Chapter 28: Do You Want to Be Special? (6)
28. Do You Want to Be Special? (6)
The world is unfair.
Undeniably unfair. Even acknowledging that arts and sports transcend mere effort and enter the realm of innate talent, this was just too much. I stared at the numbers before me in sheer disbelief—this time for entirely different reasons.
"Wow, Lee Do-ha's composition at 34%? Thirty-four? Three-four?"
Those insane songs he'd made before were only at 34% of his full potential? So this is why they say art is only for those born with it.
"What a luck-based game."
[System Alert: Life isn't easy.]
"Hearing that from you just makes it more infuriating because it's so damn believable."
The mere thought of competing against these freaks to make it into the top ten was already giving me a headache. I pressed my temples firmly, trying to ease the throbbing.
I needed sugar right now, but the chocolate bar I had was already snatched by Seo Tae-hyun and Dan Ha-ru during their late-night practice. Left with no choice, I grabbed a box of tangerines Joo Eun-chan had bought and returned to the living room.
"Well, at least we're in the same team for this month's evaluation."
I squeezed a plump, orange-glowing tangerine in one hand, peeled off its thin skin, and popped the sweet, tangy segments into my mouth. The burst of flavor was satisfying enough to make me nod in approval before picking up my charging phone again and opening the messenger app.
The group chat I had pinned at the top was still buzzing with chatter.
[Miro_Hyung_GongSeok]Still, I'm the hyung here, so this is kinda embarrassing.
[Miro_Dongsaeng_YoonTaehee]Aww, no way, hyung~ Haha
[Miro_Dongsaeng_YoonTaehee]But you're good at singing, right? (thumbs-up emoji)
[Miro_Dongsaeng_YoonTaehee]Please carry us in the vocal parts! (praying emoji)
[Miro_Dongsaeng_KimWonho]But are we really not preparing anything?
[Miro_Dongsaeng_KimWonho]Are we just supposed to trust Hajin-hyung?
'They've been yapping a lot.'
The group chat we'd made for the monthly evaluation prep was filled with endless chatter from the three members—excluding me and Do-ha. I didn't need to read every message to know their anxiety about the upcoming evaluation was the reason.
'I should check their stats too.'
Since my skill proficiency wasn't high enough yet, I had to see them in person to assess their stats. I made a mental note to use my skill on them first thing tomorrow and left a short, concise announcement in the still-buzzing chat.
# Announcement #
※ Reply to confirm you've read this (ignoring = phone call bombardment) ※
└ [Miro_Dongsaeng_YoonTaehee]Confirmed! (OK emoji)
└ [Miro_Dongsaeng_YoonTaehee]Hyung, if I say what position I want, will you let me have it?
└ [Miro_Dongsaeng_KimWonho]Got it
└ [Miro_Hyung_GongSeok]Okay, thanks Hajin
Replies confirming they'd seen the message flooded in almost instantly after I posted it. I answered Yoon Tae-hee's question, saying I'd try to accommodate their preferences, and popped the last tangerine into my mouth.
└ [Miro_SameAge_LeeDoha]Confirmed.
I liked how quick they were to respond. Once the last member, Lee Do-ha, had replied, I turned off the chat notifications and tossed my phone aside. I'd look for stage references later.
"Hyung~ What're you doing?"
"Hyung, we're back."
I was lying down, peeling another tangerine, when the front door opened. The day's guests—including the apartment's owner—had returned, apparently done with practice. Dan Ha-ru and Seo Tae-hyun, their faces freshly washed and glowing, stopped in their tracks when they spotted me in the living room.
"What? Eating alone?"
"Tangerines. Want some?"
"Obviously."
Dan Ha-ru, who loved food as much as I did, immediately plopped down beside me. I handed him a tangerine while Seo Tae-hyun carefully set his bag down in the corner of the living room before staring at us in horror.
"...Hyung. Did you seriously eat all those peels yourself?"
"Yeah, why? Want one?"
"...Did you fight the tangerines or something?"
"What?"
"The way you ate them makes it look like one of you shouldn't exist in this world."
...I-I didn't eat that many.
"Why you gotta bring me down when I'm eating well?"
"Shouldn't it be 'our kid' instead of 'me'?"
"Why you gotta bring our kid down when he's eating well?"
"What kid?"
"Right here in front of you. Kang Hajin, 20. Prime eating age. Our mom's son."
"Dan Ha-ru, 17. Naturally eats a lot. Only had one kimbap today."
"...Yeah, okay. My bad. Eat up."
Seo Tae-hyun looked utterly done as I shamelessly pointed at myself with a thumb and jutted my chin out. They say you shouldn't even drink cold water in front of kids, but Dan Ha-ru, who had already devoured another tangerine, quickly copied me by drawing a V on his chin. Watching this, Seo Tae-hyun nodded with an enlightened expression.
Then Joo Eun-chan, the apartment's owner and the last to enter, looked at me and Dan Ha-ru sitting on the couch surrounded by tangerine peels and said:
"Gather the peels properly when you throw them away. And don't drop crumbs."
"Yes."
"Yep."
...Well, he is the landlord. Better listen.
Hajin wasn't the type to hate teamwork.
He was confident he could handle assignments alone at an above-average level, but he was also skilled at finding the right roles for his teammates.
After quitting his idol trainee life in his first regression, he'd turned to planning and production precisely because he knew his own strengths. If someone had the will to do something, Hajin was good at figuring out what they could do and putting it to use.
But.
