Doyun entered the recording booth, his jaw set with determination.
Through the glass, I watched him slip on the headphones and wait for his backing track to load.
The production assistant pressed play.
Lo-fi R&B filled the booth—soft synth pads layered over a slow, downtempo beat. Muted bassline. Atmospheric reverb that made everything feel underwater.
Doyun's eyebrows lifted just a fraction.
He wasn't expecting that.
He'd probably anticipated some hard-hitting trap beat, something aggressive where he could unleash his usual razor-sharp flow and prove why he'd dominated the underground rap scene before this competition.
Instead, he got this.
Moody. Introspective. The kind of instrumental that required vulnerability instead of bravado.
But Doyun didn't flinch beyond that initial surprise.
He closed his eyes, head tilting slightly as he absorbed every layer of the track. His fingers tapped against his thigh—not nervously, but rhythmically. Counting bars. Mapping beats.
