Free Web NovelMusic shows go through two stages of rehearsal.
After watching the choreography video our company sent in advance and planning how the camera directors will shoot,
the first on-site check is the dry rehearsal in street clothes with name tags.
Next, we set up costumes and makeup and run a camera rehearsal to film the stage in earnest.
Then we monitor and make any corrections; if none # Nоvеlight # are needed, we go straight to the live broadcast stage.
But PBS Music On has one unique twist.
From morning, all performers gather in the public hall for the dry rehearsal.
Every artist performing that day must do their stage in front of the audience of other singers.
Naturally, it’s terrifying.
When we did the Something and Fireworks first broadcasts, we were trembling before going on too.
Of course, now we’re used to it...
Rattle rattle rattle—
I thought an earthquake had hit but the pale face next to me was shaking its legs nonstop.
I laughed and asked,
“Rihyeok, why are you shaking your leg like that?”
“I’m not shaking.”
“What is this, Cheoyongga? Isn’t that your leg?”
“Ah, really.”
His sharp eyes became even more pointed like awls. He snapped in a triumphant voice,
“Mind your own business. I’ll shake my own leg if I want to.”
“You’re so restless.”
“That’s right. Rihyeok hyung.”
Jiho butted in.
“Why shake so much? We’re pros who’ve released our second album now. Show us that professionalism.”
“I’m cold, that’s why.”
“Rihyeok, are you cold?”
Concerned, Biju rummaged through his pocket.
“I have a hand warmer here, stick it on for a bit.”
“Hyung, you’re the best.”
Our hypochondriac grabbed the hand warmer at once.
I was about to complain, Why won’t you say I’m the best too, but there were too many eyes so I held back.
It would look so childish.
“Biju, I want a hand warmer too.”
“Here you go, hyung.”
Another hand warmer popped out immediately.
Like Doraemon.
Seeing our kid’s pockets bulging like a squirrel stuffing acorns into its cheeks made me laugh.
“Oh, the Wild sunbaenims are here. Hello!”
Every time senior singers arrived we stood up and greeted them. Each time we received warm hellos back with smiles.
Most were faces we’d seen yesterday.
From lower-year groups like Wild, Phantanis, Serenity to veterans like the top ballad singers and Sunbaenim Yeon.
There was even Misty, who had met us as a number-one nominee before and had gotten first place last week.
As the volume of greetings rose and fell like a fader according to seniority and fame,
suddenly everyone stood up like bus passengers at the final stop.
“Hello!”
“Hello. We’re Phantanis!”
Naturally, TNT followed.
All eight members bobbed their heads as they made their way up the seats.
I tried to stand and greet too, but Han Taehyeon’s radar caught my wandering glance.
“Helloo...”
“Ah ah! Don’t! Don’t do that!”
Taehyeon waved his hands, and the three people behind him did the same.
TNT’s junior line of four chorused,
“Don’t do it!”
Then they giggled among themselves.
Those brats.
While I stood there blankly and the other singers stared, our juniors gave awkward greetings—
“Ah ah! Don’t do that there either!”
They really made a boisterous entrance.
TNT immediately took seats right behind us. Taehyeon, sitting behind me, tilted his head and grinned.
“Hi.”
At that greeting I sighed and said,
“Sunbaenim, please keep personal and professional separate...”
“We’re just promoting that we’re friends. Be grateful.”
The three beside him looked at me and imitated in unison,
“Be grateful?”
“Y-yes... thank you.”
Thanks to them, everyone was staring to figure out what our relationship was. Ugh.
I could already picture other teams asking TNT to give us some space later.
Anyway. Let’s leave the greetings at that.
As I was about to check on our juniors awkwardly staring at the empty stage, Taehyeon spoke up.
“How’s everyone been?”
“H-hello.”
Taehyeon kindly chatted with our juniors.
“Camera setup is going to take a while. Let’s do a little talking about something.”
“We’re in too.”
Even Phantanis’s always-cheerful junior line joined in for a moment.
I chatted warmly with them before cutting things off at the right time.
They have so much clout they could grill pork belly here if they wanted, but we’re rookies who need to watch our step.
I grew anxious each time our chatter passed a certain decibel, fearing the busy production crew would notice.
Then a quiet voice called me.
“How have you been?”
I turned at the weighty, clear voice.
Goo Sun-ung, TNT’s rapper and leader, offered a fist bump. I laughed as I greeted him.
“Oh, hyung. Long time no see.”
