Yuyeon then called Seonho back as she got out and informed Lee Joowon about Xion and Jiu, and asked him to prepare for immediate precautions.
Lee Joowon was caught speechless as he then nodded in understanding as he implicitly said " please take care of my daughter well " to Yuyeon.
"I will, but you have to be prepared to, if and only if someone else will come in the future, as i know that my son will not only have one girl with that looks that he has, today might be because he is impulsive and still controlled but how if someone else came strong at him that he can't resist..
But rest assured, i am pretty sure two is the best he can handle, no more since i believe Yiren will put big restraint on him as his sister", she replied shortly.
Lee Joowon then replied, "I understand clearly.. That night, Yuyeon became restless.. "Xion-ah… if only your memory is still intact, you will not be courting girls at this moment…"
Three days later, Xion was back at the DCC office and met with Lee Joowon. The later talks with Xion mostly asked about his condition and some random talks about Idol life. Lee Joowon then played Xion's last performance in Boys Republic and analyzed it with Xion.
" Xion, the song you sing in it is…. Not K-pop. it has a thick hip-hop and rock style which is our company's trademark but I am sure it is not K-pop. The sound texture is new, the composition is great, but it is really lax in diversity that is usually depicted in K-pop.
" Let me give you examples. He then played some songs with a Latin vibe, and then asked do you know this song? Yes, I know them well, the first one is Puerto Rico's Reggaeton, the second one is Bachata from Santo Domingo. Can you differentiate it? asked Lee Joowon, Xion pondered it for a while.. then point out the difference, this part this part this repeat is the base of Reggaeton, while Bachata is here, here and this part of singing here…
Lee Joowon replied " good… that is the difference.. Now here is Los Angeles music… Here is Quebec music, here is Yogyakarta music, Here is Bangkok, here is Osaka , here is London music, Lee Joowon then played songs from different cities across the world which had a significant impact on music industries for the past 20 years.
Xion just listens carefully and tries to differentiate the beat and rhythm in each song.. now let me put your song and you can compare it with K-pop or another Korean music.
After listening to the song, Xion now understands why Lee Joowon didn't put his song as a K-pop song. Indeed his music is more like western music rather than eastern style, the basic beat on kpop can be heard faintly in the background of the song, but in Xion's it dominates every part which brings more edge towards western where in Kpop you have to mix the base sound with many types of beats to make an irregular cadence but still in sync with the new addition of sound later.
Every several beats, a new sound is added in K-pop creating something new, but still maintaining the original style.
Xion pondered for a while, reflecting on the lesson that he got from Lee Joowon. Outside the building, two young men are talking to each other. One is laughing, apparently mocking the others.
"You can't even create a story and just cry straight forward.. look at the comments online, they think you just lost your country or what.." Shut up, at least I am not called a stern chicken like you, at least my reason seems grand and majestic, but you… they bashed you as a stern faced chicken…" both of them then laughed hard as they approached the DCC building.
They then entered the building and looked for Xion. Xion was informed and he tells CEO Lee that some potential team member for his group is coming, CEO Lee then called his staff to bring the two young men to his office.
That day Yuyeon got back to Hongkong but she insisted Xion to just focus on his schedules
When the two men entered the room, CEO Lee just smiled and asked them to take a seat. Xion then introduced them to CEO Lee. "CEO-nim, this one here is Yeonjun and the other is Ravn, they are here because i wanted them to join me in my upcoming group.
They are also members from Boys Republic that I scouted out for myself.. They then greeted the CEO as Lee Joowon asked them about their contract with their agency..
Yeonjun then said that his agency had already filed for bankruptcy and he himself became a free agent as he withdrew from the competition, Ravn just told that his company kicked him out as they watched himself crying on national tv because he can't explain a thing and decided to focus their energy for supporting his ex-company member Chan who are still in Boys Republic.
Lee Joowon then asked his staff to do some background check on both of them as per usual and then chatted a bit with the trio. Lee Joowon then asked them to prepare a concept for their group and asked if they wanted to have more members, he then told them to go to the meeting room to talk among themselves.
The trio then left the room as Xion took them to the meeting room for their internal discussion. One hour later, a staff member confirmed to Lee Joowon that Yeonjun and Ravn didn't have any contract and what they told has been confirmed as truth, and they can be applied as trainees too.
