Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: Rxel
Chapter 206 PBS New Hall.
The audience began to take their seats.
‘Wow…’
Those who came to the studio for the first time looked around with wide eyes.
On the stage, there was a panel that said ‘Challenge, Legendary Song Discovery Team!’ and behind the spacious stage, the sound team was checking the instruments.
The recording hadn’t started yet, but they already felt excited.
“This is amazing. This is a broadcasting station.”
“Who’s coming out today? Cha Woohyun and who else?”“There are so many instruments. Is that microphone for the chorus? People dancing with their shoulders and singing ooh-ooh.”
The audience chatted with their friends with elated faces.
“Wow.”
One of the front-row spectators opened his mouth wide and whispered to his friend.
“Awesome. Dude. There are so many people.”
“I saw some high schoolers without tickets earlier, they said they would come in as soon as there’s a vacant seat.”
“…For the first recording?”
‘Challenge, Legendary Song Discovery Team!’ was a new program that started this time, so it wasn’t very well-known.
But this number of people?
There were groups of visitors here and there, but it was surprising that so many people came to see a show that hadn’t aired yet.
“Hey, look here. It says what they’re doing today.”
“Where?”
“Page 3.”
Putting aside their phones for a moment, people started to flip through the pamphlets they received when they came in.
It said who was singing what song today.
“The lineup is amazing… Cha Woohyun doesn’t usually come out on this kind of program, does he?”
“They’re all famous singers.”
“But I don’t know the songs. I don’t know any of them.”
Most of them talked about the singers because of the unfamiliar songs.
People who were interested in musicals talked about Lisa, and people who liked indie bands paid attention to Jo Yuri Band.
Older people who had a certain age group recognized Song Bohyung’s face.
Cha Woohyun was the representative vocalist of Korea that everyone in this place knew.
But…
“Who are they?”
People tilted their heads as they saw the pamphlet text and photo that said [New Black: Noh Jaehyun ‘Life’].
Then they turned their eyes.
The singers’ pictorials passed by on the stage background screen like a slide show.
Five idols sitting on chairs in casual outfits.
“New Black?”
One of the people sitting in the seat blinked.
‘Who are they?’
They seemed familiar somehow…
But their memory was vague.
Someone who was searching on their smartphone said, “They’re the ones. Around the World With Dice!”
“Oh…”
“They were on the Chuseok Special, right? The ones who fought with the goat and did the filial piety feast.”
People who remembered Around the World With Dice’s Chuseok Special, which was called the national variety show, appeared here and there.
A slight smile crossed some of the audience’s faces.
But unlike recognizing their faces, the question remained.
“But aren’t they rookies? Do they deserve to be here?”
“Right.”
They understood that they left a big impression on the variety show, but they wondered why they appeared on a competition program.
They knew that there were idols in it.
They just thought that it would be either Daydream or Playlist, who were famous for their singing skills, even if they weren’t as well-known as TNT.
‘Is there something?’
Someone covered their mouth with their hand and whispered a joke, “What if they’re really good at singing? Harmonizing like crazy and going up to the end of the octave.”
“No way.”
The one who heard that snickered and turned their eyes to the stage background.
New Black’s pictorial passed by again between the calm music.
‘They’re handsome.’
They had attractive looks that caught their eyes, but their thoughts about New Black were only that.
They felt a bit glad to see the faces they had seen on the weekend variety show again, but they didn’t know much about New Black as singers.
And then someone came up on the stage, and the focus quickly shifted.
A man with a mischievous expression.
He walked up to the stage with a microphone in his hand, drawing everyone’s attention.
-Hello~!
He greeted the audience with enthusiasm and introduced himself.
-You must have been surprised, right? Some unknown guy comes up and says hello. Is he the MC? You might think so, but you’re half right and half wrong.
He spoke in a funny tone, like a quack doctor, and made the audience chuckle.
-I’m Kim Chul, a comedian from PBS’s open audition, and I’m in charge of the pre-recording MC today! Nice to meet you!
He then delivered some precautions on behalf of the production team and started to liven up the atmosphere.
-Come on, everyone! Let’s hear some cheers~! Hey, that’s too weak. Too weak. That won’t do! Louder! One more time, scream~!
