《“Like a Kaleidoscope,” Confirmed to Launch on Netflix Japan—Written by Rojun and Even Starring Rojun?》
The sudden news about Like a Kaleidoscope spread faster than light.
《The Quiet “Vanguard” Ignites Buzz Again—After “Rental Lover,” Rojun Confirms Next Project as an Actor》
《[Issue Talk] From “Rental Lover” to “Like a Kaleidoscope”? Rojun Writes It Himself and Appears as an Actor Too!》
Around the end of last year, Netflix Japan had already dropped the first hint about Like a Kaleidoscope: that they would be launching Kang Rojun’s next work after Rental Lover. However, that news had been entirely about “writer Rojun,” while what GN Entertainment deliberately unleashed this time concerned “actor Rojun.”
As if they had been waiting for it, Culture Drawer also joined in with the media play after GN Entertainment.
《“Like a Kaleidoscope,” Written by Writer Rojun and Confirmed to Star Actor Rojun—What Kind of Story Is It… Fans Cheer / Photos》
《Culture Drawer Source: “The Work Is Extremely Entertaining, Please Look Forward to It”》
Once again, as with Rental Lover, Rojun had written it and would also be appearing as an actor. As a result, Like a Kaleidoscope, set to launch as a Netflix Japan original series, became a burning topic both in Korea’s writing scene and acting scene.
“He’s acting in Like a Kaleidoscope too??!”
“No, does Rojun have, like, a hundred bodies?! It’s already absurd that he got into Netflix Japan as a rookie writer… but acting too? Is that seriously possible to pull off??”
“I thought things had gotten quiet, and now they drop another massive teaser like this. At this rate, whether as a writer or actor, Rojun went overseas the second he debuted.”
As if achieving unbelievable results immediately after debuting as a writer weren’t enough, he had gone straight into Japan. Even that much was jaw-dropping, but now, following his writer debut, he was making an overseas debut as an actor in one straight shot.
Thanks to that, the media began swarming around Vanguard, which had been slightly quiet, and the fans who had been waiting day and night for Vanguard also started buzzing.
-ㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅠㅠㅜ Rojun, congratulations!!
-Of courseㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ If GN lets Rojun’s face go to waste, they deserve to get cursed out
-Hueeengㅠㅠ But we can’t watch Like a Kaleidoscope!!! Netflix Korea!! Go negotiate with Netflix Japan right now!!!
-Rojun proved his acting skills in Rental Loverㅎㅎ Looks like Netflix Japan acknowledged it too
-Ahㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Congrats to Rojun, but I really wanna see Vanguard already.....
-He’s acting up just because he has a faceㅋㅋ
-↑Don’t feed the troll
-If Like a Kaleidoscope doesn’t come to Korea, I’m going straight to Japan, seriously
-Rojun!! Put your work up in Korea tooㅠㅠㅜㅠㅠ I’ll watch anything, I mean it!!!
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With the flame around Kang Rojun and Like a Kaleidoscope rekindled once more, Netflix Japan informed Korean and Japanese fans of the production status of Like a Kaleidoscope. Most of the cast, including Kang Rojun, had been finalized.
That same afternoon, GN Entertainment dropped another teaser.
The establishment of Vanguard’s official fan club.
There had already been movement related to the fan club before.
《[Star Talk] “Vanguard” Announces Recruitment for Official Fan Club》
GN Entertainment had recruited the first generation of Vanguard’s fan club, promoting it with various benefits. Of course, it closed in an instant. And so, at the appointed time, GN Entertainment revealed Vanguard’s official fan club name to the world.
《Vanguard’s Official Fan Club “Guards” Officially Begins Operation / Photos》
The fan club Guards had already begun communicating with GN Entertainment. With even an official fan club established, a greeting video from Rojun and the Vanguard members to the fan club was uploaded to Vanguard’s official Instagram.
However, the members’ focus was on their debut showcase and concert.
Practice, practice, and more practice.
For now, the practice was centered on vocals. Naturally, the nature of training differed according to each member’s abilities, and alongside vocals, they were also managing their looks, exercising, studying foreign languages, and so on. It might have looked like hell, but for now, it was still happiness. Once choreography was added on top, their schedule would become even tighter.
That day soon arrived.
“We look forward to working with you.”
“Yes, we’ll try to create some killer choreography. First, you’ll need to send us Vanguard’s debut songs—and would it be possible to talk with the Vanguard members?”
