Chapter 66: Chapter 66:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 66

The meeting attendees were well-dressed.

They were not a large group of nearly twenty people like last time, but only the necessary ones.

It was not a comfortable seat.

First of all, the A&R team leader and the PR team leader.

At Lemon Entertainment, the team leader was equivalent to the general manager of a normal company.

They also had a lot of experience, so their posture naturally improved.

The A&R team leader greeted them.

“Long time no see. Everyone.”

“Nice to see you again. Team leader.”

He nodded to Yoon Seokhwan, the director sitting next to Woojoo, and Minki Hyung. Then, Director Jo, who was in the upper seat, opened his lips.

“You probably heard that it’s a meeting. Right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, it’s not wrong, but rather than a meeting, I think it would be better to think of it as a time to share stories. There are things I need to tell you, and there are also matters I need to ask for your opinions on.”

The meeting began as the A&R team leader handed out papers.

“First, let’s talk about the indicators for Fireworks.”

The kids leaned their heads forward with Woojoo in the center.

A graph with a curve drawn on an A4 paper was visible.

Starting from the 88th place on the first day, the 70th place in the first week, the 50th place at the end of June, and the 30th place now.

“Unfortunately, it will probably drop sharply from this week. It’s also the time when fandom-strong groups like MOP’s Daydream are coming back, and you’ve already risen as much as you can.”

They nodded their heads.

“And the main point is this. The response to Night Sea is good. That’s why some composers contacted me. They asked if you have any intention of working together, Woojoo. I mean you.”

“…Yes?”

“Offers for songwriting came to you. What do you think? Are you interested?”

The members widened their eyes and looked at Woojoo.

Their congratulatory gazes.

Woojoo was confused.

Him? Why?

What did they see and want to work with him?

Night Sea was not that great of a song, even though it had a good response.

Besides, the names of the people who made the offer were all famous enough for Woojoo to know.

“Why did they ask me?”

“They seemed to find your song refreshing.”

The explanation continued.

There was already interest among the people in the industry since Fireworks, saying ‘Is the title song really an idol self-composed song?’

But they were hesitant because they were associated with Hanjo as a composing idol.

They wondered if Lemon had a professional composer’s touch like DNS.

Then they were convinced by this Night Sea.

The reason for the offer was familiar.

Like when Jang Sowon Sunbae made Something.

A kind of fresh element.

The songwriting skills were already familiar to them, so Woojoo was supposed to provide them with a new perspective or freshness.

It was a good offer.

No, rather, it was an opportunity to learn various things while watching the experts compose.

The siblings urged Woojoo as if to hurry up.

The A&R team leader also seemed to expect it.

“What do you think?”

Woojoowas lost in thought for a moment, but he didn’t hesitate for long.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Let’s check first.

“What exactly do they mean by wanting to work with me? Are they talking about the next album work, or a separate single song?”

“The latter.”

“Then I’d like to say no.”

“…?”

The members looked at Woojoo with incomprehensible expressions.

Ignoring their stares, Woojoo cautiously expressed his opinion.

“I think it’s good to learn songwriting, and to promote with a songwriting image. It’s also a good opportunity for me personally. But we’re still rookies, and we have a long way to go, and I want to prioritize the group right now.”

Woojoo thought it was a good opportunity too.

He wanted to do it very much.

But he thought it was not good for the group.

It could cause trouble for the group activities because of him, and it could also have a bad influence on the fans.

“Well, if that’s what you want, I can’t help it.”

As the A&R team leader adjusted his taste, the PR team leader smiled and looked at Woojoo.

Woojoo turned his head and almost smiled too.

It was the same as before.

When he said they were family in Ulwang-ri, he had a similar reaction.

Especially when he looked at Bijoo and swallowed his laughter.

“By the way, this is an offer that came to Rihyuk. After seeing your vocals yesterday, we got several collaboration proposals. Well, judging by your expression, you seem to agree with Woojoo. Right?”

“Yes, I think so too.”

Rihyuk answered and looked at Woojoo.

As if to ask if he saw it.

He smiled as if to say he did well, when the Director, who had been quiet, opened his lips.

“Then, how about working together on the next album?”

“That would be great. I don’t know if they would want that, though…”

“If that’s your opinion, then I’ll review it with them.”

“Excuse me?”

Was this something that could get an OK?

Something was strange.

During Woojoo’s trainee life, he only heard the company say do this, do that, but as soon as he suggested something, they agreed to it.

