The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 56

< Verse 9. Twisted World >

“You guys were unanimously chosen for the wild card.”

“Thank you.”

“What thank you?”

Kim Woong-gak, the leader and drummer of Under Kidd [a well-known Korean indie band], came to see L&S, who had returned to the waiting room with a mix of bewilderment and joy.

“The judges just wanted to see a band that plays rap metal a little more. Don’t misunderstand, I didn’t do anything for you.”

“Yes!”

Even Bang Min-sik, who was usually treated like an older brother, looked like a docile child in front of Under Kidd, the godfather of Korean indie bands.

“Lee Sang-hyun, right? The leader of 888 Crew?”

Kim Woong-gak’s gaze turned to Sang-hyun.

“I’m not the leader. The leader is a friend named Shin Jun-hyung, but he didn’t participate in this competition.”

“Is that so?”

Kim Woong-gak examined Sang-hyun for a moment, then smiled and tapped him on the shoulder.

“We know how maliciously show business edits things. We don’t have any grudges against you, so don’t be nervous. I was actually feeling sorry that the fans and younger folks attacked you so much.”

Sang-hyun nodded at Kim Woong-gak’s words.

*I don’t know if he really means that, but if he’s covering it up this much, there’s no need to bring it up.*

“Originally, the staff was supposed to tell you, but I just wanted to see your faces. We have a strange connection, after all.”

“Yes.”

Kim Woong-gak laughed heartily.

“Do you know who your opponent is in the quarterfinals?”

“No. I haven’t heard.”

“The draw was held, and it’s ironic. Your opponent is Golden Finger again.”

“Hmm… Golden Finger.”

It was unexpected, but most of them thought it was a good thing.

“You don’t seem scared from your expression. Haha.”

Kim Woong-gak said a few words of encouragement and left the waiting room. There wasn’t much time left. L&S, Miju, and Sang-hyun started a meeting.

How can we beat Golden Finger?

The conclusion was simple: use the song that was saved for the finals.

“But hyung [older brother/male friend], that’s the song we were going to use in the finals.”

Bang Min-sik shrugged at Cha In-hyun’s question.

“If we fall in the quarterfinals, there are no finals.”

“Still…!”

“What are you going to do with the song? It’s the best song you’ve ever made. Let’s do our best.”

“Ah…”

Cha In-hyun hung his head and pondered for a long time. Sang-hyun wondered if this was something to worry about so much, but he just nodded.

The L&S members, including Bang Min-sik, shouted energetically, ‘We’ve definitely won the quarterfinals!’ While everyone was uniting, Sang-hyun felt a little left out.

Sang-hyun was the only one who hadn’t heard the ‘secret weapon’ that Bang Min-sik was talking about.

“It’s two o’clock now, and our stage is around eight o’clock, right? We have six hours left.”

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

Cha In-hyun turned away from Sang-hyun’s question.

The L&S members knew that Cha In-hyun didn’t want to let Sang-hyun hear this song. He seemed to feel a sense of rivalry with Sang-hyun because of the song’s ‘concept’.

Bang Min-sik smiled awkwardly and took the lead.

“Sang-hyun, why don’t you go back to the pension with Miju? There’s no Miju part in this song anyway.”

“Then I’ll do that.”

*I wasn’t really upset. It’s not like he’s been acting like this for a day or two.*

In the end, Sang-hyun left the band practice room prepared by LOC [likely referring to the event organizers]. Miju decided to help with sound balancing for only an hour or two. He was going to stop by the bathroom next to the practice room and then return to the pension, but he saw Cha In-hyun coming out of the practice room.

*Even though we’re awkward, I should say hello.*

“Hyung, I’m going in. Have a good one.”

“Uh…”

Cha In-hyun reacted to Sang-hyun’s greeting. But the reaction was a bit ambiguous. It wasn’t exactly accepting the greeting, but it wasn’t exactly ignoring it either.

Sang-hyun was now used to Cha In-hyun’s distancing, so he was about to enter the practice room without thinking much about it.

Then In-hyun grabbed Sang-hyun’s arm.

“Sang-hyun-ah [a friendly way to call someone’s name],”

“Yes?”

“Can we talk for a second?”

“Uh… go ahead.”

Cha In-hyun hesitated for a long time even after speaking. Then he barely opened his mouth again.

