Chapter 32
“When did I ever…! Ah, no. Yes. I’m absolutely dying from happiness.”
Se-rang hurriedly corrected herself. Well, if that had been the old Se-rang’s taste, there was nothing she could do about it….
“There’s something I want to ask. Will you answer me?”
“I already don’t want to.”
“Did you get a good song? If you still haven’t, I can talk to our company’s A&R team. The people at my company are good at their jobs.”
“You sure know that well.”
I was once offered a chance to join your label, after all. She knew very well just how capable that company’s A&R team was.
“But I already got a song. Don’t worry.”
“Already? Whose song is it?”
“I don’t really want to say.”
If she told him she composed it herself, he’d definitely find it strange. It was going to become public eventually anyway, but she wanted to delay him finding out for as long as possible.
Because the person who knew the real Yeon Se-rang better than anyone else in the world was this man.
If he learned that Yeon Se-rang had composed a song, he would probably be the most shocked person of all.
“What are you hiding so much for? Did you secretly find some hidden genius?”
“Exactly. Such a carefully hidden genius that I never want to reveal them to the world.”
“Hmm.” Baek Do-gyeong smiled strangely and nodded. “Then it’s okay if I hand the song I currently have over to Seungha instead, right?”
“…What?”
“You know already. I raised Seungha. She sent out an SOS this time asking me to help her. Just happened to have a song I’d been keeping around too. I was planning to give it to you if you needed it, but since you don’t.”
“…….”
If she told him not to give it away here, that would seem way too petty, right?
Se-rang ground her teeth together and smiled. “Give it to her. Go ahead. No matter what kind of song it is, there’s no way it’ll be better than mine.”
“That’s some confidence.”
“If I didn’t have confidence, I’d be dead.”
“Alright then, Miss Yeon Se-rang. Go up safely. Or should I walk you all the way to your door?”
“I absolutely refuse. Go home and recover or something. You’re the patient here.”
“Thanks for worrying about me. Being worried over actually feels pretty nice.”
“Get lost already.”
Se-rang reacted with visible disgust before striding toward the elevator in the underground parking garage.
Then she turned around.
Baek Do-gyeong was still standing there waving at her.
What a lunatic.
Se-rang shook her head.
“Let’s take a short break.”
At a single sentence from Jung Taeha, the other two men collapsed onto the practice room floor.
The choreography itself wasn’t particularly difficult since the movements were large and straightforward, but the amount of stamina it consumed was enormous.
This too had been entirely part of Se-rang’s arrangement. She had said that if they used detailed choreography, Seo Dowon obviously wouldn’t be able to handle it, so instead they should take advantage of Seo Dowon’s unique physique and excellent stamina by focusing on large, powerful movements with less detail.
And their choreographer had perfectly reflected those requests when creating the choreography.
Even to them, trainees who had not even debuted yet, this choreography not only suited them perfectly but also brought out the song’s appeal far better.
In truth, all three trainees had already realized it.
Their producer was far more competent than they had expected.
Of course, the three of them had been genuinely grateful to Se-rang for casting them, but none of them had expected her to actually perform well as a producer.
That was why they had planned to make up for their producer’s shortcomings through sheer effort. Seo Dowon hadn’t even imagined he could make up for those shortcomings himself, but at the very least, Jung Taeha had thought that way.
Taeha honestly hadn’t held any expectations toward either the other two members or Se-rang. He had simply thought that Se-rang had already given him everything he could ask for by giving Seol Yuhyun a ticket to participate in the first performance round.
So although he felt sorry toward Yeon Se-rang, his plan had been to show off both his and Yuhyun’s abilities as much as possible during the first competition round, then transfer together to another team and debut there.
Because he believed they would never debut if they stayed on Yeon Se-rang’s team.
But now, the ones who were actually lacking… weren’t Yeon Se-rang, but themselves.
Se-rang had only proven herself to be the best possible producer.
She had brought them a song anyone would admit was good, brought them choreography anyone could recognize as excellent, and at the same time had thoroughly checked whether they could actually handle it, tailoring everything specifically for them.
And that wasn’t all. She continuously adjusted the song to match their vocal tones and ranges while steadily elevating their singing techniques to the next level.
