“Did you bring everything properly?”
“Yes! For the director, it’s a two-shot Americano, and for the team leader, hazelnut syrup…”
The youngest of the Planning Team, who just started working at Topist, was confirming with their senior.
Even though they didn’t join Topist just to run coffee errands.
‘It’s okay today!’
This was their first meeting in the planning team.
And they heard it was for the next album of the Debonaire!
No matter how much the entertainment company filters the fans of their artists during new recruitments, if a group is as popular as Debonaire, there’s no way someone wouldn’t be interested.
‘Yeah, this is what I wanted to be a part of!’
The newbie was lost in their daydreams, running all sorts of simulations in their mind.
Offering a shy and passive opinion in front of the director, which gets chosen for Debonaire’s album, and then becoming a promising rookie staff member, among other scenarios.
“Hurry and bring this to the director first. She’s already waiting.”
Prompted by their senior, the newbie quickly stepped into the room and arranged the coffee at the designated spots with enthusiasm.
“You’re the new employee, Yeong-ji, right? Thank you.”
“Ah, yes!”
Just as the rumors said, the director, So-hyun, of Debonaire really had a blank expression.
Her voice was smooth, though.
“Now that everyone is here, let’s quickly proceed with the meeting.”
And finally, the newbie was able to touch the documents they had been sneaking glances at but lacked the courage to directly approach.
‘Oh, this… weren’t we deciding on this today?’
It was a planning document briefly summarized in three pages.
“Director, did Do-hee create this again…?”
“Already working on the next song? No, but there’s still the activities until tomorrow, so she must be busy.”
At the team members’ probing questions, the director, So-hyun, smiled as if she was quite pleased.
“This was sent by Do-hee this morning. Apparently, she’s just roughly jotting beats on her laptop based on her ideas.”
Even without knowing much, the newbie could now sense a strange joy woven into the director’s calm voice.
Even though it was content already confirmed through broadcasts, seeing it in person made it finally hit home.
‘So, it’s true that Do-hee really writes songs while planning…’
“Now, everyone check it out and see what you think. Do you think this planning will work?”
The newbie subtly glanced at their senior and turned to follow the team leader in flipping to the next page, slowly starting to skim through it.
There, the album theme that had been continued in series was written again.
The newbie truly knew this well.
It wasn’t just because they were part of the planning staff.
‘This series is part of a trilogy that anyone with any interest in idols would know.’
“It’s a trilogy that everyone knows, so what’s the big deal?”
“It’s a story that’s been quietly spreading in the K-pop community.”
“But recently, it’s exploded into general circulation through shorts and reels.”
“It was clear that with this album, the image of the group Debonaire was not just limited to being an idol.”
“Right now, four of the top five songs on the charts are from Debonaire… This is really unprecedented in Korea…”
The new employee thought to himself that if Debonaire were under one of the big four agencies, they would surely be a national star by now, riding all the viral waves.
But those thoughts quickly faded.
“Wow, I always knew Do-hee was a genius.”
“I never even thought of it; her idea is really something different.”
“We saw that last time too. The paper is different, the paper!”
“Just seeing Do-hee’s wordplay shows she definitely has a talent for language… I mean, she’s fluent in four languages, so that makes sense.”
“She’s already handling all the lyrics.”
Unlike himself, who was carefully reading the planning document, the voices of the staff who skimmed it were already buzzing with excitement.
“What, what is it about?”
The new employee quickly looked at the last page where the main points were written.
“This, this is really good!?”
And he was moved just from reading the words.
“The new employee thinks so, Director.”
“That’s right. This is the most ordinary person’s perspective we have, so it really means it’s super good.”
He shouted out loud and felt a little embarrassed, but he couldn’t help it.
It was just that impressive!
The feeling that was approaching was so Debonaire-like.
“This, this feels so Do-hee-like! Totally!”
It was even more intuitive than the last album.
It was the very maximization of being an idol.
“Seriously, how does my heart race just from the song titles and album concept…?”
Of course, the team members also voiced some concerns.
“By the way, Director, I’m a bit worried about the boom bap in hip-hop… it’s not common for girl groups.”
“That’s true; aside from Chiyo, none of the members are particularly strong in hip-hop, so boom bap might be a bit unfamiliar, right?”
But the Director’s response was consistently calm.
“Boom bap not being common for girl groups is old news. Do-hee even wrote that it would have an idol-like boom bap vibe, so they’re planning to bring it in as a dance track.”
There was a level of trust that made it seem like that was the obvious choice.
“Even with traditional boom bap, Do-hee probably has better rhythm than most rappers, so there’s really nothing to worry about. Plus, she’s a pianist, you know?”
