Became The Leader of a Girl Group Destined To Fail - Chapter 227

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 19.

“I wasn’t trying to hide it!”

Yeon Ju-hong found herself making excuses—or rather, not quite excuses.

“I’ve been searching OTube for things like ‘how to compose better,’ but this is actually my first time putting it into practice!”

Colors naturally offered composition classes.
But every time those classes came around, Yeon Ju-hong would show up with an expression that screamed disinterest, staring blankly before leaving.
Colors had concluded her talents lay elsewhere and didn’t push the matter further.
The StillBlue members had always assumed Yeon Ju-hong simply had no real interest in composition or songwriting.

“If you were curious about composition, you should’ve asked me or Geum, not studied alone on OTube.”

The best music teachers were right beside her—why go it alone?
Yun Chung wasn’t truly bothered that Yeon Ju-hong had tried to work independently, but she was a bit disappointed that OTube had been her first choice of instruction.

“Well, um… I didn’t really have a choice.”
“You didn’t have a choice?”
“It’s just that Geum and Chung-chung are…”

Yeon Ju-hong fidgeted with her fingers before finally opening up.

“You’re both geniuses, so I thought you wouldn’t understand someone like me who has to work hard!”
“!”
“It’s like how Chung-chung and Geum could never match my sense of aesthetics!”

Hmm?
At those words, Yun Chung’s eyebrows twitched involuntarily.
Well, it was good that my girl had confidence in her strengths, but…

“I have taste too.”
“Well, yes. Just not as much as me.”
“….”
“I mean, Chung-chung’s fashion sense is just completely different from mine, you know?”
“…I dress well too.”
“Oh, come on.”
“Come on~?”
“Relax, Chung-chung. Everyone’s just good at different things!”

Yeon Ju-hong had thoroughly gotten under my skin, and now she was laughing with that infuriating grin.
This girl….
She’s not scary like she used to be, but somehow she still manages to get under my skin….

“Anyway. So what made you decide to start composing?”
“Ummmm.”

Yeon Ju-hong rolled her eyes around, tilted her body this way and that, and then finally spoke.

“I don’t want to tell you!”
“!”

Wait, my youngest member is keeping secrets from me…?
I couldn’t gather my thoughts as shock after shock kept hitting me.
Keeping secrets from me…. Has she hit puberty or something…?
Wait, surely not.

“Could it be… you.”
“Yes?”
“Love?”
“Love~?”

Yeon Ju-hong blinked her eyes with a soft hum, then broke into a bashful smile.

“Maybe it’s something like love?!”
“What?!”

Yun Chung bolted upright from her seat.
Wait, our maknae is in love? And not with just anyone—our maknae is in love?
What kind of bastard…!
For the first time in her life, Yun Chung felt curses she’d never dared speak aloud flickering through her mind.

“What kind of jerk is it?”
“Not a jerk, though?”
“…?”
“It’s a secret. I’m allowed to have my own secrets too, aren’t I?”
“…!!”

No way.
There’s no way. Our maknae doesn’t have secrets like that. Our maknae is supposed to tell her leader unnie everything, bare all her worries, and lean on her for support. That’s what a maknae does.
That’s what being the maknae means.
Yun Chung desperately wanted to say as much, but she held herself back.

“So… you’re not saying you’re dating right now, are you, Ju-hong?”

If that were the case, she really needed to know, so Yun Chung asked carefully.

“Huh? There’s no way.”
“…So that’s not it? Then you’re just crushing on someone by yourself?”

That made it even worse.
What right does he have to make our girl pine for him? What gives him that right?

“Well, it’s mutual, but… dating… I wouldn’t call it that exactly.”

Baek-young unnie likes me too, after all.
Doesn’t that make it mutual?
Yeon Ju-hong watched Yun Chung’s face crumble in real-time and had to suppress an urge to laugh out loud.
Truth was, during the Fireworks Festival, Baek-young unnie was so cool that I had an awakening, and if I said that, Chung-chung would definitely be like, “That’s completely understandable. I get it.” So I figured I’d tease her a bit more before telling her.
Just a little longer before I spill.

“Anyway, teach me how you’re composing!”
“You….”
“Come on, hurry!”

At Yeon Ju-hong’s urging, I exhaled a long sigh of resignation.
She’s capable and will handle things well on her own….
I’m sure she will….
But why does it feel like I’m abandoning a child by the water’s edge?
I swallowed down the uneasy feeling.

