A Shift in Color

"A new album?" Suyun twirled a strand of her hair. Team Leader Jung Yuyoung had brought it up once before—that they needed to release a new track for their Japanese promotions. Suyun had agreed back then, but...

"Yes!"

"I know albums and songs don't just pop out of thin air the moment you decide to make them, but..."

"I... I suppose that's true, right?"

Feeling a bit shameless for asking, Team Leader Jung Yuyoung's expression shrank slightly. Watching her face, Suyun continued.

"Well, it's not like I don't have songs ready, but..."

"Wait, if you already have songs, why did you even say that?" Iseor asked, looking utterly dumbfounded. Suyun replied to her.

"I'm just saying I'm not omnipotent."

"I don't think anyone thinks you're omnipotent, Suyun. There are tons of things you're terrible at. You can't speak Japanese, you can't read the room, you have zero fashion sense, you don't know how to say nice things..."

"Stop right there."

"'Stawp right thurrr~'"

Suyun pinched and yanked Iseor's cheek. A sharp "Ouch, ouch, ouch!" escaped the girl's mouth, but Suyun had no intention of letting go. She seriously felt like this kid was dedicating every waking hour to teasing her more and more as the days went by.

"Then how long do you think it will take to finish the EP?"

"Well, it depends on how much... man-hours we can put into it. But since I already have some drafts sketched out, it should come together pretty quickly. It'll be fast, but..."

"Is there a problem?" Team Leader Jung asked as Suyun trailed off. There wasn't really a problem. It was just that Suyun had been giving some thought to the kind of music they should release during their Japanese promotions.

"I've been thinking a bit about the musical direction."

"Are you talking about that song you played for me before?" Seoha asked, and Suyun nodded. It hadn't been intentional, but she had only played that particular track for Seoha. It had a slightly different vibe from the music Group Sound had done so far. If she had to compare it to their existing discography, it was closest to Il-mo-to-won ( / The Road is Long and the Sun is Setting) from their first studio album, and... Reality (working title), the unreleased new song they had showcased at their concert.

"Did you... keep a secret... from us...?" Hyun-ah asked.

"Wow, I'm seriously hurt. What, you don't trust us? Discussing things only with Seoha..."

"Why are you twisting my words?"

"It's because they're jealous. They don't really understand 'music,' you see. So when the true audiophiles talk among themselves, leaving out the tone-deaf plebeians, it naturally breeds resentment..." ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Seoha teased.

"What do you even know about music, unnie?"

"At least I know your musical taste is as trash as your fashion sense."

"Hey, step outside."

"Gladly," Seoha replied, teasing Iseor by pretending to stand up. Suyun pushed Seoha back down by her shoulders. They were in the middle of an important conversation, and these idiots were fooling around.

"A change in direction... Is there some kind of issue?"

"It's not really an issue, per se." Suyun twirled her hair again. Where should she begin? It wasn't a particularly complicated story, but...

"Up until now, the songs I've composed have been strictly tailored to Group Sound. I heavily considered what the market currently likes and what we excel at when writing them."

Of course, she hadn't completely erased her artistic ego as 'Ha Suyun.' Even if a song seemed like it would be more commercially successful if written a certain way, if she felt a different direction had a 'better vibe,' she had always steered it that way. But that didn't mean those songs were written entirely in the style she personally wanted. In the first place, the genre wasn't even one she particularly enjoyed.

"The EP I was preparing after hearing your proposal was also heading in that same direction."

"Yes." Team Leader Jung Yuyoung's face grew slightly tense. The other members, who had been playfully bickering just moments ago, also shut their mouths and listened quietly. Suyun pushed up her lensless glasses and spoke.

"But now, I'd like to inject a bit more of my own color into our music."

"Your own color, Suyun-nim..." Team Leader Jung scratched her head, looking as if she had heard something completely unexpected. However, Suyun believed this was the perfect timing to bring it up. It wasn't that she had negative feelings about the kind of music they were currently making. She wasn't some kind of elitist 'rock boomer' or 'rock dinosaur,' and if she had hated it, she wouldn't have made music like that in the first place. Yet, every now and then, she still wanted to play the music she truly loved. Not something with just a hint of her flavor, like Il-mo-to-won. She wanted an album that was 100% her taste, made entirely of her music.

Of course, when we actually make the album, it won't be entirely like that... The other band members would also write songs—which was something Suyun actually hoped for, since collective creation was such a romantic concept—so it wouldn't be a solo show. But at the very least, she wanted to break away from their current formula. That was her goal.

"I know this might be a bit sudden and surprising."

"Ah, hahaha... Ah, yes! Well, I can't deny that it caught me a little off guard!"

"But I think now is the perfect time. Korea's market ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is small to begin with, and the culture isn't big on buying physical albums. Japan, on the other hand, has a massive market and a strong culture of supporting physical releases... So I thought we could use this opportunity to shift our direction slightly."

"Hmm... I see what you mean!" Team Leader Jung replied, clicking her ballpoint pen. A heavy silence settled over the room. Just as the rhythmic clicking of the pen was starting to grow uncomfortable, Team Leader Jung spoke up.

"I don't think we can make a decision right this second. It's not something I can decide on my own, after all."

"Of course." As she spoke, Team Leader Jung's face seemed to flicker with a mix of different emotions. Suyun tried to read her expression, but she couldn't quite decipher it.

