70 – Genius Producer. (2)
70 – Genius Producer. (2)
70.
The photo shoot went smoothly.
Because I already had a few experiences in my previous life, I was able to handle the shoot fairly proficiently. On top of that, the photographer’s skills were outstanding, so the results came out quite good.
“That photographer is really famous. He shoots pictorials for celebrities all the time, and he’s won a lot of awards too.”
At manager Jeong Jaeho’s words, Yoon Hajun nodded. He could tell from the studio’s size alone, but the person was even more impressive than he expected.
And it also made it clear how much financial power MM Entertainment had, if they had an exclusive contract with a place like this. He was the only artist signed so far, yet they already had a contract with a studio like this.
Did they have another artist they were going to sign soon?
While waiting for the next shoot, he crossed his legs and thought about what he knew about MM Entertainment.
MM Entertainment.
If his memory was right, MM Entertainment was a company that originally wouldn’t be founded until two years later. Then, around five years after that, it started to get on track, and later it became a company people could recognize just by hearing the name.
Not Top 3 in the country, but—
A company that got recognized for its reputation relative to its size.
If he had to name MM Entertainment’s representative singers, they were Jin Suhyeok and Jin Hu.
Jin Suhyeok was a veteran singer with over ten years since debut even at this point, with vocal ability so strong people called him one of Korea’s top five vocalists.
But despite that, his popularity was awful. Jin Suhyeok only started gaining real popularity after signing with MM Entertainment.
And then there was Jin Hu.
MM Entertainment’s child, or its pureblood.
A singer who trained under MM Entertainment and debuted through them, taking first place on the charts from debut—a true all-rounder.
Singing, acting, even outstanding composing ability.
A total overpowered character of overpowered characters.
Hajun met him exactly once in his previous life, and he remembered Jin Hu being one year younger than him.
Oh—come to think of it, didn’t people say he was from Seolwon Arts High too?
He wasn’t sure about that part.
Anyway, two years—
No, the year had rolled over, so now it was one year.
MM Entertainment, which shouldn’t have been founded until a year later, was already established for some reason.
And he signed with them.
“What are you thinking about so hard?”
While Hajun was thinking about MM Entertainment, Jeong Jaeho spoke to him. At that voice, Hajun hesitated briefly, then answered carefully.
“MM Entertainment doesn’t have any trainees yet, right?”
“No. We’re planning to start recruiting around next month. That’s also why I suggested doing a promotional shoot.”
So that was it.
He wondered why they wanted to do publicity when they didn’t even have a proper album out yet—was it a buildup for recruiting trainees?
“And I’m the only one who’s signed a contract.”
“...Mm.”
Jeong Jaeho trailed off oddly. He looked like he was thinking hard, his lips moving slightly, as if he was debating whether he should say it or not.
What was it?
Was something going on?
How much time passed like that?
After thinking for a long while, Jeong Jaeho finally spoke in a small voice.
“You’ve already signed with us, so it should be fine to tell you. We did sign one singer this time.”
“Is it okay if I ask who it is? If it’s inconvenient, you don’t have to answer.”
“Do you know Kim Hanol?”
“...I do.”
At the unexpected name from Jeong Jaeho, Hajun’s expression stiffened.
Kim Hanol.
The lazy genius people said had the talent of a devil.
His skill was undeniable, but he had too many scandals, so the public turned away and he disappeared.
It started with an affair with a married woman, then nightlife, gambling—what else was there?
At least there weren’t scandals like drunk driving or violence that hurt other people, but he ruined himself, fans got disappointed and left, and in the end, he got caught using drugs and was completely kicked out of the entertainment industry.
“So you’re saying you signed with Kim Hanol?”
“Yes, for now.”
Hajun frowned.
As far as he remembered, Kim Hanol never worked under MM Entertainment.
So did he sign a contract, loaf around for the contract period, then get kicked out?
With Kim Hanol, that was entirely possible.
It had been five years since his debut, and he released one album in that time.
And over ten years, he didn’t release a single full-length album—just three digital singles, and that was it.
