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“But if I do that, I don’t think it matches the mood of the song well.”

“Different instruments create different moods. Discarding an instrument’s distinctive tone in a bid to match the sheet music is absurd. If you keep doing that, don’t you know that you’ll ruin a song someday?” Kim Joong-Sun looked at Woo-Jin seriously. His question made Woo-Jin feel ashamed. Singing a song in a voice that matched it was just an excuse because Woo-Jin had simply stopped singing with his natural voice at some point. There wasn’t a particular reason for that, but at times Woo-Jin simply didn’t want to listen to his own voice.

“Recalling my time with you. I found the place we used to go; a garden where another woman is smiling brightly and chatting away.”

“A place where another man is watering the flowers. We wasted your time here, and I’m full of regrets.”

Kim Joong-Sun’s eyes lit up after hearing a voice that was completely different from all the other songs Chae Woo-Jin had sung before.

“Try singing it one more time in the lowest pitch possible, and then in the highest pitch possible. It doesn’t matter if you’re singing in falsetto or your natural voice.” Woo-Jin sang the song two more times per Kim Joong-Sun’s request.

“You…have a very wide vocal range. And you’re very good at using your head voice freely. Quit acting and just become a singer. I’ll take good care of you,” Kim Joong-Sun said with a smile. Instantly, Woo-Jin subconsciously took a couple of steps back. Woo-Jin might have been tempted by his offer for a moment if he hadn’t known about Kim Joong-Sun’s reputation as a brutal dictator to the DS singers.

“I’m satisfied being an actor. Being an actor is my life’s calling.”

“What a shame. I’ll really take good care of you, though.” After hearing his firm answer, Kim Joong-Sun looked pitifully at Woo-Jin and smacked his lips.

“Can I go on The King of the Masked Singers?” Woo-Jin asked Kim Joong-Sun a question to change the subject quickly. In any case, he had to pass this test before talking about the next steps.

“According to my sources, the \'Commander of the Universe\' has won three times by now this time around. We’ll find out the day after tomorrow once they air the episode, but the results came as no surprise because he absolutely killed it.”

“I didn’t watch The King of the Masked Singers last week, but I know that you went on the show as a celebrity judge.”

“...”

Kim Joong-Sun looked somewhere else for a moment and cleared his throat. He twiddled his fingers in front of Woo-Jin.

“Red Sun~![1] Forget everything I said, forget everything I said!” Kim Joong-Sun had to watch his mouth because he had signed a non-disclosure agreement. So it wasn’t something he could freely reveal, even though he was on Woo-Jin’s side.

“I don’t remember anything.”

“Good! But I have good and bad news – which do you want to hear first?”

“Let’s start with the bad news.”

Kim Joong-Sun gestured to Woo-Jin to come closer and whispered softly in his ear, “The \'Commander of the Universe\' has four wins during this week’s recording. He must have been prepared to win at least five rounds. A contestant needs at least five wins to become The King of the Masked Singers\' legend. Perhaps, he’s going to be fully prepared during the next recording. He’ll probably crush you if you recklessly face him head-on.” He wasn’t trying to scare Woo-Jin, just stating a fact. He absolutely could not afford to take the battles against the Commander lightly.

“So, what’s the good news?” There was no hesitation in Woo-Jin’s eyes. Kim Joong-Sun looked into his eyes and smiled, looking very pleased.

“We have about ten days left before the next recording! That’s enough time for us.”

“Is it possible for me to go on the show?” If they were going to be recording in ten days, it meant they had already chosen the contestants. There were few reasons for Woo-Jin to doubt his ability to participate midway through the competition. For one thing, he wasn\'t sure whether he would be able to replace one of the contestants at such short notice. Another thing was whether the session musicians [2] had enough time to rehearse with a new addition.

“Every time the PD saw me, he kicked up a fuss, asking me why he couldn’t cast Chae Woo-Jin in his show. He has already prepared a mask just for you. He assured me that you can go on the show anytime as long as we give him five days\' notice before the recording. So yes, it’s possible. If the session musicians are good at what they do, they won’t mess up the accompaniment despite the time constraints, so you don’t have to worry about it.

