God of Music

Chapter 73. 3 Years Already?(2)

Sejin Art Center.

People dressed in formal clothing were walking up the stairs. They handed their tickets to the staff and walked to their designated seats.

“A solo piano recital from Gye HyoMin. How long has this been, professor?”

“I guess it’s been 3 years? It’s nice to see her like this. Haha.”

That was the conversation between a middle-aged man and a middle-aged woman. Not only them, there were many others who were expecting a lot from Gye HyoMin’s piano recital. This was a solo piano recital after 3 years without news from her.

Everyone was filled with expectation as they sat down on their designated seats.

– Attention, please. In a moment, the Solo Recital by the Pianist Gye HyoMin will commence. Audiences should….

The relatively noisy audience became quiet when the announcement began. The audience seats were full. When the venue became quiet, the lights darkened and the curtains on the stage rose. The spotlight turned on and Gye HyoMin slowly walked out from the side of the stage.

The audience all met Gye HyoMin with loud applause. She, wearing an ample dress, shined more under the light. The applause filling the venue showed the expectation they had for her.

Sitting on the piano, Gye HyoMin lightly stretched her fingers and started her first song, ‘Chopin’s Sonata 2’. The audience closed their eyes to tune into the melody. The crisp playing of the melody tickled all of their ears.

‘Beautiful.’

Behind the stage, KangYoon was admiring the light from the notes. The grey light that had nagged him throughout the practice was nowhere to be seen. The usage of the pedal at the right times made the notes ring out more, and the nimble hand movements created a marvelous melody. The reaction from the audience became stronger as the light became more intense as well.

One, two, three pieces.

As the pieces progressed, the applaud from the audiences became louder. The light that shone in KangYoon’s eyes also became brighter.

‘Good.’

There was nothing wrong with the piano, and there weren’t any problematic occurrences either. As the recital progressed, the everyone was drenched in her piano.

Like that, the first section ended. Gye HyoMin exited the stage amidst a loud applause. KangYoon quietly headed to the waiting room behind the stage.

“Well done. How are you doing?”

She smiled at KangYoon’s question as though there was no problem.

“Perfect. I’m in my top condition.”

“There won’t be any problems at this rate. Let’s keep it like this until the end.”

“Yes.”

KangYoon left the waiting room after that. He was worried that his presence may disrupt her focus and held back on his words. With delicate people, watching silently from the back worked better than words of encouragement.

The interval finished and the 2nd section started.

The 2nd section started with ‘La Campanella’ and drowned the audience quicker than the 1st section did. Gye HyoMin played very passionately with her whole body and that affected the audience as well. Everyone fell deep into the piano.

And eventually, the final song was left.

Chopin’s Barcarole – the piece that left Gye HyoMin in despair several times.

‘Phew.’

She took a deep breath. She even fixed her posture again and resolved inwardly to do better. She stretched her hand once more as well. People held their breaths after seeing her act that way. The venue was filled with the sound of breaths.

KangYoon also changed his position from the back of the stage to the front. This was the most important piece. He stood in a place where he could see Gye HyoMin easily just in case something happened.

Gye HyoMin put her hands on the piano as she exhaled.

‘Hands, hands.’

Gye HyoMin stretched her hands multiple times. She kept reminding herself of the footage that she went through with KangYoon. The most important thing was the posture! – she kept suggesting herself with that.

???–????–?–??

After two more deep breaths, she started playing.

‘It’s begun.’

KangYoon also watched her nervously. It started off alright. Bright white light seeped into the people in the audience. Watching the audience immerse themselves in the music, KangYoon became more nervous; he was immersed in nervousness.

1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes.

It was alright until now. The audience were following closely as well. The problem began now. Gye HyoMin’s playing approached the problem zone.

‘No!’

However, at that time, KangYoon discovered that her palms were heading lower than the keys. At this rate, she would not be able to play the upcoming part. He looked around once and ran up towards the stage while being careful not to make any noise. He also ducked down so that he wouldn’t easily be discovered by the audience. At a place where she could see him as well, he pointed towards his own right hand.

‘Why…?’

Gye HyoMin was surprised to see KangYoon doing such a strange action. She was supposed to be focusing right now, and it even annoyed her as well. However, his hands were doing something. He kept pointing towards his hand.

‘Oh!’

She finally noticed that her hands were in a strange position. Although she kept focusing until now, she had still made that mistake. However, it wasn’t too late. She immediately fixed her hand posture into an arc. As soon as she did, the problem zone came.

