Chapter Text
06
“ONCE UPON A SUMMER” REVEALS STAR-STUDDED OST LINE UP
MBS channel’s upcoming Saturday – Sunday drama “Once Upon a Summer” has unveiled a stellar OST line up. On DD/MM/YYYY, the production team of the drama released an OST line up poster along with little snippets of the behind the scene from the OST recordings in the studio. The poster features The Union, Bianca Kim, Watermelon Sugar, Ahn Suho, and Jo Jeomseok.
The story of this drama itself follows Kim Jian (portrayed by Bianca Kim), a literature major student, who met a young music producer, Lee Yoonho (portrayed by Ha Yichan), during a summer break at her grandparents’ hometown. The drama will depict the realistic and relatable love story of the young adults, growth, and heartwarming relationships between the characters and the townspeople.
“Once Upon a Summer” is set to premiere on Saturday, DD/MM/YYYY at OO:OO p.m. KST. Stay tuned!
“Hello, guys, hop on.” The MC of a carpool karaoke show, Sam Yoon, mentioned to the Union members.
They were currently shooting for a show, Carpool Karaoke with Sam Yoon. As the name of the show suggests, it’s a show where the guests are carpooling with the MC and singing along some songs played on the car’s radio as if they’re having a karaoke, maybe along with little interviews here and there.
The Union isn’t one without chaos. As they tried to get into Sam Yoon’s SUV, a silly competition between them happened. Everyone wanted to sit at the front passenger seat.
Gotak was the first one to reach the front passenger seat. He opened the door, only to be pulled back by Baku, who was grabbing his back collar of his shirt, “Ya! Ya! I want to sit at the front too!” Baku mentioned, giggling, before proceeding to put Gotak in a headlock. Gotak tried to pull away, but failed. Thus, he tried to stomp on Baku’s feet, while his hands tickled Baku’s waist and armpits at the same time.
Sieun saw an opening with their bickering, slid away, tried to occupy the same seat. Seongje, who also tried to utilize the moment, caught Sieun in the act, and blocked his advance by putting his body in front of Sieun. He said, “Sieun-ah,” he laughed, “I don’t want to sit at the back with these two. You can sit with them.” He locked an arm around Sieun’s neck.
“I don’t want to either.” Sieun elbowed Seongje’s ribs, not hard enough to cause pain, but enough to jolt Seongje away.
But Seongje’s grip on Sieun’s jacket stayed, “Yeon Sieun, you’re smaller, you can handle sitting with Baku and Gotak during the ride.” He mentioned, “If Baku, Gotak, and me sit in the back, it’ll be cramped.”
“No, they’ll be a pain in the ass. Baku will be spreading his legs and pushing everyone else to the side. Both of them will be moving around a lot and bouncing all the time like two hyperactive golden retrievers. I don’t want to sit with them.” Sieun stated.
Sam Yoon watched the group with fascination, he laughed at their antics and shook his head. “How about doing a rock-paper-scissors to decide, guys?” He suggested.
Immediately, the four let out a hand at the front and did as the MC suggested while still grabbing their friend tightly on the back of their clothes.
“Ready or not, rock-paper-scissors.”
The four of them opened their palms for paper.
“Rock-paper-scissors.”
Once again, they picked the same one, but this time all scissors.
“Rock-paper-scissors.”
Once again, they picked the same one, but this time all rocks.
“Rock-paper-scissors.”
Once again, they picked the same one, but this time all scissors.
“YA!” Baku shouted in agitation.
“Rock-paper-scissors.” – papers.
Seongje started to cuss under his breath, “Shit.”
“Rock-paper-scissors.” – scissors.
“Rock-paper-scissors.” – rocks.
“What the hell is this?” Gotak said.
“Rock-paper-scissors.” – papers.
“Aaaaaaaa!” Sieun started to wail.
“Rock-paper-scissors.” – scissors.
“Rock-paper-scissors.” – scissors.
“Rock-paper-scissors.” – rocks.
“Rock-paper-scissors.”
This time, Sieun and Seongje did rocks, while Baku and Gotak did papers.
“YEAH!” Baku and Gotak hugged each other. They were thrilled – one step closer to sit at the front.
While Sieun and Seongje crumpled to the ground, not believing their rotten luck.
“Ready or not, rock-paper-scissors.” Baku and Gotak shouted.
Again, they picked the same one, rocks.
“Rock-paper-scissors.” – rocks.
