Chapter 88: Intro Master

“Everyone, please pay some attention to the meat.”

The silence, growing heavier, was broken by the sound of scissors cutting meat.

Kwak Jun-sung’s voice followed.

Saying it was all cooked, he pushed the pork belly slices to the edge of the grill pan and placed new pieces on the hot plate.

“Jun-sung hyung, I’ll enjoy it!”

Lee Woo-rim, who had been eyeing the meat with sparkling eyes, clattered his chopsticks and reached out.

Starting with Woo-rim, the managers and other members also began picking up the meat.

After eating a few pieces himself, he quietly picked up his spoon while everyone was focused on the meat.

He scooped up some of Seo Jun-jae’s doenjang jjigae, which he had set aside earlier, and brought it to his mouth.

It really is delicious.

He moved his spoon busily, marveling again, then suddenly stopped at an ominous thought.

…At this rate, will he actually make jokbal?

***

After finishing the meal, which was closer to a late-night snack than dinner, and cleaning up, the digital clock in the living room showed the number 2 in the tens place.

“Everyone, wash up quickly and go to sleep.”

At the manager’s words, they roughly decided an order, washed up, and returned to their room.

Seo Jun-jae and Yeo Hyun-tae, who had showered before him, were already inside.

After confirming the two sitting on their own beds, he raised his hand to the light switch.

“Turning off the light?”

The nearly simultaneous answers of “Okay” made him press the switch, plunging the room into darkness.

Guided by the faint moonlight coming through the balcony, he approached the ladder to his bunk.

He climbed up to the top bunk and lay down.

Soon, a soft “Good night” came from below.

The eventful day was ending much more ordinarily than expected.

***

Riding through now-familiar streets, they soon arrived at the same building as yesterday.

They went up to the second floor and opened Randy Kim’s studio door.

A slightly different scene greeted them than the day before.

Several people, including a staff member holding a camera, were waiting for them inside.

Among them, one familiar staff member greeted them.

It was the woman who had been sitting in the center seat when they first visited the K-Dream Entertainment building to sign their contracts.

Later, he learned she was Kim Shin-mi, the team leader of the A&R team, who oversaw many things, including NUAVE’s album production.

“As you probably heard, today’s recording will also be filmed,” Team Leader Kim Shin-mi said.

She introduced a staff member from the video team in charge of filming their own content, then gave a few instructions regarding the behind-the-scenes filming.

“There will be a camera installed inside the booth, but don’t mind it; just record naturally.”

“Yes!”

“Also, the SNS management team came along.”

Team Leader Kim Shin-mi turned her head toward Lee Woo-rim and continued.

She told him he could upload the photos and text he had tried to upload yesterday after getting approval.

Woo-rim answered that he understood, and Kim Shin-mi nodded and quickly walked over to another staff member.

“Can I see the photos and text?”

“Ah, yes!

I was planning to upload them this evening.”

While the SNS management staff member and Woo-rim talked, the video team staff member told the rest of the members to just act naturally.

Not sure how to look natural, he decided to just act like he did yesterday and walked to the central table.

“Jae-seo hyung!”

Well, you don’t need to be exactly like yesterday…

Chae Han-ul, approaching as he called out, pulled out the chair next to him and sat down, just like yesterday.

He couldn’t tell him not to sit here or to sit over there, so he just pursed his lips and looked down at the lyric sheet for the title track, ‘Awake’.

“Jae-seo hyung, look at this.”

Han-ul suddenly pushed his head toward him, pointed to his own part, which came right after Jae-seo’s part on the lyric sheet, and spoke.

“How are you going to sing the part before?

I want to match the feeling as I come in!”

Han-ul’s eyes sparkled intensely as he said that.

This kind of conversation wasn’t typical, so he briefly wondered if it was because he was conscious of the video team’s camera.

But watching him, it seemed more like he was just excited to have an excuse to talk to him.

“…The composer might change it, you know?”

“Still!”

Han-ul said it was okay and pressed closer.

Finally, Jae-seo opened his mouth and began singing the bridge part Han-ul had pointed to.

As soon as his part ended, Han-ul naturally sang the following part.

Jae-seo looked at his bright face, as if asking if it was okay, and tilted his head slightly.

Something felt awkward, but he couldn’t quite explain what.

“Han-ul, your pitch is off.”

Park Seo-hu, sitting at the same table with his eyes fixed on his lyric sheet, spoke.

“The first and second ‘still awake’ are fine, but the third and fourth are wrong.”

