Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 412

‘Everyone is doing well.’

And since they only had one song to record, they might finish it by today.

“Jaewon, raise your voice a little at the end. You’re doing great!”

-Yes!

‘…Or maybe not?’

After watching Bluemoon’s recording for about thirty minutes, he felt that the tension had eased a bit. 

Maybe it was because of Hwang Yejun’s gentle directing, or maybe everyone was focused on the recording. 

Seeing Bluemoon’s relaxed appearance, Seo-jun got up from his seat to work on his script more comfortably.

Hwang Yejun was wearing headphones, so he wouldn’t hear anything unless it was loud. 

The Bluemoon members waved and gestured to Seo-jun, saying they would see him later. Seo-jun also waved his hand.

Seo-jun left the recording studio and headed to another room with a table, carrying his laptop bag.

“Huh?”

Seo-jun tilted his head as he opened the door.

This place was originally where Brownblack or other singers would discuss their concepts or make revisions during recording. 

There was a large whiteboard on the wall like a typical meeting room, and a big table and several chairs were placed in the middle of the room.

But not now.

Seo-jun looked around the meeting room with interest.

There were various instruments filling the table and floor of the meeting room, from shiny gongs and haegum, a string instrument played with a bow like a cello, to daegeum, a wind instrument played sideways like a flute, janggu, a percussion instrument played with sticks in both hands, geomungo, a string instrument played by plucking each string, and bak, which made a clack! sound like a slate.

Among other things.

“That was Yejun hyung’s own recording.”

He remembered the various traditional instrument sounds that he heard when he searched for the finished song file on the USB.

He wondered where he got the samples from, but it seemed that he recorded them himself with the instruments.

Thump!

Seo-jun hit the janggu once with his hand and soon remembered why he came here.

“There’s no place to sit here.”

The instruments took up all the space.

Seo-jun shrugged his shoulders and left the meeting room. There were plenty of other places to sit, so he didn’t worry and moved on.

He thought a sunny window seat would be nice.

***

After recording all morning, it was time for lunch.

Hwang Yejun and the kids decided to have Chinese food for lunch.

They laid out steaming hot food such as jajangmyeon (noodles with black bean sauce), jjamppong (spicy seafood noodle soup), tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork), and dumplings on the table and gathered around. Seo-jun also stretched his fingers that had been typing on the keyboard all day and sat down.

“Senior.”

“Hmm?”

Hwang Yejun raised his head at Jeong Eunsung’s call as he ate jjamppong.

They had gotten used to each other during recording, but Bluemoon members were amazed by Jeong Eunsung’s boldness in treating Hwang Yejun so casually.

“Have you ever seen a ghost in the recording studio, senior?”

“Ooh.”

Bluemoon members’ eyes sparkled. 

Seo-jun also looked at Hwang Yejun with interest as he ate jajangmyeon.

The ghost of the recording studio.

There was no idol who hadn’t heard of the superstition that if you saw a ghost or heard a strange sound in your recorded music in the recording studio, you would hit it big.

Seo-jun also remembered hearing it from Brownblack when he was young.

‘Come to think of it…’

As Seo-jun recalled a memory, Bluemoon looked at Hwang Yejun with shining eyes. 

They wondered if he had ever seen that ghost that brought luck to hit songs with Brownblack’s career.

Hwang Yejun shook his head slightly.

“I was curious about that too, but I never saw it. I never had any weird sounds in my recordings either.”

“It might be because this place is not underground.”

Choi Jaewon said as he ate tangsuyuk with chopsticks. 

Hwang Yejun answered as he picked up another piece of tangsuyuk.

“We did it in an underground recording studio in the early days of BrBl, but we still didn’t see it.”

“Ah.”

“Huh?”

At the sudden voice, Hwang Yejun and Bluemoon looked at Seo-jun. 

Seo-jun shook his head quickly at their curious gaze.

“No, it’s nothing.”

As Hwang Yejun and Bluemoon resumed their conversation about the ghost of the recording studio, Seo-jun listened to their stories while recalling his old memory.

‘That thing…’

The blurry thing that stood in the corner of the underground recording studio.

Little Seo-jun, who came to see Brownblack’s recording, stared at it with his round eyes, holding the straps of his Haetae bag that came out of Monster Company. 

Haetae was a mythical beast that repelled fire and disaster.

Brownblack and manager Seo Eunchan were busy preparing for the recording, so they didn’t notice Seo-jun staring at an empty corner.

The white thing was emitting a sinister aura.

