Chapter 49
[Notice of Memorial Concert for Guitarist Seo Myeongjeon]
Quite some time has passed since the death of guitarist Seo Myeongjeon, who was also active on Mule. Since we were unable to take time to mourn his passing, we would now like to send Teacher Seo Myeongjeon off through music, even if belatedly.
Location : ~~
Time : ~~
Admission : Free
Lineup
- ~~~
- ~~~
As both a person and a guitarist, Teacher Seo Myeongjeon left his mark on the history of Korean session music. We ask for your interest in his memorial concert.
Thank you.
[Best]
- When I asked him to do a session, he was a little curt, so I grumbled about him quite a bit to myself. He seemed a little prickly that day. Like, “You want me to play it like this, right?”
‘Is playing guitar well all that matters? He needs to be a decent human being, for fuck’s sake~~!’
My friend who was handling direction and I were talking like that outside the studio, but as soon as he started recording, wow~~! He was so skilled that all my anger completely melted away.
On top of that, even though we hadn’t thought of it ourselves, we were incredibly moved when he recorded additional material, saying he thought we might need various other tracks.
Whenever I drink with my friend from direction, he sometimes gets drunk and says things like, “Hey, that thing happened back then~!” But to think he’d suddenly be gone like this… I think I’m going to drink a lot tonight ㅠ.ㅠ
[Comment]
- Teacher Myeongjeon passed away?? No, this can’t be…
- Oh… May he rest in peace.
- Another great star has fallen…
- [Best Comment]
- I was really dumbfounded ㅠㅠ I was thinking I should ask Teacher Myeongjeon to handle a session at the end of last year, but before I knew it, I’d heard news like this…
- I should tell the people I know. Oh dear.
- I heard on Suit hyung’s stream that he had a student. Do you think that kid will appear?
ㄴ Is there someone like that?
ㄴ Seems like she uses Myeongjeon hyung’s ID ^^;
ㄴ She’s famous as the “Hongdae Legendary Busking High School Girl.” Try looking her up on YouTube sometime~ She performed with Mule members.
ㄴ Yes, I’m pretty sure there is. She was really good at guitar~ I saw her on a YouTube live. I hope we get to see her that day.
* * *
Myeongjeon sank deep into a café sofa and took a long pull on his coffee. The iced cappuccino rushed through the straw into his mouth with a hearty slurping sound.
“Hungry? Have some more coffee.”
“No, you don’t have to go that far.”
This was the first regular band meeting since the performance. It was being held at the café where they always met, and there were no particular problems, but… Myeongjeon couldn’t focus at all. All his attention was fixed on one thing.
“Is something wrong?”
“There is something, but…”
At Hyeona’s words, Myeongjeon answered vaguely and ran a hand through his hair.
How on earth was he supposed to bring this up? There was no way to explain, without sounding utterly absurd, that “my past self died and they’re holding a memorial concert, so it has nothing to do with me now, but it’s bothering me anyway.”
“I know why he’s so troubled.”
“Why?”
“They’re holding a memorial concert for your guitar teacher, right? Aren’t they?”
At those words, Myeongjeon spat out the ice he had been crunching between his teeth. Pffft! The ice scattered across the table, followed by the high school girls shrieking, “Ugh, gross!”
Wiping his mouth with the tissues Hyeona handed him, Myeongjeon wondered how on earth Iseo had figured that out.
“If you look up our band, everything is just about Suyeon, and if you dig any deeper, it’s all stuff like ‘Disciple of Teacher Seo Myeongjeon!’ How could I not know?”
“Oh dear…”
Myeongjeon let out a sigh. Leaving him to it, Hyeona asked Seoha, “Who’s Teacher Seo Myeongjeon? Is he famous?”
“He’s famous as a session guitarist. Most older guitarists, or people aiming to become professionals and releasing albums, that sort of crowd, would know him. I did too.”
“If he’s that famous, I’ve probably heard of him…”
“Because he was a session guitarist. I can’t really say much with someone connected to him sitting right here.”
As she said that, Seoha glanced at Myeongjeon. He casually waved a hand as if he didn’t mind.
“It doesn’t bother me.”
At that, Seoha began quietly explaining it all to Hyeona.
Session guitarist Seo Myeongjeon. A guitarist who started playing in his teens and was unrivaled in Korea when it came to technique. However, the prevailing opinion was that his compositional ability did not match his technique, and many of the better-regarded songs in Seo Myeongjeon’s catalog were either written by someone else or covers.
“He was a guitarist famous for his incredible technique. Think Guthrie Govan, Jason Richardson, or Shawn Lane. People who actually met him say he had roughly that level of technique.”
Myeongjeon pretended not to care while subtly listening in on their conversation. In any case, who could feel bad about hearing praise? It wasn’t his fault that it made him feel good.
“The problem is that guitarists like those went beyond technique to develop styles of their own, and proved it through original compositions and performances… but Teacher Seo Myeongjeon couldn’t do that. He was highly successful as a guitarist, but a little lacking as a musician, you could say.”
“Was it really that bad…?”