If those teammates weren't people he'd chosen himself, weren't close to him, and—worst of all—had completely different working styles, then (not that he couldn't handle it) he'd feel a little (just a little) stressed.
Like right now.
"Then, like, in the middle, we could do a double tumbling pass!"
"What if we go full ballad? I love this song."
"No, just do 'Love Affair.' It worked well last time we prepped it."
"Oh! What about SPEAR's new song? 'Hush,' right?"
Every time a song suggestion popped up in the group chat overnight, Hajin rubbed his eyes, thinking, Are these guys for real?
Still, they had been trainees longer than him. Maybe this was just a transitional phase of mindless reference hunting.
Then, when the hopeless trio actually brought up those songs at the monthly evaluation meeting, Hajin thought:
'A ballad? You wanna get destroyed by Jung Si-woo and Dan Ha-ru?'
'You're seriously trying to recycle something you used once in performance class?'
'Unless you can outperform SPEAR, shut up. How the hell are a bunch of high school dropouts gonna pull off that suit-sexy concept?'
The words piled up at the tip of his tongue, but Hajin knew better. The more hopeless they were, the worse it'd be to crush their motivation from the start. They'd probably racked their brains all night for these ideas, so it was better to coax them gently at first.
"Wow, you guys brought a lot. Some really good ideas here..."
"Hyung, I saw this video too—they used masks and fire, and..."
"I also looked up the stage that won first place last time."
"I really want to do a ballad."
Humoring them only made the hopeless trio spiral into fourth and fifth-verse nonsense. Hajin needed to cut this off.
Looking for a way to shift the mood, his eyes landed on Do-ha, who had been silently observing the meeting the whole time.
"Do-ha, what do you think of the stuff they brought?"
At Hajin's words, all eyes turned to Do-ha. Yeah, Do-ha, what's your take? Your opinion matters too, hyung. The members murmured.
Then Lee Do-ha, who had stayed quiet the entire time, finally spoke.
"I think..."
"Yeah?"
"...they're all bad."
Oh, you useless bastard.
"Uh, well—"
"I don't like any of them. The ideas you brought."
What the hell is this giant with broken brakes saying right now?
Hajin shot Do-ha a frantic shut the hell up glare, but Do-ha—as socially unaware as Joo Eun-chan and as quick to read situations as Seo Tae-hyun—didn't stop.
"A ballad will just get compared to Si-woo hyung's team. I saw them picking a ballad yesterday."
"......"
"High-difficulty acrobatics might look cool, but if we can't sync properly in a short time, it'll just look sloppy."
"Uh, that's..."
"We should avoid reusing past evaluation material. And SPEAR sunbaenim's comeback song is too obvious a comparison."
This crazy bastard...
We're doomed. No saving this atmosphere now.
Hajin quickly scanned the trio's moods. Their motivation was sinking in real time, each reacting differently.
First. Desperate Rationalization.
"But finding this much in one day isn't bad, right? They're not that bad."
Kim Won-ho, who had brought a performance fit for a year-end awards show, tried to salvage things.
Second. Self-Destruction.
"...Yeah, I guess our database is just lacking... Ugh, I tried to look harder. Honestly, I got lost too. Concepts like these..."
Gong Seok, who had scoured every high-scoring Miro evaluation stage in history, made excuses.
Third. Rebellion.
"What did you prepare, hyung? Just saying everything's bad without giving opinions is really bad, you know?"
Yoon Tae-hee, the ballad fanatic, fired back with a rhyme so sharp it made Do-ha frown.
"It's only fair if you show us what you prepared too."
His tone and attitude were downright rebellious, but he wasn't wrong. The only thing worse than a freeloader in group projects is a critic who contributes nothing. Do-ha nodded in agreement and quietly pulled out his phone.
"Well, I..."
"......"
"...wrote a song."
...Starting with a cheat code?
Yoon Tae-hee short-circuited for a second at the flat statement before stammering in disbelief.
"Y-You mean a song you had written before, right?"
"No, I wrote it."
"So, a song you already wrote."
"No, I wrote it new."
"...Yesterday?"
"Yeah, last night."
What the hell kind of monster is this guy?
When I'd barged into his practice room yesterday, it was already well past evening. He hadn't mentioned writing a new song while I was there, so he must've done it after. Did he really produce a full track overnight?
I wish all talent monsters would just disappear.
While everyone else was stunned, the unshaken Lee Do-ha played the new audio file from his phone.
A slow, heavy electronic bass and drumline started, layered with sharp string harmonies building up one by one.
A pop melody clearly designed to highlight vocals (with Do-ha's auto-tune-laden guide vocals). The well-timed synth bursts and build-ups made it... just right.
'A difficulty level where mediocre dancers and singers can still look decent.'
Meaning Do-ha had put thought into it—into this team's skills. His own dancing included.
Sure enough, the gloomy expressions of the team members brightened like a sunrise over Hallasan.
"I like it!"
"The song's really well-made. Did you think of anyone for the chorus parts? You've got roles in mind, right?"
"Hyung, why'd you hide this ace up your sleeve? You should've told us from the start!"
Once they thought they could do it, the chatter started again. These guys were so easy to read. What'll they do if they debut and stay like this?
'Well, the song is good.'
With Do-ha behind it, failure wasn't an option. This song would get us through the monthly evaluation safely.
But the problem, as always, was that I had zero intention of letting that happen.
"Sorry."
"......?"
"We're not using this song for the evaluation."
"What?"
"Excuse me?"
I'm staking my life on this, kids. You think I'm letting you coast?