84 – Two Geniuses with Strong Pride (1) "How can I become a better singer?"
At Yoon Suyeon's sudden question, Lee Jiyeon looked at her. How did you become a better singer?
"…Wouldn't it be enough if our Suyeon just keeps practicing the way she has been?"
It felt awkward to say it herself, but Lee Jiyeon considered herself a pretty good teacher. In fact, multiple entertainment companies had tried to recruit her as a vocal trainer, and some had even asked her to take their trainees as her students.
But Lee Jiyeon did not accept just anyone. She only took students whose skill was solid—kids who were, so to speak, "worth raising."
And Yoon Suyeon had talent that ranked among the best of those chosen kids. It was so exceptional that, honestly, Lee Jiyeon wanted to bring her into her own entertainment company and raise her as a prized disciple.
If we're talking talent alone, she's one of the best among the students I've taught.
Even though she had not taught that many.
If it was purely a comparison of talent, Yoon Suyeon did not lose to Han Goyo, either.
And Han Goyo was, without question, the overwhelmingly top one among Lee Jiyeon's students. She had even planned to take Han Goyo as her prized disciple and turn her into a finished product.
Yoon Suyeon was the kind of talent that could stand next to Han Goyo without being pushed down. It had not even been a full year since Lee Jiyeon began teaching her, yet her growth rate was three to four times faster than everyone else's.
Of course, she had started without her fundamentals in place, and she practiced extremely hard, but even accounting for that, her growth speed was astonishing.
That was why Lee Jiyeon could not understand Yoon Suyeon's question.
She was already growing fast enough.
Was she not satisfied?
"Why? Do you want to sing even better?"
"Yes."
And this was the first time Yoon Suyeon had been so blunt about saying something like that. Yoon Suyeon did not often put what she wanted into words. Whenever Han Goyo's name came up, her gaze changed, and she clearly showed she was conscious of her—but she never said it outright.
"Why?"
"There's someone I really want to beat."
"…Beat?"
Did Yoon Hajun tell her what I asked?
At the meaningful words out of Yoon Suyeon's mouth, Lee Jiyeon looked at her. Hm. Judging by her expression, it did not seem like that.
Then…
Han Goyo?
If it was that, it made sense.
Yoon Suyeon was strangely conscious of Han Goyo.
Lee Jiyeon stayed silent for a moment as she studied Yoon Suyeon.
Could Yoon Suyeon beat Han Goyo?
Their talent seemed similar. But the time they had spent chasing singing, and the resolve with which they approached it, were different.
Lee Jiyeon had seen countless singers, but she had never seen anyone who risked their life on singing the way Han Goyo did. Compared to that, it would not be easy for Yoon Suyeon to beat her.
But Yoon Suyeon had a helper Han Goyo did not.
Yoon Hajun.
The strongest helper for Yoon Suyeon.
Yoon Hajun had said it—that he would keep making songs for Yoon Suyeon from now on, songs that could bring out her talent best.
If that was the case…
If Yoon Suyeon brought Yoon Hajun's songs to life?
If that created synergy?
In Lee Jiyeon's eyes, the synergy between Yoon Hajun and Yoon Suyeon had not even properly happened yet. When you lived as a singer, you sometimes saw people like that.
Singers who seemed ordinary when they sang with other people, but showed incredible results when they worked with a specific composer.
Usually, those singers sang as the composer's persona. But Yoon Suyeon and Yoon Hajun had never shown that kind of thing.
Not that their songs were bad.
It was just that they were the same as the songs Yoon Hajun made for other kids.
And there was only one reason.
Yoon Hajun only adjusted himself to Yoon Suyeon.
Yoon Suyeon had no intention of adjusting herself to Yoon Hajun.
"Suyeon."
"Yes?"
"When you sing, what do you think about while you're singing?"
If Yoon Suyeon adjusted herself to Yoon Hajun and brought the song to life—if the synergy people talked about, between a singer and a composer, between a persona and its creator, exploded—maybe she could beat Han Goyo.
"Um, I just think… how should I sing this song? How should I carry the stage? What were the movements? Stuff like that?"
"Then from now on, when you sing, think about this: how can I bring this song to life more perfectly?"
"I always think about that—"
"Don't be conscious of other people. You have to think about how you yourself can sing this song more perfectly."
Yoon Suyeon, who had been speaking, fell silent at Lee Jiyeon's continued words.
Don't be conscious of other people?
Before she sang, Yoon Suyeon always thought of someone.
Han Goyo.
How would that person sing this song? After drawing that in her head, she digested it in her own way.
One of the reasons Han Goyo told Yoon Hajun that she did not like Suyeon was precisely that. It was not that Suyeon was copying Han Goyo. At most, she was building her originality through Han Goyo.
But now Lee Jiyeon was saying she could not do that anymore.
Without using someone as a filter, without being conscious of anyone, she had to complete her own weapon—her own originality.
For the first time, Yoon Suyeon began seriously thinking about that.
§ § §
Saturday.
I came to mm Entertainment for work and frowned at the monitor.
"It's forty-one people."
"Yes. That's right."
"…That's a lot."
As I said that, I drank my coffee.
Since Seo Chaerim said it was quite a few, I expected about twenty. I didn't think it would be more than double that. Of course, most of them were names I'd never heard of, but I also saw the names of a few fairly well-known singers.
"Chaerim said you're only working with one person."
"Yes. I have a lot I need to do because of school."
"Mm. Then it can't be helped."
To be exact, it was because of Singer Star rather than school, but I had no intention of telling Seohoon that.
"If you're worried because you don't know who to work with, would you like me to recommend someone?"
