What on Earth Is a Song Camp?
“A song camp is, well… to put it simply, a songwriting retreat. Or a songwriting boot camp… something like that.”
The general image people have of a composer is usually a hermit locked away in a studio, desperately agonizing to squeeze out a single track. A eccentric weirdo banging their head against the desk, screaming, “I can’t think of any melodies!”
But modern songwriting is different.
To put it in the simplest terms, there are trackmakers, who work on the instrumental backing tracks without vocal melodies, and topliners, who write the vocal melodies and lyrics. If you break it down even further, there are people who only make beats, people who only write chord progressions… the roles are highly specialized. Gathering all these specialists in one place to live together and churn out songs is what they call a song camp.
“Of course, we’re only borrowing the name. What we’re doing today isn’t actually writing a song, but boosting your songwriting capabilities.”
Saying so, Suyun introduced the two people standing beside her. They were external composers specially invited just for today—one to handle trackmaking and the other for toplining.
While the members awkwardly exchanged greetings, Suyun signaled the staff to prepare for the next segment.
“Well, since it’s about lunchtime… shall we start filming?”
“Understood.”
“Filming what?”
Stopping Seoha with a hand as she tried to sneak away, Suyun waited with her arms crossed. Right on cue, a catering truck rolled into the courtyard of the pension. The mouthwatering aroma of various dishes filled the air, and a barbecue machine in the corner hissed, announcing that the meat was perfectly grilled.
The staff swarmed the truck, muttering, “Man, I’m glad I skipped lunch.”
“When do we eat?” Iseor whimpered pitifully.
But her voice was completely drowned out by Team Leader Jung Yuyoung.
“Alright! The First Annual Hell Song Camp! You know the old saying, ‘He who does not work shall not eat’? Along those lines, we’re going with a ‘She who does not write songs shall not eat’ concept! To start, tonight’s dinner will begin with a light warm-up!”
With that, Team Leader Jung dragged out a whiteboard with a scoreboard drawn on it. There were four names listed: Choi Iseor, Jung Hyun-ah, Yoo Seoha, and Ha Suyun.
“Wait a minute.”
“Yes?”
“Why is my name up there?”
“Because you’re a participant, of course.”
Suyun took off her sunglasses and protested. But Team Leader Jung only tilted her head as if wondering what the issue was.
This wasn’t in the plans. Suyun’s original intention was to sit back, cackle at the kids’ suffering, teach them some songwriting, and finish the EP. Why on earth was she a participant?
“What? Suyun, you’re in the same boat as us?”
“Hey, no I’m not.”
“Look at her. Acting all like an instructor, pretending to be on the staff’s side with those sunglasses, but she’s no different from us.”
“A band… should be… one, after all…”
Seeing Suyun get dragged down to their level, the three members swarmed her. Suyun managed to shake off Seoha and Hyun-ah, but she couldn’t budge Iseor. She was completely pinned by the human gorilla.
She wasn’t supposed to be here. She was supposed to be over there, eating a luxurious dinner while tormenting the kids… Suyun wondered if this was how Icarus felt when his wax wings melted and he plummeted to the earth.
“Alright, here is the quiz for tonight’s dinner! There are twenty questions in total, and each question has a dish on the line. If you get the answer right, you get to eat that dish. If no one gets it right, no one eats it.”
“No way! There’s obviously going to be leftovers! It’s overflowing! Can’t you just give it to us?!”
“Absolutely not!”
“This world is corrupt! I declare a strike! I proclaim that I will not take a single step from this spot unless I am fed! Step over my dead body!”
Iseor dramatically threw herself onto the ground. However, Suyun and the others ignored her completely, focusing instead on Team Leader Jung. Seeing this, Iseor awkwardly got back up, dusting herself off.
“What kind of questions are they?”
“They’re music-related! Songwriting, bands, history, you name it!”
“I’m hungry, so let’s just get to the questions.”
“Alright! Then the first question is…”
Yuyoung flipped through the cards, selecting one before letting out an “Ah!” She began to read.
“The Father of Music is Bach. Then, who is the Mother of Music?”
“Who’s Bach?”
“I only know Johann Electric Bach.”
“If there’s a Father and Mother of Music, is there a cousin and an uncle too? What about a nephew?”
“I’ve definitely heard it before, but I can’t remember…”
Iseor and Seoha bantered back and forth. Suyun quietly let them build up screen time, preparing to raise her hand. It was an incredibly easy question.
“Um… correct.”
“Oh! Hyun-ah!”
“Handel…”
“Correct! Here is one meal ticket for you~”
But Suyun’s plans crumbled instantly. She had forgotten that Hyun-ah was a classical music major. There was no way she wouldn’t know this.
“Ah! You got it. I actually knew that, I just didn't say it.”
“Why didn’t you answer then?” Iseor asked.
“I was waiting for you guys to say stupid things to get some screen time before I answered.”
“Stupid?” Iseor scoffed.
Suyun retorted, “Isn’t talking about music’s cousins and uncles stupid?” but her train of thought was derailed by Hyun-ah’s quiet voice from the side.
“A… loser’s… excuse…”
“It’s not an excuse!”
“Then… you should have gotten it right…”
Unable to argue against the absolute truth, Suyun could only tremble in silence. Seeing this, the trio began to tease her mercilessly.
“I am absolutely getting the next question right.”
“‘I aM aBsOlUtElY gEtTiNg ThE nExT qUeStIoN rIgHt~’”
Suyun clenched her fists, her body shaking, but she couldn’t swing. If she resorted to physical violence, she would undoubtedly be subdued by a certain gorilla.
