Next-Door Hyungnim.
Next-Door Hyungnim.
Dad, who'd remembered me saying I was hungry, started cooking.
Hearing the clattering sounds from outside, I cautiously made my way out, reading his mood.
He was sulking again—he glanced at me but pretended not to see me. I carefully approached him and eased in naturally.
"I wanna go on Next-Door Hyungnim~"
"Why?"
"It's been blowing up again lately, hasn't it? So I've gotta make an appearance~"
Next-Door Hyungnim had now rocketed into national-variety-show territory.
People used to prefer active variety shows, but these days talk was the trend. Even on "Running Person," which used to be brutally physical, the share of seated games had been creeping up. In a way, it was only natural that Next-Door Hyungnim, which had built its whole concept around conversation from the jump, had exploded.
"Right, I heard they're putting out a song on Next-Door Hyungnim this time."
"Yeah."
I tested the waters while rinsing vegetables, then glanced over at Dad, who might still be sulking, and spoke up.
"Should I get in on it?"
"Ay, they probably don't have the budget to pay you, Si-yoon."
"Just negotiate for a cut of the digital streaming revenue."
Dad looked up at the ceiling for a moment, thinking it over, then met my eyes and smiled.
"And the music video shoot?"
"You want to roll that in too?"
"Well, for that to work, you'd have to take more than fifty percent of the shoot, wouldn't you, Si-yoon?"
"Then let's just ask them about it~"
Dad looked at me with a serious expression, then nodded to himself.
"Do you really want to do this?"
"Yeah."
After confirming my face, Dad stopped mid-cook and immediately called Uncle Jang Seong-man.
It's a song by those two young and handsome guys from Next-Door Hyungnim... doesn't that sound like fun?
"Si-yoon says she wants to work on Kim Gyeong-hoon and Min Hui-cheol's song this time?"
Dad answered a few times, then hung up.
"Do well on your test tomorrow and come home, and I'll tell you. From what I heard, they're desperate for someone to make the beat. Turns out the company already reached out to me, too."
"Yeah? So should I make the song?"
"Hmm... I heard they want a historical-drama feel this time. You don't have experience with that, so it'll be tough on your own. Let's make it together, you and me."
I'd had zero intention of doing it alone anyway, but since Dad naturally wanted to do it together, I nodded in agreement.
Seeing my reaction, Dad started muttering to himself again, like he was sorting through his thoughts.
"The main office is getting remodeled this time, so I probably still don't have a workspace there... hmm... should we do it at home?"
"Ask Aunt Ji-eun."
"Ah! That's right~! Let's do that."
Aunt Ji-eun was still active, and she now had a boyfriend she was seeing—Dad had probably forgotten about that.
Anyway, all I needed was to borrow the personal recording studio of Aunt Ji-eun, who was practically called a walking mid-sized company.
The next day, the Next-Door Hyungnim people reached out right away to say thank you.
Since both Dad and I appearing at the same time would mean the show having to pay appearance fees that were a serious financial hemorrhage for them, they'd contacted us cautiously.
Dad must have thought it was educational, because he switched the call to speakerphone and told me to listen in too.
—"Well... you see, we've already announced in advance that we're donating all the proceeds from this song..."
This woman was cautious to a genuinely frustrating degree.
—"If... we were to offer something... perhaps... only... the appearance fee... might be feasible..."
Dad and me.
Just our combined appearance fees for four episodes would be an overwhelming sum, but it seemed like JTVC, a channel on the rise these days, could manage that much.
"Hello~ this is Si-yoon."
—"Ah... yes, nice to meet you~"
"Since it's for a good cause, how about we broadcast how much is being donated? It'd give you a bit of good PR, too."
—"How do you mean...?"
"One of our appearances splits across three weeks of broadcast, and the first one we'll appear in person, so let's do it then."
—"Ah, that sounds great? Timeline-wise, too. It seems perfectly doable."
"Yes~ then let's go with that. For the details, you can discuss them with CEO Jang Seong-man."
—"Ah, yes. If I need to contact you again, I'll reach out at this number."
"Yep."
I hung up, lazed around with Dad all day, and then played Maple Leaf Game with Dad and Uncle Sheen.
Once my exams were over, Dad came to school himself to pick me up, and we headed to Aunt Ji-eun's studio.
Maybe they were in a hurry, but the recording studio was already lined with filming equipment. Aunt Ji-eun's workspace... needlessly enormous.
The moment we arrived, a PD came running over to us and started explaining things at a rapid pace.
I'd already told them yesterday that I'd be filming with no makeup, so I just wore a tight pair of jeans and one of Dad's black hoodies.
They quickly explained the camera positions, the filming direction, the framing, and everything else was going to be handled freestyle.
And just like that, filming began.
Rumors had been circulating that Sesanggeomjaengi's third album would be hip-hop, and scenes of them meeting various rappers on Next-Door Hyungnim and practicing their hip-hop skills had already aired.
They couldn't find their direction and had no beat, so they'd just been wandering from place to place.
And today...
