Chapter 52
[WEIRS April 13th Debut Showcase Confirmed!]
"Uh... I think I'm seeing things. Is the date really the 13th?"
"You're seeing it correctly."
As Park Hwan-hui looked at the date on the article and spoke hesitantly, Yoojin Kim sighed and answered from beside him.
'Why did it suddenly turn out like this?'
There was absolutely no sign of this until yesterday.
Is it normal for a comeback date to be pushed up by 2 weeks overnight?
"Then are we... releasing our album on the same day as BLUERED's comeback?"
"Uh... I guess so?"
Actually, the schedule being moved up wasn't the only problem.
It was the showcase schedule that sniped BLUERED's comeback date precisely.
As the inevitable match-up between WEIRS and BLUERED materialized, all kinds of articles started pouring out.
[Showdown of Super-Sized Idol Groups. The Comeback War Between Super-Rookie WEIRS and BLUERED Aiming for the Throne Once Again.]
[BLUERED and WEIRS Clash on the Same Day? The Butterfly Effect Starting from Tae-woon's Remarks?]
[WEIRS Sniping BLUERED's Comeback? WEIRS' Side: "The schedule proceeds as planned. There is no other intention."]
[A Move Adding Tension to the Lax Music Industry. Super-Rookie WEIRS' Justified Confidence.]
It was a complete checkmate.
Just looking at the articles, it seemed certain that WEIRS had aimed for BLUERED's comeback and set their debut schedule.
"Is it okay for things to be like this?"
At Kang A-jin's single remark, the quiet dorm was engulfed in chaos.
"Debuting on the same day as BLUERED's comeback...!"
"Hahahahahahahahahaha."
Baek Si-hyun was seen quietly muttering and constantly pacing around the house, while Park Hwan-hui sat on the sofa making strange laughing noises.
"Maybe if I sleep and wake up again, I'll wake up from this dream. Everyone, I'm going to bed. Goodbye... Agh!"
I grabbed Shim Sung-ha, who was out of his mind and trying to go to his room, sat him on the sofa, and gathered the other members.
"Alright, everyone gather!"
At my words, the members who had been chattering away shut their mouths and gathered in one place as if they hadn't been doing that.
"Let's calm down first. Making a fuss here won't change the fact that articles have already been published."
When I barely managed to calm the members down. Suddenly, the sound of the dorm door opening was heard.
"Huh? It's the manager hyung!"
It took less than 3 seconds for the barely calmed members to return to a state of chaos.
'It can't be helped. And I'm curious too.'
While we were getting excited over the manager's return. The manager, who looked like he had aged about 10 years in a single day, walked weakly toward the living room.
"Uh...?"
"Are... you okay?"
The members had acted like they would grab and interrogate the manager as soon as he arrived, but seeing his unusual state, they all looked at him with worried eyes.
"Y-you all saw the articles, right?"
"Yees..."
"It was decided so suddenly that I couldn't tell you in advance. I'm sorry."
"Ah, it's okay."
"We're fine!"
As the manager suddenly apologized, the members spoke flustered.
"Could you perhaps tell us why it turned out like this?"
At Yoojin Kim's following words, the manager let out a long, deep sigh before opening his mouth again.
"That is..."
The outline of the incident was as follows.
The CEO of WEIRS' agency, whom I only thought was a good-natured uncle. It started when he came across BLUERED's article.
"So, you're saying the CEO was furious?"
"It's a bit much to say furious. But he was very angry."
Hearing the news that BLUERED's Tae-woon had belittled WEIRS, the CEO declared a total mobilization order for all employees.
'Our WEIRS' debut schedule will proceed simultaneously with the comeback day of those punks, whether they're BLUERED or BLUEDEVIL.'
The employees showed difficulty at the CEO's shocking declaration, but.
"He wrapped everything up in a single sentence."
'I don't care how much money it takes. Invest reliably and trample BLUERED for sure.'
"Wow... Our CEO was that kind of person?"
"Is he some chaebol second generation or something?"
At our questions, the manager answered as if it was obvious.
"He's not a chaebol second generation, but he is from a chaebol family. He's the nephew of the CL Group chairman."
"C, crazy..."
"That uncle... no, the CEO was from a chaebol family?"
The members spoke in astonishment at the CEO's shocking identity.
"If he's from a chaebol family, definitely..."
"I guess he wouldn't care whether BLUERED is a senior group or whatever."
'So the content written in the articles was true after all...'
The story that I thought was nonsense—that WEIRS changed their debut schedule aiming for BLUERED's comeback—turned out to be the truth.
"Anyway, the debut schedule is definitely set then."