While Suyun fought the urge to shut Iseor’s mouth, Yuyoung spoke again.
“Alright! Second question!”
⋮
After the quiz ended.
“My life is so sorrowful.”
Iseor poked at the stir-fried fish cakes sitting in front of her. Out of twenty questions, she hadn’t gotten a single one right. She had even failed the pity question thrown by Team Leader Ko Kyungmin, who had tried to ensure they at least got fed.
“Rules are rules…”
Team Leader Jung Yuyoung had been merciless, refusing to give them anything. The only reason Iseor had even managed to get the stir-fried fish cakes was because she had literally rolled on the ground, screaming that she would starve to death if she skipped a single meal.
“People don’t die that easily.”
“I will!!”
Her desperate struggle had yielded nothing but a single plate of fish cakes. They were salty and delicious, but that was all she had.
“Hey! Don’t sit over there alone, come over here and eat some pork! Don't tell me you can't eat it? Did you fail the quiz and end up stuck with just fish cakes?”
Seoha was having the time of her life taunting Iseor from near the barbecue grill. Out of sheer frustration, Iseor picked up a small pebble and flicked it.
“Ow! That stung!” Seoha yelped, scurrying away.
Iseor picked up a piece of fish cake, then let it drop back onto the plate.
“To think I have to eat this…”
“Why? You usually can’t even get that. Are you complaining about side dishes now?”
Startled by the sudden voice, Iseor flinched and scrambled back. Suyun had approached without her noticing.
“Oh, look who it is. The food tycoon.”
“I am quite wealthy, yes.”
Suyun smoothly brushed off Iseor’s sarcastic remark, which was laced with about ten percent genuine jealousy. She then casually reached down and snatched a piece of Iseor’s fish cake.
“Hey! You have so much food, why are you stealing mine?”
“What, weren’t you refusing to eat it? You looked like you hated it.”
“I’m going to eat it! I love stir-fried fish cakes. I could eat this 365 days a year. I ate it yesterday, I’m eating it tomorrow, and the day after!” Iseor retorted defensively.
Suyun let out a wry smile.
“Then I guess you won’t need this.”
“Huh?”
“I brought you some tonkatsu.”
With that, Suyun revealed her left hand, which had been hidden behind her back. On the plastic plate was a stack of freshly fried tonkatsu, sauce, and kimchi.
As the mouthwatering aroma wafted through the air, Iseor gulped.
“Don’t need it?” Suyun asked.
“No, I absolutely need it.”
“For free?”
At the prompt, Iseor immediately dropped to her knees, clasping her hands together in prayer.
If there are ten million Ha Suyun fans in the world, I am still one of them.
If there are a hundred Ha Suyun fans in the world, I am still one of them.
If there is only one Ha Suyun fan in the world, that person must be me.
If there are no Ha Suyun fans left in the world, it is because I am no longer of this earth...
As Iseor finished reciting her dramatic prayer, Suyun offered the plate, signaling her to take it. Iseor eagerly reached out to grab it—
“Ah!”
Her hands, trembling with excitement, slipped.
The plate flipped. The tonkatsu, sauce, and kimchi scattered all over the dirt ground.
“Can… can I get one more plate, please…?” Iseor whimpered pitifully.
After the chaotic dinner concluded (though Iseor did eventually manage to get a proper meal), Suyun and the members began their work in earnest.
To be precise, only Suyun was actually working, while the other three received lessons from the guest composers.
“Do you all know about chords?”
“Yes… no, yes.”
“Yes…”
“Yes.”
“What do you mean, ‘yes, no, yes’?”
“I know they exist, but I don’t really know the details. Is it just something the guitar plays…?”
“Go study,” Suyun muttered.
“Since one person answered no, let me explain chords from the beginning…”
It was basic music theory. While the others listened to the lecture, Suyun focused on her own tasks. She put the finishing touches on the song she was delivering to Cream Entertainment and prepared the content for the second shoot, which would take place after the songwriting lesson.
Showing the production process is surprisingly popular.
That was something Suyun had realized from their documentary. During filming, she had just assumed the camera crew was tagging along without much thought. The only thing she had really worried about was ‘Ha Suyun’s past.’ She figured they would handle the rest.
But the public’s reaction had been different.
While many focused on ‘Ha Suyun’s past,’ even more people loved seeing the preparation and behind-the-scenes work of Group Sound—what they did before and after performances, and how they prepared between activities.
“Well, people love this kind of content nowadays! Even videos showing how candy is made in a candy factory get millions of views.”
“Why would anyone watch that?”
“Well… I don’t really know either! But it’s satisfying, isn't it?”
The self-produced content Team Leader Jung Yuyoung had pitched based on that idea was [The Making of the New EP].
The concept of the video was: ‘At a song camp held to boost the members’ songwriting skills, they get inspired for the new EP concept and work together to create it.’ (Though it was slightly staged).
Well, only the timing of the inspiration is slightly off, but there are no lies in the content itself…
Suyun thought as she glanced to her side. The songwriting lesson seemed to be wrapping up. She opened the members’ laptops and began checking the album concept references they had uploaded to the cloud one by one.
Everything seemed to be working fine without any corrupted files, but a nagging feeling tugged at her mind…
Oh, crap. I forgot.
The penalty they had agreed on recently.
‘If you don’t bring a reference, you have to cosplay and post a photo on the official social media.’
The deadline to bring those references was the next meeting… which was today.
And Suyun, busy preparing this entire camp content, had completely forgotten to bring hers.
As the realization hit, Suyun felt the color drain from her face.