The Reincarnated Idol Hard Carries an Indie Band - Chapter 16

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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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A Past-Life Idol Carries an Indie Band
Episode 16
When I first saw him, I thought he was a gifted prodigy, easily above high school level.
A little over a month had passed since that day, and the kid had grown terrifyingly.
Actually, it’s more realistic to assume he simply hadn’t shown his true abilities back then.
This is beyond professional—this is something else entirely.
Why is someone like that gathering high schoolers in his studio and running a band?
Cognitive dissonance was inevitable.
Cho Hyun-seop had never seen a high schooler like this.
He writes songs exceptionally well.
And his Recording Direction for the other band members rivals any producer from a major Entertainment Agency.
Even his own vocal recordings sound like those of a professional singer.
More than that, he seemed to understand how to balance commercial appeal with artistic integrity.
On top of it all, he’s strikingly handsome.
And if that weren’t enough, his physique is excellent—clearly someone who trains.
But Cha Seo-ha isn’t the only exceptional one.
The drummer who came by a few days ago is already a professional.
According to Heo Jun-seong, he was the youngest champion in some famous championship.
The guitarist had natural star quality, and the bassist was meticulous.
As for the keyboardist—at first, I couldn’t tell if he was actually playing.
It was so precise I thought it was a MIDI track.
But then he had some conversation with Cha Seo-ha, and afterward he delivered a performance with real presence.
Each member possessed either current skill or tremendous potential.
How on earth did kids like this come together?
“This is just… what is all this, seriously?”
“Boss, we have to lock these kids down, right? They look like the type who shouldn’t miss out on show business.”
“Lock them down? These kids?”
“Yes.”
At first, Cho Hyun-seop had definitely thought it would be good to groom this Cha Seo-ha as an Idol.
His vocal skills and looks were exceptional.
But looking at the members he’d gathered, it didn’t feel like they were Idol material.
“Now I get why they want to do a band.”
They know they’re good.
Of course, they could succeed as Idols.
But when kids with real talent know it and have conviction, the normal response is to chase that path obsessively.
“What, you’re giving up?”
Park Min-ji felt the world collapse around her.
If kids like these didn’t Debut, that would be a tremendous loss for the industry.
No—a national loss.
Actually, a loss for the entire planet.
Even a regular person like Park Min-ji thought so, so what about Cho Hyun-seop?
“No, I’m not giving up.”
It’s not that he wants to make money off this band.
Cho Hyun-seop had let go of his hunger for money when he retired from show business.
The money he’d already made was enough.
He just hoped that in the history of the band Oktatop, his name would be inscribed there, however small.
Whenever that might be.
These kids will definitely enter the entertainment industry.
Probably in the form of the band they’re pursuing.
So what comes after that?
What are they thinking as they operate the band and write songs like this?
What future are they trying to create?
Cho Hyun-seop decided to wait patiently for that future to unfold.
And somehow, it didn’t feel like it would take very long.
He wanted to see Oktatop’s next move soon.
He wanted to understand Cha Seo-ha’s plan.
* * *
Fortunately, time allowed us to complete the Vocal Recording.
After that, we quickly finished the Mixing and the song was done.
“Hey, seriously, everyone worked hard.”
“Nah, you’re the one who worked hard, Seo-ha.”
“Yeah, the way you did that was seriously like a pro.”
“When did you learn Mixing?”
I’d rarely shown them my true abilities because I was tired of making excuses.
But today the studio rental time was short, so I just threw caution to the wind and dove obsessively into the Mixing.
“What, I just do it by ear, you know. Nothing special.”
At this point I don’t even know what excuse I’m making.
Whether I’ve overused my ears or talked too much, all my energy feels completely drained.
Before leaving the studio, I came to greet the boss.
“Boss, thank you for letting us borrow the studio.”
“Thank you!”
My friends bowed their heads in thanks as well.
“So, did the recording go well?”
“Yes, thanks to you.”
“Good. Next time you need it, just let me know. I’ll lend it to you whenever we don’t have customers.”
Boss Cho Hyun-seop had apparently decided to rent the studio to me for free going forward.
Of course, only during hours when there were no other clients.
Why was he being so generous?
The hearts of established players are truly mysterious.
Is a newbie really that appealing?
Anyway, since it benefited me, I gratefully accepted.
* * *
After that day, I actively used ST Studio for various song production work.
Creating Your Time and Cruise!! to release together with Rendezvous.
Those two songs were also precious tracks we’d made in our past life.
Much of the memory had faded, so we couldn’t recreate them exactly.
But even though we couldn’t reproduce the instruments and chords precisely, we captured enough of the emotion from back then.
I hope the guys like it.
