We Need a Plan (1)
“G-Galchae. What’s a microorganism…? Why is everyone looking so serious?”
Yeo Do-bin, reading the room as best he could, asked Lee Gal-chae, who sat beside him. He had pasted on a grave expression to match the mood, but in truth he had no idea what microorganism even meant.
“Um… tiny living things you can’t see with your eyes. They’re in the human body too, and they break down food and turn it into soil… and lactic acid bacteria and germs? I think those are all microorganisms too.”
“Germs? Bacteria?”
Yeo Do-bin’s face went blank with disbelief.
“Are we calling our debut album Bacteria Man…?”
“No! Absolutely not! I’d rather eat dirt than do that! No way! Who even came up with this? Are they out of their mind?”
Ha On-ha barked the words out and looked ready to roll his eyes straight into the back of his head. He seemed genuinely appalled.
Then heavy footsteps sounded in the hallway, and Manager Kwak suddenly pushed the door open and strode in. The bags he carried in both arms gave off a delicious smell.
“Snacks are here! I bought plenty!”
“Sorry, everyone. You kept waiting, didn’t you?”
Team Leader Choi Ki-ro, who had just returned from a meeting, came in right behind him.
Manager Kwak Yuk-pal handed Neoul a mountain of desserts and bungeoppang, the fish-shaped pastries stuffed with sweet filling. He also set down drinks all over the practice room floor: strawberry lattes, chocolate frappuccinos, Americanos, five-grain lattes, and even salt water, as if he had tried to cover every possible taste the members might have without ever asking them to order.
“Why did you buy so much?”
“I wanted to get a feel for the members’ preferences in advance. And I figured you might all need something sweet from here on out. Want some coffee?”
At Baek Yuri’s question, Manager Kwak answered with a pointed air and held out an Americano. Before Yuri could say another word, Baek Gi-yeom took the coffee from him instead and said with easy cheer, “Haha, Manager-nim. Yuri doesn’t drink coffee because of the caffeine. He avoids anything that’s even a little bad for his body if he can help it. Just give him five-grain lattes or citron tea or sikhye.”
“Hyung, give me the iced Americano. My mind and body are both weak right now, and I need a caffeine transfusion.”
Rubbing at his throbbing forehead, Ha On-ha took a coffee from Baek Gi-yeom.
“Wouldn’t coffee make you feel worse if you’re dizzy?”
“I need a little caffeine before my brain clears up~”
Without even bothering with a straw, Ha On-ha popped the plastic lid and gulped down the Americano.
“Ah, that’s better.”
“Can I have the chocolate one?”
Woo Cheong snatched up the chocolate frappuccino, and Yeo Do-bin and Lee Gal-chae chose strawberry lattes. Neoul took his share of salt water.
The members hurriedly drank their beverages, downing them as if they had been thrown into a desert for an entire day without a single drop of water.
Manager Kwak, who had thought they had no appetite a moment ago and refused the drinks, watched with confusion as they each claimed a sweet beverage and drank it as though they were parched.
“Did something happen?”
But none of the members could bring themselves to admit that Neoul had gone off to eavesdrop on the meeting, so they all shook their heads with great enthusiasm.
“Ahem. Then may I go over the matters I need to relay?”
Team Leader Choi sat facing the gathered members and pulled a sheet of paper from his folder.
“First, since Representative Jake told us to throw out all the plans he’d prepared, we’re now moving ahead with the new concept Representative Kim Woohwan brought in for the debut album. This is the lyric sheet for the debut song. The title hasn’t been decided yet.”
Baek Yuri took the page Team Leader Choi offered. The other members crowded around him to look over his shoulder.
[Set the fire, blaze, blaze
Spit out flames
Set the fire, blaze, blaze
Melt the glass
No matter how you read it, frontward or backward, Ha On-ha is still Ha On-ha
You’re on a different level. Nobody can beat you
Not a house fairy, but Yeo Do-bin
Real name is Devin Yeo
Do you know who the greatest blue of all is?
Woo-woo-woo-Woo Cheong! Woo-woo-woo-Woo Cheong!
