WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

[ Translation - Aren ]

I'm a Reporter, Please let me get off the Stage

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Chapter 38

The clear piano melody started playing, and the members started to move in perfect unison.

The innovation WEEKANIZ was aiming for in this stage was ‘skillful dancing’ and ‘team work’.

When I said it like that it almost made me sound like some sort of politician.

After monitoring previous performances, I could tell that WEEKANIZ choreography hadn’t been good. Not at all.

In K-pop, tight, synchronized choreography was the lifeblood of every male idol group, so what would happen if you left that out?

You would risk being perceived as lacking practice or lacking team cohesion.

Which wasn’t entirely wrong……

‘The story is important.’

This was the point I stressed the most during our concept planning meetings with the members.

Simply tossing out generic buzzwords like ‘melancholic’, ‘pure’, or ‘powerful’ wouldn’t get the members emotionally invested in this performance.

So I suggested something more concrete.

‘Imagine the most important person in your life disappearing right before your eyes.’

‘Why, though?’

‘Why? Who’s going to disappear?’

That was how the discussion went.

‘It doesn’t have to be a lover, friend or even person. It can be an object or anything you deeply value. Just imagine it vanishing from your life in real time…… Like in a manhwa where the opacity slowly drops to 30%. If you visualize that, your expressions will come out naturally..’

‘So, can I imagine my PlayStation disappearing?’

‘Hmm…… Try to imagine it more specifically, like someone actually stealing it.’

‘In that case, I don’t think I’d feel melancholic or sorrowful, but anger. Extreme anger.’

‘Then imagine you donated it to your cousin instead.’

‘……That’s just sad.’

And as such, it seems like Ire would be only thinking about his PlayStation throughout the performance

Who was I thinking about?

I was thinking about…… Myself.

My face, the one I could barely even remember anymore.

―TOTTER TOTTER

Staggering

Your smiling face

wavers like a mirage

Before I knew it, we were already at the first chorus.

The first verse’s main part belonged to Sanho, while the second verse’s main part was led by Haedun.

The chorus involved a total of three formation changes.

Haedun, being the perfectionist he was, had split and resplit the beat into fragments, making it so intricate that if you lost focus for even a second, you would miss your mark on the stage.

Fortunately, everyone made it through without any mistakes.

―It was right back then,

But not now.

The fact that we’re together,

Don’t go, please.

You melt into a sigh and disappear.

The high note that led into the second verse was performed by Haram.

I personally directed that part, thinking that emotional lyrics suited Haram’s soft, plain appearance.

―TOTTER TOTTER

Staggering,

Your smiling face

Spreads like a shimmering mirage

The second chorus began.

We had to move quickly while still nailing our expressions.

Haedun stood at the center of the stage, his back to us, effortlessly pulling off the moves with great skill.

Sanho’s dancing style leaned toward honest precision, while Haedun’s was rich with emotion and flow.

To transition smoothly from the straightforward tone of the first verse to the heightened energy of the second verse, it only made sense for Headun to take the lead here.

As for me and Beak Gyeom…… We fit best as supporting roles.

―Total life, Total time

All the time I have,

All my heart, it’s directed at you~

Tae Oh took center stage during a particularly challenging turn sequence that had given everyone trouble during practice.

It was a move Haedun specially made to fully utilize Tae Oh’s background in contemporary dance.

It was a group choreography that involved Tae Oh gracefully spinning in the center, while each member in their positions carried on the motion in sync.

It demanded that we kneel with our knee bent tightly, arching our backs from behind to forward in a wide sweep as our hands traced the floor.

With Tae Oh as the focal point, I dropped to the floor as well, putting all my strength into executing the move.

‘Argh!’

A sharp jolt of pain shot through my knee.

Because my body was fully tense down to my fingertips, I ended up slamming my left knee hard against the ground as I dropped into position.

However, there wasn’t even a single second for me to even acknowledge the pain.

