The Reincarnated Idol Hard Carries an Indie Band - Chapter 26

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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 Former Idol Idol Carries a Indie Band
Episode 26
The single’s B-side, Cruise!!, echoed through the venue as their opening track.
Kang Min’s drums fractured into thirty-second notes the moment they started.
Over that, a rhythmic bass and dazzling guitar melded together.
Cruise!! had a fundamentally upbeat yet complex structure.
The song’s harmonic progression meant it lacked some of the mass appeal of Rendez-vous.
But the sheer energy was no less fierce.
That raw intensity alone made Cruise!! feel far more accessible than Rendez-vous ever did.
An intro that poured out with sudden, overwhelming force.
And in that same moment, Cha Seo-ha literally tore across the stage.
“Whoa, whoa!”
“Kyaaagh!”
“Whoaaaa!”
Cha Seo-ha’s movements erupted in an instant, violent in sync with the music’s ferocity.
The audience, without thinking, threw their voices skyward and began jumping in place.
Waves rippling at my feet
The sun shattered in the distance
The walls that stood in our way are gone now
We’ll run forward
As the first verse began, the melody’s presence shrank dramatically.
Only the kick drum, bass, guitar backing, and sparse keyboard comping remained, pouring everything into rhythm and conjuring a palpable tension.
A voyage across the open sea.
The first verse, holding the emotion of the moment just before.
It felt like our adventure was about to begin.
Cha Seo-ha’s gaze fell upon the audience.
An audience member with both hands clasped, eyes alight.
Others clapped or surrendered to the rhythm, bobbing their heads along.
Of course, the atmosphere was different from busking—unmistakably so.
Even the rough wind becomes a song
The sea becomes a path
Fate calls us
We will sail
As they entered the pre-chorus, the instruments began building.
Drums and bass added velocity to their steady rhythm.
Kim Ji-hu’s piano orchestrated a dramatic chord progression.
And Heo Jun-seong’s sensory guitar line followed the piano’s top notes.
Cha Seo-ha poured more power into his vocals.
The chorus was coming soon.
That powerful, energy-saturated moment.
The Oktatop members felt a quiet surge at the thought of playing and singing through that section.
We Cruise, we Cruise tonight
Crossing the endless sea
We Cruise, we Cruise tonight
Never stopping, we are free
As the pre-chorus ended, every sound dropped away in a single breath.
Then, with perfect timing, all instruments and vocals exploded outward at once.
“Whoaaaaa!!!”
And with it, the audience roared in unison.
Some sang along with the melody.
Cha Seo-ha’s piercing high note and Heo Jun-seong’s bright, crisp guitar unified into a flawless harmony.
Lee Do-yeong’s bass and Kim Ji-hu’s keyboard formed a section, shifting in half-bar intervals and achieving a sensory brilliance.
And all of it unfolded atop Kang Min’s solid, unshakeable drums.
Cha Seo-ha singing above his friends’ flawless ensemble.
For a moment, he felt his vision blur.
His mind flooded with countless what-ifs.
Among those many possibilities was a fear: what if this regression is a dream?
What if I wake tomorrow in a luxury penthouse instead of the modest house from childhood?
If this is all just a dream, how will I live with myself?
What about grandmother?
What about Lee Do-yeong?
What about Oktatop and my dreams?
But he’d decided right then and there not to worry about such what-ifs anymore.
The dream we couldn’t achieve in our past life.
Competing at BandSlam and making Oktatop’s existence known to the Band Scene.
It was merely one small milestone among many on the path to greater success.
But we were realizing that precious dream we’d once had.
And it was real.
And his vision sharpened again.
The audience roared.
As they listened to Oktatop’s music.
This is real.
A clear reality that no what-if could change.
We Cruise, we Cruise tonight
Crossing the endless sea
We Cruise, we Cruise tonight
Never stopping, we are free
Crossing the reality that stretches endlessly before us.
Oktatop will not stop—we’ll race toward freedom.
Toward a reality, not a maybe!
* * *
Oktatop’s first performance wasn’t just watched by the audience—those waiting backstage were watching too.
A monitor inside the waiting room broadcast the stage in full shot.
Unlike the chaos on stage, the waiting room was filled only with silence.
Then someone’s comment broke that silence.
“Wow, they’re really good, aren’t they?”
Oktatop’s first song, Cruise!!, had a power to capture attention.
