks to that, my condition was at its best, and even when Da-min dragged me to the studio as soon as I returned to the dorm, I could be enthusiastically cheerful. Song ideas naturally popped up in my head.
‘People really need to rest properly.’
Naturally, I didn’t even look at the system window during that time. It felt like looking at it would make rest itself feel like a sin.
The staff also seemed to notice my improved condition from looking at my smooth skin, so they didn’t ask more about what kind of vacation I had and immediately moved to the main point.
“You were working, right? I’ll tell you quickly and send you back. To get straight to the point, there’s been a proposal from Cael Arden’s side.”
“…Huh?”
At my reaction, the staff smiled and nodded as if they had expected it.
“You didn’t mishear. We got contact from Cael Arden.”
“Not Lyla Bale?”
“Cael Arden. Cael Arden.”
Huh?
Why him?
My head tilted automatically in bewilderment. Cael Arden? Wasn’t he the person who showed absolutely no interest in us throughout the entire collaboration?
The conversations we shared, or rather, the words Cael Arden said to us amounted to just one phrase: “See you at the concert.” That’s how little contact we had with him.
A person who clearly seemed to have no interest in K-pop at all. Someone who reeked of just doing it because it was a schedule the production company had arranged, honestly speaking, a man whose first impression was really terrible.
That’s why I thought there would be no reason to meet again after that day. If there was another opportunity to collaborate later, I thought it would be Lyla Bale, not Cael Arden.
She clearly seemed to have great interest in K-pop and Flora, and even from just a little conversation, she knew about us much more deeply than I had thought and really liked us.
But Cael Arden? Suddenly Cael Arden?
The first thought that came to mind after hearing the staff’s words was the suspicion, ‘Is he trying to use us?’
I couldn’t help but think this way because the look from someone who had no interest in us was clearly evaluating us with a sly gaze looking down from above, his inner thoughts obviously visible.
It was like his intention of ‘I’m not particularly interested, but I hear K-pop is trendy these days, so I’ll use you’ was too obvious.
I’ve been active as an unknown singer getting pushed around for about 7 years now. I can recognize that level of dismissive gaze even in passing, and this proposal didn’t seem to me like a pure ‘let’s work together once as fellow artists’ kind of meaning.
Sure enough.
“It was a proposal asking you to feature on his new album. But there are conditions.”
He made a proposal asking for featuring on his own album while actually setting conditions.
“There were quite a lot of conditions and options attached, but most of them are things we need to negotiate, so Ji-ye doesn’t need to worry about them. But he said all of Flora won’t work. He wants to work with you, Ji-ye. That’s why we called only you separately.”
“…”
On top of that, seeing how he naturally spoke as if he was dropping some golden rope from heaven to us, as if he expected us to naturally accept his conditions and all five of us would throw a tantrum saying we wanted to do it…
Cael Arden had undoubtedly made an arrogant proposal to us with exactly the kind of thinking I had expected.
Perhaps noticing that my expression was bad, the staff smiled awkwardly.
“…Should we decline? If you don’t want to do it, I’ll tell them we’re declining. We have to prepare for our comeback too.”
The staff looked very disappointed, but their expressions showed they would accept whatever answer I gave.
I sighed deeply, thought for a moment, then nodded.
“Of course I have to do it. But don’t immediately say I’ll do it – tell them we want to have a meeting to negotiate the contract. I want to have a conversation.”
With a crooked smile, my mind started spinning quickly.
You’re the only one using people? Let me try using you too.
Thinking that, I opened the system window for the first time in a while.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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