Chapter 66
Chapter 66
I’d had a bad feeling ever since I first met and spoke with the agency representative.
He was someone who had been transferred from the planning and marketing team of another T1 affiliate to serve as the General Manager here.
In short, the man was the head of the agency’s business division, yet he had zero experience in the entertainment industry.
‘Shit.’
Fortunately, it seemed the content production team under him was composed of experienced professionals, but this guy was spouting nonsense as if he’d been struck by some grand inspiration.
“A worldview?”
“I mean, most idols aiming for a global fandom these days have a worldview, don’t they? Eh? Young kids all love that stuff… like cartoons.”
“…….”
He was completely full of hot air.
A worldview? Fine.
But was it really the time to be talking about worldviews when we were supposed to release a new song within a month? Even if it was just a single, the conversation should have started with the music.
Besides, a worldview wasn't an urgent priority for TeSTAR.
‘We already established characters and stories through the audition. What a load of crap...’
From what I knew, a worldview was meant to provide content for fans to immerse themselves in and play with, but Idol Inc. itself was already serving that purpose.
Furthermore, the members had already secured public recognition and finished their positioning through the debut process.
This meant the agency only needed to provide a song with public appeal, sophisticated choreography, and good outfits.
The worldview could have been built slowly while preparing for the next album, with only a rough framework set for now.
‘Did he go to some lecture or something?’
Lately, agencies had been touting their unique capabilities to boost stock prices, treating worldviews like some grand hundred-year strategy. It seemed this guy had fallen for the hype.
‘He wants this to be his career achievement.’
What made it even more maddening was that he was working hard despite his ignorance.
“…We are?”
“Yes! I saw the broadcast, and you guys were great.”
The General Manager claimed he had "binge-watched" Idol Inc. and praised each member before dropping a bombshell.
“Mmm, I’ll tell you right now. We’re going to promote with two songs.”
“……?!”
“However, the company will handle one song entirely. The other song will be handled and organized by our talented TeSTAR. How about it?”
Of course, he added that he would be the one doing the final confirmation and revisions.
“It’ll be perfect if you do it like this~ to match our worldview, right? Self-producing!”
He went on and on about how self-produced idols were the trend.
Basically, he wanted to do everything others said was good.
It seemed he was greedy for the image of a ‘hip and autonomous’ new-age agency.
Naturally, the members were flustered, but as survivors of the scheme-ridden Idol Inc., they didn't let it show much.
“Ah, we’re really grateful, but… it might be difficult with just our capabilities.”
“Mmm~ Of course, the staff will work with you. You guys just do it freely! I’m saying you should express your artistic creativity and inspiration.”
“I see….”
Since a high-ranking official over twenty years his senior was being firm, Ryu Cheong-woo, who had been trying to manage the situation, swallowed his words with a bitter smile.
Kim Rae-bin already had a blank expression on his face.
‘He’s out of it.’
He was probably trying to figure out what to do and lost his mind at the impossible workload relative to the deadline.
“Now, now, we have a lot to do, so shall we head out?”
“Yes, sir.”
The General Manager left after saying everything he wanted to say. It was obvious he was feeling proud of himself for personally taking the time to look after TeSTAR.
‘…Was the CEO also the nephew of the T1 owner?’
I could already see the future.
‘……It’s going to be tough if we don’t hit number one with the debut hype.’
Looking back, I should have suspected this from the moment T1 suddenly created a new agency just to snatch the Idol Inc. debut group.
‘Since they snatched us away after a fight… they obviously couldn't have taken over the debut album preparations that the originally intended agency had been working on.’
Thanks to that, we were in a position where we had to create a new album from scratch immediately.
On top of that, someone who didn't know the industry was sitting above the working-level staff, so nonsense was rampant and the deadlines were ridiculously short.
‘Man, I really want to quit.’
…Once again, I vowed not to expect much from this company.
The situation was the same in the subsequent meetings with the content production team and a few people from the A&R team under the production department.
These people hadn't produced any results yet either.
…Actually, it made sense. This agency had been launched less than two weeks ago.
“Mmm… for now, our worldview will use a ‘school’ motif.”
“Ah… yes.”
“I think it would be good if you could think with that as the center. Mmm…….”
Other than the fact that the worldview was related to school, there was no real substance.
