Damn Idol Chapter 117
“Sorry, but I’m not all that interested.”
-What? Why?
“It’s not the time for solo activities.”
It was true that Eddie had brought me a good opportunity, but the Color Show wasn’t the kind of content I had any reason to appear on alone.
I knew it was good content.
It wasn’t some one-off piece of content that flared up for a moment and died out, either. It had longevity. I’d even seen Color Show videos filmed a year or two ago suddenly become hot topics and gain popularity belatedly.
But for me right now, it didn’t offer much merit.
At present, I didn’t need to make the individual named “Han Sion” stand out any more.
Until now, I’d had no choice because I had to fend off Choe Daeho’s attacks, but not anymore.
Hadn’t Sedalbaegil’s “Resume,” not Han Sion’s resume, taken first place on the weekly chart?
We needed to ride this momentum, grow the fandom, and imprint Sedalbaegil on the public.
It wouldn’t be desirable for me to be consumed any further than this.
There might come a situation where Han Sion needed to be consumed one more time, but that would probably be when we released the EP album.
And that would be the last time.
So I was saying I didn’t see a reason to go on the Color Show by myself just to make an impression on the Western music scene.
If I wanted to aim for Billboard, there were plenty of better ways.
However…
“I am interested as a team.”
-Sedalbaegil?
“Yeah.”
Because getting applause overseas was always content that worked well in Korea.
Ah, not that this was content that only worked in Korea.
The U.S. was no joke either.
At that, Eddie sounded troubled.
-I don’t think COLORS will okay it. Groups aren’t really Color Show style.
“That’s true. Even when bands go on, they barely add harmonies, right?”
-You know it well.
The Color Show usually featured a solo artist singing, and even at most, there were two people.
But just as Eddie said, I knew the Color Show well.
Far better than Eddie thought.
Those guys had one trigger, you see.
“Then how about this? We’ll film a video and send it to you. Show it to the Color Show staff.”
-You’re saying you’ll try to pass a preliminary test?
“That’s right.”
-You confident?
“I’m always confident.”
-Sure, do whatever you want. Personally, I wanted to see you appear on it.
“There’ll be another chance. Thanks.”
-Now you’re thanking me?
He grumbled, but Eddie was a good guy.
After that, I chatted with Eddie about this and that.
-Ah, right. Alex said he found all the session men for “Players.”
“Oh, really?”
-Yeah. But what was the guitarist’s name again?
“Dave Logan.”
-Ah, right. I heard that guy has hand tremors?
That was true.
Around now, he should be suffering from tremors because of alcoholism.
He was the sort of guy who would start smoking marijuana to fix that and end up rolling into a drug rehab center in Chicago.
“His feel is good, though.”
-I don’t know. I haven’t heard him play yet. But where the hell did you find these guys?
“It’s a secret. If they’re not skilled enough, there’s no need to hold on to them. Just giving them one chance is enough.”
-No, no. Alex seemed to like them. He’s considering forming a band.
“Then that’s a relief.”
I hoped it would become a good opportunity for the GOTM guys, but I didn’t want to force it into their hands.
I’d tried it over countless lives, and that didn’t necessarily turn out to be the path that made them happy.
Happiness and success had to be won and achieved by the person themselves.
-And Roots Robbie really wants to see you.
Roots Robbie.
A legendary reggae musician—or should I say a reggae musician who would soon become a legend?
He was an artist I liked.
“Tell him to give me a good moombahton.”
-Why moombahton?
“Because that works well in K-pop.”
-He was already saying he wanted to make the source you gave him into moombahton.
“Really?”
That was rare.
Usually, nine times out of ten, he made roots reggae.
I talked with Eddie about various things after that, then ended the call.
Maybe because the call had gone long, the Sedalbaegil members were off to one side playing a console game.
But they were playing a horror game.
They couldn’t even say the word scary at night, but now that the sun was blazing, it seemed they’d found their courage.
When I sat on the sofa, On Saemiro, who had been covering his face with a cushion while peeking at the screen through narrowed eyes, looked over at me.
This kid seemed to be getting more pathetic by the day.
It was a pose unimaginable in America, the land of machos.
“Who was it?”
“Eddie.”
“Chris Edward? What’d he say?”
“I heard something interesting. All right, everyone, turn off the game.”
“Just a second, hyung. If we just go down to the basement and find the experiment records…”
Click.
-When I pulled the plug out, Choe Jaeseong looked utterly devastated.
“The meeting isn’t over yet, so gather around.”
“It’s because you were on the phone forever, hyung.”
“On Saemiro.”
“Yeah?”
“Did you make your passport?”
“No?”
“Hurry up and get one issued.”
“Why?”
“We’re going to America.”
“Huh?”
The members’ eyes widened.
We had nothing to do while the app was being developed anyway, so this worked out.
We should prepare for the Color Show.
For the record, when I said I was preparing, that meant I was going to appear.
America was my home turf, after all.
* * *
Choe Daeho, who had been pondering for a long while with a report in hand, opened his mouth.
“Fix it for three weeks from now.”
“Will that be all right?”
“We have no choice.”
“Understood.”
When his subordinate left the CEO’s office, Choe Daeho sank into thought.
Take Scene’s debut schedule had been set.
Three weeks from now.
For the next month, Take Scene would be swept up in a frantic schedule.
Now that their debut music show had been fixed, Ryan Entertainment would begin arranging their schedule down to the hour.
If they were complete rookies, no matter how good Ryan’s sales power was, it wouldn’t be able to create that kind of schedule for a rookie.
It was only possible because they were a group that had gained popularity on Coming Up Next.
