I Suddenly Became a Monster Singer-Songwriter - Episode 5
(Skill Test)
Jeong Udam observed Teddy Bear No. 3.
To his eyes, a small world of 60×40cm.
Inside were a hut the size of a tennis ball and an altar, and along the edges—except for the handle side—fences were packed densely. The handle side was the entrance through which the teddy bears came and went to their exclusive outer territory. No. 1 sometimes went out in shifts too, but returned quickly, as if uninterested. Glutton No. 2 had no intention of going out at all.
‘But why does only No. 3 find exploring so fun?’
He was curious, but since Jeong Udam couldn’t enter the bag world, he just had to find amusement in his own world.
These days, life had become much more enjoyable.
"Shall we get going?"
Click, click.
Carefully closing the wooden bag, Jeong Udam fastened the buckle, placed it in his carrier, and locked that too.
A daily routine revolving in a cycle of two day shifts, two days off, two night shifts, two days off.
The day after finishing two night shifts was practically no different from a day off. Today, having gotten off work at 7 a.m., counted as a day off.
Normally he would have stayed at the dormitory rather than going to Seoul, but Udam had been waiting only for his days off.
Thanks to that, upon arriving in Seoul, he stopped by the bank first, then put on his glasses and came to his parents' home.
Since it was a weekday, his father was at the company, and his mother had prepared a meal for his arrival.
"A feast?"
"Aren't we going out for dinner? You should eat heartily since it's a meal."
"Aren't you going anywhere, Mom?"
"I'm meeting the ladies at the sauna."
Saying he'd handle the dishes, he helped his mother prepare so she could go out quickly.
Now he was alone at home.
He could let the teddy bears see light comfortably. Locking the bag seemed to bring night to that world.
He'd never seen the closed interior. Couldn't see it either. He just thought so because they came out of the hut as if greeting the day whenever he opened the bag.
"Was it stuffy?"
After the bears' customary salute to the sky, they moved.
And Jeong Udam endured, knowing it wasn't time to sleep, and checked his stats.
-Visual (B)
-Vocal Range (C)
-Composition (D)
-Recorder (D)
-Acting (F)
He'd raised the Recorder to D, but Acting was still F.
Well, that was because he'd raised the Recorder tree to save No. 3's ki.
‘I don't see any use for acting yet.’
He didn't know about later, but for now, that was the case.
Instead, Jeong Udam focused on two trees.
-Supply nutrients to the Vocal Range (C) tree?
-Supply nutrients to the Composition (D) tree?
"Yes."
That was why he'd stopped by the bank before coming home.
Input: 22 bills of 50,000 won.
It didn't end there.
-Vocal Range has grown into a (B) tree.
-Composition has grown into a (C) tree.
-Supply nutrients to the Composition (C) tree?
-1,000,000 won / C→B
"Yeah."
He spent another 1 million won.
-Composition has grown into a (B) tree.
Stop now.
Because from A-rank, 10 million won was needed.
Anyway, he'd matched Visual, Vocal Range, and Composition to B. These three were his current main stats, but his entire fortune was a little over 20 million won.
He had to spend the remaining money strategically.
Moreover, Jeong Udam was thinking of conducting an experiment.
An experiment on whether real-world development would have an effect. On whether his stats would rise if he improved his skills himself.
Since the trees had different grades from the start, it was a reasonable inference.
He'd deliberately raised them to B for this purpose. Acquisition was faster when comprehension was high.
In other words, the real game began, skipping the tutorial.
He had to check what had changed first. Udam threw on a jumper and headed to the neighborhood park in front of his house. It was quiet on a weekday afternoon.
He could check Composition later after going out. He planned to learn vocals and guitar at an academy, but composition through YouTube and online classes. Because for the price of two months' academy fees, he could access all lectures on the site for a year.
So Udam ran a vocal tuner app and took a breath. He could feel his diaphragm dropping firmly.
"Aah—!"
It wasn't a short shout like a scream; he sustained it for five seconds so he could use it when singing.
"Ack! You startled me!"
He'd thought no one was there, but an elderly person walking snapped at him. He apologized and quickly ran away while checking the app.
As before, based on semitones, his low register had gone up by 2 keys, his high register by 4 keys.
A question arose simultaneously.
‘If I learn register transition, will it change again?’
Jeong Udam confirmed that even falsetto, which he wasn't familiar with since he didn't use it often, had increased in range. It was higher than his chest voice. But if he learned to use head voice, what would happen?
And one more thing.
"As expected, it wavers a bit."
The pitch was still unstable in high notes.
It wasn't overdoing it. Lately, since deciding to do music again, he'd been practicing breathing techniques. Even so, his pitch had stabilized slightly.
Of course, it was a tremor only someone with sensitive ears could catch.
Perhaps because it was a free app, it showed pitch deviation only once, but since his ears had improved from raising Composition, he judged there had been three.
Thus, stats were interconnected. They created synergy. So the teddy bears had to find various seeds.
"I have to work harder too."
Since it was decided.
‘Let's sleep for just an hour.’
His eyes trembled—it was his limit.
However, returning home, he barely opened his eyes when the alarm he'd set at 10-minute intervals rang for the third time.
"Damn!"
Jeong Udam gargled roughly only, closed the wooden bag, and pushed it deep under the bed.
"Hyung is going out!"
Because he was in such a hurry, he didn't notice that another tree had grown.
-A Fortitude (C) tree has grown.
*
Jeong Udam barely arrived at the hair salon on time. He'd made a reservation online because there was a discount.
