Chapter 128
Yuna was a former girl-group idol.
She had been in the sort of idol group that neither took off nor flopped, simply working long enough to make a decent living before reaching the end of its shelf life and going their separate ways to find their own livelihoods. The members sometimes met up, went on trips together, or filmed YouTube content… They were the kind of group whose activities generated no articles at all, or at most one or two.
While all the other members left to find their own lives—as actresses, office workers, housewives, and trainers—Yuna decided to pursue a career as a solo singer. It was a little strange for her, a sub-vocalist, to take the path of a singer while the main vocalist got a job at an ordinary company.
But what could she do? She didn’t want to leave the industry and live as someone with no work experience just because she had been an idol for only a few years. Her goal was to survive in show business somehow and make a lot of money.
‘Kids these days are too young…’
Of course, having a goal didn’t mean she would achieve all of it. It was an age in which failing to keep up with the times and adapt to the world meant the end. Feeling that sort of crisis, she looked around the meeting room.
The meeting room, which had been filled with awkwardness, had become noisy with chatter before she knew it. Four people who had apparently all said they were meeting for the first time only moments ago had already grown as close as if they had known one another for thirty years.
That must be what adapting was.
It was something Yuna herself found impossible to do. The only person on her side was a young girl sitting far away and looking at her phone, who seemed to be about a high school student’s age. For some reason, Yuna felt a sense of familiarity with her because of that. You’re shy around strangers too, huh?
“Hello~ I’m Producer Kim Gaeun! We’ve already introduced ourselves before, right? It’s nice to see all of you again after so long!”
Producer Kim Gaeun entered cheerfully and greeted them. After looking around for a moment, she grew awkward at the silence hanging over the meeting room because of her arrival and continued speaking.
“Come to think of it, you’ve all introduced yourselves…”
“We did!”
“We’re already friends~”
“Oh, I haven’t introduced myself to those people over there.”
“Really? Ah, right.”
“Uh… then why don’t we all introduce ourselves first!!”
It felt as though she could hear an accusing hallucination asking why they had failed to introduce themselves, so Yuna shrank back slightly. The hardest part of being an idol had been making the first introduction. Talking to people she was already close to was easy, but becoming close to them in the first place was difficult.
“Hello! I’m~”
The four people who had already become friendly with one another laughed merrily as they introduced themselves. But the atmosphere quickly quieted when it was Yuna’s turn.
“Hello. I’m Ha Yuna, a singer-songwriter. I used to be the sub-vocalist of Halos. I look forward to working with you.”
Yuna rattled off the words quickly to hide her trembling heart. The force of it was like a stranger suddenly thrusting a present at someone and running away, leaving everyone slightly overwhelmed as they applauded.
“Hello. I’m Ha Suyeon of Group Sound. I look forward to working with you.”
Next came the girl Yuna had felt a sense of kinship with. She stood up with her cold appearance and expressionless face, then spoke in a tone so stiff it felt like being struck by a concrete glove. The atmosphere froze in an instant.
“Uh, uh, uh! M-Ms. Suyeon? I saw you on a broadcast. With that ‘dae-yo’ thing!”
“What’s ‘dae-yo’?”
But the atmosphere loosened because of someone’s shout. When asked what “dae-yo” was, that person kindly showed them the video. While Suyeon’s ears turned bright red behind her otherwise impassive expression, the other four watched the video and repeatedly praised her for being cute.
‘She seems like she’d be good at this kind of program.’
That was what Yuna thought. A girl with a cold image who nevertheless got embarrassed easily. She seemed quite suited to this sort of healing program with a touch of comedy.
But that impression of hers was shattered once filming progressed to a certain point.
“Oh~! I don’t know this song very well!”
“Producer, couldn’t you rewind this a little? We’ll do better.”
Once filming began, and while the cast members ran around in every direction according to the concept of “earning enough money through busking to pay for that day’s food,” Suyeon couldn’t say a single word. She merely stood still in the background, smiling brightly with a slightly stiff expression.
‘Why is she acting like that?’
Yuna was curious. During the meeting, Suyeon had spoken fairly well, even if her speech had been a little stiff, and she had told some pretty interesting stories. Was she nervous during filming? It didn’t really seem like that either.
“Cut! Let’s take a short break!”
During the break, Yuna walked over to Producer Gaeun and spoke to her.
“Producer…”
“Ah, yes~ Ms. Yuna! What’s the matter?”
There was no reason she needed to go this far. Though everyone laughed and chatted, the entertainment and broadcasting industries were ultimately competitive societies. Once someone established their position, the roles they could perform changed, so it wasn’t completely accurate to call it an absolute competition, but on this small a scale, it was always advantageous to push out anyone you could.
But for some reason, Yuna felt sorry for that girl. Despite seeming like someone who could do well—though she had no particular basis for thinking so—she couldn’t say a word. Surely there had to be a reason. And that reason was probably…
“That Suyeon student hasn’t been able to say anything during the program so far.”
“Huh? Ah, um… yes, that’s true!”
“Could there be something wrong with the filming concept?”