But the new employee was left with questions.
A question arose in my mouth.
‘But if the planning document is already set like this, then why did we have today’s meeting?’
Looking to the side, the seniors seemed to know.
“Then we should slowly start preparing for the self-content again.”
The new employee’s eyes brightened.
“Oh, right. What do we still have left to upload?”
“A few behind-the-scenes from music shows, ad shoots, and the recording studio.”
“Director, so what’s the theme for this self-content?”
Ah, self-content!
“Since the members have been preparing the album since last year and have hardly had a break while promoting for almost a month, let’s make sure they can heal during self-content even if we give them separate vacations. The fans will love that too.”
The debonaire’s self-content is a jackpot whenever it drops!
“Let’s do it like this. Each member can shoot one self-content on a theme they want, so they can relax and enjoy, right?”
“Wow, that’s a great idea, Director! It ties in perfectly with the album theme!”
“Then I’ll try to plan the schedule so that the next album teaser goes up right after the self-content wraps up!”
“Should we contact the outsourcing team that shot the Gangneung episode last time? That one definitely had the highest views!”
The intentions were good, but…
It was the prologue to a tragedy.
*
“I’m so happy to be with you all again, you know!”
This time, the PD who got the outsourcing job was the same person as the previous self-content production team.
“Honestly, debonaire doesn’t just do music well, but you’re all born with silver spoons, right!? I’m so excited just thinking about the shoot!”
They looked incredibly kind and proud.
“This self-content is something the Director suggested so that you all can shoot whatever you want, expressing how hard you’ve worked!”
That makes sense.
There’s no reason to look unhappy while sharing good news.
“So if we say we want to go to Jeju Island, what happens?”
“No tricks, we just go! Right to healing! Book a pension, get a yacht, have fun! Eat mackerel sashimi! Eat black pork!”
“Whoa! What if we say we want to go to New York?!”
“Uh, that might not be possible? The budget and all…”
“What is this?”
Um, older sister, but us going to New York is really a bit much.
After all, part of the budget will be deducted from our settlement, right?
“Anyway, that will have to be approved by the Director! But I’m sure they’ll approve just about anything! Plus, it’s debonaire, right? I heard this time there’s a lot of product placement coming in~?”
“Ohhh!!”
No, when we say we’re going to New York for self-content, it’s not an ‘ohhh’ situation.
It means we’d have to pay for the plane tickets for dozens of production staff ourselves.
“Hey, is it okay for that PD to go on a temple stay and do some meditation, eat temple food and stuff?”
“Oh, of course! Don’t worry about the views. Healing! Healing! Healing!”
As expected, Na-eun Unni is so smart.
She knows how to save money, heh.
“Alright, everyone, just write down what you want here.”
The PD handed us a survey.
And of course, it had these questions.
“As I mentioned, anything is fine.”
Q. What kind of self-made content do you want to shoot?
“If you want to go out and do some spontaneous busking, I’ll work hard to plan a guerrilla concert!”
“Want to go to an amusement park? You know, we can rent the whole place at night? You can ride to your heart’s content, I’ll book the whole place for you immediately!”
“I want to simply go to a hot cafe with the members. Go ahead! But I still prefer a splendid hotel stay… Right after going yachting!”
“Oh, I hate everything, I just really want to rest. I don’t want to do anything! Ah, then we’ll prepare everything from massages to phytoncides and aromatherapy to help you recover faster.”
“Honestly, anything is fine. I’ll actively plan everything each of you wants to do! That’s healing!”
It definitely seems like this PD is not just trying to get laughs at first meetings but is also cheerful and edits the show in a fun way.
“Oooooo!!! Me, me!”
But I don’t know.
Why is this feeling of unease creeping in again?
“I’ll definitely do that! Totally!”
Looking at that bouncing new kimchi, I can’t help but whisper to Woo-ah Unni.
“Unni, come here…!”
“Huh? What’s up?”
“Are you still not watching wrestling or boxing these days?”
Just imagining it is horrifying.
“MMA? Oh, I haven’t watched that in ages. Do-hee knows best, she’s been caught up in Chiyo’s romcom and just watching dramas lately.”
“That’s true…”
It’s been ages since that ridiculous street-fighting nonsense got dropped.
These days, it’s more like confessing unnecessary love or something.
─Liking someone alone is tough. Really tough to the point of death.
─Die.
There was a time I tried to copy a wall kiss scene.
─How much will it take? How much do you want?!
─Do you earn more than I do?
Yeah, worrying is just unnecessary.
If I just write down what I want on the survey.
“Oh right.”
“…Why?”
“I think Chiyo has started watching superhero movies lately…”
“Oh, that’s just─”
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