“Rock-paper-scissors.” – papers.
“Rock-paper-scissors.” – scissors.
“Until when are we going to play this?!” Gotak questioned in irritation.
The MC started to laughing loudly, a single tear even escaped from the edge of his eyes. “For real…”
“Rock-paper-scissors.” – rocks.
“Rock-paper-scissors.” – rocks.
“Rock-paper-scissors.” – scissors.
“Rock-paper-scissors.” – papers.
“Damn,” Gotak almost lost his patience.
“Rock-paper-scissors.”
Finally, the winner was out. Baku won with a paper against Gotak’s rock.
Baku hooted and jumped around, happy to finally got the front seat.
Gotak, who seemed to notice his friend’s lack of focus, decided to take his chance. He opened the front seat door, sit himself, closed the door, and locked it from inside.
Seongje and Sieun were aware of the situation, instantly jumped into the backseat of the car and locked the back doors too.
“Sam Yoon-nim, please start the car.” Seongje said.
“You can go now.” Sieun added.
Sam Yoon was still laughing, but did as he was told. The vehicle started moving.
“Baku-ya, bye bye!” Gotak rolled down the window on his side and waved at Baku to tease him.
Seongje and Sieun followed to wave at Baku from behind the glass windows. “Humin-ah, good byeee!”
Baku started to chase the car, “YAAAAA!” He was running beside the moving vehicle at the same speed while tapping at Gotak’s now three quarter closed window once in a while. The speed deliberately wasn’t set too fast because after all they were just trying to tease Baku.
At the same time, Seongje started to sing Gaho’s song randomly because he felt it was fitting, considering the situation.
[Seongje] Let’s start from now on, keep running forward
Running running, shouting out to the world
Even if a dead end appears, it's okay with me
Let’s start from now on, keep running forward
Running running, if I’m with you
([Gotak, Sieun] joined singing (more like shouting) the running, running part this time; and [Gotak] shouted, “Baku-ya, run!”)
I can do anything
Running endlessly in this rough world
Not only because Baku was currently running, but Seongje was being sarcastic, kind of dissing Baku with this song too. Sieun, who understood his double intentions, squinted his eyes, started to giggle, and slapped Seongje’s arm, to which he replied with a tongue in cheek followed with a grin.
With that, the MC started to play Gaho’s song, Running, for them. The first song for the carpool karaoke began. Seongje, Sieun, and Gotak started singing shouting along to the song. They specifically shouted at Baku every time the word running appeared on the lyrics. While Baku himself trying to run whilst pulling the car door handle or tapping at the car windows.
[Verse 1]
Breathe in, breathe out
When confronting fear
A word that came to me
Is to have a little more strength ([Gotak] Baku-ya, run faster!)
When I'm veiled in fog
Without a single ray of light
I was contemplating and contemplating again
For the today me
[Pre-Chorus]
A perspective different from others
Days where I'm once again falling behind
On the contrary, I am getting up and running
[Chorus]
Let’s start from now on, keep running forward
Running running, ([Gotak] Baku-ya, keep running!) shouting out to the world
Even if a dead end appears, it's okay with me
Let’s start from now on, keep running forward
Running running, if I’m with you
I can do anything
Running endlessly in this rough world
[Verse 2]
When life presses down on me
And it becomes heavier
The hand you held out
Telling me to get up once again
Sometimes, I cry ([Sieun] I CRY!!!!)
Sometimes, I shout ([Seongje] I SHOUT!!!!)
But there’s something I can never erase
That’s my only focus ([Gotak] Baku-ya, FOCUS! 👏👏👏)
[Verse 3]
To each other
Let's throw a light
One desperate dream
Even in the dark night sky
I can overcome once again, keep running forward
Keep running forward
([Gotak] Baku-ya, it’s almost the end of the song, hang in there a little bit more! 👏👏👏 we are reaching the outro! 👏👏👏)
[Outro]
(I can be the one I want) ([Sieun] THE ONE I WANT! 👏)
(I love myself) ([Seongje] I LOVE MYSELF! 👏)
I’m going to find myself again
Running running, if I’m with you
I can do anything
For the day I will reach the place I desired
[Author’s note] Original song: Gaho – Running (Start Up OST); the eng translation of the song is copy-pasted from genius(.)com for everyone’s better understanding.
“So, where are we going to?” The MC asked. “Park Humin, please don’t be mad at me. It’s all because your band members instructed me to do so.”
