Episode 21
"The Seun Arts High School concert begins!"
At the emcee's skilled prompting, the first team took the stage.
The ones to show the long-awaited opening stage were precisely that trio team from before.
'So they found their rightful place after all.'
I watched them on the waiting room monitor.
"Hmm, the music is good here too."
"Though not as good as ours."
The team members watching with me nodded their heads.
A sound more complete than during the mid-check.
As if the trio team knew it too, their expressions were bright.
'Well, for a Seun Arts High student, there's nothing more thrilling than standing on a concert stage.'
A good stage. And a good song presented there.
There must be a thrill so intense they probably won't want to come down.
"Next team, please stand by!"
"Yes!"
The concert flowed by quickly.
Following the atmosphere first created by the trio's refreshing music, instrumental pieces and pop songs alternated on stage.
'So this is why we had the mid-check.'
They had analyzed all the participants' songs and created a perfect setlist spanning about two hours.
I couldn't help but marvel anew at how outstanding the musical prowess of the Seun Arts High teachers was.
"Phew, do we have to wait a long time?"
"Right? I want to go up already."
Seong Yuri and Kim Drum said their hands were itching.
Unlike the trio, we were in charge of the closing stage that would decorate the end of this performance.
- 9 (Closing) - Steps.
I checked the paper with the order one more time.
'Normally they end with a chorus or group song; this is unusual.'
Well, I suppose the teachers thought our music fit the ending.
For reference, Steps was our new team name.
With a session member added, we had newly named it with the meaning of going up one step at a time.
"Oh…."
In the meantime, the heated cheers of Seun Hall burst forth like an explosion.
"Wow, listen to those cheers."
"Who was that just now? Park Yunseok?"
As expected, it was Park Yunseok's stage this time too.
If this had been a competition like last time, it was a reaction that would have been enough to crush one's spirit.
But this time, it wasn't even a competition, and furthermore…
"Seeing that makes me want to perform even more quickly. Don't you think so, An Jonghwan?"
"Can't you see my fingers walking in the air right now? I want to grab my bass already."
Rather, it only served to stimulate the team members more.
The conviction that we could put on an even better stage.
'Since we practiced so much.'
That could be seen on everyone's faces.
"Oh… it's almost our turn now."
The long wait was over, and our turn was gradually approaching.
"Let's do a cheer!"
"Oh, great!"
As Kim Drum set the mood, everyone excitedly gathered in the center.
"Our big bro… no, boss. Say a word."
"Alright. On the count of one, two, three, we'll say our team name, and Jahun will lead with a word."
"Then we all shout Fighting! together, right? Got it."
"Huh?"
Suddenly, all eyes turned to me.
…I'm really bad at this kind of thing.
Even before the regression, I had moved more as an individual than as part of a team, so there wasn't exactly a need for group cheers.
But regardless of my bewilderment, the guys shouted the team name with smiles.
"Team Steps!"
"Let's all do well on stage."
I managed to force it out somehow, but…
The atmosphere among the team members turned somewhat chilly.
"…Where did that volume go when you rap? Why are you so flat?"
"I don't do this often. Let's just move on."
I meant to just roughly cheer and get it over with, but Kim Drum followed my words and shouted with a laugh.
"Let's just move on!"
"Wooah! Fighting!"
Taking that as the lead, the guys shouted "Fighting!" at the top of their lungs.
…So this counts as a cheer too?
"Pfft, Park Jahun, that was really awkward just now."
"…Don't ask me to do this next time."
The guy teased me while wiping tears from laughing so hard afterward.
"Team Steps, please stand by!"
Just when my head was starting to hurt from wondering how much more I'd be teased, the teacher called us to the stage.
"Well then, shall we go?"
I slowly climbed the stairs to the stage with my team members.
Bright.
The first thing to enter my vision was the lighting illuminating the stage.
Then, the sparkling gazes of the audience poured down on me.
'…I couldn't stand on this stage in my previous life.'
It was quite a different feeling from the preliminary round.
It wasn't simply because the lighting and sound had changed.
It was the kind of stage I could only watch from afar before the regression.
Standing in that place made me feel a strange sensation anew.
Yet, I felt comfortable at the same time.
Truly, it finally felt like I was standing where I belonged.
-Creak.
I gripped the microphone.
"Let's begin."
