The Genius Composer Starts Again - Chapter 84

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“Hey, what are you doing? You’re going to catch flies in your mouth.”

Seeing SLO like that, a colleague next to him scolded him. With disheveled hair like a bird’s nest, his face was scrunched up as if he hadn’t fully recovered from his hangover.

“Ugh. Do you have any cup noodles here? I just want to drink some broth. My stomach is churning.”

“….”

“What’s really wrong with this guy?”

The colleague couldn’t stand it anymore and approached SLO. He looked at SLO’s monitor and let out an “Ah” in admiration.

“That thing from yesterday? It’s already here?”

He snatched SLO’s headset away. When he pressed the spacebar, the song started playing.

-♩♬♪♩

His eyes widened at the melody that came through. Soon after, he took off the headset and shouted.

“Holy shXt! Hey, what is this? This is insane!”

SLO crossed his arms and said nothing.

“This came in just one day?”

“…Yeah.”

“This is way better than the first draft you made, seriously. How did he refine that to create this song? It’s almost like a complete recreation?”

“….”

“With this level of quality, it’s an immediate okay. What are you doing? Why aren’t you contracting this right away?”

“Just, well.”

“What do you mean ‘well’? Wow, this is really amazing.”

He spoke with a voice mixed with admiration.

Then SLO gritted his teeth and muttered.

“…It’s not that great?”

“What?”

“It’s good, but there are some mediocre parts too.”

“What are you talking about. The only mediocre thing is your personality.”

“Shut up.”

SLO roughly snatched the headset back from his colleague’s neck. Then he grabbed the mouse.

“Still, I have my pride. How can I just immediately use a newcomer’s song saying it’s perfect? I need to give some feedback.”

“What feedback are you going to give? If you mess with it unnecessarily, the song will get weird.”

“Then I can just say ‘the first version was the best.’ That’s what our clients are best at doing anyway.”

The colleague shook his head disapprovingly.

“And, I need to see his face.”

“Hey! Are you really going to do this?”

“I’m really going to do it. What, should I do it fake? Don’t think you can slip away either. You guys were the ones who egged me on, right?”

“Damn bastard! That was just a joke!”

“I don’t know. I already sent the email. I’m going to string him along saying the song is mediocre, then make him come apologize in person.”

SLO muttered as if repeating to himself.

“That was the plan from the beginning when I gave him work. Not for real collaboration.”

Seeing this, his colleague clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

“Scratched?”

“No way!”

“You’re totally scratched.”

The colleague chuckled.

“So. What feedback are you going to give? Is there even anything worth giving feedback on in this song?”

“I need to give it professionally. Um… the emotional line is too closed off making it claustrophobic, and there’s some emotional oversaturation in the bridge…”

“You’re really trying hard to look knowledgeable.”

“No I’m not!”

SLO stubbornly argued while writing the email. Mixed with all kinds of technical terms, it was almost half English and half Korean.

[ Hello, YULE.

I listened to the song you sent.

The vibe is solid, and the melody flow is quite stable. However, the mid-range is a bit over-present, so the high-end air feels a bit dead. The emotional line right before the climax… ]

The colleague watching the email content from the side shook his head disapprovingly.

“You’re talking bullshit, complete bullshit.”

“Ah, get lost! There are ramen in that drawer, so go eat those.”

“Yes sir~.”

After his colleague shuffled away, SLO looked over the email he had written again.

‘Good. It’s ambiguous feedback that looks as plausible as possible.’

With this much, YULE wouldn’t be able to easily make revisions and would struggle for a while.

‘It’ll take at least a week, right? If I do this one more time, two weeks will pass in no time.’

To think that the great SLO was worrying like this because of some nobody newcomer. It was presumptuous for a newbie.

‘When I get to see his face, I’ll make sure everyone in this industry knows about him.’

Imagining the day he would gleefully mock YULE, SLO curled up the corners of his mouth in a smirk.

***

Two days later,

Another email arrived.

[ New Email Received: YULE ]

“It’s already here?”

