Damn Idol — Episode 182
Gu Taehwan was going crazy over MBTI for no reason, and the reason I was likewise watching such a Gu Taehwan for no reason was simple.
"Strange…."
"We're so free…."
"Time… could there actually be any left over?"
It was because, like the members' bewildered muttering, time was left over.
Coming Up Next had ended, and it had already been over half a year since we'd been active as Sedalbaekil on our own.
We hadn't had this kind of leisure during that time.
It was because we had carried out too many things simultaneously.
The public tended to think our schedule must be free because we didn't take broadcast schedules (at first, because we couldn't get any).
Of course, compared to other idols' active periods, we were fairly free.
I had experienced it well enough when working in America, but singers enjoying peak popularity split their schedules by the minute.
Looking back now, when I hit it big as an R&B singer in America was when I was the busiest.
Back then, I was doing a YouTube shoot and a pictorial shoot simultaneously, interviewing with magazines, and rehearsing for a show that was in a few hours.
Anyway, Sedalbaekil didn't digest overlapping schedules like that.
But that didn't mean we were taking it easy.
Sedalbaekil is a group that fundamentally has extremely long training and recording hours.
I'm still working on tuning my vocal tone, and as I'd mentioned right after regressing, it takes about two years.
A year has passed now, so sounds I like are starting to come out, but it's still insufficient.
While I'm tuning my vocal tone every day, the members are also doing their own tasks.
Lee Eon is still working on hitting precise notes, and On Saemiro strives for good sound and good notes.
Choe Jaeseong trains his fundamentals to develop into an all-rounder, and Gu Taehwan listens to a tremendous amount of music.
Gu Taehwan's sense of rhythm belongs to the realm of instinct, so his skill doesn't increase in proportion to practice.
Instead, he needs to constantly receive inspiration.
Because the more good melodies and good rhythms pile up in Gu Taehwan's subconscious, the more sophisticated something will come out of him.
So he steadily listens to the albums I recommended.
I especially recommended a lot of instrumental albums without the singer's vocals.
The swing of jazz, the soul of blues, the spirit of rock, the vibe of hip-hop.
It's not a genre I've researched, but I think it could even include the han of pansori.
The elements called the essence of each genre have words that name them, but it's truly hard to explain clearly what they are.
Technical answers about what swing is or what soul is are ultimately nothing but hollow cries.
There's no choice but to listen until the genre fills your entire body, then make it flow out naturally.
That's what Gu Taehwan was doing.
These days, he's working hard to understand the swing of jazz, and it's quite positive.
"Han Sion."
"What."
"Doesn't track 3 sound a bit off?"
"Specifically, what about it?"
"Should I say the guitar and the rhythm feel a bit mismatched? I can't explain it in words…. The sound feels like it has no luster."
"Only track 3?"
"Track 9 is a bit like that too, but not as weird as track 3. It feels off when I listen."
"Come here. I'll download the sheet music and explain. For now, what you felt is correct."
Gu Taehwan had a more instinctive sense than I'd thought.
Well, I had known from early on that Gu Taehwan had the most outstanding talent in Sedalbaekil.
If he just blossoms properly, Gu Taehwan wouldn't fall behind any of the members I've assembled so far.
If anything, he'd be ahead.
Anyway, if things keep going like this, Gu Taehwan will likely become a far more captivating vocalist than he is now in the not-too-distant future.
Should I call him a perfected slave to the intro?
Anyway, individual training like this was a schedule Sedalbaekil had never skipped.
Lasting anywhere from one hour to four hours.
Even in America, where we'd visited to film Self-Made, I think we did it every time except for the one unavoidable day due to travel.
That wasn't all.
We exercised consistently and recorded tracks nonstop.
From Resume to Colorful Struggle, K-Pop Struggle, and up to our first full-length album.
We'd released 15 tracks in the last six months.
To meet the standards of a picky producer like me, countless retakes were necessary.
It took a whole week just to record one song, Resume, so that says it all.
We just didn't have broadcast activities; we were by no means free people.
Still, there was one thing I insisted on guaranteeing: adequate sleep.
Sleep is essential for a singer to have a long run.
The vocal cords are weaker than you'd think, and an organ prone to deformation.
The problem is that deformation occurs so gradually you can't feel it happening.
If I were going to do Sedalbaekil for only a year or two, I wouldn't care, but since I'm seriously challenging for 200 million copies—
From this perspective, we'd been extremely busy until now, but for the first time, we'd become free.
It was because external activities had to be halted until Self-Made Season 2 ended.
M-Show made a very interesting proposal to us, and we accepted it.
Thanks to that, Self-Made Season 2's format changed.
In the first place, Self-Made was content where unknown singers earned money in Season 1 and went on vacation slash busking in Season 2.
Honestly, it wasn't a particularly special format.
Korean singers going abroad to busk or do street performances had been made into variety shows many times.
But I made a new decision in America.
To release our second full-length album as quickly as possible.
Upon hearing that decision, M-Show made a simple proposal to us: let's promote the second full-length album through
Of course, it wasn't that M-Show liked us; they had their own capitalist logic.
Anyway, for this reason, the nature of Self-Made changed.
Season 1 was self-produced by unknown singers.
Season 2 was self-produced by Sedalbaekil.
Well, doesn't this side suit the title "Self-Made" better?
