– The song I will be singing this time is sir Lee HyungChan’s ‘You’.
While JayHan was walking up to the stage, the audience and the viewers were watching a video. In the video, Jay Han introduced the song he would be singing, as well as why he chose this song and how he would sing it.
– This song is very important for me. Until now, I received a lot of rebukes due to my inability of proper p.r.o.nunciation of the lyrics, but I want to show that I can express my emotions through these lyrics.
After the short interview footage, the stage lights turned on. Then, the drums and the ba.s.s started flowing out of the speakers.
“Whooooo~~~”
Jay Han’s charming humming decorated the instrumentals and the audience with signs started cheering. However, they were an extreme minority. Most of the others didn’t seem to care at all.
Jay Han closed his eyes and started singing.
“Now I can’t see you even if I want to – but closing my eyes I–”
Slow but not dragging, he matched the rhythm with his feet. Jay Han’s unique deep voice added power to the song. He was careful to p.r.o.nounce each word properly and sang.
“Now, I can’t see anything – cannot say anything—“
The song went past the introduction and into the development section. The audience felt that the awkward p.r.o.nunciation of before couldn’t be felt anymore and they could now immerse themselves in the lyrics a lot more.
“The song’s good”
“It’s so….”
Little by little, people started falling for the song.
Not seeming to care, Jay Han focused on the song with his eyes still closed.
‘It does feel awkward not to see the light.’
KangYoon was watching Jay Han’s stage through TV at the company. Musical notes and light could not be felt through media. He felt stuffy as he couldn’t see the details, but he could feel that Jay Han’s song didn’t sound awkward anymore.
“He’s really good. So cool….”
Kim JiMin, who was watching by KangYoon’s side, became absent-minded as Jay Han sang the climax part of the song. The seemingly not-caring audience had now turned into pa.s.sionate audience as the song reached the climax. Kim JiMin was surprised to see the reactions of the audience.
“Sir, I think that place is turning into an uproar. I wish I was there….”
“Should I have looked for tickets? I didn’t think about that.”
Looking at the disappointed Kim JiMin, KangYoon made a bitter smile. Although he finished the arrangement for the song he had a lot of work to do as the CEO of a company and didn’t think about getting tickets. It was a bit of a pity.
– I will—love you—for- ever—
Eventually, the song reached its conclusion and ended in a grand manner. Unlike what the chorus was singing at the back of the stage, Jay Han sang 3 tones higher than the original. The emotional song ended in a pa.s.sionate song. The only female judge there, Hong SeYeon, stood up, while a few of the fans stood up as well and cheered.
Jay Han didn’t seem to be nervous anymore and wiped his sweat with a small smile as he waited for the judge’s opinions.
The excitement from the song still didn’t seem to disappear yet as Hong SeYeon barely managed herself to sit down.
– Well done! Whoo! This is just the first round of the finals, but I didn’t think I would get to hear such a song. The rhythm unique to R&B is definitely there and the ‘can’t see you’ at the chorus part was sung in a way that wasn’t just shouting it out loud
but held back a little more. I think that was the point of this stage. And the climax after the chorus, I can’t say anything here. This song was very old, so it should have been hard to rearrange and practice it, but both the storytelling and the emotion-telling was the best! My score is.
The scoreboard in front of Hong SeYeon started rising. 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90. Then, the people started cheering. The first digit stopped at 9 and the second digit started rolling as well. The people started sweating from their hands. 7, 8, 9, 0, 1, 2…. The second digit rolled for much longer than usual.
Then, it stopped at 8. The score was 98.
– Whoaaaa—–!
The audience cheered at the result. This was a very hard score to see. There was no way she could give out full marks already, but the song was good… The score showed a lot of hesitation in the decision.
Following that, Moon SangJae’s scores weren’t that much different either. It was 97. With two people giving scores above 95, the cheers became even louder.
Now, everyone’s gazes fell onto the final judge, Lee JaeHyuk. He opened his eyes and spoke calmly.
– The first time I heard that you chose this song, I was half doubtful. Yes, this song is definitely easier to p.r.o.nounce, but I thought that it would be hard to rearrange this song to fit the current trends. But after I listened to it, I thought ‘oh! This song turned out really good.’ Jay Han’s voice has his unique charm to it as well as depth, so it’s really good to listen to it, but it should have been hard to find a song that fits your voice. A good song and a good voice. You have shown us a splendid combination of the two. My main gripe about it, as always, is the breathing. You must beware of the breathing sounds. Just before you went into the climax, there was a feeling of being slightly cut off. If you could fix that part, then it would be great. It was a good song. As for my score.
