Chapter 42. Outside, Again!! (3)

Translator: Synopsis

“It sure is disgustingly large.”

In front of the high MG building, Lee JunYeol grumbled. Compared to his small company, this was like a royal palace.

‘Hey, it’s Lee JunYeol.’

‘Whoa! He’s really handsome. But he really is shameless. Why’d he come here?’

When Lee JunYeol entered the lobby the trainees passing by whispered while looking at him. He was a famous star within MG Entertainment in a variety of ways.

“Oh, my ears are so itchy.”

Of course, he couldn’t pretend not to hear it at all. Lee JunYeol was guided to KangYoon’s office on the 5th floor from the lobby.

“What’s all this? Hyung, you work in a place like this?”

As soon as he entered KangYoon’s office, Lee JunYeol clicked his tongue when he saw the papers piled up on KangYoon’s desk and the materials on the shelves. Although a private office was good, Lee JunYeol was already fed up with the countless amount of materials surrounding him.

“You came.”

“Lil’ bro is here. At least serve me some tea?”

KangYoon gave out a cup of tea to the man who shamelessly claimed to be his little brother. Even so, he appreciated it since Lee JunYeol came here to do the featuring despite his busy schedule.

“You worked on my stage like this too?”

“Kinda, I work like this in the office, and I run around on the scene. Planners are all like that.”

“No wonder you’re called the God of Music.”

“Who does that? Bullshit God, I’m a slave.”

KangYoon thought it was absurd, and he denied it, but the feeling Lee JunYeol had was different. The amount of work in KangYoon’s office had exceeded his imagination. Originally, he had thought that a singer would rise if he or she just sang well, but in truth, some people put in the effort to control the variables behind the scenes to make a star rise.

After a brief chat, the two headed to the underground studio. The ACE members, Producer Oh JiWan, and the staff were waiting there to watch the featuring.

After setting the microphones inside the booth, Lee JunYeol warmed up his voice and got ready for the recording.

-Hyung, shall we do it immediately?

“Will you be alright?”

-Let’s do it quickly and grab some food.

He seemed to have done a lot of practice as Lee JunYeol requested for the recording straight away. Soon, the accompaniment came flowing out, and the recording began.

-You’re — my — only happiness — for — the rest — I — love you —

A purple musical note could be seen from Lee JunYeol as well. His thick low voice along with the notes intertwined in one place to make white light. However, the light was neither strong nor weak.

“Shall we try again?”

Producer Oh JiWan tilted his head and requested for a re-run. KangYoon paid attention to Lee JunYeol’s singing again.

‘The color of the notes should be constant. If looked at carefully, their brightness is slightly different.’

Although the musical notes coming out from Lee JunYeol was constant, there were differences in their intensity. Listening, he found out that it was the difference of how much strength he put into his voice. When one verse ended, Producer Oh JiWan tilted his head again.

“It’s a bit strange, but I can’t find out why.”

At that moment, KangYoon grabbed the microphone connecting to the booth.

“JunYeol, the ‘I Love’ part here. I think you put in too much strength. Can you sing slightly weaker?”

-Okay.

While Producer Oh JiWan looked at KangYoon strangely, the recording started again.

-You’re — my — only happiness — for — the rest — I — love you —

“Whoa.”

However, the strange gaze to KangYoon turned into a ‘that’s unexpected’ expression. Since the sound became better when he did as KangYoon said.

‘That part became constant. The ACE will do the high pitch sounds to their heart’s content, so Lee JunYeol just has to make the lower pitch sounds plentiful. First, why don’t I polish the ‘only’ bit? They’re too close together so in a direction to emphasize it slightly…’

KangYoon got into action right away.

“JunYeol, ‘only’ – this bit, let’s do it a bit stronger. Just slightly, if you do it too strongly, you will eat up The ACE girls’ voices, okay?”

-Okay.

Producer Oh JiWan didn’t stop KangYoon. He had judged that KangYoon’s listening ability was outstanding. The recording started again, and musical notes started coming out from Lee JunYeol again.

‘Good.’

An intense white light was made from Lee JunYeol. The brightness of the notes and the color were both constant. This made the light stronger. After recording one verse, Producer Oh JiWan went into mixing with a satisfied smile.

“I think we can use this as is.”

They didn’t record many times. Although the process of recording a song was to record countlessly and insert the best parts, if the sounds were this good, there was no need for such process.

The other verses, which came after, were the same. Producer Oh JiWan didn’t stop KangYoon. KangYoon requested Lee JunYeol to make the notes constant and make the light stronger, and as a result, they could finish the recording without spending much time.

“Whoa… it didn’t even take 2 hours?”

While exiting the booth, Lee JunYeol clicked his tongue, seemingly in disbelief.

“You’ve worked hard. Pros sure are different.”

KangYoon patted Lee JunYeol’s shoulders. However, Lee JunYeol shook his head.