Anyway, for that reason, we're under embargo for three weeks.
We can't do external activities until Season 2 Episode 4 of Self-Made airs.
It's not a loss.
M-Show plans to compensate us more than enough anyway.
Then the members talked about something, and Gu Taehwan approached me.
"Han Sion."
"What."
"How about a ski resort? It's not easy to have this much free time."
A ski resort?
"We'll be swarmed by people and won't even be able to ski. It's peak season right now."
"Wearing goggles and a mask isn't weird at a ski resort. They won't recognize us."
He wasn't wrong, but it was a bit of a hassle.
I couldn't muster much enthusiasm if it wasn't related to music.
I'd done it all countless times before.
But I understood the members' desire to have fun.
We'd earned so much money, yet we'd been living like ascetics.
"Go ahead. Tell the manager."
"What about you?"
"It's cold."
"It's winter, so it's cold."
"If it's cold, there's a possibility of getting sick."
"Aren't we too healthy for that?"
Hard to refute.
Since we did almost daily quality sleep, balanced diet management, strength training, and cardio.
I stood there blankly not knowing what to say, and Gu Taehwan spoke.
"As expected of an ENTP…."
"What?"
"Just come with me."
In the end, I couldn't overcome the members' pestering and was forced to head to the ski resort.
"Hyung, are you good at skiing?"
"Should be good?"
"If you're good, you're good; what do you mean 'should be'?"
"It's been too long since I skied."
I have no memory of skiing during my GOTM days, so it must have been at least around 50 years?
"What about you?"
"I'm very good at it. Shall I teach you?"
Choe Jaeseong's eyes gleamed as he said that.
He reeked of determination to grind me down under the pretext of teaching me to ski.
Well, while working on this album, he'd tormented me the most—no, not torment.
Choe Jaeseong was definitely the one who'd given me the most passionate feedback.
I smirked at Choe Jaeseong.
"A bet?"
"What kind of bet?"
"Anything. Who can get down faster?"
"If I win, hyung has to do all the errands at the ski resort."
"If I win?"
"I'll do the errands."
"Isn't that how it normally is?"
"Scared?"
Maybe because I was at ease, or maybe because I'd been influenced by the members, my mental age seemed to have gotten a bit younger.
Hard to just laugh it off.
"Call."
It was an old memory, but I'd skied in the natural mountain ranges of Canada too.
It was probably for a music video shoot; back then, my manager had strived tirelessly to break the typical image of Asians.
I think I'd even shot a movie back then.
Anyway, I didn't know how well Choe Jaeseong could ski, but there was no way I'd lose.
As we went at it, Lee Eon smirked.
It felt like he was looking at a much younger brother, which left a sour taste.
Even though we're only a year apart in biological age.
"Come on, put on your goggles before getting out of the car, and let's not stick together too much. If five of us walk around, someone might recognize us."
At the ski resort we arrived at like that, I made a bet with Choe Jaeseong on the advanced course.
"Hyung, they were selling fish cakes near the entrance earlier…."
"…."
"Please get plenty of broth."
I was brutally defeated.
Come to think of it, I knew Choe Jaeseong had tremendous lung capacity….
Whether swimming or skiing, most sports favor those with long breath….
Why did I do that?
In the end, I had to buy fish cakes for Choe Jaeseong.
I knew Choe Jaeseong couldn't eat spicy food well, so I'd considered buying spicy fish cakes but refrained.
"Oh, I thought hyung would definitely bring something spicy."
"……
One more round."
"Then want to bet errands on tomorrow?"
"Call."
The ski resort was reasonably fun. Except for the fact that I ran errands for three days.
* * *
Episode 1 of Self-Made Season 2 received tremendous praise from the public, but an ambiguous evaluation from TT.
Of course, it wasn't that TT had found Self-Made Season 2 boring.
They had found it quite fun too.
But.
-Aren't they working too much?
-I mean… I wish they'd go and rest a bit.
-No, their budget is huge! They should go eat good food! Visit some famous restaurants!
-Why are they always lying around like ghosts in the lodgingㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-It's America! Nobody recognizes them!
-They do personal training for three hours even in America???
TT had hoped Sedalbaekil would spend a more relaxed vacation, but the program's atmosphere wasn't like that.
But to be really honest, the only reason they could give such an evaluation was because the program had been a massive hit.
If the program had flopped, they'd have wanted them to do anything to gain popularity.
Self-Made was clearly idol-related content.
All members appeared, and only members appeared.
And Self-Made became the most successful piece of content in broadcasting history among idol-related content.
Because Season 2 Episode 1 had an average viewership rating of 11.2%.
Episode 2 would probably record even higher ratings.
Because the clip of Han Sion giving a harsh lesson to HR Corporation's rookie band called BOTY (it was because Dave Logan had been initially portrayed as a villain) had spread tremendously.
As expected, the real-time rating for Episode 2 was 13%.
People thought the first scene of Episode 2, which started like that, would be HR Corporation's proposal.
Because at the end of Episode 1, a request had come asking Sedalbaekil to record a song for them.
But it wasn't.
The beginning was.
[Andrew Bryant.]
It was the appearance of Andrew Bryant.
The one who'd had a call with Han Sion right after the regression.
And then, his title explained by subtitles was surprising.
[HR Corporation, CEO.]
-????????????
-The CEO suddenly appears?