Godsent Top Star [EN]: Chapter 329

329. What is this? Culture Shock? (2)

Money?

It’s nice to have, but not really necessary.

What was important to Yeonwoo was influence.

‘What matters is how much empathy and understanding I can draw from the audience with the role I take on.’

If money were important, he wouldn’t have turned down the lead role in Dramatic Tempest.

After all, the pay for lead and supporting roles is bound to differ.

No.

From the moment he rose to fame as the Grim Reaper.

He could have accepted the flood of casting offers that poured in, all with similar images.

If not, he would have already signed all sorts of advertising deals.

‘Of course, influence isn’t everything now…’

He came overseas to harvest more lifespan [referring to extending his life using the system’s abilities].

But Yeonwoo didn’t want to delve into unnecessarily stimulating and harmful content just to harvest a lot of lifespan at once.

‘Influence is important. But I don’t want to disappoint people for the sake of influence.’

To offer something he doesn’t like just for the sake of lifespan is a kind of deception.

A betrayal of the people who have loved him unconditionally until now.

Perhaps that’s why.

“And isn’t it okay for at least one of us to not do that? When everyone is tired of chasing only stimulating things, there should be at least one place to rest. You know what I mean, right?”

“Yes.”

Yeonwoo could answer Trevi without hesitation.

Trevi’s words about wanting to leave a place for the people who love him.

It’s not a matter of money or commercial business.

‘I see why I felt it was similar.’

As it is a business with a lot of money at stake, there will be few people who try to give up their own interests.

Just being at the top of the charts increases name value and raises pay.

The amount of money earned from album sales and streaming revenue also changes.

Even if there are quite a few people who feel the harm of songs that are all-in on stimulation for the sake of stimulation.

This is why there are people who cannot easily give up their own interests.

‘Is it because the values we consider important are similar…’

Somehow, I feel a little more intimate than before.

“You don’t have to succeed. It doesn’t matter if you don’t chart. I just want to make music with Yeonwoo. I know why Yeonwoo studied the charts… but you don’t have to follow that style.”

Trevi’s words were more serious than ever.

“I understand.”

Yeonwoo also had no intention of following current trends, even for the sake of success.

At first, he checked the charts to learn the most effective form of expression.

‘But there’s no guarantee that you’ll succeed just by following it.’

Well.

It’s all or nothing.

“Good. Let’s make our music.”

Trevi’s face cleared up again.

‘But he really thinks similarly. Is this person also an outsider among the crowd? Well, it’s good for me. It’s amazing that there’s a similar sensibility in a foreign country?’

Without knowing that Yeonwoo’s well-going thoughts had gone off on a tangent.

*

-Trevi is releasing a new song after a long time, and it’s with an unknown singer:( I’m curious to know what kind of music he’ll bring.

-What’s clear is that it won’t be easy to appease the fans with just any song.

-I agree. I don’t know what kind of amazing song he’s trying to make that he even rejected the company’s opposition. I just hope he hasn’t forgotten that so many people are watching.

[……Aren’t you worried about what they’re saying?]

A kitten with big, cute eyes blinked adorably and asked with a lovely cry.

“About what.”

When I answered bluntly, its tail wagged from side to side as if it didn’t like it.

[What do you mean, ‘about what’? People are sharpening their knives like that, aren’t you worried?]

“What is there to worry about?”

[Are you really not worried? It’s like they’re all waiting for you guys to fail.]

“What’s new…”

Yeonwoo shrugged.

He was always used to the malice directed at him.

You can think of it as being numb to the pouring gaze.

[Really, it doesn’t bother you at all? They’re all holding a ritual for you guys to fail?]

“Isn’t it better than telling me to die?”

[Huh. When you put it that way, I guess it is. Hey… Yeonwoo? When you say that, it suddenly feels like there’s a strong smell of salt…]

“……?”

What’s new about this.

I’ve decided to bury it as a past memory.

‘Is it because it’s coming through the internet? It doesn’t really hit me.’

Words like wanting me to disappear from this neighborhood quickly.

Or that I should just die and disappear before I eat someone.

Or people who lost their homes because of our family and came with knives to stab us.

Well, if you have that kind of experience, you can get over it roughly now.

Of course.

‘It’s not a direct curse, either.’

If someone really throws a curse, things will be different…

[Yeah. I’m glad our Yeonwoo grew up well… sniff. Well. He grew up straight in that environment, so I’m proud. Yes. He grew up so well that he came to a foreign country and made our fans proud. He grew up well, yes. I’m proud.]

“……”

I don’t know why this kid is acting like this all of a sudden.

The little kitten came over, plopped down on my lap, and kneaded diligently.

It seemed to be a pat on the back in its own way.

“Ah. Now that you mention fans, is there only talk about me? What about the fans?”

[What talk? Insults?]

“Yeah. I’m okay with insults to me, but I’m not okay with insults to the fans.”

[Aren’t you worried about Trevi?]

“That person, well…”

Won’t he take care of it himself?

It seems a bit cold-hearted, but Yeonwoo actually didn’t worry about Trevi even one gram.

The reason was simple.

-The company? I can just quit?

Trevi was the kind of person who talked about terminating his contract with one of the world’s top 3 labels as easily as going for a walk in the neighborhood for what he wanted to do.

