NOVEL NEXT Chapter 17
Chapter 17
Standing in front of the mirror and encouraging himself was Woohyung’s habit.
It seemed more important to be encouraged than to encourage.
After playing a song, he would glance at me and ask how it was, and at the recording site, he would seek Joon-oh’s opinion, always needing someone’s confirmation to feel reassured.
When no one else was available, he would stand in front of the mirror to gather courage from himself.
‘Why does he lack confidence so much?’
It was pitiful to think that he had endured alone because there was no one to tell him he was doing well.
I quietly moved to the side and made eye contact with Woohyung through the mirror.
“You’re the only one who can play this song, so have some confidence. You’re really good.”
“Oh, Director.”
Woohyung, who had been standing alone in the room and focused on his conversation with himself, seemed a little surprised when he heard someone else’s voice.
However, he immediately confirmed it was me in the mirror and smiled, his eyes crinkling.
“The piano is set up. Do you want to warm up your hands first?”
“Yes.”
When Woohyung and I came out to the set, the members were gathered around the piano.
In the middle, Haerang was lightly tapping the piano keys.
“You know how to play the piano?”
“Woohyung said it would be good to learn.”
“I should have kept learning too. It looks really cool.”
Han-yi, who was watching from the side, said. I agreed.
With his calm outfit, he looked like a nobleman playing the piano, even with a hairpin in his hair.
I stored this image in my mind, wondering if there would be a chance to show such a performance someday.
With the lighting set, Woohyung sat on the piano chair.
A white background, a white piano. Woohyung, sitting on a white chair, also looked… as if he was about to turn pale white.
Woohyung had finished his hair and makeup because he was going to record the piano performance.
Some members stayed to watch while others went to finish their preparations.
Woohyung, who seemed nervous, rubbed his hands on his pants and glanced to the side.
“Should I not watch if it makes you nervous?”
“No. Can you please watch?”
“Sure.”
Even though he had been an idol for several years, he seemed more nervous because it was his first time presenting his own composition.
It seemed he had a fundamental belief that there would be no second chance if he made a mistake at the start.
‘Is it time for another round of praise?’
As I was thinking that, Jun-hae, next to me, clenched his fist and held it out.
Woohyung, seeing it, clenched his fist in the same way and then turned his gaze to the keys.
Fortunately, it seemed he wasn’t always relying only on his own encouragement.
In the now quiet set, Woohyung’s piano performance resonated.
Watching from behind as the camera captured his long fingers felt surreal.
‘Come to think of it, this is the first time we’re filming him in motion, right?’
This was the first shoot after the profile photo session, and it was the first time I saw a video recording.
Yun-hee had filmed behind-the-scenes videos next to him that day, but they couldn’t be released.
Contrary to worries, Woohyung played flawlessly. The shoot of his back playing from a different angle also went smoothly.
Even though the audio already included Woohyung’s recorded piano, the live clip would have the members’ voices layered over the version recorded today.
Seeing him earnestly doing well made me feel something like…
‘It feels like watching my son in a piano competition.’
Raising Iris in the game often made me call her my baby, and this feeling was probably similar in real life.
After the performance shoot, there was a live recording of the members.
After moving the piano to the side so it appeared in the corner of the screen, five tall stools were placed at the front.
Before the recording began, the members did a final check on their hair and makeup.
And in the empty space, I first met Jae Min, who was warming up his voice alone, saying “Ah, ah, ah.”
“Director…”
He seemed like he was about to call me ‘Master.’
He hesitated and quickly changed his address, probably because there were staff around. More than that.
‘Whoa.’
As soon as Jae Min saw me, he approached in long strides.
Seeing him with makeup for the first time today, he was also an idol. Although familiar, he felt like someone from a different world.
With that face suddenly up close, I was surprised. Jae Min handed something to me.
“Which one suits me better?”
In his hand were two types of piercings. Since there was only one of each, he seemed to be choosing which one to wear.
One was a simple small ring, and the other had a thin chain dangling slightly below the earlobe.
‘Heh. Did he hear about my keen sense of style?’
Though it felt a bit arrogant, I was confident in my styling sense.
Today’s outfits were also sourced by the stylist, but I had requested whether to wear a jacket or a cardigan.
Among the members, Jae Min was the only one wearing piercings.
As I looked over them, Jae Min held them up to his ears to show me.
Both were silver, so they didn’t stand out too much and matched the outfit well.
“Hmm… this one.”
I chose the one with the thin chain. He immediately went to the mirror to change the one he usually wore.
Styling was something I enjoyed in the game as well, but seeing it change in real life felt much more rewarding.
‘Should I focus on styling if the company stabilizes…?’
Today’s members’ outfits were unified with a white base.
A white-tone background, a white piano, white outfits. It was an image chosen because white seemed to best match the sentimental atmosphere of the song.
The five members sat on tall stools, each holding a microphone.
With the not-so-bright lights reflecting off the white floor, it looked as if it had been edited, making me feel like I was watching from a monitor again.
Since they had prepared thoroughly, the live recording went smoothly without major issues. Even Jae Min, who had been warming up his voice until just before the shoot.