Kim Ji-ho was sitting on the sofa, looking at his laptop with tired eyes and radiating his signature beautifully wrecked aura. Just then, Kim Gyeong-hoon and Min Hui-cheol poked their faces in and came inside.
"Ji-ho!"
"Oh! You're here!"
"Where's Si-yoon?"
"She said she was tired and went to the restroom to wash her face. She had an exam today."
"Ah, really? But hey, I heard Si-yoon composes?"
Kim Ji-ho, who apparently hadn't slept the night before, fixed Min Hui-cheol with an icy, dark-circled stare, as if asking what the problem was.
"Hey, hey, we're filming~ The moment his daughter comes up, he's always like this."
Kim Gyeong-hoon—the singer who once made every man's heart ache—looked at Kim Ji-ho.
"Is Si-yoon good at composing?"
"You know I stopped singing for a while, said I was raising Si-yoon."
"Right?"
"The first song I put out after that was one Si-yoon made when she was five."
""What?!""
"Of course, I did polish it up for her."
"Wow..."
While Kim Gyeong-hoon and Min Hui-cheol were doing their admiring, Si-yoon naturally appeared on screen.
"Ah? You're here? Hello~"
Si-yoon's body was noticeably thinner and smaller than the three men's. She casually pulled a cotton pad from the desk and wiped her face.
"No makeup, huh?"
"Looks about the same with or without it. This is... the power of mixed heritage...?"
True to Si-yoon's words, even with her figure partly hidden by the hoodie, she looked as if she alone had a different filter on.
"She's right~"
The moment Kim Ji-ho saw Si-yoon, the sparkle returned to his eyes.
"What are you looking at?"
"My daughter~"
"You're making me self-conscious. Quit it."
"Okay..."
Ji-ho casually plugged a USB into the laptop and started playing some music.
"Since it sounded like you wanted a very Korean-style beat, I prepared a few things."
He played beats ranging from ones featuring the gayageum to the buk drum—completely different genres. Then, as if something had occurred to Kim Ji-ho, he went over to the workstation behind him and started crafting a new beat from scratch.
"Actually, I think this works better anyway."
Whenever anyone saw Kim Ji-ho's face light up with life as he hummed along—just like when he looked at Si-yoon—anyone would acknowledge him as a genius.
Just then, Si-yoon walked over and, without a word, started touching the equipment beside him.
"Oh... that's nice."
The two of them started humming and matching each other, and before long, a new beat was flowing out.
Kim Ji-ho turned to Si-yoon with an expression like he was completely lost in his own world.
"This is insane. Should we put out a song, just the two of us, for the first time in a while?"
"What are you talking about? You said you'd give it to them."
"Ah!"
Only then did Kim Ji-ho look behind him and ask.
"What do you think?"
"Hahaha. Hey, if you put it like that, we'd feel too bad to take it~"
"Ayy, don't worry~ We've made tons of stuff this way. Especially if Si-yoon gets her hands on it, it's practically guaranteed to get an official release."
Si-yoon went back and plopped down on the sofa, pulling a lollipop out from underneath it and popping it into her mouth.
Then, Si-yoon looked at Min Hui-cheol.
When their eyes met, Si-yoon pulled the lollipop out of her mouth.
"I heard you guys have been practicing like crazy?"
"Wow, seriously, the two of us have been listening to and rapping hip-hop nonstop lately."
"Let's hear it~"
"...Right here?"
"Should I put on an MR track for you?"
"Ahem..."
Si-yoon mumbled around the lollipop in her mouth.
"Ayy, you can't get all shy about it."
"Then you go first."
Si-yoon pulled the wet lollipop out of her mouth with a pop, looked at Min Hui-cheol, and grinned.
"No thanks."
The screen transitioned to a scene of Kim Ji-ho and Si-yoon listening to Min Hui-cheol's rap.
"Oh... I heard you've been listening to a lot of Kill the Milly lately. You can really hear the influence."
Kim Ji-ho's eyes widened as he looked at Si-yoon.
"If we just tweak the beat a little, I think we could use it as is. It suits his voice."
Si-yoon started writing lyrics rapidly on the laptop, and, having finished scribbling in no time, handed them over to Kim Ji-ho.
Kim Ji-ho looked at the lyrics, made a few small revisions, and showed them to Si-yoon again.
"Oh... this has a real vibe. Dad, go in and lay down a guide track."
"Okay."
Exhibiting a scene best described by the phrase "proceeding at lightning speed," Kim Ji-ho, having heard his daughter Kim Si-yoon's words, naturally swapped places with Min Hui-cheol.
Si-yoon leaned back comfortably in her chair and looked behind her.
"Listen to my dad's skills."
Kim Ji-ho's style... well...
He has no fixed framework.
Boom bap, trap, ratchet, singing, mumble, cloud—he uses every style depending on his mood, and even does ballads.
Overseas, Kim Ji-ho is most famous for trap and mumble; in Korea, singing, mumble, and ballads are his most popular styles.
Having started rapping with only the beat and the lyrics, Kim Ji-ho mumbled at first, then picked up a pen and started checking things.
