Chapter 25
“Oh. Si-yeon, you're here?”
“Hello.”
K-Sep greeted me wearing an intimidating sleeveless shirt (fortunately—or unfortunately, he had no armpit hair) and slicked-back golden hair.
It might have been a somewhat shocking sight to a young child, but who was I?
I was Seo Si-yeon, who had rolled around at the bottom of the barrel in my previous life and met every kind of eccentric there was.
When I sat across from him without even blinking, K-Sep smiled as if he found that somewhat unexpected.
“Haha. What do you think of the styling? I thought it might still be difficult for someone your age, Miss Si-yeon, to accept...”
“I was a little flustered, actually.”
“Right? I happened to have a stage scheduled, so I came straight here in a hurry and didn't have time to take off my makeup.”
People generally regarded K-Sep as an artist-type agency head.
His preference for artistically inclined artists was part of it, but the main reason was that K-Sep himself was still actively working as an artist despite his age.
For instance, he might suddenly release an album out of nowhere, or show up without warning at the label's year-end joint idol concert...
‘These days, it isn't even strange for him to suddenly appear in his own singers' music videos or self-produced content.’
Thanks to that, fans were sharply divided over him, but the public found him quite approachable.
In fact, among the heads of the Big Three entertainment agencies, he was the most recognizable.
However, unlike his public image, he was also quite blunt and never held back from delivering harsh criticism.
Stories about trainees getting kicked out of the company after hearing his vicious remarks weren't even news on online communities anymore.
“First of all, there's something I want from you, Miss Si-yeon.”
“...Yes.”
“For this stage, I'd like you to perform a cover instead of an original song.”
I stared into K-Sep's eyes with a slightly blank expression.
What on earth was he talking about?
“Uhh...”
“I know, I know. Your greatest strength is your ability to self-produce—to produce your own music.”
He took a moment to lift his water bottle and wet his throat, then continued speaking.
“But do you know what is ultimately just as important for a singer?”
“...I don't.”
“The ability to interpret someone else's song and make it your own. At least, that's what I think.”
I tilted my head from side to side. His words didn't really resonate with me.
I more or less understood what he meant.
A singer naturally had to cover other people's songs at some point. Whether it was a year-end performance or a competition program, it was bound to happen in one form or another.
‘But honestly, am I going to keep being a singer?’
I had already proven my composing and producing abilities. Honestly, I could make a fortune just by sticking to my main line of work...
In just a few years, I could become the kind of person people talked about online—someone who wasn't particularly famous but had plenty of money.
So there would be absolutely no reason for me to continue working as a singer once the audition was over.
But if I appeared on a singing competition and said I didn't need this because I wasn't going to be a singer, I'd have no grounds to complain if they kicked me out of the dorm and sent me back to the orphanage on the spot.
“Do I really have to?”
“I think you absolutely need to go through this process, Miss Si-yeon.”
His eyes were filled with conviction.
In fact, the song from the previous round, pray for, hadn't been my song either.
No, come to think of it, except for Family Photo, every song I'd sung so far had belonged to someone else, and was essentially no different from Seo Si-yeon covering it now.
A song made just for me? There really wasn't one.
The closest thing was glassy sky, an original Seo Si-yeon song made in this life, but it had been arranged with Yoo Seol-ha, Blooming's vocalist, in mind.
So, objectively speaking, would I really grow from this stage?
That didn't seem particularly realistic.
But I was only a nine-year-old child, and I was still merely a contestant on Singerstar.
There was nothing to gain from openly arguing with K-Sep, a judge on this program and one of Korea's top producers.
“I'll give it a try, then.”
And so, my strongest weapon—my original song—was sealed for this round.
* * *
I had possessed this body for less than half a year.
So, to be honest, I wasn't all that familiar with the songs of this world.
Of course, I knew every song currently on the charts. The first thing I did after possessing this body was go to a PC bang and look up songs.
However, I couldn't help being completely ignorant of the songs that had been popular before I possessed this body.
‘I wonder if the PC bang owner is doing well.’
Come to think of it, I hadn't been able to go there often lately. I could feel everyone's attention focusing on me, which made things difficult.
The owner was my benefactor, so he was one of the people I needed to take care of once I became successful.
Anyway, back to the main point. I wasn't very familiar with the songs of this world.
Naturally, finding a song that suited my voice wasn't easy.
So I had no choice but to ask the people around me.
When I first asked Han Seong-sik, who was sitting in the living room, he suggested an old song, as expected.
‘For a Thousand Days?’
It was a song that had existed in my previous life too, but I couldn't sing it. It was far too difficult.
So, regrettably, Han Seong-sik's suggestion was rejected.
Next, I went outside to ask Joo Jin-woo, who was smoking.