It wasn’t enough to harm people, but Seo-jun was worried that it might affect his hyungs’ awesome recording. 

So the brave little Seo-jun wrapped a string around his tiny hand and slapped it down like a mosquito.

The thing tore apart like it was cut by sharp claws, and it looked like it was screaming silently. But the courageous Seo-jun rather cleared his throat and shrugged his shoulders. 

The Haetae bag that hung on Seo-jun’s back also bounced along.

‘Seo-jun, is there a bug there?’

‘Is it a mosquito?’

‘No! It’s gone! I got rid of it!’

“Wow! Seo-jun! You’re good at catching mosquitoes!”

Hwang Ye-jun lifted up the little Seo-jun and spun him around, making him laugh. 

Park Seo-jin quickly brought a wet tissue.

“Seo-jun, give me your hand. Let’s wipe it. It’s dirty.”

“Yeah. Jiji, jiji.”

Seo-jun’s words reminded the high school student Seo-jun of the recording studio ghost who became Jiji for a moment, following Kevin Kim’s words. 

He smiled softly.

“Ah, Ye-jun hyung. There were a lot of traditional instruments in the conference room. Did you buy them?”

Traditional instruments?

Suddenly, Blue Moon remembered the various sounds of instruments they heard in Cocoa Entertainment’s conference room. 

They listened carefully to the conversation between Seo-jun and Hwang Ye-jun.

Hwang Ye-jun, who was eating dumplings, shook his head.

“No. I borrowed them from some people I know. I’m only going to use them for a while.”

“Are you going to play them yourself when the song is finished?”

“I was planning to leave the playing to the experts! I’m just collecting sounds right now. It’s hard to call an expert every time I’m curious about a simple sound. But it’s harder than I thought to make a sound. The drum and the gong are the easiest! Heh.”

He laughed as if he had given up, and Seo-jun’s eyes sparkled as he spoke.

“Can I try playing them then?”

At his words, Hwang Ye-jun and Blue Moon widened their eyes.

“You can play traditional instruments too? When did you learn that?”

“I learned a little in the past.”

A long time ago, in his previous life.

Seo-jun smiled brightly as he answered, and Hwang Ye-jun’s eyes shone as he jumped up from his seat. 

He had known Seo-jun for a long time. 

That ‘little’ was not an ordinary person’s ‘little’.

“Do you want to play now? Can I record it?”

As Seo-jun and Hwang Ye-jun were talking, Blue Moon, who had been quietly listening, rolled their eyes.

“We have to finish recording the album first, Ye-jun hyung.”

Hwang Ye-jun, who seemed to have forgotten that, nodded his head regretfully and then looked at Blue Moon with a gleam in his eye.

“Guys! Let’s start recording right away!”

The members of Blue Moon swallowed their saliva as they looked at their senior who had a strange energy.

***

“This is like…”

“Like a hero who betrayed his soldiers?”

“Or like a sacrifice for the demon king?”

A few hours later.

Blue Moon came out of the recording session looking like soldiers who had their souls taken away by a dragon or a demon king. 

The hero who betrayed his soldiers, Seo-jun, laughed and said.

“Was it hard? I didn’t think Ye-jun hyung was that type of person.”

“It hurts more than physically.”

“It felt like being bombarded with facts.”

Kim Si-hoon and Park Ee-deun sobbed exaggeratedly.

“He taught us how to sing while singing himself… I felt like I was so lacking…”

“The afternoon recording was harder than the morning one. The morning one was like ‘Oh, they’re just kids.’ But the afternoon one was like ‘See, you can sing like this?’”

Choi Jae-won and Baek Ee-hyun, who had the most vocal parts and suffered the most, laughed bitterly as if they had given up.

“But we learned a lot. He really is Brown Black.”

Jung Eun-sung’s words were echoed by the other members.

“He seemed to know our voices and songs better than us, right?”

“Yeah? He seemed to know what I was good at and what I needed to improve.”

“I wish Hwang Ye-jun senior would do our next album recording too!”

The members of Blue Moon nodded their heads in agreement as Choi Jae-won spoke. 

Seo-jun smiled as he saw Blue Moon learning well.

“Seo-jun, are you ready?”

Hwang Ye-jun called out to Seo-jun and he and Blue Moon entered the recording studio.

Inside the recording studio booth, there were a gayageum and a geomungo.

Blue Moon took their seats on the sofa and Seo-jun, who was going to play the gayageum and geomungo, turned towards the booth.

“Ye-jun hyung. Is there a song you want to hear?”