‘Is this really level 3?’
Having heard that he hadn’t sung for two years, I was worried.
Though he lacked intricate techniques, his plain voice matched the song’s atmosphere well.
‘Then what, am I around minus 3?’
The level system was something I guessed based on the numbers, but it was hard to feel the actual skill level.
When I checked briefly, his vocal level, which was close to 4, had already risen to 4.
‘When did this rise?!’
If it rose when I wasn’t around, would there be no notification?
It seemed Han-yi’s feedback on the vocal part in the recording studio had been reflected.
There was a reason why the group maintained decent skill levels despite the company’s hindrance. They created synergy by influencing each other.
‘That’s what being a group is about…’
I couldn’t imagine how much effort they had put into this group. Now it was my turn to push them forward.
***
[Monochrome Digital single
All of Monochrome’s official SNS pages posted an announcement of the song’s release.
The accompanying photo was taken during the live clip shoot, showing only the members’ feet so their faces were hidden, leaving most of the image white. And the title written in the center of the image.
In the photo, Woohyung was sitting at the piano, so it looked like there were either four or five members.
—
What the heck just got posted????
I almost screamed at workㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└What’s with the moodㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ So cool already
└It looks like a balladㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜ
└I almost jumped up at workㅠㅠㅠㅠ I’m hiding in the bathroom
—
Is it a mature concept?
Did I see it wrong????
└Looks like it’s trueㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ I thought I’d see a mature concept before I died, now I can ascend
└Hey, Colors, don’t ascend yet. Wait until it comes out
└If it’s a twist and they turn out to be mischievous again, I’ll really go to kill Newma.
└I’m nervous because it’s Newma, but they wouldn’t mess with us using a teaser, right? I don’t trust them, but I’ll believe them this time…
────────────
Can any Colors tell whose ankles are whose?
Curious about the seating orderㅠㅠ
└Second from the right is definitely Haerang
━━━━━━━━━━━━
‘How do they know just by looking at their ankles…?’
The comment was correct; it really was Haerang.
I marveled at the fans’ eagle eyes, recognizing their ankles when they all looked like just male ankles to me.
Anyway, it had been a long time since a group song was released. Moreover, the photo had a different atmosphere than their usual mischievous concept, causing a heated reaction from the fans.
Of course, the agency was naturally included in the criticism.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
Has Newma forgotten that there are different kinds of albums because they only release digital singles?
Please release a physical albumㅅXㅅX
└It’s been so long since they released a physical album that a museum just contacted me, asking to display it as an ancient artifact
└The staff should get paid in cyber money to realize the situation
━━━━━━━━━━━━
Fans were also unhappy that it was another digital single, only available online.
Of course, the production of a physical album the fans wanted was currently being planned.
‘I don’t mind the criticism of the agency…’
Due to using an ambiguous photo with either four or five members to hide Jae Min’s identity, there were some misunderstandings.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
?? Is the one in front of the piano a member?
If you count the piano, there are five people? Didn’t someone transfer agencies before?
└What? Are they still performing as a group?
└They definitely left, though
└Then why are there five people?
└How should I know?
└Isn’t it just someone playing the piano?
└Would they be shot in the same proportion if they weren’t a member?
└What if they’re not a member
────────────
Hmm.. Just feels like they’re dragging a former member along for the ride lol;;
I was searching for our member’s name, and suddenly the old group’s topic came up. What’s going on?
└222 I was startled seeing the photo lol;;
└If it’s true, there’s no hope, and even if it’s not, dragging the member’s name out is just wrong
└It hasn’t been revealed as Yunhwan, but people are already speculating
└Would they seriously do that?
└They’re doing it because they don’t have common sense.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
Among them, there was a post like this.
[Report this post for clickbait: http://~]
Following the link.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
Did MNC disband?
Suddenly doing this feels like a farewell;
└Stop talking nonsense…
└Did you think before speaking?
└Use your brain before you talk~!~!
└Some weirdos just spoiling the mood XX
━━━━━━━━━━━━
“…What’s with this talk about disbanding?”
“It probably means the agency looks like it’s finally getting its act together just before dying, right?”
Yun-hee, who was monitoring the responses with me, glanced at the post I was reading and said so.
She might be right, as there were comments below saying, ‘Is Newma about to go bankrupt?’
Though there were rebuttal comments saying Newma’s pool of actors was doing well, it seemed hard to say the same for Monochrome, as they were not mentioned.
‘That really hurts…’
The lyrics, which felt like they feared separation, seemed to be causing such reactions.
There was a suggestion to modify the lyrics a bit since it might be too dark for the first song released after a hiatus, but no changes were made.
I wanted to convey the feeling I had when I first heard it in the studio. Above all, it contained the emotions the members felt.
‘But it really is unpredictable.’
Of course, I didn’t think only positive reactions would come out, but I never imagined there would be talk of disbanding.
This must be due to the lack of trust in the agency.
“You don’t need to take in all the opinions. The response will be with the final product.”
“Right…”
Yes. Let’s take it slow, slowly.