‘He doesn't look like he's only tried that once or twice.’
It didn't seem like behavior that fit the image of a model son.
“Oh. A-a cigarette.”
“I've seen plenty of those at the orphanage, so it's fine. Recommend a song.”
He fumbled for a moment before recommending a pop song he liked. It was quite famous, and it didn't seem like a bad fit for my tone, either.
‘Hmm. Put this on hold for now.’
Next came Blooming, who were giggling and joking around in their room as if they'd come on a school field trip.
For reference, they'd been assigned one large room. Since they were a team, I guess there weren't enough rooms to give them all separate ones.
“Why are there only Japanese songs...”
“But that's all we listen to?”
Come to think of it, Blooming's formation had begun when Yoo Seol-ha watched a certain K-something band anime and decided she wanted to start a band.
If they were hardcore otaku at heart, no wonder they only listened to Japanese songs.
This still wasn't an era when it was possible to sing Japanese songs on Korean terrestrial television.
It would take quite a while before that became possible.
So, all of Blooming's suggestions were rejected.
Next, I headed to Baek Yu-yeon, who was bobbing her head as she listened intently to a song.
So Yu-jin happened to be sitting beside her, so I asked them both at the same time.
“A song recommendation?”
Baek Yu-yeon recommended a solo song released by an idol a year earlier.
It wasn't bad, so I decided to keep it for now.
And next came So Yu-jin's recommendation.
She had a fairly distinctive voice, so I thought she was the kind of vocalist who would remain in demand even after the audition was over.
Although this was our first conversation, I had a personal hunch that we'd be crossing paths again in the future.
“What about this one?”
The song she recommended was an OST from an anime.
‘Huh? That famous detective exists in this world too?’
Naturally, it was the Korean version. I didn't know whether it was a translated version or whether Korean was the original, but perhaps because of that, it was a song I'd never heard before.
It did feel a little old-fashioned, though.
“This one's good.”
“R-really?”
I had a feeling it would suit my voice well.
Well, I could always arrange away the old-fashioned feeling.
The next day, when I brought the song to K-Sep, I couldn't blame him for looking slightly dumbfounded.
* * *
From here on out, five rounds remained.
Two people would be eliminated in this stage, and another two would be eliminated in the next.
That would leave six people.
After eliminating one person at a time, the final three would be decided over a total of four rounds.
And in the finale, the final winner would be selected entirely through viewer voting.
“Haa...”
“Si-yeon, are you sleepy?”
“A little?”
“Jin-woo oppa is grilling the meat right now, so just wait a little longer!”
It was our second day at the dorm.
We held a barbecue party with meat brought by the production crew.
It was called a barbecue, but we were really just grilling samgyeopsal. Still, it was better than nothing.
Maybe it was because I was a child again, but even though it was only eight o'clock, sleepiness was already beginning to creep over me.
“Haaam...”
Yoo Seol-ha and Park Hee-su gazed at me from either side and pressed my cheeks as if I were adorable.
“Haaah.”
“How are her cheeks this bouncy?”
“Were ours like this when we were little, too?”
“Probably? But when you were little, you wanted to wear makeup, so you smeared something weird on your cheeks and went around like that. What was it again...”
“Jeez. Shut up.”
“Hweee.”
The reason I ended up wedged among Blooming was simple.
Since there wasn't anyone in particular to look after me, the girls I was closest to decided to take care of me.
Technically, I was only close to Seol-ha; I was still somewhat awkward around the other members.
‘Come to think of it, it's damn convenient not having to grill the meat.’
In my previous life, whenever people from the agency went out together, I always grilled the meat. The idols were young girls, and everyone else was older than me.
By the social conventions of South Korea, as the only young man there, it was only right for me to grill the meat.
I hadn't particularly minded it at the time, but there was something about sitting still and waiting for someone else to grill the meat...
‘This is fucking nice.’
Meat always tasted best when someone else grilled it.
Since we were all together, the conversation naturally turned to what we would do once Singerstar ended.
“I'm planning to work as a composer.”
“Huh? What about as a singer?”
“I'll have to think about that.”
“You have to! It'd be such a waste of your talent.”
I turned the question back on Yoo Seol-ha.
“What about you, Seol-ha?”
“I don't know! Hehe.”
Apparently, her father was trying to acquire a small entertainment company for her.
She said it would depend on how the acquisition turned out, or something like that.
‘What a different scale. He's buying her a company.’
Rich people really were rich.
A mansion like this probably wasn't particularly surprising to her. For one thing, Yoo Seol-ha's family home in Seoul might be just as large.
Just then, the meat arrived, grilled to a golden brown.
After that, all I remembered was frantically stuffing myself with meat before falling asleep.