God of Music

Chapter 88. The Legend of Resuscitation?(1)

Korea ONE STAR top 10 candidate, Jay Han (real name Han SangHo) became the focus of attention yesterday when he was chosen as the most likely to drop out in the public vote.

When the selection and training footage of the top 10 members was released in the episode broadcasted on the 25th, Jay Han received compliments and attention for both his good voice and charming looks. But he was subsequently told off by the judge Lee JaeHyuk because of his bad pronunciation and poor song selection and then received the lowest amount of points. The obvious worry on his face during the next few missions made the viewers unsettled.

In the vote on the popular social networking website, Twisser, held after the episode, Jay Han was voted as the most likely candidate to leave the show first…

***

“…Shit….” (T/N: Spoken in English)

Reading through the news article that was written in Korean, which he was slightly unfamiliar with, Jay Han gritted his teeth. He received a lot of attention once he was selected as one of the top 10, and his name started circulating around the internet. And then…

– Jay Han is all about his face lol

– His pronunciation is so awkward. It must be his face.

– I swear to god that it’s his face that got him selected. The song’s meh…

“Aaaack!”

Looking at the comments on the article as well as on Twisser, Jay Han ended up screaming. A poll? Why are they making an article off that!

The mass media didn’t have good feedback for him. He tried to contact the people he became close to through the joint training, but they should be practicing hard right now. He was completely alone.

“Motherfucker….” (T/N: Again, spoken in English.)

He spat out rough insults. It was hard to control his emotions.

***

Lee HyunJi was satisfied seeing KangYoon’s confidence and spoke about the singer.

“His name is Jay Han. Korean name, Hang SangHo. Now, doesn’t he look handsome?”

Lee HyunJi’s eyes filled with bliss as she looked at the picture. Short hair, big eyes, and long legs. The man in the picture reminded her of a model. KangYoon shrugged his shoulders and spoke.

“He does look good. But he has the smallest support from the viewers. Voted as the most likely to drop out in the poll…. He sings well, but his pronunciations aren’t that good. No matter how good his voice is, if the words don’t get spoken properly, it’s not much different from baby mumbling. But the singer doesn’t sing English songs and is stubborn on doing Korean ones. It’s like a little girl trying to put on makeup.”

“So the most important thing will be to go with an easier song.’

Lee HyunJi rested her chin on her hands. The stubbornness of a singer was one thing, but this guy was about to drop out. Perhaps this was the right situation to use the expression ‘not as good as he looks to be’.

The next day, KangYoon met up with Jay Han in the office. Jung HyeJin and Lee HyunJi were screaming about how handsome he was, but KangYoon felt something different.

‘He doesn’t have a great expression. Did something happen to him?’

Was it nervousness prior to a stage? Or some other element of worry? Thinking about various things, KangYoon started talking with Jay Han. Jay Han played the song he wanted to sing on the next round from his phone.

“‘Below the Sky Without You’? Wouldn’t the lyrics be too hard?”

KangYoon shook his head while listening to the song. This song was written in 1999 and the lyrics were poetic. However, it was hard to express it as it had words that were hard to pronounce. As he knew that Jay Han had issues with his pronunciation, KangYoon didn’t want to recommend this.

However, Jay Han was firm in his decision.

“I like this song. I can express the traditional sentiments of Korea.”

Now that made KangYoon confused. Usually, people who were taught outside Korea have a hard time sympathizing with the illogical expressions of Korea. But this guy, he liked it instead….

However, KangYoon shook his head.

(T/N: Now, the translation is about to get reaaaaally janky since I can’t really ‘translate’ pronunciations. So, if you think ‘hey, that’s not a hard word to pronounce in English’, then it’s because I can’t translate those.)

“From the old folk tales – on the foggy windows – like the dust— You have to express it properly. Can you do it?”

“Yes.”

He straightened his shoulders in confidence. KangYoon could hear awkward words in his voice right now… but where is he getting all this confidence from? He shook his head.

‘Looks like there’s a need to tell him the truth.’

“Okay then. We need to see how good you are; so, can you sing it once?”

KangYoon came to a decision and let Jay Han into the booth. Then, he prepared a track. When the track was ready, he spoke into the mic.

“Have you memorized the lyrics?”

– Yes.

“I’ve set the microphone so let’s try singing it.”

Along with his words, the music started playing. The instrumental part ended, and Jay Han’s singing started flowing out.

– From the ohd fohk tayles – on the foggee windows – like the dust – oh – you liive (leave) my heart-

“Pfft….”

KangYoon burst into laughter. He had such a charming voice, and the voice said that…. This felt really unbalanced. The two women behind KangYoon’s back also blinked several times at this reversal. Jay Han, who didn’t know what the reaction was like outside, sung with passion.

