Chapter 25

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 25 Turning Crisis into Opportunity

I woke up the next day feeling sore all over. It was uncomfortable, but as long as I stretched properly, I could move without much trouble.

‘I should take another look at the draft I made before going to bed.’

I snatched the mouse from Kyunghwa’s hand, who had fallen asleep at the dining table, and moved it.

The monitor screen, which had been in sleep mode, lit up.

I was worried that there would be a lot to fix, since we had both made the work in a situation where we were exhausted from lack of sleep.

But it was a decent proposal, considering that I had reviewed it by myself.

All I had to do was to combine the keywords and lyrics that the other members had come up with later that night and make it more specific.

‘The key word is Rescue.’

It was about a situation where someone wanted to save their lover who was trapped in a ruin, in a dystopian setting with a near-future vibe.

The lyrics that I attached for the sample recording were more explicit and decadent, saying things like they felt a sweet pain, or they couldn’t get enough with just one time…

Wait a minute. If Cheon Ise was eighteen then, wasn’t Son Seong-won only sixteen? Was it okay to make him sing those lyrics?

I frowned involuntarily at that part, but let it go for now.

It was a reckless move for Climax to come out with a decadent concept at this timing, when they had already failed once before.

‘They’re doomed anyway. They might as well try to attract some attention with shocking noise marketing, or something like that.’

I understood their desperate feelings, but I didn’t want to do that.

Climax’s goal this time was to gather some loyal customers and turn their negative image into a positive one.

Noise marketing wouldn’t do any good. It wasn’t a strategy that would work for a male idol group.

‘I want to keep the theme of Drink me, since it goes well with the music…’

As I fiddled with the page where I had organized the costumes that I had scraped beforehand, Seon-woo came out rubbing his eyes.

“You’re up early?”

It was hardly early, since the sun had been up for a while… I glanced at the window, which looked like it was noon, even though it was only 9 o’clock.

“I don’t have much time. Did you put the lyrics together?”

I reached out my hand as if I was checking his homework, and Seon-woo quickly went into his room and brought back a notebook.

“Yeah, I’m not confident, but… I gave it a try. Did you sleep well last night? You didn’t seem to come into the room.”

I was forty and I worked all night, but he couldn’t do it at twenty-four.

I answered casually and took the notebook that Seon-woo handed me.

“I just took a nap on the sofa. Can you move Kyunghwa to the room?”

I glanced at him and he was in a deep sleep, as if he had passed out from not sleeping at all.

“Sure!”

Seon-woo nodded cheerfully.

He lifted Kyunghwa’s body in his arms as if he was carrying a feather.

I couldn’t help but admire him.

‘He’s tall, so he must weigh over 60 kilograms, but he just lifts him up like nothing.’

Seon-woo held Kyunghwa’s weight firmly with one arm and pulled the door handle with his right hand.

And then a scream followed.

“Aaah!”

“Huuuuk!”

What now? I stuck my head out and peeked.

Yi-jun, who looked like he hadn’t slept a wink since last night, glared at Seon-woo with his eyes wide open.

“Knock before you come in, will you?”

“Sorry, I thought you were asleep, um… I was worried that I might wake you up…”

It wasn’t unreasonable for Seon-woo to think that.

Yi-jun was the kind of guy who never got up at this time unless he had a schedule.

“Ah… I thought I was almost done, so I kept working on the tool and the time flew by…”

“Get some sleep. Your face looks like a panda right now…”

Seon-woo muttered in a low voice, sounding concerned.

“I want to go to the studio right away and tweak it with the equipment…”

While Seon-woo carefully moved Kyunghwa to the bed without waking him up, Yi-jun mumbled to himself and cleaned up his computer.

“Sleep first. I don’t want to hear you say that you’re a leader who tortures the members and doesn’t let them sleep.”

I turned off the laptop that had been working hard all night and leaned against the door frame.

Yi-jun looked up at me with sleepy eyes.

“Then… I’ll go to the studio for a bit after an hour of sleep.”

Yi-jun got up from his chair and headed for the bed. I caught his wrist before his butt touched the sheet.

“Give me the file you edited so far before you sleep.”

“Oh, right.”

Yi-jun nodded and uploaded an MP3 file to the group chat.

“Play it. The keywords and lyrics I organized are there, so take a look if you need to.”

I let go of his wrist and he sighed and lay down on the bed.

“Wake me up in an hour, okay.”

“Okay!”

Seon-woo nodded vigorously and covered Kyunghwa with a blanket.

‘Now the only one left is Son Seong-won.’

I wasn’t feeling comfortable either, since I didn’t end things on a good note with him yesterday.

What was he going to do if he was feeling complicated and troubled? Did he think I was feeling great?

I stood in front of the door of the room that Seong-won used by himself, feeling a headache coming on.

“Are you awake?”

I tapped the door lightly with the back of my hand, and I heard the sound of a chair turning inside.

Then I heard footsteps and a click, the lock opened.

“Lyrics. Cut out the good parts and throw away the bad ones.”

He skipped the greetings like asking if I was awake, if I slept well, or how the preparation was going.

