Raising a Neglected Singer-Songwriter - Chapter 14



Only Krnovel

14. It sounds familiar somehow

The next day, at work.

As always, the morning passed quickly.

After finishing the team lunch of Seolleongtang.

“Mr. Seol, would you like to go for a walk after dinner?”

When the male employees, including the team leader, suggested going to the rooftop for an after-dinner snack and Deputy Manager Kim Ok-soon and the youngest female employee suggested going for a walk while they were in the bathroom, Seol Hye-yoon readily agreed.

While walking down Sangam Street after buying a good-value coffee, Cha Seong-jun, who was timing his time, opened his mouth.

“Sir, I also started YouTube.”

“Huh? Really? What about the content?”

“It’s the same as the agent. It’s a cover song channel.”

“Wow, awesome! Look where you are!”

When the channel is shown, Seol Hye-yoon first checks the channel name.

“What does ‘device’ mean?”

“My name is written with ‘Sori Seong’ and ‘Deep Jun’.”

“Ah, so you shorten ‘Deep Voice’ to ‘D.Voice’? Seongjun, are you suffering from 8th grade syndrome?”

“I feel bad if you say that. I was just benchmarking SHYine.”

“Deviance and Shine have completely different feels.”

“Bling bling is Hye Yoon?”

“···Shall we fight?”

Since I teased her a lot with the channel name last time, I expected Seol Hye-yoon to be excited and fight back, thinking this was her chance.

Seol Hye-yoon raises her fist with a bright smile as she responds with a counterattack.

If you keep nagging me, I’m really going to get hit.

“I’m just kidding. Anyway, I’ll be counting on you in the future, senior. If there’s anything I don’t know, I’ll ask you a lot.”

“Not with bare hands, of course.”

“If you ask 5 questions, I’ll shoot you a slap at the Chinese restaurant we ate at last time.”

“It looks like a coupon. Call.”

It ended with a dramatic handshake of reconciliation.

Anyway, the goal of this walk, ‘opening YouTube’, was achieved.

‘At first I wanted to keep it a secret from everyone, but···.’

Still, I thought it was right to at least tell Manager Seol.

What should I say, as fellow cover song YouTubers?

In addition, it was essential to open up in order to seek advice from her, a senior in the industry, in various ways in the future.

“So, you only uploaded one cover song now?”

“Yes. I uploaded one yesterday as a test. I plan to upload more slowly in the future.”

“The first song is… Wow! You covered Yuna’s new song? It’s so fast!”

“Shouldn’t we have drawn some aggro in the beginning? We prepared in a hurry.”

“Ahem. Mr. Devoice? As a senior in the industry, I’ll give you some advice. Of course, speed is important, but in the end, quality is the top priority, right? If you record carelessly and upload it, your channel will fail.”

“I wrote that I paid some attention to it, but I’m not sure about the criteria. Then, would you please listen to it for me?”

“Is this 1 coupon accumulated?”

“Is there no free trial service?”

“I’m happy. I’ll give you a YouTube welcome service.”

I found a bench and sat down to listen to the cover song.

“Okay, now listen.”

When the video is played, Cha Sung-jun is seen with his face covered against the backdrop of a recording studio.

Then, the inst converted to a man’s height starts playing, and he opens his mouth.

“?!”

Behind her glasses, Seol Hye-yoon’s eyes widened like a startled rabbit.

*

At the same time, in the MXM Enter conference room.

The conference room where the A&R team, public relations team, and marketing team in charge of Yuna’s management are all gathered is noisy.

It was because of a message from CEO Choi Ma-heon, who was scheduled to return from the United States.

– Let’s promote it by putting forward the cover song I sent you.

When I sent a promotional plan for a new song that included a challenge, I got this response.

With instructions to find out the identity of the owner of the cover song channel and contact him.

They even asked me to set up a meeting right away.

The tone was more firm and urgent than usual, so they urgently summoned the people in charge to the conference room without even having lunch, and played the attached cover song video on a large beam projector.

But what is this?

The cover song was a huge hit!

“What the heck is this guy?! He’s totally crazy!”

“As someone who works in the entertainment industry, it’s embarrassing, but even I, a devil, get goosebumps when I hear it!”

“Sir, so this is a cover song that the CEO sent you?!”

