God of Music

Chapter 185. Boy (2)

“H, hello. I’m In, In MoonHee. P, please take care of m….e”

In MoonHee did a 90-degree bow as she stuttered.

Seeing that, the middle-aged man, Namhoon, smiled kindly as he spoke.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. You don’t need to be so nervous.”

“……”

Although he said that, the aura of the veteran still made In MoonHee shrink back.

After a brief introduction, In MoonHee nervously entered the booth.

KangYoon and Namhoon had a conversation as they selected some songs in front of the mixer.

“Sir, you look like you’re having fun.”

“Yes, of course. I am indeed having fun. If I had a son, I would take her as my daughter-in-law.”

“Hahaha.”

Unfortunately, Namhoon had no sons, but three daughters. He seemed to have taken a liking to In MoonHee and looked inside the booth like he was watching his daughter.

Soon, Namhoon chose one of the songs from KangYoon’s list.

It was a popular trot song from the 80s titled ‘Street Nostalgia’.

KangYoon gave the signal.

“I’m playing it.”

When the music started, the kind smile on Namhoon’s face had disappeared.

– The rainy streets of Jongno – that day, you —

Her voice and the soundtrack created a blinding white light.

She was a little helpless at first due to not knowing the lyrics, but she soon grasped the song and sang smoothly.

‘She’s nervous, but it’s not bad.’

It was not bad.

Though, the loose feeling told him that the accompaniment was dragging her down.

“She has a good voice. But… It’s a little pity.”

When Namhoon looked a little disappointed, KangYoon carefully asked why.

Namhoon crossed his arms and turned around to the booth.

“She has the perfect voice to sing trot. However, her vocal style and the accompaniment isn’t up to par. Her voice twisting is exceptional, but… it’s lacking something. I think she can do better…”

“What do you propose we do?”

Namhoon turned around to KangYoon.

“She’ll have to train herself into trot. This is happening because she doesn’t know trot well enough yet.”

“Okay, thank you for your words.”

“As you said, president, she’s an exceptional talent. Just what was she doing until now… I should have found her first. It’s a bit unfortunate.”

KangYoon shrugged his shoulders.

Soon, In Moonhee, who had finished singing, left the booth and stood in front of them.

“Uhm…”

Her expression was full of nervousness.

KangYoon lightly patted her shoulders and bowed to Namhoon.

“Sir, please take care of our MoonHee.”

Namhoon wordlessly nodded.

The words ‘our MoonHee’ made In MoonHee tremble.

Leaving her behind, KangYoon left the studio.

***

“Hey! Lee SamSooooooon!”

In a cozy countryside barn, a lady’s scream of despair could be heard.

-Mooo~

The scream seemed to have even the meek cow surprised as it wagged its tail.

Regardless, Lee SamSoon laughed at her colleague’s screams.

“Hahahahaha!”

“Ah, I can’t do this! I’m NOT DOING THIIIIIIIIIIS! I’m going back!”

The screamer, Jung MinAh, threw away the plastic shovel and went on a riot, but it was all useless.

“I know you’re going to do it anyway.”

Lee SamSoon quietly gave her the shovel and put the black thing ‘produced’ by the cows into a wheelbarrow.

“God dammit…. just why did I get dragged here…”

Jung MinAh started shoveling again with a teary face.

It hadn’t even been that long since Eddios’s official activities had finished. However, she was thrown into hell because of the plans of the devil known as Lee SamSoon on this beautiful day.

“Take it easy, girlie. The smell will enter your mouth if you keep your mouth open like that, you know?”

“Blergh!”

Jung MinAh endured the smell and filled the wheelbarrow with the shovel.

The barn only became clean after a long time, and only after they put a new stack of hay in was their work done.

“Lee SamSoon, you! Come here!”

“MinAh, it hurts!”

Jung MinAh had thrown away her gloves as soon as the work was done and started pressing on Lee SamSoon’s temples with her knuckles.

“MinAh-unni is at it again.”

“She’s the Temper-MinAh after all.”

“Hahahaha!”

Two other members of the cast, Miri and Kang HyunJin, giggled while watching, and the laughter spread to the rest of the cast.

Jung MinAh had gained another nickname, the ‘Temper-MinAh’ during this brief appearance.

Like that, Jung MinAh had given everyone something fun to talk about in Gangwon-do before the shoot ended.

“Thank you all for your work.”

