Before they knew it, it was the week their promotions were drawing to a close.
In North America, their promotional activities were steadily laying the groundwork in their own way, but the members were still spending their time in music show waiting rooms.
Seoyun loosened up her throat and practiced live singing.
Ua ate a belated meal of salad.
Chiyo filmed Reels with the staff.
And Naeun alone...
‘Is she feeling pressured after all?’
She kept stealing glances at Dohui’s complexion.
Of course, Naeun knew too.
Dohui, despite her young age and the title of youngest member, had a strange stubborn streak.
If the people around her showed even a hint of worry, she was the type to stop what she was doing instead, start teasing her unnies, and laugh it off.
‘She’s just too much of a prankster.’
That was why, whenever Dohui was like that, all the members tended to stop paying attention to her for a while.
But Naeun, perhaps because of her titles as the eldest and the leader, simply couldn’t overlook it.
‘Just because she’s a genius doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel pressure.’
“Ah...”
Ever since they’d finished signing the contract with Warner Records last week, Dohui had been like that.
“Haa...”
Sighing with a notebook in front of her.
Only fiddling with her pen.
She barely even spent time reading, which was considered one of Dohui’s few ways of resting, nor even looking at her phone.
In Naeun’s eyes, it could only look like she was pushing herself self-destructively.
Naeun couldn’t just stand by and watch anymore.
Dohui was visibly exhausted at a glance.
‘This really can’t go on.’
“Dohui.”
Sure enough, the face Dohui turned toward her had countless traces of worry written all over it.
“Yeah?”
It had been since last fall. Their youngest, who had worked harder than anyone else and taken the lead on their albums almost without rest.
If only she would lean on her unnie a little and rest.
“Uh, unnie, you knew how I felt too...”
She had no idea what feeling that was.
But Naeun patted her and hugged her.
“Yeah. No matter what you’re like, unnie is confident she can go along with you. Don’t feel too burdened, and let’s just do it in a way that’s like you, Dohui.”
Meaning that it was okay for Dohui to act spoiled sometimes too.
“I see. Yeah, actually, I... wanted to do hip-hop...”
But why on earth was Dohui agonizing over this particular point?
“Cool idols do hip-hop, right...? I’m not lacking anywhere either... Harang unnie looked cool when she rapped this time... I guess I like hip-hop after all... I’m gonna do hip-hop...”
It was beyond understanding.
She couldn’t relate at all.
* * *
“Everyone, thank you for coming to Lee Dohui’s presentation.”
At the dorm, a specially ordered whiteboard had been set up in the living room.
“Yes, Miss Dohui, let’s keep it short today. I’m so sleepy I could die. We have to run music shows tomorrow too.”
“I’m gonna go brush my teeth. Just write down the gist~”
Today’s topic was, of course, the next album.
I wrote in large letters on the board.
[Where Does My Anguish Come From?]
“Ah, I’m just gonna go wash up too.”
The truth is, I, Lee Dohui, have an extremely warm heart.
“My anguish, as always, seems to come from this heart of mine, filled with such warm consideration and respect.”
“I don’t know about consideration, but I admit your heart is big.”
Then what would be the biggest concern if we were to do hip-hop?
“The quality of the songs? The direction?”
“Me, me! Lee Dohui can’t rap!”
Mm, neither of those.
“I’m a genius acknowledged by the president of Warner Records, so there’s no way I could be bad at hip-hop either. I’ve already roughly decided on the direction of the songs, the lyrics, and even the titles. Most of all, I’m even good at rapping.”
“Uh, unnie thinks Dohui is good at rapping too!”
“Hmmm... forced praise.”
“Besides, last year with New vibes, we clearly proved that we’re not a group that can’t do hip-hop, didn’t we?”
In that sense, there’s no reason we can’t do hip-hop.
Rather, there’s a reason we should.
“First of all, Chiyo unnie had way too few parts in this album.”
As long as we were idols, the place where the members had to shine the most was first and foremost on stage, within the music.
“I didn’t want to forcibly shove in a rap part that didn’t suit the song. I wanted to make a part where unnie could shine instead.”
“Do-Dohui-chan, you were thinking of me...?”
“Of course.”
“Sniff...”
Of course, the biggest reason was that I wanted to do hip-hop.
“However, there’s one major problem facing us.”
The rookie girl group from Haru Entertainment, who were legitimately carrying on the lineage of hip-hop idols after Coral Blue.
“Beatrin, who debuted not long ago. And since that mischievous Harang unnie is their leader, it’s easy to predict what the group’s vibe is already like.”
They were probably living very freely.
“That is, in other words, the hip-hop spirit...”
“Hmmm~ In that respect, Chiyo does not lose, you know? If you elect me, Kim Chiyo, as leader!”
“...You guys do it, then. You guys. Being leader is hard for me too.”
“Really?”
“For realz?”
“...Ah, no, I don’t think that’ll work. The group really looks like it’d fail...”
What the heck? I could seriously be a good leader.
Anyway, what I meant was absolutely not that we would be compared to Beatrin in the genre of hip-hop and be undervalued.
