The Toxic Member Is Back! Chapter 194
Back when all of Tioze were preparing the demo for the title track, “W.
o.
W,” the members had once held a brief meeting.
“Guys. Should we take a short break?”
“Huh? Yuchan hyung, does your throat hurt? That can’t happen! You have the most important role in the demo recording right now!”
“Haha, no. It’s not because my throat hurts… I just thought it’d be good to talk while he’s not here.”
“Who’s not here… Ah. Yongyong hyung? Whoa, is this backbiting time? Okaaay. I’m ready. Actually, more than Yongyong hyung, I’d like to talk about you, Yuchan hyung. Please, when you put socks in the laundry basket, stop turning them inside—”
“Like hell I would, you punk!”
Excluding Kim Chunyong, who had declared that he would “prepare the choreography demo in the practice room.”
Despite their exhaustion from the repeated demo recordings and revisions, as they huddled together on the sofa, there was one emotion on their faces that surpassed fatigue.
Curiosity toward Kim Chunyong, who had deliberately declared earlier that he would leave.
“Ahem, so… what I wanted to say is this. Honestly, from the meeting onward, the one who strongly recommended Logan’s song more than anyone else was Chunyong. But why would Chunyong be the one to leave, of all people? It’s been bothering me since earlier.”
“Hmm… That’s true. The person who recommended the song the most just trusts us and slips off to make choreography? I didn’t think too deeply about it earlier, but… Yongyong hyung. I really don’t know what he’s thinking.”
“M-maybe… because he’s listened… to Logan hyung’s song… a lot…? Even if it changes… a little… he might be confident… he can get used to it….”
“Huh. Chunyong hyung has listened to it a lot. But revising it and not revising it are two different things! In the end, the choreography has to come out matching the changed song, doesn’t it?”
“Mm, but Chunyong said so seriously, ‘I don’t really know anything about arrangement,’ that it felt awkward to stop him….”
“Eek, that’s a lie. Yongyong hyung arranged a song for the mentor evaluation on
Whatever the case, when they had gathered to make a song together, his leaving was bound to raise questions.
His excuse that he didn’t know much about arrangement, that he didn’t know anything, had somehow worked, but it couldn’t completely escape the eyes of people who had already spent months with him.
“This is just what I think, but… maybe he needed some time alone in the practice room for a bit? With Chunyong’s personality, I don’t think he’d tell us one by one if something had happened to him.”
“That make sense. Chunyong hyung’s face and expression are always a little scary, but! What was it? Delicate….”
“Logan, delicate. Delicate. Well, Yongyong hyung does have that side to him, unlike his face. But if it’s something like that while we’re preparing the repackage album… shouldn’t we try talking to him?”
“…
How about… we get him… to eat something sweet… and try talking…?”
“I get what everyone’s saying, but… it’s not certain. First, I think we need to properly confirm whether something’s going on.”
I’ll check. I need to find out. I’ll somehow make it happen.
After meeting the Tioze members, Kim Chunyong had made a habit of saying things like that.
For his part, he said it because he knew he wasn’t particularly smart, and because he had to anticipate and prepare for everything in order to respond appropriately, but the opinions of the people around him who heard those words were different.
There he goes again, digging himself into a hole alone.
Thinking alone and deciding alone.
…
As if we’d let him.
Just as many things had changed after Kim Chunyong returned from Rex-trash to Kim Chunyong, the aftermath had steadily affected the people around him as well.
So, it wasn’t strange that the members tiptoed over to the practice room where Kim Chunyong was alone.
Men with an average height of 179cm tiptoeing, taking the stairs in case he noticed the sound of the elevator, even covering each other’s mouths and telling one another not to make a sound.
“That’s the practice room with the lights on, right?”
“I think so. Chunyong liked Practice Room 4 the most….”
“Oh, is it because hyung’s birthday is in April? This is the kind of thing I need to remember and not forget, mmp!”