Only after hearing Seo-hu hum the four ‘still awake’ parts nonchalantly did Jae-seo finally understand why Han-ul’s singing had felt awkward.

The later notes needed to drop lower.

“Especially the last ‘till’ and ‘wake’—you need to drop the notes more sharply!”

…Deja vu?

He felt like he had experienced a similar situation.

“Han-ul, what are you doing over there?

Your seat is over here.”

Kwak Jun-sung, sitting in the same spot as yesterday, interjected, pointing with his pen to the seat next to Park Seo-hu.

Jae-seo nodded emphatically, genuinely agreeing, and stared at him.

Han-ul reluctantly stood up, gathered his lyric sheet and pen, and went to sit next to Seo-hu.

Then, the Spartan vocal lesson, which he had also experienced during ‘A Letter’, began immediately.

“I said drop the ‘way’!

More!

More!”

He watched for a moment, then looked back down at his own lyric sheet and picked up his pen.

As he hummed his part, following the various symbols densely marked over the lyrics, a camera was suddenly thrust in front of him.

Startled, he looked up.

The female staff member holding the camera spoke to him casually.

“I’m going to film some footage for our own content.”

“Ah, yes!”

“Just practice naturally, as you were doing.”

He nodded, and tried not to be conscious of the camera as he continued practicing.

After filming him for a while, the camera turned away.

He let out an involuntary sigh of relief.

It was embarrassing to admit after months of filming, but he still felt awkward and tense when a camera was pointed directly at him.

“Jae-seo hyung, you’re next!”

Lee Woo-rim came out of the booth and called him.

He stood up, warmed up his body, throat, lips, and cheeks using now-habitual methods, and entered the booth.

“Jae-seo, you’re feeling okay today, right?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

He had been checking until right before leaving the dorm, worried the same thing as yesterday might happen.

Fortunately, today there was no problem with his in-game ‘status’.

He nodded confidently and walked into the booth Randy Kim indicated.

He took out the headphones with now-familiar hands and put them on.

Randy’s voice came through.

“Ready?”

Struggling not to look at the camera installed to the left of the microphone, he shook his shoulders broadly to loosen up, then nodded and opened his mouth.

“Yes, I’m ready.”

“Then let’s try Verse 1.”

Not long after Randy finished speaking, the intro of ‘Awake’ began to play.

Following the melody and Randy’s gestures beyond the glass, he opened his mouth.

“I’m still awake.”

***

“That’s it!

You can come out, Jae-seo!”

At Randy’s OK sign, the recording was finished.

He gathered his lyric sheet and came out of the booth to find Randy clapping his hands together loudly.

“I was worried yesterday because your throat seemed bad, but you managed your condition really well.

You did great!

Call in Jun-jae next.”

“Yes, thank you!”

“Alright, good work!”

He bowed to Randy and left the booth.

He called Seo Jun-jae, who was sitting on the sofa, pointed to the booth, and was about to go back to his seat when the video team staff member stopped him.

“How was the recording?”

“Ah…

I think it went well.”

Flustered by the camera capturing his face head-on, he answered stiffly.

The staff member asked if he could answer a bit longer, and be more expressive, even exaggerated.

He said okay, nodded, let out a long, low sigh, and finally managed to speak.

“This time, I was given the intro part for ‘Awake’.

Um, during the show, fans often called me, hm, the intro master.”

After saying that, another sigh escaped.

He barely swallowed the short burst of breath and continued.

“I thought that maybe this time too, those listening to ‘Awake’ might feel that way, um.

I think I recorded well today!”

As he finished, he raised his right hand, only halfway giving a thumbs-up, to his chest.

As soon as the filming staff gave the OK sign, he fled from the camera frame.

“Hey, your ears are going to burn.”

At Kwak Jun-sung’s words, unable to hold back a laugh, Jae-seo immediately raised both hands to cover his ears, which were surely bright red.

He could feel the heat radiating through his palms, and his shame deepened.

“Wow!

Jae-seo, you tried.

You really tried!”

Even Yoon Ji-heon was laughing and clapping.

Jae-seo hurried to the table, sat down, and buried his forehead on the desk as if collapsing.

Now that he was away from the camera, he seemed to have regained his senses, and regret started flooding in.

…Am I crazy?

“Ah, then I want to be the chorus master!”

At Lee Woo-rim’s subsequent words, teasing his earlier expression ‘intro master’, Jae-seo squeezed his eyes shut.

…If only he could load an in-game ‘save file’, he truly, earnestly wished he could.

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