Chapter 184: Paper Airplane
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 184: Paper Airplane
One by one, the completed recordings piled up.
Out of the six tracks, we only went to an offline studio to record two of them.
Both were recorded at his company.
YM had offered to book their recording studio for us anytime we needed, but no one was about to go without being asked.
We were a group of VTubers, after all. I figured it would be strange for any of us to willingly venture outside for work, let alone for fun.
[Great work, everyone!]
When the seemingly endless recording sessions were finally over, we had a celebratory chat session among ourselves, like college students after their final exams.
[Ahhhhh! It's overrrr!!!]
If you had to ask who was the happiest, the answer was obvious.
The undisputed queen of re-recordings.
Fumurin.
She spammed emojis as if she were sobbing her heart out.
[Luka unnieee... We survived...]
The urge to mess with her slowly crept up on me.
My power level doubles when I'm not face-to-face with someone, so I immediately fired off a long message to troll her.
[Hey... I know it's funny for me to say this, but I'm a little offended to be lumped into the 'bad at singing' category with you.]
[I mean... I at least take singing lessons and do 'musical activities'...]
[But I heard you had to 're-record' again yesterday.]
The members who got the reference burst out laughing, while Leah, who was lost, just typed question marks.
[Wow... Luka unnie... you're so mean. Forgetting you were once a tadpole, are we?]
[Nope~ Don't know what you're talking about~]
Just knowing there was someone one step below me was strangely comforting.
I wasn't aiming to climb any higher. I didn't think it was possible, anyway.
Subjectively, I'd rank our members' singing tiers something like this:
Fumurin < Luka <<< Jennifer < Clover <<<<<<<< Leah
We used to seem about the same, but I think I'm a tiny bit better than Fumurin now.
[Hey guys, have you seen the music video?]
[What music video?]
[The one for 'I'll Cheer For You!' I think the work on our group choreography avatars is almost done.]
As expected, Jennifer unnie, who interacts the most with Manager unnie and the staff, was the first to bring us this kind of news.
[Omg omg omg, I wanna see too.]
[You know you can't leak this, right?]
It was only a ten-second clip, but inside, all of our avatars were lined up, performing a cute dance in perfect sync.
Though 'simple routine' felt more fitting than 'choreography'.
My avatar with its swishing pink hair.
The more I looked at it, the cuter it seemed.
[Wow... Then our VR shoot must be soon, too.]
[They said they'd give us a separate notice about that.]
[Lmaooooo this album's center is me, me!]
Having five members meant there would always be a clear center.
I was the center for our first album, and though I wasn't for the second, I got to be the ending fairy instead.
It would be a lie to say I wasn't greedy for the spot, but none of us ever complained about the distribution.
They'd already told us we'd all get a turn, and it wasn't like we were actually performing on a real stage anyway.
What did positions matter when we were just waving our arms around in our rooms?
[Ah... but after this album comes out, don't we only have one album left?]
First album. Second album. The collaboration album. And finally, the third album.
We were supposed to release a song each season, so after this one, the 'end' we all dreaded was approaching.
[No... contract extension...?]
A sense of longing made me tap my thumb against the screen.
It felt like being at a karaoke with time running out.
The less time we had, the more desperately and anxiously we hoped for an extension.
[Nothing's been announced yet. But... I did hear they're preparing for a second generation or the next project.]
Jennifer unnie's words cast a somber mood over all of us.
[If a second generation debuts, are we past our expiration date?]
[Hey! We're not expired convenience store food! What's with the 'expiration date' talk!]
It was Clover unnie who snapped back at Fumurin's comment.
[They won't just end it like this. We're so popular, it would be a loss for the company to just drop us.]
She wasn't just saying that to make us feel better; it really seemed to be the case.
The goose that lays the golden eggs. The first generation of CLOSER.
Letting all five of us go at once would be a difficult decision for us and for YM.
[If we just keep working hard on our streams, they'll contact us again, right?]
I hoped that by fall, there would be news that would make us all happy.
The whirring of the fan cooled down the sweltering heat of my studio apartment.
*
“Here. The contract.”
The person handing it over and its contents were a stark contrast.
“It looks pretty fancy.”
