Chapter 56. Training starts (1)

'Pant. Pant. Pant.'

Harin's chest heaved up and down as she felt strength leaving her body. She panted heavily as she looked at Lee Hyun who was standing in front of her. 

The image of a handsome guy with a bright smile was replaced with the image of a cold person who doesn't show any mercy.

"L-let me rest... for more..."

She barely let out those words as she stared at him, but he shook his head. 

"The break is already over. Get up! Only 10 km more and you can rest how much you want to."

"1-10 km..."

Hearing that, Harin only felt only one thing and that was despair.

They have already run more than 10 km and now, they have to run another 10. She would surely collapse in the middle of it.

It was not only her who felt that.

"... I, I can't run for more..."

"Spa'r us. I'm tired..."

Soyun and Ara were the same. Both of them were panting on the ground while they begged for Lee Hyun to spare them.

Even Alice who was the most fit among them was tired. Sweat was all over her body as she lightly glared at Lee Hyun.

Still, even after receiving that glare, Lee Hyun didn't back down.

"If you are really tired, then I would just leave you here and return to the practice studio by myself, but you don't even have money to get a taxi."

The four of them frowned hearing that.

What Lee Hyun was saying was right. They don't have any money and it would be troublesome to go back by themselves.

They don't have a choice here.

"W-why are we even running? We aren't athletes, but singers!!"

Although they don't have a choice, they can still complain.

Soyun who was the youngest wasn't able to stop herself from complaining. She raised her head and pouted.

"It's important to have stamina if you want to be a singer."

"Stamina? What does that have to do with singing?"

This time, it was Alice who asked that question. She was originally a dancer and not a singer, so she was clueless about the basics of singing.

'I need to work harder on her.'

Lee Hyun thought as he glanced at her. After thinking about how to train Alice into a singer, he replied.

"Singers are people who run around everyday from one stage to another. A popular singer can't even sleep for more than 3-4 hours a day. Do you think you can handle that type of schedule with your current stamina?"

Everyone became silent hearing that.

What Lee Hyun was saying was right. Becoming famous only means that you will have a packed schedule and you would need to sacrifice your sleep. 

He continued as no one was speaking.

"Moreover, you need to have stamina to sing too. Breath is one of the basics of singing."

When he said that, the expression on Harin's face changed. She was the person who had the least stamina and her breath management was also a mess.

'I can't be like this.'

Hearing those words from Lee Hyun's mouth, Harin reprimanded her attitude.

She wanted to be a singer. If she continued to be like this, then she would never achieve her dream. She thought all that and finally stood up.

"I, I understand."

Seeing her stood up, the other members don't have any choice. All of them stood up and Lee Hyun smiled.

"You will get used to it after a while."

He said and started running with the four girls trailing behind him.

The real training really began with that.

* * *

'How should I write the lyrics?'

Minyuk thought as he sat down on a chair in his small apartment. There was a pen and paper in his hand as he tried to think about the song 'Broken'. 

He played the guide version 4-5 times and tried to get an image out of it.

After a while, he finally got a feeling. There was only one thing that he could imagine after listening to the song.

'A boy with a guitar in his hand, countless knives stabbed in his heart, but still, the boy was walking without stopping.'

That was the image he got from the song.

In a sense, it was his own story.

There was a time when Minyuk was betrayed by many people. No one came to help when he was fighting a lawsuit against his previous agency.

His heart would hurt thinking about that, like someone was stabbing it.

The people he thought as friends were nothing more than impostors acting as his friends. His self at that time can be described by only one word - Broken.

'Only my girlfriend was with me at that time.'

Minyuk also thought about his girlfriend who had not left his side at that time.

She had fought with her parents, just because of him and helped him through the rough times. He was both thankful and sorry for her.

Minyuk began to write the lyrics thinking all that.

"The boy with the guitar in his hand, walking on a rainy day..."

"Drowning under the rain..."

"Countless daggers stabbed in his heart, he groaned with pain..."

Like that, Minyuk wrote the first verse. His situation at that time was flashing in his hand and the guide version was playing on loop in the background.

Words keep appearing on the paper as Minyuk wrote his feelings down. 

* * *

"It's nice to meet you."

Kim Dongsu shook hands with the CEO of SMH Entertainment. They were currently sitting in a high class restaurant.

It was a business meeting and SMH Entertainment was a medium sized company with a good number of singers in their arsenal.

That's why Kim Dongsu was being respectful.

"I have heard a lot about your agency recently, especially about the composer Midas. All of his songs have been hit till now, so he is a rising name in the music industry."

"Thank you for your praise."

The meeting was arranged because the CEO of SMH Entertainment, CEO Jo wanted to buy one of Midas's songs for the upcoming album of one of his singers.

"So, do you like the samples I sent you?"

Kim Dongsu asked and CEO Jo nodded his head.

"Yeah, I really like one of the songs. The one which was called 'Yours'."

"Oh! A R&B song."

Yours was one of the recreated songs of Lee Hyun. It was a groovy R&B with a fast and exciting beat.

'It looks like we will be able to recover some money here.'

Mango Entertainment needed some money currently because of Minyuk's album and an offer has come at the right time.

"One of my singers is releasing an album soon and I wanted such a track in the album. When I heard about it, I thought this was it."

CEO Jo continued to praise the song. Kim Dongsu knew that he was doing it for just lip service, but he still smiled and nodded his head.

"It would be a pleasure that one of your singers would sing this song. What is the name of that singer?"

CEO Jo smiled and opened his mouth hearing that.

"I think you would have heard of him. His name is Jihun."