Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: Rxel
Chapter 116
Life didn’t always go as planned, but Woojoo didn’t expect today to be so different from what he had anticipated.
He was supposed to go back to the dorm, take a refreshing shower, drink a can of zero cola while teasing his younger brothers, and then fall into a deep sleep.
But everything changed when he received a text message.
-Do you want to meet me?
The sender was Director Jo Gyuhwan.
As his destination changed to the company, his brothers laughed at him, and before he knew it, he was in the underground parking lot, getting into the car with the director who came to pick him up for a meal.
That was the end of his memory.Woojoo slept.
Sometimes it happens. Even though you knew you shouldn’t sleep, you fell asleep almost like fainting.
This was one of those cases.
Woojoo quietly opened his eyes in the passenger seat. Then he swept his bangs and checked the surroundings.
As if nothing had happened.
“It looks like we’re almost there.”
“Did you sleep well?”
“…”
His eyes, which resembled a Tibetan fox, curved softly through the rearview mirror.
Woojoo raised his thumb and said, “…The ride is very smooth.”
“I left you alone because you were sleeping soundly. It seemed like I shouldn’t wake you up.”
“Did I snore by any chance?”
Director Jo Gyuhwan turned the steering wheel and smirked.
…He snored.
Woojoo sighed and said, “I’m causing trouble for you. I call you at dawn, I sleep in the passenger seat…”
“No, I wasn’t sleeping anyway at that time.”
“Is that so?”
“I was just lying down, about to fall asleep.”
“…”
He laughed at Woojoo’s expression.
Somehow he seemed to be teasing him since a while ago.
But Woojoo was glad that he looked happy.
The car stopped at a traffic light, and Woojoo checked the surroundings. It was near Namsan. As he scanned the various restaurant signs, he asked, “Where are we going?”
“Oh. I asked the Scarlet kids to recommend me some good places, and they suggested this one.”
He pointed to a sign in the distance with his finger.
“We’re almost there. There it is.”
“…”
The sign he pointed to said ‘Original Pork Cutlet Restaurant’ in a calligraphic font.
“…”
“You said you’d buy me pork cutlet.”
“Can you forget about that, sir?”
He pondered.
“Hmm, that might be difficult for a while.”
“Then I’ll have to buy you the most expensive one there.”
“…Huh? Why do I eat only one pork cutlet?”
“Thank you. I’ll buy you two.”
He burst into laughter.
***
With a pork cutlet that was steaming hot in front of Woojoo, he lowered the mask he was wearing to his chin.
Then he ate a piece of pork cutlet.
…It was delicious.
The crust was what Jiho would call the epitome of crispy and moist.
And the sauce was the nostalgic taste he used to eat when he was young.
Woojoo should bring his kids here and feed them later.
As he thought that, he looked at Director Jo Gyuhwan, who was eating across from him.
He looked like a specimen of a successful office worker in his late thirties who could appear in an advertisement.
He was at an age where he could be a manager or a team leader in other planning companies, but he was the production director in charge of album production at Lemon Entertainment.
He was in charge of producing Scarlet and New Black, and he also had a lot of influence on the company’s decision-making.
It was burdensome for him to ask Woojoo to have a meal with him.
“How is it, is it good?”
“Yes, it’s really good. The last time I ate pork cutlet was in the army…”
“Uh.”
“I have to bring my siblings here someday.”
Woojoo said that as he ate a piece of pork cutlet. Director Jo smiled at him.
“You’re working hard as the leader. Is everything going well?”
“Yes, it is. My siblings are very obedient.”
“Well, there’s no troublemaker among them. We got rid of those who were back then.”
He gave a bitter laugh and drank some water.
Then he seemed to remember something and said, “By the way, I saw you guys on the portal today.”
“Really?”
“Go check it out.”
As he said, Woojoo went online and saw an article popping up.
-August album chart, the rise of rookies amid the success of veterans
It was an analysis article.
It said that while the established singers were staying in the top ranks of the Mango monthly chart, the rookies were showing a strong momentum.
[The rise of rookies is also noticeable. New Black’s ‘Fireworks’ ranked 43rd and ‘Night Sea’ ranked 56th in the monthly chart, and ‘Something’, a collaboration with Jang Sowon, is still in the upper ranks. Especially, it is a notable point that all three songs were composed by New Black member, Woojoo.]
Along with the somewhat embarrassing nickname of ‘super rookie’, their name was also seen in the comments below the article.
-New Black is doing well for a rookie
-Did Street Boys get paid by the company?ㅋㅋㅋ It doesn’t seem like they deserve to be there with that rank, right?ㅋㅋㅋ
-New Black is the best among the rookies this year
The likes were not very high, but they were pleasant comments, so Woojoo sent the article link to the members.
“How do you feel?”
“I feel proud. I also feel like I’m recognized.”
“That’s because you did well. You didn’t get it for nothing.”
“Thank you.”
“So, what I’m trying to say is…”
He started to get to the point.
