Chapter 42
“Right there.”
For the first time in a while, Se-rang had come to work without even putting in contact lenses. She had faithfully dressed up every day to maintain Yeon Se-rang’s image, but today she was simply too exhausted.
Wearing large glasses, she was currently coaching the three trainees on their singing.
Not long ago, Yeon Sae-byeok had given her the “order” to steal a major team in order to suppress Yeon Si-ho, but Se-rang had no intention of moving immediately.
After all, recruiting people involved too many factors to consider and too many people whose approval she needed first.
What mattered right now was the stage only two weeks away, and her team.
“Ease up a little there. If you keep going hard, hard, hard, hard the whole time, the listener gets tired of it. You need to pull back when it’s time to pull back.”
“Yes!” Dowon still looked completely confused, but at least his response was loud and clear.
This punk. If you’re that confused, at least don’t wear it all over your face.
“Controlling dynamics is Taeha’s specialty. Taeha, sing it once for him.”
“Yes.” After replying dryly, Taeha immediately stood beside Dowon and demonstrated it.
“Like that.”
“U-uhhh…. Yes!”
Since he still clearly had no idea, Se-rang gave a small nod. “Taeha. Let him hear it one more time.”
“Yes.”
Even after hearing it another three times, Dowon still couldn’t quite get the feel for it.
At that point, Taeha must have gotten slightly frustrated because he quietly brought over the lyric sheet and pointed at each syllable with a pencil.
“Here. Pull back. Emphasize here. Hold back from here to here, then explode here. Try it.”
“Huh?!”
“I said try it. It’s better for hyung to do it once himself than for me to explain it a hundred times.”
Since when did those two start speaking casually to each other? Se-rang snickered as she watched.
Well, they were stuck together twenty-four hours a day. It’d actually be stranger if they didn’t get close.
Dowon sang exactly the way Taeha instructed him to, and this time he succeeded.
“That’s it!” Se-rang clapped loudly in praise. “Looks like one burst of anger from Taeha works way better than me explaining it a hundred times.”
“N-no, that’s not it!”
“Seems like Dowon’s more scared of Taeha than me.”
“Absolutely…! Absolutely not…! Producer…!”
“That’s a good thing. The scariest person should always be the one closest to you.” Grinning mischievously, Se-rang turned toward Taeha. “Look at him. He’s trying so hard because the person he’s most scared of is Yuhyun.”
“What?!” Yuhyun practically jumped into the air. “Taeha’s scared of me? No way!”
“Look at his eyes. Every time he looks at you, they’re full of complicated emotions. Eyes that don’t want to lose. But also eyes that like seeing you win, while hating it at the same time. That’s what fear is.” After saying that, Se-rang yawned.
Ah, all this overtime lately is really catching up to me.
“Then I guess now I need to find someone Yuhyun’s scared of.”
“I’m scared of Taeha, though….”
“No, you’re not. You just envy Taeha.” Se-rang gestured for the three trainees to sit before dropping onto the practice room floor herself. “Alright then, let’s hear it. Your thoughts after watching the other teams’ performances last time. One by one. Starting with Taeha.”
“Why me first….”
“Because you’re the most honest one here. Once you break the ice, these two will start being honest too.”
Taeha looked vaguely displeased, but Se-rang paid him no mind.
What a prickly little bastard. But no matter how prickly you are, you’ll never beat me.
“First, Seungha’s team. What did you think?”
“They did well. There wasn’t really anything to criticize.”
“But?”
“It wasn’t a stage I’d want to watch twice.”
“That’s it. It just wasn’t very entertaining. Seungha miscalculated this time. They seriously need to stake their lives on fixing the stage itself. The trainees aren’t the problem. The stage is.”
At Se-rang’s summary, Taeha nodded as though he understood perfectly, while the other two merely glanced at Se-rang uncertainly, like they half-understood and half-didn’t.
“Who do you think we should recruit from there?”
“So you were planning on recruiting someone.”
“Of course. We can’t debut with only three people. Five is ideal.”
“From Producer Seungha’s team, definitely….”
“Trainee Jo Ideum.”
“Trainee Kim Hyunseo was good.”
“Eh?”
