Episode 137: Team Yujin (2)
The headquarters of Music On Net.
Hwang Eun-young, the main writer for Project Trinity, subtly glanced toward the bottom right corner of her laptop screen.
After checking the time, Hwang Eun-young let out a quiet sigh inside her mind.
‘Haa… It’s too late to back out now.’
By this point, the theme for the first stage had probably already been delivered to each team.
The moment the thought that there was no turning back made her inner sigh threaten to slip out through her lips—
“Why, Writer Hwang. Feeling regretful?”
A voice that neatly swallowed up that sigh reached her ear.
“No? What do you mean?”
Hwang Eun-young quickly pulled herself together and tried to play it off with feigned innocence, but
“Really? For real?”
The voice that came back as a question sounded annoyingly smug, as if it could see straight through her true feelings.
‘Damn it, I’ve been around that guy way too long.’
The fact that they had worked together for so long was both an advantage and a clear disadvantage.
The poker face she had built up over years of experience had hidden her agitation perfectly—until the owner of that infuriating voice picked up on it in an instant.
If this moment were drawn as a comic panel, it would probably look like question marks clashing between them and sparking fireworks.
While the other staff members, terrified that sparks from this legendary power struggle between the PD and the main writer might fly their way, began quietly eyeing the exits one by one—
“Shouldn’t you feel at least a little uncomfortable about this?”
“Why… would I?”
Another question ending in a rising tone bounced back, and Hwang Eun-young had to subtly bite her lip.
Because she herself had realized that her voice had trembled slightly on the “Why… would I?” part.
Piiiing.
In the end, Hwang Eun-young squeezed her eyes shut and forcefully exhaled through her nose to rein in the anger bubbling inside her.
That single gesture was already as good as admitting everything to him.
“You know it so damn well, so why the hell did you push for it so hard?!”
She barely managed to swallow down the urge to snap at him like that. Opening her eyes again, she forced a smile back at the man who was still wearing that unbearably smug grin directed right at her, and answered.
“What’s there to feel uncomfortable about? When you gather the representatives of the three major families, plus the hopeful debut broker for mid-tier companies, and then don’t put them in a competition with a signature song as the theme—wouldn’t that be outright neglect of duty for the people making this program?”
Even if that theme happened to be overwhelmingly disadvantageous for one particular producer.
No—in fact, precisely because of that, it was a choice that Music On Net absolutely could not refuse right now.
But still,
“No, Writer Hwang. You’re a fan of PD Han, aren’t you? Are you really okay with this?”
Ryu Je-hoon, the man who showed no sign of wiping the mischievous smile off his face, finally brought up that topic.
And doing so was no different from mercilessly pressing the bright red button buried deep inside Hwang Eun-young’s heart.
“You son of a—”
The only reason she managed to stop the curse word from fully leaving her mouth was one thing.
A tiny shred of conscience still remaining in Hwang Eun-young, who had ridden Music On Net’s signature style—“the devil’s editing”—all the way to her current position.
After squeezing tears out of countless contestants’ eyes and curses out of countless viewers’ mouths, how could she possibly refuse Ryu Je-hoon’s proposal now?
Unfortunately, the patience born from that small remaining conscience wasn’t enough to stop even a single furious syllable from escaping—and that was more than enough to make the staff members who had stayed behind for the shoot hit the escape button without hesitation.
“Pfft!”
Watching the young lambs scramble away with a clatter, desperate not to get caught in the fight between the two whales called PD and main writer, Ryu Je-hoon finally burst out laughing.
“Okay, okay. Sorry. I’ll stop teasing you.”
Of course, those words alone were nowhere near enough to calm Hwang Eun-young’s anger.
If you beat someone to a pulp and then think a simple apology will end it, then why do we even have police in this world? Why do we have laws?
But Hwang Eun-young couldn’t pour out all the anger she had left.
“I had no choice either.”
Because Ryu Je-hoon, now the only one left in the office with her, had completely wiped away the teasing smile he’d worn earlier.
