Free Web NovelWhen we looked up with our eyes wide, Cha Woo-hyun asked
“Are you guys interested in OSTs by any chance?”
“Yes?”
“OST, you know, the background music that plays in dramas.”
No, I know that....
We were flustered at such a sudden question from a senior artist, so he explained
“I’m doing an OST for a PBS drama this time, and the music director asked me to recommend a singer. If you don’t mind, I was thinking of recommending New Black. What do you think?”
“...Us?”
We all stared at each other blankly.
“What the heck”
“For us?”
“Why...?”
Cha Woo-hyun is known as an A-list singer in the drama OST world.
That mattered.
Singers like him choose their OST projects carefully.
They look at the music director lineup. They read the synopsis.
They only join OSTs of dramas that company executives think have potential.
In other words, his offer was “Would you like to participate in the OST of a drama set to succeed?”
Of course...
“Yes, we’d love to.”
We sent him eager looks as if to say we’d do anything, and Cha Woo-hyun nodded.
“All right, then I’ll...”
“Um, senior.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
I spoke cautiously to the senior artist who was saying go ahead and speak.
“We really want to, but it’s hard for us to decide on our own. Could we talk with our company people first?”
We wanted it five-hundred percent.
Getting a spot on the OST album of a drama featuring Cha Woo-hyun was a great opportunity.
But any venture could involve complex interests or behind-the-scenes matters we didn’t know about.
It would be reckless to say “Yes” without fully understanding the situation.
“Oh, right. That’s correct.”
Cha Woo-hyun agreed readily, saying he didn’t bother much with non-musical matters, then called his manager. freёwebnovel.com
On our side, Mingi hyung and Wonseok hyung arrived, and they began talking.
While the managers discussed business, Bi-joo asked
“By the way... why did you choose to recommend us, senior?”
“Because you’re good.”
He looked surprised, as if “Isn’t it obvious you guys are good?”
“They asked me to recommend a talented young singer.”
“Oh......”
“If you want specifics.”
Without further ado, the senior artist pointed to each of us and said
“The five of you have great vocal balance. Your lead vocal has a wide range and solid technique. Your sub-vocals capture emotion well. Your rap doesn’t stick out awkwardly—it has great rhythm. And as dancers, you command attention with your voices.”
They were embarrassing compliments, but delivered in a robotically objective tone.
Each compliment made our cheeks burn.
“I like it”
“So good. Sweet. The best”
“I love compliments......”
We stifled faces that felt like they would rise to the ceiling.
Finally, a strong finger pointed at a pale face.
“Isn’t Ri-hyuk one of the best at his age? I haven’t seen a nineteen-year-old who sings better than you.”
“Uh... th-thank you.”
Our kid twisted his body at praise from a respected singer.
His pointed chin to his forehead turned red like tomato juice rising in a glass bottle.
We all swallowed our smiles.
“Well done, then.”
After the managers finished talking, Cha Woo-hyun waved his hand and left.
Mingi hyung, who had turned back to us, asked
“...Did you like the compliments that much?”
“No.”
“Then why are you shrugging your shoulders like that?”
We glanced at each other and then each gave an “ahem” face and shrugged, and laughed.
As we walked down the bustling corridor, Ji-ho rubbed his stomach.
“Ah, I’m hungry. What should we have for late-night snack? To celebrate Lunar New Year, tteokbokki and soondae?”
“How about chicken?”
“We had chicken last time. I felt so bloated after eating it because you guys said it’d be fine.”
With our chicken-boy maknae chanting “No chicken,” we were pondering what to eat in celebration after the competition.
We ran into the Jo Yuri Band coming out of the waiting room.
The moment our gazes collided, leader Jo Yuri’s eyes dripped disdain.
The other band members looked similar.
I smiled brightly and greeted
“Hello.”
“...Hi.”
They chewed the word “hi” like it was tasteless, then moved on.
They seemed even more fired up by our perfectly polite response.
From behind, we heard Jo Yuri mutter at a distance
“...Nothing ever works out for them.”
Jung-hyun shrugged and asked
“You seem more down than usual. Hey... oh, that rhymes. ‘Downer,’ yeah.”
We laughed as we watched our maknae turn on his phone and take notes.
Everyone can have off days.
Last time, the feedback was that our arrangement lost the original’s color, so this time we kept the original intact but the judges criticized us for “lacking the singer’s own color.”
As a band famed for songwriting and skill, it’s natural to be sensitive about those critiques.
Plus they even stole a camera that was originally theirs.
But we weren’t sure why they were reacting so sensitively until
“It’s because of Cha Woo-hyun.”
Before leaving the station, Mingi hyung whispered
“I heard from other managers that the Jo Yuri Band has been trying hard to get into OST work through connections for a long time.”
“Oh....”
