When the first verse of the acoustic version of “Survival 100” came to an end, Kang Rojun took his hands off the guitar and found himself smiling faintly without realizing it.
‘This is fun.’
Instruments, too, gave Rojun joy. To be blunt, there wasn’t much in his life these days that wasn’t fun. Composition, lyrics, acting, instruments—probably because all of them were things he was trying for the first time.
But Kang Rojun was good at unfamiliar things.
More than good.
When Rojun and 58 Sihu’s brief performance ended, PD Woo Hanseok and the writers made a fuss. After sparing no praise and sharing how they felt—
-Clap clap clap clap clap!
They even burst into applause.
At the end, Woo Hanseok spoke as if the matter were settled.
“Whoa—my ears are melting. They’re melting. The acoustic version of ‘Survival 100’ is winning the bid for the ending stage!”
The writers bounced around, saying it was the right decision. Ending stage? Even as Kang Rojun handed the guitar he had used back to PD Woo Hanseok, he thought of the small concerts that would be held in Korea and Japan.
‘Standing onstage with a guitar, huh… I’m a little nervous, but I’m looking forward to it too.’
What kind of reactions would all those people show? It felt as though he could already hear ear-splitting cheers and screams from somewhere. Soon after, Kang Rojun and 58 Sihu left the production team’s meeting room, and the two walked side by side toward the dorm.
The first to speak was 58 Sihu, who had been glancing at Rojun.
“…You’re good at guitar.”
“Am I?”
“Yeah.”
Kang Rojun shrugged and answered as if it was nothing special.
“It’s been a while since I played, so I guess I’m just glad it went well?”
“It really has been a while? For that, you were… Anyway, Rojun, you really don’t have anything you can’t do.”
“You’re good too, hyung. You were actually the lead for that guitar performance just now.”
“That’s because it’s a song I wrote.”
58 Sihu, who had lowered his gaze to the guitar in one hand, met Rojun’s eyes again.
“You heard the song that just came out once and played it right away, didn’t you?”
“I looked at the sheet music.”
“Even so, it’s amazing. Your musical talent and everything else… You really feel like a person God made to turn into a star.”
“……”
When Kang Rojun didn’t answer, 58 Sihu ran a hand through his baby-permed hair and continued.
“When I look at you, it feels like something gets ignited.”
“Ignited?”
“Yeah… I don’t really know how to put it. A fire gets lit. Rojun, you’re just too ridiculous, you know? Of course I’m jealous too, but that feeling makes me run harder, I guess?”
Rojun didn’t dislike 58 Sihu for laying out his honest thoughts.
‘It’s a hundred times better for him to say it boldly to my face like this than to talk behind my back. This hyung looks calm when you watch him, but he’s surprisingly blunt.’
Scratching his head, 58 Sihu lowered his voice as if embarrassed.
“S-so keep running at full speed in front of me.”
As if telling him not to worry, Kang Rojun immediately murmured.
“I am.”
Then Rojun suddenly started sprinting. 58 Sihu’s shout rang out from behind him.
“Hey!! Are you insane?! I didn’t mean literally run!”
The two of them joined the group practice for “Survival 100” only around late morning. The place was a spacious practice room. Naturally, Lee Hanna was at the front, taking command.
“Hey! Your tempos are all over the place!! Again!”
The other eight participants, excluding the two of them, were already drenched in sweat, and within mere dozens of minutes, Kang Rojun and 58 Sihu were also dripping with sweat. That was how intensely things were being run. At present, “Survival 100” had both vocal and choreography parts divided among the members.
-♬♪
All the participants performed the same choreography to the song spreading through the practice room, but some stepped forward at the right timing, while the group split in half at other points. In terms of formations and practice methods, it was no different from an idol group. Then came the climax with 58 Sihu, the lead vocalist, and Kang Rojun, the main vocalist.
A short instrumental break. After that, they entered the second verse formations again.
But during practice, there weren’t many times when they actually made it into the second verse.
“Again!! From the start of the first verse!!”
Because Lee Hanna trained them that brutally. Thanks to that, the participants clung to practice almost every moment except mealtimes, and what had begun in the morning only wrapped up when night fell.
Everyone lay sprawled on the practice room floor, completely exhausted.
The participants’ vision went dark at the thought that they had to do this again tomorrow, but—
-Swish.