On the second run, he started singing Min Hui-cheol's part of the lyrics again while writing things down, nodded, and on the third run, he completed the guide track.
"Wow..."
Just then, Si-yoon spoke into the mic.
"Dad, that's too much. Are you playing to the camera or what?"
Kim Ji-ho looked at Si-yoon and smiled a goofy grin.
"Ahaha, okayyy~ I'll do it again."
Now it was a guide track polished enough that Min Hui-cheol could definitely follow it.
Then he swapped with Kim Gyeong-hoon. Kim Gyeong-hoon showed off the hip-hop he'd been practicing all this time.
"Uncle Gyeong-hoon, you're seriously terrible."
"Wow... isn't that a little too blunt?"
Kim Ji-ho, striking the same pose as Si-yoon, rested his chin on his hand and mulled it over.
"His rock ballads are honestly amazing, but hmm..."
Just then, Si-yoon went inside, shooed Kim Gyeong-hoon out, and grabbed the mic.
Naturally, Kim Ji-ho cued up the beat, and the broadcast ended.
The segment inside the school finished, and the after-school broadcast of Min Hui-cheol and Kim Gyeong-hoon's group, 'Sesanggeomjaengi,' came on.
And right at the end, just as Si-yoon was about to start singing, Next-Door Hyungnim cut to black.
Thanks to that, the homepage heated up to the point of crashing.
-Is cutting it there for real? WTF.
└Still gonna watch the main episode next week.
-That is some seriously delicious teasing. So who was the school guest?
└LOL forgot all the content the moment I saw Si-yoon's face.
└Wait, is that really no makeup? It's honestly ridiculous, her face is practically glowing...
└If you go to the Si-yoon and Ji-ho channel, Si-yoon's bare face shows up a lot. Go, go. She's been insane-looking since she was little.
Maybe because I'd worked with Dad again for the first time in a while, and because I'd been listening to Kim Gyeong-hoon's songs obsessively, I went in right after him and started rapping in a way that captured Kim Gyeong-hoon's vibe.
As I fused a rock ballad into a trap beat—so much so you might question whether you could even call this rap—Dad's pupils dilated.
At the low notes I squeezed out with all my strength, Dad seemed to think of the low tones of Kim Gyeong-hoon, the ones that once made Korean men's hearts ache. He smiled and nodded vigorously, then started riding the groove.
After laying down the guide track, I stepped outside and saw Kim Gyeong-hoon and Min Hui-cheol standing there with their mouths hanging open.
It wasn't that I'd sung particularly well, but they looked astonished by the new paradigm.
I flopped down in my spot and popped the lollipop, which I'd set aside, back into my mouth.
"Uncle Min Hui-cheol, you go with a sort of rough, dissolute feel. Uncle Kim Gyeong-hoon, you go with a refined, classical-scholar feel."
As I drew with a pen in hand, the two of them approached cautiously.
When I sketched out the concept for the clothing styles, the two of them nodded vigorously, looking very satisfied.
I looked at Uncle Kim Gyeong-hoon.
"What are you doing? Get in there."
"Ah! Sorry."
The outfits I'd drawn for the two of them started being produced exactly as they were.
Uncle Kim Gyeong-hoon couldn't find the entry point for the intro, so Dad listened along with him and guided him with hand signals.
Now it was my turn to record.
"Si-yoon, what kind of feel are you going for?"
"Me? Mm... I'll just try everything, I guess."
I pulled over a tall chair, climbed up onto it, and curled up.
I started the first verse as if I couldn't be bothered, then began singing seductively in time with the beat.
Outside, the three of them had their thumbs up from start to finish.
Dad's voice came through the headset.
"Should we go with it like this?"
"It's good?"
"Yeah, you really nailed the atmosphere. Si-yoon, you wanna try adding the hook too?"
Dad put the lyrics up on the screen in front of me.
Time passed, and we arrived at the music video set.
Whenever Dad's hands touch something, consider it a given that JSM will follow along unconditionally.
When I arrived, Kim Gyeong-hoon and Min Hui-cheol were staring at me with dazed eyes.
Well, this was probably their first time on a giant studio set like this.
Even JSM's exclusive music video director greeted me upon seeing me.
"Si-yoon~! Long time no see~!"
"Hello."
I gave a light bow from the waist.
After that, I got my makeup done as prepared, and watched Kim Gyeong-hoon and Min Hui-cheol film their scenes.
Min Hui-cheol was definitely good-looking. He threw himself into filming with a full-on punk-like delinquent concept.
Maybe because he was an idol, he adapted to a modern-style MV shoot remarkably fast. The songs we had recorded kept playing on repeat.
I was wearing a pink hanbok that came down to my ankles and an excessively wide-brimmed satgat hat.
Uncle Kim Gyeong-hoon seemed awkward with the music video acting.
When I went over, joked around, and showed him some action guides, he started following along pretty well.
I moved around for a long while, filming my own scenes, too.
Since the concept this time was a decadent feel, I rode the groove or gave little smiles while lip-syncing. Used to being on camera, I wrapped up my shoot in two takes.