Rockstar Again - Chapter 75



Only Noblemtl

Episode 75. Beat it (2)

“Oh my. I’m not playing the drums, I’m tanning.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off my phone screen and just smiled bitterly.

The small screen the size of a palm cannot capture the honesty of Dong-sik.

Smart, smart.

It’s been over a year since I came to the future, and I’m starting to lose track of what’s smart and what’s not.

I guess that means we are adapting to a rapidly developing civilization.

Still, this is definitely smart.

Because the camera on my road manager Dongchan’s cell phone, who infiltrated the practice room in my place since I was banned from entering, was showing me the members in real time.

The cell phone is smart, but the people inside it are analog.

As if he had read my mind, Tae-joo opened his mouth.

“Isn’t the food cool?”

“Did all the cool people freeze to death? What the heck? Did you set up a sauna in the practice room? Why are you sweating so much?”

“I did turn the heater up a bit. I thought my muscles might get hurt if it was cold.”

I looked at the animal on the screen and frowned.

A white sleeveless t-shirt with an elongated neck.

Not only is the neck stretched out, but the clothes themselves are old and sagging.

At first glance, it is not clothing that is worn revealingly, but rather underwear.

What old men wear.

It’s probably the original Dongshik-hyung clothes he’s been wearing for a long time.

Because you’ve lost weight, your t-shirt will probably look tighter.

It wasn’t that I frowned because I didn’t like the sight of it.

This is… … Yeah, to be honest, I’m worried about that.

In a soaking wet, soggy T-shirt,

His exposed arms glisten with sweat.

The beard has grown so much that it is hard to find a suitable place to hide it.

“Our yellow one doesn’t even have hair, let alone a beard. The world is unfair.”

“It’s not fair. Just look at you.”

“Yeah. I kind of had it all.”

Tae-joo, who had been staring at me blankly at my words, stroked my head.

“Yes. We have them all.”

“The eyes say something else?”

“What? What’s wrong with my eyes?”

“Oh my, poor Dong-ha. That’s kind of the look he has on his face right now.”

“… … .”

Instead of answering, Taeju just smiles.

This guy seems to know everything.

So I thought that if I talked more, it would just feel like someone was reading my mind, so I talked about something else.

“You told me to practice, not to harm myself.”

“Dongsik, your expression is nice?”

“That thing? It looks like an angry person to me.”

“It’s good to be angry. Dong-ha, you don’t know yet.”

At Taejoo’s words, I took my eyes off the screen again and looked at him.

“Why don’t I know? When you get angry, you get superhuman strength. It’s better, right?”

“that’s right.”

“Hey, seriously. Just say no. You can tell I was talking nonsense just by looking at your expression.”

Tae-joo laughs again at my words.

Am I that good, hyung?

In the midst of my thoughts, I heard Taeju hyung’s calm voice.

“You know that feeling when you’re clearly running at full speed, but your body feels like it’s walking?”

“What is that?”

“I remember that I could run 100 meters in about 14 seconds. Then one day, I ran 100 meters in 20 seconds. What do you think?”

“… … Again, again, answering questions like an old fart.”

“You must be feeling suffocated. To yourself.”

“… … .”

“If you admit it, that’s the end of it, right? But if you don’t admit it… … you’ll get angry. At yourself.”

Even though I said things like, “He’s an old fart,” I listened to Tae-ju’s story.

“Is age really that scary? Isn’t it just lack of exercise?”

“I don’t exercise enough. I’m scared of my age. Both.”

“So you’re exercising because you’re mad at yourself?”

“Yes. Because you have to go back in time. To follow someone.”

I thought deeply and then slowly opened my mouth.

“Am I asking for too much? You guys know how good you were in the past, but you’re saying you’re going to postpone the recording because you don’t have that level of skill?”

“Yes. That’s a bit too much to ask.”

“… … Oh my. My brother is really the worst.”

“It’s true that it’s a bit too much to ask. For people who have spent 30 years with an instrument in their hands. It’s too much to say that they’re not as good as they used to be after only a few months of practice. And it’s even more so when we’re at their age.”

“In this day and age, it’s ridiculous to joke around about being fifty.”

I grumbled for nothing.