“Woo-hoo!”
-Out of 10 points… 9 points. I’ll give you 9 points. You’re still far from 10 points.
“Ah!”
He encouraged applause and cheers, and the air in the studio gradually heated up.
The pre-recording MC played some games with the audience, such as rock-paper-scissors, and gave out prizes.
They were the autographs of the singers who participated in today’s show.
And…
‘New Black?’
The one who had just made a joke about New Black’s singing skills with his friend looked closely at the autograph he had received as a prize.
There were five signatures in different styles.
He moved his eyes from the calligraphic ‘Seo Rihyuk’, which was alone in a corner, to somewhere else.
Soon, a snicker escaped his lips.
“What is this? What… pfft!”
His friend next to him also laughed.
It was because of the signature in the center.
Next to the English letters ‘Seon Woojoo’, there was an appendix attached.
A spaceship flying away with fire spewing from its tail.
[ ˘ᗜ˘ ]
It was a cute expression that was somehow unfamiliar.
***
7:30 p.m.
The recording finally began.
After the pre-recording MC had made the mood enjoyable, the main MC Baek Sangjung came on stage in a tuxedo.
“Woo-hoo!”
It was a fervent atmosphere.
Before the competition, the singers lined up on stage and greeted the audience.
Six hundred spectators.
The studio, which had looked small when it was empty, seemed huge. They felt countless eyes looking here and there.
But except for the audience who looked like Soufflés, there seemed to be no one who was interested in them.
Even if there were a few, they only glanced at their faces.
Most of them were interested in Cha Woohyun or Jo Yuri Band.
-Hello. We are Jo Yuri Band.
The audience gave them a huge cheer. Jo Yuri Band smiled confidently.
They glanced at them as if to say ‘Did you see that?’
They ignored them.
But they could feel the difference in popularity.
“Hello, we are New Black!”
When they greeted them, they all said ‘Woo-hoo!’ but it was only a polite greeting.
Last year, the MC would have introduced them by saying ‘They are the ones who sang Something!’ but it was weird to promote a song that was a year old.
In this lineup of seniors, saying things like ‘We won five Rookie Awards.’ or ‘We topped the music charts in our first year.’ felt awkward.
There seemed to be quite a few people who recognized them because of Around the World With Dice, but it was hard to talk about it because it was a different broadcast program.
That was why the celebrity panels who were invited to spice up the mood mostly talked about our looks.
-You’re so handsome. How old are you all? Oh… Jiho, you’re eighteen?
-You’re a visual group. Did the PD cast you by looking at your faces?
-Look at the size of your faces. You’re ignoring the perspective.
They wanted to say ‘Please talk about our songs too’ but the celebrity panels only talked about their looks.
They practiced like crazy for two weeks, but they wasted almost five minutes on their faces.
So they…
“Ah, thank you very much.”
They enjoyed it.
Interest was not something you could pick and choose.
You just had to take it as it came.
Like professional attention-seekers, they humbly accepted the compliments on their looks and cheered themselves up.
-I know a lot about idols, and those guys were the rookies of 2014.
But even the self-proclaimed ‘idol expert’ Bang Munsu recognized them.
The man with a raccoon-like face spoke to the audience.
-Last year, there was a huge influx of rookies from big agencies and others. The experts were like ‘what the hell happened in 2014?’ because there were so many talented rookies. New Black was the one who broke through the competition and became the representative rookie of last year.
Woojoo wondered who he was, since he seemed to know a lot about idols, but he soon recognized his face.
He was the host of K-net’s rival program to HBS’s ‘Idol Show’ that we appeared on.
The MC asked him skillfully.
-So, Mr. Bang, do you see New Black as the winner candidate today?
-Uh… yes, that’s right!
He stuttered and said ‘yes!’ and laughter erupted from everywhere. Bang Munsu, who was grinning, looked at them.
-New Black! I said you’re the winner candidate, so you have to come to our show later! Got it?
“It would be an honor if you invite us,” Woojoo answered with a smile.
Meanwhile, when Cha Woohyun greeted next, a tremendous cheer poured out from the audience.
He was the star of the program, and his talk was quite long.
