Chapter 28
“Whaaat?!”
When all three of them freaked out, Se-rang tilted her head with a cold expression.
“Aren’t you kids preparing to become singers? Aren’t you the kind of people who have the word ‘singer’ attached after ‘idol’? Why are you freaking out so much just because I said we should try singing?”
At Se-rang’s words, the three trainees lost their nerve and drooped gloomily. But Se-rang found this frustrating in its own way.
“Are you going to tremble with your confidence completely shattered every time someone asks you to sing a line after you debut? No, do you not know what idol means? People who are supposed to become someone else’s idol are trembling because they can’t even do their main job. Who would become your fan like that? If you don’t have confidence, go buy some somewhere and equip it. Who would give love to someone who can’t even love themselves?”
No matter how shattered their self-esteem was, did it make sense for them to freak out this much over trying one recording in the booth?
It was a phenomenon Se-rang had never once seen from the idols she raised back when she was Kang Iwon, so none of this felt familiar.
If she had told the kids from back then to try singing once in a studio this shiny and impressive, they would have said, “Producer, did we make it?”
Seriously, these major-agency kids. They should have grown up witnessing the sorrow of a small-to-medium company.
“I know better than anyone that you’re not just lacking, but downright embarrassing. What, are you worried I’ll actually use today’s recording as the official track?”
“…Yes….”
“Does that make sense? Do I look that stupid? To kids who just restarted training?” Se-rang lined the three young men up in chairs. “Think of today as recording your Before version. We’ll record your very first step today, then exactly two months later, we’ll record the same song here again. Then won’t we see at a glance how much you’ve grown?”
“…!”
“I’m certain. Two months from now, you’ll have grown beyond recognition.”
She meant it. Se-rang cast them because she saw potential in them.
If they were trainees without any potential, she would never have brought them in to begin with.
When she saw Yuhyun’s skills through video, she had honestly been unsure. She was still a little unsure even now.
But Se-rang trusted her own eye.
Yuhyun had something. Something that had not yet been unearthed.
And she intended to confirm that today.
“But I’m certain… and you guys don’t seem certain at all. That’s why I’m doing this.”
A healthy mind produced healthy skill. That was also Se-rang’s motto.
Even in her previous life, Se-rang put the most effort into managing the mentality of her artists. Her theory was that a person’s mind had to be firm first before the body could move, and the body had to move before they could accomplish great things.
“So as much as I trust you, you need to trust yourselves too. If you can’t trust yourselves, then trust my eye and my ability for discovering you. If you can’t even trust that, then trust my background, my capital, and my bloodline. If my skills aren’t enough to make this work, I’ll solve it with money. Got it?”
“…!”
The three young men looked up at Se-rang with more emotion than ever before.
These brats.
Look at how their eyes changed when I mentioned my capital.
When she only said to trust her eye, they did not seem particularly moved, but the moment she told them to trust her money, they were immediately persuaded. Somehow, that was irritating.
Even as Se-rang thought that, she laughed softly. Fine, if this put them at ease, then that was enough….
“So, Dowon, you go in first.”
“Ugh.”
“Hey, confidence!”
“Hap.”
“Straighten your shoulders! Your weapon is your bamboo-straight gaze that looks like it wouldn’t bend even if someone hit it, and the delicate, refreshing, innocent beauty that contrasts with it. Got it, Seo Dowon?”
“Yes!” Dowon blushed at Se-rang’s blatant praise, but straightened his back.
Because of that, he grew stiff like some robot when he entered the recording booth, but Se-rang decided she could accept that much.
Once Dowon put on the headset and stood before the microphone, Se-rang also began preparing the recording in earnest.
“Dowon, you memorized all the lyrics, right?”
-Yes!
“Okay. I can hear your voice well. First, let’s sing the whole thing straight through without stopping.”
-Yes!
“Get into the emotion. We’re going in.”
Dowon’s singing began like that, and Se-rang had no intention of interfering or stopping him midway for the first attempt, so she silently listened until the end.
And when Dowon’s song ended, silence flowed through the studio.
“…….”
Not only Dowon, but even Taeha and Yuhyun, who had watched Dowon sing, could not say a word and only broke into cold sweat.
Se-rang was briefly at a loss for words.
Dowon watched Se-rang’s expression and spoke with a deeply gloomy face.
-I’m sorry, Producer….
“What are you sorry for?! Did I say I expected you to sing perfectly today?!” Se-rang deliberately raised her voice, pretending not to be disappointed at all. “It’s fine, Dowon. Think of it positively. Anyway, hm? You already messed up your singing on your first stage, so the public’s expectations for you are currently at zero. That means even if you do only ten, it’ll look like a hundred. Yeah.”
-…….
