Yerim fiddled with the hem of her cashmere sweater.

“Nervous for your first ever appearance on TV?” Jaehyun teasingly asked as he entered the car. He promised to drive Yerim to JTBC’s HQ today for the shoot.

Yerim nodded. “We’re not performing anything, that’s why I’m nervous.”

“Oh, so like pilot episode?”

“Kind of. So… no performance yet.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be calm then?” “It’s only going to be an hour show full of talk, which Is why I am agitated. I’m about to reveal my identity. The public knew Lotte Ent. is led by Jongdae oppa, Jongin oppa, and me. What they don’t know is the Katie K that created NCT and SRG is me.”

Jaehyun pinched her cheek and laughed, “Don’t be nervous. You’re going to do great. The NCT boys and SRG girls will be there for you.”

“I’m just scared they’ll prod into my personal life. And after that netizens will try to dig up informations about you too, eventually.”

Jaehyun smiled softly as their car pulled up into JTBC’s basement. “Listen, you can answer their questions anyway you like it. Whether the question is about you, or about us, I think they definitely will touch that topic. Just believe in yourself and I’m rooting for you okay?”

Yerim nodded.

Jaehyun smiled before kissing her forehead, “Good luck, sweetheart.”

♦♦♦

Yerim entered her waiting room and smiled upon noticing her ‘children’ doing their make-up.

“Ssaem!”

As usual, Lucas, the hyper one was the first to greet her.

“Hi, Lucas. Doing good guys?”

“Yes, ssaem!”

“Excited?” She smiled and the kids nodded.

“I’m curious about the mission,” Yiyang spoke up.

“Whatever the mission, Yerim-ssaem will produce the best things for us,” Ten spoke up and winked. Yerim rolled her eyes as she sat down to retouch her makeup. She smiled as she watched the kids’ banter. She hoped she’s going to be okay.

♦♦♦ 

Yerim sat down and smiled as the MCs started the show. She clapped and responded accordingly as the MCs introduced the other artists.

“Okay, the last and special one, from Lotte Entertainment! Please introduce yourselves!”

“To the world, yeogin, NCT! Hello, we are Lucas, Renjun, Ten, and Yoonoh from NCT!”

“Rise and shine! Hi, we are Yiyang, Lami, and Hina from SRG!”

“Alright, now that is our artists from Lotte! And now, the long-awaited appearance of their producer!”

Yerim clapped along before bowing her head, “Hi, and I’m Kim Yerim, or more widely known as Katie K, the producer and creative director of Lotte entertainment, nice to meet you all.”

“Wow, we finally saw the face of the genius behind NCT and SRG, please give a warm welcome for miss Yerim! How does it feel to appear on TV?” The MC, Yoon Seyoon asks. Yerim acknowledged him as a prominent MC and comedian.

Yerim politely smiled, “Honestly, I’m very nervous. I’m very comfortable working behind the screen so it’s a bit nerve-wracking to uncover my identity. But it’s a great show so I’m anticipating it.”

“So, we’re curious, it is said that you handpicked each SRG and NCT member, is that correct? Maybe the members can testify?” The other MC, Park Narae commented as she pointed at the NCT and SRG members.

Ten smiled before raising his hand, “Actually it’s true. Back when we were trainees, Yerim ssaem always come to our evaluation, and she was even there during some of our auditions. After several evaluations, the first member to be picked was actually our leader hyung, Kun hyung. After that she picked the next member which was me, and then she went on to pick the others.”

“Is that true Yerim-sshi? What was the criteria?” Park Narae asked again.

Yerim smiled, “That’s true. NCT and SRG are my ambitious creations. I have a vision of the concept of the group. After evaluating their performances, I determined which member can nail the concept well. I also consider how well their voices will complement each other, their style of dancing, their personality. I want a group that is diverse but works well together. sort of like a gradient, different colors blending together. The same thing goes to SRG as well.”

“Wow, that’s interesting. and we have one more question, the fact that you’re actually Katie K shocks a lot of people. People knew Kim Yerim as a chaebol daughter and successor of Lotte empire, so how does it feel to be a producer?” Yoon Seyoon asked as he wiggled his eyebrows, eliciting laughter from other artists.

