Chapter 9: The Still Young and Shy Her (Part 1)

  Only one chapter today, busy with contract stuff, wasted all the free time in the afternoon, sorry everyone~

  The book has been signed, everyone can rest assured and support it, please recommend and collect ~

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  Rushing to the practice room, there was no one inside. Teacher Li's main job is still a vocal music teacher at Starlight Academy, and this job is just a part-time job entrusted by the company. An Junhe originally had no classes today, and now the class is temporarily arranged, so it's impossible for Teacher Li to wait for him here.

  Before the teacher arrived, An Junhe opened the CD player and played a few songs selected by the teacher for him. With the help of high-quality sound, he carefully listened to the singer's performance, paying attention to the use of breath and long and short tones.

  After so many days, An Junhe finally stopped learning basic knowledge. His biggest problem before was that he got used to the beautiful voice and breath, when singing with resonance, the airflow in his throat had a strong impact and resistance. When using this method to sing pop songs, because his throat was too open, he would easily go out of tune if he wasn't careful. It only worked when singing some high-difficulty emotional songs.

  Another is resonance, the practice of beautiful voice makes him unconsciously mobilize all his physical strength when singing, forming multiple resonant areas to unify the vocal register, and the volume is relatively large even if intentionally lowered. When singing with a white mouth, there is no feeling, but once facing the microphone... The strong penetrating power can destroy the flavor of all songs.

  Fortunately, the practice during this period allowed him to get rid of these bad habits and start adapting to changing his breathing method in actual performances, no longer being so full and getting closer to true voice.

  The beautiful melody of the song in the CD player kept looping, Ahn Jun-hee had a great memory, he had also learned quick memorization techniques while in the military, and during exams, he could memorize a 1000-word document in one minute and recite it perfectly a day later.

  This trait helped him a lot and at least made his learning much easier.

  After several repetitions, he remembered the breathing positions of each song. An Junhe turned off the CD player and was about to try singing himself when the door behind him slowly opened. A middle-aged man with slightly curly hair and a gentle smile walked in. An Junhe was startled and quickly stood up, "Hello!"

  "Hello, is An Junhe here?" The middle-aged man asked politely with a nod and a smile.

  "Yes! I am, and who are you?" An Junhe was a bit surprised, he glanced at the middle-aged man's chest, where there was no work badge, indicating that he was not a company employee, and he didn't know how he got in, nor did he know his name.

  It seemed that he had noticed Ahn Jun-hee's line of sight, and the middle-aged man smiled and introduced himself: "My name is Jeong Soon-won, I'm a colleague of Teacher Lee. She couldn't make it today, so she asked me to substitute for her... didn't she call you?"

  "Phone?" An Junhe hastily pulled out his mobile phone, but found that it was out of power. He smiled apologetically: "Sorry, no electricity." And invited: "Teacher, please come in!"

  "Trouble!" The middle-aged man bowed slightly and politely, but first beckoned to someone behind him, "Taeyeon, come!"

  A girl with a small braid, about 14 or 15 years old, with round and chubby cheeks, came out from behind him in a reserved manner. She looked a bit tense, her hands were clenched together as if she didn't know where to put them, and her eyes, hidden behind black-framed glasses, dared not look directly at Ahn Jun-hee, but instead stared at his feet. She bowed and said: "S...senior, hello... my name is Kim Tae-hyun, please take care of me."

  The whole person is timid and unfamiliar, roughly along the way, the strict rules and tense atmosphere in the company make the girl unaccustomed.

  An Junhe thought for a moment and smiled warmly: "You're good too! Judging from your accent, are you from Jeollabuk-do?"

  While speaking, he invited the two to come in and sit down, and brought out tea and fruit. This practice room was usually only used by him, it was a privilege that Quan Baogen had fought for, because no one else came in, plus the frequent vocal exercises required replenishing fluids, these things were indispensable, now they just happened to be used to entertain guests.

  The girl's small hands held the scalding teacup, as if the intense warmth brought her some sense of security. Although she still looked cautious, her speech was no longer stuttering like before. "Yes, I am from Quanzhou."

  "Oh? That's quite far from Hancheng, how long have you been in Hancheng?" An Junhe tried to use a casual tone to ease the girl's tension. He had always been good at gauging the situation and making people feel at ease, a skill he had honed from his experience working in the tourism industry, where the goal was to make customers feel like they were basking in a warm spring breeze.

  Although it was just on the surface.

  "She's still living in Jeonju, not in Seoul." Next to him, teacher Jung Soon-yuan explained: "Taeyeon is my student. Usually her dad drives her here for vocal lessons. Today was supposed to be her lesson day, but Teacher Lee asked me to rush and her dad couldn't make it on time to pick her up, so I brought her here without permission. I hope Ahn Jun-hee will forgive me."

  "No, teacher is being too polite. To be honest, I should be the one thanking Tae-yeon for her patience." Ahn Jun-hee smiled and said to Tae-yeon, who was quietly observing him: "Sorry, I've taken up your study time."

