Chapter 144

# 145

What is your name (4)

***

In fact, working with LIL this time was a big deal for KK, but it was also very meaningful for Dowook’s career as a composer.

Dowook participated as a composer and lyricist in the title song and many of the b-side songs on KK’s album, and was now firmly established as a producer.

However, Dowook’s work as a composer and producer was limited to KK.

It was not a matter of skill, but rather a matter of choice and concentration.

The only time I worked on another singer’s song was a local album with Taehyung Park. However, because it was a joint work with Brave Only Child, it was not entirely Dowook’s work.

Even though KK was participating, the first song given to another singer would be the song given to LIL.

‘Even as a composer… it’s definitely a huge opportunity.’

Do-wook opened the door to the terrace of his accommodation and took a deep breath. The cold air outside made me shiver, but there was nothing better than cold air to clear my mind. There, the full moon was brightly illuminating the terrace.

Under the moonlight, Dowook reflected on his dream. As a singer myself, I have a big dream of leaving behind good songs and producing good singers.

Do-wook, who did not think about anything other than revenge for fear of when he would wake up in a reality that did not seem to have changed his body again, was already planning for the distant future and living his life faithfully as ‘Kang Do-wook’.

With Dowook’s current musical insight and composition ability, in fact, with a certain amount of effort, he was able to pull out a song where LIL wanted to be the center and KK existed like a shadow.

But Dowook didn’t want to do that.

As this is not an opportunity that comes easily, I wanted to show that KK could stand shoulder to shoulder with LIL.

‘It’s okay to be a little greedy…’

In order to do that, Kang Do-wook, as a composer, really had to do his best.

‘It has to be a song that can convince LIL.’

At that time, the terrace door opened and Ahn Hyeong-seo came in.

“Aren’t you cold?”

“I’m going to go in now.”

“Okay, come in quickly. Lee Won cooked ramen~! “Take a bite.”

“Uh…”

After the video call with LIL, Kim Won became known as ‘Lee Won’ among the members. It was Lee One, taken from ‘Only One’.

Among Kim Won’s fan pages, there was a fan page called ‘ONLY ONE’. It was a fan page that had been consistently taking photos of Kim Won since her first album. It was clear that the fan page master would be very happy to hear it.

It was almost midnight. When Do-wook stopped at the word ramen, Hyeong-seo Ahn pulled him in.

“Just one bite, just one bite!

In addition to the period of inactivity, the members often had late-night snacks as they gained more experience and trust, and Director Oh Baek-ho’s supervision weakened.

However, Do-wook, who has thorough self-management, has always been excluded from the late-night snack membership.

“You’re going to be working all night again today. “Aren’t you hungry?”

“That’s…”

“Music is my food… I guess that’s not the case!”

When Ahn Hyeong-seo spoke in an over-the-top tone, Do-wook chuckled.

“Brother, come and have a bite. Lee Won’s ramen skills are perfect!”

“what? “It’s Ilchwiwoljang.”

Jeong Yoon-gi narrowed his eyes and corrected Seok Ji-hoon’s words. Seok Ji-hoon was an amazing youngest child with a neat personality, good manners, and excellent fashion sense, but perhaps because he had been in the entertainment industry since childhood, Seok Ji-hoon sometimes revealed his lack of knowledge.

Dowook hesitated for a moment and then headed towards the table with Ahn Hyeong-seo.

The smell of ramen was too strong to resist the temptation. And as Ahn Hyeong-seo said, I was planning to stay up all night working on a song today, so I think it would be better to eat at least one bite for dawn.

Slurp!

The sound of the members sitting around inhaling ramen noodles resonated loudly throughout the dorm.

The six bags of ramen I had boiled in a pot, which I had to add a little to, were disappearing in an instant.

“It’s delicious, bro.”

Kim Won laughed at Do-wook’s words. Even though he was smiling, his hands were moving the chopsticks to pick up the noodles. They were boiled so that each person could eat one, but they were eaten too quickly.

“Someone who will eat rolled rice.”

At Jung Yoon-gi’s question, all the members looked at him. Taehyung Park said hesitantly.

“Ah… if you even eat…”

“Me! “I want to eat!”

Hyungseo Ahn raised his hand.

“Uh… Then me too!”

Taehyung Park also raised his hand as if he was possessed.

In the end, after everyone finished eating a lot of rice in the pot with only the soup left, some members began to say that they were full.

Dowook was the first to put down his spoon. Seok Ji-hoon also patted his stomach as if he couldn’t eat anymore. Although he was smaller than the other members, Ahn Hyeong-seo was secretly a glutton. Seok Ji-hoon stopped Ahn Hyeong-seo, who was about to eat more rice, by pretending to do so.

“Is the work going well?”

After filling our bellies, the conversation began. Do-wook, who was drinking water, slowly nodded in response to Jeong Yoon-gi’s question.

“What…”

Do-wook hesitated, uncharacteristically for Do-wook. The reality was that the genre or overall direction had not yet been determined for sure that it would work.

“It’s difficult…”

Jung Yoongi muttered as if he was talking to himself as he wiped his mouth. Everyone knew it would be a difficult task. Especially after Dowook said that LIL wouldn’t be able to do whatever she wanted.

“For now, I’m trying to properly understand LIL’s music style.”

“Are you listening to the LIL album?”

“In addition to the songs included in the LIL album, I also look at songs covered at performances or sung by other singers because I think it will help me figure out the style.”

Do-wook answered Seok Ji-hoon’s question. Do-wook was literally consuming all of LIL’s music.

All of the members had a strong desire to help, but were unable to figure out how to help.

“Don’t be too burdened. “Because I don’t have to work with LIL.”

Do-wook nodded at Jeong Yoon-gi’s words. I couldn’t help but feel the pressure, but just having the members trust and follow me like this gave me great strength.

