The Malicious Member Is Back! Chapter 104
The members had changed, and the group name had changed too.
Of course, I’d expected the debut song and concept to change as well, but this was seriously…
Flutter—
[Target of Zenón Mini 1st Album 《 RUN AWAY BOYHOOD》]
[ToZ, Target of Zenón. Zenón’s greatest strength and greatest weakness is that they appeared on a survival show. With their image already having been consumed to a considerable degree, in order to preserve the freshness only a “rookie idol” can provide….]
“Ugh….”
I genuinely couldn’t understand a single word of it.
Faced with a deluge of printed letters, I couldn’t even get through the first page before I had to push the proposal aside.
“Trainee Kim Chunyong—no, not trainee anymore. Anyway, are you just not going to read it? That’s fine. An artist should have that kind of interpretation too.”
Right.
Of all the many variables laid out before me right now, the thing that had changed the most was this.
“But in exchange, if you do that, you need to follow my direction on set properly. Well, that doesn’t mean the members reading it right now don’t have to. You all understand well enough, yes?”
Director Mun Yunha’s desire to direct had become far.
Far greater than before.
“I told you to smile. Do you not understand Korean? The Chinese kid we had before at least did exactly what he was told. How many retakes is this because of you?”
“…
I’m sorry.”
“Haah, forget it. It’s not even interesting anyway. What’s the point of….”
Back during the Arrows days, when Liu Wei was with us, President Do Jaechan’s boast that he would “entrust Director Mun Yunha with full authority over directing” had ended as empty words.
At the time, Director Shin, who had gained the investors’ trust by debuting Liu Wei, had been able to grab our team and shake it around however he pleased.
Rejected at the final approval stage, rejected on set, rejected because this concept could cause problems with entering the Chinese market.
From beginning to end, she couldn’t properly do what she wanted, and then even I suddenly caused an incident in the group she was in charge of.
[Mun Yunha’s Team Declares Split with AG… “Future Destination Undecided”]
[
Before we prepared our first full-length album, perhaps it had only been natural for Director Mun Yunha to leave AG.
But now things were different.
“…
Tsk.”
I looked at the empty seat of honor at the very head of the meeting room and clicked my tongue lightly.
The trainees from the program he’d been in charge of were debuting, so he should have at least shown his face.
Ever since Liu Wei left for China, I hadn’t seen Director Shin even once.
Well, he wasn’t exactly someone I’d be happy to see, so if I wanted to call that fortunate, I could, but….
Was it really right to entrust absolutely everything to Director Mun Yunha, someone who lived and died for art?
Just as I tilted my head, puzzled—
Clap!
“I’ll assume you’ve all read it, and I’ll just check the important parts in advance before we move on.”
As though trying to sort out my complicated thoughts, Director Mun Yunha drew the attention of the members, including me, and the other staff.
She held up three fingers and began explaining as she folded them down one by one.
“The lore. You don’t need to know it. If you satisfy it visually, that will naturally follow. It might be something the fans imagine, or we might be inspired by the results and connect it to the next album.”
“…….”
“And the song and choreography. For the song, AG’s proud A&R team is apparently pulling demo tracks like their lives depend on it, so candidates will come out according to the concept. As for the choreography, of course it’s Jin Dasol. Now that you’ve heard the name, you’re not worried, right? Meet her and say hello later.”
“…….”
“Lastly, the most important thing.”
Director Mun Yunha pointed at each of the members in turn.
Me, Logan.
Yuchan hyung, Siu.
Jaeha hyung, and Hwaseong too.
“You need to have good chemistry with one another. Do you understand?”
“Uh….”
“You need to look close, familiar. Like you don’t know anything about each other, but somehow it feels like you already know something. You have to show that kind of nuance. That’s the core of it.”
Director Mun Yunha tossed the proposal in her hand onto the table and, with an indifferent expression, dropped a bombshell.
“We’re going to shoot the main concept photos in pairings of two. With the people I thought had visually good synergy while watching the survival mentoring. I just pointed out who your partner is.”
“…
Uh-huk.”
That groan didn’t come from my mouth.
It came from Ji Hwaseong, who even today had seated himself a little away from Jaeha hyung’s side, paired up with Siu.
Even at that voice full of bewilderment, Director Mun Yunha’s mouth showed no sign of stopping.
“So, if you’re not close yet, you’d better get close quickly. Well, since the AG trainees are already close, it shouldn’t be that difficult.”
“Uh….”
“You should consider yourselves blessed. Because even though you were completely edited out of that damn survival show, I liked you.”
Her high ponytail swung cleanly behind her.
“I’m going to make this album succeed no matter what. As my masterpiece.”
A voice and attitude overflowing with certainty.
“…….”
Thanks to that, my anxiety over whether it was really okay to leave everything to Director Mun Yunha gradually began to fade.
After all, she was someone who had directed an album with an ordinary concept, one that wasn’t even what she herself wanted, well enough for it to win Rookie of the Year.
So what would happen if she truly set her mind to drawing out what she wanted?
Thanks to that, the rest of my anxiety began to focus on only one place.
“Uh, um….”
On Ji Hwaseong, whose face had gone pale beneath his blond hair.
“…….”
And on Jaeha hyung, whose thoughts I couldn’t read at all yet again.
The photo shoot where the two of them would have to stick together.
And the reality show cameras that would be chasing them around the entire time.
