Chapter 9
After the first episode of ‘Make a New Color’ aired, it didn’t exactly become a massive hit online.
However, it did generate quite a bit of buzz.
“? Why is ‘Menucol’ interesting?”
└ “Are you saying the menu is interesting? I respect your piggishness…”
└ “No, it’s an abbreviation for the idol survival show on Mnet.”
└ “Colors is making a new girl group.”
└ “It’s not ‘making’, it’s ‘creating’.”
└ “They’re doing it again? They should just take good care of their existing ones, haha.”
└ “Seriously, haha. They should release a full album for our White Noise.”
“What is this? How do I dip into this? Someone promote it to me.”
└ “It’s only the first episode; calm down.”
“Are those money-hungry Color guys at it again? Another show?”
“Ryu Bo-ra is becoming an idol now? Did she quit acting?”
└ “Yeah, she joined Colors a while ago.”
└ “In the beginning, there was light…”
└ “This meme is so outdated, seriously.”
└ “Granny jokes, really?”
“Is ‘Menucol’ fun? If it stirs up too much hype, I won’t watch it.”
└ “But you still love Colors, right?”
└ “The kids are innocent.”
└ “How are they innocent when they make money from it?”
└ “So making money makes you guilty? Again with this logic…”
“Kim Geum appeared, but no thanks to idol rappers.”
└ “Isn’t she the one from ‘Unpretty Rapstar’? So she’s becoming an idol now.”
└ “Typical, haha. She didn’t have enough skill there either.”
└ “It’s ‘o’, not ‘a’. If you want to criticize others, get your spelling right first…”
└ “Someone’s really picky about spelling, haha. Just go your own way.”
“Don’t exploit the kids with mentoring gigs again, Mnet.”
#StopBurningAsh #ProtectColorsArtists
└ “Agreed.”
└ “Thirded.”
└ “Seriously, let’s promote ‘Burning Ash’ and Dan Ha, try a bite.”
“Colors, haha, ah (opening wallet), a new girl group? (waving panties), ah, do they think I’ll start a new fandom? Ah, (opening bank account).”
“Colors’ audition program opening song concept analysis.bunseok”
“Look at Yoon Cheong’s necklace and Yeon Juhong’s brooch.”
“You can see golden wings.”
“In Greek and Roman mythology, Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, had golden wings.”
“So, we can deduce the concept is goddesses of the rainbow.”
…(summary)…
“Therefore, the new girl group’s name might be Steel Blue.”
Pretending to be sharp and knowledgeable while everyone else already figured it out.
└ “Seriously, haha.”
…and thus, with various small reactions, the first episode concluded.
The viewership rating was 1.23%.
It was a decent start, better than expected.
Of course, the online response was much hotter.
“But isn’t it a bit much that Kim Ryeo-yu is the judge’s niece?”
└ “Seriously, they should’ve had a different judge.”
└ “Kim Mokyung is the chief producer of Colors, so that’s not going to happen.”
└ “Isn’t it a major company? Why do they only have one producer?”
“Making her the center from the first song is too obvious.”
└ “Seriously, haha.”
“The kids’ reactions were really intense, there must be some favoritism.”
└ “You can feel it through the broadcast; it’s probably worse in reality.”
└ “Stop speculating, haha.”
I was in the company’s second-floor office, borrowing a laptop to monitor the reactions. Eventually, I stopped.
What was so good about this that I kept watching?
Right now, the mission is more important.
I pulled out my phone and checked the notifications.
[“What is the first mission of ‘Make a New Color’?”]
[“‘Make a New Color’, also known as ‘Menucol’, has its first mission -“]
“…Covering a song by a senior group from Colors.”
The notification revealed the next mission.
***
Currently, Colors has four active groups.
A 12-year-old girl group, Grayish.
An 8-year-old boy group, All Colors.
A 6-year-old girl group, White Noise.
A 2-year-old boy group, Burning Ash.
All were very unique groups, but they had one thing in common –
“…They’re all highly successful idol groups.”
No matter which song was chosen, if it wasn’t performed well, we’d get a lot of criticism.
Colors took great pride in cultivating talented idol groups.
Perhaps because of that, all the groups were quite balanced in terms of skills.
“I thought the first mission would be a group mission. It’s a solo mission.”
Cover song missions were a long-standing theme in audition and survival programs.
The issue was how to accomplish it.
I read through the article carefully.
Hoping to find more clues.
Then, I stopped at one sentence.
[“…Each trainee will be assigned a mentor from the group they are covering.”]
“This is bad.”
It was a sentence that sent chills down my spine.
“This really limits our choices.”
First of all, I had to avoid All Colors and Burning Ash at all costs.
Getting involved with a boy group before debut would not be beneficial. Especially 1:1 interactions should be avoided.
Having chemistry could be a problem, and not having chemistry could also be a problem.
“So, the choices are… Grayish or White Noise.”
Hmm.
I examined the songs of both groups.
Grayish had many R&B vocal-centric songs, while White Noise had hip-hop-based performance-centric songs.
“Hmm.”
Which one should I choose to be seen as making a good choice?
For such missions, choosing the right song was half the battle.
Choosing a song that was too famous was risky. It was easy to be compared to other idol seniors who had covered it.
On the other hand, choosing a song that was too obscure might not gain much response.
It had to be moderately fresh, something everyone could hum along to.
Yet, it had to make a strong impact.
“This isn’t easy.”
As I was browsing through the songs, I came across one and paused.
“Oh, wait a minute.”
There was a song I hadn’t thought of.
Why hadn’t I thought of this before?
“…This is it.”
This should work!
