The Reincarnated Idol Hard Carries an Indie Band - Chapter 129

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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 Hard Carry in an Indie Band
129
The second day of the Incheon SkyWay Music Festival didn’t end until late into the night.
We stayed out until the last subway closed, then barely managed to catch a cab home.
It’d been a long time since we’d had that much fun.
Same as when we went to the beach last time, same as when I first went to the United States.
Every time we came to Incheon, it felt like we were building up another precious memory.
The moment I lay down in bed after washing up, I checked my phone.
-Hamburger: Yo, I can’t find my wallet
-Fanboy: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ dumbass
-Do Young: Wait, you lost it?ㅠㅠ
-Kim Ji Hu: You left it in my bag, you idiot
-Hamburger: Oh right ㅋㅋㅋ give it to me tomorrow
These guys weren’t even tired, just kept yapping away.
-Hamburger: Wait, I can’t find my phone either?
-Kim Ji Hu: What are you typing on right now?
-Hamburger: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ oh man am I an idiot ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Kim Ji Hu: If that’s all you are, you’re lucky
-Fanboy: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋwhat’re you doing ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Do Young: Jun Sung…….
You really are an idiot.
After that, they spent a good while debating who performed best during today’s set.
Then gradually, starting with Lee Do Young, they began to quiet down one by one.
I couldn’t seem to fall asleep.
My body was exhausted, but my mind was too busy replaying the happiness of today to rest.
The thrill before the performance and the heat of memories from the stage itself.
And even the laughter shared with friends after it all ended.
It was all so precious.
Among it all, Heo Jun Sung’s foolishness stayed with me most.
Ridiculous guy.
Without him, Oktatop wouldn’t be nearly as loud as it is now.
He was annoying sometimes, but absolutely necessary.
He had a gift for lifting the atmosphere.
-#FireTruckChallenge
And he’d even created something this good.
* * *
The Band Community stayed hot all night, but it was only through written posts.
The day after the SkyWay Music Festival.
People who’d been there in person began uploading their fancams in earnest.
-OKTOP – Fire Truck + Rendez-vous (SkyWay Music festival)
-OKTOP – Cruise!! (SkyWay Music festival)
-OKTOP – Awaken (SkyWay Music festival)
Full stage fancams were being uploaded, along with plenty of individual member footage.
Each video racked up decent view counts and was receiving widespread praise.
And in the Band Community, reactions to these videos were pouring in hot and heavy.
-OKTOP fancam is seriously insane, these maniacs
-You seen the fancam? Seriously isn’t it crazy?
-Where are all those people who were talking trash about OKTOP needing to prove themselves?
-OKTOP must be feeling amazing, finally silencing all those haters…. They must be so happy
└Yeah, like Dampa said, could all be calculated
└Getting kinda creepy now
-Wow, Kang Min seriously shreds that drums so skillfully, is this guy actually Korean?
-How does Kim Ji Hu even play that solo? The sound’s strange but so cool
└Looks like he’s playing with his right hand and Transposing with his left……
└That doesn’t make sense
└I mean it shouldn’t, but like… seems like that’s what he’s doing
└Technique straight out of a manga lol ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Wait…. Are these guys really just turned twenty? They play like a ten-year veteran band
-Ngl this is facts, they’re seriously insane, people in the crowd must’ve been so jealous
-Lee Do Young’s improved too, definitely has more confidence now, nailing his parts
└Can you actually hear him though?
└Stop that
└Ultra Super Mega Optimus Prime Ukulele
└That’s seriously over the top lol ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Wow…. Look how hard Seo Ha works on the vocals, honestly there’s so many bands nowadays just mumbling through it, they should learn from this
Naturally, the praise kept coming.
The important thing was that there were no longer any comments criticizing or doubting Oktatop.
Of course, there were still people somewhere who hated the band.
But what mattered now was that they’d lost their platform to voice it.
Oktatop had already proven their ability through broadcasts, recordings, live concerts, and Busking.
