Become A Music Monster Overnight! [EN]: Chapter 19

That day, when he reunited with Lee Na-eun.

Young-chan stopped everything and was lost in thought.

-Click, click-

He started browsing the internet, often staring blankly into space.

It wasn’t until late dawn that he let out a long sigh, rubbing his face roughly.

“Haa… A lot has changed from what I thought.”

It wasn’t just Lee Na-eun who was affected by the altered timeline.

Before her, more than half of the members of Red Nine, who had initially showcased the prestige of the first Korean Wave [Hallyu] idol group in the Japanese market, hadn’t even debuted.

As they were the first idol group YC Entertainment had produced, Young-chan had personally scouted and vouched for their talents individually.

He had assumed that with such talent, they would naturally have debuted, but now he saw that only four of them had debuted, and in different, less prominent teams.

Even then, since they all debuted in small to medium-sized entertainment companies rather than major agencies, they didn’t achieve significant success.

It wasn’t just them who were directly affected.

The six-member Blue Dog idol group, created in the wake of Red Nine’s success, didn’t fare much better.

At least in their case, they all debuted, but that was the extent of their achievements.

These groups also had their talents overlooked by the major agencies.

They, too, became idols in smaller entertainment companies, and some teams even completely retired from the entertainment industry due to mistreatment by their agencies.

Besides them, many others were living drastically different lives.

“…It would be self-deception if I claimed ignorance. I just wanted to pretend I didn’t know.”

Young-chan had vaguely suspected it.

But realistically, there was nothing he could do.

So he vaguely hoped they were doing well, clinging to the belief that the talent he saw in them was real, as Uncle Jang Tae-shik had affirmed.

However, just as even the most outstanding rough stone cannot shine if it is not properly polished, so were they.

In the end, those who had the potential to be loved by so many were now virtually nonexistent in the industry.

The implication was clear.

“I have more work to do.”

He resolved to reach out to those who had a connection with him in that other world as much as possible.

It wasn’t just an emotional decision.

From a rational perspective, it would be foolish not to embrace those who had already proven themselves in that other world.

“The start will be with Na-eun.”

Young-chan, recalling the image of Lee Na-eun as a cafe employee, so different from the Lee Na-eun he remembered, chuckled silently.

The idea of snatching up a top solo female artist from the very beginning appealed to him.

“It’s already morning.”

With the sunlight streaming in through the window, Young-chan finally realized he had stayed up all night.

As soon as he registered that, a wave of sleepiness washed over him.

-Woo Woong!-

He lay down on the bed in his remaining rented room, and just as he was about to drift off, his phone vibrated.

He assumed he had set an alarm, but as he picked it up absentmindedly, a broad smile spread across his face.

It was a call from someone he was overjoyed to hear from.

It was his younger sister, Hee-jeong, who had gone to study in England.

His eyes sparkled as he answered the phone, as if he had never been sleepy.

“Oppa! What is this money?”

“What else could it be? It’s for our cute little sister to use.”

“….Oppa, you sent 3000 pounds (approximately 5 million won [Korean currency]).”

“Haha. Is it not enough?”

“Why are you sending so much? I told you not to worry about me. I’m doing well. I told you you don’t have to send me money.”

Young-chan smiled at his sister’s words.

He knew that his sister’s words were not just empty reassurances.

In fact, Hee-jeong was the recipient of one of the UK’s fully funded scholarships, which covered tuition, accommodation, round-trip flights to London, and living expenses.

It was a scholarship exclusively for master’s degree programs from developing countries, and it was highly competitive, but she had proven herself exceptionally to receive it.

However, this alone wasn’t sufficient to cope with the rampant inflation in the UK.

That’s why she had secretly used the tuition money that Young-chan had saved for her, and even then, she often worked part-time.

In fact, since the rent had increased last month, she was considering increasing her part-time hours, and in the interim, Young-chan had sent her a substantial sum of money.

But she wasn’t happy about it.

That’s because she had matured too quickly, forced by circumstances.

Young-chan had worked tirelessly to fill her father’s empty role, and Hee-jeong was acutely aware of her brother’s sacrifices.

She was so grateful and felt so indebted to her brother that she never asked for help, even during her challenging study abroad experience.

She just kept insisting that she was doing well, as she was doing now.

In the meantime, she suddenly received a large sum of money, so she had no choice but to call, knowing that it was early in Korea.

How could he not understand his sister’s feelings, the sister he had practically raised like a daughter?

Young-chan was immensely proud of his sister and couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Hahaha. You shouldn’t be surprised already.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“If I say something’s going on, then something’s definitely going on.”

In truth, he hadn’t yet told his family that he was pursuing music.

Like his younger sister Hee-jeong, he didn’t want to cause his family any worry.

Objectively speaking, he was venturing into music at the relatively late age of 30, after living a life that had been completely unrelated to music.

It was a decision that most people with a rational mindset would find difficult to comprehend.

