Godsent Top Star [EN]: Chapter 305

305. Surely They Won’t Recognize Me? (2)

September 1, 2022

The buzz that started with UTT culminated in Yeonwoo.

Wherever UTT’s name appeared, Yeonwoo’s name invariably followed.

‘I feel kind of sorry.’

Though there’s no real reason to be.

It’s not like Yeonwoo can control all the netizens’ reactions.

But knowing how much effort and hard work they put in, he couldn’t help but feel concerned.

‘It would be a problem if they lose confidence and look like a beaten dog again.’

So, Yeonwoo casually apologized.

It seemed like he had almost stolen the spotlight that should have been on them.

But surprisingly, their reaction was different.

“Why? We’re fine with it.”

A coolness that showed they didn’t care even a bit.

[Confidence Level: 93%]

Their confidence level remained the same.

“You’re fine with it?”

Not upset?

“Yeah. We actually felt a bit burdened, like we were freeloading off your efforts, Yeonwoo.”

The timid leader, Lee Seungmin, added, sounding quite burdened.

“Your name wasn’t on the arrangement list……”

“That’s obvious, isn’t it?”

Because Yeonwoo didn’t particularly remember participating in the arrangement.

Of course, he did encourage Lee Seungmin when he was struggling.

They decided to avoid excessive arrangement and stick to the original base, but there were naturally some modifications.

First of all, since the pitch changed to a male vocal, everything was altered.

Besides that, there were changes made here and there to create a vocal-focused stage, which was UTT’s trademark.

‘If you really want to get down to it, it’s hard to say I didn’t intervene at all…….’

Leader Lee Seungmin and Yeonwoo had surprisingly similar working styles.

They weren’t familiar with newfangled things and treated shiny, modern equipment like chickens treat hawks.

Jerry, who came to help with the setup, couldn’t hide his disappointment when he saw the equipment untouched until he arrived.

After that, Daniel and Raon cautiously touched it, saying things like, ‘Is this the machine DJs use for mixing?’ and then quietly left it alone.

A large studio that they spent a lot of money on, feeling like it was a waste.

The only thing used there was a wide desk.

Lee Seungmin would sit there, open a notebook, scribble something with a pen, and then.

Take out an old MP3 player and hum along.

In short, it was very analog.

“Try listening to this. What do you think?”

“It’s good. Not bad, um……. How about slightly modifying it like this?”

Creating your own song and modifying someone else’s song might seem similar, but it’s surprisingly quite difficult.

Lee Seungmin was good at making modifications, but he sometimes struggled.

What Yeonwoo did was to encourage him so he wouldn’t fall into a slump, while also drawing out richer and more appealing melodies based on Lee Seungmin’s ideas.

‘To think my ‘Listen to My Song’ skill would be used like this.’

‘Listen to My Song,’ a derivative skill of composition that was like an emotional transfer in music form.

A derivative skill with a whopping A grade.

‘It feels invincible when used with Intent Recognition, doesn’t it?’

It wasn’t difficult to figure out what feeling Lee Seungmin had when he arranged that verse.

He just listened to it, digested it, and played it back in the most pleasing form.

“Wow……”

There was a slight drawback in that Lee Seungmin would lose his mind every time.

Anyway, Yeonwoo intervened in that way a few times.

‘……I think it was quite a lot.’

But it was Lee Seungmin who transcribed the notes, organized them, and reworked them to fit the members’ vocal ranges.

“I was so glad the judges mentioned Yeonwoo hyung [older brother/male friend].”

It had been agreed in advance not to talk about Yeonwoo as much as possible.

The judges broke that agreement and commented on Yeonwoo.

That will be on the broadcast next week…….

“We performed on stage with six people, but it feels a bit wrong to say only we did it.”

Yeonwoo thought.

‘So that’s how the CEO was able to take advantage of them.’

The person involved doesn’t care, but they’re the ones who are more anxious.

