The Malicious Member Has Returned! Episode 184
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From the moment she began holding colored pencils rather than a spoon in her hand, Mun Yunha had lived hearing that she was extraordinary as often as she ate.
That girl has talent.
She'll become an artist.
Send her to an art high school and an art college.……
Blah, blah, blah.
Even when she reached an age where she could tell right from wrong, things weren't much different.
No, she herself came to believe it even more strongly.
That she had a special talent for captivating other people's eyes. That she was someone capable of doing something.
Therefore, when she—born with a talent acknowledged by herself and others—chose her career path, she gathered the attention of everyone around her.
What could she do to surprise people?
What kind of work would that girl—who possessed insane talent but had a notoriously foul personality—end up doing?
A man who could be called Mun Yunha's closest confidant said this about her:
“I had a feeling she'd end up working with people from the very beginning. Just… from the first time I saw her at art high school? I didn't know she'd become a visual director, but I did think she'd have a job dealing with celebrities.”
“Oh, how did you know that? Director Mun never talks about herself, so every little bit of information like this is precious!”
“Ugh, don't you know her personality? If she finds out I gave this interview, she might stab me.”
“S-should we attach a bodyguard for you…?”
“I'm joking. Sticking around her so much, I think her dirty personality has rubbed off on me too.”
“…That doesn't sound like a joke!”
“Anyway. The reason I thought that… she used to go on and on about pretty things and muses as if it were a meal. There are plenty of pretty things in the world. But a muse….”
“After all, don't you have to meet many people to know who your muse is?”
Muse.
A being that gives inspiration to an artist.
A muse was a bit different in nature from something merely pretty.
Rather, it was closer to Mun Yunha's own definition of “beauty” that she shouted to the point of exhaustion every single day.
Ah, something that sparkles.
Not something that's only shiny on the outside, but something that makes you feel “special” the moment you see it—bang!
Something that makes you want to make it shine even brighter.
Mun Yunha's life as a visual director was a journey to find her own muse.
Believing that if she met many pretty, beautiful people, she would someday meet the “real thing.”
And ToZ were individuals who, while it was still too much to call them her muse, were straddling a certain line.
She wanted to make them shine more.
She couldn't be sure since they weren't fully polished yet, but they were definitely special.
And among them, there was one who kept catching Mun Yunha's eye.
A trainee with a rustic name who had left a strong impression on both sides during their first meeting with Mun Yunha on a survival show.
No, now an idol who had gained all sorts of nicknames from that name and was beginning to seep into people's minds.
Kim Chunyong.
“Look straight ahead, eyes slightly lowered… Yes, ah. No. No. Something's lacking. Is there no way to give off a slightly more dangerous vibe? It's cyberpunk. Make it intense.”
“Hmm, let's strip him.”
“Maknae. Are you crazy? You're telling me to strip an idol who's just about to release a repackage album? That completely ruins the mystery an idol possesses. Even at the moment their career is ending, an idol should bare it all as little as possible….”
“Ex-excuse me, Director?”
“Ah, Mr. Chunyong. Please wait a moment. I'm thinking about something. Let me mess with this one first. You should catch your breath too. You came straight here after dealing with that geezer, right?”
“Haha… please don't do that. Rather, I was wondering if I could try turning around once.”
“…Turning around?”
Though their first meeting was extremely intense, Mun Yunha was not someone swayed by merely a first impression.
It could be a fluke.
He could just be like that once or twice.
But every time, Kim Chunyong showed her a different side with an earnestness that Mun Yunha didn't know about.
As if to say, “I really have to make it this time.”
“Turn around, as if you're glaring slightly….”
“Aha, you're going to use your scary face a bit? How strange. I thought you were embarrassed about having such sharp features.”
“Urk, that's part of it too. If I do this, the scar on my neck shows well too… don't you like things like this?”
“…Me? You think I like scars? Do I look like a pervert to you?”
“No, that's not what I mean! This is something only I have….”
“Don't you like special things, Director?”
The way he had explained the meaning of his name without showing a single sign of nervousness when he first met Mun Yunha.
And how he had desperately clawed his way up despite strange rumors spreading, eventually boarding the ship called ToZ.
In the midst of it all, the sight of him getting what he needed from Director Shin Giho—who even Mun Yunha called a geezer and clicked her tongue at….
Even knowing things that Mun Yunha herself didn't talk about except to her closest friend.
“…Turn around, lower your hair slightly below your neck.”
“Uh, um… like this?”
“And glare at the camera like you're looking at a dog. No, not like a dog. Like… an expression that says, ‘Do you even know what I'm thinking?’”
All those appearances evoked various emotions in Mun Yunha.
The anticipation that these idols she was personally directing might mark some exclamation point on her life as an artist.
And the euphoria that this member, showing an inexplicable desperation and earnestness among them, might be a candidate for the muse she had searched for by scraping through numerous idols.
“…Cut. This is an A-cut. And bring all the members out front. We're reshooting.”