“Hyung, you’re good even with recording. It’s the first time I saw a producer who was so refreshing with his requests. I thought you only did stage planning. I didn’t know you were so good at producing. Hyung, let’s work together for my next song.”

“I don’t know how to control mixers though.”

“What’s wrong with that? We can just call them.”

KangYoon expressed his difficulty. Although he could use a mid to small-scale mixer of 20 channels or less, he had no confidence in controlling if he had met a large mixer of 48 channels or more. The basics were the same. However, there were many additional functions, so there were a lot of things to learn. It was not for nothing that sound engineers and lighting engineers were called professionals.

“I think you can learn to do it in a short time though. Hey, beautiful ladies over there. It’s your fortune of a lifetime to work on an album with a person like this. Thank him while kowtowing him a hundred times.”

“Ahaha…”

When Lee JunYeol directed his arrow to Kim JinGyung and Yoon HyeRin, the two laughed awkwardly. Lee JunYeol was eccentric as the rumors said. Not minding them at all, Lee JunYeol left the studio as soon as work ended.

“Hyung, then I’ll be going.”

“Let me see you out.”

When KangYoon was about to see him out, Lee JunYeol stopped him.

“See to your own kids first.”

Lee JunYeol pointed to Kim JinGyung and Yoon HyeRin who were absentmindedly standing behind them. They had become absentminded after looking at the process of recording with Lee JunYeol and KangYoon. It was because they had seen KangYoon’s trustworthy side only heard in rumors.

“Then bye.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Ah, hyung!! Wait for me!!”

Lee JunYeol cutely (as he himself saw it) waved his hand and left the studio. Following him was Manager Yu SeungCheol who had no presence as always.

“It really is chaotic with him around. You’ve worked hard in watching. Then shall we…”

KangYoon stopped his words when he was about to say ‘shall we head to the practice room’ to the two women. It was because their shiny gazes were a bit uncomfortable.

“Wh… what is it?”

“Team Leader… You were… so cool…”

Kim JinGyung folded her hands neatly in front of her like a little girl in front of a pretty man. KangYoon panicked.

“Wh, what is?”

“How can you point out so accurately… You did the same with our song, right?”

“Y… yeah, that is so.”

Yoon HyeRin wasn’t that much different from Kim JinGyung. Recording was originally a complicated process. A man with leadership was definitely admirable. Different, different – was what people said about him and it really was correct.

“Team Leader… You’re the best.”

“……”

KangYoon was uncomfortable with the two pairs of shiny eyes so he could only cough awkwardly.

***

Jung MinAh, who lay on the ground after the challenging dance practice ended, smacked Christie An who was using her stomach as a pillow, as always.

“Hey, get off.”

“Don’t wanna.”

“Ah, really!!”

Jung MinAh growled, but Christie An was chic. Christie An seemed to find Jung MinAh’s grumbles itchy as she scratched her ears.

“Is my stomach a pillow?”

“It’s better than a pillow.”

“Do you want to fight?”

“Don’t wanna.”

Christie An was nonchalant even though Jung MinAh raised her voice, so the entire conversation sounded quite off. It was very awkward.

“I heard The ACE unnis were recording nowadays.”

When Han JooYeon brought up the topic, Seo HanYu chimed in.

“Them? I heard they were recording with the Team Leader.”

“Oooh. They will succeed alright.’

Christie An replied shortly as always and stretched her arms. She looked like she was fed up with everything.

“Christie, is it ‘that day’ for you?”

“Yeah.”

“……”

Only Jung MinAh, who asked Christie, looked like an idiot.

“There, there. Don’t fight. Ya should be nice to each other.”

“I was only lying down.”

Lee SamSoon worriedly spoke to Christie An and Jung MinAh, but Christie was as chic as ever.

“Get up, girls. The teachers are coming.”

When Han JooYeon stood up after seeing the trainers through the window on the door, Jung MinAh and Christie An also stood up immediately. The momentary resting time ended like that.

The difficult day of the girls flowed like that.

***

“I heard the song. Jazz, eh. It might be a dangerous choice.”

Chairman Won JinMoon looked over the report carefully after receiving it. It was very contrasting compared to the smooth sail before.

“I selected the most fitting genre for the singers.”

“Jazz isn’t popular with the public. You should know that only a select few prefer this genre in our country.”

“I think you should be aware if you have listened to it, but it’s just to the extent that there are a few jazz elements in modern music.”

“Is that why you went for high pitch instead of low? Well, the people do like the screaming sounds. The ACE kids are also good at it too. It was good that you controlled it to be not sharp. However, it’s a pity with the low parts. Heavy female low voices are charming in jazz.”

“The ACE girls cannot digest that voice range. Rather than wasting energy in bringing up what’s not there, it’s better to emphasize their strong points.”

Chairman Won JinMoon was still unsure of the jazz that KangYoon chose. However, when he heard the cover title song which used featuring to supplement the weak points, it was excellent.