Hm. Was that not very comforting? Instead of comforting him further, Se-rang decided to give practical advice.
“Dowon. Do you know why you didn’t sound good just now?”
-I feel like I know somehow… but I don’t know how to fix it.
“First, basically, you sing too honestly. It feels like, ‘This is the note, these are the lyrics, and at this beat, I have to spit out these lyrics at this pitch.’ You’re probably like that because you’re obsessed with not making mistakes. Because you aren’t confident in your skills. But in my opinion, there’s no point in worrying about whether you make mistakes right now. Do you know why?”
-Uh… because I’ll make mistakes even if I worry about them…?
“What? You know it well.”
-Haha.
At least he understands himself clearly. Se-rang grinned.
“That’s right. No matter how much you worry, at your current stage, everything’s going to be wrong anyway. So don’t think about not making mistakes, keeping your pitch steady, or being careful not to crack. Don’t think about any of that at all. Just focus only on the lyrics, and go with the feeling that you’re clearly delivering the emotions of these lyrics and this song.”
-…!
“Then let’s go again?”
-Yes! Dowon answered with a bright smile, then immediately drooped his shoulders gloomily.
“What. What’s the problem? What? Why?”
-Producer….
“What?”
-But the lyrics… the emotion of the lyrics is a little difficult. How should I… how should I sing this?
“This is difficult? I thought it matched your current situation perfectly.”
-Pardon?!
“Try chewing over the lyrics. But don’t read them as if a third party is speaking. Read them as your own inner voice, the voice of your heart. Imagine that you’re saying these words to someone yourself.”
-…Yes!
Seo Dowon looked puzzled, but he held the lyric sheet and stared at it intently.
Then he suddenly lifted his head.
With eyes that said he understood now.
-Producer! I… I’ll try singing it.
“Okay. Let’s go.” Se-rang grinned.
It’s nice that the kid doesn’t seem stupid.
“Come out now. Yuhyun, you go in next.”
-Yes!
“Dowon, you did well. It’s a million times better than the first try. Right, guys?”
When Se-rang turned to ask the trainees, the two trainees nodded fiercely.
Even in their eyes, he truly improved far more than before.
-Thank you, Producer…!
“That’s natural. Hurry up and come out. Yuhyun, go in quickly. We don’t have time.”
Even as she sent Seol Yuhyun inside, Se-rang was honestly a little anxious. She had chosen him without hearing him sing in person.
It would be a little troublesome if that live video was his maximum. Se-rang signaled for him to begin with a tense expression.
Then Yuhyun, whose face already looked timid, became even more timid and clasped both hands tightly before squeezing his eyes shut.
Goodness.
With that face, doing that makes the atmosphere feel reverent. Se-rang grumbled. This was why handsome guys were like this.
Don’t look at me
kneeling in front of you
Now I’m begging and begging for your love
“!”
Oh, this….
Se-rang’s eyes sparkled.
Before you, I’m now
turning ugly
But I know, I know you take delight in this
Was it because Seol Yuhyun sang so well?
No. Objectively, Yuhyun’s skill was only “decent.” If this were back when she was CEO Kang Iwon, known for being picky, he would have received only an evaluation of “passable.” At most, she would have said he had a good vocal color.
But there was something that overcame all of that.
Something existed inside Yuhyun.
Thank goodness. Se-rang swept a hand over her chest.
In truth, she had been worried all along. Was his current lacking skill truly his actual ability, or was he unable to fully display his ability because of psychological factors?
It had been a bit of a gamble, but as if to prove her right, her move succeeded.
Yuhyun’s ability had simply been suppressed inside him.
The psychological burden of not holding Taeha back, the anxiety of what would happen if he failed to debut,
and the confidence that had been worn down by looking at skilled people on every side.
All those factors had mixed together, preventing Yuhyun’s true skill from being displayed.
But with just a little prompting, his real ability would surely bloom quickly.
-R-Representative…?
Even after the song ended, Se-rang only smiled without saying anything, so Yuhyun called to her in confusion.
“Yuhyun. Good work. That was amazing.”
-R-really?
“Yes. You… you suit this song very well.”
Honestly, in terms of image, she had been slightly worried that he might not fit it.
But if they brought this out just a little, it would suit him perfectly. Se-rang smiled so widely it almost split her face.
-Th-thank you!
“I mean it. Basically, your voice and your face match this song well. I actually brought it thinking it would suit Taeha best, but there’s an unexpected dark horse here.”
Se-rang could already clearly see the three trainees singing this song onstage before her eyes.
And she could even see herself smiling proudly as she watched them from below the stage.
This will work.
I think it’ll work.
Se-rang clenched her fist tightly.
“Next. Taeha. Go in.”