“Call me sometime, man. Do people not contact you?”
“I don’t have your number, hyung.”
They burst out laughing among themselves.
Comments like ‘Goo Sun-ung’s so fake,’ ‘look at him playing politics’ floated around as laughter rippled.
The TNT leader explained defensively,
“It’s because sasaeng fans keep forcing us to change numbers.”
I exchanged hellos with their hyung line too.
Unlike the chatty juniors, those greetings were more formal.
We calmly complimented each other on how good the song was this time and congratulated each other on the album’s success.
Overall there was a difference in closeness between juniors and hyungs, but the boundary was clear here.
Four years have passed after all.
Probably because of the delicate relationship with Baek Seung-je, the green-haired member who joined right after I was cut, they were considering both sides.
Naturally. As close as we were in the past, the priority is always one’s current group.
The most important people are those sitting right next to you now, not those you’ve known for almost six years.
“Hyung.”
From my left, Jiho whispered with a sulky face.
“If you like TNT so much, why don’t you go over there?”
“....”
From my right Rihyeok grumbled. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
“When they greeted you they were all smiles. And us? We see your face every day. Is that it?”
“....”
“No matter how nice we are, it’s useless.”
That nearly shot up into my throat before I swallowed it.
No.
I should greet brightly. It’s been a while since we saw each other—can’t greet with a gloomy face and just ‘Hi.’
...Or so I thought.
I locked eyes with Biju, who was eyeing me sharply from afar.
Junghyeon, seeing that, tried to narrow his eyes in a glare and suddenly convulsed.
Tremble—
His eyes rolled back for a moment and I almost burst out laughing.
Our juniors were the same, pinching their arms or clamping their mouths shut as if in a laughter challenge.
In any case, I raised my hand and sent a sign-language apology to the glaring juniors.
‘No no’ came back.
I changed strategy.
I sent a message warning that if they kept this up there’d be no spotlight in the next song—then they immediately became polite.
At last the dry rehearsal began.
In broadcast order, artists repeatedly went on stage and off.
While the PD and directors in the front row consulted over the cue sheet about camera work, the waiting artists sat in the audience yawning or swallowing dryly.
The only ones who widened their eyes and gaped like fish with every stage were Phantanis, who debuted just a week ago.
“Oh, it’s NewBlack.”
“Wow. I really wanted to see that choreography.”
After the second-year boy group Wild bowed to the staff and stepped down, NewBlack took the stage.
All pretense gone, dozens of eyes focused on us at once.
NewBlack.
A rookie group that debuted this June and was having a successful run.
Strictly speaking we’d been active since February, but regardless of the period, our career had been unbelievably successful.
No one here didn’t know about Jusehan’s Chuseok special. Even if they hadn’t watched the broadcast, their internet feeds were plastered with the name Daegil.
There were so many memes.
At the sight of Junghyeon’s face, more than a few felt an internal spark of familiarity.
Phantanis members whispered,
“I saw it yesterday but it’s so crazy. That’s the Daegil kid we saw at Chuseok.”
“Wow...”
“He’s handsome even in person though.”
Meanwhile, older or solo-aspiring artists looked elsewhere.
They stared at the member standing all the way to the left in the formation.
Among performers with stunning visuals, leader Woo-joo really stood out.
The so-called composer-idol.
Co-composer of Something and the sole composer of Fireworks, which was rumored to crack the year-end charts.
Plus Masquerade, currently posting record-breaking scores on digital charts for an idol song.
Although they’d never met him, those taking composition lessons at each agency knew Woo-joo’s name well.
Every producing mentor whispered, ‘What is this guy?’
Rumors of composing with closed eyes, seeing colors and such.
At first it seemed like a clumsy genius concept, but once Masquerade’s performance became public, everyone fell silent.
‘I’ve got to network with him later.’
A successful composer is a precious contact everywhere.
If among idol singers someone could compose, they were a must-have network.
While everyone’s minds ran complicated calculations,
the stage began.
“Oh...”
Jiho at center launched into his expressive face and the song, and a Phantanis member let out a gasp.
Soon NewBlack members broke into dance in perfect sync.
A formation so precise yet flowing smoothly.
Then Biju slipped off to the side out of the camera’s view before soaring back to center stage, drawing whispers of awe.
“Wow... they really do that live.”
At the chorus, the line converged around Woo-joo and then expanded again, and they couldn’t help but marvel.
