Chapter 57:
Chapter 57
They all knew the drill.
After staying up all night without missing a single member, they woke up at dawn and lay down on my bed, exhausted.
They slept until noon, had a delivery food party, and then went back to sleep.
Their one-day sweet vacation was over, and Awi went to the company.
“Did you have fun at the events?”
“Wow, manager, we almost died. You know we’re giving you our bonus, right?”
“Did you get a bonus… Don’t tell me you’re going to make us work all night again?”
Park Jumin and Jo Taewoong chuckled. When did they become friends?
“Bluemix sent us a demo. Do you want to listen?”
“Oh.”
Park Jumin played the music. It was a song they had received in advance to set the concept.
“What? Is this a demo?”
“Isn’t this already a finished song?”
“This is awesome, right? Bluemix… Is he a rookie?”
The members flattered him.
We’re going to meet Bluemix next week and work with him.
Besides Park Jinhyuk and Lee Juhyuk, who will be working with him, the other members agreed to write lyrics. It was an album produced by Bluemix himself, so it was a benefit to get even one copyright.
“Choi Ian lived in America, but he writes lyrics better than me.”
“No cheating.”
They were writing lyrics during the concept meeting. Lee Juhyuk clicked his pen and got up.
“I’m going to the composing room. I need to play with the MIDI a bit. I think something will come out.”
He stretched his upper body and left the meeting room.
The members who watched him leave closed the door and whispered to each other.
“Did you see his expression? Is he waiting for us to notice?”
“Is he that kind of person? But, he doesn’t seem to know anything, right?”
“Why isn’t Jinhyuk here?”
Just then, the door opened with a bang.
“Ah, you scared me. Hyung! What? Why are you empty-handed?”
“Where’s the cake?”
Kim Hyun asked Park Jinhyuk, who shook his head.
“What? Why didn’t you buy it?”
“I didn’t think I needed to.”
“Why?”
“There were some staff outside carrying something that came by quick service. There was a cake there too, right?”
At Park Jinhyuk’s words, Kim Hyun and Park Seodam went to the door and looked down the hallway.
“Huh! It looks like a support, hyung.”
“Wow, crazy, isn’t that a luxury shopping bag? The brand that Ian’s mom gave him as a gift?”
The remaining members headed for the door.
The six of them huddled together and observed the situation across the hall.
“Wow, crazy, they keep coming out?”
“I’m jealous of Juhyuk.”
They must have thought they were watching secretly, but they met eyes with Park Dongsoo, who was carrying the support items.
The six of them went back into the meeting room.
“Is this the time for us to write lyrics?”
“Let’s ask Dongsoo hyung to take out the cake.”
The person himself didn’t seem to notice because of his busy event schedule, but today, August 4th, was Lee Juhyuk’s birthday.
It was strange that Awi’s members’ birthdays were clustered in summer and fall, but Lee Juhyuk’s birthday was the first one they celebrated after their debut as a group.
“Are you all ready for the surprise?”
Following Park Jinhyuk’s words, the six troublemakers nodded their heads secretly.
“Where’s the frog here?”
***
Lee Juhyuk came out of the meeting room and leaned back on the chair in the composing room.
The paper he brought from the meeting room was blank.
He had just listened to Bluemix’s demo song and his head was spinning.
‘It’s hard…’
Originally, Black Rush’s Jeong Sejun was in charge of Awi’s producing. But Black Rush was slowly approaching their contract renewal season, so the company had their eyes on Lee Juhyuk as the next producing member.
‘What if I do this here…?’
He was happy enough to have his song on the album until his debut, but now he felt more and more insecure.
He didn’t count Jujak as his own work.
It was partly because of the program effect, and partly because of Park Jinhyuk’s rap skills that made it number one.
‘Jujak was the most popular at the events too… Should I clone Jujak? No… That’s not it.’
Even though his song became Awi’s digital single in June, it briefly sparkled in the entry ranking and then was swept away.
Wouldn’t it have stayed in the ranking if the song was good?
‘What’s the point… The next album is Bluemix’s…’
Lee Juhyuk lifted his hand to the keyboard and then dropped it with a sigh.
He couldn’t drink a bowl of soup at once, but he felt more pressure and greed at the same time.
“Still, I have to do it…”
Lee Juhyuk sighed.
It was convenient for the company to have a member who was in charge of producing, but it was quite awkward for the members.
The producing member had to bear the pressure of making a hit song and the controversy over part distribution.
“Okay! Let’s start.”
Lee Juhyuk tried to gather his mind and raised his hand to the keyboard again.
Suddenly, all the lights in the composing room went out and the computer turned off.
“What?”
Fortunately, he hadn’t started working yet, so he didn’t lose any files.
Suddenly, the door of the composing room opened and masked men rushed in and grabbed Lee Juhyuk’s arms.
“What?! What is this!”
The thugs put a black plastic bag over Lee Juhyuk’s head and dragged him out. Someone couldn’t hold back their laughter and made a deflating sound.
“This is Park Jinhyuk!”
Kim Hyun gave Park Jinhyuk a hint.
Park Jinhyuk switched with Ian, who grabbed Lee Juhyuk’s right arm.
“Guys… It’s not fun if you do this!”
We decide what’s fun or not, hyung. Ian walked with the members to the dance practice room.
“What? Where is this? Is this the dance practice room?”
The members sat Lee Juhyuk down in the middle of the practice room, and Park Seodam pressed his shoulders so he couldn’t get up.
[You’re quick to notice?]
‘Enough, where’s the cake?’
[There.]
Ian went to where Jin pointed and lit the candles on the cake.
