Chapter 41

It sure is disgustingly large .

In front of the high MG building, Lee JunYeol grumbled . Compared to his small company, this was like a royal palace .

Hey, its Lee JunYeol .

Whoa! Hes really handsome . But he really is shameless . Whyd he come here?

When Lee JunYeol entered the lobby the trainees passing by whispered while looking at him . He was a famous star within MG Entertainment in a variety of ways .

Oh, my ears are so itchy .

Of course, he couldnt pretend to not hear it at all . Lee JunYeol was guided to KangYoons office on the 5th floor from the lobby .

Whats all this? Hyung, you work in a place like this?

As soon as he entered KangYoons office, Lee JunYeol clicked his tongue when he saw the papers piled up on KangYoons desk and the materials on the shelves . Although a private office wa good, Lee JunYeol was already fed up with the countless amount of materials surrounding him .

You came .

Lil bro is here . At least serve me some tea?

KangYoon gave out a cup of tea to the man who shamelessly claimed his little brother . Even so, he appreciated it since Lee JunYeol came here to do the featuring despite his busy schedule .

You worked on my stage like this too?

Kinda, I work like this in the office and I run around on the scene . Planners are all like that .

No wonder youre called the God of Music .

Who does that? Bullshit God, Im a slave .

KangYoon thought it was absurd and he denied it, but the feeling Lee JunYeol had was different . The amount of work in KangYoons office had exceeded his imagination . Originally, he had thought that a singer would rise if he or she just sang well, but in truth, there were people who put in effort to control the variables behind the scenes to make a star rise .

After a brief chat, the two headed to the underground studio . The ACE members, Producer Oh JiWan and the staff were waiting there to watch the featuring .

After setting the microphones inside the booth, Lee JunYeol warmed up his voice and got ready for the recording .

-Hyung, shall we do it immediately?

Will you be alright?

-Lets do it quickly and grab some food .

He seemed to have done a lot of practice as Lee JunYeol requested for the recording straight away . Soon, the accompaniment came flowed out and the recording began .

-Youre my only happiness for the rest I love you

A purple musical note could be seen from Lee JunYeol as well . His heavy low voice along with the notes intertwined in one place to make white light . However, the light was neither strong nor weak .

Shall we try again?

Producer Oh JiWan tilted his head and requested for a re-run . KangYoon paid attention to Lee JunYeols singing again .

The color of the notes should be constant . If looked at carefully, their brightness are slightly different .

Although the musical noes coming out from Lee JunYeol was constant, there were differences in their brightness . Listening, he found out that it was the difference of how much strength he put into his voice . When one verse ended, Producer Oh JiWan tilted his head again .

Its a bit strange but I cant find out why .

At that moment, KangYoon grabbed the microphone connecting to the booth .

JunYeol, the I Love part here . I think you put in too much strength . Can you sing slightly weaker?

-Okay .

While Producer Oh JiWan looked at KangYoon strangely, the recording started again .

-Youre my only happiness for the rest I love you

Whoa .

However, the strange gaze to KangYoon turned into a thats unexpected expression . Since the sound became better when he did as KangYoon said .

That part became constant . The ACE will do the high pitch sounds to their hearts content, so Lee JunYeol just has to make the lower pitch sounds plentiful . First, why dont I polish the only bit? Theyre too close together so in a direction to emphasize it slightly

KangYoon got into action right away .

JunYeol, only this bit, lets do it a bit stronger . Just slightly, if you do it too strongly, you will eat up The ACE girls voices, oka?

-Okay .

Producer Oh JiWan didnt stop KangYoon . He had judged that KangYoons listening ability was very good . The recording started again and musical notes started coming out from Lee JunYeol again .

Good .

A strong white light was made from Lee JunYeol . The brightness of the notes, and the color were both constant . This made the light stronger . After recording one verse, Producer Oh JiWan went into mixing with a satisfied smile .

I think we can use this as is .

They didnt record many times . Although the process of recording a song was to record countlessly and insert the best parts, if the sounds were this good, there was no need for such process .

The other verses, which came after, were the same . Producer Oh JiWan didnt stop KangYoon . KangYoon requested Lee JunYeol in order to make the notes constant and make the light stronger, and as a result, they could finish the recording without spending much time .

Whoa it didnt even take 2 hours?

While exiting the booth, Lee JunYeol clicked his tongue, seemingly in disbelief .

Youve worked hard . Pros sure are different .

KangYoon patted Lee JunYeols shoulders . However, Lee JunYeol shook his head .

