Chapter 85 Chapter 85

By the time Lia opened the door, the small gathering had already ended. The Japanese restaurant the crew had booked was in Mapo District. She kept calling, but no one answered.

She suddenly realized she'd screwed up—Yu Seungho never missed a call unless he was filming. There were several unread messages on KaokaoTalk. —Have you left yet? Do you want me to pick you up?

- I told everyone that the production team has something going on. You should come later. Don't worry on the way. - What happened? ... When she was at the TV station, she turned her phone to silent mode.

Then, distracted by the news, she completely forgot about it. This wasn't just a date between the two of them. He'd been repeating it in her ear for weeks.

The waiter, dressed in a traditional Japanese kimono and with a well-trained smile on his face, led her to the door of the other room.

The room was covered with light-colored tatami mats, and a low, square wooden table was flanked by cushions. An ink painting hung on the wall, and light filtered through a paper lampshade, exuding a distinctly Japanese atmosphere. The tabletop had been cleaned.

In the center stood a rectangular black stone tray, upon which sat a small flower vase, a ceramic sake jug, and an empty cup. Yu Seung-ho sat at the innermost seat, leaning against the wall, his elbows resting on the table.

His shirt sleeves were neatly rolled up above his wrists. He was looking down at his phone when he heard the door open and looked up. "They just left," he said flatly. Lia hesitated.

She walked over to him and sat down. She tried to apologize, "Sorry, my phone was on silent, so I didn't hear it." "It's okay." He put the phone down and casually handed her a menu. His tone was too calm. "Take a look at what you want to eat."

The waiter was still waiting by the door. Lia glanced quickly at the menu. "Let's have the tamagoyaki," she said, glancing at his expression. She pointed to the picture on the front page of the menu.

Her stomach was clearly empty, but it was clenched with anxiety and uneasiness, which made her lose her appetite. "Add an eel rice," Yu Chenghao sighed and added. After the waiter left, the room fell silent again.

"...I'm sorry." Lia reached out and gently tugged at his sleeve, "It's...something else happened suddenly. I didn't mean to be late." She opened her mouth but couldn't say the real reason.

She wasn't so dull as to think that delaying her appointment with her boyfriend for someone else was something she could say without guilt.

Yu Chenghao didn't respond immediately. He just looked at her quietly, as if trying to read something from her face. After a moment, he lowered his gaze and tapped the table lightly with his fingers. The sound was muffled, as if trying to calm himself down.

"It's okay. I know you didn't mean it." His words were half-hearted. The hand hanging beneath the table tightened slightly, the knuckles turning white. He tilted his head to look at her, his gaze fixed on her, but not fully meeting her eyes.

"I saw the news." When he said this, his voice was very flat, as if he was discussing an unimportant topic. "Is he okay?" Lia was stunned, her throat seemed to be blocked by something.

"I'm sorry," she said again. She had already said more sorrys tonight than she had in the previous twenty years combined.

"It's not what you think. If it's Teddy Oppa, Kush and the others... it's the same. To me, they're all the same." She deliberately emphasized the word "same", but didn't know how to make him believe it.

Lia lowered her head, as if a heavy burden was pressing on her shoulders, almost making her breathless. Yu Chenghao looked at her quietly, with countless complex emotions flashing in his eyes, but in the end he was forced to suppress them. "It's okay."

The corners of his mouth curled up slightly, revealing a hint of a smile. Then he patted her head gently and repeated, his tone even softer. "It's good that you can come." It was like he was trying desperately to maintain some kind of facade. If he took another step forward, the surface of peace would shatter.

He didn't dare, didn't want to, let this facade crumble. There was a soft knock on the door, and the waiter walked in, carrying eel rice and tamagoyaki. There was a slight clatter as the tray was placed on the table.

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"Eat something." Yu Chenghao smiled and pushed the eel rice towards her. "Eat first, even if you worry, you should eat something." Lia pursed her lips and looked into his eyes. He was an actor, an actor with excellent acting skills. When he smiled, he should remember to make his eyes curve.

She couldn't tell whether he really didn't care or was just considering her feelings. But he had already said it didn't matter, and if she continued to dwell on it, it would only make her look like she cared about him.

She felt a tightness in her chest, but she finally said nothing and obediently picked up the chopsticks.

Time passed quickly. She took out the manuscript of the felt figurine she brought back from Quan Zhilong, found time to sew the remaining parts together, and asked Kush to help bring it over.

