Chapter 91
The Japanese idols danced flamboyantly. Behind them, a technical, heavy metal sound continued without pause. The combination of clean, crystalline high notes and powerful metal sound was musically decent enough, but…
The stage where the song was actually being performed was somewhat mind-boggling. Three idols in clothes covered with dangling frills danced while acting coy and appealing to the audience’s sense of cuteness.
“Uh, this is…”
Doyeon said that and glanced sideways at Jinseo. Jinseo was thoughtlessly saying, “Oh~ Not bad.” Without letting the girls around them notice, Doyeon gave Jinseo a little poke in the side.
Their eyes met for a moment.
‘Is this really okay?’
‘No, it’s fine. Why?’
Doyeon shook her head slightly, then mouthed the words ‘P.D.’ Jinseo came to her senses as if cold water had been thrown over her. That was right. They had received instructions from the PD before coming to this shoot.
“I don’t usually make requests like this of contestants.”
Donguk took a long drink of coffee, then spoke in a tone closer to an order than a request.
“The ‘Group Sound’ you’re mentoring. Please steer their arrangements in a direction that’s as cool as possible and showcases their skill.”
“…Why?”
“It’s a little difficult to explain why.”
At Doyeon’s puzzled response, Donguk continued with an expressionless face.
“In any case, we have no intention of manipulating anything. We’re just trying to establish an editing angle and a concept. There’s nothing bad about giving those kids an image as skilled musicians, is there? I’m asking you to do this.”
Doyeon and Jinseo were indignant after hearing that request that wasn’t quite a request, but they had no choice but to comply. It was also the director’s word, and after seeing the edited version of Episode 0, they understood why Donguk had said it. He had given them an extremely strong persona, and it would be a problem if that persona collapsed almost immediately instead of lasting for a while.
But the concept these girls had brought with them directly defied the PD’s instructions. Their skills would be on display, but it wouldn’t look cool or powerful at all. Their unexpected charm might raise the band’s popularity, but it wasn’t a direction that fit with the previous editing.
“It’s an interesting concept, at least.”
After quickly exchanging thoughts through their eyes, Jinseo opened her mouth. Iseo responded, “Right?” But before another answer could slip out, Jinseo immediately began explaining the negative side.
“But, in my opinion, this direction isn’t quite right. You could say it doesn’t suit you, and there’s that, but… there’s an even more serious problem.”
“What…?”
“The heart of this concept is ultimately the stage. The important thing is to create harmony by turning mismatched music, appearances, outfits, and concepts into an unexpectedly good performance. But the problem is that we can’t use session musicians for our performance. The four of us would have to wear outfits like these, dance, and play at the same time. That’s simply impossible, isn’t it?”
‘I’m sorry, PD Yoon. This is the best my brain can come up with.’
While apologizing to Donguk inwardly, Jinseo forced herself to come up with a reason. The logic was obviously full of holes and could be dismantled if the girls really put their minds to it. Doyeon seemed to realize that as well, because she was watching with a subtly anxious gaze.
“But we can use session musicians…”
“Mm, I figured you’d think so. We don’t have only this one reference, either.”
Seoha had actually been about to argue, but Suyeon suddenly cut her off. Seeing that Suyeon didn’t seem particularly attached to the reference, the two mentors felt relieved.
“Do you have another reference?”
“Yes. It’s in a similar vein, but it has a somewhat different feel. Unlike the previous one, it’s in a style we can actually pull off.”
A few minutes later, they regretted that assumption. The reference they saw this time was far more insane, just in a different direction.
Still, it was much better than the one before. At least it had no ‘cuteness.’ The problem was that ‘madness’ had filled the space left behind by the cuteness.
“This concept is okay, right?”
“Hmm… well, definitely more than the last one… Since the song itself originally goes in this direction, I think it could work if you look at it as strengthening that aspect.”
“If we just arrange it as rock or metal, it’d definitely be boring. And it seems like something we could actually use in a live performance.”
The two hurriedly agreed to the second reference, afraid that Suyeon might say, “Then we’ll just do kawaii metal.” They failed to notice the faint smile tugging at the corner of Suyeon’s mouth.
* * *
“Are you people out of your minds?!”
On the day of the second-round rehearsal, PD Yoon Donguk called Doyeon and Jinseo over and began shouting after seeing the performance of shock and horror.
“What kind of bizarre stage are those kids doing?! I clearly told you! Make it as cool as possible! Make them look skilled! So what the hell is this insane crap they’re doing?!”
“P-PD…”
“What! Are you going to say that’s their best? Surely you’re not going to spout that kind of nonsense! If that was their best, what were they like before?!”
“I’m sorry, but we really did do our best. Why don’t you take a look at the concept they brought in originally?”
Perhaps his anger still hadn’t subsided, because Donguk continued bellowing. But when Jinseo handed him her phone, he calmed down for the moment and watched the video.
A few minutes later, Donguk handed the phone back to Jinseo with a stunned expression.
“Oh, you really did do your best. Sorry… you’re saying this was what they brought in first?”
“Yes. Changing direction to that one was the compromise.”
At that, Donguk clutched his head. How on earth was he supposed to create an editing direction? Still, his despair eased somewhat after seeing the first reference. If that had been the one they used, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything at all.
“…Understood. I’m sorry I shouted. You may go.”
The two bowed their heads and left. Donguk folded his arms and stared at the ceiling for a moment.
The direction he had envisioned was the textbook arrangement that established rock bands used when they received a girl-group song. An arrangement and edit along the lines of, ‘How could they pull off a song like this?!’ It might be formulaic and stale, but a formula was called a formula because it always worked.
