Rockstar Again - Chapter 74



Only Noblemtl

Episode 74. Beat it (1)

For the crime of being a genius, in a prison called the practice room.

Locked in a prison called a recording studio, wearing a prison uniform called a tracksuit, receiving the punishment of creation, waiting for the day of release when I can take off my mask. So… … I sometimes shed tears. Sometimes I can’t hold back my tears… … .

Jongro, the practice room of .

Yoon Tae-joo stared at the lyrics that Lee Dong-ha had roughly scribbled down for a long time before opening his mouth.

“This… … Did you write this?”

“… … Huh? Yeah. I just poured all my feelings into the words… … .”

“… … .”

“why?”

I wrote the lyrics, so it feels a little weird to be asked why. My head looked at Taeju hyung for a moment, then turned back to the small window on one wall of the recording studio.

Maybe because it’s morning, there are clouds and the sun is shining brightly.

I opened my mouth slowly.

“How is the world?”

“… … ?”

“What day is it today?”

“December 26th.”

“I guess I’ll just get through it like this.”

Tae-joo hyung laughed for a long time at my stupid answer.

“Is it very difficult?”

“Yeah. Seriously. Damn it. After I came to the future, I spent a few months stuck in a corner of the room in the Yellow House. How did I survive then?”

“I guess I didn’t hold out that long, but rather did it because I wanted to. Or maybe it was just harder to come out of the room.”

I straightened my back and glared at Taeju hyung again.

Somehow, I feel better.

This guy seems to know everything.

When a person passes the age of 50, does he become half a Taoist?

No, it isn’t.

What I’m saying is that Dongsik hyung and Youngpil hyung don’t have that kind of feeling.

Those guys have more worries than I do.

Worried about my wife.

Worry about your children.

Worried about living expenses.

This isn’t even a mind map, but worry breeds worry, and the tail extends, and we live worrying about all kinds of things in the world.

So, if you become the CEO of a large corporation, will you become like that, like a person who is well-versed in worldly affairs?

Since the only person I know who is the chairman of a large corporation is Tae-joo, I am suspicious of him.

“Since you know a lot, there must be a lot you want to eat?”

“huh?”

“You’re so great. You should just keep doing music instead of being the CEO of a big company that you can’t use. Why do people act like that? You have no empathy and no empathy.”

Tae-joo hyung, who heard my complaint, tries to hold back his laughter as he wonders what’s so good about it, but RoboCop, who was standing behind Tae-joo hyung, flinches.

“Director Kwak, please sit down too. Judging from the way you’re trembling, I can tell you’re done charging.”

“… … .”

“If you’re not fully charged yet, would you like me to move the wireless charger over to the sofa?”

“It’s okay. And I don’t charge. My back is bad, so it’s easier for me to stand.”

“If sitting is uncomfortable, please lie down. Shall I lay out a blanket on the floor for you?”

“… … .”

“Isn’t it hard to support a CEO of a large corporation who has no sense of humor?”

“What… … are you saying… … .”

Tae-joo hyung interrupted, cutting off Secretary Kwak Moon-ki, who was about to lose his temper.

“Our Dong-ha, you must be having a really hard time.”

“Yeah. I told you, it’s so hard. I didn’t know it, but I guess I’m a bit of a free spirit. When I see you, I want to get out of this practice room and breathe in the dirty air of the world.”

“Would you like to reveal your identity and go around comfortably? I will follow whatever decision you make. Decide however you want.”

“Ugh… … It’s getting worse.”

As I said that, I looked at Tae-ju hyung, but the person who gave me the medicine just smiled brightly.

That guy… … is such a fox, a fox.

Actually, I know that too.

Tae-joo hyung isn’t the kind of person who would give me medicine.

And I know that my brother will really follow me no matter what decision I make.

That’s why I can’t beat Taeju hyung.

Maybe, it’s because Tae-joo hyung is like that that he can complain so easily.