Kush secretly organized a "Support Club for Fallen Superstars," saying that he was worried that Kwon Ji-yong was feeling depressed alone in his luxurious apartment, and asked everyone to take turns visiting him.

Not only Teddy and her were in the group, but even Baoheng and Li Zhuhe were pulled in. She was assigned to every Sunday.

She was only free in the morning, so she went there twice. At first, she even wrote a draft, thinking about how to chat with Quan Zhilong, but he seemed to recover from that incident quickly.

The most common scene was that she was working overtime in the living room with her computer, while he was working on his notebook at the other end of the living room. Although the public opinion storm lasted for a few weeks, the heat quickly subsided.

She went to the forum, and after the initial wave of criticism, the comment section was actually a mixed bag - half was disappointment and blame, the other half was expectation and support.

Fans are probably the most loyal group in the world. Even if they are disappointed, they will always find reasons to continue to believe and wait. Because there are so many people who love him. Soon, Quan Zhilong recovered.

Pain became the soil for creation, and talent grew wildly in it. Occasionally, he would play her a newly finished piece, his eyes focused, almost paranoid.

She had confirmed his genius more than once. He could write in just three minutes what others would take a lifetime to create. She was certain he would not be defeated, and that the time would always come when he would rise from the ashes.

To make up for a certain sense of guilt, she had been making more time to meet with Yu Chenghao during this period. She had already mentioned the support group to him in advance, and he hadn't objected. But she knew very well that this was too unfair to Yu Chenghao.

She thought it was "the right thing to do," but in a relationship between a boyfriend and a girlfriend, it was extremely unreasonable. She chose to fulfill her sense of responsibility, even though this might have inadvertently ignored Yoo Seung-ho's feelings. To make up for this neglect, she tried to make up for it in other ways.

She often felt conflicted, even a little overwhelmed. Xia Qing couldn't help but give her a slap on the wrist when she heard about this. That's a normal reaction, isn't it?

But Yu Chenghao was neither angry nor jealous. He seemed to accept everything about her, as if she could do anything. She was wavering between "should" and "guilt", and in the end she simply gave up and stopped thinking about it. *

The first episode of "KPOP STAR" was aired on December 4th. As soon as the show was launched, it caused a huge response.

This is the first time this type of program has been introduced in Korea, with judges from the three major entertainment companies, including the presidents of YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment, participating. Not only are the contestants a major attraction, but the judges themselves are also a major attraction.

The first few episodes featured interview segments, interspersed with contestants' self-introductions and training routines. The dynamic chemistry between the amateur contestants and the entertainment company presidents quickly propelled the show to the highest ratings for any SBS variety show of the same period.

Lee Hi's segment was placed in the second half of the show. At Lia's suggestion, she directly used the song "Bust Your

Windows". Lia made some adjustments to the arrangement, simplifying the synthesizer background and highlighting Lee Hi's voice.

As expected, she stunned everyone with her first words, and after the show aired, it topped the real-time search list. The 16-year-old girl shone brightly, showcasing her talent to the entire nation.

Unlike Lee Hi's smooth performance, Kim Woo Chan's segment was cut very short.

He sang his own original song, accompanied by guitar music with the help of Lia. The guitar part was arranged beautifully, and he has been practicing it since he was three years old, which fully demonstrated the design.

But the problem was the same one Lia had already discovered: he was too balanced in all aspects, and although he passed the interview smoothly, he failed to leave a deep impression on the audience.

This is the music world—every day, countless people line up to debut. There are many talented and hardworking people, but those who truly stand out are always rare gems.

During this process, Lia interacted with all kinds of contestants almost every day. Following Kush's advice, she began to consciously screen each contestant's potential, paying attention to their performance and details, and quickly evaluating the market's reaction after the show was broadcast.

Gradually, she stopped relying solely on intuition to perceive the contestants' potential and began consciously incorporating market feedback into her judgment. She began to keenly perceive which elements would attract the audience's attention, which styles would spark heated discussion, and which contestants would stand out in the media spotlight. As the show progressed, her judgment became more and more accurate, and she was even able to anticipate the judges' opinions and make her own judgments before they made theirs.

In addition to her growth in music production, she finally realized that her responsibilities as a producer were not limited to the work in the recording studio. She began to understand the operations and judgments of the entertainment industry at a broader level.

All these changes made her grow at an astonishing speed, and behind every decision she made, she felt more and more clearly that she was becoming stronger than yesterday.

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