Chapter 51

In the recording studio, Wen Zhengyu was practicing his vocal techniques. Lee Soo-young frowned, wearing headphones, listening to Wen Zhengyu's grasp of a slow song. However, at the climax, his voice suddenly cracked. Lee Soo-young shook his head and took off the headphones.

Lee Soo-young waved to Wen Zhengyu in the recording studio, and Wen Zhengyu walked out, sitting beside Lee Soo-young: "Teacher, how was it?"

Lee Soo-young was silent for a moment, thinking about how to phrase his words. Half a year had already passed. His various studies had improved, but his voice had only gotten worse. However, this was just the layman's view.

From an expert's perspective, especially for Lee Soo-young, he clearly understood that Wen Zhengyu was currently in the most severe phase of his voice change. But as long as he could get through this period, his voice quality and timbre would stabilize, and he would develop his unique characteristics. After that, the ongoing voice change would be a period of recovery.

"Still pretty good. Because of the voice issue, you can't sing too high. But it's much better than before. Take care of it, and drink the soup that Soo-gyu brings every day. It's good for your voice. I didn't have such conditions when I was going through my voice change."

Wen Zhengyu hurriedly bowed and said, "Yes, teacher. I will take good care of it. Thank you and your wife for your concern."

Lee Soo-young smiled and nodded, increasingly satisfied with such a student. What's the problem with a bad voice? It's not like he can't speak. Everyone goes through the voice change period. If it's really that serious, everyone is on equal footing. Singers just need to pay more attention to maintenance. Strong musical sense and rich emotion. Everything else can be practiced. Of course, having a good voice would be even better.

He shook his head in admiration, "I really hope it passes soon so I can hear your true voice."

Wen Zhengyu smiled lightly, "I'm only fourteen, and that's even my Korean age. Teacher, don't worry."

Lee Soo-young nodded, "That's true. But even if we can't hear your normal voice, we can see other things. In the past six months, your dance practice has also been good. Jun-yong said your flexibility is the best he's ever seen."

Wen Zhengyu touched his nose, "That's because Brother Jun-yong always stays in the company and doesn't see many people."

Lee Soo-young smiled lightly, "Being humble is good, but you need to work harder on your freestyle. The reason I have you learn these different dances is to use them in this area. After all, being able to improvise and still show your own style is the difficult part."

Wen Zhengyu nodded, "I understand, teacher. Don't worry."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Lee Soo-young called out, "Come in." The door was gently pushed open, and Lee Soo-gyu poked his head in, "Not finished yet? Dad, Uncle is here."

Lee Soo-young stood up instinctively, "Where? Did he go to the president's office?"

Lee Soo-gyu said, "He wants to see Zhengyu. I don't know where he heard about him."

Lee Soo-young frowned, his expression somewhat strange. Lee Soo-gyu came forward, trying to pull Wen Zhengyu away, but Wen Zhengyu gently pushed his hand away.

Shaking his head and looking at Lee Soo-gyu, Wen Zhengyu said, "I'm talking with the teacher. I'll take a break today and resume acting practice tomorrow."

Lee Soo-gyu paused, pouting and leaning against the door, "I thought about it for a long time and found a way to avoid all the loopholes, but you..."

Lee Soo-young's expression was surprised, and he gestured at Lee Soo-gyu, "Brat, you even dared to lie to me."

Wen Zhengyu smiled lightly, "Soo-gyu, what I said about taking a break today... was a lie."

Lee Soo-young laughed, looking at Wen Zhengyu and then at the frowning Lee Soo-gyu, helplessly sitting to one side, "You two, are you trying to compete or practice with such methods?"

Turning to Wen Zhengyu, he said, "Especially you. Acting is about deception, but this view is biased. You even found a way to practice it."

Wen Zhengyu smiled without saying anything. Lee Soo-young scowled at Lee Soo-gyu, "And you. You always make the whole company go along with your nonsense! You're about to debut, don't you have any sense of being an idol?"

Lee Soo-gyu pouted, muttering, "You always talk about debuting, but Dad hasn't made any moves."

