Chapter 133

“Want you feel me now — ooh ooh Tell me—”

Inside the booth, Reina raised her voice as she closed her eyes . She was completely immersed in her own singing . KangYoon also looked forward to it since Reina no longer seemed to be nervous .

“Oh boy go for –”

Reina was singing the songs she had practiced at her college as she wished . She had always heard from HeeYoon that KangYoon had good eyes for music . She was planning to challenge her dream, performing on Broadway, if KangYoon gave her approval .

Reina sang louder and louder as though she was approaching her dream step by step .

Then, she seemed too excited, and her voice started being strained .

‘What’s this?’

KangYoon tilted his head when he heard a slight sound of air from her voice . This was because she was straining her voice . At the same time, the bright light started becoming weaker .

‘She’s putting too much energy in it . ’

Eventually, the music note started becoming distorted as well . This kind of change should not have gone unnoticed by the singer, but Reina was too immersed in her own world without being able to get out .

This led KangYoon to a conclusion .

‘She definitely has the talent, but she’s pushing it too far . She’s straining her voice too much . ’

The good feeling had dissipated a lot . KangYoon felt it was a pity since he still remembered how good it was at the beginning . Although he didn’t know a lot about musicals, singing so excitedly on a stage would make the audience cringe .

Like that, the song ended . KangYoon told Reina to come out of the booth .

[Well done . ]

[Uhm, was I any good?]

Reina was unaware of KangYoon’s thinking and asked in an excited voice . In fact, HeeYoon, who was next to him, was also nervous .

‘I should be honest with her . ’

This was HeeYoon’s friend . Rather than false praises, he decided to be honest with his opinion . KangYoon calmed himself down from the earlier excitement and spoke about his opinion in a very serious tone .

[I’ll be honest since you’re HeeYoon’s friend . You might be offended, but please understand . ]

[Yes . ]

[You’re too strained . More like, you put too much emotion into it . ]

[Really?]

Hearing her wrongdoings instead of praises, Reina seemed panicked at first . However, KangYoon still kept going .

[Putting too much emotion will give rise to a sense of rejection in the audience . It feels too unnatural . It feels like you’ve put too much salt in your food . ]

[Oooh… . ]

[Your first song, The Phantom, was very good, both the lyrics and the voice . My first thought that ‘she might as well be a musical actress already’ . However, my thoughts changed after I heard the second song . I guess it’s okay if you’re planning to do musicals as a hobby, but if you’re aiming for the main character role, you will need to fix this . If you have to do choreography or facial expressions while singing, your current style will show up while you do them . ]

KangYoon told her about the disadvantages of her style from his own opinion .

Reina’s expression became darker after listening to her bad points . However, she thought about it before becoming bright again .

[Thank you . I knew it . HeeYoon’s words were right . She said I would be able to gain something from it . ]

Only then did KangYoon relax his expression .

[I might sound like I pointed out only the bad points, but everything else was just perfect . Both your voice and the lyrics . I wish you’d join me if you have any thoughts in the Korean musical field . ]

KangYoon implied that he wanted her to join World Entertainment . When she heard that, she smiled as well .

[Really? That’s a pity . It sounds fun to be in the same company as HeeYoon, but I’m aiming for Broadway right now . Do you not have any plans on coming to America?]

[Hahaha, My hands are still full here . Perhaps in a few years . ]

[Looks like I’ll have to wait a few years too, then . I’ll wait for you at Broadway . ]

Reina took in KangYoon’s bitter medicine sweetly .

[Yes . I have faith that your dream will come true . Oh, and please get along well with HeeYoon . ]

[Hahahaha . Don’t worry . Let’s see each other again . ]

The evaluation time passed like that .

Reina blossomed into a smile again, and the studio’s atmosphere became cheerful again .

***

With Eddios joining World Entertainment, there were a lot of celebrities in World now . Thanks to that, they needed a lot more manpower . One such was a choreographer .

The first plan meeting for Jung MinAh’s solo album .

Hearing KangYoon that a professional choreographer was necessary, Jung MinAh gave a different opinion .

“This time, I’ll try making the choreography myself . ”

She was being considerate of the company’s budget allocated towards her . However, KangYoon shook his head .

“MinAh . Do you know how professionals make choreographies?”

