The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 308

< Verse 47. On & On (The End) >

***

The Golden New Era festival with the audience had ended, but their own festival was not over yet.

Rather, it was just beginning.

The hotel they arrived at after the performance was a paradise where the musicians’ festival was taking place. There was an abundance of top-quality food and drinks, and music was flowing everywhere.

The top floor, including the rooftop, was chartered for the musicians, and the floor below was chartered for the staff and security guards.

That didn’t mean the staff or security guards couldn’t access the top floor.

The musicians, staff, and security guards, who had gone through thick and thin together for a long time of 8 months, were already like friends, so a party was held where everyone ate and enjoyed themselves together.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“Korea has good public order, so this is possible.”

The team leader of H&R INC’s security team said, clinking his bottle against Hadel’s.

As he said, Korea, without extreme racists, guns, or gangs, allowed everyone except for the minimum personnel to enjoy the festival.

That’s how the afterparty began.

A festival to celebrate the great success of the Golden New Era tour and to welcome 888 LABEL, which had newly joined H&R INC, had begun.

It didn’t take long for H&R INC and 888 Label, who had already shared the stage, to become close.

It was just that alcohol was involved.

“Sanghyun!”

“What!”

“Come here and do some translating!”

“Ah, why do you keep looking for me when you have body language! Just talk with your senses!”

“How can we talk about work with our senses?”

“The terms are the same anyway!”

Minho, who had been trying to have an in-depth conversation with the DJs, grumbled as he looked for Sanghyun.

“Cheap bastard.”

“What?”

“Uh… He is an asshole.”

“Yeah, fuckin’ asshole.”

“Oh, your pronunciation is great. Fuckin’ asshole!”

Standard and Woominho started to badmouth Sanghyun instead of talking about work.

At first, the conversation was mainly led by Kim Hwan, Minji, and Inhyuk, who were relatively good at English among the 888 crew members, but as they drank and time passed, language was no longer an issue.

It was because they had a clear common denominator: music.

So, when a famous song came on, they all danced and sang along, and if the selection was not good, they booed Standard and Minho.

When Standard accidentally played a beat he was working on with great effort, some beat beggars appeared, saying, ‘Give me this beat.’

Meanwhile, the band L&S, whose deal to join 888 Label had been finalized, joined after finishing their broadcast schedule.

“Hey! I heard the performance was amazing! SNS [Social Networking Service] is going crazy!”

“Do you miss me, hyung [older brother or male friend]?”

“Of course. Ah, do you have anything recorded?”

“The DVD will be released later. Buy it and watch it.”

“……”

“I’m not going to give it to you, so buy it and watch it.”

“Heartless bastard.”

The atmosphere was endlessly heating up.

And those who marked the climax of that atmosphere appeared.

“Hey, hey, everyone!”

Oh Minji came running in, looking like she had seen a ghost on her way back from the bathroom. Hayeon asked back at the sight.

“What’s wrong?”

“I, It’s a celebrity! A real star!”

“What are you talking about? Are you drunk?”

Kim Hwan, who was having a drinking match with Jay Rock, staggered to his feet.

Jay Rock laughed, asking if he was giving up, and Kim Hwan said he would start round 2 after going to the bathroom.

And then he froze.

“I, It’s a celebrity.”

“Woah, a world star.”

The star who appeared at H&R INC’s afterparty was Maroon 5, who had been a guest at the Ohkyung Card Super Concert.

Sanghyun, who saw them late, got up from his seat and greeted them.

Sanghyun had met Maroon 5 quite often at award ceremonies and concerts. It was not unusual to meet Fivesix or Maroon 5 often in various places, as they were singers who had dominated 2009-10.

They weren’t extremely close, but they were friendly enough to invite to a party, and they readily accepted Sanghyun’s invitation because they had no other schedules until they left Korea tomorrow.

“Wow, I heard you made a lot of money, so you’re having a really fancy time? Renting out the entire hotel?”

“There are a lot of people. And we only rented two floors. The whole thing, what.”

As Sanghyun laughed and talked with Maroon 5’s keyboardist, Jess Carmichael, who was the closest to him, the eyes of the 888 crew members widened.

“Hey, what is it?”

“I don’t know, what is it?”

“Right? Moves Like Jagger?”

“Is Move Like Jagger his name? Maroon 5 is the name.”

