Peninsula's first chance encounter during my stay in Dali

Looking at the empty room, I opened my chat history with Liu Zhimin and saw the words "Unable to send messages" displayed in large letters.

"Sigh, how come my good mood for the whole day vanished the moment I got back?" Zhou Haoming sighed.

Perhaps everyone is like this: when you're alone at home and in a bad mood, you don't want to do anything. Zhou Haoming has only had one iced Americano since he left. Now his stomach is growling with hunger.

Even so, he didn't plan to cook. Instead, he opened the cupboard, took out a handful of Shin Ramyun, and prepared to make instant noodles.

While eating instant noodles and browsing domestic video websites, watching aespa's latest group variety show, Zhou Haoming couldn't help but sigh.

Despite the jokes and banter, work still had to be done. Zhou Haoming looked at Aespa's comeback this year, and Super Huawei and Armageddon's two comebacks had already been huge hits. Now they needed a closing song to conclude their perfect year.

Let's just use the neck-swinging technique. Anyway, this was the song that ended our previous life, which helped aespa achieve countless successes in 2024!

Write another song for Liu Zhimin to complement the early promotion and make her solo a huge hit. This can be considered a small compensation in advance!

With this in mind, Zhou Haoming began to write two songs, Whiplash and Up, based on his memory.

Call Secretary Liu to inform him that we should go to SM Entertainment together tomorrow, and ask him to prepare everything that needs to be prepared.

After everything was ready, Zhou Haoming went to wash up and end this dreamlike day.

The next day, 10:00

Zhou Haoming bought a rice ball at a convenience store and then went to the SM building with Secretary Liu. Zhou Haoming still chose to take a taxi instead of driving the Audi that Liu Zhimin had given him.

Having received the notification, Director Kim, who was in charge of Aespa, was already waiting for Zhou Haoming and his group in the lobby. Seeing how young Zhou Haoming was, Director Kim couldn't help but exclaim, "Aigoo, Director Zhou is so young! There are so many talented people emerging these days."

"Chief Kim, you're too kind," Zhou Haoming said, shaking hands briefly with him before the group headed towards the prepared meeting room.

"Ningning, hurry up, we're waiting for you! Today is the day we're discussing the new song with Director Kim and the others, don't be late!" Liu Zhimin shouted towards Ningning's bedroom.

"Yes, almost done, I'm getting dressed, unnie!"

"Chief Kim, these are the songs I produced for Aespa, and the solo song I prepared for Yoo Ji-min." Zhou Haoming handed a USB drive to an SM staff member.

Chief Kim hadn't quite grasped what "self-produced" meant. "You can produce songs?" The SM producer, listening to the demo, asked in utter astonishment, "Excuse me, did you really produce this, Chief Joo?"

"Yes, I made it. What's wrong? Is there anything wrong with it?"

"No, no, this song is practically tailor-made for aespa. I just didn't expect Minister Zhou's production skills to be so superb!"

Listening to their conversation, Director Kim was even more shocked. He was so young and already the head of Kakao's entertainment division. Now he was even good at songwriting. He was a monster!

"Minister Zhou, could you please wait a moment? Aespa will be here soon. We were thinking that since we're choosing new songs for them, it would be good for them to come and hear them in person."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Haoming tensed up instantly. Oh no, he was about to meet Liu Zhimin here.

At this moment, Aespa had already arrived at the SM Entertainment building. The three of them were chattering excitedly about what the new song would be like, while Yoo Jimin walked silently ahead.

"Knock knock knock"

"Please come in."

"Annyeonghaseyo, we are aespa!" the four girls said in unison, bowing.

Looking up, Ningning found Zhou Haoming sitting opposite them, watching them. "Hey, how come it's you, um..." Ningning hadn't finished speaking when Dongtian covered her mouth.

Liu Zhimin looked at Zhou Haoming as if they were from another world, as if their meeting was something from a past life.

  

Looking at Liu Zhimin, whose eyes were still slightly swollen, Zhou Haoming felt even more guilty. He couldn't bear to look away.

"Chief Kim, who is this?" Liu Zhimin asked Chief Kim, pretending not to recognize Zhou Haoming.

"This is Zhou Haoming, the head of Kakao. He produced a new song for you guys and also wrote a solo song for Jimin. Please sit down and listen to it."

"Tch, what kind of lousy songs could he possibly write?" Ningning muttered under her breath. No sooner had she said that than Dongtian slapped her on the bottom, then glared at her, warning her to watch her mouth.

The four put on their headphones and started listening to the new song Zhou Haoming wrote for the group. "Wow, this intro... he really knows how to write songs," Ningning thought to herself.

After listening to the entire song, all four members of Aespa stared wide-eyed, unable to believe that this song was written by Zhou Haoming, that scumbag.

Director Kim looked at the four people's expressions with satisfaction and said to Zhou Haoming, "Minister Zhou's song has shocked them too, hahaha. Let them listen to the solo song that Minister Zhou wrote especially for our Jimin."

When Liu Zhimin heard that it was a solo song Zhou Haoming had written especially for her, she felt a pang of pain in her heart. So this was the gift he promised to give her?

After listening carefully, everyone agreed that the song was a perfect fit for Liu Zhimin. After listening, Liu Zhimin stared blankly at the table without saying a word.

After receiving unanimous praise, Director Kim confirmed that one of the two songs would be aespa's comeback song, and the other would be Yoo Ji-min's solo song.

After finalizing all the details, Zhou Haoming prepared to leave with Secretary Liu. After all, releasing songs was a professional matter that needed to be handled by professionals. However, before leaving, Zhou Haoming specifically instructed that Kakao should be responsible for the initial promotion of both songs. Liu Zhimin's solo song had to be released first, followed by Aespa's comeback track.

Upon reaching the lobby, I said, "Wait a minute."

Zhou Haoming turned around when he heard the familiar voice and saw Liu Zhimin.

At that moment, Secretary Liu considerately led everyone away first.

Why didn't you drive the car I gave you?

"Well, I didn't really feel like driving today, so I just took a taxi. It's more convenient and saves time."

"Are you going to keep lying to me?" Liu Zhimin's eyes reddened.

"I'm so sorry, I don't know why I didn't want to drive, so I took a taxi. Don't cry!" Zhou Haoming said hurriedly, seeing Liu Zhimin's eyes were red like a little rabbit's.

"This song, was it prepared a long time ago? Is it the gift you said you would give me?"

"Yes, that's right, this song is my gift to you. How is it? Do you like it?"

"I really like it, thank you. I will interpret this song well," Liu Zhimin said earnestly.

"Keep it up! I believe you can interpret this song very well. After all, this song was tailor-made for you!" Zhou Haoming said with certainty.

After saying that, the two turned and left in tacit agreement.