I turned my head to look at my team members, and Seonji whispered softly with the shape of her mouth.
'Fighting.'
Her face was slightly flushed as always, but unlike before, it wasn't solely because of nervousness.
'Didn't she say she was nervous, but the excitement for the stage was greater?'
That appearance, contrasting with how Seonji looked when I first returned, somehow made me feel proud.
-Nod.
Beside me, the team members who had finished preparations sent signals while nodding their heads.
"The song we have prepared is an original piece."
Amidst that exchange of gazes brimming with confidence…
"Second Bound. We will begin."
Our team's stage began.
* * *
In the audience of Seun Hall.
"Is it a jazz song again this time?"
The audience who had heard Steps team's intro murmured.
From the chord progression to the unique sound of the hollow-body guitar.
It was because it felt unmistakably like a jazz instrumental piece.
But what broke through that prejudice and came through the microphone was…
-The dream I had borrowed, hocking my youth-.
Has come to me as a miserable reality, demanding double--.
It was Park Jahun's rap.
The rap, a restructured version of that Rebound used during the Open Stage, spread through Seun Hall.
Lil Jason, seated among the audience, nodded as he listened to Park Jahun's music.
'…So it's a jazz-sound beat.'
He thought they had crafted their strategy well.
A rap that forces its way through an intro that anyone would think is an instrumental piece.
It was still the early part, but he got the feeling that it was a good beat.
"So it was rap. It seems to be on a similar level to that student from earlier, doesn't it?"
"Indeed. He's quite good. The music is so good that the rap blends in seamlessly."
The audience members who had been asking if it was a jazz song earlier.
'Park Yunseok's team? Are they comparing them to that side?'
Lil Jason glanced at them.
Judging by their attire, they seemed to be music industry insiders, but they probably weren't hip-hop specialists.
The student named Park Yunseok had shown good rap as well, but…
'He wasn't that polished.'
Rap making that fit the beat perfectly reached Lil Jason's ears.
It was different from forcing a rap together just to show off one's weapon.
Without stopping at emphasizing the two and four timing of the drums, they added a layback to create a jazzy rhythm.
'It's not just that the beat is good; he's crafted the rap that suits the beat the most.'
The corners of his mouth rose without him realizing it.
This wasn't simply a matter of talent; it was something that required ample experience.
To think that young student was doing it—a feeling of wonder and pride rose simultaneously.
A better rap than this would be difficult to craft for this song.
Had he thought they had a good strategy, or that they were skilled?
It felt as if all the thoughts he had first had were losing their meaning.
This was simply….
'He's a genius.'
Music that even someone who had devoted themselves madly for years would find difficult to compose… a student was showing it off nonchalantly.
-Without flowing down, it blooms properly—the concentration of my paint-.
Now I draw so that even a single flower petal won't be swept away--.
The First Martini section that followed after going through that process from Rebound.
It was the moment the music that had passed Park Jahun by after the regression wove into one.
And so, the second verse where both the beat and the genre changed.
The dazed audience burst into applause belatedly.
"Wow…!"
But Lil Jason alone stared silently at the stage.
Everyone was showing a good performance, but one person stood out.
As if there was still something more astonishing left. Park Jahun, holding the mic with focus.
His voice filled Seun Hall, piercing through the gradually growing roar.
At the point where the climax had just ended.
"…The structure is intricate, but it's also good to listen to."
"To think this is an original song; what are students eating these days to grow up like this…? Impressive."
The conversation of two audience members listening quietly from the front could be heard, mixed with exclamations.
"If they were to properly release this as a track… wouldn't it be worth aiming for a chart entry?"
"Come on, CEO Hwang, has your sense all gone downhill with age?"
"Why, what's wrong with that? It looks like it has more than enough market value."
"No, at that level, it's worth aiming for the top 50. I guarantee it."
'Are they record distribution company CEOs?'
Expressions overly serious for watching a student's stage, and even the habit of calculating business scale.
It was easy to tell they hadn't come here simply to watch a performance.
"I see too many specialized techniques used for it to be commercially viable, don't you think?"
"Hah, tsk tsk. Didn't you already say it's good to listen to despite that? That already settles the matter."
Indeed, it was an insightful analysis.
Both of their opinions were relatable, but Lil Jason mentally sided with the person who spoke last.
