Go Won, who received the homework, appeared the next day with a much more haggard face. Manager Park, who briefly encountered him, asked what on earth I’d done to the kid when he didn’t look this bad even sleeping only one hour a day during activity periods.
Go Won held a paper crumpled beyond recognition as either a lyric sheet or tissue and kept glancing at me multiple times.
The signal was too easy to read, so I just held out my hand. Then he hesitantly offered the paper like a child getting homework checked.
“If it’s weird… just ignore it and delete it.”
“Let me see first. Hmm…”
I read through the lyrics Go Won wrote.
A few lines of lyrics written more neatly than his previous crooked handwriting.
The lyrics Go Won wrote also resembled his writing.
The content had become more desperate than the tone I originally envisioned. As if he’d agonized until the paper became tattered, pressing down hard enough to pierce through.
So it wasn’t bad. Even more so if Go Won, who would sing this, wrote it.
“How did these lyrics come out?”
“I empathized with the concept hyung told me and thought about what content would follow. The lyrics you filled in advance were so good…”
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
“Then you should have said that part first.”
“…Yes. The lyrics hyung wrote were good, and the song was too good for me to receive.”
That’s right.
“What do you think about this part?”
I pointed to the first line of lyrics.
It was the part I was most concerned about among the lyrics being completed.
I explained to Go Won, whose expression asked ‘Why’s that?’
“The content is a bit conceptual. Usually lyrics are written to be intuitively understandable, and conversely music videos are made brilliantly by grinding in all kinds of worldviews and stories.”
The problematic first line was lyrics I’d written temporarily.
But when combined with the lyrics Go Won filled in the blanks with his fern-like hands, it looked more conceptual.
“If we change it to be safe, the first line’s impact will weaken. But it’s better than you singing it embarrassed.”
“I like those lyrics hyung wrote.”
Go Won’s gaze turned toward where my hand pointed.
“Even singing it alone, I never thought it was embarrassing. I can sing it well with emotional immersion. If that’s the reason, please don’t change it.”
“……”
The kid’s tone was firmer than expected.
“If the artist says so, I have nothing more to say.”
I thought we might have to grab the A&R team for an infinite loop of meetings just over the first line, but the concern was resolved simply.
Holding the lyric sheet showing the outline of completion, Go Won entered the booth. From there, I had him sing and modified endings or phrases that didn’t fit well.
Not a single one missing, it was a song solely for Go Won.
Go Won doesn’t use difficult words or metaphors. All the lyrics revealed what he wanted to say without hesitation.
‘This is the taste of a fresh rookie without pretensions…’
After finishing modifications, I had him sing the new lyrics. There were no particularly awkward pronunciation parts, and the harmony with the song was, well, nothing short of perfect.
When it ended all the way to the outro, I could say with certainty.
“The first song I’m giving you, I really made it well.”
“……”
Go Won was silent for a moment. Then he flinched and refocused belatedly before answering.
“But hyung, you also gave me Unlimited.”
“That was polishing an existing song, and this one was made for you from the very beginning. That difference is quite big, baby.”
“……”
“What, do you have more to say?”
I thought he’d say something like don’t call me baby. But what actually came out was an unexpected statement.
“Hyung, should I buy you a meal?”
“Did settlement already start?”
“No…”
At that moment, the conversation couldn’t continue further. Because I collapsed onto the desk laughing with strange sounds like “pff, keu.”
Wow, an idol who hasn’t even started settlement is buying me a meal!
A baby who’s only released exactly one debut album now! A chick who hasn’t even stood on stage 100 times!
“Uhahaha!”
Go Won, who had calmly endured being called ‘baby’ twice today, only then became seriously sullen when I pounded the desk laughing enough to shake the studio.
“Won-ah.”
“……”
“Why do you look so disgusted?”
“Because there’s never been a single time when you called me that for something good.”
“But our Won seems to be trying to make me unable to lift my head in front of Kwon Taeyoung, so I was going to appease you if I did something wrong.”
“…What do you mean?”
“Do you know what it means to get a meal from someone who hasn’t even started settlement? It’s the same as extorting from a toddler just learning to walk.”
“I get an allowance from the company…”
“If I get treated with that, I sure could sleep soundly.”
“……”
I put down the lyric sheet and picked up the car keys sprawled on one side of the desk.
“Let’s go out.”
“Where?”
