Bang Seon-Woo regained his composure and nodded. "Oh, yes. Then please have a meal first. My mom's pork soup is really excellent. I'll ask my mom and try my best to finish work early today!"
Bang Seon-Woo took the keys from my hand and disappeared to park the car. Seeing this, Lee Dong-Min wore a stern expression. "Yoon-Ho. I trust you, but this doesn't seem right. How can someone like that be a composer..."
His face showed complete disbelief. Indeed, if I hadn't gone back in time, I wouldn't have believed it either.
Bang Seon-Woo was known for helping his mom run the pork soup restaurant all day and composing in his spare time. He was bullied and barely graduated from high school through a qualification exam. He became engrossed in listening to and creating music alone. Although he never learned the basics of composition, let alone music theory, he became famous for composing songs by tapping notes on an old MePad a friend gave him.
That was why he was a genius—a genius who could craft melodies on his own without anyone teaching him. However, telling Lee Dong-Min about Bang Seon-Woo's background story at this point could be more of a hindrance and potentially instill a prejudice that he lacked fundamentals.
"Mr. Lee, let's listen to the music first and then judge. You said you trust me, remember?"
Lee Dong-Min sighed. "Alright. I'm hungry anyway, so let's eat some pork soup first. And well, let's listen to the music first before judging, as you said."
"You'll definitely be satisfied."
Although Lee Dong-Min still looked doubtful, I was confident he would recognize Bang Seon-Woo's talent for sure.
We headed to Bang Family's Pork Soup Restaurant with our stomachs growling. After finishing a bowl of pork soup loaded with ingredients, our spirits were lifted.
Lee Dong-Min patted his full belly and smiled brightly. "Their pork soup is really good. The rich broth is super satisfying."
"Mr. Lee, it seems like we won't have to wait two hours."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Bang Seon-Woo was talking to his mother in the kitchen.
"Ah, Mom. Let me finish work early today. I have important guests."
"Guests? Who are they?"
"People from a big company called Hoop Entertainment. They want to listen to the music I made."
Hearing Bang Seon-Woo's words, his mother and owner of the restaurant, Kim Chun-Ja, frowned. "They want to listen to your music? Nonsense. How does that even make sense?"
"Why not? Of course, it makes sense!"
"Ah, stop it. You got tricked last time and they were just fooling around. Remember?"
"Yes. But not this time, Mom!"
"Quiet! Where are those people? Let me see for myself! I'm going to kill them!"
Her thick Gyeongsang-do accent echoed loudly in the restaurant.
'What did we do to deserve such a reaction?'
Kim Chun-Ja seemed furious as she rolled up her sleeves and brandished a ladle.
Bang Seon-Woo, not knowing what to do, pleaded, "Ah, Mom, please! Stop speaking in dialect!"
"How dare you talk back to your mother like that!"
When she thrust the ladle at Bang Seon-Woo, who was standing in her way, he immediately recoiled like a turtle.
'He mentioned he had three sisters, right?'
Growing up in a female-dominated household, he said he couldn't stand up to women.
The bewildered Lee Dong-Min asked, "Do you understand what that lady is saying?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"One of my middle school friends from the orphanage was from Busan."
"Ah..."
Lee Dong-Min didn't ask any further, probably realizing his mistake.
I didn't care if he asked, but people's reactions were always like this whenever orphanage stories came up. Anyway, I didn't know who previously came to meet Bang Seon-Woo, but they seemed to have caused a significant problem. For this reason, Kim Chun-Ja continued to give us an unpleasant glare.
However, as Bang Seon-Woo kept insisting, Kim Chun-Ja reluctantly approached us while still holding the ladle.
"So, you say my son's music is good?"
Lee Dong-Min and I stood up, presenting our business cards. "Yes, ma'am."
Kim Chun-Ja looked at us with suspicion and snatched the business cards from our hands. "Hoop Entertainment, huh?"
"Yes, ma'am. That's right."
"Strange name. Is it even a proper company?"
She spoke in a rough manner, but I could tell that beneath that tough exterior was her concern for her son. Even in my past life, she was the mother who protested in front of Epil K's house for three years with banners, claiming her son's innocence after he had died.
Kim Chun-Ja relentlessly said her kind child could never do such a thing. She was also the one who first made me realize that mothers could sometimes do incomprehensible things for their children.
"Ma'am, do you know the actor Jo Min-Seong?"
"Min-Seong? Jo Min-Seong? The one from Sky Wings?"
"Yes, that Jo Min-Seong. He's with us at Hoop Entertainment."
Kim Chun-Ja looked at my business card intently with a stern expression. However, when she lifted her head again, her expression had softened slightly.
"T-then, does it mean we have to pay money if my son wants to be a composer?"
It seemed she had an experience of being deceived by some fraudsters.
"Not at all, ma'am. We intend to buy the songs from your son and pay him for his work."
Appearing less suspicious of us, Kim Chun-Ja pulled out a chair and sat down. "I'm sorry for losing my temper. It seems like I misunderstood you."
Kim Chun-Ja placed the ladle she had been holding down on the table. Then, she began to tell us about a previous incident involving Bang Seon-Woo.