Damn Idol Episode 52
* * *
“Damn it. That was the worst schedule ever.”
“Stop whining, Eddie. The result was good, wasn’t it? It was a big shot.”
“You sound like the embodiment of vulgar capitalism, seeing music only as money.”
“What happened to the man who said he’d sell his soul to the devil if he could sell music for money?”
“That was when my body and mind were worn down.”
Alex, who had been sitting in first class, let out a chuckle at Chris Edward’s grumbling.
He had been like that for two weeks already because their trip to Korea had been delayed, but from the company’s perspective, there had been no choice.
If they could land a deal that big with HBO, a major broadcaster in the English-speaking world, they would have had to spare not two weeks, but two months.
“So we’re going straight to Korea from England now, aren’t we? Just endure it for a few more hours.”
“What if that boy named Sion lost his shining genius in two weeks?”
“Don’t worry. That genius of his is being maintained very well.”
“How do you know?”
“I got the videos.”
“Videos?”
“Videos of our genius boy still making a splash on the reality show.”
As he said that, Alex handed Chris Edward a laptop.
Inside were the videos of all the stages Han Sion had put together so far.
Since he had received them from the production crew of Coming Up Next, there was quite a bit of unaired footage as well, and Alex had watched them with interest too.
In particular, the band play that unfolded as an improvisation at a place called LB Studio had left a deep impression on him.
‘Though I don’t think it was actually improvisation.’
Alex had originally not been certain whether the boy named Han Sion was that much of a genius.
He had simply believed it because Chris Edward said so.
But after watching the videos that had arrived this time, his mind had completely changed.
Han Sion was a genius.
There was definitely an aura in the music he created.
He wasn’t sure whether that would work in the English-speaking market as well, but at least in Korea, it seemed certain.
The song “Under the Streetlight” had already reached number one on Billboard’s Korean chart.
“If you had something like this, you should have shown me earlier!”
“If I had, would you have focused on the meeting?”
“Well… that’s true.”
“Only episode one of the reality show is out right now, and the rest of the videos are rough cuts we got from the production crew. Oh, there’s the audio too. It’s currently number one on the Korean charts.”
“No wonder there were so many videos.”
“What do you want to watch first?”
“Obviously, I should start with episode one of the reality show. It has subtitles, right?”
“Of course.”
At that moment, the plane they were on began to take off.
Alex had been through marathon negotiations over the past two weeks, so he was extremely tired.
So from around the time takeoff was complete and Chris Edward began playing episode one of the reality show, he had no memory.
‘What time is it?’
Alex, who had fallen asleep as if he had fainted, opened his eyes after quite some time had passed.
When he glanced at his wristwatch, eight hours had gone by.
Since the flight from London to Incheon took thirteen hours, they still had a long way to go.
As Alex was thinking that, he casually looked at the seat beside him.
Chris Edward was staring at the laptop screen with bloodshot eyes.
He had probably fallen asleep because he couldn’t overcome his fatigue and had only just woken up to watch the videos.
“When did you wake up?”
“I haven’t slept yet.”
“What? What have you been doing all this time? It’s been eight hours.”
“I watched this.”
“The whole time?”
“The whole time.”
How long could the total runtime of the videos on the laptop even be?
“Don’t tell me you kept replaying that boy’s performance videos?”
“Alex.”
“What?”
“Sion is a genius.”
“I know. You’ve said that several times.”
“No. It’s a little different from then.”
Saying that, Eddie shut his mouth tightly and went back to watching the video.
But the way he watched the video was a bit strange.
He was hammering the space bar, breaking it down second by second as he watched.
Sneaking a glance, Alex saw that he was watching the remix version of “Under the Streetlight,” a performance held with an invited audience.
Alex waited patiently for Eddie to finish watching the video, then asked.
“What’s different?”
“Hm?”
“You said that boy, whom you praised as a genius last time too, is different now.”
“Ah. Right.”
After briefly organizing his thoughts, Chris Edward opened his mouth.
“Last time, I was evaluating him. Like judges who discover a prodigy at a concours.”
“And now?”
“I admired him. While thinking that I couldn’t evaluate him. Sion is clearly a genius standing on a higher tier than me.”
“Hmm…”
The assessment was excessive.
There was no way Han Sion was actually better than Eddie.
It was probably because Han Sion’s music matched Eddie’s tastes perfectly.
Alex had experienced that before too.
There had been a genius who looked like a monster in his eyes, but everyone else had only evaluated that friend’s music as being quite decent.
Taste often clouds objectivity.
But Alex did not bother refuting Eddie’s words.
“If you say so, then I suppose that’s how it is.”
“Alex. Once we get to Korea, can we meet Sion right away?”
“That’ll be difficult.”
“Why?”
“By the time we arrive in Seoul, the genius boy will be filming the reality show.”
“Then let’s go watch that.”
“Hm?”
“He’s going to sing onstage, isn’t he? Let’s go watch that.”
“That show is a team competition. Han Sion won’t be singing an individual song.”
“I don’t care.”
Seeing Eddie’s eyes, Alex had no choice but to nod.
When an artist had eyes like that, unless it involved some serious felony, you had to go along with them.
“Okay. Get some sleep for now. If you’re going to watch a performance in Korea, you need to keep your head clear.”
“Ah, right. I should.”
“But Eddie, you said last time that you didn’t have any particular plan to do something after meeting that boy. Is that still the case?”
Chris Edward shook his head.
Because something he wanted to do had come to mind.
“I want to ask him to remix one of my songs.”
“A remix of your released songs?”
“It doesn’t matter. Whether it’s a released song or an unreleased one. I’m just curious what Sion would bring to life and what he’d kill off in my song.”
