Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 129

129.

“How is it?”

I asked the members, playing the initial draft of the title track for them. The most exciting part of the song was the sound based on the gayageum [Korean zither] riff with a rhythm that matched the word ‘exciting’.

Turning my head, I saw them nodding along.

“Wow, what is this! Dong-hwa!”

Chae Ha-min then jumped up and started dancing to the rhythm. That dancing machine rabbit.

“This is based on the current idea, right?”

Ryu Iden also nodded.

“It’s a mix of Eastern and electronic sounds, but it doesn’t feel foreign… it’s amazing.”

Lee Hyun-jae, who had actually suggested the idea, looked impressed, as if he hadn’t expected this.

“But, what’s the concept?”

At that, I chuckled slightly. Looking at Lee Hyun-jae, he lowered his head as if he was embarrassed.

“A student who gave up everything and is just having fun, knowing he’ll fail the national exam.”

Ryu Iden, who had been enjoying the rhythm, frowned at my explanation of the concept.

“…What?”

“Metaphorically, a student who knows they’ve messed up the college entrance exam and is trying to enjoy at least one day.”

Ryu Iden burst out laughing and applauded.

“No, Hyun-jae, why are your ideas like that, hahaha.”

Even amidst Ryu Iden’s growing laughter, Chae Ha-min was still dancing in a trance. In the meantime, his dance lines were so beautiful that I couldn’t help but laugh.

* * *

The reason I ended up writing the tentative title ‘The Student is Ready to Die to His Parents Today’ was because I was talking with Lee Hyun-jae about ‘When was the most exciting moment in my life’.

“Hyung, why aren’t you coming in, are you working?”

The members, as if they had planned it, took turns visiting my studio, bringing food and drinks. I grabbed each one and asked them what ‘excitement’ meant to them. As an aside, Ryu Iden laughed, saying that if I asked him such philosophical questions, it would turn into Ji Dong-hwa’s philosophy lecture instead of a conversation.

“Hyun-jae. When was the most exciting time in your life?”

So I changed the question like this. Examples would be easier to answer than defining concepts.

“Ooh, what is it? Did you immediately notice that we’re coming in order?”

…Isn’t it strange not to notice when you always do that during the work period, Hyun-jae.

Anyway, Lee Hyun-jae put down the coffee and sat down, 고민ing [agonizing] so hard that he furrowed his brow.

“Wow… it’s hard to say when I actually try to say it. When I’m excited…….”

Lee Hyun-jae clapped his hands and suddenly straightened his upper body.

“Me! When I performed ‘Genie’ on the survival show!”

Wow, that’s really a distant memory.

“At that time, I thought I was going to be eliminated. I was also thinking a lot about how to persuade my parents when I got home. But Hyung praised my vocals a lot, and the arrangement was so good that I was just thinking of enjoying the last stage. When I was on stage at that time, I was really excited. I think it’ll be hard to be as purely excited as I was then, even if I spend several years as a singer.”

I guess he’s the type who gets excited when he’s standing on the edge of a cliff. He even jumped off a bungee jump after filming his own content at the bungee jumping site without anyone telling him to.

“So! You know that feeling? Like in the Joseon Dynasty [Korean kingdom from 1392-1897], when you know you’re not going to pass the civil service exam, but you come out of the exam and eat gukbap [Korean beef and seaweed soup] while walking around the marketplace? Ignoring the impending doom and feeling like you’re going crazy with excitement.”

What is that, that’s scary, Hyun-jae.

Isn’t that not just feeling like you’re going crazy with excitement, but half-crazy? Then suddenly, a melody comes to mind. A gayageum performance I had referenced while composing the OST for this drama.

On top of that subtly exciting rhythm, a scene unfolds of a student holding a bottle of alcohol in one hand and walking cheerfully along a night road. The bushes full of trees next to the road the student is walking on are so breathtaking in the hazy moonlight that it feels like salt has been sprinkled on them. If he hums a song and starts to feel a little depressed, the sound of the gayageum gets louder again and he just becomes excited.

The image is so overwhelming that I lose my words for a moment and slowly savor it.

“…Hyung?”

Lee Hyun-jae waves his hand in front of my eyes once, wondering if I’ve suddenly been hypnotized and stopped everything.

“Hyung, shouldn’t you take a break?”

“……Hyun-jae.”

However, more than all those worries, the work was important first.

“Yes?”

“Could you tell the members that they’re banned from entering until tomorrow morning?”

Lee Hyun-jae looks at me carefully and nods. He seems to have understood the meaning of my words.

“Is the first draft coming out tomorrow?”

