Prince From Another Dimension Becomes An Idol [EN]: Chapter 166

#166.

“Looks like the revisions are all done here too.”

Kijun glanced at Dojae after roughly reading the email.

He felt more reassured getting confirmation from Dojae, who spoke English at a native level, rather than relying on his own English skills, which were only good enough for basic communication at a middle or high school level.

Dojae quickly read the email and nodded, saying,

“Yes. Director Jungyeop said all the revisions have been made according to his wishes….”

“There’s no attachment. Oh…. What does ‘Z Meeting’ mean?”

“It’s the name of an app. I think it means he wants to have a video meeting.”

“Video meeting….”

The term was very unfamiliar to Kijun, who even felt awkward with video calls.

When working with Bear Jung, Director Lee Jungyeop mainly communicated through email and phone calls, so they never had a video meeting before.

A video meeting; this time, he really felt like he was working with someone in America.

It felt strangely more ‘global’.

“I’ve never done a video meeting either…. Wouldn’t it be similar to when we do On TV live? Except there’s only one person on the other end.”

Dojae said to Kijun, who seemed awkward about the video meeting.

He had seen his older brother, Crown Prince, have video meetings with their father who was abroad, and although there was a bit of distance, there were no problems with communication.

“I guess so?”

Kijun nodded.

More than the video meeting itself, the language was more of a problem, but it seemed okay since Dojae was there.

Director Lee Jungyeop was also capable of basic communication.

“Based on Eastern Standard Time, it seems like they’re asking if we can do it an hour later.”

“We need to reply quickly.”

Kijun hurriedly contacted Director Lee Jungyeop to confirm the time.

After coordinating the time with him, Kijun and Dojae quickly sent a reply to the composer, ‘Perriot.’

***

A little later.

Director Lee Jungyeop, Kijun, and Dojae gathered in one place and launched the Z Meeting app.

“Times have really changed. We can have meetings with people so far away like this….”

Director Lee Jungyeop, who was much older than Kijun and Dojae, muttered as if he still found it awkward.

Dojae raised the corners of his lips, and Lee Jungyeop continued,

“And I even get to talk to Perriot. It’s so amazing.”

It had been almost half a year since they started talking about working with Perriot.

It took quite a long time to make contact, discuss the song, and finally receive it.

Yet, Director Lee Jungyeop still thought of working with Perriot as if it were a dream.

Dojae and Kijun didn’t feel much different.

Perriot was a famous composer who had been in the top ranks of the Billboard charts several times in the past three years.

In particular, he mainly worked with Justin, a world-renowned top singer, and their last song together reached number one on the Billboard charts.

Because of this, he was considered to be at the peak of his career.

There was an unexpected connection that led Perriot, whose main stage was the United States, to work on a song for MOST, a group he probably didn’t even know.

Perriot, who was listening to music on SoundPie, had pressed ‘like’ on Dojae’s song half a year ago.

In fact, Dojae didn’t know who had pressed ‘like’ because there were thousands of ‘likes’.

It was Dojae’s fans who discovered that Perriot’s ‘like’ was hidden among those numerous ‘likes’.

-Perriot liked Dojae’s song ㄷㄷ [Korean slang for ‘daebak,’ meaning ‘amazing’ or ‘incredible’]

-Who is Perriot?

-The person who composed Justin’s song. He’s super famous in the US

-Isn’t he the one who made the song our Prince said he liked on the radio ㅇㅇ [Korean abbreviation indicating agreement or affirmation, similar to ‘yes’ or ‘uh-huh’]

-Then isn’t this a huge deal? ㄷㄷㄷ

-ㄴㅇㄱ [Korean slang expressing surprise or disbelief, similar to ‘OMG’] How far is our Prince going to become a superstar..

Even if he dominated Billboard, it wasn’t easy to know his name in Korea because he wasn’t a singer.

However, one of Dojae’s fans pointed this out, and when it became a minor topic among fans, a couple of articles were even written.

At the time, they were in the middle of preparing the album.

It was also a time when they were a bit sensitive because the schedule was delayed.

As the saying goes, “A loss may turn out to be a gain.”

Dojae thought that Bear Jung’s nightmare could turn into a good dream through Perriot.

‘I wondered if it was reckless at the time…….’

Dojae contacted Perriot.

And about a month later, around the time the teaser was released, he received a positive response saying that he might be able to work together if the circumstances were right.

He said that he was impressed by the song Dojae uploaded to SoundPie, and after watching MOST’s songs and performances on MyTube, he thought it would be a fresh project for him as well.

It was also a time when K-POP was growing rapidly, and for him, it wasn’t a bad thing as long as he could make money.

‘Since then, the company has taken the lead and come this far…….’

Of course, just because he was a well-known global composer didn’t guarantee that he would give MOST a good song.

Not all the songs he wrote could be masterpieces.

However, he thought that they would learn something just by working together.

Also, even if the song was used as a B-side, the promotional effect would be clear.

‘But the song he offered to give us was better than I expected.’

It was a song that couldn’t be left as just a B-side.

It deserved to be the title track, and everyone who heard the song, including Dojae, thought the same thing.

Unlike their worries, Perriot sent a song that showed off his skills to the fullest.

Beep- Beep- Beep-

After a few beeps.

The screen soon changed, and Perriot appeared, filling the laptop screen.

“(Oh! Nice to meet you!)”

With dark brown skin and curly black hair.

Perriot, with his sturdy physique, was a man with an energetic and healthy vibe.

