The Malicious Member Has Returned! Chapter 168
* * *
Back in the Arrows days, the members and I had won a rookie award once, but we’d never actually taken first place on a music show.
For a boy idol group, getting first place on a music show was, how should I put it?
It was the kind of thing that could only happen if there wasn’t a girl idol group dominating the digital charts at the time, and if there wasn’t a senior artist boasting overwhelming physical album sales.
In short, you needed a bit of heavenly luck on your side.
But while our debut timing had been good, the period after that was somewhat unfortunate.
It wasn’t as if we wouldn’t get results at all, but a whole crowd of formidable faces had made comebacks ahead of the year-end music festivals.
Each and every one of them was no joke, but if I had to point out the ones to watch…
[Wiz, who made their mark with ‘Monochrome,’ returns even stronger… “Repackage album announced”]
[“No stopping, straight ahead” Major rookie Wiz launches follow-up promotions with no gap]
Unlike us, who were releasing a repackage album after a short break following our “Hide-and-Seek” promotions, there was Wiz, the problematic rival group that immediately continued with follow-up song promotions.
[The nine mermaid princesses make their grand sortie… Serenia’s image transformation has a reason]
[“Girl idols who come out in the second half of the year don’t do well?… As if!” Serenia comes to break the superstition of the music industry]
Serenia sunbaenims, who debuted with
And more than anything else…
[
[Strong even as units, stronger together? Charts already shaking… Sledix’s previous songs begin lining up]
“This week’s first place goes to… Sledix’s ‘Dream Corridor (夢回廊)’! Yes, congratulations!”
“Ah, thank you. First of all, we’re so grateful to everyone at our agency… and I should thank the person who wrote the song, but he’s right beside me!”
“Ahaha… thank you, Yeonu hyung!”
Even Sledix, the overwhelming top-tier boy idol group that made your mouth hurt just trying to explain how incredible they were.
They were opponents who would be burdensome even if only one of them came out in a quarter, yet here they were pouring out all at once like this.
Because of that, Director Shin’s plan to push for a faster comeback schedule, even if it meant accepting a slight drop in quality, wasn’t entirely absurd.
After all, it was undeniably true that you had to row when the tide came in.
However, no matter how high-quality an album you brought, if the timing was bad, you were bound to get swept away.
And the person who knew that fact best was someone with a sharper eye for calculations and results than either me or anyone else.
Someone President Do Jaechan had brought in from outside to revive AG, who, in the process, had tried to pull tricks to succeed alone, got stabbed in the back for it, and had become extremely sensitive because of that.
“…
That’s useless talk.”
Director Shin tapped the conference room table with his ballpoint pen and continued quickly, his face frighteningly cold.
“Does proceeding according to the fixed schedule sound like a joke to you? At the very least, Moon Yunha-ssi, you shouldn’t be acting like this. Get a grip.”
Perhaps he was quite displeased that two people had addressed him without prior discussion, because Director Shin’s eyebrows were raised high enough to be visible to the naked eye.
…
He must be really upset.
“Good grief, no wonder you barely managed to make the debut album release time. Tsk.”
And since the person sitting at the very head of the conference room was acting like that, the others could only shut their mouths tightly.
“…….”
I quietly moved my eyes around as I watched the atmosphere in the conference room turn somewhat sharp.
It seemed I wasn’t the only one who sensed the change, because the members’ faces were also filled with awkwardness.
They were feeling self-conscious, didn’t know what to do.
And they were probably wondering why we had even been called in and made to sit here if this was how it was going to be.
[wtf why is he like that I seriously want to go back to the dorm already ㅠ]
“…
Pfft.”
I pretended not to see the sentence Hwaseong was scribbling with his ballpoint pen and desperately tried to hold back my laughter.
What a funny guy.
Unfortunately, however, we couldn’t go back to the dorm quickly today.
In order to clear the sudden mission X had sent me with malicious intent, and in order for our TOJ to achieve good results with this repackage album.
This meeting needed to drag on for a bit.
And one of the people I was counting on was very good at that sort of thing.
“Huh….”
Director Moon Yunha, who had tied her long hair tightly up into a ponytail again today, looked at Director Shin with an indifferent expression before slowly opening her mouth.
“Why is he acting like such an ignorant boomer….”
For someone with an indifferent expression, it was quite an intense remark.
“Gasp….”
“D-Director Moon. Watch your words…!”
Thanks to that, the people thrown into a panic were the others working under Director Moon Yunha.
They desperately tried to express, “If you get fired, we all get fired too,” but our aesthetics maniac was unstoppable.
“What, did I say something wrong? I worked while tightening my belt too. You all did, didn’t you? The ‘Hide-and-Seek’ album came out well. It’s my masterpiece. But what, someone who’s only been approving things from overseas all this time suddenly pops up and starts messing with—”
“…
Hah.”
At the sudden battle of nerves that wasn’t quite a battle of nerves, the atmosphere in the conference room took a strange turn.
One person was displeased because some old fogey had suddenly appeared and started meddling in every detail of her work, while another frowned as if he couldn’t comprehend what he had just heard.
“Mm….”
And in the middle of it all, I kept a serious expression on my face while hiding my satisfaction.
…
This is exactly it.
“We’re going with this? Seriously? If this is how it was going to be, why did you say you’d give me full authority? Are you kidding me?”
“W-Well, anyway, the person in charge of the Arrows project itself was Director Shin… Maybe what the president meant was just that he’d pay you a lot….”