But after seeing ‘Group Sound’ move in the exact opposite direction, Donguk felt an ominous sense of foreboding. It was the feeling of facing something he couldn’t control.
“They have fundamentals, and it’ll be funny, so they won’t be eliminated. The stage itself was decent, too. Then it’ll be fine. I can bring it to life through editing somehow. They probably did something strange because the high-difficulty arrangement put them under a little pressure.”
Donguk muttered that to himself. He was trying to shake off the uneasy feeling and convince himself of it at the same time. But the ominous premonition that this audition would not go according to his plans refused to leave.
* * *
After witnessing Episode 0 distort ‘our kids’ beyond recognition, Seyoon set up keyword alerts across the internet and waited for news about audience recruitment for Invasion 2024. She was curious about what exactly was happening, and she wanted to support the kids as much as possible after the broadcast had hurt them.
After enduring the long wait, she won a spot in the audience. The theme of today’s competition was ‘Show us a radical arrangement.’ The bands had been given idol songs completely different from the usual band genres and were competing to see who could produce the most radical and fresh arrangement.
The audience venue she arrived at was already quite heated. There didn’t seem to be many Group Sound fans among the crowd. Seyoon felt strangely isolated as she slowly made her way through the fans.
‘Even people who stan other bands will eventually feel our kids’ charm and start supporting them.’
Seyoon was certain of it. She herself had been exactly that kind of case.
You couldn’t properly feel Group Sound’s explosive performance through a TV or the internet. But if you saw them perform right in front of you? There was no way you wouldn’t become a fan.
Most of the performances were fairly boring. Contrary to the theme of ‘Show us a radical arrangement,’ the stage was dominated by arrangements that amounted to nothing more than turning idol songs into band songs.
There were a few bands that stood out.
[Mystica : Our song this time is! It’s something like a woman dancing tango on the Iberian Peninsula while listening to jazz…]
Mystica had arranged an unremarkable male-idol dance song into soulful jazz and received a pretty good response. They displayed enough skill to make Seyoon wonder why they hadn’t appeared in Episode 0.
[TWR : When we made the song in a slow tempo, it fit surprisingly well.]
Bands like TWR and WEKIDS, which had received a great deal of promotion in the latter half of Episode 0, at least provided some eye candy with languid, sexy arrangements.
“Ah, my legs hurt.”
Even so, many audience members began losing focus and fidgeting. A woman who looked like a boy-band fan complained, “Why do we have to watch a stage like this?” A man said, “This is fucking boring. Should I just go home…?” The longer the performance continued, the more the audience lost concentration.
“Now, it’s time for the next stage! This one is… a song many of you will know—one you couldn’t possibly not know! The song that once dominated the charts and enjoyed explosive popularity! Vivid Orange’s ‘JUMPING!’”
‘A band is performing that song?’
Reactions like “For real?” drifted through the crowd. The song was utterly incompatible with a band sound. Wasn’t it made up of boing-boing noises and lyrics designed to be addictive? Besides, it had become famous through its music video.
That only made Seyoon more curious. What unlucky band had ended up entering the competition with that song? They would probably flop, but somehow, it also seemed like it would be funny if they did.
“Then let’s take a look at the footage!”
And what appeared in the footage was Group Sound. It showed them discussing things with their mentors and identifying their problems one by one.
‘Why are our kids in this?!’
Seyoon screamed inwardly. Were our kids going to fail? They couldn’t. They hadn’t even shown off all their genius-level skill yet…
“Weren’t they shown as being good at something?”
“They’re gonna get eliminated~”
“Auditions are kind of luck-based.”
Mildly mocking reactions drifted through the crowd. Seyoon gritted her teeth and stared at the stage. If they were her kids, they would be able to do well.
[Mentor : So, how did you ultimately decide on the arrangement direction?]
[Ha Suyeon : We decided to go in the direction of ㅁㅁㅁ.]
[Mentor : The traditional role of a band and ㅁㅁㅁ seem like areas that don’t really go together. Can you do it well?]
[Ha Suyeon : We have to try.]
“What is ㅁㅁㅁ?” Seyoon muttered. Before she could finish thinking about it, the members of ‘Group Sound’ came onto the stage.
‘But why on earth are they coming out wearing the original song’s costumes?’
First: scooter helmets and white flare skirts. A ridiculous combination of polo shirts and track pants. Seeing an outfit that should have died ten years ago resurrected on a band audition program, Seyoon couldn’t close her mouth.
Second: Seyoon was horrified to see Suyeon at the very front, struggling to carry two guitars.
“We’ll begin.”
Third: When the performance began with Suyeon saying that and they started playing the original melody exactly as it was, Seyoon began wondering what on earth was happening.
And finally, fourth.
“All together, one!”
Thus began the stage. The only difference between the song Group Sound played and the original ‘JUMPING!’ was that it had been changed into a band arrangement. Group Sound sang in unison into the microphones in front of them, gradually moving through the song.
Just as the audience began thinking, ‘Was the difficulty so high that they simply gave up on everything?’ Suyeon switched to the guitar laid out in front of her and suddenly began playing an unbelievably hard metal sound.
Yet the vocalist’s pitch and singing style did not change. The original song’s theme continued to be maintained. Using a loop machine to preserve the original song’s riff, Group Sound began playing a rough sound more suited to industrial metal.
“Jumping! Jumping!”
An uncanny balance was maintained. A disco-pop-like melody, with metal sound laid beneath it. Group Sound played without a trace of a smile, wearing the absurd combination of flare skirts, track pants, and scooter helmets.
The audience began slipping into a state where they could no longer tell what exactly they were hearing or watching. Their minds grew hazy, and they began wondering whether this was even reality. Where am I, and what is this place…?