“We’re going to make a corner for this reality show. We’re going to show the process of preparing for the second album. Especially focusing on you composing.”
“Like when I made Night Sea, with a self-cam?”
“Well, yeah. The filming crew will come sometimes too.”
“But do you think the fans will be curious? They might say it’s boring…” Woojoo asked cautiously.
He could just agree with anything else, but he couldn’t take it lightly when it came to their activities.
Reality shows were not for the general public.
They were for the fans who loved their idols.
Fans wanted to see idols eating delicious food, doing fun things, not sweating and filming until the choreography was confirmed, getting scolded by the trainers, and staying up all night with a haggard face.
He agreed.
“That’s true in general. Idols don’t usually do anything on their own in the album preparation process, they just become the subject. It’s not fun to watch them do as they are told.”
That was what Woojoo thought too.
Woojoo nodded and expressed his agreement, and then he said something he never expected.
“So, what I’m trying to say is, I want to entrust you with the production of the next second album.”
“…What?”
What was he talking about?
“You want me to produce the album?”
“Well, not exactly. You’ll be more like providing the ideas. The practical aspects will be handled by me and the A&R team, but we’ll prioritize your opinions on the album concept and such.”
“…”
“What do you think? It’s a good offer, isn’t it?”
It was an amazing offer.
The producer was the one who oversaw everything about the album, from the concept to the track list, the jacket photo and the music video.
If you excluded the occasional suggestions on the songs, the ordinary idol members usually followed the concept that the A&R team came up with. So, the fact that he was offering Woojoo such a position meant that he was acknowledging him to some extent.
And besides, it took millions of dollars to make an idol album.
He was letting Woojoo participate in a project that involved that much money, which was already a huge deal.
But that also meant a lot of pressure.
He smiled softly and said, “Don’t feel too burdened. I’m not asking you to do everything. I’m just saying that you should learn from this opportunity.”
Woojoo was conflicted.
Should he do it or not?
He wanted to do it.
It was the most important thing for a singer, the opportunity to shape their own album the way they wanted.
Woojoo wanted to take it, even if it meant taking on a lot of responsibility.
But Woojoo was only accepting this offer if it was good for their group.
His eyes were looking at the pork cutlet, but his mind was weighing the pros and cons.
Finally, when Woojoo seemed to have made up his mind, he asked Woojoo with a smile, “So, what’s your decision?”
“Yes, I’ll do it.”
Jo Gyuhwan smiled as if he knew Woojoo would say that. Woojoo asked him seriously, “But before that, I have one question.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Why are you making me this offer?”
***
After receiving the offer from the producer of New Black, Woojoo spent a few nights in the studio.
Click.
Woojoo turned on the air conditioner full blast, pulled his hood over his head, and kept clicking the mouse.
On the monitor, there was a composing program.
The title of the file he was working on was.
Pig_in_the_Dream_(1)_1_13_last+01
On the desktop, there were files with similar titles, almost like wallpaper.
They were the results of countless trials and errors Woojoo had gone through for the past few days.
But thanks to that, the song that was rough at first was gradually taking shape.
Woojoo dragged a measure and added or removed some notes, and he remembered what Director Jo Gyuhwan said.
-The melody you played for me last night.
He said with a strange expression.
-I laughed it off when I first heard it. But it kept lingering in my memory. It was stuck in my head. It felt familiar somehow, and I liked how it sounded. I wondered if there was an original song.
That was something Woojoo was thinking about too.
Woojoo liked it after hearing it, but it could be an existing song for all he knew.
-It could be a plagiarism issue, so I stayed up all night looking for a similar melody.
-…Did you find any?
-No.
Woojoo felt relieved at his words, but as his thoughts reached that point, the producer and Woojoo looked serious at the same time.
It was a very good sign that there was no such song, but it felt like a song they had heard before and it sounded good.
They didn’t say it out loud for fear of jinxing it.
And that was the reason why he offered to produce for Woojoo.
-It’s certain that the song you made will be the center of this album, whether it’s a track or a double title. It has a strong color. So I wanted to make an album that matches the color of the song you made from the beginning.
The melody they called ‘Pig Song’ was going to be the core of the next album.
That was why he immersed himself in the work since the day the show ended.
“Ugh~”
Woojoo yawned and covered his mouth as he saw the mini-cam installed on the table by HBS MTV.
Woojoo felt embarrassed and spoke to the camera.
“You’ll see it later, but… PD-nim, please edit this part out.”
Woojoo made a scissors gesture with his hand and then drew a heart.
…They would edit it well, right?
Woojoo was curious what kind of editing point they would find in this boring work process.
Meanwhile, another camera opened the door and came in.
“Ta-da.”
The younger ones followed the camcorder in Junghyun’s hand like chicks.
A pleasant low voice rang out.
“This is our studio. This is where I make mixtapes or Woojoo Hyung composes.”
“Hi.”