They were letting Baku in after the song reached its end. He was sitting at the back with Sieun and Seongje.
“No, it’s okay.” Baku waved his hand, offered a comforting smile to the MC.
“Let’s go buy something to eat.” Gotak said.
“Lotteria?” Sieun suggested, as he swiped around the google maps on his phone, “There’s one at the intersection ahead.”
“Okay.” Seongje nodded.
“Go.” Baku said.
“Lotteria it is.” The MC said and started to ask, “So, what have you guys been up to?”
“We?” Seongje tilted his head, before offered a very true answer but delivered in annoying way, “Working.”
MC Yoon laughed, “Please specify that…”
Baku answered, “We’ve been working on the OST for SBC’s drama–,”
“MBS!” Seongje, Sieun, and Gotak corrected him with a chorus of shout.
“Oh, shoot, sorry,” Baku laughed, as he corrected himself, “MBS’s Saturday – Sunday drama titled Over The Summer–,”
Gotak turned himself to the back to face Baku, his eyes widened, “What over the summer?” He scoffed.
“It’s ‘Once Upon a Summer’!” Sieun and Seongje corrected in frustration.
“We are so doomed. Get him out of the car! Let him run all the way.” Seongje barked.
“I am sorry.” Baku hid his face behind his palms.
“Humin-ah, sorry, but you, don’t say anything after this. We are trying to promote the drama and you’re not helping.” Sieun said, tapping Baku’s knee, before turning to the camera that stationed in front of Seongje, “To ‘Once Upon a Summer’ production team, we apologize for the error.”
“PD-nim, please cut it out Baku’s failed explanation earlier, his memorizing skill is just really bad, absolutely crappy. Just let us, let me explain it.” Gotak mentioned to the camera at his front.
That elicited a laughter from the MC.
“Okay, let me ask once again…” MC Yoon said as he drove, “What work have you been doing? Can you tell us more?”
“We have been working on the OST for Once Upon a Summer, MBS weekend drama that’s currently airing.” Gotak answered.
“Bianca Kim and Ha Yichan are in that drama, aren’t they?” The MC replied to keep the conversation going.
Sieun replied, “Right, right. They are playing the main characters in that drama.”
The MC prompted, “What’s the drama about?”
“It’s about a literature student, played by Bibi – Bianca Kim, who met a young music producer, Ha Yichan-ie, one summer when she stayed at her grandparents’ hometown.” Gotak supplied.
“They are your label mates, right?”
“Yes,” Sieun replied.
“Are you guys close?”
“We hung out together quite a few times recently.” Gotak answered, before turning to Seongje who sat behind the MC, “But Seongje already knew Bianca Kim long before she joined the company.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes, she’s friends with my cousin. I’ve met her in a lot of occasions before.” Seongje mentioned. “Sometimes, I think of her as my relative too, since she’s kinda like the extension of my cousin.”
“About the OST, can you tell us more about the song?”
“We are working on three songs actually.” Gotak informed.
“Oh?”
“Yes,” Sieun nodded, “One is the song that is sung by us, The Union, titled Alone Together. Ahn Suho’s song is titled The Best Day of My Life. Those two already came out on the drama broadcast, right?” Sieun turned to Seongje, and the drummer nodded to Sieun. Sieun continued, “And the last one, Bianca Kim’s song, which the title we can’t divulge at the moment to avoid spoiler because that song will be played on episode… which one? Fourteen?”
“Not fifteen?” Gotak asked.
“Just watch the drama if you want to know. Stay tune, everyone!” Seongje said, pointing at the camera.
“Oooo.” The MC nodded and laughed. “Right. We all should be tuning in to the drama to check it out.” – “Now, let’s play Alone Together first.”
(Original song: Dan+Shay – Alone Together)
Later after they finished singing to the song, the interview continued. The MC asked more about the previous song – Alone Together.
“So, who made the song?”
“Seongje and Sieun.” Gotak pointed at the duo using his thumb, while Sieun and Seongje raised their hand and said, “it’s us.”
“Did you guys have ever been in a situation that resembles the song?”
“AH, that’s… not sure.” Sieun said as he scratched his jaw, his eyes pingponged around; while Seongje scrunched his forehead, “I don’t think I have been in one that 100% resembles to the song. We are actually making the song according to the production team’s request on this one.”
[During the ‘Alone Together’ production stage…]
“Seongje-ya, these lyrics…,” Sieun asked, his eyes were busy going back and forth from the monitor screen in front of him to the man that sat beside him. “I don’t think they told us there is a kissing against the car door scene.”
