WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

[ Translation - Aren ]

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

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Chapter 49

‘RELOAD’.

This song……

Even when I studied WEEKANIZ’ discography, I had never heard it before.

It was an ultra-obscure track.

And judging by the beat playing in the background…….

It was, devastatingly, not even a ballad.

It was fast and extremely aggressive.

Who knew WEEKANIZ had these types of songs?

Wait, wasn’t that an IONER song?

Was there some sort of mistake?

“……Alright, everyone heard their tracks, right? Since these are your group’s own songs, I trust you’ll not only perform them well but also bring a fresh new take.”

Lee Kyubin’s voice went in one ear and straight out of the other.

I think he was wrapping up the recording or something, so I instinctively clapped and reacted.

I didn’t really remember..

“Recording is finished! Open the doors!”

At last, a staff member’s loud voice rang out, and the studio doors swung open.

From a distance, I could see two familiar figures charging toward us like Dumb and Dumber.

They…… looked happy somehow.

What were those carefree idiots so pleased about?

“I’m really sorry!”

Baekgyeom came running from afar, his voice booming as he yelled out an apology.

Too bad, buddy. It was way too late for that.

“Hyung! I’m so sorry!!”

Even Chae Ire, who I thought I could trust, was late.

This guy’s entire motivation in life revolved around whatever was interesting and fun…… Did he find being late more entertaining or something?

“Please, just hear me out. I have a reason. Let me convince you.”

“What is it?”

“The toilet was clogged, and I was trying to unclog it, so I was late.”

“……And I’m supposed to believe that?”

“It’s true! Really! I was panicking! I’ve never seen a toilet that stubborn before. Wow.”

Ire flailed his hands around dramatically as he spoke.

“……Fine. And you, Baekgyeom?”

“Me……?””

“You don’t even have an excuse?”

“This old man showed up in the morning, so I ended up talking with him for a while.”

“I’m an idiot for even asking.”

These little shits.

Should I knock them both on the head and nag them until their stomachs burst?

No. I shouldn’t waste my energy.

“We heard the recording from outside. So we’re doing <RELOAD>, huh?”

Baekgyeom, sensing my rage through sheer survival instinct, quickly tried to change the subject.

“Hey, Ahn Yuyoung. Why did you pick a B-side? We’ve never performed this song before.”

Seo Haedun immediately started complaining the moment he got next to me.

“Ah, everyone!”

Lee Kyubin clapped his hands twice.

The contestants, who had been clustered in their groups with grim expressions, all turned to look at him.

“You’re free to hold discussions however you’d like. Ah, but the practice rooms must be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis. They open at 6 am, so make sure to book them on the day of use.”

With that, Lee Kyubin casually left the studio.

6 am?

At the rate, they might as well round us up in the middle of the night and make us run laps around a track.

It wouldn’t be much different.

“……They’re really working us to the bone.”

Exactly, that’s what I was saying!

Whoever just spoke, I agree with you 100%.

……Huh? Wait.

“……Hey! You’re one of the late ones. No. I’m sorry.”

Baekgyeom, you bastard!

Somehow, he was staring directly into the main camera that was filming us as he blurted out that bombshell of a statement.

I was so shocked that I yelled to stop him.

Placing a hand on the back of his head, I bowed in apology along with him.

Sigh……

I felt like a parent who had their child loose by the water’s edge, only to watch them nearly drown.

But now, the kid I had to keep an eye on was the one setting the whole place on fire……

“We don’t have time to talk about that right now. Baekgyeom, you’re the main dancer.”

I slumped down on the floor as I spoke.

One by one, the members sat down in a circle on the floor.

“Yeah, I heard…… But the fact that I’m the main dancer is actually the second-biggest problem. First off, <RELOAD> wasn’t composed with choreography in mind.”

Baekgyeom spoke with a rather serious expression.

“You’re saying the song doesn’t have choreography?”

“That’s right. Have we even performed this song before?”

Baekgyeom tilted his head.

I also found it odd, since I hadn’t come across the song in my research.

Normally, this would be my cue to answer……

“We did consider performing it during our first concert.”

Haram chimed in.

The first concert. That should have been back in 2019.

I remembered seeing some snarky comments about how they couldn’t even fill the 2000 seat venue, calling it an embarrassing flop.

“If we had done it back then, we’d at least have some choreography…… But as it stands, we pretty much have to create everything from scratch……”

Sanho trailed off.

I knew.

I knew exactly what he was thinking. He basically wanted to say ‘We’re screwed’, but held back because of the cameras.

Everyone was hesitating, unsure who should be the first to actually say ‘We’re screwed’ out loud.

“……I do have some of it prepared.”

“Wait, really?”

At Haedun’s quiet words, everyone’s faces lit up.

“I only worked on the chorus choreography, so we’ll have to come up with the rest quickly…… but since the song is fast paced and the lyrics are pretty intense, I figured a powerful performance would fit. So I recorded something a while back.”

“Wow, show us!”

Excited, Tae Oh tapped Haedun’s arm.

“……It’s on my computer’s hard drive.”

“Damn it.”

So we couldn’t access the file right now.

“Then, could you show us what you remember?”

I asked Haedun in the gentlest voice possible.

