Suddenly Became a Monster Singer-Songwriter - Episode 6
(Guts)
The vocal instructor seated Jeong Udam, who was coming out of the recording booth, beside her.
“How was it, singing in the recording studio?”
“Through the headphones, my own voice sounded small, so I couldn’t tell if I did well or not.”
“If you raise the volume, the mic picks it up, so normally we keep it lowered like this. If you’re asking whether you did well or not, you did well. You really haven’t taken lessons before?”
“No.”
It was the truth. Even though he had been in a band seven years ago, it hadn’t been anything he’d actually learned. Honestly, aside from Seo Ji-an, the other members had been so unskilled that it would have been embarrassing to say they had been in a band anywhere.
“I see. This time, let’s do a scale test. I just heard your high notes, so let’s go down. Please hold the note for three seconds.”
For a detailed level assessment, the instructor tapped the keyboard.
Doon.
“Ah—.”
His ear was quite good, and he could express it.
Just because one can find the exact note does not mean one can produce the same sound, but Udam did it.
‘Perfect pitch?’
Wanting to test him, she descended by half steps from F1. After going down for a while.
“This is my limit.”
He stopped at F. It was not that the start was immediately the end. He had gone down one octave. F2, where one would usually produce a cave ghost-like sound.
In other words, F0—the domain of low voice singers. While there are singers who go lower, there are not many pop songs that go that far down.
‘···His range is much wider than expected.’
Since his high notes had reached A#2.
That meant he understood pressure.
This kind of person was in a hobby class?
“Udam, your um···.”
“My um? My pitch?”
It was the part Jeong Udam had been concerned about. His pitch that wavered slightly.
“No. I was organizing my thoughts before speaking. Since you know your own pitch is unstable, you either unconsciously hold yourself back or rush your breathing, but I can fix that within two months.”
At the instructor’s confident words, he thought that coming to the academy had indeed been the right choice.
‘In just two months?’
The curriculum proceeded either once or twice a week. Even at twice a week, two months meant sixteen sessions. Being told he could be fixed within that, how could he not be pleased?
But her following words surprised him even more.
“Wouldn’t an audition class be better than a hobby class? You really have talent.”
“Isn’t the audition class for students preparing to become idols?”
“If it were only for idols, we wouldn’t be affiliated with over a hundred agencies.”
He had thought it was an inflated round-up for advertising effect, but it seemed it was actually that many.
But why suddenly an audition class?
To Udam, whose head was spinning like clock hands.
“Udam, your range is rich, but your tone is unique without being off-putting. It could even become a weapon.”
Moreover.
“They say looks shouldn’t matter for singing, but while some people’s faces scrunch up when they sing, Udam, you look··· happy, I suppose.”
Only then did he realize.
‘I suppose the audition class must be more expensive.’
Otherwise, it was difficult to understand this cringeworthy praise. Though he had raised his range tree by two grades as if using a cheat, he knew well that his skills were not yet at a level to impress anyone, so Jeong Udam took it as something of a sales pitch.
“The hobby class is enough.”
At those words, the instructor thought:
‘Missed the sale.’
An audition class did not mean one could immediately take auditions.
If that were the case, this academy would be nothing more than an audition agency. Instead, they built up your basics and techniques, then taught you agency-specific strategies. In that process, increased costs were inevitable.
But she had not praised him merely to make him pay more.
‘If he is not aiming for an agency that everyone knows, finding a company within one or two years would not be difficult for this person.’
She did not mean just any agency either. There were decent places even among small and mid-sized ones.
Of course, assuming he followed along well. If it were a mediocre talent that would hit a wall after not much time.
But as long as he did not give up, he seemed fine. Though it might appear she was being too generous, arts and physical education were like that. It was a field where you had to start as a child to see results. At Jeong Udam’s age, his potential was already being more than estimated.
But the reason she thought he could make it was, after all, his range and outstanding hearing. It meant he had solid hardware.
‘Still, since the person himself says the hobby class is enough.’
It was funny to try to persuade someone who was not her prized pupil, and even if she found him an agency, the probability of debuting and surpassing the break-even point was lower than winning the lottery jackpot. She had to respect the person’s judgment.
“Then is there anything you particularly wish to learn?”
“For guitar, technique, and for vocals, pitch and technique, and head voice if possible.”
“At A#2, you can sing most male songs—do you need head voice?”
“If I get proficient, I’m planning to do cover YouTube.”
“Cover YouTubers cannot earn money unless copyright negotiations and revenue sharing with the original agency are settled. Though you might be able to receive sponsorships.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m doing it as a hobby.”
Is the goal to be a hobby millionaire?
Having seen many students try to monetize once they reached a level where pride could grow, she was someone for whom Jeong Udam felt only peculiar.
After that, they finished the consultation to take vocals and instruments twice a week starting tomorrow, and he paid for three months at once. He had planned to do it by the month, but because the discount rate was twenty percent, he chose three months.
Now Udam had to go spend money again. For even a discount of one hundred thousand won would let him raise his stats from D rank to C rank.
‘I should attend diligently even if just because the money is precious.’
Leaving the academy like that, this time he moved to Jongno 3-ga. To buy a guitar.
But instead of Nakwon Arcade, he turned into the alley beside it.
‘Wasn’t it cheaper here?’
There was an instrument store in the alley that overcharged less. It was a store he had visited once in high school when spending his allowance, and he had worried that it might have closed, but fortunately it had kept its place.
“Anyone here?”
“Welcome.”
Relieved, Jeong Udam asked for a recommendation.
