Chapter 60

"Sorry, the user you dialed cannot be connected at the moment, please dial again later."

"Hey, Li Kan, is it possible that even the automated voice is still half-asleep? How dare you play with your old lady like this?" Jin Runshu was furious on the other end of the phone. This guy probably just opened his eyes, and he's already playing games, "Do I have to move into your doghouse?"

"I don't dare, Mom, please let me off this time." Li Jingming was immediately terrified, his sleepiness instantly gone. If that goddess moved in, his life would be over. She wouldn't stop until she made him marry several wives and have a bunch of kids.

Jin Runshu was also at a loss with her son. This kid had been a prodigy since he was young, knowing everything and excelling in everything. "A born genius" was the perfect description of him, but his personality was incredibly childish. What could she do? She herself had the same personality, and wasn't that also charming?

Last night, Li Jingming had been composing music. By the middle of the night, he finally put the lyrics he had written under the Namsan Tower to music. Although it wasn't perfect, it had a basic melody and main tune. "Inverted" was the name he gave to the song. He recorded a demo and saved it on his computer, planning to show it to Jin C and the musicians in the U.S.

"Is the album being released today? Should I buy ten thousand copies?" Jin Runshu asked.

Li Jingming was at a loss, "Then what, pile them at home? Don't do that, if I get caught, I'm done. How can I still be in the industry?"

"Why not boost the numbers a bit? After all, you're paying for them. Is there a rule that says a mother can't be a fan of her own son? If I buy a lot, should I be regulated?" Jin Runshu said matter-of-factly.

"Do you really have no confidence in me? I'm a rising star recently." Li Jingming didn't dare ask his mother to really buy ten thousand copies, "If you support me, one copy is enough."

"You ungrateful brat, do you know how much effort and pain it took for me to give birth to you? Now you won't even give me one album, and you want me to go out and buy it myself?" Jin Runshu suddenly changed her tone. Just a moment ago, she was willing to buy ten thousand, now she won't even buy one.

"Uh, just pretend I never said anything." Li Jingming felt completely outmatched by this lady.

"Okay, go out and check. Tell me the album sales figures when you get them." Jin Runshu was going to go out and recommend her son's album to her old friends. Their children were out "playing" a lot, and these idle women would use it as a topic of conversation, chatting happily with each other. Why should it be embarrassing? Being a singer isn't embarrassing. Nowadays, singers aren't like the performers of the past who sang for a few coins. There are plenty of people in the industry with the title of "artist."

Before leaving, Li Jingming saw his album on the "Daily Recommendations" shelf at the LK store. He didn't know when it was stocked, probably in the morning. He woke up at 9:30, and it was already past 10.

Holding the album in his hand, Li Jingming looked at his half-body portrait on the box through the packaging paper. After a while, he muttered, "So handsome, being handsome is also a sin."

When the source of "Confession" came out, the nine LK stores started playing it intermittently throughout the day. The women in the store were already familiar with the song. However, the store speakers couldn't compare to professional personal playback devices. The women who often came here to consume, who could afford expensive desserts and costly coffee, all had headphones worth over a million won. They were naturally very willing to buy high-definition CDs to enjoy the high-quality sound. The morning sales at LK were very strong. Li Jingming had arranged for 500 CDs at each branch, and already one-fifth of them had been sold. The stores opened at 10, and it wasn't even 10:30 yet. Many people were buying on behalf of their friends. It was Wednesday, and many people had to go to school or work, so they couldn't come themselves, leading to the situation where there weren't many people but the sales were still high.

Three days wasn't enough for other entertainment companies to warm up a new album, but Li Jingming felt he had done everything he needed to. Those who would buy it would buy it, and those who wouldn't buy it probably wouldn't even after a few days. He wouldn't play the scarcity game; as long as there was demand, he would supply.

With nothing else to do, Li Jingming went out for lunch and to check if anyone was buying his album. Even though it was Wednesday, the population density in Seoul was so high that the streets were always bustling, and there were many people in the stores.

