🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 22
The first day after the team was formed.
Each team split up to prepare for the performance.
So did ours.
First, Lee Juseon and Yeon Juhong disappeared, saying they were going to search the internet for concept references.
Kim Geum and I went into the company’s studio to compose.
I glanced up at the ceiling in the studio and noticed a camera installed.
PD Oh said that camera crew appearances would decrease from now on.
Instead, cameras had been installed throughout the agency, and the plan was to edit the footage into a reality show format.
The studio was one of the places with a camera.
In a way, it might seem more freeing without a cameraman around, but not at all.
It actually felt even more suffocating.
Even if it wasn’t visible, every action I took would be broadcasted.
I couldn’t let my guard down.
“Geum-ah.”
“Yes?”
“Want to go somewhere without cameras?”
Of course, not every practice room and studio had cameras installed.
There were more trainees not participating in Menuquel than those who were. They needed spaces to practice too.
“Are you… trying to hit me or something?”
“…Why would I do that?”
“If not, then let’s move. I’d prefer that too.”
So we moved to a practice room without cameras.
“This place is better. I usually come here to write songs anyway.”
“Have you written a lot of songs before?”
“Yes.”
Kim Geum opened her laptop and showed me.
“About this many.”
…Did you live off songwriting or what.
I was a singer-songwriter too, so I had written a lot of songs.
Not all of them were released, of course.
Even so, I probably made over 500 songs during the 10 years after debut.
But this kid hasn’t even debuted yet and already has hundreds?
“Not all are full songs, most are just top lines.”
“Still impressive.”
I recalled Kim Geum from my past life.
She had succeeded not only as an artist but also as a composer.
Every song she gave to other singers became a hit, and she was always high on the copyright royalty rankings.
Geniuses really are built different from the beginning.
I was impressed all over again.
“I originally wanted to use one of the songs I already made. I asked PD Oh.”
“He said no, right?”
“Yes. Absolutely not. Said it wouldn’t be fair.”
Just as expected.
Fairness aside, using pre-made songs would make for boring TV.
“We have to make it from scratch anyway. And honestly, none of my songs perfectly fit our concept.”
“Hmm…”
I nodded.
“Can I ask something?”
“You’re going to ask why I picked you, right?”
“Yeah.”
It’s good to understand the intention clearly.
Knowing what someone wants helps you give it to them.
“To be honest… I was curious.”
Kim Geum straightened her posture and looked right at me.
Right. That made sense.
A kid who showed no composing skills suddenly brought a self-composed song for her intro video.
Kim Geum, who’s obsessed with composing, would obviously be curious.
A potential rival had appeared.
“So I have a favor to ask.”
What kind of favor?
I tensed up.
Did she want to test me? Maybe see my work?
Was this a veiled attempt at checking me out or keeping me in check?
“Please save me!”
Huh?
“Please debut with me! I can’t make this team album alone!”
What?
“The agency expects me to create twelve full tracks for the regular album on my own, just because it’s Colors. Everyone just assumes all the composing members will handle it. But how am I supposed to do it all alone?”
“R-Right.”
“The seniors didn’t even do everything themselves at first! But because they expect so much from me, no one helps! The other trainees don’t even care about songwriting!”
Kim Geum was finally letting out all her bottled-up frustration.
“What am I, a song-producing machine? I’m just an 18-year-old high schooler who doesn’t want to take college entrance exams!”
“True, true…”
“I was seriously thinking of quitting or running away when you showed up!”
Uh… uh…?
“The moment I heard your song, I thought—”
What? Thought what?
“It’s done.”
What’s done?
“I’m not alone anymore.”
Kim Geum’s sharp eyes sparkled like a tiger’s.
Then she grabbed my hands.
“Even if I don’t debut, you must debut. Got it?”
“Huh?”
“Do you understand?”
“Y-Yeah… I got it…”
Why do I feel like I lost?
Satisfied with my answer, Kim Geum nodded and pointed at her monitor.
“Let’s start collaborating on the song then.”
“Mmhmm.”
“I’ll just trust you and follow your lead!”
Weren’t you the composing position?
Wasn’t I supposed to be the lyricist?
I wanted to protest, but I closed my mouth when I saw how worn-out Kim Geum looked, clearly exhausted from Colors.
It reminded me of my own early debut days.
I was the “breadwinner” of a small agency.
