Chapter 105
A massive practice room, hard to believe it was inside a private residence.
Dancing to the music flowing from within, I stopped in my tracks and caught my breath as the music ceased.
"Phew..."
Standing alone in the center of the practice room for a moment, I soon gathered my wits and checked the time on my phone screen.
'It's already 3 AM...?'
It had already been two hours since I started practicing alone after seeing off the members who went to rest first.
"Should I slowly wrap it up and head in?"
Just as I muttered to myself in the empty practice room and was about to leave—
A message from the status window suddenly appeared before my eyes.
-Dance stat has increased to A.
'My stat went up?'
An unexpected stat increase.
Of course, it was good news, but rather than feeling purely happy, I felt a bit bewildered.
'I didn't think I could raise stats above A-rank just through practice.'
That went for the Dance stat which had hit A-rank, as well as the Vocal stat which was still stuck at B-rank.
They had been stagnant for so long that I thought I could no longer raise my stats through practice anymore.
Yet suddenly, my stat had increased through practice.
'Could it be because of the trait?'
I recalled a trait I had acquired shortly after arriving in the US.
-Completed Leadership
Team morale maintenance and discipline +100%,
Greatly increases the probability of activating members' latent abilities and awakening their stats.
Increases decisiveness and judgment in crisis situations.
The trait 'Completed Leadership'.
It was the advanced trait of 'Leader's Whip', which I had acquired last year and used to great effect.
It was the result of investing a whopping 2 trait points into upgrading it, half-doubting the status window's prompt that appeared after a long time: 'Would you like to consume trait points to upgrade an existing trait?'.
'It wasn't a bad choice.'
The 'Leader's Whip' trait was a 3-point trait, and I had newly invested 2 points this time. So it was a trait worth a hefty 5 points, but...
Seeing the effects right after acquiring it made it quite a satisfying result.
'In that case, I should make the other members practice even harder, right?'
Thinking that, I recalled everything that had happened since arriving in the US.
We came to the US to prepare for a full album and our advancement into the American market.
It had already been nearly a week since we came to the US to meet James Blake.
And now, a week later, our current status was...
'The album preparation seems to be progressing smoothly, but...'
Actually, when we first arrived here, I was wondering how to persuade James Blake.
We came here worrying whether James Blake would even help with our album work.
The moment I saw him on the first day, all those worries vanished.
[Since you're here, shall we start working right away?]
With that single remark from James Blake, we dove straight into album preparation from day one.
At the same time, the company allowed us nearly a month of album preparation time in the US.
'Well, a world-renowned artist is offering to help. They should at least do that much.'
Even while thinking that, I also felt anew that the company's expectations for this full album were high.
Anyway, having started album preparation in the US with the company's somewhat burdensome consideration.
This week, we were smoothly recording the tracks. And in the meantime, I was able to exchange a few words with James Blake.
[Um. Thank you for helping with this album.]
[I like K-pop.]
[Excuse me?]
[Actually, I watched your audition too. Cookmin Idol? Is that how you pronounce it? Anyway, the stages were very impressive.]
Saying that, James Blake mimicked tearing his Hawaiian shirt with both hands.
Listening to his words, I felt absurd and asked him back.
[Y-You already knew about us, then why did you ask us to film and send a separate video when preparing for the awards ceremony stage last time...?]
[Oh, that time? Why, didn't you guys have fun too? I found it amusing.]
Hearing James Blake's words that caused my blood pressure to spike just by listening, I vaguely brushed off the conversation and hastily ended it.
After finishing the recording of a few pre-determined tracks for this album, I had no reason to see James Blake separately.
Coming out to the practice room and practicing with the other members, excluding Yoojin Kim and Park Hanhui who were hard at work on the title track with James Blake, was almost the entirety of my daily routine here.
'Though training the members will probably be added from now on.'
The closer I looked at James Blake, the more I doubted whether this person was truly a global star.
Regardless, having come all the way to the US for album work, I couldn't return empty-handed.
'It would have been nice if I could have directly helped with the composing too. That's a bit disappointing.'
I thought that while recalling Yoojin Kim and Park Hanhui, who were rarely seen these days, probably due to the title track work.
Well, composing was still an area I couldn't help with, so it couldn't be helped.
'Should I have invested more points into composing too...'
Feeling a twinge of regret, I finally stood up from my spot.
