NOVEL NEXT Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Is Yunhwan making a group comeback?
His solo activities will be postponedㅠ
└222 I was secretly looking forward to his solo because the hiatus was getting longerㅜㅜ
└Isn’t Yunhwan a member?
└Isn’t it a bit shameless for the group to ride on his solo popularity? ;ㅋ
└The hardcore fans are going crazy.
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***
Woohyung held the USB with the song he worked on.
“I brought the song with me. You can listen to it here or in the studio.”
“Let’s go to the studio.”
I chose the studio.
It seemed better to listen to it with the speakers in the studio than on the office computer in this room.
Woohyung led the way to the studio where he made the song. It was the same studio he had been with Haerang before.
A small space where wires from the monitor, speakers, keyboard, and microphone were tangled together.
While I looked around the studio for the first time, Woohyung clicked the mouse and opened a folder.
‘Why are there so many files?’
[Guide_1st Draft]
[Guide_2nd Draft]
[Guide_Final Version]
[Guide_Real Final Version]
[Guide_Real Real Final Version]
[Guide_Real Real Final Version_Really Final]
…
As if communicating among themselves, the increasingly long filenames seemed to reflect his agony.
I didn’t know which one was the real final version, but when he picked a file and opened it, the monitor was filled with something like a graph.
Woohyung pressed the play button, and a guitar sound mixed with noise started coming out of the speakers.
‘Oh. Better than I thought.’
When I heard it was a self-composed song, the first image that came to mind was someone simply playing a melody on the piano or guitar while singing.
However, the song Woohyung made was a genre of music completely different from what I had imagined.
A fast tempo with drums and a complex mix of various instrumental sounds that might have been a piano or something else.
I was more intrigued than I had imagined and focused on the sound with an excited expression.
The accompaniment ended and the vocal part began. I was surprised by the voice that flowed out.
“Whose voice is this?”
“Han-yi sang it.”
Han-yi was the main vocalist of Monochrome.
I hadn’t seen much of them, but I had heard of Monochrome’s old music videos.
Back then, most of the songs were bright and cheerful, so his singing ability didn’t stand out much…….
‘Is it the same voice?’
His voice, layered on a different style of song, created a distinctly different feel.
After one section ended, a low voice that sounded almost like a growl came through.
“Is this Haerang?”
“Yes.”
In idol groups, each member usually takes on one or two positions, like the main rapper or sub-vocalist.
Monochrome had two members in the rapper position: the main rapper Haerang and the lead rapper Woohyung.
The voice coming out was unusually low, so I guessed it was Haerang.
But even this voice was different from his usual speaking voice.
The vocal section started again, with Woohyung’s voice mixed in harmoniously at certain points.
The song ended with the same guitar sound that started it.
Woohyung, who had been staring at the screen, looked at me and asked carefully.
“Well, how was it?”
“It was much better than I expected.”
I clapped lightly. It was an honest opinion, not an empty compliment.
Even if I was ignorant about music, I had ears to hear. From an ordinary person’s perspective, it really felt like listening to a song on a music site.
I thought it would be more like a draft, but the completion level was quite high.
It was like when a young cousin made bread and gave it to me as a gift, and I ate it without any expectations, but it tasted as good as bakery bread.
Woohyung couldn’t hide his happy expression, rubbing the back of his neck at my praise.
I had thought about it before…… Every time I said something like this, he seemed shy and very susceptible to compliments.
‘Of course, it’s because his skills are good that he gets praised.’
This industry pursues perfection and always demands better skills, so I thought it might be even harder to receive compliments in such a company.
I planned to tell him honestly if there was something to praise. I usually say what I think is good straightforwardly.
Gaining a bit of confidence from my positive feedback, Woohyung hesitated before speaking.
“Well…… There’s one more. Can I play it for you?”
“Of course.”
Seeing him ask this way, it seemed he originally planned to play only one song.
It was good that I came down to the studio directly.
When Woohyung opened another file and pressed the play button, a calm piano sound started.
It was a different atmosphere from the song I had just heard.
“What’s this?”
“It’s Jun-hae’s voice.”
As soon as I asked, Woohyung answered right away.
For reference, Monochrome’s vocal positions were the main vocalist Han-yi, Yunhwan, and the lead vocalist Jun-hae.
Jun-hae’s soft tone blended seamlessly with the melancholic melody as if they were originally one.
The previous song had a fast beat mixed with rap, so I focused on the song’s feel rather than the lyrics, but this song naturally brought the lyrics to my attention.
(Holding your hand might be my selfishness-)
The lyrics expressed the feeling of not wanting to let go of a loved one. However,
“…….”
I kept my mouth shut and listened seriously, not because I was swept away by the song’s mood.
Even though it wasn’t explicitly stated in the lyrics, anyone who knew Monochrome could tell.
This was their story.
(If there’s an end to waiting, I hope it’s not a farewell…)
The hesitation in holding onto their fans and the people who stayed by their side.
Wasn’t this what Monochrome wanted to say the most right now?
After the song ended, the studio, where only the two of us were, fell silent.
This time, Woohyung didn’t look at my expression and kept his eyes on the monitor.
It seemed that he also needed time to swallow the lingering emotion after hearing the song.
