Chapter 8: The recording continues

On the screen, a large retro-style microphone suddenly appeared, with a gold bow tie tied to the microphone. A burst of electronic synthesizers sounded.

"Seven groups of guest, good morning!. Welcome to the recording site of 'The Singer-songwriter'. I am your host Nam Goo-hyuk. Are you ready to participate in this exciting singer-songwriter challenge program?"

"READY!" All the guests answered together.

"Should be, Not like y'all have a choice, your management has already signed the contract." The host, Nam Goo-hyuk joked, followed by his signature evil laugh.

Everyone."......."

"Kidding aside, I know you all has been prep briefly about the competition system, Now I'm gonna introduce the rules to you next. Our lovely producer already told you about partnering with an amateur. Each guest will form a dream fulfillment with an amateur. They will put forward the music they want to listen and the invited guest will create an original song according to the requirements of the amateurs. Now, you have to strictly follow your partners requirement, may it be on lyrics, melody, etc."

Mr. Nam Goo-hyuk paused for half a minute and let everyone communicate before continuing:

"Then, the first thing to do next is to form a dream group for everyone, Friendly reminder you all have a week to create this song because a week later you will perform this new song to 1000 live public judges."

"On the big screen there are seven amateurs from different industries and ages invited by the program group. Some of them are college students, white-collar workers, manual workers and drivers."

"Every amateur likes a different style of music and likes to listen to different songs, but they all have common label, that is, they are all music lovers!. They all have a dream of wanting to write songs but due to the limitation of their level, they cannot realize this dream, So the show hope that our outstanding guest here can help them realize this dream."

On the big screen, there were photos of eight different amateurs and everyone was smiling very happily, including people from all walks of life.

The guests all nodded in understanding. The program team is going to do these gimmicks, since 'The singer-songwriter' needed a new selling point to stabilize the program's popularity.

"Then next, each guest please randomly select a basket of cookies placed on the main table in front of you. The name of an amateur is written at the bottom of each basket. You will form a group with that amateur and spend the next week of creation together."

Everyone turned their attention to the seven baskets on the table. One was noticeably empty. Agwa guiltily picked up the empty basket. She didn't know it was a prop from the program's show. The program team also noticed the empty basket and producer kim just nonchalantly nodded. She already knows what happened, on the monitor a while ago, and did not let anyone alert Agwa. She'll collect it as a material and use it for variety show effects. She acquiesces to Agwa's behavior, since the more she makes a fool of herself, the better. How heartless.

'I thought is was just an ordinary confectionery food, but it turned out to be the props for drawing lots.' Agwa lowered her head embarrassingly, same with Naeun, since she also ate the cookie given by Agwa earlier. Only Dong-hyun appears to be normal, since he quickly picked up a basket for himself. Every guest followed suit. Each turned over their basket to directly check the bottom.

There is no advantage or disadvantage in picking the amateurs first or later. Everyone is not sure what creative requirements these amateurs will put forward. It is really random.

Agwa looked at the bottom of her own box. There she could see a white cover paper that she pulled up to see the name listed. There is one name listed 'Chae-yeong'. Agwa immediately looked up at the big screen and quickly found the corresponding amateur.

A plain young girl with big thick frames, who looks like she's a college student. A typical nerd and introvert type. 

"Yes, it's good to draw a simple college girl." Agwa said.

She didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. It all comes down to what type of music the college student likes. She herself is a university student, so at least she has common ground with her partner. It's more of a pity to those who draw a middle-aged amateur. It's harder to write a song for a middle-aged group, especially if you're young since you haven't experienced what they've experienced.

Agwa looked around the room and found that some did not have the luck she had. Example Naeun, she got a middle aged man she's talking about. The age difference between the two is more than 20 years old and Naeun's style of music is more of an upbeat style, so there is a huge generation gap.

Song king Byun-hoo got a white collar worker, Baek-hyun, a construction worker, but it was nothing, since the profession does not represent the aesthetics of music. Dae-jung picked a housewife and Dong-hyun a taxi driver, which was pretty good. And the song queen, Lee Bora, had drawn a young patisserie. She is a lovely girl and her music style should go well with her. It should be very pleasant to get along with.

"Then, starting this afternoon, all the guest will be accompanied by the program team to meet with thier respective amateur partner and discuss music creation. The one week creation will officially begin!"

"Hopefully in a weeks time, there will be seven amazing new song. I wish you all the best of luck" After Nam Goo-hyuk finished speaking, the screen turned black. The program team all stood up and hurried out of the room with the equipment.

Each temporary assistant or music partner goes to their respective guest. Agwa waved at Gaeul when he saw her walking in her direction.

Producer kim clapped her hand to again get the attention of the guest. 

"Please follow your assigned temporary assistant and they will tell you the next step." After speaking, Producer Kim motioned to the temporary assistant and walked out of the room.

"Please come with me, there is still a section of preparation to be recorded." Gaeul then pulled Agwa to stand up. She was lead to a separate room like a dressing room.

The preparation part is actually just some questions asked by the temporary assistant, such as their opinions on other guests, how it feels to participate in the show, and if your confident in the next competition and what preparation have you made in advance?. Questions like this will be interspersed and played when the guest appears.

It was Agwa' first time being interviewed, so she answered briefly and shortly to each question, not leaving a loophole for the program group to edit maliciously. The whole preparation process was very peaceful. Agwa didn't say anything dumb and Gaeul didn't dig any holes. Normally a group show will dig holes or create conflicts between participants for topicality that can attract the audience's desire to eat melons and torn between fans.

Only in this way can they bring popularity to the group and lively variety show effect, but Agwa is already full of topicality. She's a walking gossip source. One of the reasons she was let on the show. 

At the same time, a makeup artist is touching up Agwa's make-up and hairstyle as they were preparing to go to the amateurs place and meet them.