“Ah, anyway.”

J. Cole intervened in the appearance of the 888 crew, who were gathered in a corner and whispering.

“Why? What’s the matter?”

Minji, who was the best at English, replied.

“It’s Maroon 5!”

“So what?”

“No, it’s Maroon 5!”

“So, what is it?”

“They’re famous!”

“……We’re famous too.”

Minji, who said that, suddenly turned around.

The members of the band L&S were looking at Maroon 5 with expressions that they were too dazzling to see properly.

After a while, the band’s performance and singing were added to the music at the party.

“Am I going to die tomorrow? Mickey Madden told me I play the bass well……”

Youngjun, the bassist of the band L&S, muttered, accurately representing the concept of today’s party.

Everyone was playing like they were going to die tomorrow.

And Sangmi took pictures of the scene and posted them on her SNS [Social Networking Service] account.

-They get money from Ohkyung and spend it with the 888 crew lol

-Ohkyung Card takes an unexpected 1 loss.

-That’s a real festival. It looks so fun.

As much as she shared the same blood as Sanghyun, Sangmi was also a very persistent person when it came to revenge.

The scene of the festival, which started late after 12 o’clock, slowly began to be cleaned up after dawn.

To be precise, rather than cleaning up, they began to collapse one by one from being drunk.

However, Sanghyun was not very drunk, so he was fine.

He had refrained from drinking because he had something to do.

And fortunately, the person he had business with didn’t seem to have drunk much either.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m thinking about going to my room because I’m sleepy. But can I just leave everyone like this? What if their mouths get crooked [a Korean expression meaning ‘what if they get into trouble’]?”

“It’s a 5-star hotel, so I doubt that would happen. Let’s go to the rooftop for some fresh air.”

“Shall we?”

Sanghyun felt his heart pounding as he went up to the rooftop. Even if he had regressed a hundred times, it seemed like he couldn’t help but be nervous at moments like this.

As he went up to the rooftop, Sanghyun recalled the wonderful lines he had been thinking about for the past few days.

He was thinking of good things to say while feeling the cool dawn breeze and looking at the dazzling night view of Seoul.

But as he had felt many times, life was not a drama.

‘Ah, I wish I could live a little more like a drama too.’

As soon as he opened the rooftop door, a crazy gust of wind and bone-chilling cold greeted them.

“Oh, it’s too cold? I can’t.”

“Oh, but just a moment……”

“What do you mean a moment? It’s freezing. Let’s go down.”

“J, Just a moment……”

However, as Miju ignored his words and tried to go down the stairs, Sanghyun opened his mouth in a hurry.

“Let’s date.”

“……Are you drunk?”

Sanghyun realized that he was in a dilemma.

It was too strange of a timing to say he wasn’t drunk, and he didn’t want his purity to be belittled if he said he was drunk.

So he opened his mouth again in a hurry.

“I’m drunk on you.”

“Don’t joke around.”

Sanghyun realized once again that he was in a dilemma.

It was too strange of a timing to say it wasn’t a joke, and he didn’t want his purity to be belittled if he said it was a joke.

“No, and why are you talking informally?”

“It’s time to talk informally, I guess. No, so what’s your answer?”

Miju finally realized why Sanghyun was trying to take her to the rooftop. And that he wasn’t joking or drunk.

Miju raised her right hand.

Sanghyun thought that hand was pretty.

And that pretty hand slapped him on the back.

-Slap!

“Are you trying to die! What after being gone for 5 years!”

“Ouch!”

“How do I know if you met Hime in America for 5 years! Or Melody!”

“Wow, are you rejecting me with violence?! Is this a rejection?!”

“I don’t know!”

Miju pretended to hit him one more time.

However, Sanghyun could rest assured because he had found a small smile on Miju’s lips.

Of course, it was impossible to know how long their relationship would last.

They could break up because their intersection didn’t match.

However, Sanghyun was feeling a strong impulse at this moment, and he never ignored impulses.

Because it was a once-in-a-lifetime life, he couldn’t care about many things and live. He only wanted to run for what he wanted.

***

The musicians and staff of H&R INC, who had stayed in Korea for three more days, left.

Originally, they were planning to stay for a few more days, but Schoolboy Q urged them to go quickly because he missed his daughter, so the schedule was moved up.

