The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 4

< Intro. A Once-in-a-Lifetime Life >

“Oh, Sanghyun. You’re here.”

“Yeah.”

As soon as I opened the door and stepped inside, I saw a familiar face.

Shin Junhyung.

We were in the same class for all three years of high school, were best friends, and even after graduation, we still met up constantly. He was the friend Sanghyun would choose without hesitation if he could only have one for the rest of his life.

Seeing Junhyung’s face, which looked young and almost childish at 18, after only seeing his aging 38-year-old face, made me relax and chuckle.

“What are you laughing at? Did you have a good weekend?”

“You crazy bastard. Since when have you asked about that?”

I threw the bag I was carrying at Junhyung, who was watching me carefully.

“Put it in my seat. I’m hungry. Let’s go to the cafeteria.”

“Am I your errand boy?”

“I’ll buy you bread.”

“Oh, nice.”

Junhyung tossed Sanghyun’s bag onto the seat by the window.

“Hey, why are you throwing it?”

“It’s not even heavy. Let’s hurry up and go before the homeroom teacher comes for attendance.”

Thanks to Junhyung, Sanghyun quickly found his seat and headed to the cafeteria.

“You have serious dark circles under your eyes.”

“I’m just tired. But I rested for four days and sorted things out. I can’t stay down forever because of Sangmi.”

“How is Sangmi?”

“She’s still young… but I think it was a good idea to send her on the school trip. Her voice sounded brighter when she was with her friends. But I talked to Sangmi’s teacher, and she said she’s showing some signs of agoraphobia.”

“What’s agoraphobia?”

“Basically, she feels intense fear when she’s alone among strangers.”

Junhyung’s expression darkened.

“She’s okay when she’s at school, right? Then we need to minimize the time Sangmi spends alone.”

“I already asked her teacher to excuse her from supplementary classes and mandatory self-study.”

Sanghyun bought the bread, and Junhyung bought the drinks.

The two sat side by side in front of the cafeteria and began to eat.

“My mom asked if you could come to our house on the weekends. We’re both working during the week, so our house is empty anyway.”

“I don’t know. I’ll think about it. Please thank her for me.”

“You were looking like you were about to die just a few days ago, but you seem better now.”

“I think I’ll be completely fine if I just get some sleep.”

Sanghyun chuckled. But Junhyung tilted his head.

“But your *mal-tu* [speech or way of speaking] is a little weird.”

“Huh? What is?”

“You sound kind of girly……”

“You crazy bastard. Let’s go if you’re done eating, we’ll have morning assembly.”

I felt a pang of guilt.

Sanghyun hadn’t come to Gwangju often while he was going to college in Seoul, getting a job, and starting a business after quitting. Even when he came to Gwangju, he only visited his parents’ columbarium, so he had long forgotten the dialect.

Junhyung’s comment made me feel guilty.

The Gwangju dialect was characterized by the vowels ‘ㅓ, ㅏ’ being replaced with ‘ㅡ, ㅜ’. As can be seen in the line ‘Deu-ru-wa’ of an actor who was popular for several years.

It was awkward to consciously imitate a dialect unless you used it unconsciously.

‘My *mal-tu* [speech or way of speaking] will change as I spend some time here, right?’

I had no choice but to think that way.

School life began with morning assembly.

It was a sense of confinement that Sanghyun hadn’t felt in a long time. It had been over 10 years since he quit the large company he had joined after graduating from college, so group life was really new to him.

Studying wasn’t too difficult.

I didn’t remember science or Korean history, which required memorization, but that was a problem that could be solved with effort, and subjects like math, English, and language were easy.

Having worked in the financial IT field and studied math in engineering school, the math for a second-year science student was simple. Also, there was no need to explain the English skills of the owner of a company where overseas investors accounted for more than 60% of the total investors.

But the problem wasn’t academics.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

I forced a smile at my desk mate’s question, but Sanghyun’s condition wasn’t good.

Headache and anxiety.

I felt fine when I was at home or talking to friends, but suddenly I was sweating and my head hurt.

‘Why is this happening when I have so much to do?’

A commitment to living a better life than in the past for Sangmi. Sanghyun had so much to do for that.

-Beep beep.

Then my phone rang. It was Junhyung. Sanghyun put his phone on silent and checked the text.

-I forgot, what about your crew? Are you joining?

-Crew? What crew?

-We were going to make a crew together. You’ve been busy, so I’ve been gathering members on my own.

“Ah……!”

Sanghyun belatedly had a panoramic flashback.

Junhyung’s dream at this time.

At this time, Sanghyun and Junhyung were immersed in rap music and dreamed of becoming rappers.

They were trying to create a crew in Gwangju, modeling themselves after the various crews in Hongdae, the birthplace of Korean hip-hop.

‘Yeah… I really wanted to rap at this time.’

But after his parents died in an accident, Sanghyun had to give up his dream of becoming a rapper.

As the head of the family responsible for his younger sibling, it felt like a luxury to dream of something. His only goal was to go to a good university, get a job, and make money quickly.

After that, every time he listened to rap, he felt a deep regret for not choosing the dream of being a rapper. But Sanghyun thought it was an unavoidable choice.

‘I made a lot of money, but I envied Junhyung.’

In contrast, Junhyung continued to make music and gained some recognition.

He became an underground rapper with a solid fan base, although the general public didn’t know him, and he continued to make music.

I remember that he was scouted by a famous agency as a hip-hop album director around the age of 33 and got his first job.

It was a new feeling.

Yes, he was once a youth who dreamed of being a musician, a rapper.

Looking back, the most regrettable thing in his life was giving up music, and even after becoming a successful businessman, his love for hip-hop music remained the same.

-I’m sorry. It’s going to be difficult.

-Why? I have to do it alone without you. Where else in Gwangju is there someone who raps as well as you?

But what can’t be done, can’t be done.

I have to take care of Sangmi and get on a faster track to success than in the past.

The dream of being a rapper still makes my heart flutter, but I can’t risk my life on uncertainty when I have a sure path.

-I’m the head of the family now. I have to take responsibility for Sangmi, too. I have too much on my shoulders to just follow my dreams. I’m sorry.

-But it’s weird that someone as good as you isn’t doing it. I think you can be more successful with rap than with studying.

Sanghyun read Junhyung’s text and thought about whether he was that good at rap.

I don’t remember well, but I think I was pretty good.

I also heard a lot of people at company dinners say that I was like a real rapper. Of course, it was 99% flattery.

-I’m sorry. But I’ll help you with your rap as much as I can.

-Then I’ll keep gathering crew members, think about it and let me know if you change your mind at any time.

-Thank you. And I’m sorry.

-You crazy bastard.

I was grateful to Junhyung for not giving in for me. But he had so much to do.

The most immediate task was to receive his parents’ death insurance money.

I had to finish the delayed insurance claim review and receive the insurance money. Currently, I was living on a daily allowance of 80,000 won, which is paid to the family when the head of the family dies.

I also need to manage the savings accounts, stocks, and installment savings accounts under my parents’ names. Looking back, I remember that the losses were enormous because there was no financial product management at all.

There is also a negotiation to be made.

As he remembered, after the insurance money was paid out, a large company called Ohkyung Group gave a large amount of consolation money.

He remembered that the reason was that the large bus that crossed the central line and hit his parents’ car was a vehicle mobilized for some event of Ohkyung Group.

When I was young, I didn’t know anything and had a feeling of gratitude, but I had to check whether Ohkyung Group had taken legitimate actions for the accident settlement at the time and whether they had provided a legal settlement amount.

‘In the end, money is the goal.’

< Intro. A Once-in-a-Lifetime Life > End

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