Little Pink Starfish

At the present moment, NT had three plans.

First, a support video from Han Si-on by Way From Flower.
Second, releasing a digital single.
Third, an interview with the arranger.

Of course, there were also future-oriented plans, like recruiting Han Si-on or negotiating properly with M Show.
But the urgent priorities were those three.

In the end, NT managed to pull off only one of them.

The digital single release.

M Show agreed without hesitation—after all, it was scratching an itch of their own.

They even said something meaningful:

“You’ll soon see that this was the right decision.”

It seemed M Show had already prepared for an interview with Chris Edwards.

The support video from Way From Flower was declined.

“Do you even understand how the fans feel right now? Chris Edwards or whoever—sorry, we just can’t do it.”

There was no way fans would be happy if Way From Flower filmed a support message for Han Si-on.
It would come across like:

“Even though you’re mad, we’re actually totally fine with it.”

The leader firmly opposed it, and with only two years left on her contract, her opinion carried weight.

As for the arranger interview…

“BalanceQQ? That YouTuber was the arranger of Flowers Bloom?”

“Yes. Seems he changed his pseudonym somewhere along the way.”

“Wow. So we didn’t even need to do an interview? How many videos has he uploaded?”

“We can just leak to the media that he was the arranger.”

“Jackpot.”

No interview needed.

And so, all the behind-the-scenes work was completed, and Han Si-on’s version of Flowers Bloom was released.

Normally, a remake keeps the original song title, but in this case, NT made a concession.

Since royalties are paid regardless of the title, they figured there was no need to reopen old wounds for Way From Flower.

As a result—

1. “Falling Flower (낙화)” (new)(hot)

Han Si-on’s Falling Flower topped the 24-hour chart immediately after release.

For reference, Under the Streetlight was still holding at 4th place.

And finally, the truth was revealed:

[EXCLUSIVE] Flowers Bloom’s original composer revealed as Chris Edwards
Billboard #1 composer Chris Edwards confirmed to appear on Coming Up Next
Chris Edwards explains: “Got chills after watching Han Si-on’s interview. She was talking about a song of mine that was never publicly released.”
[EXCLUSIVE] Flowers Bloom’s arranger revealed as popular YouTuber ‘BalanceQQ’

The world flipped upside down.

---

—Wait, so Han Si-on was right? There was an original version of Flowers Bloom? And Chris Edwards composed it?

—No way, that has to be fake. Who would believe that?

—What part of this sounds fake?

—They just got a famous composer to do PR work.

—What, is Han Si-on running for president now? As if you could book Chris Edwards for image-making?

—Even a presidential candidate couldn’t pull that off, lololol.

—(Informative post) Chris Edwards has three Billboard #1 songs and won a film score award for a box office hit.

—Damn, Han Si-on’s legit. Maybe she really is a genius.

—(This comment is already soaked from peeing my pants)

—Even when Chris Edwards had that massive movie hit, he didn’t do interviews. He must’ve been really shocked.

—They’ll explain everything on Coming Up Next, right? I’m so curious.

—Funniest part is all the hater channels taking down their anti-Han Si-on videos, lol.

—Isn’t BalanceQQ the real loser here? Dude was going so hard on her—turns out the incompetent arranger was himself, lmao.

—I’m furious. They stuck Way From Flower with that clown as an arranger?

—Are the fans redirecting their rage now?

—Forget all that, I’m just so happy the song dropped. I might listen to it all year.

—I used to hate on Han Si-on. I apologize.

—If you’re reflecting, you’re already top 1%. Most people are coping, blaming tone-deaf YouTubers for misleading them.

—Honestly, the whole scene was anti-Han Si-on for a while.

—The few channels that supported her are blowing up now, lol.

—(Link) Guys, did you see this? Some livestream from yesterday, lol.

—Who’s this old dude?

---

“Krrrgh.”

A middle-aged man on screen pops a piece of grilled pork belly into his mouth and chugs a shot of soju.

He’s eating well enough, but it’s far from what you’d expect from a pro mukbang YouTuber.

Then, slightly tipsy, he gets to the point.

—People have been flaming me. Telling me to stop helping Han Si-on play genius. That everyone knows I arranged the track, so just confess already. But you know what really hurt?

—Oh right, I’m Lee Hyun-seok. The composer rumored to be backing Han Si-on. Toothbrush. I made that.

—Where was I? Oh, the painful part.

He takes another drink.

—I retired because I couldn’t keep up, just like Si-on. I couldn’t follow modern music trends anymore, so I quit and built a recording studio. I help out indie musicians now.

—Frankly, I’ve been close with Jo Ki-jung hyung for ten years. If I could’ve done a remix of Under the Streetlight, I would’ve done it years ago. Why would I wait a decade?

—And Falling Flower? I cried listening to that. I really wanted to be Korea’s Oasis. That was the vibe. Insane.

—Nephew, someone said I got paid? Donations? What’s that? Oh, tips. Ah, thank you. So you pay to ask questions?

