The air seemed to freeze for a few seconds, leaving only Liang Yun’s heavy breathing and the pounding of his heart, which threatened to leap from his throat due to fright and tension, echoing in the corridor.
He remained in that comical, forward-falling posture, his brain completely crashed due to “visual information overload” from the close distance.
He stared blankly at the flawless face before him, even able to discern the tiny vellus hairs and the slight flush on her cheeks from exertion.
The girl opposite him, Ahn Yujin, after a brief moment of surprise, her intelligent eyes glinted mischievously.
Far from being angry, she found the man’s reaction incredibly amusing.
She calmly straightened up, crossed her arms over her chest, tilted her head slightly, and a playful curve appeared on her lips.
Her lips curved slightly upward into a playful arc, and her clear, deer-like eyes bent into two beautiful crescents, making Liang Yun feel as if the entire practice room had brightened because of her smile.
“Producer-nim?
You’re Producer Liang, right?” she spoke, her clear and pleasant voice carrying a hint of a girl’s unique liveliness and teasing, “Are you…
personally testing our trainees’ resistance to impact and emergency evasion skills?”
“Huh?” Liang Yun suddenly snapped back to reality, caught off guard by the unexpected teasing.
He then realized how inappropriate his current posture was, and he jumped back as if electrocuted.
But his movement was too forceful, and he lost his footing again, landing with a thud on the floor.
“…I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I… I didn’t mean to! I got lost! I was looking at the map! I’m really very sorry!” He sat on the floor, gesticulating wildly, incoherent, his face flushed crimson, wishing he could dig a hole and crawl into it right then and there.
Ahn Yujin watched him in this state and finally couldn’t help but let out a burst of laughter, as pleasant as silver bells.
“Alright, alright, of course I know you didn’t do it on purpose.” She smiled and extended her hand, “Come on, Producer-nim, it’s cold on the floor.”
Liang Yun looked at her fair, slender hand, hesitated for a moment, but still didn’t touch it.
He scrambled to his feet on his own, brushed the dust off his backside, and turned his head away, not daring to look at her.
Just then, the practice room door opened again, and Jang Wonyoung and several other trainees walked out.
They all froze when they saw the strange scene.
“Yujin, who is this?” Jang Wonyoung asked curiously.
Director Kim Ji-yeon also happened to walk over from the other end of the corridor.
She saw the messy scene and a flustered Liang Yun, and she rubbed her forehead helplessly.
“It seems you’ve already met.” Kim Ji-yeon walked over, clapped her hands, “Everyone, this is Producer Liang Yun, whom I mentioned to you. He is in charge of your original song for this month’s evaluation.”
The girls then realized, and quickly bowed in greeting: “Hello, Producer-nim!”
Liang Yun also quickly returned the bow.
This time, he was smarter, only bending slightly, not daring to cause any more trouble.
The subsequent music meeting further showcased the stark contrast in Liang Yun’s personality.
In the meeting room, he was like a bad student called to the teacher’s office for a talk, avoiding eye contact with them the entire time, speaking haltingly, and so nervous he didn’t know where to put his hands.
He only dared to sit on the front third of the chair, his back ramrod straight, his hands on his knees, looking ready to face judgment at any moment.
so unreliable?
However, when Director Kim Ji-yeon announced the start of the meeting and asked him to elaborate on his ideas for the original song, a miracle occurred.
Liang Yun took a deep breath, pushed up imaginary glasses on his nose, then stood up and walked to the whiteboard in the meeting room.
The moment he picked up the marker, his entire demeanor changed.
His formerly cowering shoulders broadened, and his evasive gaze became sharp and focused, making them wonder if Liang Yun had a split personality.
“Everyone, I’ve studied all your evaluation data from the past six months.” He began, his voice no longer trembling, but full of confidence and penetration, “I believe that your team’s greatest strength is the diversity of your styles and the irreplaceable nature of your members. Each of you is like an uncarved jade, possessing different brilliance.”
His gaze became sharp and focused, like a general strategizing, completely devoid of his previous shyness and nervousness.
He began to write and draw on the whiteboard, from music style to song structure, and then to lyrical concepts.
He articulated everything clearly and logically, even drawing a simple market positioning analysis chart, analyzing the current market landscape of fourth-generation girl groups.
“Therefore, I believe the title track’s style should be Teen Crush. But in my opinion, it shouldn’t just imitate the power of boy groups. Instead, it should showcase the unique confidence, coolness, and unstoppable charm of young girls within a powerful dance track. It should be a hard core beneath a sweet exterior, a youthful declaration of ‘my destiny is mine, not heaven’s.’ My goal is to define a new style for fifth-generation girl groups.”
These words were impactful, leaving everyone present, including Director Kim Ji-yeon, with shocked expressions.
He then incisively analyzed the vocal characteristics of several core trainees.
“Ahn Yujin-xi,” he looked at Ahn Yujin, his gaze clear and professional, “Your vocal line has a lot of power, like a sharp sword wrapped in velvet, yet with a hint of refreshing youthful energy. This quality makes you very suitable to be the team’s center and energy core. At the same time, there’s a cohesive force in your personality; this is the temperament of a born leader. My song will give you enough space to drive the energy of the entire team.”