With a long comment, Lee JaeHyuk’s scoreboard started rising as well. The audience and the viewers at home paid attention to how high of a score he would give. He was known for giving smaller scores than the other two judges. Not to mention 95, he rarely gave out scores above 90. That was how much everyone looked forward to this score.
But then…
-Wow!
When the first digit was fixed to 9, the people in the audience started cheering. The person himself, Jay Han, also widened his eyes the numbers were rolling faster than before.
“Don’t you dare tell me that it will be revealed after the commercial.”
Kim JiMin also paid attention to the score while shaking her hands. KangYoon also couldn’t take his eyes off the TV in curiosity.
– 98! It’s 98!
Eventually, the presenter’s excited voice came through the TV. Jay Han jumping around in joy, as well as the pa.s.sionate cheers of the audience and the satisfied smile of the judges, were all captured by the camera.
‘Good for him.’
KangYoon smiled in satisfaction thinking that a good song went to a good singer.
After the live broadcast of Korea ONE STAR, the songs of the top 10 were revealed to the public. After one day, most of the songs went up in the charts by around 10 steps. The popularity of audition programmes could be felt here.
“First place is ‘You’. Well, the judges were like that yesterday, so I don’t find it that much curious.”
Looking at the rankings of songs in the music website with the largest user base, Lee HyunJi clapped towards KangYoon in amazement. KangYoon shrugged his shoulders.
“It’s good that it turned out well.”
“At times like these, you should be happy. Like this.”
Lee HyunJi grabbed KangYoon’s hand and high-fived. KangYoon also laughed. He was indeed happy.
“I kinda did realize from last time, but your arranging skills are quite amazing. Miss HeeYoon’s composition skills and your arrangements. Looks like we have no worries for money for a while.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course.”
Lee HyunJi stood up and spoke in a loud voice, as though she didn’t like KangYoon’s att.i.tude.
“It’s not just once, this is the second time already. Moreover, it was ranked 1st this time. You put yourself as Muse this time, right?”
“Yes, for the name value. I did that.”
“The singers and companies that were half-doubtful will also proactively seek you out now. Last time, they were n.o.bodies, but it will be different this time.”
Lee HyunJi was filled with hope. She gripped her fist saying that he should leave it to her.
“Looks like we’ll get busy. Heheheh, I’ll grab some good business.”
“Where are you going?”
When Lee HyunJi grabbed her coat to leave, KangYoon asked doubtfully. She smiled and responded.
“Business of course. I can’t miss an opportunity like this. I’ll be back soon.”
She seemed joyful as she left the office while hopping.
“I hope she doesn’t fall….”
Seeing her smile like a little girl, KangYoon ended up laughing.
He left the office and headed to the band practice studio on the 1st floor.
“Looks like the construction is almost done.”
The sound-proofing and sound-dampening materials that Lee HyunJi brought were nowhere to be seen on the ground. KangYoon headed inside.
“Oh? h.e.l.lo.”
The members of the band, The Formidables, and their new manager Kim DaeHyun stopped what they were doing and greeted him. KangYoon raised his hand and accepted the greeting.
“So, it looks like construction is almost done.”
“Yes, we only have the ceiling left.”
Kim JinDae answered KangYoon.
Lee HyunAh was on the ladder. She stuck the last sound-proofing material, and Lee ChaHee grabbed the ladder. The two male members cleaned up the floor and walked around the walls to see if there were any gaps.
‘It’s good to see that there’s no differentiation between genders.’
They worked just as hard as the others in arduous work. KangYoon received a good impression of them. ‘Ladies are weak and should be respected’ didn’t seem to exit here. Lee HyunAh sweating while working hard impressed him a lot.
“It’s finally over…. Huh? You were here?”
After sticking all the soundproofing materials, Lee HyunAh finally looked down and found KangYoon. When KangYoon waved his hand, she slowly climbed down the ladder. The male members folded the ladder and cleaned up the rest.
“Aah. Aah — I should do proper testing, but for now, I can’t hear any noise.”
“Yes. I think it worked out well. It’s not that stuffy, and there were just enough materials too.”
“That was close. You have your instruments, right?”
“Yes. We’ll set those up after we clean up.”