“I didn't make it. This is the standard one the company gives out when they sign an artist.”
That explained why it looked too clean and polished to have been prepared by my teacher.
The Bitdam logo and calligraphy decorating the cover were particularly impressive.
I ran my hand over the glossy plastic coating before flipping through the pages.
“Well, you can just read through it, but do you need an explanation?”
“Uh... that would be great, yes.”
“Ah, right. Whether you sign with us or not, you'll need to know how to read these when you get work.”
The teacher pulled up a chair and sat next to me, beginning his explanation in his characteristic lecturer-like tone.
“First off, what do you think is most important when you look at something like this?”
“Um... the... copyright?”
“Yeah. Just listen. I'm only explaining this once, got it?”
After asking the rhetorical question, he flipped through the pages, pointing out the key sections that composers generally need to check.
“But! You still have to read the whole thing eventually! You know that!”
“Of course.”
“I've seen a few kids who ruined their careers because they only looked at the numbers before signing.”
“I'll keep that in mind.”
As he'd mentioned, the contract was Bitdam's standard agreement.
Honestly, hearing that my teacher had signed the same contract was the most reassuring thing of all.
I'll read it over one more time before I sign.
“Hey, Taemin. It's not really my place to say, but clean up your desk before you leave today.”
“Okay, I'll clean it up later.”
I felt it was a little unfair, since my desk wasn't very big to begin with.
With a laptop, a keyboard, the reference books he'd given me, and a tablet, the desk looked full with just a single coffee cup on it.
Plus, there was still an empty ramen container from yesterday that I'd forgotten to throw out, so his complaint was perfectly justified.
“What's this? Did you make some origami?”
The teacher picked up the paper airplane sitting next to the pen holder.
“Ah... yeah. Something like that.”
“Hey. I bought you this paper to take notes during our lessons, you punk.”
About to scold me in a playful tone, he slowly unfolded the paper to look at what was inside.
“...Huh?”
Sigh. I should have just thrown it away.
Leah's contact information, which I'd kept just in case.
I never imagined my teacher would be the one to find it.
“What is this? Did you write it?”
“No. My handwriting isn't that cute.”
“Then who did?”
“The person whose name is on it.”
My teacher's eyes weren't usually that big, but right now, they were as wide as Doah's.
“What! Leah gave this to you! When!”
“The last time you weren't here... when we were recording...”
“...What about me?”
He sounded like a child asking why he didn't get one, and for a moment, I was speechless.
“But she only gave it to me so I could contact her if there was a problem with the recording.”
“She didn't say anything like that to me! When we were working on my song!”
“That's probably because when we ate that day, you praised her for being so good, saying she was amazing for nailing it in one take.”
It was ridiculous for him to expect Leah to ask for a re-record after he'd said that.
“Ahhhhh! I should have just said she was bad at singing!”
The teacher, filled with regret, tore at his hair.
“But why did you re-record with Leah-ssi and not tell me! More importantly, when did you do it!”
“I didn't.”
“...Huh?”
“I didn't. There was no need to.”
If I had, I would have told you already because of the studio rental fee, Teacher.
“Then the number...”
“I didn't really need it, so I just left it like that. I was about to get rid of it.”
As I snatched the note from his hand and tore it to shreds, his pupils started to shake as if from an earthquake.
“Heyyyy! Why did you rip it!”
“It's personal information. What if someone found it and made a prank call?”
“No! That's not the point! Han Taemin, you bastard!”
See? If I had left it, he definitely would have used it with ulterior motives.
“You said you're never like this when you work with idols. What's gotten into you?”
“That's for 3D idols!”
“Leah-ssi is 3D too, you know.”
When I gave him a baffled smile, he snorted like an angry bull.
“Get out.”
“Are you really kicking me out over something like this?”
“You bastard. Give me back that contract.”
“Ah, come on!”
Unable to bring himself to tape the shredded note back together, the teacher fell to his knees in despair in front of the trash can. As for me, I called Doah on my way home, like I always do, and told her all about my day.
[Wow... that teacher must be a huge Leah fan.]
[Don't even get me started. He was dead serious.]
[But, Oppa.]
[Yeah?]
[Why didn't you tell me that Leah left you her phone number?]