Give us applause, send us the best applause
Neoul crashing down on you, into the surging tide
Our festival! Deadly! Covetable! Don’t you want it!
We survived, I’m the winner!
.
.
]
The members’ expressions steadily froze as they read the debut lyrics. Not only was the never-before-seen microorganism concept absurd enough on its own, but the lyrics were a whole other disaster.
“Woo-woo-Woo Cheong! Woo-woo-Woo Cheong! The lyrics are cute! Haha!”
Woo Cheong alone kept grinning brightly, trying his best to lift the increasingly gloomy atmosphere. The others drank their beverages even faster. They needed the sugar.
“Yeah. At least it seems easy to remember our names.”
Moved by Woo Cheong’s efforts, Baek Gi-yeom tried to offer a positive response in his own way. But before long, Neoul, with a puzzled look, pointed out the contradiction in the lyrics.
“At first he says we’re on a different level and taunts the listener, yet suddenly later he says he’ll crash into them. Is this love and hate?”
Team Leader Choi swallowed hard and pulled out his smartphone.
“Th-that part I don’t really know either…. I’ll play the song for you now! It’s the guide version.”
He hit play on the track saved to his phone. God knew where he’d bought such a thing with actual money, but it was a clumsy, half-baked song that wore its low budget on its sleeve.
“Ha.”
A dry laugh burst out from behind Baek Yuri’s shoulder.
“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Its owner, Ha On-ha, had started laughing like a man who had lost his sanity. He rolled on the floor, cackling madly, and Woo Cheong edged away from him little by little.
“On-ha hyung, you’re scaring me.”
“……I’m more scared of our group’s bleak future.”
Lee Gal-chae muttered softly.
“This song is completely terrible. Horrible…!”
Even the mildest of them all, Yeo Do-bin, cut in firmly.
Neoul dropped the bungeoppang he had been enjoying. Even a mermaid’s ears found this song dreadful.
Baek Yuri and Baek Gi-yeom said nothing. No, they had simply lost the words.
Without a sound, Baek Gi-yeom picked up the bungeoppang Neoul had dropped and slipped it into an empty plastic bag so he wouldn’t just eat it off the floor again.
Neoul, robbed of the fish pastry with the best tail portion still left, looked at Baek Gi-yeom with a wounded expression, as if asking why he’d taken it. But Baek Gi-yeom’s eyes were locked on the lyric sheet, so he failed to notice Neoul’s grievance.
“……”
Team Leader Choi wanted to cry. He understood why the members were reacting so coldly, but there was still more he had to tell them.
He wiped sweat from his face and pulled out his trump card: the choreography video.
“Still, the choreography is pretty cool! Look.”
“Really? Cool?”
Woo Cheong brightened at once and leaned in with interest. Ha On-ha, as if he couldn’t bear to look at either the dance or anything else, had stopped laughing entirely and was sprawled flat on the floor. The others, at least, clung to a shred of hope and watched the video.
Neoul looked carefully too, but the only impression the choreography left on him was that it was strange.
In the video, the dancers wore stiff shoes and performed all sorts of acrobatics: stepping onto other people’s shoulders like stairs and leaping over them, or suddenly flinging themselves backward and being caught mid-fall by someone who had to stop dancing just to grab them.
It was hard to tell what exactly they were trying to express, but the almost-circus-level moves were undeniably flashy and astonishing.
“……”
It was the first time Woo Cheong, who had somehow been keeping the mood light until now, had gone completely serious.
“Ki-ro-nim.”
The way he called Team Leader Choi was stiff and hard.
“Yes?”
“I can’t do this. I won’t do it.”
“W-What? Why not…? The choreography is pretty cool, isn’t it? You’re all talented, so I thought you could pull it off.”
At the cautious reply, Yeo Do-bin nodded naively.
“I-it looks hard, but if we succeed, it’ll be really cool…”
But Woo Cheong kept his face hard. “If we were doing it once and that was that, maybe. But we have music shows, concerts, and we have to keep dancing it again and again through all the rehearsals. Do you want us all to blow our discs at our age?”
“Ah….”
“Are you deliberately doing this because you want us to live short and hard, or are you trying to get us injured so we fail our military physicals after dancing? I’m seriously questioning the choreographer’s and the company’s intentions here.”
