Become A Music Monster Overnight! [EN]: Chapter 14

6. Black Tiger.

-Thud!-

The face that emerged reminded one of a Yakuza character from a famous Japanese fighting manga.

Even just taking off his sunglasses changed the atmosphere around him.

However, Youngchan, facing that face, simply wore a long, curved smile.

‘Wow! The boss’s raw, unadorned appearance without hair, makeup, and styling. What a precious sight!’

The boss.

That was the title Youngchan mainly used when referring to him.

He called him that not only because of his appearance but also because he often showed that side of himself.

Behind the cameras of the entertainment industry in the 90s, when gangsters ran rampant, it was no exaggeration to say it was a lawless zone.

Naturally, it was inevitable that the clutches of evil would reach out to Black Tiger.

Nevertheless, the reason Black Tiger could continue to be active wasn’t just because they became superstars upon their debut.

Rather, it was because of *his* presence within Black Tiger.

Most gangsters had no choice but to lower their eyes before his appearance, and as a former wrestler, he displayed the strength of a hundred men in the occasional fights.

Youngchan witnessed such sights during his energetic teenage years. It was only natural that Youngchan would call him the boss.

However, despite that nickname, the one who paid the most attention to grooming among the Black Tiger members was none other than the boss himself.

He was so enthusiastic that he frequented massage shops and dermatologists—places that even actresses at the time would visit for skin care—more than once a week to receive treatments.

The problem was that even with all that, his innate ferocity didn’t diminish much, but he himself was very satisfied.

It had been a while since it was easy to see the boss in his raw state, and Youngchan was bound to feel a sense of novelty seeing it again after almost 15 years.

“Ha~. What’s with this punk?”

However, Kwak Dohun, the so-called boss, unaware of the situation, was inwardly impressed by Youngchan’s boldness in smiling even when faced with his bare face.

Now past 50, he knew very well how threatening his appearance was to people.

Even Jang Taeshik, who had bickered with him for decades, had been busy avoiding his gaze for a while.

So it was no wonder he was impressed.

As if to prove he wasn’t just pretending, Youngchan even called an employee in the meantime to add iced Americano to his already emptied glass and cracked the remaining ice.

Jang Taeshik, who had been watching the scene with a pleased expression, belatedly frowned at Kwak Donghun.

“You punk! How dare you even look at someone you’re not worthy to gaze upon!”

“Did you take some kind of drug while I wasn’t looking? Bringing in some unheard-of brat, what’s going on!”

“Ha~. I should have brought the other guys first, but of all people, this is the only one who had time.”

Kwak Dohun suppressed his rising anger at Jang Taeshik’s sarcasm and muttered.

“Why didn’t I kill you when I was younger?”

“You must have been scared of me.”

“You son of a….”

“Hahaha.”

Youngchan couldn’t help but burst into laughter at Jang Taeshik’s antics, who was provoking Kwak Dohun by picking his ear.

He missed their unique comedic bickering so much that the laughter burst out without him realizing it.

‘What a goblin-like guy.’

Thanks to that, Kwak Dohun couldn’t hide his bewilderment at Youngchan’s unpredictable attitude.

But Jang Taeshik, already completely smitten, didn’t seem to care. He looked at Youngchan with honey dripping from his eyes and placed the newly arrived iced Americano in front of him.

This only made Youngchan seem even more bizarre to Kwak Dohun.

‘This guy is ruthless when it comes to music, if nothing else.’

Knowing that all too well, Kwak Dohun had dropped everything he was doing and come at Jang Taeshik’s call.

‘Please, let at least one of them be true….’

He was talking about unbelievable things as if he were dreaming, and he desperately hoped that at least one of them would be true.

Youngchan took a sip of his newly arrived iced Americano and said to them as if it were obvious.

“If you two join the band with me, you’ll have to follow my instructions for at least a year. Don’t doubt, just hit when I tell you to hit, and memorize whatever I tell you to memorize. And of course, quitting drinking and smoking is a given.”