He boasted an outstanding appearance that made him seem like a singer rather than a composer.

The scenery of the studio behind Perriot, with its open view to the outside, looked better than imagined.

It seemed like other composers were working with him as well.

“(Jun, Dojae, Lee?)”

Perriot checked who the three people were in order.

He must have thought that the others were Director Lee Jungyeop since he already knew MOST’s faces.

“(That’s right! Nice to meet you! It’s even nicer to see you in person like this!)”

Lee Jungyeop chuckled and waved his hand.

“(I heard the revised song is out. I’m already looking forward to it since it was good enough even before the revisions.)”

When Dojae spoke a tone higher than usual, Perriot crinkled his nose and smiled.

“(I didn’t know much since it’s the first song for a group, but now I know for sure what Lee wanted.)”

“(I knew you’d catch on.)”

“(But I want to accurately check how much the vocals can handle. That’s why I wanted to do a Z Meeting. Let’s listen to it first.)”

“(Okay!)”

Dojae replied cheerfully to Perriot’s words.

Lee Jungyeop, Kijun, and Dojae all looked at Perriot with expectant eyes.

When Perriot sent a signal to the engineer next to him, music soon flowed through the laptop.

Thump, thump.

A beat resembling a rapidly beating heartbeat decorated the beginning with an offbeat rhythm.

On top of that, a bass riff that was easy to catch was pleasantly added.

After that, various instruments such as guitar and drums were added, and the song progressed with a sense of speed.

It was a cheerful song that would make you tap your feet to the rhythm whenever you heard it.

The fact that the B-side Kijun was working on came out funky was also because it was in line with the title track.

Following the intro, A verse and the flowing A’ verse.

Up to this point, the three had heard it before.

And at the following sounds, Kijun and Dojae’s eyes widened.

What Lee Jungyeop wanted was for the repeating chorus to be transformed a bit more dramatically.

This was because he wanted MOST’s strong vocal colors to be revealed a bit more.

Perriot perfectly met that demand by slightly modifying the melody of the chorus.

Without harming the original form, the melody vividly came to life, sticking to the ear.

“(Okay, up to here, how is it?)”

The three people who met eyes nodded straight away.

“(Excellent!)”

“(Actually, I’m going to raise the key a little more here…. Just a moment.)”

Perriot directly touched the machine.

And he played the melody with the raised key.

The three were surprised once again.

Just by raising the key of the modified melody, the feeling of it sticking to the ear became more intense.

“(I think it would be even better if we went this far. Is it possible?)”

At Perriot’s question, Kijun and Lee Jungyeop looked at Dojae.

This was because Dojae and Gyuseong would most likely be the ones to sing this chorus.

‘It will be Gyuseong.’

The three of them knew it.

Originally, Gyuseong was a vocalist strong in high notes.

‘Dojae is of course possible too.’

If it was the range of Dojae that Kijun and Lee Jungyeop knew, he could fully digest the notes.

The problem wasn’t ‘is it possible’ but ‘is it good’.

The problem was whether the modified notes would sound good when Dojae and Gyuseong sang them.

‘Even if the melody can get better by raising the notes, it’s impossible to know whether those notes will harmonize with the vocals.’

That’s what Kijun was thinking.

Similarly, Dojae, who seemed to be thinking for a moment, cleared his throat briefly.

He was glad that he had warmed up his voice just in case while waiting for the meeting with Perriot.

“La- la la- la la la!”

Dojae accurately followed the melody he had heard a little while ago.

Still thinking it was lacking, he did it once more in succession.

This time, he sang a little more rhythmically.

“La- la la- la la la!”

“(Wow!)”

An exclamation immediately burst out from the other side of the screen.

Dojae was digesting the notes without difficulty.

They were notes that would become close to perfect if he practiced a little more.

Lee Jungyeop, who deeply felt how much Dojae had grown as a vocalist, looked at Dojae with almost tearful eyes.

“(It was an unnecessary worry, it’s much better than I thought!)”

Perriot, who spoke in an excited voice, manipulated the machine once more and then asked.

“(Can you sing this too, Dojae?)”

The part that Perriot played was the modified bridge part.

Dojae followed it without difficulty.

At the same time, a different light flickered in the eyes of Perriot on the screen and in the eyes of Kijun and Lee Jungyeop next to him.

‘This is it! It’s done!’

A strong conviction flashed through Kijun’s head.

It was such an intense conviction that he wondered if he had ever been so strongly convinced of something while working on a song.

***

The next day.

“What. I’m the only one here.”

Woochul, feeling embarrassed in the silent dorm, muttered to himself for no reason and went to sit on the sofa.

Dojae and Kijun were in the middle of working on the almost completed title track, and Gyuseong had gone out after receiving a guest request from Jooyuri’s MyTube channel.

Today was also the day that Louis was an MC on a music show.

“Even Heungmin hyung went to a meeting with PD Yoon…….”

Woochul, who had returned after practicing the script all day, suddenly felt awkward being alone and looked around.

“Should I watch Louis MC for a while, it’s been a while.”

After ordering dinner, Woochul turned on the TV and changed the channel.

He was thinking of watching Louis MC for a bit and then looking at the script again.

Since it was something he had to take responsibility for alone, Woochul had come to think about ‘practice’ on his own, even without his brothers nagging him.

Now, practice had become so ingrained in Woochul.

“Huh?”

But Woochul, who was changing the channel, was startled and stopped at N TV.

“What did I just see?”

Someone he didn’t expect was on TV.