TSOLAI Chapter 2

 Translator: Nezucoat

Editor: Tide

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In the past, Shi-Yoon was often active in a street-style dance crew called <Main Street> on the weekends.

A ‘crew’ was simply a team made up of people who had similar interests. They performed as a fun hobby instead of looking towards business ventures and money.

But when talented people gather, opportunities are unavoidable, and <Main Street> becomes unbelievably famous in its later years.

Despite this, Shi-Yoon of the past only appeared at <Main Street> once or twice after his father’s death before abruptly leaving.

He was going to change that.

He wanted to maintain his connection with <Main Street> for much longer.

Two weeks before a performance, everyone was immersed in dance practice, turning the music up louder and louder.

Among them was Ji Chang-Hyun and Go Jae-Woong. They had been trainees with Shi-Yoon in JS Entertainment—the company Shi-Yoon signed with before he moved.

Right… I went to JS Entertainment with these two… I didn’t contact them after I left without debuting. Seeing their faces after such a long time…

All Shi-Yoon wanted to do the moment he saw them was to hug them tightly and say, “I missed you, you bastards. How have you guys been?” while offering to buy them some *soju.

But Shi-Yoon tried his best to keep his emotions to himself.

*{Translator’s note: ‘Soju’ (소주) is a popular drink in South Korea.}

If Shi-Yoon revealed all the thoughts in his heart, he’d likely earn the nickname ‘crazy piece of shit’.

“Oi, Do Shi-Yoon, you’re here?”

“*Hyung! Shi-Yoon Hyung is here!”

*{Translator’s note: The term ‘Hyung’ (형), literally, means ‘older brother’, but is commonly used among males to address other males who are than older than them in a fond manner.}

The younger members of the crew worriedly stared at Shi-Yoon with puppy dog eyes.

“Why is everyone looking at me in such a—uh—wet way? I’m fine, so please continue practicing. I’ll tell you when I need help.”

The older members of the crew eyed Shi-Yoon with pride after his bold announcement.

Although, deep down, it seemed like they all regarded Shi-Yoon’s confidence as a facade.

“Oh yeah, and I forgot most of the dance moves due to shock… Could anyone teach me if they have time?”

The moment these words escaped Shi-Yoon, a small hassle arose as most of the crew stepped up to help.

Perhaps he’d not noticed in the past, but the fact that his crew members were so considerate of him left behind a warm and tight feeling in his chest.

Just then, Shi-Yoon felt Chang-Hyun bump into his shoulder nonchalantly.

“Let’s go get some tteokbokki* after. It’ll be on me.”

*{Translator’s note: ‘Tteokbokki’ (떡볶이) is a Korean dish consisting of rice cakes and spicy sauce. They’re considered a street food/fast food.}

Chang-Hyun had an all-powerful, very typical, tsundere way of speaking. Hearing his familiar tone made Shi-Yoon even more excited to be with his good friend.

It had always been that way with the bastard.

His speech made him seem cold and uninterested, but his words’ meaning was always warm and wholesome.

“Should we? You haven’t changed a bit…”

“What do you mean, haven’t changed?”

“Nothing.”

“But if you don’t memorise the dance moves, we’re gonna split the bill 50/50.”

If Chang-Hyun had become a celebrity, he’d definitely have a massive fanbase. It was kind of a waste that the job and himself didn’t click.

Anyway, Shi-Yoon started to practice his moves.

“Okay, one, two, three four, pam! One, two, stop, pull back!”

This dance had been particularly challenging for Shi-Yoon in the past.

But when he compared it to the dancing he’d done for ten years, all the moves seemed old and tacky.

Shi-Yoon contemplated for a bit then spoke, “Can we change some stuff?”

“But we only have two weeks until the concert! Which part? Isn’t it good enough already?”

Everyone obviously thought it was fine, unaware that Shi-Yoon had years of experience. Frankly, he didn’t want to perform this tacky dance. He would fix it up himself.

And he wanted to test something out.

“Here. Look, for this part, try giving it a big pop outward. Just with your chest.”

It was a small gesture, but Shi-Yoon gave it power.

“Let’s take a step at every rhythm. Like this. One, two, pam! Just moving your arms. How’s that?”

“Oooo…That actually… looks pretty good? We should show off to the Hyungs!”

The new set of moves Shi-Yoon had created was a little different from traditional street dancing.