I arched my back, swept the floor with my hand, and quickly stood back up.

My part was next.

The bridge was ending, leading into the final chorus with a dramatic leap in octave. This was the section I needed to carry with my vocals.

―TOTTER TOTTER

If only I could give you my everything—!

Even though I relied on the item’s buff, I finally understood what it felt like for your vocal cords to fully open up.

I pushed my vocal cords wide apart and pulled the high notes up from my diaphragm.

I could feel my chin tilt slightly upward, my back straightened rigidly.

My lower abdomen tensed up.

Thankfully I managed to pull off the high note (Thanks to the buff) without a hitch.

―All my heart, it’s directed at you

TOTTER

Before I knew it, it was already time for the ending pose.

For my final position, my body leaned backward while my head turned to the side.

Standing slightly off to the right, I swiftly moved three large steps to the left, closing the distance in an instant.

Fortunately, I had practiced measuring the stage distance a lot, so it wasn’t so hard for me to get to my position.

Finally, I completed the move by resting my left arm on Haram, with my back to the audience.

We finished by either looking downward or staring at the monitor.

“……Woah-!”

Applause and cheers poured out.

It was from the others who were seated in the audience seats.

I felt rather relieved at the realization that we’d made it through the performance.

The stage lights dimmed, replaced by bright red hues that bathed us in their glow.

I relaxed a bit, steadying my shaky body and scanned our surroundings.

I could see wide-eyed faces clapping enthusiastically.

Well, judging from their expressions, none of them seemed genuinely moved (which wasn’t surprising. It wasn’t like we performed a triple backflip of anything……)

It felt more like polite applause, which wasn’t really shocking.

Still, this was the first time I had ever been the focus of so many people all at once.

This time, I turned my gaze toward the cameras.

The bald camera director who seemed to be in his 40s was signaling to the lighting crew, and off to the far right, a group of what seemed to be writers was huddled together.

It was too far to make out their expressions clearly.

And next to them……

‘……What’s with that face?’

I noticed Lee Kyubin watching me with a completely uninterested expression.

The funny thing was……

Even from that distance, I could feel that our eyes had met.

That indifferent expression that one would usually interpret as ‘I’m not interested’ or ‘I’m not impressed’......

Why did his gaze seem so sharp and piercing?

It didn’t even seem like ‘indifference’ anymore at that point. It felt closer to ‘discontent’.

Either way, that guy…….

I didn’t want to make any assumptions, but something about his gaze kept catching my eye.

Like a stray pebble on the road.

Nothing noteworthy at first, but hard to ignore when it was right in your path.

Still, one should just step past that pebble, right?

But what if that pebble suddenly started talking to you?

“Let’s do two more takes!”

A staff member’s voice boomed through the recording set.

I exchanged glances with my group and got back into position.

The others wore impressively serious expressions.

Seeing Baek Gyeom with his face so tense sure was something.

How nice would it be if he took things this serious on a more regular basis?

And so, we ended up recording three more times in total.

The initial trembling in my heart that had plagued me during the first take was completely gone by the third.

Instead, I felt a different kind of trembling.

Moving my body nonstop for four minutes had its effects.

This was…… adrenaline.

It reminded me of something a lifetime ago…… winning first place in a relay race during my university athletic meet.

My heart felt like it was about to burst, and every cell in my body was inflating and contracting repeatedly.

How long had it been since I felt this kind of rush of adrenaline from physical exertion?

‘……Was it because I didn’t exercise enough in recent times?’

Then again, most ordinary working adults in Korea live far removed from these kinds of physical activities, leaving them gasping for breath.

As we stood in a line, calming our breaths, Lee Kyubin approached us with a bright smile.

“Your performance of the new song was incredibly intense! How should I put it…… It felt almost sacred. Did I interpret that right?”

“Ah, yes, thank you, huff……”

“Ah, I may have started talking too soon. Please catch your breath.”

Lee Kyubin smiled kindly and took a step back, but for some reason I felt a sting to my pride.

