Raising a Neglected Singer-Songwriter - Chapter 37



Only Krnovel

Episode 37. Old Soldiers Don’t Die (2)

Sometimes it’s better to fix something that’s already been done than to create something new.

Of course, there are times when it’s better to start from scratch than to fix something. The way things are in this world, if you put something here, it’s this, and if you put something there, it’s that.

Anyway, what matters is what decision I made.

Chajajajajajajajaja— Boom!

Dong-sik, who was out of breath, looked at me with a confident expression.

“What? Is that an expression asking for praise?”

“Wasn’t it okay?”

“Oh. It wasn’t okay.”

“……okay?”

Dongsik Hyung fiddles with his drum set again with dead eyes.

Taeju hyung and Youngpil hyung?

He’s staring intently at something, trying not to make eye contact with me, thankful that he’s not the target.

“Oh my. You old gentlemen.”

“… … .”

“It’s rusty. It’s rusty, but it’s sooooooo rusty.”

Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding

Tae-joo hyung pretends to concentrate and strums his bass guitar as if he doesn’t want to hear it.

Don’t think I’m just swinging the whip too much.

Anyway, those guys aren’t in the soft mental state of adolescence.

A person in his early fifties who has tasted all the bitterness and sweetness of society’s shit.

Even if you stab him this hard, he’ll just turn around and snicker. It’s not that he’s laughing at me, it’s just that if you keep complaining because you heard something unpleasant, your spirit won’t last long.

“But Dong-sik, did you lose a lot of belly fat?”

“Really? I’ve been working out a lot these days. My wife likes it. Oh man, it’s so hot every night these days.”

“Okay. I’m still twenty. I’m not an old man like my brothers. Huh? Please refrain from making comments like that.”

Then I looked at my brothers.

Taeju hyung?

Money is good, isn’t it? When I met him again after 30 years, I immediately felt that Tae-joo hyung had become cooler than before.

Not just something deep like atmosphere or aura, but just objectively.

The appearance that used to be like a skeleton due to the bony prominence has now become elastic with a moderate amount of gloss.

So, we even see a pretty good face that has been hidden.

Since Youngpil hyung used to be a broadcaster, he didn’t really have a place to get paid. To lose weight, he and Dongsik hyung are working out at the gym and doing Pilates.

The advantage of using the entire practice room is great in times like this.

We turned what used to be a karaoke room into a gym and invited a trainer.

He raised his thumb horizontally and covered his brothers’ faces.

“Hmm… … . Jaesam-ssi passed. Piri Piri Piri Hyung also passed. Even though he only does chin-ups, he’s still big… … I’ll give him that much credit.”

My brothers were waiting for me to speak, but before I could say anything to them, I called someone.

-hello?

“Manseok hyung. It’s me.”

-who?

“Ghost.”

There was a brief moment of silence and the feeling of someone thinking hard over the phone.

-Speak.

As expected, he started speaking in a strange way, saying ‘hao’ repeatedly even though he wasn’t Chinese. His voice was shaking slightly.

That means he realized it was me.

Now I’m tired of teasing, so I just got to the point.

“Please help me find a place to perform.”

-performance?

“performance.”

-What if it’s a performance…?

“Blue Porcelain.”

―Huh… … Blue Porcelain… … ?

“It’s so frustrating. Don’t you remember? Blue porcelain.”

Even though our team hasn’t debuted yet, we’ve been performing.

I only had a short time in the indie scene, as the group disbanded due to an accident right before my debut as a pro.

It was all thanks to Paradise’s promoter, Manseok.

It’s not like he’s a promoter who connects people and takes money. He likes rock so much that he connects new artists with performance spots here and there. He has a wide network of connections, so it just happened naturally.

Of course, Manseok, the president of Myeongga Musical Instruments, knows our band’s name.

I don’t know if that’s still the case, but I don’t think my connections have gone anywhere.

―… … What is the scale?

“It doesn’t have to be big. No, it’s better if it’s moderately small. The members’ skills are still lacking. It’s more like a practice under the guise of a performance rather than a performance.”

-Um… …, I understand. Just give me a few days.

