Chapter 158
Chapter 158
Since Kim Rae-bin had brought up comments with a lot of upvotes, I decided to speak in terms of metrics and indicators as well.
"Let's look at it objectively, just as you said. Right now, 'Haengcha' is higher on the digital charts than that song. Isn't that the most objective and cold public evaluation?"
But Kim Rae-bin wasn't fooled.
"I believe that is a matter of sample size differences arising from the gap in brand recognition. We need an evaluation conducted after actually listening to both songs without personal bias...!"
"……."
So he was determined to hear my critique. Suppressing a sigh, I answered slowly.
"Fine... I get it. To my ears, 'Haengcha' is the better song."
"I-Is that so?!"
"But it's true that the other song is more public-friendly."
"……!"
"It's an easy, comfortable listen."
Kim Rae-bin clenched his fists tightly on his knees. I continued my explanation.
"But that's because there's a difference in purpose. From the start, we made our song with performance as the top priority."
"But……."
"Which means there's no need to make pointless comparisons. No song is ever perfect in every single aspect. Objective comparisons are difficult anyway. There are factors like timing, taste... and even luck."
"……Yes."
Kim Rae-bin still looked a bit dejected, but he nodded as if he understood what I meant.
I let out a short laugh.
"Does it still bother you that much?"
"Pardon? …Yes."
Kim Rae-bin hesitated before adding, "I... am often told that I lack eloquence and am not the type suited for communal living, am I not?"
Good grief.
"Therefore, I thought that if I were also lacking in my contribution to the producing side, it would be right for me to develop other skills that could be helpful to the group."
"Hmm."
It seemed Kim Rae-bin needed reassurance that even if he struggled with performance right now, he was still contributing to the album.
Then I guess this method is the best after all.
I recalled a plan I had been preparing.
But before I mentioned that, I had to correct his premise.
"First of all... I don't think you're particularly bad at communal living."
"Uh, I've often been told that I'm bad at reading the room……."
Well, yeah. He probably heard that a lot throughout his life.
However, he wasn't stubborn or ill-natured in interpersonal relationships, so there were no issues when it came to working together.
"Is that so? Since TeSTAR started, has any member ever gotten angry at you?"
"…No."
"See? It's not at a level that causes problems, so don't worry about it."
"I-I see!"
Kim Rae-bin's expression brightened slightly.
"And as for the producing issue... well. Hold on."
I turned on my smartphone and pulled up the information for Golden Age's new song on a music site.
I looked at the copyright section.
"You see the composers and arrangers here?"
"Yes."
I began to explain the details I had checked beforehand.
"The composer is an outside freelancer... but the arrangers aren't from that composer's team. They belong to Golden Age's agency."
"Um, yes."
"Do you know what that means?"
"That modern composition is a comprehensive production involving multiple tasks, so it would be an over-inflated ego to place the sole responsibility on oneself...?"
An extraordinary answer popped out.
"…No, it means the direct comparison you want is possible."
I tapped the composer's name on the screen.
"Actually, I received some songs from this composer."
"…!! W-When and how did you proceed with that??"
"A while ago. Successfully."
Cheong-ryeo's words had bothered me, so I had already contacted the composer and received a few tracks when our promotion period started. They were candidates for the title track of the repackage album, which would follow shortly after this current album's promotions.
"Golden Age did well with this song, so they'll definitely get another song from the same composer. And the agency will handle the arrangement again."
"…Could it be."
"Yeah."
He finally caught on.
"If you arrange a song by the same composer and release it, the direct comparison you want becomes possible."
"……!"
"We'll see who arranged this public-friendly composer's work... better."
This was the conclusion I reached after listening to all the candidate tracks from that composer.
The melodies are catchy and well-made, but the structure is weak.
To put it bluntly, the level of completion was low. It seemed like a song that would rely heavily on the arrangement.
For a moment, Kim Rae-bin looked like he was imagining what would happen with his mouth agape. Then, he suddenly snapped out of it and said, "But if we aren't careful, it could become too much of a direct confrontation, which might be disadvantageous to both parties……."
Oh? He thought that far?
I smirked. I was actually quite impressed.
Just as Kim Rae-bin said, if handled poorly, TeSTAR could suffer from that very frame.
In fact, seeing how that agency operated, they might even try to manipulate public opinion by claiming TeSTAR "stole" Golden Age's composer.
But in reality, that would be difficult for them to do.
