Become A Music Monster Overnight! [EN]: Chapter 90

27. RRHOF

‘Brilliant Struggle’ relinquished its number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 after its sixth week.

The song gave up the top spot so easily that internal predictions of holding on for another week or two seemed meaningless.

However, neither I, my uncles, nor anyone within the company felt any disappointment over this.

There were two reasons.

Firstly, ‘Brilliant Struggle,’ along with all the English versions of Black Tiger’s songs besides ‘Level Up,’ had entered the top 20.

Considering that four of them were in the top 10, it was a remarkable achievement.

And that wasn’t all.

The fact that five non-English versions also made it into the Hot 100 showed Black Tiger’s current standing on Billboard.

If the first reason for not being disappointed was that, the second reason was, in fact, decisive.

The song that pushed ‘Brilliant Struggle’ off the Billboard Hot 100 was none other than ‘Painkiller.’

“I naturally expected a good response, but…”

I never imagined it would be this huge.

Indeed.

It only took three days.

The time it took to snatch the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

No, even that ‘three days’ was due to the calculation method and the time required; it probably took less than two days in reality.

That’s how crazy the reaction to ‘Painkiller’ was.

-Painkiller & Black Tiger’s second project song, ‘Painkiller,’ receives endless praise!-

-A composition never seen before! Genius idea! A new discovery of rock!-

-The insane collaboration of classical and rock!-

-Violinist maestro David Garrett praises, “‘Painkiller’ is the essence of what I vaguely hoped and dreamed of.”-

-Piano empress Martha Argerich expresses her desire to perform a concerto with the pianist of ‘Painkiller.’-

-Jazz piano master Fred Hersch praises the composer of ‘Painkiller.’-

The preceding articles were all published on the second day after ‘Painkiller’ was released.

In particular, jazz piano master Fred Hersch left praises in so many media outlets that Uncle Moon Il-beom forcibly showed them to me.

One impressive interview that stood out was this:

“The most important thing in jazz, as well as in all songs, is ‘being memorable.’ Writing songs with music notation software may be attractive to musicians, but it leads to compositions that are not appealing to the general public. This happens because it doesn’t leave room for the performer to create their own sound.

In that regard, ‘Painkiller,’ regardless of its completeness, is a masterpiece that leaves plenty of room for that. If YC composed this with that in mind, I would say unequivocally that we should rejoice in the reincarnation of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in this era.”

Even though I thought I had become quite brazen, my face turned red when he mentioned Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Mozart played the piano at the age of 4 and composed at the age of 5.

In his teens, he wrote many operas, masses, and social pieces, and during his two-year journey with his mother to Mannheim and Paris, he left behind many works, including the Paris Symphony.

Eventually, he composed the 39th, 40th, and 41st symphonies, known as the three major symphonies, along with “The Marriage of Figaro” (1786) and “Don Giovanni” (1787).

What’s truly amazing is that he achieved all of this before dying at the young age of 35.

Comparing myself to such a genius, whose entire life was unbelievable, was embarrassing, even for me, who claims to be a monster.

In any case, the reason why it was able to heat up not only the United States but the world in such a short time was not simply because of promotion.

It was possible because of several coincidences.

The most influential coincidence was the argument between the extreme fans of ‘Painkiller’ and YC’s fans, which spread more significantly than expected.

The argument, in which the extreme fans of ‘Painkiller’ were essentially being unilaterally beaten, also led to issues such as racism.

In the process, the past of Black Tiger’s drummer, Uncle Kwak Do-hoon, was revealed, and it was even featured on the main news of each broadcasting station.

Just when the heat reached its peak, ‘Painkiller’ was released.

Naturally, even those who were not interested in rock could not help but listen to ‘Painkiller,’ which was the beginning of all these arguments, out of curiosity.

Radio stations openly competed to play it as an issue to raise viewership, so saying ‘two days’ earlier was by no means an exaggeration.

“But the real deal starts now.”

Because I didn’t expect ‘Painkiller’ to catch fire like this from the beginning, I hid the fact that I was the pianist of ‘Painkiller.’

Marvin and others inside clearly believed that interest in the pianist would explode, so they intended to use this as a promotional strategy.

And this strategy worked as well as this intense heat.

Fans of classical music, as well as critics and pianists in this industry, were making great efforts to find the pianist who played this song.

-Who on earth is it? The pianist of ‘Painkiller’?-

-All candidates shake their heads, saying it’s not them!-

-‘Chaplin,’ who was considered the biggest candidate, belatedly heard the news and stated that it was not him, expressing his desire to perform a concerto with him as well.-

-Classical fans express the opinion that it might be an unknown pianist. Critics dismiss it as nonsense!-

Thanks to this, the interest in the pianist of ‘Painkiller’ was becoming a hot topic among the general public as well.

I decided to reveal my identity before things got bigger.

Although there are many who like ‘Painkiller,’ there are also many in the conservative classical music world who are not happy about it.

Taylor also agreed with my desire not to increase fatigue with controversy, so he revealed this fact two weeks after reaching number one.