Whenever I needed choreography, I always had to take this humble approach.

Of course, I had to treat him with the utmost respect.

“I remember all of it.”

Haedun answered nonchalantly.

“But the problem is how we’ll adapt it. We need to rearrange the song too, right?”

He didn’t forget to point out the crucial issue.

“Let’s listen to the song again first.”

I played the track using the phone the production team had given us.

A powerful trumpet sound blasted through the speakers.

The rhythm kicked in with an 8-bit beat often used in hip-hop, leading into the first verse.

―Yo

Lift yourself up, brighten your gaze

Puff out your chest, take a deep breath

Look ahead and advance, advance, and advance again

Go on, break through everything that blocks your way

Hands on, grip tight, don’t let go.

Wake up, get up, keep stepping on the gas

No way back, I hold my head high, never looking back

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Get! Ready! Set! Go! Bang, bang, bang

Are you confident? Then aim at me

Are you not? Then I’ll aim at you

Bang, bang, bang

Get! Ready! Set! Go! Bang, bang, bang

Line up in formation.

Click, load, hold your breath, fire. Bang, bang, bang

“……”

“……”

The song ended just like that.

Silently, I tapped the phone screen to bring it back to life.

Then I looked at the lyrics.

“……Why?”

“Hyung, why are you acting surprised? You were fine with it back then.”

Baekgyeom immediately fired back, as if he had been waiting for this moment.

I couldn’t hide my expression.

“……Are you a military otaku?”

I squinted at Baekgyeom, my eyes half-lidded like a flounder’s.

“So why are you making a big deal out of it now? Everyone knows Baekgyeom is into military stuff. It’s even on my profile on ‘Idol Ganada’.”

Baekgyeom rattled on, completely unfazed, blaming me for my apparent ignorance.

They say the scariest person is the one who's only read one book.

And now, here I was, staring at the terrifying lyrics Baekgyeom had written without any military background.

Bang, bang, bang……

I don’t think I had ever pronounced gunshot sounds out loud since kindergarten, when I sang along to that Animal Farm nursery rhyme.

Something about a hunter going ‘Bang, bang’.

And why do we have to go somewhere? Why do we have to stand up and puff out our chests?

What was the reason for lining up in formation?

‘Sigh……'

The beat was strangely outdated……

The lyrics were even worse.

And on top of that.

Aside from the chorus, this was practically a full-on rap track.

Verse one was covered by Baekgyeom and Sanho. Verse two went to Ire and Haedun.

The chorus, if you could even call it that, with all those Bang, bang, bangs and get, ready, set, gos, was split between Haram, me, and Tae Oh……

‘Of all things, why did it have to be rap……?’

Rap was the genre where any slip-up would be painfully obvious. Whether you underdo it or overdo it, you’ll get roasted either way.

I had no clue how we were supposed to pull this off.

“Alright, first of all.”

I clapped my hands once to get everyone’s attention.

It felt overwhelming, but we had no other choice.

This was our first concept stage.

We had to take complete control of the stage.

But if we pushed too hard, we’d stumble.

The key was to stand out just enough while creating a performance with real impact.

Everything depended on the build-up. If I wanted to clear this status window mission, nailing this concept stage was more important than anything else.

“What we need to focus on right now is the choreography, arrangement, and part redistribution. That’s it. The lineup we’ve drawn applies only to our on-stage positions, not to the choreography itself. That means…… Since Haedun already has a base routine for this, he’ll take the lead on the choreography. But that doesn't mean he’ll do everything alone. We need everyone to contribute ideas.”

“Got it.”

The members responded in unison.

“As for producing, if the person in that role is only handling things off stage, this kind of defeats the purpose……”

“I’ll go ask.”

Ire immediately sprang up and darted over to the staff.

I watched him exchange a few words with them from afar before he hurried back to us.

“You were right. Haram-hyung has to take the lead on production. Others can help, but he’s the one who needs to spearhead it. That said, we’re free to rearrange the song however we want. Some teams have a designated producer, some don’t. So some groups will be rearranging their tracks, while others won’t. But we won’t be told in advance what the other teams are doing.”

Ire quickly delivered his report.

I nodded and thanked him.

“The production room is next to the vocal training room, near the practice studios. Honestly, we need to finalize the arrangement first before we can figure out the choreography and redistribute parts properly.”

“I’ve never formally studied composition, but I’ve picked up quite a lot from watching Baekgyeom work through the night.”

Haram chimed in.

“That's just because you were doing your own assignments next to me, hyung.”

Baekgyeom pouted as he tacked on that comment.

“Anyway.”

Haram seemed to be deep in thought before he finally spoke up.

“Let’s put some real effort into rearranging this track. I’ll work on it as much as I can today. Also…… I have an idea.”

“What is it?”

I immediately asked.

Haram lowered his head slightly, resting his chin on one hand as he deliberated for a moment before answering.

“It might not be as powerful or dramatic as <Totter> was, but……”

“Huh?”

Even after that preface, haram hesitated for a moment before continuing.

“Hmm…… My dad used to say, whenever you are struggling or unsure, there’s no faster way than to just think honestly.”

As he spoke, Haram flashed a slight smile.

……Okay.

Could he also tell us what ‘thinking honestly’ even meant in this situation?

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