Damn Idol Episode 30
I spent a very long time drifting through the show business industry, and I’m someone who’s become quite adept at forming business relationships with people.
Of course, I won’t say my success rate is 100 percent.
There were definitely people I couldn’t become partners with no matter what I did.
But I’m far more skilled at forming business relationships than most people.
However, not in this life.
This life is clearly a pass-through round, a round where I need to pick up speed.
The reason I showed Kang Seokwoo PD the appropriate side of myself was because I thought that was the fastest path to debuting.
But I have no reason to go that far with On Saemiro.
What if On Saemiro really is a talented vocalist, and someone I’ll need later when putting together the best possible team?
Then I can treat On Saemiro well in the life where I need him.
That was what I was thinking when On Saemiro suddenly spoke to me.
“Excuse me. Can I ask you something?”
“Yes. Go ahead.”
“You said you’re not a trainee. And that you’re not signed to any agency.”
“Yes.”
“How much do you practice singing in a day?”
Well. The time I spend purely singing isn’t that long, but the time I spend moving in order to sing well is lengthy.
Even this morning, I practiced for over two hours, but I didn’t sing a single phrase.
Most of my daily life is centered around music, but before debut, I have to take care of my throat a bit.
“About eight hours, I think.”
“Every single day?”
“As much as possible.”
“Then… don’t your parents say anything?”
Why is he asking this?
Is he having conflict with parents who oppose him becoming a singer?
“I don’t know. They don’t really say much.”
“……
Okay. Thank you.”
After hearing his reply, I got the feeling that what On Saemiro had really wanted to ask was something else.
It felt like he’d talked in circles because asking directly was awkward.
What had he wanted to ask?
The conversation didn’t end cleanly, but I didn’t bother adding anything more.
If he has something he wants to say, he’ll say it again, I guess.
Just then, the door to the makeup van opened, and a PD other than Kang Seokwoo came inside.
I didn’t know his name, but I’d heard Kang Seokwoo PD call him “Go PD” before.
“Hello. How long will it take for the remaining two?”
“On Saemiro is just finished.”
“I think Han Sion will take a bit longer.”
“Is that so? Then, contestant On Saemiro, could you go to your seat? When you get there, the PD will guide you.”
On Saemiro stood up, bowed, and left the makeup van.
In the meantime, Go PD sat down beside me and spoke.
“Sion, you know who I am, right?”
“Yes. I know you as Go PD.”
“……
That’s because the PD calls me the wrong thing. I’m Kim Darin.”
……
Meister Kim?
No, but how does someone get a surname wrong?
I’d heard him call him Go PD several times.
“I’m sorry. Kim PD.”
“No. Seokwoo sunbae does call me Go PD. I didn’t think the contestants would have heard it too, though.”
I’m curious.
I kind of want to ask him why.
“Ah, it’s nothing much. HR Corporation contacted us.”
“HR?”
“They’re a major entertainment company in the United States. Would it be easier to understand if I called them a giant of Billboard?”
Judging from the flow of the conversation, it didn’t seem like my lie about pretending to be an HR employee had become a problem.
Well, it wasn’t really something that could become a problem.
At the end, I wrapped up the conversation by exchanging words appropriately with Andrew Bryant.
“What did they contact you about?”
“The composer of Flowers Bloom, the song you sang on the first stage of the preliminaries, belongs to HR. I don’t know if you’re aware, but his name is Chris Edward…”
“That was Eddie’s song?”
“Pardon? Eddie? Is that a nickname fans use?”
“Ah, no.”
For a moment, I was so surprised that the pet name slipped out without me realizing it.
The surprise didn’t fade.
Way From Flower’s Flowers Bloom was Eddie’s song?
Ah, so that was why…
It was absurd, and at the same time, it was like a puzzle piece clicking into place.
The moment I heard Flowers Bloom, I thought there must be an original version of the song, and I also thought that original must be a male song.
So I arranged it in my head while guessing what the original version would have been like…
And it was strangely easy.
As though I were deducing a song I’d already heard, the arrangement fell neatly into place.
Strictly speaking, the Flowers Bloom I sang in the first mission was a song staged as closely as possible to the arrangement I’d finished in my head by manipulating the scale.
At the time, I simply thought melodies were popping into my head because the original version suited my taste.
But if that was Eddie’s song, then it made sense.
I learned many things related to composing from Eddie.
Especially in the early days of my regressions, when I first chose to go to America.
How to compose by instinct, how to turn external stimuli into an internal desire to create, how to write tracks that worked on Billboard, and so on.
It wouldn’t be wrong to call him the teacher who laid the foundation of my composing ability.
Of course, now I’m a better composer than Eddie, but I still hold on to my gratitude.
He was also a friend I got along with quite well on a personal level.
For a regressor, someone whose everything returns to zero with one regression, to be used to the word “friend” means we really were close.
But Eddie once made K-pop?
That’s the first I’ve heard of it.
We weren’t together during GOTM, but when I was active as a soloist, we were pretty close.
“So what did Chris Edward say?”
“Ah, it wasn’t the composer who contacted us directly. We received a message from HR, his agency. First of all, they say it’s true that Flowers Bloom was created with a male vocalist in mind.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t seem very surprised. So Chris Edward says he wants to meet you once… but he attached a condition.”