……Huh? Pride? Where did that come from?

Wasn’t Lee Kyubin supposed to be just a metaphorical pebble on the side of the road?

“……Yes, I’m okay now.”

“Alright then. Could everyone line up, please? Yes, that’s great. Your new song is so addictive, powerful, and deeply emotional It has a lot of charm. It’s the kind of song you can’t forget after hearing it once. As someone who’s not too well-versed in music, did I get that right?”

“Thank you for your kind words. We approached this track with the concept of ‘powerful melancholy’ in mind.”

“‘Powerful melancholy’? That’s interesting. Oh, could you elaborate on that a bit more?”

“Yes. When people hear the word ‘powerful’ they tend to think of something strong and rough. Meanwhile, when they hear ‘melancholy’, they imagine something soft and delicate. Our goal was to combine these two contrasting elements and present something uniquely ours. A performance that showcases both powerful melancholy, and melancholic power.”

“I see. I was really impressed by the ending. How should I describe it? Your gaze looked like it was burning, but your expression seemed like you were about to cry. I thought to myself ‘That must be what it’s like to embody powerful melancholy.’ Honestly, I’d love to learn from you. Haha.”

‘He loves to learn from me?’

The way he said it carried this subtle air of superiority, as if he were already placing himself on a higher level than us.

Well, if he brought it up this much, maybe the performance wasn’t half-bad after all.

Could the ending have been thanks to the special buff?

“Then, whose idea was it this time?”

“Our whole group came up with it. During the planning meetings, we focused on balancing everything. For the outfits, we collectively decided on an all-white concept with lace and ribbon details for accent. As for the choreography, that was entirely handled by Haedun.”

It wasn’t like I had a script memorized, but the words came out quite naturally. After all, this was something I had already said at least a hundred times to the members standing in a line beside me.

I remembered seeing idols during showcases who either sounded overly rehearsed or blatantly read from a teleprompter, and I thought ‘Wow, how boring.’

I couldn’t help but wonder if I might be coming across the same way to fans right now.

Still, running my mouth was a lot better than clamming up like an oyster. At least I would be getting some screen time that way.

Star power was really just another word for drawing aggro after all.

[Your Eloquence has improved! many are now captivated by you.]

[‘Charm’ stat unlocked! Cultivate your star power!!]

Haha, well, look at that.

“So, what’s your goal for this song, <Totter>? I’m really curious, I can’t help but ask, haha.”

Here it was.

The quintessential question that showed up like MSG in every press release, interview, or idol showcase.

No matter how I answered it, it was guaranteed to make headlines and stir up some sort of reaction.

Say you want to take first place and chaos ensued, say you don’t have any goal and chaos still ensued.

“……If our fans, who’ve waited so long for us, are satisfied, then that alone would make us truly happy.”

And that was what I settled on, ‘Let’s keep it low-key’.

There was no need to get all cocky and say that we would make it to the Billboard charts, only to get ridiculed.

Sure, I just went on about how star power was essentially just drawing aggro barely ten seconds ago, but well…

I’m only human.

If someone were to ask me whether I was afraid of being ridiculed in this situation.

……Well, let’s just say I wouldn’t exactly enjoy it.

“Yuyoung-ssi, you seem to be someone filled with nothing but love for your fans.”

“Yes. Oh, and I didn’t actually contribute that much to this song. Our members worked really hard, so I hope they feel proud of their efforts as well……”

And so, the interview seemed to wrap up on a warm and positive note.

Honestly, I would’ve been content even if the whole segment got edited out.

The performance went well, and the interview time was quite long.

Compared to other teams, it felt like WEEKANIZ had gotten a full-blown press conference.

Since we debuted a new song, it felt only fair that we got this much of a spotlight.

“N-no, that’s not true.”

“What?”

“Huh?”

A voice interrupted the wholesome atmosphere.

It came from the farthest end of our line.

It was Chae Ire.

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