Woo Cheong’s voice was so cold it startled even the other members.
“There’s a difference between intense choreography and dangerous choreography. This is dangerous.”
“……”
“There aren’t even any memorable point moves. Nothing that really makes use of the members’ strengths. The injury risk is just way too high.”
Woo Cheong spoke without wavering.
“I’m sure our fans don’t want circus-level acrobatics from us either.”
“……”
Team Leader Choi nodded repeatedly, sweat pouring down his face.
“I’m sorry….”
But he was only passing along the orders from above. He hadn’t done anything wrong himself. So Woo Cheong’s tone softened again.
“It’s fine. It’s not like you made the decision, Ki-ro-nim. I came on a little strong. But please tell them we want to create the choreography ourselves.”
“Yes, yes. Then… I’ll report that the members will create the choreography themselves for now….”
Team Leader Choi put away his phone and wrote down Woo Cheong’s words. Just then, from behind Woo Cheong, Yeo Do-bin raised his hand in a panic.
“Ki-ro-nim! I’m a composer…!”
“Huh?”
“I’m a composer…! I have songs! I can write new ones too!”
Yeo Do-bin lifted one hand high as if making an announcement, his eyes pleading.
“Neoul can make melodies too…. Gi-yeom hyung even performed on stage with an original song during the shoot, and Yuri hyung writes lyrics well and studied harmony too… s-something with music?”
“Practical music.”
“Yes! That! You’re in college for that, right…? S-so….”
Yeo Do-bin was about to say they could make the song themselves too, but then he looked around at the rest of the team. He had acted on impulse without getting anyone else’s opinion.
When Yeo Do-bin glanced nervously around, the others nodded like mad. It meant they agreed with him completely. They already knew how well he could compose.
Ha On-ha, who had been lying on the floor, shot upright and swept his bangs back roughly.
“Wait a sec, everyone. Let’s have a proper meeting.”
This was not the kind of thing they could just toss together and wing. What if Team Leader Choi went back and relayed, “The members said they want to do it themselves,” only to get rejected without ceremony?
And if Representative Kim Woohwan happened to be the kind of person who had a chip on his shoulder or a persecution complex… he might take the members’ request to make everything themselves as defiance, or rebellion, and resent them for it.
It would be a problem if they got on the bad side of the representative before they’d even debuted. They had no idea what kind of disadvantages could follow.
We need to be fully prepared.
Ha On-ha thought they had to make the representative one of their allies while gently sweet-talking him into never being able to refuse their demands.
Besides, the song, the lyrics, and the choreography were important—but the micro…
Ugh, I don’t even want to think about it.
That bizarre microorganism concept had to be tossed out too.
But then Team Leader Choi opened his mouth again, sounding hesitant.
“Th-there’s actually more I need to tell you! Aren’t you curious about the group concept? To me it seems like a pretty interesting concept, honestly!”
He worked himself up as though he were about to deliver something hopeful. But the members’ faces only grew darker, as if storm clouds had gathered overhead.
What’s with him?
Team Leader Choi wiped his streaming sweat and hurried on. “A sea nymph! A water fairy! A water god! So, something like an unknown creature living beneath the sea? A mysterious being! One that lures humans with song!”
The members, who had been sinking lower and lower, all widened their eyes.
“That’s better, right? Mysterious and lethal!”
All six members turned their gaze to Neoul.
Ah, right! Unknown! He said unknown creature!
Only after hearing Team Leader Choi’s words did Neoul remember exactly what had been said. He gave the members, who were shooting sharp looks at him, an awkward smile.
“Oh ho~”
“Nymph… water god…. Ha ha….”
The members felt a huge wave of relief at not having to do a microorganism concept like “lactic acid bacteria man” or “germ man.” Still, nymphs and unknown creatures did not sound like a particularly great concept either.
Isn’t this a little too niche?
Thinking that, Baek Yuri opened his mouth carefully.
“Was that Representative Kim Woohwan’s idea?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“In the meeting room… may I ask how the staff reacted?”
“Um…. Well…. They liked it…?”