“What is it?”
“He says he has to hear the song you finished arranging in your head… What does that mean?”
I laughed.
Right now, Go PD—no, Kim PD—is hiding one fact.
If my guess is correct, the monetary deal between Channel M Show and HR fell through.
HR probably demanded money because Chris Edward would be appearing on the broadcast, and M Show probably bet an amount far lower than what HR asked for.
When the situation got tangled, knowing Edward’s personality, he probably tried to come meet me on his own, and HR likely didn’t want to set a bad precedent in the Asian market.
After agonizing over it, HR chose to first verify my talent.
If the song I arranged is truly good, they’ll take the risk of setting a bad precedent and have Chris Edward appear.
There’s no way a song I made would be bad, so if I wanted to, I could make Eddie appear on a Korean broadcast.
Hmm. I’m a bit torn.
I have Eddie’s personal number and personal email memorized.
If I wanted, I could bypass M Show and meet him one-on-one.
If this were a round where I was seriously aiming for 200 million copies, that would be the better option.
But this time, I think it’s better to involve M Show.
In this situation, what’s the biggest thing I can receive from M Show?
Money? I don’t need it.
Popularity? The previous deal is enough.
No matter how much I think about it, there’s nothing I need to extract from M Show right now.
“Han Sion?”
“Ah, yes. I understand what you mean.”
At times like this, there’s an easiest path.
Rather than asking for something myself, I just need to ask what the other party can give me.
To do that, I should first create a debt they need to repay, right?
“Could I perhaps speak with Kang Seokwoo PD?”
“Sunbae isn’t coming to the filming location today. If you tell me, I’ll pass it on to him.”
“Then, how much did Chris Edward’s side ask for as an appearance fee?”
“Pardon?”
“The way I see it, HR attached a condition because the appearance fee didn’t match.”
“…!”
The moment I finished speaking, Kim PD’s eyes shook violently.
“Th-that’s not something I can tell you.”
“Then how much did M Show bet?”
“That’s even more impossible to say!”
It seems Kim Darin PD has never done this kind of negotiation before.
If he were an experienced PD, he would have approached it with something like, “There was no negotiation in the first place, so what are you talking about?”
“Then could you pass this on to Kang PD?”
“What?”
“This conversation just now. Ah, and please tell him I’m confident I can make Chris Edward appear.”
“……”
Kim PD repeatedly opened his mouth as if to say something, then stopped, and in the end nodded.
“Thank you. You’re very kind.”
At my words, Kim PD, who had been about to leave the makeup van, whipped around, stared at me for a long while, and disappeared.
Kim PD left like that, but I wasn’t alone in the makeup van.
There was one person who had heard our entire conversation—the stylist who was doing my hair.
As I stared into the mirror, I could feel the stylist standing behind me glancing at me again and again.
Why does she keep looking at me?
Has she never seen a regressor before?
* * *
Today’s filming was the first shoot after Team B had been formed, and it took place at a samgyeopsal restaurant in Myeong-dong that sponsored the program.
The difficult thing about filming an audition program is that you have to shoot with ordinary people.
People who haven’t been tainted by broadcasting aren’t used to presenting themselves appropriately in front of a camera.
Of course, thanks to that, there are times when it’s nice because you can capture something raw, but overall, there are many things to pay attention to.
“When you’re not the one speaking, please make sure to check the whiteboard the writer is holding periodically. Understood?”
“Yes.”
“Understood!”
“And try to eat as deliciously as possible. Once you enter the dorms, you’ll have to manage your diets strictly anyway.”
So the first start was a meal.
After all, when people fill their stomachs, their personalities soften, and conversation comes more easily.
As the head writer filmed the members having a samgyeopsal party, she thought that all of them seemed a bit different in personality from their first impressions.
Among Lee Ion, Han Sion, Choi Jaeseong, Gu Taehwan, and On Saemiro, the person who looked the coldest was Gu Taehwan.
If she took into account the impression given by words and actions, Han Sion did seem the chilliest.
Should she say he looked like a person with an incredibly high boiling point?
At times, he also gave off a gloomy, compulsive feeling.
But if one looked only at first impressions, then without question, Gu Taehwan looked the most cold-hearted.
His features were extremely distinct, and even though he hadn’t done any particular makeup, the shadows around his eyes were so deep it looked as if he were wearing smoky makeup.
‘It’s a little different from a thug-like face, though.’
If anything, “a handsome military officer you feel like you ought to obey” seemed like a more fitting expression.
Of course, the head writer was a woman and had never served in the military.
But that Gu Taehwan right now?
“Should I grill it a bit crispier?”
He was more absorbed in grilling the meat than eating it.
Saying that he was good at grilling meat, he’d taken the tongs and scissors and showed no intention of putting them down.
Then he carefully watched the members’ reactions, observing whether they were eating deliciously.
In particular, he was watching Han Sion closely…
And the way Han Sion ate meat was no ordinary sight.
‘Why does he seem like some Hollywood star?’
She couldn’t explain it very well, but rather than eating, it felt closer to savoring.
You know how it is.
The feeling you get when a foreign actor visits Korea and eats samgyeopsal.
A feeling of marveling at an unfamiliar taste while also enjoying it.
It was exactly that feeling.