Producer with no Regrets - Chapter 406



Only Noblemtl

Episode 406

Girls’ League vacation ends.

“This is the heart of an office worker.”

Joara grumbled as soon as she got out of the van.

She had been feeling unwell from the moment she opened her eyes in the morning.

After living a life where day and night were almost reversed, my body couldn’t keep up when I tried to go to work on time.

“You drank a lot yesterday because it was your last day. You look great.”

“I feel like I’m going to throw up. Can I borrow some of your clothes?”

“Yeah, do whatever you want on the floor.”

Joara grabbed Shin Areum and pretended to vomit. Shin Areum seemed to be used to this situation and didn’t even protest.

“Ugh, it’s cold!”

Rika ran into the warm embrace of Baekseolha. Baekseolha hugged Rika tightly and went into the office.

It was still early in the morning, so the first floor hall was quiet.

“Our vacation is really over.”

Jang Ha-yang said, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

She was the member of the Girls’ League who kept the most regular life, aside from Baek Seol-ha.

But as the days passed, my waking up time gradually got later and later, and by the time my vacation was over, waking up at 10 o’clock had become the norm.

Jang Ha-yang’s eyelids were heavy.

“Wake up!”

Baek Seol-ha hit Jang Ha-yang’s buttocks with her palm.

match!

A loud friction noise spread throughout the hall.

Jang Ha-yang looked at Baek Seol-ha with her eyes as wide as the full moon. Baek Seol-ha also looked at her hand that had hit Jang Ha-yang’s buttocks in confusion.

“Wow, what’s wrong with you, Hayang? You’re just wearing skinny jeans in this weather? You’re killing me!”

“Araya, don’t say that… … .”

“But you’re saying there’s really nothing inside your pants? They’re not even fleece pants? What’s wrong, Unnie?”

“When it’s cold, your body uses more energy, so you gain less weight.”

“It’s a reason I really couldn’t have imagined.”

Jang Ha-yang pushed away Jo A-ra’s hand that was slowly approaching her buttocks and ran away as she climbed the stairs.

The members also followed her to the second floor.

Practice room number 1 is the only space in Garo Enter that can be said to be exclusive to the Girls’ League.

There were already passengers there.

“Huh? You’re here early.”

It was Min Kyung-seop.

He was cutting paper with scissors.

Shin A-reum approached him with curiosity.

“What are you doing, oppa?”

“Now that you guys are back from vacation, I need to update my practice schedule.”

“This is something the management team does. Even my brother, who is the team leader, does it.”

“I come early and do it.”

“It’s a waste of paper. Before, Kwon Ah-in, the accounting manager, said it would be better to just change the schedule to a whiteboard.”

Min Kyung-seop slapped his knee.

“That’s right! Why didn’t I think of that?”

Min Kyung-seop looked at the paper he had brought in vain. The practice room schedule that changed every week was not difficult to make, but it was annoying.

Every time, paper and ink are wasted.

“I guess it’s because Kwon Kyung-ri also does general affairs, but she thinks about things like this a lot. But do you call Kwon Kyung-ri ‘Kyung-ri-nim’?”

“sure?”

“We’re the same age.”

“to!”

Rika asked in surprise.

“Ain-sister, you’re the same age as me?! Then what have I been up to now…?”

“You guys are funny.”

“How about calling me Kyungri?”

Joara said.

“Isn’t it stranger to say things like we’re the same age?”

“Ara, that’s right.”

Min Kyung-seop stood up holding the Orin schedule. Shin A-reum asked to see it. Min Kyung-seop gladly showed it to her.

“hmm?”

Shin Areum was embarrassed.

“What is this?”

The Girls’ League’s usage time had clearly decreased compared to before. However, that empty time was not being filled with anything.

“Are we busy this week?”

“I see. You haven’t received it yet… … .”

“Team Leader Min.”

Baek Seol-ha cut off Min Gyeong-seop’s words and came in.

“Let me tell you.”

“Oh, really?”

Min Kyung-seop left the practice room with a meaningful smile. As the door closed, the members looked at Baek Seol-ha as if asking for an explanation.

Her upright figure had an intimidating quality that was not usually felt.

‘Oh, this feeling someday… … .’

At that moment, Joara realized when she had seen Baek Seol-ha like this.

It was the monthly evaluation practice time that Jang Ha-yang saw after joining as a trainee before Girls’ League debuted.

The opinions heading towards a central heating system, each practicing separately, and Baekseolha, who couldn’t stand to see it all, forcefully ruled over the members.

“Listen.”

Suddenly, Snow White started singing.

There were no lyrics.

