Chapter 407: Turtle Maracas

"Wait here for a second," Magic Mama said as she led June to her music room. "I need to refill my tea. Feel free to look around, but don't touch anything, okay?" June chuckled and nodded. Magic Mama sang an operatic song while going to her kitchen. Meanwhile, June took the luxury of wandering around her music room. The last time he went here, he was in a rush, so he didn't get to explore the fascinating items inside. And the first time he was here, he was scared shitless to even notice anything. For starters, there was a treadmill at the back of the room and a small television perched on top of it. There were also taxidermied animals hanging on her walls, and most of them were converted into musical instruments. A squirrel banjo. A turtle maracas. A dog guitar. A cat drumset. Don't ask June how all of this could be possible. He also didn't know the answer. There was a large shelf in the corner of the room, and it contained photos of what seemed to be Magic Mama when she was young. Aside from that, photos of her students' achievements were also framed, causing June to smile. Maybe he'd make it onto this shelf one day. However, what caught his attention the most was an old photo on the very bottom of the shelf. It was hiding amongst the other photos, but it stood out since the color was already fading. It appeared to be the oldest photo in her collection. He kneeled down, taking the frame in his hands and inspecting it with narrowed eyes. There were three people—Magic Mama, an unknown man, and a strangely familiar little boy. "Jang Yang-Jin's graduation, 2000," June muttered, reading the writing engraved on the wood of the frame. Was Magic Mama married? June's thoughts were cut off when he heard Magic Mama's footsteps nearing the room. He quickly placed the frame back into place and casually looked around to avoid arousing suspicion.

"Are you ready for the next lesson?" she asked. June smiled, nodding. "Yeah, let's go." "Alright," she said, placing her tea on top of the piano before sitting in front of the grand instrument. "Today, we're going to be talking about stability," she started off. "It's one of the indispensable skills of vocalists—especially idols. There are plenty of MR removed performances on the internet, and almost all rookie idols are being shown to be incompetent." "Have you watched one of yours?" she asked. "Yeah," June said. "I don't think we're too bad." "That's right," Magic Mama smiled. "You're not. Your team's actually pretty good. I think Rising Stars did a good job in shaping how you all perform." "However," June said before Magic Mama could even point it out. "It's not perfect." She smirked. "You already know what I'm going to say." "What do you think my main problem is?" June asked. "Experience, definitely," she quickly responded. "I watched your performances during Rising Stars, and I noticed that you mostly sang during introductions, bridges, and outros. You also back up the chorus, but that doesn't count since you have a backing track." "You're right," June said. "We have backing tracks for the choruses since it's hard to sing with the intense choreography." "It's definitely difficult," she acknowledged. "But it isn't impossible." "You've been used to singing while doing slower-paced choreography, so you haven't been deemed as an 'unstable' vocalist by an amateur's ears. However, I watched your Red Moon performance and heard some instabilities here and there." "How do I build my stability then?" June asked. "Proper breathing," Magic Mama smirked. "You need to train your body to breathe properly when you're singing with intense choreography. Once that happens, you'd be able to do it like muscle memory." "And the perfect way to do that is to run while singing," she smiled, pointing to the treadmill at the very back of the room. June chuckled. "So, that's why a treadmill's there."

"It's not what you think," Magic Mama said. "I use that for exercising." "Oh," June said. "But since you're my first idol student, I reckoned it'd be useful for you," she smiled. "Now, chop chop! Go ahead and set it to the highest speed." June unhesitatingly went on the treadmill and cranked it up to the highest setting. He definitely underestimated the speed of this thing, though. It almost seemed like he was sprinting. Magic Mama started playing the piano—a famous pop song from a soloist. "Start in 3...2...1..." ***

June's clothes were drenched as soon as they were finished. Magic Mama truly pushed him to his limit and made him sing for more than an hour while running on the treadmill. She said it was good for when they finally did concerts, and although June understood her sentiment, he couldn't help but resent her a little bit after it was over. "Oh goodness. Do you have an extra shirt?" she asked, observing his drenched shirt. June shook his head while gulping down water. "No. I wasn't really expecting to sweat during a vocal lesson." Magic Mama chuckled and stood up. "No worries. I have an extra shirt lying around here." "Oh no—" June said, dreading to wear something from Magic Mama's closet. However, much to his surprise, she brought out a simple white shirt from her cabinet and handed it to June. "That must be your size, right?" He unraveled the white shirt and nodded. "Are these your husband's?" he asked, gauging her reaction. The photo he saw a while ago still didn't leave his mind, and he was curious about the people she was with. He couldn't shake off the feeling that he knew one of them.

"No," she said, sitting back on her couch. "I live alone. My husband and I separated a long time ago." "Oh," June said, raising his eyebrows in surprise. "You really were married?" "Why? Do I look like the type of woman who couldn't find a man?" she chuckled. "No," June shook his head. "I was just...surprised, that's all."

"I get it," she sadly smiled. "But men are easier to fool than you'd think. Just throw them a smile, feed them, and don't bug them when they're doing their hobbies, and you got yourself a man. They're easy to lose, though," she muttered the last sentence. "I have another question," June said, finally easing into his breath. "That's your last one for the night," she joked. June chuckled. "Why don't you accept idols as students?" he asked.

Magic Mama went silent for a couple of seconds, then her eyes strayed to the shelf that contained her picture frames. June followed her gaze and saw her staring right at the family photo at the very bottom. "It's not that I don't want to," Magic Mama started, her voice coming out more vulnerable than she expected. "First of all, not a lot of idols know who I am, and those who have reached out to me wanted to improve at an impossible pace." "However," she quickly added, letting out a deep breath, "I guess the main reason why I haven't taken in any idol students for now is because I'm still hoping my son will become the first in that category." "Your son..." June whispered. "Yes," she sadly smiled. "My son is an idol."