a long dream on a late night
workshop 01: new year showcase ( +5 sp / +5 exp )
in her time post-aurora, there has been one song, one concept the group did that goeun had secretly been envious of. she could have easily mastered their whimsical, daydream vibe - she had proven so much over her time training with them - but only one song really stood out to her as a big missed opportunity, as something she would have sunk her teeth into had she had the chance to debut with the others. 2016′s “closer”. it came off the heels of aurora’s first win; maybe that had something to do with it. but it must have been more than that, because the first time she heard it bells rang through her aspiring producer head. it was, simply put, a good song.
so when midas gathered the trainees together and announced that they’d have to cover a senior artist for the workshop, goeun already had her choice set. plus, the chance to reinterpret it? what better song to pick than the one that’s been itching at your ears for years, begging you to toy with the arrangement, to get the opportunity you had been snubbed six years ago?
sitting in one of the practice rooms now, though, goeun realized that maybe an aurora song wasn’t the best choice. not because she didn’t know where to start - she already had a notebook page covered in scribbles, with ideas from better (alt rock cover) to worse (ska?), finally settling on an r&b arrangement that she could use to show off both her vocals and the production skills she’s worked so hard to cultivate. no, the process itself was going fine; great, even. the problem was aurora. when goeun excitedly pitched her plan to her producing instructor, they suggested that she reached out to the aurora members and get some pointers. by “suggested”, they really insisted. wasn’t there a rap she’d have to learn? (it was in the second, “reinterpretation” half; she was going to do away with it entirely and put in a new verse.) and wouldn’t goeun need help with the choreography? (she had been planning to learn the first half and hopefully get away with swaying behind her laptop and turntables for the second half.) besides, wasn’t she close to them, after having trained so closely together for so long?
goeun tapped her pencil on the page of her music composition notebook, feeling stubbornly hesitant. she had to do well on this showcase - if not for her pride or for her competitiveness, then for her now-six years of training that had to finally amount to something. she had to prove to the other trainees and to the instructors and to the company that she deserved to be in the predebut group; that with her on board, neon would be a surefire success. but was she going to willingly reach out to the people she felt the most awkward around, the most distant from?
she sighed, defeated. she pulled her phone out from her bag, turned it off airplane mode, and opened her contacts, scrolling through and feeling dread build up as she came across familiar names and scrolled past. she chose the lesser of the evils and carefully curated a message. “unnie,” her fingers tapped out, consciously avoiding the term “sunbae”. she wasn’t really fully obligated to use that yet, anyway, not until she’s debuted and in the public eye. “unnie, i’m preparing closer for the showcase, could you help give me some perspective if you have time?”
her finger hovered over the screen, then firmly pressed down on “send”. she turned airplane mode back on and leaned back in her chair, craning her head up to the ceiling, emptying her mind for now.