Woojoo felt a strange feeling when the Director smiled and said, “You guys are artists now. We don’t order you around like we did when you were trainees. Especially when it comes to music, your opinions as performers are more important.”

It felt like they got promoted again.

When they got a studio after the success of Something, he was recognized as a promising composer, but this meeting felt like they were communicating with the company as equal artists.

They all smiled as they looked at each other with a sense of accomplishment.

***

The meeting went on in a frenzy.

Woojoo had to take notes to remember the content.

It was full of surprises.

There were some companies, such as uniform companies, that were having meetings related to advertising.

There was also a discussion about sponsorship with a clothing company.

And there was talk of appearing on a variety show with a terrestrial broadcaster.

Of course, they told them not to expect too much about the last one.

It was just talk.

Woojoo could tell that Seokhwan Hyung was working hard these days, smelling of alcohol day and night.

They gasped as the staff members uttered one word after another.

The Director nodded as if to say they did well.

“You did a great job. You achieved more than we expected.”

Woojoo felt a strange feeling at his words.

It was amazing and proud.

During the two weeks of running around the music shows after the debut showcase, there were so many things going on behind the curtain.

It also showed him where their first album activity was going.

Woojoo didn’t feel it when they were only on music shows.

What it meant to be a successful rookie.

“Director Yoon, is there anything else to report from the management side?”

“No.”

“Phew, finally we can talk about it.”

The cheerful PR team leader smiled.

He brought up his agenda, which seemed to be the main point of today.

“This Sunday is the fan signing event, right?”

“Yes.”

“We’re going to solicit and vote for the fandom name around then. First of all, I have a favor to ask you to shoot a message for the fans.”

It was what Jiho mentioned earlier.

“We’re also planning an event for the fan signing event.”

“An event?”

“Nothing fancy. Just something like a small gift you prepared for the fans. Like the ones you gave at the debut showcase.”

“Oh, yes.”

Woojoo remembered the small snacks and photo cards they gave to the fans.

“I’m not telling you to prepare that. Just brainstorm some ideas together. It’s different if we make it or if you think of it, because of the sincerity.”

Woojoo understood what he meant.

Even if it was the same proposal, it would be better to have a simple but heartfelt way than a flashy one made by a professional company.

He added something else.

“And don’t forget one more thing.”

“Sending you the video of the discussion process?”

“You’re quick.”

He smiled with satisfaction.

The meeting ended with his words.

Woojoo took a deep breath as he watched them leave like the ebbing tide, following the President.

“Wow…”

Woojoo turned his head and saw that his brothers had the same drained expressions.

They were tense in front of the team leaders, and they were shocked by what they heard today.

But more than anything.

Woojoo felt a surge of pride.

They all swallowed their complex emotions without sorting them out, when Junghyun said one thing, “Our album, it really did well, huh?”

Looking back, there was no better summary than that.

***

Lemon Entertainment’s YouTube account.

The ‘New Black’ category there was overflowing with videos.

From the videos they shot at the end of the year evaluation, to the recording process of Something, the behind-the-scenes of the day they won first place on a music show, the practice video of the Music Cafe, and so on.

The videos started to increase intensively after DNS Media came in with negative publicity.

Since then, self-produced reality shows, practice videos, daily videos, and more started to go up like crazy, and the most recent one was a five-part series titled ‘Woojoo & Rihyuk, Night Sea Composition’.

In part one, Woojoo was sitting in the studio with a mask on, working and arguing with Rihyuk.

From part two to four, it was the lyric writing and practice process.

Part five showed how the live performance of Night Sea turned out.

Among them, part five was the second most viewed video, along with the acapella live video titled ‘How a rookie deals with a sound accident’, following the fireworks MV.

-This makes me cryㅠㅠㅠ

-I like this better than the title track of this album

-It makes me feel gloomy but warm

-The lyrics ㅜ

-I’m hooked on this song lately, it’s so goodㅎ

-This place is a live paradise

-First time listening, they’re so good ㄷㄷ They have rich voices too

-eng sub plz

There were a lot of comments, as befitting the unusually high views compared to other videos.

Woojoo was reading them with satisfaction, when a white hand clapped in front of his eyes.

Ah. Surprise.

“Hey, mister. Focus a little.”

Woojoo looked up and Rihyuk was looking at him with a round face from across.

Today was Tuesday.

It was the waiting room of ‘It’s Showtime’, a music show hosted by HBS MTV.