Lee Soo-young laughed, "How old are you this year? Only fourteen. You have to wait at least another year."

After a moment of thought, Lee Soo-young glanced at Wen Zhengyu and turned to Lee Soo-gyu, "I might as well tell you, but you can't tell anyone."

Lee Soo-gyu's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly nodded. Lee Soo-young's expression was serious, "We're already planning it. The name is tentatively set as TINTOP, and the debut song will be a social critique."

Lee Soo-gyu's face lit up with surprise as he stepped forward, "Is it a group? Who's in it?"

Lee Soo-young glared, "Is that your business?"

Impatiently waving him away, he said, "Just know it yourself. If it gets out, I'll punish you."

Lee Soo-gyu smiled with narrowed eyes, "Dad, don't worry. I can keep my mouth shut."

This time, he felt truly uplifted, and his attitude and demeanor towards Wen Zhengyu were different. Calmly but somewhat condescendingly, he said, "Zhengyu, listen to Dad's guidance. You'll debut eventually. Work hard, okay?"

With that, he laughed lightly, turned, and hummed a song as he left. Wen Zhengyu touched his nose and looked at Lee Soo-young. Lee Soo-young was a bit awkward, helplessly shaking his head and scolding a few times, "Brat," but he had no real solution.

Wen Zhengyu smiled lightly, "You're not satisfied with my creative practice, right? So you told Soo-gyu this news early to motivate me?"

Lee Soo-young laughed and patted his head, but when he mentioned this, he couldn't help but frown, "You admitted it yourself. So let me ask you, what's the deal with your creation? Just a flash of inspiration? The last song was okay, but you haven't produced anything since."

Wen Zhengyu sighed, "I don't have inspiration. I can't just make things up, right? I'm already familiar with the songwriting and composition formats you taught me. But a song created by just piling up notes and rhythms is soulless."

Lee Soo-young laughed, "You, a beginner, have such high standards."

Crossing his arms and looking at him, Lee Soo-young said, "If you say that, not writing without inspiration, wouldn't all the songwriters in South Korea starve? Inspiration can come several times a day or not at all for a year. What do you do? Just wait?"

Wen Zhengyu frowned, "What do you suggest? If it's just about quantity, I can guarantee I'll complete the task. But whether it's up to standard, I'm not sure."

Lee Soo-young waved his hand, "You can't think like that. Do the works of songwriters who don't rely on inspiration not excel? Ultimately, it's the work that speaks, but who evaluates it? The market. A work you think isn't great might become popular. Sometimes inspiration only represents your own creation, not the audience's approval."

Wen Zhengyu leaned forward, "So what else can we do? Produce works regularly no matter what?"

Lee Soo-young thought for a moment and said, "The market, do you understand it? I mean the music market."

Wen Zhengyu frowned and shook his head slightly, "That's a bit broad."

Talking about music, Lee Soo-young became interested, "More than broad, there's a lot to it. Various aspects, interconnected, not as simple as writing a song and selling it."

Wen Zhengyu looked puzzled, "That's not right. Why didn't you tell me these things when you taught me songwriting and composition?"

Lee Soo-young patted his shoulder and stood up, "Let's go to my office, we'll talk there."

Wen Zhengyu nodded, stood up, and followed Lee Soo-young. As they walked, Lee Soo-young said, "It's not that I didn't want to talk to you, but I wanted to wait until you gave me a piece of work. Then I could talk to you specifically about your style... Of course, that one doesn't count. It was too scattered, and I couldn't hear anything."

Entering the office, he gestured for Wen Zhengyu to sit down. Wen Zhengyu didn't sit but brought over two cups of coffee. His skill showed he did this often. Lee Soo-young took the coffee, sipped it, and smiled, "Not bad. Your coffee-making skills could open a café."

Wen Zhengyu shrugged and suddenly asked, "Teacher, continue, please."

Lee Soo-young nodded and opened his mouth, but he was stunned, "I rarely see you so eager. Are you really interested in creation?"

(Thank you to fallenone.xi and Zhong Mingzhi for your support. I will continue to work hard. O(∩_∩)O)

{Piaotian Literature}