Seongje gave him a side eye, he replied, “They also didn’t tell us if there's any scene where the leads are drinking alcohols,” a mischievous smile appeared on his face, “why did you insert some tequila and corona with a lime in the lyrics, Sieun-ah?”
“But these… are too good to be scrapped.” Sieun took a deep breath and rubbed his cheeks, “I kinda like it.”
Seongje suggested, “How about if we record the demo first and then send it to the production team?” – “If they want us to change the lyrics, we’ll revise it according to their feedback.”
“Let’s do that.” Sieun nodded in agreement.
A few days later, the two were holing themselves in their studio.
“The production team said okay.” Sieun informed Seongje, he held an ok sign with his fingers on both hands. He was sitting in front of the monitor, tweaking the song file for their OST.
“Okay? Good then.” Seongje, who sat on another chair beside Sieun, nodded.
The door opened, and Juntae peeked from behind, asked, “Guys, what do you want for lunch?”
Seongje took his time to turn around his chair, and gave Juntae a smile, “Anything, I’ll just eat any food that you want to eat.”
“Let’s order samgyetang, guys.” Sieun mentioned in a begging tone.
“Alright, I’ll order samgyetang for you, Sieun-ah.” Juntae replied.
Seongje motioned Juntae to come into the studio, “Oh, right, come here, Juntae-ya, listen to this song.” He poked Sieun on his shoulder, “Sieun-ah, play it for him. The OST song,” and dragged another swivel chair for Juntae to sit near him.
Juntae sat down and turned his chair to half facing Seongje, “The melody that you keep on humming for the last two weeks?”
Seongje hummed and nodded cutely only for Juntae’s eyes to see. Juntae smiled fondly at the gesture. Sieun didn’t realize what’s happening beside him because his eyes were focusing on the monitor in front of him, his fingers were busy clicking on the mouse and keyboard. The demo song was playing as soon as Sieun pressed the space bar.
Juntae listened to the song carefully. His expression shifted from flat, then he was blinking several times, he tilted his head, and scrunched his forehead. He turned his head slightly to look at Seongje, gave him a meaningful look. Seongje tried to hid his smile by lifting his fisted right hand in front of mouth.
[About four years ago…]
“Seongje-ya, I really should go. You, do well on your tour. Okay?” Juntae hugged Seongje one last time. His head was nestled on the crook of Seongje’s neck. They shouldn’t be doing this though, Juntae’s taxi will be coming anytime soon. The animator was heading to the airport for a scheduled flight to LA.
Seongje hugged him back tighter, “Will you watch our concert?”
Juntae hummed, “Yes, I’ll attend to the one in LA, or Dallas, or New York, I think.”
“The encore?”
Juntae shook his head, “I don’t think I have the time to attend the encore one. Sorry.”
“Alright.” Seongje sighed in discontentment.
Seongje suddenly slapped Juntae’s back softly, “Ya, are my eyes deceiving me or the north pole has finally melted because the global warming is too severe?”
Juntae turned his head to look at the direction where Seongje’s eyes were fixed on. He gasped, “Holy…” He blinked several times, and shook his head for good measure. His eyes widened because of the shock.
[end of flashback]
Confidential Files
Seo Juntae
Na Baekjin, what is this?
Yeon Sieun
Are you making this group because of exile?
Why are you suddenly making one with only the four of us?
Geum Seongje
Or do you just miss us? Aw… 🙊
Na Baekjin
Alone Together–
Sieun-ah, are you finally giving him a hint about that day?
Or is it Seongje’s little diary?
Throw me a bone here, I’m bored to death
Yeon Sieun
Huh? Wdym?
Giving whom a hint?
Seongje’s little diary? – GEUM SEONGJE, you met and dated someone?
Geum Seongje
I am certainly not a hermit
Of course, I date someone (present tense)
Yeon Sieun
What?
How do I not know about this?
All you do are playing games and making songs
Since when do you have time for dating
Since when? How? HOW TF?!🤡
@SeoJuntae do you know Seongje’s partner?
You should’ve known about that person, right?
Seo Juntae
Yeah, I know him well
Yeon Sieun
Spill @SeoJuntae @NaBaekjin
Seo Juntae
🤐
Sorry, Sieun-ah
Seongje will have my head
Na Baekjin
😒🙄
I won’t say anything about this… for now…