“I know as well as anyone that putting a theme like ‘signature song’ puts Team Y at a huge disadvantage. No matter how much we talk about devil’s editing or whatever, we can’t just blatantly push everything toward one side from the start. I know that, but still—I had no choice.”
“No choice? Did someone higher up put pressure on you or something?”
Ryu Je-hoon gave a wry smile at Hwang Eun-young’s immediate retort.
It was the kind of story that wouldn’t be surprising at all coming from Music On Net, but this time it wasn’t that.
“Balance adjustment.”
“Balance?”
“Yeah. Balance. No matter how much you personally like PD Han, work is work, right? If PD Han just sweeps everything from the very beginning, our program dies. We still need at least some semblance of a competitive structure in the early stages.”
“Are you kidding me right now? That’s the exact opposite.”
Even in the face of Hwang Eun-young’s sharp rebuttal, Ryu Je-hoon’s expression barely changed.
“Who do you think benefited the most from the member auction?”
“Obviously Team H, right? PD Heo.”
Hwang Eun-young’s instant answer.
But Ryu Je-hoon silently shook his head.
“What? You’re saying Yujin? Because he took two S-Class members? Then what are you going to do about it—the vocal line is all D-Class. Impact still comes from the vocals anyway.”
At Hwang Eun-young’s perfectly reasonable counter, Ryu Je-hoon let out a short snort through his nose.
When she furrowed her brow at the sound, he leaned back deeply in his chair and continued.
“I thought the same thing at first.”
“You’re saying you don’t anymore?”
“Look. We’re not experts, but we’ve picked up a thing or two just by watching from the sidelines, haven’t we? Objectively speaking, Team Y’s vocal line is clearly a landmine, right? PD Heo even protested, asking if it was really okay to let kids like that debut.”
“And?”
“But the landmine he was trying to dump on someone else ended up back in his own hands—and somehow PD Han looks way too calm about it? It almost feels like he was aiming for this exact outcome.”
“So what you’re saying, PD Ryu… is that Yujin pulled a reverse fake-out?”
After a moment of hesitation, Hwang Eun-young pointed out,
“So in the end, it’s just your gut feeling?”
There wasn’t a single concrete piece of evidence in Ryu Je-hoon’s words.
But instead of arguing back, he simply shrugged and said,
“How about a bet? Want to wager on whether Han Yujin can even get one first place?”
It was an obvious statement, but it was hardly something that could become a real bet.
***
It’s true—this week’s theme is definitely disadvantageous for me.
“The scope of songs is limited to those in which the producer participated in the composition.”
The songs Team Y can currently choose from are Shooting Star, Mysty, First Step, Blue Poem—and if we stretch the composition credit range just a bit, we can barely squeeze in ‘Tomorrow’s Weather,’ which went to Glaze and Pink Blossom. That makes six in total.
For Isabella, M2K, and Kim Gun, they each have more than six groups they’ve already launched. Even Heo Yul-bok, though narrower compared to the other three, still has a selection pool several times wider than mine right now.
‘When you look at it that way, yeah, it’s definitely disadvantageous.’
But that doesn’t mean it’s completely one-sided.
If you flip the perspective, there are clear advantages that come precisely because I’m a rookie.
No matter how much backing I have from Seo Yoon-je,
The reason a fresh-faced newbie who’s only been a producer for barely over half a year can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those big names.
It’s because the impact I’ve shown recently is so overwhelmingly massive that not even Isabella, M2K, Kim Gun, or Heo Yul-bok can come close to matching it.
‘Which also means the public’s ears are that much more familiar with it.’
Hylliy, Orion, E-GIS, and—though a bit lacking compared to those three—even Pink Blossom.
If I can overlay Team Y’s color on top of the images of those four groups that are still vivid in the public’s memory.
That would be a weapon uniquely mine—one that even Isabella, M2K, and Kim Gun, who have been floundering since the 4th generation idol era began, and even Heo Yul-bok, could never easily pull off.