***

Do-wook, who returned to his room and studio after eating a late-night snack, was listening to LIL’s song again today. Dowook, who already fully understood the KK members’ characteristics, pros and cons, and how to utilize them while living next to them and doing music activities together, had a good understanding of them.

Dowook was confident that if LIL was understood as if he were the 7th KK member, it would be of much help in composing the song.

‘Even if the song is the same, each singer sings it differently. Where to give strength, where to relax…. Breathe differently…. If you understand these things, you can even read the singer’s heart to see what he or she is trying to say through the song. .’

It was time to listen to LIL’s ‘IN THE DARK’ again.

Ahn Hyeong-seo came in with a knock.

“What’s going on?”

In response to Do-wook’s question, Hyeong-seo Ahn held out something. The black object the size of a palm was an external hard drive.

“What’s this?”

“What’s in the external hard drive? “Hehe.”

Hyungseo Ahn responded with a sinister laugh. Dowook was dazed for a moment, trying to understand what he meant.

“I feel like you are having a hard time alone. “I wonder if it will help.”

“yes?”

This was when Do-wook asked back as if he was wondering what he was talking about.

“No way…”

“Videos of LIL’s performances so far. “I downloaded and organized everything by date, including everything posted on MyTube and other overseas music sites.”

Dowook, who had been thinking of another video, was embarrassed and accepted the external hard drive.

Do-wook was embarrassed by Ahn Hyeong-seo’s prank, but soon his heart warmed.

“I was wondering if doing something like this might help. “I’ve been doing this for a few days now, and since you were listening to LIL’s music, I thought it went well.”

“Ah… thank you so much, bro. How did you organize everything? “There must have been a lot.”

Hyungseo Ahn said with a smile.

“I had quite a bit saved up to practice vocals, so I did it quickly. “I also included additional performance videos from interviews that LIL said he liked.”

Do-wook said his thanks again while holding the external hard drive tightly.

It wasn’t a direct help, but it definitely helped save time by not having to search for videos one by one.

“Thank you. “Good luck then.”

When Hyeong-seo Ahn connected the external hard drive he had passed along to his laptop, hundreds of videos were organized into folders.

There was also a cover video that Dowook had not seen yet. Dowook began clicking through the videos one after another.

It’s three o’clock in the morning.

Dowook, who was watching the video, rubbed his sleepy eyes and clicked on one video.

‘I guess I should at least wash my face after seeing this.’

It was a video of a small concert hall performed before LIL became famous, that is, less than a week after releasing his debut song ‘IN THE DARK’.

The video and sound quality were poor, as if it was not an official video but was filmed by an audience member at the concert using a cell phone. Because the sound quality was not good, I thought I could just skip it, but the reason I didn’t pass it on was because the playlist for that performance was different from the playlist for the recent performance.

After singing ‘IN THE DARK’, LIL sang an unplugged version of a famous singer’s song.

Do-wook, who found the song’s accompaniment a little surprising, opened his eyes wide when LIL’s song began.

‘… This is it!’

The hand holding the mouse gained strength.

Dowook finally had a direction for the song he was going to compose. Do-wook jumped up from his seat, quickly went to the bathroom, washed his face, and came back.

Now it was time to accelerate work on the song.

***

The song guide to send to LIL was almost finished.

Once I set the direction and started, the work progressed quickly as if sailing on a favorable wind.

Dowook first played the song to the members. The members’ reaction was surprising.

The genre that Dowook chose could basically be seen as R&B.

Since LIL was an amazing vocalist, it was predictable that it would be in the R&B genre. LIL also wanted exciting music, and since KK, who has two rappers, would participate, I thought there would be some hip-hop elements as well.

However, although the song Dowook brought was hip-hop R&B, it had a very jazzy feel. Just listening to it, it seemed like a soft-toned vocal would be better than a powerful vocal.

“The song is so good. “Do you want to keep listening to it?”

Do-wook laughed happily at Ahn Hyeong-seo’s evaluation. The key thing Do-wook thought about when composing the melody was to create a melody that would make you want to ‘listen to it over and over again.’

Dowook worked hard to create a melody that would make people want to keep listening to the pleasant beat that would make them tap their feet and head while walking while listening to the song.

“But I thought it would be a little deeper. “LIL is a power vocalist.”

In response to Kim Won’s words, Do-wook played the video he had seen.

“LIL has this kind of voice…”

Even though the sound quality was not very good, LIL’s voice rang through the microphone and echoed throughout the concert hall.

Instead of a powerful vocal, the voice sung with a little less strength was very sweet. Since the basics were solid, it was natural that it would be good to listen to.

Dowook planned to bring to life LIL’s soft tone, which was hidden behind his powerful voice and unique high-pitched tone.

At the same time, this style of music would also be very suitable for KK vocals, including Kim Won and Jeong Yoon-ki’s rapper Ahn Hyeong-seo.

“Still, LIL will want to utilize his strengths, so I’m going to try to put in a little bit of effort in the second half.”

The members nodded at Do-wook’s words.

“You might like it because it’s different from the songs you’re used to…”

Ahn Hyeong-seo muttered. You probably know Ahn Hyeong-seo because he was an excellent vocalist. Dowook also knew this because he thought about it from the perspective of a vocalist.

‘Good vocalists want to take on challenges. Because he wants to show everything he has….’

Dowook hoped that LIL would accept this song. It was also an opportunity to show that I could do this well.

‘Of course, it’s hard to be sure.’

Dowook thought. I was sad to think that the collaboration with LIL might fall through.

***

And at that time, Team Leader Lee Dae-hyung, who was monitoring in the office, could not believe his eyes.

〈[Exclusive] KK! Joining hands with world-renowned star LIL?〉

‘What the hell…!’