The First Monthly Evaluation (2)

"Whoa, finally!"

Yoon Taehee — who'd been waiting on that song harder than anyone (and hating the boot camp harder than anyone) — reacted first. What are you waiting for, play it already — he practically bounced in place like a predator eyeing prey.

'Not like there's any reason to drag it out either.'

Without wasting a beat, I hit play on the audio file Lee Doha had sent me in the early hours yesterday. Soon the speaker paired to my phone was pumping out the finished product Lee Doha had ground his body and soul into for a solid week.

Ooh—, Woah—

The strings that had been the main instrument stuck around — but their role had changed. The main melody the strings used to carry was now a powerful, ragged group chant. The strings Lee Doha had ambitiously layered in were now propping up the sub-lines that fleshed the track out, filling the gaps in the beat.

Here we go — our brilliant scenario

Knight tearing through the night, all who longed for a new dawn, out onto the streets

"Huh? This voice."

The second the song started, sharp-eared Yoon Taehee reacted. This voice… isn't Doha-hyung's? Cocking his head, he turned to me with a startled look.

"Hyung, is this you?"

"Yeah."

"Whoa, you sang it?"

"…That was his condition for doing the arrangement."

Thinking of Lee Doha, who was probably passed out cold about now, I nodded. On the day of the first month-end meeting, he'd holed up in his personal studio to grind, and the first thing he'd said when he grabbed me on my way out for water was that line.

—I can't sing it.

—Huh?

—I've got stuff coming to me in my head… but I can't deliver it myself. So I want you on guide vocals.

—…Ah, sure. Not Gong Seok-hyung?

—Yeah. Not him.

Absolutely rock-solid on it. He was looking at me like a man who'd been waiting his whole life for this exact moment, so I just told him fine right then and there. It was my first time doing guide vocals, and it turned out to be pretty fun.

"Wow… the song's really good."

"First time hearing Doha-hyung make something this hard-hitting."

"For real, it's really good."

Once the song ended, the No-Hope Trio (I just haven't found a replacement for it yet) burst into applause and heaped on the compliments. Fair enough — and it wasn't just because I'd had a hand in it. Objectively, the track was good. On top of that, making this song, Lee Doha's composition trait had gone up by 5%.

'Five percent in a week…. Is that even possible?'

There was probably some separate benchmark for what made this go up, but I'd set that aside for now.

"Oh, Doha-hyung's here!"

I'd been about to play the song again so everyone could learn the melody when the practice room door opened and Lee Doha — still clearly not fully awake — came shuffling in.

'That looks exactly like a bear cub just yanked out of hibernation, no matter how you slice it.'

"Hey, Doha! Good work."

"There he is — our ace!"

"What are you doing here, you could've slept longer."

"I'm good."

Visibly slimmer from all the all-nighters, he slid in among the groupmates. I'd told him to skip today's practice and just sleep…. That bastard's a real hardhead.

"So — we're practicing to this song now?"

"Wait, but the choreo isn't done, right?"

Gong Seok, who'd been reading the lyric sheet intently, and Yoon Taehee raised the question. Gong Seok, who'd been venting his anxieties to me earlier, went ashen again. A week already gone to the song alone — and as the guy leading vocal position, he was probably terrified of ending up with three days to memorize the choreo.

And that? Was never going to happen.

"The choreo's ready."

"Huh? Already?"

Leaving the two of them wide-eyed (make that three — Lee Doha's eyes weren't quite open, but he was clearly just as stunned), I clapped Kim Wonho, sitting next to me looking sheepish, on the back.

label: Kim Wonho (Affiliation: Miro) Vocals: 89% (Rap 34%) Dance: 62% Expression: 92% Special: Choreo creation (86%) Appeal points: 'A TO Z' — Fast learner

'Special. Choreo creation, 86%? Not using this would be idiotic.'

"Our Wonho already has it all worked out. Come on — round of applause."

"Haha…. Sorry for not saying anything sooner. Hajin-hyung told me not to."

"Really? When? We've been practicing together the whole time."

"Just in the mornings, and a bit at night after practice… whenever we could squeeze it in. There's still some of the back half left too."

Not used to a vibe like this (an appreciative wave centered on him), Kim Wonho radiated bashful-and-awkward from every pore. Playing it down like that aside, he'd been on this from the very day Lee Doha delivered the first guide in three days as promised — meaning the kid had put in no less of a grind than Lee Doha had.

I let Lee Doha and Kim Wonho get their full share of praise, and only once the mood had settled did I open my mouth again.

"Alright. So — we're going to go through the song again with Wonho's choreo added in. Look at the lyric sheet as it plays, and mark up the parts you want and the parts you don't think you can do. For reference."

"You're actually taking it as reference this time? Last time all our refs got rejected."

"I think Lee Doha explained pretty kindly why they got rejected that day."

"…Tch."

Chewing through Yoon Taehee's nonsense in stride, I pulled up the choreo guide video we'd filmed to the finished song this morning on the monitor tablet and hit play.

"……"

Nothing especially unusual about the choreo. One person couldn't cover the whole arrangement, so it was the two of us on camera — Kim Wonho doing the choreo for the members with parts, me doing the choreo for the members without.

And there was inevitably a section where the two of us were dancing the same thing.

"Ah, dance break."

"Not everyone will be doing this part — the main vocal will be off to the side ad-libbing, so only two of the remaining four will be dancing it."

Lee Doha had gone and locked in the concept of this song as something like 'Revolt of the Losers,' which meant we needed at least one performance moment that could really pop at the climax. No matter how hard Kim Wonho and I had tried to dial the dance-break difficulty back, this one section wouldn't budge.

'Not that I especially wanted to compromise on it.'