Hyung, youre good even with recording . Its the first time I saw a producer who was so refreshing with his requests . I thought you only did stage planning . I didnt know you were so good with producing . Hyung, lets work together for my next song .

I dont know how to control mixers though .

Whats wrong with that? We can just call them .

KangYoon expressed his difficulty . Although he could use a mid to small scale mixer of 20 channels or less, he had no confidence in controlling if he had met a huge mixer of 48 channels or more . The basics were the same . However, there were many additional functions so there were a lot of things to learn . It was not for nothing that sound engineers and lighting engineers were called professionals .

I think you can learn to do it in a short time though . Hey, pretty ladies over there . Its your fortune of a lifetime to work on an album with a person like this . Thank him while kowtowing him a hundred times .

Ahaha

When Lee JunYeol directed his arrow to Kim JinGyung and Yoon HyeRin, the two laughed awkwardly . Lee JunYeol was eccentric as the rumors said . Not minding them at all, Lee JunYeol left the studio as soon as work ended .

Hyung, then Ill be going .

Let me see you out .

When KangYoon was about to see him out, Lee JunYeol stopped him .

See to your own kids first .

Lee JunYeol pointed to Kim JinGyung and Yoon HyeRin who were absentmindedly standing behind them . They had become absentminded after looking at the process of recording with Lee JunYeol and KangYoon . It was because they had seen KangYoons trustworthy side only heard in rumors .

Then bye .

Ah, hyung!! Wait for me!!

Lee JunYeol cutely (as he himself saw it) waved his hand and left the studio . Following him was Manager Yu SeungCheol who had no presence as always .

It really is chaotic with him around . Youve worked hard in watching . Then shall we

KangYoon stopped his words when he was about to say shall we head to the practice room to the 2 women . It was because their shiny gazes were a bit uncomfortable .

Wh what is it?

Team Leader You were so cool

Kim JinGyung folded her hands neatly in front of her like a little girl in front of a pretty man . KangYoon panicked .

Wh, what is?

How can you point out so accurately You did the same with our song, right?

Y yeah, that is so .

Yoon HyeRin wasnt that much different from Kim JinGyung . Recording was originally a difficult process . A man with leadership was definitely admirable . Different, different was what people said about him and it really was correct .

Team Leader Youre the best .

KangYoon was uncomfortable with the two pairs of shiny eyes so he could only cough awkwardly .

***

Jung MinAh, who lied on the ground after the difficult dance practice ended, smacked Christie An who was using her stomach as a pillow, as always .

Hey, get off .

Dont wanna .

Ah, really!!

Jung MinAh growled, but Christie An was chic . Christie An seemed to find Jung MinAhs grumbles itchy as she scratched her ears .

Is my stomach a pillow?

Its better than a pillow .

Do you want to fight?

Dont wanna .

Christie An was nonchalant even though Jung MinAh raised her voice, so the entire conversation sounded quite off . It was very awkward .

I heard The ACE unnis were recording nowadays .

When Han JooYeon brought up the topic, Seo HanYu chimed in .

Them? I heard they were recording with the Team Leader .

Oooh . They will succeed alright .

Christie An replied shortly as always and stretched her arms . She looked like she was fed up with everything .

Christie, is it that day for you?

Yeah .

Only Jung MinAh, who asked Christie, looked like an idiot .

There, there . Dont fight . Ya should be nice to each other .

I was only lying down .

Lee SamSoon worriedly spoke to Christie An and Jung MinAh, but Christie was as chic as ever .

Get up, girls . The teachers are coming .

When Han JooYeon stood up after seeing the trainers through the window on the door, Jung MinAh and Christie An also stood up immediately . The momentary resting time ended like that .

The difficult day of the girls flowed like that .

***

I heard the song . Jazz, eh . It might be a dangerous choice .

Chairman Won JinMoon looked over the report carefully after receiving it . It was very contrasting compared to the smooth sail before .

I selected the most fitting genre for the singers .

Jazz isnt popular with the public . You should know that only a select few prefer this genre in our country .

I think you should know if you have listened to it, but its just to the extent that there is a little bit of jazz elements in popular music .

Is that why you went for high pitch instead of low? Well, the people do like the screaming sounds . The ACE kids are also good at it too . It was good that you controlled it to be not sharp . However, its a pity with the low parts . Heavy female low voices are charming in jazz .

The ACE girls cannot digest that voice range . Rather than wasting energy in bringing up whats not there, its better to emphasize their strong points .

Chairman Won JinMoon was still unsure of the jazz that KangYoon chose . However, when he heard the cover title song which used featuring to supplement the weak points, it was excellent .

