Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Looking back, there were several reasons Heo Junseong came to love the guitar, but the biggest reason was one.

Because in his young eyes the guitar looked like the protagonist of the performance.

So whenever he played he immersed mindlessly every time.

Even when he felt the limit of self-study and started learning at a practical music academy.

Even when he formed a band with friends and matched ensembles.

He couldn’t discard the old habit.

But now something was different.

A street performance that would be nothing to someone.

A common place called neighborhood park.

An audience of less than thirty.

In front of that the sense suddenly widened.

‘Why are these people sending cheers to us whom they’re seeing for the first time?’

The answer was decided.

It was ensemble, not performance.

It was music, not guitar solo.

It was art, not technique.

The constituent notes inside the C chord Cha Seoha spoke of.

He himself was one of the scales that constitute that chord.

The strength that had entered fully without him knowing drained.

And Cha Seoha’s words came to mind.

Look back.

Because there will be a cooler sound there.

The moment some sense hard to explain in words wrapped Heo Junseong’s whole body, Cha Seoha’s high note touched a very high place in Banwol Park.

And, the guitar solo started.

Ziiing-!

While flashily showing left-hand slide and tremolo picking he showed what the real climax intro is.

Picking that doesn’t lose delicacy while intensely plucking was for harmony with the bass.

The left-hand string noise crossing the strings was so as not to steal the synth’s place.

He released belonging together, not greed, into all the sounds he implemented.

Heo Junseong sprinted but did not run wild.

He ran but did not go ahead.

The guitar called the orchestra of 6 strings, while fully embracing electronic sounds, knocked on people’s hearts.

“Uwaaa!”

“Hey, crazy! What.”

“Wow! Too cool!”

People responded to that.

Like that with the last tremolo as the end, Heo Junseong’s solo ended.

Heo Junseong who held the pick high and stuck his gaze into somewhere in the middle of the audience.

On his expression there was neither excessive bluff nor needless humility.

Only pure overflowing on Heo Junseong’s expression filled solely with the joy that rushes in after playing.

Perhaps because he finished an excellent performance, to others it gave off masculine charm.

Cause we are

We are shining sun

We are glorious

We are who we are

Kim Jihu and Lee Doyoung sang together into the mics set up in place.

This song’s group singing part.

Perhaps because it was already a famous song, a few people following along were visible.

The song headed toward the end.

Pre-recorded drums.

Under that, Lee Doyoung’s heavy and stable bass.

Heo Junseong’s sensory guitar.

Kim Jihu’s skill filling empty space with various synth and wind instrument sounds.

And Cha Seoha’s excellent vocal.

It was the start of a band that would become legend.

* * *

“Thank you!”

“Waaaa!”

“Crazy!”

“Wow shit. What? What did I just see?”

“Right, they’re freaking good?”

“Good-looking!”

“Haha, thank you. We are a band that still has no name.”

“Wow, no name either? Did you just make it?”

“No way... The band name is ‘Still No Name,’ right.”

“Right? This skill can’t be a newbie.”

“Yeah, does that make sense.”

At the words that there is no name a murmuring sound rang for a moment.

But most people thought ‘Still No Name’ was the name.

Originally indie band names are often unique.

“But it’s a band? Not idol busking?”

“Ah, I also unconsciously thought it was idol.”

“Somehow a feeling of failed idol busking...”

“Hey, for a failed idol the faces are too large-scale.”

“Acknowledged. All are good-looking.”

Among them there were people making unique guesses.

“How was the first song?”

“It was good!”

“Cool!”

The response of the female students seated in front was tremendous.

In personal feelings he wanted to grab Heo Junseong and praise all day that it was a tremendous performance, but the timing isn’t that.

Because it’s during the performance.

“The next song we prepared with a bit heavier atmosphere. Please enjoy fun!”

“Yeees!!”

Like that the next song, Mandela Effect’s, started.

* * *

“Oh, I’ve heard this song before.”

“Right, the guitar sound is familiar.”

“Good.”

“Um. Nice.”

The reaction of was not as good as the first song.

It’s a song whose guitar riff is famous enough to record close to 800 million views on YouTube, but in Korea the song itself didn’t have popularity.

