Director Kim Gibaek, who had been looking down at his diary, slowly raised his head. In front of him was Kang Rojun, with his absurdly striking visuals, wearing a nonchalant expression, while Director Kim Gibaek blinked.
“You’re saying you’ve already finished writing the lyrics for ‘Greenbi’?”
Rojun nodded calmly.
“Yes.”
“...You gave me the song ‘Greenbi’ on Monday.”
“That’s right.”
Today was Wednesday.
“Then—Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. You only had three days, and you finished the lyrics?”
“They’re done.”
“......”
Kang Rojun understood why Director Kim Gibaek was surprised.
‘Was that a bit too fast? Well, compared to the other songs, the lyrics for “Greenbi” just came out especially smoothly.’
It was because the lyrics for the song “Greenbi” had been written too quickly. In truth, Director Kim Gibaek was inwardly aghast.
‘...Three days? All the lyrics came out in three days?? No, it hasn’t even really been three days.’
Because it was fast—far too fast.
‘He whipped up the song “Greenbi” itself in less than ten days, and the lyrics were even faster than that?’
Director Kim Gibaek was someone who had been around long enough in this entertainment industry to be seasoned by its grime, but the speed he was seeing before his eyes was something he had never seen or heard of.
‘He really is a monster.’
The word “monster” implied many things. How could a kid like this exist? It wasn’t just his face that was god-tier; his ability was the same.
‘And on top of that, the more time passes, the more things keep coming out of him.’
Kang Rojun was already moving on a level beyond human, but his remaining potential was also boundless. Director Kim Gibaek kept his eyes slightly widened as he asked,
“If the lyrics and composition are finished, then ‘Greenbi’ is complete?”
“That’s right.”
“And you’re satisfied with it?”
“Yes. More or less.”
If the artist himself was satisfied, there was nothing more for Director Kim Gibaek, his supporter, to say.
“...Ha—honestly, I’m having a hard time adjusting. It feels like everything just flashes by in the blink of an eye.”
“Maybe because ‘Greenbi’ is my song, the lyrics came out quickly. Want to take a look?”
“Absolutely.”
Director Kim Gibaek quickly closed his diary and added another request.
“Mm—while we’re at it, shall we look while listening to the melody of ‘Greenbi’?”
“Sure.”
As if there was no problem, Rojun played the “Greenbi” track saved on his tablet. Soon, “Greenbi,” which they had also heard earlier in the large conference room, rang out.
-♬♪
Kang Rojun turned the laptop screen so Director Kim could see it clearly. Naturally, the lyrics to “Greenbi” were displayed. Director Kim Gibaek looked at the melody and lyrics of “Greenbi” with considerable seriousness. Just then, the song entered the first verse, and the lyrics Director Kim was looking at were around the same section.
Instinctively matching the melody and lyrics to the first verse, Director Kim Gibaek sensed it.
‘The lyrics—they seem to be divided by part. As if for four people......’
In that instant, something flashed through Director Kim Gibaek’s mind, and after letting out a cough that escaped him without his realizing it, he met Rojun’s eyes.
“Don’t tell me you wrote the lyrics with each member’s part divided from the start?”
“Yes. I did that during ‘Geubaekpeu’ too.”
Director Kim Gibaek, who had already looked rather excited, grew even more so.
“...So that’s why each lyric had a slightly different feel. I asked because each part had a different texture—”
Was that strange? During “Geubaekpeu,” Rojun had pretty much written lyrics while thinking of the members like this, so to him, Kim Gibaek was the one acting odd. Meanwhile, Director Kim Gibaek’s eyes remained slightly widened.
“Usually, after the lyrics come out, the parts are then divided among the members.”
“Is it never done from the beginning? I find my way more comfortable. Writing while considering each member’s personality, voice, assigned position, and so on. I can control the pacing, too.”
“It’s not that there are no cases like that, but it isn’t easy. Lyricists don’t usually pay attention to that much, and even if they do, they don’t go that deep. The genre itself is different to begin with.”
After answering, Director Kim Gibaek let out a wry laugh inwardly.
‘Why are you talking about it so lightly?’
‘What you’re doing right now is called “producing.”’
That same night, at the “Vanguard” dorm.
The “Vanguard” members, who had spent a chaotic day, gathered at the dorm. Having already heard the news that their debut songs had been confirmed, the members had caused a huge commotion, and now they had barely settled down. Of the four currently spending time in their respective rooms, Rojun and Sihu’s room was brightly lit.
Kang Rojun and Sihu were sitting on their own beds with laptops resting on their thighs.