“…Maybe.”

“If Iden Hyung and Ha-min Hyung come looking for you even after tomorrow morning, I can’t stop them.”

“By that time, I’ll already be sleeping on the sofa, so it’s okay.”

“Wow, I can already see Ha-min Hyung nagging you a lot tomorrow.”

* * *

…At the end of that anecdote, the first draft of ‘The Student is Ready to Die to His Parents Today’ was completed.

“I was surprised that you were working even when I came in the morning, but you even finished the first draft…….”

Chae Ha-min muttered to himself after listening to the song. Then the members’ interest was in ‘Is this really possible?’

“I’ve never seen a composer working before, but is this normal?”

“I don’t think rookie composers can produce a first draft of this quality in just one day?”

Well, I can’t say no because I’ve worked together several times. Sometimes, even the AR team says that when they listen to the parts I’ve worked on, they can see the instructions on how to arrange them. I’ve been working on it for a while now, so my skills seem to be about average.

“Maybe… Dong-hwa Hyung probably thinks he’s just average right now?”

Unfortunately, you’re wrong, you damn disciple. I picked up the paper next to me, drew a line under Lee Hyun-jae, and asked.

“Anyway, how is it?”

I saw Lee Hyun-jae’s puzzled expression, but I cleanly ignored it.

“But, when are you going to stop recording the guide with Wiener Schnitzel, Dong-hwa Hyung?”

It’s comfortable because it sticks to my mouth, you damn puppy. This time, I picked up the paper next to me, drew a line under Ryu Iden, and asked again.

“How is it?”

“……Dong-hwa Hyung, what is that, by any chance?”

Ryu Iden asked cautiously, focusing his eyes on the paper. Following Lee Hyun-jae, a line was drawn under his name, and a sense of unease seemed to spring up.

“Ah, this is the amount that will become unreasonable. One line each has been returned to Jun and Ha-min.”

“……Dong-hwa Hyung, I’m the lead dancer, so if one line is missing, the impact is big?”

“All humans always live taking responsibility for their choices, Hyung.”

Of course, I don’t mean it sincerely. If it’s not at times like this, the opportunity to make Ryu Iden, who has good social skills, flustered is rare, so let’s enjoy it for a while.

“Dong-hwa Hyung! You’re joking! I tease you, but how much do I like you, Dong-hwa!”

“I appreciate your feelings, but unfortunately, time does not go backwards…… that is generally the case.”

Lee Hyun-jae laughed, thinking it was a joke, saying, ‘Why do you leave the possibility of going backwards?’ He’s good at lying, but he’s not good at saying wrong things.

“Dong-hwa! I love you! Give me some parts!”

Well, I wish it wasn’t a joke. Can you get lost, Iden.

* * *

Today is also a peaceful idol scene, a place that doesn’t work without daily fights and hair-pulling, so this level of noise is considered peaceful. Today’s topic is ‘Did TOT beat Blue Jack with their comeback?’

Some Timers [TOT fans], who were caught by the 분탕종자’s 염병 [troublemakers’ antics], cleanly threw a time bomb at Bluetooth [Blue Jack fans], and these people, who are at the maximum level of combat power as the teeth of the beast for Blue Jack, jumped into the battle, saying it was right. Perhaps because they are fandoms that have been enemies for several years, their skills in grabbing each other’s collars were top-notch.

But while saying they hate each other so much, they don’t miss what each other is doing. In addition, they mutually agree to refrain from belittling each other’s members’ appearances as much as possible and try to keep it. Perhaps, these two fandoms love each other more than anyone else.

While this historically significant Ta-Jack War was in full swing, a bizarre situation occurred in which Ji Dong-hwa was attracting attention.

[Who is the kid who put his name on the composition and arrangement of this album?]

I’m not a Nayeon 똑딱이 [Nayeon stan] or a tooth, but all the TOT songs this time are so good that I looked for the composer. I was confident in the idol scene, but one of the B-sides is personally my favorite style and sophisticated, but it’s a composer I’ve never seen before… He’s not a foreigner and he’s working under his real name, but if I didn’t know him, I was wondering if he was a rookie, so I’m asking you 똑딱이s [stans] to let me know~~~~

Comments

―Dong-hwa is a junior in the same company as TOT

―If you were interested in the idol scene, you wouldn’t not know him ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Didn’t you listen to Jun-sung’s Sorry? The results weren’t bad for a solo album

└Ah but…. Sorry was a good song… I really have to admit it…

└So are you guys bad or good ㅋㅌㅋㅌㅇㅋㅋㅋㅌㅋㅋㅋ Why are you admitting that the song is good ㅋㅌㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

―I’m sure you’re not a Timer ㅇㅇ

―ㄱㅆ) Why is a rookie participating…? What are you trusting in?

