Crisis Into Opportunity
I got off work and went straight home.
The future message, the wager with the department head, a flop group like To.Any...
The sheer intensity of it all had left me so wrung out I felt like I was melting into a puddle.
And yet, for some reason, I was wide awake.
For one thing, my conversation with the rookie road manager, Lee Ye-ji, wouldn’t leave my head.
"Youth Travel was written and composed by Eul, you know!"
"Director Kim Jang-hun did touch it up a little, but Eul wrote and composed it. I think Chief Manager startled her when he brought it up so suddenly."
"It’s a huge issue, right? She thought Chief Manager was going to cut it from the album."
In the end, I couldn’t hold out any longer and grabbed a canned coffee.
As soon as the caffeine hit my bloodstream, the knots in my head unwound all at once.
After letting out a long sigh, I muttered slowly, "So, if I sort it out..."
Youth Travel.
The song that would take To.Any, a total flop of a debut group, and turn their debut track into a number-one hit had been written and composed by one of the members, Ga-eul.
Has there ever been a case like this?
Just because someone is an idol doesn’t mean they lack musical talent.
Korea’s top copyright earner is an idol member, after all.
But an idol writing and composing from the very start of their career?
And one who made a song that went all the way to number one on the charts?
Honestly, cases like that are rare.
No, at least in the information I knew, there weren’t any.
Before I knew it, I’d said it out loud.
"...I did think she was sharp, but Ga-eul..."
Could she be a genius?
No.
She really did seem like a genius.
Maybe I was going too far.
But I’d listened to Youth Travel myself.
She was only in her early twenties.
And she was still an idol member who hadn’t even debuted yet. The fact that she’d written and composed a song like that was astonishing.
My heart started racing then.
Thump-thump.
It beat so hard I could hear it in my ears.
In that pounding, my interest in the To.Any girls began to sharpen into real curiosity.
The future message, the wager with the department head.
Regardless of the provocative issues swirling around me, I’d started to feel the urge to raise To.Any as their manager.
I clicked my tongue before I knew it. "Ah, this isn’t good."
What was I supposed to do now, suddenly taking an interest in To.Any?
Me, the guy who’d been threatening to quit just a few days ago?
"Fine, for now... sleep."
I was too tired for my brain to work properly.
It would all look different after I slept.
I brushed my teeth and dove onto the mattress.
I’d just had coffee, but the moment the soft blanket and pillow wrapped around my face, an unbearable drowsiness came flooding in.
My last thread of consciousness couldn’t hold out against sleep, and snapped cleanly in two.
As my awareness drifted away, a melody I still didn’t know hummed in the distance.
Let’s go on a trip, carrying all our youth with us.
God, what a ridiculous thing.
***
The next day.
Instead of going to Baekhak headquarters, I headed straight to the Sangam Training Center.
Normally I would’ve stopped by headquarters even if I was going out on company business, but I couldn’t be bothered, so I sent a KakaoTalk message to Seok-du hyung.
I could already hear Seok-du hyung’s nagging in my ears, but I decided to leave tomorrow’s headache to tomorrow’s me.
While I chewed through a McMuffin I’d bought as breakfast, I thought it over.
Today, I’ll listen to To.Any perform Youth Travel myself...
If possible, I wanted to persuade Director Choi Jeong-eun too.
She’s a rookie director, but she’s still a director.
From the album concept to the overall coordination.
In the end, the total director makes the most important decisions.
If I want to push Youth Travel, getting on Director Choi Jeong-eun’s good side is the fastest route.
That part was simple enough.
The problem came after that.
I still hadn’t decided whether to push Youth Travel as the title track or as a sub-title track.
If I suddenly say we should change the title song, it’ll sound strange, so maybe I should push it as the sub-title track?
That was a little disappointing.
It was a song that had hit number one on the charts, after all; at the very least, it should probably go in as a double title track.
But if I compromised with reality, then the sub-title route was the right one.
Lost in those thoughts, I opened the door to Practice Room 3.
A melody I was now familiar with reached my ears.
Let’s go on a trip, carrying all our youth with us...
It was Youth Travel, the song that had refused to leave my head all night long.
My eyes widened slightly.
"...Ga-eul?"
Her real name was Ga-eul, and her stage name was also Ga-eul. She was all alone in the practice room, singing to herself.
"Oh? Chief Manager?"
