Chapter 295

Fellow singers said that what was truly terrifying about Seo Yuseong was that, despite delivering explosive high notes on every stage thanks to his powerful vocal range, it never sounded like he was straining or screaming.

Listening to Seo Yuseong sing felt almost like listening to an instrumental performance.

It wasn’t just giving abstract praise like, ‘ His voice is an instrument .’

“Overcoming countless obstacles

Running towards a higher peak”

Seo Yuseong’s vocal was always hauntingly clear. No matter what note he sang, it felt as natural as sound from an instrument made to produce it.

‘It’s only possible because even at the highest note he can hit, his voice never cracks or wavers in pitch.’

A blessed voice, flawless pitch and rhythm, proper vocal technique, and a personality that never got nervous in any situation—these were what made that unbelievable feat possible. That guy was even praised to the point where people said that while other singers might somehow manage to hit Seo Yuseong’s notes, singing them like Seo Yuseong was next to impossible.

In the early days, he was criticized for ‘lacking emotion ‘ due to his inherent limitations, but even that didn’t last long.

└ Seo Yuseong : Cry!

Me : Sob sob

[He already had perfect vocal technique, and now he’s even learned how to pour emotion into his singing … this is pure bliss. Seo Yuseong is the real God of Vocals … I’m getting all emotional by myself at this hour]

[Was Seo Yuseong always this good at expressing emotion? T_T I guess emotional depth really does come with age and experience. The song is so good. Maybe it hits even harder because he used to be so emotionally reserved]

Like hell that gets better with age.

As far as I can remember, Seo Yuseong was always like that. Even if someone was sobbing and making a scene right in front of him, his mind would be off somewhere else. He never understood why song lyrics were always about breakups and wallowing in misery.

If he had met an incompetent producer, Seo Yuseong might have ended up being a singer who was only good at hitting high notes until the very end.

“Look in the mirror. Put your strength here and here.”

“…….”

“If you don’t understand, then memorize it, like choreography.”

But who do you think Seo Yuseong’s producer was?

I had no intention of letting Seo Yuseong’s talent go to waste like that.

“In the climax part, let your breath tremble just a little, got it? Like you’re about to sneeze, squeeze out a tear or two. Since you can’t act, make it look like you’re holding back emotion, lower your head now and then to hide your face. And when you lower the mic, do it with some intensity like this.”

Since most human emotions were expressed through muscle movements anyway, with enough practice, they could be imitated as much as needed. For example, trembling breaths, reddened eyes, and slightly furrowed brows—arranged just right, they could be used to convey sadness.

‘That’s how Choi Jeokhyeon fooled people…….’

Seo Yuseong lacked the ability to read which emotions to express in a given moment, which made it difficult to apply this method in everyday situations. But when it came to singing, the emotions required were clearly defined by genre, and every performance came with time to practice, so he was fully capable of performing those emotions with a high level of mastery.

‘That’s exactly why he shows up on that veteran singer competition program and ends up winning.’

Seo Yuseong had Baek Kiryang’s precision in pitch and tempo, Nagi Zen’s guts to completely display his capabilities on stage, stage presence that surpassed Lee Hwayoung’s, and a vocal range even more explosive than Do Yuda’s.

In other words, that guy didn’t have a single weakness, not at all.

‘…Except for his personality.’

People said there was always someone flying above the one who ran 1 . If anyone were to put real pressure on the members of Prism, a group saturated with talent, they would’ve had to be at least that good, right?

Could the public ever be satisfied with another singer’s cover, no matter how hard they tried, when the song had once been completely dominated by such a monster?

‘Usually, cover performances take a completely different approach from the original to avoid direct comparison as much as possible, but…….’

For a veteran idol, having performed as much as the length of their career was only to be expected.

Prism had done so many concerts and year-end shows that we probably couldn’t even remember them all, and each time, we performed a newly arranged version of Domination . Finding a version that felt different? Not a chance. At this point, they were already lucky if they didn’t get hit with, “Huh, Prism already did this version ” or “ Oof, here come the comparisons again ”.

‘Meanwhile, the members of Prism only kept getting more used to Domination with every performance, so their skills kept improving too.’

Even putting aside how hard Seo Yuseong’s part was, if you were to ask whether the other members’ parts were any easier, the answer would still be no .

When the members of Prism first heard Domination , their reactions were as follows.

“…Hyung, are you trying to quit smoking right now? Or maybe you’ve been under a lot of stress lately…….”

The first thing Cha Woon did was question my mental state. He seemed to think that I was annoyed as hell and had composed the song to vent my stress.

“No.”

“Then, are you upset with us about something?”

Actually, he wasn’t completely wrong.

At the time, I was pissed off as hell because of Seo Yuseong, and Domination was basically me channeling that anger. It was my way of telling him to go through some hardship. The other members just got hit by the stray sparks.

“…This is gonna take at least two weeks.”

Lee Chise didn’t show much of a reaction. He quietly listened to the song with a calm, composed expression, then went straight into the studio. It wasn’t until a little under two weeks later that he reappeared, looking slightly thinner, and let me hear what he’d been working on.

“How about you take a listen? If you don’t like it, I’ll rewrite it.”

Honestly, when I first heard that rap, which went so far beyond anything I could have imagined, I got chills.

In that moment, I knew I couldn’t have made a better choice.

“Am I imagining things, or are there actually consecutive high C5s in my part? I’m not even part of the vocal line.”

“…It was unavoidable. Right before that is Jo Inchan’s part, and right after are the vocal line’s shouting ad-libs.”

“Oh, so there is more shouting planned? I looked at the sheet and thought the highest note was a D5. Well, I was the only one you spared, so I should just be grateful. Alright, got it.”

