The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 44

< Verse 5. A Certain Tuesday (End) >

“Give me a call next week before you come to the lab.”

“Understood.”

Sanghyun bowed politely, and Professor Kim Woon-cheol shook Sanghyun’s hand firmly before leaving the teahouse. Sanghyun remained seated, lost in thought as he listened to the music playing from the LP record.

‘Good things come in bunches, they say.’

At first, he thought it wouldn’t be of much help to him, but upon closer inspection, it was actually a very good thing.

It was an incredible blessing for a musician to have their voice recorded with professional voice analysis equipment and to be able to listen to it.

‘A spiritual voice, huh.’

To be honest, he felt a little bad for Professor Kim Woon-cheol, but he didn’t completely buy into the concept of spiritual voices or incantations. However, he did think there was some truth to old sayings like ‘words become seeds’ and ‘words have power.’

Even if it wasn’t a spiritual voice, there were certainly voices that were more likely to resonate with listeners.

‘It would be nice to do it with the crew members too.’

However, since Professor Kim was leading the research, he felt it would be presumptuous to ask without invitation.

While Sanghyun was pondering these thoughts, his phone notified him of a text message. It was Sangmi.

-Where are you, oppa [older brother or male friend]?

-Downtown. Why?

-Come home. I have something to tell you.

Something to tell?

-Did you have lunch?

-Yup.

-Then I’ll buy some shaved ice on the way home. Stay there.

-Come quickly.

Sanghyun left the teahouse and bought two servings of shaved ice, Sangmi’s favorite, from a nearby shop.

‘First, the homeroom teacher, then CEO Hong, then Professor Kim, and now my sister. I’m being summoned everywhere today.’

On the bus home, he called Miju and briefly explained his conversation with Professor Kim. After listening to her excited chatter for about 30 minutes, he arrived home.

“It’s already melted.”

When he shook the bag, it felt more like water than ice. He hurriedly rang the doorbell, and the door opened.

“Sangmi-ya. How can you open the door without knowing who it is?”

“I saw you, oppa.”

“It could be someone who looks similar.”

“Dumbass, I saw your face when I was hanging laundry on the roof.”

Sanghyun, at a loss for words, put the shaved ice in the freezer and scolded Sangmi.

“Go wash up!”

“I just woke up!”

“It’s already 3 PM. Even though it’s vacation, you’re not even washing your hair… Then when the crew members come, you’ll try to hide in your room again.”

“Hmph. Do you know how annoying it is for a girl to wash her hair?”

“I heard they’re saying it’ll be three centimeters below the ears in high school. Why don’t you cut it in advance?”

“Ugh.”

After pondering for a moment, Sangmi laughed and shouted.

“I’m going to vocational school!”

“Really?”

“I’m thinking about it.”

Sanghyun knew that one of the reasons Sangmi had resented him in the past was because he had taken away all of Sangmi’s opportunities for education.

So, this time, since he was financially well-off, he thought Sangmi would choose to study.

‘But let’s not interfere rashly.’

Sanghyun had something he wanted to say, but he swallowed it down. She was only in the third grade of middle school, so there was still some time before she had to choose a high school.

“Let’s talk about that later.”

“You sound just like Dad.”

“…Shall we eat shaved ice?”

“Are you stupid? How long has it been in there? Never mind, come sit here.”

“You sound just like Mom?”

Sangmi laughed at Sanghyun’s joke. It wasn’t a completely cheerful laugh, but it didn’t seem like a cry of sorrow either.

He could see that Sangmi was gradually becoming brighter as the crew members and band members came to the studio more often.

“So, what’s going on? Do you have a boyfriend?”

Sangmi didn’t laugh at Sanghyun’s joke.

“Oppa.”

“Yeah?”

“Am I a burden to you?”

“Who said that?”

Sanghyun’s expression hardened in an instant.

“It’s not that someone said it. I heard you said you weren’t going to some music festival in Jeonju. Is it because of me?”

“Uh…? No, why would it be because of you?”

“Are you stupid? It’s obvious.”

“Really, it’s not.”

“Then what’s the reason?”

Sanghyun couldn’t think of a suitable excuse for Sangmi’s sudden question.

“Oppa.”

“Yeah?”

“You don’t have to act too much like Dad. You’re not Dad, you’re Oppa. To be honest, I used to get annoyed with you sometimes. You were always using the computer.”

“What about now?”

“There are two computers now.”

“Hahaha.”

“I’m okay with going to crowded places. I went downtown after school the other day, and it was fine.”

Sanghyun didn’t know what to say.

“Let’s go to Jeonju together. I’ll go with my friend. One of my friends is a total oppa fangirl [a girl who is a huge fan of male celebrities or idols].”

“Fangirl?”

“Yeah. She seems ready to start a fan club.”

“Is she pretty?”

“Tsk, tsk. Do you have to be like that with a middle schooler?”

Sangmi, you don’t know this, but your future sister-in-law is in elementary school right now. Thirteen years old.