So the reason they were so arrogant to other singers but overly nice to Cha Woo-hyun at first meeting was clear. freewebnovёl.ƈom
Now we knew the backstory.
“Well, that’s enough about that... let’s go.”
Mingi hyung, looking determined as if ready for any storm ahead, pushed open the glass door of the public hall.
Just like in Round 1, fans waiting outside caught our eyes.
“Hello!”
We headed out, greeting the fans.
We weren’t the only ones whose names became known through Master Song Discovery Team.
Faces once flushed with embarrassment at people staring now broke into smiles.
“It’s Lisa-joa’s manager!”
“Manager! We watched the broadcast!”
“Lisa-joa!”
Just our fans.
We and Wonseok hyung laughed as we watched our manager, holding car keys, almost break into a run.
Lunar New Year holiday.
In this year’s February calendar, the days marked red were Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
If you added Saturday, it became a five-day break, earning the term “golden holiday” even before it began. Take leave Monday and Tuesday, and you could rest for nine days.
But not for us.
We had PBS Master Song Discovery Team recordings the day before and after the holiday.
The station doesn’t recognize holidays.
Once the recording schedule is fixed, it remains unless something extraordinary happens.
Yesterday we filmed Round 2, and tomorrow—Friday—we’d record the Round 3 song draw.
Though we longed to go down to Gunsan for the holiday, our company-granted leave was only for the weekend.
We could only console our longing by video-calling our Granny Deok-soon.
“Grandma, I miss you.”
-Oh, really
“I was in the competition yesterday and the audience...”
I spoke excitedly, but in the video call, Grandma just listened with a sullen expression.
In the end, I complained.
“Hey, Deok-soon. I’m talking here.”
-Stop it!
Grandma shouted.
-You think you’re not annoying? You’ve been talking about yourself all morning.
“I have a lot to say, Grandma.”
-Saturday. Wait till Saturday and talk.
“That’s later. I have things I want to say now too. Why don’t you understand my feelings, Grandma?”
-Oh dear! This video call...
Grandma thumped her chest in annoyance, and I said seriously
“I’ll bring you another fur coat this time.”
-...A fur coat?
“A designer one.”
-Ooh, really. What do you want to tell your grandson?
My siblings nearby giggled at Deok-soon’s capitalism-born attitude.
But as I continued to press “listen to me,” I soon had to stop.
“Ah, where are you going!”
-Feeding the cat. Bye!
“Wow...”
I watched the call drop and felt hurt.
To be dumped over cat food.
When I actually go down, I’ll have to have a serious talk with that butterfly.
“Why read a cat’s mind, hyung?”
“You know the maxim: know yourself and know your enemy, and you’ll win every battle. Jung-hyun. You can only win if you understand your opponent.”
“Oh... can I read one too?”
“Here you go.”
I handed him a cat-raising book, and Jung-hyun started reading.
As the two of them read the cat book eagerly, Ri-hyuk, twisting a cube puzzle by the sofa, clicked his tongue.
“Magpie, magpie, Lunar New Year~~”
Meanwhile, our maknae sitting on the veranda was gazing out the window and singing a sad song.
“...What’s wrong with him?”
“Why are you asking me?”
Ri-hyuk replied immediately
“He says he’s frustrated he can’t go out.”
As the only extrovert on the team, he must feel cooped up staying inside for the holiday.
Sure enough, the apartment parking lot on the first floor was empty. Turn on any TV, and all you see are people in hanbok. It must feel stifling for him.
“I want to go home!”
When Ji-ho mimicked a meow from the veranda, dogs barked happily from another balcony.
“....”
Our maknae sheepishly pretended nothing happened.
He then flopped on the veranda floor to play phone games, rolling left and right.
He blasted music and rapped a self-written harsh-world anthem: “Everyone in this world is bad, bad, they’re all playing but me.”
He took nearly five hundred selfies.
He called his friends saying, “I’m with hyungs...” pretending to be a princess trapped in a tower.
“He must be really bored.”
“Let him be.”
Ri-hyuk glanced at the perfectly solved cube, handed it to Jung-hyun, who promptly messed it up again.
A dull morning air permeated the dorm.
They all looked incredibly bored.
The company had ordered them to rest today—no work talk, nothing—but they weren’t used to resting and didn’t know what to do.
Just lie down and rest?
After skimming the cat book, I flipped through TV channels.
Only similar holiday programs appeared.
“Nothing to watch.”
“When was the last time we watched TV, hyung? Apart from our own show.”
“I wonder when that was.”
Jung-hyun and I chatted while flipping channels.
Our appearance on TBC’s “Dollympics” was scheduled to air tonight, and we planned to meet Bi-joo and Ji-ho’s parents in Seoul for dinner then.
But until then, we had nothing to do......
“What should we do. Should I teach you composition?”
“I wonder....”
“Did you hear what I said, hyung?”
“It sounded like something I didn’t want to hear, so I didn’t hear it.”