"That's right..."
The manager answered with a gloomy face at my question.
"Then what will our debut preparation schedule be like from now on?"
Kang A-jin asked with an innocent face in the gloomy atmosphere.
"How it will be... just think of it as being half-dead."
No matter how much the budget was, no matter how much more investment was given, the physical time had still been reduced by 2 weeks.
Even if money solved everything, it couldn't increase the preparation time...
'We're going to be worked to death for a while.'
I roughly calculated the comeback schedules and spoke while looking at the faces of the members who had turned pale without realizing it.
"It's okay. People don't die from not sleeping for about a week. Everyone, let's work hard to the point of death... no, just right before dying!"
You chose this leader. Endure it with sheer malice and grit...
***
Just because the schedule was tight, everything didn't go smoothly as planned.
The very first crisis that hit us was... exactly this.
The selection of the title track.
"Aagh! It feels like blood is pouring out of my ears. Someone check my ears please!"
"Well, they look fine to me."
"If you have the energy to scream, go over to that corner and listen to it 100 more times, Sung-ha."
The A&R team handed over the choice for the title track selection to us.
When we first received about 5 demo songs, we didn't realize that song selection was such a painful process.
Thinking about it now, handing over the authority for song selection to us, rookies who were just debuting, was perhaps.
'So they can dodge responsibility if our results are worse than BLUERED's.'
After the CEO's strict order came down that we had to beat BLUERED no matter what.
It was predictable how much pressure had been put on the A&R team.
Every day was probably like hell for them...
In the end, whether they did it because they felt burdened, or whether they truly respected us as artists. Of course, it unavoidably looked closer to the former.
In the end, the choice for the title track came to us. And that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
'Anyway, it's good that our opinions are reflected. Even if the process is a bit too painful...'
I looked at Shim Sung-ha and Baek Si-hyun lying dead on the practice room floor, and approached Yoojin Kim.
"Have you decided?"
"What about you, hyung?"
"I'm... struggling because of 2 songs."
"Me too."
It seemed Yoojin Kim was going through a similar dilemma as me.
"Number 3 and 4?"
"Yes, that's right."
There were a total of 4 new songs to be included in this album.
Actually, the fact that the A&R team handed us 5 songs meant they were already songs that had been filtered and filtered again.
Because of that, none of the 5 songs felt fundamentally lacking, but.
"First, let's exclude the safe songs."
The problem was that we had to face off against BLUERED head-on.
'In the end, we have to choose a song that can captivate the public at once.'
Songs 1 and 2 lacked the weight to be considered title tracks.
Song 5 was good, but the problem was that the genre was hip-hop based, which overlapped with BLUERED.
What remained were numbers 3 and 4.
"Number 3 is good as a song itself, but the impact of the song is a bit lacking. And number 4 has a really intense impact, but it's too experimental."
It was exactly as Yoojin Kim said.
The problem was that the two songs had such distinct pros and cons.
At times like this, it would be nice to get help from the trait shop, but.
'The traits that helped with song selection started at a minimum of 2 points.'
The trait point I had right now was just 1 point.
The traits that could be obtained with just 1 point were too limited.
At the very least, a trait called 'Sharp Intuition' caught my eye, but its vague description made it hard to choose.
'These devilish bastards in the A&R team. Giving this to us to choose... They should've at least given us more generous time.'
In the end, only hatred for the company that set such a tight schedule was added to my mind.
'Anyway, I have to decide within today...'
Looking at the clock hands rushing toward the exact hour, I unavoidably gathered the members.
"Alright, it's time to make a decision."
At my firm words, the members were seen squeezing their heads and suffering.
"Could you tell me which song number you're all thinking of?"
"I'm... thinking of either number 3 or 4."
"Me too."
Perhaps everyone was agonizing over the same thing as me, they said 3 or 4 without hesitation.
"Hmm, then we have to choose one of the two songs..."
While I was hesitating, Baek Si-hyun cautiously raised his hand and spoke.
"How about going with a double title track?"
"Double title track?"
"Yes, both songs have their own pros and cons, so if we just go with a double title track..."
"Then what about the music video? When will you learn the choreography? Do we have time for that right now?"
"Ah..."
When Woo Jung-woo retorted sharply to Baek Si-hyun's words, the atmosphere in the practice room suddenly turned sour.
Woo Jung-woo also seemed to realize his mistake after speaking and immediately shut his mouth, but Baek Si-hyun's expression had already hardened coldly.
"It wasn't a bad enough suggestion to speak like that, was it?"
"Yoojin...!"
As Yoojin Kim snapped at Woo Jung-woo, Park Hwan-hui tried hard to grab Yoojin Kim's arm and stop him, but.