Even in the dark, he found and lit the candles well, and Kim Juyoung and Kim Hyun gave him a thumbs up.
Park Seodam lifted up the black bag on Lee Juhyuk’s head.
“Guys, stop joking… Huh?”
“Happy birthday to you~”
In front of Lee Juhyuk’s eyes, there was a cake with candles on it.
“Happy birthday to you~”
“My beloved Juhyuk hyung~”
“Happy birthday!”
The members shouted and clapped. Jo taewoong took out a phone for Y-app and recorded the scene on video.
“Wait, today was my birthday?”
“No! What if you didn’t know!”
“Quick, blow out the candles, my arm hurts!”
Juhyuk blew out the candles with a bewildered expression. Just then, the lights in the practice room turned on.
HAPPY JU HYUK DAY
“Huh? What’s this? Wow…”
A banner prepared by the fans was hung on the mirror, and the support items sent by the fans for Juhyuk’s birthday were neatly arranged on the floor.
“Hyung, actually this cake was also from the fans.”
“Wow…”
Juhyuk couldn’t finish his words with a touched expression.
The members grinned and smiled when they saw his face.
“Who turned on the lights? It was Jo taewoong, right?”
“Ack! I’m sorry!”
Park Dongsoo burst into the dance practice room and ran towards Jo taewoong to hit his back.
Jo taewoong quickly turned off the video he was recording and dodged Park Dongsoo.
***
“Wow, this is expensive, isn’t it?”
To prevent any weird items, Juhyuk’s birthday present opening was supervised by an agency staff.
All the members participated as well.
There were so many gifts and they were all curious about what he got.
“There are a lot of music-related things.”
“Wow, a launchpad!”
The members only tore the wrapping of the gifts and handed them to Juhyuk.
The gift wrapping was a large box with pastel-toned paper and ribbon, and fresh flowers were beautifully decorated.
[I think it would be better to give one more gift instead of spending tens of thousands of won on gift wrapping.]
‘Are you jealous?’
Jin grumbled in a jealous voice. Ian, who was opening the gifts, handed something to Juhyuk.
“Wow, hyung… We shouldn’t look at this.”
It was a message book made by collecting fan letters and fan art from the fans.
It was a thick hardcover book with two volumes.
“Thank you guys. For celebrating. But don’t you have anything for me?”
Juhyuk said that without much expectation.
Where would a rookie group that hadn’t received their settlement yet have money?
“Oh, of course we do.”
“Really? We haven’t received our settlement yet.”
“That’s because we don’t have money! We prepared only one thing together.”
Park Jinhyuk smiled sheepishly. Park Seodam and Kim Hyun continued.
“Hyung, you didn’t expect anything, did you? How do you see our loyalty?”
“Actually, Ian has about 70 percent of the share, but we also prepared a gift for you.”
Kim Juyoung got up and took out a small box from the storage corner of the practice room.
“I’m glad it doesn’t overlap with the fan gifts.”
“Open it, hyung.”
Juhyuk tore off the poorly wrapped gift wrapping.
“Wow, this is what I wanted.”
The gift that the members prepared was an expensive pair of headphones.
“How did you know?”
“That hyung.”
Ian pointed at Park Jinhyuk. Jo taewoong exclaimed.
“Jinhyuk hyung was useful for once!”
“What! When was I useless? Hey, Jo taewoong, I’ll hit your head.”
“Please save me! Please have mercy!”
They must have known since they worked in the same composing practice room.
Juhyuk smiled warmly.
“Hyung, your work isn’t going well lately?”
“Huh…? Um… Yeah. It’s not going well.”
Ian asked, knowing Juhyuk’s situation through Jin.
Juhyuk felt embarrassed and fiddled with the edge of the box.
“It’s okay if it doesn’t work out.”
“…Why do you think so?”
“We like hyung’s songs. That’s enough for us. Don’t think about anything else. We haven’t even reached our first anniversary yet. Aren’t you too anxious too soon?”
“Wow… Ian, are you sure you can’t be a shaman? You seem like you could build a building with your fortune-telling.”
Ian knew how hard composing was.
He had been desperate when he was Kim Yongmin, an idol who had failed so badly that there was no risk behind him.
He had to do it or he would be done for. But this company had solid capital to back them up, and the group was doing well too.
That didn’t mean he didn’t understand the pressure that came from the company’s support.
‘I felt that way too.’
‘The thought of what if I fail after working so hard.’ But Juhyuk’s anxiety was something he could feel later.
“I know a way.”
“You’re really scary.”
Juhyuk hung the headphones that the members gave him around his neck, comforted by Ian’s mature and quick-witted words.
“Besides, we don’t cause any trouble.”
“Wasn’t that a trouble just now?”
“That wasn’t even a trouble.”
They did pick a fight with N-net, but at least they didn’t have any members who suddenly got into a school violence scandal or speeding like Kim Yongmin.
It was rare to have a group without any personal quirks.
“Let’s go see hyung’s ad later. It’s nearby.”
“Right! Hyung, there’s also an event at a cafe by the fans, right?”
“There is?”
That evening, a video was uploaded on AWY’s official MyTube.
[AWY EP.24] Celebrating our leader’s birthday!
-They’re not robbers????
-They prepared thoroughly for their own sake????? So cute???
-They didn’t turn on the lights together?????? The escape is so realistic????
-I came to Apgujeong and the kids came and went to Juhyuk’s birthday event cafe ?????
-Wow, is it still there?
-Are all the kids there?
-???? Yeah yeah yeah they took pictures and it was crazy ????? So cute ??
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