But that clear voice stretched straight out and struck the members’ ears sharply.

It was like I was underwater.

A resonance so loud that it feels like your ears are ringing.

The members were enchanted by the singing that filled their hearts and minds. And Baek Seol-ha thought that it was enough and stopped singing.

“This is the level you should reach.”

“… … Hi (yes)?”

Rika pretended not to hear and asked back.

Snow White ignored it.

“Of course, if you practice, you can do this much.”

“I can’t… … .”

“The level I want is to be able to recreate this through performance on stage.”

The members’ faces turned pale.

“As the first producer of ‘Our Producing’, I ask you this.”

Snow White.

“You guys have to practice vocals every day, every day, every day. Above all else. Any time you have free practice room time is the time you should be doing vocal training. Each of you will have excellent trainers attached to you to teach you. Okay, guys.”

Dictatorship ON.

“Let’s work hard.”

The Iron-Blooded Ruler smiled, a smile that was clearly a lie.

* * *

Tentative name: The 1st Baekseolha producing meeting.

Those in attendance were representatives of each part and their assistants.

A&R team: Seongpil, Ji-eum Jeong, Jae-ho Lee.

Visual team members Son Hye-bin, Lee Yu-i, and one employee.

All members of the Girls’ League.

And Kim Seung-wook, an employee in charge of fan management from the management team, also participated in this meeting.

‘Seungwook’s job is to understand the needs of the fans.’

Kim Seung-wook’s opinion, which explores and indulges in the sea of ​​SNS and communities all day long, was worth considering.

“Okay, let’s begin.”

Seongpil declared the opening.

At Success Entertainment, the process was carried out by having the A&R team members submit their plans one by one and then evaluating them.

However, Garo Enter proceeds by first listening to the members’ opinions. What is different from before is that the initiative lies with Baek Seol-ha.

“What Seol-ha came up with was that the concept was summer. And the members’ sexuality could be revealed through their outfits. That’s about it.”

“Etch (obscene)!”

“Sexuality?”

Joara looked at Baek Seol-ha with a look of impatience. Joara became even more impatient as she realized Baek Seol-ha’s presence once again.

“What are you going to do? Are you really going to go up on stage naked?”

“I really wonder what kind of sexuality is in Ara’s head.”

“Why is that, like small and medium-sized planning companies… … .”

“We are also a small planning company.”

“Stop nitpicking! Are you really going that way, Teacher?”

Snow White presented her thoughts on sexuality along with photographic evidence.

Even Joara felt relieved when she saw it.

“I guess we should just let it show naturally.”

“Joara, you can only show it after you lose the fat from drinking. Shouldn’t that come before vocal training?”

“What are you talking about? Actually, this is my prime. Right, sir?”

“no.”

Seongpil answered seriously.

“To put it bluntly, if the current Ara goes on stage, the fancam video will be circulated in all kinds of communities.”

“That’s too direct!”

“Oh, cameras are strange things.”

“I was hurt.”

“I agree ‘to some extent’ with the heyday thing, but… … .”

“Do you agree to some extent?”

Joara looked at Baekseolha confidently.

“Why are you looking at me… … ?”

“Well, that’s what the old man said.”

“I ‘partly’ agree with the idea of ​​a heyday, but it’s not an idol-like heyday.”

“It pisses me off that they keep changing the expression.”

Anyway, the members came to understand the sexuality that Baek Seol-ha was suggesting.

The Girls’ League has so far been reluctant to reveal the unique charms of each member, especially their physical visuals.

Expressing the worldview of the Girls’ League became a top priority, so they only wore clothes with a set concept.

Baek Seol-ha’s idea was to change that trend this time. Sexuality means letting the members’ natural charm shine.

“Then how do we express summer? We need to think about that first.”

“Summer… … is so inclusive.”

Lee Yu-i from the visual team started drawing in her notebook. Thinking that summer meant swimsuits, she drew various swimsuits using the members as models.

Of course, there aren’t any girl groups that have gone on stage in full swimsuits, but there were quite a few stage costumes with swimsuit motifs.

“When it comes to summer, it’s the sea!”

Rika shouted cheerfully.

“No, there is nothing but the sea!”

Somehow, Rika’s voice was filled with resentment. Maybe it was because they went to the valley instead of the sea during the company outing, but I wondered if she wanted to vent that resentment this time.

“Well, when it comes to summer concepts, it’s the ocean.”

The sea is a very, very, very common summer motif.

Just by looking at the fact that many girl groups’ summer albums are designed in blue tones, you can see how deeply the ocean is engraved in people’s minds.

“But, it’s boring.”

The sound of the stop cut off Rika’s opinion in one stroke.

