The track was nearly done.
Thato leaned back in the shelter's cramped studio, his body stiff from hours of straining to find the right rhythm, the right words, the right feeling. The chair creaked beneath him, but he barely noticed. His eyes, bloodshot and hollow, reflected the dim blue glow of his laptop screen. He didn't feel the weight of his body anymore. He felt... detached. Like he was trapped in some space between exhaustion and inspiration, waiting for something to click.
The beat pulsed through the headphones that hung loosely around his neck, a steady hum that contrasted the storm inside of him. It was a soft rhythm, almost soothing. But no matter how hard he tried to immerse himself in the sound, something gnawed at him.
He wasn't just making music anymore. He was **building something real**. Something that mattered.
Three songs. Three different styles. Each one meant for VELA—Haneul's girl group that had clawed its way out of the gutter. A group that had come to symbolize strength and defiance in the face of overwhelming odds. A group that would break through the noise of the industry.
Thato had poured every ounce of his soul into this project—every note, every lyric, every beat. This was his chance to prove that he wasn't just a guy with a laptop. He was a composer, a creator, a force in the making.
Almost.
Thato's fingers hovered above the keyboard. He was staring at the second chorus of the final track, but his heart wasn't in it. His mind had gone blank, and for the first time in days, the music felt... distant. Detached. He still hadn't finished the last verse.
He needed it to be perfect. It *had* to be perfect.
*Or maybe,* he thought bitterly, *maybe it doesn't matter. What's the point of finishing when all I hear is failure?*
Then—
**BANG.**
The door to the small studio slammed open with enough force to make Thato jump in his seat. The heavy footsteps that followed were unmistakable—Daejun's broad form filled the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, and a sneer curling up at the corners of his mouth. His voice dripped with scorn.
"You still in here playing producer?" Daejun sneered. "You think you're gonna be famous or something? What a joke."
Thato didn't respond. He couldn't. His mouth had gone dry. His heart had already dropped to his stomach.
Daejun leaned in, his voice thick with ridicule. "Don't act like you're special. You're just a kid with a laptop. You think you're gonna change the world with this crap?"
Laughter followed—loud, mocking—like it had been rehearsed. Two more boys from down the hall appeared in the doorway behind Daejun, grinning, eager for the show to continue.
"Seriously, man," Daejun continued, his voice thick with venom. "You spend all day in here, wasting your time with your 'mixtape.' You're not even Korean. You think you belong in this industry? You don't."
That hit him like a punch to the gut.
*You don't belong.*
The words rang in his ears, louder than the mocking laughter that followed. It was the same line he had heard before, from his family, from strangers. But now... now it felt real. It felt like it might be true.
Thato clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms. He wanted to shout. To throw something. To make it stop. But he couldn't. He couldn't let them see him break. Not now. Not when he was so close.
Daejun smirked, seeing his silence as defeat. "Thought so. Waste of time."
And with that, they left. The door slammed behind them, leaving it swinging wildly in their wake. The room felt even smaller now. Thato's chest tightened. The beat continued to loop in his headphones, but it wasn't the same anymore. It sounded hollow, mocking. The rhythmic hum, once a source of comfort, now felt like a taunt.
*You don't belong.*
---
For two days, Thato didn't touch the laptop. He didn't eat, didn't sleep, didn't even reply to Haneul's messages. He let the silence swallow him whole. The world outside his little room felt like it was closing in on him, each voice telling him to quit, to walk away. Maybe they were right. Maybe all of it—the music, the dreams, the future he was clawing for—was just noise.
The weight of the isolation pressed down on him. It felt like the entire world had turned its back on him. His music, his art, his dreams—they were nothing. Worthless.
---
Then, on the third night, the door creaked open again.
It was Haneul.
She didn't wait for a response before walking in, carrying two coffees in her hands. There was a quiet confidence in her every step, the same energy that had always radiated from her, even when things were falling apart around them. But tonight, there was something more—a subtle weight to her presence, as if she knew exactly what was brewing inside him.
"I know you're in here sulking," she said, her voice soft but firm. "And if you ghost me one more time, I swear I'll steal your hard drive and run with it."
Thato didn't even crack a smile.