-YC Entertainment reveals, ‘The identity of the pianist of ‘Painkiller’ is YC, the producer of ‘Painkiller.’-

This single line of article, as expected, received tremendous attention.

In reality, everyone felt like they had been hit in the back of the head.

In Asia, there were some who expected it.

Many fans had heard the piano performance shown at the concert, and in the process, many pianists recognized his skills.

Of course, the performance of ‘Painkiller’ this time was closer to classical music and different from the existing style, so most people showed a dubious attitude.

In any case, after it was revealed that I was the pianist, I received invitations from many places.

As a program, I received invitations from large programs even bigger than the Kane Show, and musicians from various fields requested collaborations.

Interestingly, there were quite a few musicians from the classical music world.

It is natural that Martha Argerich, the piano empress who had spoken about it a long time ago, or Chaplin, who had sent a love call on SNS before, were included among them.

In addition, the advertising industry was the most anxious.

Since most of the advertisements were short-term contracts, they were already starting to renew them.

Among them was Bernard Arnault of Louis Vuitton, who had a high nose [a French expression meaning someone who is arrogant or proud].

I couldn’t help but laugh as I looked at Taylor, who brought the news.

“Hahaha! Taylor, you’re right. He will now have to pay the price.”

“I didn’t expect the opportunity to come this quickly. I’ll watch a little longer and think about what to do.”

He answered lightly with a smile, but as someone who knew him well, I knew the coolness contained within.

‘We’ll get to see Bernard Arnault’s face turn white.’

In fact, apart from Louis Vuitton, Bernard Arnault was not a welcome figure.

He was the one who didn’t even send an offer of sponsorship, even though the guy in my memory had sent so many love calls.

Amidst the pouring calls, the first schedule I took was an awards ceremony.

Of course, if it was just a mediocre domestic awards ceremony, I wouldn’t have even looked at it in the current situation.

This is not because the scale of the awards is small, but because I know that domestic awards ceremonies have long been the playground of the three major entertainment companies, so I won’t be able to receive meaningful awards.

In other words, it could be a situation where the bear performs the trick and the Chinese makes the money [an idiom referring to someone else profiting from your efforts].

‘Of course, it won’t be easy to do that from next year.’

If the ball rolled in China rolls properly, the three major entertainment companies will surely be under financial pressure.

I plan to buy their stocks at this time to expand my influence.

This will not simply expand my influence.

Now that the door to Billboard has begun to open due to me, the three major entertainment companies, at least those with the capacity to pass through that door, will be able to achieve tremendous growth.

Even if it’s not for the sake of checking, it was clear that it was a great place to invest.

In any case, the awards ceremony I attended was not such a domestic awards ceremony, but the Billboard Awards held in the United States.

“I’m so nervous! Do you have any more Woo Hwang Cheong Sim Won [a traditional Korean medicine used to calm nerves]?”

“You little… You’re so weak.”

“Your words and actions don’t match. How can someone who ate three say that?”

“I suddenly crave the cigarettes I quit 20 years ago like crazy. Does anyone have a cigarette?”

“Who is it! Who drank all the vodka I stashed away?”

I was about to get out of the car in a little while, but my head throbbed as I watched my uncles noisily chattering.

Fortunately, after the car door opened and I got off on the Billboard Awards red carpet, they didn’t show such unsightly behavior.

I thought it was probably because of the tension, but even so, it might not have mattered much.

Most of the questions pouring in at the photo zone were directed at me.

The same was true for the photos, so if I hadn’t brought sunglasses, I might have had trouble.

“Thank you.”

I skillfully answered their questions, got photographed, and led my uncles, who were still somewhat dazed, into the Billboard Awards.

I was guided to my seat at the Billboard Awards.

“Where am I? Who am I?”

“What is it? I remember getting out of the car, but?”

Only then did my uncles relax, making silly jokes and glancing around.

It was because of the stars who started to fill the gradually emptied seats.

My uncles love rock, but that doesn’t mean they don’t know the world-renowned stars whose names they know just by hearing them.

Apart from the guy in my memory, it was also my first time seeing so many stars, so it was amazing.

However, unlike my uncles, I couldn’t pay attention to them for long.

It wasn’t because it felt familiar, but because a big event was happening to me right now to pay attention to that.

‘Finally, La La Land is making a comeback!’

It was a comeback from a really long and dark time, so I couldn’t help but focus.

In fact, I had increased my stake in Alex Entertainment, La La Land’s agency, from 10% to 30%.

I wasn’t trying to acquire it, but it was an investment I made because I was confident in La La Land’s success in the preparation process.

-YC secures 30% stake in Alex Entertainment!-

-Idol La La Land chosen by YC, who topped the Billboard charts! Is the composer of the main song ‘Nagging’ revealed to be YC?-

-Ants who were disappointed in the unlisted YC Entertainment flock to Alex Entertainment!-

In reality, the investment was achieving tremendous success.

Thanks to this, the shareholders are said to be watching La La Land’s comeback with really breathtaking tension.

This is because they need to meet at least half of the rampant rumors to break even.