The corners of his mouth were smiling, but his lips were bitten quite hard.
Go Won, whose eyes had widened, soon turned his head in the opposite direction. That kid was also heated up, as his ears and neck were slightly flushed.
* * *
There was no need to come up with an answer to ‘What should I do about that ambiguous plagiarism?’
As I told Go Won yesterday too.
“What can we do? We just have to leave it.”
“Ah, I’m seriously annoyed!”
I sprawled out occupying the Division 5 general manager’s office sofa and checked Boyholic’s concept photos. While doing so, I let out the curses I couldn’t unleash in front of Go Won for fear of ruining my senior dignity.
Besides the jumpsuits, some felt forcibly aligned with Go Won’s debut album. That means those guys really aimed for it.
But that didn’t mean I was annoyed at those Boyholic hoobae-nims.
Because the person who would feel most disgusted here? Go Won? No.
“Hyung.”
“Yeah.”
“Practicing like crazy for years to debut but the concept is angel hip-hop VS the concept is a copy of someone whose concept worked well first.”
Kwon Taeyoung closed his eyes tightly like he’d put a very sour fruit in his mouth, then opened them and answered.
“Angel hip-hop.”
“As expected, yACE leader even if reborn.”
Since both hands were holding up my phone, I clapped by hitting my soles together. Also, I agreed with those words.
“The former is embarrassing, the latter is miserable.”
Kids who were suddenly made to wear someone else’s clothes because the company pushed it after seeing Go Won’s success.
They must have thought they’d finally see the light after running through the bleak trainee life. The feeling of starting their first debut album with a copied concept from someone else was hard to imagine.
Even the All by my self guy felt pitiful.
“The initial sales aren’t very high, and right now the chart ranking is… not natural. At this level, there’s no need to worry.”
This meant the chart rankings were also manipulated a bit.
“Oh my, how about that. Just burning through real money like that. Looks like they don’t have a cool senior there to produce for them.”
“That senior also filmed variety well for you.”
I raised my legs that had been stretched out as one with the sofa, then used the momentum to sit up.
“What?”
“What do you mean what?”
“Why are you suddenly praising me?”
“Should I curse instead?”
“That’s not it…”
Something felt subtly different, you know. Just like feeding me a piece of chocolate before making me practice more…
“The reaction to you two was good. So this kind of proposal came too.”
“What is it?”
I went to his desk and picked up a document.
“…Music show MC?”
Me? At this age?
“This is elder abuse!”
“Talking like an old man. Acting up in front of hyung.”
The corner of Kwon Taeyoung’s document folder poked my forehead.
‘No, but really, what music show MC am I…’
Even the <Music Building> MC was something I did when I was seventeen. If I do this again, won’t I just hear that I’m stealing the rookie cushion?
The question was answered in the line below.
<Music Building> 1,000th episode commemorative special stage scheduled to be recorded in Singapore.
The broadcast was scheduled to proceed divided into indoor and outdoor stages.
And they were placing MCs on each stage, and since it’s the 1,000th episode, they diligently fitted in numbers related to 1,000.
For example, they said the interval between yACE’s last 1st place on <Music Building> and Go Won’s 1st place date was exactly 1,000 days.
Anyway, what was selected as a result was the combination of Go Won, the most successful recent rookie, and the legendary yACE who passed through <Music Building> in the past. Since yACE’s popularity is still strong in Southeast Asia, they’d be hoping for that benefit too.
“If the condition is that they’ll also slot Go Won in as MC, they must have thought I’d go?”
“You’re a good hyung.”
“I’m not though.”
“Do it if you can.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s an MC special stage. If you do it with Won, it’s also good for planning a dancing stage.”
“……”
At the bottom of the document I hadn’t looked at yet, that content was written. That there’s an MC special stage.
‘I don’t want to. My solo is R&B. I want to dance on stage.’
Ah shit, he remembers that.
Well, whatever. Since it’s come to this, if I help with overseas recognition too, that would be good.
“Hyung, do you know why I treat Go Won well?”
“Because you got a younger sibling at twenty-six.”
“Ah, stop spreading that rumor. …It reminds me of how the hyungs raised me.”
I put the document I received from him back on the desk.