“This…… we really have to release it.”
Woohyung turned his eyes to me, looking surprised, and then smiled brightly.
I couldn’t imagine how hard the times had been behind that smile.
***
‘Hmmm.’
I leaned back deeply in the chair and twirled a pen in one hand.
Both songs that Woohyung played were good. Especially the second song, which I wanted to release as soon as possible for the fans who were waiting, but I wasn’t sure how to prepare it.
‘I’ll have to discuss it with the production team.’
While I was making such plans.
“Director.”
Yun-hee came to the office with an unusual expression.
“Is something wrong?”
For a moment, my heart sank, thinking she might say we couldn’t work anymore. I straightened up and sat properly. But it seemed she came for work, as she was holding her office laptop, not a resignation letter.
“I usually ignore baseless rumors on the internet, but I think you should see this.”
She placed the laptop on the desk so I could see the screen.
“There’s a rumor in the community about Yunhwan leaving.”
“What, leaving… No way?!”
What a shocking piece of news.
I stared blankly at the laptop screen she showed me.
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I heard Yunhwan is leaving Newma… An older sister I know heard it from an employee.
└Huh?
└Ignore the troublemaker
└Where did you get that gossip?
└Who’s that employee? Is it like the daughter of the uncle of a friend of a cousin?
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I heard it too. The artist’s label was split off, and it was like they abandoned.
└You’re so confidently delusional that it’s shockingㅋㅋㅋ
└Considering the number of people who heard it, maybe there’s something to it?
└Sure, my brain says the world will end tomorrow
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To be honest, Yunhwan seemed to have more solo activities than group ones. Wouldn’t it be better if he just went solo?
└I didn’t say anything because the atmosphere wasn’t right, but I thought so too.
└222
└Carefully, I also agree 33
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It’s true that the atmosphere inside Newma isn’t great right now. Most people in the entertainment industry know.
└Do you think you’re the only one in the entertainment industryㅋㅋ Pretending to be an expert~ Pretending to be an insider~ㅉㅉ
└Since the community’s atmosphere isn’t good right now, why don’t you quit being a member too
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Isn’t it possible he could leave Newma but still stay with the group?
└Cutting ties with the agency but continuing group activities? That’s too optimisticㅋㅋ
└Why don’t they all just leave Newma together
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What if the rumor is true? I think I would support him…
└Me too..
└I became a fan because of Yunhwan and became a fan of the whole groupㅠ I hope it’s not true.
└I’m originally a solo fan, so it doesn’t matter to me
└Doesn’t matter to me either 22
└The fans around me are supportive if it means changing agencies.
…
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The debate over the controversy continued beyond this.
I also learned for the first time that there were so many individual fans of Chae Yunhwan, the artist, not the group.
My head spun at the part where they said he had more solo activities than group ones.
‘Ah… I did it again…’
At the time, Iris was in its second year, so Monochrome was in its fourth year.
There was an update at My Enter. Members’ solo activities became possible.
Group activities had to take into account the different stamina gauges of the members, but solo activities were simpler because there was less to worry about.
In the latter half, it was a great option for me, who really used Monochrome to make money.
Moreover, it was more profitable to invest in promoting just Yunhwan than all five members together.
‘So that’s why the solo fandom grew.’
Even though the group had a long hiatus, Yunhwan was put through a grueling schedule.
It was a bad move for both the group and the individual.
I would set up schedules weeks in advance and focus on Iris.
Because it was almost like automatic play for me, I didn’t bother to remember it. So, it took this kind of occasion to finally recall it.
‘I thought I could forget the past and focus only on the future.’
…That was my arrogance.
I didn’t remember much about Monochrome, and it eventually came back like a butterfly effect.
This was another disaster I had brought upon myself. I rubbed my furrowed brow with my fingers.
“Where’s Yunhwan…?”
“He’s at his parents’ home for a short visit because it’s his day off.”
Although the members of Monochrome often came to the company, their working hours were not set like ours since they were celebrities.
It was also common for them to visit their parents when they had personal matters.
We decided to wait and see because the rumor was baseless, but the next day the company started to buzz with the spreading rumor.
Waiting for the situation to pass quietly was not an option as it grew bigger and bigger.
And then a decisive, major incident happened.
Knock, knock.
Secretary Choi knocked on the office door. It wasn’t his usual calm knock.
“Director, I think you need to go to the president’s office right now.”
Seeing his urgent expression, it was clear that this was no ordinary matter.
I followed Secretary Choi and headed straight to the president’s office.
With the CEO absent, the president was currently the highest authority at Newma Entertainment.
After the artist label split, the president mainly focused on managing the company’s actors, so we rarely had business together.
I knocked on the president’s office door and opened it without waiting for permission.
Even the president’s secretary couldn’t stop me, an executive.
“What is going on here?”
It was something the other party could have said, but I spoke first.
The president and the head of the management team were sitting across a table, looking at me as I burst in.
On the table was a document requesting the termination of Yunhwan’s exclusive contract.
“This is something to discuss with the president. Please understand.”
“Monochrome is under my…!”
Before I could finish, someone burst through the door roughly behind me.
It was Yunhwan himself.