Spring 2010

“We’re going to make you featured as a guest rapper in one of our artist’s solo album, for next year’s release”, one day his hyung manager told Yongguk.

The manager continued, “You will have the chance to write and rap your own lyric. It’s time to show us your talent”

“I will definitely do my best for this. I can’t wait for it. What’s the song about? And who’s the singer?” Yongguk replied excitedly. He has been writing several rap lyrics during his training days and it would be a good opportunity to show them what his real talent was.

“I will give you the original song lyric, and also the music sheet. Then you can write your own based on the song theme. Regarding the singer, she is the main vocalist from our debuted girl group, Secret. Her name is Song Jieun. Have you met her?”

“Secret? Song Jieun? No, I don’t know them or her” he answered truthfully. He has never really paid any attention to other artists from the company. His main focus was just rap and dance practices.

“Hahaha… you will eventually have to get to know her. Both of you will be working closely for the rest of the year. In fact, I think you have already met her same group friend, Hana, or Zinger, her stage name.”

“Ah, yes. I knew Hana. I will ask her then”

******

When Hana was told about his future collaboration with her same group friend, she was very excited.

“Really? You’re going to rap for Jieunnie? That’s really great. She is the best singer in our group, and I can say she sings better than some vocalists in other girl groups. Next time, I will ask her along to meet you. Both of you are going to work together, so you should spend some time with her too” Hana twitted excitedly.

“Err…. Okay. Thanks, Hana” Yongguk replied, scratching the back of his neck, which was not itchy at all. He was starting to feel a little bit nervous. He had never rapped for a girl before.

******

The next day, Yongguk was told by his trainer to meet him and Jieun in the practice room 2. They were going to have the first meeting of the collaboration. Their appointment was on 5 PM, but since he did not want to be late, he came 15 minutes earlier.

He pushed the glass door of practice room 2, expecting no one was inside the room, but he was wrong. He was just only half-opening the door when he heard a piano played softly. What shocked him the most was that for the first time in almost 3 years, he was hearing that familiar tune again, with the exact same voice.  The voice that has been imprinted on his mind and heart, since that evening in the park. Only now, it was accompanied by a piano sound, which made it even more beautiful.

This time, he managed to move his legs further inside the room to meet the owner of the voice. And there she was, sitting on a piano chair, playing the piano and singing his favorite song.

Her figure was small, and she has a long brown hair, which was moving in sync with her head moving while singing. She wore a simple knee-length white dress with a matching pairs of white flat shoes. For Yongguk, she looked like an angel, both for her voice and her appearance. He was unable to say a thing, just silently standing there admiring her performing.

After a while, she stopped playing, apparently aware of the presence of someone else in the room. She looked to him, her face showing a kind of surprised look, but she finally pulled out a smile. “Oh, annyeonghaseyo”, she stood up and bowed politely.

Yongguk was still frozen, and before he could do or say anything else, someone else entered the room. It was his trainer.

“Ah, I can see that you have already met her, Yongguk-ssi. This girl is Song Jieun, she is the one whom you will be rapping for her solo debut. I think both of you are in the same age, if I’m not mistaken. You’re a 90-liner too, aren’t you? Jieun-ah, this boy is Bang Yongguk. He’s one of our company’s new trainees” His trainer introduced them briefly.

“Annyeonghaseyo, Yongguk-ssi” Jieun repeated her greeting and threw a smile at him.

“A-annyeonghaseyo, Song Jieun sunbaenim. You have a very beautiful voice” Yongguk replied with a full honorific title to her, she was his sunbae since she debuted before him. He gave a deep 90 degrees bow.

Jieun let out a giggle, seeing his awkwardness. “Thank you very much, and oh, please. Don’t be too much. I only debuted last year. And, wow, you also have a very low voice for your age.”

“Ah, yes” were the only replies came out from his mouth. Why do I feel so shy? It’s not like the first time I meet with a girl, he thought. But she is not just another girl. She…she… is…, he was thinking of a precise word to say, …….. an angel. He looked up to see her face, and she was still smiling sweetly at him. Oh, God, what should I do? Compose yourself, Bang Yongguk, he scolded himself mentally.

Then his trainer butted in. “Now that you’ve met each other, we can discuss shortly about this project. This is only an informal discussion and I will give you the draft lyric and the music sample. Jieun-ah, you will be singing the verse and the chorus, while Yongguk will fill in with his rap lyric. “

He explained a little bit more about their collaboration project, while they were listening attentively. Yongguk started to feel more comfortable when they were talking about it. After an hour, they were wrapping up and the trainer left the room first. They would start practicing next week.

“Well, I hope this project will be a success. I’m counting on you, Yongguk-ssi” Jieun spoke to him, again giving him the warm smile. Her eyes were glittering with excitement and Yongguk swallowed hard before he could answer her.

“Yes, I hope so too. I’m also counting on you, sunbae”. He let out his gummy smile to hide his nervousness, which strangely creeping back in after his trainer left. Jieun’s eyes lit up for a second. He is pretty cute, she thought.

“OK, I should be going first now. Ah, no, second, after trainer Kim, hahaha” Jieun laughed. Now I’m being awkward. “See you next week then, Yongguk-ssi”. With that, she waved him goodbye and heading towards the door.

“Goodbye, sunbaenim”, once again he bowed and eyeing her back as she exited the room. After she left, he sighed.

I think I am in love……

Song Jieun, so that’s your name. I finally found you. He let out a sheepish smile, noting her name to his mind, together with his memories of her. He then gathered all his paper in his hand and exited the room as well. He could not wait to see her again next week, or maybe sooner.

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THE END