Raising a Neglected Singer-Songwriter - Chapter 170



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Raising a Neglected Singer-Songwriter Episode 170

170. Player

Player.

In its dictionary meaning, it refers to both people and things that are enjoyed or played.

Athletes and gamers (users).

A device for playing music.

A musician playing a musical instrument.

Everything is called by the word ‘player’.

So, if someone asks you, ‘Are you a player?’, you’ll naturally tilt your head.

Because it is a word that encompasses such a vast range of concepts.

But when the word reached Sungjun, its numerous meanings narrowed down to one.

Gamer(user).

More specifically, ‘Bangsinki Player’.

‘Tutu’, Sungjun’s head starts spinning quickly after seeing Bobby’s message.

‘Surely not, Barbie too?’

Early days after installing ‘Bangsingki’.

Of course, I had my doubts about that.

Doubts about whether I am the only ‘Bangsingki’ user in the world.

This question sank into my consciousness for a while while I was enjoying ‘bangshinki’ such as leveling up and gacha.

Recently, information about the identity of ‘Bangsinki’ began to be revealed one by one from the music box containing Orpheus’ voice, and it came back to life.

‘Bangsinki’ is an app created by developer Orpheus to easily grant his agent his musicality, with the purpose of gathering energy to ascend to the original world with his wife.

And when Sungjun downloaded the app while drunk on the subway, the number of downloads was exactly ‘0’.

‘Thanks to that, I even suspected that it was a hacking game with hidden malware from that country.’

Also, the release date of ‘Bangsingki’ is about a year ago.

Justin Bobby was already a star even before that, when he was still in elementary school.

The story of Barbie’s debut, in which a young girl with a youthful face and an attractive voice stole the hearts of older women around the world, is very famous.

Therefore, the hypothesis that he grew from a talentless person like himself through Bangsingki does not hold true.

Because the time zones are different.

Based on these evidences, Sungjun was convinced that he was the one and only Bangsinki player.

That makes it even more confusing.

‘So what on earth is the message that Barbie sent just now?’

Thoughts begin to become complicatedly intertwined.

We need a little more information to draw a conclusion.

Luckily, there was still a follow-up message from Barbie.

– If you don’t understand what I’m saying, just laugh it off. But if you’re really a ‘player’, I’d really like to talk to you.

Judging by the nuance in the message, it seems like Bobby is assuming to some extent that Sungjun is the player.

– Do you want to meet me too? If so, then yes.

And in the next message that followed, Sungjun’s eyes narrowed.

– A special mission has arrived.

– Would you like to meet Justin Bobby? [YES / NO]

‘This is···.’

An all too familiar form of message.

It clearly mimicked a system message.

‘Thanks to you, one thing has become clear.’

I don’t know if he’s a player or not, but at least he’s someone who knows about the system’s existence.

‘What should I do?’

Seongjun is lost in thought for a moment.

If you think about it, it’s not even certain whether the person who sent the message was really Justin Bobby.

And even if it was Justin himself, it is still questionable whether he had any intentions in contacting me.

‘Or maybe it was Orpheus.’

There was also a possibility that the message was sent by someone impersonating Bobby, somewhere on Earth, aiming for the throne.

No, rather, this seems more plausible since it mentions players or systems.

‘Huh? Then should I meet you more?’

Whichever one it was, in the end, the only way to find out the truth was to meet him in person.

If he were Orpheus, he could just ask him questions out loud.

Or, even if it’s Justin Bobby, who knows more than you, you might still get some really useful information.

‘Okay, I’ve decided.’

Ta-da-dak-

Seongjun, who finished his own work, wrote [Yes].

Then, as if waiting, a reply came back.

– What! You really were a player! HOLY! Today is a very happy day!

Barbie cheering loudly.

one side,

– Hey, Justin. I don’t know what ‘player’ you were talking about, but I wrote YES because I wanted to meet you. Is it really you, Justin?

Seongjun first casted the spell I don’t know.

It is risky to blindly reveal that you are also a player, as the opponent is likely to be related to the player.

As I thought about earlier, it is not clear who the other person is or what the purpose of contacting them is.

Therefore, the current counter-question was a clever way to secure an escape route from such risks while also gauging the opponent’s identity.

Hiding what he has and getting what he wants from the other person was not a difficult task for Sungjun, who had been working in society for five years and had acquired the art of conversation.

‘So, are you going to reveal your identity?’

It was when Sungjun, who had thrown the bait, was waiting for a reaction.

– Hmm? Am I Justin? Wait a minute.

A photo arrived from Bobby, who had said so.

