Chapter 10

10,

Cafe, '01165tte'.

Han Jihyuk's performance began.

Although Han Jihyuk took the stage instead of Jeon Taechan, no one disliked it.

First-time visitors didn't know much, and regulars had already seen Han Jihyuk's singing skills at the previous event.

Han Jihyuk was scheduled to perform a total of eight songs today.

Feeling a bit pressured by the responsibility of handling the entire set, he planned to proceed at a leisurely pace.

'After all, it's about making it part of my flesh and blood... without any mistakes.'

Han Jihyuk thought to himself as he moved his hands.

His fingers lightly plucked the guitar strings, producing a sound.

'0, Re11, and 6...'

Han Jihyuk played the guitar calmly while thinking to himself.

-'The Six-String Magician' nodded, saying it was quite impressive.

All the hard practice paid off a bit.

When he first picked up the guitar, it seemed like everyone was turning their heads and ignoring him, but now they thought he was worth watching.

Han Jihyuk continued his performance while reading the messages.

The first song he chose for today was a popular British artist's song, which is also well-known in Korea.

The British artist often performs with just an acoustic guitar.

His songs are very good, so Han Jihyuk chose one of his songs.

He also had to consider the content for his YouTube channel, so he decided on this song.

If it was too old, people nowadays might not look for it, so he needed to choose relatively famous recent songs.

'Well, I do plan to sing some old songs...'

Why not, there are legendary songs, right?

Like the songs he sang with Jeon Taechan on stage or the ones he sang at auditions.

Three very famous songs that have been around for a long time and five famous songs that were released a few years ago.

That's today's set.

Han Jihyuk focused on the song he was currently playing and began to sing.

'Starting with the 0 chord.'

With a sentimental yet powerful voice, Han Jihyuk sang.

'Though your legs no longer move as they used to...'

The lyrics, which basically talk about love, started with this line.

Although he doesn't fully understand what love is, he can at least mimic it.

Han Jihyuk tried his best to express the emotions of someone in love, raising his voice.

The song is generally calm, but he made the sound very solid by straining his throat.

-'Another Queen' was impressed by the song but felt a bit disappointed that he didn't fully bring it to life.

-'The King of Pop' was tapping his fingers to the beat.

Messages appeared.

Han Jihyuk immediately understood that the messages in front of him were not negative.

It meant his efforts were paying off.

'Highlight.'

He closed his eyes, slightly furrowed his brow, and added a bit of force to his throat.

'(So, my love, embrace me with your lovely arms)'

Although the song was released five years ago, many people still remembered it.

The guests closed their eyes and enjoyed Han Jihyuk's performance.

Their faces were filled with pleasant smiles.

After finishing the song, Han Jihyuk made eye contact with Jeong Seonwoo and nodded slightly.

Jeong Seonwoo, receiving the signal, operated his smartphone.

After a short break, Han Jihyuk started the next song.

That's how his entire performance ended...

"Good job."

Jeong Seonwoo approached and said to Han Jihyuk.

He extended the smartphone he had been holding.

Han Jihyuk shook his head and took the smartphone from Jeong Seonwoo.

"Thanks. I just sang."

Although he was a bit tired, performing music on stage was very enjoyable.

By singing eight songs, he felt like he had become eight different people in one day.

The ability to immerse himself in the situations and emotions of the songs, that's the charm of music, isn't it?

Han Jihyuk checked the videos on his smartphone.

All eight videos were neatly recorded.

He paid a lot of attention to the sound, so the microphone recorded the sound directly, and it seemed to have worked well.

"Thank you."

Han Jihyuk slightly raised his smartphone and said.

Jeong Seonwoo shrugged.

"Just pressing a few buttons."

He gave a light response and patted Han Jihyuk's shoulder.

Han Jihyuk smiled softly and looked at Jeong Seonwoo.

He finally felt like he understood what kind of person Jeong Seonwoo was.

On the third day of performing at '011681:31'.

Han Jihyuk finished work and turned on his desktop computer as usual.

The desktop booted up with a 'Whirr' sound.

He connected his smartphone to the desktop and transferred the video files.

Uploading videos to YouTube takes more time than expected.

Some editing was needed, and the upload process itself took quite a while.

Although it was only the third day since he started his YouTube channel, he already had eight videos uploaded.

During the three days, he sang many songs, but only eight were uploaded.

However, it was a lot of videos in a short period.

The videos only had minor edits.

Instead of uploading the entire performance, he uploaded each song separately.

"Ugh... Editing is really hard."

It wasn't about adding special effects, just inserting simple subtitles and removing unnecessary spaces before and after the songs.

For Han Jihyuk, who had only focused on music and 'being a singer' all his life, even this was challenging.

