Blue Sherbet’s official fan café.
The fan café they had created back when the group debuted had once been a ghost town, but those days were long forgotten. Now it was packed around the clock.
Unlike other groups’ fandoms, this café didn’t bother trying to suppress the individual fandoms for Yoon-jung, Hee-yeon, Jin-ah, and Yumi. There were even separate board categories for each member.
And right now, the Yumi and Hee-yeon boards were flooded with new posts.
The OST for the film 「Could I Borrow a Little of Your Luck?」 had finally dropped. The song was called “Mistake.”
In the story, it was the debut song that Min-ah Lee received from a star composer whose life she saved.
-IT’S OUT!!!!! Been waiting forever since the broadcast and it’s FINALLY here T.T
-The song is perfect. Hee-yeon’s vocals are perfect. But… the other actresses’ singing… yeah. That’s rough.
-This song is so good. What even IS this movie? If you’re a Blue Sherbet fan you HAVE to see it. Hee-yeon, Yumi, AND Yoon-jung all involved lolol
-Hee-yeon’s part is insane… Yumi Cho is a genius.
It was “idol” music blended with EDM.
Yumi’s fans would feel one way about it, but for Hee-yeon’s fans, the song carried real weight.
-Our Hee-yeon T.T This is her first idol-style music since ICE. I’m so emotional :,)
-I need a stage performance. Are they not performing this?
-No way they’d perform it lol. Though if Sung-ah Kim performed it, that’d be legendary. At least they perform it in the movie, right?
-Hee-yeon doesn’t perform on stage in the movie though T.T What’s the point
“Mistake” broke into the Top 10 on the streaming charts with ease.
Fandom power played a role, sure. The combined fandoms of the cast, plus Hee-yeon’s and Yumi’s, were nothing to sneeze at.
But the real MVP behind these chart numbers was, without question, <Yumi’s F.M.P.>
From its very first episode, the show had pulled in viewers with Crescendo and the other rappers, plus that overwhelming live performance.
The timing had been perfect, too, because it landed right after Yumi’s identity was revealed.
On top of that, the film tie-in had generated decent traction of its own, so the ratings kept climbing in a steady upward trajectory.
Only a handful of episodes in, and already five percent.
Part of that was the time slot itself: it was a weekend prime-time on a public broadcast network and a music variety show. But considering the whole thing was built around a single rookie idol, five percent was absurdly high.
Of course, nobody actually thought of Yumi as ‘just one rookie idol’ anymore.
***
At a family home, during dinner.
On the TV, Yumi was strumming a guitar and singing.
“Wow… Is she an angel?”
“Unreal. Bro, did you hear the song that dropped yesterday?”
“The OST with Hee-yeon? ‘Mistake.’ Obviously I did.”
“I figured that song would send F.M.P.’s ratings through the roof today, but now THIS song’s gonna push them even higher.”
“Hard agree.”
Their mother couldn’t hide her satisfaction as she listened to the conversation between her two sons.
These two used to fight the second they made eye contact, and here they were, bonding like best friends.
She joined in.
“The song’s really nice and gentle.”
“Right, Mom? I’m telling you, Yumi’s a genius.”
Then their father cleared his throat quietly and spoke in a stern voice.
“Last week’s rating was five percent. Today’s should go up about half a percent.”
Every eye at the table turned to him.
He scrunched his brow deeply. “…What. I just like that guy. That President Kang. He’s good at what he does. See, even right now, that song was about to get glossed over and he pinpointed it just like that.”
“Nobody said anything, dear. Honestly.” The mother smirked and turned back to the TV.
After a while, the scene shifted from the studio to a picnic outing.
“BAHAHAHA! She’s SO cute, seriously!”
“Oh man! Why doesn’t our school have anyone like her?”
Sons and father alike had chopsticks frozen in their hands, completely ignoring their food.
The mother’s satisfaction faded quickly, replaced by a twinge of irritation.
“Eat while you watch.”
“We got it, Mom. I’ll eat when I eat. AHAHAHA! She’s adorable!”
“Honey, eat your food.”
“I am eating. Actually, seeing this, it’ll probably go up a full percent instead of half a percent.”
The mother’s eyebrow twitched.
Everyone was so glued to the TV that nothing she said registered.
Silently carving the character for ‘patience’ in her mind, she picked up her spoon and ate alone.
And just like that, she finished her meal by herself.
“Eat, all of you. Everything’s gone cold.”
“Mom, I said I’d eat.”