They swept the floor and cleared away the trash. After cleaning up the plastic buckets and other things on the floor, the practice studio now looked very convincing.
KangYoon also cleaned up with them. Everyone held him back, but KangYoon shook his head.
“I couldn’t help out in the construction, so I should at least do this much.”
The fact that he couldn’t help them due to his arrangement work tugged his mind. Although he still had the time to look after Km JiMin, he felt as though he abandoned the band and felt sorry.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Oppa, I’m hungry can you….”
When the mood was about to relax, Lee HyunAh stepped up. KangYoon laughed at those words. He wordlessly took out his credit card and everyone cheered.
“We moved in, so jajangmyeon is fine, right?”
“Yeees.”
Somehow, their replies were rather bland. They felt slight disappointment. KangYoon added another line.
“Tangsuyuk too.”
“Yay!”
Tangsuyuk was great for jajangmyeon.
(T/N: In Korea, when people move houses (in this case, studio), they usually celebrate by eating jajangmyeon (black soybean noodles). Tangsuyuk (fried pork in sweet sauce) is like the wonderful side menu. FYI, where I live, jajangmyeon is around 4.50USD, while Tangsuyuk is around 12USD)
After a luxurious lunch, KangYoon, the band members, and manager Kim DaeHyun started setting up the equipment. KangYoon installed the second-hand speakers and connected them to the mixer.
“You have to think of it as ‘if going inside, then coming outside’. Remember ‘if going inside, coming outside’.”
“Yes. Speaker out, so mixer in. Are the others the same?”
“Yes. If you don’t get anything then ask again.”
KangYoon taught manager Kim DaeHyun about installation and the mixer, as he installed things. Kim DaeHyun listened carefully while writing down sound set up theory into a note. A band’s manager must know about the acoustic setup. KangYoon thought so.
Kim JinDae moved the drums and set up omnidirectional microphones and acrylic panels. Then, he set up a mic for the ba.s.s drum and connected those to the mixer.
“This isn’t an ordinary studio…?”
Kim JinDae. Was flabbergasted while looking at the microphones and the acrylic panels. This was going beyond just setting things up. The ba.s.s and the electric guitar was the same. They also pulled out a line input and connected them to the speakers. They shook their heads as well, saying that there was no need to go this far, but they went with KangYoon’s words saying that they must listen to the others as well.
“Oppa. The speaker positions are interesting. They aren’t at the front but at the back.”
Lee HyunAh found the speakers on each side of the door quite curious.
“If they’re at the front, then the sound will get clumped up. Your monitor….”
“I should just listen to the speaker, right?”
“Get used to it. You must get used to listening to all the sounds.”
Lee HyunAh said she understood and connected the lines.
The setting went smoothly. After managing the cables, they went for a sound check. KangYoon taught manager Kim DaeHyun how to control the mixer, and they started tuning the volume. With the sound dampeners absorbing unnecessary sound, they had considerable volume even in this tight s.p.a.ce.
After a jamming session, the final test was over.
“It’s over!”
Along with Lee HyunAh’s declaration, the practice studio construction was wholly complete. Everyone cheered in satisfaction at their new practice room. Although it was quite small, but the sound was much better than where they practiced previously.
When everyone collapsed onto the floor, exhausted, KangYoon spoke.
“There’s one final thing to do.”
“Eeeh?”
Work again? Everyone showed their fatigue. However, he didn’t exactly talk about ‘work’.
“Why don’t we change the name of the band?”
“The name?”
Kim JinDae asked back. Due to the 3 years of affection, he didn’t want to change the name that easily. However, Lee ChaHee was different.
“I agree. Our current name will be quite funny once it’s on TV….”
The opinions were split half and half. Kim JinDae and Lee HyunAh objected while Lee ChaHee and Jung ChanGyu wanted to change. They started discussing it when KangYoon spoke.
“Let’s say you went to music camp. The presenter is going to introduce you like this. Blah blah blah, whatever descriptions and then at the last part. I introduce to you! The~ Formidables~! Like that….”
“Let’s change it, right now.”
Lee HyunAh quickly changed opinions. She didn’t seem to even think about it and didn’t turn back.
“Hey, Lee HyunAh.”
“Oppa, this is not right. Definitely.”
“…….”
After quarreling for a while, they decided to change the name. And after discussing it for a while, their name was changed.
To ‘White Moonlight’.
