Damn Idol, Episode 14
Drop Out’s leader, Sido, looked around at the members and opened his mouth.
“What should we do?”
Honestly, if it hadn’t been for NOP, it was a song they wouldn’t even have listened to.
The circumstances were fairly long, but to put only the conclusion simply, BVB’s A&R team leader had been hoping Drop Out would reject this song.
The composer was insisting on letting them hear it, but he wanted to use it as NOP’s title track and asked them to yield.
It was Team Leader Seo Seunghyeon’s brilliant move, aimed at the sort of psychology where your stomach hurts when your cousin buys land.
And Drop Out, caught by that move, had fallen into agony.
“If we don’t use it, that means NOP will. NOP’s been pretty strong lately…”
“More than that, don’t you want to sing it?”
“What about making it a double title?”
“It’s worth considering.”
“The composer said he didn’t want it as a B-side, right?”
“He’s full of confidence.”
“Honestly, the song’s good. It’s way too much of a waste to just use as a B-side.”
Drop Out talked about “Selfish” several times, but at a certain point, they had no choice but to admit it.
Their deliberations weren’t ending.
But that, in other words, meant “Selfish” was the better song.
Because no matter how many extra points they gave the song they had produced themselves due to their jinx, the scales still would not tip.
In the end, the leader made the decision first.
“Let’s sing ‘Selfish’ as the sole title track.”
“Seriously?”
“If you think about it, the reason we insist on self-producing is… because we want to do well.”
“Yeah.”
“But if a better song than the one we made comes along, we should choose that. We can’t get the order of things backward.”
At the words of Sido, the leader who held the largest share in the song’s production, the members slowly nodded.
Once the decision was made, their heads cleared, and they could look at the song a little more objectively.
This was a truly good song.
One that, if arranged well, could work even on Billboard.
“But what did you say the composer’s name was?”
“Ji-on.”
“If it’s Z, I, O, N, isn’t that read as Zion?”
“That’s not important, is it? First, let’s ask the company to set up a meeting. We need to decide whether to keep the guide vocal or just take the instrumental.”
“The sound quality is crap, but the guide was really good, wasn’t it?”
Perhaps because they had obtained such a good song, Drop Out’s comeback was being moved up compared to the original history.
* * *
During the break, I did a little searching on Producer Kang Seokwoo.
I was worried that, since I didn’t know much about the Korean broadcasting world, I wouldn’t be able to interpret the information even if I found it…
But what was this?
He was a bigger deal than I’d expected.
[MBN’s Ratings Maker, Variety PD Kang Seokwoo, to the Arms of M Show?]
[What Is PD Kang Seokwoo’s Next Project After Joining Hands with M Show?]
I looked over Kang Seokwoo’s career, and honestly, he wasn’t quite a ratings maker.
A program he directed about four years ago had been an enormous hit, and he had shown his face quite a lot there.
Thanks to that, regardless of his actual career, people had come to perceive him as something like MBN’s representative producer.
And since someone like that had moved to a cable channel, quite a lot of articles had been written about it.
I wondered if he had fallen out with MBN when he transferred, so I looked into that too, but that wasn’t the case either.
M Show and MBN had partnered on a few educational programs for aspiring variety show producers, and he had participated as an instructor.
In other words, he was someone with a fairly wide network in the variety field.
If it’s to that extent…
‘Rather than squeezing him, it’d be better to turn him into a good connection.’
While I was thinking that, I saw Producer Kang Seokwoo pacing around like a puppy that needed to poop.
He had been like that ever since I said I’d think about releasing the single.
At first, I wondered why a man who was basically the main director was acting like that, but after searching, I understood why.
Coming Up Next was Producer Kang Seokwoo’s first project after coming to M Show.
He must want to prove his ability.
An in-house idol survival show was, after all, a program watched only by the people who watched that sort of thing.
As long as it achieved a certain level of viewership, advertisements targeting teens and people in their twenties would probably sell out.
So if he wanted to prove his ability, digital music revenue would be more meaningful.
I didn’t know much about the Korean broadcasting industry, but that kind of thing likely wasn’t much different from the U.S.
As I was turning things over in my head, my eyes met Producer Kang Seokwoo’s, and he gave me a frail smile.
“Hmm.”
After going through so many damn regressions, I’d developed a bit of an eye for people.
That was acting.
There was no way a man who had become a main PD would be that weak-willed.
He was trying to prod at the soft, tender heart of a newcomer to society.
If I really were a twenty-year-old, I would have felt uncomfortable seeing the main PD acting like that.
But, well, it wasn’t as if I felt offended, like, “How dare you try to deceive me.”
To achieve what they wanted, every member of society lived while doing at least that much acting.
After roughly sorting out my stance, I went to find Producer Kang Seokwoo before the break ended.
“Hello, Producer.”
“Ah, yes. Did you think about it a lot?”
It hadn’t even been thirty minutes since I said I’d think about it. A lot, my ass.
“I was scared earlier, so I was rude, wasn’t I? I’m sorry.”
“No, no. Rude? Not at all. But why were you scared…?”
You’re going to play dumb?
As if I were about to tell him a secret, I glanced behind me.
I could see the contestants resting, practicing, or talking with the writers.
“I was worried that if only I released a song, people might look at me badly…”
The contestants didn’t matter at all, but I couldn’t have the viewers seeing me that way.
An image of being selfish and opportunistic lasted a really long time.
“Oh, it’s fine. When I interviewed those guys, they all said they wanted to hear it up to the chorus.”
“Really?”
