Raising a Neglected Singer-Songwriter - Chapter 20



Only Krnovel

20. Preliminary

After all, sleep is the best medicine.

When morning came, my eyes opened on their own.

Wake up 30 minutes earlier than the alarm you set.

I feel so refreshed that it’s as if the cold I was in bed with yesterday was a lie.

After stretching for a while.

“Shoot~”

I threw my sweaty pajamas into the laundry basket like I was playing basketball and headed to the bathroom.

When you wet your head with warm water, your mind becomes clearer.

When I came out of the shower, the alarm was ringing.

Pa pa papapapa~ paparappapa papapapa papapapa papapapa~

“Ugh, I don’t want to hear it.”

I felt like I was going to get PTSD if I listened any longer, so I picked up my phone to turn off the alarm.

But there were a bunch of notifications arriving on the screen.

It was from YouTube.

“what?”

When I clicked on one of the notifications, my channel appeared.

There were comments lined up there that I didn’t know had been posted.

– I can say with certainty that this is the greatest GOAT cover of all time among Yuna’s covers so far!

N I admit. It’s crazy that he sang it in his own style instead of copying it. It really suits him well.

n I heard this first without listening to the real original, but I thought this version was the original

ㄴ I heard this and got so excited that I went straight to Kono and sang along and got kicked outㅋㅋㅋ

From compliments on the vocals,

– I want to see your face. You seem handsome.

N First of all, the voice is handsome

No. With this level of vocal skill, you are 100% talented. That’s how the world is fair.

N you idiotㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Curiosity about appearance,

– Do you know that? If you look closely, there’s Yuna’s autograph hanging on the wall!

n It’s not ‘am’ but ‘knowledge’. Am is your spelling level.

N I know it too

N Were you a Yuna fan? Wow~ As expected, our Daeyunadan’s fans are also talented

Even the picture frames hanging on the recording studio wall were subject to comments.

In addition, comments written in English, Japanese, Southeast Asian, and European languages ​​continued endlessly.

“What, all of a sudden···?”

In the midst of my confusion, I found a comment containing the whole story of the incident.

– I came here after seeing the shorts and immediately subscribed

– When I only listened to the 15 and 30 second versions, it felt like I was taking a shit, but when I listened to the full version, it felt refreshing

N Dirty bastard… I really succeeded in getting a bowel movement while listening to the full version

After checking, it seems that MXM released the 30-second version that was originally scheduled to be released in the middle of the promotional period all at once.

There was a link to his channel there.

‘Why?’

I think there was a clause in the contract that said separate links would not be inserted to prevent splitting of views.

A doubt crossed my mind, but only for a moment.

It was because of one recent comment written 5 seconds ago.

– Wow! Is it true that you gained so many subscribers in just one day?

I looked around as if possessed and checked the number of subscribers.

At the same time, exclamations bordering on astonishment burst out.

It was a natural reaction.

That’s understandable, with a whopping 100 subscribers in one day-

“110,000?!”

In addition, the number of views exceeded 300,000.

I went to work in a dazed state.

I couldn’t put my phone down the whole way there.

Little by little, the number of subscribers continued to increase in real time.

Just as I was about to sit down on my chair, a messenger arrived.

It was Seol Hye-yoon.

– Mr. Seongjun. Are you feeling okay?

– Yes, I felt better after resting for a day.

– That’s good. Then can I have some coffee?

– What kind of obvious statement is that? Isn’t morning coffee a modern person’s elixir? It helps you get through a tough day.

– Then see you at the cafe on the first floor.

Seol Hye-yoon got up from her seat and nodded as she walked out of the office.

A signal to follow me.

If I chased her right away, I might cause another strange misunderstanding, so I waited a little while and then went down to the first floor, where Seol Hye-yoon was waiting.

Holding an iced Americano in both hands.

“Please take this first.”

Seol Hye-yoon asked after handing over one of the dogs.

“Mr. Sungjun. Do you have anything to say to me?”

You’re saying you have nothing to say? What is it?

Um… um… I don’t know. How can I know?

As I stared blankly, she pursed her lips and asked again.

“Deviose, did you check your subscribers?”

“Ah. Yes, for now.”

“First of all, Irani. That’s such a plain comment, isn’t it? 110,000 subscribers! 110,000! Shouldn’t you like it more? And you should have contacted me too!”

Seol Hye-yoon whispered as she sipped coffee through a straw.

Perhaps because I was so thirsty from drinking so much like a machine gun, a third of the coffee disappeared in an instant.

Anyway, it seems like the reason she called me out was because of the YouTube thing.