And just as I was walking toward the closed practice room door to finally leave, someone's silhouette suddenly shimmered in front of the translucent glass door.
'Huh? Who could it be at this hour?'
It was already too late for anyone to come practice.
And it wasn't like the members who had gone to sleep after practicing all day would wake up and come back to practice.
As I was feeling a moment of doubt while looking at the silhouette shimmering by the door—
The practice room door slid open.
"Lin hyung?"
A voice heard through the slightly opened door.
And soon, Yoojin Kim poked his head through the gap.
"What are you doing in the practice room at this hour?"
"Um, I just saw the light on and was curious if anyone was here."
"Really? Wanna come in?"
The moment I saw Yoojin Kim's face sticking out the door, I intuited it. He had something weighing on his mind right now.
Actually, there was no reason for him to be wandering the mansion alone at this late hour if he didn't have any problems.
'What's going on? Did some problem occur?'
After naturally sitting on the chairs by the practice room wall with Yoojin Kim, I hesitated for a moment before bringing it up first.
"Did you just come out from working on the song?"
"Yeees, that's right."
"Aren't you working too late? Are you getting enough sleep?"
"That... coming from the hyung who was practicing until this hour doesn't seem very convincing..."
As I silently stared at Yoojin Kim who spoke with a mutter, he soon turned his head away without a word.
Silence briefly visited the practice room, but soon the two of us looked at each other and smiled softly.
I looked at Yoojin Kim and spoke lightly.
"How is it working here? Does it seem to help a bit?"
"Since there's someone next to me giving advice rather than working alone, the work speed seems to have gotten much faster. And I'm learning a lot from James Blake too."
"Really? That's unexpected. For you to praise him that much. He didn't seem like the type to sincerely help."
The more I ran into James Blake here, the more he felt like just some foreign uncle.
It seemed Yoojin Kim, who was actually working closely with him, saw a somewhat different side of him.
"He is a bit different from his outward appearance. When he's serious, he's infinitely serious."
"Hmm, is that so...?"
Hearing Yoojin Kim say that, one thing came to mind.
The appearance of James Blake I saw when we stood on stage together at the last awards ceremony.
His serious look back then made me understand why this person was a global star.
I had temporarily forgotten it because I'd only seen his relaxed side since coming here.
"But hey. There's something I want to ask."
"Yes?"
"By any chance, did you know James Blake from before? When you first met at the awards ceremony, and even after coming to the US. It seems like you've known each other for a while?"
"Ah... If you say 'knew him from before', it's a bit ambiguous. I have seen him a few times in the past."
"Huh? Really?"
This was the first time I'd heard this.
I had asked on a whim because I got that feeling from hearing them talk, but I didn't expect there to be a past about Yoojin Kim that I didn't know...
"When did you see him? You said a few times, so it doesn't seem like you just bumped into each other in passing."
"Um, you know I went to an audition in the US before, right?"
"Ah..."
"One of the judges back then was James Blake. Of course, since I was just a contestant, I never spoke to him directly, but I guess you could say we knew each other."
"So that's how it was."
So it was when he went on American Idol.
Well, I didn't know anything about Yoojin Kim from that time anyway. It wasn't strange that I didn't know.
"Did you say you were the runner-up back then?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Then who was the winner?"
"The winner...? Have you ever heard of Eric Foster?"
"I don't know much about foreign singers. Is he very famous?"
"Famous... well, he's on the famous side..."
But Yoojin Kim's demeanor as he answered was a bit strange.
It felt like he was talking about something he didn't really want to discuss.
'Did something happen between him and that winner?'
I grew curious, but it seemed difficult to ask any further in this setting.
If I looked up that audition later, would I be able to find out why Yoojin Kim was uncomfortable right now?
Anyway, seeing Yoojin Kim answering awkwardly, I quickly changed the subject.
"Anyway. How's the title track work going? Seems like it's going well?"
"Umm..."
I saw Yoojin Kim swallow a groan again at my words.
At the continuous awkwardness, I was glancing at Yoojin Kim wondering if I had brought up the wrong topic, when—
Yoojin Kim spoke up first again.
"Hyung, do you think we can show all of Weers' charm with just one title track?"
"Whether we can show all our charm with just one title track?"
"Yes."
I could fully understand what Yoojin Kim was struggling with through that question.
