Chapter 135:
Chapter 135
Am I the only one who’s doing nothing?
Kim Joo-young yawned as he opened the door of the recording booth. Lee Joo-hyuk and Park Jin-hyuk were staring at the monitor screen with their hats pulled down.
“Aren’t you guys sleepy?”
“We’re used to this time.”
Not only them, but also Jung Se-jun and other composers preferred to record at dawn. They said it was more creative.
“Will it take long?”
“We just have to record Tae-woo hyung and do some post-production. Wait a bit.”
Lee Joo-hyuk clicked the mouse. He played the part that Kim Joo-young had just recorded.
“Which one do you think is better?”
“Well… the last one?”
The work on Lim Tae-woo’s digital single, ‘Diamond’, which featured AWY’s Jeon-won, went smoothly. The original song had a vibe of synthesizer melody and hook song that was popular back then. Since retro and disco trends were rising these days, they proceeded in a direction that preserved the original song as much as possible.
Park Jin-hyuk and Lee Joo-hyuk accepted Kim Joo-young’s opinion without a word. Kim Joo-young, who was half-lying on the sofa in the studio, sprang up.
“No, no, are you guys okay with the last one?”
“If you’re okay with it, then it’s okay. It’s your part.”
“No, but still…”
Kim Joo-young scratched his head in confusion. It all started with him recommending a song that would suit Park Seo-dam. And before he knew it, he was involved in Lee Joo-hyuk and Park Jin-hyuk’s song work and exchanging opinions.
‘I’m not that talented, am I?’
Kim Joo-young made a puzzled expression. Lee Joo-hyuk, who seemed to know what he was thinking, spun his chair and looked at Kim Joo-young’s face.
“Don’t worry. You have a good ear. It’s thanks to you that we got on the annual chart.”
“That’s because you guys did well.”
“Anyway, you participated in the work too.”
“What’s the use of having a good ear… Composing is hard.”
Although Kim Joo-young’s opinion influenced AWY’s song work, he had not started his own work yet. He was learning composition, but he had no interest or passion for it.
“Don’t think too hard.”
“Yeah. You can do whatever you find fun later.”
Lee Joo-hyuk and Park Jin-hyuk were uploading their mix tapes to a music streaming site called ‘Music Cloud’ from time to time, trying various musical experiments. They didn’t make any profit from it, but they enjoyed it.
“It seems like we’ll take a while, do you want to call Myung-jin hyung and go first?”
“No, I’ll wait.”
Kim Joo-young flopped down on the sofa. He didn’t want to bother his manager by making him come and go twice. When he was bored, he turned to his smartphone.
AWY Seo-dam makes her first appearance as MC on ‘Visible Idol Radio’… Shows amazing chemistry with A1S Chang-jo
Park Seo-dam was appearing as a fixed MC on a cable radio show with A1S’s Min Chang-jo, as well as being an MC for a music show.
AWY Hyun confirmed to appear on NNet’s ‘D-Stage’… Continues his trendy moves
Kim Hyun was appearing on NNet’s dance show. Kim Joo-young wanted to go with him too. But he didn’t get an offer.
[Star Photo] The script reading scene of ‘Hee-bin Jang’s Family’ revealed… AWY Ian-Lee Ah-reum “Breathtaking chemistry”
AWY Tae-woong confirmed to appear in a short play ‘I Alpha’… This time he’s a robot
Ian and Jo Tae-woong didn’t have much time to see each other lately because of their drama shooting. Even when they ran into each other at the dorm, they were holding scripts and focusing.
‘Am I the only one who’s doing nothing?’
Kim Joo-young bit his dry lips. He bit them so hard that he tasted blood. When the members were busy moving around, Kim Joo-young did some personal broadcasts on YApp, but that was just fan service. He didn’t have any official schedules.
‘I should do something else too…’
He had no achievements yet from his ear that Lee Joo-hyuk said was talented. Kim Joo-young still found composing hard and boring.
‘Listening and composing are different.’
Kim Joo-young felt like he would fall behind the other members if he just devoted himself to the group activities without any effort.
‘I have to do better than him.’ It wasn’t a competitive mentality, but the members were gradually building up their group and individual recognition by using their skills. He didn’t want to be left out.
‘What can I do?’
Kim Joo-young fiddled with his bitten lips.
***
“It’s been a while since we did a group variety show, right?”
“Yeah, it’s been a while.”
They had a hiatus until the release of the repackaged album, but they had some minor schedules like photo shoots and additional shootings for commercials.
“We’re going to do YApp after this.”
“As a group? That’s also been a while.”
The company’s own content and personal broadcasts on YApp were no longer optional, but mandatory.
They got off the van that took them to the broadcasting station’s underground parking lot. Everyone got out of the van, but one person was still sitting blankly on the seat. Ian tapped Kim Joo-young, who didn’t get off.
“Hey, we’re here.”
“…”
“Kim Joo-young?”
“Huh?”
“Let’s get off.”
Kim Joo-young snapped out of his daze and got out of the van. Ian frowned as he watched his back.
‘What’s wrong with him?’
[He must be in a slump or something. It’s common for you guys to go through that once in a while.]
‘Is that so…?’
After Jo Tae-woong, now it was Kim Joo-young’s turn. Ian decided to wait for him to solve it on his own.
***
Lim Tae-woo was already in the waiting room, sitting in front of the mirror and getting his makeup done. The members greeted him and his staff.