└Yeon said on Dub App that he asked himself? Jun-sung also said he asked himself

For the first time in the history of the idol scene, a rookie idol participated in the composition of another group. At the time of Jun-sung’s solo album, there were also words that pushing rookies too much was excessive, but at this point, it was just amazing. If the result was bad, I wouldn’t know, but it’s good, and Nietzsche Entertainment didn’t advertise that they were trading songs between their own idol members.

[Is Ji Dong-hwa actually a secret weapon that Nietzsche Entertainment raised…?]

Didn’t they put him in another entertainment company to hide him and then bring him in during the survival show? I know it’s nonsense, but at this point, Ji Dong-hwa isn’t a composer who has been active in an agency for over 10 years, so I really think this makes sense. Didn’t they bring him in from a young age and make him a composing machine?

Comments

― Why would they do such a stupid thing as hiding him ㅋㅋㅋㅌㅋㅌㅋㅌㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Wasn’t the previous agency just really stupid? Why did they drop Ji Dong-hwa

└This seems to apply to Chae Ha-min as well ㅇㅇ I still wonder why they let go of that amazing dancer

And when Ji Dong-hwa briefly became a hot topic, as if aiming for this time, a video was uploaded to the Blossence official account by chance.

A video of about 30 seconds with the title ‘Concept Film ― Short ver. : 흥(Heung) [Excitement/Thrill]’

As the video begins, Ji Dong-hwa, wearing an all-black modified hanbok [traditional Korean clothing] and dyed gray hair, is sitting in front of a gayageum in a black and white screen. Ji Dong-hwa, who tilted his head slightly and looked up, slowly raised his hand and slowly plucked the gayageum one string at a time. A strong rhythm with a slightly sad tone.

However, the rhythm gradually speeds up before long. The rhythm becomes so intense that it seems difficult to get any faster, and just when you think it’s going to be a little exciting, an electronic sound bursts out, and the other members appear with cut editing. The black and white screen is dyed with all kinds of colors, and the chain of red, blue, and yellow colors makes you dizzy.

The members, who are surrounding Ji Dong-hwa in the center and laughing and enjoying the rhythm, look like they are going crazy because they like the music Ji Dong-hwa is playing. Ji Dong-hwa also nods his head, changing from his initial expressionless face to a slight smile, and plucks the gayageum.

When the gayageum plays the role of the bass and catches the rhythm below, and the oriental electronic sound fills it and the excitement is about to reach its peak, Ji Dong-hwa throws the gayageum 술대 [plectrum], and everyone stops moving and looks straight ahead.

Little by little, black letterboxes fill the screen from top to bottom, and when the entire screen is finally painted black, only Blossence’s comeback date appears in white letters and the video ends.

Although it is a short video, it is suitable for the title of the video, ‘흥’, and the music is composed of a strange harmony of electronic sound and gayageum. In addition, thanks to the fact that Ji Dong-hwa was attracting attention due to TOT, it received a much more intense response than expected.

Even on the community, after watching this short video, the following post was uploaded in a situation where it was not even certain who composed it.

[So Ji Dong-hwa was kidnapped by Nietzsche when he was young and raised as a composer, right?]

(‘흥’ The part where everyone is excited at the end. GIF)

I haven’t been 덕질ing [fangirling] for long, but I understood everything (I don’t understand)

Comments

―No, he’s not a secret weapon…. ㅅㅂ I don’t know either, I guess he is

―Dong-hwa Hanbok… Ha-min Hanbok…. Iden Hanbok….. Hyun-jae Hanbok… Jun Hanbok….. Hanbok…….

└Breaking news) Roomnuts [Room Service fans] are suffering from aphasia due to this concept film… Shock!

└I keep getting bad thoughts, am I bad?

└These guys are guilty. No matter what anyone says, they did something wrong. Don’t hold me, I’m going to kidnap them. Honestly, the judge also made a kidnapping plan!

―Ji Dong-hwa is like a 도련님 [young master] from the Joseon Dynasty, but now with a slightly scary playboy vibe.. Ha-min and Hyun-jae seem like well-grown, upright 도련님s [young masters]… Jun and Iden have a 날티 [flashy/rebellious vibe] that looks like they’re going to lie down and say they don’t want to study… I’m going crazy… This is it…

In that way, Blossence’s 3rd mini album revealed its first appearance, attracting more attention than usual due to an unintended opportunity.