He dropped the note that he called lyrics in the air.

Luckily, I was able to grab it quickly before it hit the floor.

‘What’s with this guy’s personality.’

“Okay. Yi-jun uploaded a temporary arrangement to the chat, so listen to that too.”

Seong-won didn’t answer verbally, but nodded once. Then he slammed the door shut as if he was chasing me away.

‘What do I expect from him? It’s a miracle that he doesn’t miss the deadline.’

I sighed lightly and unfolded the note in my hand. The keywords were similar to what Kyunghwa and I had thought.

[You’ll hurt me again]

[But you’ll drift away]

[I can’t let you go]

[So I keep circling the same spot for you]

Are you in some kind of unrequited love?

It didn’t suit him to write such poignant lyrics, that heartless jerk.

But apart from that, it looked refined to my eyes, which still lacked sense in this area.

“Can I see it too?”

“Sure.”

I showed Seon-woo the lyrics that Seong-won wrote, and he gasped.

“What? Why is it like this?”

I backed away in surprise, and he lunged at the notebook in my hand.

“What are you doing!”

“Give me back what I wrote!”

“Why, again!”

I ran away before he could snatch it and opened the notebook. Rather than lyrics…

‘Um…’

I’ll spare him the words for the sake of his human rights. But I was sure that he had no talent as a lyricist, in more ways than one.

“No, it’ll help if we gather yours too.”

I encouraged him soullessly and took a picture of the notebook with my phone.

“It’s like a public execution!”

Well, that’s true. But he was cute in his own way. I had a strange feeling that some of his fans would want to see this.

‘I should keep a good record of this.’

Is this what they call a dark history?

“You should take comfort in the fact that your aptitude is more suited for an idol than a poet or a lyricist.”

He complained for once at my backhanded compliment, but I didn’t care.

I ignored Seon-woo completely and sat back at the table to play the music that Yi-jun edited.

♬-♪~♩♪

Without Seong-won’s vocals, I couldn’t feel what it would sound like when sung, but it felt much cleaner.

It got rid of the old-fashioned vibe and got closer to the latest trend. It was a sophisticated arrangement that was no less than any idol hit song.

‘With this level of skill, he must be in high demand everywhere.’

If this was what he made temporarily at home.

I was looking forward to how it would turn out when he finished the final work at the studio.

“Wow… Yi-jun hyung is amazing…”

Seon-woo seemed to think the same, as his expression turned gloomy.

“Why are you making that face again?”

Where did he get disappointed? I asked him bluntly, and he avoided my gaze and answered.

“Everyone is talented, but I’m… useless.”

What nonsense. I grabbed both of his cheeks with my right hand.

“Ouch, what, what are you doing!”

He tried to wriggle away in surprise, but it was useless.

“You’re just doing your best with what you have, so just focus on weight control until the shooting starts.”

You’re already doing your part with that face.

I couldn’t say bluntly that his face was enough, so I said it indirectly.

He nodded his head with his lips pinched like a fish.

“Don’t cry and ruin your face. You can only cry when you get first place on a music show.”

His head nodded up and down again.

“Okay, good boy.”

I didn’t have any more time to waste on soothing him. I gently stroked his head and went back to the laptop.

Now it was time to match the lyrics to the arranged song.

It was worth using the brains of several people, when I combined what Kyunghwa wrote before he went to bed, what Yi-jun wrote, and what Seong-won wrote.

‘I should check the vibe of other hit songs before I make the first draft.’

I entered the music chart and saw Floss, who was still in first place even after three weeks since their comeback.

I pressed the play button with a displeased expression.

[Spark, I’m burning up more]

[Burn it all, the heat]

[Hey there, like it’s only you and me this summer]

There’s English in every line.

The other songs were similar.

Maybe it was because short English words made the rhythm cut short and look more refined.

I clicked the album art again to stop the play, and one guy who was smiling refreshingly in the pictorial caught my eye.

‘Is that Kang Yugeon?’

He was better than our kids, even on second look. I chuckled lightly and divided the verses and chorus into sections, making three candidates for each.

Phew…

I sighed and went in after an hour, as Yi-jun said.

Yi-jun startled, like a fish pulled out of water, and came to his senses.

“I sent you the concept materials in a personal chat, so check them out before you work at the studio.”

“Okay. I’ll open it on my phone on the way.”

Yi-jun, who had barely regained his senses, started to get ready to leave.

I sent Yi-jun off to the studio in a hurry, and prepared breakfast and lunch, and the time flew by.

“I’m going to work out and come back!”

Seon-woo, who had slimmed down a lot compared to when I first saw him, greeted me with a bright voice and left the door.

‘How did we get over the crisis with this?’

It wasn’t a completely positive situation, but it wasn’t time to despair either.

If we had followed what the company told us to do as before, we wouldn’t have been able to see what everyone could do.

The real game starts from the bottom of the ninth with two outs.

Now that we were pushed to the cliff, it was time to show the people who ignored Climax a twist.

As I was building up my will, an unexpected upheaval was waiting for us.