“What if…”

At that moment, someone called Sang-hyun.

“Sang-hyun-ah!”

“Huh? Ha-yeon, why are you here?”

“I just came. It’s close to the pension anyway.”

Ha-yeon belatedly discovered Cha In-hyun behind Sang-hyun and greeted him.

“Hello, oppa [term used by females to address older brothers or male friends], what were you doing?”

“I just ran into him at the entrance. Do you want a drink?”

Ha-yeon smiled and shook her head as Cha In-hyun pointed to the vending machine.

“It’s okay. Sang-hyun, are you practicing now?”

“No, I don’t have a part in the evening performance.”

At that moment, Cha In-hyun tried to enter the practice room, passing by Sang-hyun.

“Hyung. You said you had something to say…”

However, Cha In-hyun ignored Sang-hyun’s words and entered the practice room.

*It sounded like something important? What’s wrong with that guy?*

Sang-hyun didn’t see Cha In-hyun in a good light anymore. It’s just that he didn’t want to cause trouble because he was a member of L&S, whom he liked.

“If you have nothing to do, let’s go grocery shopping.”

“Grocery shopping? For dinner?”

“Yeah. We played rock-paper-scissors earlier, and Hwan-ie oppa and I have to go, but Hwan-ie oppa is doing something with Minho oppa.”

“Why don’t you just order food…? Isn’t it annoying to cook?”

“Everyone’s tired of delivery food. I’m going to make some soybean paste stew [a common Korean dish].”

“You are?”

“I’ll do it with Minji unnie [term used by females to address older sisters or female friends].”

“Okay. Don’t ever do it alone. You can’t even cook ramen.”

Sang-hyun flicked Ha-yeon’s forehead.

*We had ramen together in the studio last time, and Ha-yeon, who was caught in the penalty, cooked ramen that was like the Han River [a large river in Korea, implying the ramen was too watery]. She cooked four packs, but there was so much water that we teased her for a long time, calling it ‘clear ramen’.*

“Don’t be ridiculous! It’s because I’ve never cooked more than one pack before!”

“Ah, I see. That’s a new fact. Let’s go grocery shopping now.”

“What’s with that soulless tone now?”

“Is there a mart nearby?”

Sang-hyun bickered with Ha-yeon and headed to the mart.

A while later, Cha In-hyun came out of the practice room. Cha In-hyun stared at the empty hallway before taking out a recorder from his pocket. It was a machine he carried around for sudden melodies or inspiration for songs.

Cha In-hyun looked down at the recorder and entered the settings window to realize the function.

An hourglass appeared on the black and white recorder screen and spun around, and soon the function was completed.

-Delete.

Cha In-hyun went back to the studio.

Soon the hallway became quiet.

***

“Shall we watch under that tree?”

“It’s too far from the stage. Let’s get closer.”

“Ugh, it’s hot even in the evening.”

“It’s humid.”

The 888 members, Miju, and Sang-hyun took their seats near the stage in time for the performance.

The quarterfinals had incomparably more spectators than the round of 14. There was a proper emcee, and plenty of time was given for setting up the instruments. After a while, the L&S members came up and started setting up the stage.

“L&S fighting! [common phrase of encouragement]”

The shouts of the audience cheering for L&S were heard intermittently. Sang-hyun felt proud and grateful that there were more shouts cheering for L&S than he had expected.

*I’m looking forward to it.*

In Sang-hyun’s view, Bang Min-sik lacked a bit of decisiveness. He spends twice as much time as others when making a set list. The fact that Bang Min-sik praised it as the best without hesitation meant that it was a really good song.

At that time, two women nearby recognized Sang-hyun and started talking to him.

“Oh! Aren’t you the person who raps?”

“Ah… that’s right.”

“Could you give me an autograph?”

Sang-hyun was embarrassed because he didn’t have an autograph. Instead of an autograph, he took a picture. Sangmi quickly stepped forward and took the picture.

“I’ll always support you! Fighting!”

“I’ll join the club too!”

Sang-hyun told the fans who asked where they could listen to his music the address of the 888 Crew’s Cyworld club [a popular Korean social media platform in the past].

“Oh oh! A celebrity!”

“It’s unbelievable.”

Sang-hyun laughed at Junhyung and Sangmi’s words.

“Did you see that? My popularity?”