Though asking suspiciously, Go Won obediently stood up from his seat.
“I heard such truly shameless nonsense that I’ll buy you a meal good enough that you won’t say such things again for a while.”
Go Won, who had been voluntarily turning off the studio lights, made an ominous expression.
* * *
Newton’s leader Nam Jungho arrived in front of his room with the feeling of being dragged after receiving Executive Director Choi’s summons.
Objectively, he hadn’t committed any crime. But ever since the last activity ended, he felt uncomfortable every time he met Executive Director Choi.
Of course, if album and music chart performance were crimes, it could be called a crime.
‘Compared to girl idols crowding the comeback period, it wasn’t bad…’
Of course, that was the story when excluding the comparison target called Go Won.
Of course, Go Won’s debut performance also had… overflowing special reasons like resentful fans united from the audition program, the title of being the first idol debuted by Kwon Taeyoung, and having a producer with genius sense like Baek Hanje attached.
But if everyone listened to all those detailed circumstances, there would be no failed idols in this world.
“Jungho.”
“Yes, Executive Director-nim.”
Years of trainee life helped him quickly make a polite expression. But his expression immediately crumbled at the next words.
“I went into a meeting yesterday, and they said a terrestrial broadcast is preparing a male idol competition program.”
“…Ah, that would be educational. I’ll definitely watch…”
“No. There’s nothing like this for securing a new fan base, so we’re thinking about appearing… hmm.”
Groups appearing on competition programs are mostly groups with low recognition. Those who debuted but couldn’t enter the first tier and must desperately grab stage opportunities somehow primarily appear.
Of course, recognition was absolutely necessary for Newton too.
But the biggest problem was that this was K-dum, the nation’s largest entertainment company.
A group from K-dum appearing in a competition was no different from saying they couldn’t enter the first tier despite receiving all that push.
Nam Jungho’s fantasy that just debuting at K-dum would be a smooth path had also shattered.
But exhibiting that before the public was a different story.
“Executive Director-nim, we…”
“But openly going on something like that would be a bit of a waste of Newton’s name, right? You’ve worked hard for 2 years. It hasn’t been that long since debut either.”
“…Yes! We’ll work even harder from now on.”
“Well, the staff also seemed to say it in passing. They must have thought whether you guys need different stimulation these days.”
“…That’s not true. We’re only thinking we should continue working hard since Executive Director-nim and Division 4 staff are leading us well.”
“Right? Jungho especially knows better since you’re the leader.”
Saying so, Executive Director Choi placed something on the table. What remained where his rough hand withdrew was a white card.
“It’s the access key to Division 5’s A&R team.”
“…Pardon?”
“I heard Go Won is preparing for a summer comeback.”
“……”
“They’ve wrapped it up so tightly, the song has no intention of leaving that room. Access permissions are blocked in all directions too.”
“…I… see.”
“It’s not asking you to do something bad, but wouldn’t it be stimulating if you went and listened once? It could become a driving force for our Jungho to encourage the younger siblings below to work hard.”
“…Ah…”
Nam Jungho’s eyes wavered. But if he refused here, it seemed like the words ‘then just go on the competition’ would come out immediately.
“I under…stand. Thank you for giving me a learning opportunity.”
* * *
“Hyung, you’re back?”
When Nam Jungho opened the dorm door and entered, Newton’s members approached one by one. Perhaps knowing he was coming from seeing Executive Director Choi, everyone was awake despite the late hour.
“……”
The members who looked at him worriedly tactfully returned to their rooms when Jungho’s expression wasn’t good.
It was grateful. He didn’t have the leisure to wear the shell of a kind leader hyung right now.
First… after sleeping and waking up, he should share the situation only with Eden, the main rapper who’s also the oldest hyung line, and discuss it.
“……”
Even though they equally occupied the role of ‘older hyung,’ Eden had one more position as main rapper.
The other members were the same.
Main dancer, main vocal, and visual center…
But the only word designating Nam Jungho within the group was ‘leader.’ It was the armband earned as compensation for the longest trainee period.
The position of lead vocal existed too, but that was just the second-place seat of someone who couldn’t become main.
Rather than being moderately good at various things, it would have been nice if he had a unique advantage in dance, rap, or even variety sense.
That’s why he was more anxious now when the group’s fate hung in the balance.
“Ha…”
The more he revisited what happened today, the more it just blackly ate away at his mind.
