chapter 9
9 episodes
It was the first time I saw him with a bare mind with President Park Hee-taek. As soon as I sat down at the seat I was given, President Park Hee-taek spoke up.
“First light debut, I pushed. In my eyes, it was just a feeling of superiority. You are all handsome.”
“… … ah.”
“If this team goes bankrupt, it means that I have to take responsibility.”
President Park Hee-taek was an unknown actor, and he worked as an elder actor’s manager for a while, and he seemed to know nothing about singers or idols. I was an alumni with the CEO of TRV, but the CEO put Park Hee-taek in the president’s position and told me to just sit in the president’s office because the professional team will take care of the work anyway, but when I came back, that wasn’t the case. Performance pressures were pouring in.
It was said that TRV is a company that the representative vice president, who is rich and poor, eats everything, so he would just follow him.
But why are you telling me that… … .
I couldn’t bear to say that, and while listening to the story to the end, I was like, ‘Ah… … .’ And I was just pretending to be sad.
After complaining, CEO Park Hee-taek said.
“Since I got a job here, I’m going to do whatever the first-right kids ask me to apply, right? But this bird of the Stork Dawn… … This dude is the leader. Then you’ll have to gather some opinions and talk to me. But when he comes to the boss’s office, he shuts his mouth and doesn’t say a word. If you ask me what I need, everything is fine.”
President Park Hee-taek continued the conversation with the expression of swallowing a couple of sweet potatoes.
“I don’t know how to think of becoming an idol with such a personality.”
Not all idols in the world dream of becoming an idol from a young age.
There are trainees, like myself, who went to the company and auditioned, and like Hwang Sae-byeok, there are so many casting offers that I just wanted to go and then became a trainee. Han Hyo-seok, another member of First Light, is in the same case, and he said that he had come to his house countless times to ask for a contract from his former agency.
President Park Hee-taek, who had been talking for a while, brought up the main topic.
“therefore.”
“yes.”
“He said he has stage fright.”
That’s the gist.
“Yeah, that’s bad.”
I spoke straight-forward, and President Park Hee-taek nodded as if he understood.
“Okay. Then it’s okay to stand on stage right away. Just go out with the kids and get over it.”
“No, I… … .”
“Well, if necessary, go there then and I’ll get down on my knees once in a while.”
he says and laughs.
Sometimes there are people like that. A person who comes back to his sanity after drinking. President Park Hee-taek was a madman when he was sane.
“No, I’m really serious… … .”
“Let’s talk later, later. Oh, I’m on a business call, so go out.”
President Park Hee-taek waved his hand and immediately picked up the phone and I was forced to leave the president’s office.
It was as Park Hee-young said. The atmosphere to join First Light or resign.
No matter how much President Park Hee-taek knows that he is an idol, he will know this one thing no matter what. The fact that external enemies make the fandom stronger.
Perhaps he was thinking of making me an external enemy. I smiled haphazardly with a nice face, but that’s the only reason I’m trying so hard to join me with a bad image. Even if there are rumors that I will be joining instead of joining, First Light fans will see me as an enemy.
I left the president’s office with a frustrated heart and met First Light’s manager, Park Joong-woon, who was waiting in front of me. After giving me the necessary information, Manager Park said.
“I’m currently filming at the cafe on the 1st floor. After that, today’s schedule is over, so you can take the members to the dorm with me.”
“yes? ah.”
Manager Park said with some embarrassment.
“I share two carnivals. The boss told me to drive it right away from today.”
It didn’t feel good to drive the idol’s car we were preparing for as trainees together.
It wasn’t about the job itself as a manager, it was about what I had dreamed of.
President Park Hee-taek would know how I feel right now. Because I am the same person who chose a manager job instead of my dream. There’s no way I’m not aware of the feelings I feel when I’m only supporting my friends running towards the things I’ve been dreaming of.
I broke up with manager Park in the middle and wandered around looking for the elevator to go to the first floor alone, and passed in front of the control room inside the TRV company.
Even at first glance through the transparent glass window, it was equipped with ultra-expensive music equipment.