A selfie of him with his top off and a bright smile on his face while holding a piece of paper with the words ‘It’s me. D.Voice’ written on it.

‘Justin is right···.’

A real-time verification of a man with his shirt off and a cheerful smile.

It wasn’t very pleasant, but it was confirmed that it was Justin.

– You’re very cautious. Well, that’s only natural for a player who has acquired the ‘One and Only’ ability. Anyway, I thought there would be players ‘over here’ too.

Following the selfie, Barbie’s message continues.

And Sungjun noticed something in his message.

‘One and Only’ means that the player is only themselves.

however···

‘I thought there would be players on this side too? What do you mean?’

Something. I have a strong feeling that there is another secret entangled in Bangsingki that goes beyond my expectations.

The moment when Bobby was pressed to find out what he had just said.

– I’ll contact you separately soon about our meeting. Let’s talk about the details then, my friend.

A message arrived from Barbie.

– Justin?! Hey, Justin?!

I called him urgently, but he didn’t come back.

at that time,

“Brother. Now that you’ve finished the important contact, would you like to head home?”

Oh Hae-soo asked cautiously.

‘Oh, come to think of it.’

I was so focused on my conversation with Bobby that I completely forgot that I was still at JBS Studios.

“Oh, sorry, Haesu. It’s all over now. Let’s go.”

After quickly coming to my senses, I walked towards the parking lot.

Seongjun got on the van and looked out the window and thought.

‘I don’t know when that will be, though.’

The day I met Barbie.

I felt like something huge was going to happen.

*

‘No news today either.’

A few days passed after the call, but there was no word from Bobby, who was supposed to contact me soon.

At first, I was anxious and thought about contacting them first.

‘If we keep doing that, it’ll just show that we’re the players and that we’re impatient.’

So, it was Seongjun who chose to wait.

Also, I couldn’t just think about Barbie, the remaining 4th quarter schedule was a mountain.

The biggest one of all is, of course, the year-end concert.

“This is the first plan for the concert venue.”

“Wow, this is crazy…”

The A&R team leader’s presentation on the screen drew deep applause from the attendees in the conference room.

Seongjun also blinked his eyes in surprise.

The concert will be held on December 31st. Just one day.

Rather, it was shortened by one day compared to the original plan to hold it over two days, Saturday and Sunday.

A decision that could easily result in hot complaints from fans.

However, it was clear that such an unfortunate event would not occur.

Why?

The concert venue is-

“Are we really doing this in ‘Seoul Plaza’?!”

The youngest in the conference room shouted in surprise without even turning the volume up, but no one scolded him.

Because that was a natural reaction.

The capacity of concert halls for most famous singers is between 10,000 and 20,000 people, and as many as 30,000.

On the other hand, Seoul Plaza can accommodate 100,000 people, which is several times that number.

It is approaching the same number of spectators as the Super Bowl, the NFL championship game and the largest sports festival in the United States.

But that wasn’t the only thing that shocked the youngest.

“How did the Seoul Metropolitan Government allow the use of Seoul Plaza that day?”

“It was difficult because it was the end of the year, but CEO Choi, Director Baek, and our public relations team leader persuaded me.”

“It’s not someone else’s concert, it’s Sungjun’s concert. The number one singer on Billboard! The pride of Korea! Thanks to him, it was possible.”

Renting out Seoul Plaza for an entire afternoon for an artist’s solo concert is unprecedented.

As the team leader said, it was possible because the artist was Sungjun, a Korean singer who reached number one on Billboard and was revered as a ‘god of music’ in Korea for his all-time performances as the headliner of the Lollapalooza festival.

“And as Sungjun said, the concert will be free.”

Since the concert was held in a public space such as Seoul Plaza, it became difficult to collect the concert fee.

Moreover, this concert somehow felt like a congratulatory concert for Sungjun, who returned home as a Billboard No. 1 singer.

From Sungjun’s perspective, it was actually good.

Sungjun knows very well that he was able to get to where he is today not because he is good, but because of the love and support of his fans.

That’s why I wanted to make my first concert a show of gratitude to those fans, and if possible, invite them for free.

However, in industry practice, if someone, like Sungjun, holds a concert for free with good intentions, it ends up destroying the ecosystem.

However, if a singer of Sungjun’s tier sets the ticket price too low in order to receive only the minimum cost, it will put other artists in trouble.

So, just as I was worrying about that, permission to use Seoul Plaza was granted.

Thanks to this, it became a good excuse to hold a concert for free.

“All the performances that day will be live streamed online through YouTube. Not only us, but people all over the world will want to see Sungjun’s first concert.”

