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Chapter 20
Prove Rookies @PRookies_official · Dec 19
Our semester is over~~ >.< !!
Dobby… I mean, college students are free!
See you even more often😘
#수아 #SUA #지온 #JION
#ProveRookies
(2 selfies of Sua and Jion together wearing Seojeong Arts varsity jackets)
Question.
Can a college student/producer/(soon-to-be) idol rest just because the semester’s over?
The answer: no.
With debut right around the corner, there was a mountain of work piled up.
<Awesome>, which would be the track on the debut single, had been finalized in a brighter, more playful tone than the first demo I’d made.
We were still practicing with the demo I sang, but we were also splitting up parts and practicing live singing.
The choreography was also looking better than I’d imagined.
Ko Hyunseo had taken the bait on my provocation and started making it, and Hyun Jaei had joined in saying it looked fun, and the result was better than I expected.
“Here you need to kick out a little more like this, da-da-dan, swoosh—, okay? But unnie, right now you go da-da-dan and then just flop. Your steps are coming out fine, so don’t tense your whole torso. Think of pushing with your shoulder and try again.”
“…Am I that bad?”
“I exaggerated a bit.”
The difficulty was brutal to begin with, so keeping up was agony for me, but since I was the one who’d dumped the choreography on her, all I could do was shut up and follow along.
When Ko Hyunseo shrugged with a “so what?” look, I got a little annoyed, but, well, it really was hellishly hard…
Even so, handing the title track’s choreography entirely to these kids seemed like too much pressure, so I asked the company to find a separate performance director.
Isn’t there a saying that this industry runs entirely on connections? Team Lead Lee Subin’s dense network shone, and we got to meet a young, capable performance director.
Long live Team Lead Subin.
Whenever I’m lost in worry over how to handle something, “Oh, while you were worrying, Team Lead Lee Subin somehow took care of it!” and the problem disappears. She’s amazing at both judgment and getting things done.
So, what remained was:
“It’s not bad, but… pay attention to how you handle the ending note here and try once more.”
“Yes……”
The final recording.
Even if we tried to finish today, we’d probably have to call each of them back individually for more recording during mixing.
That’s how hard and tight a job it is to pull out a result you’re happy with.
Where Music Prove shows it’s an artist label is that its music equipment is well set up.
The recording booth right next to my studio, fully set up for real album recording, was a good example.
“Too fast, this part. Redo it on the beat.”
“Hmm, not bad. Emphasize the rhythm a little more and go again.”
“That pitch just went off. Again~”
How many times had I said “again” just today… The fact that half the group, including me, was still left was truly horrifying.
I rolled my stiff neck lightly.
“Want to rest for thirty minutes and then go again? I’m a little tired…”
After asking the members’ agreement, I went back to my studio and threw myself into the chair.
Wow… Recording is tiring for both the director and the singer, sure, but my head hurt even more than usual today. Probably because these kids were raw rookies who’d never recorded before?
Like in my memories from before the regression, Joo Hyerin took feedback quickly. So I’d had her record first today, but she got more and more tearful as it went on.
“What, are you frustrated because it’s not coming together?”
“……Yes.”
“Then let’s rest and come back in after Hyunseo. When you’re rushed it only gets worse. What do you think?”
“I’m sorry……”
“Hm? No, there’s nothing to apologize for… And you passed on the earlier chorus after only a few takes. That was good.”
When recording wouldn’t go her way, her spirits kept sinking. Even though she’d sung the first chorus take perfectly well.
Joo Hyerin, who even took regular lessons with me (though lately the frequency had dropped because I was busy), kept watching my face through the whole recording. What on earth was the problem…
Meanwhile, Kim Yunju, who was handling assorted support at the recording site and filming for the self-produced content, marveled inwardly.
Is Jion-ssi really twenty… Her directing is on a master level.
The mood wasn’t bad enough to be unusable for the content, and she hadn’t gotten angry in any particular way, yet every member who went into the booth came out completely drained.
Probably because Seo Jion’s standards were high. Earlier too, a part that sounded plenty good to Yunju had been kept as a backup with a “let’s just try once more.”
And…
Was Jion-ssi’s impression always this sharp?
Scary. Quite scary, in fact!
She always walked around with a faint smile, so it was something Yunju hadn’t really noticed.
Even though her eyes were sharp and her whole aura was that of a cold beauty, Yunju had thought she gave a rather amiable impression, but when Jion focused on work and didn’t manage her expression, it looked as if she were angry.
(Of course, she wasn’t angry.)