I released the strength from my eyes that had been glaring at Taeju hyung.

“What about Siksamarang and Piri Piri hyung?”

“Practice room.”

“Tell them to stop practicing. If they keep doing this, they’ll end up getting hurt before they can even start their full-fledged activities.”

At my words, the smile on Tae-joo’s face deepens a little.

I’m not sure what the difference is, but I know that when you make that kind of expression, you’re talking about something a little more profound.

“You’re already locked up, so that’s all we can do for the team. I… … have to run the company, so I have no choice but to move around a little.”

“But there’s something called ‘moderate’, right? Right? Honestly, I didn’t think the words ‘moderate’ would come out of my mouth. But it’s too much. You guys. What are you doing locked up in the basement?”

“Don’t practice.”

“No! That’s right! People eat. They wash. They go to the rooftop to smoke cigarettes, which my brothers couldn’t live without. They go see their kids and sisters-in-law. Isn’t that what you have to do? And you can still practice enough?”

I yelled a little in an annoyed tone.

That was the real reason why the medicine went up.

These humans.

After finishing their first stage at and arriving at the practice room, they haven’t left the basement practice room.

It’s not like I’m stuck in the practice room to the point where I feel like that…

Seriously, I haven’t left the practice room for over two weeks since then.

I’m also frustrated, because these guys are stuck in a hole dug and won’t come out, so I get bored. I can’t complain either. And there are fewer people to bother.

Crucially, it would be a worry.

Of course, I was the one who wanted my brothers’ skills to improve more than anyone else.

While getting hurt.

It didn’t mean that I should abandon my family and focus only on practicing.

They say that nothing in the world is perfected without practice, but excessive practice does not necessarily lead to improved skills.

And in fact, since the older brothers had already practiced enough before that, there were also some who didn’t understand the older brothers’ current outburst.

I even got banned from entering the basement practice room because I was a nuisance during practice. That says it all.

Every time I went down, I would interrupt my brothers’ practice.

I was afraid that if I continued like this I would really get into trouble.

Then he asked me to leave the practice room, and at first I wondered what he meant.

“Still, the kids eat three meals a day without fail. They come out every now and then to go to the bathroom, so don’t worry too much.”

“… … What about your nephews? Your sisters-in-law? Aren’t your family going to worry? You told me to do music until I die. Who wants to do music when they’re about to die?”

“It’s the smart era. We even have video calls. Don’t worry.”

“Oh my… … You always talk back to the leader.”

Also, Tae-joo hyung laughed. In response, Secretary Kwak Moon-ki flinched, but he didn’t pay any more attention.

Tae-joo, who had stopped laughing, continued to talk to me, trying to comfort me as if everything was okay.

“They’re comfortable there too. To be exact, it’s harder for them to come out now.”

“It will be moderately placed, but the overs… … .”

“Some guy with no preconceptions at all made us like that. At twenty, as musicians.”

* * *

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

A large drop of sweat fell down Kim Dong-sik’s cheek as he lightly hit the drum again.

Chararang―.

Even the sweat that touches the symbol beats the drum.

You may wonder if a lump of water weighing less than 1 gram, no, less than 0.1 gram, could really ring the cymbal, but Kim Dong-sik definitely heard the sound of the cymbal struck by sweat.

It might be immersive.

Or, it could be an illusion.

Maybe it’s something worse. It could be a delusion that the brain is being tricked by the body pushing itself so harshly.

‘It doesn’t matter, that kind of thing.’

Kim Dong-sik’s stick accelerated as his shoulders screamed, numb beyond the stiffness.

Doo doo doo doo doo—cha cha cha—.

Although it is the same practice room, I can hear Hong Young-pil’s keyboard tapping sound right in my ear, as if they are used separately.

It’s a clear dissonance.

Since this isn’t a hand-matching exercise, dissonance doesn’t bother me.

Rather, exercises like this one are more intuitive.

Timing too.

A sense of rhythm too.