“Hm… Yes. You featured another artist to cover up the weaknesses. Well, it’s a stretch to call it a real jazz. Should it be called fusion jazz, if we had to name it?”

Only after hearing the song multiple times did Chairman Won JinMoon accept it.

Although the title song of The ACE was jazz, it was a stretch to call it real jazz. Although if they went full jazz, they would be able to gather mania fans, they would lose a majority of the populace.

After accepting, Chairman Won JinMoon turned over the page again. However, thinking that something was empty after he had read to the end, he asked KangYoon.

“There’s no talk about the debut stage.”

“There will be no appearance on TV for a while.”

“What?”

Chairman Won JinMoon’s expression turned bad in an instant.

“No TV appearance? The populace has almost no knowledge of The ACE, shouldn’t you expose them to the public and make them known somehow? How are you planning to make them known without a TV appearance?”

“I’m planning to start from the outside.”

“Outside? Are you planning to do some street performance like the Underground people? How much time would that take? Team Leader Lee. I don’t think this is right. Moreover, we may get criticized that we’re trying to stretch into the Underground stages.” (T/N: Underground – indie bands and the like… I think? Unofficial? The opposite is ‘Major’ – well known to the public)

Chairman Won JinMoon’s voice became high. Although there were always risks, this didn’t make any sense. There was no reason for a pair of singers belonging to an entertainment company, and a place which had a lot of money, to clash with mediocre singers and go to the streets.

Even though he was faced with the rejection from Chairman Won JinMoon, KangYoon calmly started persuading.

“Strictly speaking, it’s not a real street performance. We will be creating a ‘hot topic.’”

“Creating a ‘hot topic’? What do you mean?”

“It will be university festival period soon.”

“Yes. However, there aren’t any universities that will call The ACE. The public just does not know about them.”

Unfortunately, that was the reality. Of course, if it was JooAh, they will use all the money to call her.

“If they don’t call on us, then can’t we go there by ourselves?”

Chairman Won JinMoon was confused the more KangYoon spoke.

“Go by ourselves… However, you won’t be able to stand on the stages. You’re not thinking something foolish like intruding on the stage, right?”

“No way. If all goes according to plan, at the end of the festivals, the universities will call us by themselves.”

“Do you mean that you will do a live business by going there? Hm… Let’s hear about it first.”

Chairman Won JinMoon listened in to KangYoon’s following words.

“We will use two strategies. First, we will go to the universities and do a performance. However, we will do it like an ambush and pull out quickly.”

“What’s the other?”

“Social network. We’ll use the SNS. Recently, Twisser is all the hype. First, we’ll create rumors, and make the people tweet by themselves. This singer, she just sang here, but now she’s there? When did they move? – We’ll create rumors like these.”

“Definitely… The spreading of rumors on Twisser is fast. Was it 140 limit? The characters?”

“Yes. Although the start of the rumor will be the promotion team, the end will be different.”

“… Although there were people who used Twisser for advertising, I have never heard of a successful case due to commercial potential. It’s because there are too many people and we can’t predict what may happen. Also, the people using Twisser are also sensitive to information. Will it be alright?”

At Chairman Won JinMoon’s words filled with worry, KangYoon confidently replied.

“The most important thing is to do a good performance on the street, and make the people spread rumors around by themselves. Making an ‘unintentional’ hot topic is imperative. There is a nameless singer group going around universities, that group had failed two albums. However, that group was singing some jazz like stuff, and the song was excellent. Have a listen. – Starting with that – Huh? That song’s quite good, why haven’t we heard about it? – Like this, we need to make rumors spread around. If this becomes bigger and bigger, I think our position will change within one month.”

“So in the end, it’s back to the textbook. We’ll be doomed if the song is bad. If it slips once, then it will be a laughing topic. It might become a soap bubble at once even if we do well. Fuu, as always, you bring me fun and risk at the same time. Twisser has a lot of headwind. You do know that all sorts of things happen in that place, right?”

“I do.”

In KangYoon’s past, Twisser, or the one which came out later, BookSecret, and such social networks put up a celebrity and brought them down in moments. There was no way KangYoon wouldn’t know the dangers of Twisser when he had seen celebrities committing suicide due to SNS cyberbullying in his past life.

Chairman Won JinMoon heaved a deep sigh. KangYoon’s strategy always carried dangers. However, the fruits that these dangers brought were massive.

However, whether it was KangYoon or Chairman Won JinMoon, they were both people who enjoyed such dangers.

“Do it.”

“Thank you, Chairman.”

“As I said last time, you don’t need to worry about the Directors’ meeting. You have a lot of things to consider, so for a while, please focus on this.”

“I understand.”

After acquiring Chairman Won JinMoon’s approval, KangYoon bade farewell and left the chairman’s office.

‘Phew, so is the action only thing left now?’

The preparations were almost over. The album and the strategy were all prepared.

While heading to his office, KangYoon resolved to make this album succeed.

***