That the Band scene fans still demanded proof from them was precisely because the SkyWay Music Festival held such prestige.
Renowned musicians had performed there as headliners.
International artists participated as well.
For Oktatop, those international artists mattered.
It goes without saying—the SkyWay Music Festival wasn’t watched only by Korean audiences.
Foreigners living in Korea, people overseas who loved Korean rock, and so on.
They too sought out fancams shot that day, and that was hardly surprising.
Though naturally, Korean viewers still made up the majority.
-OKTOP – Fire Truck (SkyWay Music festival)
Foreign commenters were flooding the comments on one song in particular.
-Wait, This is the ORIGINAL?
└Yeah the band behind the challenge riff.
└We’ve been copying These guys for weeks lol.
-They’re playing that riff LIVE?
-Original artists going OFF live, the energy is different.
-Look at the guitarist’s fingers. Is he human?
-Wait they look so young?? High schoolers?
└They are 20
└Twenty??? and they play like THIS?
They’d finally found the source.
One video shot at a major Korean festival.
It spread by word of mouth, and that “original” began to circulate.
Across the entire world.
* * *
Participating in the SkyWay Music Festival was every rocker’s dream.
That’s why we entered as well.
Though of course, that wasn’t the only reason.
To make Oktatop’s name known overseas once more.
That was the bigger goal.
Short-form video content wouldn’t properly take off in Korea until next year.
But overseas, several platforms still unfamiliar to Korea were already heavily investing short videos into the market, generating massive content.
So the market where Heo Jun Sung’s Guitar Challenge would really land was overseas.
We had to perform on this stage to promote it.
One thing we couldn’t help but be disappointed about was the domestic impact.
-Rank 19: OKTOP – Fire Truck
Highest position: 19th.
Well, I couldn’t manipulate the rankings myself anyway.
Fire Truck’s domestic chart position had to flow naturally on its own.
It was disappointing, but we were okay with it.
My friends were already more focused on the overseas side anyway.
“Hey, is this seriously okay?”
“Yeah, not bad actually?”
Heo Jun Sung showed the video to Kim Ji Hu over and over, asking for confirmation.
He’d been filming a Solo Performance video of Fire Truck for a while now.
He was thrilled when he finally got one he liked, and kept asking his friends over and over if it was actually good.
“Alright! Let’s upload it!”
And so Heo Jun Sung’s Fire Truck Guitar Challenge video went up on Oktatop’s official channel.
* * *
Until now, Oktatop had overwhelmingly enjoyed more domestic recognition.
Though we’d charted at Overseas Chart #1 once before, it was only briefly.
And even that had relied heavily on Moon Ga Young’s contributions, so while the industry gave us special consideration, we remained a step removed from public attention.
And with the video Heo Jun Sung uploaded, we bridged that gap with overseas listeners once again.
-Views: 1.13 million.
The initial upload saw slow growth, but after two days, the view count exploded.
English-language comments started pouring in.
The occasional Korean comment expressed confusion about why this particular video had so many foreign commenters.
-Why are there so many foreigner comments here?
-Probably hit the algorithm overseas
-They appeared on an overseas broadcast recently so they’re pretty popular!
└But there’s English comments only on this video
-The Fire Truck riff challenge was pretty trendy overseas recently
└Really? How did I not know
└It didn’t trend in Korea
└That’s weird ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Korean artist but only trending overseas ㅋㅋㅋ
└How many guitarists are even in Korea anyway…….
└ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ I’m dying
And so the world was discovering Oktatop.
The originator of a challenge that had circled the globe turned out to be ‘Mr. Huh?’ looking for a hamburger at The Greenroom.
Once they realized it was music from a Korean indie band called OKTOP, they didn’t stop at the challenge—they started listening to the actual music.
The idiot looking for his wallet and phone in his own hands had created a genius riff that achieved this.
And when Koreans caught wind of this development.
It didn’t take long for the news to spread.

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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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