However, in Sanghyun’s view, Schoolboy Q missed his daughter, but he seemed to miss Tteol [slang for marijuana] even more.

Anyway, the shorter the time of farewell, the better.

Besides, it wasn’t a long farewell.

Kendrick had already promised to hold a concert in Korea within two years, and the 888 Label members had also promised to go to the United States together soon.

“President Ha. Have a safe trip.”

“Have fun in Korea, and let’s see each other soon.”

“What are you going to do now?”

“What would I do? I’ll continue to run H&R INC and discover singers. Ah, speaking of which, the band L&S? Teach those friends some English.”

“English? Why?”

“I think they could be competitive in the United States as well. Well, I have to review the details, but for now, that’s it.”

After H&R INC left, Sanghyun told Miju about Hadel’s story.

And soon regretted it.

‘I should have told her about a month later.’

Because they didn’t have time to date because they were learning English so hard.

So Sanghyun decided to spend time strengthening the brother-sister relationship.

But that wasn’t easy either.

“Sangmi, what are you doing?”

“I think it’s time, so I’m very busy.”

“Time? What time?”

“I think it’s time to serialize 888 Crew Season 2, which tells the story up to the point where my brother left Korea.”

“Are you going to draw the American version? Then only my story will come out, not the 888 crew?”

“No. If Season 1 was a true story, Season 2 will be fiction. The entire 888 crew is leaving for America.”

“Oh……”

“So don’t bother me and go away. Play with Miju unnie [older sister or female friend].”

Sanghyun, who was rejected by Miju and Sangmi, decided to have a deeper reunion with the 888 crew.

But no one was there.

Everyone was too busy.

Sanghyun had a 5-year hiatus in the Korean scene, but the other members did not. They each had ongoing projects, and numerous teams had various collaboration plans established.

The only free guy was Junhyung.

“It’s all because of you!”

“Why me!”

“Isn’t it because you told Sangmi about what you experienced in America that she suddenly got inspired!”

“Oh, is that so? But what does that have to do with you being free?”

“I cleared my schedule to go out with Sangmi. Ah, damn it.”

“Go out? Just the two of you? With my sister? Do you want to die?”

Sanghyun and Junhyung, who had been bickering for a while, soon reconciled because they were the only ones who could play with each other.

And then they lay down in the studio and talked.

“Sanghyun.”

“What?”

“What shall we do now?”

“Uh…… Shall we rap?”

“Shall we? That would be the most fun, right?”

“Yeah. That’s the most fun. How about Move Your Ass Part 2?”

“Oh, that’s good?”

Sanghyun and Junhyung got up like that.

After a while, the studio was filled with beat sounds.

***

(Omitted)

During the Golden New Era period, which began in 2010, numerous rappers appeared and disappeared. Among them, the rappers who survived and gained popularity were called Rap Stars by the public.

Also, those who were special among the rap stars were called ‘Rap Superstars’.

However, there was one who stood out among these rap superstars.

A rapper from a small country in the East.

A rapper who is credited with opening the door to the Golden New Era.

A rap musician who has the highest cumulative album sales, recorded the highest sales with a single album, and put the most songs on the Billboard charts.

It was Fivesix.

It has already been 16 years since MTB, which announced his start, was released, and 15 years since Touch The Sky was released.

Now Fivesix has become a legend.

But at the same time, he was someone who could not become a legend.

Because legends do not exist.

The reason why we admire the Beatles and Michael Jackson as legends is because of the regret that we cannot listen to their music again.

But not Fivesix.

He is still actively working, selling millions of albums, and putting his name on the Billboard charts.

He still holds a hip-hop concert in LA on the day the Grammy Awards are held, attracting tens of thousands of people, and is a headache for the Grammy Awards.

H&R INC is still the most successful label in the United States, and 888 Label is the most successful label in Asia.

So he is still shouting ‘On & On’.

Selected by Rolling Stone in 2021 as one of the greatest musicians in history.

***

One day, a reporter from Billboard magazine sneaked into an afterparty after an awards ceremony and asked Fivesix, ‘What is your secret to success?’

At that time, Fivesix, who was half drunk, said this.

“Let’s say your life is only once. Then you won’t waste time or do something because of what others think. Right?”

And then he said this to the reporter, who nodded in a hurry.

“But, your life is already only once.”

(The Rap Star Complete)

< Verse 47. On & On (The End) > End

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