Damn Idol — Episode 62
* * *
At this point in time, NT had three plans.
One, a support video for Han Sion from Wave From Flower.
Two, releasing the song on music platforms.
Three, an interview with the arranger.
Of course, there were also plans to attempt recruiting Han Sion, or to negotiate appropriately with M-Show.
But those were plans for the future; the three urgent matters right now were those three.
As a result, NT was able to make only one of those three plans succeed.
Namely, the music release.
M-Show agreed without much hesitation. It just so happened to be a spot that had been itching for them too.
And they said something meaningful.
“You will soon realize that it was a good choice.”
Apparently, M-Show had already prepared for an interview with Chris Edward.
The support video for Han Sion was rejected by Wave From Flower.
“Do you know how fans feel right now when you say this? Chris Edward or whatever, we can’t do it.”
If Wave From Flower filmed a support video for Han Sion, the fans’ mood would hardly be good. It would be like sending the message, “You guys are angry, but actually we aren’t feeling bad?”
The leader strongly opposed it, and with only two years left on their contract renewal at this point, her words carried weight.
Finally, as for the arranger interview…
“BalanceQQ? This YouTuber is the arranger for Flower’s Bloom?”
“Yes. That’s how it is. Seems he changed his stage name midway.”
“Huh, well. We didn’t even need to conduct an interview ourselves? How many videos did he upload?”
“I think we can just leak through the press that this guy is the arranger.”
“Jackpot.”
There was no longer a need for an interview.
Thus, after the behind-the-scenes work was finished, the Han Sion version of Flower’s Bloom was released.
Originally, remakes should be marked with the original song title, but in this case, NT voluntarily yielded on that.
Since copyright fees come in regardless of the title, there was no need to deliberately poke at Wave From Flower’s sore spot.
As a result.
1. Nakhwa (Falling Flowers) (new)(hot)
Han Sion’s Nakhwa pulled off the incredible feat of ranking #1 on the 24-hour chart immediately after release.
For reference, Under the Streetlight was still holding its name at 4th place.
And finally, the truth was revealed.
The world was turned upside down.
* * *
-No way, Han Sion was right? There’s an original version of Flower’s Bloom? And Chris Edward composed it?
-It’s obviously a lie. You think this makes sense?
-Where exactly is the lie here?
-They recruited a famous composer for image-making, that’s all.
-Is Han Sion some presidential candidate? Making him recruit Chris Edward for image-making?
-Even a presidential candidate probably couldn’t do that lolololol
-(Info add) Chris Edward has three Billboard #1 songs and won a film music award as the music director for a ten-million-viewer movie.
-No, Han Sion is crazy awesome. I guess he really was a genius.
-(This comment has already peed their pants)
-Wow, Chris Edward didn’t even appear on broadcasts when his movie was a huge hit lol He must have been really surprised.
-They’ll explain in detail on Coming Up Next, right? So damn curious.
-The funniest thing is the clout-chasing YouTubers who cursed at Han Sion starting to take down their videos lololol
-Isn’t BalQ the biggest moron? I wondered why he was biting so hard, but it turns out that incompetent arranger was himself lololol
-Ha, so fucking pissed. That they stuck such an incompetent arranger on Wepple.
-Did the flower fans change their attack direction??
-None of that matters, I’m just so happy the song was released. I think I’ll really listen to it all year long.
-Me, who cursed at Han Sion. I repent.
-Repenting puts you in the top 1%. Everyone else is taking a mental victory by saying they were manipulated by tone-deaf YouTubers.
-Well, it wasn’t just BalQ, most people were dissing Han Sion.
-The few channels that defended Han Sion are blowing up right now lololol
-(Link) Guys, have you seen this? lololol It was on an internet broadcast yesterday lololol
-Who is this old man?
* * *
-*Munch.*
The middle-aged man on screen puts samgyeopsal in his mouth and neatly downs some soju.
He ate fairly deliciously, but he looked very lacking to be seen as a professional mukbang YouTuber.
Then the man brought up the main topic in a slightly tipsy voice.
-People cursed at me. Telling me to stop helping Han Sion with his genius cosplay. Telling me to quickly reveal that I arranged it all. But do you know what was really heartbreaking for me?
-Ah, I’m Lee Hyeonseok. You know. The composer rumored to be Han Sion’s backer. Toothbrush. I made Toothbrush.
-Where was I? Ah, the heartbreaking part.
The man downed soju again.
-I retired because I couldn’t do music like Sion either. I retired because I can’t keep up with music these days, and I live building a recording studio and helping indie kids.
-Honestly, I’ve been close with Jo Gi-jeong hyung-nim for 10 years? If I could have done it, I would have remixed Under the Streetlight ages ago. Why would I have waited 10 years?
-And Nakhwa? I cried listening to that. I really wanted to become Korea’s Oasis… That’s the sensibility. It’s crazy.
-Nephew, someone gave money? A dono? What’s a dono? Ah, a donation. Oh, thank you. So is this a paid question?
-How I met Han Sion? Kya, good question. High level. I wanted to talk about that too.
-When was it…? About three months ago? Someone rented the studio for 60 hours. At that time I…
Lee Hyeonseok, who had turned on an internet broadcast without much thought at his nephew’s suggestion, realized.