Then I looked at the disconnected cell phone for a moment.

I don’t know.

I wonder if this guy is just saying this because he’s scared.

Are you into historical dramas?

Or maybe I just enjoy this situation.

The important thing is.

Two days later, our promoter called to schedule a gig.

-Misari. Raven.

“Raven?”

– It’s the biggest live cafe in Misari. It’s the only place where you can have a proper rock band performance.

“Okay. Thanks, bro.”

but.

―Listen to what the person has to say. It was hard to find a time because it was a store run by an acquaintance of mine… … Rock music is not popular after all… … Since Blue Porcelain is a band that no one knows about these days, the maximum number of songs per day is 3 as an open band.

“are you okay.”

That was quite expected.

* * *

These days, I’m almost always stuck in the practice room, so it’s hard to see his face often. However, I do see him occasionally, thanks to Beomseok’s strong recommendation that I sleep at home.

It would be more accurate to say that I only see you occasionally rather than not seeing you often.

The fragrant yellow dog that passed by asked while holding the handle.

“Are the other hyungs ready to perform now? You always complained that they were all broken.”

“It’s still a long way to go. Can we set up perfectly and go out? We should just adjust while performing. That would be better for the hyungs as well. It would be better to have an audience to get a feel for it.”

“If that’s the case, why don’t you go to Hongdae or something and perform on the streets? Isn’t Misari a bit… too old?”

It’s a little funny that an old yellow guy says that, but he’s saying it because he’s worried about me.

“A rock band on the street? How can it cause trouble?”

“Is that so?”

“Of course. Drum sounds on an electric guitar… … That’s ridiculous.”

You could try to find a compromise by turning down the volume, but then you lose your distinctiveness as a rock band.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t use guitar and drums just because I mainly choose soft songs.

So I was looking for a place to perform, and Manseok, who knew exactly what I was doing, introduced me to a live cafe.

“What about running a band? Shouldn’t you join a management company or something? Or is Taejoo hyung thinking of starting a company? That’s fine too.”

“I already stopped Tae-joo from starting a company.”

“why?”

“Um… … , pride?”

“pride?”

“Uh. Pride.”

As he said that, he looked out the car window.

Whoosh, whoosh, people pass by.

I’m just passing by, but it looks like people on the sidewalk are passing by too.

Actually, I didn’t think I wouldn’t receive Taeju hyung’s help from the beginning.

If that was the case, I wouldn’t have asked for help setting up the practice room in the first place.

The conversation I had with Tae-joo while waiting for Dong-sik kept going around in my head.

―If being stubborn when you’re young is a matter of pride, then being stubborn when you get older is, um… … a sort of way of life.

I thought that was kind of cool.

Living with pride, that became a man’s way of life… … something like that.

So I used my pride.

-Our band. We won’t receive any help from Taeju hyung outside of this practice room.

-Okay, Director Kwak. Cancel that order.

-withdraw order?

-If you won’t accept my help, shouldn’t we be eating with our own money? Isn’t that something the leader should take care of?

-Yudori? I’m not that kind of person. You can order food. Order, quickly.

-What about Director Kwak? If I’m going to do both my work and my band, I need Director Kwak by my side. What about that?

Mr. Kwak Moon-ki… … If he’s helpful, that’s fine. He’s not going to cause any harm, so I said okay with that.

In the end… … I did show my pride, but I ended up compromising quite a bit.

And to be honest, it wasn’t just me being stubborn and showing off my pride.

Since I’m always worried about when our members will die, I want to succeed quickly. To do that, it might be better to use Tae-joo hyung’s wealth.

I thought about whether that would guarantee success in the shortest amount of time… … and realized that it didn’t.

Tae-joo hyung didn’t turn his back on music like Dong-sik hyung did, but since he barely did any business in the entertainment industry, all he had in the entertainment industry was a broadcasting station.

Of course, since there was no infrastructure or people, it seemed like it would take more time to set up the company from scratch in order to utilize Taeju’s capital.

I also thought about taking over a company that was doing well with Tae-joo hyung’s money, but I didn’t like it because it felt like putting a burden on Tae-joo hyung, who should be focusing solely on and enjoying music.