Of course, every song he released was treated as a masterpiece, but his output was absurdly small.
There was a reason people called him a devil’s talent, a lazy genius.
Now it finally made sense.
MM Entertainment wasn’t founded a year later.
It was founded long ago, but they wasted a whole year because of Kim Hanol.
Originally, the first artist they signed wouldn’t have been Hajun—it would have been Kim Hanol.
Of course, he guessed there were other reasons too, but still.
“Tch.”
It felt ominous.
§ § §
Even though he went to the company early in the morning, by the time he finished doing this and that, it was already night before his schedule ended.
He messaged to ask if they finished the work yet, and thankfully, they were still working at Haul Studio.
“Sorry I’m late. It got later than I expected.”
He hurried to Haul Studio as fast as he could, then opened the door and bowed his head.
He said he’d be late, but he arrived much later than he expected.
“It’s fine...”
“Ah! Oppa! What happened to your hair?!”
Won Seongmin was about to answer, but Suyeon suddenly made a huge fuss, shouting. She dashed over to Hajun, inspected him, then spoke like she liked it.
“You finally cut your hair! Did you cut it because you’re going on TV? Nice! Nice! You should’ve done this ages ago. It’s so clean—looks way better. Every time I saw your hair, it was so stifling I thought I’d die!”
Are you my mom?
Watching Suyeon nod rapidly as she said that, Hajun laughed in disbelief.
Was his hair really that stifling?
Why?
He thought long hair was fine.
Sure, not trimming it was his fault, but still—if you had long hair, you looked kind of like an artist, didn’t you?
In his previous life, he even grew it out to his waist at one point and tied it up.
“It suits you.”
“Ah, thank you.”
At Suyeon’s words, Won Seongmin gave him a compliment too.
But judging by the look on his face, it seemed like he was thinking, do we really need to compliment him about this?
Then again, Won Seongmin’s hair was far worse than Hajun’s was before the cut.
Just then, the practice room door opened, and Han Goyo stepped out cautiously.
She looked at Hajun, her eyes widening as if surprised, then approached him carefully.
“You cut your hair?”
“Yeah. Does it look weird?”
After having short hair again for the first time in a while, it felt strange.
He reached to the back of his neck, thinking it was weird not to feel hair there, when Goyo continued.
“It’s not bad.”
“Then that’s a relief. More importantly, is practice going okay?”
“Yeah. It seems fine. Can you listen for me?”
“Of course.”
He nodded and went into the practice room with Han Goyo.
Won Seongmin and Suyeon followed them inside.
After they went in, they sat down.
Then Han Goyo said cautiously, “It’s not perfect yet, so if you hear anything lacking, tell me.”
“Of course.”
She played an audio file.
It wasn’t the song Hajun and Won Seongmin were making.
That song wasn’t finished yet, so it wasn’t suitable for practice.
Instead, Han Goyo practiced with songs in a similar genre. The important thing was the melodic rap style—she was trying to practice just that technique.
As the melody played, Han Goyo nodded slightly, then began singing slowly.
A short exclamation slipped out around them.
Not bad.
She only practiced for a few days, but she already had some grasp of the technique.
As expected of Han Goyo.
While he was impressed, Hajun glanced at Suyeon carefully.
Suyeon was watching Han Goyo more intently than anyone. Arms crossed, she tapped her upper arm with her fingers, riding the rhythm.
Soon, Han Goyo’s gaze met Suyeon’s.
Han Goyo’s eyes weren’t indifferent like usual.
She narrowed them.
On the other hand, Suyeon stared at Han Goyo with her eyes wide open.
What was with this atmosphere that felt like Suyeon was about to ask, “You don’t like it, do you?”
It felt like walking on thin ice—precarious.
Nothing happened, thankfully.
They just stared at each other.
After that, Han Goyo sang about two more songs, and the work for today ended.
On the way home—
“I didn’t lose.”
Suyeon muttered.
Hajun blinked and asked, “Huh?”
Suyeon pushed out her lower lip and answered, “I said I didn’t lose.”