“…Huh?”
At the conflicting opinions, everyone’s eyes widened.
“How did you pick Hyunseo there? Ideum’s way better!”
“Trainee Jo Ideum is good too.”
“Then why did you pick Hyunseo?”
“Ideum’s image doesn’t fit here.”
“Huh?” Taeha’s answer genuinely caught Se-rang off guard. “Why? Why do you think that?”
“What Producer wants is tall, kind of….”
Taeha looked toward Yuhyun as if asking him to find the right words, but the one who answered was Dowon.
“An image overflowing with testosterone.”
“That’s exactly it, hyung. You nailed it.”
“These brats really say whatever they want.”
Even while reacting in disbelief, Se-rang soon broke into quiet laughter.
These little punks. They perfectly understood the image I had in mind when I gathered these three.
And it was true.
Seo Dowon, 188 cm. Seol Yuhyun, 181 cm. Jung Taeha, 184 cm.
She hadn’t intentionally gathered them that way, but somehow all the tall guys ended up together.
Their facial features also leaned more mature rather than baby-faced. Se-rang nodded as though admitting it.
“But Trainee Jo Ideum is too pretty.”
“And his height doesn’t match ours either.”
“Hm. So you even considered things like that?”
“Of course, the final decision is entirely up to you, Producer.” Taeha subtly stepped back as though removing himself from responsibility at the perfect moment.
Smart bastard.
Since she wasn’t in a bad mood anymore, Se-rang simply nodded. “Well, you’re not wrong. But with Hyunseo, it’s more like….”
“He’s the perfect main dancer.”
“That’s true, but his singing’s kind of ambiguous.”
She absolutely couldn’t call him bad, but it also wasn’t enough to fully satisfy Se-rang.
Another producer might’ve called him a well-rounded hexagonal idol already, but Se-rang’s standards were already at least twice as high as everyone else’s.
“None of us are really main-dancer material, so he’s perfect.”
Se-rang stayed silent.
Honestly, she had too many things she wanted to say, which was exactly why she said nothing.
If Seo Dowon and Seol Yuhyun’s vocals had been perfect, Se-rang would’ve recruited Hyunseo immediately without hesitation.
But leaving Yuhyun aside, Seo Dowon’s vocals still had noticeable weaknesses.
She had already compromised slightly on vocals for the visual position, so compromising again for the main dancer position would be a problem.
“And there’s something important too.”
“What is it?”
“Hyunseo hyung is sexy.”
“…….”
“It’s a charm we don’t have. And he’s 186 cm tall. His proportions match us well. His physique’s even better than ours.”
That was impossible to deny.
Judging from how violently the other two nodded, they all seemed to agree.
Yeah.
Kim Hyunseo definitely… had that kind of vibe….
Even just sitting still, that bastard somehow gave off the feeling that he was dangerous to my heart….
“Was Hyunseo from Blue Royal?”
“He’s at Yeon Entertainment. He used to be at Blue Royal before transferring there, so we know him a little.” Yuhyun answered quickly.
“Then you probably know his personality too. What’s he like?”
“He’s like a Puritan.”
(Translator’s Note: Puritan — Originally referring to English Protestant reformists from the 16th–17th centuries, the term is often used metaphorically in Korean slang to describe someone extremely disciplined, abstinent, strict, or self-controlled in lifestyle and behavior.)
“…?” At the completely unexpected description, Se-rang’s eyebrow twitched.
“He’s insanely strict about self-management. Completely uninterested in anything else.”
“He eats chicken breast for all three meals every day.”
“Countless women approached him, but he never showed the slightest interest.”
“Home-gym-practice room-home-gym-practice room.”
Taeha and Yuhyun seamlessly took turns adding details.
Just from the description alone, he sounded exactly like Se-rang’s favorite type of talent.
“But would he really want to come here? Leave Seungha behind?”
“…Uh….”
The two who had been talking so confidently suddenly clamped their mouths shut, making the back of Se-rang’s neck tense up.
Yeah.
She knew.
Her image was still absolute trash.
I seriously need to do something about this reputation first.
Thinking that she still had a very long way to go, Se-rang let out a long, heavy sigh.