Chapter 48 Chapter 48
"You look awfully tired lately, don't you?" Xia Qing patted Lia's head worriedly as she looked at her, hunched over her desk doing homework. Although she knew she was constantly juggling work and school, this was the first time she'd seen her so exhausted.
Lia groaned weakly, but continued writing. Xia Qing couldn't help but ask, "Didn't you say the album was finished? Why are you still so busy?" Lia looked up, expressionless, "The boss changed."
"......Who???" "GD-sama." Although she joked about wanting double the salary, the reality was that she only had to double the workload. If working at Teddy Recording Studio was a nine-to-five job,
Punching in on time and completing your assigned tasks according to plan is all that matters. Working under Quan Zhilong is like being on duty 24 hours a day. Despite the "good stories" circulating about him,
But it wasn't until they started working together that Lia realized his perfectionism reached a near-obsessive level. First, he would rework. Endlessly rework. Just helping him organize his inspirational fragments required her to produce at least ten drafts.
——Every draft lasts less than three days. “I don’t want this paragraph anymore. I can’t remember what I was thinking when I wrote it.” “Let’s put this paragraph aside for now.” “Did I write this paragraph?” “…”
His brows were always furrowed, as if he was struggling with something invisible. The same thing happened with demo recordings. Teddy usually only started tweaking the demo after deciding on the tracks. Kwon Ji-yong wasn't like that.
He revised the manuscript with alarming frequency, almost every time undergoing a drastic reconstruction. Sometimes, in the middle of a revision, he would return to the original version. Or else, he would simply discard the entire song. The most exaggerated thing was the recording. Even if it was just a sound check,
He would often spend hours alone in the studio, singing the same lyrics over and over again. The recorded tracks filled the entire computer screen, and Lia couldn't help but wonder if by the end he couldn't even tell which was which.
She was also lucky enough to witness a Bigbang group recording. For a commercial song, each of the four members took turns, each suffering for at least three hours. Whenever they weren't satisfied, they'd stare at the screen. Over and over again.
Fortunately, the members seemed to have gotten used to it—after all, everyone wanted to make a good song. Perfectionism was fine, but the problem was, this guy was also a complete procrastinator. To him, deadlines were self-imposed.
The biggest enemy of deadlines is... yourself. The production schedule on the whiteboard has been revised again and again. What started out as a clear progress bar is now on its fifth revision.
Then—as expected—a few days before the deadline, the intensity of the studio suddenly skyrocketed. Lia was the biggest victim. "Lia, this part is too monotonous."
"Lia, I feel like something is missing, something is wrong." "Lia, call Kush and ask him to come to the rescue." Lia, Lia, Lia... The echoes of the voice lingered in her mind throughout the day, and even in her dreams it seemed as if someone was calling her.
"I'm going to throw up from exhaustion." After finishing the last word of her homework, Lia paused and sighed. Xia Qing shook her head. This was the first time she'd seen someone so tired that the King of Papers vomited.
"Then...how long will it take to make this album?" Lia said with a sluggish face: "We've just started." Not just just started, she was even worried that one day Quan Zhilong would wake up and suddenly feel dissatisfied with something and want to overturn everything.
"How about... taking a break once in a while?" Xia Qing advised her, "If you keep going like this, you'll be exhausted..." "He doesn't always have inspiration." Lia sighed.
She could understand the need to work anytime, anywhere. It was just that he had recently slipped back into his old habits. Not only was he used to texting her anytime, anywhere, but he was also mostly doing so in the wee hours.
"Anyway, I learned a lot." She couldn't help but defend him. At Teddy's place, she was mainly responsible for technical execution; but with Quan Zhilong, he seemed more willing to treat her as a "co-creator."
Although this also stifled a lot of her creativity... "Okay." Xia Qing rubbed her head helplessly, "Anyway, remember to rest." Lia nodded.
"By the way, will Xiaoyu be back this afternoon?" Xia Qing suddenly thought. Lia was startled: "Well, he sent a message, he will probably be here after school."
After the study trip, he had been on the set, and apart from occasional contact on MSN, the two hadn't seen each other since. This time, he came back to work with the school to shoot a promotional video, and he specially squeezed out a day.
"The drama he recently filmed is super popular. I watched a few episodes and it's really good," said Xia Qing.
"Queen Seondeok" starring Yoo Seung-ho is a historical drama that premiered on MBC at the beginning of the year. It is set in the Silla Dynasty and tells the story of the growth and power struggle of the first queen in the history of the Korean Peninsula.
He plays the young aristocrat Jin Chunqiu, a man of precocious intelligence, calmness, and sophistication. "Although I've seen him in dramas before, this feels different," Xia Qing lamented. Seeing a classmate appear in a hit drama—it feels dislocated and unreal.
"Hmm..." Lia replied without saying anything more. She hadn't had much free time recently, but she still found some of his clips and watched them.
The man on TV wasn't the same Yu Chenghao she knew, nor was he the "Little Yu" she occasionally messaged on MSN. He was a more distant him. It was like they were getting to know each other all over again, across the screen.
As the school bell rang, a crowd had already gathered in front of the teaching building. Cameras, reflectors, tracks, tripods... A small car with the MBC logo was parked at the school gate, along with another, clearly an accompanying commercial vehicle.
"Wow!" Xia Qing leaned over and glanced towards the playground. "It's MBC?" The TV station's team was naturally not invited by the school.