“To Goyo?”
“Yeah.”
What did she mean, she didn’t lose?
He couldn’t understand at all, so he just blinked.
§ § §
After getting home, he washed up and lay on the bed.
Then he picked up his phone and checked the messages that piled up.
First, Seo Chaerim.
He replied to Seo Chaerim’s message.
Next was Jin Sohyang.
True to Jin Sohyang, who messaged constantly even on normal days, she sent eight messages today.
[I’m going into the showcase!]
[I’m so nervous...ㅠ]
[Do you remember what you said at the practical music concert?]
[This message was deleted.]
[This message was deleted.]
[This message was deleted.]
[Wrong send don’t look please]
[A rabbit emoticon making an X with its arms.]
What did she even send?
Looking at the three deleted messages, he scratched his head.
She usually spaced her words properly, but if she even skipped spacing, she must have been seriously frantic.
He thought about what to reply, then sent a simple, How did it go?
After that, he opened a music streaming site.
“Oh.”
A short sound of surprise escaped him.
Hwayangyeonhwa’s title track from this album, “Windfall,” was ranked at 11th on the chart.
11th on the first day—this was a good start.
Well, it was a song that held number one for a long time, so of course that made sense.
Starting tomorrow, they would begin promoting on music programs, so the ranking would rise quickly.
He played every track on the album.
He felt it before when he listened, but the album’s completeness was no joke.
Not only was the quality of each track high, but the order of the tracks, the titles, even the story in the lyrics all connected.
And the song he worked on, “Rough,” was the very last track on the album.
While listening, he carefully checked the comments on the track.
Thankfully, he didn’t see any hateful comments.
Most were compliments saying they were happy to hear it on streaming after hearing it on iTube, that they wanted to see that stage on broadcast, asking if they would perform it at a concert, and saying the song was amazing.
It was “just” an arrangement, but still—people were recognizing a song he worked on.
His chest tightened.
§ § §
“Then let’s record the instruments like this.”
“Yes.”
Once the arranging work was finished, instrument recording began.
For instrument recording, Won Seongmin knew better than Hajun, so Hajun left it to him.
That didn’t mean Hajun did nothing.
He watched what Won Seongmin paid attention to and learned from it—like parts Hajun thought were fine, but Won Seongmin asked for retakes.
Up until now, Hajun used virtual instruments too, but from now on, he planned to record instruments and use those recordings, so he needed to learn this.
“Where are we doing vocal recording?”
“Ah, we’re planning to do that at MM Entertainment.”
That wasn’t Hajun’s idea—it was Seo Chaerim’s.
Since he was working with Han Goyo, she told him to try doing the work at the company.
It seemed Seo Chaerim was seriously planning to bring Han Goyo in.
Wait—then was Seo Chaerim the one who brought in Jin Hu too?
“Well, this studio is lacking for vocal recording.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“It’s fine. We record instruments here too, but we do vocals at a different studio.”
Won Seongmin laughed as he said it.
To be fair, it wasn’t wrong.
Maybe because of Blue Aka’s nature as a band, their instrument recording setup here was excellent, but the vocal recording setup was a bit lacking.
There was a reason Hajun used the school recording room.
“Then when are you thinking of releasing the track?”
“After we appear on TV. If we end up on TV, it’ll work as promotion.”
“Can we find out when the broadcast is scheduled?”
“They said it’ll air in the last week of March. For two weeks.”
If it was two weeks, was it not a regular program but a pilot?
Well, he never even heard the name, so it probably ended as a pilot.
“Once the recording is done, I’ll send it to you right away.”
“Yes. Are you doing mixing and mastering yourselves?”
“No. We’re leaving that to a professional engineer.”
“That’s a good idea. Do you have anyone in mind?”
Hajun shook his head.
Won Seongmin thought for a moment, then said, “We have an engineer we work with consistently. Want me to introduce them?”
“That would be great.”
Winter break was almost over.
Soon, the new semester would start.
Thinking about everything that would happen next, Hajun kept working.