“I see. Good.”
After pondering, I noticed Bi-joo preparing something in the kitchen.
We all nodded immediately.
“That’s it.”
“That’s right.”
Lunar New Year’s Day.
A cinema in Yongsan District.
“Excuse me!”
Yoon Seok-hwan carried a box full of popcorn, butter-grilled squid, and colas, weaving through the crowd.
People who’d come to watch a movie for the New Year filled the lobby.
“Wow, so many people.”
He rubbed his sore shoulders and looked for his family. His parents and younger sister, looking frazzled, spotted him and asked
“We need to go in now. Do we have our tickets?”
“Just a moment.”
He rummaged through his pocket and pulled out the tickets.
With snacks in hand, he and his family joined the ticket-checking line.
“This is nice.”
Despite the chaos, a smile never left Yoon Seok-hwan’s face. How long had it been since he spent time with family like this?
He and the road managers had agreed last night to not contact each other unless there was a dating rumor about the kids.
“Today, no work thoughts.”
Since Lemon Entertainment’s actors always appeared in domestic films, he’d chosen a foreign spy movie on purpose.
Just as he wore a satisfied smile,
“Huh? Seok-hwan, aren’t those the kids you’re in charge of?”
“Oh, you’re right.”
In the distance, a Lunar New Year ginseng event banner appeared.
New Black, dressed in hanbok on a panel, smiled brightly, saying “Happy New Year!”
“...”
He flinched.
Looking at Woo-joo’s smile, he almost heard a phantom voice saying “Hyung... work now...? work....”
He shook his head to dispel it.
His °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° parents, oblivious to his inner turmoil, beamed and said
“They don’t seem like typical kids today and look so well-mannered. Do they always behave like that? Polite to elders?”
“The one in the middle is Woo-joo, right? The kid you’ve managed since the old company. On the show, he spoke so articulately. I think Jung-hyun’s the most handsome though......”
Yoon Seok-hwan felt the public resonance of Master Song Discovery Team.
Especially among older viewers.
Although only one episode had aired, it was amazing that parents, who usually had zero interest in idols, were now curious about New Black.
Previously, they’d just ask “Are you taking good care of the kids?” as a formality.
This was the first time they asked personal questions about the members.
Of course, they might feel familiarity since he talks about New Black often, but if the show continued, regular people would likely react similarly.
“Our kids are making their names known.”
His sister, a private academy instructor, chimed in
“I have many students who are New Black fans. They’ve stood out since last winter.”
“Oh really. Are New Black kids popular among students?”
After a few more weeks of broadcasting, his mother would probably call them “our New Black.”
“Ha-ha, those kids are climbing up in the world.”
Even his father looked unknowingly pleased.
As they talked about New Black, Yoon Seok-hwan felt rain falling in his chest.
“No more work talk......”
Then his phone vibrated briefly.
An SNS app notification said someone he followed had started a live broadcast.
The only one he followed must be New Black.
With curiosity, he pressed and saw New Black grinning on the screen.
“Hi, Souffles!”
They were gathered on a newspaper-covered living room floor with ingredients for making jeon on plates.
Missing live streams with fans, New Black began chatting.
“We’re taking a break, so we want to rest with you all.”
Yoon Seok-hwan couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.
“Guys.”
Tears welled in his heart.
“Please rest.......”
The special Lunar New Year live with Souffles ended successfully.
While making jeon, they sang requested songs.
They listened to students’ stories and gave advice.
They played penalty games and had a great time.
“Let’s eat!”
In the evening, we met at a barbecue restaurant with Ji-ho’s and Bi-joo’s families.
The mood was continuously joyful.
Min-jun said he’d start school this year, eyes sparkling, and asked us to promote our historical exploration show when he did.
“If anyone bothers you or picks on you, tell us right away. We’ll send Jung-hyun over.”
“Yes.”
Meanwhile, the adults, interested in Master Song Discovery Team, asked about the broadcast including Round 1.
“Woo-joo, did you really get drunk on non-alcohol?”
“What’s Noh Jae-hyun like in person? Does he get angry like on TV?”
“I don’t know why, but I don’t like that Jo Yuri or whatever. Her gaze when she looked at you was off. She seems unlikeable.”
As they talked, Ji-ho’s older sister pointed
“Oh, there they are, there they are.”
On the barbecue restaurant TV, we were on screen.
It showed the first preliminary where TNT, the favorite to win this year, faced us.
When I went on as the first performer, the families at the restaurant glanced at me, then back at the screen.
The archery range appeared in a full shot.
“Wow, that distance is farther than I thought.”
“Woo-joo, what score did you get there? Did you hit 10 points? Haha!”
“Well, the thing is......”
As Ji-ho’s father teased with a laugh,
“10 points! It’s 10 points!”
“They smashed the camera lens!”