***
On the day of the shoot.
It was the long-awaited mission announcement day.
Everyone was gathered in the practice room again.
The twelve trainees were all tense, looking at PD Oh.
PD Oh liked that kind of setup. As if he was some sort of authority figure.
You could see from his expression that he enjoyed it. Annoying.
I already knew, but the other trainees probably had no idea.
“Okay, since everyone is here, let’s announce the first mission!”
PD Oh suddenly brought out a large whiteboard.
There was paper stuck on the whiteboard.
It seemed like it was designed to reveal the mission once the sticker was removed from the paper.
Couldn’t he just tell us directly?
“The one to remove the mission paper is -!”
PD Oh looked around the trainees.
Then he pointed at one trainee.
“Trainee Ryu Bo-ra!”
Hmm, not a surprising choice at all.
Ryu Bo-ra.
She was a trainee I was well aware of. Not only Yoon Cheong, but Baek Nokha also knew her.
She was that famous.
…To be precise, she was a famous child actor.
“Please remove the mission paper!”
PD Oh said, grinning broadly.
“Alright, I’ll give it a try!”
Ryu Bo-ra showed neither special joy nor tension.
She stood in front of the mission paper with a tone perfectly suited for broadcasting.
You could see her experience on television.
I observed Ryu Bo-ra discreetly.
If Seo Baek-young was the ace trainee of Colors, Ryu Bo-ra was a strong center candidate trainee of Colors.
In short, they were both highly likely debut candidates.
Ryu Bo-ra was, first of all,
“The first mission is…!”
Beautiful.
Extremely.
As befitting a child actor, her features were striking and clear, and her overall proportions were just like a celebrity’s.
She stood out among the trainees here, which said it all.
“‘Cover a senior group’s song in Colors’!”
As soon as Ryu Bo-ra finished reading the mission, a short sigh escaped from among the trainees.
Some nodded as if they had expected it, but most looked fearful.
Of course, Ryu Bo-ra was alone in being very composed.
That was one of the reasons she was famous.
“Wow, I’m already looking forward to it!”
Steel mental.
Always smiling firmly and maintaining her composure.
Her career, which began at the age of five, was shining through.
Ryu Bo-ra had been known for never crying while managing all her schedules since she was a child.
The public loved this clever and mature-looking child.
So, Ryu Bo-ra was a promising child actor, loved by all generations.
But when she suddenly joined Colors to become an idol, everyone was surprised.
PD Oh enjoyed the reactions of the trainees and chimed in.
He then started explaining the mission.
1. Any song by an idol under Colors was allowed.
2. You would be assigned a mentor from the group you chose to cover. The mentor would be random.
3. You had to cover the entire song solo.
4. It didn’t matter if other trainees chose the same song. You could discuss it to avoid overlap.
5. However, you had to decide on a song within one hour from now.
The other rules were fairly manageable.
The problem was the last rule.
“Choose a song within an hour?!”
Naturally, all the trainees panicked. Except for a few.
I focused on the trainees who didn’t seem surprised.
Seo Baek-young,
Ryu Bo-ra,
And surprisingly, Kim Ryeo-yu.
She had a stronger mentality than I thought.
“Yes, yes~ We’ll start the one-hour countdown now. Go!”
Annoying!
The trainees sent a chorus of jeers, then immediately scrambled to find songs.
I pretended to search too, not wanting to stand out by not looking at all.
About twenty minutes passed.
“Yoon Cheong.”
Kim Ryeo-yu called me.
What was it?
“Yeah?”
“What song are you going to do?”
Oh, the reconnaissance had begun.
Other trainees, curious, pricked up their ears.
“Well, I’m not sure yet. How about you, Ryeo-yu?”
“I’ve decided.”
Contrary to expectations, Kim Ryeo-yu got straight to the point without hesitation.
“White Noise sunbaenim’s .”
Annoyingly, it was a fitting choice.
White Noise’s debut song, a song full of boldness and confidence.
And Kim Ryeo-yu-
“Well, you can do it too if you want. I don’t care.”
I could tell she was thinking, ‘But you won’t do it better than me.’
That baseless confidence was truly something.
“It’s a good song. Good luck.”
I replied just that and turned my gaze away again.
I wouldn’t fall for such a shallow trick.
Kim Ryeo-yu seemed displeased that I was dismissing her, her eyes coldly hardening.
She was hiding it in front of the camera, but everyone could feel it.
“…Baek-young unnie, what about you?”
But Kim Ryeo-yu, showing some rationality, immediately changed her target.
“I’m going to do Grayish sunbaenim’s <White Night>.”
As expected, Seo Baek-young was already prepared.
I nodded. It was a good choice. It suited her well.
Other trainees were still struggling to decide, holding their heads in their hands.
Of course, as time passed, one by one, they decided on songs.
Most chose songs by White Noise or Grayish.
It was easier to cover songs by girl groups.
“…I’ll do All Colors sunbaenim’s <Solid>.”
Except for rapper Kim Geum and-
“I’ll do Burn Ash sunbaenim’s .”
Sub-vocal position trainee Jo Hee-on.
Hmm. Burn Ash, huh.
Kim Geum’s choice made some sense, but… Burn Ash seemed a bit risky.
Burn Ash was a boy group that had debuted not long ago.
They were the most prominent rising stars lately.
Well, not my concern.
“So, now everyone has decided…”
PD Oh was recording each decision and glanced at me.
Because I was the only one who hadn’t spoken yet.
But I waited steadfastly.
Because my idea was a bit-
“I’ll do Purple Apple sunbaenim’s .”
Unexpected.