“Actually, I still can’t believe it and am dumbfounded. More importantly, why did you contact Manager Seol···?”

“That, that’s it······.”

Seol Hye-yoon, who had been pondering for a moment, answered.

“I have to treat you. To celebrate getting the silver button.”

“Ah, the silver button.”

I already searched it on my way to work.

The silver button award criteria is 100,000 subscribers.

Therefore, the D.Voice channel, which reached 110,000 subscribers, met the conditions.

I think it’s a bit much to ask me to treat you, but I guess I’ve already paid the deposit.

“Okay. I’ll shoot to commemorate the silver button!”

“You promised? Be prepared. You’re going to eat something expensive.”

“What, Yurin-gi, shrimp with spicy sauce, abalone tangsuyuk. Just say the words.”

“Excuse me. Do you think I only eat Chinese food?”

“Korean, Japanese, Western, Southeast Asian. Which would you like?”

“Um… I’ll think about it and let you know. Oh, we should go up now.”

I checked the time and it was 8:50.

While waiting for the elevator to return to the office.

“ah.”

Suddenly something occurred to me.

“But didn’t you have 100,000 subscribers too?”

“that’s right.”

“Then you must have received the silver button too.”

“I got it.”

“Then, sir, treat yourself too-”

“It does not apply retroactively.”

It was a single stroke.

*

one side,

Seol Hye-yoon, who returned to her seat, was recalling the conversation they had on the first floor a little while ago.

It was a question she had asked herself in excitement, ‘Why didn’t you contact me?’ and a counter question from Cha Seong-jun, ‘Why should I contact you?’

About this-

‘I’m the only one who knows that Sungjun is D.Voice. So it would be nice if we could celebrate together.’

The words just wouldn’t come out of my mouth.

I feel somehow embarrassed and manly.

Instead, he answered playfully.

‘Because I have to treat you. To celebrate getting the silver button.’

The awarding criterion for the Silver Button, which was used as an excuse, was 100,000 subscribers.

That was the same number of subscribers she had accumulated over two years of hard work.

Cha Seong-jun surpassed that in just one day.

thus-

‘···Somehow it feels fatal.’

It was true that I felt jealous.

Because it turned out to be a reversal overnight.

But on the other hand.

‘So when, where, and what do we want to eat?’

There were also some pleasant worries that made me forget all about my jealousy.

“Ahem ahem ahem~”

Seol Hye-yoon started working while humming a song.

*

On the same day,

Flexnet Korea office located in Jongno.

Starting with the dazzling red neon sign that reads ‘FLEXNET’, the hallways are filled with artwork and interiors featuring global blockbusters such as ‘Octopus Game’ and ‘Zombie Kingdom’.

Next, after passing through the spacious lobby that guarantees 200% comfortable rest for employees, a conference room appears.

The names of the conference rooms are the titles of the hit contents that previously decorated the walls.

The exterior, made entirely of glass, was also designed using still cuts from the work.

Among them.

‘Who’s the King’

There was also a conference room for a global singer-songwriter audition program that was set to launch the next day.

Inside the conference room.

On a pure white table, there are plenty of caffeine-packed energy drinks and coffees with the word ‘Blue Bull’ written on them.

In front of him, the employees were lying down, almost face down, adding a little bit of exaggeration and growing dark circles around the corners of their mouths.

These zombies were the program team from Flexnet, who had been living together for a month, and the T/F team dispatched from MXM Entertainment.

“Everyone… we’re all here… let’s try a little harder…”

The leader of the zombies. That is, the head of the T/F team and the person in charge of the broadcast part of the MXM Entertainment Marketing Team, Deputy Manager Park Beom-cheol, spoke in a voice that was almost dying.

Two days ago, the audition application period that lasted a full 30 days closed.

The number of applicants from all over the world is a whopping 50,000!

The T/F team was in the process of reviewing documents to select a total of 49 people from among them.

That’s a competition ratio of roughly 1000:1.

It takes a tremendous amount of time just to listen to the attached self-composed songs.

Even if you take an average of 3 minutes per song, that’s 10 minutes for three songs.

If you judge without stopping, that’s 6 people per hour.

Of course, this excludes attachments and jokey dummies, but the volume was still enormous.

That’s why MXM Enter and Flexnet T/F team have been working tirelessly for a month.

And today, finally, the long journey that seemed to have no end in sight was left with only one last step.

“Now… the last applicant···”

No one answered Park Beom-cheol’s words.

There was just a silent stare that said, ‘Okay, go ahead and do it.’

It was a natural reaction, as I was extremely tired.