“Sonna (that kind of)!”

“We need to go one step further from the sea. Be more creative.”

“Tatoeba (for example)?”

“Uparupa.”

Snow White spit out the water she was drinking.

She waved her hands while coughing loudly.

“Okay, okay, let’s continue the meeting… … .”

Jang Ha-yang wiped Baek Seol-ha’s mouth with a worried expression. Baek Seol-ha couldn’t stop crying easily.

“Uparupa… … so cute!”

Rika, who has thin ears, immediately fell for Uparupa.

The members also had a ‘Wooparoopa is cute’ vibe, but Shin A-reum was an exception.

‘What is Uparupa?’

Shin Areum took her phone out from under the table and searched for Uparupa. Then, in shock, she pushed the phone screen out so that everyone could see it.

“What’s so cute about this?!”

“This is a wild uparupa. Look at this.”

“So cute!”

Shin Areum also soon came to know the cuteness of Uparupa.

He felt a sense of crisis. Seeing Jung Ji-eum smiling sinisterly doubled his sense of crisis.

‘When the genius arranger Chinon-chan (Jung Ji-eum’s new nickname) starts pushing… … .’

This fight is 100% disadvantageous!

The moment when Baek Seol-ha was about to counterattack in a panic.

“however.”

Son Hye-bin asked indifferently.

“Ji-eum keeps pushing that song called Uparupa.”

“Do you have any songs?”

“Yeah, there is. There’s a song that just keeps going ‘Upa Rupa Upa Rupa’.”

“I want to hear it!”

“Want to hear it?”

As if he had been waiting for the sound of the stop, he connected his laptop to the speaker and played ‘Uparupa’.

Since only the highlight melody line is attached, I couldn’t get a detailed feel of the feeling.

All that remained in the members’ minds was the sound of the still water dancing strangely while desperately shouting ‘Rupa uparupa rupa!’

“This is the kind of song it is.”

“Yeah, but Ji-eum.”

“Yes, Director Son.”

“If Uparupa is the subject, what about the lyrics?”

“… … lyrics?”

“So, is the concept that the kids are Uparupa? The personification of Uparupa? Or are the kids singing about Uparupa? Or is it that Uparupa is a symbol of summer or something and they just threw it in there?”

Jung Ji-eum hadn’t thought that far ahead.

I was just hooked on the word ‘Uparupa’ and the melody.

“Not quite there yet… … . But when I think about it right now… … .”

Songs do not generally target a specific audience.

The 1st and 2nd most used words in songs are ‘you’ and ‘I.’

It is common not to reveal your identity.

So, the lyrics that Son Hye-bin used as an example, ‘targeting the uparupa’, were unlikely to be true.

“Maybe the kids have become Uparupa… … something like that?”

“Isn’t that a bit much?”

Jung Ji-eum’s expression hardened.

Although Baek Seol-ha kept her mouth shut, she was cheering for Son Hye-bin in her heart.

“In the previous album, the Girls’ League, which fought against unjust oppression, suddenly turned into Uparupa and came back.”

“It’s a betrayal of the concept.”

Fan manager Kim Seung-wook added a word.

“Nothing has been decided yet, but wouldn’t there be a lot of criticism if only a teaser with the Uparupa concept were released? Especially, Girls’ League has a lot of overseas fans, and the mechanism that attracted those fans was the powerful performance. I don’t know about Japan, but I don’t think it would be easy to expect a response overseas either.”

Baek Seol-ha clenched her fist under the table in response to Kim Seung-wook’s support fire.

In comparison, the stillness became noticeably gloomy.

“however.”

Kim Seung-wook added one more thing.

“I don’t know if it’s okay for me, as a member of the management team, to say this, but the song is really good.”

“uh……?”

At that point, Kim Seung-wook cleverly got out of the way.

Even among the members, the words, “I like the song” went back and forth. “I like the song”… … .

‘In fact, the song is the alpha and the omega, but when people say the song is good… … .’

The Girls’ League might really happen.

Uparupa!

“How about Seongpil?”

Son Hye-bin gave the initiative of the conversation to Seong-pil. Seong-pil observed Baek Seol-ha’s expression.

Anyone who sees Snow White can tell that she is fidgeting.

“Seol-ha is probably thinking the same thing as her older sister. She’s worried that the Girls’ League is suddenly changing the colors that they’ve been pursuing for a year.”

that’s right!

Baek Seol-ha secretly cheered for Seong-pil.

“I want to hear Seol-ha’s thoughts before I decide on the summer concept keyword. Seol-ha, do you have any specific ideas?”

“Not yet… … .”

“Then let’s narrow the scope.”