But…
“This makes it seem like Sedalbaegil was the winning team.”
That was how things were going lately.
Seeing Sedalbaegil’s name stamped in first place on the weekly chart left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Even more so when he thought that Sedalbaegil could have entered Ryan Entertainment’s arms.
Not long ago, Choe Daeho had gone drinking with the CEO of Double M.
There, he had asked the reason.
Even if Han Sion was the composer of “Selfish,” was there really a need to have him appear in their self-produced content?
In truth, Drop Out appearing in Sedalbaegil’s self-produced content was something that could put Choe Daeho in quite an awkward position.
The “entertainment industry cartel” was supposed to be seen as persecuting Sedalbaegil, but it could end up looking like “Ryan Entertainment” was acting on its own.
Of course, Double M Entertainment also knew Ryan’s position, so other than appearing in the self-produced content, they hadn’t helped at all.
Drop Out hadn’t mentioned Sedalbaegil in any interview, nor had they mentioned the composer of “Selfish.”
That was why Choe Daeho had been curious.
It was clear that Double M Entertainment was respecting Ryan Entertainment, so why on earth had they gone on Sedalbaegil’s self-produced content?
He had been able to hear the reason over drinks.
Before getting drunk, while still sober, he had asked the question.
“Why did you do it?”
“You mean Sedalbaegil’s self-produced content?”
“Yes. At first, I thought you had some complaint against me, CEO O.”
“CEO Choe Daeho, we know each other well, don’t we? Other people call us one of the top three agencies, the deep-rooted evils of the entertainment industry, star manufacturers, and so on… but we know what kind of hearts we have when we do business.”
He knew.
He knew very well.
Whether it was Ryan Entertainment, Double M Entertainment, or some small to mid-sized agency whose name he didn’t even know.
In the end, producing idols was all the same.
You picked members, decided on songs, and debuted them because you were captivated by a feeling that was hard to explain in words.
It wasn’t as if a large agency had absolute confidence that it would succeed no matter what, nor did they proceed with concrete standards and certain evidence.
It was just instinct.
So the reason they had become famous producers was simply that they had been lucky.
Their eye was just a tiny bit better than others’, so they had bought lottery tickets with just a slightly higher chance of winning.
And they had poured enormous capital into it to raise the odds.
“I know.”
“Then, if there’s a lottery ticket you’re certain will win, wouldn’t you do anything to buy it?”
“What did Han Sion give you?”
“‘Selfish.’ You’ve heard it, haven’t you? A man who lived selfishly his entire life desperately courting one woman.”
Choe Daeho wasn’t pleased to hear about Han Sion’s achievements, but he nodded.
“I’ve heard it. It was a good song.”
“As it turns out, that song had this kind of story. He courted her desperately, but in the end, that love did not come true. So the man… what do people call it these days? Turns dark?”
“Ah, yes. Turns dark. I know.”
“So the man turns dark and hates the woman. But rather, around that time, the woman also begins to like the man. However, the man remembers all the pain he suffered and turns away from her.”
“I’m not sure what you’re trying to say. Are you saying ‘Selfish’ has that kind of backstory?”
“No. I’m saying it’s part of a trilogy of songs made with that story.”
“…A trilogy?”
“Yes. ‘Selfish,’ ‘Twisted,’ ‘Discard.’”
Selfish, twisted, discard.
Just hearing the titles was enough to understand the feeling.
“Han Sion contacted the Drop Out boys with the other two songs.”
“…
It seems Drop Out fell for them.”
“No. I fell for them. Do you know what Han Sion said to me?”
CEO O continued.
“He said he would sell these songs not to Drop Out, but to Double M. If he did, wouldn’t I have one more card in my hand when it came time to renew their contracts?”
“…
Isn’t that too romantic an idea? Drop Out will really renew their contracts because of those songs?”
“That can’t be the only reason. But as Han Sion said, I did gain one more card.”
“…”
“The songs are too good. I’ve already finished discussing it with Drop Out. The title track of the next mini album will be ‘Twisted,’ and the title track of the full-length album after that will be ‘Discard.’”
Only then could Choe Daeho understand Double M’s attitude.
If the songs Han Sion had given them were truly winning lottery tickets, just as CEO O said…
He could understand.
No, he would have made the same choice himself.
To be honest, he had been very surprised when he heard Sedalbaegil’s “Resume.”
Han Sion was astonishing for writing a song like that right after Coming Up Next ended, and Sedalbaegil’s ability to pull it off was astonishing as well.
Because they had far surpassed the level of Sedalbaegil he knew.
At that moment, CEO O of Double M opened his mouth.
“CEO Choe Daeho. May I cautiously give you one piece of advice?”
“Go ahead.”
“If you’re going to trample Sedalbaegil, you’ll have to crush them as quickly and ruthlessly as possible. Those boys… aren’t easy.”
“…”
“Otherwise, you might as well make peace now. Just let them go. Before they come back as a greater calamity.”
Choe Daeho did not answer then.
He simply smiled and began drinking.
Ryan Entertainment and Double M Entertainment were different.
If Ryan made singers successful through provocative buzz, aggressive media play, and ingenious marketing, Double M Entertainment tended to focus on music.
That was why CEO O spoke that way, but…
Choe Daeho did not think so.
No matter how high Sedalbaegil flew or crawled, they would never return as a calamity for Ryan Entertainment.
But he agreed with at least one opinion.
He needed to trample them as quickly and ruthlessly as possible.
Until now, he had been too soft because he thought Sedalbaegil might still return to Ryan Entertainment’s arms.
Three weeks remained until Take Scene’s debut.
Within that time, he would bury Sedalbaegil.