Kwak Dohun was taken aback by the statement, which sounded like a slave contract.

“You punk! Who do you think you….”

“Of course. What’s one year? I’ll follow you until the day I die.”

“Hahaha. You don’t have to go that far.”

Kwak Dohun was surprised by Jang Taeshik’s uncharacteristic behavior and stared at him with his bulging eyes wide open.

“What’s wrong with you? Did he catch you doing something wrong?”

“Shut up, you. You’ll find out soon enough.”

“????”

“Well. The stage preparations are almost finished.”

“It’ll definitely be done in 10 minutes.”

“Yes. It looks like it.”

He nodded, looking around at the surroundings where sound equipment and lighting were being installed for the conversion to a rock cafe.

“I can see why this is the most famous branch.”

“Hahaha. I spent a bit of money. Eventually, I plan to bring the other branches up to this level.”

“That’s a wonderful thing.”

-Slurp!-

Youngchan, who had almost emptied his iced Americano, nodded. He hadn’t noticed it during the day, but now that it was newly set up, he could see that a lot of attention had been paid to many aspects.

Then Kwak Dohun asked Youngchan.

“More importantly, the team name is Black Tiger? Why did you name it that?”

“It’s a name I took from the Black Tiger Mask [a classic wrestling anime] I saw when I was young. It’s cool, isn’t it? Fighting against the world’s evil with bare hands.”

“No way! I wondered. You were also a fan of Black Tiger Mask? That’s not easy at your age. Hehehe! What a joyous occasion!”

“Ahaha…”

Youngchan could only smile awkwardly at the exclamation of the person who had forced him to watch 42 episodes of Black Tiger Mask.

In fact, even as a child, he couldn’t understand Black Tiger Mask, who charged at enemies with vicious weapons like guns with his bare hands.

‘Trained muscles are stronger than steel!’

Whenever he faced a crisis, Black Tiger Mask would shout such nonsense and awaken, and each time, the enemies would fall like dominoes.

That’s how old anime was, but even with its clumsy action, Kwak Dohun next to him couldn’t contain his excitement and shouted, ‘Justice will prevail!’ startling Youngchan’s heart.

It’s a memory now, but it wasn’t a very good experience for Youngchan at the time, even as a joke.

In any case, Kwak Dohun’s favorability towards Youngchan was growing more and more because of Black Tiger Mask.

Before long, 10 minutes had passed, and as Jang Taeshik had said, the stage preparations were finished.

-Crunch crunch-

As soon as he knew that the stage preparations were finished, Youngchan chewed the remaining ice and got up.

-Thud-

Putting down the emptied cup and grabbing his guitar, Youngchan smiled at Jang Taeshik, who was expecting with sparkling eyes like a child, and Kwak Dohun, who couldn’t hide his suspicion regardless of his favorability, before turning to the stage.

-Thump thump-

Jang Taeshik, whose heart was racing at his back, said to Kwak Dohun.

“From now on, you’re going to hear music you’ve never heard before! Listen carefully. You’ll regret it if you miss even a moment.”

“…..”

At his friend’s words, Kwak Dohun leaned forward without realizing it.

Like the beast he was said to be, he was vaguely feeling it too.

That a huge tsunami was coming into his life.

-Da-da-dang! Ji-ji-jing!-

Youngchan’s face was bright as he checked the sound system while catching the notes. The sound system was better than he had expected.

It wasn’t much of a disappointment compared to famous overseas indoor concert halls.

Of course, it would be different once people came in, but for now, he could expect a sound no less than any studio.

After lightly checking the microphone, Youngchan looked at Kwak Dohun, who was focused on him, and said.

“First, I’ll play ‘Old Soldiers Never Die (2016)’ version, then ‘Old Soldiers Never Die (90’S),’ and then I’ll play ‘Old Soldiers Never Die (90’S)’ again with Jang, the boss. Once you hear it, you’ll know why I was trying to gather members with such conditions.”

