The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 185

< Verse 28. Jaws >

Monthly evaluations at agencies might seem crucial to trainees, but they really aren’t that important. Consistently scoring well might be a plus, but it doesn’t determine who gets to debut. Marketability is the ultimate deciding factor, not skill.

Monthly evaluations are simply devices to encourage motivation and competition.

Without some form of competition or skill assessment during the long trainee life, it’s too hard to endure. It’s like having to take the college entrance exam without a single test from elementary school at age eight until nineteen; it would be unbearable throughout those long school years.

However, many trainees, unaware of this reality, believed that monthly evaluations directly determined their debut, so they did their best, especially today, with the cameras rolling.

“Why are you so scared? Are you going to sing alone your whole life without cameras? Are you only going to be a singer in the practice room?”

The training managers continued their relentless criticism. Of course, there was praise for those who did well, but it was rare.

Watching this, PD [Production Director] Na Han-soo whispered to Sang-hyun.

“What do you think, Sang-hyun?”

“What do I know about singing? You know better, PD-nim [term of respect]. How many years have you been in music broadcasting?”

“Not necessarily. People like me, who dissect sounds, tend to look at technical perfection before the beauty of the music.”

“Well, I just say whether a song is good or bad. But the training manager is unusually harsh today.”

A trainee, having endured the training manager’s criticism for a while, went off the stage with a gloomy expression. As soon as he stepped down, a camera followed him, asking various questions.

“Next!”

Another trainee came up on stage. It was Cha In-hyun.

Among the trainees at Oh Kyung Media, Sang-hyun was an anomaly. To be precise, he was in a different league. A strange guy who had achieved everything they wanted, or could achieve more but refused.

Cha In-hyun was also an anomaly. To be precise, he was being ostracized, though not overtly.

It wasn’t just because of the age difference or because he was the owner of a ‘major title track.’ It was because Cha In-hyun looked down on the other trainees.

Although Cha In-hyun had joined the agency to pay for his father’s medical bills and his mother’s living expenses, he considered himself to be in a different league from the other trainees. He might have started as a trainee like a fool, but he had a promise from the company to release an album.

This feeling subtly manifested in his actions, and among the trainees, Cha In-hyun became known as ‘someone who pretends to be special when he’s no different.’

Cha In-hyun, standing on the stage, glanced at Sang-hyun.

Since they never made eye contact even when they were in the same space, Sang-hyun felt a strange sensation. It was the same feeling he had when Cha In-hyun, who had been ignoring him at the Jeonju World DJ Festival, stared at him right before singing ‘Just One Life.’

And Sang-hyun knew it wasn’t just a feeling.

just one life, everyone has only one life,

Why only excuses while possessing a jewel?

The gap between freedom and subjugation, the end of life and

the deep despair that becomes commonplace

The song Cha In-hyun was singing was Calib’s ‘Just One Life,’ disguised as ‘One.’

Sang-hyun’s eyes turned cold.

Calib was walking a path similar to the success he had achieved in the past. He didn’t have a big hit yet, but that was the assessment.

After Sang-hyun introduced him on Hip Hop the Vibe, his past albums were re-evaluated, and hip-hop fans concluded that Sang-hyun had discovered an outstanding musician.

But that didn’t erase Cha In-hyun’s mistakes or his own. He was trying to apologize by opening doors for Calib, but Cha In-hyun, not only stole the song but was now provoking him like this.

Silently listening to Cha In-hyun’s song, Sang-hyun suddenly noticed something strange in Cha In-hyun’s singing.

‘Just One Life’ is a song that gives strength to oneself.

It’s not a song that boasts, “I’m living my only life 멋지게!” (meotjige [admirably]), but rather a song that declares, “Let’s live our only life 멋지게!”

But Cha In-hyun’s voice was strangely full of anger.

The song itself showed a clear improvement in skill compared to the past. Thanks to the best vocal trainers in Korea’s top entertainment company, he was correcting his fatal flaw of high notes.

However, the unique expressiveness, which Sang-hyun disliked but acknowledged in Cha In-hyun, and which had helped him secure a fan base despite not being able to cover the high range, was completely absent.

It wasn’t a lyric that should be expressed with anger, but it was full of anger, making it even more noticeable.

“Stop, stop.”

The training manager must have felt it too, as he stopped Cha In-hyun’s song.

“What’s wrong with you? Why are you so angry?”

“…I’m sorry.”

“No, not just sorry. What’s wrong? I’m really asking because I’m worried.”

Partly because the camera was there, but the training manager genuinely thought Cha In-hyun’s song was a bit strange.

“What’s wrong…”

Cha In-hyun muttered. Like the manager said, he was angry and couldn’t stand it.

He left L&S to succeed. To overcome the endless poverty.

‘Why did I leave L&S?’

L&S took third place in the highly publicized show ‘Royal Band’ that lasted for eight weeks. Since the evaluation that the first place was given thanks to the agency’s lobbying was widespread, strictly speaking, they were second.

But the buzz was first. Overwhelmingly first.

The second album, ‘Long & Short,’ full of a pop-band feel rarely found in Korea, the pretty face of Miju, the vocalist and keyboardist, the team that led the 888 Crew when they were completely buried in the underground.

It couldn’t help but be a hot topic.