For someone who wasn’t even a trainer, guiding them this far was honestly incredible. In the recording booth, whenever Se-rang simply said, “Try doing it like this,” the blocked parts would miraculously open up.
Whenever the trainees lacked something, Se-rang tried to fill the gap somehow using her own abilities, while quickly discovering each trainee’s strengths and maximizing them.
Even trainees who knew nothing could feel it.
No, maybe the other two didn’t realize it completely, but Taeha definitely did.
Taeha alone had already passed through more than five entertainment companies.
Not a single producer at any company had ever managed to pull out his abilities like this.
Honestly, if it had stopped there, he might not have thought much of it. But Yeon Se-rang was even managing to save Seo Dowon, who objectively wasn’t at a debut-ready level.
And what about Seol Yuhyun?
Taeha liked Yuhyun tremendously, but he also knew Yuhyun occupied an awkward middle ground that wasn’t quite enough for debut.
Yet the current Seol Yuhyun… was catching up to him at a frightening pace.
“…….”
Taeha lay there silently staring at the practice room ceiling.
How had a producer this skilled never become known until now?
No matter how much Se-rang claimed she could solve everything with money, Taeha knew better.
This wasn’t something money alone could solve. Se-rang’s own capabilities were simply extraordinary.
That was why he felt happy, yet also afraid.
Because if they failed to produce good results even after receiving production this perfect, then it meant the problem lay entirely with themselves.
“What’re you thinking about?” Yuhyun rolled across the floor and lay down beside Taeha.
The movement itself radiated determination to avoid standing back up at all costs.
“I think we’re screwed.”
“What?” Seol Yuhyun shot upright in shock. “Why? Why are we screwed?”
“…If you don’t get it, just lie back down. We still have more practice.”
“You can’t make people anxious like that without taking responsibility.”
Taeha sighed, then sat up himself and faced Yuhyun. “You… if we screw up during the upcoming interim evaluation…”
“…Then?”
“Doesn’t it feel like no company anywhere would debut us after that?”
At those words, even Seo Dowon, who had been silently listening from far away, rolled over toward them.
“…Can I join too?”
“Don’t ask stuff like that and just join us, hyung.”
Taeha sighed at Dowon, who still constantly watched their reactions.
“Explain what you mean, Jung Taeha.”
“I mean… don’t you think we’re receiving… perfect production right now?”
“I do.”
Seo Dowon blinked blankly as though he didn’t understand, but Yuhyun answered immediately.
Since Yuhyun had spent nearly as long as Taeha bouncing between entertainment companies and trainee periods, there was no way he wouldn’t notice.
“Hyung might not know because your trainee period wasn’t that long… but we’ve at least seen things from the sidelines. We know roughly how debut teams get produced. Both Yuhyun and I have been part of debut teams before.”
“…Though we both got cut at the final stage.”
Jung Taeha casually ignored Yuhyun’s quiet addition.
“But our producer… she’s definitely not incompetent.”
“Not just that, honestly… I’ve never seen someone this good at their job before…. Even at Blue Royal, nobody ever polished us this well.”
Unlike Taeha, who had immediately dropped formal speech after being told to speak casually, Yuhyun still mixed polite and casual speech toward Dowon because he was technically one year older.
Dowon didn’t understand much about trainee hierarchy or strict seniority culture because his trainee period hadn’t been long, but those two had suffered under that culture for far too long.
“That much?” Dowon asked with wide eyes.
“Yeah.”
“Yes.”
“I see….” Dowon nodded in admiration, then tilted his head in confusion. “But why is that a problem? Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Hyung, think about it.” Taeha spoke as though frustrated. “Let’s say you’re the CEO of an entertainment company.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And there are trainees who received perfect production, but they still perform badly and their stage sucks.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Then would you want to recruit them?”
“…No?”
“Of course not. I wouldn’t either. It’d mean they can’t even eat when the table’s already fully set for them. If trainees can’t succeed even after being supported by a top-tier company, what entertainment company would bother taking them?”
“…….”
At those words, Dowon’s face turned pale.
“Then what do we do?”
“What else? Practice. If we screw this up, we’re seriously doomed.”
At that, the three trainees sighed and pushed themselves back up again.