LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 49
Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: Rxel
Chapter 49
After Daisy left, they finished the remaining music video shoot.
While the staff were preparing to leave.
They were staring endlessly at the sunset sea.
“Wow.”
It was a peaceful scenery that healed just by looking at it.
The sound of the waves echoed in their ears, and the red-tinted seawater was swaying in the distance.
It was a time when Seon Woojoo felt like old memories came to mind.
“Hyung.”
Seon Woojoo heard the youngest’s faint voice. He answered with his eyes still fixed on the far horizon.
“Why?”
“Who will you give your songs to when we go solo later?”
“Yeah, who will you give them to?”
“I know everything, Hyung. You’re not saying it out loud because you’re worried about hurting the other Hyungs’ feelings, right?”
Seon Woojoo smiled at the youngest who was fidgeting next to him.
“I’ll never give them to you. To you.”
“Wow, that’s so mean.”
“Yeah, Wang Jiho, you should have listened to me better. After all, the main vocal can digest the songs the best, right?”
“You’re even worse.”
Seo Rihyuk’s face, who was drinking the soup, crumpled.
“Hyung, I can write rap, so I don’t need much help.”
“You’re not either…”
The rapper who was trying hard to appeal turned into a gloomy rock, and the last one left smiled gracefully.
“I knew it, Hyung.”
“No… everyone says no… why are you guys doing this to me?”
The kids laughed at his distressed expression.
“They’re saying that because of what Daisy Noona said earlier. They said other groups are eyeing you because your songs are good. What if someone comes and takes you away with candy?”
“Am I some kind of object?”
“Hey, that’s not it. Hyung, you’re that. What was it? That… as our dad would say, a goose that lays golden eggs?”
“I’m really not giving you my songs, to you.”
Wang Jiho pretended to cry, and Seon Woojoo and the members laughed.
Of course it was a joke.
It was a topic that could get heavy if they weren’t careful, so they were all deliberately talking lightly.
“Well, I understand that you’re worried because there are so many people who change after they get popular. But I’ve always hated that kind of thing.”
Seon Woojoo had plenty of that experience at TJ Entertainment.
If there was a kid who had good monthly evaluation scores and seemed to debut soon, they would go and act friendly and fart around.
Seon Woojoo hated that kind of thing.
They should have practiced singing one more time instead of doing that, why did they do that?
“It’s all pointless. In the end, you have to work hard and do well for yourself. I don’t understand people who try to use others to get ahead. Well, I’ve seen all kinds of things at the company I used to work for.”
The kids who used to ask him how he was doing every day when he was picked for the TNT debut team cut off contact with him the day he was dropped.
“Come to think of it,” Kim Bijoo said as if he remembered something. “I remember what you said back then. When we ran into Girls on Top at the Hwai Entertainment hallway.”
“Oh, when they ignored us because we were trainees?”
“I was really upset then.”
“Yeah, especially Gil Chaekyung.”
“That’s when you said it, Hyung. Let’s not be like that.”
Seon Woojoo just smiled silently. Kim Bijoo was saying what he wanted to say for him.
To reassure the kids, he opened his mouth.
“Yeah, don’t worry about changing or anything after you get popular. Honestly, I’m having a hard time taking care of our family, let alone someone else’s.”
“Did you hear that? Woojoo Hyung called us family.”
“Hey, Wang Jiho.”
Seon Woojoo put his hand on the youngest’s head, who was smiling innocently.
“Can you please not look at the trees when someone talks, but look at the forest? You’re trying to hear what you want to hear… Wait, why are you guys making those faces?”
Was the word family that good?
Seon Woojoo was speechless at the sight of the siblings who looked like they were holding hot steamed potatoes in the winter.
When was it that they said ‘Are you going to leave us if you do well?’
Now they were suddenly smiling brightly.
“Look at Rihyuk Hyung and Bijoo Hyung. They must be touched.”
“Weren’t you the one who left the fandom when you saw the bikini?”
“There’s no such thing as leaving the fandom, only taking a break.”
Seon Woojoo was listening to his younger brother’s incomprehensible conversation when he heard Minki Hyung shout from afar.
“Hey, guys! Let’s get ready to go back!”
“Okay!”
They looked around at the members and sighed regretfully at the beach.