Woo-Jin’s expression turned dreadful after hearing that the production director had already prepared a mask for him. Kim Joong-Sun laughed uncontrollably as he realized why he was chosen to be one of the judges. They had previously badgered him incessantly to be a judge, so he appeared as a special guest on the show, but it turned out that they had another motive. Even though Kim Joong-Sun could understand how the production director managed to become this successful with variety TV shows, his obsession was on another level.

“I’m sorry for asking, but could you help me inform The King of the Masked Singers\' crew about my participation? And tell them that you’ve persuaded both CEO Jang and me to do it.” Kim Joong-Sun readily agreed to Woo-Jin’s request and nodded enthusiastically. However he saw it, it was a win-win situation—taking the credit of roping in Chae Woo-Jin and emphasizing the favor owed to him by the production director wasn’t a bad thing at all.

“But I’ll only go on the show on one condition – I’d like you to negotiate for me.” Kim Joong-Sun blinked his eyes for a second after hearing everything Woo-Jin had to say, as the latter smiled mischievously.

“There would be no point in winning if you were to do that. You know that, right? Do you know how many singers failed to catch the public’s attention despite being crowned The Masked King, with their careers ending right there?”

“At the very least, I’m confident that I’m better than Min Si-Hoo,” Woo-Jin’s remark caused Kim Joong-Sun to burst out in laughter at his level of confidence.

“You’re such a funny fella! I like it!” Once again, Kim Joong-Sun latched onto the idea of turning Woo-Jin into a professional singer and tried convincing him. In that sense, he was as obsessed as the production director of The King of the Masked Singers.

Once the drama ended, apart from appearing on The King of the Masked Singers, they ultimately held him to his promise to appear on a variety TV show with Berry Rose. The public was still very interested in his fateful connection with Berry Rose, and it couldn’t be ignored.

After City of Shadows final episode was aired, people kept talking about the drama’s open ending and came up with their version of new stories about the conclusion. The drama’s afterglow was so strong that the viewers couldn’t let go of ‘Louie’ that easily. As a result, the public became increasingly curious about Chae Woo-Jin with each passing day, wanting to know more about him. His negligible exposure to the media had his fans and the broadcasters wishing to see Chae Woo-Jin somehow appear in variety TV programs together with Berry Rose.

“I think either TV Star or Happy Plus would be good. TV Star has better ratings and is more popular than Happy Plus, but the latter is progressing very well. Happy Plus also gives you the advantage of recording comfortably without feeling burdened. However, nobody talks about it as much anymore, to the point where nobody knew it was on air.”

“Let’s go with TV Star.” Perhaps, Woo-Jin had already thought it over beforehand, so there was no hesitation in his voice.

“Will you be okay?”

If Woo-Jin went on TV Star, there was a high possibility of the hosts not hesitating to ask him sensitive questions. “We can prevent that from happening by signing an agreement before the recording, but it will take out all the fun, making the show boring. You might actually end up thinking that it wasn’t a good idea to go on that show because of how badly it was done. That will be another problem to deal with, then.”

“I’m not hiding anything; I can answer any questions. And, there are many things I need to address at least once.”

“There will be a few other guests on TV Star, so there are a lot of things you have to do.” Kang Ho-Soo warned Woo-Jin that he had to be prepared to some extent. Woo-Jin made a V-sign in response, expressing it wasn’t a problem at all.

“There have been many ups and downs in my life. So there are a lot of things to talk about.”

“It’s going to be a problem because you can’t talk about everything.” For example, it would be too much for Woo-Jin to handle right now if he were to talk about his parents’ divorce and family history, as well as everything that had happened to him when he was in TM. But after hearing what Kang Ho-Soo said, Woo-Jin smiled, revealing his pearly whites.

“What do you think?” asked Kang Ho-Soo.

“It’s not a bad idea. I’ve also spoken with the CEO and gotten his permission.” As CEO Jang was pretty supportive of it, Kang Ho-Soo shook his head. It seemed that CEO Jang had changed a lot recently for some reason. He became more mischievous and reckless in various ways.

“And please schedule TV Star’s recording after The King of the Masked Singers.”

“Alright.” Woo-Jin’s actions on TV Star might change depending on the outcome of The King of the Masked Singers. Considering that, Kang Ho-Soo wanted to schedule the latter first, and Woo-Jin read his mind.

Woo-Jin rested his chin on his hand and asked, “Hyung, do you think I’ll lose?”

