We, who had gradually wrapped up the hiatus to match Do Yuda’s recovery, were finally preparing for our second comeback.
Do Yuda had now removed the cast and could walk around perfectly fine, but intense physical activities were still out of the question. Dancing on the live stage would be doable, but we had to remember that hundreds, even thousands, of practice sessions were required for a live stage performance.
When we made that clear to the company, the A&R team suggested two options.
“We could have Do Yuda-ssi perform the killer part and then exit the stage, as it’s the cleanest and most common approach.”
“Or, we could have a stage with just standing microphones and no performance at all, focusing entirely on the vocals.”
However, I felt that the former approach would underutilize Do Yuda, who served as the centerpiece of Pantheion’s vocals, and the latter approach would fall short of presenting the image that the public has come to expect from us. Of course, our group’s members could definitely win the public’s attention with their vocals alone, but their performance abilities were far too good to be suppressed.
It was my role to come up with a way to maximize their talents without letting them go to waste.
“For the first verse, I would like to have Pantheion’s members perform seamlessly, but midway through, I would add a large number of dancers along with Do Yuda. From that point on, we can reduce the complexity of Pantheion’s group choreography, and compensate by using the large group to maintain the splendor of the stage. With a large number of people, even simple movements can create a sense of overwhelming impact, as long as the timing and angles are precisely aligned.”
In the end, the staff failed to break my stubbornness, and I immediately started producing the stage with talented dancers.
And for the most important song, since the body had become much more relaxed, I made the difficulty of the vocals a whole different level from the previous song. It wasn’t as difficult as
Domination
though.
“Seungbeom-ah, can we really sing this song? The vocal part is really difficult…….”
“If your legs are not working, at least your neck should be.”
It was a kind of homework that I gave to the members of Pantheion.
I chose this method because I wanted them to grow and gain as much as possible by my side during our short period of activity, so they could fulfill their dreams even in my absence.
I was hoping everyone would hang in there, even if it was a bit tough, but they went above and beyond my expectations. The members were only taken aback briefly when they first heard the guide, and then, once practice began, they quietly got down to solve the homework I’d given them. It seemed like their actions stemmed from the trust that ‘
Han Seungbeom would never ask us to do the impossible
‘.
And in that process, the most noticeable changes were seen in Do Yuda and Baek Kiryang, the main vocalists of our team.
Do Yuda was originally someone who mastered the most traditional style of practical music vocals, but after the rock festival stage, he was influenced by the surrounding artists. He also subconsciously began to adjust his vocal to avoid being overshadowed by Zen’s voice, which was unbeatable when it came to standing out on its own.
I quickly sensed another possibility for Do Yuda and, without saying anything to him, created a part that would allow him to try out that singing style. My goal was to prompt him to reflect on his own vocal identity. At first, Do Yuda tried to revert to his old style, but when that didn’t work, he came to me and confided his worries.
“I want to try doing it like that time. For some reason, at that stage, I felt like if I didn’t do it that way, I would get pushed around by the energy of the crowd or by Zen’s presence, so I pushed myself hard, and it turned out well. But realistically, I’m not sure if I can continue doing it that way. It’s so different from how I’ve done things until now, and I’m not sure if I’m doing it right … I’m worried that if I change too much, people might not like it.”
I wasn’t as good at singing as Do Yuda, so I couldn’t give him much help in the parts related to vocals. However, I knew that wasn’t what he was looking for from me.
‘Do Yuda is surely aware that he’s at a level where he should be teaching others, rather than learning from someone else……’
What Do Yuda needed right now wasn’t vocal tips, but advice on his future direction. And coincidentally, I was someone who had witnessed the Prism members’ journey; their initial failures on the way to the top, their resilience in getting back up, and their eventual success. So, I had some words to offer.
“There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to refining your existing skills or abandoning your current style for something completely new. Your recent changes, if we put it negatively, could be seen as developing mannerism, but in the positive light, you could say it’s given you a unique characteristic that adds richness to your vocals. What people like best always changes depending on the current trends.”