The filming of the school promotional video was originally assigned to a small production team, and the scene was simple - the exterior of the teaching building and a simulated classroom.
There were about ten students on camera, and Lia and Yu Seung-ho were the pre-determined "protagonists": one with excellent grades, the other with a striking appearance. The TV station had come specifically to interview Yu Seung-ho.
His schedule was so full that his agency simply arranged the interview during the filming of the promotional video, and the school was happy to see it happen.
Even if it's just a few shots, if the school's name can be mentioned in the TV program, it will be considered additional publicity. "Hey! I see Xiao Yu!" Xia Qing suddenly waved excitedly in the direction of the playground.
Lia followed her gaze and caught a glimpse of the figure in school uniform in the crowd. He seemed to have grown a little taller, and was talking to the middle-aged man beside him with his head tilted, not noticing the movement here.
"Let's go, kids." The teacher in charge of the organization walked over from behind and called out, "Let's gather in the multimedia classroom to put on makeup." "Let's go, let's put on makeup!" Xia Qing immediately put down her hands when she heard it, and excitedly pulled Lia to catch up quickly.
She was quickly disappointed. The school had probably spent all its budget on the photography team and hadn't hired a professional makeup artist. In the multimedia classroom, several female teachers took out their own makeup and volunteered to apply simple makeup to the students who were appearing on camera.
Each person took five minutes. They smeared their faces white, then casually applied some blush and lip gloss. That was it. Xia Qing, with a pale face, smiled wryly and grimaced at Lia. —That was it, a high-definition black history. Lia was helpless.
She also wore a mask-like makeup, a thick, unadorned layer of powder, held together only by her solid foundation. Soon, everyone finished their makeup and followed the instructions to the front of the teaching building.
Yoo Seung-ho had just finished filming a few scenes for MBC and was standing at the edge of the playground, waiting for someone. He wore minimal makeup, simply evened out his skin tone, and his features were naturally striking, looking much the same as usual. Lia walked at the end of the group.
"Long time no see." She spoke a little awkwardly. She didn't know if it was because of the strange makeup on her face or because they hadn't seen each other for so long. "Long time no see." He smiled in response.
"Just now, upstairs, the teachers helped me with my makeup," Lia said dryly, for no apparent reason. Honestly, even without makeup, it was better. "Yeah, very cute," he said.
"Hey, hey, hey—" Xia Qing leaned forward. "You're lying! You can even boast like that." Yu Chenghao laughed out loud. Lia's face darkened. ——He's such an actor, actually. He was lying to her.
The middle-aged man standing behind him put his hands in his pockets and gave her a quiet look. His gaze wasn't offensive, but rather like he was examining something. Lia looked back. As if noticing something, Yu Seung-ho turned slightly and frowned at the man.
The man looked away. "My agent," he said. "Maybe he was curious. I don't usually make friends." Lia nodded. After the students arrived, the filming began quickly.
Yoo Seung-ho is a professional actor, so filming was as natural to him as drinking water. Lia had received basic acting training, so this level of shooting was not difficult for her.
The other students also had some experience in performing on campus. After a few simple walkthroughs under the teacher's guidance, the scene outside the teaching building was successfully filmed.
During a break in filming, the MBC team took advantage of the opportunity to capture the scene and interview a few students. Lia was also invited to record a short segment. "Is this how I see Yoo Seung-ho?" she thought.
"...Although very quiet, he's a reassuring presence." The PD's eyes lit up. He'd caught a few students in a row, but they all said they weren't familiar with him, and could only praise his handsomeness and acting skills. — He was just worried about running out of material.
"Are you close in private?" Lia nodded. "We're good friends." "So is there anything different about him in private than in front of the camera?" the PD pressed. "Even funny things would be fine."
"...funny?" Lia tilted her head. "He's... really good at drawing turtles, does that count?" "?" PD looked confused. Lia laughed too.
"Then let's change another one. He is actually a very righteous person. Before we even knew each other, he saved me when he saw injustice." The PD and the photographer looked at each other - what a pleasant surprise!
Just as he was about to ask further questions, the manager suddenly stepped forward and whispered something in the PD's ear. "Is that so..." The PD scratched his head, a look of disappointment on his face. "Then we'll end the interview here for today."
He clapped his hands: "Thank you for accepting our interview. What is your name?" "Liya, Jin Liya." ... When it was time to finish work, the sun gradually set, and the light slanted down from behind the teaching building.
Yu Seung-ho stood alone at the end of the corridor, gazing at the light golden clouds in the sky. Lia walked a few steps closer: "Are you going back to the crew tonight?" He turned around and smiled: "Yes, I have an announcement tomorrow, so I have to go back." Lia nodded.
"Would you like to have dinner together later?" he suddenly asked. Lia hesitated for a moment, quickly calculating the time in her mind.
"...No." She said apologetically, "I have to rush back to the company. GD senior is working on an album recently, and I have to go help." "Okay, next time." He said. "When will you come back for class?" "Next month."
After the TV series ends, there will be a few weeks of free time. "Hmm..." There was a pause. During the interview, she had been talking freely, but standing in front of him, she suddenly found herself at a loss for words. "Then I'll go first?" She glanced sideways at him.
"Okay, see you next month." She nodded and turned to walk towards the school gate. Behind her, he stood there, looking down at the shadow at his feet. "GD-senpai..." he repeated softly.
Her thick eyelashes drooped, casting a faint shadow under her eyes.
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