Become A Music Monster Overnight! [EN]: Chapter 5

2. A Music Prodigy at Thirty?

-Ta-da-da-da…

With lingering affection, I plucked the last note of the resonant string and slowly lifted my hand away from the strings.

“Ouch.”

Only then did the pain surge in.

But it was a pain I had missed so much that it didn’t feel entirely bad. Rather, it triggered adrenaline, making me want to continue playing until I collapsed.

However, I remembered that this guitar was not yet mine, and this place was not my stage, so I apologized with an awkward expression.

“I’m sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve played, and I got carried away without realizing it.”

“……”

The boss didn’t say anything.

I wondered if he was angry, and only then did I look at his face, realizing that he wasn’t. His eyes trembled, unable to focus easily, and his mouth was wide open.

‘He must be very surprised.’

Even I was impressed by my own playing, so it was no wonder the boss was like this.

‘But still…’

I hadn’t thought about it when I was excited while playing the guitar, but this was really strange.

‘Even if the memories are imprinted, this is absurd. It feels like I’ve been playing the guitar for a long time, just like that guy.’

Except for physique, stamina, and calluses, my guitar skills were comparable to that guy’s in the other world.

Rather, I was superior in areas like emotion due to the variable of drugs.

“!!!”

As I questioned this incomprehensible phenomenon, I suddenly recalled what happened in the bathroom this morning before I fainted.

My brain was arbitrarily crushed and swollen, and my body rampaged uncontrollably, defying my will. My eyes, nose, and mouth seemed distorted, so the sight must have been far from amusing, even as a joke.

Perhaps it was caused by the nerves being stimulated as the brain received a tremendous amount of information.

And it was clear that those incredibly stimulated nerves were causing me to feel this sensation now.

‘Hmm.’

It was an experience that could have led to shock if I hadn’t fainted in the middle, so just thinking about it made me feel nauseous.

‘This is really amazing!’

It felt like receiving a surprise birthday present.

That’s because, apart from the overflowing inspiration, my learning speed for skills was very slow.

Of course, my current situation is like a veteran player leveling up a new character in a game, but even so, it would take at least three years of relentless practice to reach a level I considered useful.

Even that was a positive outlook, so there couldn’t be a better gift than this.

‘….I should check my voice too.’

With a hint of anticipation, I shook my body once, but then I had to turn my head to the boss’s fuss, who seemed to have finally come to his senses.

“Who are you! What is this song! Unbelievable speed! That incredible expressiveness! How could I not know such a great guitarist!”

He said that even Jimi Hendrix’s performance at the public square, which had greatly impressed him in the past, wasn’t this good. He even said that if he were younger, he might have cried, clutching his pounding heart as he spoke, which didn’t seem like an empty gesture.

I simply gave the boss an awkward smile in response to his praise.

If it had been me until yesterday, I might have blushed to my ears, but I had imprinted the memories of a musician who had reached the pinnacle of the world.

It was no exaggeration to say that I had experienced countless insane praises, so this level of praise wasn’t that embarrassing.

When the boss calmed down to some extent, I cautiously asked.

“Excuse me, could I borrow some tissue?”

“Oh my! Just a moment.”

Seeing my bleeding fingers, the boss was startled and quickly brought some hemostatic medicine [medicine to stop bleeding] and bandages from inside the store.

Thanks to him, I was able to stop the bleeding, and I carefully wiped the Fender [a brand of guitar], stained with my blood, with the remaining tissue and asked.

“I like it. How much does it cost?”

It wasn’t that I didn’t have money, but considering what I had to do in the future, it was a time to save as much money as possible. Noticing my situation, the boss smiled.

“Hahaha. I can’t charge the full price after hearing such wonderful music with this guitar. Just give me 300,000 won [approximately $250 USD].”

“Ah!”

It was absurd to buy such an instrument for only 300,000 won. Its value as a collector’s item alone would be several times that, not just for playing.

However, after a moment of great surprise, I swallowed hard and said.

“I’m also thinking of buying an amp and a multi-effects processor. Could you give me a discount on those too?”

“Hahaha.”

The boss laughed heartily at my brazen words.

In the end, the boss gave me a really generous discount.

Even though they were used, I didn’t pay more than 600,000 won [approximately $500 USD] for a decent Marshall amp [a brand of amplifier] and a good multi-effects processor, so I thanked him several times.