On the way back, Jung MinAh grumbled at Lee SamSoon.

“…SamSoon, how do you shoot something like that every week?”

Jung MinAh, who rarely showed up on variety TV shows, found Lee SamSoon incredible for doing something like that every week.

Lee SamSoon replied as though it was nothing much.

“It’s easy if you get used to it.”

“…Amazing. I don’t think it’s right for me. No, I can’t do it.”

Jung MinAh kept shaking her head. After one day of experience, she felt that 3 days of practice would be easier for her.

When the car entered the motorway, Lee SamSoon leaned her chair back.

At that moment, Jung MinAh suddenly spoke.

“By now, the ahjussi should be back from China, right?”

“I guess? What, you got something to say to him?”

“No, it’s nothing important…”

When Jung MinAh looked hesitant, Lee SamSoon sighed and spoke directly.

“…It’ll be better if you are honest about it.”

“H, honest about what?”

“MinAh, you can’t get on the bus once it leaves.”

Lee SamSoon went straight to sleep after saying that.

‘…I can’t be too late… right?’

She felt complicated.

In the end, she couldn’t fall asleep at all on the way back.

***

“Thank you!”

“Ooooh!”

After singing the final song, Lee HyunAh bowed to the fans.

After the stage, the fans left one by one and Lunas soon fell into silence.

Two people were watching over Lunas as all of this happened.

They were KangYoon and the manager of Lunas.

“The audience has definitely increased.”

KangYoon, who watched the stage from the back without speaking a word, could not hide his surprise after seeing the increased number of fans. Reading numbers from a report and checking it out with his own eyes was definitely different.

This was especially the case since Lunas-related matters were mostly managed by Lee HyunJi recently.

Now that he had checked out Lunas for himself, he found it amazing.

“Yes. But we still have them covered thanks to the good acoustics.”

“So the limit is space now. Space isn’t a matter that I can solve easily… what do you think?”

The manager couldn’t come to an answer easily to KangYoon’s sudden question. The manager usually spoke with Lee HyunJi, so conversing with KangYoon was a little hard for him.

KangYoon seemed to notice that and spoke softly.

“It’s fine. You just have to express your opinion freely. You’re the one who knows about Lunas the most right now.”

The manager, who was in his mid-40s, carefully spoke after hearing that.

“I, I think it’ll be fine for the time being. Right now, people only flock to White Moonlight’s performance. The audience seats still suffice for other band performances.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Oh, I mean that it’s not so urgent right now. It will be necessary to expand in the future, however, It’s currently alright, but…”

“Hmmm…”

KangYoon nodded his head and expressed his thanks.

“Thank you for your input. I’ll take it into account.”

“Oh, no. Not at all.”

Like that, KangYoon was guided by the manager to look around Lunas when he found a silhouette of a person on the stage. It was a silhouette of a lady.

“President!”

It was a familiar voice. When KangYoon focused, he found Lee HyunAh.

She waved her hand at KangYoon and approached him.

“Hi! It’s been such a long time! Oh, hello, manager-uncle.”

“Hello, Miss HyunAh.”

Lee HyunAh seemed close with the manager as well as she cheerfully greeted him.

KangYoon, who had looked around enough, told the manager thanks.

After the manager left, KangYoon and Lee HyunAh sat down on the stage.

Amidst the faint stage lights, KangYoon spoke.

“Nice performance. You’ve become better.”

“Really? Wow, that makes me feel good.”

Lee HyunAh smiled in happiness.

“The contents of the stage have become better as well, not to mention the atmosphere. How long has it been since we started?”

“It’s been almost a year now. I still can’t believe it. Our team is doing regular performances and at other places too… This is all thanks to you, president.”

Lee HyunAh looked at KangYoon with sparkly eyes.

Encountering a good person was very important in the entertainment industry, so meeting a person like KangYoon was a fortune for her.

KangYoon laughed and waved his hand.

“Don’t put me on a pedestal. Let’s just talk. I feel like I haven’t thought about White Moonlight recently.”

“Oh, you knew?”

“…Ugh.”

KangYoon shrugged his shoulders at Lee HyunAh’s joke. Then, Lee HyunAh approached him and tried to grab his hand.

At that moment, KangYoon suddenly stood up.

“Ugh, I’m feeling a little bit under the weather.”

“…….”

What was that?

Lee HyunAh became absent-minded for a moment. She tried her best not to show that she was flustered and stood up as well.