Nam Yihwon gave up quickly. His big mouth caused issues, as usual, but he somehow managed to get it done in the end.

‘At that time, he probably didn’t have enough practice time because he was starring in another singer’s music video, but seeing him pull it off every time without any fuss, I have to say, he’s really impressive.’

“Hyung, you’re moving around the most in the choreography. Did you plan it like this on purpose to make it easier for us…….”

“I like this song, hyung. You’re seriously amazing. If we perform this song on stage, it’ll be so cool, right?”

Jo Inchan gave an awkward smile at first, but soon, as he seemed to like the song and choreography, he immersed himself in the practice with a refreshed expression.

“Anyway, it’s something we have to do. The song is unbelievably good, so we can’t just throw it away just because we can’t handle it.”

“…Hyung, give me the practice video. The dance break is difficult, so I need to copy it as soon as possible. I don’t want to be a hindrance.”

At that time, Yoo Jay seemed to have become very sensitive. He probably even sacrificed sleep, gritting his teeth and replaying my videos over and over to catch up to me.

‘Looking back, that guy was seriously tenacious.’

In that way, Domination went through the longest preparation period of any song in Prism’s history.

The song recording and music video were actually completed much faster than other tracks, but the long preparation time meant that the members had invested a lot of time into practice.

‘Those guys, who were already ridiculously talented, put in that much effort, so how could the juniors even hope to catch up?’

As if to reward that effort, Domination became our biggest hit of all time, and the song became a source of pride for both Prism and Sera.

As a result, even after the comeback period ended, we naturally had no choice but to keep performing our biggest hit, Domination , and with each performance, the members’ skills continued to grow without limit.

‘It wasn’t what I intended, but thanks to that song, the members’ skills improved immensely.’

[I can’t forget this taste, so I keep coming back]

[Wow ha ha ha as expected, nobody can touch the original artist. Watching the cover stage, and then seeing the original, the level is completely different]

└ Prism is a legend, Prism is a legend, Prism is a legend

[Prism has already served it up in so many different styles, so why bother watching cover performances? Ah, just join the fandom and enjoy whatever they’re giving us, haha]

[Honestly, even if another group covers it well, it all feels like a cursed version of Domination to me. I’ve seen Prism’s performance, so now I can’t be satisfied with anything else. What should I do?]

└ Yep, even the group that did really well last time still got compared and made fun of. If they can’t do it like Prism, they shouldn’t do it. Since no one can do it, just don’t even try

└ For real, now covering Domination either looks like a way to show respect for Prism or just overconfidence in their own skills. There are no other interpretations

With the original artists having already brought the song to the peak, it was really difficult for later performers to receive good reviews.

In the end, due to the disastrous failures of several groups, the public came to see Domination as the ‘ Idol Execution Song ‘. Whenever they heard that someone was going to cover it, they would smirk and adopt the attitude of “ Let’s see just how badly they mess this up “.

But now they’re going to take these cute little baby chicks and force them to cover that song?

‘This competition is going to be a real shitshow.’

This was a case where the program was so successful that the production team got carried away and crossed the line. They went and did something that was completely beyond saving.

‘Did they honestly think they were doing well, feeling proud with themselves without even realizing the mess they made?’

I let out a deep sigh as I watched the production team’s faces, smiling in satisfaction at the reactions of the stunned cast.

“Haa…….”

I knew the Pantheion members’ skills were outstanding, and I was also proud of them, so I tended to say “ we can do it ” in most situations. I believed it would also help boost their confidence.

‘It’s hopeless, really.’

But if I, of all people, said it wasn’t possible, then it was simply impossible.

See, even Lee Hwayoung looks troubled this time, doesn’t he?

“…….”

The members of Prism were probably just chuckling to themselves since it was someone else’s problem, but I was different. I had to somehow lead these chicks to perform a cover of Domination .

This competition wasn’t an opportunity to show off our skills, but more like a crisis we had to overcome by any means necessary.

If we didn’t want to get completely screwed over and ridiculed, we had to weather this crisis properly.

‘…How am I supposed to solve this?’

As I rolled my eyes at the thought, the other cast members came into view.

“…….”

‘If the problem is being compared to Prism, then we just need to set up a different comparison target.’

Ah, there were plenty.

The sacrificial lambs who would take the fall in place of Prism.

Why? It happened sometimes, right? When there was one decent person among a group of people who were terrible, you’d end up thinking, ‘ Well, that guy was the only one who survived ’.

Pantheion was going to be that guy .

It was impossible to surpass Prism. But at the very least, we have to defeat the other groups by a landslide.

I made this song to tell my cubs not to lose no matter where they go … and now they’re going to lose with this song ?

To the cubs from another group, no less?

‘F**k, that’s unacceptable.’

“Heh, haha, hahahaha!”

As I hung my head low and let out quiet, snickering laughs, Do Yuda spoke to me with an ominous look on his face.

“Hyung, didn’t you say you would entrust Legendary Singer to us…….”

“Get up.”

“Whuh?”

I cut off his babbling sharply and shot him a deadly glare. Do Yuda looked up at me, his face blank like a talking potato. I grabbed the crown of the foolish dog who still hadn’t come to his senses, yanked him up like I was pulling out a radish, then turned to stare down the terrified members as if I were about to eat them alive.

“Practice is the only way to live. Anyone who falls behind will be thrown out the practice room window.”

“…….”

“We’re going to be the only group to survive Domination.”

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Translator’s Corner:

A whole chapter talking about Seo Yuseong … you guys used to pray for times like this

Also a mouse just got into my room (it somehow fell from the rooftop … and now I don’t know where it is, it’s hiding somewhere … if anyone have any idea how to drive a mouse out 101, please share….

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