SLO rubbed his eyes. But the email notification didn’t disappear.

‘It hasn’t even been 48 hours since I sent the feedback?!’

With a trembling heart, he opened the email. Along with a simple and clean greeting, an audio file was attached.

Click.

“….”

Until the song finished playing completely, SLO couldn’t say anything.

‘How is this possible?’

His pupils trembled finely.

‘All of my previous feedback has been reflected…’

It wasn’t simply at that level. Rather than understanding his demands and slightly ‘modifying’ the song, he had perfectly digested them to create a song with completely new colors.

And all in just two days.

‘When I said the emotions were too closed off, he gave it breathing room and left space for interpretation, and in the bridge he gave it a slightly restrained feeling.’

All the other nitpicky points he had complained about were also addressed.

If the previous song’s charm was its clean emotional line and deep appeal, this song added a touch of wistfulness and dreamlike sentiment for a different feeling.

Since SLO was also a composer, he knew very well.

To create this ‘slight’ difference, you’d have to practically tear apart and rebuild the entire song.

‘And he accomplished all of that within 48 hours?’

SLO held his head in his hands.

‘Is he crazy? Does he only eat and work? Or did he pull all-nighters? Even so, this fast?’

SLO stared blankly at the monitor, then suddenly snapped back to his senses.

“What, what am I thinking? This was just to discourage a newcomer. It’s not a real collaboration project!”

Right. The song quality was so good that it was tempting. But still, wrong was wrong.

“Fine. Let’s see who wins!”

SLO wrote a very long email.

“Huff, hah. This should be enough.”

Looking at the email he had worked hard to complete, he felt a sense of satisfaction.

It was easily 5 pages worth of A4 paper.

He pointed out all sorts of details to the point where I thought, “Really, even such trivial things?” He even interfered with whether to rest for one beat or two beats.

“Hehe. How about it? Makes you want to say it’s too disgusting to work with, doesn’t it?”

SLO managed a smile with his haggard face.

“If you mess around with it randomly like this, there’s absolutely no way a good song can come out.”

The composer’s world isn’t this easy.

If you follow the client’s demands exactly as they are, even though it’s a song released under your own name, the quality ends up being completely unsatisfactory.

‘This isn’t harassment, I’m trying to teach a lesson. Yeah.’

SLO rationalized it to himself like that, then sent the lengthy email as is.

‘The work speed is faster than expected though. Still, this time it should really take a week, right?’

***

Three days later,

Ding!

[ New Email Received: YULE ]

The mailbox chimed once again.

“…Oh, ShXt.”

At SLO’s muttering, a colleague from the next seat poked his head out.

“What. Did it come again?”

“Yeah. I definitely gave a shXt ton of feedback last time, you know? But it came again?”

“How much did you give?”

“Want to see?”

SLO showed his previous email. The colleague couldn’t hide his shocked expression.

“It’s practically a thesis?”

“Right?”

“How could anyone do all this? There seem to be at least 20 requirements?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Any worker would have gotten sick of it. But it’s only been three days. In just three days, YULE sent a reply again.

“At this rate, isn’t this YULE person actually four people like Y/U/L/E instead of working alone?”

“That might be it.”

SLO replied seriously. Seeing that, the colleague shrugged his shoulders, then urged SLO on.

“Hey. Play it once. Let me listen along too.”

“Okay.”

Click.

SLO clicked on the attachment with a trembling heart.

Please be mediocre.

Please!

-♪♬♪♩

At the music that followed, the colleague let out an admiring voice.

“Wow. This is proper?”

All of SLO’s trivial requirements were reflected. Perfectly, too.

“All the feedback you gave is in there. I even thought you were a real crazy bastard when you said it would be good to have minor chords during the climax in this part. But listening to it like this, it’s pretty good?”

As the colleague said that and turned his head to the side, he saw SLO tearing at his hair with both hands.

“Ha, haha. Hahahaha.”

SLO stopped pulling at his hair and laughed helplessly.

“Ha…. Fucking genius bastards, they should all die. Except me.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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