Chapter 50

Tied in an apron, Li Jingming was busy in the kitchen, while Jin Runshu sat on the sofa watching TV. Today, she had come to check on her son's recent situation and to discuss Li Jingming's major life events.

"That song is great; I've heard it." Jin Runshu had always been looking forward to the song "Confession" that her son had written and composed. She listened to it when the MV clip was released yesterday and downloaded it early this morning. "No wonder it's so full of emotion."

"Of course, I even got married in my past life." Li Jingming said the truth and continued preparing dinner.

The word "marriage" made Jin Runshu uneasy. "You don't have to get married first. You've been in America for so many years; you must have seen a lot. Many people have children before getting married. It's fine; I can still have your grandfather write the child's name in the family register."

"Mom, you should look at my face. No one would believe I'm an adult. Who would have a child with me?" Li Jingming started making the egg drop soup with pork loin.

"Ah, that's a big problem. I was so young-looking back then. Your father used to call me 'our child.' You inherited that from me." Jin Runshu touched her face. "If I go out with you, people might mistake me for your sister."

"That's impossible, Mom." Li Jingming interrupted Jin Runshu's self-admiration.

"Why is it impossible?" Jin Runshu was about to turn into a tiger mom.

"Others would only think you're my younger sister." Li Jingming said this without any emotion, wiped his hands, and brought the dishes to the table.

"Come here." Jin Runshu beckoned.

Knowing his mother's command, Li Jingming dared not disobey, even though he knew he would probably get hit. "Ms. Jin, what do you want to do?"

"Beat you, you naughty boy, for mocking your old mother!" Jin Runshu grabbed the blanket from the sofa and started beating Li Jingming with it. Li Jingming could have dodged but didn't, using the topic of his youthful appearance to divert Jin Runshu's attention from marriage and children.

"Mom, please stop, how can you know Shaolin kung fu?" Li Jingming begged loudly.

Jin Runshu was puzzled. "I don't know any Shaolin kung fu, but I'm a martial arts genius. Where do you think your martial arts talent comes from?"

Li Jingming, pressed to the sofa with the blanket over his head, wondered if his father had contributed much to his birth, and if all his good qualities were inherited from his mother.

"Your Shaolin Robe Demon Subduing Skill must have twenty years of practice." Li Jingming pretended to be injured.

The Shaolin Robe Demon Subduing Skill, one of the seventy-two Shaolin techniques, was a famous skill of a Shaolin abbot named Xuan Ci. Imagine a compassionate Shaolin monk standing opposite you, saying, "Please make your move." When you do, he suddenly takes off his robe, not to perform a restricted dance, but to cover your head and beat you up. You can't even fight back, like being blinded in a game, which is a sure way to lose. The Shaolin Robe Demon Subduing Skill is a flashy technique. That's why monks wear robes under their robes for fighting. Similarly, the bags carried by the elders of the Beggar Sect are used to trap opponents and beat them inside. Unfortunately, the elders can't say, "I'll fight ten people" because of the rules—they only carry nine bags.

The robes of the Shaolin masters and the bags of the Beggar Sect elders are well-tested fighting tools. Jin Runshu's blanket-over-the-head beating had a master's flair.

"Mom, let me up. The soup is still in the pot, and the pork loin will get tough." Li Jingming was immediately released, either because Jin Runshu found a way out or because she didn't want the pork loin to get tough.

"Do you want to appear on a show? Isn't it common to promote through TV appearances?" Jin Runshu started to care about Li Jingming's career, ready to help him with any show he wanted to appear on.

"Not for now. It's just a single album, a test. Don't worry about it." Li Jingming said from the kitchen.

Jin Runshu sat at the table. "You're my son. If I don't worry, who will? You insist on living alone, do you know how I feel? I think about whether you're wearing nice clothes and eating well every day."

"Because you want to know if I'm eating well, you came?" Li Jingming asked, amused. His mother, called "our child" by his father, was not just young-looking but also childlike and affectionate with her closest people.