But it had more than enough impact when inserted into some parts of the original dance.

“Whoa, this kills! Hella sexy.”

“I know, right? It seems like it gives great points to the dance too!”

“Do Shi-Yoon, what’s up with you today?”

Shi-Yoon spoke as humbly as he could. “It just came to me at that moment.”

That was the truth

He had stored all of his experiences in his brain, accessible to use when needed.

* * *

“Kyaa! *Oppa! You’re so sexy!”

{Translator’s note: ‘Oppa’ (오빠) is literally ‘older brother’ called by girls. However, the word has developed into a romantic slang.}

“Dude, this is fucking awesome. Don’t you think?”

Passerbys stared at them with fascination. They stopped in their tracks and began to huddle around the crew.

Shocked at their performance, some members of the audience recorded videos. <Main Street>’s public show ended with success.

The dance Shi-Yoon had made was a balanced mix of styles from the trending moves at the time. He had created it to be refined and outstanding.

The impact he had hoped for reached the audience, and they cheered loudly.

The cheer wasn’t even a fourth as powerful as something he had experienced after a <Nu Bois>’s concerts.

But as Shi-Yoon glanced around to see the bright faces of his crew members, his past glory in <Nu Bois> melted away at the blink of an eye.

“Shi-Yoon, do you have any thoughts on becoming a choreographer? You only did it once, but you nailed it!. It has to be a natural talent!”

“Nah, Hyung. I already have something I’m doing. Thank you for asking, though. I’m grateful you said that.”

In the past, once the <Main Street> crew dropped their videos on Youtube, they became international stars.

Although at that time, Shi-Yoon hadn’t seen Ji Chang-Hyun and Go Jae-Woong, he still made up his mind to maintain a good impression on the rest of the crew.

Who knew what sort of advantages they’d given him in the entertainment industry later on?

And so, every day, Shi-Yoon attended class as a trainee, then headed straight to the dance crew to practice. When he didn’t have classes, he worked on his composing and arrangements.

K-Pop would become a worldwide genre in the future, mostly thanks to the influence of American pop, EDM, R&B, hip hop, etc.

Shi-Yoon thought that K-Pop’s best point was production value.

He strived to remember what K-Pop had been before, paying close attention to the trends and popular melodies.

He only had cheap equipment but tried his best to produce quality music, and even recorded his voice to his own songs.

The result was a never-ending stream of music flowing from his room.

“Phew. I guess I only have the chorus left.”

Just then, he heard someone shout at his window.

“Hey! It’s too noisy in there! Quiet down!”

I’ll finish it tomorrow, then…

* * *

Crown Entertainment’s Representative office.

“Manager Lee, how’s the audition prep going?”

“I took down the notice for future trainees, so we can do everything as planned, sir.”

Jang Wang-Gwan, Crown Entertainment’s Representative, and Lee Won-Seok, the General Manager, were engaged in an important conversation.

“Any members that you’ve confirmed for acceptance?”

“Trainees from Rookies. Lee Gyeong-Hoon, Shim Jeong-Ho, Chu Sung-Joon, and Do Shi-Yoon. These four, sir.”

“Do Shi-Yoon? The one who’s father passed away recently?”

At Director Lee Won-Seok’s words, a displeased crease appeared on the representative’s brow.

“That drug addict bastard, Choi Jee-Hoon. Do Shi-Yoon is in that son of a bitch’s dance crew, isn’t he? Why did you pick him?”

Choi Jee-Hoon. He had been an artist at Crown Entertainment in the past. Although he was a well-rounded, outstanding artist— could it have been the lack of motivation?

He ended up as a drug addict. And soon after, was restricted by the police.

His actions affected the clean, prodigious Crown Entertainment greatly, and the company was forced to give up on half of its investment stake. Before the issue got out of hand, Crown Entertainment did take a step to cut the media early, but its reputation had already taken damage.

This was why representative Jang Wang-Gwan took everyone with any connection to Choi Jee-Hoon as someone to doubt and be wary of.

This attitude was an unfair one for the dance crew. It was true that Choi Jee-Hoon created <Main Street>, but he did not contribute to its progress.

Choi Jee-Hoon actually left <Main Street> when he debuted, leaving the other members to nurture it and make advancements.

“Mr. Representative, trainee Do Shi-Yoon is on a different level compared to the others.”

