Episode 131

“Did Team Leader Seon compose the song?”

As vocal trainer, Song Johan, looked at Seon Taeyang preparing the audio with his headset on, Seo Soo-yeon answered.

“Yes, he’s preparing a song for the upcoming album.”

“Huh… He’s the busiest person at TwoBear right now. Where would he have found the time?”

“Taeyang oppa didn’t even go home at dawn and stayed at the company making it.”

“Wow, I always feel this way, but he’s really amazing.”

Clicking his tongue, Song Johan suddenly asked Seo Soo-yeon, as if a thought had occurred to him.

“By the way, has Team Leader Seon composed music before? I know he arranged ‘Dress Up,’ but I don’t recall hearing about his composing experience.”

“He has done performances and arrangements, but as far as I know, this is his first time composing.”

At her answer, Song Johan awkwardly scratched his head and spoke.

“Is that okay? Honestly, I don’t have the confidence to objectively evaluate it, even if the quality is off. Especially if it’s someone like Team Leader Seon.”

“…”

“Honestly, aren’t others like that too? Everyone here at TwoBear has been helped by Team Leader Seon, big or small, right? Can we really objectively look at something created during the little time he had, staying up all night? I’d probably clap even if ‘Chopsticks March’ played right now.”

Lee Hyerin also agreed with his words.

“Yeah, I actually don’t have the confidence to look at Team Leader Seon’s work objectively either.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. Team Leader Seon is always perfect.”

“That’s… right. Of course, Taeyang ssam will do well! Don’t doubt it.”

Faced with the blind positivity of Jin Yeoreum and Han Gyeoul, Oh Yoori sighed sarcastically, thinking, ‘…These girls have already lost their minds.’

“I don’t doubt it either, but…”

“No, you should doubt it. Because Team Leader Seon is a good person, we should be even more objective.”

It was Seo Soo-yeon who interrupted Lee Hyerin’s words.

“What do you mean by that, Soo-yeon?”

“Why do you think Team Leader Seon stayed up all night working?”

“Well… maybe because he wanted to try something new?”

“Even now, when he’s surviving on energy drinks every day?”

“…Well, maybe if he was free, but not now. Then, why is he doing it?”

It was Yoo Gaeul who answered that question.

“He wants to make us shine brighter. And he believes he can do anything for that.”

Yoo Gaeul had often watched Seon Taeyang’s process of composing, more than anyone else at TwoBear.

She had even pretended to enter the dorm and secretly gone back to the company to eavesdrop on his composition through a door.

That’s why she understood. She knew the heart he wanted to convey in the song and the reason he was making it.

“So, if Team Leader Seon’s song doesn’t have the level of completion it deserves, we must say it firmly. Ignoring Team Leader Seon’s feelings and pretending it’s just good enough is truly insulting to him.”

“I see. I think I had a complacent mindset. I’ll really look at it properly this time. Maybe a bit too harshly, even.”

After hearing Lee Hyerin’s determination, Yoo Gaeul smiled slightly and spoke.

“But there’s one thing you should know.”

“…Huh? One thing?”

As the guide vocalist for Seon Taeyang’s song, she spoke with certainty.

“Just because we look at it objectively, or critically, doesn’t change whether it’s a good song.”

And as soon as those words ended, Seon Taeyang, who had finished preparing, spoke.

“Then, I’ll play it.”

I swore that I would succeed.

I promised myself I would protect my own and never be betrayed again.

For that reason, I truly had no intention of getting close to the kids I had to manage in this life.

They were nothing more than artists I had to manage, tools for success—that was all I planned to see them as.

I thought that maintaining that kind of distance would be just right when dealing with them as tools.

Pond, river, sea. And I am watching you.

And yet, I met a child living through a frozen winter.

I met a child living through a bitter autumn.

I met a child living through a summer that burns the skin.

And I met a child living through a spring that’s blurred and unclear.

The child who breaks free from the white egg and dries its feathers.

The child walking on a small sandy beach.

The child whose wings are too big, so they can only stumble.

The child who can only gaze at the sky hidden behind clouds.

They were children for whom dreams carried a too heavy burden.

They were children who saw the world not as hope, but as despair.

They were children who would have just passed by if fate hadn’t aligned.

Yet, in that impossible miracle, we met each other.

This was a story I could never have imagined during my past life or right after my regression.

Even if I walk to fly, the wind might not blow.

