The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 32

< Verse 3. 888 Crew >

Last week, Junhyung met with the crew members, except for Sanghyun, who was busy.

“But weren’t there supposed to be eight of us?”

“I decided to cut four people.”

“Why?”

“The standard I set for recruiting members this time is a beginner’s mindset. But those four were too arrogant. No matter how good their skills are, I felt like they would disrupt the harmony.”

Sanghyun figured Junhyung’s standard was a defense mechanism. A defense mechanism triggered in a crew led by a high school student, rejecting people with established musical styles.

‘I’m sure he’ll do well.’

But he trusted Junhyung’s judgment.

In any case, Junhyung is a guy who will make music for the rest of his life and succeed. Junhyung may have anxiety about his own future, but from Sanghyun’s point of view, his success is already guaranteed.

“So, how are the remaining four? How old are they?”

“See for yourself. What’s the point of just hearing about them?”

“Ah, I’m curious. Just tell me.”

“Then why did you skip out last week?”

“If a lawyer wants to meet, should I skip it?”

“Enough. Time is going by so slow.”

Sanghyun was excited and nervous while waiting for the crew members. The pleasant tension you feel when meeting new people in a new field.

Moreover, it is the field of music that he intends to pursue as a lifelong career.

“Hey. But what’s our crew name?”

“Huh? Crew name……?”

Junhyung blinked at Sanghyun’s question.

“Come to think of it, we don’t have a name?”

“What? Didn’t you decide last week?”

“Yeah. There were nine people including me. A few loud and arrogant guys kept showing off, so three hours flew by.”

“Then, since we have about thirty minutes left until the appointment time anyway, shall we decide on a name?”

“Sure. Something totally awesome.”

Sanghyun rummaged through his memories. Even the names that immediately flashed through his mind numbered more than ten.

Highlight, Days Alive, Buckwild, Just Music, ADV, etc.

Most of them were crews that hadn’t even been formed yet as of 2005, but he didn’t want to steal their names for some reason. Sanghyun still had the excitement he felt while watching their compilations.

‘Then what about foreign ones?’

Good Music, ASAP Mob, Shady Records, Grand Hustle, Young Money, etc…….

However, he didn’t want to steal foreign names either. Besides, foreign teams with long histories probably already have crew or label names that Sanghyun doesn’t know about.

“Ugh……”

Junhyung groaned, squeezing his head.

In Sanghyun’s opinion, the crew name didn’t necessarily have to be cool. Honestly, he believed that even if they named the crew Dog Poop, it wouldn’t matter if the music was really good.

Isn’t Good Music or Wu-Tang Clan not a completely cool name?

Instead, Sanghyun wanted the name to represent them. Represent is a very important part of hip hop.

While Junhyung was muttering and thinking about names, Sanghyun scribbled in a notebook with a pen.

Then, suddenly, a name came to mind.

“How about this?”

“Huh? What is it? How do you read this?”

888 Crew.

“Well, how should we read it? Pal Pal Pal Crew [Pal means eight in Korean]?”

“What does it mean?”

“We’re both born in ’88. Also, the shape of 8 is the same as setting up ∞ (Infinity).”

“To set up infinitely?”

“No, why are you thinking so one-dimensionally? It contains various symbols. If you think simply, you can say that the music is lively. Isn’t meaning just attaching it?”

“But why are there three 8s? Since there are two of us born in ’88, shouldn’t there be four?”

“Let’s just say that we’re ‘destined’ to merge about half way.”

“Ooh!”

Junhyung slammed the table.

“Good! This is it! I choose you! Pocketball!”

Sanghyun shook his head at Junhyung’s nonsense.

“Ugh, you crazy bastard. But how should we read this?”

“EightEightEight?”

“It would be better to say Eight Hundred Eighty Eight than that.”

“That’s too complicated.”

After a long time of deliberation, Sanghyun and Junhyung finally agreed on the official name ‘Eight Hundred Eighty Eight Crew’.

Junhyung was delighted that he liked the name. Sanghyun also liked it. Eight Hundred Eighty Eight.

-Buzz.

“Huh? I got a text from the crew *hyung* [older brother/male friend]. What was the name of this cafe? He can’t find it?”

“Cafe Gaon in front of Chosun University. Did you tell him it’s on the terrace side?”

“I told him. Ah, *hyung*!”

Junhyung got up from his seat, welcoming the man who was entering the cafe just in time.

“Ah, it’s so hard to find. You have to say it right! I thought it was near the engineering entrance.”

“Oh, really? Are the others also having trouble finding it? I’ll send them a text.”

“Okay. Is this friend Sanghyun?”

“Hello.”

Sanghyun bowed politely to the man who appeared to be in his early twenties. Sanghyun was now completely adapted to being 18 years old.

When I think about it, if they are older than me now, they were older than me even when I was 38 years old before the regression.

“Wow, he’s handsome. With the visuals of the three of us, conquering Gwangju will be easy, right?”

Park Inhyuk, who was attending Chonnam National University’s law school, was a very cheerful person. He had a good impression, and he seemed like someone who was used to approaching others first. Sanghyun quickly liked Park Inhyuk. You could say he was the team’s chemistry-responsible jester?

Starting with Park Inhyuk, the crew members gathered one by one when the appointment time of 1 p.m. arrived.

“One person is about 30 minutes late. Shall we introduce ourselves first?”

“Self-introduction. Hehe, like freshmen.”

Everyone laughed awkwardly at Park Inhyuk’s words and began to introduce themselves.

Lee Sanghyun, 18 years old, a second-year student at Unsan High School.

Shin Junhyung, the same.

Park Inhyuk, 24 years old, a law student at Chonnam National University.

Kim Hwan, 24 years old, on leave from Yonsei University’s visual design department.

Oh Minji, 23 years old, on leave from Yonsei University’s philosophy department.

There were a total of 5 people. Among them, Oh Minji and the high school student who had not yet arrived were girls.

At first, there was a bit of awkwardness, but since they were gathered with the same goal in mind, they quickly shook off the awkwardness with music talk.

Starting with the recently released Korean hip-hop album, there was endless chatter about even the American mainstream album.

“Ah, is that how that lyric is interpreted?”

“Yeah. It’s probably a reference to the title song of the first album.”

“*Hyung*, you listen to a lot of foreign music.”

The more Sanghyun talked with the crew members, the more Junhyung’s eyes confirmed it.

They were all people who had a deep interest and affection for rap and knew how to be considerate of others.

“So, are you two guest rappers for the band L&S?”

“We’re not guests, we’re just close and helping with the performance.”

“Well, Sanghyun completely charmed the band *hyungs*. Do you know Sejong Instrument Store?”

“Of course, I know. They perform there sometimes.”

Junhyung excitedly talked about Sanghyun’s Run this town performance.

Sanghyun stopped Junhyung because he felt like he was showing off, but Junhyung was already gesturing and telling the story of how he screwed over Lee Kyungmin, the bassist of Golden Finger.

< Verse 3. 888 Crew > End

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