I usually tell my hyungs that I’m old and that I should hurry up and do something because I might die at any moment. I diss them all about my age, but that’s just me saying that to my hyungs.

I was a little upset because my brothers were like this.

“But Dong-ha, are we okay?”

“what?”

“You are making unreasonable demands.”

“… … I’ll give you a bottle, medicine, and everything. It’s everything I want to do for my Taeju hyung.”

Tae-joo hyung’s eyes sparkle as he looks at me.

“I once gathered the executives and gave them a harsh lecture. The content was just the usual. When I was receiving reports, the executives all said the same thing. This is why it can’t be done. This is why it’s difficult right now for this reason. Things like that. In fact, when running a company, there should be one or two such things. But I was really angry that day. Not because it couldn’t be done, but because they set limits for themselves and stopped.”

“… … .”

“I met you again and we both knew. Ah… … I thought it was natural that things wouldn’t work out just because I got older. I thought that at our age, this was enough. We lived thinking that the saying that age is just a number was just a play on words. That kind of thing.”

I couldn’t find anything to say, so I kept my mouth shut and just looked into Taeju’s eyes. I understood what he was saying, but understanding and empathy were different things.

Then, I blurted out one thing I understood to Tae-joo, who had stopped talking as if he was waiting for my answer.

“Age is a very scary thing.”

“No way. It’s impossible. I can’t do it. That’s how I learned to give up.”

“… … .”

I started feeling suffocated.

I haven’t felt suffocated since I hid my identity and locked myself in the recording studio, but this time it’s different. As the two of us were silent, the sound of the air purifier fan spinning, making a low-decibel noise, could be heard loudly.

“It’s not your fault that Dongshik is being so hard on himself. So don’t feel sorry.”

“……then?”

“Because of the dream.”

“dream…….”

If you were to rank the wealthiest people in our country, where would Tae-joo Hyung rank?

I don’t know for sure, but it’ll probably be within single digits.

They say that even the chairman of a conglomerate is afraid of age, but his dream is to overcome that.

I’m just dreaming.

In order to dream, the brothers have to overcome their limitations and push themselves.

It makes me feel like I’m time traveling.

More than any new product in the smart world.

I walked to the window and said something to Taeju hyung.

“What about your boiled eggs, brother?”

“No more concessions.”

Also, Taeju hyung spoke like a Taoist, so I closed my eyes and felt the sunlight on my face.

Narrow… … and warm.

As I enjoy the small sunlight streaming in through the window, a familiar voice breaks my thoughts.

“Oh my. What is this? Why is Youngpil like this?”

* * *

There are only a few people who will come to this recording studio.

Our members.

My manager, Dongchan hyung, Suchan hyung. And my stylist, my older sister.

Tae-joo’s RoboCop, Mr. Kwak Moon-ki.

A few key employees from her agency, Cheong-A Entertainment.

and.

“This is real time? Now you’re not just confined, you’re also being monitored by cameras? Dong-ha, aren’t you harassing your hyungs too much?”

“What does it matter if I harass others or not?”

As I turn around from the window, I see the old lady Gu Seol-ryeong and Secretary Hong Seon-ah putting two plastic bags down on the table.

“Look at this. Your expression doesn’t look good. How long have you been practicing?”

After hearing the curious old witch’s words, I glanced at the screen of my phone again.

Then, the figure of Youngpil, not Dongsik, appears.

Perhaps while we were talking, Dong-chan, who had gone down to the basement of the live broadcasting vehicle, was filming Young-pil.

“… … I see. Brother Piri isn’t feeling well?”

The image of Youngpil caught on screen is strange.

Pupils shaking with anxiety.

Her hands are pounding hard on Cindy’s keyboard, but even that feels like she’s in an uncomfortable situation.

The face is neither facing straight ahead nor towards the instrument, but rather is facing somewhere diagonally.

The famous detective’s mind instantly recalled the arrangement of the instruments in the underground practice room and deduced where Youngpil was looking.

“Brother Piri, are you seeing Brother Dongsik right now?”

As I said that, I glanced at Taeju hyung, and his expression was mysterious.

There was also a somewhat embarrassed smile that I had never seen before from Taeju hyung, who had been speaking like a Taoist.

“haha…….”

