Raising a Neglected Singer-Songwriter - Chapter 153



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Raising a Neglected Singer-Songwriter Episode 153

153. Lola?

Tiring-

The system sound penetrated my dazed mind.

[You have achieved the hidden mission ‘Listen’.]

[You acquire the title ‘The Eavesdropper’.]

It was easy to figure out what had been overheard.

The melody that had driven him to the brink of insanity just a moment ago.

At the same time, the story of Orpheus, which was saved as [Record # H], suddenly comes to mind.

The reason why the ‘Bangsingki’ system was created.

In order to return to the world they originally came from, they had to open something called the ‘Biseungmun’, and to open it, they needed the power of music that Orpheus possessed.

The story of how he tried to inject his abilities into the people of the lower world in order to avoid being discovered by the gods, but the people who were unable to fully accept his overflowing abilities went mad.

So, to compensate for this, the truth was that ‘Bangsinki’ had deteriorated by putting his abilities into mobile games.

‘Wait a minute, come to think of it.’

As I was thinking back, I suddenly remembered the first time I downloaded ‘Bangsingki’.

Even though I was drunk, the cumulative number of downloads of the game I clearly remember is ‘0’.

What I mean is-

‘I was the ‘first’ gamer.’

Only then did I begin to understand Orpheus’ last words, which were of him rejoicing, “I’m not crazy.”

That must have been both delightful and surprising.

His hypothesis that it would be okay to gradually inject abilities through mobile games was proven through him.

Also, from the fact that Orpheus conveyed his feelings in real time in response to his own reaction,

Whether through the game or somewhere else, he could also tell that he was being watched.

When I had somewhat sorted out the situation in my head, the record that had finished spinning popped out.

[Record # E]

If you list the alphabets written on the record in order so far, it becomes ‘ORPHE’.

I noticed long ago that the English spelling of Orpheus is ‘ORPHEUS’.

‘Then the number of records remaining is two, corresponding to ‘U’ and ‘S’.’

I wonder what the remaining two contain…

Now, Sungjun was filled with complex emotions amidst anticipation.

one side,

Seongjun clicked on the new title, ‘Eavesdropper’, that the system message had notified him of.

Until now, it was a title whose name only changed with promotion.

This time, there was a one-line effect description that I had never seen before.

[You will be able to imitate some of what you hear.]

‘You can imitate what you hear? Then ‘that’ melody?’

Since there was no detailed explanation, I don’t understand what effect it was given.

It was at this moment that I was trying to check if there were any other changes in the status window.

Kkumbuk-

Suddenly my eyelids feel heavy.

An unbearable storm came rushing in.

What is this feeling…?

Yes, it felt like my brain, having taken in something that exceeded its maximum capacity in an instant, was forcibly trying to close the shutter and take a break.

‘Should I take a break…’

Seongjun followed his body’s self-protection mechanism.

The covered eyelids darkened Sungjun’s consciousness.

*

“I guess you were tired too, hyung. You slept really well. Even to the point of skipping that precious in-flight meal.”

As Oh Hae-soo said, Sung-jun woke up from a deep sleep when the plane arrived at the apron.

When I woke up, I didn’t really have any uneasy feelings about the unidentified melody.

‘Perhaps it’s thanks to the [Myeonggyeongjisu] skill.’

Now, I think that this skill, which helps maintain composure in any situation, may have been Orpheus’ arrangement as a device to help ‘Bangshinki’ players maintain their sanity.

I gathered my luggage, sorted out my thoughts, and headed out of the departure hall.

“Here you go. Mr. Sungjun!”

As Sungjun and Oh Haesoo appear, someone waves their hand fiercely at them.

He was a messenger sent by George Brown.

“Welcome to Washington. Let’s go.”

Seongjun, who got on the van prepared by Majung, soon arrived at the office of George’s label, ‘New Era’.

We were guided into the studio located in the building.

Then, the man who was listening to the song that he was going to work on today, top American producer George Brown, greets Sungjun.

“Thank you for your hard work in coming such a long way.”

“It’s been a while, George.”

Sungjun and George shake hands.

George then introduced his studio.

“This is my studio. Haha.”

Sungjun’s eyes scanned the holy land that gave birth to numerous pop stars and Billboard number one songs.

Who wouldn’t call this the studio of America’s top producer?

‘It’s spacious! There’s a lot of things! And it’s comfortable!’

I thought my own studio was pretty good, but when I look at the studio in front of me, I feel like a frog in a well.

Meanwhile, on the table were three or four square boxes with triangular shapes on them.

