Damn Idol, Episode 88
* * *
The performance held at a place called Brown Basic in Hapjeong went better than expected.
I’m used to this kind of performance.
Especially in the early days when I was active with GOTM, I had always drifted from one underground club to another for about a year or two.
It’s not that I lacked the ability to skip the underground.
If I used the future information I possessed, vast amounts of money, and original songs guaranteed to be hits, I could make a hotshot debut even while skipping the underground.
But there are also steps that must not be skipped at times.
I’m a person of color, and a vocalist in the exact kind of position that band culture fans love to look at through tinted glasses.
So I needed to form a cultural sense of kinship with them.
I needed a story about drifting through the underground with friends while facing racial discrimination at LA’s underground clubs.
That’s why, at first, I deliberately performed just okay songs.
Because sentences like, “At the very first stage I performed on, I received the audience’s jeers, but the time needed to captivate them was one year,” had to be printed with credibility in Rolling Stone magazine.
Besides, band culture has its own sacred bones and true bones.
The sacred bones are those who broke through underground clubs with pure skill.
The true bones are idol bands planned from the ground up by management power.
Korea isn’t the only one with an idol system.
America has one too.
In fact, the originator of the planning & hard training system of Korean entertainment companies is Motown Records as well.
The legendary label that created a genre called Motown.
I digressed a bit, but what I’m saying is that I have a lot of experience drifting through underground clubs to be recognized as a sacred bone in the band culture scene.
In contrast, the Sedalbaekil members were experiencing this for the first time.
They had been panicking ever since we said we were going to our first performance, and I ended up having to sing the remake version of “Under the Streetlamp” alone, which I had planned to sing with Gu Taehwan.
They had begged me to please just do the opening.
Still, maybe because I successfully opened the show, they managed to display their own skills decently after that.
There were plenty of regrettable parts, but you can’t get full from the first spoonful.
When the performance ended, the audience swarmed us asking for photos and autographs.
“Wow….”
There were quite a lot of people admiring Yi Ion seeing him in person too.
“Can we post this on the internet?”
“Of course. Feel free to post as much as you’d like.”
“How did you end up performing here today?”
“The guests originally scheduled had circumstances come up and couldn’t attend, and CEO Hyeonseok said it would be good for us to experience the indie scene.”
“Wow, so Sedalbaekil wasn’t originally the special guest?”
“Yes. It was decided suddenly today. So we didn’t even have a set list. It was a bit sloppy, right?”
“No! Nonono! Nononono!”
They could’ve just said it once.
Only half of what I just said was true.
Not long ago, I had asked CEO Hyeonseok to book as many indie performances suitable for us to guest at as possible.
In exchange for not taking pay, I had asked that they not use Sedalbaekil’s name on posters or for promotion.
So just the performances I had booked for this month already numbered thirteen.
I’d book more if I could.
However, the performance we just finished was really booked suddenly.
A certain band had to cancel today’s stage due to scheduling, and Hyeonseok caught wind of it and snagged it for us.
He had asked how about doing our first stage at a smaller venue.
Saying it happened to be not far from the scheduled venue.
It was excellent help.
The next stage would have an audience in the two-hundreds, and the Sedalbaekil members might mess it up.
Because the feeling a singer must radiate is completely different in large performances versus small ones.
“We’re sorry, but we have our next schedule! Thank you all!”
“Thank you!”
As we were leaving the venue like that, Evening Promise, who had performed before us, brought their instruments later and requested autographs.
They said they were late because they went to buy Magic.
They said they had uploaded a cover of our song and that they were huge fans.
If they asked for autographs on their instruments, they must be real fans.
It’s kind of fascinating.
I didn’t know there were fans to this extent in the indie scene.
“I hope we meet again next time.”
After saying that, I left the venue and got into the car parked in the alley.
“Haaah.”
“Wow….”
“Ugh….”
The members let out sighs the moment they got in the car.
It seemed their tension had finally released.
“Everyone had fun, right?”
“It was fun, but…. how did we do?”
“I think I danced when we performed Seoul Town Punk.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll monitor everything anyway.”
“Huh? You recorded it?”
“Yes.”
Because among the audience, there were two part-timers I had hired.
“We’ll write down impressions and feedback in the wrong-answer notebook when we get back, so rest for now.”
“Then that real combat you talked about….”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Why didn’t you tell us beforehand?”
“I told you in the afternoon.”
“Couldn’t you have told us a few days before?”
I shrugged my shoulders at Onsaemiro’s question.
Of course, that wouldn’t have been difficult.
If I had told them three days ago that we would be starting performances, we could have planned the set list more densely.
But what I want isn’t for them to display their skills only on stages where they’re fully prepared.
“I don’t know when or where we’ll have to display our skills in the future either.”
Opportunities will definitely come.
Because I’m capable enough to create those kinds of opportunities.
But in a situation where M-Show and Lion have their eyes wide open, an announced opportunity won’t come.
It will definitely come suddenly, and we’ll have to face it urgently.
Seizing that opportunity isn’t something I can do alone; it’s something we can do.
“In that sense, until now, we’ve only stood on overly planned stages.”
Coming Up Next had provided a minimum of five days to a maximum of two weeks to prepare a single stage, excluding trivial missions.
The members themselves don’t seem to know, but because of that, there are bad habits.
They try to practice like it’s the real thing, but the difference in attitude between practice and the real thing is quite large.
The Beatles performed twelve hours a day when they toured Hamburg during their unknown days.
They say the members swallowed beer and stimulants like water and side dishes just to endure the murderous schedule.
Even after gaining popularity and returning to Liverpool, they performed at least from 7 PM to 2 AM.
At the Cavern Club, famous as a sacred site of the Beatles.