In the cold dawn air, storm clouds may gather.

If the me right after the regression saw this, I might have been disappointed.

I might have mocked this as an unnecessary interference when I should have used every means possible to succeed.

But now my thoughts had changed, and I was here.

I liked that a lot. It felt good. And I was thankful.

It was because of these kids that my dream didn’t end as just my own success.

Still, don’t stop flapping your wings.

Don’t give up facing the wind.

When I was young, I dreamed. I dreamed of becoming a good person.

That distant dream that once filled my heart had now faded, leaving only a dull scar.

Every time that scar ached, I felt fear. Fear not from blindly running forward driven by vengeance, but from once again looking at the ideal of a dream.

Still, I want to dream again.

The child who will fly the farthest, I will remember you.

Until the wind that will make you fly blows someday.

Gyeoul, Gaeul, Yeoreum, and Yoori.

I want to make you shine.

I might be lacking. So, the actions I believe to be the best might just be overconfidence or blind faith, and I might make the worst choice. I might lose you because of my incompetence.

I’m afraid. I’m afraid of that gaze full of goodwill turning into contempt. A future where eyes that once shone with expectation are filled with disappointment.

Failure is so familiar. But this time, I don’t think I’ll accept it easily. Because the fall will be much more painful than last time, as this dazzling moment is so precious to me.

I often feel the urge to just gaze at this light without doing anything. Because I don’t know what mistakes I’ll make next that will cause it to crumble.

But I’ll try to push through. Even if the end of the path is a cliff, I won’t stop walking.

If I have any strength left, I’ll use it all for you.

I’ll dream once more.

The child who will fly the farthest, I am watching you.

The sight of you cutting through the sky beyond the clouds.

Until you reach the top.

The song finished playing. But no one spoke.

Seon Taeyang, who had been watching their reactions, took off his headset and cautiously asked.

“What did you think?”

“…”

Even though he asked, no one answered.

It wasn’t that they were ignoring him. The lingering feeling in everyone’s heart was so deep that it blocked them from articulating it with words.

Seeing their reactions, Seon Taeyang must have interpreted it negatively, as he muttered in a small voice only Oh James could hear, “Oh no, I screwed up.”

Oh James, unable to suppress his chuckling as he watched them, looked at Seon Taeyang and spoke.

“Can you explain the composition to us, composer?”

“An explanation?”

He scratched his head slightly and then spoke.

“Well, as you’ve heard, it’s a country pop song with a lyrical guitar riff as the main element, with a sorrowful emotional feel. The guide vocals were done by Gaeul. It’s lyrical, but I tried to make sure it doesn’t sound too old-fashioned.”

At his straightforward words, people gradually began to wake from the lingering atmosphere.

“Wait, this was made by Team Leader Seon?”

“Yes, as far as I know, Team Leader Seon handled the entire composition and songwriting without buying additional melody lines or using any samples.”

“Wow…”

“Soo-yeon, this is the first time Team Leader Seon composed, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. If he had that kind of experience already, we would have offered to bring Team Leader Seon on as a producer.”

“Right. There’s no way I would have let that talent slip by without taking action.”

As the TwoBear staff murmured and shared their thoughts, Oh James asked again.

“What was the intention behind the song?”

“The intention… it’s not anything that grand. But, if I were to say, I was thinking about how I could express the charm of the kids…”

At first, Seon Taeyang hesitated, but as he spoke more, he seemed to begin to feel the excitement himself, and a gentle atmosphere started to flow.

As he spoke, a smile naturally began to blossom on his face.

It was the smile Seon Taeyang had shown when Gaeul first did busking.

“It’s dangerous, you know. That kind of smile.”

Before meeting Taeyang, Yoo Gaeul, who had been working crazy part-time jobs, was forgetting how to love music.

She had convinced herself through hundreds of self-affirmations that music was a luxury in her life. In truth, she had convinced herself that she didn’t really like music.

So, even when a sudden busking session was decided under Taeyang’s leadership, she was negative about it.

She thought that it should be done moderately, as he might not seem to be lacking. That thought felt natural. Her feelings of liking music had become faint by then.

And while playing ‘Memories of the Sea and Leaves,’ she realized again what it meant to love something.

A fire was rekindled in her heart, which had been growing cold.

“…Really, Taeyang oppa should know how dangerous that smile is.”

From that moment on, Yoo Gaeul had already begun to like Seon Taeyang.