‘Wow! New Black turned the rookie scene upside down last year’ Bang Munsu said, but unlike them who hesitated when he said they were the winner candidate, Cha Woohyun was the most likely candidate for today’s first place.
The talk was serious, and the audience’s eyes were on him.
The atmosphere was completely different from theirs.
If New Black was just a cute youngest, he was treated as a professional artist.
He was such an amazing person, so Woojoo accepted it, but it felt a bit different when they introduced other singers.
But…
Woojoo had a feeling that the production team was trying to push them in that direction.
The writers who gave instructions to the MC remotely, and the celebrity panels who also pushed them that way.
It seemed like they wanted to plant a certain image in the audience’s mind.
It was just his guess, but he wasn’t sure.
But it was certain that the audience thought of them as just one of the rookie idol groups.
It was natural.
-Yes, the singers will go down now. I will explain the voting rules for today.
The audience’s eyes were on the singers who were going down with a calm face.
Whether Woojoo looked here or there.
Wherever he looked, there weren’t many eyes that showed interest in them, except for a few people.
“Hyung. What’s wrong?”
Bijoo asked Woojoo when he stopped for a moment.
“No, nothing.”
He smiled as if it was nothing and moved on, but his thoughts continued in his head.
Was it because of the audience’s reaction?
Suddenly, he had a desire.
He wished they could take all the six hundred eyes on the stage later.
***
The competition officially began.
The format was simple.
A VCR that briefly showed how the practice or arrangement process went.
And then a VCR where the singer introduced the song was played, and then the main stage began.
The video of finding the hidden songs and meeting the original singers and talking to them was originally for the broadcast, and it didn’t come out because it could affect the audience’s evaluation.
“Wow…”
They were huddled in the waiting room and watched the TV, spitting out admiration.
“Wow. The song is awesome.”
“Look at the gestures he makes when he sings. His expression is really amazing…”
It wasn’t because they were deliberately reacting because the observation camera was watching, but because the admiration came out naturally.
Should Woojoo call them living vocal textbooks?
Lisa, who arranged the children’s song ‘Ttolong Ttolong’ into a musical scene and performed it beautifully.
It was a great performance that made the original singer’s eyes moisten.
She just stood still and sang softly, but her voice alone made the audience cry.
Cha Woohyun, who sang a song that was difficult to tune as if he was visiting his own house.
Rihyuk stood up and clapped at the sight of him singing freely.
And Jo Yuri Band.
They changed a lot of lyrics, but they made a trendy song that got a great response from the young audience.
Regardless of their preference, their performance and vocal skills were the best.
At the climax, when Jo Yuri raised the microphone above his head and sang the high note to the end, the celebrity panel and the audience opened their mouths wide.
After the singers’ performances, the celebrity panels made a fuss and talked about the songs.
Then, two composers and famous singers who made up the judges picked up the microphone and evaluated.
-I didn’t think it would be arranged like this when I first heard it was a children’s song. It was a very difficult challenge, but you succeeded perfectly.
There were praises.
-It was a stage that made people say, “That’s Cha Woohyun.” Thank you.
There were also rave reviews.
-Jo Yuri Band did really well. But there are a few things that I regret. The arrangement felt too focused on technique. Vocal skills can surprise the audience, but they don’t necessarily move them. You know, when you see an acrobat walking on a tightrope, you clap because it’s amazing, but you don’t get emotional over it, right?
There were also sharp criticisms.
As the singers went down with happy or relieved faces, the next performance preparation continued.
Meanwhile, New Black looked at the lyrics sheet, listened to the MR with earphones, and warmed up their throats.
“Five hundred won, five hundred won…”
“Five hundred wooooon…”
As they all warmed up their throats under the lead of the main vocal, a staff member with an intercom knocked and poked his head in.
“New Black, stand by!”
“Yes!”
On the TV screen, they left the waiting room after Song Bohyung sang ‘The Flower of Betrayal’.
Woojoo was nervous.
The way to the backstage felt so long. It felt like time was moving slowly.
While Song Bohyung’s song ended and the celebrity panels chatted, they loosened up their bodies behind the dark stage.
“Whew…”
The production crew with an ENG camera filmed them.
The writer asked, “Are you nervous?”
“Yes, very.”
