The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 74

< Verse 12. Gwangju UP! >

“Oh, now?”

“Yes.”

Sanghyun’s suggestion made Team Leader Ahn Cheol-seung’s face light up. It was the moment he had been waiting for.

“Of course, the team leader is paying.”

“Ah, do you think I would rip off a high school kid?”

“Let’s go to a cafe near KEPCO [Korea Electric Power Corporation] instead of a *dabang* [old-fashioned Korean coffee shop].”

“Do they have cream at the cafe too?”

“……I don’t know?”

Team Leader Ahn Cheol-seung, who threw out a playful question, hummed and drove the car.

Sanghyun and Team Leader Ahn Cheol-seung went into a cafe across from KEPCO in Ochi-dong and ordered coffee.

“So, what brings you to talk to me first?”

“Our school isn’t a company, so you can’t come to work every day. What if you get fired and blame me?”

“Can I take that statement as you saying I can register the sound source?”

Sanghyun shook his head at Ahn Cheol-seung’s direct question.

“That’s not it.”

“Then what is it, you punk?”

“Just use it.”

“Huh?”

Ahn Cheol-seung blinked at Sanghyun’s words.

“Just use it. Gwangju UP. Rewrite it to fit the cheering song, and arrange it too. I’ll allow it.”

“Wait a minute. You’re not going to defend the copyright?”

“It’s not that, but I’m giving the copyright to the Gwangju Tigers. Not through the Korea Music Copyright Association [KOMCA].”

Team Leader Ahn Cheol-seung felt a moment of confusion. Contracting directly with a musician rather than through KOMCA is something to be avoided. But Lee Sanghyun’s nuance was subtle.

Like he was doing a favor.

“What about the royalties?”

“It’s okay. It’s not like I registered the copyright.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Really, really?”

Ahn Cheol-seung started to think as Sanghyun affirmed.

Originally, copyright occurs naturally to the author the moment they create a work, without going through any procedure or formality.

In other words, even if you do not go through the procedure of copyright registration separately, you can receive copyright protection under the Constitution and the Copyright Act.

Of course, if you officially register the copyright, you are legally presumed to be the author and granted the power to counter third parties. It means it is advantageous in legal disputes.

The Korean Copyright Act adopts the principle of non-formality that occurs at the time of creation, so even if Sanghyun did not register the copyright, he was still the copyright holder.

‘The problem here is proving creation…….’

Ahn Cheol-seung was honestly looking up various legal clauses with bad intentions at first. If he could steal the copyright with a little bit of criticism, it was worth considering.

However, Sanghyun exposed Gwangju UP to the outside several times. Therefore, there was quite a lot of data that could be used as proof of creation.

The lyrics in the show business magazine, Fuck Tha Show Biz, and the performance video of Hommie Vol.1.

That’s why it’s a headache, but suddenly he’s going to share the copyright?

‘What’s the scheme?’

Ahn Cheol-seung knew that Lee Sanghyun was not a clumsy guy. Usually, if a team leader-level person has this many people following him, the conversation would proceed out of apology, but this guy was really my way [assertive and independent].

Besides, he dodges the bait that is thrown as bait like a ghost.

Even if he tries to confuse him by twisting the terms a little, he knows the core so well that sometimes Lee Sanghyun seems more capable than Go Won-guk.

At first, when Go Won-guk failed to persuade him and returned, he cursed him a lot, but when he actually met him, he felt that even if he had gone instead of Go Won-guk, he would have failed.

“No conditions?”

“Hey, why wouldn’t there be conditions? Of course, there are. Team Leader, you can’t try to get everything for free.”

“I knew it……. What are the conditions?”

Sanghyun smiled slyly inside.

“Please shoot a music video for Gwangju UP. We’ll take care of the filming crew, so please cover the equipment rental costs from the club.”

“What are you going to do with the music video? There’s nowhere to play it, is there?”

“There is. A huge company has agreed to play our music video.”

“Where?”

“Gwangju Tigers.”

“……Us?”

“Yes. On the Gwangju Tigers website.”

Sanghyun originally had no interest in baseball. He had never been to a baseball stadium, and he couldn’t even remember the names of the baseball teams properly.

However, when the Gwangju Tigers showed interest in his song, he searched the internet a bit.

It turned out that Han Gwang-soo, who was trying to change ‘Gwangju UP’ to ‘Gwangsoo UP’, was a much bigger figure than he thought.

A superstar in the baseball world who won the batting title and home run title last year and received the MVP [Most Valuable Player award]. He also filmed commercials with his fairly handsome appearance and occasionally appeared on entertainment programs during the off-season.

Ahn Cheol-seung, who had been deep in thought, drank his coffee and asked again.

“So…… you’re asking us to upload the Gwangju Up music video to the Tigers website main page?”

“Yes. Anyway, Han Gwang-soo is a signing that the club put a lot of effort into, right? If my song is adopted as a cheering song, the fans need to get used to it.”

“Well…… that’s true.”

Of course, if the cheerleaders and cheerleaders sing the cheering song a few times, the fans will memorize it like ghosts. The first thing to do with a cheering song is to make it easy to memorize. But the ripple effect is different between a song you don’t know at all and a song you know.

“Hmm…… why are you so reluctant to register the copyright? It’s a bit morbid?”

“This is my song…… but I’m not sure it’s *really* my song.”

“What do you mean, ‘certainty’?”

“I saw Japanese people doing street performances a long time ago, and the Gwangju UP song seems to have some similarities in rhythm to the songs of those Japanese people. I’m a little worried that I unconsciously followed it.”

“What? You refused so strongly for such a reason?”

Ahn Cheol-seung made a dumbfounded expression.