??????????-??????-????–??-?—

As though sliding, she instantly passed the problem zone. She instantly went from the high parts of the piano to the low parts as though sliding.

“Wow….”

The audience exclaimed after hearing Gye HyoMin’s beautiful techniques and endless changes in tempo. They felt as though they could let go of their souls due to the beautiful melody. Slow, fast, then slow again – the piano sound softened until it disappeared. However, it suddenly became loud again and peaked.

“Wow.”

The loud piano melody slid up the notes from low to high this time. It was a new part of the piece. There was a grandeur befitting of the last piece. Everyone almost started clapping subconsciously.

‘Good!’

Gye HyoMin’s playing produced an intense white light. The audience was captivated by the light as it seeped into them. KangYoon returned to the side of the stage and heaved a sigh of relief.

As the piano sounds softened, a thunderous applause erupted out. Everyone was praising Gye HyoMin endlessly for her return in 3 years.

The recital marched towards the end just like that.

***

After successfully clearing his business with Gye HyoMin’s solo recital, he immediately reported to Chairman Won JinMoon.

“Thanks for your work. Working with people doing classical music should have been quite a task… you have worked hard.”

“Not at all, sir.”

Chairman Won JinMoon patted KangYoon’s shoulders and encouraged him. Naturally, he didn’t forget to talk about a bonus. KangYoon was all smiling since the bonus pay he received since entering the company amounted to even more than his monthly salary combined until now. That was the price of success upon success.

After his visit to the office, KangYoon headed to the president’s office for the next work. In the president’s office, President Lee HyunJi was talking with two men related to his next work.

“Hello, I am Lee KangYoon.”

KangYoon briefly introduced himself. President Lee HyunJi seemed to have introduced him beforehand as he didn’t need to mention a lot. The man with tied hair introduced himself as the leader Bang SanHyuk, and the relatively shorter man with shaved hair introduced himself as the vice-leader Kim DoMin.

After a brief introduction, Bang SanHyuk brought up this topic first.

“Our conditions are simple – A breakdancing stage with around 200 people.”

“200 people?”

“Yes. You can take care of the rest.”

Bang Sanhyuk’s condition wasn’t that hard to fulfill. KangYoon asked on while he wrote stuff in a memo.

“A small venue with 200 people as the audience… do you mean about the size of the theater in Daehak-ro?”

“I want it to be slightly bigger than that.”

“Okay then. An audience of 200 and the price of the tickets doesn’t matter….”

“Wait, I didn’t think about the ticket prices…”

Just as KangYoon and Kim DoMin were conversing, Bang Sanhyuk interfered.

“Are you selling tickets?”

“Yes. Is there a problem?”

“Wait wait. I didn’t know about this.”

“We do not stage a performance without profit. Otherwise, I think you’ve come to the wrong person.”

KangYoon was firm in this. President Lee HyunJi was rather surprised about this, but KangYoon didn’t care.

“Hey, stand up.”

As Battlemonsters went anywhere as long as people wanted it until now, KangYoon’s words caused a sense of rejection to him. Bang SanHyuk made Kim DoMin stand saying that they had no more business here. However, Kim DoMin seemed to think differently.

“Wait. How long are we going to do free concerts?”

“So you want to earn money using the fans who cheered and supported us until now?”

“Hey, just listen to me once….”

“Forget it. We aren’t doing this. It looks like we came to the wrong place. Please excuse us.”

Bang SanHyuk stood up from his seat. Kim DoMin also followed him out restlessly.

“Oh, the contract is gone.”

President Lee HyunJi stretched her arms as she shook her head. She thought that there would be something to make out of this breakdancing, and was slightly disappointed at the turn of events. However, KangYoon was smiling instead.

“They’ll come back.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look at that.”

KangYoon pointed towards where Kim DoMin sat, and there was a bag there. President Lee HyunJi burst out giggling.

“You mean he left it there on purpose?”

“The one called Kim DoMin will persuade Bang SanHyuk.”

“How are you so sure?”

“I looked into them a little before I came here. Their team, Battlemonsters, is skilled enough to take 1st place even in international competitions. They are legends in that field. However, they can’t live on with just prize money, right? The one called Bang SanHyuk just now doesn’t seem to be realistic in that sense. From what I know, the expenses of the team are practically managed by the vice-leader. Instead, Bang SanHyuk is skilled in unifying the team.

“But from what he said just now, he seems to think that the relationship with the fans is more important than a stage that can profit them.”

“Even though he said that he must be thinking differently. Otherwise, they shouldn’t have come here.”

