CH 4

“Huh?”

Several judges started to whisper to each other.

“T-Holic?”

Several years ago, a famous boy group ‘T-Holic’, who received the grand award for three consecutive years, discontinued their activities. The reason was they were under-numbered due to some members joining the mandatory military service.

In exchange, their company pushed the solo promotions of the main vocalist and also the youngest member who was yet to be drafted. He released a mini album with a title track that stood out with a strong chorus.

However, after some time passed, people only found out that the true value of this album was actually the side track, not the title track.

Surprisingly, the song even climbed up to third in the music chart.

The tide started from a popular female soloist’s recommendation post, followed by several variety shows becoming the small waves.

That side track was <PARTY IN ME>.

A song that’s easy to listen to with a good harmonic of strong band sound and sophisticated synths, it was played in many college festivals, eventually it entered the yearly Top 100.

And the song that was currently played in this filming was undoubtedly the interlude.

The iconic intro with the accompaniment of unique accordion melody in the chorus.

It sure was a masterpiece. If this song was sung well, it would leave an impression.

Which made it more strange.

‘This… How could he choose this song when he didn’t know anything about the show?’

Because in this situation, the song was very ambiguous.

It wasn’t a peak representative song of a popular idol, but it also wasn’t a popular song from an established singer.

It wasn’t a song that one would immediately choose for their first evaluation in idol or singer survival programs.

Because the song somewhat didn’t suit the two categories.

And it had been some years since the song became popular.

She didn’t choose a song for him because she thought he would use a banal song, and this thing happened.

The producer team could have checked the submitted songs from the contestants beforehand. But the contestants were 77 people here.

The problem was she didn’t want to spend time caring for a substitute, she wanted to just put him short.

‘This ambiguous song would be hard to be compared with others…...’

The writer hit her pen repeatedly on the floor in discontent.

The judges, who were surprised with his song choice, were now waiting for the interlude to end in a slight casual manner.

And Park Moondae’s mouth opened.

I remember the me that I knew (난 내가 알고 있던 나를 기억해)

Beyond the shining and dazzling season (빛나고 눈부신 계절 너머)

To the days of being weary and weak (지치고 나약한 시절까지)

At the end of those endless days (끝도 없던 나날 끝에서도)

The one who embraced the broken me, Oh- (깨진 나를 담아 주는 것, Oh-)

It’s always me (오직 나)

Yes It’s me (그래 It’s me)

“...!”

It was good.

Starting with an off-beat as if he was reciting softly, the first verse was clean.

Many people did not know it well because it sounded at ease, but while singing this song, it was easy to fall off their timing due to its odd beat.

It would make them sound like amateurs.

But this contestant was nailing every complex beat in the detailed melody.

‘Dan, tadan-, tan, dan, daaan-, tadan.’

“...!”

Between the judges who were subconsciously tapping the table to the beat of the music, one was surprised. She felt that his singing was just perfect.

To the general viewers who didn’t know the half-time beat, they would still think that he sang well. Because his singing fit nicely with the instrumental.

To add to that……

‘His vocalization… is good?’

His vocalization was remarkably good. It wasn’t just resonating, his nice voice color added more depth into it.

“Was he like this in the karaoke?”

The writer thought of the singing she heard when she first met him, but she felt like it wasn’t this good. If his singing was this good back then, she would have gotten a longer interview when she recruited him. And helped him choose his song.

‘Does that mean he got this much better in 10 days?’

Regardless of the writer’s shock, the song had passed its verse and entered the pre-chorus.

That’s why, I (그래서 나)

I have to celebrate myself (나는 나를 기념해야 해)

I can’t forget that again (다신 잊지 말아야만 해)

Yes, remember (자 기억해)

Until now (지금까지)

Even with the pitch rising up like an escalator, there wasn’t a single flat note. There wasn’t any heavy breathing either.

At this point, something else took the writer’s attention. Such as, the surprised expressions of the judges.