In the end, KangYoon stopped Jay after the first verse and let him out. He didn’t say anything and made him listen to the recording.

“Oh….”

The awkward song that was recorded just now played back in the studio. Jay Han also had ears. He wanted a hole to hide in after listening to that awkward song. Seeing the two women trying their best to hold back their laughter, he felt even more embarrassed. His gripped fists trembled like mad.

KangYoon gestured the two women to leave and spoke.

“Until now, you may have survived thanks to your voice and your looks, but if you keep doing this, I can’t help you.”

“…….”

Agreeing with KangYoon’s words, Jay Han nodded his head repeatedly. He came to himself and faced reality. And then, he resolved himself.

After that, the two started going through a list of songs to choose from.

After tasting defeat, Jay Han didn’t say anything to KangYoon. This recording incident was an insult to his life. He was angry about the news articles, but now that he learned the truth for himself, he wanted to hide in a hole somewhere. He also didn’t forget about KangYoon’s consideration of him when he sent the two women out.

“If you are going to go with a Korean song, I recommend something easier to sing.”

Jay Han accepted KangYoon’s offer. Monitoring through TV and monitoring the voice through the booth had a lot of differences.

Jay Han chose the song carefully. Since he only had one song in mind, it took longer to choose. He played all the music available in the studio including vinyl records, CDs, and MP3 files. However, it was hard to find the one he liked.

While Jay Han was going through the songs, KangYoon taught Kim JiMin at the back of the studio.

“…This is perfect 5th. If there’s a sharp (#) on the third?”

“Major?”

“Good, that’s the basics. You learn quick. Until now, you learned the guitar through imitating, but you must learn it using harmonics as the basis for the future, okay?”

“Yes.”

While learning harmonics from KangYoon, Kim JiMin drew on the blank music paper. Right now, she was immersed in the joy of learning something she had never had the chance to learn or only learned through looking.

While being taught theory by KangYoon, Kim JiMin asked.

“Sir, that person. Isn’t he the one in ONE STAR?”

“Yes, he is. I got a request for an arrangement so he’s going through the songs.”

“Wow.”

Kim JiMin looked up to KangYoon. Receiving such gazes from a teenage girl, KangYoon became slightly proud of himself. His voice now had more power when he taught Kim JiMin.

While they were immersed in harmonics, Jay Han called for KangYoon.

“Have you chosen?”

“Yes. I’ll go with this one.”

KangYoon had a look at the vinyl record that Jay chose. It was a song named ‘You’.

“My dumb head- may not feel anything – and my dry mouth – may not say anything – “

He wasn’t asked to, but Jay started singing comfortably. The awkward pronunciation from before was gone. KangYoon listened for a while before he spoke.

“Good. Although the song is a little old….”

“The arrangement is your job.”

This time, Jay Han smiled. KangYoon said okay and extended his hand.

“I shall answer your expectations.”

Jay Han also grabbed onto KangYoon’s hand.

‘Wow.’

Kim JiMin found all this wondrous since this was usually something she saw through the TV.

***

“Hello.”

Lee HyunAh came to World’s office with the rest of the band. This was her first official day at work. The others separated to go sign their contracts, while Lee HyunAh headed to the storeroom on the 1st floor; KangYoon had something to show her.

“This… is our practice room?”

Looking at the completely empty space, Lee HyunAh muttered emptily. Not to mention sound dampening, there wasn’t even cardboard. It was just literally an empty space.

However, KangYoon spoke calmly as though there was nothing to worry about.

“Hey, you’re not thinking I’m just going to leave you here, are you? You said you all have your personal equipment, so you just need to install the speakers, a mixer, and the sound dampening foam or some cardboard on the walls. The ceiling isn’t too low here, so the sound won’t echo as much as you think. I’ll make it better than your previous studio so don’t worry about it.”

“Boo…. The basement is better though….”

“Then do you want to use it together with JiMin?”

“No, I don’t think that’s right.”

Lee HyunAh shook her head. Rather than everyone sharing good equipment, it was better to have separate spaces even if they had to have slightly worse equipment. She grumbled a little, but she did feel thankful for KangYoon’s consideration for her and the band.

“You know how to put up sound dampening foam, right?”

“Whaaaat!?”

Though, she still screamed at the sudden reversal of having to install sound dampening herself.

“Hey, hey. I’m not asking you to do it by yourself. We’re going to do it together.”

“You surprised me for a second.”

Lee HyunAh stroked her chest in relief at KangYoon’s joke. To indie bands, who had not so good practice environment, putting up sound dampening foams was commonplace, but still arduous.