“It’s a shame we couldn’t even dip our feet in the water.”
“Well, let’s go to the beach again when we have time.”
“Oh, that sounds good. How about we make a promise to go on a trip as a celebration of becoming a family?”
The youngest clung to Seon Woojoo with his arms around his neck and asked excitedly, “Hyung, Hyung. What do you want to do when we go together?”
“What should we do?”
Kim Junghyun seemed to have an idea and said, “We should grill some meat. And some clams too.”
“Kim Junghyun, do you only talk about food?”
“Oh, right. I forgot about drinking. It would be nice to have a drink. Woojoo Hyung can’t drink, so he can have cola with the kids.”
“Then who’s going to drive? None of us have a license.”
“I do.”
“Let’s count Junghyun Hyung out.”
“Why me?”
The youngest, who was still hanging on Seon Woojoo’s neck, answered.
“Hyung, you’re strong and you break things easily. I feel like you’ll pull out the steering wheel if you drive. And then you’ll be like, huh…? And look at us like this.”
Everyone burst into laughter at the youngest’s exaggerated expression.
Even Kim Junghyun, the victim.
Maybe it was because they had finished filming the music video, but they felt relaxed for the first time in a while as they entered the parking lot.
Behind them, the sunset was shining.
***
With the music video, the visual work for the debut album was over.
An album usually consisted of three stages.
The first was the production work based on the plan made by the A&R team.
The second was the visual work that showed the produced album in a visual medium such as photos or videos that matched the concept.
The third was the promotion stage.
They were at the third stage now.
In other words, there was nothing left for them to do.
Of course, that didn’t mean they really didn’t do anything.
“There are things you need to prepare.”
The day after the music video shoot, Yoon Seokhwan came to them with a huge pile of papers.
“Hyung, what is this?”
“We have to prepare for the showcase now. You guys can practice on your own, but I think I need to train you on how to deal with reporters and stuff. Well, I’ve summarized it briefly.”
They shivered as they looked at the evil-smiling manager.
“The showcase is an important stage. You’re competing with the Street Boys right now. The public will decide the direct outcome after listening to the songs, but there’s something called the initial momentum.”
Yoon Seokhwan explained by comparison.
“You know the movie
“I know. It’s the movie that Director Jo told us to watch.”
“Right.
“Isn’t it the case that they write favorably for the ones who give more publicity money?”
“Well, there are cases like that. But you can tell by looking at the articles. Whether it’s a press release from the company that they copied diligently, or whether the reporter wrote the article with their sincere heart.”
In order to gain the upper hand in the competition with Street Boys, they had to show an impressive performance at the showcase.
In other words, they had to avoid any mistakes.
“Especially since you have a rival situation, if you make a slip of the tongue about the other side, you’ll be gone right away. If it were America, I don’t know, but Koreans don’t like it when chicks fight with each other.”
“Then what should we do?”
“Practice hard. For the time being, I’ll teach you how to answer questions myself.”
So they received intensive training on how to answer questions that reporters might ask, along with performance practice.
It was hard enough when they were doing Something activities, but they were glad to have this opportunity.
They really struggled back then.
They didn’t know what they could or couldn’t say, because they had no clue about the rules of the industry.
They were more nervous when they heard that they had an interview with a reporter than when they had a radio show or an event.
So they paid close attention and listened carefully whenever Yoon Seokhwan taught them how to answer questions.
It was a satisfying lesson overall.
“I was really worried. I’m glad the company taught us this.”
Kim Bijoo started to say something, but then he frowned.
“But these are the expected questions that the manager gave us. Do you think they’ll really ask us these? Some of them are too much.”
“Hyung, not everyone is as nice as you.”
“That’s right. My dad says there are several jobs that you can’t get along with in the world, and one of them is a reporter.”
“Hey, your father is…”
“What?”
“Never mind.”
Seo Rihyuk stopped himself from saying anything, as if he remembered the infamous reputation of Wang Jiho’s father’s franchise.
“But still…”
Seon Woojoo spoke to the worried Kim Bijoo.
“Don’t worry too much. We practiced a lot, right? We can even smile if they curse at us in front of us. Seokhwan Hyung brought us all kinds of trashy questions and trained us.”
“That’s right. Manager, you have the skills of a troll.”
