Siblings Work in Business (7)
Before going to Senior Ji Ye-chan’s studio…
Early in the morning, I went with the CEO to visit my vocal trainer.
“You seem to have a good grasp of the basics.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It’s textbook perfect. So, during recording, go with your feeling at first, but then follow the directions.”
After receiving some brief advice from the teacher, we arrived in front of Senior Ji Ye-chan’s personal studio.
Hesitantly, I couldn’t bring myself to step inside, so the CEO pushed me into the building.
“How can I help you?”
A man in his 30s, who looked a bit intimidating to be an employee, stood up from the sofa and blocked the entrance, asking.
“I brought the person who will be featuring on the track.”
“Featuring?”
The CEO smiled leisurely as he dealt with the man.
On the other hand, the stranger’s face contorted into a scowl upon hearing that.
“Please wait a moment.”
The intimidating-looking man gestured towards the sofa with his chin and walked heavily into a room.
“Hyung, a guest is here for the featuring on this track.”
“Ah, they’re here?”
Then, through the slightly open door, I heard a familiar voice I had only occasionally heard on broadcasts.
Since I was quite interested in the group personally, I tried to hide my nervousness and waited for Ji Ye-chan to come out.
“Why are you scowling like a gangster?”
“I’m not scowling.”
“Smile. You’re scaring me.”
“Yes…”
Ji Ye-chan, who still looked like a youthful pretty boy despite being almost forty, appeared from the end of the hallway.
The intimidating man, following Ji Ye-chan’s order, was walking towards us with an awkward smile.
I stood next to the CEO, who had risen from the sofa.
“Ye-chan.”
“Oh, Team Leader Park!”
“I’m CEO Park now, Ye-chan.”
“Haha, you were Team Leader when you left TaKa, so you’ll always be Team Leader to me. By the way, is the kid next to you the one?”
“Yeah. He’s a rookie from our company, about to debut.”
“Oh…”
I bowed my head nervously under Senior Ji Ye-chan’s scrutinizing gaze.
“Hello, Senior! I’m Lee Eun-ho, and I’ll be debuting as ‘Lee-eung’!”
“Lee-eung?”
Saying the team name Lee-eung out loud for the first time felt awkward.
“Please take care of me!”
“Cute team name. What’s there to ask of me? Lift your head, junior.”
Just like when I first greeted him before the regression, Senior Ji Ye-chan was quite kind to his juniors.
However, there was one important condition.
“Oh, he’s handsome. Is he an idol?”
Ji Ye-chan asked, turning to CEO Park.
“I raised him like one.”
“Like one? So, is he a soloist?”
“No.”
Then what is he?
Ji Ye-chan tilted his head and gestured with his eyes.
“He’ll be debuting as a sibling mixed duo.”
“Oh…? Like those Sibling Musicians these days?”
“Yes.”
“That’s experimental.”
“It is.”
When I stealthily lifted my head, Senior Ji Ye-chan was smiling, but only with his mouth.
His eyes seemed eerily devoid of emotion.
‘Experimental.’
He was right.
Excluding the sibling title, in the current market, mixed duos were a difficult combination to be welcomed unless they were a group with past glory.
In fact, this was also true even as ‘siblings.’
We were clearly followers, and in the case of the Sibling Musicians, they were from a large agency, had significant talent, and had a solid fan base built through an audition program.
“Okay, he’s handsome, but can he sing?”
“Director Lee vouched for him, so I think he can.”
CEO Park shrugged as if he wasn’t sure, glossing over the question.
He had heard me sing at the academy earlier, and I was good, but…
It felt too textbook perfect.
“He seems to have the basics down.”
Ji Ye-chan, seemingly familiar with vocal trainer Lee Ha-neul, pursed his lips and nodded.
“Let’s go, trainee.”
Trainee.
Senior Ji Ye-chan glanced at me coldly and turned towards the recording studio.
“Yes!”
I answered energetically, but I could clearly sense his lack of expectation.
But it was okay.
This was an opportunity.
It would be enough if my voice, my name, could reach even 0.1% of the audience listening to this song.
“This is engineer Oh Tae-jin.”
“I’m Lee Eun-ho. Please take care of me.”
“Let’s go inside and have a listen first.”
“Yes!”
I bowed my head once more to the engineer, who nodded kindly, and entered the small recording booth.
The bumpy black sound-absorbing material surrounded me.
‘It’s been a while.’
It hadn’t been that long, but after Lee Eun-ji passed away, I spent more time in the recording studio than at home.
The year I spent buried in work flashed before my eyes.
Perhaps that’s why…
The familiar scenery brought a sense of comfort, and I relaxed my tense shoulders.
“Aaah.”
I warmed up my voice as usual and stood in front of the microphone. It felt different from when I was training.
“Ready?”
I put on the headphones, and Senior Ji Ye-chan’s indifferent voice followed the click of the talkback button.
“Yes! I’ll start right away.”
“Okay.”
As Ji Ye-chan’s reply faded…
The familiar guide track I had listened to all night started with the light sound of a snare.
As the intro neared its end, I calmed my excitement and slowly closed my eyes.
With the saxophone playing, signaling the start of the first verse’s A part, I opened my mouth.
It was time to truly sing.