Watching from the audience, senior singers shared wry smiles.
“They really came prepared.”
They were good.
That was the thought in every observer’s mind.
Not a single person here hadn’t practiced ten hours a day, but this was beyond that.
How much practice would it take to master such an intense choreography at this level? It defied imagination.
A performance that could only come from dedicating an entire day to practice, every day, aside from meal times.
By the third verse, as the members struck poses around Woo-joo and Jiho delivered the song with a mysterious expression before the group dance resumed,
the ones most surprised by NewBlack’s stage were right here.
“What is this.”
TNT’s main vocalist Shin Ju-young whispered in disbelief.
“I really can’t get used to this. Since when could Sun Woo-joo dance like that?”
“He must’ve practiced a ton for four years.”
“I’ve watched him for five years...”
TNT members frowned as they watched.
They recalled his awkward trainee dances that looked like pestle banging in a mortar,
but now he was executing a smooth, supple performance.
“What happened to him.”
One TNT member mumbled, looking at Taehyeon.
“Hey, Tae. You’re closest to Woo-joo. What’s the deal?”
“I don’t really know.”
Taehyeon shrugged.
“They say he helped an old man push a cart and then suddenly got good at dancing.”
“What are they saying.”
“He said it himself. He did a good deed and after that his dancing got better.”
“Man, if that’s true, I’m touring the country volunteering starting today.”
As they puzzled over Sun Woo-joo’s dance mystery, TNT members chuckled watching the stage.
“But seeing it in person is great.” ƒrēewebnovel.com
“Yeah.”
“He used to wish to dance well for his birthday every year.”
They all nodded.
Knowing how much hardship he’d endured over dance, it was a heartwarming sight.
By Sunday’s top artist stage, the first week’s music show performances had finished successfully.
The reaction was extremely positive.
The soufflés who came to the pre-recordings and live stages screamed in joy every time they watched, and that made us happy too.
The promotions team sent us screenshots of positive comments.
[Today’s positive reaction to NewBlack comeback stage.metube]
– The more I listen, the more it slaps...
– Definitely going to be a number-one nominee next week
– I didn’t care until I saw the live stage, now I’m in love
– Their stage is so good lol
– I kept hearing their song everywhere and thought I’d roast them, but I’m impressed
– The song is good
– They’re good at everything, vocals and dance above average
I wanted to check reactions around the internet but had no time with packed radio and other schedules from week one.
We went studio to studio playing the CD for promotion.
Whenever daily chart results changed we met reporters for interviews or shot magazine pictorials.
In spare moments we read fan letters via the fan manager or took photos for SNS.
After all that we met vocal and dance teachers from late night to dawn to prepare for the upcoming awards stages.
It was the busiest few days in recent memory and felt like a preview of the hectic schedule ahead.
One day would pass in the blink of an eye.
Before I knew it, I’d be nodding off with the others in the waiting room, then I’d wake up and it’d be time for the next schedule.
Meanwhile Masquerade’s daily chart performance continued to sail steadily.
It debuted at number six on the first weekly chart and kept climbing.
Right below it at number eight was TNT’s comeback song ‘?’, and while powered by their fandom, it also had good public reception.
By digital scores they were still neck and neck.
At first articles said we held our own amid TNT’s overwhelming strength, but the nuance began to shift.
– ‘Monster rookie’ NewBlack vs ‘trend group’ TNT set to clash
– Rookie group’s power shown five months after debut
– Rookie ‘NewBlack’s’ unexpected wave on digital charts ‘Will they get number one?’
Most portrayed it like David vs Goliath, but it was definitely turning into a rivalry.
That’s why lately we avoided the internet and our SNS even more.
I heard from Deputy Hong that TNT’s fandom, furious at being compared to a rookie group and claiming TNT was past its prime, attacked us with mocking comments.
They said don’t worry; the company has prepped against malicious rumors and hateful comments.
So after the first week passed and Monday came—
After recording Global K-Pop and leaving the Seocho-dong studio, Mingi hyung called us with a bright face.
“Guys! I have good news.”
My heart pounded, thinking I knew what it was.
“What is it?”
“They fixed you as number-one nominees on this week’s music shows.”
“Ooh...!”
Our hearts raced so fast we practically asked in unison,
“Where? Which music shows?”
“All of them.”
Our racing hearts froze cold.
“...What?”
Our manager repeated to confirm as we stared wide-eyed.
“They said you’re fixed as number-one nominees. All six shows.”
