Chapter 9
‘It’s definitely different now.’
There was a talent he hadn’t possessed back when he had been ‘Seo Myeongjeon.’ It was still too soon to give it a proper name and say that, now that he had this talent, he could become a great musician, though.
In any case, there was no doubt that he was different from before.
“Let’s start a band!”
“A band?”
So she hadn’t misheard him. Myeongjeon raised his head and looked at Iseo.
“Yeah, a band.”
“…You and me, together.”
“Uh.”
“Why me?”
“Huh?”
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go, Iseo thought. A band… Didn’t everyone want to be in one?
Well, it wasn’t as though she had expected them to do that anime-style thing where someone says, Let’s start a band! and everyone goes, Wow, great! before joining together with laughter and forming a band that somehow succeeds.
Still, shouldn’t she at least get some sign that he was considering it? Thinking that, Iseo opened her mouth again.
“Do you dislike the idea of being in a band itself?”
“That’s not it.”
Myeongjeon had also been thinking that he ought to try being in a band, so that wasn’t the reason.
“Then why…”
The words Iseo was about to continue with were cut off by Myeongjeon. He raised a hand to draw her attention, then folded his fingers down one by one.
“For starters, I don’t even know what kind of music you’re trying to make.
And your skill… You have potential for improvement, sure, but are you really good enough to be in a band with me?
“Besides, have you shown me anything else? Some other strength or advantage? No. So what reason do I have to form a band with you?
“If we were friends, you shouldn’t weigh the profits and losses. But this is a band. Don’t we need to give each other something?”
Suyeon had expressed her refusal in an extremely firm and logical manner. Iseo couldn’t argue with a word of it.
‘But… I want to try being in a band!’
“Don’t you want to try being in a band while you’re still in school?”
“I do, but…”
Wanting to be in a band didn’t automatically make it possible, and there were limits to how much fun it would be.
For example, imagine a K League-level soccer player joining a neighborhood amateur soccer club. At first, he could play along as though he were teaching the less-skilled players a few things.
“But could he really run that soccer club seriously? If the player gave it his all, he could destroy the balance and sweep away the entire neighborhood amateur league or whatever.
“Would the club members accept that result? Would they just think, Wow, we won! We’re the best! And what about the soccer player?”
At the very least, they would need to be at the level of a second- or third-division league before they could even weakly match each other’s rhythm and play in earnest.
“Even so, that’s not a reason for me to form a band with you. If you look around, there must be other kids who do music. They’ll probably be better than you.”
“That’s true, but…!”
Iseo clenched her hands anxiously, as if she wanted to argue but couldn’t. After freezing like that for a moment, she suddenly shrieked.
“There are only guys who do music at our school!”
“Why does that matter…?”
Seeing Suyeon’s expression, as if she had no idea what Iseo was talking about, Iseo suddenly realized she had made a mistake.
‘For Ha Suyeon, that might actually be a plus.’
Iseo had never heard that Suyeon had dated anyone. But she had heard plenty of rumors that Suyeon stayed close to boys and subtly made use of them by playing on their interest in her. If she formed a band with guys, wouldn’t that just expand the pool of people she could use?
While Iseo was having that bizarre train of thought, Myeongjeon’s thoughts were heading in a completely different direction.
‘Does being male matter? As long as they’re good at music.’
Hadn’t Deng Xiaoping said it? Whether a cat was black or white, a cat that caught mice was a good cat. There was no reason male students should be a problem…
“That is a fairly serious risk factor.”
“R-right?”
Myeongjeon remembered his past. The band members, himself included, had lived fairly debauched lives. The tendency might have softened, but it probably hadn’t disappeared entirely.
So now a man who had become his bandmate might look at ‘Ha Suyeon’s’ appearance and try to make some kind of move on her? If something like that happened to Myeongjeon…
“Aaaagh!”
“What’s wrong?”
“No, I just imagined something so horrifying for a moment.”
While Iseo tilted her head, Myeongjeon thought,
‘To stop something like that from happening, I’ll have no choice but to form an all-girl band.’
If that was the case, forming a band with this girl didn’t seem like such a bad idea. If they included men, he could probably find members who were good enough. But if he limited the band to girls?
‘Honestly, this level isn’t bad at all. Her skill is only low in comparison. In absolute terms, she could easily rank among the better players.’
She would become even better if he taught her. Thinking that, Myeongjeon picked up the guitar.
“If that’s the case, then forming a band with you itself doesn’t seem like such a bad choice.”
“Then…!”
“But it feels a little strange, since it would be like showing off my skill in front of someone else. Still, I suppose I should show you.”
It felt a little odd to be doing this in front of someone so much younger, but Myeongjeon decided he ought to demonstrate and picked up the guitar.
The song Myeongjeon was going to play was the climax of John Petrucci’s Glasgow Kiss, which he sometimes played when he wanted to push his hands to the limit. It was a performance like a savage sea wind, with notes rushing in a violent torrent.
Without any preparation, the sudden storm of drive tone overwhelmed Iseo. Unlike the music, which seemed to flow together smoothly, Suyeon’s hands never rested—not for even a moment.
“I definitely can’t play this song as well as the person who originally wrote it. Still, I’m confident that if you searched the entire world, you wouldn’t find many people who are more technically complete on guitar than I am.”
After finishing the roughly two-minute performance, Myeongjeon said that and looked at Iseo. Her dazed expression was rather amusing.