Manager Lee Won-Seok thought Shi-Yoon’s talent would go to waste.

“Specifically, he has an exceptional talent for creating music. Try and trust him once, sir.”

“A hundred times, no. I mentioned earlier that his dad died, which means that he has an unfriendly home environment. You have no idea how a kid can change ‘cause of that.”

The representative stayed stubborn.

He judged every aspect of Shi-Yoon spitefully.

It wasn’t that Manager Lee Won-Seok didn’t understand the representative’s train of thought. After what had happened in the past, he had predicted this would happen.

“I will remove Do Shi-Yoon from the group that has been confirmed to debut.”

“Good. Give him another chance to audition, so people don’t misunderstand shit and make up some reasonable reason as to why he failed.”

“Yessir.”

* * *

For Crown Entertainment’s trainees, the group debut audition notice poster had gone down. It was unfortunate. About 90% of them had had the goal of debuting early on.

Once a trainee-wanna-be passed an audition, they signed the trainee contract and moved to their retrospective companies. At the end of each month, they’d receive a kind of ‘report’ outlining their abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. While they were doing this, they were simultaneously showing how much worth they would be in a boy/girl group.

When a trainee gets assigned to a  group, they will most likely debut in that group, unless they’ve shamed the company immensely or created a huge scandal.

The time span of debuting ranged from a few months to a few years, depending on the situation.

But even so, there seemed to be an invisible, merciless war between trainees.

The vocal studio was always full, and a messy cacophony of everyone’s music echoed out from the dance studio.

Shi-Yoon had practiced for his auditions in <Main Street>’s dance studio to avoid the noisiness of the current one.

The audition was quite a handful: a song, dance, the two of them together in a camera test, and on top of that, an interview to test perseverance.

Big entertainment companies are really strict.

It’s not a trainee audition, or a normal job application. Why is the perseverance interview thingy necessary...?

Whatever the hell that interview was about, Shi-Yoon had a huge advantage.

He was part of the ‘Crown Rookies’.

Crown Rookies...

Members in this trainee group were released onto the internet through reality shows and social media, making sure that each of them already had a fanbase before even debuting— a clever marketing technique.

Trainees in the ‘Crown Rookies’ typically had above-average skills.

Crown Rookies automatically received additional points and bonuses in the group debut auditions.

So the perseverance interview might be pretty easy after all.

Extensive experience in the entertainment industry had given Shi-Yoon the ability to know what type of answers they liked to hear.

But…

Shi-Yoon’s end-goal wasn’t debuting.

Success could be seen as debuting into a big company, but he needed something else, something to help him achieve self-government. More so since he knew about the downfall of <Henix>.

To become the protagonist in his own story, he needed a different starting step than Crown Entertainment.

The protagonist in my own story, huh?

* * *

A song released in 2020: ‘Halloween City’ by ‘Jesus Depth’.

The unrecognizable mumbles in the vocal intro were what made this song one of a kind. The song had a cloudy, fluffy, R&B tone. The structure consisted of a slightly distorted guitar and an electric bass to make a light covering of rock.

It was not exactly a song that presented high, long notes, but it had a unique feel that was hard to recreate.

‘Halloween City’ became a huge hit right after its release. Now, it was a song that everyone around the world played on Halloween.

Shi-Yoon decided to use this song in his audition.

Obviously, the song would be released 8 years later. 2020 was a long way from the year Shi-Yoon was currently in, after all.

To arrange the song on his own, Shi-Yoon stayed up all night with his equipment.  Although he knew what it sounded like, trying to copy without access to the actual song was easier said than done.

It was challenging to replicate the vibe and find similar instruments.

Shi-Yoon tried his best to make the overall melody closest to the original and then put his own style in the details.

The base is a bit rushed, but otherwise, I guess it’s okay.

He couldn’t pull off an amazing top quality replica with his cheap equipment, but it was enough to enrapture someone.

Before moving companies, and even now, Shi-Yoon had always dreamt of becoming an artist.

When he was active in <Nu-Bois>, everything had been new. He had lacked the confidence to get through challenges by himself and with his own opinions.

He had always arranged and composed alone, but while he was caring for his members, or organizing the company’s schedules, he never had the chance to show his true talent.

Just a couple of songs would get an okay from the A&R team.

Back to the present—the song was almost done.

All that was left was for Shi-Yoon to shine.

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