Anyway, it’s fortunate that they seem to get along well.
Beside Do Yeonjae, who was smiling gently, Yeo Minsung hummed a tune. He was just as pleased with this stage composition. Due to the nature of idol groups, a rapper’s parts often ended in the blink of an eye, so the added 12 seconds this time were extremely precious.
He approached Baek Sian with a grin.
“But Sian-ah, will 12 seconds be enough time? Shouldn’t it be at least 20 seconds?”
“Hyung… you want to crawl to the extension? And the choreography’s already all laid out to match the lyrics you wrote, so it won’t work. Yeonjae, I’ll teach you that part later.”
“Yes, hyung.”
Do Yeonjae obediently nodded. Usually he was a hyung who got overly immersed in TV variety shows and cried, and was serious about game gachas, but when it came to performance, he showed a more cold-headed side than anyone. That’s why even when his words and actions became a bit sharp during stage practice, the members just accepted it as normal.
The RAYEON members learned the new choreography for the intro section where they synchronized with the dancers and the dance break section.
“Seven, eight. Deep down please, and lie your body down as much as possible to face the camera… And when it goes boom, boom, all the dancers will exit.”
Following the performance director and Baek Sian’s lead, the RAYEON members learned the movements one by one. First they followed the performance director’s gestures to the beat, then repeated at 0.5x speed until their bodies became familiar.
After that, they established the choreography details while incorporating the performance director’s feedback along with full-scale monitoring. In the middle, while Kang Ihyun and Hayun matched the mid-confrontation section with the dancers, Yeonjae learned the choreography for Yeo Minsung’s verse part from Sian.
On the second practice day a few days later, they would match the full choreography and movement flow, and combine it with live practice. Of course, it would also be important to establish the details step by step from the beginning.
For now, today’s practice ended here.
“Thank you for your hard work!”
After greeting the performance director and dancers, Do Yeonjae decided to go to the company cafeteria with his member hyungs to fill his hungry stomach. The members who had filled their trays with appetizing food sat at the table. Baek Sian, who had gotten two bottles of yogurt by acting cute to the staff member, hummed excitedly.
“Looks delicious. But which teams are coming out this time? Is the lineup out?”
“From our company, the NEOS guys and Linix sunbaes are coming out. From other companies, Illusion Night sunbaes and…”
“Wow, they’re coming out to an awards ceremony as a unit even during the group’s military hiatus? That’s really fucking cool.”
“Their unit’s 2nd album that came out this year did well too.”
“Shouldn’t we start doing units and stuff too? Ihyun hyung is busy filming a drama… Ahem. Yeonjae, how about you and me together?”
“……”
“…Yeonjae? If you don’t want to, could you at least say so? Hyung’s about to get hurt.”
When Baek Sian tapped his arm, Yeonjae, who had been lost in thought while chewing his stir-fried pork, suddenly raised his head.
“Sorry. What were you talking about?”
“You don’t still have a hangover, do you? What are you thinking about so much?”
“Ah… I’ve been thinking since earlier. Since this arrangement is a rock version, I’m thinking about raising the high note one key higher during the highlight.”
“The response would definitely be good, but will the live be okay?”
“Yes. It’s enough. I want to make up for messing up the live recently too.”
“Yeonjae. Hyung told you, that doesn’t even count as messing up. Want me to show you the shorts video with 1 million views of hyung?”
Do Yeonjae chuckled at Kang Ihyun’s self-deprecating joke.
“But hyung, you had a cold that day.”
“People don’t care about stuff like that at all… Well, anyway. Being ambitious about the stage is always welcome. But Yoon is eating his meat well today…”
“As expected, he’s fully qualified to do a unit with me, tsk. If we do it together, we can dance, we can sing, it’s a total Avengers combination…”
While Baek Sian subtly appealed to Yeonjae about the unit, Kang Ihyun scooped up his portion of stir-fried pork and transferred it to Hayun’s tray. Hayun, regardless, was busy looking at Yeonjae. After carefully observing Yeonjae’s indifferent face, he clenched his fist tightly.
“I, I want to do it too…”
“Hm? What?”
“…A unit with Yeonjae.”
…The air grew quiet for a moment.
“Oh my. What’s this? Are we in a competitive situation over Yeonjae right now?”