“you’re right.”

MXM Entertainment’s number 2, General Manager Baek Seok, nods his head at the excited employees’ words.

“That’s why I gathered you all here, taking away your precious meal time. Now that you’ve all heard it, you’ll know how great this cover song is.”

No one objected.

I can confidently say that the cover song I just heard is by far the best out of all of Yuna’s covers so far.

Of course, it is a secret that the CEO, who initially pushed aside all the famous domestic and international influencers and instead promoted channels that no one had ever heard of, finally lost his mind because he was so busy recently.

“As the CEO said, we will proceed with the challenge with this cover song as the main theme. The marketing team will create promotional content for the challenge with this cover song.”

“Yes. I’ll make a 15-second version, a 30-second version, and one Verse version and one Sabi version. The draft can be out in the afternoon.”

The marketing manager answers with an enthusiastic voice.

“Okay. Next, the PR team should contact the YouTuber instead of the marketing team and get their consent to use the content. Please also set a meeting date. If possible, within this week.”

“I’m looking for a contact point anyway, but there’s no email or contact information in the channel description.”

“According to the CEO, there is a possibility that Ki Sung-il intentionally kept his identity secret. Please run an AI voice analysis program and list singers with similar singing styles and tones.”

This time, the public relations manager nods.

Then the youngest member of the public relations team raised his hand and asked.

“But sir. Is it possible that this person is a rookie? He really just opened a YouTube channel and doesn’t know what to write yet.”

“Well… It’s unlikely considering my abilities… but I can’t rule it out.”

The conference room is in an uproar at Baek-seok’s words.

If this unidentified YouTuber is truly a newcomer, this is truly an unprecedented event in the industry.

As soon as YouTube was opened, MXM Entertainment’s promotional content was featured on the main page.

“Team Leader Kim, don’t you know anyone on YouTube? Is there any way I can find out?”

“Hey, you know that too, sir. It violates the Personal Information Protection Act.”

“So there is no way?”

“It’s unfortunate, but for now···”

I have to go looking for someone whose identity I don’t even know.

I sigh in frustration.

However,

‘You absolutely must not miss this.’

His intuition was speaking of the time when he discovered Yuna, who was unknown at the bottom, and turned her into a big star, when she was just the two of them with Choi Max-heon.

This channel, this guy, is definitely going to be popular!

Therefore, we must take the lead in our MXM.

So then the remaining method is···

“Please reply at least to the comments. On our official account!”

“Huh? With the official account? There’s never been anything like that before?”

“I’ll take responsibility. So please leave a comment. Send me an email at MXM Entertainment and let’s meet!”

Baek-seok, who had been giving orders in a cool manner, left the conference room with a cool look on his face.

Finally, I arrived at my room.

dump-

He sat on the end of the sofa and picked up a printout that was on the table.

There, Yuna’s schedule for this week was written down in detail, hour by hour.

“Um… I don’t think I’ll be needed until Wednesday… I guess I’ll have to go with you to the broadcasting station meeting on Thursday. After that…”

He was looking over Yuna’s schedule and started circling it here and there with a ballpoint pen.

Check the schedule you need to follow.

He was Yuna’s manager in the early days of Enter.

As a result, it has become a custom for him to personally attend important events such as advertising contracts or meetings with affiliates, even though he is the director. This was also an earnest request from Yuna herself, who is more timid than she looks.

“He may look like a top star on the outside, but he’s still a kid at heart.”

He even still foolishly calls himself Manager Oppa.

I think that sounds better than “Director” or something.

Anyway, this is why the director’s dignity is not maintained.

The fact that the employees secretly call him ‘Whitestone’ or ‘Director Stone’ is probably all nicknames that spread from Yuna.

“You’re going to have to catch me and give me a solid lesson sometime.”

Baek-seok, who had vowed to do something he obviously could not do, covered his schedule.

Then, I was preparing to go out for the next schedule.

“······.”

His gaze lingers on the laptop screen on the table.

There was a video playing of a cover song that had been watched in the conference room earlier.

“······Somehow it sounds familiar.”

Baek-seok, who had been looking at it for a while, hums softly.

Actually, from the first time I heard it, I had a feeling that it was a voice I had definitely heard somewhere before. And that was relatively recently, not too long ago.