And I found a familiar face hanging in it.
“Oh, this hyung is the older brother.”
It was Yang Yi-hyung, one of the composers who arranged and directed the song assignments we received during the days of Kook Seon-ah. When I knocked on the door, as if anyone could see me, as if I had not been able to enter the house for a full month, the messy Yang hyung saw me and opened the door.
“… … Haewon-ah, did I die from overwork?”
Yang Yi-hyung asked a serious question, and I answered.
“If you ask if my brother died of overwork, it means that I am also dead.”
“It felt like I would never see you alive.”
“Wake up and come back to reality.”
Yang Yi-hyung was 25 when Kook Seon-ah was 25 years old, so he is now 27 years old, but his face has aged so much in two years. It seems to roll a lot in TRV.
I glanced around the control room and spit out what I needed.
“Hyung, can’t you make me use the recording studio secretly when I record the guide? Only one program (around 3 hours and 30 minutes).”
“Are you composing?”
“Yeah, I will.”
“But you can’t sing. Wouldn’t it be nice to be a pro?”
“Hey, it’s very powerful.”
I whispered and motioned for him to go back to sleep. Yang Yi-hyung looked back at me as he was about to enter, hesitated and said.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t listen to you when I was younger. Becoming a brother.”
“Even if it’s not my brother, no one listened to me, so don’t worry about it.”
I said and pushed Yang Yi-hyung in and closed the door.
Throughout the broadcast of Kook Seon-ah, my image was that of a lazy bum.
The scene where I practiced never appeared on the air, and the song that I had to hold onto Yang Yi-hyung all night and re-record it all night didn’t come out either.
Yang Yi-hyung knew it wouldn’t be aired, so I took a picture of me re-recording at 3 in the morning, but in the end I couldn’t upload it anywhere.
It was because the composer could not pretend to be a broadcaster.
Anyway, if I had been good at singing, I would have been less offended, so I can now accept malicious comments about my skills to some extent. I think I’m becoming an adult like this. hahahaaha.
Anyway, after greeting Yang Yi-hyung, I went to the first floor and found that they were still filming their own variety show.
Seeing that you are filming a 30-minute film for five hours during this busy time, it seems that the length is not really coming out.
I stood behind the camera, mixed with the staff, and watched the shoot. After experiencing various hobbies, now the members were just knitting without saying a word.
In the end, the PD of TRV intervened and said.
“I think you are too addicted to knitting. Shall we have a chat?”
So member Han Hyo-seok said to Min Ji-ho.
“You are wasting your time making garbage.”
To that, Min Ji-ho, a hot-tempered person, responded with an angry response.
“What. You are doing well.”
I wanted to fight as soon as I opened my mouth, but the other members next to me said one word at a time.
“Jiho, why are you like this again?”
“He’s rushing again.”
Han Hyo-seok walked the fight, but he drove Min Ji-ho as if it was natural, so Min Ji-ho himself tried to say something more.
Those two were the members responsible for the overall performance of First Light. However, considering the subtle aura of art that is felt on the stage of First Light right now, it seems that Han Hyo-seok has completely taken the lead. And that continued in real life.
Hyo-seok Han was a ballet major who went through a prestigious high school and advanced school. Basically, the First Light members are very shy, so it is understandable that the opinion was driven toward calm Han Hyo-seok rather than Min Ji-ho, the type who bursts out energy on stage.
All three of the older brothers were extreme My Way, so I had no intention of stopping them, and only the youngest, Park Seon-jae, was in a situation where shrimps were thrown in a whale fight.
I can’t film a fight with steam, so Hwang Sae-byeok found me while the PD cut it off again. Stork Dawn-byeok ran up to me behind the camera and asked.
“Are you really here?”
“I’m here to talk to the manager.”
“If my boss starts to cry, I can’t stop him.”
Ignoring Stork Dawn’s words, I asked.
“More than that, why aren’t you having so much fun?”
“We’re not really having fun.”
“No. You are no fun.”
I corrected Stork Dawn Byeok, and took the pen out of the bag. And I asked the PD, who seemed to be about to graduate from college.