So this kind of process is absolutely necessary.
Because the GOTM members used to say things like this too once they wrapped up their hellish club life.
“Oh my god! They say we only have to perform three hours a day!”
“That’s insane! We barely worked that much and they pay us this much!”
I think Sedalbaekil needs underground life just as much.
Because we won’t be able to stand on planned stages backed by massive capital and attached staff for quite a long time.
“It’s about honing the fundamentals, right?”
I thought I had finished a fairly meaningful speech, but Choe Jaeseong summed it up in one sentence.
“Sion hyung suddenly turned into an old fogey.”
“….”
This is why kids these days are the problem.
Back in my day.
I’ve been hit by a banana thrown by an audience member while performing in an underground club.
I ate it and improvised a rearrangement of a Harry Belafonte song on the spot, so the guy who threw the banana came to apologize.
I’d tried to accept the apology, but someone threw a punch at that bastard’s face.
Who was it again.
Was it Andrew Gunn, or Dave Logan.
“….”
My mood suddenly sinks.
The episodes with GOTM are vivid in my memory, but no one in this world remembers them.
In time, it will probably be the same with Sedalbaekil too.
“Our next performance is at Rochi in Hongdae. I heard there are about 300 audience members there, so let’s do better.”
I said that and started the car.
Since I’m the only one with a driver’s license, it seems I’ll have to be the sole road manager for the Sedalbaekil crew for the time being.
* * *
Sedalbaekil began digesting performances in the indie scene.
The first day’s schedule was one that went back and forth between heaven and hell.
The performance at Brown Basic in Hapjeong was good, but the next one at Rochi was the worst.
The Rochi performance was being a guest at a solo concert by a band called Eoljuga, but the fans didn’t welcome Sedalbaekil very much.
There was a fairly valid reason for this.
The leader and guitarist of Eoljuga was someone who had debuted as an idol at age eighteen and wasted seven years due to a slave contract.
In the first place, he had signed with the company because they said they’d let him be in a band, but he ended up debuting as an idol.
Because of this situation, Eoljuga’s fans didn’t welcome Sedalbaekil, currently a hot idol group, very pleasantly.
And Han Sion had known this fact from hearing it from Hyeonseok.
Hyeonseok had said it might be better not to go to Eoljuga’s concert, but Han Sion pushed ahead.
Because the experience of singing before cold gazes was necessary too.
As a result, the members sang while breaking out in cold sweat and couldn’t display even half their usual skill.
However, there was someone who showed an unexpected side.
It was Onsaemiro.
Onsaemiro had often shown himself shrinking at others’ criticism, but this time was a bit different.
He sang confidently and displayed the skills he possessed.
Han Sion need not even be mentioned.
As Han Sion and Onsaemiro displayed such outstanding skills, even Eoljuga’s fans showed somewhat favorable reactions later on.
The next performance was an 11 PM show, so Choe Jaeseong couldn’t join, and they produced a passably decent result.
There was a performance the next day too, and the day after that as well.
Because it was a weekend spanning Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Sedalbaekil’s outings into the indie scene seemed to create quite a big topic on social media.
Because cast members of a popular program boasting over 10% viewership had appeared out of nowhere.
But the topic didn’t spread.
It became a topic in band communities and forums, but it didn’t reach the general public.
You couldn’t see even one line of the common internet news, and YouTube videos were sometimes deactivated due to mass-reporting attacks by unknown parties.
Of course, the deactivation was soon lifted, but a fire called an issue has to spread explosively when it ignites.
Since someone kept pouring water on it, there was no way it could spread properly.
Nevertheless, the Sedalbaekil crew didn’t care.
They knew what would happen from what Han Sion had told them, and that wasn’t what was urgently needed right now.
“Hey! Choe Jaeseong!”
“What, what is it.”
“This is you.”
“It’s not.”
“It’s your handwriting, isn’t it?”
“It’s really not. No, and so what if it is! That’s what the wrong-answer notebook is for!”
“….”
“Sion hyung! Saemiro hyung is censoring the wrong-answer notebook!”
Han Sion looked at Onsaemiro’s wrong-answer notebook and smacked Choe Jaeseong on the back.
—Swollen because I ate ramyeon and slept last night.
It was content unrelated to singing.
But unexpectedly, Choe Jaeseong was serious.
It wasn’t that there was no intention of a joke at all, but it wasn’t 100% a joke.
“We need to manage our diet. It’s fine for now, but I can see us letting our guard down more and more. We’re a crew, but we’re still idols, right? Fans will be disappointed.”
At the youngest’s shout, the members nodded.
This part of what Choe Jaeseong said was correct.
It was true that they had gradually lost control over their diet since they began digesting the performance schedule.
Yesterday, they had even eaten samgyeopsal and drunk soju.
“Alright. Then let’s sign up at a gym.”
“A PT?”
“No, a gym.”
“Who’s going to teach us exercise?”
“Me.”
It was Han Sion, who had had to bulk up for a long time.
Hadn’t he received training from Hollywood’s top trainers to get as far away as possible from the typical type of slender, introverted East Asian?
Thus, he was quite accomplished in exercise.
Besides, he had made a promise during the “Mukbaet” of Hell.
He had vowed that when he debuted later, he would establish a team concept with an appropriate amount of muscle.
Because even if not bulking up, increasing muscle mass allows you to enjoy a decent meal to a certain extent.
“Uh, Sion?”
“Yes.”
“Your gaze is kind of scary….”
“Ion hyung. Your face alone would work in America right now. Without fail.”
“Huh?”
“But your body won’t work. I’ll make it work.”
“….
Yeah.”
Yi Ion seemed resigned.
Because Han Sion with that kind of look in his eyes couldn’t be stopped.