KangYoon spoke the same thing to the rest of the band once they came down after signing the contract. They also seemed to have had a lot of worries about practice environment and rather welcomed KangYoon’s suggestion.

After that, Lee HyunJi came down and had a look at the soon-to-be practice room. Seeing the band chatting away, she spoke in worry.

“Did you say that they will have to do the construction themselves?”

“Yes. We need to save up on money after all.”

“I also told the band as well. They accepted it saying that it was the natural course of action. Looks like the kids are al nice. Though, I don’t want to make them go through such hardships….”

Lee HyunJi smiled bitterly. However, a practice studio was a must. KangYoon’s opinion was that they should buy more expensive materials and reduce the human resources cost, and Lee HyunJi agreed. They had to use environmentally-friendly materials and more effective materials for long-term health. This was much better than calling people to put up cardboard.

Like that, the studio construction was settled, and KangYoon took out the next topic.

“I think we need a manager.”

“Manager? Oh, that’s right. We can’t cover for them all the time.”

Lee HyunJi agreed to that. Both KangYoon and she had a lot of things to do. Jung HyeJin had a lot of things to do in the company including accounting as well. There was a need for specialized personnel for the field.

“What kind of people do you want?”

“A person with more than 2 years of experience should do. I’m thinking someone who could cherish our kids and has some sense in the area.”

“I’ll investigate that. As for the pay….”

“This field is quite stingy on wages. Give more than other places. Being a manager is not an easy thing to do, you know?”

“Looks like we’ll be in the red for quite a while.”

“Well, we prepared ourselves for that.”

Lee HyunJi said that they should just match the wages with other places, but KangYoon shook his head.

“Once the employees are stable, then they would do better. It’s better to treat them well up first.”

“…Okay. Looks like we’ll have to do more for the time being.”

“Once it’s stable, they’ll also feel a sense of belonging.”

In the end, Lee HyunJi nodded his head to KangYoon. As someone who had to manage funds, human resources were the part that took the most money. Being asked to increase it more did make her feel bitter. However, KangYoon was looking at a bigger picture.

That evening, KangYoon started doing arrangements. He listened to the song ‘You’ several times repeatedly and imagined about Jay Han’s voice in this song.

‘Let’s arrange it so that the high-pitched parts are more emphasized. A groovy R&B style should work well.’

KangYoon controlled the synthesizer to create a drum rhythm. He slightly tampered with the basic 8-beat drums to add more ups and downs and added the basic melody for ‘You’. Then, he played it back only to get a grey light.

‘Urgh….’

KangYoon creased his brows. As he hadn’t re-arranged the melody line, he was struck by a disaster. He stopped it immediately and started re-arranging the melody line.

‘Jay Han’s voice was relatively deep, right?’

KangYoon thought back to Jay’s voice as he edited the song. He wanted to bring out the rhythm of the song more, but it was hard to do so since it was such an old song.

‘Looks like I should redo the rhythm first.’

He created a set of basic rhythms and went with the one that he felt was the most appropriate. As a result, another edition of the basic 8-beat rhythm was chosen. When he added the bass line, a splendid frame for the song was complete.

‘Should I see it?’

He played back the first 16 bars. Then, a weak white light could be seen. KangYoon tapped on his feet to see whether the rhythm was good or not. It didn’t feel bad at all.

‘So now it’s the main line.’

KangYoon started adding things to the mainframe. It wasn’t so easy to add things while considering Jay Han’s voice. To bring out the best of his voice, it had to feel good yet simple rather than using fancy instrumentals. KangYoon tried his best to bring out the ‘feel’ while repeating that process.

“Wow….”

Kim JiMin, who was learning harmonics in one corner of the studio, sparkled her eyes while watching KangYoon doing song arrangements. The sight of a retro music gradually turning into a modern one was a rare sight to see. She quietly approached behind KangYoon. She was curious.

“Sit.”

KangYoon felt her presence and told her to sit. Then, he kept working.

“This part is like this….”

When Kim JiMin arrived, KangYoon raised the volume. He was planning to show her the arrangement process. Alternating between the mixer, synthesizer, and PC, KangYoon’s hands moved about busily.

‘So, this is what arrangement is.’

Kim JiMin’s eyes shined while looking at the simple notes becoming more and more beautiful. The chords and the notes on the treble and bass clefs all felt curious to her. The song felt as though each puzzle pieces were find thing their places. Combining several instruments into one complete piece. That was what arrangement was about.

She had a lot of things she wanted to ask about, but she didn’t say anything. KangYoon was focused and was even sweating.

‘So cool. I’ll also….’

Kim JiMin saw her future inside KangYoon’s figure.

KangYoon’s figure as he tuned the music and creating something new was unspeakably cool to her.