Chapter 21. Hit or Flop (4)

'One, two, three, four…'

Lee Hyerin was practicing her choreography in one of the practice rooms in Nike Entertainment.

It was already midnight and all of the trainees had already gone back to their dorms, but she was still here.

She was relentlessly practicing every day after her schedule.

It was to the point that her daughter had started to complain that she was not spending enough time with her.

But Lee Hyerin didn't want to stop here.

Although the results were not as good as she had thought, it was still not the end. There was a chance that her song would go up in the charts.

There was not a high chance of that happening as she was competing against other singers who have more popularity and big fandoms.

Still, there was hope in her heart.

'If I can go to some entertainment shows, then the song would automatically go up on the rankings.'

Lee Hyerin thought, but she herself knows that this was not easy.

Entertainment shows would only call celebrities with high popularity or big agencies behind them.

Nike Entertainment has some power, but at most, she can only go on to some cable network entertainment shows with 1-2% ratings.

That won't help her much.

The director was already trying to get her on some public network shows, but all the shows were only interested in Kim Jisu.

'Sigh! What should I do now?'

Lee Hyerin sighed when she thought about Kim Jisu who was doing much better than her.

She was sure that Kim Jisu would again try to mock her if they met on some event or a reality TV show.

Just the sight of her face was enough to anger her!

"Hyerin!!"

Lee Hyerin stopped her practice when she heard that shout. She turned her head and saw her manager standing on the door.

The middle aged woman was panting like she had run all the way to here.

"Unnie! What happened? Why are you here?"

Lee Hyerin walked towards her and asked. The middle aged woman replied while panting.

"Your song! N-never give up. Check it's ranking."

"Ah, did the ranking drop?"

A sudden fear crept over her.

Lee Hyerin became afraid thinking that Never give up had dropped in the music charts, but the middle aged woman was panting too hard to explain anything.

That's why, Lee Hyerin quickly took out her phone and checked the charts.

"It's not here."

The song was nowhere to be found in the 40s. She even scrolled down, but there was nothing in the 50s and 60s.

'Did the song dropped out of the charts?'

Lee Hyerin felt like crying thinking about that.

If that really happened, then her comeback was not just a failure. It was a massive failure that would be remembered for a long time.

"Scroll up!"

The middle aged woman suddenly said. Lee Hyerin looked towards her and asked.

"Up? You mean in the 30s."

"Just scroll up!"

Lee Hyerin started to scroll up, but there was nothing even in the 30s. Still, she didn't stop and kept scrolling, but there was still nothing in the 20s.

Gulp!

She gulped as she began to look through the top 10 and her hands suddenly stopped, when she came across her song.

[Never give up | Lee Hyerin - 43 › 7]

"Hehhhhhhh!!"

Lee Hyerin suddenly screamed. She rubbed her eyes to be sure, but it was not a hallucination or an illusion.

Her face flushed suddenly and her emotions grew out of control.

"Unnie, is it true? There's nothing wrong with the count, right?"

"N-no, there isn't. Your song really got into top 10!!"

That was the trigger.

Lee Hyerin was not able to control herself after that. She slumped down on the floor and her eyes grew teary.

Even when she was in Apple mint, there was never a time when one of their songs have reached top 10 in the charts.

But now, she has made it into the top 10 by herself.

There were no words to describe the emotions she was feeling. She was just too happy!

---

"Yes, yes, director. I understand. There's no need to thank me. Miss Hyerin worked hard on this as well. Of course, if there is a chance, then let's work together again."

Lee Hyun put down his phone with a bright smile on his face.

The call was from the director in Nike Entertainment who was congratulating him for the success of Never give up.

"It looks like they would contact us again for a song."

Kim Dongsu said as he finished watching the music video of Never give up.

"Yeah, it seems like it. It's not just Nike, I think we will get more requests from other agencies too."

"Yeah. It's not just Never give up. In a month, 'For you' would be released as a single and 'Grassy plains' already got the first prize in a famous pop festival."

Lee Hyun smiled hearing about the success of his songs.

Honestly, he was more happy about Never give up getting into the top in the music charts than his other two songs.

He already knows that both of them would work. So, he was pretty relaxed about them.

"It looks like you can relax now. You were in stress for some days."

Kim Dongsu said and Lee Hyun silently nodded his head.

For the past few days, he was constantly thinking about Never give up not reaching his expectations.

But the concerns and worries quickly depleted like a fleeting dream after the song jumped 37 places to reach the 7th place.

It looked like it just needed some time.

"Did the General manager from Toika Entertainment contact you?"

Lee Hyun asked and a smirk instantly appeared on Kim Dongsu's face.

"Yeah, he did. That two faced bastard was complimenting Never give up and requesting for another meeting to buy 'You are my world'."

"The situation flipped in an instant."

"Yeah. So, what are we going to do? I think there would be many agencies other than Toika who would want to buy songs from us."

Lee Hyun thought about it for a moment before speaking.

"We just have to sell the song for a good price. Just sell it to the person who is giving a higher price."

Kim Dongsu nodded his head and understood Lee Hyun's words.

In business, you just have to think of one thing and that is profit. There was no need to not make a good deal just because the other side is two faced.

"I will say yes to the meeting then. By the way, what are we doing to do about recruiting a celebrity?"

"What happened to the celebrities that we selected earlier. Did anyone of them reply to our emails?"

Kim Dongsu frowned hearing that.

"Moon is apparently retiring. It looks like she's marrying her longtime boyfriend. As for Ja Hanuel, his agent was asking for a high price which we can't afford."

"What about Park Hyesoo?"

Lee Hyun asked as he tilted his head and Kim Dongsu frowned harder this time. He opened his mouth and hesitated to speak.

"H-he said that he doesn't want to work with an unknown agency."

Even Lee Hyun was not able to stop himself from frowning hearing that, but these were the results he had already expected.

Mango Entertainment was a small agency and celebrities would of course look down on it.

"It looks like we have to change our ways."

"Yeah. Let's start by recruiting a singer from Hongdae. We can have him or her debut as a solo singer. With your songs, I think we would be able to succeed."

Kim Dongsu thought that this was the logical step they could take.

Lee Hyun also agreed with that, but he was also thinking about something else. He just doesn't know whether they would succeed with it or not.

Still, after thinking about it, he opened his mouth.

"How about we start a girl group?"