Always managing to live through this day (항상 오늘을 살아낸)

This surprising miracle (놀라운 기적을)

Don’t forget it, don’t erase it (잊지 마, 지우지 마)

And let’s celebrate (그러니 축하해)

Celebrate this moment (지금을 기념해)

That’s the party in me

As if every day is a PARTY, Ooh- (매일 PARTY인 것처럼, Ooh-)

Let’s PARTY

The high note was stretched out further. It didn’t even seem forced. As if he could still go one-octave higher, his high note was effortlessly clean.

Rather than shouting wildly, the way he was speech-singing with a beautiful and calm tone, it was the right technique for the song.

Now, the writer wanted to laugh with a smug smile.

‘Right, this turns out to be good… He can totally be the main vocalist…. Actually we were lacking vocalists, woah, hasn’t this turned out to be great? My insight is really amazing. I just recruited him off the street, and yet I got someone this good.’

And the second verse came in.

The melody was the same as in the first verse, but Park Moondae sang it with a complex different tempo and pulled it off cleanly.

Passing the bridge, at the last chorus where the sign of a high note was coming, his voice pushed up higher without hesitation.

The high note that gave thrills to one’s back neck left a great feeling. It wasn’t excessive, but it didn’t sound careless either, it was an outstanding climax.

Then he was speech-singing the first line from the first verse again, and the song ended.

…I, remember the me that I knew (...난, 내가 알고 있던 나를 기억해)

The contestant sang nicely until the last tone.

Right as the instrumental ended, Park Moondae bowed. And he added in an absent minded manner. 

“...Thank you for listening.”

A short silence passed. The writer clenched her pen.

‘Right. Let’s not throw him, let’s keep him.’

When the lady was fixing Park Moondae’s stance, the judges held the microphone up with excitement.

“Whoa, Moondae-ssi!!”

“Yes.”

“You, yourself, know that you’re good right!?”

“...I practiced hard to sing it well.”

And the other judge added more comments in an instant. 

“No, this is something you’re born with. You have the talent.”

He was a choreographer popular for being blunt.

He was smiling up to his eyes like he took a liking to the contestant.

He said it in an over the top manner because this was a TV program, but it wasn’t something that he didn’t mean.

Park Moondae hid his head down as he felt overjoyed inside.

The judges continuously showered him with compliments.

Especially the female singer who appeared here as the vocal coach, Mudie’s eyes were shining and gave another praise.

“Firstly, your vocal color is very refreshing. And your vocalization is good too, so I can hear your vocal color more clearly.”

“Right? It really felt like he was speaking next to my ears.”

“True, true.”

The sound of them agreeing kept pouring. And Mudie nodded and quickly said this.

“Also, your voice doesn’t seem to only suit one genre, this is a very important factor to be an idol. You don’t have any bad singing habit too, I’ll be looking forward to you in the future. Really.”

“Thank you.”

“Moondae-ssi, you’ve never been in an entertainment company before, right? Earlier you said you have no experience, looking here, there’s really nothing in your record.”

“Yes. I have yet to…”

And the young male judge said something. He was a popular idol whose group had lost 2 members in the contract renewal period not too long ago. 

“Then you’ve never taken any lesson in particular before?”

“Yes.”

“Nothing at all? Not even an academy?”

Park Moondae shook his head in silence.

The judge who asked that admired him with an expression mixed with a little suspicion. Then Mudie said again with a big smile.

“Yeah, right, it could be better to wait for one big shot than joining a random entertainment company. I’m sure you’ll get a good offer from a good company!”

“Thank you for your words of encouragement.”

It crossed to the writer’s mind that Mudie’s company was preparing to launch a new boy group.

‘Right, she has shares in her company.’

And that lady looked at the contestant who was always politely bowing his head, yet didn’t seem like he was deeply impressed.

Then she looked again at the judges who were uniformly giving him compliments, she had a strange feeling.

Somehow… it felt like she had fallen into his plan.

Getting a talented contestant was surely a gain for the TV broadcast, but she felt displeased.

As the writer rested her chin and looked at Park Moondae who was holding a hand microphone, she realized this.

