Raising a Neglected Singer-Songwriter - Chapter 131



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Raising a Neglected Singer-Songwriter Episode 131

131. Legendary Art Director

[A special mission has arrived.]

[Sing with 100% strength.]

[Reward upon success: Silver Coin X3, Guild Fame 20]

Seongjun checks the message and lets out a sly laugh.

‘Sing 100% passionately. Isn’t that a given?’

Whether it was entertainment, busking, or a music show.

I have never sung a song in a ragged manner before.

Moreover, it was natural to do my best as it was my first stage on a Japanese variety show.

‘This mission is probably meant as a warning not to be arrogant or conceited just because you’ve gotten a little bit of attention.’

Especially, if you show yourself suffering from celebrity disease abroad, it is a disgrace to the country and an eyesore.

Well, that story doesn’t apply to Sungjun.

Thanks to that, I can just gratefully receive the reward.

“I will present you with the title song of this album, ‘Music is’.”

Seongjun, holding the microphone, opened his mouth.

As his voice echoed, the set where the entertainment show was taking place transformed into his own small concert hall.

*

After finishing recording,

“So are you going back to Korea now?”

“Yes, I’ve booked a flight for tomorrow morning.”

“That’s too bad. It would have been better if you had stayed a few more days. Right, Sister?”

“···huh.”

When the Twilight siblings expressed their regret, Sungjun answered with a smile.

“I guess we’ll see each other again in Seoul soon anyway.”

Twilight is scheduled to visit Seoul next month.

It’s because of the world tour.

The tour was initially planned to start in April, but due to various delays in preparation, the schedule was postponed to June.

And the first country visited on the tour was Korea.

Sungjun introduced MXM Entertainment as an agency that would handle Twilight’s Korean activities, and the siblings’ agency agreed, and a team was formed to handle the matter.

Additionally, Sungjun had promised to participate as a guest during their Korean tour, so he has been continuously receiving updates on the progress of the concert.

“When you come to Seoul this time, I will make time to escort you. I will take you on a food tour.”

“Oh! As expected from Sung Jun-sang! Your diary already has a list of delicious restaurants. You must be so excited for it, there are heart stickers on your calendar for the entire time you’re staying in Korea-”

“Hikaru, you… have you seen my diary?”

“Ah, no, that’s just what I happened to be doing… Whoa!”

As Hikaru, who sensed the presence of life, quickly took cover behind Sungjun, Yoru’s golden blade cut through the air.

Yoru fails to grab Hikaru’s hair in an instant.

A few strands of hair fall from her snow-white palms.

Gulp-

Hikaru’s ears are trembling.

It was dangerous. If I had caught it properly, I might have lost some hair.

On the other hand, Yoru, whose ears were red from embarrassment over being caught, could not touch her annoying twin brother who was hiding behind an invincible shield.

*

Two days later, MXM Enter’s Sungjun’s studio.

Seongjun, sitting on the sofa, happily checked the system message.

[Guild member SHYine has achieved a personal mission.]

[As a reward, you will receive Silver Coins X3 and Guild Fame 10.]

The message appeared right after I finished talking to Seol Hye-yoon a few days ago.

It means that the lyrics have been completed safely!

With this, the remaining fame until the guild level up is 40.

Including the follow-up mission rewards that followed that day, it’s 10.

[Guild member SHYine’s personal mission has arrived.]

[Rank a song you wrote in the top 10 of domestic music charts.]

[Reward upon success: Silver Coin X5, Guild Fame 30]

As you complete individual missions, will the rewards also gradually upgrade?

The reputation given upon successful mission is the highest of any so far.

On the other hand, the mission difficulty was relatively low.

Seol Hye-yoon has already made a name for herself by entering the top ranks of the charts with Cherry Blossom Road.

“Besides, it’s Sisters’ summer song, you know.”

Honestly, I think it’s safe to say that this mission is a no-brainer.

So, rather than the mission reward, I was more curious about what kind of lyrics Seol Hye-yoon would write.

If I can come up with lyrics that are on par with Cherry Blossom Road this time, I will really be able to solidify my position as a lyricist.

“I’m looking forward to it. When will the Sisters’ new song be released?”

Seongjun whets his appetite.

After a while,

Seongjun got up from the sofa and went out the door of the studio.

Where he is headed is the MXM Enter meeting room.

dripping-

As soon as the door opens after a knock, everyone’s attention is drawn to it.

“hello.”

Seongjun greets people awkwardly, unlike usual.

This is because the people in the meeting room today were not his usual teammates who go through thick and thin with him, but new faces.

And their true identities were members of the A&R 3 team newly established for the debut of MXM Entertainment’s first girl group, BLIZ.

Seongjun attended this meeting in the role of ‘advisor’.

As he was the mentor for ‘My Favorite Girls’, the purpose was to get various opinions from Sungjun, who has a high level of understanding of the BLIZ members.

The fact that Sungjun’s song received particularly good responses from fans during the program was also one of the reasons he was invited to this meeting.

“Are we all here?”

As everyone took their seats, the leader of the new faces leading today’s meeting introduced himself.

“Hello. I am Shin Jin-hee, the visual art director in charge of producing BLIZ.”

What is a visual art director?

A producer outside of music who is in charge of everything that can be ‘seen’, such as the artist’s costume concept and styling, album cover, images, logos, designs, and videos.

So the title is also PD.

Meanwhile, Shin Jin-hee originally came from KG Entertainment, one of the four major entertainment companies.