Having only ever used neighborhood salons, it was a sophisticated place that seemed like somewhere the trendy crowd would go.
"Please sit here."
Having decided to get a perm with a side part, he collapsed into the chair immediately.
Even during shampooing, he followed the staff in a half-asleep daze.
It was only when he came outside and felt the cold wind that he seemed to wake up. Looking in the subway station bathroom mirror, his permed appearance was unfamiliar but looked pretty decent. Still, he put on his glasses.
‘Let's keep contacts sealed until I raise it to A-rank.’
So it would look like a gradual image change. That way people around him would be less confused.
The next place he headed was an academy that used up an entire building, looking just like a specialized school. Output banners and pavement signs were flashy.
[Ace Academy]
-Affiliated with over 100 agencies
-### Debut
-### Admission to ○○ University Applied Music Department
And so on.
It was by no means a cheap place.
However, while the entrance exam and audition classes were expensive, the working adult class wasn't much different from other places, so he'd decided to learn in the deep end.
He became intimidated right away, though.
‘...Compared to here, the hair salon was a beginner village hunting ground.’
This place was truly a gathering spot for insiders.
They were all young, handsome, pretty, or unique but stylish people. Still, he couldn't turn back. Like the salon, he'd made a reservation here. Because the test was free.
"Are you the one who applied for the hobby class free test?"
"Ah, ah, yes."
He stood there blankly until an instructor noticed him and approached. She was an instructor who knew that many people turned back before even reaching reception. She analyzed Jeong Udam.
‘He's handsome, but his fashion is so-so and the perm solution smell is strong.’
He looked like someone who'd only ever studied, got a job, and decided to dress up and pick up a hobby.
The type highly likely to register and then stop coming. That's why large practical music academies operated working adult classes. Because there was money in it.
More than half bought a one-month pass but attended only once or twice before ghosting. Even if they bought 3-month or 6-month passes because discounts made it cheaper, they'd only come three or four times. They were excellent customers who rarely asked for refunds because the process was bothersome.
Moreover, since she was also a working adult thoroughly fed up with society, she acted kindly because of the incentive she'd get just from having him register.
"The hobby classes include instruments, vocals, dance, and MIDI courses; which are you thinking of?"
"Vocals and guitar."
Thus, double the registration fee.
"I see? May I have your name and age?"
"Jeong Udam, 27."
"We're the same age."
"You're 27?"
The instructor maintained a kind smile toward him, who clearly had no social skills, and guided him to the test room.
"Have you sung separately before? Excluding karaoke outings."
He'd played second guitar and backup vocals in a band in high school, but it wasn't an experience worth mentioning, so Jeong Udam answered curtly.
"No."
However, the instructor vaguely sensed that Udam was hiding something. He looked like he'd started to say something and stopped.
‘He must be bad at lying.’
He was better than someone skilled at lying, and it didn't seem like important content, so she only noted it as a reference item in the file.
-Experience: None
Then she pushed him into the recording studio.
‘It's much better than the studios I went to when doing the band.’
Udam was surprised by the building's size and the facilities. It was a level where singers could come and record.
"Shall we try singing one song? If you tell me the song, I'll print out the lyrics."
"I'll go with this then."
Jeong Udam hadn't known the test would be this full-scale, but his song choice, despite being overwhelmingly burdensome, even looked radical to the instructor.
‘Nirvana?’
Even if one didn't know the American rock band Nirvana, it was that song where everyone went "Ah!" just from hearing the guitar riff.
Above all, he was the first person since she'd started working here to say he'd sing this for a test.
She knew many people considered it the song of their life, but most chose pop songs when it was for gauging skill.
‘Did his mind go blank because I brought him straight to the recording studio?’
Recording studios had that atmosphere for no reason. Still, fortunately, while even non-passive people got intimidated and spent ages just choosing what to sing.
Anyway, Jeong Udam chose quickly.
Meanwhile, Udam's reason for choosing this song was as follows.
‘It's embarrassing to sing in front of someone I'm seeing for the first time. I probably won't even be able to read the lyrics sheet.’
He'd covered it obsessively during his band days. He'd memorized it to the level of the national anthem, so even now he knew the lyrics more perfectly than other songs.
The instructor printed out the lyrics sheet and handed it over.
"I'll adjust the mic position. Put on the headphones and give me an okay sign when you're ready."
"Okay."
"Not now—wait until I leave."
Having come out to the monitoring room, the instructor sat before the console and ran the program to check the waveform.
To record the vocal range. Then she played the instrumental.
Backing track played softly to her. After the famous guitar riff, when the explosive drum sound burst and then settled, Udam found the intro and entered precisely.
-Load up on guns and
She'd wondered if he was from an international background and chose a foreign song, but his pronunciation didn't seem like it. It was a native pronunciation so strong one might think he'd rewritten the lyrics in Korean.
Still, the instructor tilted her head.
‘...Huh?’
It wasn't because Jeong Udam was hiding that he'd been in a high school band. Even if he'd said it'd been a while since he'd quit, nothing would have changed.
Simply, because being an instructor, she could gauge skill in just 10 seconds. No matter how low the range, a beginner absolutely couldn't sing it that cleanly. He sang so cleanly that it sounded like a completely different pop song, far from the original.
Going into the chorus, even more so.
‘A#4...?’
Second-octave A#, a high note identical to the original here. Being able to pass second-octave A in chest voice meant he was trained in vocalization. That much was certain.
His pitch was slightly unstable, but that was just nerves or a condition issue.
‘His range is quite wide; isn't he someone who's been singing?’
If not, it was a talent found at age 27.
She could only think of it that way.