It was a question that made me feel just how important this dilemma was to him, but my answer popped out immediately.
"That would probably be difficult."
"I knew hyung would say that."
"If you say it like that, I have nothing to say..."
"No. Hearing it clearly from you hyung relieved some of my worries. I guess my greed was too big."
Seeing Yoojin Kim speak calmly, it seemed he had already sorted it out himself to some extent.
I looked at him for a moment before speaking again.
"If it's hard to show a lot with one song, we can prepare two songs of different styles."
"Double title tracks... That method could work too."
"Of course, it would be hard to suddenly make another title track-worthy song right now. Hmm... If you really think one title track isn't enough, we could get a song from somewhere else. Like asking James Blake... There are plenty of ways."
Yoojin Kim, who had been nodding at my words, soon looked at me and spoke.
"Still, getting a song from somewhere else is truly the last resort. I want us to make Weers' music ourselves. Even if it's very hard, we can't easily give up."
"Really?"
"We have to make our music ourselves in the future too. I didn't join this group just to be active for a mere 3 years."
Yoojin Kim suddenly spoke in a slightly firm tone.
And as I met his gaze, he shortly said to me.
"We have to show it starting right from this album."
In Yoojin Kim's appearance as he said that, I could feel the pressure and anxiety he hadn't easily revealed outwardly until now.
'I wish he wouldn't try to shoulder it all by himself...'
Instead of voicing my thoughts, I quietly swallowed them inside.
I knew what thoughts Yoojin Kim had in participating in this group from before, so I couldn't easily spit out those words.
Sighing softly in my mind like that, I looked back at Yoojin Kim and brought up a topic with a slightly bright voice.
"For now, let's go in and rest for today. It's too late."
"Umm, I'll work a little more and... Uwah!"
"Where are you running off to."
"Ugh, wait a moment...! I can walk on my own..."
I grabbed Yoojin Kim's arm and dragged him out of the practice room.
And we walked together through the dawn hallway that had already turned dark a long time ago.
The mansion was so large that moving from the practice room to another place felt like walking between buildings.
Walking together through the silent hallway like that, I asked Yoojin Kim without much thought.
"But Hanhui hyung hasn't been coming out of the studio lately either. How does he seem these days?"
"Hanhui hyung?"
"Yeah."
"I'm not sure either...?"
"Huh...?"
"That's, I think it's been quite a while since I properly saw his face too."
Dumbfounded by Yoojin Kim's unexpected answer, I asked again.
"What? Aren't you two working together?"
"That was the case until the first and second day. But at some point, when I came to my senses, Hanhui hyung wasn't there."
Hearing Yoojin Kim's words, I felt a strangely odd sensation for some reason.
"Could Hanhui hyung also be working until now?"
"Huh? Right now? Well. Hanhui hyung isn't the type to work through the night..."
"Let's go check."
"Yes? Where?"
"Where Hanhui hyung is working. You know where it is, right?"
"It's probably near my studio. But I don't think he'll still be there..."
"Let's just go check."
Driven by a subtle feeling of wanting to check on Park Hanhui, I dragged Yoojin Kim along and moved my feet.
As we headed toward the studio inside the mansion, past where Yoojin Kim was working, a room with the light on came into view.
"Oh? I think it's over there. The light is still on."
Following Yoojin Kim's words, as we approached the lit studio, an intense sound flowing through the crack of the closed door could be heard from afar.
"Looks like he's working right now."
"Seems like it."
We slowly approached the glass door where light was leaking out. Soon, standing outside the door, we could confirm Park Hanhui's back inside.
"Hyung, are you going in? Huh??"
"Shh!"
I grabbed Yoojin Kim's arm as he reached for the doorknob, and stepped back from the studio door with him.
"Why... why...?"
"Let's go back for now."
Leading Yoojin Kim, who had a blank expression as if he couldn't understand, I retraced our steps.
And when we had moved a certain distance away from where Park Hanhui was working, I spoke to Yoojin Kim.
"Yoojin."
"Yes?"
"Maybe the problem you mentioned earlier has already been resolved."
"Yes...? What do you mean?"
"Well. You'll know in a little while."
"...?"
Ignoring Yoojin Kim's questioning gaze, I looked at the status window message floating before my eyes right now.
-Park Hanhui has entered an awakened state.
-It is highly recommended not to disturb the awakening target as much as possible.