Chapter 40
“Thank you! The YouTube video will be uploaded in a few days. Have a good day!”
“I hope you have a good day.”
He waved both hands at the camera, then lowered them when he saw the signal that the broadcast had ended. At the same time, the studio door opened, and Ms. Hyein came trotting over and hugged Myeongjeon.
“Isn’t our daughter’s playing really amazing?”
“I was honestly amazed.”
If an ordinary parent had said something like that, one might think, “Oh, fuck, what kind of bullshit is this?” and simply flatter them by saying, “Your daughter plays so well~”
In Junhong’s opinion, Suyeon’s skill was… objectively speaking, after setting everything else aside. Even without the title of “Mr. Myeongjeon’s student,” she was truly excellent. She was good enough to debut as a professional right away. No, more than that—she was good enough to appear as a guitar judge on an audition show.
“I honestly don’t know when our daughter got so good at guitar.”
“No, well…”
Junhong watched the mother and daughter chatting so warmly, then asked a question.
“Is Suyeon a student of Mr. Myeongjeon’s?”
“Uh… well…”
Myeongjeon stalled, unable to give an immediate answer. He acted like a teenager who believed that nothing bad would happen if he just let the moment pass. If he continued not answering, as he had at first, Junhong would actually be more likely to trust him.
“Hmm… I see.”
Whether that had been his intention or not, Junhong seemed to accept it on his own and ended the conversation. Hyein gave him a strange look. Why had that man been so fixated on this “Myeongjeon” person all along? She understood that he played guitar well, but was he really that impressive? Hmm…
“Anyway, we really enjoyed filming today, and there are a few things I’d like to talk to you about. Would you have a moment?”
That was what Junhong said. There were things he needed to provide to support this young prodigy… or rather, the “last student of Mr. Myeongjeon.”
* * *
Myeongjeon watched the video that had been uploaded to Junhong’s YouTube channel. The live video didn’t have all that many views, but the edited version had… a fairly respectable number. Around fifty thousand?
Considering it had only been uploaded recently, Myeongjeon thought that was quite impressive. There were only a few videos on Junhong’s channel with more than 100,000 views. He had a couple with a million, but almost all the rest had only a few tens of thousands. And this one had already reached 50,000. It seemed to be doing pretty well.
- The greatest guitarist ever 👍👍👍👍👍
- The rhythm and technique are incredible,, Such wonderful playing, it’s a joy to listen to. I’m moved no matter how many times I hear it.
- Wow~ I personally never liked electric guitar, ㅡI don’t know anything about music, but this seeps into me as naturally as water flowing through a valley.
- ㅠㅠ This song is seriously incredible. I love it.
Judging from the comments rolling in, the overall feel was closer to “Myeongjeon” than “Ha Suyeon,” but that was that.
[White room]
@whiteroomguitar 13,843 subscribers 12 videos
Myeongjeon looked at his own channel. A considerable number of subscribers had joined right after the broadcast aired. It had only been a short while since he had painstakingly climbed to 10,000, but appearing on Junhong’s channel had brought him another 3,000.
‘So this is why everyone talks about promotion and all that?’
His YouTube views had risen quite a bit, too. Before, the numbers had crept up by a hundred or two at a time, but now they were jumping by a thousand or two thousand at once. The second original song that had been uploaded to some channel called Playlist, or whatever it was, was currently approaching 200,000 views.
His concern, however, was the audience. The statistics showed that viewers in their forties and fifties made up the largest group. The comments were similar to the ones on Junhong’s channel: polite and articulate about their feelings, but without the slightest hint of youth.
‘Is this really the right direction to take?’
After reading those comments, Myeongjeon began to doubt his instincts. Until now, he had thought he was running the channel fairly well… but looking at it now, it seemed something was off. The viewers were polite, but completely lacking in energy.
Myeongjeon himself had been the same, but most older people did not talk about their tastes. They no longer believed that other people would like the things they liked.
Young people, on the other hand, believed that other people would like what they liked. Whether that was true or not, they kept trying to spread the things they were interested in.
That was why building a fan base among young people was far more advantageous than building one among older people. And according to that theory, Myeongjeon’s channel seemed to have little room for growth.
‘Anyway, unless I get chosen by that mysterious algorithm or whatever, this looks like it’s going to be difficult…’
Should he switch to covering newer-generation songs even now? Should he cover K-pop idols like BTS, NewJeans, and Blackpink, or internet-born artists favored by young people, such as Yoasobi, 米津玄師, and ヨルシカ?
Thinking that, Myeongjeon mindlessly scrolled through YouTube. Then he saw a video titled [An Amateur-Turned Guitarist’s Emotional Performance ㅎㄷㄷㄷ].
The thumbnail looked strangely familiar, and when he clicked on it, it turned out to be one of those things called Shorts. The performance playing was the very same band song he had played on Junhong’s broadcast the other day. The view count? It had passed 500,000.