“Ah, fuck, seriously. This isn’t a joke….”
Back in the Arrows days, Director Moon Yunha hadn’t been able to exert much power because Director Shin had successfully debuted Liu Wei.
Director Shin hadn’t suddenly gone on an overseas business trip either, and he had stuck right next to Arrows, interfering in every single thing Director Moon did.
But the situation then and the situation now were completely different.
Director Shin, who had failed to debut Liu Wei, had for some reason gone on a business trip to the United States. And in the meantime, Director Moon, who had earned President Do Jaechan’s full trust, had taken command of our debut album.
“Hah, do you remember that I’m the highest decision-maker for this album when you say that? It seems you don’t understand the situation very well.”
“So, are you going to fire me? I don’t think that’ll work. I don’t know about you, Director Shin, but President Do likes me quite a lot. He’d absolutely oppose it.”
When they fought this openly, there was no way Director Moon would be pushed back like before.
“You said they were talented, didn’t you? That they pursue perfection. Isn’t that what August is? So why are you suddenly rushing like you’re short on money? It’s not like I’m asking for a lot more time. Three weeks or four weeks, there’s no big difference.”
“You think there really won’t be a difference? There’s a limit to how ignorant you can be. It’s important to continue momentum once you’ve captured public attention.”
“Yes. I’m sure you’ll continue that momentary buzz. In exchange, the album quality will fall by that much. I personally don’t want my name attached to that kind of album.”
“Hah, that kind?”
“Yes. ‘That kind.’ If we’re going to take people’s money and sell it, we should make it properly, seriously.”
“Ah, the two of you, um, please calm down a little… The TOJ members are here too, you know?”
“Are you saying I’m excited right now? Just how does Moon Yunha-ssi manage her division for them to be this rude?”
“Don’t suddenly drag my kids into this just because you have nothing to say. Wow, you really are a boomer, huh? At least I’m a boomer who takes care of my kids.”
“Directooor…!”
They fought, and others tried to stop them. They stopped them, and they fought again.
The atmosphere in the conference room was growing increasingly chaotic, but for me, it couldn’t have been better.
Unlike Arrows, if our current team wanted to take first place on a music show even once, preparing a proper album was essential, even if it took a little time.
And if, in the middle of all that, there was someone holding firmly to the stance that “we must make a perfect album,” that was the cherry on top.
“…
Hoo.”
After scanning the people in the conference room, I quickly scribbled a circle around the number 1 I had written in the corner of the meeting materials.
If Backup Plan 1 had tanked that much for us, now it was time for me to make my next move.
“Jaeha hyung, can’t we go back to the dorm? I don’t think anything’s going to get done even if we stay here…!”
“Hwaseong, shh. It’s our album….”
Now, when the attention of everyone, including our members, was fixed on the two people in fierce opposition, was the best timing.
Thud—
“Oops, my pen….”
I deliberately pretended to drop my pen under the table, then ducked beneath the conference room table and touched the arm of Logan, who was sitting beside me.
“Hey, Logan.”
“…
Huh?”
Logan, who widened his eyes like a puppy surprised by my sudden action, lowered his head under the table and quietly poured out his words.
“God, Chunyong hyung. Are you doing this because this situation is too much for you too? I’m really scared of the atmosphere right now too, I want to run away… The meeting before wasn’t like this…!”
“Shh, shh. Be quiet and listen to me.”
I grabbed the arm of the tearful-looking guy tightly and whispered quickly.
“You, would you like it if we could put your song in this album?”
“…
What?”
This was the main point.
At my words, Logan blinked in confusion for a moment, then carefully asked me back.
“Um… what do you think, Chunyong hyung? The one I played for you before. I was thinking of recommending that.”
“I honestly want to put it in. What you made was better than the songs the A&R team played for us as candidates.”
“Oh, you think so? That makes me kind of happy…!”
At my words, filled with certainty, the large dog-like guy waved his invisible tail for a moment before quickly regaining his composure and whispering in a small voice.
“If we can put it in… I don’t think there’d be anything better than that. But those people are fighting so much, I’m not sure if that’ll work.”
“…
Good.”
That was enough.
“Then agree with whatever I say now. Got it? If you do, we can put it in.”
“Um, mate. I tried talking earlier, but I don’t think it’ll be that easy….”
After picking up the pen, I sat back down in my seat and quickly threw the final words into Logan’s ear.
“I had a dragon dream.”
A dragon dream.
I’d never actually had one, but since my name had the character “yong” in it, it was something I insisted counted as a dragon dream whenever I dreamed anything.
It was the thing I’d used during the filming of
“…
Oh.”
Although he was far away and actively working as a WeTube influencer, it seemed that the meaning of “dragon dream” that Gao Yan had taught Logan was fortunately still deeply embedded in his heart.
Thanks, Gao Yan.
One way or another, you really do help people in moments like this.
“Hoo….”
After checking Logan’s resolute expression as he gave me a thumbs-up, I took one big, deep breath.
…
Let’s go.
“Ah, Logan. You said it was a song your family liked? It’s such a shame we won’t be able to put it in!”
“What?!”
When a sentence he had absolutely not expected popped out of my mouth, Logan grew visibly flustered and stammered.
And that voice was heard very clearly by everyone in the conference room….
“…
What did you say?”
“Hm?”
Even by the people at the center of that fight.
By someone who had lost the trust of the Chinese investors and gone on a long business trip to America to find a new way forward….
And by someone who wanted more time in order to make an even more perfect album.