The Reincarnated Idol Hard Carries an Indie Band - Chapter 128

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Former Idol’s Indie Band Hard-Carry
Chapter 128
The Rookie Stage of the Skyway Music Festival was barreling toward its finish.
“Phew…….”
Cha Seo Ha breathing heavily.
Having burned through more energy than usual, he looked worn, but only slightly.
Yet there was no thought of stopping.
“Heo Jun Sung! Let’s go!”
“Yeaaah!”
At that brief shout, Heo Jun Sung launched into his guitar.
— OKTATOP – Fire Truck
Their most recent single release.
Quiet in South Korea, but the song was circling the globe through guitar-playing challenges.
It was that song’s riff.
In the original, the riff exploded after the intro and Cha Seo Ha’s vocals.
But today, they’d pushed the riff front and center by design.
Most of the rock fans in the audience already knew the song well.
The moment Heo Jun Sung’s riff erupted, the audience seating began to ripple.
Flags waving up and down in rapid motion.
The crowd surging between them picked up speed.
The slammers were stomping their feet, beginning to stir the moshing into motion.
After the riff came the siren sound intro, then Cha Seo Ha’s vocals — four bars.
As the vocals progressed, Kim Ji Hu raised the pitch of his synth.
Soon the song dropped, and Heo Jun Sung’s main riff burst forth in full force.
“Yeaaaaaah!”
The audience screaming.
That roar sounded like an aggressive war cry from a battlefield, not a concert venue.
Bodies colliding, hurling, surging in waves.
Watching the slammers’ fierce moshing, Cha Seo Ha prowled the stage like someone possessed, moving as he had in the music video.
Fire!
Cha Seo Ha bellowing lyrics that weren’t in the original.
Inflamed further by his voice, the audience shoved and hurled themselves, living and breathing the culture.
Flags snapped. People got hurt.
Yet the crowd didn’t stop — seemed to be having the time of their lives.
It was a frenzy, a celebration.
Oktatop’s relentless fire truck of a song.
It was driving the audience to madness.
There was no denying it — “Fire Truck” had the power to move people.
It had proven true here at the Skyway Music Festival.
It had already proven true overseas.
Confirming that Oktatop’s music could drive people to ecstasy, Cha Seo Ha couldn’t help but smile contentedly as the song ended.
* * *
As the song finished, Oktatop’s drenched members staggered into the audience seating, breathing hard.
“Oktatop! Oktatop! Oktatop! Oktatop!”
Countless people chanting their name in unison.
Oktatop didn’t rest and kept pushing.
Soon it was time for their final song of the set.
“Man, this is seriously fun.”
The audience, equally soaked in water and sweat sprayed from the stage, screamed in response to Cha Seo Ha’s words.
“Alright, anyone here seeing Oktatop for the first time — raise your hand!”
Few hands went up at Cha Seo Ha’s question, but scattered ones were visible.
“For our final stage, this song is for those of you seeing us for the first time. We want to show you exactly what kind of band we are, so please remember today.”
“Yeah, yeahhh!!”
“Alright, we’ll play our last song and then we’re done. Thank you so much — this is Oktatop. We appreciate you!”
After Cha Seo Ha’s closing remarks, the members began to play.
One instrument after another melded into a single song.
That song was “Rendezvous.”
The perfect punctuation mark after the breathless rush of what had come before.
A song that captured the youthful spirit Oktatop possessed.
Its technical level wasn’t as high as their other songs.
But the emotion it carried transcended any of them.
Through time
Through space
I’m coming to meet you
Just before Oktatop took the stage.
A breeze that had blown pleasantly returned to sweep across the venue.
The sweat drenching their bodies cooled comfortably.
Now the audience finally found some breathing room.
Until now, they’d enjoyed the stage without thinking, following Oktatop’s lead.
And Oktatop had unveiled “Rendezvous,” punctuating the chaos with a pause, giving the audience time to reflect.
“Ah…….”
“That’s good…….”
The intense stage Oktatop had just shown them.
Those who’d thought of it simply as exciting, catchy music all realized something in unison.
That the energy Oktatop had channeled was youth — was the essence of being alive.
That it transcended merely “they played well” or “the show was fun.”
Through that energetic performance, Oktatop had displayed their youth and made them all remember what it meant to be young.
By placing “Rendezvous” at the end, Oktatop’s concert had imparted that very message.
* * *
“Hey! You worked hard!”
“That was seriously amazing!”
“Man, I want to do it again. No encore?”
“I made a mistake…….”
“Whoa, Ji Hu, aren’t you being a bit harsh?”
The guys who’d had the audience in the palm of their hands moments ago turned back into kids the instant they hit the backstage area.
Their eyes were shining.
There was plenty of regret mixed in, but today’s memory would probably stay etched in their hearts for the rest of their lives.
