Chapter 83. Three Years Later, a New Beginning?(3)
Translator: Synopsis
KangYoon and Lee HyunJi started their morning meeting with the coffee that Jung HyeJin brought them.
Lee HyunJi spoke in joy as she drank the coffee.
“We sold the song.”
“Really? Where?”
“T&T, they’re singers belonging to Laurel Entertainment. They want to use it for their title song this time.”
KangYoon brushed his memory, but the group T&T was not in his memories. They were probably one of the unknown singers in this era where girl group idols were everywhere.
“It’s the first time I heard of them. Are they new?”
“Not really. It’s been 2 years since they debuted, but they don’t have any songs that are hits. You should see them as veteran rookies.”
“No hits after 2 years…. Not really a good group, are they?”
KangYoon clicked his tongue. If there was no reaction from the public for two entire years, it meant that it was hard for them to appeal to the masses. He also thought that extreme measures were necessary at this point.
“Rather than the singers, their President is the problem. He’s known for his stubbornness. His name is Lee WooSung, and he seem to have mindset that the title songs must be made by him. There are a couple singers that did well with his choice…. But T&T definitely isn’t one of them. It looks like the songs he made for T&T don’t fit them very well.”
“Stubbornness is tough to deal with. Anyway, it’s a good thing that our song is being used as the title song. When’s the meeting?”
“I scheduled it for tomorrow. Is that fine with you?”
“Yes, then I’ll go prepare….”
“Wait a sec.”
Lee HyunJi stopped KangYoon as he was about to stand up. When he looked back, she gave him a caution.
“President. You must not step up before your opponent asks you to do something.”
“Understood.”
Hearing KangYoon’s words, she repeated herself again as though it wasn’t enough.
“You consider the completion rate very importantly. You take risks thinking that the singer must do well. It’s fine that you do so, but we’re running a business here. If we say that we’ll do something it becomes a free service. Crafty individuals may try to exploit that. We, World Entertainment, have just taken our first step. If we keep giving out services from the get-go, we might have to keep doing it.”
KangYoon understood what she was saying. She was worried about his personality, his care, for the singers. KangYoon said he understood and nodded his head.
“Got it. I’ll watch out for that then.”
“You are definitely a capable person, President. However, there will be people who will try to use you without properly paying the price, and that’s what I’m worried about. I’m actually looking forward to how much profit you’ll bring us.”
President Lee HyunJi had a very strong conviction. KangYoon also smiled in response to her expectations.
The next day.
KangYoon went to Laurel Entertainment. It was a relatively decent-sized company that used a 3-storey building. When he entered, a staff led him to President Lee WooSung.
“Welcome. I was waiting.”
In the office, President Lee WooSung offered him some tea. President Lee WooSung did not bring up KangYoon’s past achievements. Nor did KangYoon – he only mentioned his name, and did not mention his past career. He wanted to be acknowledged purely based on skills alone.
“It’s a good song. It has a comfortable melody and will suit our girls very well.”
“Thank you for your words.”
“Would you like to meet them first?”
President Lee WooSung headed to the practice studio on the 3rd floor with KangYoon.
Five girls in training outfit were in the middle of practice against a mirror wall.
“Can you girls come over for a bit?”
When President Lee WooSung said that, the music turned off and everyone gathered around. He introduced them all to KangYoon. Everyone became delighted when he was introduced as the composer for ‘Good Feelings’.
After a round of introduction, they played the song once to refresh their memories and talk about their impressions of it.
A slightly fast retro-style melody filled the studio.
– Making up to look pretty – and wore my prettiest clothes –
“It’s so good.”
“The more I hear it, the better it gets.”
Joo JungHyun and Lee Min were ecstatic. Though, President Lee WooSung saw them in a bad light. However, the two girls kept praising the song and President Lee WooSung’s expression twisted even more.
‘What the?’
KangYoon turned around to President Lee WooSung to talk to him about the song, but his eyes were somewhat off. KangYoon was confused. There was no way he would feel good when he saw the Lee WooSung glaring at the singers that were complimenting the song. The members of T&T kept complimenting the song, seemingly oblivious to his glares.
