Chapter 150: Happy Together

[Sierra’s POV]

Ji Yong wasn’t around to watch me record today. The session got a bit boring, but since it was the pop-rock song, ‘Wut?!’, we were doing today, the energy level was still up.

“Let’s take it from the top again, Sierra,” the producer said, and they cued the music.

The loud, catchy drumbeats of the intro played, and I sang my bit for the intro.

[drumbeats]
Wut…

[drumbeats]
Wut… wut…

[short drum solo]
I say, wut!

Here’s a smile, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
Here’s a touch, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]

Here’s a kiss, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
Here’s my love, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]

My arm’s getting tired
I’m sick of your whining
You never seem to change
Why bother to keep trying

[Rap]
You mumble to me all the time
You seem like I’ll eat you alive
I really, really need a man
I can’t keep saying… WUT?!

I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me

Hold my hand, come closer now
Why are you so afraid? [Bad dog, bad dog]
It’s been so long and still no kiss
Why are you so afraid? [Bad dog, bad dog]

You stand 2 feet away
You hardly ever touch me
You keep shying away
Why do we even bother to…

[Rap]
You’d better man-up today
Stop acting like the girl
I’m tired of wearing the pants
And I can’t keep saying… WUT?!

I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me

Boy, I really do think you’re fine
But you’re causing me to lose my mind
Boy, I need someone to take charge of me
I need a man, so man up, or I’ll go crazy

You gotta speak up, man up, tough up, baby…

WUT?!

I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me

I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me

One last time, or goodbye, boy, I mean it!

WUT?!

“Very good, Sierra,” the producer said. “We just need you to repeat the last chorus. More energy, and at ‘I mean it!’ it should be a bit more high pitched.”

“Ne,” I replied, and we redid it.

From the day the song was slated to be part of my album, there had been a disagreement about it between some of the producers. Some are afraid that it may not pass the censors because of the lyrics. They find that the reference to the guy in the song as a dog was pretty harsh and demeaning.

“Come on!” Ji Yong said when they were discussing it again during our second recording session for this song.

It was Saturday. We were only supposed to come in, put in the finishing touches under Ji Yong’s supervision, and then we could go, but the other producers held us back after, proposing that we changed the lyrics and recorded again.

“But the song is different because it defies convention,” Ji Yong pointed out. “Do you have a problem singing the lyrics?”

“It does make me look like a total bad girl, but I think if we keep the lyrics, we will have more freedom of ideas when we’re filming the MV.”

“Keuraejyo!” Ji Yong exclaimed.

The management had decided to make a huge production. 1 MV will be out in time for the awards, but we will follow up the mini album with an MV for each song; even the cover of Sarangha-o. It was a pretty big project, and very daunting since it will be the first time I’m doing MVs on my own. Apart from that, there will be those live solo performances on Music Bank, Inkigayo and other music programs.

“So you’re not afraid your reputation will take a hit with this song?” one of the producers asked me.

“This is nothing compared to some other songs I’ve seen,” I replied.

“I think we can leave the song as it is,” Shi Kyung hyung said.

“If you are all in agreement, we will go ahead. But if anything goes wrong, you’re all responsible.”

The album will be released with ‘Crazy II’ as the title track and ‘Wut?!’ as the 2nd song to be performed with it. The MV for ‘Crazy II’ will be the first to be released, and just before the awards, the MV for ‘Wut?!’ will follow. Seung Hyun will star in ‘Crazy II’, and they’re still looking for a guy to star in ‘Wut?!’. The initial concept for the mini album would be a bad girl image.

After ‘Wut?!’, the next songs up for huge promotional activities are ‘This Is My Life’ and ‘Sarangha-o’. For these 2 songs, it will be a softer, more feminine image, to highlight my singing abilities. They’re pushing for Jae Joong to clear a spot in his schedule and come back to film a video for ‘Sarangha-o’. ‘This Is My Life’ will be a documentary MV filled with videos taken during the time I’m recording this mini album, which means that Ji Yong and Seung Hyun will appear briefly in the footage, eliminating the need to actually get anyone to guest star in the MV.

“I’ve been cheated,” Ji Yong complained when he heard about the MV concept. “I demand to be paid more.”

“You don’t have to allot any time from your schedule just for the MV, that’s earning you double money just doing 1 job,” I pointed out.

“Molla, molla!” he pretended to sulk. “I demand more! I’m G-Dragon, yo!”

“Hey… I’m not the one who’s paying,” I shrugged, and walked off.

“Yah!” he yelled, then broke into laughter.

The last 2 songs, ‘Cutting the Strings’ and ‘Make Me’ will simply have MVs as a promotional channel. They’re not planning for me to make any live performances for them. The good news was they were trying to sell these songs to some companies for CFs. If the deal goes through, there may even be a CF contract for me.

The meeting had ended and I was packing in frenzy since I was late to meet Jae Joong. He’d touched down an hour earlier, and was probably on his way to the studios.

“Whoa!” Ji Yong exclaimed. “Where are you running off to? Are the police after you?”

