Raising a Neglected Singer-Songwriter - Chapter 127



Only Krnovel

Raising a Neglected Singer-Songwriter Episode 127

127. Half Million Seller

『Sungjun returns with his 2nd album ‘Music Everywhere’! Re-enacts his 3 music show wins on his comeback stage!』

The headline of the article that made the main page of today’s entertainment news was this.

Following their debut, they swept the top spot on all three music shows except MBS.

This time again, it was Sungjun who swept all three trophies of the week.

– I got the triple crown after only being active for a week! Wow, that’s awesome!

n Multiple identical trophies are just a burden. You only collect one trophy from each of the three broadcasting companies for each album. Isn’t that the feeling?

N Let’s see the analogyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Can’t someone take a picture of Sungjun’s face that looks similar to this and make a meme?

– If I hadn’t fought MBS and MXM, I would have had 4 trophies, it’s too bad…

n I regret not being able to see more special guests since I was only active for a week. The guest lineup was really awesome.

N I admit. I never imagined that Mimyosoyeon and Sistarz would appearㅋㅋㅋ I was bragging about my connectionsㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

N I think the Blizz kids are cute. I became a fan while watching them. When are they debuting?

Sungjun’s ‘only one week of activities & all the trophies for that week are mine’ attitude drew both admiration and regret from fans.

one side,

If offline there was the flashy acquisition of trophies, online there was the lining up on music charts.

In addition to ‘Music is’ and ‘Ring a Ring’, which were already in the 1st and 2nd places, the other two songs on the album also ranked 3rd and 4th, right behind ‘Gongmuni’.

The early Bon community was in chaos again.

– Is it true that you lined up people from 1st to 4th place? My heart is pounding.

ㄴ It’s up to 6th place. 5th place is ‘Salgeum’ by Mimyosonyeo composed by Sungjun, and 6th place is ‘Cherry Blossom Road’ by SHYine.

Wow… You ate half of the TOP 10? I’m really proud of being a ‘My Star’.

n If it had been a full album with a full album full of songs and not a four-song EP, would it have been possible to make it into the TOP 10?

n Then it seems like it could be made into a movie or drama. A story of growth from an ordinary office worker to a top singer! Title: ‘Singer-songwriter’

N It would be so fun, right? But the lead role should be Sungjun. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be that fun. LOL

In this way, many fellow singers sent congratulatory messages to Sungjun, who ascended to the throne both online and offline.

Thanks to that, Sungjun sent a thank you message and a reply letter for a whole day.

Meanwhile, there were congratulatory calls from not only Korea but also overseas.

– Congratulations, D.Voice. How have you been?

The opponent was top American producer George Brown.

– I’m watching you perform well on the Korean music charts. The number of views for your music video is also amazing.

George Brown chuckled.

True to his word, both ‘Music is’ and ‘Ring a Ring’ surpassed 10 million views in a week.

Originally, ‘Ring a Ring’ featuring Yuna and Ye-seon Ha was far ahead in terms of views,

‘Music is’, which gained popularity through word of mouth, quickly caught up and closed the gap, eventually reaching a level with ‘Ring a Ring’.

As if to directly refute the claim that some people who were jealous of Sungjun’s success were claiming that he was a ‘casting idiot’,

It was the result of Sungjun’s musicality and manpower alone.

– The two title songs also made it to the Billboard HOT 100. It’s too bad. If they had been released on Friday, they could have easily aimed for the top 30.

“Haha. That’s right.”

Seongjun answered with a smile.

As George said, both songs entered the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart despite being released on Monday.

Additionally, the entire album ‘Music Everywhere’ ranked within the top 50 of the ‘Billboard 200’, which ranks albums.

“They say it’s an unusual achievement for a solo singer who started out as a non-idol.”

This result proved that Sungjun has a solid overseas fan base.

It was also a marketing achievement of MSM Entertainment that utilized SNS that is accessible anywhere in the world.

There were fans and media who praised him, saying that he was even more amazing because he had never been active in the United States.

– America is always open to you. You know that? Busking in New York is a hot topic again.

