Chapter 69
A holiday .
KangYoon had met up with Professor Choi ChanYang to learn harmonics .
It was thanks to Professor Choi saying that he would teach him even during the holidays .
“You’ve come quite far . Major, minor, and diminished… . It looks like there’s no problem with your scales anymore . ”
“Thank you . ”
The lecture in the café was very fun . Professor Choi ChanYang smoothly led KangYoon on the right track . Thanks to that, KangYoon could learn music theory to his heart’s content as though a sponge absorbing water .
“Should we rest for a little?”
When KangYoon raised his head, the sun was already setting . When he focused, time flew quickly . Using this rest time, Professor Choi ChanYang started talking about the recent news .
“You’re like normal, Mr . KangYoon . Busy, and then busy again… . ”
“It’s just that type of work . Don’t you know that this industry requires a lot of hands?”
“I guess that’s true . Especially if you’re someone high like Mr . KangYoon . ”
KangYoon nodded his head .
The two had become quite close to each other and talked about many things . Professor Choi ChanYang said that he watched anime as a hobby . KangYoon felt as though he saw a new world to find out that Professor Choi liked something entirely different from what he looked like on the surface, a gentleman .
When they were about to start studying again, Professor Choi’s phone started ringing . He left the café to get the call .
When KangYoon was going through his textbook, Professor Choi came back .
“HyunAh wants to come here . What should we do?”
“I’m okay with it . ”
He felt like he saw HyunAh quite frequently recently, but he was fine with it . Professor Choi told her through the phone and ended the call .
Not long after the two started studying again, Lee HyunAh came . On her back was a large guitar . After a simple exchange of greetings, Lee HyunAh took out a score .
“It’s the score for the song last time . ”
“Oh, that one . That song was great . ”
KangYoon was honest . In his ears, the song wasn’t bad at all . Professor Choi ChanYang also agreed to that .
“Didn’t you say that you were going to record it?”
“Yes . It’ll be this Wednesday . At seven in the evening . ”
“Okay . ”
Professor Choi ChanYang took out a memo and wrote the time on it . KangYoon also remembered the promise and wrote the time on his phone .
“Please come . ”
After getting an agreement from the two, Lee HyunAh took out her guitar . She tapped on the guitars saying she’ll let them listen to a song she composed . Along with the clean guitar sounds, her voice started flowing out into the café .
“Whooo— I can’t help but fall in love—all day – I — “
The musical note from the guitar and from Lee HyunAh herself combined to create white light . The light was very bright . KangYoon clapped lightly and reacted to her . She seemed to be encouraged by the claps as she put more power into playing the guitar .
“My heart is on that ticking clock— “
The few customers in the café also looked at KangYoon’s trio . Everyone was showing interest at the sudden live-show . Professor Choi ChanYang was tapping his foot lightly to enjoy and KangYoon became a loyal audience by clapping . Their table was like a small stage .
The song ended, and Lee HyunAh shyly lowered her head .
“How was it?”
“It was good . ”
That was his honest opinion: It was a good song . He thought that the song fits her voice well .
“It’s thanks to you that I could make this song, oppa . ”
“I don’t remember doing much . ”
“You made the melody here at this part, though . ”
Lee HyunAh pointed at the score . When she pointed at the melody line and the bass line in the third and fourth bars, KangYoon smiled awkwardly .
“It’s only because you helped out . I know nothing… . ”
“Creating melodies are extremely difficult you know? It’s only thanks to you that I could compose a good song, oppa . I’m planning to put your name as the co-composer . Will that be alright with you?”
This was an official request . When KangYoon pondered seriously, Professor Choi ChanYang spoke to him .
“Mr . KangYoon . Is it because of your company?”
“No, it’s not that . The company won’t interfere with personal lives after all . ”
“Isn’t it fine then?” Creating your own song isn’t just doable by anyone . ”
KangYoon fell into thought after hearing that . His ‘own song’ provoked him a little .
“…Okay, put it in there then . ”
“Okay . I’ll make it into a good song so that it won’t tarnish your name . ”
She was full of resolve for some reason . KangYoon shook his hands saying that it was too pressuring for him, but she didn’t change her attitude .
***
Having successfully finished his work with DRO Mart, KangYoon wrapped up his work and gave it to the business team . He made the important decisions, but things like analysis were now handled by a specialized team . With the success of this job, a new department was created in the company, and that leads to new profits .
KangYoon headed to the chairman’s office to report about the DRO mart .
“I knew I could count on you for the new job . It must have been quite unfamiliar, were you okay with it?”
“I did it with the mindset that I will learn new things . It’s fortunate that things went well . ”
Chairman Won JinMoon slowly sipped on the coffee . He felt his body relaxing as the warm coffee went down his throat . He asked KangYoon with a smile that was as comfortable as his body .