"Mm, sure. I'll hear you out."
"There are three people I recommend. First is Jung Yuni. She's the leader of the idol group Yuji that debuted last year, and she's fairly popular. Second is the ballad singer Seonghyeon. You've heard the name Seonghyeon, right?"
"Yes."
Yuji and Seonghyeon—both were familiar.
"And lastly, Kim Hanol. You greeted him last time, right? He's in the same company, and he sings extremely well."
Seohoon added that with a hint of intent.
I smiled slightly.
As expected. Just like Seo Chaerim said, Seohoon wanted me to work with Kim Hanol. He recommended three people, but I could hear him pushing Kim Hanol from the tone of his voice.
I crossed my arms and tapped my upper arm lightly.
What should I do?
"Let me think for a moment."
"Yes."
Staring at the monitor, I checked the names again. I was looking for a gem—someone unknown now but who would become extremely famous later.
But no matter how much I looked, I couldn't find a name like that.
Tsk.
It couldn't be helped.
Then I had no choice but to work with one of Seohoon's recommendations: Jung Yuni, Seonghyeon, or Kim Hanol. All three were serious names.
First, Jung Yuni—Yuji's leader.
Yuji was a very awkward group.
They had decent recognition and popular songs, but aside from Jung Yuni, the members weren't really famous. To the point that when you said Yuji, people thought, Ah, the group with Jung Yuni.
That was how outstanding Jung Yuni's "talent" was.
The problem was Jung Yuni's actual ability.
Jung Yuni sang unbelievably badly—truly horrifically. Among the girl groups I knew, she was one of the worst.
Then what was the "talent" I meant?
Her face.
Her face was pretty. But only her face was pretty. Every time she did solo activities, the agency gave her good songs, but she couldn't pull them off. Because of that, every time she sang live, her evaluations hit rock bottom.
And it wasn't like she was good at anything else, either. About a year later, she tried acting, and it was so terrible it only got her mocked.
So in the end, she only did CFs and modeling.
Well, because her face was pretty.
But she was out. Sure, you could fix a track with technology or cover it with autotune, but I didn't want to give a song to a singer who couldn't handle live properly.
Next, Seonghyeon.
Kinda awkward.
Seonghyeon's downside was that his genre was limited. His greatest strength—and weakness—was emotion. He expressed emotion to the point it felt excessive.
He was even famous as a singer who cried while singing. He couldn't control his own emotions, so he only sang ballads.
It wasn't a bad thing, since it let him play to his strengths.
But it wasn't really a style I wanted to work with.
Then the last one, Kim Hanol.
…Tsk.
Ah, this bastard. Seriously.
If we were talking pure singing skill, it was rude to even compare Kim Hanol to the others. There was a reason people called him "demonic talent," and why Seohoon was so obsessed with him. He sang unbelievably well.
The problem was his personality and private life.
He was lazy, arrogant, and liked alcohol, gambling, and women. The gambling incident was still about seven years away, so it didn't matter right this second.
Kim Hanol. Kim Hanol…
Seo Chaerim told me not to work with him, and it would probably be exhausting if I did. But for some reason, I was drawn to him.
With his skill, I felt like I could make a good song.
I thought for a long time, then picked up my coffee and drank.
I must have agonized over it for a while—the coffee that had been hot was now cold.
After drinking and organizing my thoughts, I looked at Seohoon.
"Have you decided who you'll work with?"
"Yes. I've got a rough direction."
"Then who will you work with?"
I set the cup down.
Clink—the cup and the table bumped.
"For now, I want to work with Kim Hanol sunbae."
"Oh, that's great. I think Mr. Han-ol will match well with you, Hajun."
Seohoon's voice brightened noticeably.
How much does this guy even like Kim Hanol?
But I wasn't planning to work with Kim Hanol purely and simply.
"Instead, I have a condition."
"A condition?"
"I'll be handling the producing entirely."
In other words, I controlled the work.
"No matter what Han-ol sunbae says, if I don't like it, I won't just let it slide. And if he interferes with the work, then the work is over."
If that guy got drunk and skipped recording, ignored me during recording, or interfered with the work, I was ending it on the spot.
It would be a shame to lose the song I made, but it was better than getting dragged around by him. So I planned to keep Kim Hanol firmly in my grip.
At my words, Seohoon frowned.
"What exactly do you mean by 'interferes'?"
"Things like looking down on me because I'm young. Unilaterally calling it quits for the day. Bringing women to the studio. Being late because he was drinking. That kind of thing."
Thinking of the rumors about Kim Hanol, I was cutting off problems ahead of time. Even if I said this and he still did it, I could just blow the whole thing up.
"…That's only natural. Understood. I'll make sure to tell him thoroughly so that doesn't happen."
"Like I said, if anything like that happens, I'm ending it immediately. I'm not joking."
I said it strongly so Seohoon wouldn't think, Surely you won't.
Maybe realizing I wasn't kidding, Seohoon nodded with a serious expression.
Then he stood with his phone, saying he'd speak to Kim Hanol. Watching him leave the conference room, I crossed my legs.
This was only my guess, but in my previous life, mm Entertainment was delayed by a full year because of Kim Hanol. But this July, Suyeon would enter mm Entertainment.
So that couldn't happen.
Well, there was a decent age gap, but if you went by my past life's age, I was older. And I also wanted Kim Hanol's talent.
If Kim Hanol didn't change even then, it couldn't be helped.
I'd have no choice but to exclude him from my vicinity.
Soon after, Seohoon came back into the conference room, apparently done with the call.
"Mr. Han-ol says he'll do it too."
"Okay."
And that was how the work between Kim Hanol and me was decided.
.
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