“You’re here already, hyung?”
“Yeah, you guys went to the salon?”
“Yeah, we have a lot of people.”
They each had their own staff and they had to share the waiting room, so it felt cramped.
They finished their rehearsal, which was just a simple check of their movements, and returned to the waiting room.
Lim Tae-woo asked Ian a question.
“How did it go with the senior dancers? Was it hard to hire them?”
“They’ll be here soon. It’s Seo-dam’s grandmother’s connection.”
“Really?”
“Seo-dam’s grandmother agreed to be on stage too. It’ll be fun.”
Park Seo-dam was holding her phone tightly, waiting for her grandmother’s call.
The senior dancers didn’t need any practice. Kim Myung-jin took over the busy Awi and taught them the dance, but they all showed similar rhythms of tourist bus dance.
They still had a lot of time left until the studio recording.
“Tae-woo, the fans sent you support.”
“Really?”
As they were passing the boring waiting time, Lim Tae-woo’s manager and staff came into the waiting room with a large styrofoam box.
“Wow, Tae-woo hyung’s support is just like an idol’s.”
“He’s a trot idol.”
“They have good sense.”
The members gathered around and watched Lim Tae-woo’s meal support. Lim Tae-woo’s manager called the Awi members.
“This is for you guys.”
“We have some too?”
“Of course you do.”
The members each received a box with their names printed on it. They felt strange and amazed to receive support from other fans than the ones Awi prepared for them.
“They didn’t have to worry about us…”
On the lid of the lunch box, there was a sticker that said ‘Our grandchildren, eat a lot!’
‘It’s amazing. Trot fans do this too.’
[Trot fans are usually like that. And your fans are so competitive. They fight over who gets to send support. There are many fan sites and fan site alliances.]
‘No wonder…’
The names of the fan sites on the meal support were so different that they wondered if there were such fan sites.
The manager placed the lunch boxes in a row on the table and held up his phone.
“I’ll take a proof shot before we eat.”
Park Seo-dam held up her lunch box close to her face and said,
“Please also write that we really liked it.”
“That’s right. Seo-dam has good sense. You’re a radio DJ after all.”
“Oh, stop teasing me, Tae-woong hyung.”
Lim Tae-woo’s manager took several photos and left with a satisfied expression. Lim Tae-woo’s fans were mostly middle-aged with high income, so the staff’s lunch boxes were also similar to the singer’s lunch boxes.
“We’ll enjoy our meal!”
The staff also sat down and picked up their chopsticks. Park Dong-soo, who was eating happily, suddenly got up. Park Jin-hyuk grabbed him as he was about to leave the waiting room.
“Hyung, where are you going without finishing your meal?”
“Your fans sent a coffee truck.”
“Really?”
If they couldn’t get in with lunch boxes, then it was coffee truck this time. There was no war as Jin said. Ian chewed on his wooden chopsticks.
‘I don’t think we need this anymore…’
[Just eat it when you can. You know how hard it is for nugus to get this.]
‘I know that.’
He had gone through the nugu diamond era, so he was happy and grateful for every support from the fans.
‘But if the fans feel burdened by this, I think we don’t have to do this anymore… We’re not poor anymore and we can take care of our own meals, right?’
[Don’t talk like you’re full. How often do you get this opportunity? When your popularity goes down, this will end too.]
Park Dong-soo, who had gone outside, knocked on the door of the waiting room.
“This time, our fans have prepared something for us. Everyone, please have a meal and get a drink from the coffee truck outside.”
“Wow, thanks to the fans, we’re having a feast today. We’ll enjoy it!”
The staff members said a word to Lim Tae-woo and Awi, then quickly got up and headed outside.
“Let’s eat and go outside too. We have to take pictures.”
Lee Joo-hyuk, who was saying that, stopped eating and looked at the fan support with curiosity.
***
“Before we go on stage! Tae-woo and Awi had a special story, right?”
“Yes, we did.”
“Tae-woo, how do you feel?”
“I really wanted to perform with these guys at least once, but they were so busy, so I finally got to do it.”
“You’re both busy people. That’s why you joined the same agency, right?”
Lim Tae-woo laughed.
His story of how he started trot became famous because he told it on various media outlets. Awi’s name also rose and fell with him, and his fans and the public became interested in Awi because of that drama-like story.
“How about you, Awi?”
“We have something to say because of that.”
“What is it?”
“When we finished our tour and landed at the airport, some people who looked like our grandparents suddenly said ‘You’re our benefactors?’”
Lim Tae-woo smiled awkwardly at Park Seo-dam’s words. Kim Hyun and Ian picked up the microphone.
“At first, we thought we did something wrong. You know, we get nervous when someone says something unfamiliar to us.”
“That’s right, we were like ‘Why are we benefactors? What happened while we were away from Korea?’”
The MC laughed.
“Tae-woo’s love call was amazing.”
“He likes us so much, Tae-woo hyung-nim should be honored to perform today.”
Park Jin-hyuk said jokingly, and the cast members also laughed. The MC passed the microphone to Jo Tae-woong.
“Tae-woong, how do you feel?”
“When I was young, I saw some cool guys and thought I would become an idol, but to perform with one of them… I feel very… strange.”
“Haha! That’s good. Well then, let’s watch Lim Tae-woo and Awi’s stage together, ‘Turn Back Time’!”
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