“What the actual fuck…”
Myeongjeon suddenly felt his blood pressure rising. He had barely managed to understand the concept of Content ID after Iseo spent time explaining it to him. Anyway, if he uploaded something to his own channel, even if thieves uploaded it to theirs, he would get the money, right?
But what about this? Since it hadn’t even been uploaded to Myeongjeon’s own channel, no action would have been taken yet… And the video didn’t contain the entire song, either. It was only a portion, including the climax and the solo. The part where Myeongjeon introduced his own band had also been cut out.
Thoroughly pissed off, Myeongjeon clicked on the comments. Let’s see what the people who liked this thief’s upload were like. He was curious what kind of comments they had written…
= Haㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ I’m looking forward to the full version,,
= I’m listening to this in the morning, and it makes me feel at peace. Like it, like it,,,
= I was completely exhausted after studying, but this was the first thing the algorithm showed me. Thanks to this, I’ve recovered my energy. Thank you!!
= That really soft muttering at the end is the best,,, Does anyone happen to know who that guitarist is??
ㄴ It looks like they just took this straight from a performance on another channel.
ㄴ Holy crap, are they insane?
= I heard this song is in the blues genre,, ㅠㅠ I thought blues was the kind of music old people listened to, but this is so moving.
= I looked them up, and that woman’s band is called “Group Sound”!! I’ll post their YouTube channel and performance videos here, so make sure to check them out!! http://you~
ㄴ Wow
ㄴ I’ll promote this person.
ㄴ Please pin this ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Myeongjeon read the comments and cocked his head slightly. Was that so? Young people liked songs like this, too? His instincts still worked after all.
Making a judgment that was wrong in more ways than one, Myeongjeon lightly wiped the corner of his eye. Getting old must be why he was tearing up over something so small. This was the first time he had felt grateful for the support of young people.
Still, he had to report it for copyright infringement.
Myeongjeon firmly clicked the [Report] button.
* * *
“Wow. This practice room is really nice.”
“Right?”
Iseo and Hyeona sprawled on the practice-room sofa and chatted. The rehearsal room they had used before… It wasn’t as though it had nothing in it, but there wasn’t much, either. A few chairs, a drum kit, and a keyboard—that was all. It had been a semi-basement rehearsal room that embodied cost-effectiveness.
But the practice room Suyeon had gotten them now? It was heaven itself. There was a sofa, a coffee machine, all sorts of snacks, and so on.
At the old rehearsal room, they had always had to go sit outside during breaks. Now they didn’t have to! It was heaven itself.
“We have to replace the snacks and coffee based on how much we eat and drink. I’d like to collect dues for that, so do you agree?”
Suyeon came in with Seoha as she said this. Iseo readily agreed, then bit into a Chik Choc cookie. The intense chocolate-chip flavor sweetly flooded her mouth.
“But how did you find out about this place?”
“That appearance on the YouTube channel I mentioned. They connected us with this place, saying they would support a promising band.”
As she spoke, Suyeon fiddled for a moment with a hand gripper that had been left there. The fact that Junhong and Seoha knew each other was quite unexpected.
“Seoha is a drummer I’d been keeping an eye on… So I’m really glad she ended up forming a band with Suyeon.”
Hadn’t he said something like that before? She didn’t know what their relationship was, but it was clear they were acquainted. Then again, with skills like hers, it would have been strange if she hadn’t attracted attention in the band scene.
“Let’s go over a few things before we move on.”
Saying that, Myeongjeon called the other kids over to the table. The band members gradually gathered after sprawling around on the sofa.
“First, the second song is complete, too. Iseo worked hard on the lyrics, and both of you worked hard on the arrangement.”
Iseo flashed a V sign. Myeongjeon smiled slightly, then continued.
“And we need to sort out the credits for our song. Royalties will be generated, after all.”
“Do we really need to do that?”
“It’s best to settle everything cleanly. It might be different if we were only going to make music for a while and then move on, but if we plan to keep making music… we absolutely have to sort it out. Otherwise, we’ll end up fighting.”
Myeongjeon thought of the bands that had fallen out because they had failed to properly settle their credits. Several had broken up over financial problems. They should have handled everything cleanly from the start, but instead they had gotten caught up in talk of sentiment and whatnot… Looking back, it had been a truly foolish era.
“And Open Mic. You all know there isn’t much time left, right? There really isn’t much time now, so let’s work just a little harder. We have a long way to go, and we can’t get eliminated at an audition for a club like that, can we?”
As he said this, Myeongjeon quickly surveyed the kids’ expressions. They all looked determined… or rather, they looked as if the actual performance would be easy compared to how hard the practice had been.
“We’ll be able to rest a little once that government support program is over, right?”
“Well… probably.”
Of course, Myeongjeon thought they wouldn’t. Open Mic, the support program, and then a band audition show. Their schedule was already completely packed, but…
‘There’s no need to tell them that.’
They say hardship in your youth is worth seeking out. You have to experience a busy period at least once to learn the value of peaceful times.