“If the article is published, domestic flights will probably be fully booked a month before the concert.”

“Oh, speaking of flights, I heard that Korean Air also offered to use Sungjun as a model for their new in-flight safety video?”

“That’s right. I’ll wrap Sungjun’s face in the previous world too.”

The A&R team leader and the marketing team leader are excited and talking.

Well, Sungjun couldn’t believe that what he had only dreamed of as his first solo concert had turned into a national event of such a large scale.

The meeting ended with such anticipation and excitement.

“Well, I’m busy so I’ll go first.”

Seongjun bowed to the conference room and went straight into the elevator.

As is the case with most office workers’ meetings, after arriving at work at 9:00, we took a brief hour to wrap things up, and the meeting started around 10:00 and lasted for two hours.

So, if things had gone as planned, we would all be enjoying a delicious meal together at the cafeteria that serves organic food, but today, we had a separate engagement.

That doesn’t mean he went out to eat.

Rather, the place he headed to was none other than the studio.

When Seongjun arrived at the studio with long strides and opened the door, the visitor who had been guarding the studio in his stead greeted him.

“Oh, are you done now?”

A beauty who took off the glasses that were usually one with her and let her ponytail, which was tied tightly, hang down straight.

Seol Hye-yoon recently declared her free agency from Saehyang and took the path of a lyricist.

Thump-

Seongjun’s heart beats slightly as he looks at Seol Hye-yoon smiling brightly.

‘I always knew she was beautiful.’

Today, for some reason, her beauty stands out especially.

“Ahem, are you done editing?”

“I think so.”

When I ask with an awkward cough, Seol Hye-yoon shows me her laptop.

While Sungjun was attending a meeting related to the concert.

Seol Hye-yoon was in the process of incorporating the feedback she received from Shin Jin-hee into her lyrics.

“Then, I’ll take a look too.”

Seongjun, sitting next to Seol Hye-yoon, looks at the laptop screen.

A new song to be performed by the members of ‘Breeze’ at the Rock Cup finals.

The system passed on the composition keywords [clouds, moonlight, rainbow, oriental beauty] that it had ordered from Sungjun to Seol Hye-yoon, and Seol Hye-yoon composed the lyrics accordingly.

The title is ‘Under the Moon’.

It means under the moonlight.

Lyrics that compare the person you love to the moon.

I always draw you hidden under clouds, but sometimes when the moonlight you shine on reaches me, a rainbow of seven colors appears in my heart.

Seol Hye-yoon’s unique sensibility is evident in the lyrical lyrics.

And this description also contains the oriental beauty that he had requested.

Sungjun puts the revised lyrics on top of the melody of the demo song that went through the same revision process.

This time too, thanks to the hooky chorus and the emphasis on oriental classical beauty while making use of easy listening, the song has a different feel from the previous album, and Seol Hye-yoon’s lyrics fit together naturally as if they were a set from the beginning.

The visuals of the members of ‘Breeze’, led by Jin Ha-neul, the queen of innocence, are a perfect match.

“···I like it. I really like it.”

A smile appears on his lips as if he is satisfied.

The phone rang right away as soon as I sent it to Shin Jin-hee.

– I love it! Let’s fix this! I’m getting a lot of inspiration! The kids’ costumes are reformed hanbok, and it would be nice to have fans, and also, the music video color is-

As expected, my excited monologue over the speaker phone got an OK sign.

“Whew. I’m glad that PD Shin likes it.”

“Your first songwriting project after leaving the company has been very successful. Congratulations.”

match-

Seongjun and Seol Hyeyoon clap their hands and high five each other.

This concludes my work in the studio today.

The two still had another appointment left.

After chatting for a while, Seongjun checked the time and stood up from his seat.

“Then shall we go?”

“yes.”

Seol Hye-yoon nods with a solemn expression.

Then the two people who came out of the workshop got back on the elevator.

And the place they arrived was none other than the floor where the meeting room was located.

Seongjun, who was walking to the innermost part of the row of meeting rooms, soon stopped in front of a conference room.

The panel attached to the front of the meeting room has the grand meeting name written on it: ‘Sungjun’s New Song Meeting.’

one side,

Judging by the murmur of voices coming from inside, it seemed that the attendees of the grand conference had already taken their seats.

Seongjun and Seol Hyeyoon, who had met each other’s eyes once again, opened the door.

And then there were simultaneous gasps of surprise inside and outside the meeting room.

“uh?”

“uh?”

Seol Hye-yoon outside the meeting room and Yuna inside the meeting room blinked at each other.