“Are you happy? Happy? You’re grinning from ear to ear?”

Miju poked Sang-hyun in the side.

It was good. It wasn’t good just because a woman was talking to him, but it was good that someone classified him as a musician.

In the meantime, the instrument check was over, and the emcee wearing sunglasses came on stage, after the microphone check was over.

“Nice to meet you, everyone!”

The emcee introduced L&S and led the atmosphere smoothly by throwing jokes. Sang-hyun’s story also came out briefly.

“If L&S is differentiated from other teams, it would be the existence of a rapper, but is there no rapper on this stage?”

The leader, Min-sik hyung, grabbed the microphone.

He gave an interview saying that there was no rapper in this song, but the song itself contained a lot of black music sensibility.

*Black music sensibility?*

Sang-hyun remembered Miju listening to Cha In-hyun’s song and commenting that it felt like rap.

*I vaguely remembered songs where R&B singers matched rhymes to black music beats.*

*Some songs by Chris Brown, Robin Thicke. As for Korean musicians, Gray, Zion.T, or G-Dragon. Several songs came to mind intermittently.*

Now the emcee’s progress has moved on to introducing the song.

“What is the title of the song you will be singing in this competition?”

“One.”

“Is it a song made together?”

“No. Cha In-hyun finished the composition and lyrics, and we only helped with the session.”

“Then please introduce the song, Cha In-hyun.”

Now the emcee’s interview has moved on to Cha In-hyun.

“I found this song when I was on the edge of a cliff. It’s a very meaningful song to me. The theme of the song is…”

Cha In-hyun, who received the microphone, briefly introduced the song. The interview ended quickly.

*Huh?*

Sang-hyun felt that Cha In-hyun, who had finished the interview, was looking at him. No, it’s not a feeling. He was really looking at him.

Cha In-hyun, who had been staring at him for a long time, soon lowered his head and looked at the floor.

Sang-hyun felt a strange sense of incongruity. At the same time, he felt that Cha In-hyun was gritting his teeth.

*Why do I feel this way?*

“Everyone! L&S!”

Wow! L&S-!

The emcee, who had been inducing responses for a long time, went down from the stage. The judges gave a few words of blessing, and soon the stage finally began with a loud shout.

Tak- Tak-

Hwang In-soo, who was drumming the drumsticks, opened the performance.

L&S gained a lot from this Jeonju World DJ Festival.

Whether they win or not, they have settled in the quarterfinals, which is in the rankings, and have transformed the hot topic of the show business interview into ‘proof of musicality’.

People who mention L&S will now mention ‘Show Business’ and ‘Jeonju Indie Festival Quarterfinals’ together. That will soon lead to the formation of a good image.

*If we can get through the quarterfinals, we can aim for the championship.*

Behind the drums, guitar, and bass performances, various instruments such as recorded electronic pianos, strings, and synthesizers were laid out.

Even Bang Min-sik and Yong-jun, who don’t usually wear in-ears, were wearing in-ears and playing. It was a more difficult song than usual.

“Awesome…”

Miju admired just listening to the prelude.

The reason why Miju doesn’t play the keyboard today is because the practice is not perfect. Unlike L&S’s usual music, which likes country sounds, One receives numerous electronic sounds in the background.

“Wow!”

Sang-hyun also admired. However, the reason Sang-hyun admired was not because he felt something from the performance like Miju.

Sang-hyun doesn’t know music well. He doesn’t know harmony, and he doesn’t know instruments well. The reason Sang-hyun admired was because One seemed to have surpassed the music of 2005.

It’s like a song from the time after 2010 when the boundaries of music genres became blurred and numerous crossovers occurred.

For example, like Jang Kiha and the Faces, Hyukoh, or Dread, it feels like they’re doing the music they want to do without being confined to a genre.

But what is clear is that it sounds good.

The prelude was quite long. However, the melody that caught the ear and the rich sound using electronic instruments kept the audience from getting bored.

Sang-hyun stared at the stage with a comfortable heart.

*This seems like it will be good music. Able to satisfy the audience.*

At that time, Cha In-hyun, who had been looking down at the floor, raised his head and grabbed the microphone.

And finally, Cha In-hyun’s mouth opened.

Sang-hyun was shocked as if he had been hit in the back of the head with a hammer.

< Verse 9. Twisted World > End

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