“Huh….”
“I think this might be kind of fun. Chunyong hyung, did you see it? So, this Mystery Gunslinger Boys thing….”
“Uh-huh, um. Yeah. Haha, I think it’s really good.”
Replying blankly to Logan’s voice, I made a firm decision in my heart.
Even if someone ended up burying their head in a closet out of shame and agony,…
Tonight, I would absolutely, to some extent, untangle the situation.
* * *
The meeting continued for quite a while after that.
“For now, from the songs we had picked out in advance, we chose about ten based on what the director said. We’re thinking… this one. We think Option D and Option H are the best.”
“Uh… yes.”
“Just listen to them first. This is Option A, and…
this is Option B, and, um.”
“Hm? Option B….”
“Mr. Bang Yuchan, do you like that one?”
“No! I think I heard this back when I was doing part-time online guide vocals. Haha, what a memory….”
Listening to demos.
“Hello, it’s been a while!”
“Yes. It’s nice… to see you, but. Chunyong. …
You really… intended, to be… an idol.”
“Yes?”
“I thought, of course… you’d join… our crew….”
“Ha, haha! Dasol-nim, you’re still as good at joking as ever!”
“Not, a joke… I even… reorganized, the crew members.”
“Come on, how could I possibly join there? The! The leader of ILiC wants to join too, doesn’t he!”
“Idon’tcareaboutthatguyandreallycangiveyouhisplace.”
“…….”
A brief greeting with Jin Dasol, whom we were now meeting again as the choreographer of our debut song.
“You have to do well, okay? I believe in you, but still! I already believe in you!”
“Don’t worry, President. We’ll really do our best.”
“Jaeha, I dream every day. Truly, when our swans appear in my dreams, the tears just flow so much….”
“Haha, please calm down. The other guys are watching.”
And a meeting with President Do Jaechan, who practically shouted that he “had extremely high expectations for ToZ.”
Seriously, we were incredibly busy.
“Jesus. I feel like I’m going to die. I didn’t really understand what Koreans meant when they said, ‘I feel like I’m going to die,’ but now I know!”
“I’d rather… do more basic choreography practice….”
It was much better than neglectful debut preparations where they roughly went, “You guys figure it out yourselves,” but that didn’t mean it was comfortable.
After all, it was quite nerve-racking to know that so many people’s effort, expectations, and labor were being poured into us.
Because of that, after we returned to the dorm, no one collapsed easily.
Since we’d made up our minds to debut as idols, we had to adapt to this kind of packed schedule too.
“Siu, can we talk for a moment?”
“…
Yes. Sure.”
Yuchan hyung said he had something to talk about with Siu regarding this concept and went into Siu’s room.
“Oh, is anyone going to sleep with their door open? I want to try picking out the riff from the demo we heard earlier….”
“Ah, it’s fine, it’s fine. Do whatever’s comfortable! I’m going to go into my room now and listen to the demo tracks too. I’ll be using a headset, so I won’t hear anything.”
“Thanks. Chunyong hyung, good night in advance.”
Logan shut himself in his room alone and began studying the candidate debut tracks.
Jaeha hyung and Hwaseong had also gone into their rooms, saying they “had things to do.”
“…….”
After watching all of their movements for a moment, I quickly turned my steps toward the living room.
Right. I had to do what needed to be done.
Knock knock—
The thoughts that had come to me on the ride back in the van weren’t complicated.
What exactly had yesterday’s conversation been like?
And who could explain it to me more calmly and logically?
“…
Hoo.”
As I took a light deep breath, a face wearing glasses appeared beyond the slightly opened door.
A face that looked somewhat pale, and yet was still dazzlingly handsome.
“…
Chunyong?”
I forced a smile toward him and slowly opened my mouth.
“Yes, Jaeha hyung. Is it okay if I come in for a bit? There’s something I want to ask you!”
“…
Yeah, of course it’s okay. Come in.”
It was time to open the box that had been kept shut.
* * *
The bare minimum of his belongings set out, objects arranged neatly without any sense of being lived in, boxes organized with labels.
“…
You still don’t have much in here, huh?”
The room Jaeha hyung was using alone strongly gave the impression that he had left it empty out of consideration for the roommate who would be moving in.
“Ah, actually, I thought you’d be coming into my room. So I’d cleaned up a little. This is really embarrassing.”
“Ah, haha! Not at all. Hyung, you were surprised too when I went into the dressing room, right? I didn’t plan on doing that from the start….”
At my words, Jaeha hyung gave a faint smile and shrugged.
“No. I know why you went in there. And why you took the other members outside too.”
It was because of Hwaseong, right?
“…….”
“He seemed a bit awkward around me, so you were trying to look after him. Thank you. It’s something I should have done originally… but I’ve been out of it lately too.”
This quickly?
At hyung’s words, which went straight to the point, I had no choice but to fall silent for a moment.
Maybe it was because he was a hyung who always knew everything, never seemed ignorant of anything, and was kind, yet just as inscrutable.
Unlike with Hwaseong, who could spit sentences out easily, I had to choose my words a little.
“Well, yesterday… it seemed like the two of you raised your voices a bit.”
“Mm….”
As though recalling yesterday’s conversation, Jaeha hyung fell silent for a moment, then adjusted the glasses that had slipped slightly down his nose and slowly opened his mouth.