Even the songs we practice are different.

So if I don’t immerse myself in my practice, I will be consumed by the rhythm of my opponent and ruin my performance. Since my hearing is not bad, I have to cover my ears with my head.

The sticks in his hands struck the drums and cymbals, and his feet on the kick triggers pressed the pedals as if he was going to kick off the ground.

Power is not the answer.

Some people say that in order to play well, you have to relax your body.

‘That’s when you can put real power into the drums. Not me.’

Kim Dong-sik’s head filled with memories of that day’s performance as he played the drums.

-Did you enjoy it?

Dong-ha asked that as he came down from the stage.

And Kim Dong-sik recalled his answer.

-huh.

It was definitely good.

I was so happy I could’ve gone crazy.

I felt a burning thirst.

‘why?’

It was good, but why am I thirsty?

Kim Dong-sik, who asked himself the question, knew the answer.

Satiety and craving never come separately.

It is something that only those who feel full crave.

The greater the satiety, the greater the desire.

People are beings who have such a threshold of satisfaction.

With that day’s performance, Kim Dong-sik’s threshold pierced through the sky.

Doo doo doo doo—bang—dung doo doo doo doo—cha bang.

As the drumsticks struck the drum, Kim Dong-sik recalled the feeling of satisfaction from that day.

Once upon a time, a close friend who was as sticky as gum was tapping away at the keyboard.

Tae-joo hyung, who felt like a huge mountain, played the bass guitar.

Just one song from that day when the supersonic jet carrying them all took off.

It was an unbelievable sense of satisfaction that I had never felt before from Misari’s performance.

Was it because the sound was good that it felt different?

Or the camera that was taking pictures of you?

Because of the audience that filled the seats and didn’t even know who they were fans of?

Charararara―.

Sweat pouring down like rain from Kim Dong-sik’s entire body falls and flies off his arms as he strikes the drums.

Each and every drop of sweat seemed to have life as he played the drums with Kim Dong-sik.

‘It’s not enough.’

At first, I thought I would be satisfied if I could just go along with it.

I was happy that we could be on stage together.

but.

‘This won’t work.’

Kim Dong-sik realized that day.

That the being that moves is special.

I already knew it in my head, but experiencing it firsthand is a whole other level of understanding.

At that day’s performance.

When Kim Dong-sik’s drums were out of sync, Lee Dong-ha’s guitar got faster.

As the drums lost their power, Lee Dong-ha’s vocals pierced through the speakers.

During the performance, even the three people who were playing didn’t notice each other’s mistakes.

He dominated the stage while blinding and deceiving the ears of the people moving around.

They don’t want to be subordinated. They don’t even want to be fans of theirs, with just one song that’s about 5 minutes long.

‘I don’t want to miss it.’

The future that Lee Dong-ha had been talking about with a smile became clear in my mind.

Numbers are not a problem for Lee Dong-ha, who rules over tens and hundreds of people.

That crazy guy would convince hundreds of thousands of people in a funny way. So.

‘I want to be with you. Confidently.’

If the guitar and vocals were to move, no matter how many drummers in the world there would be, it wouldn’t be enough. So, I decided to set a goal of becoming the drummer with the least shortcomings in the world.

My goal is to have at least one wheel, not just a burden.

No, maybe.

It may not have happened, but it may have brought back a dream that was forgotten.

Since when?

Kim Dong-sik learned how to be satisfied with small things.

It was the way of life for the petit bourgeois who realized that they could not gain anything big.

And so Kim Dong-sik’s flame went out.

‘no.’

The flame of Kim Dong-sik that I thought had died out was still somewhere in my heart.

Doo doo doo—doo doo—chachachacha—dung doo—cha!

The flame that has once bloomed spews out its heat as if it is resenting the suffocation of the past years.

In a time where I don’t even know how many days have passed.

Kim Dong-sik, 22, knocked on Kim Dong-sik, 53.

Wake up.