“So, a band… I’m fine with it, but enthusiasm isn’t enough. We need people who are actually good. I don’t want to spend several months teaching basic instrument technique to kids who came saying they wanted to make music but can’t even handle the fundamentals.”
It sounded somewhat hopeful, and Iseo’s face brightened on its own.
“What do you mean by people who are good?”
“At minimum, they all need to play better than you. Since a band is a group, one person can be lacking in skill. Look at Metallica. Their drummer is like that, and they’re still a world-famous metal band.”
Myeongjeon said that and lightly scratched his temple. In any case, one hole in a band could be filled. If there were two… well, if the song was good, things usually worked out somehow.
“But three is too much. So the other two need to be better than you if we’re going to have a band that at least looks the part. If that’s not possible, then it’s over.”
Iseo nodded at that. In any case, these terms were far better than his initial outright refusal. She thought she could find one person, so the problem was finding the other. Maybe she should start contacting people.
When she thought of girls around her who were good at music, Iseo suddenly remembered the video she had seen the night before.
“Come to think of it, I saw someone recently who plays guitar really well. She showed up on YouTube. She was a girl, too.”
The person had seemed to have the vibe of a high school student. Could she be recruited as a lead guitarist? Thinking that, Iseo handed her phone to Suyeon. This person played guitar well, too, but how would she compare to Suyeon?
“Hmm…”
The video Myeongjeon received showed a performance by a three-piece band. A three-piece playing Voodoo Child.
‘This is me.’
“Isn’t she really good? Her guitar playing is incredible… She looks young, too, judging by her appearance. How can she play guitar that well?”
Seeing the admiration on Iseo’s face, Myeongjeon almost told her that the guitarist was him, but stopped. Was there any reason to? He had no proof, and there was no need to boast about it.
More than that, Myeongjeon was curious why a video like this was on YouTube. He hadn’t even seen anyone setting up a camera to film it.
“Wow, it has over a million views. Is that because it’s trending?”
“A million?”
Myeongjeon checked the view count again. A million… The title was certainly the sort of thing that made him want to click. [Legendary High School Girl Busking Guitarist Performance That Made Everyone Passing By Stop and Stare ㄷㄷ] It was incredibly cheap, but also the kind of title that made you want to click it.
“If it has a million views…”
“Huh?”
“How much money does it actually make?”
“I’m not sure… I don’t know the exact figure, but I heard you make around two or three won per view.”
At Iseo’s answer, Myeongjeon fell into deep thought. If he conservatively calculated two won per view, did that mean two million won for a million views?
The video didn’t seem to have been edited at all. It was just an ordinary video capturing his performance. It looked like something Myeongjeon could easily make—and edit better.
‘I think I could do this. Should I try making money through YouTube?’
* * *
After practice with Iseo ended, Myeongjeon went home and played the YouTube video he had seen earlier again. [This guitar is fucking awesome], [The future of rock in our country is bright], [Does he even know what song he’s playing?], [So you know Jimi Hendrix. He’s a seriously fucking amazing musician…], [Guys, check this out @Choi Hyejin @Lee Minhee], and so on. The comments were almost entirely full of praise.
[Does anyone know who this person is?]
ㄴ http://www.mule~~ The people who went with them uploaded a review and video.
Following the link led to a post that appeared to have been written by someone who had busked with him.
[Today’s busking was freaking amazing]
I posted earlier asking if anyone could play guitar, but honestly, I had already given up.
Then someone said they would come, so I was grateful, but since we didn’t know each other well, I thought we would just finish an ordinary busking session and call it a day. I thought I’d show them what I’d practiced next time.
The person who came was a high school girl? A college girl? Anyway, she was young.
I wondered whether we’d even have any songs in common… but this was incredible. She played so well. She even knew songs I didn’t, just a complete genius.
I asked if she might be able to come next time too, but got rejected ㅠㅠ I expect we’ll see her on a rock festival stage before long. I’m looking forward to it haha.
[http://youtube.co~] Here’s a short video of our performance.
- Wow, that performance is seriously insane. Is she really a high school girl?
- The feel is incredible.. lol Is that what a genius looks like?
- Wow~ I saw you guys in Hongdae and thought you were really good. But that girl? What is she, exactly? Haha, I’d like to recruit her for our band.
- Amazing. The people playing drums and bass are no joke either.
- Who is that girl?!?!!
ㄴ She’s a Mule user.
ㄴ Holy crap~~
ㄴ A beauty like that on this site… Why wasn’t I… ㅂㄷㅂㄷ
- But wasn’t the Mule user with that ID someone else? I remember him being a man;
ㄴ Please refrain from socializing here.
- I thought this was a full concert!! Jimi’s Voodoo Child!! I thought dead Jimi had come back to life. This is insane, seriously.
- We had a terrible time when our recording session went wrong this time, but if I’d seen this video, I think I would have hired that woman instead lol.
Reading those posts, Myeongjeon got a rough idea of how he should proceed with his activities in the future.
The band, sessions, and YouTube.
‘Make the music I want through the band, and restore my equipment through sessions and YouTube. Once restored, the equipment can be used for the band, sessions, and YouTube again.’
A kind of virtuous cycle.
Through sessions, he could broaden the channels of communication between musicians, while YouTube would raise awareness of not only Myeongjeon himself but also the band. Then the band’s activities—though it hadn’t even been formed yet—could raise awareness of his sessions and YouTube again…
‘What a perfect plan.’
Myeongjeon smiled. It seemed that things were going to go quite smoothly in this life…