"Why are you here so early?"
"I came out to practice."
"...At this hour?"
Ga-eul’s eyes went round as she nodded.
I didn’t have anything to say to that, so I shut my mouth.
"..."
An awkward silence settled between us.
That’s a problem.
I hadn’t expected one of the To.Any members to be at work this early.
Wasn’t there still more than an hour left before Lee Ye-ji or the others showed up?
As I thought that, I lifted my head a little and saw Ga-eul glancing nervously at me.
She looks just as uncomfortable as I am.
If we stayed like this, we’d only keep reading each other’s faces, so in the end I spoke first.
"I’m just going to look over some paperwork over there, so keep practicing if you want."
"Ah, yes. Understood, Chief Manager."
Ga-eul started practicing again.
Pretending to review documents, I stole sidelong glances at her.
She isn’t wearing glasses today?
Maybe because of that, I could see that Ga-eul wasn’t just good at writing and composing. She was also rather... striking.
Well, she is in a girl group. Of course she’d be pretty.
Still, unlike the polished visuals of a lot of girl groups these days, Ga-eul—true to her name—had a kind of neat, understated beauty.
How should I put it?
There are those straight-A type girls who somehow catch your eye all at once.
If hair, makeup, and styling were done right, she could really explode.
I was absentmindedly turning over Ga-eul’s potential in my head, my chin resting on my hand, when a shadow fell over me.
"...Um, Chief Manager?"
Ga-eul, who’d been practicing dance a moment ago, was leaning toward me.
I jolted inwardly.
Did she see me sneaking glances?
Fortunately, my worry was unfounded.
After hesitating and worrying her lip, a question I’d never expected came out of Ga-eul’s mouth.
"Th-that... Youth Travel."
"?"
"Ye-ji unnie told me about it over text, but is it really going to be on our debut album, Chief Manager?"
My eyebrows rose slightly.
"Youth Travel?"
"...Yes. If it’s going to be cut, I just want to prepare myself."
Why would I cut it?
It was the song that would make your debut track number one on the charts.
Suppressing a sigh, I explained without exaggerating or adding anything extra.
"It’s going in. Don’t worry."
Ga-eul’s eyes widened, then shrank again.
"It really is going in?"
"Yes. It’s definitely going in. The title track might get cut, but Youth Travel won’t be cut..."
"?"
"Ah, no, never mind. Anyway, Youth Travel is absolutely going in, so don’t worry."
Ga-eul’s expression visibly brightened.
"Thank you, Chief Manager!"
Maybe because her voice had become brighter than before.
I found myself asking, "You’re going to sing Youth Travel today, so is your voice in good shape?"
Fortunately, the conversation flowed naturally after that.
"Yes. My voice is in top condition."
"Good. The director will be listening too."
"?"
Ga-eul’s pupils shook wildly.
Her real name was Ga-eul, and her stage name was also Ga-eul.
"W-wait, the new director? You don’t mean for the monthly evaluation, do you?"
"No."
"Then... why the director?"
Questioning, unease, fear.
That was what I read in her black eyes.
At that moment, I realized I’d brought it up far too casually.
Isn’t this going to make her mess up during the live?
After a moment’s thought, I started making excuses to ease her burden.
For something I’d improvised on the spot, they were surprisingly convincing excuses.
"It sounded the best out of all the tracks."
"...Huh?"
"I listened to all the songs on this Attention album, and Youth Travel was the best."
"!"
"That’s why I wanted to hear it live, and while I was at it, I brought the director too. I wanted to know whether it was only good to my ears, or whether it would sound good to the director’s ears too."
Ga-eul seemed flustered as her pupils darted around.
"O-oh... yes. Thank you for explaining, Chief Manager."
She was still a little nervous, but...
She definitely looked better than she had a moment ago.
To give her a little confidence, I carefully patted her on the shoulder.
"So it’s okay if you make a mistake... but if possible, try to do as well as you can. You know what I mean, right?"
Ga-eul glanced at my hand a few times before answering.
"Yes. I’ll do my best, Chief Manager."
"Good. Go on, then, and keep practicing."
After stealing one more look at me, Ga-eul bowed her head.
Then she started practicing again, following my words while Mr. was playing.
Let’s go on a trip, carrying all our youth with us...
Her clear voice rang through the practice room.
Before I knew it, the corners of my mouth had lifted.
