Chapter 121 Chapter 121

After hanging up, Lia bagged the bouquet and card and headed straight to the nearby police station. She had a theory, but she still asked Lee Hi to keep it a secret, especially—not to let Kwon Ji-yong know.

It was most likely his illegitimate child. She had heard of similar death threats before. Most of the time, they were just threats, and few people actually took action.

She subconsciously chose to conceal the truth. But after hanging up, she couldn't help but reflect on her actions. After all, the previous relationship had come to an end.

It was precisely because she was used to shouldering the burden alone, never letting others share it. This time, she was not without her guard up. But the reality was clear: telling him wouldn't solve the problem; it would only increase his worry and guilt. It was just a verbal threat.

After weighing the pros and cons, she decided not to let him know for the time being. Inside the police station, the police were also helpless. In fact, they were no strangers to such cases. Threatening letters were not uncommon in the entertainment industry.

There was no substantive action, and it was difficult to trace the sender. The bouquet was picked up from the flower shop by a courier, and the contact information was a disposable number. The police routinely took the card and bouquet and sent them for fingerprint testing. But not long after,

The results came back—the card was wiped clean, leaving no trace except her fingerprints. This was the most common scenario. All the police could do was file a case and remind her to be careful in the near future.

Call the police, back up evidence, carry pepper spray and alarms, and be more careful when going out... Lia calmly did everything she could. She wasn't afraid. Except for the momentary shock she felt when she saw the card,

Afterward, she felt even more anxious. It was like a bad omen, as if that was just the beginning, and something else was waiting for her. But strangely, the other party seemed to have only sent that one threat, and as time passed, there were no follow-up actions.

As time went on, she gradually relaxed her guard, viewing the threatening letter as an empty warning. ... In November, Lee Hi's first full-length album was officially released.

The concept is "breaking out of the cocoon" - the growth and self-affirmation of a 16-year-old girl.

The MV's visuals are simple and fresh, without too much gorgeous packaging; the music finds a balance between pop, soul and R&B, highlighting her rich and unique voice to the greatest extent.

Before the album was released, the company not only did the usual publicity, but also threw out the gimmick of "completely handled by YG's new generation producer Lia Kim."

In the industry, this is an extremely rare operation: putting the name of the producer behind the scenes on the same level as the main character for promotion. It turns out that this gimmick is extremely effective.

In addition to the audience who followed Lee Hi because of "Star", there are also quite a few people who clicked on the source of the music simply because they were curious about Lia.

Kim is a well-known figure, but her previous releases have mostly been hidden behind the scenes. Over time, there's even a saying: Those who know Lia Kim and those who have heard her songs are two different groups.

On the day the album was released, the title song debuted at number one on all major music charts, and the included songs entered the top ten.

Because Kwon Ji-yong's comeback activities are nearing their end, he only participated in the first week of recording his music. For a time, this result even created an illusion of "breaking through the siege."

Almost all media used the same word - "monster newcomer".

Reviews praised Lee Hi's voice, which contrasted sharply with her youthful appearance. Even more surprising was the fact that the producer behind such a high-quality album was only in his early twenties.

"You can achieve this at the age of 20? You must be a genius." "Seoul University + YG producer + beauty... Life is like a script."

"Talent, hard work, and luck are all in it. Ordinary people like us can only watch kkk" "YG is really good at hype. Even the producers can make it big" "Did you see Lee Hi's celebration photo? GD is also in the camera kk" "Wow, YG

"Family" "How could GD have any connection with his current juniors?" "Didn't Lia Kim have a scandal with GD? Are they really dating? ? I'm suddenly curious..."

"kkk So the focus isn't Xia Yi, it's Lia, right?" "If they're really in a relationship, maybe GD helped a lot, right? Otherwise, it feels a bit unreal that she can achieve this level at such a young age."

"If you can't do it yourself, you still have to slander others, kkk" - another core producer after Teddy. No matter how controversial the public opinion is, this is a fact that is set in stone.

As for the industry, the discussion caused by this album basically fell on Lia.

The industry's internal discussion almost exclusively focused on Lia. A producer's ability is typically measured by several criteria: whether they can accurately capture the artist's unique qualities, whether they can strike a balance between marketability and personal style, and whether they can deliver work that retains both individuality and reach widespread popularity.

Lia clearly delivered impressive results in all these areas. Listeners might think it was just a coincidence, a good voice matched with a great song, but professionals see the talent and hard work behind it.

