Chapter 54: I Became the Older Brother of a Top Star

“Grunn.”

Hwang Juyong once again got up with a heavy body to go to his night shift at the factory.

Although his main job was a singer, reality was harsh for an unknown singer.

That was why he had to go to work at the factory every day.

He had to do this to continue his dream of pursuing music.

“Hm?”

However, when he woke up from his sleep and checked his phone, he found a pile of missed calls and messages.

There were quite a few from people who rarely contacted him.

“What is it?”

He had no idea so many messages would come in while his phone was on Do Not Disturb mode.

“Did something happen?”

He quickly checked the contents of the messages.

-Congratulations, Juyong.

-You finally did it, bastard.

-You got a big break, right? You can't be sleeping.

-Is this your song?

“...?”

All the messages were similar, congratulating him, saying they knew he would make it, and asking if it was his song.

“What, what is this?”

Confused, Hwang Juyong decided to follow a link someone had sent him.

There, he saw,

“Daily Siblings?”

Daily Siblings were a duo that Hwang Juyong often watched, and he had received a lot of musical inspiration from them.

But singing in a karaoke booth?

From what he could see, people had discovered two people in a coin karaoke booth and a commotion had ensued, leading to them singing there.

The surprising part was,

Jung Yunseong was singing a song that had been buried for two years.

“Is this a dream...?”

It seemed that Jung Yunseong had sung it once before, and due to the continuous calls for an encore, he was singing it again.

“How... how did he know my song...?”

It was a song that no one had paid attention to.

With thousands of new songs being released every day, it was perhaps inevitable.

Still, he had continued his life as an unknown singer, believing that everything would be okay someday, just like the lyrics of that song.

“...He really sings well.”

Jung Yunseong sang the song with a sweet voice, following the instrumental.

He sang it ten, a hundred times better than Hwang Juyong.

“It’s so good.”

“Yeah, it is.”

The audience in the video, completely absorbed, raised their arms and swayed, and Hwang Juyong slowly swayed his body from side to side.

“Ah—”

When the song ended, Hwang Juyong was left speechless.

“What, what is this?”

Hot tears streamed down his cheeks.

“I’m crying over my own song.”

The song was perfect for his current situation.

And Jung Yunseong’s heartfelt voice seemed to be comforting him, telling him that everything would be okay.

“I’m glad I put it in the karaoke.”

Unknown singers' songs are usually not taken by karaoke companies.

If he wanted to include it, he had to pay for it personally, but he had pushed hard to include it, never imagining it would come to this.

“2.5 million views?!”

Despite being uploaded only three days ago, the video had an incredible number of views.

While there were other videos, the one of Jung Yunseong singing Hwang Juyong’s song had the highest number of views.

-It was such a moving song. I almost cried.

-I felt comforted the whole time I was listening. I’ll have to come back and listen often.

-I’ve never heard this song before. Who is the original singer?

-I looked it up, and it’s a song by Hwang Juyong. Listen to the original; it’s really good.

-Wow. I listened to the original, and it’s amazing. Thanks to you, I discovered a great singer.

The comments were overwhelmingly positive.

Especially the comments about listening to the original made his heart race.

“Could it be...?”

He told himself it couldn’t be.

Unwarranted expectations can lead to greater disappointment.

But his hand naturally moved to the music app.

“...”

He checked the bottom of the TOP 100.

As expected, his song wasn’t there.

“Haha. Yeah, what was I thinking.”

I was a fool to have hoped.

Just as he was about to close the app—

“Huh?”

He saw a familiar name on the main page’s TOP 10.

“!?”

For a moment, Hwang Juyong doubted his eyes.

No matter how many times he rubbed them, it was the same.

Thinking it might be a dream, he pinched his cheek.

It hurt.

And his song was still in the TOP 10.

“Unbelievable.”

His hands trembled, and his heart pounded.

He had always had a vague belief that one day he would rise.

“Is this really happening? Am I really in the TOP 10?”

But as it became a reality, his vision blurred.

“Ah.”

Before he could share the good news, Hwang Juyong knelt on the spot and burst into tears.

All the pent-up frustration from years of struggle seemed to release at once, and he cried out loud for a long time.

* * *

Finally, the moment we had been waiting for arrived.

The official release of my and Yuna’s song was finally out in the world.

At the same time, the music video we worked hard on was uploaded to NewTube.

“Yuna.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you still refreshing the page every second?”

“D, did I get caught?”

“What’s there to hide? You’ve been doing it since a while ago.”

Yuna was almost pathologically refreshing NewTube and the music site every second.

“How can you be so calm? I’m so curious about people’s reactions, I can’t stand it. Even if I try to hold back, I can’t. I keep going back to check.”