Han Jihyuk messed up his hair and, after finally finishing the uploads, played each video to check them.

On the monitor, he saw himself playing the piano and singing.

-'The Inaudible Artist' said it was not a bad performance and carefully examined your hands.

-'The Six-String Magician' argued that you have more talent for the guitar than the piano.

-'The Inaudible Artist' is inaudible.

Han Jihyuk smiled at the message window and, while checking the videos, noticed something familiar among the related videos on the right and tilted his head.

The background was '011681:#', and it was a video of Han Jihyuk singing, but... this video wasn't one he had taken.

"What is this?"

He tilted his head and clicked on it.

The video started playing.

After a moment, Han Jihyuk realized when it was taken.

'When I first got on stage.'

As soon as he sat down at the piano, he saw Jeon Taechan, who was in a corner of the video, going down from the stage.

Oh my, I killed someone.

The moment he heard this, he got goosebumps.

Han Jihyuk opened his eyes wide and confirmed his appearance.

There was a significant difference between hearing himself sing and watching himself in a video.

At that time, he performed better than he remembered.

"I need to work harder."

There was a considerable difference between singing with the help of the music gods and singing purely with his own skills.

To bridge that gap, he felt he needed to work even harder.

A bit of excitement made his body warm.

He was confident in his hard work and had just seen how much he could grow.

'I'll surpass that.'

Han Jihyuk thought to himself.

After the video ended, he closed the YouTube window.

Realizing it was late, Han Jihyuk stretched his arms.

Stretching and letting out a light sigh, Han Jihyuk shut down the desktop and got up from his seat.

"I should go to bed now."

He had to go to work the next day.

Since Han Jihyuk was performing on stage, a new part-time worker was hired to replace him.

Thanks to this, he could go to work in the afternoon, but he still had to wake up in the morning to choose and practice the songs he would sing that day.

Han Jihyuk was thinking about waking up a bit earlier and practicing more.

Late at night.

After taking a shower, Han Jihyuk immediately lay down on the bed.

He quickly fell asleep.

That night, he had no idea what would happen.

6:00 AM.

A time when many people were still asleep.

Baek Kyungtae was sitting in the driver's seat, watching YouTube on his smartphone.

He was so focused on YouTube that he didn't notice the person he was waiting for had arrived.

Knock knock.

At the light tapping on the window, Baek Kyungtae jumped and looked up.

Baek Kyungtae quickly pressed the button to open the rear door.

With a 'whoosh', the door opened.

"What were you watching?"

"I'm sorry."

Baek Kyungtae immediately bowed and apologized to Lee Hayoung.

Baek Kyungtae, still bowing, quickly recalled the information he had heard from his team leader.

Lee Hayoung was one of the singers that IX Entertainment paid a lot of attention to.

A young female singer in her early 20s.

Whenever she releases a song, it tops the charts, and she has considerable influence in the entertainment industry.

She isn't someone with a wide network, but she is close to key figures.

She's hard to get close to, but once you do, she firmly considers you her own.

Originally, she was the team leader's responsibility, but due to his illness, Baek Kyungtae was assigned to drive her.

"It's not your fault... I was the one who came out late."

Lee Hayoung smiled and replied.

Her smile looked very pure.

The team leader described her as a 'cat-like person'.

Baek Kyungtae immediately understood what he meant.

Her smile resembled that of a kitten.

"What were you watching so intently?"

Lee Hayoung became interested in the YouTube video Baek Kyungtae was watching.

A small stage with a piano.

And a man sitting in front of it.

The composition itself was something that could catch Lee Hayoung's attention.

"Oh, um... It's a video of a singer I've been personally interested in recently."

"Is that so? Why don't you finish watching it and then we can start?"

Lee Hayoung smiled and said.

Without realizing it, Baek Kyungtae nodded and started the video.

It was a video that had just started.

Your legs don't move like they used to.

Listening to the sweet yet powerful voice.

Baek Kyungtae was slightly impressed.

Although he didn't feel the immense joy and emotion he felt the first time he heard Han Jihyuk's song, it was still good.

After about 4 minutes.

Baek Kyungtae subtly leaned his head towards Lee Hayoung, who had been watching the video with him, to gauge her reaction.

"Shall we... start?"

He asked cautiously.

Lee Hayoung casually leaned back and looked out the window.

Baek Kyungtae confirmed this and started the car.

How long had he been driving?

As they entered the highway, Lee Hayoung spoke.

"So... "

Baek Kyungtae looked at her face through the rearview mirror.

Lee Hayoung continued.

"What's that person's name?"

A seemingly indifferent voice.

But Baek Kyungtae's body hesitated the moment she spoke.

Lee Hayoung had the eyes of a cat looking at a fluffy ball of fur.

Meow.

Oh.