It was a shame.
There was a limit to how much money could be earned with a remix version.
But if he thought about it conservatively, it wasn’t bad either.
There was no longer any doubt about Han Sion’s musical ability, but there were still questions about his commercial ability by Billboard standards.
“That’s not bad.”
“Right?”
“Get some sleep first. I’ll arrange things so we can watch the performance once we arrive in Seoul.”
* * *
The second round of Coming Up Next was held at the art hall in Sangam, just like last time.
But if there was one thing that had changed greatly, it was the program’s level of recognition.
Last time, when they recruited 500 audience members, the competition rate had been 13:1.
But that number had come out because of the way it was calculated.
They had conducted recruitment in a loose manner, and had also accepted applications for two-person and four-person attendance.
By strict internal metrics, it was more reasonable to record it as a competition rate of around 6:1.
But this time was different.
The competition rate for recruiting 800 audience members was 52:1.
And it was not an inflated number due to the calculation method, but the exact competition rate.
The reason for this level of interest was partly the success of the program itself, but more than that, it was the power of the song.
It had already been two days since Han Sion’s “Under the Streetlight” rose to the very top of the music charts.
When an orthodox Korean-style rock ballad took first place for the first time in ages, quite a lot of people got excited.
As of 2017, idol music and hip-hop music were undeniably the trend, but there were certainly people who did not like them.
However, there was something rather ironic about this.
“Under the Streetlight” had succeeded with a feel that differed from idol music, but…
-If you’re glad something proper finally came out after nothing but bleep-bloop mass-produced idol songs every day, upvote.
-Upvote if it seems like the comment above doesn’t know the person who sang it is a contestant on an idol survival show.
As it turned out, the person who sang it was a cast member of Coming Up Next.
In this situation, it was only natural that the competition to apply for the audience became fierce.
And another thing naturally followed.
M Show was in a festive mood.
It was to the point that the president of M Show sidled over and subtly asked whether there was anything else afterward that could become an issue.
Producer Kang Seokwoo’s answer to that was simple.
“The curtain has only just risen. You can look forward to it.”
Satisfied with Kang Seokwoo’s answer, the president bestowed a cash bonus, and that money was scheduled to be used for today’s company dinner.
Amid this situation, at 2 p.m.,
all 800 audience members had completed their entrance.
* * *
The previous competition on Coming Up Next had been a position battle.
Take Scene and Three Months, One Hundred Days paired up in twos and presented a total of five stages.
But today’s competition was a team mission.
There were only two stages to show the audience.
And even if both stages were combined, the performance time would not even reach twenty minutes.
For audience members who had waited a long time, it was something that could leave them feeling deflated.
Of course, there was no need to treat the audience of a variety program like the audience of a concert.
But when the tide was beginning to come in like now, they had to row hard.
Because buzz was not something one simply obtained for free.
That was why Producer Kang Seokwoo put considerable effort into producing the VCR.
He could not include as much detail as an actual broadcast, but he wanted to make the audience look forward to the stages that were about to unfold.
“I hope you can comfortably watch this story as if you were watching a musical.”
After Blue, who was in charge of hosting, created a suitable atmosphere and stepped down, the VCR began.
The VCR began with a summary of episode one of Coming Up Next, which had already aired.
What mattered here was that they removed all the edit points and showed the stages without stopping.
In the cases of Han Sion, Lee Ion, and On Saemiro, the full versions of their stages had been broadcast, but that was not the case for Choi Jaeseong or Gu Taehwan.
They had not even been released as clips yet.
Their full videos were being revealed for the first time today.
The same went for Take Scene’s practice stage.
After summarizing episode one like that, they showed the contents of episodes two and three, which had not yet aired, to the extent that it would not be a spoiler.
And finally, the present point in time.
-What you must prepare for the next competition is… a self-production mission.
After Choi Daeho’s declaration, the VCR began to focus on Take Scene.
Juyeon, Fade, Ready, Eye Level, and See You.
The five of them put their heads together and began composing the stage.
Take Scene’s self-production mission felt like the hopeful version of a group project.
The five members united tightly, came up with ideas, exchanged opinions, and moved in a better direction.
There was a brief conflict, but it did not extend into an emotional rift, and soon they created a heartwarming scene.
They did not show which song had been selected, but the audience could clearly hear a familiar melody here and there throughout the VCR.
“What is this? Ah, it’s a really famous song.”
“Isn’t it a Maroon 5 song?”
“‘Moves Like Jagger’? No, it’s not that. It’s similar, though.”
“I think that’s right.”
“I said it’s not.”
If they thought hard about it, they might have realized, but the VCR moved so quickly that it gave them no time to think.
And so, Take Scene on the screen finished the arrangement, prepared the choreography, and prepared the stage props.
Then suddenly, they froze in place.
And stared at the camera.
As if they were looking right at the audience.
“…?”
As the audience stared at the VCR, wondering what was going on, Juyeon on the screen asked.
-But when we announce the start of the stage with a bam! would fireworks be better? Or flames?
At first, the audience members did not answer.
But when Ready, who had his arm around Juyeon’s shoulder, asked once more, a few audience members opened their mouths.
“Fireworks!”
“Flames!”
At first, the answers were mixed.
But soon, through mob mentality, their opinions converged.
“Flames!”
“Flames!”
“Flames!”
At that moment,
Fwoooosh!
Enormous flames bloomed onstage, and at the same time, Take Scene appeared out of nowhere.
Before people could even scream, a drum solo burst out, and Take Scene, appearing amid the flames, poured out perfectly synchronized group choreography.
The people let out cheers one beat late.
Take Scene’s competition stage had begun.