“Hmm…”
Leaving Producer Gaeun to her thoughts, Yuna remembered the past. The girl, who hadn’t been smiling at all before, was now smiling brightly. That fact reminded her of something she had experienced during her idol days: being forced to stick with a concept that didn’t suit her at all, even though the show wasn’t doing well and Yuna herself was suffering.
* * *
“I’m sorry!”
After several cut signals had passed between them, the first thing Producer Gaeun said when she called Myeongjeon over was an apology. She wore an extremely apologetic expression.
“Why?”
“Because I went and suggested such a strange concept…”
The producer shriveled up. This was the moment when Myeongjeon should have said, “No, it wasn’t like that,” but Myeongjeon couldn’t bring themself to say it. The concept really was strange and difficult.
Myeongjeon had given it everything they had to maintain that damn “bubbly vibe.” They kept smiling brightly and made their movements as large as possible.
But while carrying all that out, ad-libbing lines or speaking at the right moments was impossible for Myeongjeon. It might have been possible for a professional broadcaster, but it was absolutely impossible for them.
“Someone else said you weren’t able to say anything…! I’m sorry…!”
“It’s all right. These things happen…”
Seeing Myeongjeon say that, Gaeun felt like she wanted to dig a hole and bury herself in it. This wasn’t just anyone—it was someone she herself had brought in. She had recruited Myeongjeon because she thought they would fit the program, only to give them such a strange concept that they couldn’t say a word.
“I think it’d be better if we dropped the ‘bubbly concept’ I mentioned!”
“Then what should I do…?”
“I think you should just show your natural self, Suyeon!”
Producer Gaeun said that, so Myeongjeon asked her to give them a specific example. In response, she said, “For instance, the way you were on Invasion 2024… Something like that! A feeling where you show off your musical knowledge!” Then she told Myeongjeon to think about it for a while and left.
‘My natural self? You want me to show my musical knowledge?’
But Myeongjeon only felt more confused by her words. “Your natural self,” huh… It felt as though someone had told them, “That’s not like you,” despite them never having thought about it themself. And whenever someone said that, there was always a line that followed: “Then what is like me?”
‘Does she mean I should do whatever I want?’
Myeongjeon pondered that as they lightly twisted a lock of hair. No matter how much they thought about it, that was the only way they could interpret her words, so they stopped wracking their brain and relaxed. Since they had no idea anyway, they would simply go with whatever they felt like doing.
* * *
“We’ll start filming again~!”
After hearing that, Suyeon’s face looked much more at ease. Before, she had been smiling but seemed stiff; now, despite her expressionless face, she seemed stable. Rather than deliberately hardening her expression, she looked like someone relaxing at home with a blank face.
"All right! Then we’ll start again~! The person spinning this time is…?"
"Ah, that’s me."
Gaeun watched Suyeon for a moment before turning her attention back to filming. The roulette wheel spun by one of the cast members whirled around before landing on one spot. The selected genre was blues.
“Blues…?”
“Has anyone heard blues before?”
“Uh, I haven’t.”
Ignoring Suyeon, who was somehow pouting, Gaeun continued filming. Blues, huh? It seemed like something the staff had put in just to fill out the options.
“None of you know it well?”
“No. I haven’t heard a single song in the genre.”
“Isn’t that a genre for old men? From way back, like the ’60s or ’70s.”
The cast members began discussing it among themselves at Gaeun’s words. She wondered how to handle this and started considering whether to cut this footage and move on.
In any case, the most important thing in a broadcast was entertainment. None of the six people here knew blues, so how could she make this entertaining? It wasn’t as though blues would come up two or three times, and landing on it in the roulette didn’t mean they absolutely had to do it. Couldn’t they just spin it once more and call it filling out the options?
Thinking that, Gaeun was about to open her mouth when Suyeon spoke from behind the cast members.
“Blues isn’t a genre for old men…”
“…Huh?”
“It’s the very foundation, the bones. It’s a genre that began around 1900, not in the ’60s or ’70s, and it also forms the basis of rock. Your entire perception of it is mistaken.”
Suyeon came out from the back, seemingly a little heated, and continued speaking.
“Take the Beatles! The Rolling Stones! Bob Dylan! Countless other rock stars! Korean musicians too! Every one of them was influenced by blues. To give specific examples…”
With that, Suyeon picked up an acoustic guitar that had been standing in the corner of the set. Music spread from her fingertips—a highly familiar yet exciting song that brought joy to everyone listening.
“You’ve all heard this one, but starting with this song… most of what we call popular music today is connected to blues, that’s what I’m say—dae-yo!”
Suyeon had been passionately expounding on the subject, but near the end, she abruptly stopped as if she had bitten her tongue and tacked on the “-dae-yo” ending. The cute pronunciation suddenly made everyone burst out laughing, and the filming set became cheerful and warm.
“Pffh-hh-ha-ha!”
“Gasp… she’s really cute…!”
“Whoa, amazing. That was real?”
The cast members crowded around Suyeon and asked, “Why did you suddenly start talking like that?” As Suyeon answered, “…Because I felt my usual way of speaking was too stiff—no, because I felt that way-dae-yo.”
Seeing Suyeon like that, Gaeun thought of a character much better than a “bubbly high school girl.” It would reveal Suyeon’s true self while being so unique that there could never be another one like her.