Chapter 22
“If I could, I’d personally invite people from outside, but the trainers at Imperial Entertainment are the best.”
The problem was that within Imperial, the trainers responsible for debut teams and already-debuted celebrities were different from the trainers who taught ordinary trainees.
Naturally, Seo Dowon, who belonged to Imperial but was still far from debut, would only have met the latter.
But what Se-rang needed right now was the former. She needed the absolute core personnel within Imperial.
And unfortunately, every trainer currently considered the best in the industry was gathered at Imperial.
Because if there was one thing Baek Do-gyeong obsessed over, it was recruiting trainers.
That bastard really does have a uselessly good eye for talent.
It doesn’t help at all in life. Not at all.
Still, at least they weren’t at Yeon Entertainment or Blue Royal, so she should probably consider herself lucky. Se-rang sighed inwardly.
If those trainers had belonged to her brothers instead, she would never even have attempted this proposal.
Those two were currently so focused on eliminating Se-rang that they seemed to have completely united forces.
“Wow.”
“Wooooow….”
Se-rang’s three trainees stood there with their mouths hanging open inside the palace-like apartment.
Outwardly, Se-rang acted as though it was nothing special, but inwardly she was thinking, Just how disgustingly rich are these insane Imperial people?
She had simply told Secretary Cha to find a place close to the company that would not damage her reputation, and she had somehow secured a sixty-pyeong luxury residential complex.
(Translator’s Note: Sixty-pyeong (60평) — A Korean unit of area measurement. One pyeong equals approximately 3.3 square meters (35.6 square feet), so sixty pyeong is roughly 198 square meters (2,130 square feet).
Apparently, it had even been easier to prepare because it was one of Se-rang’s personal properties.
“You’re going to catch flies with your mouths hanging open like that. It’s nothing special, so hurry and unpack. There are four rooms total, and two people will share each room. One room needs to be used as a dressing room.”
“Uh, but there are only three of us, Producer.”
Dowon asked with an innocent expression that clearly showed he had no clue what she meant.
In other words, even if one room became a dressing room, there were still enough rooms for each person to have one individually, so why did two people have to share?
…This brat. Somehow, that irritated her.
“You guys really think no one else is joining our team in the future?”
“…….”
At Se-rang’s sharp question, the three trainees only looked at one another.
So they really had thought that.
“No. What idol group debuts with only three members these days?! At minimum, it’s four members!”
“B-but… Producer only picked th-three people….”
“Obviously because I planned to steal the remaining members from other teams!”
You really had to spell this out for them? This was deeply wounding. These kids truly had rock-bottom trust in her.
Well, it wasn’t hard to understand, but Kang Iwon’s pride still took serious damage from it.
“Just wait. Once the first competition ends, other trainees will be begging to join our team.”
“H-ha….” Dowon laughed awkwardly and nodded, but there was absolutely no expectation in his eyes.
That was oddly irritating. Se-rang barely held herself back and sighed.
“Anyway, after unpacking today, memorize all the lyrics to this song.”
“!”
“The song’s already finished?”
When Jung Taeha and Seol Yuhyun asked in surprise, Se-rang nodded proudly.
“Want to hear it?”
“Yes!”
The three of them nodded enthusiastically, excited to finally hear their own song for the first time.
Se-rang smirked and gestured toward the dining table.
The dining table seated six people too, so she definitely needed to fill every seat eventually.
Once everyone sat down, Se-rang played the song from her phone.
“…….”
The three trainees listened to the song with more concentration than ever before. Fortunately, this demo version was not sung by Se-rang herself. It was performed by a professional demo singer Secretary Cha had connected her with.
It sounded kind of strange when I sang it, but it sounds way better with a proper demo singer.
Honestly, when she first sang it herself, she had briefly hesitated.
Strange… this definitely stayed at No. 1 on the Watermelon Chart Top 100 for three weeks….
But now that the demo singer performed it, the exact feeling she remembered was there immediately.
“What do you think?” After the song ended, Se-rang asked the trainees.
But the three of them could not answer easily and only glanced at each other nervously.
Seriously, this is frustrating.
“Is it bad? If it’s bad, say so. We need to change it quickly.”
There was no way it was bad, so this was strange. Were their ears just terrible? How could anyone think her song was bad?
“No! No! It’s absolutely not bad! It was so… so good that we were honestly shocked.”
