Volume 2 / Chapter 78
TL: LightNovelCafe
Kim Jong Suk had never thought of the threesome as experts. He just thought that they were people with the ability to make fun and good music.
“Yes. Their performance skills are lacking and the song is simple, but they overcome that by putting in a few lyrics. And it’s exciting. This won’t be something just anyone can do. That’s what a talent is.”
“What do you think their point is?”
“The ability to release lyrics like eogiyeocha with thick voices at the exact timing. It’s exquisite.”
The threesome smiled widely at Jun Hyuk’s elation.
“Wow! We received praise from a genius. He he.”
“Is there something for you to fix in our songs?”
The members were happy at Jun Hyuk’s words and full of expectation.
“There’s a lot. It’ll be good if we pull everything apart to fix… But then it’s riding on your performance skills and you won’t be able to perform, so you should just leave it the way it is.”
“Such brutal assessment without hesitation.”
The three men did not seem to regard Jun Hyuk’s evaluation very much. They just thought that this was also something very fun.
“No. It’s not brutal… It’s because a completely different music will result if I fix it. There’s a band’s color, and no one should touch it.”
“Jun Hyuk, what do you think about performing with them? So they can see the floor of their skills.”
Kim Jong Suk, who wanted to see something more fun, kept pushing Jun Hyuk, but he kept shaking his head.
“No. What more could you need when it’s good now? It’s perfect.”
As the Threesome Bank Robbery left the studio, Kim Jong Suk spoke as though he had been waiting,
“Okay, let’s be honest since it’s just us. What did you think?”
“It’s really good. The problem is what will happen from now on.”
“From now on? Why?”
“It hasn’t been long since those three members started music, right? I could tell by their performance skills.”
“Yeah. It’s been… 2 years? Around there.”
“Their skills will keep improving now… and they’ll start to dislike the simple songs now. Then they’ll change it to music that’s a little more colorful, then they’ll become similar other skilled bands and be compared… and that’s how they’ll fail, I guess.”
Their novelty was their weapon, but if that were to disappear in a musician. It meant that they could have a long run if they maintained their novelty with a simple performance.
Kim Jong Suk slightly showed why he showed the threesome’s performance,
“There aren’t very many lyrics, but what do you think?”
“That was really impressive. When they said eogiyeocha is something that can’t be expressed with an instrument.”
Jun Hyuk did not hide his admiration and spoke.
“Why do you think that?”
“I thought about what it could be switched with while I was listening, but I couldn’t think of anything.”
He had tried to remember a sound effect in the sound library that he had listened to in Yoon Jung Su’s studio, but was unable to think of anything.
If Jun Hyuk had realized even a little that the human voice could not be replaced with any instrument, Kim Jong Suk had reached today’s goal.
‘Should I slowly lower the bait?’
Kim Jong Suk handed over a CD. A title was written on the CD in marker.
“Jun Hyuk, do you know this song?”
“No.”
It said, ‘Must Erase You in this Sadness’ on the CD.
“It’s a song that was in Lee Hyun Woo’s first album from 1991… It wasn’t paid too much attention to back then, but became popular once Lee So Ra sang it on I am a Singer.”
Lee Hyun Woo’s 1st album was a hit with the revolutionary dance song ‘Dream’.
“I recommend that you remake Lee So Ra’s version. Her version only has a piano accompaniment. Lee So Ra is… she has the best voice so… I was thinking what if you express Lee So Ra’s voice with a classic guitar. Is it possible?”
[TN: This is the actual performance – LINK]
“Then I’ll listen to the song first.”
“No. This is better to watch as a video. I asked the broadcast station for it. Watch it.”
Jun Hyuk put the CD in the computer and started to watch the 4-minute video.
The video was from the special Australian concert of ‘I Am a Singer’. She came out into the amphitheater with a shaved head and black clothing like a priest and sang quietly.
It was a song that Lee So Ra had to sing while reading off of a score because they had changed her song 4 hours before the performance, and she did not have the time to memorize them. She had been in 7th place at the time but with this song, she rose to 1st place with 48% of the viewer votes.
The only accompaniment was a sweet electric piano that was not elaborate or grand.
Jun Hyuk just stared blankly at the screen. As he had only listened to her early albums, he was shocked by how thin she had gotten and by her shaved head. She also must not have been feeling well on the day of the recording, because she looked sickly. She looked like a woman who had just gone through a breakup…..
Lee So Ra’s voice came as more of a shock than her weak appearance did. Strictly speaking, the lyrics she sang touched Jun Hyuk’s heart.
As it was the first time he was crying while listening to pop music, he did not even have the thought to wipe his tears. It seemed he had even forgotten that Kim Jong Suk was next to him.
Kim Jong Suk watched Jun Hyuk and quietly went outside. He needed to leave him for at least an hour for him to wipe his tears and calm down. Teenage boys going through puberty did not like to show other people their tears. As soon as he came outside, Kim Jong Suk clenched both of his fists.
It was a success.
He was not crying because the music is good or because is impressed by Lee So Ra’s voice since he said that he had already listened to many of her songs before. There was no doubt that he was crying because of the video’s somber atmosphere and lyrics.
This was enough. The key now was to see if the emotions that Jun Hyuk was feeling could be expressed with instruments. If they could be expressed with instruments, he would fail in his objective. But if it could not…he would be able to make Jun Hyuk sing. Jackpot.