Peninsula: I created the golden age of girl groups

10:00 am.

Yoo Young-jin dragged his heavy steps and slowly stepped into the SM headquarters building.

This has been his fixed work schedule for many years.

Not too early, but just the right time to highlight his status and privileges as a member of the company's management.

Before coming, he even went to COFIOCA next to the company and bought an iced Americano with plenty of ice.

This is also the most popular way for young people in South Korea to prolong their lives.

In Seoul, where the pace of life is so fast it's suffocating, people have long been accustomed to using iced coffee to keep going and combat the fatigue and stress of the day.

While he doesn't rely on caffeine like some young people, he occasionally needs an iced coffee to stay awake.

Especially during this period...

He subconsciously looked down and rubbed his temples hard, his expression slightly irritated.

Just then, a young man with a youthful appearance happened to pass by. Upon recognizing him, he immediately stopped and bowed respectfully in greeting.

"Good morning, Professor Yu Yongzhen."

"Ah, good morning."

Upon hearing this, Yoo Young-jin squinted his slightly sore eyes, raised his hand and waved, "It's... Junmyeon, right? How's your practice going lately?"

"Yes! Thanks to you, everything is going quite smoothly!"

The man looked at him with a mixture of surprise and astonishment, seemingly not expecting that Yu Yongzhen would recognize him.

"Yeah, practice hard, fighting." Yoo Young-jin weakly clenched his fist and waved at him.

He simply didn't have the extra energy to engage in such pointless small talk.

"Yes! Thank you, teacher!"

Kim Junmyeon bent even lower, his voice full of enthusiasm.

Of course, it wasn't just Kim Junmyeon.

"Good morning, Director Yu!"

"Teacher, you've arrived!"

Good morning, teacher!

As one of the company's top executives, Yoo Young-jin received countless glances and greetings from employees, trainees, and artists the moment he stepped into the lobby.

He also tried his best to maintain a smile, nodding to everyone or giving brief responses, highlighting his approachability.

However... his expression remained somewhat dazed, and his eyes wandered inexplicably.

The main reason is that the series of events that happened yesterday completely disrupted their original, step-by-step plan.

To start all over again.

It took him almost an entire night to painstakingly transcribe the complete score of the brand-new version of "Reunion".

But this is only the beginning.

He was responsible for leading and perfecting the subsequent orchestration, harmony arrangement, and other related work.

After all, Jiang Yuhe's version was a solo a cappella, while the girls were eight... no, according to the president, it could also be nine...

The process alone is enough to exhaust your mind and energy.

The main problem is that time is just too tight.

The debut date for the girls has already been largely decided by the higher-ups, and all the plans before their debut are arranged in reverse order based on that date.

Now even the most important debut song is going to be drastically changed.

Naturally, the song part allocation, dance choreography, and a whole series of other tasks also had to be scrapped and started over.

The workload increased exponentially, but the time remained the same.

Although he knew that all of this was for the sake of achieving better debut results, Yoo Young-jin still felt a strange sense of anxiety.

After taking a big gulp of iced coffee, Yoo Young-jin felt a bit more awake.

As he approached the office, he quickened his pace, but couldn't help grumbling under his breath.

"Oh dear... the guild leader really... has given me a huge headache... I wonder when that kid... will arrive, and what his plans are!"

The grumbling was not loud, but it echoed leisurely in the empty stairwell.

However, he was not worried that his words would be overheard.

After all, his office was located in the most central part of the building, and there weren't many people coming and going on weekdays.

Until... he turned the corner.

As soon as he looked up, he saw a tall, upright figure standing respectfully at the door of his office, smiling at him.

It was Jiang Yuhe.

"!"

Yu Yongzhen felt completely numb.

I abruptly shut my mouth, almost choking on the iced coffee.

He had just been gossiping about someone behind their back when he was caught red-handed. Even he couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

"Good morning, Professor Yoo Young-jin." Jiang Yuhe stepped forward slowly and greeted him.

"Ah... good... good morning."

Yu Yongzhen quickly composed himself, cleared his throat, and said, "Ahem... Yu He Xi, why are you here so early?"

"I didn't have much to do today, so I thought I'd come over early."

