Rockstar Again - Chapter 99



Only Noblemtl

Episode 99. Welcome to the Jungle (4)

Donggu… … No, let’s call it Donghae from now on.

If you’re so proud of your name, it’s only right to call it that.

That’s that, and a little laugh escaped me.

“I believe this… … .”

Of course, he choked me until I believed him, and kept asking me questions to drain my energy.

In the end, what matters is that you believed.

That a person had time slipped.

So, it’s someone you knew in the past who came to the future.

That person is this person.

Whatever it is, I hope you believe it… … .

Choi Dong-hae stood in front of the waiting room door and glared at me with his characteristically dark eyes.

It’s clear that he’s glaring, but that’s mostly because of the way his eyes have changed. He’s just looking at me, but because his eyes are so dark, it looks like he’s glaring.

“Why are you laughing?”

“I guess you were a crazy person after all.”

“?”

“Isn’t it hard to call someone younger than you ‘brother’?”

Choi Dong-hae also laughed at my words.

“I do that because it seems right. If it had been confirmed that it wasn’t, I would have beaten you up, but since you’re right, hyung.”

“That’s not the problem… … .”

Now that I think about it, I’m also strange.

When I revealed my identity to him, I didn’t worry too much about whether Donghae would believe me or not.

I decided to think about it roughly.

Even if I think about it deeply, it’s not like I can see into Choi Dong-hae’s mind.

“Then, didn’t you think that the moving person you knew was the moving person you knew?”

“The Dong-ha Lee that emerged through my vote is the Dong-ha hyung I knew?”

“Yeah. The faces are the same, right?”

“How can I think like that? I just thought it was a bit… … strange. Not only his appearance, but the way he sang and played the guitar. But people’s memories aren’t always the same, right? I guess I was just missing you so much that I got confused. I just let it go.”

“Right? That’s normal… … .”

Choi Dong-hae, who seemed to be pondering my words for a moment, opens his mouth.

“That’s because we didn’t take a single picture. Maybe it was because of the times. When I think back, there were so many times when it was funny. We were so close and even called each other my teacher. But when my brother died, I realized that we didn’t have a single picture of each other. Even if we didn’t take a picture together, there wasn’t even a picture that showed my brother’s face.”

“Because it was the Stone Age.”

I wanted to laugh it off.

Given the times, I agree with what Choi Dong-hae said.

Of course, it’s not like there weren’t cameras in that era. There were even camcorders. But it was just a matter of convenience, right?

Donghae, who was a middle school student, called me his teacher, but at the time, I was only a high school student.

How often do we have the opportunity to carry a camera in our daily lives? Cameras were only used for major life events, such as school trips or outings.

If you live like that without thinking, you might not be able to take even a single photo.

I can take a picture later, while thinking about it… … .

“Let’s take a lot of pictures. But it’s starting to get a little funny now.”

At my words, Choi Dong-hae walked over to me with brisk strides and hugged me.

“It’s not funny at all. Now, let’s watch it for a little longer.”

The little guy grew quite large.

Of course I’m taller, but I can feel my thicker torso all over my body.

“When you have time, let’s have a glass of soju. Okay?”

“I don’t really drink alcohol, do I?”

“I will teach you properly.”

I’d like to say that I’m being arrogant, but if you look at the length of his life, he’s older than me now.

“Okay, okay.”

“I’m really leaving. I’ve been gone too long.”

And then Choi Dong-hae left the waiting room.

* * *

Immediately after Choi Dong-hae left the waiting room.

Jang Pil-seong appeared in the hallway leading to his waiting room after walking about 10 meters.

“Brother? What is it? Did Dong-ha make a mistake?”

“Have you been waiting so far?”

“No… … Well. What I was waiting for… … I guess that’s right.”

A smile appeared on Choi Dong-hae’s lips at Jang Pil-seong’s embarrassed words.

As with other genres, if you walk the same path, you naturally become close friends.

Because musical standards, goals, and values ​​pursued are often similar.

Jang Pil-seong and Choi Dong-hae were like that.

Perhaps Jang Pil-seong also felt a sense of kinship with Lee Dong-ha.

Since Choi Dong-hae himself has such a strong image, he must have waited because he thought he might have scolded Lee Dong-ha too much.

“Were you worried?”

“A little?”

“… … .”

Jang Pil-seong, who had come into Choi Dong-hae’s waiting room, began to fiercely defend Lee Dong-ha, perhaps because he had interpreted Choi Dong-hae’s silence in a different way.

“Dong-ha, that kid, he may look a little bit mean, but he’s not like that inside. Those kids are really deep inside. You know that, hyung, right? Those guys are really deep inside, right? Look at me. I was like that before, right? Thinking I was the best, I tense up my neck? But look, I’m really kind. Don’t you agree with that?”

Listening to Jang Pil-seong’s words as background music, Choi Dong-hae opened the thermos and poured warm tea into a cup.

“I know. Better than anyone else.”

“Right? You know that too, hyung? So, Dong-ha, don’t scold him too much… … Since a flower like that has bloomed in rock, we will take the best care of him… … .”

“I know. You too… … that… … person too.”

“That guy?”

I can’t find a clear answer to Jang Pil-seong’s question.

Now that I know the truth, I have no intention of talking nonsense in front of people.

