Damn Idol Episode 10
* * *
Ryan Entertainment’s CEO, Choe Daeho, felt somewhat baffled after receiving the report.
The report from the Rookie Development Team, which had been selecting the members for Team B, was long, but to summarize, it said this:
There is a kid who is far too good, and he is so good that we are not sure whether it would be right to put him on Team B.
If we do put him on Team B, we think we need to clearly decide how to make use of him.
In other words, it meant that an applicant named Han Sion might become an obstacle to Take Scene’s debut.
‘Come on, how good could he possibly be?’
Of course, there were plenty of geniuses in the world, so he might really be good.
But still…….
‘What does being good at music have to do with an idol survival show?’
Musicians generally succeed if the music is good.
But idols do not succeed just because their music is good.
That was why the profession of idol was often disparaged, but it was also why there came moments so brutally suffocating.
As someone who had witnessed countless such moments, Choe Daeho could not understand the concern over a contestant named Han Sion.
However, even he had no choice but to be surprised after watching Han Sion’s video.
“Hmm…….”
He was good.
No, he was disgustingly good.
He was not singing well. He was playing with the song.
The Rookie Development Team seemed to have given high marks to the free-choice song Han Sion had sung, but Choe Daeho thought differently.
The assigned song,
A twenty-year-old young genius rearranging and singing an acoustic guitar piece?
That was understandable.
He must have wanted to show off that dazzling talent.
He must have wanted to flaunt just how great he was to his heart’s content.
But
Han Sion knew that precisely and sang it calmly and accurately.
It was astonishing.
That a young genius possessed the beauty of restraint.
‘There was a reason they were worried.’
But apart from his admiration, Choe Daeho did not agonize over it.
His thoughts remained unchanged.
If this were their third or fourth year, when they would be starting individual activities, that might be one thing, but in a survival show, Han Sion alone would not be able to beat Take Scene.
He would probably feel frustrated.
Why could the other Team B members not sing like him?
Why was Take Scene’s stage, when each of them was worse than him individually, better?
‘It would be nice if he received praise in the individual mission and made Take Scene into the underdog.’
Of course, that was from the perspective of Take Scene’s producer. As the CEO of Ryan Entertainment, Choe Daeho coveted Han Sion.
They absolutely had to sign this kid as a trainee.
Even if it meant giving a trainee a massive signing bonus for the first time in Ryan Entertainment’s history.
If not that…….
‘Couldn’t one member of Team B join the debut lineup through a special process?’
It did not seem like a bad idea to make Take Scene a six-member group and attach Han Sion to them.
* * *
The acceptance notice for Coming Up Next came by phone.
Considering my skills, it was an obvious result, but honestly, I still let out a sigh of relief.
In my head, I thought I would pass, but I had been needlessly a little anxious.
“Thank you.”
-The shoot date is February 23rd, and we’ll be filming for one night and three days, so just bring clothes. Toiletries and the like will be provided.
“Understood.”
-We’ve sent the details related to filming by email, and if you have any questions, you can contact the phone number listed there.
“I’ll check it.”
After hanging up from the short call, I checked my email.
The purpose of the first shoot was simple.
To confirm the members of Team B, who would compete against Team A (Take Scene).
The final number of members for Team B was five, but the number of people currently accepted was ten.
In other words, half the contestants had to be eliminated through two stages.
There were no detailed descriptions of what kind of stages we would be doing, but the words “individual match” and “team match” were there.
The individual match would probably be singing, and the team match might be performance-focused.
It did not matter what it was.
I was confident in performance, too.
I had never lived as a dance singer.
There was no way an Asian in America could survive as a dance singer based on sex appeal.
But on stage, there were certainly moments when dancing was necessary.
All the more so with Black music like R&B or rap.
So I had paid tens of thousands of dollars to top-tier Billboard trainers to learn dance, and I had gotten decent reactions on stage as well.
I had never done K-pop’s characteristic sharply synchronized group choreography…….
But if they taught me, I was confident I could follow along.
In any case, there was nothing special I needed to prepare for the first shoot.
So for the next two weeks, I devoted myself to composing and vocals.
When you are still unknown, it is good to stockpile as many compositions as possible.
I am human too, so once I debut and begin activities in earnest, I will lack stamina.
Even if it is just the act of outputting a song I have already made, when I do it while I have time to spare, I can record retake after retake until I am satisfied.
On the other hand, vocal practice is something that must be done steadily, so I did not overdo it.
In any case, I needed two years to reach the tone I wanted.
I was still in my growth period, so I would grow taller until next year.
When the body grows, the shape of the vocal cords and the resonance chamber subtly change, so my sound is not something I can perfect right now.
Aside from that, all I did was practice dancing or listen to as much K-pop as possible.
It would be strange if I were the only one who did not know songs everyone else knew.
“Hmm…….”
But honestly, this is a bit painful.
K-pop in 2017 is awkward.
The songs ranked first and second on the weekly chart are fine.
They are good songs, and many of them would have done well even if they had come out a few years later.
I even found a few songs that would have been incredible if they had not been produced at this point and had instead been kept for a few years before release.
But outside first and second place, the level clearly drops.
This is my subjective opinion, but Korean music rises in level starting around the COVID era in 2020.
The sound quality itself cannot keep up with Billboard, but that is a matter of capital, and the level of production becomes no different from Billboard.
That was why world stars were born, and why K-pop fans appeared in the home market.
