Chapter 107: Chaos

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After communicating with Han Geng, Jiang Yihan finally confirmed their collaboration, and the next step was to write the lyrics. Because he was quite familiar with Han Geng and had a good sense of his style, writing the lyrics went much more smoothly than composing the music. However, as it was the end of the year, Han Geng’s group, Super Junior, had achieved great success this year and was extremely busy. Invitations flooded in from various award ceremonies, and he was currently occupied with running between events, countless rehearsals, and program trainings. Naturally, the song recording had to be done separately by the two artists.

Speaking of year-end award ceremonies, unlike the hectic schedule last year, Jiang Yihan was very relaxed this year because he declined all invitations. This caused great frustration among the event organizers since Jiang Yihan’s achievements, album sales, and the popularity of his songs were undeniably outstanding this year. His absence meant the ceremonies lost much of their luster. At this time, the busiest person was Li Ran, who was struggling to refuse invitations without damaging relationships with television stations and sponsors—a truly headache-inducing negotiation.

Among the three major TV stations, Li Ran found it easiest to deal with SBS, which was sitting right in front of him and had always maintained a good working relationship with Jiang Yihan.

“Li Ran, I understand your difficulties, but everyone has witnessed Jiang Yihan’s achievements this year. The impact of your recent press conference has made all of Korea eager to see Jiang Yihan at the year-end ceremonies. If he doesn’t appear, we really won’t know what to do,” said the director in charge of the year-end gala sent from SBS.

“Director, it’s not that I don’t want to show you respect. You know our artist has always had a good relationship with you,” Li Ran had already prepared his argument in his mind. “There’s a reason Jiang Yihan hasn’t appeared publicly this year. Since April, he has been in a slump for over half a year, needing time to recover and adjust. It wouldn’t be right for him to appear publicly so soon—he himself doesn’t want to, and I think it’s inappropriate. The current high attention on Jiang Yihan is mostly due to the press conference’s social impact; it’s all superficial. Our Jiang Yihan must prove his strength and achievements first for the audience to truly appreciate his positive influence. Rushing out now isn’t a wise choice.”

After hearing Li Ran’s words, the director was about to respond but was stopped by Li Ran’s gesture. Li Ran continued, “Director, I know our cooperation has always been good. I remember the live broadcast of your press conference on SBS clearly. For the year-end, we have no plans to appear—at least not at your station. KBS and MBC, we definitely won’t attend either. For MKMF and the Golden Disc Awards, we are actively declining. Our position is consistent, so don’t worry about us going elsewhere and causing you losses.”

Hearing this, the director realized further attempts would be futile. The missteps made by their station earlier in the year had led to Jiang Yihan rejecting all three major broadcasters. Even if they couldn’t have him on their programs, maintaining good relations privately and showing goodwill might have prevented the current situation. Fortunately for SBS, their previous cooperation and being the first to broadcast the press conference live gave them some advantage.

After a brief hesitation, the director did not give up. “We know about the past issues and admit SBS made some mistakes. But we still believe the cooperation between us and Jiang Yihan will continue. I heard he is preparing his third album; any plans for a comeback stage?”

This director of the popular SBS music program was trying to seize a critical opportunity.

“If you want to discuss past issues, any good cooperative relationship will have rough patches. Choosing self-preservation under such circumstances was the right move for you, so we have no complaints. But please, let’s not bring it up again to avoid spoiling the atmosphere,” Li Ran said bluntly, making the director flush with embarrassment. “As for Jiang Yihan’s third album, preparation is only about halfway done. It’s too early. When it’s time for the comeback stage, we will definitely cooperate. Whether it will be the debut stage or not, we can discuss then.”

Li Ran placed great importance on Jiang Yihan’s comeback stage—it was a crucial moment that had to be negotiated well. Only by showcasing Jiang Yihan’s strength again could the popularity garnered after the press conference gradually transform into genuine fan support. Hence, Li Ran’s tone remained firm and unyielding.

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The three major broadcasters were doomed to return empty-handed from the year-end award ceremonies. Jiang Yihan’s absence was inevitable. In the end, neither MKMF nor the Golden Disc Awards could persuade Jiang Yihan to attend. Thus, the artist with the highest popularity, album sales, attention, and strength of 2006 missed all the ceremonies, causing considerable embarrassment. The only consolation for the organizers was that Jiang Yihan skipped all ceremonies equally, which somewhat eased their minds.

After failing to reach an agreement with Jiang Yihan, the three major broadcasters received a series of frustrating news: several top-tier artists also declined to attend the year-end ceremonies, causing the gala events to lose much of their star power. Meanwhile, audience surveys revealed a general decline in the awards’ authority; some felt the ceremonies were merely dividing the prizes, and the final winners no longer attracted much attention.

This outcome was undoubtedly a blow to the three broadcasters, who initially had high hopes for their award shows. They convened to discuss the causes and possible solutions. Before the start of all ceremonies in mid-November, the three broadcasters collectively announced a surprising decision: the music award ceremonies scheduled for December 29th, 30th, and 31st would no longer be held. Instead, they would be replaced by a “music battle” event. In other words, there would be no awards at year’s end—only performances by various singers arranged in a gala format. This change increased entertainment value while eliminating the awkwardness caused by the lack of interest in awards from both singers and audiences.

This announcement shocked many. Although interest in awards had waned, the ceremonies were a long-standing tradition, and the sudden cancellation felt unfamiliar. Fortunately, the music gala still provided entertainment, preserving viewers’ motivation to watch television.

Meanwhile, Mnet decided to continue holding the MKMF awards. The simplest and most direct reason was that with only half a month left until the event, cancellation would cause significant losses. The Golden Disc Awards also insisted on proceeding, as they prided themselves on being Korea’s most authoritative ceremony with awards that carried considerable credibility.