‘How are they going to endure this harsh entertainment industry like this……’

It’s an unfortunate reality, but that’s the truth.

Yeonwoo alone had met all sorts of troublemakers and jerks, hadn’t he?

People who argue about roles.

People who ask to be introduced to sponsors.

People who smile while waiting to stab you in the back someday.

Crazy reporters who try to wrestle with celebrities.

Officials who want to receive kinds of kickbacks you don’t even want to talk about. And so on.

This industry is truly full of all kinds of crazy people.

Of course, there are plenty of good people too.

Like the Dramatic Tempest team or the Ganaldeul team.

But.

‘You can’t only meet good people in this industry. Seriously.’

Can’t they see their mental strength stats?

I feel like I should just train their mental strength.

“Why does he keep refusing even when we offer to take care of him?”

Even the prickly Minchan, who was in charge of the fighter position within UTT,

“If there’s a good reason, then they should naturally receive that much compensation.”

Left behind a subtle story that was ambiguous whether it was agreement or not, and quickly disappeared somewhere.

“Ah, Chani hyung [older brother/male friend] is shy again.”

“The problem with him is that he always ruins everything with his mouth when he could just say it nicely.”

“I know! I know what they call that!”

Daniel raised his hand, smiling brightly.

“They said that’s called ‘tsundere’ [a character who is initially cold and hostile but gradually reveals a warmer, more caring side]!”

Tsun…… what?

For a moment, a terrifying silence swept by.

A word that doesn’t suit Minchan at all, yet seems to fit, with terrifyingly destructive power.

Sometimes I thought there was a bit of that feeling, but…….

“…….”

As if they had all made a deal, they erased that terrible word from their minds under a tacit agreement.

Anyway, even that Minchan is actually soft on the inside.

Hoo.

Yeonwoo sighed and said.

“Tell Kim Minchan to come in. It’s all done.”

“Yes!”

“Set the table.”

“I already finished that!”

As Yeonwoo turned off the gas, the members moved in an orderly fashion.

Instead of the table where five people sat huddled together, bending their tall frames, a bubbling hot pot was placed on a moderately large table.

“Sss…….”

“Hap…….”

Just placing it down was enough to cause loud sounds of swallowing.

That’s right.

What Yeonwoo was doing now was none other than feeding……. No, serving food.

‘It feels more like feeding than serving…….’

If you ask why suddenly serving food…….

There was only one reason.

‘These guys, nothing changes.’

How come these guys haven’t changed even after winning first place in the competition?

It would be a problem if they became arrogant after winning first place once, but.

‘I didn’t expect them not to change at all.’

They were consistently frustrating people.

“What are you going to do if you run out of energy during the competition eating like that?”

Winning first place in the first competition doesn’t mean you get prize money.

That means UTT is still poor.

These guys had barely slept for two weeks and worked like crazy.

It wasn’t like they could rest after the first round was over.

Considering the preparations for the second competition that would follow immediately, there wasn’t a day to waste.

But, what?

Ramen?

“Why ramen……? Ramen is a complete food……?”

In the end, Yeonwoo couldn’t stand it and grabbed the knife himself.

“Tell me what you want to eat.”

“Ramen……?”

“…….”

The first answer that came out when asked what they wanted to eat was that.

“Not ramen.”

“……Rabokki [a popular Korean dish of ramen noodles, rice cakes, and spicy sauce]?”

Do these people have ramen broth flowing through their veins instead of blood?

“Then…… Bibim noodles [Korean spicy cold noodles]?”

“…….”

The answer they gave after looking at Yeonwoo’s expression was even more of a masterpiece.

“Bibim noodles……. It’s hard to increase the amount, so I haven’t eaten it often. If you just add somen noodles and mix it, it becomes too bland……. It’s also more expensive than regular ramen, so I ate bibim noodles when it was something special.”

The reason was too salty.

It seemed like they had only eaten ramen so much that they couldn’t think of anything else.

