From Thug to Idol: Transmigrating to a Survival Show

”Minzy Ong, despite only being in her mid-30s, is a well-respected producer in the country.”

“Contrary to her father’s wishes, she didn’t stay in Azure Entertainment to work as their sole producer. Instead, she went from company to company or where her talent was needed.”

“In the end, she was able to establish a name for herself outside of her father’s achievements.”

“You know, you don’t have to whisper these things to me when the person we’re talking about is literally sitting in front of us,” June whispered into Jay’s ear.

The manager shrugged before leaning closer to June, speaking a bit louder this time.

“I just thought you wanted some information or something. You’re pretty clueless about these things,” he said.

June opened his mouth to argue but realized that Jay was right. He didn’t have a clue who the woman was when she first entered. He would have also never guessed that she was Mr. Ong’s daughter based on how she looked.

It seemed like she took after her mother.

Minzy sat straight, her gaze impartial. June pursed his lips since it seemed like Minzy was a very objective being. Unlike Mari, who was confirmed to be a fan of them, June felt like Minzy was the type of person who didn’t mingle her personal interests into the professional setting.

“Good morning, boys,” Minzy said. “Ted called me here despite my busy schedule to listen to two songs.”

The members turned to each other in surprise.

“Two?” Jay asked, speaking for the members.

Mari smiled at the members of EVE as if to reassure them.

“We also wanted to show her the song we produced. We tweaked it based on your guys’ suggestions,” she said.

Jay sighed in relief when he realized that EVE didn’t have to make two songs.

June, however, was hit with the fact that Ted’s proposed title track still existed. Again, it wasn’t a bad song, but it wasn’t the song for EVE. However, if what Mari had said was right and they had revised it based on EVE’s comments, then he was expecting some improvement.

“Anyway, as I am a very busy person, I believe we don’t have time for any introductions,” Minzy said.

“So, let’s head straight to the listening party. What song are you going to present to me first?” she asked.

“Mine,” Ted quickly said.

Mari turned to him with raised eyebrows, so he cleared his throat as he looked away from her. He was so enthusiastic to go first that he didn’t get to keep his cool persona in front of Mari.

That is if he really did have a cool persona.

Ted just really wanted to go first so he could show EVE how it was really done.

At first, he didn’t even think of revising the song since he felt like the first song he completed was already flawless. However, with Mari’s insistence, he caved in.

“We’re going to show you what we did first,” Ted said, pulling out his laptop and placing it on the table.

Minzy nodded and brought out a small notepad from her bag, prepared to take notes so she could discuss them later.

Ted finally played the song, and the familiar strong intro resounded in the room. June listened intently to what changes they might have made. Fortunately, he was able to pinpoint it right away.

Ted’s signature noise sound was dampened in this particular production. The synths didn’t feel like they were all over the place, so it had a much ‘cleaner’ vibe compared to before.

The tone and lyrics were still the same, talking about being the best, which resonated well with the grandeur feel of the song.

Mari nodded her head to the beat, liking how this song sounded compared to before. Back then, she also felt like it couldn’t be improved further. However, as she revised the song in the studio based on EVE’s comments, she realized that the original song had a lot of flaws.

Zeth, who was also fond of listening to such songs, nodded in acknowledgment as he found himself enjoying this one better.

June kept still and silent, leaning against the couch with a finger below his lower lip.

Then, he glanced at Mari, who seemed to be enjoying the song the most.

‘She must have been the one to implement the changes,’ he thought.

The song ended, and curt claps resonated in the room. June, too, clapped for Mari to praise her for what she had done. It didn’t sound like a song solely produced by Ted anymore. He was glad to be able to break free from that sound.

It also seemed like Mari had taken EVE’s comments very seriously and indeed made the changes based on their comments.

“Well, how is it?” Ted excitedly asked, already knowing that they couldn’t refute it was a great K-pop song.

Jaeyong pursed his lips and glanced at his members.

“It’s an improvement,” Jaeyong said. “I could actually see myself performing this particular song.”

Ted smirked, delighted by the positive comment.

Then, Ted turned to June, wanting to hear his comment too.

The other members, Mari and Minzy, focused on June, too, genuinely curious about what he thought about the song.

June paused for a moment, wanting to build suspense.

“I must say, it really is much better than before,” he honestly said. “It wouldn’t be strange for this song to be in the album.”

“However, I still stand by our song,” June smiled.

“I believe it is still the better option among the two.”

Ted’s smile quickly dropped after June’s comment.

Ted then turned to Minzy with a determined gaze.

“What about you, producer?” he asked, knowing that Minzy also wrote songs that had similar styles to the one that had just played.

Minzy pursed her lips before turning her notepad to a new page. She scribbled plenty of comments for this song, but she felt it wasn’t the time to divulge her thoughts about it.

“I don’t want to give my comments right away,” she said, turning to EVE. ᴡ ᴏᴠʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛʀs ᴀʀ ᴘᴜʙʟsʜᴅ ᴏ Novlꜰre.nt

“Why don’t we hear the next song first and see if it’s really the better option among the two?”