“I still can’t think of an idea. I was watching the videos on our YouTube and thinking.”

The promotion team leader asked them to come up with a simple idea, but he still didn’t have anything clear.

He couldn’t find anything that felt right.

They agreed to give a gift to the fans, but they couldn’t agree on what it would be.

“How about handwritten letters?”

…Bijoo’s suggestion was immediately rejected.

First of all, there were 100 people, and handwritten letters felt too sentimental.

It was a bit burdensome.

“How about we all have dinner together after this? Like a barbecue place.”

“Hey, Junghyun.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s think again.”

Junghyun nodded his head and said, ‘okay, I’ll do that’, and started to rack his brain.

No, Junghyun.

He wasn’t telling him to think of something else.

He was scared of what he was going to say next.

“How about a song gift?”

“Oh, that’s good.”

“Right? It’s reasonable and all.”

The main vocal’s idea was realistic and good.

Woojoo wrote it down on paper and when the hyungs looked at me, the maknae said as if he had been waiting, “I have that. Sandwich.”

“Sandwich?”

“You know, the Inga sandwich.”

“Oh…”

“I was thinking at the shop earlier, and that sandwich came to mind. Honestly, there are a lot of things we can give with money. But what can’t we buy with money? I was wondering that.”

“That’s true. There was a sandwich.”

This was also a good idea.

Every Sunday, HBS Popular Singer was aired, and the sandwiches sold at the cafeteria there were famous for their taste.

They were also slowly gaining popularity through SNS these days. He was sure the fans would know.

But this time, Rihyuk disagreed with him.

“Hey, that’s not bad, but isn’t it too vague? It’s fine to give them as a gift to the fans who are waiting for the public broadcast, but for the fan signing event… It’s not like we made them ourselves or anything.”

“Hmm, you’re right. I didn’t think about that.”

Rihyuk had a point.

The sandwiches were a good idea, but they were too ambiguous to be called a gift from them.

They were too simple, too.

They racked their brains for a while, but nothing satisfactory came up.

Was there no perfect gift?

Something that had meaning, too.

Something that would make the fans think, ‘They care about us this much’ when they saw it.

They continued to worry, but Bijoo changed the topic.

“But don’t you think it’s more important to do well at the fan signing event? I think the attitude is more important than the gift…”

“True. I’m a bit nervous about that.”

When Junghyun said he was a bit nervous, it meant he was extremely nervous.

“Me too. The company said they would give us some guidelines soon, but they’re just guidelines. We have to learn how to do it by going there ourselves, but I’m afraid I’ll make a mistake or something.”

“Me too, I can’t do it like I do with my friends at school. But being too polite is also weird.”

Everyone seemed to be worried about the fan signing event.

Woojoo was the same.

He wanted to give them some advice, but he had to have done it at least once himself.

“Ah. How about asking the senior singers?”

Everyone looked at Woojoo at Bijioo’s suggestion.

“Why are you looking at me?”

“You have the most connections among us, and you know, these days a lot of people are trying to get close to you.”

“I don’t know.”

Woojoo scrolled through his phone contacts and muttered, “I’m not that good at socializing either. I have some friends from TJ, but I haven’t contacted them for a long time. By the way, you guys should be close with Scarlet, right?”

“We’ve been busy lately, so we haven’t been in touch much.”

Woojoo knew what kind of relationship they had.

They would greet each other with ‘Wow!’ and chat whenever they met, but they never contacted each other separately.

“Then how about Jang Sowon Sunbae? She was a member of Sugarfish, right?”

“Junghyun.”

“Yes.”

“You know, even if she likes us, she might get angry if we ask her about her group days when they disbanded.”

“That’s true.”

No, that wasn’t true, it was obvious.

Woojoo felt suffocated and rubbed his forehead, and the kids laughed at him.

Suddenly, one contact caught his eye.

Come to think of it.

“I did contact him a few days ago.”

“Who?”

“Taehyun.”

“Wow, TNT’s Taehyun?”

“But he might be busy. From what I heard, he’s been very busy with his fan meeting in China and stuff. Well, I’ll just leave him a message, but…”

Woojoo was about to close his phone after sending him a message asking if he was busy, when it rang.

Jiiing-

The kids blinked their eyes and looked at Woojoo’s screen with the sender name ‘TNT_Taehyun’.

Woojoo added some words in embarrassment.

“He must be free right now.”