Perhaps realizing my sincerity, the boss laughed and said.

“If you feel that way, just release an album quickly. That’s enough for me.”

I realized once again from his answer that the boss really loved rock, and I said as if making a promise.

While carrying the guitar, multi-effects processor, and amp back home, I stopped for a moment in front of a coin karaoke [a small, private karaoke room that you pay for by the song].

“Right…”

Could it be that my voice had also changed, just like my playing?

With that intuition, I entered the coin karaoke with a pounding heart once again.

I took a seat not far from the entrance and looked around with a fresh expression.

“Come to think of it, it’s been a long time since I’ve been to a karaoke.”

It had been almost 15 years since I went there after middle school.

Fortunately, the way to use the coin karaoke was the same as back then, so there was no difficulty in operating it.

“What should I sing?”

I, who had risen to become the world’s top musician, didn’t particularly discriminate against genres.

I had an affection for rock due to the influence of my mentors, but I wasn’t the type to be biased towards rock alone.

I liked all kinds of music, including third-world music, and it was no different for classical music.

“Hmm. I don’t know the recent songs. Did they release songs like this? Hmm.”

Perhaps due to my existence, which had made a significant mark on the history of popular music, there were differences in the direction and history of popular music in this world.

As I compared the two worlds and flipped through the karaoke book, I soon decided on a song.

It was Aris’s debut song, ‘Happy Virus.’

Even though I shared the memories of a genius musician, my affection for my favorite girl group hadn’t disappeared. Rather, I became more attached to them due to regret and disappointment.

Perhaps it was because, from the perspective of someone who had awakened their talent, I was convinced that Happy Virus was not a good song.

Nevertheless, I chose this song because it had a high potential depending on the arrangement.

“Change to a male key, lower the pitch, and slow down the tempo…”

-Ta-da-da-dang!-

Just by changing the karaoke key, the quality of the song Happy Virus improved significantly.

It was as if a C-grade song had become a C+ grade song.

However, this grade would change depending on who sang it, and I could raise it to at least a B or higher.

“~When the wind blows, I think of your scent.”

Since it was a girl group song, the lyrics were nothing but refreshing, but I scratched my voice a little to change the atmosphere of the song.

Originally, Happy Virus was about how just thinking of you makes a happy virus spread through my life.

But by changing the flow of the song like this, the overall content of the song changed to be about longing for someone who used to give me a happy virus in the past.

In fact, I changed and sang some of the lyrics to match that.

Even so, there were still many parts that were disappointing, but I was happy.

Because of my voice that could express the shortcomings of the song.

‘It’s even better than the me in that world.’

Of course, there was no vocal academy in the 90s.

So, many problems were bound to arise.

At this time, singers would strain their voices by belting out high notes that didn’t suit them in order to attract people’s attention.

If they had received systematic training to find a voice that suited them or had thoroughly managed their voices, things might have been different, but they were doing crazy things like a pitcher’s shoulder that gets stronger the more you use it, so this happened frequently.

Since the singers were like that, the trainees who grew up watching them were no different.

Of course, I was also subjected to abuse, so my vocal condition wasn’t very good.

Unlike that guy’s voice, my voice was vibrant. On top of that, my voice was stronger than I expected, as if it had been honed for a long time, so I couldn’t help but be happy.

Originally, I was only going to sing one song and leave, but I decided to sing a few more.

++++++

A group of high school students, who appeared to be from the band club, were standing in front of a booth in the coin karaoke.

These students, who should have been singing excitedly in the coin karaoke, couldn’t even think about it now.

“Wow! That old man is crazy.”

“I thought he was an otaku [a person with obsessive interests, particularly in anime and manga] when he first tried to sing a girl group song… He’s insane!”

“But is it okay for us to record this?”

“It’s a waste to keep such a rare thing to ourselves. It’ll be fine.”

“I heard this kind of thing works on YouTube? There’s a twist.”

“We can suck up views for a while.”

“Everyone shut up! You’re getting background noise. It’s so hard to edit that out.”

The number of onlookers gathered was gradually increasing. Most of them were students, and coin karaoke was essential for students with no money to spend.

After the song ended for a moment and while he was choosing the next song, the students were busy exhaling the breath they had been holding in.

“Ugh… I can’t say I sing anywhere. To think that such a skilled person is singing in a coin karaoke.”