“You didn’t deliberately copy it, did you?”

“No. And I don’t know how similar it is because there is no sample. It’s probably very different. It’s just a vague feeling.”

“Is that a kind of musician’s disease? Why are you acting like a perfectionist? What if you copied it? I don’t know well, but there is a universal commercial code progression called Money Code. They say there are no more new songs in modern music history, anyway!”

Sanghyun smiled awkwardly at Ahn Cheol-seung’s words. Ahn Cheol-seung’s words were not entirely wrong. But…….

“Even if everyone else copies it, I shouldn’t copy it.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m going to be a Rapstar.”

Sanghyun had a vague sense of debt to the Korean hip-hop scene. The spiritual pillar of Be the Underground, the success of Caliph, disappeared because of him. Also, Caliph had his promised success stolen.

‘Of course, I don’t intend to give all the glory of that success to Cha In-hyun.’

That’s why Sanghyun had to become a rap star. He had to prove the value of the underground scene, and he had a duty to lead Caliph. He had a duty to return the glory that originally belonged to him.

So that ‘glory’ must be free of dirt.

Rap Star

A star is a shining being.

And that light never gets dirty.

Whether it’s viewed from the outside or from the inside.

***

“Wow, awesome. Isn’t this a Canon EOS 5D?”

“Is it good?”

“Is it good? Are you kidding me? It hasn’t been out for two months. There’s nothing better than this among DSLR ENG [Digital Single-Lens Reflex Electronic News-Gathering] cameras. I was worried about bringing a broadcasting camera, but this is really awesome!”

Woo Min-ho ran to the camera rented from the Tigers, excited. Sanghyun was wondering why the camera was smaller than he thought, but he was relieved to see Woo Min-ho’s reaction.

Seeing Woo Min-ho’s reaction, Deputy Go Won-guk, who had been carrying the camera, smiled and explained.

“We also chose this product after a lot of consideration. It’s going to be on the main page of the website, so how can we just shoot it randomly? It was difficult to rent because the release period was short.”

“Deputy, is this full frame? What is the effective pixel count?”

“Is it 12.8 million pixels? Anyway, it has excellent low-noise characteristics at high sensitivity, so it will be easy to shoot in low-light environments such as indoors or at night. But the problem is that the viewfinder is a pentaprism, so monitoring is a bit difficult when shooting at an angle or from above. So I prepared accessories.”

“Oh my god!”

The incomprehensible story of Go Won-guk, who majored in video filming, and Woo Min-ho, who dreams of becoming an MV [music video] director, began. Sanghyun shook his head, trying to understand even a little.

It’s a level that I don’t know whether it’s Korean or alien.

Sanghyun looked at the faces of the crew members except for the excited Woo Min-ho. Then he burst out laughing.

“Hyung Hwan.”

“Huh?”

“Did you wash your face with BB cream [blemish balm cream]?”

“N, no!”

Kim Hwan’s embarrassed face was plastered with BB cream. What’s even funnier is that the tone of his neck and the tone of his face are at opposite extremes because he didn’t apply it to his neck.

“Ha-yeon. Did you eat a rat [apply too much lipstick]?”

“D, do you want to die?”

Ha-yeon’s face was a bit plain, but her lips were bright red.

“Minji, are you going to the club? It’s the middle of the day?”

Oh Min-ji was adding 10 to her combat power by wearing high heels that she never wore.

“What about you?”

“Why me? What’s wrong?”

At Ha-yeon’s question, Sanghyun confidently spread out his arms and spun around.

Sanghyun was wearing a plain black hoodie and damaged jeans. But…….

“Who wears a tie inside a hoodie? Isn’t that a dress shirt you’re wearing inside? Are you a high school student? Is it a school uniform?”

“I’m a high school student! And this is innerwear. Do you know fashion?!”

“I don’t know fashion, but I can tell that your clothes are weird.”

“Ah, erase your lips [wipe off some lipstick]!”

“Take off that tie!”

Sangmi, who had been watching quietly, clicked her tongue.

“Ugh, fashion illiterates.”

In her opinion, both of them don’t know the ‘F’ in fashion. The only ones who dressed normally were Inhyuk and Junhyung.

“Okay, let’s go now.”

Deputy Go Won-guk organized the situation and put the 888 crew members in the car. Originally, he said that he didn’t need additional manpower, but somehow, Deputy Go Won-guk ended up helping.

This was because he needed a car to travel around Gwangju to shoot the music video, and Deputy Go Won-guk had a knack for video shooting.

“It would be easier to shoot according to the progress of the lyrics, right? Should we go to the express bus terminal first?”

“Yes!”

Sanghyun was planning to go to U-Square (Gwangju Express Bus Terminal brand), which has sculptures and a great atmosphere, to get as many cuts as possible.

Gwangju’s U-Square is the largest and most sophisticated express bus terminal in Asia, and is also a space that leads to various cultural performance facilities and fashion streets.

‘There was an outdoor performance hall at the entrance, right? I wonder if I can use it?’

However, when he arrived at the express bus terminal, Sanghyun was able to realize a huge fact.

U-Square, which opened in August 2006, was still just an express bus terminal.

Nothing.

Just as Sanghyun was about to say that he should move to another place, Deputy Go Won-guk opened his mouth.

“I’ve shot a lot of videos, but I can’t imagine what kind of hip-hop feeling I can create in a place like this. Is it a Western American feeling? A bit desolate and lonely? Ah, I’m so excited. Where are you going to shoot first?”

In the end, Sanghyun had no choice but to succumb to Deputy Go’s sparkling eyes and take a few cuts at the express bus terminal.

< Verse 12. Gwangju UP! > End

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