“…….”
“But in my experience, people who don’t move forward out of fear of taking the wrong path end up never moving forward at all.”
Do Yuda listened to my answer and nodded quietly.
“…Thank you, hyung.”
Then, he greeted me in an unusually calm and serious tone before locking himself in the practice room and practicing all day long. It was getting to the point where I had to forcibly drag him out of the practice room, worried that he might get a nodule.
Watching him like that, it felt like the Do Yuda from the early days of
Survive IDOL
, the one I had to drag into the practice room, had grown up and disappeared completely.
‘He was definitely shorter than me when we first met, but now he’s even taller…….’
Do Yuda tried out various changes, and whenever he felt insecure, he would rush out of the practice room and come to my studio. Each time, I listened to his singing and help him figure out what he wanted his style to be.
He gobbled up my advice like a starving child, and as I watched him blossom explosively, I even started to think it was a blessing in disguise that he finally had time to fully concentrate on his singing.
Zen, after observing Do Yuda for a while, would often turn to me and say things like this.
“…Leada, why does Yu-chan leave me behind again after I manage to keep up for a bit?”
I met his question with a nonchalant expression, then pointed with my hand at Do Yuda, who was grinding his teeth while glaring at Zen through the small glass pane of the practice room door.
“Can’t you see that guy glaring at you in the practice room right now?”
“Oh, he looks like a vengeful spirit.”
“Yeah, that kind of guy leaving you behind? What nonsense. He’s running hard because he’s afraid you’ll catch up to him. And that means you’ve grown to the point where you’re seen as a rival by him.”
“…Is that true?”
“Yeah, so go and tell him to practice with you, hurry. There’s a long way to go, no time to be down.”
There’s nothing more ideal than growing together while pushing each other to be better. I gave the sluggish guy a few light taps on his butt, as if urging him, and sent him off to where Do Yuda was.
And just like Do Yuda, Baek Kiryang who’d also gone through a huge change…..
“I’ll do it again.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t like it, so I’ll do it again.”
Something had changed.
Baek Kiryang was originally someone who was very precise with tempo and pitch, so he was the one who took the least amount of time during recordings. However, starting from this album, even after receiving the “
okay
” sign, he would often say that he was not satisfied and asked for another take.
As if he wasn’t satisfied with his current state.
And after reviewing the final product of all that hard work, I noticed a subtle but significant change—one that any musician would pick up on—and I was impressed.
‘The depth of his vocal has changed.’
It seemed like he had gained some kind of awakening while recording the OST.
Singing a song in a group, with several people sharing the parts, versus carrying a song all by yourself were two completely different things. It wasn’t a matter of which one was superior to the other, but it just meant that he had to sing from a different perspective than he was used to.
‘…It was a stroke of luck that we had a brief pause during this period.’
I could feel the young talents slowly blossoming. As I was pondering these to myself while listening to the luxurious music files that proved it, our manager knocked on the door and entered the studio.
“Seungbeom-ssi … Prism’s Lee Chise-ssi keeps reaching out to us. What should we do?”
At first, I thought he was here to talk about the upcoming music show schedule. But when Prism’s name came up, which I wasn’t expecting at all, I gulped and clenched my fists.
After he texted about coming all the way to the company, I did entertain the possibility, but I genuinely did not anticipate that he would take such measures as contacting my manager in an attempt to reach me.
‘…Information could easily leak out through the staff!’
To be honest, my heart sank as soon as I heard the manager say that Lee Chise had contacted him.
Now that I was in closer contact with Lim Seunghoon, I needed to be more careful with my actions, but these guys, oblivious to my concerns, were relentlessly chasing after me.
‘Should I tell him outright not to contact me?’
Lee Chise was different from the other Prism members, like Jay.
It meant that even if he didn’t like someone, he would never cunningly set a trap to sabotage their path. So, even if I coldly turned down this contact, it wouldn’t cause any major issues for Pantheion.