The album also unexpectedly caused a stir overseas thanks to her YouTube channel. Strictly speaking, Lee Hi has no overseas presence; it's her name that really attracted attention.

In the process of managing her channel, she consciously separated her content from YG, trying not to involve its artists to maintain the independence of the account. This time, she did not make a separate promotional video, but simply forwarded the official content.

However, even if only a small fraction of the millions of subscribers who had already accumulated clicked on the song out of curiosity, it would have been enough to trigger the first wave of overseas listening. The MV released on YG's official channel quickly garnered millions of views.

The scale of the event may not be considered huge, but for a debuting Korean solo artist, it is a rare achievement. For K-pop, it is a significant event.

Lia's presence made the "producer" themselves a hot topic for the first time. The happiest person, of course, was Yang Hyun-suk. To him, this was a sure-win deal—he just didn't expect it to be so lucrative.

The company is preparing a new group. Lia has been proven by the market and can independently handle album production. Lee Hi's comebacks are not expected to be too frequent, so he can easily arrange for Lia to make one or two comebacks for the new group during her downtime.

Just thinking about it would make him laugh in the middle of the night. This kind of mature producer is not only as valuable as most artists, but in Yang Hyun-seok's eyes, he is even more valuable.

Perhaps, in addition to the trainees, he should also start cultivating more production talents. Yang Xianshi was secretly proud. * Lia knew nothing about these calculations. Or rather, she didn't have the time to care.

As soon as the album was finished, she immediately threw herself into her final paper for school. Most philosophy courses don't have exams; the final paper is the only requirement.

She had already missed a lot of classes last semester due to the program recording, and this semester she was frequently absent during the album production period. Writing a leave note was as easy as it was difficult to catch up at the end of the semester.

When she returned to school in early November, the topic of her major thesis had been basically decided:

For the topic of ancient Greek philosophy, students will select a theme from Plato's Republic or Aristotle's Metaphysics for analysis; for the introduction to modern philosophy, students will compare the different positions of Kant and Nietzsche on "freedom and morality."

She also took an additional course in aesthetics and philosophy of art, thinking it might be relevant to her work. ——It was simply asking for trouble. Another small essay. So, the music industry's famous "genius producer" Lia

Kim went to the library, looking dusty and grimy. Except for eating and sleeping, she buried herself in the piles of books. Occasionally, a curious student would come up to her and politely ask if they could take a photo with her.

Soon, a batch of her "largest number of Reuters photos since she became famous" appeared on the forums - solemn bookshelves, pale face, glasses frames that almost covered half of her face, and "The Republic" as thick as a brick.

The huge contrast made the onlookers unable to help but join in the fun: "I'm dying of laughter, the book is bigger than his face!" "Come on, unnie, your thesis will be successful!" "I want to be classmates with Lia Kim!"

"I can't believe a YG artist is in the library kkk" "So this is the type GD likes?" "He's a genius producer, but now he looks like an ordinary college student" "An ordinary college student from Seoul University? Wow~"

"Please, let me get into Seoul National University!" The one who was most resentful was actually Kwon Ji-yong. He had finally squeezed out some time to see his girlfriend, but he couldn't even get enough of those incredibly thick books.

She's either in the library or catching up on sleep. Even if she's sitting right next to him and he reaches for her, she'll still be holding a copy of The Republic. What's that? Is he a philosophical mistress?

He didn't even dare ask which was more important, him or his thesis... But even if he thought about it, he couldn't really say anything. When he wanted to see his girlfriend, he had to rush to her apartment, pretend to be generous, and urge her to focus on her studies and not worry about him.

Lia felt sorry, too. Every time Kwon Ji-yong finished his trip and waited for her at home, he looked so pitiful. But time was tight. She had a paper due in early December, and moving from the library to another place would immediately reduce her study efficiency.

Especially when Quan Zhilong was around, he would tell her to study hard, but in reality he would sit next to her like a child with ADHD, playing with her hair and pulling her hands. She couldn't concentrate at all.

After a while, whenever he was around, her thesis progress was practically zero. Failing a course would be like trampling on her dignity. Absolutely not! So when he mentioned coming over again, she started to find excuses to avoid him.

Once, twice, he gradually gave up. Two weeks later, when she finally submitted her last paper, she realized that her boyfriend hadn't sent her any messages in three days.

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