We arranged this 5 minute 30 second song short to around 3 minutes.

Changed the long long intro created as instruments join to a way all instruments enter simultaneously.

Also completely erased the narration part of the bridge section.

Even so it was hard to draw out popularity.

People who love rock are truly enjoying it, but that was a very small number.

Most of the audience are remaining here with the aftertaste of the previous song.

Drawing out the audience’s reaction with a not popular song is not an impossible thing.

For that to be possible all performers have to have confidence and immerse in the ensemble.

The ones doing that right now are only me and Heo Junseong.

Kim Jihu is just playing the song without making mistakes.

Lee Doyoung seemed to have confidence dropped sharply as if he expected this atmosphere.

A performer losing confidence in a performance is the worst.

Because not only the performers and colleagues but the audience will also notice.

ended amid an ambiguous atmosphere.

A performance that in some ways looks like a selection mistake.

But it was a part that was expected, and a part that was needed.

I didn’t show it to the members, but to me the success of today’s busking is not that important.

What’s really important is our members breaking the egg and coming out.

Lee Doyoung was thoroughly discouraged, and Kim Jihu harbored dissatisfaction with the ensemble quality.

Ready to break the egg.

* * *

“Everyone, not fun, right?”

“No! It’s fun!”

That it was an ambiguous atmosphere, both the performers and the audience would have known.

Cha Seoha had no thought of cowardly avoiding.

“Hey, see. I said not to do this.”

“Huh? Hey, when did you?”

“That kid playing guitar there said to do this but even if you dissuade like that he doesn’t listen.”

“Yai!”

“Pfft!”

“Hahahaha!”

Because Heo Junseong flustered, laughter burst from the audience seats.

That was also because Heo Junseong had been playing guitar with a manly appearance until just now.

“No, clearly everyone said my selection was good too...”

“Cowardly making excuses?”

“Wow, enough enough.”

Heo Junseong waved his hands and gave up refuting any more.

“The first song we let you hear earlier was selected by our bassist. How was it, good right?”

“Yeees!”

At the audience’s answer Lee Doyoung answered with a short slap performance.

“Ooooh!”

“Uwaaa!”

Surprised at Lee Doyoung’s sense, Cha Seoha immediately continued the ment.

“Hey, Heo Junseong, instead of flustering you should have answered with a cool performance like that.”

“No, you can’t refute with performance.”

“Guitar talking back?”

Heo Junseong was perfectly defeated.

Of course because of this banter the ambiguous atmosphere from a little while ago loosened a lot.

“The next song our cool keyboardist selected and brought.”

“Good-looking!!!”

A female student in front of the audience seats shouted toward Kim Jihu.

Kim Jihu answered with performance just like Lee Doyoung.

“See? You do it like that.”

Cha Seoha looked at Heo Junseong again and teased, and Heo Junseong trembled his body and expressed frustration.

“Why are those two so funny.”

“Hahaha! Ah, I’m really laughing.”

“Banter combo?”

“That guitarist is too fun.”

Cha Seoha was only grateful that Heo Junseong became a good device.

“Alright, then now let’s move on to the next song!”

Now it was the turn of Mice’s that Kim Jihu selected.

* * *

Ironically the song that was practiced the best was.

Perhaps because the ensemble difficulty was tremendously high everyone concentrated on practice.

In the end they reached a state where they could do the highest level ensemble among the prepared songs.

There was no worry about the performance itself.

However, Lee Doyoung kept being concerned about the reaction of the previous song.

‘Songs without popularity don’t get good evaluations.’

The previous song was cut into pieces so it wouldn’t be hard to appreciate.

Moreover because practice was sufficient there were no mistakes.

Even so the reaction was much regrettable compared to the first song.

‘Will this song be like that too...’

He wanted to become a competent bassist.

Like that genius.

But no matter how much he practiced he couldn’t become like that person.

Of course he knew his career was still short.

But that genius was very good from a young age.

If he could become like that person he would be able to draw out the public’s reaction regardless of popularity.

‘No. First concentrate on the stage.’

Heo Junseong announced the start of while playing the main riff.

Finally the drums joined and the bass joined.