“Have you started working on the composition yet?”
“No! I was just playing around with the equipment and software because they’re so fascinating.”

“Don’t worry about doing it perfectly at first. Just start by humming the melodies that come to mind naturally.”
“Mm-hmm, and then?”
“You know how to use the program, right? The company already taught you.”
“I know the basics. Though I should learn more eventually.”
“That’s enough for now. I’ll talk to the company about arranging professional lessons for you.”

As Yeon Ju-hong nodded enthusiastically, I let out a soft laugh.

“Start by recording MIDI while you work. Keep it free and natural. If you can’t notate the melody, just record it and play it for me. I’ll help you.”

I pressed the program’s keyboard shortcuts myself, demonstrating my workflow step by step.
Even if Yeon Ju-hong couldn’t understand everything right now, I wanted to show her how it was done.
Someday, she’d grasp the entire process.

“….”
“What?”

When Yeon Ju-hong stared at me blankly, I tilted my head and asked.

“Oh, I was just thinking that our unnies are really dependable.”
“You’re being silly.”

I chuckled softly and spoke.

“You know you’re amazing too.”
“I’m more cute than amazing, I’d say.”
“…At least you have good self-awareness.”

Better than that one member who has absolutely no self-awareness.
That fool who thinks she’s ordinary.

“Work freely like this, and whenever you feel like something decent has come together, let me hear it. The most important thing at the beginning is… not being afraid of feedback from others and getting plenty of it.”
“Feedback, huh.”

Yeon Ju-hong furrowed her brow for a long moment before speaking.

“So, if I create a decent melody, it could become the title track?!”
“Of course.”

I really hope so. We’re desperately short on songs right now.
…But I shouldn’t say that. No need to burden a beginner.

“Got it. Just you wait, Chung-chung.”
“Huh?”
“The next title track will definitely be my song!”

Yeon Ju-hong’s eyes blazed like flames as she spoke those words.

***

While I was teaching Yeon Ju-hong composition work…
I was summoned to the Conference Room again. This time, it was Label 1 who called the meeting.
What kind of issue were they making a fuss about this time?
I participated in the meeting with a somewhat weary expression.

“…Next agenda item. We’ve received an offer for StillBlue to perform at the Busan Fireworks Festival.”

The Busan Fireworks Festival?
Though I didn’t show it outwardly, I flinched for a moment.

“We already told you that Label 3 would make the decision on that event.”

Baek Ju-ha, as if she already knew this, glared at Nam Director.

“I don’t understand why you’d say you’d decide when such a great opportunity has come. Of course we should do it, right? It’s a stage where all the top domestic idols perform. If StillBlue doesn’t stand on that stage, who will? With BurnAsh having to sit out due to their world tour, if StillBlue sits out too, how can Colors maintain its reputation?”
“Stop pretending to care about Colors’ reputation, Nam Director. You just want to bundle Greenery in with the StillBlue offer and sell them together, don’t you?”

Nam Director tried to ramble on and obscure the point, but Baek Ju-ha cut him off immediately.
Ah. So that’s what happened.
Baek Ju-ha had decided to withhold her decision because she judged that Kim Geum hadn’t fully recovered yet… and Nam Director, unaware of Kim Geum’s condition, was simply desperate to squeeze in Greenery, a rookie from Label 1.
Yun Chung regarded Nam Director with cold, narrowed eyes.
Not only was he trying to push an unreleased rookie girl group, but now he wanted to insert a rookie boy group as well.
And this came after already causing BurnAsh every conceivable inconvenience.
As far as I knew, he’d asked to be included as a guest for the BurnAsh world tour and had been rejected.
Naturally, anyone with common sense would refuse.

“Push them? Isn’t it natural for groups under the same agency to support and promote each other? StillBlue rose to fame thanks to senior idols at the time of Make a New Color!”
“….”

The atmosphere grew even colder at those words.
It wasn’t that we hadn’t benefited from senior idols, but the way he spoke—as though we owed everything solely to them—was the problem.
A detestable man from start to finish.

“Or perhaps…”

At that moment, a peculiar smile played at Nam Director’s lips.

“There’s some circumstance preventing them from participating, isn’t there?”
“!”
“For instance, a mental health issue with one of the StillBlue members?”

In that instant.
I felt the thread of my reason snap.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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