Superstar From Age 0

The sound of Blue Moon's astonishment echoed in the practice room.

“Haha.”

Seo-jun smiled brightly at their reaction, and Choi Jae-won, who came to his senses, asked him anxiously.

“Did you tell the second team leader?”

Seo-jun relayed what the second team leader, Ahn Da Ho, had said.

“He said I can do it if I want to.”

“Dance? Dance? An actor wants to dance?!”

“And not just any actor, but one who won the Golden Palme d'Or Award!”

Kim Si-hoon and Park Ee-deun shouted like characters from a [Tragedy], holding their cheeks with both hands. Baek Yi-hyun and Jung Eun-sung nodded their heads repeatedly in agreement.

“I've seen idols act, but an actor dancing…”

“There are singers, right?”

There were some celebrities who switched between acting and singing. They were rare, but they existed.

“But we’re idols.”

“But he looks like he would be good at being an idol too.”

Everyone unconsciously nodded at Jung Eun-sung's words.

There were occasional posts on the internet that wondered if Seo-jun would have become an idol if he wasn't an actor.

After a heated discussion, they always concluded that he would have been active as both an idol and an actor.

“He's good at using his body, since he can do action scenes well.”

“He's good at sports too.”

Park Ee-deun added to Kim Si-hoon's words.

“He's also a level-headed violinist, so he must have a sense of rhythm and beat.”

“He can sing well too.”

Jung Eun-sung added to Baek Yi-hyun's words.

“He's smart, so he’ll memorize the choreography quickly.”

“Haha.”

Seo-jun laughed at Choi Jae-won's words.

“…He’ll do well then?”

“…Right?”

Baek Yi-hyun's words made Blue Moon's main dancer Kim Si-hoon blink his eyes and then smile broadly as he jumped up.

“Then let's try it!”

“Shall we?”

Seo-jun also smiled mischievously and got up from his seat.

Blue Moon cheered and clapped their hands.

***

“Seo-jun is dancing… Seo-jun is dancing…”

The first team leader muttered as he left the conference room in a daze.

From Ahn Da Ho to the first team leader, from the first team leader to the singer team one.

It was obvious that the singer team one office would be turned upside down, so Ahn Da Ho chuckled as he watched him go.

“Hello! Team Leader Ahn!”

He turned around at the sound of his name and saw Brown Black's Hwang Ye-jun waving his hand with a bright smile.

When Seo-jun was still young, brown Black wasn't very busy, so they often met at Cocoa Entertainment or the practice room.

Ahn Da Ho and Hwang Ye-jun were quite close because of that.

“Hello. Ye-jun.”

“I heard from Seo-jun! He said he's filming a music video? He didn't even appear in ours!”

He whined as if he had complained a lot to Seo-jun too.

His whining was not annoying, but rather charming.

That was Hwang Ye-jun's charm.

“Yes. The concept was interesting.”

“That makes me curious! Where is Seo-jun?”

“He's in the practice room with Blue Moon.”

“That's perfect! I had something to ask Blue Moon too!”

“I'm going there too, so let's go together.”

Ahn Da Ho smiled and moved his feet, and Hwang Ye-jun followed him.

“But I heard you were busy with the arrangement.”

“I got stuck on something while arranging, so I wanted to listen to Blue Moon's songs. I think I've done everything I can with just the recordings.”

“I see.”

Ahn Da Ho nodded at Hwang Ye-jun's words and then exclaimed.

“Ye-jun. Is there anything you need to consider as a performer when filming a music video? It's our first time doing this, both for Seo-jun and me. The staff might not know what it's like for a performer.”

“Hmm. That's true.”

Hwang Ye-jun, who had appeared in countless music videos as a senior idol, thought for a moment.

“It takes a lot of stamina. Especially when the dance is intense, you have to keep dancing if there's an NG. Oh, but Seo-jun doesn't dance, so it doesn't matter!”

“Actually, he does.”

Hwang Ye-jun opened his eyes wide at Ahn Da Ho's words. He was thinking ‘from an actor's perspective…’ when he heard that.

“…What?”

“He said he wanted to do it.”

Ahn Da Ho shrugged his shoulders and said, and Hwang Ye-jun blinked his eyes a few times and then nodded.

“I see.”

He quickly calmed down after being surprised for a moment. Ahn Da Ho felt a bit disappointed and said.

“You don't seem very surprised.”

He hoped for a reaction, not as much as the first team leader, but still.

“Haha. What do you think we did when we played with Seo-jun in the practice room? We couldn't act with him or interfere with his acting, which he was good at.”

It would be different if Seo-jun pointed out Brown Black's foot acting.

He remembered the time when he challenged acting and Seo-jun shook his head seriously and said, ‘Hmm. Ye-jun-hyung, you can't do it.’

He shed a tear in his heart.

‘He was too good to argue with.’

So there wasn't much they could do.

“The only things left were singing and dancing. Well, Kevin also taught him rap.”

Aha.

Ahn Da Ho laughed when he remembered that Seo-jun studied English or did manager work in the practice room when he played with Brown Black.

He imagined the cute image of little Seo-jun learning to dance and sing from them.

“He's been taking idol lessons since then.”

Hwang Ye-jun also smiled as he recalled the time when he played with young Seo-jun in the practice room.

“Seo-jun is better than most idols!”

Ahn Da Ho, who was walking half a step ahead, opened the door to the practice room.

Seo-jun was copying Kim Si-hoon's dance perfectly to the music.

***

“Ye-jun-hyung!”

Seo-jun's expression relaxed in an instant.

He looked at the entrance and shouted, and Blue Moon members followed his gaze and gasped.

Not only the second team leader Ahn Da Ho, but also the senior idol had appeared.