She’s the type who does better when you praise her.
The song sounded far better than it had just moments before.
I wondered what Director Choi Jeong-eun’s reaction would be when she heard this live.
Checking the clock again and again, I silently prayed that eleven o’clock would come quickly.
***
Around ten-thirty, all of the To.Any members arrived at work.
After giving them time to warm up their voices, I took the To.Any members and headed to Recording Studio No. 3 with rookie road manager Lee Ye-ji.
Director Choi Jeong-eun, with dark circles hanging under her eyes, waved at us.
"Welcome, welcome."
Judging by the fact that she was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, it looked like she hadn’t gone home.
Should I have bought coffee on the way?
I found myself regretting it for a second, but then I saw the mountain of plastic coffee cups piled up nearby and decided coming empty-handed had probably been the right call.
Director Choi Jeong-eun popped a ginseng candy into her mouth and said, "So... Chief Manager Kwon? What song were the girls going to do live today again?"
"Youth Travel."
"Ah, the song you mentioned yesterday, right?"
"Yes, that’s right."
At my words, Ga-eul’s eyes across from me widened.
Ah, that face. I want to keep it in a photo.
When a normally blunt girl reacted like that, the gap in her expression was... extremely appealing.
I leaned over and whispered to Ye-ji.
"Ye-ji."
"Yes, Chief Manager?"
"You saw the KakaoTalk I sent last night, right?"
"Huh? The practice photos of To.Any?"
"Yeah. If we want to show fans service shots, we’re going to have to keep taking photos like that from now on. For example..."
Without the others noticing, I pointed discreetly at Ga-eul.
"Right now, exactly the way Ga-eul looks. You know what I mean, right?"
"Oh... yes, Chief Manager! I understand what you mean!"
While Ye-ji nodded, Director Choi Jeong-eun herded the To.Any members into the recording room.
"Unnie’s tired, so let’s finish it in one go, girls~"
Since she’d already become familiar with them, the To.Any girls burst out laughing.
At times like this they looked exactly like freshman college students, but the moment they put on the headsets, their expressions hardened as if nothing had happened and they started warming up their voices.
As I watched that with interest, Director Choi Jeong-eun busied herself with the MIDI keyboard and pad controller, then called out to me.
"By the way, Chief Manager."
"Yes?"
"Why are you so hung up on Youth Travel?"
Director Choi Jeong-eun handed me a headset as she spoke.
"Yesterday too... and this morning too. You seem more interested in Youth Travel than in the title track. Is there some reason?"
She was asking the same question Ga-eul had asked.
Had I really made such a big deal out of Youth Travel?
This time, too, I brushed it off.
"I like the title."
"Whoa. That’s your taste? Like, people who shout about youth and love kind of style?"
"What’s wrong with that kind of taste?"
"Nothing, but... it just doesn’t quite match your vibe, Chief Manager."
Ye-ji, who was standing nearby, suddenly jumped into the conversation.
"If I’m being honest, I don’t think it suits you very well, Chief Manager."
"?"
A question mark appeared on my face.
No, not just figuratively. A real question mark.
I stared at Ye-ji in disbelief, and Director Choi Jeong-eun burst out laughing, clutching her stomach.
"Ah, Chief Manager, your face right now is incredible. You know that?"
What was wrong with my face?
"Whew... you’re too funny this early in the morning."
"Shall we get started now?"
"Yes, understood."
Director Choi Jeong-eun grinned and turned her head away.
I followed her gaze and saw the To.Any girls, already finished preparing for the live.
Even though they knew the director, they looked terribly tense in front of her.
Every single one of them except Ga-eul.
Director Choi Jeong-eun gave the signal.
"We’re going to start with the cue sign. We’re doing it in one take without stopping, so sing comfortably."
Director Choi Jeong-eun shouted, "3... 2... 1. Cue!"
To.Any’s Youth Travel.
Their first live performance began.
***
After about three minutes, the live ended and I turned my head.
"How was it, Director?"
At my question, Director Choi Jeong-eun’s shoulders gave a jolt.
"Uh... um... uh..."
Director Choi Jeong-eun, completely broken and unable to string a sentence together.
After fumbling for words for a while, she finally managed to finish her thought.
"...It’s good?"
The corners of my mouth twitched.
"I don’t even know what’s good about it... but it’s so good? Wow, seriously. What is this? I think this is even better than the title track."