And on top of that,
‘What if Grammy Award winner Han Yujin steps forward?’
Not too far in the future.
The number of hit songs created by the thirty-nine-year-old Han Yujin—who will have etched Isabella, M2K, and Kim Gun, the producers who once defined an era, into the footnotes of history, while respectfully sharpening each other’s skills alongside Heo Yul-bok—will absolutely not fall short of theirs.
Of course, I can’t put those songs front and center.
But if someone asks whether there’s no way to use them at all, the answer is no.
For example, Trickle—one of the double title tracks from Laira’s 5th album commemorating her 10th debut anniversary.
Back then, that song was built by sampling Mysty, which already represented Laira. What if this time I reverse it and create a mash-up into Mysty?
Even just First Step has gone through so many stages and transformations that—joking aside—the number of reference variations is too many to count on two hands.
For my own originals that have returned from the past like Shooting Star, or ones that aren’t fully mine like Blue Poem, Glaze, and Tomorrow’s Weather, I’ve already come up with several branches of ideas that I can quickly rework and make usable.
‘If anything, the harder part is deciding which one to pick.’
However, I still haven’t made a final decision.
With Nari, Chaekyung, Soyoung, plus Jin Ro-a and Kim Soo-jin added to the mix, I couldn’t be certain which vibe would suit them best.
‘Just the member introduction videos… aren’t quite enough basis.’
Kim Soo-jin at least has some lingering memories from her Airi days, so that’s better, but Jin Ro-a—I really know almost nothing about her.
Even though there was a time when she was active in Trinity, that Trinity itself had zero impact, and back then Jin Ro-a was completely overshadowed by Moon Esther and never really stood out.
At best, I just remember her face.
So, I have to see for myself.
And for that exact reason, I’ve prepared some people.
‘They should be arriving any moment now…’
The moment that thought crossed my mind, the phone I had tucked against my chest vibrated with a ziiiing.
‘Seriously, this guy can never behave like a proper adult.’
The reason I had kept my phone on me instead of handing it over to Su-hyuk like I usually do during shoots was precisely because of this call.
“Keep warming up, everyone. I’ve got an urgent call real quick.”
After saying that to the kids, I headed to the corner of the practice room and sneaked my phone out. Sure enough, messages had arrived back-to-back from both sides, as if the two of them had coordinated it.
I resent the detailed location to both and waited a short while.
“Is this the place?”
“Yeah, I think this is it?”
“‘Yeah’ is banmal. What, you talking down to your hyung these days?”
Familiar voices noisily echoed from the entrance.
They were clearly young men’s voices, and I could see the kids tensing up. I gave a light chuckle and
Clap clap.
Lightly clapped my hands twice to draw everyone’s attention toward me before opening my mouth.
“Alright. These are the special instructors I’ve specially invited for your training. Give them a round of applause… Hey! Stop messing around and get in here already!”
The moment I shouted because the guys who were supposed to come in on cue kept bickering with each other,
“Kyaaak!”
“Hello! This is Lee Ha-on from E-GIS!”
“Hello. I’m Go Min-gi.”
Amid Jin Ro-a’s sharp squeal after recognizing their faces, the two temporary dance instructors bowed their heads in greeting.
And then,
“Ah, yes. You can come in over there, sunbaenim.”
“Is this it? Ah, here it is.”
Finally, another instructor who couldn’t find the place on his own and had to call, arriving only after that.
“Kim Soo-jin. Say hello. This sunbaenim is someone I specially called here just for you.”
“Ah… Hello, Sally sunbaenim! I was a total fan of Applime…!”
E-GIS, and even Sally, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time since the Blind Singer shoot.
With this lineup, at least I won’t be losing out in connections to the other four.
‘That said, I called them here, but…’
What exactly am I going to have them do at the Applime concert?
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TL Note:
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[This series is in the “Regressed Idol” collection]
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