Naturally, his family and acquaintances would be concerned.

That’s why he had planned to contact them once he had established himself to some extent, but he was finding success faster than he had anticipated.

Excluding YouTube income, he was earning 10 million won just from “Que Sera Sera.”

This wasn’t a monthly income, but a weekly income.

The appearance fee alone was 10 million won, and 10% of the sales were added to his income.

In the case of yesterday, more than 30 million won had been deposited into his account.

Adding YouTube income to that, he had generated approximately 200 million won in revenue this month.

He was earning more money in just one month than he could have ever imagined when he was working in a factory.

Even though he hadn’t fully committed to music yet, Young-chan felt it was time to share the news.

The reason he decided to send his sister pocket money after much deliberation at the cafe where he met Lee Na-eun the day before was precisely because of this.

So Young-chan began to explain what had been happening in his life.

And the reaction was even more intense than Young-chan had expected.

“What? You’re doing music?”

“YouTube channel? Performance? What are you talking about, Oppa?”

“…….”

Hee-jeong was more surprised and incredulous than when she had confirmed that Young-chan had sent her money.

Well, it wasn’t something she couldn’t understand.

The brother she knew was someone who had entered the demanding world of work to earn money from a young age.

Her brother, who used to buy her dolls and school supplies that she wanted with the money he earned from part-time jobs, started working in a factory as soon as he graduated.

He was her brother who had lived like that all his life, so it was difficult for Hee-jeong to grasp that he was now pursuing music, something so far removed from his previous life.

“So, you’ve been interested in music for a long time, and you’ve been seriously pursuing it this year. Am I understanding correctly?”

“That’s right. This is my channel.”

Young-chan sent her the YouTube channel address via SNS [Social Networking Service].

“Wait a minute. So… I think you sent the wrong address, Oppa.”

“….It’s right?”

“It’s not you. No, wait a minute….”

She was already confused, but she became even more bewildered when she saw the YouTube channel that Young-chan had sent her.

It was surprising that the channel he sent her was already a large channel with more than 1 million subscribers, but what really surprised her was that the person in the video was different from the image of her brother that she remembered.

Then, at her brother’s insistence that it was the correct channel, she realized that the man in the video did resemble her brother.

“Hahaha. I guess Oppa lost a lot of weight. Even our Hee-jeong can’t recognize me.”

“Aaaah! You didn’t just lose a little weight! Who is this!”

Young-chan laughed playfully at his sister, who was exclaiming in surprise, and continued.

“Keukeu. Seeing our Hee-jeong’s reaction, I should have lost weight sooner.”

“Oh my god. Is this our Oppa!”

“Yes, it’s your brother. Okay, okay~. Now, stop being surprised and go to sleep. Isn’t it already past 12 o’clock in England?”

“I can’t… I can’t sleep!”

“Keukeukeu.”

Young-chan couldn’t help but laugh when he saw his sister, who had maintained a dignified demeanor since entering Korea University, reverting to her childhood self after a long time.

“I’ll visit England soon. Until then, eat delicious food and buy pretty clothes with the pocket money I send you from time to time. Got it?”

“….I told you you don’t have to send me pocket money.”

Once the floodgates were opened, Young-chan tried to suppress his laughter as he ended the call with a tinge of regret, finding his sister’s grumbling, reminiscent of her younger days, incredibly endearing.

“Now only Mom is left. Well~. I’ll approach Mom slowly.”

Young-chan was planning to tell her when he started working formally, at least.

His mother was more resistant to new things than he realized because she had lived a life dedicated to supporting her children.

Even now, she only makes calls or sends texts with her old-fashioned flip phone instead of the ubiquitous smartphone.

It would be difficult to explain his current situation to such a person by talking about YouTube channels, etc., which are difficult to understand.

Rather, it would be better to let her know his situation by appearing on TV, which even older people can readily recognize.

-Weeing. Weeing!-

Even after ending the call, Young-chan smiled as he replied to his sister’s endless texts, and soon fell asleep, succumbing to the sleepiness that had finally overtaken him.

-Tung! Dadadadan!-

Lee Na-eun, strumming her old acoustic guitar, began to sing famous songs from the past.

“The bluebird flying far away~”

Her guitar skills weren’t particularly refined, but her voice more than compensated for it.

Rather than being a technically perfect singer, her clear and resonant tone conveyed a wealth of emotion.

Her emotive voice was well-suited to the classic songs that possessed a certain timeless quality that was popular in previous eras.

But unfortunately, not many people recognized the value of her singing.

Her singing style was out of sync with the current trends, and above all, the venue where she sang didn’t complement her performance.

A somewhat noisy rock cafe and her style of singing were definitely not a good match.

Nevertheless, the reason she was able to sing there was thanks to the recommendation of the owner, who recognized her talent.

Of course, since the audience reaction wasn’t favorable, she was only paid at the level of a part-time job, but even that was something Lee Na-eun was grateful for.