Without makeup, Li Jingming only wore a large Ray-Ban sunglasses and a baseball cap. This was already full gear, but his fame wasn't at that level yet. The image store he was going to was in Cheongdam-dong, not far away. He arrived after a short walk. The store wasn't empty, with a few girls browsing, some carefully selecting, and some listening. They looked like college students, dressed between mature and youthful, and they only came to Cheongdam-dong in the morning when they had no classes.

The box of "Confession" was in the most prominent position. The words "Store Owner's Recommendation" made Li Jingming think of the works of the teachers from the island nation to the right, the kind that starts with an FBI warning (innocent boys, please search "FBI warning" on Baidu).

"Jiyeon, are you going to buy that? It's really expensive," a girl said to the girl next to her.

This girl named Jiyeon firmly picked up the box of "Confession." 38,000 won wasn't a small amount, but after watching the MV, she decided to buy it. She really liked the story inside. The transformation of a person's love from youthful and beautiful to mature and sensitive made her, who had just broken up, understand a lot.

"Isn't the album of TVXQ better? I heard they are already a super group in Japan," the girl still thought the price of 38,000 won was too high.

Li Jingming couldn't do anything about it. Jin C insisted on including both the MV DVD and a pure audio HDCD, which greatly improved the quality but made it less attractive to people with weaker purchasing power.

"Boss, I'll take this one." Jiyeon handed over the album, scanned the barcode, and hugged it, her face showing satisfaction that made Li Jingming's heart tremble. The expression was so pure and beautiful, like a child getting a beloved toy. Li Jingming silently vowed that even if it was just to see someone he liked show such an expression again, he would achieve his goal.

"Please wait a moment, miss." Li Jingming couldn't say "Dao you qing liubu," so he said, "Miss, please wait a moment."

"What's wrong, is there something?" Jiyeon turned around, looking at Li Jingming with confusion. Li Jingming looked cool, with a baseball cap, black sunglasses, a loose T-shirt, casual pants, and stylish sneakers (New Balance, abbreviated as NB).

Li Jingming thought for a moment, "May I ask if you are buying this album to collect or to enjoy?"

"Of course I'm going to listen to it, why else would I buy it?" The other girl asked, not understanding. In fact, many people bought albums to collect, leaving them unopened on the shelf, but the collection value of Li Jingming's album would only be evident later.

"Can I borrow your album for a moment?" Li Jingming extended his hand.

Jiyeon hesitated for a moment but still handed it over, muttering to herself, "This man is very handsome, but he seems familiar. Is he an artist? Many artists dress like this when they go out."

In Jiyeon's surprised gaze, Li Jingming tore off the plastic wrapping, took out a Montblanc pen he had brought with him, opened the album box, and signed his name on the inner page.

"Ah!" Jiyeon let out a cry and lunged forward. She hadn't even opened it yet, and someone else had, and scribbled on it, "Give it back to me, this is my first time, and you opened it for me?"

"Miss, can you please not speak in such short phrases?" Li Jingming not only found it impolite but also knew that "opening the package" had another meaning in his country.

"Ah!" Jiyeon let out another cry when she got the album back. She saw the name signed on the inner page: Li Jingming. She looked up carefully and confirmed it was indeed Li Jingming, just without makeup, looking younger and more handsome.

"Sorry, senior, I didn't mean to speak in short phrases," Jiyeon bowed.

"Are you a trainee?" Li Jingming guessed she was a trainee when she called him senior. He had only debuted a week ago, so anyone who needed to call him senior was probably a trainee. "Introduce yourself."

"My name is Yang Jiyeon, born in 1988, and I'm about to debut with Good Entertainment," Yang Jiyeon introduced herself briefly.

Li Jingming was amazed. He felt that he should wait to see a fortune teller. In the past few days, he had encountered trainees, all of them girls and all beautiful. This felt good, and the intermittent awkwardness could just be awkward. It was more important to meet beautiful female trainees. If the fortune teller broke this for him, it would be a disaster.

Feeling inspired, Li Jingming took the box from Yang Jiyeon again, leaned on the cash register, and wrote a message: "I hope Miss Yang Jiyeon always remains cute and beautiful."

"This is the first time I've signed an album for someone," Li Jingming's words made Yang Jiyeon's eyes widen. She then smiled even more happily. Not only men liked firsts, but women did too.

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