“Of course, I’m not saying you have to compose the songs from scratch. As soon as we get final approval, we’ll send you the candidate tracks, so please take a look.”
“Yes!”
“What is the timeframe?”
“Ah, mmm… they’ll be sent within two days.”
The fortunate thing was that these people basically had a favorable impression of the TeSTAR members.
‘I guess we’re benefiting from the nationwide success of the audition in this way, too.’
Since they were dealing with a group whose basic success was guaranteed, combined with personal liking, the treatment was much more humane.
“They’re asking for our opinions a lot.”
Keun Se-jin said this as they came out of the meeting.
“I-Is it usually n-not like that?”
“No!”
“Yes!”
Surprisingly, intense reactions erupted from Cha Yu-jin and Kim Rae-bin. Seon A-hyun was startled.
“They don’t listen!”
“They don’t give us the right to speak at all. The atmosphere is so solidified that just working hard as instructed is considered a virtue!”
“O-Oh…….”
It seemed Cha Yu-jin and Kim Rae-bin had a lot of pent-up frustration because they had even recorded debut songs at their previous agencies before the plans were scrapped.
‘That agency was doing well for a while. I think… it went under after their flagship idol filed a lawsuit over an unfair contract and left.’
It seemed those two had been caught up in that process, left the agency, and ended up on the audition program.
“There are worrying parts, but it’s a good environment to work hard in. Let’s do our best.”
“Yes!”
“Understood!”
Ryu Cheong-woo smiled as he checked the head count and got into the car.
Although nothing had been explicitly said, the atmosphere made it almost certain that Ryu Cheong-woo was the leader.
For one, Lee Se-jin, who was the same age as the oldest, wasn't the type to be a leader, and agencies generally preferred the eldest to take the role.
They would probably go through some plausible process for the reality show… but it was pretty much decided.
I had no complaints.
“I love this house~ …Oh?”
“What is it?”
“A claw machine!”
Cha Yu-jin, who was the first to enter the living room, ran toward a claw machine.
He must have forgotten it was there because the General Manager had called us out so early in the morning while we were still half-asleep.
‘Thanks to that, the reaction is realistic.’
I also went closer to check it out. Cameras were installed both inside and outside the machine.
The robot vacuum reappeared and handed over a card. It basically said to pull out a doll and perform the mission inside.
“Mmm, ‘Each doll has an anonymous mission from a TeSTAR member attached to it’ …Oh, I’m curious.”
“Let’s pull one!”
Most of the members were excited and crowded around the machine. Cha Yu-jin was the first to take the controls.
“Hah!”
The result was a miserable failure.
“…The machine is weird.”
“Leave it to me~”
Keun Se-jin took the joystick from a dejected Cha Yu-jin and moved it excitedly. And he failed just the same.
“You’re right. The machine is weird.”
A parade of countless failures followed.
While the others continued to make pathetic excuses for not accepting the results, I politely declined to be the next player.
‘It’s a hassle.’
Someone would eventually get one if they kept trying.
Then, Lee Se-jin grabbed the joystick.
“…Which one should I get?”
“The rabbit!”
“T-The puppy…….”
And Lee Se-jin succeeded in one go.
“……!”
The moment the back of the fluffy brown rabbit’s head dropped into the exit, everyone accepted the result.
“Wo-Woahhh!!”
“You’ve got great dexterity, hyung.”
“So it was possible to get it in one go.”
“Can we get others too?”
However, the claw machine had already stopped working.
It seemed to be a home machine designed to stop automatically once one was caught.
Behind Kim Rae-bin, who was muttering that he would definitely get one tomorrow, the members swarmed the rabbit doll.
When they flipped the doll over, a card was attached to its belly.
“Now then, I wonder who wrote what…….”
[Watching a horror movie together~ ^^]
“…….”
“…Is it you?”
“Hey, no way.”
Keun Se-jin waved his hand. He was overflowing with confidence that he had written much more useful content.
Then Ryu Cheong-woo answered gently.
“Ah, it’s me.”
“…Wow! That sounds fun. A horror movie!”
“I-I’m looking forward to it…!”
The confession from the eldest member, with whom they weren't very close yet, urgently created a peaceful atmosphere.
In the end, we spent that evening watching a horror movie. I focused on the popcorn and mostly ignored the film. Screams rang in my ears.