“I’m eating too, Mom.”
The brothers’ grins were practically hooked on their ears and showed no sign of coming down.
The doenjang stew and meat on the table had long gone cold.
She worked so hard preparing all of this.
And what did she get in return?
Her temper boiled over.
Finally, a thunderclap of a command crashed down on the dinner table.
“Eat your food before I turn that TV off! You too, honey!”
“…!”
“…!”
“…W-We’ll eat.”
Having unleashed her fury, the mother huffed through her nose and patted her chest in frustration.
She needed to calm the frustration bubbling inside her.
And right then, a melody surfaced in her mind.
That gentle, soothing song Yumi had been singing.
‘…The song didn’t do anything wrong.’
She turned to her sons, who were now shoveling food into their mouths in a panic.
“How do I listen to that song from earlier?”
“It’s not out yet, Mom. Oh! They put up an early preview clip on YouTube though. Only a little bit of the song plays, but…”
“Find me that.”
Her son pulled up the video on her phone, and the mother played it on repeat, slowly recovering her peace of mind.
“…I hope it comes out soon.”
***
Was it the power of soft-serve ice cream?
Or the power of picnics?
“My inspiration’s dried up.”
“…”
I should have felt bad hearing that, but honestly, even I couldn’t pretend to be sympathetic with a straight face.
Eight songs.
She’d spent days shuttling between the studio and the dorm and produced eight songs.
And these weren’t just any eight songs.
‘A masterpiece… might actually happen.’
The crew had matched Yumi’s pace, filming for days straight.
Not that they’d pulled all-nighters, though. A few cameras had been mounted here in the studio the whole time.
“I can still work without inspiration, but…” Yumi’s voice shrank as she spoke.
“The quality won’t be like these?”
She gave a tiny nod.
Team Lead Na and I listened to all eight tracks from start to finish again.
Na rubbed his goosebumped forearm and said, “Inspiration is really something else. Wow… You said these need vocalists and rappers, right?”
This album was special.
Beyond special.
“I can’t wait to hear it…” I caught myself murmuring without meaning to.
What would the finished versions sound like?
“Same here. Hyuk, but I honestly can’t picture it. I don’t even know where to put vocals or rap, and I can’t imagine how incredible this’ll be when it’s done.”
He couldn’t picture it. Of course he couldn’t.
Yumi’s tracks were so far removed from anything in the conventional pop landscape.
I couldn’t even pin down the genre.
It sounded like EDM, but hip-hop textures bled through everywhere. And this wasn’t simple backing music. These were songs that demanded real vocals and real rap to complete them.
Yumi seemed to be walking the same path as the geniuses who came before her.
‘Could she eventually blend multiple genres in a single track?’
If she forced it, she probably could right now. But that wasn’t what I meant.
Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” was too famous for anyone not to know, and Daft Punk’s fourth album track “Giorgio by Moroder” was the same way.
Those songs wove multiple genres together into masterpieces. Not genres stitched together by force, but flowing together as naturally as if they’d been born that way.
And innovatively, too!
‘Yumi isn’t quite there yet, but…’
I could feel her walking straight toward it.
I steadied my quickening breath and spoke to Yumi.
“Tell me everything you want. Singers, rappers, I’ll get them all.”
Yumi’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“For some of the tracks, I have a rough idea of who might fit. But for others… I’m not sure.”
“It’s not that you don’t need vocalists or rappers, right?”
She shook her head. “No, I definitely need them. It’s just… I don’t know who should sing them. I think I’d need to hear them actually sing it before I’d know.”
“You need to hear them sing it yourself? It’s not like we can hold auditions for established artists… What do we do?”
This was a problem.
“Tsk. Let me think on it. For now, lay down the vocal guides. Mark exactly where the rap parts start and end, too.”
“Okay.”
***
Hype and entertainment value were both crucial factors for a variety show’s ratings, but lately, the age demographics of the viewing audience had become nearly as important.
When <Tomorrow’s Idol> had aired, nothing else came close in terms of exposure.
Truly in a league of its own.
But its viewer demographics had skewed overwhelmingly toward teens and twenties.
Relative to the hype, the actual ratings hadn’t been that impressive, and the reason was simple. Younger audiences had so many ways to watch later that they didn’t bother catching the live broadcast.
<Yumi’s F.M.P.>, by contrast, had its viewer demographics spread evenly across the board.
“We’re already at eight percent.”
“Insane numbers. I made this thing and even I didn’t expect the response to come this fast.”