“I think it would be weird if I suddenly didn’t eat ramen…….”

I understood that too.

People have routines.

And there are people who value those routines more than you think.

Like jinxes.

‘Okay, ramen…….’

Yeonwoo ignored UTT, who were cheerfully shouting things like, ‘Then ramen with five eggs……? Ah, six eggs including Yeonwoo!’ and turned on the gas himself.

The result was the current situation.

“Crazy.”

“Did Yeonwoo hyung [older brother/male friend] learn to cook?”

“Unbelievable.”

The menu was budae jjigae [Korean army stew].

A special budae jjigae with ramen noodles added especially for UTT, who couldn’t let go of ramen.

“Like……. Like the sausage is moving alive in my mouth……!”

That’s not it.

If the sausage is moving alive, that’s horror.

“Wow…… really……. Wow…….”

Is this what a beggar who has been begging for 10 years looks like when they eat for the first time?

The members, including Minchan, who joined late, were emptying the pot with an almost combative attitude.

The extra-large hot pot, which had been generously boiled with 10 servings, quickly showed its bottom.

‘Okay. Eat a lot……. It’s health food.’

It’s not just budae jjigae.

It was a special broth made by personally boiling beef bones, and the seasoning contained various medicinal herbs that were said to be good for the body.

Ginseng was directly obtained and juiced to marinate the beef.

The marinated beef was ground and put in with finely chopped abalone.

Mushrooms were torn from natural pine mushrooms, and all the vegetables were organic, especially adding a lot of water parsley, which is said to be good for health.

If you exclude the ramen and baked beans, that’s just a lump of health food.

‘If this were a game and that were an item, it would probably pop up like this.’

-Ding!

[Special Health Budae Jjigae that Invigorates the Whole Body] [SSS]

+Stamina 100

+Mana 100

+Stamina 100

+…….

Something like that.

But this wasn’t a game, and unfortunately, an item window with crazy stats didn’t pop up.

The reason why Yeonwoo suddenly started serving those beasts……. No, those pitiful souls, wasn’t just because they were only looking for ramen.

That was something that had to do with remembering a few days ago.

[Get ready!]

[Shoot!]

A random roulette obtained in commemoration of achieving a 100% trust level with UTT.

What Yeonwoo got from that random result was…….

-Pabababam!

[Congratulations!]

As soon as the roulette stopped, a flashy effect burst out, and a stat immediately appeared in front of his eyes with flashing lights.

“…….”

A stat called ‘Maximize Physical Efficiency with Minimal Food.’

At first, it was absurd.

‘I have more life-type stats than my main job, but I really got a life-type stat.’

It’s a B-grade stat, but the stat name makes you lose strength.

What is there to do that requires maximizing physical efficiency with minimal food?

Kwon Seonghyun said that body management is the most basic of basics.

Yeonwoo was a student who listened to his words very well.

‘Still, I should repay them for getting it…….’

The people involved don’t know that Yeonwoo spun a random roulette with a strong speculative element.

‘Wait. I had a cooking skill, didn’t I?’

I hadn’t cooked for a while, so I forgot.

A savory touch, a whopping A-grade stat obtained from Kim Gildong, a former famous chef and current chef who crossed the Samdo River at his client’s request.

This stat had the effect of drawing out the inherent taste of anything with the power of a savory touch.

‘If I mix these two together, it would be quite plausible, wouldn’t it?’

And the result was the current situation.

‘I was right about my prediction.’

Drawing out the taste and harmony of the ingredients to the limit with a natural touch.

Maximizing and maximizing the effectiveness of the completed food.

It wasn’t for nothing that Yeonwoo called it an SSS-grade item.

“Delicious…….”

“This isn’t the budae jjigae of this world…….”

“From now on, I’m going to eat budae jjigae every day.”

They’re just a bunch of dark-haired guys sitting huddled together, but.

Yeonwoo felt somehow pleased.