But no matter how much I searched my memory, the answer did not come.

“Ah, I don’t know.”

As someone who usually meets so many people, he had no ability to identify the owner of the voice.

Rather, there is a mountain of work to be done.

“Yes, this is MXM’s Baek Seok. You asked me to give you some profiles of new composers last time, right? I heard there’s someone I’m looking for personally. Yes, oh yes. Tonight? Oh, yes, that would be a good time. Then, let’s meet at Yeouido at 10…”

Baek-seok left the office with a busy phone call.

*

*

*

After work,

Cha Seong-jun went straight to the studio in Yeokchon-dong.

As I go down the stairs to the basement, a faint noise can be heard from beyond the soundproof door.

It’s probably a bass sound, judging by the low, deep rumble.

The sound of these practice rooms always makes my heart race.

I feel a surge of excitement at having started making music in earnest.

After chuckling, he walked to his room.

With each step you take, the noise gets a little louder.

Because the bass sound was coming from none other than the room next door.

‘You came earlier than me yesterday. You left later.’

He doesn’t seem to be a working person, perhaps a student or someone in the music industry.

He entered the studio with a light guess and changed into a comfortable T-shirt.

Then, I set up the lunch box with tteokgalbi that I bought at the convenience store in front of the building and settled the results of today’s neglect activities.

“Oh, congratulations! I reached level 10 in composition!”

The first stat that reached level 10 came out.

After that, let’s try to level up by investing login coins once more.

[You have reached the maximum level of Stage 2.]

[Promotion is required to level up.]

[When 3 or more stats or skills reach Lv.10, a promotion mission is given.]

As before, a step-by-step level restriction message was displayed.

You need 3 levels 10 to get to the next level…

‘also.’

I was convinced by this.

It was clear that the game was designed to allow for the harmonious growth of various stats rather than pursuing one stat to its limit.

Well, that side is also suitable for a singer-songwriter. If you’re good at composing, you’re a composer, and if you’re good at singing, you’re a singer.

‘It’s a shame that my composing ability is stagnant for the time being, but…’

Well, that’s okay.

Since I just opened a cover song channel, I just need to invest in my vocal skills to find a balance.

“Anyway, this promotion is going to take quite some time. Mumble, mumble.”

It was when Cha Seong-jun, who had put a piece of tteokgalbi in his mouth, closed the information window.

Brrrrrr-

The cell phone on the desk rang.

It was a text message, not a phone call or a KakaoTalk message. The sender was BJ Changhyuk, who I met in Hongdae last Sunday.

– I was busy so I’m late in contacting you. The response to the video uploaded by the pedestrian at 10 PM yesterday is very hot. I would like to thank you again for your cooperation…

The text message said that a video of a street karaoke recording had been uploaded.

As expected from a top-tier BJ, he seems to have finished editing it in just two days. That’s really fast.

Meanwhile, in private messages, Changhyuk’s speech was polite and gentle, unlike what he saw on TV.

Moreover, they even kindly let the cast know that the video was uploaded.

I really think there’s a reason why he’s a long-running BJ.

By the way,

“It’s only been a day and the response is so hot?”

Cha Seong-jun, who doesn’t really know Chang-hyeok’s popularity, is half in doubt.

But, apart from that, my heart was beating fast, half excited and half worried.

‘Whew, I’m shaking. I wonder how many views it will get. No, more than that, what will people’s reactions be? What if there are malicious comments?’

What kind of people are we?

They are a nation of singers and dancers, men and women of all ages, who sincerely sing and dance, even sublimating the pain and sadness of life into song.

The public’s view and evaluation of ‘songs’ were particularly cold and picky.

The standard for ‘singing well’ is also high!

therefore.

‘You can probably gauge my current skill level by the comments on my videos.’

Public opinion.

It was a process that Cha Sung-jun had to go through to become a singer.

“Okay, let’s go… Ahh?!”

Cha Seong-jun’s voice turns upside down as he enters BJ Chang-hyuk’s channel with a trembling heart.

The thumbnail at the top of the channel.

There was an image of two men competing in a song, with the composition divided left and right.

One is musical actor Hong Kwang-woo.

And the other one is-

“···It’s me?!”

There is a clear image of himself with his face covered by a black ball cap.

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