Chapter 55

**Chapter 55: The Techniques of an Idol Who Never Fails**

I imagined the visual concept of the demon hunter theme. After going through the entire sequence from the intro to the outro in my head, I turned on the MacBook I had brought and gave one of the earphones to Oliver, a member of INO.

"Let's arrange the intro of 'DEMON' to have a choral feel..."

I took out a mini keyboard, set the virtual instrument to an organ, and started playing. Oliver nodded in agreement beside me.

"And after the intro, the organ continues with this chord progression. I think it would be good to add some synth here..."

"..."

"There's a part where 'DEMON' and 'Turn on the Light' have the same chord progression. Can you make a beat for this part?"

"Haewon, you don't have to share the work with me if you don't want to."

"Huh?"

"No, I'm not saying I won't do it. It's just that I don't think I can match your quality. I'll do it, though."

"Bro, why are you being so humble?"

"I learned Korean from a textbook, so that's why. And it's not just being humble; it's really true. You can come up with something in one go that would take me hours to figure out..."

Strangely, INO doesn't listen to the team as a whole, but they are cooperative as individuals. This is why the large group works well together.

Oliver, unlike my preconceived notions about Americans, didn't care about my privacy at all.

"Can't you just work with the speakers? We need to hear it right away to work on the performance."

Or maybe the INO members, who don't respect personal privacy, were taught incorrectly about what is normal in Korea.

Since Oliver was pushing me, I played the music through the speakers.

The organ accompaniment of 'DEMON' played, and INO's main vocalist hummed along. The other vocalists, who have a professional habit of adding harmonies, created an a cappella.

"Your vocal harmony is good."

I muttered to myself without realizing it.

Then the synth was added, and it transitioned to the rock version of 'Turn on the Light.' The transition was a bit awkward since it was just spliced together. I'll have to think about this part more.

Minjiho, sitting cross-legged with a serious expression, listened to the music and said:

"There are eighteen of us, guys."

Then he organized the members into their positions. When Minjiho choreographed, he was so cold and serious that it was scary to talk to him, and he had a strong confidence in his opinions.

"And from here, we attack the demon with music."

"Ooh, good, good. I'll do the drums!"

"I'll do the keyboard!"

The INO members eagerly took up the instruments.

Then Minjiho turned to me and said:

"Bro, start 'Turn on the Light' two bars before."

I started the music from the part Minjiho wanted, and he moved through the members who were pretending to play instruments, choreographing the weakening demon.

When everything fell into place, the INO members jumped up and down.

"Wow, it's good! It's thrilling, thrilling."

At first, the noise was tiring, but the intense reactions from the Firstlight were invigorating and enjoyable.

Still, I was exhausted, and that night, I fell into the deepest and fastest sleep I've had in recent times as soon as my head hit the pillow.

* * *

Two days later, the first studio shoot for The Rising.

Minjiho was subtly nervous even before the shoot started.

In my opinion, it's hard to imagine Minjiho being rejected by any group in the world.

Before getting out of the car at the KQS Broadcasting Station parking lot, Minjiho sent a message in the group chat.

[Minjo: Meeting request!]

[Anju: We'll come over]

We agreed that whenever a member requests a meeting, we would always meet, no matter how tired or busy we were. Since we all live in the same dorm, we fight almost every day, and after a fight, whoever it is, whether it's themselves or another member, would request a meeting, and we would gather to reconcile.

But lately, it seems like we're fighting more because we believe in this system...

Anyway, after the manager got out, the three members from the other car came over to our car.

Once all the members were gathered and the door was closed, Minjiho said:

"I can't pretend to be close to the IMX guys."

Since the members come from different agencies and the other five teams debuted around the same time, almost every group has at least one member from the same agency.

And those members are close and affectionate with the trainees they prepared with.

Minjiho didn't want the other members to be unable to get along with members from other teams because of him, and he also couldn't pretend to be close to them. I think Minjiho isn't the type to act.

"Let's go with a competitive feel. A rival vibe!"

After thinking for a moment, Shinjiun replied to Minjiho:

"If we get a rival image here, it might stick even after the show ends. Is that okay?"

"Ah, that might be a bit much..."

The other members agreed, and Minjiho looked dejected. I said:

"Let's just be so good that no one can call us rivals."

The members suddenly looked at me. Strangely, it's a bit burdensome when the members look at me, but I'm not nervous. I guess I trust them.

Our current performance is not comparable to IMX. IMX is a team that has placed their song in the top 100 daily charts, meaning the public listens to their music, which is something even a team with 700,000 to 800,000 initial sales can't do.

We, on the other hand, managed to hold our ground in the real-time chart's top 70 for a while before dropping out.

Hanhyoseok nodded.

"That's true."

"Right, that will work."

Anju agreed, and Minjiho took a deep breath to calm down and said:

"Let's grow quickly, all of us!"

To that, Shinjiun, who had been quiet, said:

"It's okay to grow slowly. As