  The girl hastily lowered her head, and a pink color suddenly floated up on her milk-white skin, stuttering: "N-no... no need, senior... don't be polite..."

  "Alright, let's get started!" Zheng Chunyuan saw Tae-yeon getting nervous again and quickly changed the subject to avoid her getting flustered. In his heart, he couldn't help but sigh. He actually really liked this disciple of his - her voice was rich and powerful with great penetration, not like a child's at all. She could be said to be a born singer, it's just that unfortunately she was a bit introverted, never liking to speak much, and unable to let loose in unfamiliar environments. If she didn't overcome this habit, her future achievements would be limited.

  Thinking of this, he looked at Ahn Jun-hee who was waiting respectfully in front of him for guidance, and suddenly envied Teacher Li. If Tae-yeon had half the level of treating people with courtesy as this boy did, he would be satisfied.

  Shaking his head slightly, he dispelled the thoughts in his mind and began to chat with An Junhe, "Teacher Li has briefly told me about your current foundation, but since I haven't experienced it personally, I don't have any intuitive impression... So, just now before you came in, I heard you singing a song, was that a practice piece chosen by Teacher Li?"

  An Junhe nodded and handed the CD to Zheng Chunyuan.

  The middle-aged man looked at the directory, hesitated and said: "Hmm... these few songs are all high requirements for breath conversion, may be very difficult for beginners, but like you who have practiced bel canto, singing them is very easy... Teacher Li chose them to let you practice, is it to adjust your bel canto voice area conversion habit?"

  "Yes, in the past my tone was too uniform and couldn't bring out the flavor of pop songs. Now I have grasped some of the breath of pop singing methods, and my teacher chose these songs for me to learn from."

  "Ah, the method is great!" Zheng Chunyuan commented, "Teacher Li and you have similar experiences, both transitioning from classical to popular music halfway through. The method she chose must be the most suitable for you, I won't overstep my bounds. So, are you now familiar with these few songs?"

  "That's about it." An Junhe replied.

  "Oh?" Zheng Chunyuan looked at him with great interest, nodded, and was about to say something when he suddenly saw the books on An Junhe's desk. His eyes lit up as he picked them up.

  Those are several textbooks on basic music theory and harmony, basic music theory is a required course for vocal study, even the most basic score reading must be learned through it, which is not a big deal, but harmony makes Zheng Chunyuan frown.

  He flipped through the book, which wasn't new. Some pages had notes written on them in different handwriting and ink colors, with the older ones likely from several years ago, while the newer ones were added recently, mostly supplementing some of the previous notes.

  On the last page, a line of cursive signature similar to the previous handwriting made Zheng Chunyuan's eyes fixed.

  "What is...?" He looked at An Junhe.

  An Junhe took a glance and smiled, "Ah, this is the textbook that Kangta sunbae used when he was learning composition in the past. The company asked sunbae to bring it over, so I can get familiar with it first. After completing my vocal lessons, I'll start learning composition from sunbae, and later on, I might also learn production from Yoon Jong Shin teacher."

  Upon hearing his response, Zheng Chunyuan was taken aback. As an employee of S·M Company, he was well aware of the company's way of doing things. Since HOT, the company had accumulated more mature experience in training artists, and every arrangement for a trainee had deep meaning. In an environment where debut was the top priority, the company would go to great lengths to tap into the potential of promising trainees - all for the sake of creating greater commercial value!

  And since the company has arranged for An Junhe to study composition, it means that this boy is indeed valued by the company and has that potential.

  If that was all, Jeong Soon-won would have been just a little surprised. People with talent are rare, but not unheard of. What scared him was the teacher arranged by the company for Ahn Jun-ho.

  Kangta, a former member of H.O.T and now the top artist of the company, is someone that the company would give up shares to keep. And Yoo Young-jin, although ordinary people may not know who he is, as an insider, Jung Sung-yoon understands the powerful influence this name represents. It can be said that at least half of SM's current glory and its ability to lead the K-pop trend is thanks to Yoo Young-jin - a true heavyweight in the Korean music industry, a top producer whose style has infected an entire company and left his personal mark on it.

  If two such people were arranged as teachers to instruct a student, then how great would that student's potential be?

  Zheng Chunyuan couldn't imagine it, he was stunned for a moment, suddenly feeling that teaching such a student was really stressful, and... also very tempting!

  Jung Sun-won's eyes gleamed fiercely, lost in thought, and it took him a while to look away from the textbook in his hand. He handed several books back to Ahn Joon-hee, stood up and said: "Ahn Joon-hee, wait for a moment, I'll go make a phone call."

  "Yes, sir! Please go ahead!"

  In Ahn Jun-hee's still respectful voice, Jeong Soon-won quickly stepped out the door and went down the dimly lit corridor of the basement to the stairwell. Looking around to make sure no one was there, he pulled out his phone and dialed a string of numbers.

  "Hello? Is this Teacher Li? I'm Zheng Chunyuan. I'd like to discuss something with you..."