The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

We moved to Do-Seung’s studio with Willy in the car. Though Willy looked worried after hearing Do-Seung say that he would know once we got to the location, his expression softened while looking at the night scenery through the window.

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“It really is a charming city,” Willy said, making me realize how much he liked Korea again. He even went so far to say the city view was more beautiful and colorful than New York and Paris and read each of the Korean writings on the street and board signs as a five-year-old child would. Then, he went on a great length about the taste and healthiness of Korean food.

“Korean food has potential. It can really be a heaven for vegetarians.”

All we did was respond appropriately to Willy’s comments and eventually, we arrived at Do-Seung’s studio.

“Let’s go guys~” Since we didn’t come to Do-Seung’s changed studio too often either, we were also surprised every time we came to visit. It was a place that was located in the basement of a building right next to the company building, and its entrance looked like any one entrance found anywhere. Yet, once we went downstairs, its security became extremely tight.

“Please give me a moment.” Do-Seung swapped his fingerprint, pressed the password on the door lock, and then inserted his key and turned it around to get inside. It was a three-stage lock system. The security had been provided by the company in case anyone tried to trespass inside his studio.

Like most studios, the lights inside the studio were slightly less saturated. The first room was the main production room where Do-Seung recorded and produced his songs. Then, the room next to it in the hallways was a gym. Originally, the company had prepared him that room as a place to sleep in when he got tired, and it had been a resting room with a bed even the last time I visited this place. Yet, Do-Seung had taken away the bed and replaced it with power racks, barbells, dumbbell sets, and a running machine for cardio.

“Oh My Gosh.” Willy’s eyes widened after seeing Do-Seung’s gym.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Do-Seung stood next to Willy and looked at him adoringly.

“It’s gorgeous.”

I had no idea what Willy was seeing when he described gym equipment as ‘gorgeous’, but after listening to Willy and Do-Seung’s conversation, it appeared that all this equipment was a gym luxury item of sorts. It was a territory that I had no idea about but in a situation where we needed to get on Willy’s good side as much as possible, this was great.

‘Thank goodness that Do-Seung is a gym bro.’ Since the gym equipment seemed to have scored some points with Willy, it could be said that they were worth their prices.

“Should we exercise?”

“Sounds good.”

While Do-Seung and Willy exercised, the rest of us decided to wait a bit. And though the two liked working out, they didn’t exercise for too long considering the situation, and they finished their entire course including a shower in an hour. Dong-Jun had taken a quick look at them while they were exercising and told us that Do-Seung and Willy were doing some strength contests. The two had probably increased their weights to stimulate their muscles as much as possible in a short time frame.

“It felt really good. Everyone, exercise. It’s really good for you.”

“Willy is just built differently guys. Is this the racial barrier?”

The two appeared much closer just because they worked out together once. It was understandable why dads went to play golf every weekend to build connections.

‘Seems like people really become closer through exercise,’ I thought and then quickly refocused my thoughts to what was really important. Then, I exchanged looks with my members. Though many things had happened today, we ultimately succeeded in bringing Willy to this studio room. Do-Seung especially seemed to have gotten closer with Willy through exercise. Thus, it was time for us to progress our original plan. I got my phone and went into our group chat room.

—Hey guys, Mr. Willy said he didn’t really want to sing with us. So, let’s change to plan B and show him our second sample right after. Rather than asking him for a feature again, I think it will be less pressuring to do that.

I relayed to my members the thoughts I came up with while coming to this place by car. My members seemed to think like me as they replied.

—Okay, show him the second sample

—I did think it was better to show him the second sample as soon as he gave us his explanation.

—Ugggh Why am I so nervous...It’s not like it was me who made the song...

—Don’t worry. Honestly, I was more confident in the second sample than the first sample. I’m sure he will like it.

Since we didn’t know what kind of direction our studio work with Willy would go, we had prepared two samples to show him. The first one was a remix that Do-Seung created while asking for a feature in mind; he had removed K-Pop elements and added more groove to harmonize our team colors better with Willy. Since it was a sample that found a good balance of K-Pop and the original Pop, the company had placed a lot of expectations on it.

Yet, not knowing what could happen, we had prepared a second sample in case. This sample didn’t find a middle ground between K-Pop and just Pop but gave off a 100% pop feeling as if we were shouting out loud to Willy to work with us. This sample had been made in case Willy said it was difficult for him to feature our song, but he could do a song cover. Though we didn’t think we would use this sample, it was great we had it since Willy declared he won’t work with K-Pop artists for specific reasons.