These days, YouTube is so active that accessing content from other countries is easier than blowing your nose.

Meanwhile, an American influencer who was on the set of ‘Begin One More’ uploaded a fancam from that day to her SNS, which became a hot topic.

Of course, the influencer’s main purpose was to upload the content in order to create an issue, as George Brown and his group followed Asian artists.

Whatever the original intention, the result was another opportunity to shed light on ‘Sungjun’.

– If you want, how about appearing on my friend’s radio show once? America’s late-night owls will be delighted.

“It’s an honor for me.”

I used to think that advancing into the US was a distant dream, but after seeing the Billboard chart results, I changed my mind.

‘My music works in America too!’

[English] There is no language barrier with stats.

It may be difficult right now because of the schedule, but it was a market worth challenging.

– I’m looking forward to that. Then, this time I’d like to talk about ‘music’-

George Brown’s voice changed.

– Let me get straight to the point. D,Voice, I want to be your partner in the US. How about joining my label?

“If it’s Mr. Brown’s label…”

This is ‘New Era’ that Mark belongs to.

It is common for other global artists to work with local agencies or labels when working overseas rather than in their own country.

So George’s suggestion now was a very natural one.

However, it wasn’t natural that he was a top producer in the United States.

One, you can’t decide such an important matter alone.

You need to consult with MXM Entertainment.

George, who could not have been unaware of this, added.

– I guess it would be rude to talk about it in detail over the phone. I will try to contact the head of your company, D.Voice. I think we could meet through a video conference later.

“That sounds good. It’s nice to see Mr. Brown’s face again after a long time.”

– Okay, if you want, I can make a video call right now.

“Is that an American joke?”

As always, the two exchanged jokes and laughed heartily.

That’s how my conversation with George Brown ended.

After finishing the call, Seongjun headed straight to the meeting room.

Today’s gathering is to announce the initial sales figures for this second EP.

“Drumroll drumroll-”

The staff member in charge of the presentation makes a sound effect with his/her mouth.

He shouted out the numbers with eyes full of anticipation.

“This first week sales… are amazing! It’s a whopping 700,000 copies!!!”

“Huh?! This is your second album and 700,000 copies?! Awesome!!!!”

“What, you didn’t miscalculate or anything, did you?!”

“Congratulations, Seongjun!!!”

The conference room was filled with cheers and congratulations that seemed to show disbelief.

Seongjun also opened his mouth in joy.

‘700,000 copies···!’

This is a whopping 3.5 times more sales than the first EP, which sold 200,000 copies.

‘Wait a minute, then the initial sales revenue would be roughly 30······.’

“100 million!!!!”

The sound ‘Ugh’ comes out naturally.

Meanwhile, it wasn’t just the team members who congratulated Sungjun.

[Hidden achievement ‘Congratulations! First Half Million Seller!’ achieved.]

[Reward: Gold Coin X1, Guild Fame 10]

Amid the commotion, a system message emerged.

‘Oh, guild fame!’

Seongjun swallowed his exclamation after checking the message.

As expected, my prediction was correct.

Even if the guild leader himself completes the mission, he can still gain honor!

That won’t work, I’ll have to look into it a little more closely.

I’m back in the studio after promising to shoot ‘Beef Party’ tonight.

Seongjun, sitting on the sofa, clicked on the guild emblem that was a combination of a star and a musical note.

[Sungjun Guild Lv.1 (10/100)]

The required fame to reach Guild Level 2 is now 90.

Since it is the early stage where guild content has been unlocked,

There were times when I wished that missions would come out a little more often.

[A special mission has arrived.]

[Become a million-seller.]

[Reward: Broken Music Box Spring, Guild Fame 20]

As if the system had read his mind,

At that moment, a special mission appeared in the sky.

The mission is to sell 1 million albums.

“What the hell is this?”

The corners of Sungjun’s mouth hung on his ears.

Because the mission difficulty is low.

If you pulled out 700,000 in the beginning, it would be easy to pull out 300,000 with the long tail.

The current sales tax is sufficient.