“Don’t they just think about the beats and make it look cool?”

Maybe she was trying to sound funny, but KangYoon gave her a smack on the head hearing that .

“Ouch, that hurts!”

“It was meant to . MinAh, professional choreographers have to take into account the preferences of the public, the ability of the dancer, and the characteristics of the song and combine them into making a great dance routine . It’s not a simple process like ‘go with the flow’ . ”

“I wasn’t planning to do that either though . ”

Jung MinAh cringed in pain when she was hit by the smack . Finding that cute, KangYoon put his hand on her head and spoke on .

“I get that you’re worried about the budget, MinAh, but we do not need to save money on this part . ”

“…… . ”

“We should invest when we can . You should learn how to make dance routines at this opportunity, okay? That’s how you can help me out . ”

“Yes . ”

KangYoon turned around to HeeYoon .

“HeeYoon . Do you have MinAh’s new song?”

“Not yet . I only have a little bit of the intro . ”

“Looks like you were busy with JiMin . ”

HeeYoon was spending a lot of time with Kim JiMin with regards to her song . Jung MinAh still had some time to go anyway . KangYoon nodded his head in understanding .

He then turned around to Jung MinAh again .

“MinAh . The song isn’t out yet, but the dance performance will be very hard . You’ll be in for a lot of pain if you look down on those 3 minutes . ”

“Don’t worry about that . I’m training with all those exercises in the morning . I can even do a breakdance if you’d like . ”

KangYoon was satisfied to see Jung MinAh’s confidence .

Ever since her debut, Jung MinAh had not stopped working out . She had better stamina than any other members of her group .

Other than that, KangYoon told everyone that he was looking for an Eddios-exclusive stylist as well as a manager . When asked if she needed anything else, Jung MinAh only told him that she was very thankful and that she’d do her best .

The planning meeting ended on that note .

KangYoon went upstairs to the office and got car keys from Lee HyunJi . Lee HyunJi asked KangYoon in a joking manner .

“Does a director get funds for fuel?”

“Leave a receipt on my desk, sure . ”

“It’s fine . It’s our company’s money anyway . Just don’t scratch it . ”

KangYoon couldn’t help but feel sorry that he had to borrow her car again . As he was about to leave, Lee HyunJi stopped him .

“You know that there’s an interview today, right? Can you make it?”

“I don’t think I’ll come back in time . I have a meeting with OTS . Today was Eddios’s manager and coordinator, right?”

“Yes . OTS… is important . *sigh* . ”

“Please take care of the interview . My hands are full with Eddios and JiMin right now . ”

Both KangYoon and Lee HyunJi had their hands full of work . Lee HyunJi nodded .

“Okay, then . If we get any more staff today, do I tell them to start coming to work next week?”

“Please do . ”

KangYoon left the office immediately . The place he headed towards was Eddios’s new dorms . After he arrived, he called Lee SamSoon out . As she had been prepared already, Lee SamSoon immediately came out and boarded the car .

The car immediately headed towards the TV station .

Inside, Lee SamSoon had her hand on her cheek in excitement and a little bit of fear .

“Phew . ”

KangYoon asked Lee SamSoon when she sighed .

“Are you nervous about going to a TV station after all this time?”

“Yes . I didn’t get to go on non-music related TV shows a lot, so I’m a little worried . ”

“Maybe, but you did do a lot of things when you were a trainee . ”

“That’s true, but… It’s been such a long time . ”

“That’s why I’m with you here . You don’t need to be so nervous . ”

Lee SamSoon nodded her head .

“Last time, you were with me as well, team leader… . ”

“When?”

“Back then, when we had an outside stage . ”

“Oh . ”

KangYoon thought back to the time when he took her out to perform outside . After the street performance, they made the directors shocked at the meeting .

‘Thinking about it, it’s not that much different now . Only our target is a little different . ’

The target was not the directors now, but the viewers . KangYoon shrugged his shoulders .

Lee SamSoon seemed excited to talk about old memories and started talking about a lot of things .

“It was so fun back then in Hongdae . It’s unthinkable to do it now . People back then were so generous . They were so kind to me even when I spoke in an accent… . ”

“It was fun back then . People were cheering for you when you sang, I can still remember that . It was a good memory for me as well . ”

“Really?”