“I’ll do this.”
The Sunbae Who Paves a Flower Path Part 2
Establish yourself as a K-POP singer.
Stage 2 Goal: Achieve Top 10 in CPCE Public Reputation Index
It seemed like the time had come to finish Part Two, which had been dragging.
I held a meeting with Go Won in the studio that very day.
“You heard we’re doing a stage?”
“Yes.”
Go Won
Current Status: Must work hard■.
I figured out the interpretation of his short answer through the quest window.
I felt a lot while raising Go Won.
How did the hyungs raise me without even this window… At least I must have been ten times less bratty than Go Won…
As expected, I should live filially from now on too.
“Is there a song you want to do?”
“There’s one I thought would suit hyung and me.”
“What is it?”
“<EGG>.”
“Ah, our song?”
Borrowing from the proverb ‘throwing eggs at a rock,’ a spirited hip-hop song vowing to somehow split the rock even if cracks spread all over the body.
<EGG>, filled with rebellious mood, was a stage yACE members performed wearing school uniforms cockily when their ages were positioned in their late teens to early twenties. At the time, school-background dramas were also popular, creating synergy.
Of course, that song is indeed one of my masterpieces of the century, but.
“Hey, if I wear a school uniform and dance with a twenty-year-old at twenty-six, how would I look?”
“…Still like early twenties?”
“Like a student who took a 6-year leave of absence, what bullshit. Something else.”
Go Won muttered “That’s not true…” but didn’t particularly object.
In fact, there was another reason I rejected the kid’s suggestion.
Like Go Won practicing <What a Waste>, there were signs of trying to follow my style of songs.
I understood it was an environment where he couldn’t help but be influenced, but it wasn’t a direction I’d recommend.
“If you have no other opinions, let’s look while we’re at it. Classics are good, and if we cover well, girl groups too…”
Footsteps approached behind me as I pulled up the monitor, and soon large hands gripped the backrest. The tall height blocked the light, casting a round head-shaped shadow over the keyboard.
“Yes, hyung.”
Go Won stuck close behind me and looked at the monitor. The distance between our faces seemed to be less than half a span.
Where did the kid who used to startle as if he’d faint when making eye contact up close go?
It seemed he’d somewhat torn down the wall that looked as high as Mount Tai.
It wasn’t a bad feeling.
With Go Won attached behind me, I started digging through references. Quite a few music videos and dance practice videos passed by. At the end, one song that got a simultaneous reaction was selected.
“Hey, there’s something I need to tell you in advance.”
“Yes?”
“I’m the vocal member in the composition position. Both abilities are tremendous.”
“Yes.”
I was grateful he answered calmly, as if there was no disagreement with those words.
“With these specs, if I dance well too, it’s a cheat.”
* * *
A few days later, the rearranged song flowed out in the practice room. That song was reborn as a 2-person duet choreography with the help of a choreographer.
“Show me again.”
“……”
“Again.”
“……”
“Could you dance slowly? 0.5x speed.”
I’m saying this now, but.
I’m yACE’s clumsy one.
Go Won seemed to realize the meaning of the warning I gave while listening to a ‘again’ medley quite different from the ‘again’ baptism he once heard in the recording studio.
If it had been a shorter member, I could have been moderately hidden, but unfortunately I was second tallest after Kwon Taeyoung so I couldn’t be concealed. In the end, there had to be blood-vomiting coaching from the hyungs every activity preparation…
“Ah, after watching about ten times I think I roughly got it.”
I got up from where I was sitting and danced the sixteen bars Go Won had shown. Since it’s without accompaniment, matching the vocals too.
“Right?”
“……”
“Did I get it wrong?”
After being silent for a moment, Go Won answered, “N-no.”
“The details are a bit different, but I think it’s better if hyung goes with hyung’s style. That suits you better.”
“Nice. Learning dance while getting scolded by hyungs versus learning while getting coddled by a kid.”
“……”
Go Won silently went toward his phone and played the next bar after the part we’d been practicing.
“If you want to see it again, please tell me.”
“Yees. Hyung.”
Oh, I just messed up that movement.
But since I’ll be creaking about ten times more from now on, I decided not to tease about just this.