“Willy, do you remember what you said inside the car?”

“What you said?”

“You said that you wanted to take our song, ‘Blue Ocean’ and I said that was enough.”

“Ah, yes, I remember that. What did you mean by that Do-Seung?” Willy looked at me a bit curiously.

“If you are asking to sing together...I will refuse in advance. It’s not because I don’t like you guys but it’s because of my personal preference so don’t misunderstand.”

“No, I’m not asking you to sing with us.”

“Then what is it?”

“Do you want to sing alone?”

“...What?”

“I prepared a song for you. It’s a version of ‘Blue Ocean’ that I made just for you. I pondered for a long time what I could give you as a gift and after discussion, my members and I came up with this idea. Here, this is our gift to you,” Do-Seung said and handed Willy a USB. This was the USB that had the second sample of Blue Ocean.

‘I think Do-Seung can get into business marketing...? Why did he suddenly become so good at talking?’

I was shocked to see Do-Seung present the USB with the second sample as some kind of very special gift that we prepared for Willy. When we mentioned the second sample, we had always talked about it as the worse alternative if Willy rejected our featuring offer and we had to cry and beg Willy to at least do a cover for us. But now that Do-Seung presented the second sample as a gift, there was less pressure on Willy who was receiving it. Willy’s expression was proof that Do-Seung’s talking skills had been effective.

“Really? Blue Ocean?” Willy looked like a boy who just received a Christmas present. Now that I thought about it, I thought this was the perfect present for someone like Willy. Though he liked K-Pop, he didn’t collaborate with K-Pop artists because he thought his voice wasn’t suitable for it. But since he couldn’t do what he liked, he probably felt a bit of frustration from it.

Yet, since a song producer who made K-Pop songs reproduced a song just for him, Willy was probably touched. What we didn’t expect to be useful came to be the most effective. I looked back to Do-Seung with slight awe. Do-Seung met my eyes and winked.

‘...?’ Do-Seung winking? I felt such chills that I almost jumped out of my seat but I repressed myself. I thought Do-Seung must have gone crazy but then I realized.

‘Ah. He isn’t Do-Seung right now.’ The person who touched Willy’s heart with superb eloquence wasn’t Do-Seung from this world but regressor Do-Seung. He probably jumped out to the scene strategically knowing that this was an important moment for us to accomplish our Billboard mission. No wonder; I thought Do-Seung became too good at speaking for someone who usually lacked social skills.

“Can I hear it right now? I have never received a song as a gift.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes, I only receive them for work. Never as a gift.”

Hearing Willy say that it was his first time receiving a song as a gift hurt my conscience a bit since we gave him the second sample hoping that he would work with us. It was then I realized that things could turn a bit ambiguous. Willy could really just accept the sample as a gift and not do anything about it. Yet, I didn’t have to worry about that as soon as Do-Seung turned on the second sample.

“Ooooh! Yeah!” Willy hollered and began to feel the music immediately.

He immediately got into the vibe and even his shrugs had a soul to it. I looked at Willy, impressed for a bit but quickly turned my gaze. Do-Seung looked quite pleased with himself. It was natural since he had perfectly recomposed a song according to a genre he never tried before. To make the song have a more American R’n’B feeling to it, he added reverbs to the instruments and slowed the tempo. He added many synth sounds so that one would naturally want to groove along to the song.

Simultaneously, Do-Seung didn’t forget the main melody line of “Blue Ocean”. If “Blue Ocean” had flowed out in an American military base in the 90s, this was the sort of feeling it would’ve given. Willy appeared entranced by just the intro of the song, and his expression looked even more astonished at the refrain part. I supposed a person had to love music this much to become first place on a US Billboard chart. Soon afterwards, the song completely finished.

“Lyrics[1], um, do you have any lyrics?”

Willy asked for the lyrics and found it saved as a file inside the USB. The overseas marketing team had translated my lyrics into English. Since there was someone who had translated pop songs and movies in their university days, the translating process had been smooth. Willy read the translated lyrics and nodded one more time saying it was good. Then, his next words came as a great but welcoming surprise for us.

“Should we record right now?” He immediately suggested. “I am going to include this song in tomorrow’s concert.”

“...Wow...”

He was going to sing “Blue Ocean” in tomorrow’s concert? As soon as I heard this, billboard seemed to be waving in front of my eyes.

1. Originally in English ☜