Seongpil skillfully helped Baek Seol-ha come up with ideas.

“What kind of song does Seol-ha think she should sing?”

“What kind of… … ?”

“No, let’s narrow it down even further. Who are you singing to?”

Who are you singing to?

I thought about the lyrics of the idol song Snow White.

Most of them are directed at ‘you’ whose identity cannot be specified. Or they say ‘let’s do this and that’ to an unspecified number of people. Or they emphasize subjectivity by saying ‘I am like this.’

For example.

I want to see the sea with you, or.

Let’s see the sea together, or.

I look at the sea.

‘Certainly, the settings of the speaker and listener have a great influence on the image of the song.’

Snow White realized that she had been thinking of something too big. She felt her own shortcomings once again.

If Seongpil had not narrowed the scope of the question, Baek Seol-ha would still have been stuck on the vague and abstract topic of ‘what should I express?’

“I… … want to sing to ‘you’.”

“why?”

“Maybe, I, so to speak, love… … .”

I want to express the exciting atmosphere that comes to mind when thinking of summer.

The excitement carried by the warm night air.

The coolness of the sea and river contrasting with the hot sun. The romanticism conveyed by that beautiful contrast.

“Love, no, not a passionate love at all. A vague excitement… … .”

“Some?”

“No, it’s not even a crush… … .”

“Unrequited love?”

Snow White clapped her hands.

“Yes, yes yes! It’s unrequited love! I’m singing to ‘you’! I’m drawing a summer romance, a summer scenery, and adding a spoonful of love!”

“It will be a seductive song.”

“no!”

Snow White finally found what she wanted to express.

“I will only paint my love on the background of summer! Just a simple description like a landscape painting… … .”

I want to create a song that captures the bashfulness of a loved one in the refreshing atmosphere of summer.

“So it’s not Uparupa!”

“no……?”

The stillness grew gloomy again.

Seongpil looked at Baek Seol-ha as if he was proud of her, but first he calmed her down.

“You can’t just cut it off like that. No one knows what will happen to ‘Uparupa.’ I understand Seol-ha’s thoughts. Just sit down for now.”

“yes?”

Snow White looked down. She was so excited that she woke up without even realizing it.

She sat back down slowly.

“You all know what Seol-ha is thinking, right?”

“I don’t really get it.”

As Jo Ara said that, Sungpil played idol songs that agreed with Baek Seol-ha’s opinion, regardless of the concept.

The lyrics were mostly about declaring love, such as “My heart is trembling” and “I’m burning.”

“Oh, there’s really no part where you speak directly to the other person. That’s strange. I thought you just sang love songs, but you even think about this.”

“Aren’t you looking down on the pros too much… … .”

“So, you’re saying that you’re going to add lyrics that bring out the summer vibe to these self-declarative lyrics?”

Suddenly the conference room became quiet.

Joara looked around in confusion.

“What, what?”

“That’s because Ara-chan said it was ‘self-declarative’!”

“What is that?”

“Everyone was surprised because it was a difficult word!”

“How stupid do you think I am… … ?”

“What are you doing, Sister?”

At that time, Shin A-reum asked Jang Ha-yang.

Rather than participating in the meeting, Jang Ha-yang was drawing or writing something in his notebook by himself.

Shin A-reum couldn’t stand it anymore so she spoke to Jang Ha-yang. There was even a hint of reproach in her voice.

“huh?”

“Why are you keeping your head down?”

Seongpil was also constantly concerned about Jang Ha-yang.

Jang Ha-yang listened to Shin A-reum’s words, realized his mistake, and smiled awkwardly.

“I’m sorry. When you said summer concept, something kept coming to my mind.”

“Oh, no, Hayang. If you have any good ideas, please let me know.”

Jang Ha-yang stared blankly at what she had written in her notebook. Then she blushed slightly and shook her head.

“No, I just thought about it too randomly… … .”

“That’s actually better!”

“still…….”

“Give it to me.”

Shin A-reum snatched Jang Ha-yang’s notebook away.

I wondered just how great Jang Ha-yang had come up with something that made him ignore all the meetings.

Shin A-reum looked embarrassed after seeing the notebook.

“What is this… … ?”

“Do you want me to show you?”

Shin A-reum handed the notebook over to Seong-pil.

Jang Ha-yang fidgeted as her notebook was moved around the conference room. When it finally ended up in Seong-pil’s hands, she couldn’t even raise her head.

Seongpil looked through the notebook.

[Apple juice.

Apple juice.

Apple juice.

apple crush.]

It was full of pictures of apples, words containing apples, and pictures of liquids in glasses.