"I went through so much to give birth to you. Now you complain about me coming for dinner. If you have a wife in the future, you'll kick me out!" Jin Runshu's face changed when Li Jingming exposed her thoughts. She loved her son's cooking and came over when her mouth was tasteless. Li Jingming hadn't been back to Korea for a long time, and she hadn't had his Chinese cooking in a while. They bought a lot of ingredients at the supermarket in the afternoon, and Li Jingming had been busy all day after Jessica's call.

"If you're afraid, I won't get married." Li Jingming took the bait.

"No, I haven't experienced the joy of being a mother-in-law yet." Jin Runshu shook her head.

"So that's why you're forcing me to get married early?" Li Jingming pretended to be enlightened.

Mother and son laughed and chatted, enjoying a sumptuous meal. Li Jingming's evasive behavior earlier was noticed by Jin Runshu, who understood that he didn't want to talk about his career. She decided to be a good mother and not push him.

That evening, Li Jingming's second MV episode was airing. Many households in Korea were watching TV, and MBC's drama time slot had a high viewership, ensuring that the MV reached a large audience. Many people who had heard the song during the day but didn't know its name found the answer that night and immediately started searching for the song "Confession" and the new singer Li Jingming online.

In just a few minutes, Li Jingming's song downloads, ringtone usage, and click-through rates skyrocketed. The most impressive was the album pre-orders. Since the album wasn't yet on sale, only pre-orders were available, and the numbers were immediately reflected on Song Seok-jae's computer. Yesterday, the pre-orders were around 700, a normal number for a new artist. However, today, with the online promotion, the pre-orders had risen to over 8,000, more than ten times the previous day's number.

Li Jingming's performance caught the attention of many company presidents, especially Yang Hyun-suk of YG and Kim Young-min of S.M.

Yang Hyun-suk had received a video from a scout a few days ago. The person in the video was indeed talented and good-looking, but Yang Hyun-suk specialized in hip-hop. Good rapping requires singing skills, but good singers don't necessarily fit the hip-hop style. If he could easily bring the person to YG, Yang Hyun-suk wouldn't hesitate, but the scout mentioned that the person was with S.M. This made him think twice. Unlike JYP, which was seen as a "supermarket of talented trainees" and often had promotions, S.M. trainees had a strong sense of belonging and were hard to poach unless there were personal factors involved.

After a few days of hesitation, Yang Hyun-suk discovered that the person had debuted, and not with S.M. The song "Confession" was written and composed by the person, and the perfect performance made it clear that the song would be a hit, even to someone who didn't usually listen to such music. Yang Hyun-suk was so frustrated that he wanted to kill the scout for the wrong information, which made him miss a good opportunity. Although he knew he couldn't poach Li Jingming, he didn't know that at the time.

Yang Hyun-suk didn't know how well Li Jingming's album was selling, but the high click-through rate of 240,000 and over 50,000 downloads on the second day were impressive. While initial momentum is crucial for music, this performance was far beyond a new artist's level. If this continued, a first-week sales of 200,000 was not a problem, and 300,000 downloads were possible. Other metrics, like ringtone sales, were also impressive. Yang Hyun-suk's resentment grew, and his attention to Li Jingming increased.

Kim Young-min was also paying attention to Li Jingming, mainly because of Jessica. Choi Ho-ryeong had mentioned Jessica's cameo in the MV, but he didn't take it seriously until the song "Confession" came out. He was impressed by the song. Kim Young-min, born in 1970, was in his late thirties, and a young singer could move him so deeply. He recognized the talent but wondered why Jessica wasn't in the MV.

Kim Young-min watched the first two episodes of the "TV series MV." The story was clear: a pure love story with a tragic illness plot. There was no third person involved. Jessica had said she would appear, but where was she? Was there a third party, and was Jessica playing a villain in a love triangle? That would make it like "Blue生死恋" (Blue生死恋 is a Korean drama, so it should be translated as "Blue生死恋" or "Blue Love and Death"). Could this "TV series MV" have ten episodes?

Kim Young-min didn't ask Choi Ho-ryeong to ask Jessica what was going on. He was still following the MV, and the female lead was very beautiful.