At Yuhyun’s words, the other two hurriedly nodded.
“Really? Seriously? You can’t lie here. You have to be honest. This is practically your debut song. That’s how important it is, so I really want you guys to perform a song you genuinely like.” Se-rang spoke sincerely. She did not want to raise her idols into nothing more than puppets.
If people only followed orders forever, everyone inevitably ended up unhappy later.
She wanted them to sing songs they liked and do things they loved. Of course, no one in life could only do exactly what they wanted forever, but as long as her abilities allowed it, she wanted them to live doing only what they wanted.
She had always approached things with that mindset. The one and only idol group she had ever raised before had also been raised solely with that heart.
Thinking about those past ties, Se-rang unconsciously became depressed for a moment before quickly pulling herself together.
Stay focused. If I do well now, I can let those kids debut in the best environment too.
“It was really good. I honestly wondered how you managed to choose a song that fit us this perfectly.” That was Taeha.
“People always say I have terrible taste in music, but even I can tell this song is good. Thank you for giving us such a great song.” And that was Dowon.
So all three unanimously liked it.
“Then what’s the problem?” Se-rang genuinely could not figure it out.
The three trainees hesitated briefly before speaking at the same time.
“The song is ridiculously difficult!”
Ah.
So that was the issue. Se-rang immediately nodded.
“It would be. This isn’t an easy song. But if you pull it off well, it’s also the kind of song that firmly proves your skills.”
“That… really does seem true, but….” Yuhyun spoke in a voice lacking confidence. “There are only three of us, and for the three of us to pull off this song… I think Taeha’s going to have a really hard time.”
“Why would Taeha be the only one struggling? All three of you are going to suffer equally.”
“What?!” Dowon reacted instantly. “D-don’t tell me the part distribution—”
“All three of you will get similar shares. Of course, once we assign the parts that suit each person best, there may be slight differences… but nothing significant.”
“Ugh.”
“E-even the high notes…?” Dowon and Yuhyun groaned miserably.
But Taeha nodded as though this was only natural.
“Stop saying weak things. Do you want people saying Taeha’s nothing more than a high-note shuttle from the very first stage? Taeha’s good at low notes too, so should he just hear comments like that forever? I’m not dividing parts based on difficulty. Everyone’s taking high-note parts equally, and everyone has to pull them off perfectly. Understood?”
“…!”
“Stop thinking of yourselves as trainees now. You’re basically people about to debut. Are you going to say you can’t sing a song because it’s difficult even after debuting? And you still want to make money like that? Aren’t you embarrassed in front of the public? The moment a singer thinks, ‘This song is too hard, I can’t do it,’ they’ve already lost before even starting.”
At Se-rang’s powerful words, the three trainees swallowed hard simultaneously.
They had not expected much from her at all, but now they could feel she was far more charismatic as a producer than they had imagined.
“For today, just memorize the lyrics and familiarize yourselves with the song by ear. If you still have energy left, go to the company and try singing it once in the vocal room. Of course, you definitely won’t manage it yet. Not just Dowon and Yuhyun—even you, Taeha, are still lacking a lot from what I can see. This isn’t the time for you to feel relieved either.”
“Yes, that’s true….”
“You only get called main-vocal material because you’re standing between these two right now. You know that if you went to the other two teams, you wouldn’t automatically secure the main vocal position, right? That doesn’t mean your skills are absolutely lacking. It means the other teams’ main vocalists are just that strong.”
At most entertainment companies, he would naturally secure the main vocalist position, but this was Imperial. The entertainment company every talented trainee dreamed of entering first. There was a reason it was called the No. 1 entertainment company in the industry. Se-rang judged things coldly.
“…Yes.” Jung Taeha acknowledged it obediently despite looking slightly frustrated.
He probably understood his own abilities too.
Se-rang intended to give them as many opportunities as possible and provide everything she could for them, but she had absolutely no intention of treating them softly.
If anything, she intended to judge them more coldly than anyone else would.
“Starting tomorrow, you’ll be working with the trainers. So for today, just prepare yourselves mentally first.”
“Yes!” The three answered loudly in unison.
At least she liked the energy in their voices. Se-rang grinned. Young people really were admirable for this reason.
Now then….
Time to go meet Baek Do-gyeong and make good on what she had just said.