God of Music

Chapter 133. The Princess’ Debut (3)

“Want you feel me now — ooh ooh Tell me—”

Inside the booth, Reina raised her voice as she closed her eyes. She was completely immersed in her own singing. KangYoon also looked forward to it since Reina no longer seemed to be nervous.

“Oh boy go for –”

Reina was singing the songs she had practiced at her college as she wished. She had always heard from HeeYoon that KangYoon had good eyes for music. She was planning to challenge her dream, performing on Broadway, if KangYoon gave her approval.

Reina sang louder and louder as though she was approaching her dream step by step.

Then, she seemed too excited, and her voice started being strained.

‘What’s this?’

KangYoon tilted his head when he heard a slight sound of air from her voice. This was because she was straining her voice. At the same time, the bright light started becoming weaker.

‘She’s putting too much energy in it.’

Eventually, the music note started becoming distorted as well. This kind of change should not have gone unnoticed by the singer, but Reina was too immersed in her own world without being able to get out.

This led KangYoon to a conclusion.

‘She definitely has the talent, but she’s pushing it too far. She’s straining her voice too much.’

The good feeling had dissipated a lot. KangYoon felt it was a pity since he still remembered how good it was at the beginning. Although he didn’t know a lot about musicals, singing so excitedly on a stage would make the audience cringe.

Like that, the song ended. KangYoon told Reina to come out of the booth.

[Well done.]

[Uhm, was I any good?]

Reina was unaware of KangYoon’s thinking and asked in an excited voice. In fact, HeeYoon, who was next to him, was also nervous.

‘I should be honest with her.’

This was HeeYoon’s friend. Rather than false praises, he decided to be honest with his opinion. KangYoon calmed himself down from the earlier excitement and spoke about his opinion in a very serious tone.

[I’ll be honest since you’re HeeYoon’s friend. You might be offended, but please understand.]

[Yes.]

[You’re too strained. More like, you put too much emotion into it.]

[Really?]

Hearing her wrongdoings instead of praises, Reina seemed panicked at first. However, KangYoon still kept going.

[Putting too much emotion will give rise to a sense of rejection in the audience. It feels too unnatural. It feels like you’ve put too much salt in your food.]

[Oooh….]

[Your first song, The Phantom, was very good, both the lyrics and the voice. My first thought that ‘she might as well be a musical actress already’. However, my thoughts changed after I heard the second song. I guess it’s okay if you’re planning to do musicals as a hobby, but if you’re aiming for the main character role, you will need to fix this. If you have to do choreography or facial expressions while singing, your current style will show up while you do them.]

KangYoon told her about the disadvantages of her style from his own opinion.

Reina’s expression became darker after listening to her bad points. However, she thought about it before becoming bright again.

[Thank you. I knew it. HeeYoon’s words were right. She said I would be able to gain something from it.]

Only then did KangYoon relax his expression.

[I might sound like I pointed out only the bad points, but everything else was just perfect. Both your voice and the lyrics. I wish you’d join me if you have any thoughts in the Korean musical field.]

KangYoon implied that he wanted her to join World Entertainment. When she heard that, she smiled as well.

[Really? That’s a pity. It sounds fun to be in the same company as HeeYoon, but I’m aiming for Broadway right now. Do you not have any plans on coming to America?]

[Hahaha, My hands are still full here. Perhaps in a few years.]

[Looks like I’ll have to wait a few years too, then. I’ll wait for you at Broadway.]

Reina took in KangYoon’s bitter medicine sweetly.

[Yes. I have faith that your dream will come true. Oh, and please get along well with HeeYoon.]

[Hahahaha. Don’t worry. Let’s see each other again.]

The evaluation time passed like that.

Reina blossomed into a smile again, and the studio’s atmosphere became cheerful again.

***

With Eddios joining World Entertainment, there were a lot of celebrities in World now. Thanks to that, they needed a lot more manpower. One such was a choreographer.

The first plan meeting for Jung MinAh’s solo album.

Hearing KangYoon that a professional choreographer was necessary, Jung MinAh gave a different opinion.

“This time, I’ll try making the choreography myself.”

She was being considerate of the company’s budget allocated towards her. However, KangYoon shook his head.