It was a waste of time, but it was physically comfortable.
And the next day, the demos for the debut title track candidates arrived early in the morning.
It was time for physical suffering.
“My ears hurt.”
This was Cha Yu-jin’s comment after listening to all the demo songs about twenty times with the volume turned up as high as it would go.
Almost everyone except Kim Rae-bin faintly agreed with those words. It meant they could only manage a slight nod.
The guys who had jumped in with enthusiasm at the thought of it being their own song were now completely drained after spending hours listening with excessive focus.
“…I don’t think there will be any big changes even if we listen more, so let’s do a first show of hands.”
“Okay~”
“Then, starting from number one.”
We went all the way to the last one, number eleven.
A general trend was visible. It was similar to what I had seen to some extent during Idol Inc.
First, Seon A-hyun and Ryu Cheong-woo preferred medium-tempo tracks. Seon A-hyun, in particular, liked lyrical songs.
Kim Rae-bin and Cha Yu-jin preferred songs with strong bass and rhythm.
Keun Se-jin chose genres that were currently trending. He only raised his hand for things with catchy melodies.
I couldn't tell with Lee Se-jin because he only raised his hand for one song. As for me… I just picked what sounded good.
I was in a position where I could do that.
It was because I had pulled this trait from the ‘Successful Stage’ pop-up that appeared during the final live broadcast of Idol Inc.
[Trait: Catchy Ear (A)]
- I think this song will do well?
: Masterpiece discernment ability +200%
The grade was a whopping A.
It appeared when the slot stopped on one of the platinum-colored spaces that appeared about once every ten slots.
‘Even without considering the grade, I had to keep this no matter what.’
If I was going to be in the music business, there was no trait as useful as this.
I had given up the ‘I want to be the center’ trait, which increases the Star Quality stat by one level, but it was well worth it.
Actually, I had considered discarding ‘That sounds right,’ but I kept it for now because it seemed useful in various situations.
‘I filled the dropped Star Quality stat by leveling up through practice and stage achievements during the finals, so it’s fine.’
So, my current status window looked like this:
[Name: Park Moon-dae (Ryu Gun-woo)]
Level: 13
Title: None
Vocal: A
Dance: C+
Appearance: B+
Star Quality: B-
Traits: Infinite Potential, That sounds right (C), Bacchus 500 (B), Catchy Ear (A)
! Status Effect: Death if Not 1st Place
Remaining Points: 1]
The problem was that the song discernment ability I gained this time wasn't added as a fixed amount, but as a percentage.
‘It means if I’m tone-deaf to begin with, the increase will be mediocre.’
I wasn't sure because it was a field I’d never really thought about, but since it was amplified by 300%, I figured it would work to some extent.
So, the song I chose was…….
“Then Moon-dae is also choosing only number seven?”
“Yes.”
Only number seven.
This song was somewhat dreamlike, but the beat was trendy and the melody was catchy, making it uniquely pleasant to listen to.
‘The others were weak.’
The progression was sluggish or they got boring quickly. It wasn't that I knew music theory; I just judged based on my ‘ear.’
Still, it must have sounded plausible, as Kim Rae-bin’s eyes sparkled.
“Hyung, you definitely have a good ear for music. Number seven has the most completeness.”
“Hey, Rae-bin, that’s too much~ What about me?”
“Ah, no, I didn't mean it like that…….”
While Kim Rae-bin was breaking into a sweat at Keun Se-jin’s joke, Ryu Cheong-woo settled the situation with a smile.
“Then we have number two and number seven left as a tie. Let’s focus our research on these two songs.”
“Got it~”
Number two was an R&B-style song that was easy to listen to.
‘I didn't raise my hand because it gets boring quickly.’
Anyway, everyone seemed tired and agreed without a word.
‘I should try to push number seven more properly next time.’
As soon as we finished the morning session, we were called again.
It was a meeting with the content production team. I heard that the title track being made by the company had been selected.
‘…Shouldn't the song normally be discussed with the A&R team?’
I had a bad feeling again, but I couldn't avoid it.
And the song they brought out was……
“How is it? It’s good, right?”
“…Yes.”
The song was good.
The problem was that they had brought a baseball club concept to a disco song…….
This was driving me crazy.