“But Sangmi, if L&S makes it to the final survival round, we’ll have to be there for four days, from the 12th to the 15th.”

“I can just come to Gwangju first.”

“You’d be home alone?”

“I can ask Hayeon or Minji to come over and stay the night. Why are you so worried? Or I could try to get Hayeon to come to Jeonju for sightseeing. Then she could stay the whole time.”

“But…”

“Forget about ‘buts’ and just focus on doing well. The 12th is only a few days away.”

“Ah… No fun.”

“What’s ‘no fun’?”

“It means it’s boring.”

“Ugh, you’re even more ‘no fun’ when you say things like that.”

Sangmi and Sanghyun laughed, giggling.

“Instead of you, I have a favor to ask.”

“What is it?”

“I want to learn how to draw comics.”

“Comics? What about Go [a strategic board game], which you’re already learning?”

“I’ll just keep doing Go as a hobby. But I want to do something like you, Oppa, where I can express my thoughts.”

“Hmm…”

It’s a field I’ve never even considered.

“I’ve looked into it a bit, and the Korean comic market is supposedly completely dead. I know it’s hard to make a career out of it, but…”

Sanghyun shook his head.

“If it’s something you really want to do, you shouldn’t worry about that. Do you want to do paper comics? Or webtoons?”

“Webtoons? What are those?”

Sanghyun racked his brain at the unexpected question. But I don’t know exactly when Naver or Daum started their webtoons. I think I saw Kang Full’s comics in my senior year of high school?

“Webtoons are comics serialized on major portal sites like Naver or Daum [popular Korean web portals]. Or, to be precise, I guess any online serialized comic is called a webtoon.”

“Are they still doing it now? Are you talking about cartoons?”

“Uh, I’m not sure, maybe?”

“Why are you using question marks after acting like you know everything? Are you talking about four-panel comics? Like the Chosun Ilbo [a major Korean newspaper] cartoons?”

“No, it’s just like a paper comic, but it’s serialized online. The webtoon market is going to get huge in the future. So, get ready to save your comic manuscripts on the computer.”

“How do you know so much, Oppa?”

“I happened to see it in a Samsung Economic Research Institute report.”

“Really? Oppa, will you look at a drawing I did?”

Sangmi quickly ran and took a notebook out of her bag. Sanghyun was surprised and impressed when he saw the drawing Sangmi had drawn.

First of all, I was surprised because she drew so well. But it wasn’t just that she drew well, but more than that…

“Is this us?”

“Yeah. I drew it thinking about the performance we did last time.”

“What, why did you draw me so ugly!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! I’ve already touched it up a lot.”

“How did I not know that our Sangmi was so good at drawing?”

“Ugh, what’s with that tone? Are you filming a drama? You’re so annoying.”

Sangmi giggled.

“I’ll have to use it to pick up guys later. ‘Why didn’t I know my baby was so handsome?’ How is it? Is it good?”

Sanghyun’s expression hardened.

“…Don’t do that.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t do that!”

“Oppa, are you crying…?”

Mother, Father, I’m sorry.

Sanghyun finally fully realized the impact of what Professor Kim Woon-cheol had said.

Sanghyun ate shaved ice with Sangmi and took a long nap. Then he got up and played Go with Sangmi, with dishwashing duty on the line. Sanghyun had never learned Go, so he was technically inferior to Sangmi, but he used all sorts of tricks to secure victory.

Sanghyun went to his studio for a while to write lyrics, and Sangmi did the dishes and watched TV. The shaved ice was surprisingly filling, so they weren’t hungry. The two of them finally had dinner at 8 o’clock.

While eating dinner, Sanghyun received a text from Bang Min-shik saying, ‘Are you really going? Then let’s go together and tear up Jeonju,’ and smiled happily.

‘Really, the best day ever.’

It was a normal Tuesday, but I felt good.

I had a good talk with my homeroom teacher, got a good opportunity thanks to Professor Kim Woon-cheol, and had a heartwarming conversation with Sangmi. I also decided to participate in the Jeonju World Wide Indie Music Festival, and Hyung Min-shik approved.

‘I should just watch TV with Sangmi and go to sleep tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll visit the band’s studio and work on the set list for the Jeonju Music Festival…’

Sanghyun stroked Sangmi’s hair as she laughed while watching TV. Sangmi teased Sanghyun, saying she hadn’t washed her hair, but he didn’t really care.

That’s how the long summer day completely ended, and night came. It seemed like a peaceful day would quietly come to an end.

But Junhyung’s phone call broke the peace.

-Hey! Sanghyun, we’re in big trouble!

“What? What’s wrong?”

-Go to our crew’s club.

“Club? Why? What’s going on?”

Sanghyun yawned as he answered. He didn’t feel like turning on the computer.

-There are posts on Cyworld [an early Korean social networking site] insulting us right now!

“What? What are you talking about? Who’s insulting us?”

-Indie musicians from other regions!

“What nonsense are you talking about? How would those people know us?”

Sanghyun couldn’t understand what Junhyung was saying at all. But Junhyung’s next words woke him up completely.