Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols
SS Chapter 75: A War of Nerves (1)
Day/Night Mode:
Change Font Size:
TL: FoodieMonster007
Let's rewind the story a bit.
After finishing the tracks for Jeong Seongbin's solo album, Lee Cheonghyeon immediately pulled out a file he had aged like kimchi. It was a collection of works he had created in his spare time, waiting for the day his friend Kang Kiyeon would release a solo album. One melody had already been revealed to the world during Lee Cheonghyeon's massive vacation hard drive dump.
"This one's for the title track, and I've also made some that I thought could be B-sides. Want to listen?"
Even in their sketch phase, all the songs were masterpieces. A brief listen was enough to earn praise.
"You created this kind of atmosphere thinking about the harmony within the album, didn't you?"
"Yeah. As expected, I love that you get it perfectly without me having to explain."
I once thought geniuses wrote songs by exclaiming, "Ah! A melody just popped into my head!" But there was an exception. The modifier 'a methodical composer' suited Lee Cheonghyeon perfectly.
His creative process differed from the geniuses often seen in the media. He had a habit of jotting down notes when inspiration struck, but his main working method was separate.
First, he would get a genre, concept, or reference from me or the other members to decide the song's mood and beat. He would lay down the bass, then come up with a few standard melodies. He layered as many different instruments as possible, testing ways to create experimental and surprising points. After adjusting the vocal range to best suit the singer's tone, he would start working on the details.
Lee Cheonghyeon's composing evolved to best capture the intended image and the singer's charm. This ability also proved useful when he received requests for drama OSTs. It was only natural, as he was optimized for meeting a client's needs.
It's a very… commercial method.
In his spare time, he organized and saved his overflowing ideas, but this was far from impromptu. Even when writing a song out of boredom, Lee Cheonghyeon used his brilliant mind to connect it to his next work. His thought process linked each independent song into a vast network.
He could match the syllable counts for the lyrics of 『End』 and 『On A High Note』, songs of completely different genres, because he had created identical syllable spaces during the melody-writing process. The same applied to the intense tension maintained from 『Sprint』 to 『Flare』. To use an analogy, he was a city planner building dozens of huge buildings on a vast plot of land.
Such a Lee Cheonghyeon had envisioned a dream since he first started composing. 'When my friend releases a solo album, I want to give him my songs.' In the early days, Lee Cheonghyeon lacked confidence in his abilities, so he never told anyone about this wish. Instead, he conceived the concepts and built the structure all by himself.
While Jeong Seongbin was naturally diligent, Lee Cheonghyeon lived a busy life. Amidst a dizzyingly packed schedule, Lee Cheonghyeon wrote songs for spArk's next album. In the gaps, he created the music he wanted to one day gift to his friend.
The more time he invested, the more elaborate the songs became. He changed a single note, a single sound, dozens of times. Through this process, the album's intended image solidified in Lee Cheonghyeon's mind.
The tragedy began here.
"Between the two… I think I like B better."
The friend's gift had failed to please its intended owner!
Unaware of the circumstances, Kang Kiyeon showered the songs with praise until he noticed Lee Cheonghyeon's faltering expression. Lee Cheonghyeon repeatedly asked if he really liked the second song. The perceptive Kang Kiyeon hastily replied that A was also good, he just felt less confident pulling it off compared to B, but the milk had already been spilled.
"Won't you give me some time to develop it? I want to give it one more try."
"It's not that I dislike A. It was a matter of taste, and I also think you have a better sense for song selection than I do. I'm not doubting your intuition."
"I also think you can pull this song off just fine, but you don't think so, right? I need to find the reason for that."
The two held each other's abilities in high regard, yet each wanted to push for their own choice. This was where the friction arose.
This wasn't strange. Both of them had personalities that would rather break than bend. Think back to when Lee Cheonghyeon wanted to do a musical in IDC Season 2. Despite concerns that he would be lucky to just break even, Lee Cheonghyeon didn't back down. He achieved what he wanted, even relentlessly pushing the others to change their singing styles.
Kang Kiyeon was no less stubborn. He was a daredevil who had not hesitated to butt heads with Choi Jeho during his trainee days, and he always spoke his mind. It was a mystery how he had met a friend who was such a carbon copy of himself.
After a sharp confrontation, Lee Cheonghyeon offered to revise the song he had earmarked as the title track. Kang Kiyeon stopped him and said there was no need.
"Why? I'm not trying to force you. I'm just saying I'll try fixing it once. Do you dislike A that much?"
