She also knew that KPIs like “more sales on 0 marketing” were not impossible to overcome but were never a good sign. It was the kind of thing a client would say when they were planning to sunset a product line, one where the standards would only get higher, and either the company made money or they cut their losses on a thing that was hemorrhaging it. Lia had experienced it too, in her last couple of weeks on the job, when her colleagues got a bonus, and she didn’t, because she was leaving anyway, right? As if she hadn’t worked the same amount all the way to then.
CoBOLT is a second-gen KPop rock band. They are trailblazers in the industry for a stunning, successful debut as a group that purely played instruments with a KPop friendly feel. They are known best for their bright pop songs and deeply felt, emotional love songs. Exiting from this hiatus is a great opportunity to capture a new market of fans and move the band into a new generation of listeners. Consider the following consumer sales funnel:
She had to physically shake her head to clear her mind of work thoughts. Not her job. Not even remotely her job, and not her problem. Her problem was finding a hotel that didn’t cost a month’s rent per night in what looked to be a very upscale neighborhood.
She wassogoing to kill her brother.
“This might be our last,” Cal said.
It took Lia’s entire body and soul to stop herself from gasping dramatically. Because no! No way. It couldn’t end here! Didn’t he say he wanted to be with the boys until he was eighty? Didn’t he want to get on the Billboard charts? He wanted to play at arenas and big concerts, festivals!
“Bomseok was right. It couldn’t last forever.”
His flippant nonchalance was hard to miss, but easy to see through. A small voice in Lia’s head, old and familiar, yearned to reach out and hug Cal and tell him it couldn’t be over. Not when he was so defeated! Not when he was so good at this!
But who was Lia to Cal? No one. He didn’t need reassurance from a stranger, and Lia had long learned to ignore her fangirl instincts. She was an adult, and she knew all too well that not everything could last forever, that there were always going to be disappointments. There was no need for delusion.
“When the album fails, the company will have a reason not to renew us. If they don’t renew, we won’t have an agency, wewon’t have our music, or our name.” He sighed. “The band will be nothing.Iwill be nothing.”
To Teddy’s (microscopic) credit, he didn’t tell Cal any of that either. Didn’t convince him to fight the CEO or rebel against the company. It wasn’t how they did it. Instead, Teddy Mertola nodded.
“So it means we can be anything,” he concluded. “I pre-picked some demos, but we can go through it…”
Lia let the boys talk, looking out her window to gauge which neighborhood they were in. Because this wasn’t her fight anymore. She’d voluntarily bowed out when Cal entered the military, and she had to grow the fuck up.
Unfortunately, having been to Seoul only once before meant that Lia couldn’t read Korean or glean where she could possibly be. All she could tell was that, wherever they were going, the roads were kind of wider, and everything was hilly, which was very nondescript. It wasn’t until the car pulled up to a seemingly random gate that Lia managed to read an address.
The Hillock at Hannam.
Hannam? Hannam as in Hannamdong? The neighborhood where only the richest of the rich Koreans lived? A neighborhood that now—as far as current living arrangements were going—included Lia and Teddy? What the hell. She was never going to be able to afford a hotel inthisarea.
“So. Lia. What are your plans while you’re in Seoul?” Cal asked as they huddled in the building’s lobby. Between Lia, her brother, her bias, his manager, his driver, their luggage and Teddy’s equipment, it was a weird time to ask such a polite question. But clearly, whatever convivial banter Cal had been enjoying with his manager was done, and he was now focusing on her.
The back of her shoulder was pressing against his arm and she was leaning just enough that, should someone need to exitthe elevator in front of her, he would have to grab her to keep them both steady.
Not that she wanted it to happen, or anything. God forbid. Being in a parasocial relationship was easy when the person was literally in thepara,the nebulous beyond of the internet. In the far reaches of her imagination, where Cal remained a fictional being that she would never meet. But then, having him at actual arm’s length wasterrible.Mostly because she had this delusion that, because she knew him so well, he would try to get to know her, too. And at the moment, she didn’t really feel like she was someone worth knowing.
“Nothing specific.” She was trying to sound breezy. Did she sound breezy? Frankie always called her a terrible liar, but then again, her sister only caught about half the lies she told. “I was here ten years ago. I think I have the highlights down.”
She was here ten years ago with Megan, because Megan had been here on a study abroad thing and of course, Lia’s first solo trip abroad would be to visit her. It had been a great week,andMegan had gotten her a CoBOLT poster as a ‘hey welcome to Seoul!’ gift.
“You’ll be surprised at how much the city’s changed in ten years.” Cal chuckled, and no, Lia did not feel that inside her body or anything because he was so close, and that chuckle had kind of rumbled in that sexy, intimate way.
“Okay, but Namsan Tower is still around, right?”
“Yeah, I would think so.” He nodded. “Just let me know if you need recommendations, or a ride. My house isn’t exactly the easiest place to explore from, but?—“
The elevator arrived. Thankfully it was empty, and they all shuffled inside. Only for Lia to end up in the exact same spot semi-pressed against Cal. He smelled so good. She wanted to tell someone.
“Actually, I was thinking of staying at a hotel,” she announced breezily, and she was very glad that she couldn’t see his face. Except she could see her brother’s because he was shooting her a look through the mirrored panel of the elevator. “I’m a saling pusa.”
“And so?” Teddy asked the same time Cal asked, “Joining kitten?”
“Teddy, you don’t just invite people to stay in other people’s houses!” Lia whirled around to face her brother, who was at the very back of the elevator
“I said I would keep an eye on you.” Teddy glared back.
“Yes, but you also didn’t tell me we were going to stay in Ahn Yongjin’s house!“ Lia leaned forward, past the wall of muscle and good genes that was Ahn Yongjin to glare even more. “You said you had a place for us to stay, I assumed it was a hotel!”