“He’s that good even with the karaoke system, how amazing would he be if he sang in a proper place?”

“Wow! He’s crazy. That old man’s rap is amazing too. How did he change that cringeworthy rap like that!”

“Just the rap? His high notes are the real deal! How many octaves did he raise in true voice?”

“I think it’s roughly 3 octaves?”

“Considering he has a guitar and amp, he might have come from a performance somewhere.”

“He must be a musician from Seoul.”

“Is there a street performance?”

The students were whispering, but as the song was about to start again, they suddenly became silent.

“???”

It was a girl group song again, but the children’s eyes were filled with questions about this song selection.

Compared to the previous song, which was a girl group song they seemed to have seen somewhere, this song was one they had never heard before.

Their reaction was natural.

The song that Park Young-chan had chosen this time was a song by a minor girl group called ‘Good Night.’

Good Night was a typical girl group created by a small agency, and they had barely appeared on television.

Even when they did appear on television, it was on cable, and they had never appeared on terrestrial broadcasting.

YouTube, SNS [Social Networking Services], and M’s live broadcasts were their main stages, and they could occasionally be seen on local radio or at events.

They were a girl group that could be called a ‘doomed idol,’ but Park Young-chan was interested in this group for a different reason.

Due to the limitations of a small agency with no money or connections, Good Night’s songs, choreography, hair, makeup, and styling were terrible, but surprisingly, the members of Good Night were quite skilled, so they gained some popularity in the minor leagues.

In other words, if they received good support, they would be comparable to any top-tier girl group.

Park Young-chan started singing Good Night’s debut song ‘Assa!’, which could be said to be the most well-known song.

Assa! was a C- grade song.

Even that was a song that brought back outdated trends, so those who heard it for the first time would have thought it was a song that came out in the mid-2000s.

In fact, Assa! was created in the mid-2000s and was brought by Good Night and released after some arrangement.

“The direction of the arrangement is wrong.”

It would have been better to imitate the recent style, even if it lowered the completeness of the song itself.

If they had done that, they would have gained more fame than they have now.

Park Young-chan showed regret about that point, but he thought that the lyrics themselves were not bad.

It was because Assa!’s lyrics covered the direction of the song, which might seem childish in some ways.

However, since the song itself had so many problems, those who had gathered, captivated by Park Young-chan’s singing, showed a lot of disappointment this time.

“I wish he would sing a proper song. How long is he going to sing only girl group songs?”

“If it was a somewhat famous song, it would be different. He only sings songs by unknown kids.”

“His taste is so unique.”

“Yeah… Wow! Goosebumps!”

“What was that crazy high note just now?”

“We can’t figure out this old man no matter how much we peel him back?”

“What the heck is his identity?”

“Oh, I think he’s going to stop now?”

“That’s too bad. It would have been nice if he had sung a proper rock song.”

Perhaps he heard the words of a student who was aiming to be a vocalist with particularly short hair?

Park Young-chan, who was about to put down the microphone after finishing Assa!, soon raised the microphone again.

He realized that the songs he had sung so far were just close to being a fan and were not suitable for testing his vocal condition.

“I think my breathing is a little short…”

Even though his nerves had changed, he couldn’t change his lung tissue, so it wasn’t something he couldn’t understand.

It was amazing that he could sing this much.

“Let’s do this.”

After looking through the book for a while, Young-chan soon chose a song.

The song he chose was Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’

Simply according to the lyrics, it is a song about a boy who killed his father for reasons such as domestic violence and was sentenced to death in court, and the shocking lyrics caused controversy and were bombarded with questions from numerous reporters.

Since the song itself contains such content, it was not easy to sing this song properly.

Outstanding volume and a special tone were not enough.

Only by capturing the immature sensibility of a boy in a miserable reality can the true value of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ be revealed.

In that respect, Queen’s vocalist Freddie Mercury was the one who had all the conditions.

His monstrous volume, immeasurable tone, and his delicate yet special expressiveness were enough to draw out the boy’s miserable sensibility, and this soon revealed all the true value of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’

Just looking at this, you can see that it is not for nothing that Freddie Mercury is considered one of the best vocalists in the world.

-Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? (Is this real life? Is this just fantasy?)-

The expressions of the students surrounding the booth, who had been looking forward to the very famous and unique introduction, changed in an instant.

“!!!”

“Bohemian Rhapsody?”

“Crazy!”

“Oh my god!”