Ye-seon Ha, who is currently on a roll as an actress. The national girl group Pink Rose, affiliated with KG Entertainment, where she was the main vocalist, was created under the direction of Shin Jin-hee.

In addition, the visual concepts of many top idol groups were created from her, and her brilliant career earned Shin Jin-hee the title of ‘Legendary Art Director’.

One day, while things were going smoothly,

“I can’t do this anymore.”

An industry legend suddenly announced his retirement.

“What, what’s the reason?! Is the salary low?! Should I raise it?!”

In response to the embarrassed KG Entertainment CEO’s words, Shin Jin-hee shouted, “Manse!”

“I don’t care about my salary or my hair. I’m going to die!”

The reason for her resignation was simple.

It was a burnout syndrome that came from working without resting even for a single day.

After that, Shin Jin-hee disappeared from the industry without a sound.

Her close associates responded that Shin Jin-hee was enjoying her youth to the fullest, something she had not been able to enjoy because she had been working overtime and on holidays like a dog.

“PD Shin. Can’t you take a break for half a year and come back?”

There is a famous anecdote that when the CEO asked, Shin Jin-hee replied with a picture of a bright blue Hawaiian beach along with a ‘h’.

The void left by Shin Jin-hee was so huge.

KG Entertainment, without its legendary art director, began to slowly decline.

KG Entertainment spent a lot of money to bring in industry veterans to replace her, but none of them were able to perform as well as her predecessor, Shin Jin-hee.

Unlike before, the somewhat deteriorated visual concept ended up being ignored even by loyal fans.

I don’t know if it’s because of the aftermath,

『National Girl Group Pink Rose Disbands! They Couldn’t Survive the 7 Years of Doom!』

This also resulted in unfortunate results.

Well, anyway.

How is it that Shin Jin-hee, who used to be like that, is standing here?

“Director Baek is a talented person.”

After enjoying the vacation spots around the world, Shin Jin-hee was exhausted and was resting at home, but Baek-seok brought her here as a soldier for MXM Entertainment after much persuasion!

Shin Jin-hee also enjoyed watching the broadcast of ‘My Favorite Girls’ during her break, and her interest in the debut members was piqued.

At the same time, it was thanks to the rekindling of her desire to produce that she overcame burnout with sufficient rest.

“They said that the two of you knew each other from the beginning. You were elementary school classmates? And this is what they said-”

There are also rumors that Shin Jin-hee has liked Baek-seok since elementary school.

So, even though she had rejected countless offers to return, she accepted Baek-seok’s offer without hesitation.

Well, after all, rumors are just rumors.

And whatever the reason, thanks to that, BLIZ became the team that announced the glorious return of the ‘legend’.

Among the BLIZ members, they have been given the strongest producer.

The strongest producer has returned and opened his mouth.

“BLIZ plans to maintain the existing ‘fairy’ worldview that has been built through ‘My Favorite Girls’. This is because continuity of experience is important to the program’s viewers who will become BLIZ’s core fandom.”

Shin Jin-hee continues her presentation smoothly like a flowing stream.

The people in the meeting room found themselves unconsciously concentrating and listening to what she was saying.

And soon, the team concept of BLIZ that she was drawing was revealed.

“The team concept that BLIZ will take is ‘purity’.”

The meeting room is in an uproar at Shin Jin-hee’s words.

This is because the concept she presented was outside the current girl group trend.

The concepts that K-pop girl groups are currently putting forth can be roughly summarized into two categories.

Sexy.

And girl crush.

Even within that, they were saying that they were differentiating the concepts into somewhat detailed branches, but in the end, that was it.

In the midst of these two concepts becoming oversaturated, ‘innocence’, the beginning and foundation of girl groups, has long since disappeared into the back alleys of history.

There may be several reasons for the extinction, but it was a natural elimination that occurred as the trend of popular music increasingly followed fast and visually stimulating things.

Moreover, girl groups with a pure concept that target a small number of fans in Japan or Korea are not competitive in the global market.

Also, in the end, it is female fans who buy albums and engage in strong fandom activities, and the target of girl groups has become female fandom rather than male fandom.

As a result, the only alternative to killing two birds with one stone – global expansion and female fandom – was sexiness or girl crush.

“We will break away from that monotony and go back to the source.”

Shin Jin-hee added with a smile.

“The end result of tuning is purity (pure genuine product). And if our kids don’t have an innocent concept, who will?”

There was laughter of agreement here and there at Shin Jin-hee’s words.

‘surely···.’

Seongjun also thought that there was some truth to what she said.

Jin Ha-neul’s beauty is the pinnacle of innocence.

The visuals of the other four people also match well with innocence.

If done well, it will bring about a fresh response.

“That’s why I hope that the music that BLIZ pursues will have the same ending. It’s not music that’s only for a certain fandom, but music that anyone, regardless of age or gender, can comfortably listen to and enjoy.”

Shin Jin-hee’s gaze turned to Seong-jun as if asking a question.

“It must be ‘easy listening pop’.”

“As expected, you caught it right away. You’re the one who will be in charge of the title song of the debut album.”

Shin Jin-hee smiles brightly as she gets the answer right away.

Seongjun scratches the back of his head awkwardly as people around him applaud.

It’s nothing special, but I’m embarrassed… No!

“Huh? It’s the title song of your debut album?”

Shin Jin-hee nodded and said to Sung-jun, who asked belatedly.

“Yes. I would like to ask Sungjun to compose the title song for this BLIZ debut album.”