The turmoil in the music awards also unsettled the film award scene, as Jiang Yihan had refused to attend film ceremonies as well.

“Can I Love You?” had achieved results too magnificent to be described as merely brilliant. Its domestic box office had broken records to become the highest in Korean history; the annual Asian box office numbers were impressive enough to rival Hollywood productions. Though it only participated in the Cannes Film Festival, it was an international event of the highest prestige and influence, where Jiang Yihan won the Best Actor award—an astonishing feat. If such a film’s lead actor did not appear at Korean film award ceremonies, it would be a disgrace to Korean cinema. While Jiang Yihan’s influence in music was mainly within Korea and Asia, his international film accolade made this a matter of national significance.

Consequently, the Blue Dragon Film Awards, Korea’s most prestigious film festival, personally extended an invitation to Jiang Yihan.

Li Ran naturally did not dare to neglect this authoritative invitation. If Jiang Yihan wanted to continue his career in Korean cinema, offending the Blue Dragon Awards was unthinkable. The reason was that, in Korea, no matter how popular or skilled a movie star was, or how high their box office numbers, without official awards recognition, no one would consider them a top-tier star. Public recognition had to be complemented by official acknowledgment to receive the highest prestige. For example, Jang Dong-gun was immensely popular, acclaimed for his acting, and had strong box office draws, yet lacked official awards recognition. After winning Best Actor at the Blue Dragon Awards for “Taegukgi,” his fees, reputation, and fame all soared. Among Korea’s top film stars, Jang Dong-gun’s status rose a whole level after this award, illustrating the Blue Dragon Awards’ importance.

At the Korean Grand Bell Awards, one of the three major film festivals held in September, “Can I Love You?” won Best Picture alongside “The King and the Clown,” supporting Korean cinema in 2006. However, Jiang Yihan did not clear his name then, and the Grand Bell Awards hesitated long before ultimately withholding any awards from him. Missing such a prestigious award and then potentially missing the Blue Dragon Awards would cast doubt on Jiang Yihan’s future opportunities.

After negotiating with the Blue Dragon Awards, Li Ran first spoke with Lee Dong, then Jiang Yihan, and finally Jiang Yihan had a phone conversation with Jang Dong-gun, showing how seriously everyone took this matter.

“Big brother, the Blue Dragon Film Awards invited me personally. What do you think? Should I go?” Jiang Yihan hesitated.

“Did they really invite you personally? That’s rare. You know the Blue Dragon and Grand Bell Awards are famous for fairness and prestige in Korea and even worldwide. This invitation means your movie was truly outstanding for them to break their usual protocol—it’s a big deal,” Jang Dong-gun chuckled. “You didn’t attend the Grand Bell Awards before, right? This is a great chance for the Blue Dragon Awards. After all, the Best Newcomer Award for your first film is a once-in-a-lifetime honor. Don’t miss it.”

“That’s true. I do have some expectations for the Newcomer Award,” Jiang Yihan admitted openly to his elder brother.

“In Korea, the Blue Dragon Awards, Grand Bell Awards, and Baeksang Arts Awards are known as the three major film award ceremonies. Since Baeksang is more comprehensive, actors value the Blue Dragon and Grand Bell Awards highly. You missed the Grand Bell Awards and didn’t get any award there. I heard insiders regretted that. If you attend the Blue Dragon Awards, you still have a chance,” Jang Dong-gun sympathized. “So go to the Blue Dragon Awards and show them what you’ve got. I know you haven’t appeared publicly for a long time and don’t plan to anytime soon, but there’s a long gap until January next year. Attending this film festival now has many advantages.”

Listening to Jang Dong-gun, Jiang Yihan pondered deeply. After hanging up, he sank into thoughtful consideration.

The music and film worlds were both in turmoil, and among fans, the silence around Jiang Yihan caused a stir. Some fan clubs had already gathered outside Jiang Yihan’s home, waiting for his appearance.

When Jiang Yihan went downstairs, he wore no disguise—no hat, no sunglasses. As soon as he stepped outside, he found himself surrounded by nearly a hundred people pressing in tightly.

In Jiang Yihan’s ears, only one word echoed repeatedly: “Young master! Young master! Young master!” He felt his clothes being tugged, his face and body even touched inappropriately, startling him. He hurriedly protected his head and vital areas, struggling through the crowd.

Because Jiang Yihan had become accustomed to living quietly, Li Ran had not accompanied him this time. Jiang Yihan had planned to go to the recording studio alone but encountered this chaotic scene instead. After about ten minutes, Jiang Yihan finally broke free, got into a taxi, and inspected his wrinkled clothes and sweaty forehead. Wiping his sweat, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. What on earth was going on? Why had things suddenly turned so chaotic?

After the commotion, Jiang Yihan arrived at the recording studio. The songs for the album were almost complete—Han Geng had finished his parts a few days earlier, so Jiang Yihan only needed to record his sections today.

Through the earphones came Han Geng’s familiar voice, keeping time with a strong drumbeat. Enjoying the song, Jiang Yihan naturally began imagining the choreography and their performance on stage together. Suddenly, he felt very satisfied because this song suited Han Geng’s voice perfectly. Han Geng’s vocal characteristics—the clear tone, reduced high notes, and focus on mid-range—made the song sound somewhat sensual. Jiang Yihan felt proud; since he had composed the song and it so aptly expressed the singer’s traits, he deserved to feel accomplished.

After several days of chaos, Jiang Yihan finally settled down to prepare for his third album. He only wondered how much longer this “turmoil” would last.

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