“He didn’t quite dance for real!”

Park Moondae did show moves that were like dancing.

However, because this song was not made for promotion, the moves were just like basic dance routines.

When backup dancers properly followed a choreography, their movements would be composed of hands stretching out and feet moving following the beat.

But in people’s memory, they would remember the afterimage of the original performance that included the dancers.

It would be easy to think the contestant’s poor movements were just following those backup dancers, thinking ‘because it was like that in the original performance’.

Especially when his singing was that freaking good!

And this was a conceptual song from a top-tier idol, with just his vocal ability alone, he could avoid questions like ‘Moondae-ssi, are you really aiming to become an idol?’

In conclusion, this was the best song to choose in Park Moondae’s situation.

‘This is something that’s beyond having a good sense, it feels as if he’s an experienced person…..’

Somehow feeling deceived, the writer looked over Park Moondae with a dissatisfied look.

And as if reading the writer’s mind, one judge who was just watching the other judges gave compliments, held up the microphone.

A girl group who became successful due to the popularity of a fancam of them, who were still nobodies then, performing acrobatics with a smile in the rain in monsoon. She was ‘SaintU’’s Youngrin.

“The level of your choreography was almost nothing, can you properly show us another dance?”

The writer felt like clapping her hands.

———————

‘All’s good.’

It was worth singing this song continuously to level up until I was bored in the last few days. 

The result of putting all my points to my vocal skill, in my status window, the entry for vocal was now A-.

It was the natural choice. For starters, in South Korea, a singer who couldn’t sing would get cancelled, nevermind becoming an idol.

Not being able to dance could be covered with practicing, but not being able to sing would be obvious in the pre-recording.

Also, amongst the kids aspiring to become an idol, in general, there were less kids aiming to become main vocalist than main dancer.

Which was why, if I could ascertain myself to be in the main vocalist position from the beginning, the chance of me getting a spot into the debuting group would be higher.

Next would be how to select the arrangement song.

It seemed like my approach was right; choosing a song that would give me significantly less negative feedback.

The approach of filtering the song selection by predicting what the judges could criticize me based on my weaknesses and excluding all the songs that would lead that to happen.

‘Why is your dance like that?’

- Exclude all the songs that have hardcore choreographies.

‘You’re almost not dancing at all?’

- Exclude ballads.

‘You’re good at singing. But it doesn’t give the vibe of idols?’

- Exclude all songs except for idol songs.

‘This song was impossible to be pulled off by only one person’

- Because I couldn’t rearrange any song, rather than experimenting, just exclude all songs that were sung by more than 3 people.

‘Well, I’ve got to say it’s not as good as the original singer.’

- Exclude all songs released within the last 3 years.

Then, amongst all the songs left, I just chose a song that had the highest ranking on music charts.

Hm, thinking about it again, that was a good approach.

I thought I would be able to sneakily pass the evaluation just like this, but of course, there was at least one who didn’t get washed up by the atmosphere.

My eyes met the judge who was holding up the microphone.

It was a face I recognized.

She was the first idol that made me aware I could earn money by taking pictures of idols. Thanks to that, I covered my tuition fee for the second semester of my freshman year.

‘That person, too, earned the hard-worker image from the acrobatics in the rain video and earned quite the buzz, so it was win-win for both of us’

But our meeting this time didn’t seem like it would be win-win for both.

“I understand that you’ve never received any training before. But since this is the first evaluation, shouldn’t we check your basics too? As a contestant for an audition, you would have come prepared with a song.”

It would be crazy if I replied ‘I don’t have anything prepared’ here. That would be worse than keeping my mouth shut.

“Yes. Then is it possible to use this song.”

One staff member gestured at me to quickly come closer to him. I went up to him and told him the song I had thought of.

The camera followed us and even filmed the staff member flinching.

Looking at this, it seemed like I managed to prevent myself from getting edited out. It was worth it to put in the effort.

And then the shooting site was filled with cheerful and exciting accompaniment.

“...!?”