Moreover, in the third round of Royal Band, the featuring competition, L&S used the 888 Crew as a feature. Only Sang-hyun and Ha-yeon actually participated in the song, but all the members of the 888 Crew came out to support L&S.

Hip Hop the Vibe called L&S when 888 Crew was on, and Royal Band called 888 Crew when L&S was on. Moreover, the two teams even shared a studio.

-The story of L&S and 888 Crew.

-The featuring friendship between the underground hip-hop 888 Crew and the indie band L&S.

The buzz that 888 Crew had naturally shifted to L&S. But that didn’t mean that the buzz of 888 Crew had fallen as much.

Rather, the favorability of L&S’s independent fan base was also conveyed to the 888 Crew.

This situation came to Cha In-hyun as an uncontrollable anger. Half of L&S was made by him. He really struggled and struggled to release the first album, build recognition, and create a studio.

But he lost all those fruits, and he was spending time as a trainee, which was ridiculous.

Because of Lee Sang-hyun.

If Lee Sang-hyun hadn’t shown ‘One,’ this wouldn’t have happened, and the person singing the song on Royal Band would have been him, not Miju.

“In-hyun, don’t be impatient. Time is long.”

“Yes.”

“You don’t become a singer by singing well. You become a singer if you can make people happy. Got it?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, next. Lee Sang-hyun.”

As if someone had planned it, the training manager called Sang-hyun’s name. It was Sang-hyun’s turn after Cha In-hyun.

Cha In-hyun and Sang-hyun’s shoulders brushed as they went off and on the stage. But neither of them gave each other a glance.

Sang-hyun went up on stage, deep in thought.

What he was thinking about wasn’t anger towards Cha In-hyun or ‘Just One Life.’ That was something to think about off stage, and what to think about on stage was music. Even if it was a ridiculous system called a monthly evaluation, it was a stage given to him.

“Manager, just a moment.”

Sang-hyun, who went up on stage, asked the training manager for a moment. The manager was about to say something but held back.

It would be better to point out the lack of preparation after the song was over. The camera was rolling, and there was nothing to point out.

In fact, evaluating Sang-hyun was quite a burden for the training managers. Because none of the songs Sang-hyun had released so far had received negative reviews. There were songs that didn’t gain popularity, but there wasn’t a single song that was evaluated as ‘this rap is not good.’

However, it was ambiguous to just praise him unconditionally, because Sang-hyun’s monthly evaluation ranking was scheduled to be third today. The first and second place were trainees scheduled to debut at the beginning of the next quarter.

‘A trainee who beat Lee Sang-hyun, debut!’

That was the phrase that would be attached when they debuted.

The fact is that it’s just a subjective ranking by the training manager in a simple monthly evaluation, but anyway, it’s a phrase that makes people click.

So, it was necessary to make minimal criticism of Sang-hyun in front of the camera, but this was quite burdensome.

“Manager, can I look at the lyrics?”

Sang-hyun asked the training manager. The manager was secretly delighted that there was a catch but frowned outwardly and asked.

“Why? You didn’t memorize the lyrics?”

“I’m going to sing a different song, not the one I originally prepared.”

“Um… go ahead.”

Sang-hyun opened his phone and checked the lyrics.

It’s obvious, but musical inspiration comes and goes. But a professional musician had to be able to create results in both of these situations.

Originally, the 888 Crew was the type to make songs only when inspiration collided, but after Hip Hop the Vibe, they were able to approach music with a sense of professionalism.

So the real problem wasn’t when inspiration didn’t come.

It was when some inspiration came, but it wasn’t a proper one, and the feeling wasn’t perfect. Like the tip of your nose tickles like you’re about to sneeze, but you don’t actually sneeze. This was the biggest problem.

And these inspirations usually disappear over time, but sometimes they burn hot for some reason.

Sang-hyun was like that now. It was a song he had lost inspiration for once, but he remembered how to use the lyrics as if he was recalling an already made song.

Sang-hyun quickly corrected some parts of the lyrics while tapping on his phone. Anyone could see that he was working with some inspiration.

The camera zoomed in on Sang-hyun’s face, which had a hint of a smile.

The trainees were dumbfounded by the sight. An evaluation is literally a test, a tense place, but Lee Sang-hyun was sketching a suddenly emerging inspiration in such a place.

‘How annoying.’

They didn’t like that attitude. Lee Sang-hyun was too confident, and they were dissatisfied that the training manager, who should be scolding him, was keeping his mouth shut.

But at the same time, they were envious of the fact that he could get inspiration in any situation.

Then Sang-hyun finished all the corrections.

‘Done.’

Sang-hyun saw what Cha In-hyun was thinking after listening to his ‘One.’

Anger without a clear target and indiscriminate feelings of negativity. Inferiority complex, victim mentality.

The song Sang-hyun was about to sing was a song he had failed to include in JFTR [Just For The Record, likely an album name]. But now he wanted to sing it as an answer to ‘One’ sung by Cha In-hyun.

The title was ‘Champagne Life.’

“It’s all done. Can I start?”

“The beat? The same as before?”

“No. I’ll do it without a beat.”

“Without a beat?”

“Yes. Instead, please add a little more reverb to the microphone.”

Sang-hyun, who checked the microphone several times, opened his mouth.

Sang-hyun’s voice began to spread through the air of the broadcasting station.

< Verse 28. Jaws > End

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