“Okay . What about your next work?”
“I have heard that it’s still under progress . ”
“Hm… . President Lee still has some ways to go . ”
“I heard that it’s hard to find suitable work even though there are many offers . After all, we need to do something that’s profitable . ”
KangYoon stood up for President Lee HyunJi . Then, Chairman Won JinMoon agreed and switched topics .
“Hm… well, I’ll find out in the next report . So, you’ll be resting for a while?”
“The coordinator work keeps coming in so I’ll be doing those . ”
“Okay then . ”
After the conversation with Chairman Won JinMoon, KangYoon left the chairman’s office .
‘I wonder what the next one would be?’
KangYoon was curious about it as well . President Lee HyunJi was currently working away from the office to get a good work offer, so it would be bad to call her now .
Before he returned to his own office, KangYoon headed to the resting room to cool off a little . However, there was someone already there . It was Jung MinAh .
“MinAh . ”
“Huh? Ahjussi . ”
“You really… . ”
“…Team leader . ”
When KangYoon was about to get angry, Jung MinAh lowered her tail . However, she immediately became full of vitality and approached KangYoon . She was the type that was hard to hate .
KangYoon bought her some snacks and sat down together .
“How is it nowadays?”
“Oh, it’s hard . There’s a lot of work, but no rest… . I wish there was a Jung MinAh-robot . ”
“Consider yourselves lucky . Celebrities without any schedules sometimes get suicidal thoughts . ”
“Sheesh, can’t you even console me… . ”
Grumbled Jung MinAh . When KangYoon raised his fist, she immediately moved away .
“What are you doing nowadays, Team leader? Don’t you feel great now that you don’t have to take care of us anymore?”
“Yep . ”
“Hey, really?!”
KangYoon’s joke made Jung MinAh’s expression change immediately . When KangYoon said that it was a joke, she still got mad at him . Jung MinAh was the kind of girl that needed quite a bit of care, but precisely because of that, she was the closest to him out of all the girls of Eddios .
“Some people called DiaTeen debuted at Yoonseul . And I think they’re always on guard against us . ”
“They’re from a rival company after all . Perhaps they’re feeling a sense of rivalry?”
“Who cares about rivalry nowadays? We’re all singers . Anyway, I don’t like them . They don’t come around for a greeting and hand out albums, and… oh yeah, they do seem to have quite a few fans . At first, I thought they were some unknown twats… . ”
“What’s a twat?”
(T/N: Okay, that’s the closest I can get to in English, in the original text, it’s an acronym of ‘Random trash that’s unheard and unseen of’ . Rttuauo doesn’t sound like it’s a word…)
KangYoon didn’t know the slang word and tilted his head . Jung MinAh explained to him that it was a derogatory term . He warned her to never use the word in public and Jung MinAh told him that there’s no way she would . They were actually on good terms with each other .
“…Anyway, they’re nagging my mind nowadays . They’re always there when we try to appear on TV . ”
“It’s just in the TV station, right?”
“Yes . Hey, they would be stalkers if they followed us to events… . ”
Jung MinAh shivered saying that it was frightening to just think about it .
While they were talking, Jung MinAh stood up saying that it was time to go .
“Then I’ll be going to another event then . ”
“Be careful on your way . ”
After sending her off, KangYoon headed to his office as well . Although he had much more time than before, he still had some work to do .
***
The day of Lee HyunAh’s recording came .
KangYoon finished off his work and headed to a recording studio nearby Hongdae where Lee HyunAh would be recording today . Since he only had the address, it took him some time to find it .
“Hello . ”
When KangYoon entered a shabby basement, Lee HyunAh and the other members all greeted him . At a glance, they exuded the aura of ‘musicians’ . KangYoon also took out some meals after greeting them . Among everyone’s cheers, KangYoon left an impression on them as the ‘snack uncle’ .
After a simple meal, the recording began . Professor Choi ChanYang adjusted the instrumental sounds, as well as Lee HyunAh’s microphone . Although this took a considerable amount of time, he did this properly .
“Studio renting is expensive though… . ”
“It’s fine . This is all an investment . ”
“That’s true, but still… . ”
Kim JinDae, the drums, spoke worriedly, but Lee HyunAh was actually cool with it . She told everyone that investment was a must for a good song, and got an agreement from all of them .
“Okay, let’s begin . ”
Along with Professor Choi ChanYan’gs words, everyone including Lee HyunAh gave him the OK signal . With four beats from the drumsticks, the recording began .
“Perhaps I might be busy today – and tomorrow’s no good either – . ”
When the song began, musical notes started appearing in front of KangYoon as well .
