In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

 

  I can hear the noises from outside the dormitory.

  "I'm guessing the manager is here. Let's go down."

  It was Yoon Seokhwan who comes to pick us up at the exact same time everyday. I was afraid I'll get nagged at for no reason, so I hurriedly dressed up and went over to the shoes that were in a state of mess.

  Anyhow, I'm sure that Bijoo organized everything the day before yesterday, but when did it become a mess again?

  "Jiho, aren't those mine?"

  "Hyung! These are mine."

  Rihyuk opened the shoe closet and looked pitifully at the two criminals who took up 90% of the room in the hallway as if they were filming a comedy show. Bijoo was checking the gas and electric cords in the mean time.

  After all of that, we went down to the Starex on the first floor and that was the end of our morning routine.

  "Hello!"

  "Good morning, manager."

  Recently, as the company's employees were quitting one after another, Yoon Seokhwan was in charge of picking us up from the dorm to the practice room.

  Of course, today was a little different. Manager Yoon was dressed in a dandy outfit. We were also dressed in regular clothing, not our usual sweats.

  "Is everyone ready?", Yoon Seokhwan raised his eyes which could be seen through the rearview mirror.

  Today was the day. The day where we go over to WHITE ENTERTAINMENT for the collaboration piece.

  Collaboration.

  It was an industry term for collaborating with other artist. To be more specific, where artist with different genre or musical color sing together.

  There was a difference between being feature, which is often shown in the forms of, 'feat. Hong Gildong' in a song. With features, the feature artist would only be involved in a little bit of the song. Collaborations were where both artist had an equal amount of lines in the song.

  Actually, it didn't matter. It was just a convenient way of classification and made people in this field of work confuse.

  "I had a really hard time with the featuring terminologies."

  Manager Yoon Seokhwan brought up some behind-the-scene stories about the negotiation with WHITE ENTERTAINMENT.

  "I was negotiating with them and I thought I was going to have hair loss." (Hair loss due to stress)

  "Who? Like the CEO?" (Remember the CEO is bald-)

  Everyone burst out into a fit of laughter due to the youngest who had suddenly interrupted the conversation pretending as if he was interested.

  CEO, we apologize.

  Yoon Seokhwan laughs as he took out the black box memory from the car.

  "I always erase the black box's recordings everyday because of you guys. What are you going to do if someone hears you, goodness."

  "I can turn it off."

  "Forget it, I use it sometimes anyway."

  Yoon Seokhwan continues where he left off as he inserts the memory into his phone, "The companies were arguing over the title track. At WHITE ENTERTAINMENT, they were asking what kind of artist you guys were who hadn't debuted yet. They wanted to go with a 'featuring' for the title track, but our side naturally wanted to go with a collaboration."

  "So that's what you argued about."

  "That's what agencies are for, you punk."

  "Manager", Junghyun munched on his bananas at the back asking, "So what happened?"

  "I put on a decent show. I said that there was a talented composer among our kids. Not only was he good at singing, but he also participated in making songs."

  Yoon Seokhwan looked at me and asked, "Why would I talk about that?"

  ". . . To do good?"

  "That's right. You have to go and do good. It's up to you to decide if the title track will come out to be, 'Jang Sowon X NEW BLACK' or 'Jang Sowon Feat. NEW BLACK'."

  They were words that made me feel lots of pressure.

  "Anyways, it's my first time going to WHITE ENTERTAINMENT."

  "You haven't been there before?"

  "Rihyuk hyung, I use to audition as an actor. That's why I came to this company." (This is Jiho speaking. . . and Lemon Entertainment was originally an actor/actress company if you remember)

  I see, your original dream was to be an actor. Whenever I looked at him, I thought he looked like one.

  I asked Rihyuk, "Have you been to WHITE ENTERTAINMENT?"

  "I'm probably the only one who's been there. In the past, I went for a vocal audition."

  "Ah, didn't you say you failed in 10 seconds?"

  "It wasn't 10 seconds?"

  "You said that as soon as you entered the audition venue, you were eliminated."

  "Why did you get eliminated?"

  Rihyuk answered my question as if he was unwilling to, ". . . They told me to dance first since I looked like I can sing well."

  Everyone laughed expect for one. Ranking fifth in NEW BLACK in the category of dance, Mr. Seo was holding back his tears trying to justify himself.

  "It was originally a company I wouldn't even join if I was asked to."

  "Ohhhhh really, hyung?"

  "You. Please shut up."

  While the youngest smiled at the sincere request, Rihyuk brought up WHITE ENTERTAINMENT's office.

  "I wasn't going to join because of the facilities."