“I was totally, completely terrified in the recording booth……”
“Me too! When Jion unnie said to rest and then redo it, it was kind of…”
“Like ‘This isn’t working, get out.’ That feeling…”
“Yeah, yeah! Exactly! Like, I know unnie definitely didn’t mean it that way, but I just felt so pressured on my own?”
Hyun Jaei and Joo Hyerin, sprawled on the sofa at the back of the recording room sharing their booth reviews in real time, seemed to be thinking along the same lines.
Even Ko Hyunseo, calmer than the two of them, seemed to partly agree.
“But weren’t you tired, Hyunseo unnie? Jion unnie even said she was being deliberately picky on that part of yours.”
“The feedback comes right away, so it’s easy to get a feel for it. It was tiring, though…”
“……Big capital T energy!”
“I’m curious about Jion unnie’s MBTI.”
“She’d be 200% T too. Seriously, seriously!”
Hyerin agreed with the whining of Hyun Jaei, a capital-F ENFJ, while Ko Hyunseo wore the look of someone who couldn’t tell what the problem was.
“But actually… when I record, I can’t look Jion unnie in the eyes. I’m scared……”
“Aaah, me too!”
“…Me too, a little…”
“Why? Even if Jion’s a bit strict, she’s not a scary person……?”
“Kind of… I know that, but my eyes automatically drop.”
“I realized that unnie normally looks at us with really tender eyes.”
Kang Sua, who hadn’t yet experienced Seo Jion’s directing, tilted her head. Never mind Hyerin and Jaei, even the usually unruffled Ko Hyunseo was saying this, which seemed to pique her curiosity.
“I kind of have my own rules, and one of them is ‘Don’t talk to Jion unnie when she has no expression, it’s scary…’ But! During today’s recording she’s had that face the whole time!”
When Kang Sua failed to hold back her laughter at the full-on fuss she was making, Hyun Jaei snapped at her, asking what was so funny.
You’ll understand when it’s your turn, unnie, and Do you think I’ll go easy on you because we’re friends?…
Kang Sua, who bickered with the grumbling Hyun Jaei for a good while, did not yet know her own future fate.
“……Sua.”
“……Huh?”
“Let’s focus. I’m seriously getting tired.”
Hey, my friend, my colleague, my genius-artist friend! You were so gentle when you were looking after Hanbyul…
She never imagined her friend’s dry, chilly gaze, as she roughly rubbed the corner of her eye, could be this scary!
“Did you make something and bring it, or are you singing off the guide?”
“Um… I made something, but I don’t think it’s quite right…”
“Then even if you’re not confident, go with what you made. Right now you’re not copying the guide, and it doesn’t sound like you’re trying to express anything, so it sounds really ambiguous.”
“Yes……”
“You’re a major, so you have to do better than the kids. Pitch and details can be sloppy for now, just sing roughly what you made. At least let me hear what feeling you made it with. Got it?”
“Yes, ma’am……”
What had been the problem? Her friend’s patience, used up long ago while watching the directing of the dongsaengs in front of her?
Or her first take, sung without focus because she was watching her friend’s face…?
Kang Sua remembered being scolded by her lesson teacher while preparing for the Seojeong Arts entrance exam.
…Somehow she started to feel like she’d gone back to her senior year of high school!
“Hyunseo, wait a second, can you look at this once? Am I a bit late here?”
“You weren’t late, unnie, Jaei dropped a step. So I think you pulled your foot back a bit early.”
“Ah, right? I got a little confused… Everyone! Let’s match it one more time and then go eat.”
“Can’t we just eat now and match it later?!”
“Jaei, you dropped one of the last steps in the take we just did. The me you taught is—”
“Aaack, fine! One last time, I mean it, and then we go eat!”
Before my nagging could get any longer, Hyun Jaei cut off the conversation first and jumped up from her seat.
It was late December, a day before the <Awesome> performance video shoot, with heavy white snow pouring down.
Even though darkness had already settled in, the members and I snapped to attention and began the final performance check in case anything was off.
We had studio rental hours too, so I wanted to get everything matched today as much as possible.
A timed studio shoot means you have to split things down to the second from the moment you walk in and use time efficiently.
“We won’t have much time to match things once we’re at the studio, so we should do a lot now. And practicing late into the night today isn’t great either. Isn’t that right?”
“You only ever say things that are right, so we can’t even complain…”
“Why, do you want to complain?”
“Yes! Totally!! You’re the weakest in stamina among us, how can you not be exhausted? I’m completely wrecked?!”
“I’m tired too. And I think the weakest in stamina isn’t me anymore, it’s Kang Sua.”
“Wow, so mean. Even so, I’m still better than Seo Jion?!”