They huddled together and made a fuss, saying “Eeeeh!”
Woojoo took a deep breath and said, “I really hope we don’t make any mistakes.”
“Me too. We practiced so hard for this, but if we mess up, I feel like I’ll cry and be so frustrated.”
They relaxed their tense mouths as they did an interview in front of the camera.
They also loosened their lips like horses, saying ‘Prrrr’, drank water bottles, and massaged each other’s shoulders.
Dowon Hyung asked, “Aren’t you guys drinking too much water?”
“It’s okay. Hyung.”
They kept drinking water because they were thirsty.
After their manager Hyungs and their staff cheered them on by clenching their fists, the FD who was standing on the stairs to the stage gave them a signal that it was time to go up.
Woojoo’s heart started pounding.
As his body was dyed with anxiety and nervousness, he reached out his hand.
His younger siblings also reached out their hands with serious faces.
“Guys, let’s cheer up before we go up. We’ve been practicing for two weeks…”
“Let’s go. New Black.”
“Let’s just do what we always do! Fighting!”
They quickly cheered and went up the stairs to the stage.
The sound of the wooden stairs creaking made their hearts race.
***
New Black started to go up on the stage.
Five idol members in neat and tidy winter outfits, such as sweaters, jackets, and turtlenecks.
“Woah-!”
As they went up, there was a customary scream and applause.
It was a heated atmosphere, partly because of the lingering effect of Song Bohyung’s passionate stage.
As the smell of gunpowder from the fireworks that exploded on the previous stage gradually faded.
The stage went dark and the New Black members scattered and took their places, and soon the VCR started playing.
-Yes, this is my studio.
The idol leader with a beautiful appearance took the production crew somewhere.
A gentle interior of the studio.
In it, Woojoo clicked the mouse and started to explain the arrangement intention to the production crew.
Next to him, Seo Pilgeun, an assistant from the A&R Team who was working with him and was called for an interview.
-Woojoo…?
A brief silence of sadness.
-He’s a friend who is really sincere about music. So much so that our team members joke that he should be less sincere.
There was laughter in the hall.
Then the scene changed.
The image of the New Black members practicing passionately, sweating even though they were only singing.
-Ah, my throat hurts. Hyung, can you give me some throat candy?
-It’s mine.
As he casually handed one to him, the image of the member also appeared.
The interview VCR that was filmed in the waiting room today played after the rehearsal scene.
The leader calmly continued to explain the song along with the greeting.
-As you may have seen in the previous video, the song we are going to sing is ‘Life’ by Teacher Noh Jaehyun.
While the rapper held the recording microphone like a subordinate serving the boss.
-We are a group with an average age of 20.4, and I’m only 21 years old.
He added ‘only. only.’ as a response to the sharp eyes around him.
-Since we haven’t lived even half of our lives yet, we were very worried if we could digest it at first. Life is not one path, but there are many branches, so it’s diverse.
The leader said seriously.
-We did our best in arranging and practicing to bring out the weight and emotion of the song. We may be lacking, but we will do everything we can as we have the opportunity to participate in this competition.
-Please look forward~ to it!
After greeting the viewers and the audience together, the curtain rose as the VCR turned off.
The members scattered around.
The main vocal, who was standing alone in the front, received the main spotlight.
He closed his eyes slightly and nodded his head as the piano melody flowed.
But he was not singing.
When the piano melody gradually faded.
As if another wave followed behind the receding wave, a voice penetrated the spot exquisitely.
It was the leader standing behind him.
A soft humming echoed through the hall as a faint blue light colored his face.
That was the start, and the blond member next to him added another sound.
And the rapper and the youngest grabbed a microphone each.
Like the faint blue light, the four members moistened the audience’s ears with harmony and instantly drew attention to the stage.
It was a warm feeling of harmony.
But was it because the members gave strength and weakness to the sound?
Something seemed to be visible.
Strangely enough, the eyes began to move along with the sound.
To stop somewhere as they gave strength and weakness.
The natural place where the audience’s eyes stopped was the main vocal who was standing in the center with his eyes closed.
Piano melody. Harmony.
As various sounds gradually tempted the audience step by step, the harmony began to fade again.
And.
Finally, the main vocal’s lips opened.