The senior idol smiled and waved his hand.

“Hello. Seo-jun! Hello. Guys!”

“Hello!”

The friends greeted him with their spirits up, and Seo-jun smiled slightly.

Cocoa Entertainment was not a very large company, so everyone got along well, but it seemed difficult for the distant rookies to face the distant seniors.

Hwang Ye-jun also smiled at the nervous Blue Moon members.

He understood them.

He had been like that when he was young too.

‘When I was a rookie, even a five-year senior seemed amazing, let alone more than that.’

Even if he told them to relax, they would be awkward and unable to do so.

Hwang Ye-jun just smiled brightly and spoke directly to the point with a cheerful voice.

“I came here because I wanted to see you guys sing live while I was arranging!”

Blue Moon's eyes sparkled at the mention of music. Hwang Ye-jun and Seo-jun smiled at their good reaction.

“Team Leader Ahn. The recording studio is empty.”

At Ahn Da Ho's words, hwang Ye-jun looked at Blue Moon.

“First of all, you'll each sing one song that you’re best at, and then your debut song, for a total of six songs. It's a completely live performance without any microphones or sound equipment!”

Blue Moon swallowed their saliva.

“And then we’ll go to the recording studio and sing the same songs. You can sing the same way as you did here or in a better way that you think of, so feel free to sing!”

“Yes!”

“What about you, seo-jun? Do you want to join us?”

“Can I watch?”

At Seo-jun's question, hwang Ye-jun's eyes turned to Blue Moon.

Blue Moon nodded their heads repeatedly.

It was less nerve-wracking to have Seo-jun with them than just having Hwang Ye-jun, who was hard to deal with.

At their enthusiastic response, seo-jun silently clapped his hands.

“Okay. Let's start then! Who wants to go first?”

They didn't know whether to raise their hands or not.

The members looked awkward, and Choi Jae-won, the leader and eldest of the group, held back his tears and raised his hand.

Seo-jun applauded his brave gesture.

“Good. Let's start with Jae-won!”

Choi Jae-won shuddered as his name was called and stepped forward.

Hwang Ye-jun sat down on the floor of the practice room as if he was used to it, and Seo-jun and the members also gathered around him.

“I didn't know you knew my name…”

“I saw it all when I was arranging. How can I divide the parts if I don't know who's who? Besides, we’re in the same company, so I should know your faces.”

There weren't many groups anyway, only three if you exclude Brown Black. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Seo-jun's words made Blue Moon members exclaim in realization.

Their heads were not working well because they were too nervous.

Seo-jun turned his head and looked at Choi Jae-won, who was standing nervously, and Hwang Ye-jun, who was sitting on the floor with a paper and a pen. The paper had notes about Choi Jae-won's voice and some short staff lines.

“Let's begin.”

“Yes!”

Choi Jae-won took a deep breath and opened his mouth.

His voice, which was a bit tense at first, quickly became calm. It was a main vocal-worthy singing voice.

The members also relaxed as they listened to their familiar leader's song and thought of the songs they would sing on their turn.

Hwang Ye-jun's face became serious. He concentrated as if he wouldn't miss any of Choi Jae-won's songs and collected his voice.

Seo-jun thought he understood what he was doing.

His work now was to perfectly understand Blue Moon's voices.

Just like violins or pianos that sounded different even if they played the same note, blue Moon's five members’ voices were all different too, so they needed to be understood.

From the highest note to the lowest note.

From the most used note to the least used note, from the most beautiful note to the most rough note.

From the most comfortable note to the most uncomfortable note.

It was more difficult because it was not an instrument that had fixed notes and tuning, but it was also more charming because it was a human voice.

Choi Jae-won's song ended soon.

Hwang Ye-jun nodded his head and wrote something on the paper.

“Okay, next is Yi-hyun!”

Baek Yi-hyun got up from his seat and switched places with Choi Jae-won.

“You did well! Jae-won-hyung!”

“I think I did better than usual!”

The members raised their thumbs up and praised him, and Choi Jae-won laughed weakly as if he had lost his energy.

***

“Good. That's it!”

At Hwang Ye-jun's words, blue Moon collapsed on the floor of the recording studio with a loud noise.

They were tense because they had to sing without any mistakes, unlike the recording where they repeated several times and sang in parts.

“I hope we did well.”

“I don't know. I don't remember anything.”

Park Ee-deun muttered and Kim Si-hoon answered.

“I think I made a mistake in the middle.”

“Me too.”

Seo-jun chuckled at Blue Moon's lament and asked Hwang Ye-jun.

“But Ye-jun-hyung. Can you listen to it without stopping?”

“It's okay. I've heard everything that I cut and edited. I need to see how it feels when you sing continuously.”

Hwang Ye-jun smiled slyly and Seo-jun laughed too. He was curious about how Hwang Ye-jun would arrange the music, since they had different composing styles.

‘But isn't this almost composing?’

He shrugged his shoulders as he thought that.

‘As long as it's a good song, it doesn't matter.’

Ye-jun-hyung, who was an idol himself, would know what to do.

“Ah, seo-jun. Seo-jin said he wanted to have dinner with us later. Kevin will be back from the US soon and Si-yoon said he's okay too!”

At Hwang Ye-jun's words, seo-jun thought of Kevin Kim (rapper, real name Manse Kim) and Choi Si-yoon (dancer, youngest) and nodded his head.

“I'm fine except for school hours… Oh, I have to practice for the music video from now on. I’ll go when I have a day off, Ye-jun-hyung.”

Music video practice?

Hwang Ye-jun blinked his eyes at Seo-jun's word choice.

“…Dance practice?”

“No.”

Seo-jun (actor who dances like an idol) smiled brightly at Hwang Ye-jun's question.

“Acting.”