—How did I meet Han Si-on? Great question. Been wanting to tell this story.

—When was it… About three months ago? Someone booked the studio for 60 hours straight. And I…

After getting talked into a livestream by his nephew, Lee Hyun-seok realized something.

The world had changed.

All he did was eat pork belly and chat over drinks…

“W-What the hell?!”
He had made a month’s income in one stream.

Unbeknownst to him, Lee Hyun-seok had become “Uncle Lee”—the beloved mentor who guided Han Si-on to the light.

And now that “uncle” was spilling behind-the-scenes stories?

Fans couldn’t get enough.

He was flooded with requests (and donations) to stream again tomorrow.

He even texted Han Si-on, saying they should split the earnings, but she coolly replied:

“You can keep it all, sunbae. Just share lots of good stories so people watch.”

Han Si-on, who always seemed cold and aloof—
She was actually warm-hearted.

—Got permission from Si-on by text yesterday. Oh wow, thanks for the 10,000 won tip. I’ll use it well!

—There’s this video of the first day I saw Si-on. She was playing a guitar riff.

—Let me show you. It’s not the final version, but the vibe was insane. A total monster.

—Oh, after the video I’ll spill some tea on BalanceQQ. That guy’s a moron. I used to buy him drinks when he was a drummer, but now even his friends ditched him. Oh—what? 10,000 won again? 100,000?!

---

Starting over is always frustrating,
But there’s one good thing—

You get a fresh, 20-year-old body.

I usually live to my late 20s or early 30s. Not always, though.
The oldest I’ve ever lived to was 42.

If you take care of yourself, your 30s don’t feel that different.
But your 40s? They’re another story.

No matter what you do, you can’t match your 20s.

So now that I’m back to being 20, I feel the vitality… and…

“Hey, hey!”

I’m exhausted.

Because of Eddie.

“What?”

“I saw that stream. Lee Hyun-seok? Is that how you say it?”

Apparently, he had no schedule in Korea, so he even watched Lee Hyun-seok’s personal livestream.

How did he watch it without understanding Korean?

“I used a translator.”

“…You hired a simultaneous interpreter for that?”

“Yup.”

I was speechless.

Fine. You win.

“That guitar riff—wasn’t that in the song you showed me?”

“Yeah.”

“So you made all those songs in one go? At Lee Hyun-seok’s studio?”

“I wrote them beforehand. Just did the recordings there.”

“What if I arranged that song for you?”

He’s talking about The Hustlers.

My little time-traveling habit—
The first original song I write to reminisce about my past life.

If he’d asked to work on any other track, I’d have refused.
I already handed them over to Manager Seo Seung-hyun for consignment sale.

But The Hustlers is different.

I never really made plans for it. But I didn’t want to just toss it into the K-pop machine like it was disposable.

I’m a cold, calculated person. I’ll cut even friends if it helps achieve my goals.
But GOTM was a special team, even in my long, long life of reincarnation.

“You need to arrange one of my songs anyway for the mission, right? In the meantime, arrange this one. That’s fair, right?”

Fair, my ass.

Still, I didn’t hate the idea. Eddie’s skilled.

I thought it over for a moment and nodded.

“Fine. But I have one condition.”

“What is it?”

“You can do whatever you want with vocals or lyrics. Or leave it to HR.”

“So you mean not the session players? You have someone in mind?”

“Not exactly, but there are people I’d like to prioritize. If they’re not good enough or decline, then do as you like.”

“Ooh, so this song was inspired by someone. Now I’m even more curious.”

Eddie seems determined to uncover the source of my talent.

But unless he knows I’m a reincarnator, it’s impossible.

I’ve never told anyone I’m a returner.

The only time I ever left a hint was a cassette tape I recorded before I died.
Not that anyone will find it before I disappear.

“I’ll send you their info along with the song. They’re all amateur musicians.”

“You met them during a trip to the U.S. or something?”

“Ask more and I’ll cancel the arrangement.”

“Okay, okay. By the way, how’s your arrangement for the mission going?”

“Going well.”

This mission is a team battle—
Arrange one of Chris Edwards’ greatest hits.

It wasn’t planned, but for Coming Up Next, this was an opportunity they couldn’t miss.

A Billboard #1 composer gives full usage rights and agrees to appear on the show?
There’s no reason to say no.

And for me, this is easy.

I’ve done it before when I lived with Eddie.

When I was learning composition from him, he used to hand me his own songs and say,
“Try arranging this.”

Maybe that’s his way of testing someone’s talent.

“It’s so weird.”

“What is?”

“I’m not usually like this, but I really want to be friends with you. Just to be clear, I’m not gay.”

“Yeah, I figured.”

“Why?”

“You just seem like the kind of guy who cried when his girlfriend of six years dumped him for having no vision for the future.”

“…Was it that obvious?”

“Wait, was I right?”

“…”

Yeah. Please stop looking at me like that. I know.