This might level up faster than I thought?

Seongjun laughed and closed the mission window.

Then he opened a small black case that was sitting on the table.

What came out of it was a handy brown stringed instrument.

It was a ‘violin’ that I had brought from the Paradise Shopping Mall at the request of Oh Hae-soo.

Recently, I got promoted to level 4 and acquired the [Violin Playing] skill through a new idle activity.

And I quickly got to level 10 with the coins I bought from the store.

So, today is the day to experience the results.

First of all, I’m reaching level 10 and touching the violin for the first time.

The order is a bit odd, but this too was a kind of experiment.

As to whether it would be possible to play after leveling up.

If that’s possible, you can drastically reduce your practice time by using the same method when acquiring another [Instrument Playing] skill in the future.

And if that happens, the value of the [Instrument Playing] skill will explode.

As soon as you acquire the skill, you can use coins to raise it to level 10 or so, so you will be able to play any instrument you encounter for the first time right away.

There was a reason why the prices of useless instrument playing skills in stores were so high.

Next time I’ll have to gather my courage and buy one.

Well, anyway.

“This is how you catch it.”

With anticipation, Sungjun picked up the violin, leaning it against his neck, seemingly skillfully but awkwardly.

And let’s gently scrape the string with the bow in our hand.

Jiiiiiing-

Anyone who heard it would find it hard to believe that the sound was created by someone who was just picking up the violin for the first time.

There was not the slightest hint of dissonance.

“Okay, then let’s move on to the next step.”

Now that you’ve successfully made a sound, it’s time to change the tone.

While the guitar has easy-to-identify note sections using metal frets or circular position marks on the neck, the violin does not have any such auxiliary parts.

Therefore, to produce accurate pitch, you need delicate fingertips that can sense the exact width.

This means that the hurdles in terms of effort and sense required to become an expert are high.

But,

The fingers that are used glide naturally.

I could instinctively feel what kind of sound I could make only by moving a certain amount of width.

And when I drew the bow again, the sound came out as I had expected, long and stretched out.

This time there was no popping sound.

“Okay, I got it.”

Seongjun, who had become confident, tried out a slightly more advanced playing technique.

Wiggle your fingers to create vibrato, and pluck the string with your index finger to create pizzicato.

Even the mid-note technique of strumming two strings simultaneously to produce two notes.

Everyone was able to digest it perfectly.

“Now the final test.”

Once you have learned how to play, you must perform it.

Seongjun started playing the violin without hesitation.

The song he is playing is the title song of this album, ‘Music is.’

♪~ ♬~

Every time Sungjun’s bow dances, a classical string sound with a different charm from the guitar flows out.

Even though it’s clearly the same melody, it feels distinctly different.

“It’s fun!”

Seongjun expressed his joy after finishing his performance.

With this, I have another weapon besides the piano and guitar.

It can be used in composing music and can also be performed live.

“Should I try using it in the next song?”

I happen to have a song to work on in the near future.

The winning video for the ‘Music Everywhere Challenge’ conducted through SNS will soon be announced.

I decided to make an event song based on that video, and I think it would be a fun song if I added a violin to it.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Until then, I need to get a little more familiar with the instrument.

Seongjun picked up the violin and bow again and started playing ‘Ring a Ring’.

*

The reason they only performed on music shows for a week was because of their busy schedule.

If it had been domestic activities, it would have been covered if he had made time, but Sungjun’s schedule was for overseas activities.

And that overseas country is none other than Japan.

Because I got a call from Muportable.

– Jun-sama, no, Seong Jun-sang. The schedule for the offline event [Nahonbul] that I mentioned earlier has been set.

Participation in offline events was a clause included in the contract for the opening song of [Nahonbul].

Seongjun was also looking forward to this part.

“Oh, finally. So what kind of event is it, Director So?”

When Seongjun asks, Sotozaka lets out a ‘hehehe’ laugh.

Then, in a very excited voice, he forcefully pronounced the name of the event.

– This is Japan’s largest animation festival, ‘AnimeJapan 2024’.