When the song ended, President Lee WooSung asked.
“How is it? Is it okay?”
“Yes.”
When Lee Min said that without a shred of hesitation, President Lee WooSung’s eyes trembled slightly.
“R…. really?”
“The melody is somehow addictive. I think a good choreography is all we need.”
Added Joo JungHyun.
“Oh… really. Do you think so too, SeSol?”
“It’s really good.”
President Lee WooSung asked Kim SeSol, who usually followed his intentions, but she was not that much different from the others either.
‘Is he trying to haggle?’
KangYoon felt slightly disgusted as he watched President Lee WooSung’s actions. Whether he didn’t like the song, or he wanted to haggle, he definitely did have some shady intentions.
‘I don’t like him, he’s rude too. What do I do?’
Although he was a newbie in this field, KangYoon had confidence in the song. It wasn’t just conviction from his efforts. The song was created with his special ability as well as effort. He could feel the might of the white light from the song.
While KangYoon was pondering about that, the tug of war between the President and the members continued. KangYoon spoke after a while.
“Why don’t we decide after you sing it?”
“Eh?”
Everyone turned around to him.
“No matter how great the song is in your opinion; you’d need to sing it first to see if it fits a singer or not. On my way here, I even saw a recording studio. I think it will be better to decide after you sing it for yourselves.”
Hearing his words, President Lee WooSung and the members of T&T came to a truce and nodded their heads. KangYoon’s words were reasonable.
“Then let’s decide after trying it. Girls, is that fine with you?”
“Yes.”
President Lee WooSung left saying he’d open the studio. Then, Jin SeAh complained as soon as he left.
“Sheesh, he keeps acting like that because he wants to do his own song…. This one’s good, can’t we just go with it?”
“SeAh, shush.”
“Oh….”
When Kim HyoRin shushed her, Jin SeAh finally became conscious of KangYoon and shut herself up. However, KangYoon already realized what was happening when she said that.
‘They don’t believe in the President. Well, that must be because how they failed until now. It’s a little bit of a pity.’
KangYoon felt bitter. He felt that President Lee WooSung was like him of the past where he always failed.
***
(T/N: She is actually called “student JiMin” here, but since there is no such thing in English, I’ll use ‘miss’. Just be aware that she’s a student.)
“Miss JiMin has a good voice, and your guitar skills are good as well. You have plenty of potential to be a music artist.”
Kim JiMin’s expression brightened at the positive feedback. However, words must be listened to the end.
“However, our company is currently not looking out for an artist. I’m sorry. What we want as a company are trainees to become part of a girl group idol, not a potential musical artist.”
“Is that so…….”
“It’s a pity that we don’t have the room to take you in. I wish that we’d meet at a better place next time.”
Listening to the male judge’s soft words, Kim JiMin greeted and left.
‘It’s girl group everywhere….’
Leaving the company, Kim JiMin’s shoulders dropped in disappointment. It had already been 4 years since she decided to become a singer, and practiced music. However, no one recognized her passion for music as well as her songs. Many companies said that they wanted trainees to be part of a girl group and did not take her in, who had a short height and was far from skilled in dancing.
She even went as far as to practice dancing, which she wasn’t talented in, to become a trainee. However, her stiff body could not follow the movements of other aspiring girls.
“Haa….”
Carrying the guitar powerlessly, the girl in the uniform walked on the street. She felt hopeless now that she failed the audition as well. She was annoyed by the cold wind blowing. However, her phone suddenly vibrated.
– Announcement for Korea ONE STAR Seoul region auditions. 2011…
It was the results of her application to a public TV audition that was hot nowadays. Kim JiMin’s shoulders suddenly stood erect again.
‘Yes. Even if I fail for the 100th time, I just need to try again for the 101st time.’
She held up the guitar case as she resolved herself.