“That’s true. They wouldn’t have staked all their prize money here otherwise. Let’s wait a little more.”

Just as KangYoon and President Lee HyunJi were enjoying their coffee.

Just as KangYoon had said, Kim DoMin came back to the office with Bang SanHyuk. Kim DoMin lowered his head in embarrassment, but Bang SanHyuk looked as though he had done nothing wrong.

“I apologize for the delay. Can we continue?”

“Sure.”

KangYoon continued the conversation as though nothing had happened.

Like that, the business between Battlemonsters and MG Entertainment began.

***

“This is our office.”

KangYoon was led by Kim DoMin. The first thing, or rather, things, that caught his eyes were the trophies and certificates that filled the glass showcase windows.

“That’s a lot of trophies.”

KangYoon couldn’t hide his surprise after seeing trophies and certificates written in English. The grandeur of those prizes received internationally since the year 2000 when the team was created, was nothing to joke about. KangYoon subconsciously clapped after seeing the 8 years of hard work. (T/N: Oh, we’re still in 2008…)

Kim DoMin became proud after seeing KangYoon admiring those prizes.

“They are our pride. It feels good that you’re acknowledging them.”

“You are at the peak of one field. You must have worked very hard.”

“Thank you.”

There were even grand prizes from global competitions as well. KangYoon could catch a glimpse of their pride from the photo where they were smiling with the Korean national flag in front of them.

After seeing the trophies, KangYoon sat down. It was time to work.

“15 members. 1 hour. The theme and the venue are still not decided.”

“You mentioned around 200 people as the audience, but in my opinion, I think there should be at least 500.”

“500?”

Kim DoMin’s eyes widened after hearing KangYoon’s words. Although they had performed in front of more people in global competitions, he didn’t think that bringing 500 people in their solo stage was easy.

“For now, yes. There isn’t much budget but… since we have plenty of time, I’m going to consider many methods.”

“Is there anything we must do to help?”

“I think I’ll be needing a lot of help, yes. But we’ll do most of the complex stuff, so you don’t need to worry about that.”

Kim DoMin sighed in relief after hearing KangYoon’s words. They had signed the contract with MG Entertainment precisely for that, and he was relieved to hear that.

The two entered the practice studio where the team members were in the middle of practice. Men with a lot of muscles were dancing under Bang SanHyuk’s lead. But due to this being practice, they didn’t show the razor-sharp synchronization between the members.

“Hmm….”

However, KangYoon was surprised to see such difficult moves. Seeing them doing handstands and arching their legs at the same time, and seeing how flexible they were with their body, he felt that it was a cool dance that was hard to see even on TVs.

‘But it’s still practice….’

Seeing the weak white light, this didn’t seem to be perfect yet. However, his eyes were drawn to it since their actions were very cool.

“JungYeon! Watch out for your arm! If you aren’t careful, you’ll snap your arm!”

“Sorry!”

“WooJoong! Your neck!”

“Yes!”

Bang SanHyuk shouted his lungs out as he taught his juniors. Kim DoMin told KangYoon that that was because a loud caution was necessary for them to focus. KangYoon took out a pen and paper and started writing down what he needed while observing their practice.

After a while, break time started. KangYoon approached Bang SanHyuk.

“You came.”

He was wearing a sleeveless shirt and was sweating from all over his body. KangYoon gave him a towel. He accepted and asked.

“Team Leader. Can you look for a B-girl by any chance?”

“A B-girl? Do you mean a female B-boy?”

“Yes.”

KangYoon asked for a reason at the sudden question. Then, he continued speaking while wiping away his sweat.

“As you see here, all the members of our team are men. In this field, B-girls are a rare existence. Even if we try to recruit one now, it will be very difficult to look for someone who’s proficient. Can I ask you to do this?”

“A B-girl, you say… is it fine if she’s a singer?”

“It doesn’t really matter… but to be honest with you, it will be hard for any singer to keep up with our moves. Dances shown on TV are a lot easier than what we do after all….”

Bang SanHyuk was filled with confidence. However, KangYoon admitted that. Breakdancing was very difficult after all. No ordinary dancers would be able to keep up with their choreography.

“Okay, I’ll look into that.”

“Please.”

Bang SanHyuk finished his words and turned around. Actually, he was already half-skeptical about KangYoon being able to recruit one.

“Well then! Let’s resume practice!”

Thinking that he should look for one himself if KangYoon couldn’t find one, bang SanHyuk resumed practice with the rest of the team.

***