“Directooor! A reshoot?!”
“They just got here. Fucking hell, something descended from the sky. Bring them here right now!”
The repackage album concept photos taken with such emotions elevated her nickname of “Aesthetics Madman.”
Ah, it really elevated it.
[ToZ @Targetofzenon_AG(photo)(photo)ToZ 1st Repackage Album - ‘Another Clover’ Concept Photo (Chunyong/Logan)]
Concept photos released in the order of Kim Chunyong and Logan, Bang Yuchan and Jang Siu, Ji Hwaseong and Son Jaeha showed them connected in pairs, just like in the previous “Hide and Seek” album.
Previously, boy scouts searching for a puppy named Zenia.
This time, boys who might have been boy scouts in the past but were now wanted in a cyberpunk world for some reason.
Mun Yunha didn't use the rustic method of explaining all these concepts in detail through articles.
She just revealed it.
Connecting what needed to be connected subtly, and showing clearly what needed to look different.
If the intent you want to convey is definitely contained in the photos, the songs, and the work, people can't help but know.
Rather, the public is most sensitive to sincerity.
You see, the public catches the scent of intense desire toward a masterpiece, and alternates between applause and pointing fingers at it.
So, there was no need to go looking for reactions to the concept photos.
[What's with the scar on the back of Chunyong's neck? No, this fucking dangerous vibe is insane. Is this a 4th-gen delinquent pretty boy?]
⎿It feels like yesterday he was just called “the trainee named Kim Chunyong”… I'm sincerely moved
[No but they really fucking captured the members' traits… Son Jaeha's openly cold sniper image, right? Oh my god, the fairytale prince shoots guns too]
⎿Her ability to make you infer the story just from the photos is no joke, Mun Yunha is crazy, our Director is crazy
[I thought she really preserved the details well during Hide and Seek too ;; this time she straight-up filmed focusing on those details, I'm scared of Mun Yunha]
⎿I acknowledge her as the most capable pervert I know
[@BangbangYourchan (photo)(photo)
Beret Yuchan followed by messed-up police hat Yuchan? This… “works.” Look at his neck muscles, look at that Adam's apple, he's a master vocalist, sexy dynamite]
[@singsingull_ll11 (photo)(photo)
Can a repackage album turn out this well? (crying)(crying) Our Siu went from a weak boy scout maknae to a pickpocket in charge of the team's funds… Siu, noona always believed you could pull off this kind of concept too]
⎿A pickpocket in charge of the team's funds < where did this come from?
⎿@singsingull_ll11 I thought so!
⎿You're not sane but I'll give you a like
[@fireworksday (photo)(photo)
I'm suffering, I'm struggling
My high schooler's antics are trying to kill me
What, bleh? What's with the sunglasses headband? What's with him knowing he's a rapper and handsome?
Yeah I'll go bankrupt for you, I'll go all-in on you]
Without even looking, she knew people loved it so much they were doing handstands and clapping.
The sight of Kim Chunyong desperately struggling with the determination to somehow take first place with this album had naturally seeped into Mun Yunha.
And the countless things that happened during that preparation process.
Kim Chunyong himself had been floundering to survive in the rapid current of suddenly occurring events, but all of it ultimately converged into one thing.
To find out who the “other guys” were, he had to climb to a position where he could find them.
To rise to that position, winning Rookie of the Year was the first stepping stone.
And, to smoothly win that Rookie of the Year award, getting first place on a music show had to follow.
That required a good song, good choreography, a bit of publicity, and the effort and sincerity to become that vessel.
Kim Chunyong nurtured a very small ember, those around him constantly poured oil on it, and going further, the public fanned the flames.
Ah, so that's how it was.
It was bound to end up like this.
It had to become like this.
And when that fire finally blazed to the heavens without end, creating an atmosphere as if for a festival….
[ToZ 1st Repackage Album ‘Another Clover’ Title - ‘W.o.W’ MV teaser]
Only then was it the first highlight.
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The night before the music video for ToZ's repackage album title track, “W.o.W,” was released.
All six members had gathered in the practice room and were stepping up practice for the stage they would perform on a music show.
Even Jin Dasol, who had crafted the choreography and taught it to them through the draft Kim Chunyong sent, had gone home, leaving only the six of them in the practice room.
“Seven, eight. Turn here, split up….”
Among them, Kim Chunyong, who had been moving his body to Son Jaeha's counts, met eyes with him through the mirror and raised one hand.
It was a signal to take a brief break.
“Hmm…?”
Since it was Kim Chunyong who would normally push the members harder to increase their practice volume, Son Jaeha was puzzled by his request for a break, but soon slowly stopped moving.
“…Let's take a short break and continue. Everyone looks tired.”
‘…Perfect.’
Kim Chunyong lightly nodded in gratitude at his favorable response and carefully chose his words.
With the music video release one day away, and even the first stage of the repackage album now three days away.
Because he had something to say to his members.