To the agency launching its first idol group, every penny was precious.
Director Seo didn’t have the money to buy expensive songs and cried every night, begging me to write something.
‘Nokha, I’m sorry I’m so useless… I can’t even afford to buy a song…’
Thanks to that, my composing skills improved whether I liked it or not.
…I still get neck pain thinking about those days.
Because I’d gone through something similar, I completely understood Kim Geum’s feelings.
She was becoming the team’s “breadwinner.”
“Geum-ah.”
“Yeah?”
Alright.
Since it’s come to this—
“I get how you feel. Let’s do this together to the end.”
“!”
“I’ll give it my all.”
Time to carry this hard.
“Unnie.”
“Hmm?”
“My soul is now yours.”
…That’s not necessary, though.
So, Kim Geum and I entered into an unofficial alliance.
Honestly, I had been thinking about leaning on her composition skills a bit…
But that was naive.
Instead of relying on a rookie, I should’ve been writing another song.
I remembered a song I had composed in my past life.
It was a candidate for our third comeback’s sub-title track.
It would’ve been a waste to use the title track here—especially for a mission performance.
We’d need those later after debuting too.
Even the sub-title felt a bit too good for this…
But let’s just use it.
I don’t even exist in this world anyway, so I might as well use everything I have.
Of course, if I revealed the full track immediately, people would suspect it wasn’t made during the mission.
So I played just a few lines of the chorus.
“!”
Kim Geum listened closely and her eyes lit up.
“Hold on, unnie.”
She started typing on her laptop and then played something for me.
“How about this for the next part?”
“!”
This time I was the one surprised.
It sounded even more polished and exciting than my original progression.
It was… really good.
“This is great.”
“Right? Isn’t it?”
Kim Geum asked proudly.
Even though she asked for help, she was a genius at heart.
She never intended to just sit back and let me do everything.
Two is better than one—even if one isn’t perfect, it’s still comforting to have a partner.
“Yeah. It’s really good. Let’s think about the intro together too.”
“No, unnie.”
“Huh?”
Kim Geum had a serious look on her face.
Like she was heading to war.
“From here on, I’ll handle it. We’ll collaborate after debut, but this is my assigned role. I need to do it.”
“…You sure?”
“Yes. Leave it to me.”
She was so reliable.
With a bright smile, Kim Geum gave me a thumbs-up.
Then she happily put on her headset and started placing beats.
Her focus was incredible.
I could feel how much she genuinely loved composing.
Colors… what did you do to this passionate kid?
Seeing her work so hard stirred a lot of thoughts in me.
I didn’t want to lose to her. I wanted to honor her effort too.
I revised the lyrics to match the melody as she built it.
Together, we created the song through collaboration.
Time flew by.
“Geum-ah. It’s already 3 a.m. Let’s head back and sleep.”
“Ah, no… just one more hour…”
“I get it, but brains don’t work well under fatigue. You need rest to be efficient. We’ll continue tomorrow.”
“But just a little more…”
“Sleep.”
“Okay…”
Kim Geum reluctantly shut her laptop.
“Leave it here.”
“…Whimper.”
You think I don’t know how your mind works?
I’ve been there, done that.
After taking Kim Geum home, I returned to the goshiwon.
It had been a while since I focused this much on lyrics.
At first, I planned to go with the original version I wrote.
But seeing Kim Geum improve it sparked something in me.
Some kind of pride—refusing to lose to someone so much younger.
…It was a strange but good feeling.
Living with rookies, it felt like going back to my roots.
Not bad at all.
I washed up quickly and checked my phone.
It had been almost 12 hours.
I’d been too busy to even open it once today.
But something was off.
“…12 missed calls, 39 messages?”
What the hell happened?
I quickly opened the call log.
–Yeon Juhong (12)
All missed calls were from Yeon Juhong.
Did something happen while she and Juseon were out?
Nervously, I opened the text messages.
Yeon Juhong
Unnie ㅠ
Something serious happened
Can you and Geum unnie come here?
Juseon unnie left…
She stormed off during filming… what do we do??
She’s furious, unnie. I don’t understand her at all
The other messages weren’t much different.
Skimming through them, I got the gist.
Looks like she and Juseon clashed badly while discussing the concept.
But this last message was the worst.
Yeon Juhong
Juseon unnie says she’s leaving our teamㅠ
This is bad.
