Become A Music Monster Overnight! [EN]: Chapter 76

67. Asian Tour

Expanding one’s musical spectrum wasn’t actually an easy task.

People have a limited capacity for what they can accept within the realm of their tastes.

It might be different if you approach music as a hobby, but for those who make a career out of it, it’s more important to delve deeply into a specific field rather than broadening the spectrum.

Making a career means becoming a professional, which in turn means winning in competition with other professionals.

To do that, it was a priority to achieve something unique in a particular field.

Only after creating one’s own distinct style can one encounter music from other fields and then undertake the task of imbuing it with one’s own color.

Broadening the musical spectrum was not such an easy process.

Yet, Youngchan’s musical spectrum was mysteriously broad.

And it wasn’t just mere imitation.

It had the unique, flavorful depth of the legends who were active in that era, as if he had been one of them.

If Taylor hadn’t known who YC was through YouTube and other sources, he would have thought he was from an older generation.

“Here are some other songs composed by YC.”

The headhunter who came to scout him played ‘Snow Lady,’ which had stirred up Northeast Asia beyond Korea last winter, along with those words.

As if to encourage his seemingly hesitant decision.

Thanks to that, Taylor’s mouth, which was already agape, widened even further.

But he still couldn’t quite grasp it with the other songs in different genres that followed.

From Ina Eun’s ‘Bunny Bunny,’ full of typical K-pop elements, to Blue Rose’s ‘Pink Diary,’ the styles were so different that it was hard to believe they came from the same composer.

In fact, there were rumors circulating in Korea that YC was ghost producing [secretly composing for other artists] due to this ridiculously broad musical spectrum.

“And this is Black Tiger’s first full-length album title track, which will be released tomorrow at noon. Personally, I think this song is one of the top three I’ve ever heard.”

At the same time, ‘brilliant struggle’ flowed into the headphones Taylor was wearing.

‘brilliant struggle’ was over 6 minutes long, but Taylor, who was listening to it, never felt that the song was long.

That’s because that brilliant struggle, which began with the thrilling piano sound, felt like a very long feature film condensed into one song.

When he came to his senses, his heart was about to burst, and tears were streaming down his face.

As if he knew he would, the headhunter handed him a prepared handkerchief, and Taylor accepted it, wiped away his tears, slowly composed himself, and asked.

“I can’t believe it. Does this person really want me?”

The headhunter smiled broadly at his appearance, asking cautiously with his eyes red.

Of course, Taylor decided to accept the headhunter’s offer.

However, he couldn’t go to Korea right away because he had a lot of things going on.

Since he wanted to manage the company as Black Tiger’s exclusive manager if he worked together, he quickly began to sort things out [정리 주변을 정리해 나갔다].

Even though he hurried, it was only after three weeks that he could come to Korea.

Youngchan smiled at Taylor, who was so happy with this meeting that he even said it was an honor.

‘Finally working with Taylor.’

It was hard to even think about entering the U.S. market without Taylor, so Taylor’s stake in YC Enter’s successful entry into the U.S. was significant.

Interestingly, Taylor had approached him first.

“I’m curious to see how far your music can go. I want to work with you.”

At the time, he had suddenly entered the U.S. market.

Therefore, he desperately needed someone to help him locally in the United States, and Taylor came to him like a gift.

After looking into it thoroughly, Youngchan did not miss this opportunity when he learned that he was a top-notch agent with credible abilities.

Youngchan exchanged Taylor’s expertise for 3% of YC Enter’s shares, and Taylor, who became the head of the U.S. branch and an agent of YC Enter, did more than the value of those shares.

It was also his work to make collaborations with legends that would have been difficult to achieve.

For him, who could be said to be a rookie in the United States, collaborations with these legends were more effective than anything else in raising his profile.

In the process, he was able to use the distribution network of his former employer, Universal Music Group, and as a result, Youngchan’s first album in the United States was a huge hit.

It was a feat that dominated the Billboard charts.

But Taylor’s outstanding advantage was not limited to this.

He was also good at image making. It’s not that he’s good at capturing concepts like Tokashi [likely referring to Takashi Murakami, known for distinct artistic concepts], but he’s good at manipulating issues like the media to highlight the image he wants.

This was the same as saying that he could raise the value of the product to the level he wanted.

And if it weren’t for this image-making ability, Youngchan would not have been able to reach the top star position in the United States so easily.

One of the methods Taylor uses best for this image making is internet media such as YouTube and SNS [Social Networking Services].

He especially focused on SNS.

“Videos used on SNS are short and light, so they can spread easily. If used well, it can create a ripple effect like the Ice Bucket Challenge.”

After Youngchan’s success, he mentioned the Ice Bucket Challenge, which was popular at the time, regarding the promotion of idols from YC Enter.

The Ice Bucket Challenge is a social movement created to raise awareness of Lou Gehrig’s disease [Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS] and encourage donations.

Participants first nominate three people to receive this challenge through a video, and within 24 hours, they are induced to either accept this challenge and pour ice water on themselves or donate $100 to the American ALS Association. After that, the participant simply pours ice water on themselves.

However, pouring ice water became a social trend, and many people donated while pouring ice water on themselves.

However, this challenge soon withered away.

This is because there was a lot of talk about the fact that 30% of the $100 million collected was not used for its original purpose.

For various other reasons, the atmosphere quickly subsided.