“Isn’t there a fifty percent chance of that happening? In my opinion, there’s a fifty percent chance of everything happening. Regardless of whether the probability is high or low, ultimately, there are only two outcomes – success or failure.”

“It’s great that we always share the same sentiment. However, I have a killer move, so I’m definitely going to win.”

“What’s that killer move of yours?” Kang Ho-Soo looked very serious. Woo-Jin looked at him and replied seriously as well.

“I know the secret to singing exceptionally well.” Woo-Jin had been training the entire time consistently ever since he learned the secret. He was extremely confident. However, Kang Ho-Soo looked at him and gradually backed away. As if in slow motion, Woo-Jin saw the upright Kang Ho-Soo’s faith and confidence slowly disappear from his eyes.

Hwang Yi-Yeong personally prepared Woo-Jin’s outfit after hearing the concept behind The King of the Masked Singers from their team. She had Woo-Jin wear a pair of glasses and used a scarf to cover his face just in case, like a celebrity. She also bought ready-to-wear clothes and altered them one by one. Woo-Jin looked at the clothes that had been elaborately altered and scratched his face. He wondered if it was necessary to go to such great lengths for this show.

“I mean, what’s with the mask that they’ve prepared for a long time now? It’s definitely sloppy, so you have to wear nice clothes to make up for it.”

“How can you be so sure when you haven’t even seen the mask?”

“It’s obvious just by hearing its name.” Hwang Yi-Young didn’t seem to be a fan of the concept presented to her by The King of the Masked Singers\' team. In fact, Woo-Jin had also thought it sounded very absurd when he heard it back then, let alone Hwang Yi-Young. However, the mask they received was better than expected; it was neither shabby nor ostentatious. On the contrary, it looked elegant and classy.

Looking at the mask and outfits prepared for him, reality began to hit Woo-Jin. It would be his first time singing in public. Even though this entire thing started because of his resentment and anger, he loved singing very much, so it wasn’t necessarily a bad situation. He couldn’t hide his excitement.

The first duet he had to sing in the first round was Baek Ji-Young’s ‘Garosugil At Dawn.’ The production team had requested the song, and he had no complaints about the selection. As soon as he heard the song’s name, he could guess that he was up against a woman. They matched their schedules and rehearsed the duet for about two hours the day before the recording.

His reflection in the mirror looked ridiculous, as he was wearing just the mask with his casual clothes. His field of vision was so limited that he kept stumbling on his way to the practice room from his waiting room. If it hadn’t been for the bodyguard standing next to him, he would most likely have fallen. For Woo-Jin, today was more of an opportunity to get used to the mask rather than rehearsing the duet. Just as he expected, the person who entered the practice room before him was a woman. She was wearing a beautiful and fancy lily on her nicely styled wig.

“Hello. I am the \'Queen of Lilies.\'” The lady greeted him first with an altered voice. She looked very relaxed. There was something unique about her, even with the way she curtsied and waved her hand like a candidate from Miss Korea.

“Nice to meet you. I am the \'Doryeong Who Dreams of Becoming a Hanryang.\'” [3]

Even though it was just a rehearsal, the production team was so thorough that they altered their voices the entire time, except when they were singing. When Woo-Jin shook his head because of not being used to the mask and altered voices, the \'Queen of Lilies\' told him not to worry as it was normal for everyone to feel that way initially, as though she was very experienced.

“Shall we begin?”

It was more comfortable for them to speak politely to one another as they didn’t know if the other party was a senior or junior. Since there was no point in exchanging greetings out of courtesy when they were each behind a mask, both of them started rehearsing in full swing after introducing themselves.

1. It’s a catchphrase coined by Kim Young-Guk during the early 2000s, which he says along with the accompanying hand motion when ‘hypnotizing’ others to help them. The hypnotist also uses the catchphrase to snap the person under hypnosis out of it. ☜

2. Freelance musicians are hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. ☜

3. The Korean for the stage name is 한량을 꿈꾸는 도령. 도령 - ‘Doryeong’ is an honorific term for ‘young man’ or ‘boy’ used in the olden days. 한량 - ‘Hanryang’ here refers to a wealthy man who doesn’t have a job but spends frivolously indulging in life’s pleasures. The closest meaning in English is ‘hedonist.’ ☜