“Hey! Everyone shut up! You have to stick close to capture the sound properly.”

The guy who was filming with his smartphone seemed to have anticipated that something unusual was about to happen and hurriedly stuck close to the booth.

After all, they had shown an amazing performance even with a girl group song like Mangdol, so it was impossible not to have expectations.

Everyone around the booth was silent, as if they all felt the same way.

Fortunately, Young-chan was skipping the intro part with the chorus.

And soon, with the piano solo, Young-chan, who had been catching his emotions, raised the microphone.

“Mamaaa, Just killed a man, Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, Now he’s dead Mamaaa, life had just begun, But now I’ve gone and thrown it all away…”

-gulp!-

The vocalist of the band club, who was holding the camera, realized what it meant to have goosebumps all over his body.

This was because the level of the song was beyond the level he had vaguely imagined.

It was difficult to erase Freddie Freddie Mercury’s image from Bohemian Rhapsody.

This was because the completeness of his Bohemian Rhapsody was so high. Even though a top-notch singer with the help of arrangement sang it, it was still like that, so you can see how high Freddie Mercury’s wall is.

‘……’

But surprisingly, Young-chan erased Freddie Mercury’s image in just a few verses.

There was only Young-chan’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

It wasn’t just the vocalist of the band club who felt that way. Everyone in the dozens of people who were holding their breath in that place felt that way.

As if they were listening to Bohemian Rhapsody for the first time, their souls were swept away by Young-chan’s voice.

Young-chan, who showed such tremendous control that even the crude karaoke system didn’t feel like a big flaw, was running towards the end like that.

Young-chan, who finished singing the last verse, had to catch his breath roughly.

“Haa haa.”

Thanks to his decades of experience, he was able to complete the song, but it was not yet a song that he could sing on stage.

His lungs were not as bad as he thought, but the problem was his stamina.

A performance on stage required ten times more stamina than now, so at his current level, he would collapse after one song.

Young-chan’s face was brighter than ever as he thought that he should focus on improving his stamina rather than just losing weight.

Apart from the limitations of his stamina, he knew that he had changed in vocals as he had in guitar playing.

Of course, he had changed for the better, and perhaps when the lacking hardware was somewhat in place, he would completely surpass himself in that world.

As evidence of that, he had succeeded in singing Bohemian Rhapsody, which had a strong image of Freddie Mercury, like his own song, hadn’t he?

As he sorted out his thoughts, he finally put down the microphone.

Young-chan, who picked up his guitar and left the booth, finally saw the people listening to his song.

‘Ugh. What are these students…’

When he realized that he had been singing girl group songs in front of these young students, he pressed down on his hat even more in embarrassment.

He wanted to get out of this place quickly, but the situation was not as he wished.

As if they had been waiting for him to leave the booth, the students approached him with shining eyes and poured out questions.

“Are you a singer, mister? Are you in a band? What’s your name?”

“Do you have an album out?”

“Can’t you sing another song? Ah! Not a girl group song.”

“Do you have a YouTube channel?”

“Can we upload the recording to YouTube?”

Young-chan roughly answered the students, who seemed like they wouldn’t let him go easily if he didn’t answer, and dragged his luggage out.

“I don’t have an album or a YouTube channel. Upload it if you want. Can you move aside a little?”

Unlike the students who were disappointed that he didn’t have an album or a YouTube channel, the vocalist was giggling at the fact that he could upload it to YouTube.

He was convinced that it was a video that would guarantee views if he chose the title well.

He was harassed by people for a while, but as soon as he left the coin karaoke, no one paid attention to him.

“Hoo. Kids these days sure have a lot of energy.”

Young-chan, who was thinking that he wouldn’t have been able to easily talk to such a huge man if he had been a teenager, couldn’t hide the smile spreading across his face.

Perhaps he would have shouted loudly if he had been in a place with no people.

Although he had fallen due to drugs, Young-chan was at the point of meeting a wall for the first time before that happened.

It was a time when he was facing the limits of the fame that he had created himself and that had been inflated by his fans.

He had even developed depression, so it would have taken decades of effort to overcome it.

That limit was overcome in an unexpected form.

It was no wonder that Young-chan was so happy.

-Grrr-

Was that why?

Even though it was difficult to drag the guitar, amp, and multi-effects processor up the uphill road, Young-chan’s steps home seemed lighter than ever.