And then I watched those eyeballs start whipping around again. The unspoken question: who the hell was actually going to pull off that obviously brutal, high-difficulty acrobatic bit? Every gaze homed in on Kim Wonho, like it went without saying.

"Uh, I can't. My part's the buildup right before it."

"……"

"Deal with Hajin-hyung was that I'd help with the choreo in exchange for one solo section."

At that, the gazes swung back to me. Right — the other guy who danced it.

"I can't either. My height doesn't match Yoon Taehee's."

"Ah, so one spot goes to me automatically?"

"Seok-hyung can't do it."

"Wait — then that means…."

A group of exactly five, three already out, one locked in. Every gaze naturally landed on the one who'd fill the remaining spot.

The one guy who — while being the youngest — was uselessly tall enough to match Yoon Taehee, and had a 0% chance of taking main vocal.

"…D-Doha-hyung?"

"…Me?"

T-the System is voicing considerable worry and concern.

"Doha-yah."

"……"

"Ever heard of Hell Boot Camp?"

Lee Doha. Dance break, winner!

---

The dorm the Miro trainees used.

Jung Siwoo waited for the other trainees to finish with the bathroom and came out last, freshly showered. And, oddly, was a little surprised to see Lee Doha sitting on the living room couch rather than in his own private studio.

"……"

"What are you thinking about so hard?"

Toweling his hair, Jung Siwoo had been about to just walk past — but the look on Doha's face was serious enough that he stopped to ask. Doha was replaying something on his personal tablet with a heavy face.

"…Ah, the month-end practice video."

"Ahh. Your group's fun to watch. Kang Hajin? You know? The one Team Lead Ji brought in."

At Siwoo's words, Doha nodded. And added,

"I'm doing the dance break."

"Ahh. Yeah? …What?"

Jung Siwoo — who'd been turning his head the other way to keep water off Doha as he slowly toweled his hair — froze. Siwoo didn't fluster easily, but this news was shocking enough that he didn't even notice his towel dropping.

Lee Doha, not composing, not producing, not rapping… doing what?

"Dance break."

"Group?"

"No. Not a solo either — with one other person."

"Who?"

"Yoon Taehee."

"…Why are you doing a dance break with him just the two of you…. Did Kim Wonho break a leg?"

Unlike Doha, who didn't have much contact with the general-class trainees, Siwoo — who had a read on most of Miro's trainees — asked back with disbelief in his voice. But Doha only shook his head quietly, wearing the same disbelieving face, and Siwoo didn't press further on the absurd claim. He instinctively sensed there wasn't much to be gained from digging deeper.

His curiosity turned another direction instead.

"Kang Hajin, right? Your group leader."

"Yeah."

Kang Hajin. The one who'd set the whole company buzzing from the day he'd walked in.

The trainee everyone was talking about — enough that even Lee Doha, who by default had zero interest in people or the world, had shown interest in him.

Jung Siwoo figured this outrageous piece of casting — Lee Doha on dance break — was probably that guy's doing too.

"So? What's he like?"

"……"

Grabbing his towel back and changing out of his wet shirt, Siwoo asked, and Doha kept quiet. Siwoo knew that wasn't evasion or displeasure — it was Doha's own routine of taking his time before he answered. So instead of rushing him, Siwoo just went on quietly with what he was doing and waited.

And soon enough, Doha's verdict on Kang Hajin dropped.

"It doesn't look like… he's short on drive, exactly."

"……"

"I don't get it. His skill is more than enough — so why doesn't he push for more."

Doha's memory rewound to a few hours earlier.

Once the buzz over 〈Congrats Lee Doha, Dance Break Winner Ha〉 had died down (thanks, of course, to endless effort from Hajin and Wonho, whom Hajin had thoroughly brainwashed), it had come time to divvy up parts.

—Uh, so, I…

—Yeah?

—Main vocal… I'd like to do it.

That from Gong Seok, who'd been reading the room the whole time since the dance break came up.

At that point, Doha couldn't help furrowing his brow. Gong Seok had solid vocal chops, sure, but to Doha's ear Hajin was a better fit for the main vocal part than Gong Seok. Doing this guide, he'd only become more certain of that.

—Yeah, go for it.

—……!

—R-really? I can do it?

—……? No reason at all why you couldn't.

But Hajin had handed the spot over that easily. Like he'd never once thought of it as his to begin with.

—Just — could you look after Taehee's and Wonho's vocals for me, hyung? I'll be flat out keeping up with the performance timing.

—Huh? Yeah. That's no trouble…. Thanks, Hajin. I'll give it my best.

—Yeah. Fighting, hyung.

It hadn't looked like polite deference from calling him hyung, either. Hajin genuinely didn't hold any dissatisfaction about Gong Seok taking main vocal. And to Doha, that read as deeply strange.

"It doesn't look like he lacks drive either. He even said he'd take on leader himself…."

"He looks low on confidence relative to his skill?"

"…About himself, he does."

Somehow, that side of Hajin bothered Doha and set him on edge. Watching Doha stew with something like real indignation — a sight rare enough to be curious — Siwoo soon shrugged and answered,

"Couldn't be the opposite?"

"The opposite?"

"He might really not care what he does. Because he can do all of it well."

"……"

"If he's not truly free of ambition, then he's telling you he's confident about making top ten without doing the dance break OR main vocal. Put it that way and he's got to be number one on confidence in Miro's whole trainee pool."

Siwoo stood from the couch as if his business here was done, and let out a small chuckle. Funny kid. Now I'm curious about your group. And with that, Siwoo stepped out of the living room.

"…Guess so."

Doha spoke quietly, his eyes fixed on the choreo video still playing. On the screen, right beside Wonho — who was openly gunning for dance position — was Hajin, dancing at the same level and maybe even a notch better. Doha kept looping the choreography he was now the one responsible for pulling off.

It was a night with a lot on his mind.