“What? Tell me. Are you hiding something from me?”

“No… … . That’s not it.”

“then?”

“… … .”

“Tell me quickly. What is it? Why is Piri-hyung’s face fidgeting like a person who just took a shit?”

Amidst the anxiety of “Does something hurt?”, I felt a strong sensation in my head.

Taeju opened his mouth as if he had no choice.

“… … He wants to go home. Yeongpil.”

“… … ?”

“He said he didn’t plan on digging a tunnel with me. He started practicing because of the atmosphere. He missed the timing to say he was going home.”

What does this mean?

When I gave him a look that said I still didn’t understand, Tae-joo added an explanation.

“I miss my wife and kids. I also want to eat home-cooked meals. That’s why I’m like this.”

“Then why don’t you just go? What’s the problem?”

“I saw Dong-sik practicing while I was on a video call. Young-pil also explained to me why he was there.”

“so?”

“Surprisingly, my sister-in-law has a strong podium. Since we’ve already started practicing, she told me to come out when Dong-sik comes out.”

Only then did my eyes, which had finally come to understand the situation, look again at Youngpil in the cell phone.

There was a man there who played with all his might, watching Dong-sik’s expression, creating dissonance.

“Hyung, if Dongsik goes at a fast tempo, you go slow. If Dongsik goes rhythmically, you go, ‘Uda-da,’ ‘Gah-da.’ Are you doing this on purpose? Right?”

“Oh. Now I really want to go home, but I can’t say anything. Dongshik is so focused. I guess he wants to break the concentration.”

It was so absurd that I burst out laughing.

Really… … I also thought that even as people age, their characters remain the same.

Dongsik is an honest man, anyone who knows him knows that.

I can vouch for the fact that Youngpil respects others and rarely asserts himself, having been on the same team as him.

If we look at the good side of Youngpil’s personality, it’s that he is very tolerant, but his bad side is exactly the same as the current situation.

What would have happened if he had just told his sister-in-law that he was going to go?

Or, you could just tell Dong-sik that you’re leaving.

No.

If he just came out, it would be over, but he’s doing that.

That too for over two weeks.

To that extent, isn’t that person just stupid rather than kind?

Oh, me.

Well, that kind of foolish person is a perfect fit for our band.

“… … Stay longer. I was going to force you out after seeing the meal. But looking at Piri-hyung, it looks like you can stay longer.”

The Savior opened his mouth lightly as if to say, “Then everything is resolved.”

“Okay then. Let’s eat. I bought some sushi.”

I rummaged through the envelopes that were on the table, making a rustling sound.

My mouth is watering.

The witch hag is secretly a gourmet.

Whether it’s coffee or food, it’s outstanding in anything that enters your mouth.

As I leaned over and approached him, pretending to be defeated, Gu Se-ryeong snapped off the wooden chopsticks and handed them to me.

“Is this a good restaurant? It’s my brother’s favorite place. Actually, I like it better.”

Taeju also sat down and picked up a pair of chopsticks.

I think even chaebols are similar when it comes to eating.

Unless you carry around gold chopsticks in your pocket, using wooden chopsticks is the same.

“I will eat it because I think of the sincerity you put into buying it.”

As I said that, I took a piece of sushi to my mouth… … .

“Oh. You went to Switzerland this time?”

He stopped moving at the Savior’s continued words.

“… …Switzerland?”

“Yeah. There’s the Alps, where Heidi runs around.”

“… … .”

“Your fans are starting to get on planes to see you? There’s a lot of talk about whether you’re Vocal A or not. I also heard that some reporters got on planes. I took a lot of pictures in advance, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

under.

This means I have to stay locked in this practice room longer.

My appetite has completely disappeared.

As I put down my chopsticks, the old man laughed teasingly.

“Why? Is there a problem?”

No problem.

There is clearly no problem itself, but it is frustrating.

Because reality is so frustrating, whether it’s composing or writing lyrics, in the current situation, only depressing things come out and there’s nothing to write about.

So, the grumbling just came out of my mouth.

“Wow. I’ve never been on a plane before. From Kota Kinabalu to Switzerland. Seriously.”

moment.

The old man takes out a sushi lunch box in front of him and freezes.

“You. You’ve never been on an airplane before?”