Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: Rxel
Chapter 283
While the staff continued their conversation with New Black, some other people entered the conference room.
They were the composers who participated in the fourth album.
Yoo Changseok, who used the stage name ‘Saltman’, sat down with a salty expression on his face.
“I heard the news and came up. Is the title song finished?”
“Not quite.” Woojoo explained with a smile, “Our concept is explosive fun, right? I wrote the song with a rough idea of what kind of vibe we should go for.”
“Already?”
“Yes. I happened to record it and the quality was much better than I expected. So I wanted to hear your opinions.”
“Ah...”
He nodded at Woojoo’s words. But he still had doubts in his mind.
‘He already made it...?’
It hadn’t been long since they were told to prepare their own title songs, and he had already completed it.
But he was more curious than suspicious.
He knew how high the other’s musical standards were.
-Woojoo, this is good enough. There aren’t many albums with this quality even in big agencies. It’s really well-made.
-Really? I feel like the sound is a bit empty here.
-That’s, that’s enough...
-No, it’s not. I have to fix this.
Woojoo was never satisfied with anything less than perfect.
He usually laughed and joked, but when it came to music, he changed completely.
He looked like a madman obsessed with music.
He paid attention to the details as if he was looking through a microscope, even while keeping an eye on the flow of the song.
It was like he cared about the shape of the elevator buttons when building a building.
The composers who applied for the project soon realized what the secret of New Black’s success was.
...It was perseverance.
-Aren’t you going home? It’s 1 a.m.
-I’ll do a little more and go. You go ahead.
The next day, when they came to work, they saw someone staring at the monitor and mumbling in the same position as yesterday.
It was scary.
At the same time, they thought, ‘Well, he has to succeed if he does that much.’ And they were convinced without knowing it.
That was why the composers’ ears perked up when they heard Woojoo’s words.
‘How well did he do?’
As Yoo Changseok watched the puppies behind Woojoo puffing up their chests, Na Sangyoon spoke.
“Can we listen to it?”
“Yes. Just a moment.”
Woojoo connected his laptop to the conference room speaker.
Meanwhile, Junghyun walked up to the wall and pressed his ear against it, then made a serious face and gave an OK sign.
The members nodded their heads confidently at the sign that the security was perfect.
“The title is Nine, meaning the number nine.”
Woojoo explained the meaning of the song to the composers again.
“Oh...”
“That’s a good meaning. It suits the explosive concept.”
“What’s the genre?”
Woojoo clicked the mouse and answered, “I went for trap.”
“Ah. Trap.”
It was a genre that wasn’t very popular in Korea yet, but it was gaining popularity overseas, replacing dubstep.
The composers exchanged glances.
‘That’s tricky...’
Trap wasn’t a major genre in Korean idol music yet.
But New Black’s position in the music market was ‘the only boy group with mass appeal in the third generation.’
Most of their previous title songs were chosen by the public, so they wanted to continue that trend in their fourth album.
The problem was that the public didn’t like unfamiliar genres.
“You’ll find it hard to define the genre when you listen to it. I also added some futuristic sounds.”
“...”
“There’s a feeling of woo-woo-woo in the background, you know.”
The more he explained, the more it felt like he mixed everything together, and the composers couldn’t hide their dubious feelings.
“Then, here’s the first version of ‘Nine’.”
The song finally played.
“...Wow.”
As the sound of a roaring engine filled the background, an impactful intro started from the beginning.
Soon, the main lyrics flowed out.
Meat meat meat
I can’t eat meat anymore
I’m on a diet (so sad)
Jiho sang the first verse with a deep voice.
His tone was cool.
‘But what’s with the lyrics...?’
The composers and the A&R Team gasped as the youngest member mouthed ‘I just slapped some lyrics on’ with a bright smile.
They all felt a pang in their chests.
After Jiho, Rihyuk took over the part.
I can’t lose meat
Do you have meat? I’m here
I dream of (meat?)
We meat again (meat!)
On the opposite side, someone was covering their face with both hands and spitting fire from their ears.
The other members said ‘This time, we wrote the lyrics’ and smiled proudly.
The A&R staff smiled warmly.
‘Never write lyrics again. You guys.’
‘If they write lyrics one more time, we’ll be ruined.’
‘Thank goodness it’s just a guide...’
Then, Woojoo’s part came out.
It was a dance-like part that had a stylish vibe.
As they listened, they could imagine Woojoo dancing energetically in the center with the members’ backup.
It’s 9AM right now
Morning pork belly
I’m eating five servings by myself
Don’t mind the other customers’ eyes
Don’t care (don’t care)
The owner is happy
Next, Bijoo’s part came out.
He sang softly and then scratched his voice a bit to create a strong atmosphere before the chorus.
The important thing is meat
You must remember
Meat
That’s all we’ve got
While the song was playing, Bijoo, who was sitting across from Woojoo, shook his upper body with an improvised dance.
It was unnecessarily high-quality.
Then, in the explosive part of the chorus, Junghyun’s voice held the chorus firmly.
‘Trap is all about the tone, and he nailed it.’
Even though it was the first version, the members’ voices and the parts that matched their performance characteristics were perfect.
It felt like they were seeing the best answer to their constant dilemma of ‘Who should do this part?’ when they worked on the songs.
As a listener, they started listening lightly and the first verse ended, and the eyes of the A&R Team and the composers deepened.
One thing was certain.
Bijoo, who was sitting on the car hood, raised his hand to his mouth and crossed his legs. Then he smiled at the camera.
“Bijoo, you look like that right now.”
“What?”
“Like a queen mother in a historical drama.”
“What...”
