Chapter 33
Shake.
Shake, shake, shake.
The sound of trembling legs knocking against each other came from all over the place.
Se-rang checked where the sound was coming from and sighed. What was she supposed to do with them when their hearts were that weak?
“Don’t be nervous. Don’t get scared. Are you going somewhere dangerous?”
“Produceeer….” Seo Dowon looked up at Se-rang with a tearful face.
…He kind of feels like a chick…. Wait, then does that make me the mother bird? Absolutely not.
“Did something happen to all of you? You got drilled into shape overnight? I don’t think you were this scared yesterday.”
“…….”
The three trainees could not bring themselves to tell Se-rang about the conversation they shared last night, so they kept their mouths shut.
How were they supposed to say, Producer, unlike our expectations, you’ve done such a good job that we’re the ones who became desperate?
“Are you guys still acting like this because you don’t trust me?”
Of course, Se-rang knew too.
When these three trainees first came in, all three of them had not trusted her at all.
And she also knew they still had no choice but to doubt her a little.
But as far as Se-rang was concerned, she had proven her abilities well enough by now, so she couldn’t understand why they were still this anxious.
“Not at all!”
“Absolutely not.”
“Definitely not…!”
But at the three trainees’ immediate and forceful denial, Se-rang narrowed her eyes.
“Then what is it? What made you guys this scared?”
“…It’s just….”
“We felt how lacking we were.”
Se-rang laughed.
As if that was new.
“Today isn’t the actual competition. It’s just an interim evaluation. What are you getting so scared about?”
“But the other teams are all coming too….”
“You think the other teams are all that amazing? When I saw them last time, they were all about the same.”
That was absolutely not true. The other teams really were talented.
Se-rang felt her conscience prickling and turned her gaze away.
If Seo Dowon was at this level, then the others were….
“Don’t mess up the lyrics, don’t mess up the lyrics, the lyrics….”
He’s out of it.
Se-rang summed up Seol Yuhyun’s condition in a single sentence.
“If you don’t want to mess up the lyrics, mumbling that you shouldn’t mess up the lyrics won’t help. Mumbling the actual lyrics during that time would be much more useful.”
“Ah!”
Yuhyun’s eyes widened as though he had gained enlightenment, and then he started mumbling the lyrics instead.
Forget it….
Se-rang took out the pear-and-balloon flower root juice she brought from home and handed it to Dowon and Yuhyun.
(Translator’s Note: Pear-and-balloon flower root juice (배도라지즙) — Korean health drink made from pear and doraji, or balloon flower root. It is commonly consumed to soothe the throat and support vocal condition, especially by singers and people who use their voices heavily.)
“Drink this, then let’s do one last rehearsal. The filming team will arrive in thirty minutes.”
“Yes!”
And lastly.
Se-rang walked over to Jung Taeha, who sat alone in the corner of the practice room, looking gloomy.
“Why are you sitting here like this? You get up too, drink some pear-and-balloon flower root juice, and get ready for rehearsal.”
“Producer.”
“What?”
Taeha hesitated for a long while, even biting his lip.
“It’s fine if you can’t speak, but don’t bite your lip. Do you want to go on broadcast with your lip split open?”
“!”
At Se-rang’s words, Taeha immediately released his innocent lip.
“What is it?”
“…No matter how much I think about it, I think we need to redistribute the parts.”
“Redistribute the parts?”
At this point?
Se-rang frowned.
“Why?”
“Yuhyun has too many parts, so it’s hard for him to handle—”
“Taeha.” Se-rang cut Taeha off as if she didn’t even want to hear more. “You worry about yourself.”
“!”
“Is now the time for you to worry about someone else’s mentality? This is Yuhyun’s stage, but it’s also your stage.”
“…Yes.”
Se-rang crossed her arms with a firm expression and looked down at Taeha.
“Just because I’ve been telling you you’re good, you seem to think you’re some master singer. You’re only relatively better among trainees. I didn’t mean you were the main vocalist of the century. I think I told you this before too. You haven’t debuted yet either. You haven’t achieved all your dreams. So what are you doing, worrying about someone else instead of focusing on your own life?”
“…….”
“Do you want to help Yuhyun?”
“…Yes.”
“Then do well first. If the center properly holds the stage together, even if the sides are comparatively weak, people won’t even notice that.” Se-rang said that and handed Taeha the pear-and-balloon flower root juice. “You drink this too, get your head on straight, and join the rehearsal. Got it?”
“Yes.”
Pitiful kid.
Se-rang sighed as she looked at Taeha, whose spirit had completely deflated from worrying about someone else.
I can’t believe he’s the one I’m most worried about out of the three. This is hopeless. I thought I at least wouldn’t need to worry about Jung Taeha, but I was wrong.
The other two were nervous too, but they didn’t feel dispirited. Taeha was the one whose spirit was crushed.
This won’t do. Se-rang narrowed her eyes.
Unfavorable signs kept appearing.
“Hmm.” Se-rang realized she needed some special measure. “Yuhyun.”
“Yes?”
“Come here for a second.”
So Se-rang called Yuhyun aside.
“…So, try doing… that.”
“Right now?”
“Yeah. You’ve tried it before, haven’t you? Be honest.”
“Of course… I have tried it, but….”
I knew it. Se-rang smiled faintly. All rookies think the same.
“During the rehearsal now. Try it once.”
“But… then….” Yuhyun looked down at Se-rang with a confused face.
But Se-rang only shrugged. “Just trust me and try it. It’s just a rehearsal no one’s watching, so what does it matter?”
“…Yes!”
Yuhyun looked doubtful, but he still nodded. His face suggested he assumed Se-rang had some plan.
Of course, even then, Yuhyun did not forget to glance at Dowon once.
“Alright, let’s run the rehearsal once!”
Instead of giving Yuhyun time to hesitate, Se-rang immediately called out to the staff.
Dowon and Taeha, who were drinking the balloon flower root juice, hastily set it down and immediately began taking their formation. Yuhyun hurriedly joined them too.
But.
The moment the song started, the clumsy panic disappeared completely from the three trainees’ faces, replaced by expressions of total immersion.
That’s it.
Se-rang grinned.
The place where you lifted me up
Was it over tragedy or over comedy?
Baby I'm a bit confused
The rehearsal that began that way seemed to proceed no differently from their usual practice.
But as the song progressed a little further and the chorus came in—
“!”
Taeha’s eyes began to shake with confusion and surprise.
Of course they did. Originally, Taeha was supposed to sing this chorus part alone, but now Yuhyun was singing it together with him.
Dowon also noticed something strange and glanced at Se-rang, but after seeing her calm expression, he seemed to understand something.
He probably figured Se-rang had ordered it.
And not only did Yuhyun sing every part Taeha had been supposed to sing alone together with him,
This is the happy ending you gave me
But I call it a merry bad ending
But you see, I—
Even during the climax where Taeha’s ad-libs exploded like mad, Yuhyun responded with different ad-libs of his own.
(Translator’s Note: Ad-lib (애드리브) — Improvised or decorative vocal line added during a performance, often in climactic sections.)
“…!”
Taeha looked surprised for a moment, but he soon naturally responded to Yuhyun’s ad-libs.
Good.
It couldn’t be called perfect singing, but this much would be enough proof.
When the song ended, the three trainees gasped for breath, stared at one another with dazed faces, then looked at Se-rang.
Se-rang said only one thing to them. “You saw that, right?”
This much would snap them wide awake.
All three of them.
You may not know this, but I’m currently drawing out the maximum of your abilities.