Jiang Yuhe remained deferential, then waved his phone in his hand. "It's my fault. I left in a hurry yesterday and forgot to ask for your number, so I came here without asking... Teacher, you shouldn't have anything else to do today, right?"

Looking at Jiang Yuhe's calm expression, Yu Yongzhen felt a surge of irritation again.

He steadied himself, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in his mind, and opened the door while trying to appear calm:

"Today, the main task is to create the complete accompaniment for the song you sang yesterday, refine the vocal parts, and then arrange for a test recording in the studio as soon as possible. Time is quite tight."

"But it's good that you're here. You can help me listen to it and see if there are any mistakes or omissions."

"Yes, I understand."

Jiang Yuhe nodded, and then followed Yu Yongzhen into the office.

Yoo Young-jin's office was different from Lee Soo-man's chairman's office; in fact, in terms of actual usable area, it was much more spacious.

After all, as a core producer at SM Entertainment, he needs enough space to place equipment and capture inspiration.

Upon entering, you first see the standard office area and meeting area.

The larger space inside is made up of several rooms that have been connected together. At a glance, it is filled with mixing consoles, musical instruments, various effects pedals, and even a small recording studio.

Yoo Young-jin also has a decisive style; once he gets into work mode, he instantly puts all his emotions behind him.

Jiang Yuhe stood quietly to the side, watching with great interest as he skillfully operated the equipment, recording, adjusting, arranging chords... everything felt incredibly new to him.

However, the atmosphere at the scene remained somewhat delicate.

After all, the two had just had a tense standoff yesterday, and even though Yoo Young-jin had no doubts about Kang Woo-hyuk's talent...

But for a while, I didn't know how to adapt to this change in identity, so I could only bury myself in the work at hand.

Fortunately, this silence did not last long.

When Yu Yongzhen finished arranging the basic structure of the first accompaniment and played it for a closer listen, Jiang Yuhe behind him almost subconsciously uttered a "Hmm?"

Yu Yongzhen immediately stopped and turned to ask, "What's wrong?"

The tense atmosphere seemed to gradually begin to ease.

"here……"

Jiang Yuhe stepped forward and pointed to a certain section on the screen. "Here, the duration of the third note seems to be slightly longer than when I sang it yesterday? Although it's not obvious, it might cause the singer's emotions to drag, affecting the listening experience."

"Really?" Yu Yongzhen looked at him suspiciously, then immediately played the recording and listened intently.

really!

Perhaps due to fatigue from working through the night, his handling of this part did indeed deviate.

Although extremely small.

"Indeed! You're right!"

A hint of approval flashed in Yu Yongzhen's eyes, and he immediately began to make revisions.

After making the revisions, he played it again, and seeing that Jiang Yuhe had no other opinions, he continued with the subsequent arrangement work.

With this beginning, a certain tacit understanding seemed to have been established between the two.

Although they didn't talk much, their teamwork was incredibly smooth and efficient.

It was also thanks to Yoo Young-jin who had already transcribed the entire song last night, and Kang Woo-hyuk who assisted in the corrections.

After a morning of intense work, the two had almost finished the arrangement of "Reunion" and were ready to conduct a preliminary test recording.

Feeling the efficiency far exceeding usual levels, Yu Yongzhen finally showed a relieved smile on his face.

The way she looked at Jiang Yuhe also carried a hint of admiration.

"Let's go outside and sit down for a while." Yu Yongzhen stood up, rubbed his sore neck, and led Jiang Yuhe back to the reception area.

Jiang Yuhe followed him out and sat down on the sofa.

Tea or coffee?

Yu Yongzhen then went to a small water bar next to him, boiled water and asked questions, his tone much more natural.

"Tea will do, thank you, teacher."

A short while later, Yu Yongzhen sat down opposite Jiang Yuhe with a cup of tea in hand.

After a moment of silence, he seemed to have made up his mind and slowly spoke.

"Jiang Yuhe, yesterday you said you wanted to learn from me... Actually, I was a little hesitant at the time, even... a little resistant."

As soon as he spoke, it was as if he had unloaded all his burdens and no longer concealed his thoughts. "After all, I have never encountered a student like you before. For me, this is a completely new subject."

"but……"

He paused, his gaze towards Jiang Yuhe hesitant to speak.