Jiho added, “You look like you’re looking down on us. Relax your lips a bit and your eyes... Oh, yes, like that.”
Bijoo changed his expression according to their feedback and took the shot.
Today’s shooting goal was the concert poster and the concept photo for the event.
The studio was full of primary-colored props, such as a red sports car, or yellow or blue.
They posed in clothes like teenagers in a high-teen movie.
They said they would use some effects or synthesis.
Woojoo heard it would look like a retro movie poster when it was finished.
The theme of their first concert poster was an amusement park.
“I want to go there every time I see the set.”
Woojoo agreed with Junghyun’s words.
It was a set of an amusement park that looked like it would appear in an American movie.
It was dark as if it was open at night, and the lights were twinkling.
When they filmed the VCR, there was Junghyun, who was holding popcorn and smiling brightly in front of a green popcorn machine car.
Or Jiho, who was walking with a strawberry shake. The background was unfamiliar but colorful and pretty.
It felt like memories that didn’t exist were created.
“It would be nice if this was a real amusement park. Right?”
“Yeah. It would have been nice if we could all play together...” Bijoo said with a face full of regret. “Let’s go to the amusement park later. Hyung.”
“Hmm? Hyung. You have a fear of heights, don’t you?”
Bijoo smiled at Rihyuk’s question.
“You can go to the house of mirrors.”
“...Can you find the way?”
“Oh. Right.”
Woojoo laughed at the second’s story that he always played with the teacher’s hand on the elementary school trip.
Rihyuk looked around the set and said, “Well, I guess it wouldn’t be bad to go together later.”
“Yeah. Let’s go when we have time.”
They smiled warmly and imagined the future of going to the amusement park together in their heads.
-Wow!
-Hey! Hey! Is that New Black? New Black!
-Awesome! Did you take a picture? Let’s take one!
Their beautiful future shattered in their minds.
They got off the carousel and found themselves surrounded by a crowd of people.
“...We, we’re too successful.”
“I forgot about that. We’re doomed because we’re too successful...”
“What about abroad? Can’t we go to a foreign amusement park?”
Maybe by then, the foreign Soufflés won’t be shouting ‘New Black! Photo! Photo!’ at them.
For now, they don’t have time to play, whether it was an amusement park or anything else. It just felt like a faint dream.
Rihyuk said something as if he remembered something, “Do you remember when we filmed our debut music video? We said we’d go on a trip to Eulwangri then.”
“Did we say that?”
“Hey, Wang Jiho. You were the most excited then.”
“I always say anything when I’m in a good mood. I’m sure you guys heard it right.”
“Don’t you remember what you said then?”
“Nope.”
They looked at each other and immediately reached out to Jiho.
“Jiho. Where’s the 1 billion won you said you’d give me?”
“You said you’d give me a gold bar.”
“Hmm~ Where’s my car key~?”
“Ah, really! I said... no, I did. Really?”
They laughed at the youngest who looked suspicious because he couldn’t remember.
Soon he realized they were teasing him and made a sly expression.
Woojoo smiled and put his arms around his brothers.
“Let’s go on a trip together when we have time after this album promotion.”
“Yeah. Let’s grill some clams too.”
“We can also do mudflat experience. Right, Hyung?”
“Let’s do whatever we want. Everything.”
“Will we have time?”
“Hey. We won’t have no time to play.”
They talked about travel and other things during our break.
They were already excited and running around, even though they hadn’t made any plans yet.
Jiho asked with a sparkle in his eyes, “How long should we go? 4 nights 5 days?”
“Hmm, if we go for 4 nights 5 days, won’t we lose the feel for practice? I feel a bit guilty whenever I take a break from practice...”
“Then let’s reflect Bijoo Hyung’s opinion and make it 3 nights 4 days~?”
Rihyuk checked the schedule and said, “There’s no empty slot for 3 nights 4 days in a row until the end of this year.”
“Then 2 nights 3 days!”
“Oh, that’s reasonable. 2 nights 3 days.”
While they were laughing and getting along, Rihyuk, who was checking the schedule, swallowed his dry saliva.
“None?”
“...”
He nodded and said, “None. There are three consecutive empty slots.”
“...”
“Wait a minute. I’ll look for 1 night 2 days too.”
But as he flipped his fingers, Rihyuk’s expression gradually became hollow.
“...None of that either?”
“No. There is, but. The days before and after those are pretty important schedules.”
They all checked the schedule.
There were a lot of days with one slot empty, but there were no days with more than two slots empty.
There was always a small schedule or a feeling that a new schedule would come in around that time.
Considering the concert and the Asian tour schedule, the schedule was practically set until the end of this year.
And there were also those unknown small schedules.
“Who said we should be the judges for this event?”
“Me.”
“What about this game event?”
“Me...”
“Sweet potato eating contest panel? Junghyun.”
“It’s sweet potato, Hyung.”
“What about this meeting with foreign composers... It’s me. Me.”
Woojoo remembered the times when Seokhwan Hyung said ‘Are you guys okay? Are you really doing this?’ and they boasted.
“...”
“...”
While they all realized that they were screwed in real time, Bijoo asked, “Hyung. Can we play?”
"No."
"No?"
"No... it's not possible..."
They stared at each other blankly.
It was their own fault. They had laughed and crammed their schedules with things they wanted to do.
"I guess we're meant to work, not play."
"Work is all we have left."
"Right. When will we ever have time to have fun?"
While the others were busy picking grapes, their youngest said with a bright smile, "They say you get your foot chopped by someone else's axe, but we chopped our own feet with our own axes."
It was a fitting proverb for their situation.