What was amusing was that both had earphones in their ears.
“......”
“......”
The silent Rojun and Sihu were listening to each other’s songs. Sihu was listening to Rojun’s “Greenbi,” and Rojun was listening to Sihu’s song. Of the two who were listening to the songs chosen for “Vanguard’s” debut, Sihu was the first to speak.
“......Hey, Rojun.”
Kang Rojun, raising his gaze at the movement, took out one earbud.
“Hm?”
“Rojun. This ‘Greenbi’ is insane??”
“It’s okay?”
“It’s way beyond okay! It’s so good?? I’m listening to it for the third time now... and the more I listen, the more it sticks in my ears.”
“Good.”
Good? Sihu was dumbfounded by Kang Rojun’s mild reaction. And for good reason.
‘No—he improved his composing skills this much in that short time?’
Compared to the ballad “Song No. 1,” the first song Rojun had composed and the one Sihu had heard not long ago, his skill had improved to an absurd degree.
‘This goes way beyond just getting better.’
How long had it even been since “Song No. 1” was completed? Sihu suffered cognitive dissonance at the situation, which was impossible to understand through common sense. In particular, the song called “Greenbi” was far too good. To Sihu, whose thoughts were all jumbled up, Rojun also threw out some praise.
“Hyung, yours is killer too. As expected of Sihu hyung.”
“R-really??”
“Of course. That’s why it got confirmed for the debut album right away.”
As praise was injected into him, the shock surging through Sihu’s mind began to disappear far into the distance. It might be simple, but that was also part of Sihu’s charm. Soon, Rojun, who had been smiling faintly, tapped his own laptop with his index finger.
“I’ll take care of things like the lyric parts too, like with ‘Survival 100’ or ‘The Bold.’”
“Yeah, yeah, of course.”
“Shall I start writing the lyrics?”
“Yes, please, Lyricist Rojun.”
Kang Rojun nodded, put back in the earbud he had taken out, and played Sihu’s song again.
-♬♪
An intro starting with a drum solo. When the dazzling drum part ended, the melody joined in. As Rojun slowly closed his eyes, in his mind—
“......”
Countless lyrics were swirling.
Later.
The next morning, the “Vanguard” members arrived at GN Entertainment early. Sihu, Gangmin, and Dokyeong immediately went into training without much change, but Kang Rojun became even busier.
‘First, I’ll complete the mission today.’
As soon as he arrived at the company, Rojun went straight to the gym and completed his mission first. Before heading to the practice room alone, he checked his stats and even proceeded with enhancements. After confirming the numbers, Kang Rojun arrived at the practice room and spread out various things. Studying and reviewing vocals, rap, and choreography. And acting practice was added on top of that. The materials were the scripts for “Rental Lover.”
Just this alone took half a day.
After finishing lunch with the members, most of Rojun’s afternoon schedule was in the workroom. Sitting in his familiar seat, Kang Rojun turned on his laptop.
“Phew—shall we give it a try?”
He immediately moved his fingers. There was a lot to do today. However, the first thing he started with was writing the lyrics for Sihu’s song.
Naturally,
-♬♪
Sihu’s song was flowing through the earphones he was wearing.
While Rojun was fully focused in the workroom, Director Kim Gibaek and several employees could be seen in one of GN Entertainment’s meeting rooms. They were all department heads or higher from their respective departments. On the monitor in front of them was—
-[“Hello, we’re the post-production team at Netflex Japan.”]
Japanese could be heard.
“Hello, I’m Director Kim Gibaek of GN Entertainment. You said you would like to cast our Rojun.”
The reason Director Kim Gibaek and the employees were currently meeting with Netflex Japan was related to author Rojun’s confirmed production, “Utterly Bizarre,” and casting actor Kang Rojun.
In other words, it was a video meeting.
It was clear that a fairly in-depth conversation would take place, and Director Kim Gibaek, with a drained smile, spoke in Japanese. He was quite fluent.
“Could you tell us your conditions first?”
About a week later.
Time melted away. Christmas had passed before they knew it, and Wednesday, December 30th, had dawned. Tomorrow would be the 31st, the last day of 2020. The world was drunk on the year-end atmosphere, but GN Entertainment was busy beyond belief. That applied not only to Kang Rojun and the “Vanguard” members, but also to every department of GN Entertainment.
《[Star Talk] “Vanguard” surpasses 3.5 million subscribers on NewTube channel; when will their debut date be confirmed?》
《Looking through “Vanguard’s” NewTube channel... Japanese fans are just as plentiful as Korean fans / Photos》
At present, the “Vanguard” members were sitting in the large conference room. They were on the window side of a square-shaped table. Around Rojun and the members were Director Kim Gibaek and the management team as well, while across from them sat GN Entertainment executives.