“MinAh. Do you know how professionals make choreographies?”

“Don’t they just think about the beats and make it look cool?”

Maybe she was trying to sound funny, but KangYoon gave her a smack on the head hearing that.

“Ouch, that hurts!”

“It was meant to. MinAh, professional choreographers have to take into account the preferences of the public, the ability of the dancer, and the characteristics of the song and combine them into making a great dance routine. It’s not a simple process like ‘go with the flow’.”

“I wasn’t planning to do that either though.”

Jung MinAh cringed in pain when she was hit by the smack. Finding that cute, KangYoon put his hand on her head and spoke on.

“I get that you’re worried about the budget, MinAh, but we do not need to save money on this part.”

“…….”

“We should invest when we can. You should learn how to make dance routines at this opportunity, okay? That’s how you can help me out.”

“Yes.”

KangYoon turned around to HeeYoon.

“HeeYoon. Do you have MinAh’s new song?”

“Not yet. I only have a little bit of the intro.”

“Looks like you were busy with JiMin.”

HeeYoon was spending a lot of time with Kim JiMin with regards to her song. Jung MinAh still had some time to go anyway. KangYoon nodded his head in understanding.

He then turned around to Jung MinAh again.

“MinAh. The song isn’t out yet, but the dance performance will be very hard. You’ll be in for a lot of pain if you look down on those 3 minutes.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’m training with all those exercises in the morning. I can even do a breakdance if you’d like.”

KangYoon was satisfied to see Jung MinAh’s confidence.

Ever since her debut, Jung MinAh had not stopped working out. She had better stamina than any other members of her group.

Other than that, KangYoon told everyone that he was looking for an Eddios-exclusive stylist as well as a manager. When asked if she needed anything else, Jung MinAh only told him that she was very thankful and that she’d do her best.

The planning meeting ended on that note.

KangYoon went upstairs to the office and got car keys from Lee HyunJi. Lee HyunJi asked KangYoon in a joking manner.

“Does a director get funds for fuel?”

“Leave a receipt on my desk, sure.”

“It’s fine. It’s our company’s money anyway. Just don’t scratch it.”

KangYoon couldn’t help but feel sorry that he had to borrow her car again. As he was about to leave, Lee HyunJi stopped him.

“You know that there’s an interview today, right? Can you make it?”

“I don’t think I’ll come back in time. I have a meeting with OTS. Today was Eddios’s manager and coordinator, right?”

“Yes. OTS… is important. *sigh*.”

“Please take care of the interview. My hands are full with Eddios and JiMin right now.”

Both KangYoon and Lee HyunJi had their hands full of work. Lee HyunJi nodded.

“Okay, then. If we get any more staff today, do I tell them to start coming to work next week?”

“Please do.”

KangYoon left the office immediately. The place he headed towards was Eddios’s new dorms. After he arrived, he called Lee SamSoon out. As she had been prepared already, Lee SamSoon immediately came out and boarded the car.

The car immediately headed towards the TV station.

Inside, Lee SamSoon had her hand on her cheek in excitement and a little bit of fear.

“Phew.”

KangYoon asked Lee SamSoon when she sighed.

“Are you nervous about going to a TV station after all this time?”

“Yes. I didn’t get to go on non-music related TV shows a lot, so I’m a little worried.”

“Maybe, but you did do a lot of things when you were a trainee.”

“That’s true, but… It’s been such a long time.”

“That’s why I’m with you here. You don’t need to be so nervous.”

Lee SamSoon nodded her head.

“Last time, you were with me as well, team leader….”

“When?”

“Back then, when we had an outside stage.”

“Oh.”

KangYoon thought back to the time when he took her out to perform outside. After the street performance, they made the directors shocked at the meeting.

‘Thinking about it, it’s not that much different now. Only our target is a little different.’

The target was not the directors now, but the viewers. KangYoon shrugged his shoulders.

Lee SamSoon seemed excited to talk about old memories and started talking about a lot of things.

“It was so fun back then in Hongdae. It’s unthinkable to do it now. People back then were so generous. They were so kind to me even when I spoke in an accent….”

“It was fun back then. People were cheering for you when you sang, I can still remember that. It was a good memory for me as well.”