Yerim knew this kind of question will come so she took a deep breath before answering. “Well, in my opinion everyone can become a producer regardless of their background. I’ve always loved music so it was natural for me. You can ask the members yourself that I am very involved with them starting from album concept, song writing, even choreographing. Just because I am Lotte successor doesn’t mean I can’t get involved to ensure that the group from Lotte will produce nothing but the best quality of performances.”

“Wait, wait. Choreographies too?” Park Narae asked as her eyes widened comically.

The members nod enthusiastically. “Yes! Yerim-ssaem actually came up with a lot of our main point dance, she also revises position transitions, and pointed out parts that needs highlighting. If you knew the popular dance from our group,”

“ah, the shark dance from Power Up?” the MC asked Hina and the girl nodded. “Yeah, that one, ssaem came up with that. Even with NCT dance!”

“Is that right, Lucas-sshi?”

“Yeah. I think people will be shocked that the signature leg dance and back drop from our song Cherry bomb, Yerim-ssaem created that!”

“The back drop?! Wow! Yerim-sshi is surely amazing!”

Yerim bowed to the other teams and the MCs. The MC made small talks to the other team and Yerim smiled and laughed along. The show is kind of fun and she slowly feel her anxiety evaporating.

♦♦♦

“Okay! We have reached the most anticipated part! Next week, we will start our performances. Are you all curious about our first theme?”

“Yeeess!!”

“Alright, please show the theme for next week!”

They all turned to the big screen behind them. A word came to view.

Summer

Everyone clapped.

“For the first performance, it will be a live performance, so each team, please prepare your best performance, and we’ll see you all next week!”

♦♦♦

Yerim sat at the meeting room with the seven members of NCT and SRG restlessly. “Any idea for the performance guys? We have…. 6 days until the performance day.”

As usual, Lucas was the first one to lift his hand. “How about a fun summer?”

Yerim nodded and jotted down the first idea.

“I think just fun summer is a common concept. Very vast. We need a more specific and distinct theme, don’t you think so, ssaem?” Lami said.

Yerim nodded again, “Any suggestion then? I agree we should make the first performance a fun one. I think it’ll appeal to the public more. I’m thinking of something that is not too up-beat, like slightly chilled? For a twist.”

“Oooh! I know!” Renjun laughed ecstatically.

“What?” Lucas raised his brows.

“What about like, something unusual for summer? So, it’s going to be interesting? Like what is something that usually doesn’t happen in summer but we make it happen... Like, I don’t know... Summer rain? Summer snow?”

Yerim snapped her finger, shocking the other. “I have an idea. It’s a bit random, though. What about Christmas in summer?” she asked.

Yoonoh nodded, “That’s a great concept, ssaem. Something with a laidback rhythm would be perfect for that I think.”

Yerim smiled, “The dance should be easy to follow, and so does the melody. I’ll try coming up with something tonight, and I’ll tell you guys again tomorrow. I think I’m going to need Ten and Lami’s help for the choreo. It’s going to need a small rap part so Lucas can help me with it. How’s that sound?”

A chorus of yes was heard and Yerim went home with tons of ideas filling her head.

♦♦♦

“So, this is the song. It’s not finished yet. The concept is that, how do I explain it? Like maybe for example a girl, talking about a boy who seems like a Christmas day during summer. So, like a breath of fresh air during the summer heat. Here, listen to it.” Yerim played the small recording. She has created the beat and the melody, also the simple bass line using her application. When the song ended the members clapped.

“So far I only have the lyrics for the chorus part. I wrote down the lyrics to the first verse too actually, but the rest of the lyrics are empty. Shall we finish the lyrics today and start working on the choreo tomorrow?”

“Okay, ssaem!”

The eight people worked hard, and it’s safe to say that when the episode aired, the Korean public loved their song. 

byuntaefangull here. thank you for reading! sorry for going idle for too long. but i'm back with a double update! check the chapter after this okay?? enjoy^^