I am a Pioneer

Hyun-Shik needs a Hand

4 days later, our three-man group practice is about to begin. But we have one small issue to deal with first. The confidence of Hyun-Shik. Entering the room, we all placed our bags in a corner. While Hyun-Shik got the music ready. We began stretching. At the same time, I was trying to come up with the best way to execute the final stage of my plan. I had been secretly recording Hyun-Shik over the last few days and had collated quite the collection of clips showing him bossing it as a leader and trainer. I had taken snippets of songs that we had practised with him supporting and without showing him the comparison. My goal was to show him exactly what his strengths were, and that the team needed him. I needed to show him that he had talent, it just wasn't exactly what he considered talent currently.

Hyun-Shik had finished getting the song ready. I decided that now was my best chance. I grabbed the lyric sheet from my bag and sat down in the corner and began to sing the lyrics. Purposely mucking certain areas up. Areas that I knew Hyun-Shik could achieve perfection in if he tried.

"You sound a little flat here. Try shifting your tone up a little bit" Hyun-Shik advises.

"I can't. My range can get there. But switching from way up in my head voice to immediately using a c note in the mid-tone is a little hard. If I'm not mixing voices to fade into, it won't sound good" I reply. This, of course, is completely true. Without mixing the voices as I change down notes it will have quite the jarring effect. I am completely able to do this, but Hyun-Shik doesn't need to know that just yet.

"Hmmm. Maybe if I cover the transition by singing in the mid-tone, we might be able to do it" Hyun-Shik suggests.

"That sounds like a pretty good idea. Should we try it now?"

"Sure"

I begin to sing my lines. As I reach the point where I have to change from high falsetto to mid-range, Hyun-Shik joins in. Harmonising in a lower tone. I quickly stop my note and transition into the lower note. The sound sends a shiver down our spines. It sounds so good, better than the original which didn't have the harmonising transition.

I quickly point out a few other lines that this would work on. Hyun-Shik quickly begins to pick up more lines. Soon the distribution of lines looks more like this:

Jin-Ho: 50%

Asaki: 30%

Hyun-Shik: 20%

Hyun-Shik had picked up a lot more lines from both me and Asaki. While also being the team rapper. Singing through the practice, everything sounded much better than before. But no matter what happened, he still seemed a little out of it.

Then finally, 2 nights before our performance. I was finally gifted the perfect opportunity to initiate the final stage of my plan. We had just finished practice and were heading back to our rooms to rest when I pull Hyun-Shik aside. "Do you have a moment? I want to talk to you somewhere private" I ask him.

He sighs. "I guess. Come with me" he tells me. I follow him into his bedroom. I close the door behind me and sit down next to him on his bed.

"What seems to be the problem Hyun-Shik? You've been really down lately."

"Nothing. I have no issue. It's not like you can do anything about it anyway" He replies to my question.

"I reckon it's got something to do with that damn confidence of yours! What is it, an inferiority complex or something?" I quip back, almost too harshly. He winces.

I sigh. Then I pull out my phone and bring up the video I made of him. I hand him the phone and push play. He watches silently. The video has clips of him, training, advising, helping everyone else. It has videos of him rapping, dancing and singing with us. It plays a clip of a song we sing without him, then a comparison of the song with him singing with us. Soon the video ends.

"What was that supposed to do?" he asks me.

"What did you notice about the video?" I ask.

"All I see is everyone else performing far better than me," he says, slowly starting to get irritated.

"Really? That's not what I see" I reply.

"Look! I don't know what you are trying to do here. But whatever it is, it clearly isn't helping!" Hyun-Shik is clearly getting angry now.

"Hyun-Shik. I realise that you may be one of the weaker performers in the team" I say to him bluntly.

"Gee, thanks," he says sarcastically.

"However, you are probably the best leader I know. Not only are you selfless, but you are also competent and knowledgeable. You are well organised and know when to be serious or have a laugh. You can play almost any instrument you pick up, and your perfect pitch allows you to point out errors in your singing and improve it."

"Ok, so what. It's not like the rest of you can't do that if given a chance to practice."

"That's true. But even if we can. We can't do it as well as you can. Not to mention the fact that whenever we sing. The only reason our voices mesh together so well. Is because of you. You know exactly what our qualities and talents are when it comes to singing and rapping. You can place us perfectly in dances, and when you sing or rap. You have the innate talent to support and lift the vocals around you. The proof of that is in the clip of the songs. Listen to how much better we sound with you adding to the song than without. Even a few days ago, when we tried singing with you handling the transition. It sounded so much better."

"ok," he says. I think he's beginning to waver.

"So what if you aren't able to stand out front and be the main or lead vocal, or the main rapper or dancer. Your talent lies in making everyone else around you sound better. You bring energy and organisation into the music and dance. You are the spine of the group. We need you for this to work. So stop doubting yourself and have belief in your talents. Stop trying to gain new ones and strengthen the ones that you already have!" My last few words seem to bring him out of his stupor.

He gazes at me. Thinks for a few minutes, before smiling. "You're right Jin-Ho. It can't hurt to keep practising and trying to improve my skills. But at the end of the day, I also need to realise that I have talents elsewhere and that I should be using these to their fullest. Thank you. I feel a lot better now."

"Good. So from now on, don't doubt yourself. Have confidence. Also, let's smash this next challenge right out of the park!"

"Yes. Let's!"