“Jang Wonyoung-xi,” he then looked at Jang Wonyoung, “Your vocal timbre is very unique, like honey-soaked marshmallow, highly recognizable. Your strength lies in your stage presence and camera awareness; this is a natural talent. Therefore, in the song, I will give you the killing part that best showcases your charm, using your languid and glamorous singing to become the hook that firmly grabs the audience’s ears. But before that, you need to strengthen your breath support; this is currently your biggest shortcoming.”
He analyzed the characteristics of several girls in a row, hitting the nail on the head with each one, offering both praise and unflinching correction.
The trainees were all thoroughly convinced; for the first time, they felt that they were truly being studied and respected as independent musicians.
The meeting concluded, and the song’s style and direction were set.
Just as everyone was preparing to take a break, the “professional switch” on Liang Yun seemed to click off.
He quietly returned to his corner, transforming back into the head-down, “don’t touch me” social recluse.
Ahn Yujin found this person incredibly interesting.
Her eyes twinkled, and she felt like teasing him again.
She picked up a bottle of water and, like a curious puppy, approached Liang Yun once more.
“Producer-nim, you worked hard.” She smiled as she handed him the water.
“Ah… thank you.” Liang Yun fumbled to take the water, his hands trembling slightly.
“Producer-nim, after listening to your analysis just now, it was really amazing! How did you come up with all that?” Ahn Yujin tried to approach from a musical angle.
“Just… just thought about it casually.” Liang Yun was sparing with his words.
“Then… what other areas do you think we need to improve?” Ahn Yujin changed the question.
“All… all pretty good.” Liang Yun’s answer was a conversation killer.
Ahn Yujin hit a wall, but she wasn’t discouraged.
She remembered the “information” she had gotten from the MONSTA X seniors and immediately changed her strategy, pulling out her “trump card.”
“Oh, by the way, Producer-nim, I heard from the MONSTA X seniors that you’re really good at games? And that you even found inspiration for songwriting from playing games?”
As soon as he heard the words “games,” Liang Yun’s eyes instantly lit up, as if a hidden program had been activated, and his floodgates of conversation “Duang” opened. New chapters come out on g.com first.
“Ah, that!
Well…
it’s not that great, really.” He said modestly, but the expression on his face betrayed him, “I’ve been playing Call of Duty recently!
The Modern Warfare trilogy is still a classic!
I’m telling you…”
Although Ahn Yujin only half-understood, she found the man in front of her exceptionally vivid and dazzling as he spoke about his passion, the light in his eyes sparkling.
She listened with interest, nodding occasionally and offering encouraging remarks like, “Wow, really?” and “And then what?”
However, just as Liang Yun was getting excited in his storytelling, Jang Wonyoung walked over, patted Ahn Yujin’s shoulder, and said to her, “Yujin, break time is almost over.”
Ahn Yujin subconsciously leaned a little closer to Liang Yun, wanting to tell him they’d talk later.
It was this unintentional closeness that instantly triggered Liang Yun’s ‘I’ person alarm to its highest level.
He felt his personal space had been invaded, and a rush of heat went straight to his head.
He recoiled from his chair like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, but his movement was so sudden that he tripped over his own chair leg, lost his balance, and fell backward.
He instinctively reached out to grab at things, bringing down a pile of sheet music and a dozen bottles of mineral water from a nearby shelf.
“Crash! Clatter! Thud!”
“Holy sh*t!” Liang Yun instinctively blurted out a national curse.
In an instant, sheet music flew like snowflakes, mineral water bottles clattered across the floor, and the entire practice room echoed with this “epic” symphony.
And Liang Yun, amidst the chaos, landed on his backside, creating an extremely awkward scene.
“Th-that… I… I’m going to the restroom!” Under the dumbfounded gazes of all the girls, he practically scrambled to his feet, stammered out a sentence, and then rushed out of the practice room without looking back, his figure as disheveled as could be.
In the practice room, Ahn Yujin and Jang Wonyoungexchanged glances, frozen for a full three seconds, then burst into a clear, uncontrollable fit of laughter.
“Pfft…
Hahahaha!” Ahn Yujin laughed so hard she couldn’t stand straight, tears almost coming out, “Wonyoung, did you see that?
He just…
he was like a startled humanoid robot, all his parts scattered!”
Jang Wonyoung also covered her mouth, shaking with laughter: “Oh my god, he didn’t hurt himself, did he?
He’s so clumsy.
But…” She stood next to Ahn Yujin, her gaze fixed on the doorway where Liang Yun had left, “He was really cool during the meeting just now.”
Ahn Yujin looked in the direction where Liang Yunhad disappeared, her eyes sparkling brightly, a playful smile on her lips.
She wiped away her laughing tears and said to Jang Wonyoung, “No, Wonyoung, you don’t understand.
That’s not clumsy, that’s cute.
Like an endangered, rare protected animal, so interesting.
But…” She thoughtfully stroked her chin, “I’ll have to be careful when teasing him in the future, he feels like a fragile item, it breaks with a touch.”
She felt that the days ahead would be very interesting indeed.