Sighing, Haneul sat down beside him, uninvited but necessary. She didn't need to say much to know what was eating at him. She'd seen it before—the way people let the noise from outside seep in until it drowned out their will to keep going.
"I've seen this before," she said quietly, leaning back in her chair. "Girls in my group used to break down mid-practice because of shit people said online or to their faces. Doesn't matter where it comes from, the hate finds a way in. It's the same with everyone who puts themselves out there."
Thato shook his head, his voice barely a whisper. "I'm not like you, Haneul. You belong on stage. You're born for this."
Her eyes were unwavering. "So were you," she said, no hesitation, no doubt in her voice. "But you don't get to walk out just because it hurts. You want to make something that lasts? Then finish it."
She handed him a crumpled piece of paper, her handwriting sharp but hurried.
"Lyrics," she said simply. "I wrote a few lines while I was waiting."
Thato unfolded the paper slowly, his heart heavy with doubt. He wasn't sure what to expect, but when he read the lines, something inside him snapped.
> *"Even when the lights go down / I'm still standing in the sound
> They said I wouldn't last, but look at me now / louder than the doubt"*
The words hit him like a fist to the chest.
It wasn't just her belief in him—it was her **trust**. She didn't just want him to finish the songs for the sake of the music. She wanted him to finish because she believed in *what they could be*. What he could be.
Thato closed his eyes, the weight of her words pressing down on him. The beat still pulsed through his headphones, waiting for him. It didn't care if he doubted himself, didn't care if he wanted to quit. The rhythm wasn't going to stop. The only question was whether he was going to rise to meet it.
With a deep breath, Thato opened his eyes. His fingers hovered over the keyboard. And then, without hesitation, he began to type.
---
**✦ SONG 1: *Starlight Sinners***
*(R&B x Hip-hop fusion)*
---
**Verse 1 – Jihae:**
> "We were shadows in the neon / chasing something real
> Dancing through the silence / hiding what we feel"
---
**Rap – Rina & Yujin:**
> "City lights don't blind me / already seen the dark
> I'm a sinner with a halo / and a flame for a spark"
---
**Chorus – All, led by Haneul:**
> "We're the starlight sinners / fighting to be seen
> Drenched in gold and pressure / but we're more than what we seem
> Can't erase our hunger / or the weight behind our name
> We were born in fire / and we're rising from the flame"
---
**Bridge – Min & Soyoon:**
> "Even if we fall again / we'll sing until it ends
> Not just idols in the mirror / we're daughters, we're friends"
---
Thato's hands were steady as he worked, the music flowing out of him, unrestrained. The track burned with the honesty of his struggles, the power of Haneul's belief, and the drive to prove everyone wrong. The chorus was anthemic, full of defiance, of strength, of fire.
---
**✦ SONG 2: *Orbit***
*(Upbeat K-pop anthem)*
---
**Verse 1 – Haneul:**
> "Pulled by gravity, I was always out of place
> Now I'm spinning through your galaxy, in my own space"
---
**Chorus – All:**
> "We're in orbit / can't hold us down
> Round and round, we light the ground
> Even stars take time to form
> We're the chaos before the storm"
---
The track was
a burst of energy, but there was a struggle at its core. A journey. It wasn't just about dancing. It was about fighting to find a place in the world and to claim it.
---
**✦ SONG 3: *Gravity***
*(Emotional ballad)*
---
**Opening Line – Soyoon (softly):**
> "I thought I had to float away / just to be worth the weight"
---
**Outro – Haneul (solo):**
> "And if I disappear in the noise / I'll find myself in your voice"
---
Thato let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. The songs were finished. Every note, every word, every drop of sweat—it was all out there. He didn't care about the hate anymore. He didn't care about the stats.
All that mattered was he had finally **found** his voice.
As Haneul stood up to leave, she turned to him with a faint smile on her lips. "Think about The Idol's Crown," she said, barely pausing. "You'll get everything you've ever wanted. Just... don't run away from this. Not now."
She walked out, her voice echoing the songs they had just made—powerful, alive, and unafraid.
Thato sat there for a long while, the sound of his truth ringing in his ears.
This was just the beginning.