Debut Prep (2)

"Hello Flights! I am Chef Reggie…" Reggie pulled his hand off of a hand-held camera to reveal himself in an apron over pijamas. His hair was in a slight bed head and his eyes had heavy eyebags. "I am gonna make breakfast for the group!" He held up a plastic-wrapped package of bacon with a smile. "I am gonna make the typical American breakfast that they serve at diners in America." Reggie explained. 

He picked up the camera and showed a carton of eggs, a half-used bottle of olive oil, bacon, and the ingredients for pancakes. "In America, oftentimes I would make this when my mom would visit from Korea. It was really hard to find… bacon here though…" He commented. 

He pulled out a baking sheet and laid a thin sheet of foil upon it. With ease he spaced out the package of bacon on it after spraying a layer of cooking oil upon the pan. He was concentrating. 

"You know I am basically the private chef for these people!" He suddenly burst. "None, none of them can even make a simple egg. Joon-ah is the worst of all… He can't even toast a piece of bread without burning it."

A door off screen opened and Reggie flinched up, his already smiling look growing. "Speak of the devil…" He picked up the camera and turned it to reveal Joon-woo. 

It appeared as if the other had just awoken. His clothes were simple and he tried to pat down his bedhead. The shorts that had just barely fit Joon-woo on Producer10 were slightly bigger than usual.

"Hyung! Don't record me when I look like this…" Joon-woo sighed.

Reggie huffed but turned the camera towards himself. "I'm making American breakfast." He pointed to the food on the counter with a thumbs up. 

Off camera now, Joon-woo audibly huffed, "Oh. Really? [bacon and all?]" 

Joon-woo strutted over to the camera with a huff. His hair was now less of a mess and his usual almost angelic look was back. "This Hyung is trying to make us all gain weight right before our comeback…" Joon-woo complained with a small frown. 

Reggie shook his head, now standing behind Joon-woo. 

"It's a cheat day!" Reggie replied. 

"No day is a cheat day!" Joon-woo replied. "We have diets, Flights, and Reggie Hyung is no good at following his…" He spoke into the camera. 

–+–

"We had quite a few songs sent our way…" ASCEND's producer, Chin Hyun-Seok, informed while connecting a speaker to his open computer. 

ASCEND gathered around a table, curious about their options for their debut song. There was a notable wear in each of their expressions. Dieting and practicing for hours was never left the best feeling. 

"This song falls more into the… emotional pop genre." PD Hyun-Seok pressed a key on his computer and a melody began from the speaker.

"It's all up to you,

to leave or look me in the eye–

whatever's fine…"

The melody wasn't too slow, but had an acoustic guitar behind soft bass. 

"It's all up to me,

to decide, to lie, to deceive~" 

The last word was held for a couple of seconds and a note that slowly lowered. Then, the slow melody quickened, though it felt like a natural progression. Joon-woo nodded along, hearing the hit potential. 

"What is it? What did you ever wanna be?

[You know I loved you, girl]

[I loved you, girl]

[I loved you– with ease~]"

Was this the pre chorus now? Joon-woo enjoyed the song so far and hummed along. He looked around the table and saw mixed reactions. Mi Yong and Baek Du-Ho wore slightly put off expressions. Reggie and Ryeo Hyun seemed… fine. Jung Hyun-Ok was always hard to read.

"[Can't you decide?]

Say 'I love you'

Say 'I love you' like an alibi~

['Cause I loved you girl, girl I loved you]

['Cause I loved you girl, girl I loved you]

['Cause I loved you girl, yeah– I loved you~]"

The chorus was fast, a change from the beginning of the song. It made it sound more danceable…

"You make me want to cry,

You make me die,

You breathe and shout– 

You shut my mouth–

You make me crumple and scream…" 

Though the song wasn't over, PD Hyun-Seok paused the music. He glanced up to ASCEND with an expectant look. "Thoughts?"

Despite the rest of ASCEND looking for Mi Yong's guidance at the question, Joon-woo raised his hand confidently. 

"I think the song is good, however my one question is– how would this be choreographed? Especially the beginning…" Joon-woo asked. 

Mi Yong nodded in agreement, "I agree. I think it carries the qualities of a good song, but it isn't title track worthy."

PD Hyun-Seok slowly nodded at the opinions. 

"Also we are entering the spring now, and by the time we debut won't it be close to summer? Summer songs are usually very upbeat…" Joon-woo added, gaining surprised looks from both ASCEND and the staff in the room. 

Joon-woo barely noticed, he just liked the say he had in song production in this life. As Ha-rin, he got to decide close to nothing…

"We plan to debut you guys with a three song mini album." PD Hyun-Seok revealed, "If not the title track, would you want this song on it?" 

The room was hushed for a moment. 

Joon-woo looked at Mi Yong who looked at him. 

"I think we should hear the other songs first." Mi Yong pitched. 

And so it became.

–+–

Joon-woo was quite proud of how the discussion went. Their input was… listened to. It left a good feeling in Joon-woo's sore chest. 

They ended up selecting the three songs they would go ahead with. The two b-sides were the first song demoed and an upbeat almost earthy song about the seasons passing and friends growing. Their title track was pure summer. It was titled 'Beach Day' and illustrated the freedom of summer with a catchy chorus. 

Joon-woo thought it to be a good debut mini-album, better than Cheerleader's. Perhaps that was because his thoughts were included in the process this time around…

He sketched aimlessly thinking about the day's success, though his stomach growled hungrily below him. The company was right when they said he and Jung Hyun-Ok had stricter diets. Joon-woo supposed it was to keep their almost doll-like image… 

Joon-woo looked at his sketch. It was a drawing of Kite and Carre wrestling. They did that a lot. Joon-woo slightly missed their bickering now, as they were off for some… work duties? They didn't really tell Joon-woo much of anything.

Click–

Joon-woo flinched and looked up. 

Mi Yong held a phone in front of Joon-woo and snapped another picture. 

"Hyung? Wha–" Joon-woo went to protest. They weren't even supposed to have phones! 

Mi Yong looked at the phone and then Joon-woo. "This is Manager-nim's phone. The company wants photocard pictures." He dryly explained. 

Joon-woo shook his head, "Let me see the photo!" He demanded. 

Mi Yong seemed to be in thought for a moment, before he scurried off to where Ryeo Hyun was in the kitchen. Joon-woo watched with his mouth hung open as Mi Yong and Ryeo Hyun snapped a unit photo together. 

He swore he would kill Mi Yong if he looked bad in that photo…