‘What’s there to be afraid of from someone like that?’

During the fairly long conversation.

Yeonwoo was able to grasp Trevi’s character to some extent.

The two were similar in many ways.

Their attitude towards their work.

Their mindset towards their fans.

‘He said the bond is deep, right?’

Especially the fans who had been with Trevi since almost the beginning gave him unwavering trust and support no matter what he did.

“So I can’t disappoint them. They’re the people who have been watching me even though I haven’t released any songs for a long time. How can I disappoint them?”

That’s a hundred times right.

Advice to catch the trend and go a bit more stimulating.

The person who left that advice must have really known nothing about Trevi.

Otherwise, there’s no way they could have said such arrogant words.

‘I don’t know who said it, but they’re going to kick the blanket soon [a Korean idiom for feeling embarrassed or ashamed of something they said or did].’

Learn the trend?

Although he had a slump for a while, Trevi was the one who created the trend before.

But to tell such a person to learn the trend.

‘No. Maybe they knew and said it on purpose? To make him fail completely on this opportunity.’

All that’s left for a singer who has lost their color is one thing.

Nothing but following others.

Of course, you can’t survive that way.

A substitute for someone can never succeed as an original.

The point is that Trevi knew that very well.

‘He’s a person who takes care of himself, and well… his mentality is stronger than I thought…’

From the beginning, he’s an unusual person who obsesses over an unheard-of actor in a distant foreign land when things don’t go well.

What about his subsequent actions?

‘He’s also good at Korean…?’

That was also why the conversation with Trevi went smoothly.

Thanks to Yeonwoo’s translation skills, his mouth naturally opened up.

Trevi also used fairly natural Korean, doing something.

Even Trevi went a step further.

“Yes? You want to make it in Korean too?”

“Of course? It’s Yeonwoo’s music, so of course it has to be made in Korean?”

“…We’re not releasing it in Korea, are we?”

“But it’s Yeonwoo’s song, so it has to be in Yeonwoo’s language…”

“That’s true, but let’s stop for a moment.”

I appreciate the consideration.

It’s also true that he’s a bit strange.

Well, is that why he can do whatever he wants even if others say something…

‘I’m glad we came to an agreement in our own way.’

It’s a bet against the overseas market.

It’s not that Korean is lacking.

It’s just that we’re choosing a means that can be a little more effective.

[I’m glad you’re not worried, though. It’s a hundred times better than being nervous after making a decision. Yes. That’s my baby.]

“I don’t know when I became your baby. The person who gave birth to me was Ms. Kang, but I don’t know when she became a cat.”

[Wow. Look at this kid? How long have I been watching you?]

“How long have you been watching me?”

[I’ve been watching you since you were born?! No! I’ve been watching you since you were in the womb?!]

“What nonsense with such sincerity…”

It was a very unhurried conversation.

It wasn’t small talk to ease the forced atmosphere.

It was just a daily conversation during a peaceful day as usual.

‘Actually, I’m worried.’

It’s natural that Dongja-ryeong keeps asking several times.

Like the news Dongja-ryeong brought, there were hyenas waiting for them to fail outside.

‘If we fail, we’ll be torn to shreds.’

All sorts of things are pouring out, from all sorts of racist insults to biased opinions that pretend to be logical, just at the news that they’re doing a collaboration together.

If we really fail?

‘Well. What’s more important than people’s reactions is my penalty.’

It’s also a problem that the influence I’ve built up changes to the level of initialization.

But what’s bigger than that is the penalty given by the whole damn system.

[If the mission fails, the grade of all stats will decrease, and 50 percent of the total lifespan will be cut.]

‘Does that make sense?!’

Yeonwoo glared at the penalty item that was floating ominously in red in the corner of his vision.

‘It’s like those damn old men. What if I didn’t have confidence?’

Fortunately, strangely, I don’t feel afraid.

That’s why I wanted to solve it in my own way instead of following a stimulating style that felt like wearing clothes that didn’t fit.

Music for a world that is incomparably larger than before.

But there is no fear.

It would be a lie if I had no worries about failure, but Yeonwoo was not soft enough to be swayed by it.

‘Well. All the paths I’ve walked so far are proof that I don’t have confidence.’

All of that is not a guarantee of success.

But it was enough to give Yeonwoo confidence.

Even the conviction that he wouldn’t be easily swayed.

“Hey, show some strength.”

Yeonwoo muttered to someone he didn’t know.

*

X month X day.

A late hour when the clock points to the exact time.

Ding!

A notification rang on the phone.

“Ah, who is it. At this late hour…”

Company employee 1, who was drinking beer while watching TV for the first time in a long time, picked up the phone with a slightly annoyed look.

It was a very tiring day at work because of Manager Kim.

The desire to leave the world was earnest.

The desire to ignore the alarm was also earnest.

“They wouldn’t make me work at 12 at night, would they.”

The two eyes that were looking at the notification indifferently with anxiety grew bigger.

Company employee 1, who was half lying down, immediately sat up from his seat.

“Woah, seriously…?”

I thought it was an annoying notification, but it wasn’t.

It was a very welcome notification, let alone Manager Kim.

The source of the alarm was none other than Inbyeol [likely a social media platform], where I had deliberately set the new post notification function.

Among them, it was Trevi Hazel Lee.