For a regressor, connections were people whose behavioral patterns you could accurately predict.
What type of person was Producer Kang Seokwoo?
Should I take just a little taste?
Only enough that I wouldn’t get on his bad side.
“Then could I possibly ask one favor?”
“As a condition for releasing the song?”
“It’s not exactly a condition. Even if you don’t grant the favor, I’ll release the song.”
“Good. Tell me.”
“Could you perhaps include the part where I’m worrying about releasing the song in the broadcast?”
At my words, Producer Kang Seokwoo made a subtle expression and asked back.
“So, you’re saying you want to interfere with the final footage?”
“No. I really only need that one scene to go in.”
“So what you were afraid of wasn’t your peers, but the viewers?”
“Uh, more than that, my peers will obviously watch the broadcast too…”
Producer Kang Seokwoo let out a small laugh, then nodded.
“Good. Let’s do that. Then we can do a little more interview with you, right? About the release.”
“Of course.”
“In exchange, the recording schedule and release schedule will follow our side’s opinion?”
“Of course, that too.”
Producer Kang Seokwoo nodded, gave me a few words of encouragement to do well with the filming, and left.
But Kang Seokwoo soon came right back.
“Han Sion. You said earlier you wanted me to grant just one favor, right?”
“Yes. I did.”
“Do you really think what you just did was just one favor?”
Was he curious? Or was he trying to confirm it?
Whichever it was, Producer Kang Seokwoo seemed to be the type who couldn’t leave something unsettling behind his back.
Then I should play along here.
I smiled and answered readily.
“Wouldn’t it be about three?”
“……
Interesting.”
The producer, who had been staring at me, left with a true final word of encouragement.
“Let’s do well from here on out.”
* * *
After instructing the head writer to conduct an additional interview with Han Sion, Kang Seokwoo scratched his head.
‘What the hell is with that guy?’
When preparing for the media exam as an aspiring directing PD, there was a famous saying one often heard.
[There may be genius direction, but there are no genius works.]
It wasn’t some grand saying.
As far as Kang Seokwoo knew, that saying had originally been taken from another phrase too.
‘Was it, there may be sentences written by a genius, but there are no novels written by a genius?’
In any case, that wasn’t important.
What that saying was trying to convey was simple.
A genius could create a good scene with their innate sense.
But they could not gather those scenes and create a masterpiece.
Because a work was in the realm of insight that captured human beings.
Insight was not something one was born with as talent.
It could only be honed through time and experience.
Kang Seokwoo generally agreed with that statement.
Of course, he did not agree with it completely.
Because there were absurd geniuses in the world.
But such geniuses were truly rare.
“Could you perhaps include the part where I’m worrying about releasing the song in the broadcast?”
From a director’s perspective, that request was not “one” request.
A broadcast had a flow.
The preliminary mission would proceed, Han Sion’s stage would come out, and then could something like that suddenly be inserted?
If one forced it, it could be done, but the flow of the broadcast would not come alive.
On top of that, wasn’t it a story that would appear in the most important first episode?
For content about him worrying over releasing a song to appear, there also had to be trouble regarding the song’s release.
For trouble to appear, there also had to be a villain.
‘Who was the sneakiest one again?’
If a villain appeared, there also had to be a good guy.
Most decisively, for the good guy to have power, there had to be buildup from the beginning.
In other words, he had to become the center of the broadcast.
With a single-sentence request, Han Sion had naturally tried to resolve all of that.
Of course, at first, Kang Seokwoo had not thought he had said it while knowing all that.
It must have just been a request that happened to land that way because he felt burdened by the situation of standing out alone.
He was about to dismiss it like that, but Han Sion’s atmosphere bothered him.
So, just in case, he asked.
“Wouldn’t it be about three?”
He had never imagined he would receive an answer like that.
To be honest, originally, he had not intended to assign Han Sion the role of the good guy.
He would have to see the footage to know, but for now, he had been thinking that the position of a genius who looked down on everyone might suit him.
Not quite unlikeable, but not exactly likeable either.
He had been considering putting him at the center of the noise that would set the ratings ablaze.
‘But now that it’s come to this…’
He would have to proceed according to Han Sion’s request.
Not because that kid’s request carried weight, or because a promise was precious.
The reason was simpler.
Because it seemed like it would help the ratings.
If a kid that smart stood at the center, it felt like the program would not be shaken.
On top of that, if the timing and luck matched up, he had a feeling Han Sion might pull out a few more pieces of content like “Under the Streetlamp.”
“Well, damn.”
To think he had had this kind of conversation with a twenty-year-old aspiring singer.
It was the truth, but if he told other people, it would be hard for them to believe.
Still, there was one thing he was curious about.
Had Han Sion really thrown out those words after seeing the entire picture clearly?
Or had he read a hazy picture and thrown them out instinctively?
Feeling that curiosity, Producer Kang Seokwoo approached the head writer.
“Writer Choe. You know that kid from earlier. What was his name?”
“How am I supposed to know if you just say ‘that kid’?”
“You know, the guy who was going around asking the contestants about their song choices.”
“Ah, Kim Seongwoo?”
“Yeah, right. Kim Seongwoo. Give him a little poke. Ask him what he thinks about Han Sion releasing a song on his own. You know what I mean without me saying more, right?”
The head writer smiled faintly and nodded.
* * *
The break ended.
Of course, it had only been a break in name; in reality, it had been a repeated cycle of interview filming.
Probably filled with questions about me.
Maybe that was why the expressions of the contestants around me as they looked at me had changed.