Did Taeju hyung want to have a lot of money?

When I think about it that way, I can understand a little bit why Dong-sik had rejected Tae-joo’s help in advance.

Just because you have a rich friend, you can’t spend his money like it’s your own.

Well… … I have quite a lot of money, so I guess I could at least get something to eat.

“Arrive. Get off.”

Yellow Beomseok stops his car and looks at the large four-story building in front of him.

[LIVE MUSIC CAFE R(eh)AVEN]

There is a small parenthetical letter eh between the R and A in the name Raven.

It has quite an ambiguous meaning.

“It’s Raven, but it’s Lee Haven.”

“I know.”

“This place is so charming, boss.”

After Beomseok finished speaking, he got out of the car and took out the guitar from the backseat.

* * *

fork.

A genre of music, more precisely called folk song.

Folk music is a style of music that involves playing an acoustic guitar and singing.

Strictly speaking, acoustic guitars are included in the category of acoustic guitars, but from the perspective of the general public, the classification of acoustic guitars and acoustic guitars is not very meaningful.

The point is that folk music was an indispensable part of Korean music history because it had a structurally easy form and guaranteed popularity.

Especially from the 1960s to the early 1980s.

It was the mainstream genre that led Korean music.

Taehee Lim, who runs the live cafe Raven in Misari, was the godfather of Korean folk songs.

genius.

Customer.

But at the same time, he has a reputation of being close to being a madman.

Im Tae-hee was looking at Oh Man-seok with a displeased look.

“… …Why are you like that?”

“If it weren’t for you, I would never have gotten into rock.”

“I know. I know very well.”

Folk music uses guitar, and rock music uses guitar.

There is no rule that folk music must use only acoustic guitars, and there is no rule that rock music must use only electric guitars. People distinguish genres by the guitars they are holding.

And in fact, folk and rock have many more differences than similarities.

Im Tae-hee relaxed her frown, which had been straining her eyes, and shook her head.

“I’m old too. I want to see this guy. I want him to perform rock music in my cafe.”

“It’s really awesome. You won’t lose anything.”

“Don’t you see the loss? It’s because of those guys that I used to say that I’ve been running a cafe here. Those guys that used to make music with me now live off of their grandchildren’s butts and give them pocket money. People think I’ve been making music because I have a lot of money and I like music. No. It’s because of the scammers. Those scammers took all my money.”

Although Im Tae-hee is considered a madman, like people in the past, he likes to give to his people. He can’t even estimate how much money he has not received after lending them one or two pennies.

So, it’s half right and half wrong to say that I’m still doing music because of scammers.

“You’re still hot. I know.”

“… … Okay. I don’t want anyone to think I’m not a businessman, so I’ll just say it out loud.”

Lim Tae-hee, a contemporary guest but a long-time habitual smoker, lit a cigarette and exhaled a long puff of smoke. And so did his inner thoughts.

“I guess this is the end now.”

“… … Is that so?”

“It’s not well managed. Older people come here to reminisce. They check the performance schedule and come when their old favorite singers come on. That’s about it.”

“That’s great. If you use the band I recommended this time, you’ll be in great shape.”

Im Tae-hee laughed for the first time at Oh Man-seok’s words.

“People who come here start at 50. Those people are rock? That’s not funny. To be honest, I didn’t accept it because it was you, but because my schedule was so empty that I just played music. I didn’t have to pay for it.”

“If things go well because of them, then you should give money to the kids.”

“I don’t have any money, so why are you being stingy with money? If you were going to give it to me, why wouldn’t you give it to me? By the way, when are you coming? It’s almost opening time.”

Oh Man-seok, who was about to answer Im Tae-hee’s words, picked up his cell phone from his arms.

“Where are you? … … Okay. Come up.”

When Im Tae-hee tilts her head at Oh Man-seok’s strange tone of speech.

Beyond the sight of Taehee Lim, whose face was clouded with cigarette smoke, four men appeared.

“Is that you? Blue porcelain?”

“yes.”

“But why are you all covering your faces?”