“Shh, shh. Logan. Your voice is too loud! Ha, honestly. What am I supposed to do when I have to take care of every little thing like this for you guys? Learn from me a little and—mmph, mmph!”
“H-Hwasung hyung… is louder….”
The AG headquarters building at dawn, when almost all the employees had gone home and only a few unfortunate souls forced to work late because of their packed schedules remained.
After bickering and restraining one another over and over, the five men standing in front of the practice room finally managed, after much difficulty, to peek through the small window in the tightly shut door.
And then….
“…
Hah. That’s Chunyong, it is Chunyong, right?”
“Wow… Already that much? That’s insane. That’s the part we just finished revising earlier…!”
“A-amazing….”
“Huh. I don’t think this is the ‘he might be digging himself into a hole alone’ situation Yuchan hyung mentioned earlier.”
“…….”
At the red hair moving inside, each of them had no choice but to let out a short exclamation of admiration.
His excuse that he didn’t know how to arrange music.
His suspiciously persuasive argument that work would progress quickly only if people were placed in the right positions.
Because these were movements that made them forget all of that.
“…
Let’s go down.”
“Huh? Jaeha hyung. I think it’d be okay to watch a little longer….”
“No, no, no. Hwasung. Let’s hurry and go. I just got inspired. If we’re going to revise that, we have to go down right now.”
“Huuuh? Even Logan?”
“Hwasung. Chunyong is making choreography that earnestly for a song that isn’t even finished yet. We should go, too!”
“I think… I came up… with some good… lyrics…!”
“Eeng. I’ll just watch a little longer. I think watching more will help me when I write the rap lyrics—ack, Jaeha hyuuung!”
“Hwasung. Let’s go.”
As Son Jaeha led Ji Hwasung by the arm and went down, a strange light dwelled in his eyes.
As though he were trying to engrave the sight he had just witnessed into his mind forever.
“…….”
Son Jaeha blinked several times, and inside his head, Logan’s demo song, still in the middle of revision, mingled endlessly with the movements Kim Chunyong had just shown.
♬♪♪♬♩♪…
The sound of a music box decorating the opening, like in the mood sampler for “Hide and Seek.”
But between those notes, beats and noise slipped in lightly, never letting go of the tension.
The sharp sound of a synthesizer scratched up and down his spine, wavering as if moving back and forth between skyscrapers and low buildings.
And in the middle of it all, red hair decorating the center of the dance break.
“…
I think it’d be good if he did it again.”
“Hm? Jaeha, what did you say?”
“Ah, Chunyong. His hair… I thought it’d be good if he dyed it again.”
A darker color.
And by the time Son Jaeha finished that thought.
He and Tioze. And Kim Chunyong were already on stage.
* * *
Whether it was a joke of God’s, or whether it had ultimately been destined to happen that way.
Tioze’s repackage album title track, “W.
o.
W,” fit perfectly with the working title Logan had given it, and there was practically no major revision to the album’s overall concept.
During “Hide and Seek,” the boys had suspected and helped one another as they searched for a lost puppy, then tightly grasped shoulders and hands to come out from the island.
The island was before their debut.
Outside the island was the entertainment industry.
Therefore, “Hide and Seek” had been Mun Yunha and AG’s intention to convey that they were throwing down the gauntlet to the entertainment industry with the memories of
Then, what about “W.
o.
W,” which was coming out this time?
What happens to the boys who came out from the island?
The boys, who had known nothing, experienced confusion about their identities as they grew.
Am I a trainee, or an ordinary person?
Or a stranger who came from England?
An idol? Me? Really?
They needed a compass.
A compass that would show them the direction they had to go and lead them from the center.
And the situation in which that compass was used most usefully was a journey.
- Somewhere, where you choose
I already know, that it’ll be more than good enough
Somewhere, where you talk
The music box sound at the intro ceased, and the beat that had slipped in between grew louder.
The intro, which began the moment the synth sound mixed with the bass and became emphasized, belonged to Son Jaeha.