If he had wanted to do that, he wouldn’t have called Dong-ha Lee, who was twenty and still had the shell of a young bird, “hyung.”

“Drink.”

Choi Dong-hae offered Jang Pil-seong a car.

Although it is just a common cup of tea in a paper cup, depending on the situation, an ordinary cup of tea can melt the frost of the soul.

“Do you remember when I said that I had an older brother that I looked up to when I was little?”

“I know. Whenever my brother drinks, he talks about that person. He said that if he were alive, he would have rewritten the history of Korean rock.”

“I have to be precise. I said I would rewrite the history of world rock. I.”

Jang Pil-seong smiles and avoids answering Choi Dong-hae’s question, as if he cannot agree with it.

The gap between Korea and the world is huge.

No matter how far you fly in Korea, as a genre called rock on the world stage?

That’s ridiculous.

Jang Pil-seong thought that perhaps it was a memory from his childhood, so it was greatly modified.

“Well… … Time will tell. You’ll know when the time comes.”

“?”

“That older brother used to give me tea like this. He told me to take good care of my throat. If you have a firm idea that you will succeed in music, your body is your asset.”

“… … That’s true.”

“But you probably didn’t tell me why I started chasing that guy.”

Well, that’s true.

I didn’t say that.

Jang Pil-seong, who had been lost in thought for a moment, answered nonchalantly.

“You heard the rumor by chance. You saw a performance and fell in love with it. Isn’t that how it started?”

“I was bullied. By today’s standards.”

“Huh?”

Choi Dong-hae is known as a charismatic vocalist, not only in rock but also in the entire music scene. His shouting with his unique, raspy vocals is praised by fans as being like the roar of a tiger.

Not just his ability as a vocalist, but also his image as a person.

Since an image isn’t just formed by appearance, it was even more surprising because that’s what Choi Dong-hae has shown over the past 20 years.

“I was so tiny back then.”

“… … .”

“Even though I was a middle school student, I was smaller than the average elementary school student. So what do you think the kids did back then? It wasn’t like being bullied like today, but I got beaten up every day.”

Choi Dong-hae’s shocking coming out.

He is a person who has never brought up these kinds of stories even once.

Jang Pil-seong could do nothing but listen in silence.

Seeing Jang Pil-seong like that, Choi Dong-hae also calmly opened up about his story.

“I was being bullied outside of school like any other day, but my high school brother saved me. But do you know what he did after he saved me?”

“… … Comfort?”

“If that were the case, would I have changed?”

“……well…….”

It was a question without an answer.

In the first place, the only one who knows the answer is Choi Dong-hae.

“He scolded me mercilessly. He asked me why I was just sitting there. He said that they could hurt my body, but they couldn’t hurt my soul. Now, it’s not them, it’s me who’s hurting my soul.”

“… … I don’t agree with that. You were young… … and small, right? You could have just rebelled and gotten beaten up more. That seems a bit irresponsible.”

Choi Dong-hae smiled at Jang Pil-seong’s words.

“Right? That’s irresponsible, really. That’s why I was crying and yelling at him? Who wants to be weak? You can’t move against kids your own age and get beaten up, but you can stand up to your older brother. Actually… … You didn’t even stand up to him, right? I knew. That guy wasn’t a bad person who would hit me or anything. That’s why… … I was really weak back then… … .”

“… … .”

“But that guy just stared at me blankly and said, ‘Just try. You’re the one who should love and protect yourself the most.’”

“… … .”

“The next day, I stopped getting bullied on the street. That guy started walking the same road I did. I couldn’t help getting bullied at school, but I could walk home comfortably. That was so nice. At least when the school bell rings, this miserable time is over. The funny thing is, he doesn’t really act friendly or talk to me, but he just watches over me. He stays far away.”

“… … How romantic.”

“Yeah. Anyway, one day I followed him. When we got to my house, he saw me go in and went his own way. This time, I followed him instead.”

“So the place you arrived was a concert hall?”

“No, the practice room. After waiting in front of it for a while, the other hyungs came out. Then they got in a car and went somewhere. I missed them so much that I prepared a bike and chased after the car one day. I barely managed to catch up with the car while panting, and the place I arrived at was the Itaewon concert hall. I held back tears and a runny nose because I was young and couldn’t do it, and I barely managed to get into the concert hall. That hyung was the guitarist and vocalist.”

“……hmm…….”

“That’s why, to me, that hyung is rock. I started because I wanted to be like that hyung. I wanted to somehow be connected to that hyung, so from that day on, I kept talking about doing music.”

Jang Pil-seong nodded.

Listening to Choi Dong-hae’s story, I feel a sense of excitement. How many people in South Korea who do rock have Choi Dong-hae as their target?

Jang Pil-seong is also that kind of Choi Dong-hae kid.

It’s quite touching to hear the story inside such a person’s heart.

I also know how much my brother means to Choi Dong-hae.

But I don’t know why I’m bringing it up now.

Choi Dong-hae continued speaking, perhaps after reading Jang Pil-seong’s question.

“So I know very well. There’s no need for me to scold him or anything.”

“Is that person a friend?”

“That’s what it is.”

Obviously.

It seems like a story that was brought up to resolve Jang Pil-seong’s doubts… … but I don’t know any more.

Even more so, why do they call Dong-ha that person?