The identity is none other than-

“I saw on YouTube that the pizza in Italy wasn’t that great.”

Papa James Pizza.

‘Working on music while eating pizza? Haha.’

Is this the American style?

“We have cold beer too, if you want. Just ‘Bird’ though.”

George takes out a bottle of Budweiser, also known as America’s national beer, from the refrigerator in the studio and shakes it.

“I’ll just have a cola.”

“Okay~”

George puts a Buzzweiser in Sungjun’s mouth in response.

Then, two people sitting on the sofa were enjoying small talk and exchanging pleasantries.

“Hey, what’s up, bro.”

Someone suddenly opened the studio door and barged in.

A welcoming face with a reddish beard.

“mark!”

Sungjun bumps shoulders with Mark, whom he met a few months ago in New York during the filming of ‘Begin One More’, and exchanges a greeting full of American swagger.

“I listened to your last EP ‘Music is’. It was totally my style. It even made it to Billboard.”

“You’re being sarcastic. Mark, you should’ve made it into the Billboard Top 10 with this new song.”

“Hahaha. Well, that’s what happened.”

Mark raises the corners of his mouth, stroking his orange beard.

As Sungjun said, his recently released new song has become a hot topic in the United States.

First single after joining George Brown’s ‘New Era’.

The result of Mark’s songwriting and George Brown’s producing instantly took over the Billboard charts.

Thanks to this, his popularity and recognition, which had been unknown to the composer, skyrocketed overnight, and now even the paparazzi have started following him around.

“Bro, they say in America success is determined by the number of paparazzi following you.”

Seongjun swallows his admiration as he watches Mark giggle, still finding the paparazzi more interesting than annoying.

‘That’s amazing.’

The man who appeared on a survival audition show with her became a Billboard star…

It feels somehow unfamiliar and unreal.

I wonder if Kang Seung-wook and Kim Ho-soo felt this way when they suddenly saw themselves debuting one day.

The three people chat for a while while eating salty and delicious pizza and slowly prepare for their main business moment.

“Okay, now that we’ve filled our bellies, shall we begin?”

The reason Sungjun traveled over 10 hours by plane to a faraway foreign land was to work on a single targeting the American market.

The genre is pop rock, which is Sungjun’s specialty.

If the regular Korean album was a half-and-half mix of pop and rock, the new song for the US seems to have a bit more emphasis on pop.

And the single was still ‘unfinished’.

The demo was complete, but plans were made to collaborate with George Brown to create a chorus that would resonate better in America.

‘Co-producing’, which Sungjun had suggested to George during the previous video conference.

Based on the demo, the two would each come up with their own choruses, then exchange them in George’s studio to develop them into a better, more melody.

You could say it’s a mini song camp for just the two of us.

“I heard that the current version of the demo is-”

“Well, I had similar thoughts about that.”

“Deviose. May I add something?”

“As much as you want.”

Sungjun, George, and Mark joining them.

Three people with different musical styles they pursue and aim for engage in a heated discussion.

The ‘music story’ that George had promised to Sungjun someday was finally unfolding in his studio.

And after a while, Sungjun entered the recording booth.

The idea is to record a melody that summarizes the exciting stories we’ve been talking about for a long time.

Seongjun, the owner of the song, recorded first.

Afterwards, assistants George and Mark recorded melodies based on their own interpretations, and the plan was to continue planning based on those.

Seongjun, who set up the mic, takes out all the buffs to summon inspiration and activates them.

‘I’m still a little nervous because something like that happened on the plane…’

Something that is unavoidable for work.

Let’s focus our minds. The staff and sinkerbell appear.

however,

‘···uh?’

Seongjun’s eyebrows rise.

It was because there was a change in the appearance of the staff and sinker bell that appeared before my eyes.

The staff was a bright platinum color, and the sinker bells also glowed the same color.

The moment I took it in, a sensation similar to when I overheard the ‘sound of heaven’ shot up my spine and enveloped my entire body.

One, this time it wasn’t mind-boggling or painful.

Seongjun slowly spoke, following the inspiration.

“?!”

At that, George Brown’s mouth drops open.

In fact, when George received the demo that Sungjun sent, he also had several chorus melodies in mind.

Although he may not know much about rock, he was confident that he was far ahead of Sungjun in terms of understanding and experience when it came to pop, so he wanted to help Sungjun through this joint production.

But···

‘The current melody is perfect in and of itself, without any addition or subtraction···!’

The chorus that Sungjun is creating now is a melody that dares to make all the melodies he has thought of ‘worthless’.

It went beyond the expression of being a perfect fit for the song, to the point of being transcendent.