“Oh, Woojoo Hyung is right there,” Junhyeon narrated as he saw Woojoo waving his hand.
“Nice to meet you. Mr. Seon Woojoo.”
“Yes, hello.”
Woojoo bowed politely to match the younger ones’ skit.
While doing so, the camera captured his hooded tee and tracksuit from top to bottom.
“Wow, is today’s concept trashy?”
The younger ones behind him burst into laughter.
Woojoo also laughed for a moment and then answered the interview.
“Trashy? It’s trendy. As you can see, this wrinkled gray hooded tee and black tracksuit are the point. This is the trendy composer look these days.”
“Oh, composer look. Is that black dot in the middle of the gray hooded tee also a point?”
“Huh? This is…”
Woojoo covered it with embarrassment, and Rihyuk said, “That’s it. Spicy pork stew soup.”
“Hey, why did you say that?”
“Puhaha! Look at Bijoo Hyung’s face. Isn’t that the shirt he sucked on yesterday?”
“It’s okay. I’m used to this kind of thing now…”
As Bijoo was showing how to wash the spicy pork stew off his clothes in front of the reality cam, Woojoo changed into a hoodie.
And then, carefully, Woojoo coughed.
“Wow, look at him acting like nothing happened.”
“Hmm? What happened?”
The others started to laugh as they saw Woojoo pretending to be innocent. Woojoo asked while casually playing the piano keys, “Are you guys done with your individual lessons?”
“We’re on a break right now. Jiho said he has nothing to do after his acting lesson.” Bijoo said as if he remembered something, “Oh, by the way, I stopped by the management team’s office before I came here. They said our broadcast on Chuseok day is confirmed.”
“So it’s settled.”
Woojoo had heard that they might appear on a live special show called ‘Challenge! Music Quiz’ on PBS, but he didn’t know it was finalized.
Woojoo was happy but also disappointed.
He thought they could go home for Chuseok if they didn’t have any schedule.
Woojoo wanted to go to Gunsan and eat something delicious with his grandmother, and watch Around the World With Dice together on the holiday.
Woojoo wondered if he was the only one who felt that way, but the others looked similar.
Because if not now, they wouldn’t be able to go until the end of September.
After the Chuseok season, they had the 2014 Incheon Hallyu Tourism Concert a week later, so they needed to practice.
It was a subtle feeling.
Was this how office workers felt when they had to tell their families that they couldn’t go home for the holiday because they were busy?
Woojoo didn’t know what to say to Mrs. Kim Deoksoon, who had been subtly asking him when he would come down.
Woojoo couldn’t just say, ‘Watch my face on TV, Grandma.’
As Woojoo was thinking about that, the youngest, who was allergic to the sentimental atmosphere, changed the topic.
“Hyung, so how’s the pig song going?”
“Yeah, it’s going well.”
Woojoo narrowed his eyes at him.
“You seem very proud of it.”
“Of course, I’m the biggest… What do you call it, Junghyun Hyung?”
“Common multiple?”
“Common division, Junghyun.”
Rihyuk clicked his tongue at the conversation.
“Contributor. Contributor.”
“Right, right. I’m the biggest contributor to this melody. I’m proud of it because I also contributed to making the song.”
“That makes sense.”
They smiled at their youngest, and Bijoo asked, “Is it almost finished?”
“Well… yeah. The technical part is almost done, but I haven’t decided on the final touch, you know. The character of the song, if you will. If Fireworks was a message to our fans to have fun with us, I don’t know what kind of song this one should be. That’s why I haven’t decided on the title yet.”
And he needed to finalize this song so he could decide on the concept for this album.
Of course, this time the melody was his own creation, unlike the Fireworks incident, but still, since the original idea wasn’t his…
“Ah!”
Woojoo clapped his hands and exclaimed, “I was missing something obvious.”
“It looks like he came up with another dangerous idea.”
The others backed away slowly, as if they had found a hazardous substance, seeing Woojoo smile.
Especially Junghyun and Rihyuk, who had suffered from Fireworks and Night Sea.
Bijoo was being dragged away by them.
But Woojoo’s eyes were only on one person.
“Jiho.”
“Yes?”
“Come here and sit down.”
It would be best to hear it from the person himself.
The maknae looked at the other Hyungs with a sense of crisis, but the other three had already run away.
“Don’t be scared.”
“Um, well…”
“You said the lesson is over, right? You have nothing to do?”
Woojoo gave Jiho a bright smile and tapped the chair next to him, signaling him to come.
“Come on. Let’s have some fun making a song with Hyung.”
***
Group chat ‘Space Team without Woojoo.’
Jiho [How could you guys do this to me]
Jiho [How could you abandon me like this]
Jiho [Wait for it… I’ll get my revenge]
2 hours later.
Jiho [Save me]
4 hours later.
Jiho [Can’t you come and get me?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
6 hours later.
Jiho [I’m not New Black anymore]
Jiho [I’m going to be a rookie actor from tomorrow]
-Jiho has left the chat room.