“I’m late,” I said as I slung my bag on my shoulder and gathered up my files and sweater.

“To meet your hunny-bunny?” he teased.

“Yesss…” I laughed.

“Aight!” he smiled. “See ya!”

“Bye,” I said and dashed out the door.

I got downstairs and he was already there, waiting for me. He doesn’t always call when he arrives, especially when he knows I’m working. I automatically opened the front passenger seat and was taken aback to see someone sitting there.

“Annyong!” he waved.

It was Tae Goon, Jae Joong’s friend.

“Annyong!” Jae Joong leaned across him to wave at me as well.

“What’s he doing in my seat?” I joked.

“He brought me my car,” Jae Joong said.

“Taseyo,” Tae Goon said, getting out so that I could get in.

I got in the front, and Tae Goon went to sit in the back.

“So…” I turned around to face Tae Goon. “Where are we dropping you off?”

“You’re so mean!” he exclaimed, and I just laughed.

“That’s how I like her,” Jae Joong said and reached for my hand.

“What? You like mean girls?” Tae Goon said.

“When she’s mean to other guys,” Jae Joong added.

“Ah… so that they won’t fall for her,” he said.

“They still do,” I smiled slyly, “even when I treat them badly.”

“Ha… ha…” Jae Joong laughed sarcastically.

“Your girlfriend is very funny,” Tae Goon laughed.

“Yes, she is,” Jae Joong replied. “But don’t fall for her.”

“I’ll try,” Tae Goon said, still laughing.

“Where are we going to?” I asked.

“Tae Goon found this game-bang with really nice food,” Jae Joong said.

“Game room?” I asked.

“Yea…” he said.

“Board games?” I asked.

“They have some game consoles also. Let’s see what we can get,” Jae Joong said.

“Okay,” I said. “You guys decide. I’m just coming along for the ride.”

Tae Goon debut earlier this year, and did pretty well. Jae Joong actually guest starred in his MV and the girl in the MV cheated on him with Tae Goon. We all thought it was pretty hilarious that Jae Joong played the jealous, cuckolded boyfriend. After the MV aired, the fans went crazy and had a field day hating on the poor girl for cheating on Jae Joong in the MV.

“So what are you working on today, nuna?” Tae Goon asked me.

“You haven’t heard?” I said.

“I know it’s a mini album. So what song was it today?” he asked.

“Pop-rock,” I said.

“Oh… nice. I’m looking forward to seeing how the MV will turn out,” he said, then a light bulb lit up in my head.

“Tae Goon,” I said.

“Ne?” he replied.

“What’s your schedule like these days?” I asked.

“Some TV and radio shows, and working on my album,” he said.

“Would you like to co-star in my MV?” I asked him.

“What?” Jae Joong and Tae Goon exclaimed together.

“I’ll tell you about the concept when we get to the game-bang,” I said.

We got there, and it was a small shop with many little cubicles done up in a traditional Korean home style. There were no doors on each cubicle, but because it was a step up, and each had walls going all the way up, it felt like a small room. A short table was set up in the middle of the cubicle for the board game cubicles, and for the video game cubicles, which were a little bigger, the short table served as a stand for the television and game console at the end of the cubicle. There were cushions strewn all over the floors, since there were no chairs. You had to take off your shoes before entering the cubicle.

“What do you wanna do?” Jae Joong asked me.

“I dunno… you guys pick,” I said.

They picked a Wii room, hoping to entice me to play with them later on.

“How do you work this?” I said as I fiddled with the controller.

“First, we create a character for you,” Tae Goon said, and took the controller from me.

The 2 guys proceeded to browse through all possible combinations of the female mini-me looking characters.

“She has short hair!” Tae Goon exclaimed when Jae Joong chose long hair.

“I like her with long hair too,” he said, and confirmed it.

It took them more than 10 minutes to configure my character, and this place charged by the hour. Our food and drinks came within15 minutes. Since I hadn’t had lunch, I ordered ramyun while the guys had kimbap and some other snacks.

“So what’s the proposal?” Tae Goon asked me.

Jae Joong was playing some single player game so that Tae Goon could talk to me first.

“That Pop-Rock song… the concept is a bad girl, and a nice guy. The guy is so nice that he drives the girl crazy because she thinks he’s not being a man.

“This song is Pop-Rock?” he asked again. “But the theme sounds so mature.”

“The MV is not gonna be serious. It’s gonna be fun, and crazy, but you may have to do some silly stuff.”

“Silly stuff?” he raised and eyebrow.

“I like it already,” Jae Joong quipped, his eyes still trained on the television screen. “You made me the fool in your MV, now my girl makes you the fool in hers.”

“Oh… so this is revenge?” Tae Goon laughed.

“No… I just thought it would be fun to do it with someone I know. But I’ll have to warn you,” I said.

“About?”

“The lyrics, and the silly stuff,” I said.

“Now you’re scaring me.”

I took out my mp4 player and handed the earphones to him. He put them on, and I played him a sample track from the song. He listened with a straight face for awhile. When the song came to the first verse, he burst out laughing.