Seongpil said with a small smile.

“Is Hayang a fan of Steve Jobs?”

“Ahaha… … . Since it’s summer, I’m thirsty. When I think of something to drink, juice comes to mind, and since it’s summer, apples… … .”

“Why an apple?”

“It’s red… … because it looks like the sun… … .”

Everyone smiled faintly at Jang Ha-yang’s cute idea.

“But what is this apple crush?”

“Hey, Director Park, don’t you know that?”

When it came time to show off her knowledge, Rika stood up proudly.

“Crush also means ‘juice’! Apple Crush is an apple juice drink!”

“Oh, Rika girl crush.”

“My juice?! Are you a pervert!”

“Oh, Master Creativity. I wish I were as pure as Ricardo Hayang.”

“Ahaha.”

“Ah, it’s better to know something than to be naive. It’s hard and annoying to learn from scratch.”

The conference room was plunged into silence.

Rika made an excuse.

“Don’t you know that ‘knowledge is power’?! Sir Bacon and Socrates would be horrified! It’s creepy how quiet everyone is, as if they’ve been knitted together?! They’ve all got nothing but obscenities in their heads!”

Seongpil let Rika’s excuses go in one ear and out the other. Then he cleared his mind with the cute words and pictures that Jang Ha-yang had written down in her notebook.

“There were quite a lot of food motifs back in the old days.”

“Oh, this is really the worst.”

Son Hye-bin was disgusted.

“I still remember it. The lyric that I will always rank as the worst is ‘I’m pretty good.’ I thought I lost my mind the moment I heard it.”

“That was a little too blatant.”

The members had no idea when the two would start talking about their enemies.

But Jang Ha-yang’s vibe was strange.

As the conversation between the two directors continued, her complexion became more and more pale. Anyone who saw her could tell that she was smiling awkwardly.

Seongpil noticed the hint and looked at his notebook again.

Apple crush… … .

“Oh, no, that’s it.”

Jang Ha-yang began to make excuses while receiving everyone’s attention. She was much more desperate than Rika had been earlier.

“My sister said she wanted to develop the song with the listener as ‘you’. But, idol music videos don’t show the other person, and girl groups don’t show the male person. So, the lyrics keep talking about ‘you’, but it would be weird if the other person wasn’t shown in the music video… … .”

Jang Ha-yang wanted to portray ‘you’ as a fruit.

“Because it’s summer, it’s the sun, and the sun is an apple… … .”

The apple is ‘you’.

The Girls’ League sings a song to ‘you’.

Of course, apples are not a ‘male object’, so they can appear in music videos as much as they want. The viewers will be able to easily understand the symbolism.

“And there are a lot of lyrics that visualize summer or describe it in a tactile way, right?”

Jang Ha-yang often writes lyrics, so she looked into the lyrics of idol songs more closely than others.

So, it was easy to catch the characteristics of summer songs.

“So I tried to visualize it with my sense of taste… … . Well, the taste of hotness, the taste of summer, the taste of apples, apple juice, the taste of fruit… … .”

Jang Ha-yang saw Seong-pil.

Seongpil wearing red padding.

“Apple skin, because it’s red. Peel it off, and the juice, well, it can be a motif of object and temptation, achievement… … .”

Seongpil pulled up the zipper of his padding to the end of his chin and buttoned up his collar tighter.

It was truly summer.

“It’s decided!”

Son Hye-bin shouted with excitement.

“Is the theme of this comeback song about picking and eating apples!”

“No, Rika. Whether you eat the apple or grind it and eat it, it’s a visualization of the song. I’ll think about it later. The theme has already been decided. Love!”

It’s love and summer.

The Girls’ League will once again express love, just like in ‘Long Four’. Instead of calling out for love only in a limited worldview like in ‘Long Four’, they will sing in a way that suits the sensibilities of the age group.

“A topic that can be empathized with by everyone in the world, past or present. And if the setting is summer, then this can’t fail!”

“Oh, then, Sister… … .”

Seongpil asked with a slight sense of anxiety.

“Are you going to get ideas about love from the kids like you did for ‘Long For’? And write lyrics with those… … .”

“Why are you asking such a thing? Of course.”

Seongpil calmly looked around at the members’ faces.

The ideas he had collected from them to use as reference material for the lyrics of ‘Long For’ came back to life in Sungpil’s head.

Seongpil’s gaze stopped on Jo Ara.

“What?”

“… … .”

Seongpil pressed his temples.

‘Oh, my head hurts.’

Girls’ League, love again and again.

I’ll make a song with a spoonful of summer in it.

“I disagree!”

I will make a song with a spoonful of love in the summer.