We headed back to the waiting room to rest.
“Man, that was so fun.”
“Yeah, but it was pretty tough…….”
Lee Do Young looked completely exhausted.
Not just from the performance — it was the nerves.
A thirty-minute show was normally child’s play for us.
“I really messed up…….”
“Nobody noticed, so quit your whining.”
Kim Ji Hu beat himself up while Heo Jun Sung gave his shoulder a light punch, needling him.
“I mean, if nobody knew about it…….”
“……?”
“What?”
“What’d he just say?”
“What’s that supposed to mean……?”
Kim Ji Hu backing down from self-criticism.
That was about as rare as the sun rising in the west.
“Why? If nobody knew, then it’s fine, right?”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right…….”
Had some chains come loose?
I kind of liked the slightly gentler attitude that was emerging.
“Alright, I’ll transfer the footage once I’m back home and send it to you.”
“Thank you so much, Manager. For recording every time, for driving us…….”
“No, I was the one who offered to do it.”
The manager was looking at me intently today.
It was a little creepy, honestly.
“You guys…….”
“Yes?”
“Let’s talk soon, alright?”
“Why? Another broadcast appearance?”
“Manager, we told you we don’t take just any broadcast offer.”
The manager chuckled at our words.
“It’s not that, you kids. Let’s just grab a meal together.”
“Oh, that sounds nice.”
“So what’ll you do? Head home now?”
The manager said it was nearly time to leave, but we had no intention of going anywhere yet.
“We’re going to stick around and enjoy the festival.”
“Alright, get back to Seoul safely.”
“We will!”
With that, the manager headed back to Seoul first.
We decided to properly enjoy the festival now.
“Festival time!!”
* * *
“Hey! Want to grab some chicken skewers!”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Yeahhh!”
Heo Jun Sung bolted toward a food vendor, and Lee Do Young followed.
“Whoa! Maji?”
Kang Min, spotting something, blurted out an exclamation in Japanese without thinking.
“Hey, Kang Min — there are people around. ‘Maji?'”
“Oh!”
Kang Min panicked.
“Ah, I… well, I mean, is this real? That they’re selling something like that is amazing.”
The guy’s crazy.
There was some kind of anime character collaboration popup booth.
I couldn’t really tell what it was.
Kang Min lingered around it, hesitating.
“Man, I actually needed an eco bag, and this character design is pretty decent, you know? Even if I don’t know what it is.”
“Hey, you going to keep using that drummer?”
Kim Ji Hu asked.
“I’m not sure.”
I genuinely wasn’t.
“Whoa, whoa! That’s Oktatop!”
As the commotion from my friends grew, more people started to recognize us.
It was pretty common for rock festival lineups to come down into the crowd and hang out.
People naturally approached, asking for photos.
Some kept their distance out of consideration for not getting in the way.
After taking photos and signing for fans for a while, we bought some straw mats, found a spot, and sat down.
“Ugh, my legs are killing me…….”
“Lee Do Young, you need to exercise.”
“Yeah, but you don’t either, Ji Hu.”
“What?”
“Ah, I want to go down there and slam and have fun too.”
“Want to go together?”
“Nah, but now that I think about it, it’s kind of a hassle.”
“Seriously?”
We sipped on cup beers and nibbled snacks while watching the stage.
Today’s show was the biggest stage Oktatop had played since forming.
I’d stood on stages this size many times in my past life.
Back then, as a solo artist, the roaring applause from large venues would leave me hollowed out the moment I stepped off stage — a void I couldn’t bear.
The panic that would crash over me was so unbearable I’d often end up hospitalized…….
“Assa! You! You!”
“Assa! You!”
“Assa! You!”
“Assa! Red ginseng!”
“Every every red ginseng!”
“Hey! Kang Min didn’t do it!”
“Bow down! Die! Die!”
“Hahahaha!”
“Ugh! Ugh! Hack! Ugh!”
Kang Min was headed for the hospital.
“Ugh…….”
Being together made me happy beyond words.
There were many things about to blow up.
Our music making the rounds overseas.
The public’s reaction to today’s performance.
The growing scale of the band scene itself, and so on…….
There was plenty to think about, but I wanted to set all that aside for now.
“Hey! Heo Jun Sung, you spilled your beer!”
“Ah, shit. Wipe it on your own clothes, man!”
“No, wait! Don’t do that! Hey!”
These idiots deserved to be remembered in more detail.
I didn’t want to think about anything else.
“Well then, we’ll play Mulberry for you.”
“Yeahhhhh!”
Maruru Band took the stage and “Mulberry” began to pour out.
The crowd screamed.
If someone asks me far in the future which day was the happiest in the history Oktatop has written,
I think I would unhesitatingly pull out today’s page.

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