KangYoon stretched his shoulders as he spoke.

“You don’t have anything you’re worried about?”

“Not really. We’ve gotten used to performing in other regions too.”

“That’s good.”

After that, KangYoon asked her about many things. He also asked her if they had any trouble between themselves or with other people from the company.

Lee HyunAh had no major problem.

…Except one thing.

‘I hope she gets along well with MinAh…’

KangYoon could not say that to her though.

There was no way he wasn’t aware of the strange mood between the two. He couldn’t interfere with the relationship between two ladies.

After all, he might as well pour oil into the fire.

“Is there anything you want to say, president?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

In the end, KangYoon decided not to talk about the matter with Jung MinAh.

“Let’s go.”

KangYoon took the lead to leave first and Lee HyunAh tried to carefully grab his arm.

But then…

“Oh, I forgot I had to call someone…”

KangYoon suddenly took out his phone and started walking off somewhere!

‘What the!’

This was the second time!

Lee HyunAh sighed while looking at KangYoon’s back.

***

After receiving the lyrics from Kim JaeHoon, KangYoon put his best efforts into finishing the arrangement.

Then, he took the finished piece to Kim JaeHoon and…

“…It’s good.”

Kim JaeHoon put his thumbs up saying that the song turned out great.

He went back to work after saying that he would adjust the lyrics to fit the song.

A few days later.

The recording began in the studio.

“Brrrrrrrrr–”

Kim JaeHoon exercised his voice inside the booth while KangYoon got ready for recording.

– Ah, ahh. It’s echoing too much. Please increase the soundtrack and decrease my voice on my monitor.

The sound was adjusted and it was good to go.

Before the recording began, Kim JaeHoon asked.

– What do we do with the narration and the humming?

“Let’s record your singing first. Those two aren’t urgent right now.”

– Okay then.

“Then let’s start.”

– Yes.

With a start signal, the headset that Kim JaeHoon was wearing started making faint piano sounds. He closed his eyes and immersed himself in the song.

‘Not bad.’

Watching as the quiet voice made white light, KangYoon started adjusting the knobs. He repeatedly shaved down the sharp parts to make them softer.

After singing two verses, KangYoon told Kim JaeHoon to stop.

“Well done. Let’s just try once more. Leave the techniques out this time. And just sing as serenely as possible.”

– Yes.

Like that, the two were continuing to record when a guest arrived.

When KangYoon turned around, he saw Seo HanYu.

“HanYu.”

KangYoon was surprised to see an unexpected guest.

Even Kim JaeHoon became surprised in the booth.

Seo HanYu greeted KangYoon and gave him something to eat.

“I heard you were recording today, so I decided to visit. I hope I’m not a bother…”

“No, not at all.”

Visits from other singers during recording sessions were a common occurrence. Singers always took an interest in production, and many of them wished to learn about it as well.

Seo HanYu was no different and kept watching the mixer.

“Uhm, if it’s alright with you, can I watch how you work, president?”

“I’m alright with it. JaeHoon, is it alright with you?”

Kim JaeHoon lightly nodded as well.

“I don’t mind either.”

“Thank you.”

She was worried that she was bothering them since she had come without notice, and the two people were cool about it.

After a brief rest, the recording began once again.

KangYoon and Kim JaeHoon matched each other well.

Kim JaeHoon usually spent a lot of time during recording in order to produce a better sound, but when working with KangYoon, he didn’t need to invest as much time.

This was because KangYoon adjusted all the details according to his preferences.

Four hours.

Recording sometimes took more than a full day, but the two didn’t work on it for that long.

“Fuu.”

After recording most of the parts, Kim JaeHoon wiped the sweat on his forehead as he left the booth.

“Hyung, I think we’ll be done after we record the featuring part and the final bit.”

“Yeah.”

Kim JaeHoon sat on the sofa and fanned himself.

The narration at the beginning part and the humming part required a female voice input.

“It’ll be good if we can finish it today… Hm?”

Kim JaeHoon was thinking about the featuring part and Seo HanYu, who was watching KangYoon work, entered his eyes.

“HanYu.”

“Yes?”

“Aren’t you a little bored?”

When Seo HanYu made a puzzled face, Kim JaeHoon spoke with a kind smile.

“Do you want to try featuring?”

“What!?”

Seo HanYu’s eyes widened at his words while KangYoon suddenly coughed into his monitor.