'This is music worth aiming for the top ranks.'
Lil Jason, who had swept the music charts just last year.
He thought his judgment was not the least bit excessive.
Because the feeling he hadn't had when working on his hit song 'Bodys'… was being conveyed through this song.
'So it's him.'
At the point where Park Jahun's stage was wrapping up.
Lil Jason controlled his heightened emotions without realizing it and thought.
The boy Kim Jeongsik, who had invited him, had wanted to show him was surely…
that student.
'…First, I should contact Hyeongseok.'
Lee Hyeongseok, his partner who led the label with him.
He thought he should bring it up sometime later.
And for now, immediately…
'How did he write such a song? I want to talk with him, even just once.'
His pure musical curiosity kept growing.
"Hehe, I have a call to make, so I'll step away for a moment."
"Oh my, what a coincidence. Let me make a quick call too."
The audience members who had been conversing passionately until just now quietly stood up and took out their mobile phones.
Watching that, the corners of Lil Jason's mouth slowly dropped.
It was plainly visible that they were subtly checking each other.
'…Are they trying to scout him?'
Having told himself he wasn't interested in that yet, Lil Jason grew increasingly impatient.
He sprang up and began looking for the corridor that led to the waiting rooms.
"Huh, Mr. Jason? Where are you going in such a hurry?"
Just then, while he was wandering, unable to find the entrance to the corridor.
He turned around at the familiar voice, and there stood Yeon Jimin, tilting her head.
"Ah, I wanted to meet the student who performed just now."
"Student Park Jahun?"
"Was that student's name Park Jahun? The student who rapped just now."
Yeon Jimin smiled and nodded at Lil Jason's words.
"Then would you follow me? I was just on my way to see him."
* * *
"Waaah-!"
Along with enthusiastic applause, cheers were bursting forth.
I smirked and raised the microphone.
"Thank you."
The music we had prepared, and my last stage at Seun Arts High.
That curtain fell under fervent cheers.
"Keu, did you see how people held their breath during the beat change earlier?"
"I saw. And when the applause came after, it really became majestic."
The team members' steps as they entered the waiting room were light.
'Everyone did well.'
It wasn't music with low difficulty.
Because it was a song I had made with considerable ambition.
Yet, everyone had properly done their part in their own place.
I supposed I should properly tell them they had worked hard.
Of course, before that….
"Go ahead to the waiting room first, I'll drink some water and come."
First, I needed to wet my throat, parched from rapping all the while.
I hurried my steps and found the vending machine in the middle of the corridor.
A cool ion drink. The moment I took it out and was about to take an excited gulp.
-Pfft.
"Are you the student who performed on stage just now?"
I ended up spraying the drink in my mouth straight down.
Because an unexpected person was approaching and talking to me.
'Baek Cheolho…!?'
A man in a familiar black suit.
The guy continued speaking as he walked from the end of the corridor.
"I listened to your song well. It was excellent. To put it simply… you have talent, student. To the point that I feel like teaching you personally."
He already had a business card out in his hand.
"Let me be blunt. If you don't have an agency… come with us."
A business card so familiar from staring at it so much before the regression.
The moment Baek Cheolho tried to hand me what was nothing but a scrap of paper to me…
-Tap.
I deliberately reached out with mistimed timing.
Due to that, the business card that fell powerlessly dropped onto the floor where the drink had been sprayed.
"Uh…. I don't think I can use this anymore."
"It's fine. I can just give you another."
Even though it was an act with obvious intent, Baek Cheolho swallowed his pride.
'He must really want me.'
But the fact that this guy had no talent for cherishing things….
I knew that better than anyone.
"I don't think there's a need for that. I'm not looking for a company."
I continued speaking as I threw the damp business card into the trash can next to the vending machine.
"I happen to have a lot of bad memories regarding agencies."
"…I don't know who did that to you, but we'll be different. I'll raise you personally."
I suppressed the laughter that was about to burst out.
To think he said such flashy words without knowing he was the one responsible.
I was pondering whether to say something more.
"Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but we have a prior engagement, what shall we do?!"
Someone shouted urgently from afar.
'…Lil Jason?'
An existence like the icon symbolizing hip-hop at this time.
'But why is he coming with the writer…?'
He was approaching me together with Yeon Jimin.
The Regressor on the Beat