“I’m looking to buy an acoustic guitar with a budget of three hundred thousand won.”
“Looking for a model with a pickup?”
“I won’t be using an amplifier right away, but would it be better to have one for later?”
“Then buy one without a pickup for now, and purchase a detachable pickup later. You can transfer it without drilling holes.”
“Yes. Then which models sell well?”
“To fit the budget, domestic brands or Yamaha.”
After considering various things, he paid for a domestic brand guitar. He received a textbook, hard case, and several picks as service.
And as he was about to leave the store, Udam turned on his heel.
“Do you happen to sell recorders as well?”
*
Despite having busily run around today, he returned home before eight.
“I’m back.”
“You bought a guitar?”
“Yeah. To play with on my days off.”
“What about food?”
“I ate.”
“But son, do you have a girlfriend?”
He had been misunderstood because of the perm. It was a telling point of how little he had groomed himself until now.
Though he could not give the answer she was hoping for, she was simply delighted that her son’s face had gained some vitality.
“Oh, I left a delivery in your room.”
Had she gone into his room?
Udam answered that he understood and went inside. He closed the door as usual, without anything suspicious. But after closing the door, he was restless.
Afraid she might have seen the wooden bag pushed under the bed.
Fortunately.
“Whew, she didn’t touch anything.”
Jeong Udam quietly locked the door and pulled out the bag from under the bed.
“Your hyung’s here.”
At the same time, he was surprised.
Because the trees had increased to six. When exactly? Before going out, when he hadn’t looked and just closed the bag?
“Number 3! You did it?!”
But.
—Supply nutrients to the Backbone (C) tree?
—1,000,000 won / C→B
That Gangdan? The one that brings to mind “guts” and “spunk” more than standard vocabulary?
He had assumed there would only be seeds related to singers and actors because the recommended job was entertainer, but Number 3 had picked up yet another strange thing.
‘More than anything, it’s a shock that my Backbone is only C.’
He was resolved to start music again and was displaying tremendous execution power, but—
However, Jeong Udam did not know, but it was precisely because of that he had been assessed as C. If it had been before he had decided to change, it would have been no more than D.
Without knowing that, his worries only deepened.
‘The instructor earlier said my pitch was unstable because I hesitate—would raising Backbone help?’
She had also suggested it might be his breathing.
Udam likewise considered breathing a problem, but if the cause was something complex—
“To find out, I have to spend another 1,000,000 won?”
The expenses were growing larger and larger. A burdensome amount if he were merely doing music as a hobby.
‘I don’t know how many more trees I’ll plant.’
The money spent by today exceeded five million won. Stats, academy registration, guitar, perm, and the composition program USB and serial key that his mother had moved there saying a delivery had arrived.
When he started YouTube, he would need to buy a camera and editing program too, so he felt dazed by the sudden reality check.
“Whatever, let’s install the sequencer first.”
He would worry about it while doing what was planned. While turning on his PC to install the sequencer.
He opened the textbook he had received with the guitar. Though he had played electric guitar during his band days, it was so long ago that everything was hazy.
At first, he had clearly intended only to skim through it.
But.
“What? I already finished reading it?”
In an instant: how to read sheet music, melody structure, chord progression, modulation, etc. He had read every chapter in the table of contents.
Which tree had influenced him to read a book faster? He took out a self-help book that he had bought and not read. Before even ten pages, his focus broke.
‘Or maybe.’
Because of Composition (B)? Since theory was related to composition?
But when he belatedly looked at the clock, he realized it was not that he had read the book quickly, but an unbelievable immersion. Because over two hours had passed. The sequencer had finished installing long ago as well.
Even so, Jeong Udam was certain it was due to his Composition stat. Not only had he read through it once, but the book’s contents were clearly imprinted in his head.
Even though the book was written in a difficult manner, he felt he could easily explain it in simple terms.
Not only that, he watched several online MIDI classes at double speed and tried tracking by ear on a sound sample site.
‘Perfect reproduction···.’
It was not the level of finding guitar chords on a composition app like a few days ago. Adjusting the modulation, he had extracted the source exactly the same.
‘So this is what just a B grade can do?’
His vocal range was the same. The instructor had told Jeong Udam that he could sing most songs without using head voice.
Thanks to that.
“Ugh.”
He checked the money left in his wallet. It was a little short, so he ran to the convenience store ATM and back.
Before he knew it, it was late at night when his parents would be asleep.
—Hire an additional tree keeper?
“Yeah. And upgrade Backbone to B too.”
He shook out twenty-two fifty-thousand won bills and stuffed them in.
—Backbone (B) tree has grown.
—Supply nutrients to the Backbone (B) tree?
—10,000,000 won / B→A
Then the scenery of the room looked different. His perspective on the world had changed. It had suddenly become clear. Jeong Udam neatly arranged the objects placed haphazardly and organized his thoughts.
‘It’s not a money-eating bag.’
It is a bag that will help me earn money.
He immediately opened a blog and a messenger open chat room.
[Finish Guitar Theory in One Intensive Session]
[100% Mastered MIDI Lesson!]
[Beginner-Welcome Vocal Lessons]
He had grasped market principles: teach others what you learn at the academy and in online classes.
Then he looked into officetels. Places that could double as a residence and studio.
Backbone (B) gave Jeong Udam boundless confidence and drive.
Was this the end? No way.
To give lessons, he needed a background to showcase.
Therefore, he also looked into publishers and agencies that were accepting song submissions.
‘I should stop by the bank first thing tomorrow morning.’
To withdraw ten million won.