Chapter 38: Elimination

The deaf employee at the Left Bank Café turned out to be the former captain of TVXQ. This news spread like wildfire throughout the Seoul Arts School, but when a large number of students rushed to the Left Bank Café, they found the doors tightly closed, with a sign hanging that read "Closed."

Where was Yunjae at this moment?! When Yunjae returned to the Left Bank Café, he tidied up a bit, closed the door, and left.

Just now, he stood on the stage, feeling the热烈的掌声 from the audience. Although most of the applause was out of curiosity to see his embarrassment, Yunjae once again felt the passion that had long been absent, a feeling that surged in his heart. He had already decided to return to his friends and to his fans, but now this desire was even stronger. He originally planned to wait a few more days, but now, Yunjae could hardly wait.

He had waited for this day for four years, spending three lonely years abroad and one year at home. To recover his voice as soon as possible, he spent a fortune, endured great hardships, and bore the loneliness. He spoke only a few words in a year, and every night he had to take pills that made him feel extremely uncomfortable. For this day, he had paid a great deal. He had once felt lost, given up, and even self-destructed, but he still gritted his teeth and persevered.

"Now, it's time!" Walking down the street, Yunjae looked up at the sky, where the bright sun seemed to be beckoning him. He showed his white teeth and smiled brightly.

In the next moment, he took a deep breath. Yunjae's gaze gradually became firm, and his footsteps made a rustling sound on the snow, leaving a long trail of footprints.

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Gangnam District is the most developed economic and commercial center in all of Korea, home to many film companies, record companies, talent agencies, and commercial recording studios.

"Boss, I want to rent a recording studio!" Yunjae walked into a relatively large and professional recording studio.

The boss was clearly taken aback, looking at the few words written on the paper, then at Yunjae with a strange look. In the end, for the sake of the stack of Korean won in Yunjae's hand, he had the staff take Yunjae in. As Yunjae walked away, the boss muttered to himself, "A mute can sing now?!"

To protect his voice, Yunjae tried to speak as little as possible, avoiding unnecessary words and communicating with others using sticky notes, which often led to misunderstandings, like the one just now.

Although Yunjae maintained his treatment with unnamed drugs, his vocal cords had not fully recovered. However, as long as he didn't sing with the intensity of Chester Bennington, it wouldn't affect his singing. Still, Yunjae tried to avoid speaking unnecessary words.

Led by the staff, Yunjae smoothly entered an empty recording studio. The staff then asked, "We have professional sound engineers here. If you need one..."

Before the staff could finish, Yunjae smiled faintly and shook his head, declining the offer. He was very familiar with recording studios, from the large recording setup to the small buttons on the mixing console, knowing what each red and black button meant and what they did. Under the guidance of Yoo Young-jin, he had spent a year and a half in S.M. Entertainment's recording studio, and it wasn't for nothing.

The staff looked at Yunjae with a strange expression, sizing him up, but Yunjae was the customer, the god. As long as Yunjae paid and didn't cause trouble in the recording studio, the staff wouldn't say a word, even if Yunjae decided to sleep in the recording room.

"Alright, you seem to know your way around a recording studio. I'll leave you to it. If you need anything, just press that button, and I'll be there right away!" The staff pointed to a red button next to the main light switch and then left the recording room.

The soundproofing in the recording studio was excellent. After the staff left, Yunjae was alone in the empty room. Suddenly, he could hear his own heartbeat, which grew faster and louder. Standing in this small world, Yunjae felt a surge of boundless energy.

Walking to the mixing console, Yunjae's eyes lit up at the sight of the settings. He could immediately tell that this mixing console was very professional, with complex operations, unlike some recording studios that installed cheap, basic home mixing consoles to fool first-time users. Once they realized it, they could only suffer in silence.

No matter how complex, as long as it's not too simple! Yunjae took out an iPod from his bag. Today, he planned to record a song, requiring only high-definition sound quality. The original sound of the song was already completed. Over the past four years, besides focusing on treating his vocal cords, he devoted his other efforts to songwriting. It's no exaggeration to say that Yunjae wrote over 3,000 songs in four years, but only about 30 of them were recorded. The lyrics were all stored on his computer.

With these 30 songs, Yunjae could produce three full albums or six mini-albums in a short time.

(3,000 is not an exaggeration. Some meticulous songwriters can write far more than 3,000 songs in four years. Many of them are discarded, and only a small percentage are selected. For example, Jay Chou once wrote ten songs in one go.)

After searching through the iPod for a long time, Yunjae finally decided on the song to record. He copied the original sound to the computer, fine-tuned the various settings on the mixing console, set it to automatically play the original sound in ten minutes, and turned on the playback function.

Next, Yunjae turned on the camera function. There was a screen above the two computer screens, and under Yunjae's operation, the image inside the recording studio soon appeared clearly on the screen. After clicking the camera function, Yunjae entered the recording studio.

The recording studio was eerily quiet, and Yunjae could hear his own breathing. If the lights were turned off and he stayed there for 48 hours, he would surely go mad, his mind breaking down.

Taking a deep breath, Yunjae didn't hesitate and walked directly to the microphone, put on the headphones, and waited silently for the original sound to start. After about three minutes, a beautiful piano melody gradually rose, followed by the sound of a violin, perfectly blending together. After the prelude, the lyrics that Yunjae had memorized by heart appeared in his mind, one by one, like a slow-motion replay.

"I told all the lies

You believed them all

A simple 'I love you'

You never believed

The plot in your book

I don't want to act it out

Because I like a happy ending

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I can only say I accept it

Your unease wins your trust

But I get your comforting elimination......"

Although Yunjae's originally beautiful voice was completely gone, the slightly hoarse, raspy voice he now had a unique charm. Like Chester Bennington, it felt jarring the first time you heard it, but the second time, it had a mysterious allure, drawing listeners to hear it a third time. Perhaps this was a case of losing in one area but gaining in another. After the accident, Yunjae lost his beautiful voice but gained this raspy tone.

This song was written by Yunjae two years ago, still in his most skilled style of sad love songs. It was after creating "Like Being Shot" and "No Longer in Love" for Baek Ji-young that he realized he had a talent for writing such sad love songs. Yunjae named this song "Elimination."

"Elimination" is a difficult song to sing, although the melody is simple and the lyrics straightforward. The challenge lies in the wide vocal range required to master it. Yunjae, despite his damaged vocal cords, still had the ability to sing in a wide range, and he could hit triple high notes even back at S.M. Entertainment.

On the large screen in the control room, Yunjae stood calmly in front of the microphone, a noticeable change from his usual self. Only those who had seen Yunjae in his daily life would notice the significant change in his demeanor. At 20, Yunjae was not old, but he had a sense of maturity, which, though subtle, added to his masculine charm. Combined with his short, neat hair, he looked even cooler.

After the first recording, Yunjae returned to the control room, listened to it, and felt that some parts were not quite right. He recorded it again, and after the fifth attempt, he was satisfied and transferred the recorded music file to his iPod. He then slightly edited the video of his fifth recording, copied it to the iPod, and cleared all the recording traces on the computer before leaving the recording studio.

When he arrived, it was still daytime, but when he left the recording studio, it was already dark. Yunjae shook his head, realizing how quickly time passed in the recording studio.