“What the Fxxk···.”

Mark, sitting next to me, seemed to have felt the same way and was laughing in disbelief.

It was an exclamation of primary amazement.

It hasn’t even been a year since I started competing against myself in Survival…

The current Seongjun seemed like a completely different person than he was back then.

If I were to compare it to his favorite science fiction movies, it would be like he had become a Jedi Master of some sort.

Mark asked another Jedi Master he could think of.

“Mr. George… Are you going to record?”

“Is it really necessary to do that?”

“Right?”

In this way, the ‘unfinished’ song was completed.

*

Contrary to expectations that it would take a full three days to create the chorus, the song was completed on the same day they arrived in the United States.

Thanks to this, the female singer who was to feature in this song also flew to Washington two days earlier than scheduled.

“Nice to meet you! I’m Ariel!”

Ariel Grande, a singer who became famous in Korea with the song ‘No Problem’.

With her powerful R&B vocals coming from her small and cute visuals with big eyes and copper-colored skin, she was a pop star at the peak of her popularity, called ‘America’s Nation’s Little Sister’ and in Korea, ‘America’s Yuna’.

She is like that,

“I’m a fan of Sungjun’s music. And you’re much more handsome than I’ve seen in your music videos or Angela’s Instagram. Do you have a girlfriend?”

If the current scene of them greeting each other in a friendly manner had caught the eye of a Korean journalist, it would have definitely been covered in the headlines.

“Justin said he was sad. He said he would have come to see you if it weren’t for the tour.”

“I heard that the manager had a hard time dissuading him from flying in from Europe.”

“Because she’s still a kid.”

Ariel asked Sungjun about the last member of George Brown’s division who couldn’t join them.

“So, Sungjun, have you decided to become a member of the ‘New Era’ family?”

“Not yet. I’m going to take my time and think about it after releasing this new song.”

“Hmm~ Then, if you want to seduce Seongjun, this recording will be quite important.”

“So, let me ask you a favor on my behalf, Ariel.”

Ariel bursts into laughter at George’s ridiculous request.

Then we went straight into recording.

Ariel, wearing a headset, recalls the guided demo she received a few days ago.

She was surprised that Sungjun, a man, guided her part as well.

Even though it is a high note that easily exceeds three octaves, the sound does not flip or the voice tone does not change.

A vocal with a different style and charm from white rockers or black R&B soul vocalists.

It’s much better than what I heard on YouTube or through audio sources.

If you approach the recording carelessly, you might get eaten up by the male vocal’s sense of humor.

Ariel was quite nervous while recording.

Thanks to this, the recording went smoothly.

Indeed, the world-class diva’s vocals were undoubtedly the best.

When it comes to the ‘pop’ genre, Ariel is ahead of anyone Sungjun has worked with in terms of understanding and vocal skills.

Sungjun was also stimulated by her, who digested exactly what he had thought, no, 120%.

The vocals poured out by the two people as if competing with each other further upgraded the quality of the song.

Needless to say, George and Mark’s thumbs went up towards the two of them.

After finishing recording like that.

“Seongjun. My friend is having a party today. Do you want to go with me?”

Ariel suddenly asked.

‘It’s a Western party that I’ve only seen in the US…’

I was curious.

A genuine curiosity rather than a curiosity about enjoying pleasure.

However, the album release is just around the corner.

I had to avoid getting involved in any unnecessary commotion.

“hmm···.”

It was when Seongjun was having a hard time coming up with an answer.

“You don’t have to worry. I just asked because a party attendee named ‘Lola’ showed interest in you.”

At Ariel’s words, George and Mark’s eyes light up and they let out exclamations.

“Is that true? Well, Ariel, you would have been the first to hear the news.”

“Wow. Congratulations, bro. Are you jealous?”

“Mark. I thought you wanted to come with me? Well, George, you’re always welcome.”

“Me too? Yes! Finally!”

“Congratulations, Mark.”

“Thanks, George.”

Mark, who heard the news that he too had been invited to the party, expresses his joy by bumping shoulders with George.

the other side,

“Lola?”

Although I know of Korean mixed groups with similar names, I have never heard of Lola.

Looking at the word ‘related person’, it seems like it’s some kind of group name…

When Sungjun narrows his eyes as if he still doesn’t know, Mark lets out a sly laugh.

“Ariel. Come to think of it, I used a nickname that only you can use, so of course he wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I always call you like this because your pronunciation is cute.”

Ariel giggled and introduced the proper name of ‘Lola’ with a smile still on her lips.

“Lola, that’s the Lollapalooza festival. They showed interest in you.”