Saying that, Youngchan glanced at the latest camera prepared to upload to YouTube and immediately started playing.

-Da-da-da-dang! Da-da-dang!-

With the dazzling guitar sound, ‘Old Soldiers Never Die (2016),’ which Youngchan thought was S+ grade, began.

“!!!!”

The guitar sound.

That alone made Kwak Dohun take off his sunglasses in surprise.

As someone who wouldn’t be second to anyone when it came to listening, he realized how terrifying the current guitar sound was.

But the surprising thing for him was just beginning.

“Yes, I’m back. Like always!”

The powerful force and groove in his voice, which was hard to hear even from world-class vocalists during the heyday of rock, was enough to blow his mind.

That alone was driving him crazy, but what was really amazing was the song being played now.

Old Soldiers Never Die (2016), which he wrote and composed, was on par with the songs of world-class masterpieces.

‘That scrawny guy made something like this?’

Kwak Dohun, who would have evaluated his appearance differently if he had met him half a year ago, was so engrossed in the song.

-Ji-ji-jing!-

After that, his face turned reddish at the ensuing guitar shredding.

It was fortunate that the sound system was good; otherwise, the sound of his wildly beating heart would have interfered with the song.

The song, which lasted for more than 4 minutes, ended like an arrow.

-Wowwwww!-

After the song ended and about 10 seconds passed, Kwak Dohun screamed like a beast that had escaped its cage.

With just one song.

With just this one song, he was fascinated by Youngchan.

“Fucking crazy! You’re the best monster I’ve ever seen!”

Youngchan revealed his white teeth and brought the microphone to his mouth as Kwak Dohun, who had called himself a monster for the first time, saying that it was difficult to express him with words like genius.

“monster? no. no. ultra monster!”

“oh!”

Youngchan corrected that he was not a monster but a *kaiju* [Japanese for “strange beast” or “monster”] threatening the world, and Kwak Dohun exclaimed.

It was a story he would have said was crazy before listening to the song, but now he couldn’t refute it.

Knowing Kwak Dohun’s heart, Youngchan immediately started playing Old Soldiers Never Die (90’S).

In an instant, the store returned to the magnificent heyday of rock.

Kwak Dohun’s already reddened face had changed to the point where he resembled Guan Yu [a famous Chinese general known for his red face], who was said to have reddish-brown skin.

The song, which lasted 6 minutes and 20 seconds, sent everyone there to heaven with just a guitar and a voice.

-Buzz buzz!-

It was so great that the audience who hadn’t been able to enter yet were sticking to the walls as if they were spying, and there were quite a few of them.

Youngchan smiled at them and said to Jang Taeshik.

“Hahaha! Boss Jang, how about opening the door a little earlier?”

“…Huh? Ah! If you want, do it.”

“Okay. Then please get ready, Boss Jang.”

“Ah! Okay. I’ll go up right away.”

Jang Taeshik, who had listened to Old Soldiers Never Die (90’S) as an audience member, found it difficult to concentrate.

It reminded him of when they played together yesterday, and his blood was boiling. That’s why Jang Taeshik rushed to the stage as if he had been waiting for Youngchan’s call to come on stage.

There was no need to set anything else up.

He had spent a sleepless night from the tremendous stimulation he had never experienced before, and he had come out early in the morning to finish the setting.

He had practiced Old Soldiers Never Die (90’S) dozens of times alone, and each time he showed regret.

‘This is not it…… After all, I have to be with the real thing.’

It wasn’t that the notes or rhythm were wrong. If you only looked at the skills he had accumulated since he was 10 years old, wandering around the US military base, you could call him a master.

However, that was not enough.

Perhaps he wouldn’t have known that lack before playing with Youngchan. Even if it wasn’t that, Old Soldiers Never Die (90’S) was a great song, so he would have been satisfied with that alone.

However, like the fate of those who have eaten the forbidden fruit, he has now become a body that cannot be satisfied with ordinary fruit.

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