- Every step I take is sweet
Walk on waltz, Walk on water
In his eyes, dressed in an outfit quite different from the “Borderline” they had shown before, dwelled the strange light he had shown once before.
Mun Yunha, who had constantly emphasized the feeling of “boys thrown into another world, standing at the boundary of growth,” had all of Tioze wear leather jackets with similar details.
“Tell me what comes to mind first when you hear the word wandering.”
“Uh… a delinquent?”
“Ah, so one-dimensional. This is driving me crazy. Dear, Hwasung-ssi. This is why I told you to study a little….”
“…
That it has an end?”
“Yes! As expected, the leader really is different.”
Mun Yunha, who pointed at them and smiled slyly, said only one thing.
“Because Tioze are idols, the objects of worship.”
Tell them that wandering will end someday.
- Buddy, Buddy
It’s my first time here too, but I can feel it
Feel like Another round
Another place, but I knew it
As soon as Ji Hwasung’s rap began, the formation that had scattered in perfect order gathered back into one, and all six of them stepped in the same form.
Right foot, then left foot.
Since they were grouped together, the arm movements were not large, but they were precise.
- We don’t need liquor at all
Quicker, Quicker, raise only the tempo higher
I’m not even sick of something like escape
Maybe this is just my nature
Now that they were on stage, idols did not stop.
They kept dancing and singing.
Moving forward, and forward.
- Oh, Oh, Oh, Walk on, Walk on!
The next episode too
Oh, Oh, Oh, Walk on, Walk on!
Perfect all the way to the epilogue
The highlight part that Bang Yuchan punctuated, and the bridge and verse of the second verse that Logan and Jang Siu shared.
- Oh, Oh, Oh, Walk on, Walk on!
The next episode too
Oh, Oh, Oh, Walk on, Walk on!
Perfect all the way to the epilogue
One member, who had been briefly supporting the chorus, gritted his teeth as he listened to the steadily rising beat through his in-ear.
Was that Son Jaeha? Or Ji Hwasung?
No.
The one person who had arranged for all of this to be possible.
The one person who, with one purpose, had tried to coax over one director, chosen the title track, created choreography for a song that hadn’t even fully come out yet, and spent days clutching his head, agonizing over “how should I do even better from now on?”
At the moment of the dance break, that Kim Chunyong stood in the center.
He stepped as if flying across the stage, moving his arms in large, refreshing motions.
And even as he did so, he controlled the dynamics so it wouldn’t be excessive, holding the center.
While using every joint in his body flexibly, he did not forget the beat, stopping his body at the exact moment.
- Oh, Oh, Oh, Walk on, Walk on!
The next episode too
Oh, Oh, Oh, Walk on, Walk on!
Perfect all the way to the epilogue
Kim Chunyong was not a trainee, an ordinary person, or a stranger.
He was someone who had returned.
The wandering he experienced was probably of an entirely different texture from that of the people beside him, and there was no one he could share it with.
Because he couldn’t tell such things to people who didn’t know.
And even if they did know, they might be enemies.
- Oh, Oh, Oh, Walk on, Walk on!
The next episode too
Oh, Oh, Oh, Walk on, Walk on!
Perfect all the way to the epilogue
As he sang in chorus with the other members during the final highlight, Kim Chunyong could see the dark red hair that had fallen slightly before his eyes.
Looking at the hair that had become close to a wine color, just as Son Jaeha had advised, Kim Chunyong let a bright yet resolute smile spread across his lips.
‘But so what. What are you going to do about it?’
Kim Chunyong had simply continued to long for this moment.
Not to throw himself into the abyss, but to be able to wander in the right direction.
For the one chance to turn everything back to come to him.
So….
- Oh, Oh, Oh, Walk on, Walk on!
The Nexus that continues until the end
Next, Next, Walk on, Walk on!
It was only natural that, at the final moment, he smiled brightly and let his eyes gleam with heat.
“—Thank you!”
Kim Chunyong, having finished the first stage of Tioze’s repackage album title track, “W.
o.
W,” was certain.
…
This really could work.