My feelings warn me
Even before you arrive
Ji Ye-chan was listening to the intro with his eyes closed, and when the beat dropped and the song transitioned into the verse…
He opened his eyes wide at Eun-ho’s voice, which he heard simultaneously with the saxophone.
“He’s a rookie? What the…”
Ji Ye-chan turned to CEO Park irritably.
But as he looked at CEO Park, he couldn’t help but burst out laughing in disbelief.
“What, Team Leader Park, you didn’t even know your own singer’s capabilities?”
“No, I knew, but…”
I didn’t know it would be this good.
The unspoken words were evident in CEO Park’s expression.
‘He definitely didn’t sound like this at the academy…’
In front of the trainer, Eun-ho had focused on refining his problematic areas, concentrating on singing ‘correctly.’
Thanks to this unexpected twist, CEO Park was even more stunned than Ji Ye-chan.
A single flower on the table
Looks especially red today
As the A part ended…
Ji Ye-chan ran his hand through his hair and turned to CEO Park, asking.
“Just by the way he bends and releases his notes, he’s been in the industry for years, hasn’t he?”
“Ha… haha.”
Ji Ye-chan questioned him in disbelief, but CEO Park had nothing to say.
Eun-ho knew how to slur his pronunciation charmingly.
However, the problem was that he overused it, knowing it was charming.
But now, as Ji Ye-chan said, Eun-ho seemed to know where and how to sing, tremble, and slur, even better than the song’s owner.
‘Just a few weeks ago, he seemed like a newbie, how…’
From Ji Ye-chan’s perspective, Lee Eun-ho felt like a veteran singer who had released at least two full albums, someone born with the ability to interpret songs.
However, from CEO Park’s perspective, having watched Eun-ho and knowing his skills, it seemed as if Eun-ho had evolved into a new creature overnight, suddenly developing talent he didn’t have before.
During the break between Verse 1-A and the transition to B…
Eun-ho blinked his closed eyes open and stared blankly out the window, as if expecting the song to stop there.
But when the song continued without a pause, he seemed to judge that it was going straight through and closed his eyes again, focusing on the rhythm.
‘The recording studio must be unfamiliar to him…’
This was also surprising to CEO Park.
Unlike Eun-ji, who composed songs, Eun-ho had never experienced a recording studio except during training.
It was a natural reaction.
“The Team Leader asked me to write a song, and now it looks like it’s going to be stolen.”
“Just do better then.”
“Wow… that’s harsh.”
As if oblivious to the situation outside, Ji Ye-chan and CEO Park bickered while the song continued without pause, reaching the second verse after the chorus.
Eun-ho leisurely continued with the second Verse 1-A.
The table is empty
Why did you come without a word
Something I should care about
Spreading anxiety li―
Then…
“Wait a minute, Eun-ho.”
As the music stopped, Eun-ho on the other side of the window immediately stopped singing and waited for Ji Ye-chan’s next words.
“Earlier, the ‘especially’ part.”
“Verse 1-A?”
“Yeah. Can you do the same bending there, in ‘Something I should care about,’ ‘Spreading anxiety like’?”
“Bend… Ah, yes! I can do it!”
“Okay, then let’s start again from Verse 2.”
As Ji Ye-chan signaled, the engineer started the melody of the second verse again.
Eun-ho nodded along to the rhythm, and when he reached the requested part, he continued singing as if he had been waiting for it.
Something I should care about
Spreading anxiety like
It was exactly as Ji Ye-chan requested, as if copy-pasted.
Ji Ye-chan was so satisfied that he even pumped his fist in excitement.
“Good job! Let’s move straight to the bridge.”
“Yes!”
Before moving on to the B part…
Ji Ye-chan pressed the talkback button and praised Eun-ho.
“Just like that, Eun-ho.”
“Yes, Senior!”
Perhaps out of consideration, the engineer resumed the song from the middle of the chorus, just in case Eun-ho lost the pitch.
While Eun-ho was waiting for his part, nodding along to the rhythm, Ji Ye-chan glanced at the silent CEO Park.
“What.”
CEO Park, seemingly uncomfortable with the gaze, averted his eyes and sighed before asking.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
“What?”
“This is my first solo song in a while, and you bring someone like him for the featuring?”
CEO Park had nothing to say.
Saying he didn’t know Eun-ho would be this good would only make him seem incompetent or sarcastic.
“Do you want to remove him now?”
“No, he made it his own song so perfectly, how can I remove him?”
“Just remove him.”
“I like it, so I don’t want to.”
“What do you want me to do…”
CEO Park grumbled, but he felt a sense of satisfaction in Ji Ye-chan’s gaze.
Ji Ye-chan was kind to his juniors.
However, only to those with proven talent.
He was someone with a philosophy that he couldn’t help but like juniors who delivered good music, whether through effort or talent.
“Is his debut song out yet?”
“Why, are you going to write it for him?”
“There’s nothing I can’t do.”
It seemed Eun-ho had made quite an impression, but CEO Park shook his head regretfully.
“Then give it to him for his full album.”
“Wow, who’s giving you songs that you’re rejecting mine?”
“Who else.”
In response to Ji Ye-chan’s playful question, CEO Park pointed at Eun-ho, who was just starting the bridge, and continued.
“He’s her bandmate.”