However, what Taylor focused on was that this challenge had spread as a social trend.

He saw that the desire to be recognized and the unique, fun-like format made people follow along, and Taylor believed that YC Enter, which was disadvantaged in many ways, had to melt into the West through this challenge.

And Taylor’s thoughts were surprisingly accurate.

Once the floodgates were opened, the challenge quickly became popular among young people, and awareness skyrocketed.

Youngchan, who was reminded of him in his imprinted memory for a while, was also bitter on the one hand.

This is because he abandoned Taylor, who was dedicated to his outstanding ability as an image consultant, in self-pity.

Thinking about the time when he poured out harsh words to him when he came to stop him from falling into drugs, it is difficult to make eye contact even though it is not what he did.

But soon Youngchan met the eyes of Taylor, who was looking at him with eyes as clear as it was hard to believe that he was a middle-aged man.

“I’m Park Youngchan, the CEO of YC Enter. Thank you for accepting the offer.”

After that, they started with light small talk and soon moved on to a full-fledged discussion about entering the U.S. market.

While sorting things out [정리 주변을 정리하는 가운데], Taylor began to talk about what he had prepared for entering the U.S. in the middle.

“Looking at YC Enter’s YouTube, the videos that the CEO uploaded as cover songs of legends are getting a good response. So, how about raising awareness through collaborations with legends?”

“Is that possible? We are virtually unknown there.”

“Hahaha. If they have ears, they won’t be able to refuse.”

Legends who dominated an era had concerns.

It is a concern that has arisen from a long time of musical activity.

If they put out something too new, fans won’t accept it, and if they put out their original color, they will hear the sound of self-replication.

Naturally, the talk of being washed up [퇴물] comes out.

In that regard, Black Tiger seems to be looking at custom-made clothes for these legends.

The rock they showed is the same as what the legends showed during their heyday, but it is also fresh.

If they didn’t know, they wouldn’t know, but if they did, they had no choice but to reach out.

‘Even so, can you really make this happen?’

Youngchan, who thought Taylor was great again, accepted his opinion but also expressed his own.

“I want to create a challenge through SNS.”

“Challenge?”

“Do you know about the brilliant struggle event?”

When Youngchan mentioned the brilliant struggle event, Taylor immediately exclaimed and nodded.

“Ah! Of course, I know. I was really impressed in many ways.”

The fact that the proceeds from the first full-length album title song are donated is also true, but above all, the brilliant struggle song is one of the best songs of the century. He is simply amazed by the fact that he donated a song that would have earned him a lot of money.

“I’m glad you know. I want to make brilliant struggle a challenge.”

With those words, Youngchan showed SNS related to brilliant struggle, which is currently popular in Korea and other parts of Asia.

Taylor looked at the SNS and recalled the word challenge that Youngchan had said earlier.

When he thought that far, he was greatly surprised and had no choice but to find God.

“Oh, my God!”

He looked at Youngchan with eyes as if he were looking at a monster.

He couldn’t understand how he could have such ridiculous crazy thoughts.

However, Youngchan rather thought that Taylor was crazy when he saw him.

‘Did you know what kind of ripple effect the challenge would have with just that clue?’

No one initially expected the Ice Bucket Challenge to become popular in countries on the opposite side of the globe.

Only after the same social movement became popular did they talk about the reasons for the popularity, citing various reasons.

But Taylor seemed to know the ripple effect before he even heard a proper explanation, so it’s no wonder Youngchan was so surprised.

In this way, Youngchan and Taylor, who had newly formed a relationship in this world, finished their first meeting, horrified by each other.

* * *

After a week of maintenance after three weeks of activity, the long-awaited band tour finally began.

The first band tour was held at the Jamsil Sports Complex Olympic Stadium in Seoul.

There were 50,000 seats, and the concert was scheduled to last for three days.

There were many concerns about this within YC Enter.

This is because they put out too many seats at the first domestic concert.

Since the price was not cheap, there were skeptical opinions about whether they would be able to fill all 150,000 seats.

However, the 150,000 seats were sold out in less than 10 minutes after the ticket opened, embarrassing these concerns.

Even this was the time that was increased due to the server being temporarily paralyzed due to the large number of people who gathered.

It was said that all seats would have been sold out in less than 5 minutes if that hadn’t happened.

“We shouldn’t say that rock is a minority genre anymore, right?”

Kwak Dohun nodded at the words of road manager Park Sungryul, who was from the wrestling standing army and joined as a manager this time.

“The landscape [판] was already overturned from the moment Black Tiger came out.”

Jang Taeshik muttered with a disapproving look at him, who was unusually heavy in front of his wrestling junior [후배].

“Anyone who sees it will think you’re the mainstay of our team.”

“크으음.”

“Pretending to be gentle in front of your junior [후배]? Hey~ Will it fall off just because you’re being gentle on your face? Please act as you were born.”

“This punk [새끼]!”

In the end, Jang Taeshik took a step without blinking an eye at him, who couldn’t stand it and raised his body like a bear.

Kwak Daehoon is a monster, but Jang Taeshik had been boxing for over 20 years since he was young.

Recently, he has been managing his body again, and although his stamina is difficult, he is showing a presence [모습] that is no less than his prime.

Boxing VS Wrestling.

It was a spectacle that made me think of popcorn, but it was something that the new manager Park Sungryul, who had been in the company for less than a month, couldn’t handle.