The assistant director and PD Park stared at the ratings data in disbelief.
Variety shows with an all-age viewership routinely cleared ten percent even during weeks with zero hype. But that was the result of long-running shows with built-up fanbases.
Yumi’s show had only been on the air for a few weeks.
“I guess music as a subject matter is just that powerful. Since the show doesn’t only cover EDM and hip-hop, it works for every age group.”
PD Park nodded at the assistant director’s observation.
“That, and Yumi is just adorable. A cute girl appeals across every demographic, guaranteed.”
The assistant director found that all the more reason to worry.
“But, sunbae… This editing direction, at this particular moment… Isn’t it way too much of a gamble?”
“How so.”
“How so?” The assistant director stared at his senior with undisguised disbelief.
Come to think of it, something had felt off from the moment PD Park had singled out this section for the edit.
“Cocky bastard. You get a little experience and now you look at your senior like that? I have my reasons.”
“What reason could possibly justify filling a full minute per song for three songs of guide vocals? No other scenes, just one long take like a documentary? That’s not bold. That’s reckless.”
The music was good. Impossibly good.
And previewing unreleased music for a minute each wasn’t a problem in itself.
But.
“Sunbae. Please, think about this again. Things have been going well lately, and I think you’ve gotten into the mindset that everything you do is right. That’s a dangerous place to be. Viewers are going to change the channel.”
Three songs of guide vocals. One minute each.
Except it wasn’t just three minutes.
They weren’t played back-to-back. It still needed to function as a broadcast, with minimal connective tissue between them.
So the total was six minutes.
No cutaways to other scenes. Just edited like a straight documentary.
“We’re soaring right now. This is exactly the wrong time to gamble. The potential upside is invisible and the stakes are enormous. There are plenty of ways to focus on the music without going this far.”
PD Park scoffed. “None of them would create more focus than this. Kid, you’ve got a long way to go. You really can’t see what happens when this airs?”
“Ratings nosedive, the department head summons you, and every other team gleefully tears us apart.”
“…You really are far from ready. If you can’t see it even after I’ve laid it out this clearly.”
The assistant director watched him with a worried expression.
PD Park shook his head slowly and added, “Just watch. President Kang and I decided on this together.”
***
Less than an hour after the episode aired.
Posts full of doubt and skepticism about the broadcast began sprouting across online communities and on social media, and reporters smelled blood in the water.
[Running low on content? The music was good, but a documentary on weekend prime-time?]
[Momentum hits a wall. A misstep during the climb. Is Yumi’s F.M.P. going to be okay?]
[They said it was entertainment combined with music, and they literally just aired the music. Only the songs were good.]
-I loved watching Yumi do guide vocals, why is everyone losing their minds?
-Yumi, you’re fine! Don’t read the comments, you go girl!
-Yumi didn’t do anything wrong, the production team lost it. They were skyrocketing, why would they do this.
It wasn’t a full-blown backlash, since the production team hadn’t made that catastrophic of an error. But fans who wanted the show and Yumi to keep climbing couldn’t help feeling let down.
Then, past a certain point, the reaction flipped on its head.
At first, it was one.
Then another.
Then three at once.
-LMAOOO so THAT’S why. What Yumi said.
-The thing about needing to hear people actually sing it before she’d know? LOL The PD is a genius lol. He actually set this up like that?
-Are the singers starting a relay?? lol The veterans are posting videos saying they want to sing her songs lolol
Three songs.
Regardless of how the broadcast itself had played, the songs were phenomenally good.
Songs that diverged from conventional pop offered established artists a chance at something genuinely new.
Singers began uploading videos to social media, each performing whichever of the three songs they thought suited their voice best.
And this was happening specifically because K Management had been blocking all direct contact.
Every single inquiry, from anyone, was being declined. What other option did artists have to make their case?
Their agencies could easily guess why K Management was refusing contact. If they asked a respected senior to record and the result didn’t satisfy Yumi, she would be put in an impossibly awkward position.
-WHOA!!! lolol This is insane lol Golden Tree posted one too!
-It’s over lol Ji-hyeon Suh posted one too lol
-Ballad singers should just sit this one out.
-Why should ballad singers sit out when their vocals are on another lev… oh! 🙂 Right, Golden Tree posted too. My bad lol
-I’m not a Golden Tree fan.
-Sure you’re not 🙂
Relay. Challenge. War.
The fierce competition among singers vying to be part of Yumi’s album had only just fired its opening shot.
—