The official choreography teams that would be responsible for Vanguard’s debut album had been decided. Why call them choreography teams?
There were times when one choreography team created the choreography for an entire song, but for idol choreography, it was common to request proposals from several choreography teams. Once the agency carefully delivered the guide track along with the concept, the song’s direction, and other details to each choreography team, the teams would create draft choreography based on the information they had received.
If there were three teams, three drafts; if five teams, five drafts would be gathered by the agency.
Then the agency’s in-house choreography team, which had requested the proposals, would select only the moves they thought were good from the collected choreography drafts and combine them as if forming one piece of choreography. In the end, one choreography would contain the sweat and effort of multiple choreography teams. Vanguard’s debut mini album had three songs in total, and GN Entertainment contacted four choreography teams for each song. Since there were three songs, that meant a total of twelve choreography drafts would come in.
The idols would encounter the completed choreography that way.
It was a few days later that the choreography teams’ drafts began arriving one after another at GN Entertainment. Soon, GN Entertainment’s in-house choreography team gathered and began dissecting the movements.
“That part will be the point choreography.”
“How about sending it to the first verse rather than the second?”
“To the first verse? Hmm—not bad.”
“The movement’s good, but who among the four would be best to pull that off?”
“It should be someone with smooth dance lines—Rojun or Kangmin?”
“Let’s take a look at the next choreography team’s draft first.”
Around the time the choreography for Vanguard’s debut songs was gradually taking shape, another piece of news arrived for the Vanguard members, who had been absorbed in practice. Of course, it came from Department Head Kim Gibaek.
“Everyone, the music video director has been decided.”
Two mornings later, GN Entertainment.
From morning, the Vanguard members gathered in GN Entertainment’s fairly large recording studio. They were inside the recording booth with microphones, and Kang Rojun, Sihu, Kangmin, and Dogyeong were all wearing headphones. The reason was simple.
Today was the day for a test recording before the official recording.
Thanks to that, the members had to somehow calm their pounding hearts.
“Ugh—I’m nervous.”
“It’s okay, Sihu hyung. We just have to do it like we practiced.”
“Dogyeong, stop shaking your leg before you say that.”
“There are way too many people watching, though??”
Kang Rojun, who had been watching, said calmly,
“It’s okay to make mistakes. You won’t die.”
Sihu, with his baby perm, forced a smile.
“Yeah, Leader-nim. That’s really helpful.”
Rojun gave him a double thumbs-up and turned his gaze forward. As the members had said, many people had gathered. The producer team, several people from the management team including Department Head Kim Gibaek, the A&R team, and so on. At a rough glance, there seemed to be at least twenty people.
‘Why did so many people show up for a test recording? Well, it definitely does feel like they’re staking everything on this.’
As Rojun muttered inwardly, the producer outside, his hat pulled low, sent his voice into the booth.
“Shall we begin? As I explained in advance, we’ll only be doing vocals without choreography, and try to do it as close to the real recording as possible. The test will start with ‘Greenbi,’ then go to ‘Windveil,’ and then ‘Flying Bell.’”
“Yes!”
“Yes!!”
The members nodded vigorously. At the same time, they controlled their feelings through their own forms of mind control. Meanwhile, the people outside the booth were sharing all sorts of worries.
“Oh dear, why am I the one who’s nervous?”
“It’s the kids’ first recording, so of course. My heart’s pounding a bit too.”
“According to the vocal teacher, the kids are improving quickly… but I wonder if they really memorized the songs properly?”
Department Head Kim Gibaek, seated on the sofa in the back, joined in with a drained tone.
“They all practice until late at night and even after they go back to the dorm. They should all know the songs.”
“That’s a relief, then—but their management schedules are increasing, right? The choreography will be selected soon too.”
“Yes.”
“If possible, I hope the song recordings go smoothly.”
Then the conversation turned to Kang Rojun.
“As for Rojun… we don’t have any information, so it’s hard to say anything.”
“Right? Since he does everything alone, from training onward, there’s no way to gauge him at all.”
“I didn’t realize ‘doing it alone’ would feel this much like he was completely secluded.”
“Will he be okay? He practiced and memorized three songs on his own without vocal training… Greenbi is one thing, since Rojun-nim made it himself, but the other songs must have been tough to handle alone.”