‘Not bad . ’
The musical notes from the electric guitar and the synthesizer were added to the drums and the bass . When Lee HyunAh’s voice was added to it, a white light was released . It wasn’t a bad light . KangYoon could imagine Lee HyunAh’s playing of the acoustic guitar at the café overlapping her .
‘It feels similar to that time . ’
The song was definitely good, but he felt like it lacked impact . The song progressed from the introduction to the middle part, but not the climax . It had to reach the peak, but KangYoon felt that it fell down before it could go up and shook his head .
“How is it?”
When Professor Choi ChanYang asked that, KangYoon shook his head instead of answering . Professor Choi also seemed to think the same and didn’t say much about it . He gave a glance to KangYoon though . KangYoon immediately voiced out his opinion .
“I think you don’t have any impact . The instrumental-kind of feeling is good, but there’s no ups and downs in the song . ”
– Oh, really? Should we raise the volume in the ‘weekend’ part?
“Why don’t we go with another tone for the guitar? Right now, it’s the clean tone . Let’s go with another sound . ”
When Lee HyunAh asked as the representative, KangYoon talked about the necessary things . Jung ChanKyu, the electric guitar player, controlled the effector to change the tone .
“Would you like to sit here?”
Professor Choi ChanYang yielded the center seat of the mixer to KangYoon . KangYoon shook his hand saying that he couldn’t do this, but Professor Choi ChanYang still urged him on anyway .
“I’ll teach you . Just try it once . I heard you can do the basics . ”
“I don’t have any experience doing it for a real recording though . ”
“You have a knack for it so you’ll do well . ”
KangYoon eventually sat in front of the mixer instead of Professor Choi ChanYang . There was nothing easy since there were 48 channels on the mixer and the program on the computer was in English . However, Professor Choi ChanYang explained each one of them and encouraged KangYoon .
When everyone inside the booth gave the ok signal, KangYoon gave them the signal to start .
– Perhaps I might be busy today – and tomorrow’s no good either –
Seeing musical notes coming out of everyone, he started adjusting the machine . The first thing he adjusted was the drums . When he isolated the drums with the headset, it was quite sharp . KangYoon started decreasing the high tone from the microphone that was placed in front of the cymbals .
“Mr . KangYoon, you decreased it too much . ”
“Ah… . ”
However, Professor Choi ChanYang spoke to him the next moment . The machine was sensitive so it changed drastically even from a little tweaking . KangYoon minutely adjusted the sounds .
“You see the effector here, right?”
“Yes . It’s the echo and the delay . What is this?”
KangYoon tweaked on the mixer while listening to the sounds and the advice from Professor Choi ChanYang .
Like that, the second recording ended .
– How was it this time?
When Lee HyunAh asked for his opinion, KangYoon shook his head, saying that it wasn’t time yet .
“I’m sorry, it’s my first time on the mixer . ”
– If it’s you, well… we’ll do it again .
Lee HyunAh didn’t say anything anymore as she trusted in KangYoon . The other members also didn’t say anything since she didn’t . This time, KangYoon recorded verse by verse .
– Perhaps I might be busy today –
KangYoon was busy . He had to look at the musical notes and tweak the machine as well . However, he also found it more comfortable since he could do everything now without telling someone else to do it . When he saw that Lee HyunAh’s musical note dimmed the light a little instead, KangYoon stopped the song .
“Let’s do that again, the sound was too weak . ”
– Yes .
In the retry, a strong white light came out . He tried it one more time just in case, and the results were the same . KangYoon went on to the next verse in satisfaction .
“I want to give this part a slight echoing effect here, what do I need to do?”
“To do that, you… . ”
Professor Choi ChanYang put his best effort to advise KangYoon .
Like that, Lee HyunAh and KangYoon’s song was being completed bit by bit .
***
The recording ended and when they left the studio, it was way past midnight . Everyone had to get a taxi because there was no public transport .
“Thank you for your work . ”
The members each took a taxi . Today’s recording went well so everyone was in great spirits .
“Bye . ”
“See you at practice . ”
Lee HyunAh sent the members away first . She told them that the leader had to go last and made everyone laugh as well .
When the members and Professor Choi ChanYang left, only KangYoon and Lee HyunAh were left .
“We should go too . ”
“Yes . ”
KangYoon came to the roadside to hail a taxi, but strangely, none came . Lee HyunAh approached him .
“I can’t see any taxi . ”
“It will come soon . ”
Unlike his words, no taxis stopped by . It was strange . While KangYoon was looking out for a taxi, Lee HyunAh approached KangYoon .
“Oppa . ”
“What is it?”
“Uh… can I ask you something?”
KangYoon nodded his head without any word . Lee HyunAh, unlike her usual self, asked him very cautiously and shyly .
“Uhm… . Do you perhaps… have a girlfriend?”
KangYoon was stunned by the sudden question from HyunAh .