  "Facilities?"

  "It looks fine on the outside, but it's weird on the inside. I went inside one of the practice room and there was a toothpaste stain on the mirror."

  "Well, it was a long time ago", I said as like tidying up the conversation, "It could be different now."

  "But WHITE ENTERTAINMENT has a lot of money. Among the companies that participated in the end of the year evaluation, their practice rooms are the second largest after DNS and ours. Why would the practice rooms be like that then?"

 

  "I understand."

  "Wasn't that when SUGARFISH was doing well?"

  We all questioned Bijoo's words.

  WHITE ENTERTAINMENT.

  Once upon a time, when people would say that they're part of SUGARFISH's agency, the public's reaction would go like, 'Oh!'. The former SUGARFISH's forces were enough to threaten the position of the top girl group at that time.

  They must have made a lot of money during that time, but why would the facilities be like that?

  The more I thought about it, the more sloppy the company seemed. There wasn't an official website either.

  Usually if a company was of a certain size, they would have a website with photos of their artist, but there was no such thing for WHITE ENTERTAINMENT.

  Well, it doesn't really matter.

  Anyways, WHITE ENTERTAINMENT was one of the most best agency back then and now.




 

널 위해 준비한 춤사월 보여줄 거야 (For you, I'm going to show you the dance that I prepared)

따라와 Honey (Follow me Honey)

 

 

    A girl group song with lots of electronic beats to it played on the radio.

    The chorus, which is familiar to the bridge, tickled my ear pleasantly.

 

 

Baby Lalala Baby Lalala (Baby Lalala Baby Lalala)

 

 

  Bijoo nods along, humming the song.

  The song, which the other members were also singing along to, was a hot song on the recent charts, DICE.

  The singers were GIRLS ON TOP. (Boi when I tell you this chapter was released in 2019 LOL. . . so irl, there was actually a big K-POP collaboration group that debut in 2022 also called Girls on Top: GOT the beat)

  WHITE ENTERTAINMENT was their agency.

  "GIRLS ON TOP is really popular.  Are they still winning?"

  "I think so."

  "No.  They placed first for their first week of promotions and then that was the end of it."

  "Is that so?"

  "SCARLETT made a comeback during their second week of promotions.  They would have placed second the entire time after that."

  Maybe that's why their nickname's are girls on top.

  GIRLS ON TOP.

  A popular girl group with 4 years of experience.  They're famous in the general public for their performance in entertainment shows, dramas, and along with their amazing singing.

  They're strong artists who are following in the footsteps of their senior artist, SUGARFISH.

  Although their debut album was a fail, they were a girl group with great popularity and has been topping charts in the TOP 10 with all their title tracks after that.

  The downside however was that all the songs had a similar vibe.

  GIRLS ON TOP was a successful group with second-hand marketing.  They created this plan where they would solidify their image (reputation) as the runner ups not aiming for the first place position.

 

  Thanks to that, GIRLS ON TOP appeared to the public as the friendly second-place girl group while the position of first place was constantly changing.

  That was until the next year when SCARLETT appeared.

  Ever since the appearance of the new girl group, 'SCARLETT' that was created by Director Cho Kyuhwan in 2012, they had gradually lost their position as the runner ups, second place.  Their nickname, 'Girls on Top' and position in the entertainment industry were getting smaller and smaller.

  However, they were certainly still a popular girl group.

  "Come to think of it, WHITE ENTERTAINMENT is breaking up the girl group line-up." (The girls that appeared during the year-end evaluation)

  "Maybe they're feeding into another company."

  "I suppose so."

  But isn't SUGARFISH better?  I was amazed by them back when I was in elementary school."

  Those who were born in the 90s nodded their head at the shared memories.

  SUGARFISH.

  They were once so popular that they were called like a tower in their heyday.  But that glory was short due to controversy with the members.

  One of them was caught smoking marijuana in a motel with their boyfriend and was reported by a police officer, probably.  It was a devastating incident during that time.  

  The most popular member of the group, who was singing so well on a music show just yesterday, was now appearing in the newspaper media the next day.

  SUGARFISH, who tried to continue their activities after kicking out the member, was cut off immediately after news of another member was having an affair with a movie director.

  A five member group.  

  Jang Sowon was one of the three that was left.  She really is an amazing person.  It took a while for Jang Sowon, who fell into the abyss as a popular singer, to make a comeback.

  The path of a singer-songwriter.

  Taking advantage of her composing skills, Jang Sowon succeeded in building up a new image due to being one of the unpopular members with low recognition.

  And now, she was the most popular member out of the five.