“Still, when you think back to Geubaekpeu, he did manage pretty well, didn’t he?”
“The situation and environment have changed completely since then. Honestly, I’m a little worried. It’s not like we don’t know Rojun-nim’s form, but I’m afraid he might stand out awkwardly compared to the other members.”
The staff’s concerns were perhaps natural. At present, Vanguard was a project all of GN Entertainment was risking its life on, and within that project, Kang Rojun was the core of the core. But since he did everything alone, starting from practice, there was absolutely no information about him.
Soon, the eyes of everyone from the A&R team to the rest of the staff landed on Department Head Kim Gibaek. Sensing their gazes, Kim Gibaek gave a rough shrug.
“I don’t really know either—especially when it comes to Rojun-nim practicing vocals, choreography, rap, and so on, it’s completely top secret.”
“You never secretly took a tiny peek?”
“Why would I? Hmm—that would be a breach of contract.”
“……Ah, no, that’s not what I meant.”
“I don’t know about anything else, but I do know one thing.”
Kim Gibaek weakly rose from the sofa and stood behind the producer. His eyes were on Kang Rojun inside the booth. He seemed to be smiling faintly.
“Rojun-nim shouldn’t be judged by ordinary common sense.”
In other words, shut up and just watch. That sort of hidden meaning was roughly tucked inside.
At that moment.
-♬♪
The dark intro of Greenbi began. Following the rhythm, not only Kang Rojun but all the members began nodding their heads. After a vocal chop that sounded like a deep human voice, the melody continued into the keyboard.
The start belonged to Dogyeong, who was familiar with a rap tone.
With his thick vocal color and rap, he opened Greenbi’s heaviness. Even a slangy feel was added. It was composed yet rough. Kang Rojun, standing two spots away, felt it inwardly.
‘As expected, Dogyeong was the right answer for the opening.’
It was the perspective of the composer and lyricist.
Next was Kangmin, and lead vocalist Sihu laid the groundwork. With a soft yet cynical tone, it felt as though he was running toward the main vocalist.
Around then, the producer outside the booth, who had been listening seriously to the song, evaluated them.
“It’s good. They do need polishing, but everyone is handling it well. Especially Sihu. His understanding of the song is high. I did think it was a song where each person’s strengths would stand out, but… the song really was written well.”
The other staff members either felt relieved,
“Whew—they’re all good.”
or wore expressions that had shed their worries.
“You can feel how much they practiced in the vocals. They aren’t shaking much either.”
“I think it helps that they all have live performance experience too.”
“Ah, from Geubaekpeu?”
“Just looking at them right now, they don’t seem like rookies.”
At that moment.
-Slide.
Someone else entered the recording studio filled with staff. It was CEO Ha Seohwan, a handsome middle-aged man. Perhaps he had left his suit jacket somewhere, because he was in a white shirt. The instant the staff spotted him, their eyes widened, and CEO Ha Seohwan gave a small shake of his head as if telling them not to show it.
Soon,
“……”
standing right in front of the door, he crossed his arms and stared at the Vanguard members inside the booth. More precisely, he was listening intently to the Greenbi they were singing.
Just then, it was main vocalist Kang Rojun’s turn.
Lead vocalist Sihu had laid down the tone well. Here, the main vocalist’s job was to make the song Greenbi even more splendid, fuller, and more explosive.
And that responsibility belonged to—
“Mmm—”
Kang Rojun, the main vocalist, who opened his mouth with an ad-lib. Rojun performed the chorus of Greenbi, the song he had created and fully studied. From an ad-lib with a dreamlike atmosphere, he lightly moved into high notes mixed with wildness.
-♬♪
Rojun’s vocal color filled the spacious recording studio. In that instant, a tingling shiver rose across CEO Ha Seohwan’s thick forearms. There were vocals like that: a voice that entered through the ears, then seized a person’s heart and shook it. Outstanding technique and skill were only the basics; it was a vocal full of emotion as well. Even its dynamics were free. But it was never common. Even more so among idols.
It was worlds apart from simply “singing well.”
It made the heart resonate. It imprinted itself on the mind. It made time stop.
Kang Rojun right now was exactly that.
An exceedingly precious existence.
Even for CEO Ha Seohwan, who had seen and experienced countless vocalists.
‘……At long last, I’ve taken one into my fold.’
It was a first.