After resting for a moment, Kang Rojun suddenly sprang to his feet. His schedule wasn’t over yet. Roughly sweeping back his sweat-soaked black hair, Rojun left the practice room. A few participants glanced at him and threw out questions.
“Where’s Rojun hyung going?”
“To the bathroom?”
The answer came curtly from 26 Dokyeong, who was panting for breath.
“The lounge. That hyung does a lot before and after practice. He has writer and lyricist work too. Doesn’t seem like he has much time to rest.”
“……”
“……”
They had just finished a hellish practice session, yet Kang Rojun had gone off to work again. As if they felt they had to do something too, the participants rose like zombies.
“I should do some more individual practice…”
Whether they did or not, Kang Rojun gathered his laptop and other things and entered the lounge. His clothes were damp with sweat, but after murmuring, “I can put up with it,” he checked his phone. While he had been practicing, a message had arrived from PD Jeong Suryeong.
She had sent him the OST track for “Rental Lover” that she had requested.
After checking the music file, Rojun murmured inwardly.
‘The title is… “Lovers”?’
Putting earphones in, he played the downloaded OST track. From the very start, the melody was bouncy enough to make his shoulders move. It expressed the strange situation of the female lead of “Rental Lover” and her psychology well. As Kang Rojun listened to the OST track, his fingertips twitched for an instant.
His senses as a lyricist were awakening.
“……”
After listening to the song once all the way through, Rojun tapped play again. In the end, after repeating it about three times—
-Swish.
His fingers, resting on the laptop, began to move quickly. The lyric-writing had begun in earnest. Somehow, his speed was fast. He was usually like that, but right now he was moving several times faster.
It made sense.
Because the writer who had written “Rental Lover” was none other than Kang Rojun, and he understood the characters in the work better than anyone. The same went for the world of the story. After all, he was the one who had created everything.
Was it thanks to that?
-Tadadadak!
Kang Rojun became so absorbed that he lost track of time as he hammered away at the laptop. His concentration was so high that he wouldn’t have noticed if someone poked him. In fact, several participants made their presence known, but Rojun paid them no mind, and when he finally came out of his trance because he needed the bathroom and checked the time—
“Whoa, it’s already two?”
It was heading past night and toward two in the morning. It was long past time to sleep, but Kang Rojun, slowly scratching his chin, made a different decision.
“Just one more hour.”
It was because he didn’t want to cut short the fun he was having.
Afterward.
Kang Rojun, who had fallen asleep after three in the morning, opened his eyes around eight. Fatigue clung heavily to him, but Rojun didn’t feel bad.
‘If I actually like this tiredness, am I kind of a pervert?’
As if to tell fatigue to go feed itself to the dogs, Kang Rojun moved earlier than the other participants, and after finishing the day’s mission, he let out a rough breath and checked the “AI Simulation” app. As expected, a title had been added, increasing his daily coin gain to 14.
-[Title: Side Job Rich +3 / Recognition Monster +3 / Global Genius +2 / Instrument Master +1]
-[User: Kang Rojun / Age: 24 / Height: 182.8 / Desired Occupation: Idol / Coins Held: 636]
-[Side Jobs: [1] Screenwriter, [2] Actor, [3] Lyricist]
-[Global Languages: [1] Japanese, [2] English]
-[Instrument: [1] Acoustic Guitar]
Next was stat enhancement. Rojun had been thinking of investing 20 coins, but the moment he looked at his stats, he was slightly surprised. Two things stood out.
-[Appearance (100/100)│Singing (34.5/100)│Rap (33.6/100)│Choreography (34/100)│Eloquence (16/100)│Acting (19.1/100)│Lyric Writing (100/100)│Composition (18.9/100)│Arrangement (0/100)]
First, his composition stat had risen by more than 8 points in one go. Considering it had risen naturally without him touching it, the increase was quite large.
‘Is it because of the guitar learning??’
Next was lyric writing. At some point, he had reached 100 points as a lyricist. Appearance was the default value, and the second stat to hit 100 was lyric writing. Rojun’s smile deepened. As if to congratulate him—
-Woooom.
“AI Simulation” threw him a gift.
-[You have achieved the hidden mission “Second Stat at 100 Points!” As a gift, 20 coins have been awarded.]
With that, Kang Rojun’s fatigue vanished completely, and he headed straight to the practice room. Today’s practice, just like yesterday’s, was run brutally hard. The practice room was filled with fierce energy and panting breaths. Then, around late afternoon, when practice had more or less reached its end, 58 Sihu came up to Kang Rojun.
