The Genius Composer Starts Again - Chapter 69
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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As soon as she left the cafe, Mun Ah-rin’s expression completely vanished.
Her lovely smile was nowhere to be found, replaced by ruthless coldness.
‘Seol-ah. Yoon Seol. Our Seol.’
Mun Ah-rin had to struggle to suppress what was boiling up from within.
Both Jeong Do-hyun and Yoon Seol – nothing was moving according to her will.
This had never happened before.
The world had always turned the way Mun Ah-rin wanted it to.
With a tearful face and sad eyes, she could get anything, and with a troubled expression and a few subtle words, she could get rid of anyone she disliked.
It was so easy that dealing with people seemed utterly ridiculous.
But now.
‘When exactly did all of this start going wrong?’
Ah, right. I know.
It was from the moment Yoon Seol escaped her control.
Mun Ah-rin had always shone brilliantly. It was as if a dazzling spotlight fell directly above her head.
But at some point, that light began to pass her by.
“You should have just done what I told you to do.”
A low murmur escaped her lips.
When did it start? When Yoon Seol stopped moving according to her will.
Suddenly transferring to the Composition Department, standing out and stealing her scholarship position. Nothing but annoying behavior.
‘It would have been enough for only me to know about your talent.’
Acting on her own attracted people like Jeong Do-hyun, didn’t it?
‘I’m the one who knows Seol best. It’s ridiculous how he acts like he’s something special.’
She was the one who first discovered Yoon Seol. From when that girl knew nothing, when she was still an unpolished gem.
Mun Ah-rin had recognized Yoon Seol.
‘That’s not all. What was her name? Shin Ha-yeon?’
Mun Ah-rin thought of that thoroughly irritating person.
The female student who suddenly interfered when she was pressuring Yoon Seol – Shin Ha-yeon.
‘It seems a new pest has attached itself while I was busy. This kind of thing happens often.’
It was obvious that leaving someone like that next to Yoon Seol would become troublesome. She would try to drive a wedge between Yoon Seol and herself with unnecessary words.
‘There were kids like that before too. It was easy to deal with them in middle and high school.’
She had an ominous feeling that this pest wouldn’t be easily shaken off.
Mun Ah-rin anxiously bit her nails. It was an unconscious action that she herself hadn’t fully realized.
Soon, as if catching herself, she lowered her hand and smiled prettily.
‘It’s okay. I just need to get back on track. Seol requires a lot of attention, so I have to take care of cleaning up these pests too.’
Really.
She can’t be left alone for a moment.
What can be done? Managing her surroundings and carefully polishing her every day is the duty of the person who discovered the gem early.
“Hahaha. Don’t worry, Seol-ah.”
Mun Ah-rin murmured softly.
“You just need to stay still without knowing anything.”
To Mun Ah-rin, this was perfectly natural.
It was enough for only herself to exist in Yoon Seol’s world. Everyone else just flocked to exploit something from Yoon Seol.
This wasn’t jealousy or anything like that.
It might seem a bit extreme, but it was a measure to protect Yoon Seol.
If people like Jeong Do-hyun and Shin Ha-yeon kept appearing and clinging to Yoon Seol, how exhausting would that be for her?
‘Exactly.’
Mun Ah-rin smiled brightly and murmured to herself.
‘This is all for you, Seol-ah.’
***
Thump- Thump- Thump-
Heavy bass flowed from the speakers, and synths glided on top. Deep, resonating drums joined in.
It was a melody with a somewhat decadent and sticky feeling.
-♩♬♪♬….
Even after the melody ended, Ian remained silent with his eyes closed. He tapped his fingers on his knees, continuing the rhythm.
He looked deeply immersed in the afterglow.
Soon, the corners of Ian’s mouth curled up and his eyes snapped open.
“This is it!”
Ian shouted with a completely changed expression.
“This is exactly what I wanted! This song really speaks to me. Wow, really this… I never imagined such a good song. I love it so much!”
He gave double thumbs up with an excited voice.
“Kind of masculine? You know. Heavy and sophisticated too. It’s perfect. I think the fans will really love it.”
I didn’t know since he’d been looking indifferent the whole time, but he could make such a bright face.
Seeing his beaming smile, I could understand why fans gave him a puppy image.
“I could picture the stage while listening. It would look so cool wearing a black shirt and leather harness.”
“You seem to like this direction.”
“Yes, absolutely! This is what I wanted to do.”
Right, of course.
Hadn’t he firmly rejected the fresh concept from the beginning?
‘I should have caught on then.’
Saying things like “at my age, fresh concept again?” and “I’m not sure about that.” When he said those things, I thought he was just embarrassed by an overly fresh concept.
But after hearing Shin Ha-yeon’s words and reflecting on it, I felt it went beyond that level – there seemed to be a desire stirring to “do something masculine.”
‘Did they say overseas places have more obsession with machismo?’
For a Canadian boy in his sensitive years, the fresh concept must have been quite a scratch to his pride.
Gathering the clues one by one, I got a sense of what kind of song to make.
It wasn’t simply about reducing freshness, but adding powerful yet sexy nuances.
And this was the song that resulted from that.
‘Even to my ears, the song itself turned out well.’
The problem was that it was far from the fresh concept the company wanted.
‘Fresh’ as a word evokes several feelings. The most representative would probably be the slightly dreamy feeling represented by youthful high-teen vibes.
‘That kind of feeling doesn’t suit this song at all. But if it’s about adding cool sounds rather than freshness, that’s definitely possible.’
I mixed in metallic reverb throughout.
In other words, it’s a song with a so-called ‘metallic taste.’
There’s no cooler sound than this. The sharp high synths penetrating everywhere reinforced that feeling.
‘Sticky, but not hot – rather giving a cold feeling.’
This much should at least somewhat align with the direction the company wants.
As if reading my concerns, Ian added a comment.
“Well, it might be a bit different from the fresh concept the company wants. But I like this direction more. The song is so good too. I want to sing it right away.”
Well, if he likes it this much. Then that should be fine. Ian even said this with an extremely enthusiastic expression.
“The producer will come for the mid-check later, so I’ll actively talk to them about definitely using this song!”
***
-♩♬♪♬….
As soon as the melody ended, Ian spoke.
“The song is really good. I absolutely love it. I definitely want to use this one.”
He spoke strongly while giving me a sly wink. I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Hmm….”
Bella let out a long breath, then leaned her upper body forward. As shadows fell across her face, her previous good-natured appearance disappeared, and an ominous atmosphere surrounded her like a predator eyeing its prey.
“YULE.”
“Yes.”
“Didn’t I clearly say I wanted something ‘refreshing’?”
The opening wasn’t looking good.
The atmosphere plummeted in an instant. Ian also stiffened up completely.
Bella crossed her arms and continued speaking slowly.
“As I mentioned, freshness is the lifeblood of this album. A cool and light melody. But this is too heavy.”
Ian weakly protested against Bella’s harsh criticism.
“But it has a cool feeling to it too.”
“Cool and refreshing are different things.”
“Ugh.”
Bella consoled Ian like soothing a child, then spoke to me in a serious tone.
“I can’t put a song like this on the album.”
Those words pierced straight through my heart.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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