“Wait, guys. Is the company even going to give us units? It hasn’t even been discussed, so don’t count your chickens before they hatch… But Yoon-ah. Don’t you want to with me?”
“With you, not really…?”
“Geez… Then come to me if you lose. Can’t I put out one unit with you?”
“What do you mean lose, hyungs? What survival show is this?”
Do Yeonjae asked back with an incredulous face, but Baek Sian quickly picked up on Kang Ihyun’s words.
“Right, that’ll work. Two and two. Minsung hyung can release a solo album.”
“Huh?”
Yeo Minsung, who had been busily typing on his phone, belatedly joined the conversation. Baek Sian smiled broadly and gave a thumbs up.
“I think if hyung releases a solo, it’ll do really well.”
“Ah, of course. I’ll sweep everything with my rap.”
Minsung shrugged his shoulders confidently. Ah, Yeonjae blinked as if something had occurred to him belatedly. Come to think of it, there was something he’d meant to do today. Yeonjae rummaged through his bag and pulled out the vlog camera he’d received from PD Woo Jiyeon.
“Hyungs.”
“…Hm?”
“What? Did you just turn on the camera?”
At the sudden appearance of the camera, the members all made dumbfounded faces. Do Yeonjae boldly requested.
“Please give me advice.”
“Advice about what all of a sudden?”
“Wow, hello~ But who am I greeting?”
“The viewers of <My Favorite! Chemistry>. I need to think of keywords for the song I’m making with Kwon Isoo by the next meeting, but I’ve never written lyrics before so I don’t have a good sense of it. I desperately need the hyungs’ advice.”
Since he’d received the camera anyway, he thought it would be good to capture something before the next filming, so he’d brought it in advance. It’s not easy to meet all the members together like this.
And it was also true that he needed advice. The song he wanted to sing with Kwon Isoo was gone, so now he had to think of other keywords… but he was troubled because nothing really grabbed him.
He wanted to give it at least some meaning, but something too grandiose wouldn’t be good either…
At Do Yeonjae’s request, Baek Sian admired how really out-of-the-blue the timing was, and Kang Ihyun playfully crossed his arms.
“Tsk, for someone desperate, your attitude… seems like you’re extorting advice? There’s no such thing as free in this world, Yeonjae.”
“Should I kneel?”
“No need to kneel. I’ll just take it simply in aegyo.”
As soon as the camera turned on, shamelessly securing screen time was very idol-like. But kneeling seems way easier than aegyo… Hmm. It was the moment when Yeonjae, who had been making a reluctant expression, was about to open his mouth. Kang Ihyun, as if he’d caught on to something, quickly shook his head.
“Don’t tell me, Yeonjae. You’re not thinking of getting through this by saying ‘I’ll just think about it on my own,’ right? That’s no fun?”
…How did he know? Yeonjae, who had been raising the corners of his mouth with a troubled expression, reluctantly brought his hand to his cheek. It was a quite awkward cheek heart. Hayun, who smiled bashfully looking at such a maknae, muttered unconsciously.
“…Cute.”
“Yoon-ah, what about me?”
Ihyun, who turned his head sharply, made hearts on both cheeks and thrust them right in front of Yoon’s nose. Hayun frowned and pushed Ihyun’s face away. Ihyun, who was pushed away familiarly, stroked his chin and pondered.
“Hmm… Hm. How about ‘Permanent Teeth’? Our friendship is firmly planted in our gums for life, something like that.”
Yeonjae, who quietly lowered his hand from his cheek, answered calmly.
“Can I return the aegyo, hyung?”
“Why, is it bad? Isn’t it okay?”
“It’s bad. If the gums get weak, the friendship will shake too.”
Sian, who answered decisively, tapped Minsung.
“Minsung hyung, you’ve done a lot of rap making. Don’t you have anything to say to maknae?”
“Inspiration, you see…”
As if he’d been waiting, Yeo Minsung raised both elbows onto the table and propped his chin with his hands. With a very solemn face, he delivered advice with substance to his younger brother.
“Is like getting struck by lightning while going to the mart in pajamas.”
“Hyung, have you been struck by lightning?”
When Yeonjae asked seriously, Baek Sian burst out laughing, “Pwahahaha!”