And I completed one more song with significantly better quality than the previous three.
It was something I’d been working on together with the Rendezvous sketch during my solo visit last time.
The title is Diving.
This song isn’t for us to perform.
It’s a gift for someone else….
No—something to trade.
The time I’d been thinking about for months was finally approaching.
Any band can produce and release songs.
And though it’s a bit harder, many bands do release quality-level tracks.
But do all those bands succeed?
No, they don’t.
You can’t succeed just by walking the same road everyone else takes.
We need to find something different and novel to achieve success.
Diving is that song that will serve that purpose.
But before I could execute this plan that existed only in my head, there was one thing I needed to confirm.
My friends’ attitude toward commercial success.
And what they hoped to achieve through music.
“You got a Business Card?”
“Yeah, from the studio boss earlier. Seems like he’s telling us to try auditioning at an Entertainment Agency. What do you guys think?”
“I think it’s good, but… surely they’re not going to ask us to be Idols, right? If they tell us to dance, that’s a problem.”
Heo Jun-seong was conditionally in favor.
“Same here. As long as we maintain Oktatop and our autonomy is guaranteed, there’s nothing wrong with it. Nothing works without money anyway. Of course, we’d need to keep control over the music itself.”
Kim Ji-hu shared the same opinion.
Yeah, that’s the right way to think.
“I’m… not sure.”
Lee Do-yeong didn’t sound like he was into it.
“Yeah? Why?”
“I don’t know. It just feels kind of scary somehow….”
Lee Do-yeong glossed over it vaguely.
For a moment, some pain that the kid carried came to mind, and I didn’t ask further.
“Alright, so Do-yeong just doesn’t feel like it. That’s fair. What about you, Kang Min?”
“I’m completely against it.”
Kang Min answered in an unusually serious tone.
“Yeah? Why?”
“I don’t know about later, but right now I think our priority is to solidify our foundation.”
The four of us started listening intently to Kang Min’s words.
“While I’ve been in bands, I’ve seen plenty of people get cast by Entertainment Agencies. They were all full of dreams about how they could keep doing bands, but every single one became an Idol.”
The past of some fool came to mind.
It felt like he was pinching me, and my heart grew heavy.
“Of course, being an Idol isn’t bad. It’s flashy and cool. But that’s not our dream, is it? Right now I want us to build up enough strength that we can assert our own voice. I think we should sign contracts after that.”
Kang Min was making genuine sense for once.
He’d been in the scene long enough that his judgment on decisions like this was sharp.
“So what you’re saying is—we shouldn’t approach capital until we’re big enough to make firm demands?”
“Huh… that sounds like adult talk.”
“Cha Seo-ha sometimes seems like he’s got a kid and an adult living inside him at the same time.”
Isn’t that something even high schoolers would say?
I can express this in more refined show business terminology.
Oktatop will evaluate capital.
It’s not like we’re saying we’ll blindly walk into an Entertainment Agency without thinking.
First we grow, then if a decent deal comes along, we’ll consider it.
“Okay, fine. I’m convinced right away.”
“Yeah, it makes sense.”
Heo Jun-seong and Kim Ji-hu agreed.
Lee Do-yeong just nodded beside us.
And somehow, his expression seemed to brighten.
I figured Lee Do-yeong probably still wasn’t comfortable with things like broadcast appearances or the entertainment industry.
“Alright, decision made. Let’s grow bigger on our own first.”
I picked up the Business Card again and smiled warmly.
Yeah, this is what a band is all about.
* * *
Didn’t I mention this before?
Even while succeeding as an Idol, living in the IF world of Oktatop was my hobby.
Of course, that IF had to change each time.
Depending on what kind of music Oktatop would make, what kind of character it would have, the variations in my imagination shifted.
But no matter how much I thought about it, there was nothing better than this for our first button.
Not too excessive, not too insufficient either.
Of course, I had more aggressive plans beyond this first button, but those would have to wait until I heard what the members thought before deciding.
So after Rendezvous production wrapped and a few days passed.
I sat down next to Lee Do-yeong, who was lounging in the practice room.
“Hey, Do-yeong.”
“Yeah?”
“You happen to be close with the student council people?”
“Yeah, pretty close.”
“So, uh… who’s the female vice president?”
“Young-eun?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
“What about Young-eun?”
“Can you ask her to come watch our performance?”
“Well, that’s not hard, but why?”
“Just, she seems popular, and if the cool kids come watch our performance, we’ll get a bigger audience and it’s good for us. We need to manage our reputation within the school.”
“Reputation?”
Lee Do-yeong seemed to think my reasoning was a bit strange, but he didn’t press me on it.
Good kid.
“Sure, I’ll pass it on.”
“Thanks.”

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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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