But I didn’t have the heart to do that.
It felt like I would be inflicting the same pain on them twice.
‘…By now, most people would have given up out of anger after being ignored this much.’
Wincing with a headache, I reluctantly opened my mouth to reply.
“…Please tell him that it’s difficult to reach me because of my schedule, and that I’ll contact him later when I have some free time.”
Then, the manager, who had been subtly watching me with a rather awkward expression, forced a smile. He looked like he knew I would answer that way.
“Well, he told me to tell you that if you say that, Seungbeom-ssi, he’ll wait until the very end. He also said he won’t have the party if you don’t come.…”
Even if he didn’t listen, he should have at least done so in moderation. How could he act like this?
‘If they find out that I care about you guys, it’s all over, so why do you keep…….’
Since the day I had a conversation with Lim Seunghoon, I used my abilities to check how he reported back to Kang Hyukwoo. Until now, I had been extremely limiting the use of the ability because I didn’t want to use the cost, but this time I had no choice.
“Seungbeom-ssi told me that he has no intention of moving to a different agency just yet. He was so adamant about it that it was hard to push the topic any further.”
From what I overheard through the ability, it seemed that Lim Seunghoon had not yet passed on information about me to Kang Hyukwoo. But there was no guarantee that he would continue to act according to my wishes in the future.
Right now, he was probably cooperating with me due to the sense of betrayal from discovering that Kang Hyukwoo had been hiding the fact that his face was shown on the original video, and the pressure that his life would be completely ruined if I opened my mouth. But the moment it became known that my weakness was Prism, and that I could never release the original video anywhere else he would betray me right away.
Not yet.
I had gotten a few valuable pieces of information by manipulating Lim Seunghoon, so I couldn’t give them up this soon.
“Haa…….”
“I’ll make sure he will be given a polite refusal. Don’t worry too much, Seungbeom-ssi.”
As I sighed deeply in distress, the manager looked down at me with pity and confidently told me not to worry. It seemed that he was under the ridiculous misunderstanding that a mean senior was persistently chasing and bullying me. Although I secretly felt guilty to Lee Chise, I didn’t correct him.
“Oh, and there’s one more thing I have to tell you…….”
Just then, the manager snapped out of his musings and spoke once more.
“I think I should let you know in advance that Frick-ssi will be around during this promotion period. I’m worried that Kiryang-ssi might have a hard time…….”
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Translator’s Corner:
Well at least Pantheion has good manager…..
also you guys, the poll was supposed to be the end of it since we’re going to get the answer very real soon anyway. I DON’T KNOW WHY MY NOTIFICATIONS BECAME MORE COMPLICATED ASDFGHJKL just what if you created a more complicated situations then got disappointed when the truth wasn’t so grand … let’s not hurt your head, what if you guys miss the important foreshadowing because you keep focusing on the same thing for the last 100 chapters …. though I’m really happy reading everyone’s essay. It seems like everyone is so invested in this story just like me, I’m really really glad T_T
But I’m real serious, enjoy these chapters while you can ….
These days there are at least three new commenters in the early chapters … the problem is … ALL OF THEM ARE ANONS, I’M CONFUSED T_T There are a lot of quiet readers, but from time to time, there are people who’s leaving their reading progress by likes or comments, and it was really nice to see. Like, when I saw someone keep liking chapters for a week, I couldn’t help but thinking “omg thank you for reading until the end”, since we already have 200 chapters, you know, and usually some would already get bored and stopped reading.
Anyway, one of the new anons commenting on my missing snack that lost hundred chapters ago … and it reminded me. When I lost it, I thought I would find it once I completely cleaned my room? Like, if not in whole, then the remain of it. But right before I moved out, I cleaned every corner and nook of my room, like I even lift the bed too, and emptied the whole room, BUT I DIDN’T FIND IT ??????????? SO WHERE DID IT GO IF IT’S NOT IN MY ROOM????