"What's the reason you keep showing that attitude? Do the other members have to cater to your feelings too?"
A volatile atmosphere.
Actually, Woo Jung-woo's strange vibe wasn't just from today.
Ever since the BLUERED incident, he started becoming more sensitive than usual little by little.
In the end, today he even provoked Baek Si-hyun, making even the calm Yoojin Kim explode.
When I thought I should take Woo Jung-woo, who was constantly showing strange behavior, out of this room for now.
"I'm sorry. Si-hyun, and the other members, I'm sorry to everyone."
At Woo Jung-woo's apology, Yoojin Kim stopped speaking as if he would hold back for now.
A barely calmed atmosphere.
However, it wasn't a situation where the resentment would disappear with a simple apology.
I felt like I needed to know the reason why Woo Jung-woo was in this state.
"Is it because of BLUERED?"
At my words, Woo Jung-woo lowered his head and kept silent.
While the other members were watching Woo Jung-woo and waiting without a word.
"Actually, before I went to the audition, I met BLUERED when I debuted at my first agency."
Woo Jung-woo, having organized his thoughts to some extent, started speaking calmly.
"At that time, I was a truly insignificant rookie, and BLUERED was at their peak, so they probably don't even remember me. It was when I went on a music show for the first time..."
The time when Woo Jung-woo debuted for the first time. It was when he went to a music show for the first time and was visiting the seniors' waiting rooms to greet them with a nervous heart.
He saw the name BLUERED written in front of the waiting room.
A place where he faced a top-tier senior for the first time.
Woo Jung-woo, hiding his trembling heart, entered BLUERED's waiting room. He greeted them energetically and looked at the members of BLUERED.
'Uh, hello.'
Unlike the energetic greeting, what came back was an indifferent reply.
Up to that point, Woo Jung-woo, who had heard enough about the senior-junior culture of idols, could understand.
But.
'Uh, those shoes...?'
"Yes?"
BLUERED's maknae Tae-woon frowned, pointing at Woo Jung-woo's shoes.
Woo Jung-woo quickly left the waiting room following the manager's signal, but the voice coming from behind echoed loudly all the way to the waiting room door.
'No, noona! Do I have to wear the same shoes as those ragtag bastards? Go change into something else right now! Uh, whether they throw those away or not. Do whatever...'
His heart pounded.
Even after returning to the waiting room, Tae-woon's words didn't leave his head.
'Jung-woo, didn't you know those BLUERED bastards have filthy personalities? It's not just one or two guys like that in this industry. If you're not popular, you just have to let it go. What can we do about it... Don't pay it too much mind.'
It was what the leader hyung at the time had said as comfort.
Woo Jung-woo tried to forget that incident, just as the leader hyung said, but.
'Hello, sunbaenim!'
Ever since then, no matter what music show they went to, BLUERED thoroughly ignored Woo Jung-woo's group.
And in the end.
'Ah, because of Jung-woo, we ended up completely hated.'
'Why did he have to wear the same shoes of all times then?'
They were truly absurd words that were hard to believe came from a teammate.
In the first place, Woo Jung-woo hadn't even chosen those shoes himself; the coordinator had provided them.
After that incident, Woo Jung-woo closed the doors to his heart toward the members.
In the end, Woo Jung-woo's group, like idols from any small-to-medium agency, disappeared without ever seeing the light of day after their 1st album activities.
"I thought I didn't care much because it was a thing of the past, but..."
After finishing his words, Woo Jung-woo hung his head weakly.
At Woo Jung-woo's confession, the soft-hearted Shim Sung-ha and Kang A-jin already had tears welling up in their eyes.
Yoojin Kim also couldn't hide his gloomy expression at the unexpected story.
'This kind of atmosphere is not good.'
Hearing Woo Jung-woo's story, I could understand his actions up until now, but.
We didn't have time to keep moping around like this.
"Guys!"
As I spoke powerfully, the members looked at me, trying hard to hide their sad expressions.
"Are we going to keep moping like this?"
-Would you like to use remaining trait points to change the 'Leader's Charisma' trait to 'Charisma that Overwhelms the Masses'?
At the suddenly floating message, I nodded.
-The 'Leader's Charisma' trait has been changed to 'Charisma that Overwhelms the Masses'.
"What's the problem? If the problem was that we lacked popularity, that we did worse than BLUERED, just as Jung-woo said..."
"We can just smash everything this time, whether it's BLUERED or whatever."
-A mission has been generated.
-Achieve results that overwhelm BLUERED in this activity.
Reward: 2 Trait Points