“Can’t I just graffiti on my face as a penalty because I can’t hold back my laughter? We did a lot of that when we were Gukseonah.”
But since I’ve been with the comedian Jung Tae-tae for a while, I have that kind of consciousness in my head. If you don’t have a mouth, let’s do a body swag.
So the PD asked worriedly.
“Did the company get permission to ruin the faces of the members?”
“I’ll go and pray for you later.”
Editing can be done later, but editing cannot create something out of nothing. At my words, the PD nodded his head with a desperate look.
Even after he started holding back his laughter, he did not speak for a while, and in the middle, Min Ji-ho, who was not dexterous, picked up a scarf that became narrower and became an inverted triangle as it went down.
“this is right?”
It wasn’t funny that Min Ji-ho ruined his knitting before, but it seemed funny because he said not to laugh. As soon as they lifted the inverted triangle scarf, several members closed their eyes tightly at the same time.
It’s really painful when you have to hold back your laughter. If you ask them to hold back their laughter, they start to laugh at the non-funny words.
Neither the PD nor the members were able to catch it, so I said.
“Hyoshik laughed.”
When I said it, Hyo-seok Han said with a straight face.
“I didn’t laugh. And hyung, it’s not Hyo-sik, it’s Hyo-seok.”
“Yes, Hyoshik.”
“Hyung, this is Hyoseok.”
“Yeah, so. Hyo-sik.”
“Hyung, this is Hyoseok.”
Ahn Joo-won, who was in the same grade as me, but was quick, said the staff didn’t say a word for five hours because the two of us didn’t give up and repeat the same words.
“They are starting again.”
I usually feel less friendly when I call children by their first names, so I tend to make up nicknames whenever possible. I don’t know if it’s related, but I think it’s because I’m late.
And Han Hyo-seok was disgusted every time I called him Hyo-sik.
“Anyway, you laughed, Hyoshik.”
“It’s not Hyoshik, I didn’t laugh.”
Han Hyo-seok was crying, so I played the screen recorded by the PD, and I definitely laughed. As soon as he saw it, Min Ji-ho picked up a pen as if he was waiting, and drew a cartoonish tendon on Han Hyo-seok’s forehead. And as soon as Han Hyo-seok made eye contact, Park Seon-jae looked into the air with an almost crying expression, and eventually burst, and Han Hyo-seok approached with a pen.
The performance of the body gag was good, and in less than 15 minutes after the start, graffiti appeared on the faces of all six of them. The PD spoke to me in a whisper.
“I filmed a few hours, and now the 15 minutes I shot are all in there.”
The expression on the PD’s face when he said that was clearly the expression he wanted to curse, but he endured it well. It must have been really hard today.
Soon after the knitting was over, the six members each presented their work. Compared to the silent ones, all six of them were terrible finished products that I couldn’t figure out what they were doing. Hwang Sae-byeok came out with a scarf made of fluorescent yarn.
“I wear a little club scarf… … .”
“Isn’t that a scrubber?”
“Why are you wearing a scarf at the club?”
Ahn Joo-won, who was quiet while the members were tackling, added a word.
“I fell out of the loofah at the dorm, so I can cut it and use it.”
As the blunt person was talking nonsense, laughter erupted again. The number of graffiti on the members’ faces also increased.
Then, as Min Ji-ho went down, and came out with a scarf that was significantly shorter than the other members, the members clenched their teeth in an attempt to contain their laughter in advance.
“Wow, it’s an inverted triangle.”
“It’s cool.”
Min Ji-ho, who confidently walked out in the midst of the members’ chum, raised a scarf and said.
“I think it was made exactly as I intended it to be.”
“What are you talking about?”
When Hwang Sae-byeok asked the question because he was absurd, Min Ji-ho spoke boldly with a face full of blotches.
“I’m going to make another one of these and attach both sides to make a cone hat.”
I don’t know what’s funny, but the baseless drip shot Han Hyo-seok’s taste, Han Hyo-seok was almost crying on his face. The relationship is bad, but the gag code seems to be correct.