“Rojun, I divided the parts for the acoustic version.”
Perhaps 58 Sihu’s combat power had risen as well, because he showed him the acoustic version with the parts freshly divided. Given the time, he had completed it in just one night. That night—
-♬♪
The sound of guitars rang through the practice room until late.
Meanwhile.
PD Woo Hanseok, who had stayed up all night editing episode 12 of “Geubaekpeu,” headed to a concert hall in Yeouido with several members of his team as soon as Thursday morning came.
“Hmm—”
A medium-sized concert hall with a first and second floor. A protruding stage shaped like a “ㅜ,” an enormous screen, and the capacity to accommodate more than roughly 3,000 audience members including seats and standing areas. This concert hall was where “Geubaekpeu” would hold its small domestic concert, and construction was already in full swing according to PD Woo Hanseok’s instructions.
‘The scale and atmosphere are just right.’
After inspecting the concert hall for about an hour, PD Woo Hanseok suddenly moved to Gimpo Airport. There were about ten people in the group. His destination was—
“All right, let’s go.”
“Ahh—Japan, it’s been so long!”
Japan. The reason was simple.
“We’re going for work, work. You think we’re going to play?”
“Still, it’s been a while since we went overseas! What’s wrong with getting a little excited!”
It was to join up with the Netflix Japan team and inspect the venue where the small concert in Japan would be held. The schedule was two days and one night. The concert date was slowly closing in.
At this time.
《Episode 12 of “Geubaekpeu” Finally Airs Tomorrow, Friday. Will Its Fallen Ratings Recover?》
Amid the internet overflowing with news of “Geubaekpeu,” the “Rental Lover” side dropped new information.
《Writer and Actor “Rojun’s” Rental Lover Confirms Premiere Date… Friday, November 6!》
They had revealed the premiere date for “Rental Lover.”
《Rojun, Choe Rina, and PD Jeong Suryeong’s Collaboration “Rental Lover” to Be Seen on November 6》
Because “Rental Lover” had been such a hot topic from the production presentation to Kang Rojun himself, the news that there was less than a month left until its broadcast quickly made the media and public opinion restless.
Articles spread in an instant.
But as if that wasn’t the end, around late afternoon, “Rental Lover” dropped another bomb.
-[Hello! “Rental Lover” will soon be revealed to all of you, won’t it? In addition, we have more good news! “Rental Lover” has also been confirmed to launch on Netflix Japan…]
On the recently opened “Rental Lover” SNS channel, they announced “Rental Lover’s” entry into Japan. It was the first one-act drama to do so, and because Kang Rojun was involved both as writer and actor, the topic swelled enormously on top of everything else.
-Wow! Rental Lover is entering Japan!!
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Rojun’s entering Japan as an idol and a writer before his official debut
-Look how fast Netflix Japan movesㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Since Geubaekpeu is getting a good response in Japan, they’re launching it right away
-I’ve seen minis often, but this is the first time a one-act got onto Netflix Japan, right??
-I heard Rojun writes lyrics too?? And he’s a writer on top of thatㅋㅋㅋㅋ Once he debuts properly, he’s gonna rake in money by the truckload
-A drama written by Rojun… How am I supposed to resist… I absolutely have to watch
Around the time “Rental Lover” was attracting a tremendous amount of attention, PD Jeong Suryeong, who had spearheaded the promotion, was holed up in the editing room. Like Woo Hanseok, her dark circles had sunk all the way down to her jaw. The staff working on the edits with her looked the same.
“Play that sound effect from just now again.”
“Yes.”
“Hmm—not that. Let’s use something else. It’s a bit flat.”
“What should we use?”
“The one you played at the beginning.”
Around then—
-Woooom, woooom.
Her phone let out a long vibration. A call had come in. Jeong Suryeong, whose eyes had been on the monitor, checked the caller. It was Kang Rojun. PD Jeong Suryeong immediately stopped the editing, smiled faintly, and put the phone to her ear.
“Yeah, Writer-nim.”
“PD-nim, is this a good time to talk?”
“It’s fine.”
“I finished the lyrics for the OST ‘Lovers’ and just sent them over.”
“…A-already?”
“Yes. And.”
Beyond the phone, Rojun answered decisively.
“If you like the lyrics, I can record the vocals for ‘Lovers’ right away.”
Only four days had passed since she made the proposal.