Hm Yes . You used featuring to cover up the weak points . Well, its a stretch to call it a real jazz . Should it be called fusion jazz, if we had to name it?

Only after hearing the song multiple times did Chairman Won JinMoon accept it .

Although the title song of The ACE was a jazz, it was a stretch to call it real jazz . Although if they went full jazz, they would be able to gather mania fans, they would lose majority of the populace .

After accepting, Chairman Won JinMoon turned over the page again . However, thinking that something was empty after he had read to the end, he asked KangYoon .

Theres no talk about the debut stage .

There will be no appearance on TV for a while .

What?

Chairman Won JinMoons expression turned bad in an instant .

No TV appearance? The populace has almost no knowledge of The ACE, shouldnt you expose them to the public and make them known somehow? How are you planning to make them known without a TV appearance?

Im planning to start from the outside .

Outside? Are you planning to do some street performance like the Underground people? How much time would that take? Team Leader Lee . I dont think this is right . Moreover, we may get criticized that were trying to stretch into the Underground stages . (T/N: Underground indie bands and the like I think? Unofficial? The opposite is Major well known to the public)

Chairman Won JinMoons voice became high . Although there were always risks, this didnt make any sense . There was no reason for a pair of singers belonging to an entertainment company, and a place which had a lot of money, to clash with poor singers and go to the streets .

Even though he was faced with the rejection from Chairman Won JinMoon, KangYoon calmly started persuading .

Strictly speaking, its not a real street performance . We will be creating a hot topic .

Creating a hot topic? What do you mean?

It will be university festival period soon .

Yes . However, there arent any universities that will call The ACE . The public just does not know about them .

Unfortunately, that was the reality . Of course, if it was JooAh, they will use all the money to call her .

If they dont call on us, then cant we go there by ourselves?

Chairman Won JinMoon was confused the more KangYoon spoke .

Go by ourselves However, you wont be able to stand on the stages . Youre not thinking something foolish like intruding on the stage, right?

No way . If all goes according to plan, at the end of the festivals, the universities will call us by themselves .

Do you mean that you will do a live business by going there? Hm Lets hear about it first .

Chairman Won JinMoon listened in to KangYoons following words .

We will use two strategies . First, we will go around the universities and do a performance . However, we will do it like an ambush and pull out quickly .

Whats the other?

Social network . Well use the SNS . Recently, Twisser is all the hype . First, well create rumors, and make the people tweet by themselves . This singer, she just sang here, but now shes there? When did they move? Well create rumors like these .

Definitely The spreading of rumors on Twisser is fast . Was it 140 limit? The characters?

Yes . Although the start of the rumor will be the promotion team, the end will be different .

Although there were people who used Twisser for advertising, I have never heard of a successful case due to commercial potential . Its because there are too many people and we cant predict what may happen . Also, the people using Twisser are also sensitive to information . Will it be alright?

At Chairman Won JinMoons words filled with worry, KangYoon confidently replied .

The most important thing is to do a good performance on street, and make the people spread rumors around by themselves . Its very important to make an unintentional hot topic . There is a nameless singer group going around universities, that group had failed 2 albums . However, that group was singing some kind of jazz like stuff, and the song was very good . Have a listen . starting with that Huh? That songs quite good, why didnt we know of it until now? like this, we need to make rumors spread around . If this becomes bigger and bigger, I think our position will change within one month .

So in the end, its back to the textbook . Well be doomed if the song is bad . If it slips once, then it will be a laughing topic . It might become a soap bubble at once even if we do well . Fuu, as always, you bring me fun and risk at the same time . Twisser has a lot of headwind . You do know that all sorts of things happen in that place, right?

I do .

In KangYoons past, Twisser, or the one which came out later, BookSecret, and such social networks put up a celebrity and brought them down in moments . There was no way KangYoon wouldnt know the dangers of Twisser, when he had seen celebrities committing suicide due to SNS cyber bullying in his past life .

Chairman Won JinMoon heaved a deep sigh . KangYoons strategy always carried dangers . However, the fruits that these dangers brought were very big .

However, whether it was KangYoon or Chairman Won JinMoon, they were both people who enjoyed such dangers .

Do it .

Thank you, Chairman .

As i said last time, you dont need to worry about the Directors meeting . You have a lot of things to consider, so for a while, please focus on this .

I understand .

After acquiring Chairman Won JinMoons approval, KangYoon bade farewell and left the chairmans office .

Phew, so is the action only thing left now?

The preparations were almost over . The album, and the strategy was all prpared .

While heading to his office, KangYoon resolved to make this album succeed .

***