***
The recording studio in Laurel Entertainment was small and cozy. Compared to the super-large mixer in MG Entertainment, the number of channels and even the number of speakers were smaller. However, it had all the necessary components such as glass screens and sound dampening materials.
“Then let’s get ready.”
President Lee WooSung sat down and put on his headphones. The members of T&T also entered the booth and stood in their positions with scores in their hands. They exercised their voice while President Lee WooSung also prepared to record. He soon signaled that he was ready.
“Should we start?”
According to his hand signal, the song began. Since they didn’t formally separate the song into individual parts yet, they improvised it. First up was their sub-vocal, Lee Min.
– You are – the greatest gift – wait for me –
Lee Min’s voice ran across the studio. Her voice was very light and bright just like the music.
– My heart is burning—Please tell me—
Kim SeSol came next. She added more power into the light intro.
After that the song progressed very smoothly. The main vocals receiving the song added more and more power. The repeated but comfortable melody was nice to everyone’s ears. All members raised their voices at the climatic point.
However, unlike the members of T&T who were singing their hearts out, President Lee WooSung shook his head in dissatisfaction. Even while controlling the mixer, he didn’t seem quite satisfied.
KangYoon was also sighing behind him.
‘Why is it grey?’
When their musical notes combined, rays of grey light were being emitted. KangYoon had to endure the murky electric feeling the whole time. Even though it was definitely white when he finished composing the song. He could not understand what was happening.
After the song ended, the members of T&T lef the recording room with slightly agitated expressions, and President Lee WooSung let them listen to the recording. The girls tilted their heads in confusion when they heard that their own singing was even worse than the guide singer doing it.
“That’s strange. It definitely felt good though… does it not fit us?”
Hearing Joo JungHyun’s words, Kim SeSol chimed in.
“Might as well be. Perhaps this song does not match well with us.”
“Is it….”
With all the members tilting towards the ‘not matching’ team, President Lee WooSung finally smiled.
At that time, KangYoon stepped up.
“Can we do it once again?”
“Sorry?”
President Lee WooSung asked back.
“I just feel that it’s a pity. In my opinion it suits them quite well, so I think we should try again.”
“Well… okay then.”
President Lee WooSung made a strange expression before going to the mixer seat again. At that moment, KangYoon spoke again.
“Can I have a look at it this time?”
“…Go ahead, I guess.”
President Lee WooSung stepped back with a doubtful expression. KangYoon then put on the headset and controlled the mixer to get a feeling of the voice range. Kim HyoRin inside the booth was a little surprised, but KangYoon apologized and continued.
“We’ll start from the microphone settings.”
Since there was only 1 omnidirectional microphone, the sound signals were very important. Even though the microphone would receive sound from all directions, it wasn’t easy for it to receive voices from 5 people all equally. In cases like this, the mixer was important.
KangYoon told them all to sing and adjusted the volume. However, the gauge was going too high even though the voices of T&T weren’t that loud at all. He could hear wind noises from his headset.
‘The voices are equal, but there’s too much unwanted noise.’
KangYoon controlled the device so that no unwanted noise could be amplified. He also slightly lowered the high pitch and raised the bass slightly. Then, he entered the booth and even put a windshield over the microphone. It was to prevent any useless noise from entering.
“Wow…….”
The members of T&T were surprised at his degree of preparation. Even though this wasn’t the official recording, he was showing such a high degree of meticulousness.
KangYoon listened to the headset again and heard that there were no unnecessary wind noises and was finally about to give the start signal. But then, something flashed in his head.
‘This guy. Did he not properly do the setting on purpose?’
Making them sing under such horrible conditions, it was no wonder the song turned grey. When KangYoon looked at President Lee WooSung, he only looked back at him with no expression. KangYoon was assured.
‘He did it on purpose.’
He had heard that the CEO was stubborn to do his own pieces, and it seemed so. He even went far as to hinder. KangYoon felt flabbergasted about this, but did not express it. Composers were supposed to do their talking with their music. He only needed to squash him to death with this.
“Then let’s begin.”
KangYoon gave the signal. Then, T&T began their singing.
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