But that good feeling immediately plummeted. Well, Myeongjeon thought, it wasn’t as though there was any way comments like that wouldn’t come up. It couldn’t be helped. They were true.
“Oh, there’s a Namu Wiki page too.”
While Seoha and Hyeona were talking, Iseo said as she looked at her phone screen. Namu Wiki? Hmm… Did she mean that site he often ran into while searching the internet?
“It says here: [A figure considered one of Korea’s greatest session guitarists. Although he seems somewhat overshadowed by some kind of acoustic monster (…), he is known for unparalleled skill in the electric guitar field.] … [However, his compositional ability falls short of his guitar skills, and most of his albums have received poor reviews.]”
“…Isn’t ‘most’ a bit much?”
Myeongjeon had no interest whatsoever in improving his reputation now that he was dead. What could he do about it? And it was true that a “large number” of the albums he had somehow managed to release had received poor reviews.
But as far as he was concerned, “many” of his albums had received poor reviews, not “most” of them. After all, he had heard that a few of them were decent.
“But that’s what it says here? It says, [Critics have also criticized him for producing many performances that were mediocre compared to his reputation, or for excessively imitating the styles of later-generation guitarists.]”
“No…!”
“Suyeon. I know it hurts to see bad things written about your guitar teacher, but…”
At Iseo’s words telling him to calm down, Myeongjeon nearly shouted at her—for the first time in his life since taking over this body. Wasn’t this outright slander?
No matter how lacking Myeongjeon had been in creativity, he still thought that, in his own estimation… his playing might not have lived up to his guitar technique, but it was at least at an ordinary level.
‘Just look at my third album…!’
The third album Myeongjeon had released was one that had received a fairly decent response from critics, at least. If “it would have received a sufficiently good evaluation had it been by a guitarist other than Seo Myeongjeon” wasn’t, objectively speaking, a positive assessment, then what was?
“Can’t be helped.”
“What can’t be helped?”
Myeongjeon resolutely lifted himself from the sofa and pulled out his phone. He had originally been leaning toward not attending… but after hearing this slander, he simply couldn’t sit still.
“You guys should come to the concert too.”
“What concert?”
“The Seo Myeongjeon memorial concert.”
“They’re even holding a memorial concert??”
With the three girls staring at him wide-eyed, Myeongjeon sent Junhong a KakaoTalk message.
[I’ll participate in the concert.]
[That’s a great decision~ The others will be happy too ^^~]
As the disciple of my ‘Seo Myeongjeon’ self, I’ll show them with all my heart what ‘Seo Myeongjeon’s’ music is really like… Of course, there might be a little “creative work” or “exaggeration” involved in the process.
* * *
Myeongjeon entered the concert hall, where preparations were in full swing, with a single guitar slung over his shoulder. It was a hall famous for its excellent acoustics and equipment.
‘They must have paid quite a bit to rent this place…’
Rather than feeling moved by that fact, Myeongjeon first wondered what on earth they were doing this for. It wasn’t as if they were preparing an extravagant memorial offering table after his death. Why on earth were they doing this?
‘No, thinking about it this way is pointless.’
Everyone had their own way of mourning, surely. Since Myeongjeon was the deceased himself, he only felt a little aggrieved; the people putting on this whole thing were not particularly at fault. Thinking that, Myeongjeon sighed and headed backstage.
“Oh, you’re here?”
Junhong was the one who greeted Myeongjeon. As Junhong approached him cheerfully and they shook hands, several people began edging over…
‘I know all these faces.’
Contrary to Myeongjeon’s expectations, quite a lot of people had come to perform. Park Seongho, Son Yeongcheol, Jeong Isu, Lee Sanghun… Some had maintained a certain level of contact with him, some had fallen out of touch, and some had stayed in contact until the very end.
“This young lady is Myeongjeon’s disciple?”
“Yes, she is. Ah, Teacher Sanghun, I’m telling you, these days you’d get in serious trouble if you called her a young lady. They’d haul you away over some weird law.”
“Hey! You can say that to me, but if you’d said it to Myeongjeon, he would’ve slapped you right away.”
‘Not at all.’
Watching them spread completely baseless rumors, Myeongjeon thought it was ridiculous. Even if the person in question wasn’t here, wasn’t that fabrication going too far?
“Anyway, I’m glad you came. It can’t be easy on you, so thank you for finding the courage.”
“Oh, well… yes.”
They took turns shaking hands with him. Some offered words of encouragement, while others were old men who, unable to act their age, made subtly lecherous advances. Myeongjeon made no effort to hide his contempt for such an old man.
“How much did you learn from Myeongjeon?”
“Could you show us your guitar? Your teacher’s guitar.”
Amid questions like that, someone posed a question that drew everyone’s attention.
“By any chance, did Teacher Myeongjeon leave behind any songs? Maybe an unreleased song, or something he recorded toward the end of his life.”
In the slightly hushed atmosphere, someone muttered, “I wonder if there’s anything like that…”
“Well… there is something like that.”
But Myeongjeon smiled faintly and nodded, and an “Ooooh~” of exclamation followed. As conversations tinged with anticipation passed between them, ‘Ha Suyeon’ thought she hadn’t technically lied at all…