“They’re a little, how should I put it, definitely stylish and good, but they still have the feel of traditional hip-hop.”
Not all genres of hip-hop are the same.
We just have to do our own hip-hop, and I just have to do my own hip-hop.
“According to my interpretation, yes. To put it a bit strongly, it doesn’t fit the times.”
In the meantime, as if she’d finished brushing her teeth, Ua unnie smiled brightly and asked as though confirming.
“The times? Were you giving another history lecture~?”
Along with Kim Seoyun, who had only pretended to go into the bathroom.
“If we really don’t listen to her again, she’s obviously going to sulk for days and make things annoying.”
I hope they sit down quickly.
If they don’t listen to this precious Lee Dohui lesson, it’s their loss.
“I’ll put it very simply. Why do you think, along with the birth of hip-hop in its homeland, lyrics about bragging about money never disappeared?”
Of course, my lessons always have the same direction.
“To prove their superiority and show that they’re living better lives than their competitors? A desire to flaunt their success through wealth and fame?”
A series of trends created by the historical backdrop.
I could say this a hundred times and it still wouldn’t be enough.
“If that were all, it couldn’t have become a mainstream genre.”
The musical trend directly connected to it.
“To speak based on historical fact, Martin Luther King died in 1968. That means racial discrimination must have been rampant at least through the ’70s and ’80s. It’s a perception that doesn’t disappear easily. And amid that era of the ’70s, hip-hop was born as the music of poor Black neighborhoods. Then when artists afterward achieved success and started bragging about money, do you think Black people saw that as simply flaunting their own success?”
In my opinion, not at all.
“Rather, it would have looked like this. ‘See? I’m Black, I was poor, but I succeeded through music like this. If I did it, you can too. Follow me!’ Right?”
“Honestly, her lessons are actually kind of useful.”
“We trust only Do-ducer and follow.”
Ahem, I set the mood by resting my arm on the windowsill and looking outside.
“In reality, hip-hop began with that sort of meaning. But the important thing is what kind of hip-hop we do today.”
I wish someone would take a picture of me right now.
I probably look freaking cool.
“Of course, the truth is I don’t know much about America these days. I’ve never actually gone and lived in America, and I don’t know what locals’ lives are like. It seems to be going through a transitional period, but anyway, the only thing that’s certain is that hip-hop has become relatively weaker on Billboard these days.”
—Click.
Nice, Ua unnie.
I should make this my background photo.
“Still, we do know the situation in Korea fairly well. The atmosphere where the public mocks hip-hop lyrics and laughs at them.”
It’s not that people are weird.
“If you think about it, it feels obvious, right? The economy has developed, and the times and trends have changed too, but people are just taking the money-bragging of homeland hip-hop and copying it exactly in Korea. And if a rapper who isn’t even that famous does it... even I’d laugh.”
In that sense, the hip-hop we should pursue is simple.
“The truth is, with this album, we ended up with too heavy of an image. Should I say expectations got too high? People look at me, Lee Dohui, as some artist and a once-in-a-generation genius, you know? Of course, I know. I am art and a genius.”
“Ugh, it’s because of the nonsense she slips in midway that I don’t want to listen.”
“Real, real.”
How can my unnies be so cold when they know my genius?
“Anyway, so for this album, I want it to be a little lighter and more idol-like. In other words, it’d be nice if it were hip-hop with an absurd, slightly comic feel.”
But one thing was needlessly bothering me.
[Harang unnie: Hey, Debonair really went nuts, huh?]
[Harang unnie: Last time she promoted herself on my broadcast]
What if Harang unnie scolds me for doing hip-hop again, saying I have no professional courtesy?
* * *
Rira received a random text.
[Lee Dohui: I’ve been listening to Coral Blue songs lately]
Until now, the only people who sent her such meaningless, useless chatter were her family and her members.
[Me: So?]
[Lee Dohui: I’ve been listening to Coral Blue songs they’re good]
In fact, even her own members tended to tread carefully around her.
So the unreserved Lee Dohui was just a little fascinating.
[Me: So?]
And, strangely enough, she sometimes found it a little cute.
[Lee Dohui: I wanna do hip-hooop]
[Lee Dohui: I wanna do hip-hooooop]
[Lee Dohui: Hello?]
She had nothing to say.
Did this girl want advice from her?
Or was she simply declaring that she was going to do hip-hop too?
[Lee Dohui: When I asked Harang unnie, she said if I wanted to do hip-hop, I had to get my Korean hip-hop license issued here]
[Me: What are you even saying, seriously]
[Lee Dohui: She said to get a Class 2 manuard driver’s license]
[Lee Dohui: Ah typo, Class 2 ordinary]
What on earth was this child talking about?
Rira had no idea.
* * *
“I got permission from Rira, you know? I’m now a Korean hip-hop license Class 2 automatic too.”
“Waaah!? Class Twooo? I knew this would happen. Poop Dohui really is an ugly loser!!”
“You don’t need Class 1 to do hip-hop. Thanks.”