The world had really changed a lot.
He had just talked while eating samgyeopsal and drinking soju……
“What, what is this!”
He had earned a month’s income.
He didn’t know it, but to the fans who had fallen for Han Sion, Lee Hyeonseok was “Our Uncle,” the one who had guided Han Sion to the light.
But that uncle was telling stories related to Han Sion?
This was irresistible.
Receiving countless requests to turn on the broadcast again tomorrow—including donations—Lee Hyeonseok had nothing to fear.
He sent Han Sion a text saying this was money earned thanks to him so they should split it, but Han Sion was cool.
A reply flew in saying, “Senior-nim, you can take it all, so please tell lots of good stories and get lots of people to watch.”
Han Sion, who had seemed cold all this time.
He was actually a warm-hearted child.
-I got permission from Sion by text yesterday, and oh my, thank you for the 10,000 won donation. I’ll use it for good!
-There’s a video of him playing a guitar riff from the day I first saw Sion, you know?
-I’ll show you that. Sion said he doesn’t mind. It’s not a performance of a completed song, but his feel was insane. He’s a monster, a monster.
-Ah, after the video I’ll tell you some stories about BalanceQQ. That bastard is a moron. He freeloaded a lot of alcohol from me when he played drums, and got cut off by everyone around him. Oh my, a 10,000 won donation……? 100,000 won?!
* * *
When I newly regress, I’m always angry, but there is exactly one good thing.
Namely, returning to the vigorous body of a twenty-year-old.
I usually live until my late twenties or early thirties, but not always.
The age I lived the longest was probably 42.
In your thirties, as long as you take care of yourself, your physical condition isn’t that different, but your forties are really different.
No matter what you do, it’s different from your twenties.
Having such memories, when I return to being twenty, I can feel vitality overflowing in my body, but……
“Hey, hey!”
I’m really tired.
Because of Eddie.
“Why.”
“I saw that video. Lee
—Hyeon
—Seok? Is that how you pronounce it?”
Even though he hasn’t scheduled anything in Korea, he’s keeping up with Representative Lee Hyeonseok’s personal broadcast.
No, but how did he watch the broadcast when he can’t even speak Korean?
“I used an interpreter.”
“……
You asked a simultaneous interpreter to do that?”
“Yeah.”
I was at a loss for words.
Yeah, I lost.
“That guitar riff, it’s from the song you showed me before, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then did you make all those songs you showed me back then at once? In Lee
—Hyeon
—Seok’s studio?”
“I composed them beforehand. I just went there to record.”
“How about letting me arrange that song?”
The song Eddie was talking about was Scammers.
My regression habit.
The first self-composed song made while reminiscing about my past life.
If Eddie had asked for a different song, I would have shaken my head.
I had already entrusted Manager Seo Seung-hyeon with consignment sales.
But Scammers is an exception.
I hadn’t made any specific plans for what to do with that song, but I didn’t want to just scatter it into the K-pop industry as one of many common songs.
I’m a cold person, and to achieve my goals, I can push away even a friend.
Nevertheless, GOTM was a special team even in my long regressor life.
“You have to arrange my song because of the mission, right? I’ll arrange yours during that time. Fair?”
Fair my ass.
Still, it doesn’t seem like a bad idea.
Since Eddie’s skills are trustworthy.
After thinking briefly, I nodded.
“Fine. But there’s a condition.”
“What?”
“You can decide the vocals or lyrics however you want. Or leave it to HR.”
“Does that mean no session players? You must have specific musicians you want?”
“It’s not that, but there are people I want to name as first priority. If their skills are substandard, or if they refuse, do as you please.”
“Oh, nice. So it’s a song you made while thinking of someone. More interesting?”
Eddie seemed to want to uncover the truth about my talent, but well.
It’s an impossible story unless you know I’m a regressor.
And I’ve never once told anyone that I’m a regressor.
The only instance was leaving a cassette tape right before regressing in my previous life.
Well, that would probably be discovered after I disappeared too.
“I’ll send you what they’re doing and where they are now along with the song. They’re all amateur players.”
“Did you meet them on a trip to America or something?”
“If you ask more, I won’t let you arrange it.”
“Okay, okay. By the way, is the arrangement work going well?”
“It’s going well.”
This mission is a team battle to arrange “a masterpiece by Chris Edward.”
It was an unscheduled mission, but from Coming Up Next’s standpoint, it was definitely worth doing.
When a Billboard #1 composer readily grants permission to use his song and says he’ll appear on the broadcast, what reason is there to refuse?
And this is too easy for me.
Because I already did it when I lived with Eddie.
In the life where I learned composition from Eddie, Eddie always threw his own songs at me and told me to try arranging them.
Perhaps it’s a method Eddie uses when he wants to check someone’s talent.
“How strange.”
“What?”
“I’m not usually this kind of person, but I want to get close to you. Ah, I’m saying this in case you get the wrong idea—I’m not gay.”
“I figured.”
“Why?”
“Somehow I feel like you got dumped by your girlfriend of about six years for having no vision for the future, and you cried endlessly.”
“……
Does it show?”
“Don’t tell me it’s real?”
“…….”
Since I said it knowing everything, I wish he’d stop making that face and just leave.