"It's fine. It won't become a confrontation."
"Pardon?"
"We aren't the only ones using that composer's songs."
I turned off my smartphone screen.
"The VTIC unit and Young-rin sunbaenim will also be using that composer for their next albums."
"……!"
That was it.
If you try to hog something like this alone, you'll get indigestion. You have to drag others into it.
It was a good thing I got Young-rin's number during that doppelgänger variety show.
…I felt a bit uneasy about the Cheong-ryeo side, but it was better to have him in the same boat to keep him from doing anything foolish.
Anyway, both of them had agreed without much fuss.
—Ah, that sounds fun. Good thinking. ^^—
—Thank you for introducing a good composer. This will give our new album work some momentum.—
Since top-tier artists with different agencies, years of experience, and images had all received songs amicably, it would be hard to link that composer exclusively to Golden Age.
The composer's name value would simply rise.
I hadn't bribed the composer to stop Gold 1's agency from getting songs like Cheong-ryeo suggested; wasn't this a very conscientious way to handle it?
That's what you get for trying to grab someone else's collar without even asking for understanding.
They brought it on themselves.
I smiled and crossed my arms.
"Within this year, four or five songs by the same composer, each arranged differently, will be released. It'll be a real sword fight."
"……."
Kim Rae-bin swallowed hard.
"Do you still want to try?"
"Yes...!"
Good. Now that the stage was set, his motivation seemed to have returned. Kim Rae-bin's eyes were sparkling with enthusiasm.
"Of course, that doesn't mean we have to use that composer's work as our title track. It's just one of the candidates, so let's consult with the members and pick something public-friendly."
"Understood!"
I nodded.
"Right. Then go to sleep quickly."
"Pardon...?"
Kim Rae-bin was flustered by the abrupt conclusion. I continued calmly.
"Even if you sleep now, you'll only get four and a half hours."
"Gasp, I am sorry! I have caused great damage to hyung's sleeping time...!"
"It's fine, so let's just sleep."
After stopping Kim Rae-bin, I immediately turned off the room light.
I had to wake up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to practice what kind of performance we would show in Japan, especially with Kim Rae-bin's injured foot.
Should I have him ride a tiger doll or something?
Hoping that either the agency or the members had come up with a usable idea, I fell asleep.
This was three days before the recording of the Japanese broadcast stage.
It was a weekday morning in August, a time when every student was enjoying their summer break.
A high school boy, lazily browsing WeTube on his computer while basking in the air conditioning, discovered a music video that was still high on the trending list.
[TeSTAR 'Haengcha (present)' Official MV]
"……."
In fact, this high schooler had already watched this music video in its entirety.
It was entirely because of the teaser.
His older sister had coaxed him, saying that the final song of Park Moon-dae—the "May Groom" from The Singer I Made who had left a huge impression on him—would appear here.
—Hey, hey, look at this.
—Ugh, what is it? Get lost.
—Hey, when are you going to give me that 100,000 won? I'll knock off 10,000 won if you just watch this. Park Moon-dae's song from 'My Singer' is in here too.
—…….
—This went totally viral, so the views are exploding right now! Hurry up and watch it.
So, the high schooler had eventually watched the teaser, and he found himself intrigued by its massive scale.
His sister's marketing had been a success.
However, the boy was still flatly denying it.
...I only watched it to see if they rearranged it.
He tried to convince himself that he was just curious about the different version of the final song sung by the "May Groom."
But honestly, objectively speaking, the quality of the video was top-notch. It felt like a trailer for a blockbuster Netplus drama, so of course it was interesting.
In the boy's opinion, the music video was even more entertaining than the teaser. This was because the music video was much shorter and more fast-paced.
The sense of speed was insane.
After a moment of internal conflict, the high schooler clicked on the music video to play it.
Whatever, I've already seen it once. Who cares if I watch it again?
Fortunately, the video started immediately without an ad.
[Chakho-gapsa Cheong, step forward and receive your orders.]
The music video followed Ryu Cheong-woo, who received an order from the King to catch the "most harmful monster." Carrying the Yokai Exploration Record, he traveled across Joseon to find the creature.
The other members, dressed as various yokai, interacted with Ryu Cheong-woo, either giving him clues about the "most harmful monster" or being exorcised by him.
—The day has finally come
Haengcha
Finally, here, today
The impact was incredible, especially when intense choreography cuts and dynamic story cuts alternated during the chorus.