Xion was talking to Yeonjun and Ravn," what do you envision for our group? Do you want to add another member? Yeonjun and Ravn were confused with Xion's question since it was uncommon for a trainee to ask that, but they just voiced their mind.
I want a four member group, at least we can add one more member, three people is kinda odd for me, Ravn then continues. I want a dance based group too, since it is my forte except Rap. How about any requirements Yeonjun? Xion asked.. I don't know, do you have any suggestions yourself? Yeonjun countered Xion.
Well, I have big plans but it will be hard on you guys.. but i won't talk about it now, i want us to focus on finding another member first before. Let's check up our friend list and ask them if they want to be with them. Yeonjun then texted his friend and fellow trainees, as did Ravn. Feeling bored, Xion then asked them to go out. He then called Seonho to bring them to Hongdae for sightseeing and scouting.
All four of them then go sightseeing in Hongdae, but after 3 hours, the mood is bad since they can't sum up their thoughts. Seonho then asked them what's wrong.. Xion then explained that they are looking for another member for the team, but got no answers from anyone as it seems like people are ignoring them.
Seonho then told them that he knows someone who can sing and is looking for a company to join but he is not in Seoul but in Tokyo, he was his former artist before their company disbanded the team because of bankruptcy way back.
He was an ex-athlete turned idol trainee under Seonho but since his plan was canceled, he then got back to Tokyo. They then go back to the meeting room and then call the one that Seonho mentioned.
Seonho then called Kazuhiko Ranmaru, which the latter accepted and then Xion took over the conversation. "Can you sing, Xion asked.. Ranmaru then replied yes i can sing a bit, since I also trained to be an idol in Seoul. '' Ranmaru then does a small audition in front of Xion, Yeonjun and Ravn which earns their approval, but Xion wasn't satisfied, he then continues, "do you have other talent? Ranmaru then thought hard… Well since i got back from Seoul, i've been practicing playing the drums for 1 year now, i am thinking of becoming a drummer lately.. he then played the drum and got another round of applause from Yeonjun and Ravn.
Xion then extended his invitation to Kazuhiko Ranmaru to come to Seoul, but he seemed hesitant, he then asked to talk to Seonho in private for a while. Seonho then told Xion that he didn't have the capital to go back to Seoul even though he really wanted it.
He only has some money from busking here and there and it barely suffices for his living.
Xion understood and told Seonho to handle it well, Seonho understood the meaning and told Kazuhiko Ranmaru to prepare to come to Seoul as Seonho will handle his living as long as he is in Seoul.
While on the topic too, Xion asked Seonho to handle Yeonjun and Ravn passports too.
Yeonjun and Ravn feel awkward with Xion's action but the latter just brushes it off as his thanksgiving for both of their trust in him. Three days later, all three of them plus Seonho are going to Incheon Airport to pick Kazuhiko Ranmaru and meet him face to face for the first time.
After they settle Kazuhiko's lodging, they go to the DCC office to meet with Lee Joowon. An audition is held for Yeonjun, Kazuhiko and Ravn, just like Xion's audition. Yeonjun and Ravn passed the audition nicely but Kazuhiko barely passed the minimum bar.
It can't be helped since he's out of training for a year already, but it was not a problem since his basics are sturdy enough. After Xion made sure that the group was OK and got the green light from Lee Joowon, Xion then spoke to his group members about their debut plan that Lee Joowon and Xion already envisioned way back when Xion first entered the company..
That day, Kazuhiko Ranmaru used Ran as his stage name.
Another month has passed as Xion, Yeonjun, Ran and Ravn trained together. 4 other female trainees are introduced to the team, they are Juhyeon, Inhye, Miihi and Xuanyi.
The group will be led by Xion, but the co-leader is Yeonjun and Juhyeon. The team has several sub-unit inside such as the Vocal team which consist of Xion, Ran, Xuanyi and Miihi.
The Rap team Is Yeonjun, Ravn, Inhye and Juhyeon. All of them are required to join the Dance team performance. The group will have 4 sub-unit making it into one group, with the name Pandora, and male unit will be Orpheus and the female unit will be Nyx. The vocal team will be Eurus and the rap team will be Zephyr.