But 2017 clearly had not reached that level.
But now that I think about it…….
Wouldn’t it be similar if I looked at the Billboard chart?
In my previous life, I was a Grammy winner in 2028, and in the life where I lived the longest, I made it to 2039.
Eleven years—twenty-two at most.
It might be only natural to feel that songs from that long ago are outdated.
Thinking that, I listened to a few Billboard songs, and they were a bit outdated.
So it had not been a K-pop problem.
Time passed in that diligent manner, and before I knew it, the filming of Coming Up Next was one day away.
* * *
With one day left before filming, I visited the hospital where my parents lay asleep.
It felt like it had been a long time since I had come here.
In terms of actual time, not much had probably passed.
Had it been a little over a month since I was discharged?
Even so, the reason it felt like it had been a long time was because it had been a long time since I had visited a hospital where my parents were lying in a vegetative state.
Usually, after going over to America, I did not come back to Korea.
Unless it was for a concert in Korea, a visa, or the military issue, I did not even want to come back at all.
And even when I did come to Korea, I rarely went to the hospital.
Facing my sleeping parents was something that made me feel the anguish of failure and the bleakness of success.
What if I can never sell two hundred million copies?
What if, even after two hundred years, after three hundred years, I am still trapped in nonlinear time?
What if the devil knows that and is mocking me?
Those thoughts come to mind.
But thinking like this is not good.
I might accidentally regress.
The media used to talk about me as a psychopath or sociopath because I did not see my parents even when I came to Korea, but I am not that kind of person.
I am simply a coward.
The reason such a person as me visited the hospital was because of a call from Uncle Hyeonsu.
He told me to stop by the hospital room once before appearing on the broadcast.
Damn it, if I am honest, it was a calculated action.
If I am going to debut as an idol in Korea, I at least should not be called a sociopath.
Beep
- beep
- beep
-
Sitting in the quiet hospital room, listening only to the sound of the electrocardiogram, I found my thoughts growing deep without realizing it.
The end point of my thoughts was always the contract with the devil.
[If you achieve your goal, the death that was held in abeyance will vanish, and they will revive.]
[In the timeline you desire.]
[Anytime, anywhere.]
Right.
As long as I achieve the goal, my parents will wake up at the point in time I want.
It could be during the Super Bowl performance in the round where I succeeded as a rapper, or when I came to Korea on tour with GOTM.
I could even go back to before the accident, when I had not debuted at all.
That is why I repeat infinite regressions.
Because my parents would not wake up when I was around seventy after selling two hundred million albums.
The devil’s epithet, “crossroads,” does not simply mean Crossroad.
Boundary line, branching point, singularity.
It means every moment where fate splits.
Perhaps even parallel dimensions…….
Just then, the door to the hospital room opened, and Uncle Hyeonsu came in.
“When did you get here?”
“Just now.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m okay.”
“…….”
“I really am okay. It all feels like a dream.”
Uncle and I did not exchange much conversation and simply stared at my parents.
Uncle Hyeonsu had been my parents’ junior in medical school, but in truth, the two of them had not known each other well.
It was Uncle who arranged the blind date between my parents.
Thanks to Uncle, the two of them got married, and I was born.
After that, the three of them came and went from each other’s lives even more frequently, living almost like family.
Every time I regress, the reason I ask the paramedics to take us to this hospital is entirely because of Uncle.
On top of that, Uncle also grants my difficult request not to declare them to be in a vegetative state for a few months.
The more we delay the appointment of a guardian, the better it is for me.
First, I need to get out of being a minor.
“…….”
Damn it. To think I am having thoughts like this even after coming all the way to their hospital room.
Maybe I had let out a sigh, because Uncle looked at me with concern, so I changed the subject.
“Uncle, what time do you get off work today?”
“I’m on duty, but…… Let’s go out for dinner. You said tomorrow is your first shoot, right?”
“Yes.”
“Did you prepare well?”
“There’s nothing in particular to prepare. They said just to bring myself.”
“Still, shouldn’t you prepare something?”
“Someone as skilled as me doesn’t need to do anything.”
Uncle chuckled.
“Then let’s go to a karaoke room. I’ll hear how well you sing. Ah, we should buy you some clothes too. I wonder what time the department store closes?”
“You said you’re on duty.”
“I’m going to teach you a great social-life tip, so listen carefully. When a doctor on duty says he wants to go out for dinner, it means he’s going to switch duty with a colleague. Okay?”
“Wouldn’t I have to go to medical school for that to become a useful tip?”
“You never know. You might end up flirting with a doctor later.”
“Singers aren’t allowed to date.”
“What? Why not?”
“They sell fewer albums.”
Uncle, who misunderstood my utterly sincere words as a joke, laughed.
And so we ate dinner together.
At the hospital cafeteria.
Because no one would switch duty with him.
“…….”
“Don’t misunderstand. It’s not that I’m unpopular. My colleagues really all had something going on today……”
“It’s okay. To me, you’re the best, Uncle.”
“I’m telling you, that’s not it!”
Aside from Uncle looking terribly wronged, it was not a bad day.
* * *
After waking early in the morning to jog and finishing his stretches, Han Sion arrived at the filming site at 8 a.m.
After filling out the program participation agreement and nondisclosure agreement, then doing a brief interview with the writers, an hour had already flown by.
“Han Sion, we’ll have you head straight to the set now.”
February 23rd, 2017, 9 a.m.
The first filming of