"For now, let's do this! We'll translate as many of our existing songs as possible into Japanese and use them for live performances and promotions. While we do that... hmm..."

"Well, I'm not asking to change everything immediately either. And on that note..."

"Yes, go ahead!" Suyun twirled her hair. It felt a bit awkward to ask this when they were in a foreign country constantly spending the company's money, but...

"For the time being, while we'll still perform, I'd like the band members to do some market research. We want to tour around various live houses and watch other bands perform to see what kind of music is popular here. Would that be possible?"

Iseor stumbled out of bed, stretched, folded her blankets, and let out a long yawn. Seoha, who slept on the top bunk, would normally have been awake by now, but she was still fast asleep—likely due to the drinks they had last night.

Ah, we didn't clean up. Realizing they had left the messy living room untouched after last night's drinking session, Iseor scratched her head and shuffled out. But when she reached the living room, she saw Hyun-ah already throwing away the last of the trash and finishing up the cleaning.

"Did you clean all of this up, unnie?"

"Yes..."

"I should have woken up earlier." Hyun-ah gave a soft, weary smile. Iseor popped a capsule into the coffee machine, sat down at the table as the machine whirred loudly, and sank into her thoughts. Her mind was a tangled mess.

"What do you think, unnie?"

"About what?"

"What Suyun said."

"Hmm..." Ever since that day, the topic Suyun had raised had been dominating Iseor's thoughts. 'I want to change our, Group Sound's, color.' Iseor had never once considered such a thing, so she had been incredibly flustered when the subject came up. She had never imagined Suyun would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠think that way.

"Suyun-nim..."

"Yeah."

"...has always told us... to participate in... the creative process, right?"

"That's true."

"I think... this is just... an extension of that. That's how... I see it." But Hyun-ah—and Seoha, though she wasn't here—thought it was only natural for this conversation to happen. In fact, they thought it was quite overdue. After all, both of them were fundamentally artists who walked the path of creation.

"Is that so?"

"Honestly, Suyun-nim... writes almost all of our songs... but not being able to write them... in her own style... must have been... a bit..."

"Hmm." Iseor lightly touched her hair. Thinking about it that way, it did seem like an obvious issue. If Iseor had been the sole composer, she would have written whatever she wanted. Wait, so Suyun has been writing songs that aren't even her style just to cater to us this whole time? For a split second, Iseor wondered, Is she an angel? No, that couldn't be it. If angels existed in this world, Suyun would probably be the very last person called when they revealed their identities. Just looking at how she acted during practice was proof enough...

Hearing the coffee finish dripping, Iseor stood up and grabbed her mug. It was a dark, slightly frothy black coffee.

"Well, it's not like... Suyun-nim is demanding... we change everything right away..."

"True." Iseor sipped her coffee as she listened to Hyun-ah. It wasn't a decision they could make in an instant. But in the end, she knew they would probably follow Suyun's lead. Not just because it was the right thing to do, but... Because Suyun is our leader. Although Iseor had started the band, Suyun was the one who had been leading them ever since. If so, shouldn't she trust her leader? With that thought, Iseor looked out the window. The bright, blazing sunlight made her feel like everything was going to turn out just fine.

Putting the band's direction aside for a moment, Suyun and the girls performed a few times while visiting every single live house they could find. They went at it like people who had been locked in a prison without music for fifteen years.

"Excuse me, could I get your contact information?" In the process, Suyun collected contact details from a massive number of bands. Sometimes she asked first, but most of the time, they were the ones eager to offer theirs. Suyun found this only natural. A popular foreign band had just arrived; of course they would want to network.

Though most of them are just amateurs... Still, Suyun could see why Japan was called a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠band powerhouse. While they weren't mind-blowingly amazing, there were plenty of bands playing genuinely decent music—so much so that she wondered why they hadn't made their 'major debut' yet.

And there was one more thing she noticed. "The genres are incredibly diverse," Iseor murmured as they watched yet another performance. Seoha's response aligned perfectly with Suyun's own thoughts. "It definitely feels completely different from Korea." Diversity of genres. It wasn't that the Korean music market was entirely monolithic, nor was Japan some kind of musical utopia. But even so, Suyun could feel a distinct difference between the two markets. Genres that were hard to find in Korea were heard quite frequently in Japan.

"What do you think? Do we have a shot?" "Hmm..." Suyun twirled her hair at Iseor's question. Considering the music she had heard in the live houses and the actual state of the Japanese music market, it felt like an environment where they had a very solid chance of winning.

Well, we'll have to hold a meeting back in Korea first... Although their schedule was being pushed back due to other tasks—like Iseor, who was currently racking her brain over translating the lyrics—the final decision would have to be made with the company back in Korea. After all, Group Sound wasn't Suyun's personal band. It belonged to everyone.

The vibration of her phone cut through Suyun's train of thought. She walked up the stairs and stepped outside the live house. The slightly warm night air felt a bit unpleasant.

"Hello, this is Ha Suyun speaking."

"Yes, go ahead."

"...The whole of Group Sound?" Suyun was slightly puzzled by the words coming through the receiver. Already? She knew they were getting plenty of requests for press coverage and interviews, but TV too? And hadn't Team Leader Jung herself said they would decline such offers to maintain their mystique?

But the voice coming from the speaker told a completely different story. Suyun twirled her hair at the name of a program she had never heard of in her life...