KangYoon gave her some encouragement .

“We can do it again . As for the people, we can just gather some more . Right?”

“……”

Lee SamSoon glanced at KangYoon without a word . KangYoon hadn’t changed from the past .

Eventually, the car arrived at the OTS TV station . KangYoon parked his car and headed to the meeting room on the 18th floor . When he got off the elevator, the assistant director, Kim MinHyuk, was waiting for them .

“Hello . We’ve been waiting . ”

Guided by the assistant director, KangYoon and Lee SamSoon headed towards the meeting room .

“Please wait for a moment . I’ll bring the producer here . ”

After the assistant director left, Lee SamSoon looked around . There were posters on the various programs that OTS did until now .

“Isn’t that JinSeo over there?”

“That’s a documentary . Did JinSeo do a documentary?”

KangYoon had a look at the poster that Lee SamSoon pointed to . There was a poster that said ‘OTS SPECIAL’ with Min JinSeo’s photo on it .

Lee SamSoon spoke as she saw the poster .

“From what I remember, she did the narrations . Although it was just her voice, I heard that the viewership rose by 4% . ”

KangYoon was shocked by Min JinSeo’s popularity . Although he did know that she was popular, seeing concrete numbers was a different feeling altogether .

“She’s doing well in China too . We were sent to America and JinSeo to China . MG’s intention was to aim for overseas markets like that . Though we failed miserably… . . ”

Lee SamSoon blurred at the end . KangYoon encouraged her .

After waiting for a moment, the assistant director brought the main producer, named Yeo WoonHyun, into the room .

“Welcome . It’s nice to meet you . Yeo WoonHyun . ”

Producer Yeo WoonHyun had a tall stature and was slightly chubby . He was a little different from KangYoon who had a thin stature but had wide shoulders . He greeted them in a loud voice just like his stature and started talking about the topic .

“Miss Jennie lived in the mountains when she was young?”

This was what he focused on the most .

“Yes . ”

“Where did you live?”

“It was Chungcheong-do, in a little valley called Chiram-gol . ”

Hearing concrete place names, the producer asked her many other things .

‘This producer is the problem . ’

KangYoon was nervous as he watched the interview between the two of them . This person kept doubting the inclusion of Lee SamSoon and insisted that they looked for other people for the job . However, the other producers and the directors pushed Lee SamSoon in .

Amidst KangYoon’s worries, Lee SamSoon was bombarded with questions .

“Wait, you can drive a tractor?”

“Yes . Although I don’t have a license, I did learn from an old gentleman at the village . ”

“When was that?”

“When I was fifteen? I guess?”

“…… . ”

The producer was shocked . Did such a world still exist?”

“F… fine . How about a two-wheeled one?”

“I learned that when I was 13 . ”

“*Cough* . ”

(T/N: The translation for the ‘two-wheeled tractor’ is a little vague . You can substitute rotary tiller, rototiller, rotavator, rotary hoe, rotary plow, power tiller, or cultivator(?)…)

The producer even coughed when he heard the shocking history of this girl idol .

The following questions were a little weaker – are you fine without a bed, are you fine with pit toilets, etc . They were mostly about the uncomfortable bits of country life .

“I even have experience cleaning one . ”

“…… . ”

Jennie of Eddios turned out to be a country girl . If he did not cast someone like this, the chief producer would probably get angry at him . He was afraid of the consequences .

“F… fine . Last question . Please say a line in a dialect . ”

“Dialect? Let’s see . Granma, you had yer meal, yet? You haf? Yer ain’t answering properly . Shall Ah make some porridge?”

“*Cough cough* . ”

(T/N: I can’t translate dialect properly…)

Producer Yeo WoonHyun felt his heart racing . Right now, Lee SamSoon seemed straight out of a movie . She had a good accent, good looks, and even the perfect height . She had everything!

“Haha, hahahahaha!”

Whatever doubts he had about casting her was blown away right now .

‘What’s so funny?’

Lee SamSoon was confused by the sudden laugh, but KangYoon shrugged saying that it was only natural .

‘Where can you find a more perfect girl for the job?’

KangYoon was sure that this ‘Modern Farmer’ program would raise Lee SamSoon to new heights .

***