As the choreography scenes interspersed throughout heightened the atmosphere, Ryu Cheong-woo finally met Kim Rae-bin in a cave.
Kim Rae-bin was attempting to uncover the identity of the "most harmful monster" using lanterns floating all around his cave.
At this point, his part of the song overlapped, and the Kim Rae-bin in the story cut looked directly into the camera while performing his lines, creating a very eerie feeling.
Inside the cave, the lanterns glowed with all sorts of neon lights.
Like warning lights.
—Now, it has appeared
Warning, and warning again
Approaching in a figure-eight
Slowly, thrillingly
While the flickering lanterns created strange lights, the camera spun around to reveal Ryu Cheong-woo.
—Me.
The music stopped.
Then, a very short flashback scene consisting of screams and sprinting played.
[Aaaagh!!]
[Uhuuuuh…….]
It was a four-legged beast.
The beast, whose form was hard to see due to the rapidly passing cuts, transformed into a young child as the sun rose.
Over that, the current image of Ryu Cheong-woo in the cave was superimposed.
Ryu Cheong-woo realized that the "most harmful monster" was himself.
Once again, the song exploded.
—Even if you bow your head, you can't escape
Look closely now
The shivers are following you
For about several dozen seconds, including the final dance break, the choreography cuts reached their climax and poured out without any story.
And only when the song's climax ended and began to wrap up did the story cuts reappear.
[……]
A dark night. Ryu Cheong-woo, who had been glaring at the camera, turned his back and disappeared into the forest.
With the sound of a taepyeongso, the song ended.
[Haengcha]
Then, the ending credits rolled.
It was accompanied by an unfamiliar background track.
—Lying in bed late at night
I quietly think, perhaps
From the very beginning
You weren't me
It was a song about a breakup. At first listen, it sounded like a love song, but playing after this story, it sounded incredibly significant.
It was Ryu Cheong-woo's solo song, "Truth."
There were truckloads of fans and WeTubers who analyzed every single hint by dissecting the music video and teaser from start to finish, but the high schooler didn't know about that and wasn't particularly interested.
He just marveled at how "insane the video was" and thought:
There was even a post-credit scene.
Indeed, after the ending credits finished, another video appeared.
It revealed the identity of the King—of whom only the legs had been shown—who had given the solemn command to Ryu Cheong-woo in the first scene.
[You fell for that~]
It was Lee Se-jin, with fox ears sprouting from his head.
The post-credit scene ended with a smirking Lee Se-jin sprawling lazily on the throne, crushing his own massive tail decoration.
The high schooler, unaware of the fans who were shuddering at the shock and cuteness of this ending, just smacked his lips.
I wish Netplus would make something like this.
While trying to convince himself that it would have been better if real actors had done it instead of idols, the boy couldn't find a single flaw or awkwardness in the video.
...They are good.
The boy finally admitted it once more and tried to exit the music video screen.
Or rather, he tried to exit, but the page lagged and the back button wouldn't work.
"Ugh, seriously."
The high schooler clicked the back button repeatedly in frustration. Thanks to the addresses skipping backward, he accidentally saw an internet page his sister had left open.
It was an internet trace his sister had left behind, which usually wouldn't remain because she used incognito mode.
"What's this??"
On the blue SNS page... there was a GIF of Park Moon-dae looking back in a classroom.
=========================
Magical Boy MV Behind-the-scenes Cut (1) Park Moon-dae
(Edited GIF)
#ParkMoonDae #BlondeMoonDae #GoldMoonDeng #MagicalBoy
=========================
Against a vivid purple, red, and yellow sky, a black-haired Park Moon-dae in a white summer school uniform turned around and transformed into a blonde.
It was a very well-made GIF.
"……."
For the record, the account description in the profile read: "The Blood Alliance to Love Only Gold Moon-deng-deng."
They both look the same to me.
The high schooler grumbled, but inwardly concluded that the black hair was easier on the eyes than the distracting blonde hair.
Is this a music video too? It looks so weak.
The boy sneered, but out of a slight expectation, he searched "TeSTAR" on WeTube.
However, something else caught his eye before the "Magical Boy" music video.
It was a video uploaded just yesterday.
[TeSTAR Haengcha Japanese Broadcast CUT]
"Huh?"
The thumbnail was a Japanese comedian with his mouth wide open.
Ah, I can't miss this.
It was aiming for the national pride meta. The high schooler chuckled and clicked on that first.