Kang Sua, who’d been lying on the practice room floor, bolted upright at the sound of her name and launched a protest of injustice, but it didn’t do much good.
Who was it that made dying sounds on the hill on the way to school? At least I don’t struggle on such a shallow hill.
Just then, a ringtone began to sound from among the phones gathered in a corner.
“Ah, is that Hyunseo unnie’s phone ringtone?”
“That’s mine. I’ll go take a call for a moment, it’s my mom.”
Ko Hyunseo checked her phone and spoke as if asking my consent. I nodded in reply and lightly tidied up the practice room.
When Hyunseo comes back, we’ll match one last time and then go eat. They’re already young kids, so I should feed them well.
What I didn’t expect was that Ko Hyunseo wouldn’t come back even after some time had passed.
The customer you are calling is on another call, please leave a message after the beep—
I called, but Ko Hyunseo’s phone still ended with the “on another call” message and went to voicemail.
She usually wraps things up and comes right back. Is something wrong?
“Everyone, I’m going to go look for Hyunseo for a bit. Don’t go anywhere, stay here.”
I left the practice room and first headed for the stairs.
A stairwell landing is a perfect place to take an urgent call for a moment. When I had urgent calls, I often went to the stairs too.
Sure enough, I saw Ko Hyunseo half a flight down.
Before I could say anything, Ko Hyunseo spotted me and looked at me with startled eyes. I hadn’t even said anything…
“Is something wrong? You were gone a while.”
“Um, unnie… It’s, um……”
The voice reaching my ears was trembling. It was completely different from earlier, when she’d said calmly that she’d be right back.
“Calm down, breathe properly first. It’s fine to explain slowly.”
I went down the stairs and firmly grabbed her free hand, the one not holding the phone. Sure enough, her faintly shaking hand had gone cold.
Ah… Something has happened. What do I do?
“…There was an accident on the snowy road… My dad’s on an overseas business trip right now, so the call came to me…”
“You said your mom called earlier. Is it a car accident call?”
“Yes……”
From the other end of Ko Hyunseo’s phone came a faint voice looking for her.
Since it called her “noona,” it had to be her younger brother, and since the call hadn’t wrapped up, it seemed both sides were shaken and didn’t know what to do.
“Give me the phone. Your brother?”
“Huh? Yes, that’s right, my younger brother…”
“Your head isn’t working right now, is it.”
“……”
“Give it here. Once I hear which hospital it is, go upstairs, put on your coat, and get ready to take a taxi right away.”
When I pushed her on the back, Ko Hyunseo obediently handed over the phone and went up the stairs.
At times like this someone needs to look after you. You’ll be completely out of it.
‘And right around then, there was an accident with my family… Thankfully it wasn’t a huge accident or anything, but my mom and my youngest brother were hurt a bit and hospitalized. So, kind of naturally.’
Ah… I remembered.
What I’d heard in the previous timeline when I asked Ko Hyunseo why she quit.
How she’d said, calmly, that just when she was thinking it was about time to live realistically, an accident happened to her family, and she used that as a not-quite-excuse to leave the company.
I remembered the voice of Ko Hyunseo who lived in reality, not the half-baked pretend adult she was now, but one who had truly become an adult.
I quickly finished the call with Ko Hyunseo’s brother, went back to the practice room, and pressed the phone into Ko Hyunseo’s hand.
I told the other startled kids to head straight back to the dorm and quickly called a taxi on my own phone.
“Let’s go, I called a taxi. I’ll contact Team Lead.”
Right… I had gotten it wrong, and badly.
Based on what I’d heard before, I had thought she’d be suitable leader material, and after actually living together I’d thought it would be fine to make her leader.
Ko Hyunseo said nothing the whole way in the taxi to Ilsan. I couldn’t figure out what to say either, so I simply chose silence.
It’s always like this, you only feel it once it actually hits you. That this kid is still just a child.
Even though by mental age she’s far younger than me, it’s funny that I only realized it now.
Team Lead, this is Seo Jion. –
I was in the company practice room when word came that Hyunseo’s family was in a car accident, so the other members are staying at the dorm and I’m taking a taxi with Hyunseo to ○○ Hospital in Ilsan.
The situation is a bit urgent so I’m contacting you as I move. I’ll text you again as soon as we arrive!
After leaving that message for Team Lead Lee Subin, I thought the whole way in the taxi to Ilsan.
I should never think of dumping the leader position on this kid.
Dumping a position on someone because she’s experienced and more mature than her peers, when I don’t know what burdens might fall on her… I really can’t do that.