  She participated in drama OST and releasing many singles.  Unfortunately, there still hasn't been a hit song from her yet.

  The average placement score of her songs I sang at the auditions, such as 'RED MOON' and 'WITH YOU' which was done at the year-end evaluation, was ranking at 70th per month.

  Of course, that was a huge achievement to us who haven't even made a debut yet.

  "What happened to the other members of SUGARFISH?"

  "Other than Jang Sowon, I don't know."

  "I heard that Baekhyang seonbae quitted and continued with school.  Lisa seonbaenim is living as a musical actress."

  "They're doing well."

  "Then what about the other two?"

  "I don't know.  You don't want to live with that cheating director."

  The subject of the story then shifted to another side.  Probably since they were trainees who were stepping inside the entertainment industry, there seemed to be quite a lot of rumors.

  I frown at the kids who were openly chatting.  Why are we talking about this?

  It was uncomfortable because it felt like TV reporters in the entertainment department gossiping about 'Person A' and 'Person B'.  It seems like I wasn't the only person who thought of that.

 

  Seokhwan frowned his eyes that you can see them through the rearview mirror.  What if they get in trouble?  But before I could say anything, Yoon Seokhwan took the lead.

  "Guys."

  The atmosphere froze at the disappointed voice.  The four trainees chatting at the back widen their eyes.  It was because Seokhwan looked angry unlike his usual.

  "What are you guys doing?"

  The members harden like stones at the manager's fierce gaze.

  "I'm asking you."

  The atmosphere was like the time before the storm approach.

  "What are you guys doing?"

  ". . ."

  "You're not going to answer me?"

  ". . .We were talking, sir."

  Bijoo looked around and spoke while Yoon Seokhwan looked at the kids without saying a single word.

  A cold tense silence.

  Sitting in the passenger seat, I was also nervous.

  ". . ."

  The drive continued without a word for a long time.  It was silent as if to make you think of what you did wrong.  Unlike the youngest and Junghyun, Rihyuk sighed and Bijoo had a look of, 'oops'.

  About five minutes later, Yoon Seokhwan calmly spoke.

  "Guys."

  Fortunately, it was in a soft tone.

  "It's great to talk about entertainment gossip with you all, and that's possible,"

  ". . ."

  "However shouldn't these kinds of talk only be only discuss between you guys?"

  "We're sorry."

  "This also didn't look good to me, but what would other people think of it?"

  He shook his head.

  "It doesn't matter when I'm here.  No matter what you guys say, I won't expose of it.  However, aren't you going to debut soon?  I'm going to hire a road manager and coordinator soon, so will you keep on acting like this to them too?"

  At this point, Junghyun and Jiho also had a look of, 'Oh my!'.

  "Being a road manager is hard, guys.  For celebrities who can make 10 million won a week, the average person takes over months to even earn that much.  It's common for them to change jobs just to get an extra 100,000 won.  Don't you think they won't tell others what you said when they go to another place?"

  Yoon Seokhwan stressed, "The entertainment industry is fierce, guys."

  ". . ."

  "It's because you haven't experienced it yet.  It's the entertainment industry where for what you even say for a second in a car is suddenly spreaded around an entire filming site the next day."

    Looking at the members who nodded their head, Manager Yoon looked at the youngest.

  "And also Jiho."

  ". . . Yes?"

  The youngest cowered his shoulders in fear of being scolded.

  "You know what you said earlier was careless, right?"

  "I'm sorry.  I'll be careful next time."

  "You're still young, but because of that, be extra careful of what you say.  Do you understand?"

  The youngest nodded to Yoon Seokhwan who emphasize the think before you speak.

  Some people may feel bad when the get scolded, but everyone understood his speech of concern that came along with a calm tone to it.

  It was inevitable.

  It's not like that he didn't care about us, but because we had made a mistake, he was telling it to us like this to be careful in the upcoming future.  It was what a manager had to do.  Compare to fans who'll hug you with love, the manager has to say the truth to the singer from an unbiased point of view.

  "And also Seon Wooju."

  "Yes sir."

  The time has come.

  "You know you made the biggest mistake, right?"

  "I'm sorry."

  "They may not know of it since they're young, but you should understand what's wrong with the comments since you've went to the army.  If a situation like this ever comes up, you must take action in the future.  Do you understand?"

  I wanted to say that I was going to do it, but I accepted it since it was my fault.  And so, I bowed my head and spoke.

  "I'm sorry, sir."

  "Please take good care of them, Wooju."

  Seokhwan's eyes looking outside the car window looked more gloomy than usual.

  "I can't always be there for you."