It was fortunate that there were breaks here and there, otherwise my ears and mind would have worn out by the third day.

Thanks to that, I still had some remaining strength to maintain my judging sense until the very end.

“Let’s listen quickly and finish this…”

The first song of the last applicant was played in the depressed atmosphere.

It was a calm medium-tempo song with a slight variation on the money code.

After the first four verses have passed.

‘···hmm?’

Park Beom-cheol, who had been watching with his arms crossed, slowly grows wide-eyed.

Guitar arpeggios are played on a base of soft percussion, and above it, the elegant sound of bells, like beads, shyly twinkles.

A sound that naturally brings to mind the sound of rain knocking on a window.

The bell rings like starlight. Is that so, it is night.

Somehow, it feels healing.

I feel exhausted as all the fatigue I’ve been holding back comes at once.

Looking around, I saw some people blinking their eyes as if they were about to fall asleep.

It wasn’t because I was bored, but because of the sense of stability that music gave me.

“···It’s comfortable.”

When someone mutters something softly, people nod in agreement.

It looks like everyone really likes the song.

Thanks to that, even the half-dead eyes were starting to come back to life.

‘You are a lucky applicant.’

Park Beom-cheol thought while sipping his coffee.

It was a perfect timing to score points with a healing song when everyone was exhausted.

No, the song composition was simple, but the quality wasn’t bad, so it wasn’t just luck.

However,

‘There are already more than enough applicants for the healing concept.’

Unless you are much better than them or have something different, it won’t be easy to pass the document screening.

Enough to convince the judges in the conference room, including yourself.

‘Well, you’ll know when you listen to the next song.’

I played the second song with anticipation and doubt, and as expected, the answer came right away.

The conference room, which had been filled with silence, gradually began to become noisy.

“It feels completely different from before. It feels fresh and exciting?”

“The title says ‘My Room’. The song description says it’s the first song you wrote after getting a recording studio?”

“Wow, this feels right. Ah, I miss it. I think I was this excited when I first started living alone.”

“Now that I look back, the first song I heard was titled ‘Saturday Night Rain Drop’.”

“That’s right! That was the sound of rain?!”

The team members who were too tired to be silent during the first song were the first to express their feelings this time. Some even looked up the title of the first song late.

Park Beom-cheol was a little embarrassed.

It was to the point where I doubted whether the passionate men in front of me were really the zombies who had just heard the last applicant and were going to rest.

“Manager, let’s listen to the vocal song quickly!”

“Uh, uh uh uh. Yes.”

I played the vocal song as if I was being urged to do so.

The title is ‘Drink me like Coffee’.

As the music begins, a leisurely mood, as if you were in a green meadow, envelops your whole body through your ears.

If I were to describe this feeling in words, it would be, yes, the leisurely feeling of enjoying a cup of coffee and a book in a quiet cafe with not many people around in the middle of the day.

The composition and quality were much more diverse than the previous two songs, with guitar, piano, and even violin combined.

The vocals are also said to be good.

“Your vocalization is very stable. Your supporting range also seems quite wide. Did you originally major in vocals?”

“Isn’t there something charming about the occasional raspy sound? What’s interesting is that even when you sing in a relaxed tone, it still feels appealing?”

For the ‘Who’s the King’ team, the appearance of a talented individual with both vocal and songwriting skills was extremely welcome.

But what stood out the most in this song was…

“But I think the lyrics are the best!”

“That’s right. The lyrics are art. They touch my heart.”

‘There are as many flavors of love as there are coffee.’

‘I’ll be all those flavors if you want me to.’

‘So you just have to drink me. Drink me like Coffee.’

A song telling you to only desire yourself, as you will show various appearances like coffee.

It was a story about love, but it also seemed like a story to the judges themselves.

I have so many different charms.

So, pay attention to me.

“Then let’s vote.”

After the song ended, voting began by raising hands.

Before Park Beom-cheol could even ask a question, everyone in the conference room had already raised their hands.

It was a unanimous decision that came after a full fortnight.

“Okay! Okay, everyone, thank you for your hard work! Lastly, let’s just do a final check on the list of successful applicants and leave work early today!”

“Hurray! I’m finally going home!”

“Honey! Wait! I’ll buy some chicken!”

A loud cheer erupts, shaking the Flexnet building.

In the midst of the frenzy, the last applicant’s documents were moved to a folder in the laptop.

Past the folders that say [Fail] and [Pass], go to the folder that says [Preliminary].

The top 10 applicants who received high scores among those who passed.

In other words, it was a folder containing ‘potential’ winning candidates.

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