Calm?

Actually, I was also refreshing the page non-stop until a moment ago, checking people’s reactions.

But I felt like I would go crazy if I kept refreshing, so I put down my phone and came to the living room.

But when I came out, Yuna was lying on the sofa, doing the same thing all day.

“Just relax. We did our part in promoting it. Remember the karaoke busking we did? And we announced the release on our NewTube channel. People will find it and enjoy it.”

“Really? What if no one listens? Or what if they say it’s not that good?”

“It’s okay. If that happens, we just have to do better next time.”

“Wow, are you practicing Zen? Is that even possible?”

Of course, I know it’s not easy.

I can’t even manage my own mental state.

But I can say this because of Yuna.

It’s not that I’m trying to stay calm for myself.

I believe in Yuna, who is destined to become a top star.

If I were alone, I would have been anxious all day, but because Yuna is with me, I’m not too worried.

It will definitely be fine.

If it doesn’t go well, we’ll do better next time.

After all, Yuna is destined to become a top star.

We just need to keep moving forward, steadily and without wavering.

But then,

“Ugh, I’m going crazy.”

Mother came out of the room with her phone in hand.

Yuna, sensing something was off, asked,

“Mom, were you checking the same thing as me?”

“Of course. I’ve been checking the reactions to your album and the music video on NewTube. I’ve been looking at every community site I’ve never even visited before.”

“Mom, don’t worry. Oppa will be fine.”

“Yeah, you can stop checking now.”

“No, I need to keep an eye on it. Fortunately, the reviews seem to be good so far. By the way, are you planning to stay home all day?”

We didn’t have any specific plans to go out.

“Why don’t we go play the piano?”

Even though we don’t have a lesson today, I felt like I needed to do something to clear my mind.

If we keep doing this, we’ll go crazy.

“Okay.”

“Change your clothes and let’s go.”

“Okay!”

We quickly got ready and got on the bus.

Yuna, sitting next to me, fiddled with her phone, glanced at me, and then turned away.

“Don’t be shy. If you want to look, just look.”

“Sigh—No, it’s just strange. I’m so happy our song is out, but at the same time, it feels suffocating. Ugh.”

They say that whether you’re a director, actor, singer, or writer, the day you release something to the public, you end up holding your phone all night, checking people’s reactions like an addict.

“Still, it’s better to be out here than at home.”

It definitely felt better to be out for a bit rather than just staring at our phones at home.

“Hey, aren’t you Daily Siblings?”

“Yeah, that’s us. Daily Siblings?”

But even outside, we weren’t free.

People in the bus quickly recognized us.

“Wow, I heard your song today.”

“I saw the music video too!”

“You look even prettier in person.”

“Can you sign something for me?”

It was a busy time on the bus, so people quickly gathered around.

“Hey, your song is already at 30th place?”

“Wow, it might hit number one soon.”

I came out to avoid thinking about the rankings, but now I know even more about them. We took photos and signed autographs in the cramped bus, and we were briefed on the real-time rankings of our music.

‘I should have practiced my autograph more.’

Until now, I just wrote my name when asked for an autograph.

But since this will happen more often, maybe I should create my own signature?

I watched how Yuna did it.

Surprisingly, Yuna skillfully drew her own signature.

“Wow, your autograph is so fancy.”

“Hehe, thank you.”

I stared at the signature for a moment.

‘That signature...’

It was similar to the one Yuna used in her previous life.

No, it was the same.

Interesting. I thought she created a signature after becoming a star, but she must have used this one all along.

“Phew, we finally got away.”

“Yeah.”

“Oppa, maybe we should start wearing caps and masks like real celebrities. Hehe.”

Fitting our name, Daily Siblings, we met passengers one by one and finally got off at the station.

Maybe we should start wearing masks and caps, as Yuna said.

“But Oppa, did you hear? We’re already at 30th place! I’m dying to check it out.”

“If you’re curious, just check.”

“Ugh, no. If I can’t resist, I’ll end up holding my phone all day in the practice room.”

Impressive self-control.

I chuckled at Yuna, who was clenching her fists.

“Let’s hurry.”

I chose the practice room instead of the studio because my father and PDs would be there, and they would definitely be glued to their phones, checking real-time reactions.

So, I planned to go to the practice room, put down my phone, play the piano, and spend some time eating snacks, but—

“Oh! You’re here?”

Professor Lee was in the practice room.

And next to him,

“I’m glad you came. Do you know how high your song has climbed in the rankings? Haha!”

He had his phone, tablet, and even a laptop.

All of them were playing our music.

Our professor was doing what only fans of idols do—streaming.

* * *