Silence fell.
'Toothless Cat' had never imagined that he would hear such words, and looked at Jo Sung-hyun with a dumbfounded face.
Park Jung-won was similar.
He had worked with Jo Sung-hyun, and he had never seen him get so angry or show his anger like this.
Jo Sung-hyun was careful even when speaking informally to someone.
He always used honorifics to the artists under his agency, regardless of how close they were or how old they were, and never crossed the line.
That's why Jo Sung-hyun was not hated.
By other employees, and by the artists under his agency.
And he says this?
Park Jung-won was the first to doubt his ears.
"What, what the hell are you?"
"Shut your mouth. You look so free-spirited and you talk so freely too."
"What kind of crazy bastard is this...."
'Toothless Cat' muttered a curse as if he couldn't believe it.
Park Jung-won also came to his senses and stepped forward.
He thought the situation would get worse, and tried to stop it.
"Hey, Sung-hyun..."
But Jo Sung-hyun didn't stop there.
"Who do you think you are to mention Chaeyoon's name?"
"Wow, this is really a crazy bastard. Hey, what's wrong with me calling Chaeyoon's name? I heard that someone ruined my song, so I wondered who it was, but it was just a crazy guy."
"Ha... Excuse me. Mr. Lee Seong-ju."
Jo Sung-hyun sighed and calmed down a bit.
His regained reason stopped him from speaking informally.
'Toothless Cat' looked at Jo Sung-hyun calling his real name and laughed.
He opened his mouth with an annoyed face.
"What. Mr. Jo Sung-hyun."
"You should change your stage name too. Not Toothless Cat, but Music-stealing Bastard."
"What kind of nonsense are you talking about...."
And then.
Something that Jo Sung-hyun never expected happened again.
"What do you mean by that? You stole music?"
A clear voice echoed in the office.
* * *
Seo Yena.
One of the top stars of Pan Entertainment.
Among the solo female singers who are not able to exert their power properly, she is one of the few people who has a decent amount of power in the domestic solo female singer scene.
I'm not sure why she came, but she was looking in this direction with Woo Kyung-soo, the team leader of the two singer teams.
Jo Sung-hyun watched them quietly, and Park Jung-won raised his hand to his head as the scale grew larger and his head throbbed.
"Ah, hello. Ms. Yena," 'Toothless Cat' was the first to step forward and greeted Seo Yena.
Seo Yena received his greeting with a motionless face, twitching her head.
As someone who had risen to the position of a star, she had a sharp side to her.
Although she wasn't notorious, she wasn't known for being well-behaved either.
That's why the employees were cautious when dealing with Seo Yena or had any business with her.
Due to this reason, Woo Kyung-soo personally took care of Seo Yena.
"So? Is there no one who can explain what it means to steal music?"
Seo Yena threw the question right away.
It was clear that she wasn't really bothered by 'Toothless Cat's' greeting.
Still, she wasn't overly rude to composers, but seeing her come out like this showed a hint of annoyance.
As an artist herself, she knew the significance of being accused of stealing music.
"It's nothing. He's just talking nonsense...."
"You aren’t talking about our team member, right? Mr. Lee Seong-ju."
Park Jung-won spoke as he sneaked forward.
When Park Jung-won, who had been passive until now, spoke up, Lee Seong-ju could only falter for a moment.
But he opened his mouth more firmly, as if asking when he had faltered.
"Well, should I just stand by while he treats me like a bad guy and accuses me of being a thief?"
"...."
"You should say something that makes sense. I am 'Toothless Cat.' I can sue for defamation and spreading false information."
"I don't think it's spreading false information."
Jo Sung-hyun said in disbelief at his confident appearance.
From the beginning, Jo Sung-hyun didn't have a favorable impression of 'Toothless Cat.'
It was natural.
Jo Sung-hyun was a composer.
Moreover, he had never been able to call his own songs his own.
Naturally, even if someone claimed to be someone he didn't know and stole someone else's music, he would find it repulsive.
He had shown such a bad mood in front of Chaeyoon, and there was no way he would look good.
Jo Sung-hyun was someone who hated making enemies or causing trouble for no reason.
That's why he hadn't bothered to reveal 'Toothless Cat's' plagiarism until now.
'Of course, if Yumi's album had 'Toothless Cat's' song, I would have revealed it, but....'
Fortunately, Yumi rejected 'Toothless Cat's' song as soon as he said it, and the song went to Seo Yena.
Jo Sung-hyun stayed still for now.
He didn't have the strength to say anything to Seo Yena, and he didn't want to cause trouble either.
But, if the situation had gone this far....
"This is really a crazy bastard! What do you mean I stole music!"
He was really confident.
As if the one who farted was angry, he spoke angrily, looking at 'Toothless Cat.'
'I want to hit him.'
He just wanted to hit him once.
Jo Sung-hyun sighed, thinking that.
How can someone be so shameless?
"Hey, tell me. What did I plagiarize or what?"
"Just admit it cleanly if you blatantly plagiarized. Do you think it's good to live well like that?"
Jo Sung-hyun asked incredulously, and 'Toothless Cat' twisted his face.
"Do you have any evidence? Do you have any evidence that I plagiarized? If you have that, I'll admit it. I'm so speechless...."
At his words, Seo Yena's gaze moved to Jo Sung-hyun.
It wouldn't have been easy for Seo Yena to move at Jo Sung-hyun's word without any evidence.
Woo Kyung-soo was similar.
If 'Toothless Cat' had clearly plagiarized, he could stop the song and even claim damages.
But if that wasn't the case, Woo Kyung-soo couldn't step in either.
Park Jung-won seemed to trust Jo Sung-hyun, but he also had a hard time stepping in without any solid evidence.
He believed in Jo Sung-hyun's musical talent, and he thought it was almost certain that it was plagiarism if he said so, but that was different from this.
When Jo Sung-hyun finally opened his mouth to talk about 'Toothless Cat's' song.
Clack.
With a small sound, the door of the conference room opened and Yumi came out.
And, Chaeyoon too.
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