Kim Bijoo smiled as if that wasn’t what he meant.
“No, I’m just afraid you guys will get hurt.”
“Why do you worry about that?”
His friend of the same age, Kim Junghyun, smiled calmly.
“Just go for it. We’ve been through a lot of hard times when our debut was canceled. Compared to that, this is nothing. We made a good album, and we shot a good jacket and music video.”
“Oh, Junghyun Hyung, are you going to say that again?”
“We have a good vibe.”
The kids panicked again, as if they remembered the jinx that something bad would happen whenever Kim Junghyun said he had a good feeling.
Their team’s rapper looked indignant, as if he was wronged.
“I said it’s not a feeling, it’s a vibe.”
“Anyway, it’s not allowed.”
“That’s right. We’ll add vibe to the list of forbidden words.”
Seon Woojoo smiled inwardly as he watched them make a fuss.
They reminded him of his grandmother.
She had a lot of superstitions, like don’t break an egg on the first day of the month, don’t do this or that when you go to the temple.
He was used to that.
But they were young kids, and they were acting like that, so it was kind of cute.
“Don’t laugh like it’s someone else’s problem.” Seo Rihyuk said with a pouty expression, “You don’t know how scary it is, even though you’ve experienced it once.”
“I don’t believe in superstitions.”
“…”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“It reminds me of myself in the past. I used to be logical and not believe in any superstitions.”
“Well, I’m still logical,” he muttered, and Seon Woojoo kept smiling as he looked at him.
Nonsense.
When Kim Junghyun first said he had a good feeling, and then the article about Street Boys came out, he didn’t care.
It was a coincidence.
Jinxes were just jinxes, they had no effect.
That was ridiculous.
Seon Woojoo thought so and shook his head.
What could possibly happen?
And then, a little later.
Unbelievably, it actually happened.
***
On June 11th, a week before their showcase.
Street Boys, a nine-member boy group from DNS Media, finally had their debut showcase.
They said they would broadcast it live on the internet on K-net.
They turned on the laptop on the studio table and gathered around. It was to monitor their competitors.
“Wow, they’re doing a live on K-net? We don’t have anything like that.”
“DNS and that broadcasting station are close, you know.”
“Daisy Sunbae said that last time, Scarlet also got a lot of help from there when they debuted.”
K-net, a music channel, usually had a music show on Thursdays, and it was a show that singers usually went on before they went on the terrestrial channels on Fridays.
For idols, it had more influence than the terrestrial channels in some aspects.
According to the kids, the director of that station and the CEO of DNS were close friends.
On the other hand, Seon Woojoo didn’t know why, but they had a bad relationship with Lemon. It was awkward and uncomfortable between them.
Seon Woojoo wasn’t sure how much of it was true, but it seemed like K-net was pushing for Street Boys.
They had a reality show before their debut, and now they were doing a live broadcast on the internet the day before their debut.
“Oh? They’re coming out.”
“Wow, they’ve lost a lot of weight since last year.”
Amid the flashes of cameras, the members of Street Boys appeared on the low-quality screen.
They were wearing hip-hop style outfits.
“Ooh, they look cool.”
“They have swag, right? Should we try hip-hop later?”
“Shh, be quiet. I think they’re about to start the song.”
The lights went out and the first stage began.
They watched the screen with anticipation. Even though they were their competitors, they were curious as fellow musicians.
What kind of song would it be?
Soon, a powerful guitar riff sounded and the nine members started their choreography from the edges.
Finally, when the hand gesture reached the leader in the center,
All the lights turned on and the song officially started.
“Wow, this is good.”
They were enjoying the song and giving positive feedback, but their smiles didn’t last long.
It was because of the self-written rap by the leader, Hanjo, in the middle of the first verse.
People say
You don’t have Something cool
Something nice
But I think differently (differently)
What’s so special about that
We don’t lack anything
We have hunger and ambition
We all have a hunger
From then on, the chorus of ‘We all have a hunger’ kept flowing on the stage of Hunger with the group dance.
But New Black was frozen stiff.
It was because of the nuance of Something in the rap that Hanjo spat out. It was subtle, but anyone who wasn’t a fool could notice it.
“Did he just…”
Seo Rihyuk couldn’t finish his sentence, and Seon Woojoo took over.
“Yeah. He just dissed us.”