The A&R team could also be seen among the participating departments.
There was quite a bit of murmuring.
Then.
-Slide.
Through the front door of the conference room entered a solidly built figure accompanied by secretaries. It was CEO Ha Seohwan. At his appearance, everyone from the executives to the employees, Kang Rojun, and the members stood up to greet him. After exchanging appropriate greetings, CEO Ha Seohwan pulled out the chair at the very first seat in the row where the executives were sitting.
“Let’s begin.”
CEO Ha Seohwan took off the suit jacket he was wearing and rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt. Rojun glanced at the CEO and inwardly marveled.
‘Whoa—look at those forearms, those forearms. They look even harder than before? He must be working out like crazy.’
Whatever the case, at CEO Ha Seohwan’s instruction, the female team leader of the A&R team stepped to the front of the conference room. When she operated the laptop, a beam was projected onto the screen, and after sending a look toward CEO Ha Seohwan and the executives, she opened her mouth.
“Then we’ll start by looking at the final candidate songs for ‘Vanguard’s’ debut album.”
As soon as the female team leader finished speaking, the employee assisting her operated the laptop. The image projected on the screen changed. Various words appeared. On the very first line were Kang Rojun’s and Sihu’s songs, which had already been confirmed, and below them were—
-Song Min-geun
-Pinion
-Jeong Jia
-Paran Coffee
-Kim Haneul
·
·
·
·
The ten composers whose songs had been confirmed as final candidates were listed one by one. Song Min-geun was familiar to Kang Rojun and the members, but the other composers were deeply unfamiliar to Rojun. Soon, Sihu, who was sitting beside Kang Rojun, let out a small exclamation.
“Wow—seeing it again, it’s still amazing that Composer Pinion participated too.”
Rojun asked,
“Why is it amazing?”
Dokyeong answered.
“Pinion is a composer who only gives songs to famous idols. He has a lot of hit songs too. He’d never give one to rookies.”
Sihu took the baton.
“So it’s amazing that he gave us a song.”
Ah—so that was what he meant? Kang Rojun roughly understood and turned his gaze back to the screen in front.
“......”
His expression was subtle.
Soon, the female team leader at the front spoke again.
“‘Vanguard’s’ debut album has been confirmed to have four songs, and today, we need to choose two from these candidate songs. First, we’ll listen to them one by one.”
In short, it meant that all of “Vanguard’s” debut songs would be confirmed today. It was much faster than usual. A major reason was that CEO Ha Seohwan had previously decided on Rojun’s and Sihu’s songs so decisively.
-♬♪
For several dozen minutes, the melodies of songs by prominent composers rang powerfully through the large conference room. CEO Ha Seohwan, of course, as well as the executives, Director Kim Gibaek, and all the other employees listened seriously. Naturally, Kang Rojun and the members did the same.
At last.
“That’s all of them.”
As soon as all ten songs finished playing, the executives opened their mouths.
“Song Min-geun’s form is as good as ever.”
“Right? He still pulls out incredible songs. Song Min-geun lives up to his reputation. For me, it’s Song Min-geun and Pinion.”
“It feels good to see that Pinion wants our ‘Vanguard’ too.”
“If you can’t read the trend, you can’t make a living as a composer.”
“Did Pinion sharpen his blade for this? The song quality is killer.”
The atmosphere was narrowing down to composers Song Min-geun and Pinion. For now, the executives’ thoughts were largely similar. Kim Gibaek was the same.
‘Since they’re final candidate songs, the quality is considerable across the board—but aside from Song Min-geun and Pinion, the rest feel a bit mismatched with “Vanguard.” It’ll be confirmed as Song Min-geun and Pinion.’
Soon, one executive turned his head toward CEO Ha Seohwan, who had his arms crossed.
“What do you think, CEO?”
CEO Ha Seohwan, who had been rubbing his cheek for a moment, spoke in a weighty voice.
“Song Min-geun, Pinion, and Kim Haneul are good. The other songs’ colors stand out a bit too much from ‘Vanguard.’”
“Then how about proceeding with Song Min-geun and Pinion?”
“......”
Just when the overall sentiment of everyone present seemed to be the same, CEO Ha Seohwan fixed his gaze on the “Vanguard” members.
“What does ‘Vanguard’ think?”
No sooner had the words ended than Kang Rojun answered.
“I think we should leave out Composer Pinion.”