Chapter 9.1
Achieving great success through sheer effort despite lacking natural talent is incredibly difficult. Not impossible, but at the end of the day, multiplying anything by zero still gives you zero.
In that sense, I was pretty damn lucky. Maybe my family luck was trash, but I had definitely hit the jackpot when it came to talent. As much as it felt weird to say this about myselfâI had natural ability, especially in singing and dancing.
“You really never had any professional training?”
“No.”
“Then how is your vocal technique this good?”
Of course, to me, this reaction made perfect sense.
I wasnât just any traineeâI had lived through twelve years as an idol, only to time-travel back into a nineteen-year-old body.
Most new trainees, especially ones freshly scouted, usually had lisped pronunciation. Unless they had trained as announcers, it was rare for native Korean speakers to enunciate every word perfectly. In daily life, as long as people understood you, that was enough.
My body was that of a 19-year-old, but I had actually already debuted at 20, and was an idol until I was 32. Naturally, my pronunciation was clear, ensuring it didnât affect recording quality.
I could switch seamlessly between chest voice and falsetto, and I even had a naturally wide vocal range.
Even when I was a ârealâ nineteen-year-old with zero experience, the company staff had showered me with praise. Pronunciation had never been an issue for meâI had always spoken clearly. Ever since I had learned Hangul, I had never stuttered.
The same went for singing. Back then, projecting my chest voice had been difficult, but I could memorize lyrics and match pitch with just one listenâwithout any special training.
Later on, I even recorded guide tracks for other artists, so my raw talent was exceptional compared to trainees who had spent years in vocal academies.
“âŠAnd you dance well too?”
“Yeah. His breathing is stable even while dancing.”
“Manager Min, where the hell did you even find this kid?”
“She caught him jumping a school wall.”
“Wait, are you serious? Youâre sure he wasnât stolen from another agency?”
“He said this is his first time as a trainee.”
“HuhâŠ.”
Two employees were whispering in a corner, as if I couldnât hear them.
I was out of breath from singing and dancing for the first time in ages. Grabbing a bottle of water from the practice room, I chugged it while glancing around. Since this was thirteen years in the past, the practice room felt smaller than I remembered.
Had the expansion project not started yet? I vaguely recalled the vocal room being about the same size without equipment, but I couldnât fully remember R&Mâs old layout, so I kept looking around. Noticing my wandering gaze, the two employees finally approached me.
“Wow, we totally forgot. We were supposed to give you a building tour.”
“We were too shocked by how well Ye Jin danced. Would you be able to meet with the trainer in about thirty minutes?”
“Yes, thatâs fine.”
“Great! Letâs start with the cafeteria.”
A friendly HR staff member led me on a tour of the R&M building. He definitely wasnât someone who stayed in the company long-termâhe was gone by the time R&M expanded thirteen years later.
The building was smaller than I remembered, but the key locations hadnât changed much.
Even though I already knew where everything was, retracing my steps through this version of R&M felt nostalgic.
It really hit me thenâReverb had made enough money to fund an entire extra building. At this point in time, there was only the main building. The annex wouldnât be constructed for another four years, right around when Reverb was at its financial peak.
“Ye Jin, you really never had any formal dance or vocal training?”
“Not professionally. I just danced for fun with friends.”
“Really? For how many years?”
“Years? I just practiced for three months in middle school for a festival.”
ActuallyâI had trained for twelve years as an idol.
But at this point, why not exaggerate? Come forth, natural genius idol concept.
If I built up the “natural-born talent” image now, it would make debuting a lot easier.
Whether it was the survival process or post-debut branding, this kind of image-making would be useful.
And technically, I wasnât lying. Even as a real nineteen-year-old, I had been pretty good at dancingâbut not to the point where I could pick up choreography in one try. I only got that good about three years after debuting.
But obviously, I couldnât just casually explain, âActually, I regressed after getting stabbed by a sasaeng.â
So I let the HR staffer misinterpret things however he wanted. As his jaw dropped in disbelief, I continued playing the partâwandering around R&M like a country bumpkin seeing the big city for the first time. All part of the image-making process.