“No! Anything is fine!”

Hwang Ye-jun chuckled as he answered Seo-jun’s question.

His laughter made Seo-jun blink his eyes and then shrug his shoulders as he entered the booth.

Gayageum and geomungo.

Seo-jun decided to play the geomungo first.

While Blue Moon was recording in the afternoon, Seo-jun had stopped by the Library of Life for a while and read a book that matched the instruments. 

He brought out the ability he had read from the book and activated it.

[(Good) Taebaek Gumiho’s Music-Middle Level is activated.]

[(Good) Taebaek Gumiho’s Music-Middle Level]

You can play the instruments of the Korean Peninsula at a high level.

Your music contains a divine energy that affects the mood.

Your ability is greatly enhanced when you play in the mountains.

He was a gumiho who lived in the eastern part of the Korean Peninsula, in the Taebaek Mountains. 

He had no name, but was called Taebaek.

Taebaek was a gumiho who loved music. 

He transformed into a human and learned various instruments. 

Playing instruments leisurely in the depths of the mountains was Taebaek’s hobby, skill, and happiness.

Seo-jun, who was once called Taebaek in his previous life, naturally sat cross-legged on the floor. He placed the head of the geomungo on his lap and supported it with his left knee and right foot.

Then he placed his left hand, which had a leather ring on his little finger, on the six strings so that he could press them. 

He held a stick called a suldae in his right hand to strike and pluck the six strings.

His natural movement made Hwang Ye-jun and Blue Moon, who were in the recording studio, open their eyes wide. 

He looked like a professional player who wore a hanbok and devoted himself to playing.

-Hyung. I’ll start now.

“Yeah.”

Seo-jun was silent for a moment after Hwang Ye-jun’s answer. He plucked the thick string with the suldae.

Thump!

A low melody that sounded like a bass guitar resonated in the booth. Hwang Ye-jun listened intently with a serious expression.

Seo-jun pressed, plucked, and shook the strings.

He felt his ability was excited by the long-awaited playing. 

He imagined his nine white tails of ‘Taebaek’ swaying gently behind him.

The heavy melody captivated the ears of the listeners, and the movements of his hands pressing, plucking, and shaking the strings captivated their eyes.

When the last note of the geomungo playing echoed in the recording studio, Hwang Ye-jun and Blue Moon, who were focused on the melody, noticed something white behind Seo-jun’s back. 

They blinked in surprise and it disappeared.

Kim Si-hoon, who was stunned, opened his mouth.

“…Is that the recording studio ghost?”

“…Wow. Does that mean our album will be successful?”

Ooh!

Blue Moon’s members were hopeful, and Jung Eun-sung said coldly.

“That means Seo-jun will be successful.”

“…But Seo-jun doesn’t release albums, right?”

Well.

Hwang Ye-jun smirked as he listened to Blue Moon’s conversation.

Seo-jun pushed the geomungo aside and picked up the bow to play the gayageum.

He noticed the restless atmosphere outside the recording studio and tilted his head. His nine white tails also tilted with him.

***

The dance trainer opened the practice room door.

They had finished recording and learned the choreography, so they only had to listen to the recorded song and fix the details until the music video shooting.

He smiled at the smooth schedule and saw a boy wearing a hat dancing alone in the middle of the practice room.

He admired his movement as he stretched out both arms and quickly stepped forward. 

He could tell it was Park Ee-deun by his dance line and habit of moving twice when stepping.

He smiled warmly at his student who practiced until break time and said.

“Ee-deun is working hard.”

“Me? What about me?”

Right next to him.

He was startled by Park Ee-deun’s voice from an unexpected place and stepped back a few steps.

He slowly looked down and saw Park Ee-deun leaning against the wall next to the door, drinking water. 

He looked up at him with a puzzled expression.

“…Then who is that?”

The trainer looked at the boy who was dancing alone with trembling eyes. 

He had taught him since he was a trainee, so he couldn’t mistake Park Ee-deun’s dance.

From his hand and foot movements to the angle of his arms and the strength of his steps.

It was ‘Park Ee-deun’ that he had taught in class.

‘…But Park Ee-deun is here.’

The boy who danced like ‘Park Ee-deun’ pushed his right toe against the floor and bounced back. 

As his body spun around, he heard Park Ee-deun’s calm voice.

“That’s Seo-jun. He said he came early because he was stuck writing a script.”

Seo-jun turned around and saw the trainer’s eyes. 

He smiled brightly and greeted him.

At that moment,

He felt a chill and goosebumps.