"It's just that I think B would suit me better."
The discussion went nowhere, and the first meeting ended without results. From then on, Lee Cheonghyeon and Kang Kiyeon fell into a cycle of endless meetings.
The conflict between the composer and the album's owner was not easily resolved. They didn't fight with raised voices like children. The guys just holed up in the studio and the vocal practice room, chattering about which song was better.
Usually, I decided on the concept first, and then Lee Cheonghyeon wrote the song, but since Lee Cheonghyeon brought the songs first this time, the order of work was reversed.
With nothing immediate to do, I waited for the title track to be decided. I looked at trainee profiles and monitored recently debuted rookie idols. Once the song selection was over, I planned to create a concept that matched the song's atmosphere, Lee Cheonghyeon's intention, and Kang Kiyeon's wishes.
The discussion took longer than I expected, but I waited. An exchange of opinions was essential for a good result, and above all, there was still a deadline. When I saw the youngest members sleeping as if they had passed out on the way back from Taean, all I thought was, 'They must be so tired…!'
I can't believe they're making this little progress.
A hollow laugh escaped me. I could no longer just stand by and watch. Something had to be decided soon to secure a generous promotion period.
So here was the question. Why did the pick from Lee Cheonghyeon, who valued Kang Kiyeon's opinion and had a knack for grasping listeners' needs, fail to appeal to Kang Kiyeon? Could Lee Cheonghyeon have really failed to grasp the taste of his own mega best friend?
I knocked on Lee Cheonghyeon's door. A voice told me to come in. Kang Kiyeon had been coming back late from working out, perhaps because he was troubled, so only Lee Cheonghyeon was in the room. He was lying on the bed listening to music and took off his headset when I entered.
"What's up?"
"I'm here to press you about the deadline."
"What was bound to come has come."
Lee Cheonghyeon sat up with a smile that accepted death. When I chided him for procrastinating, the guy pretended to cry. I perched on the empty, ownerless bed.
"I thought you'd handle it on your own, so what's all this? Is something not working out?"
At my rebuke, Lee Cheonghyeon shrugged with an exaggerated, cartoonish gesture.
"Cheonghyeon did his part just fine. The only thing that's not working out is Kang-geon's heart."
"Oh, so you're shifting the blame to him."
"Stating a fact."
I applauded his bold shamelessness, and Lee Cheonghyeon thoroughly enjoyed my praise.
"Where exactly is the point of disagreement? The genre?"
"You know Kang-geon's playlist too. Both are his style. The moods are just different, but it's not like Kang-geon can't handle one of them to the point of having to scrap it."
As expected, Lee Cheonghyeon was competent. He had already grasped the singer's style and abilities.
"Maybe B just fit the image Kiyeon wanted to show with the album better."
"Really? What kind of image could my best friend possibly want to show?"
For Lee Cheonghyeon to say that after numerous meetings implied Kang Kiyeon had not offered an opinion.
He doesn't have a selling point he wants to emphasize, and he doesn't hate the song, but he refuses A even if you offer to revise it?
The more I heard, the less I understood. Kang Kiyeon was a sharp guy, impeccable no matter where you put him. It was puzzling that he, a guy who always offered a reason or an alternative when refuting an opinion, was stubbornly insisting on Plan B without one.
"I thought the conversation was dragging on because you both wanted to raise the level of perfection. For you, it's your friend's first solo, and for Kiyeon, he's singing his friend's song alone. That's why I didn't interfere until now. Is the situation more serious than I guessed? Do I need to step in?"
Lee Cheonghyeon shook his head.
"It's not serious, and it's not a problem you can solve by stepping in. When the deadline comes, I'll respect Kang-geon's choice. It's Kang-geon's album, after all."
"Even though you're not satisfied with it. Can't you at least tell me the reason?"
Hearing the question, the guy smiled bitterly.
"He's avoiding it."
"Kiyeon is?"
This answer was not in my predictions. The song didn't have a C6 note in it, so what reason could there be to avoid it?
"You wouldn't get it if I just told you like this, right?"
"Yeah."
"I didn't get it at first either. That's why I thought he just didn't like the song and offered to fix it, but that wasn't it."
"……"
"He's not confident. He doesn't have the confidence that he can pull this off. He can't bring himself to say that, so he's trying to back out."
The story was heading in a completely unexpected direction. Something more than what met the eye was lurking between the two of them.
"It's disappointing when he acts like this."
Lee Cheonghyeon smiled bitterly.