“Really?”

KangYoon gave her some encouragement.

“We can do it again. As for the people, we can just gather some more. Right?”

“……”

Lee SamSoon glanced at KangYoon without a word. KangYoon hadn’t changed from the past.

Eventually, the car arrived at the OTS TV station. KangYoon parked his car and headed to the meeting room on the 18th floor. When he got off the elevator, the assistant director, Kim MinHyuk, was waiting for them.

“Hello. We’ve been waiting.”

Guided by the assistant director, KangYoon and Lee SamSoon headed towards the meeting room.

“Please wait for a moment. I’ll bring the producer here.”

After the assistant director left, Lee SamSoon looked around. There were posters on the various programs that OTS did until now.

“Isn’t that JinSeo over there?”

“That’s a documentary. Did JinSeo do a documentary?”

KangYoon had a look at the poster that Lee SamSoon pointed to. There was a poster that said ‘OTS SPECIAL’ with Min JinSeo’s photo on it.

Lee SamSoon spoke as she saw the poster.

“From what I remember, she did the narrations. Although it was just her voice, I heard that the viewership rose by 4%.”

KangYoon was shocked by Min JinSeo’s popularity. Although he did know that she was popular, seeing concrete numbers was a different feeling altogether.

“She’s doing well in China too. We were sent to America and JinSeo to China. MG’s intention was to aim for overseas markets like that. Though we failed miserably…..”

Lee SamSoon blurred at the end. KangYoon encouraged her.

After waiting for a moment, the assistant director brought the main producer, named Yeo WoonHyun, into the room.

“Welcome. It’s nice to meet you. Yeo WoonHyun.”

Producer Yeo WoonHyun had a tall stature and was slightly chubby. He was a little different from KangYoon who had a thin stature but had wide shoulders. He greeted them in a loud voice just like his stature and started talking about the topic.

“Miss Jennie lived in the mountains when she was young?”

This was what he focused on the most.

“Yes.”

“Where did you live?”

“It was Chungcheong-do, in a little valley called Chiram-gol.”

Hearing concrete place names, the producer asked her many other things.

‘This producer is the problem.’

KangYoon was nervous as he watched the interview between the two of them. This person kept doubting the inclusion of Lee SamSoon and insisted that they looked for other people for the job. However, the other producers and the directors pushed Lee SamSoon in.

Amidst KangYoon’s worries, Lee SamSoon was bombarded with questions.

“Wait, you can drive a tractor?”

“Yes. Although I don’t have a license, I did learn from an old gentleman at the village.”

“When was that?”

“When I was fifteen? I guess?”

“…….”

The producer was shocked. Did such a world still exist?”

“F… fine. How about a two-wheeled one?”

“I learned that when I was 13.”

“*Cough*.”

(T/N: The translation for the ‘two-wheeled tractor’ is a little vague. You can substitute rotary tiller, rototiller, rotavator, rotary hoe, rotary plow, power tiller, or cultivator(?)…)

The producer even coughed when he heard the shocking history of this girl idol.

The following questions were a little weaker – are you fine without a bed, are you fine with pit toilets, etc. They were mostly about the uncomfortable bits of country life.

“I even have experience cleaning one.”

“…….”

Jennie of Eddios turned out to be a country girl. If he did not cast someone like this, the chief producer would probably get angry at him. He was afraid of the consequences.

“F… fine. Last question. Please say a line in a dialect.”

“Dialect? Let’s see. Granma, you had yer meal, yet? You haf? Yer ain’t answering properly. Shall Ah make some porridge?”

“*Cough cough*.”

(T/N: I can’t translate dialect properly…)

Producer Yeo WoonHyun felt his heart racing. Right now, Lee SamSoon seemed straight out of a movie. She had a good accent, good looks, and even the perfect height. She had everything!

“Haha, hahahahaha!”

Whatever doubts he had about casting her was blown away right now.

‘What’s so funny?’

Lee SamSoon was confused by the sudden laugh, but KangYoon shrugged saying that it was only natural.

‘Where can you find a more perfect girl for the job?’

KangYoon was sure that this ‘Modern Farmer’ program would raise Lee SamSoon to new heights.

***