At first, everyone watched, entranced.
But as the waiting room filled with artists, evaluations of the track soon began flying.
“Whoa, the guitar and bass players got better?”
“When they were on broadcast, they didn’t seem this good….”
“It’s weird—those two stringed-instrument players were the weakest, for sure….”
“Weren’t they just decent for high schoolers?”
Some in this room had already encountered Oktatop through broadcast or busking in Banwol Park.
The Heo Jun-seong and Lee Do-yeong they knew were just passable for their age.
But somewhere along the way, those two had grown dramatically.
“Is the keyboard player trained professionally? They seem pretty solid?”
“The vocals are this band’s weapon.”
“Hey, look at Kang Min’s presence still going strong?”
“Looks like he got better, actually.”
“Oh, yeah, he definitely did get better.”
“There’s a skill gap, sure, but their blend seems pretty good overall?”
“Yeah, I admit it—their blend is really solid.”
Such remarks began blooming one by one in the waiting room.
These comments carried neither malice nor favor.
They were just the natural thoughts that arise when musicians hear music.
In other words, they were just professional hazard—occupational habit.
And then came another sort of response.
“How long has the bass player been holding an instrument?”
“The song’s just commercial polish, anyway. Not my taste.”
“They definitely lack any real foundation.”
“Why did a visual band come here? Are people really that desperate?”
“Just capitalizing on the traitor, that’s all.”
“Kang Min?”
“Yeah.”
Of course, comments dripping with malice were surfacing too.
Many of the people in this waiting room had been greeting Kang Min warmly just moments ago.
About twenty musicians made up the first set of performers.
Some felt jealous, others felt admiration or longing.
A few disliked them simply because of rumors floating around.
But the fact remained: Oktatop had delivered an excellent stage, and most acknowledged it.
Whatever the reason, there was no denying they’d put on a solid performance relative to their experience.
“Well…. But they should be good, right?”
Then someone’s voice, laced with spite, cut through the chatter in the waiting room.
“I mean, it’s only natural, isn’t it?”
* * *
“Thank you so much! This was Oktatop!”
“Whoooaaaa!”
“We love you!”
“Wow! Damn! Don’t go!”
“Whoooaa!”
Thunderous cheers followed Oktatop as they exited.
Though Oktatop had retreated to the waiting room, the afterglow of the audience’s reaction lingered.
“Wow, that was insanely fun.”
“No, seriously, they’re so good. So that’s what celebrities are like.”
“They’re celebrities?”
“They’re not? Oh, you didn’t know?”
“Man, I wish they’d do an encore.”
“I came just to see Oktatop, but now I wanna stay and see more—this is so good.”
“I’m leaving. I came for Oktatop, so I’m good.”
As the next band took the stage and set up their instruments, Nam Do-hun’s music filled the silence, mingling with the audience’s murmur.
Oktatop had decorated this year’s BandSlam opening slot spectacularly.
* * *
When Oktatop returned to the waiting room, the band members waiting for their turn encouraged them, saying they’d done well.
They really had given it everything—running, singing, leaving nothing behind.
It was probably the best I could manage at my current level.
We settled into our seats, catching our breath.
“Hey, everyone did great.”
“I don’t even know what I was doing out there.”
“I want to do it again….”
“Damn it. I messed up one keyboard touch.”
“Hey, no one’s gonna notice one mistake.”
“Unacceptable.”
“That’s a sickness, man.”
We were chatting among ourselves when someone approached our group.
“Hey there, I really enjoyed the performance.”
“Oh, yeah, thank you.”
He appeared to be a man in his mid-twenties.
Someone I’d seen only in passing during rehearsal.
From what I’d overheard in the waiting room, he seemed to be the vocalist of a band called Destruction.
“So Min really did join some incredible place, huh?”
“Oh, Hyun-taek, thank you. They’re all really hardworking people.”
“That much is obvious—of course the skill has to be there if you’re coming in after leaving Skydiver.”
Skydiver was the band Kang Min had been in just before joining Oktatop.
“Anyway, today was truly outstanding. I’ll definitely be watching you all from now on.”
“Thank you so much.”
Something felt off.
‘Some incredible place.’ ‘Joining after leaving Skydiver.’ ‘I’ll be watching you all.’
I caught the intent behind several of those words.
It’s exactly like the face-off I used to see all the time on variety shows back in my past life when idols would subtly jab at each other.
* * *
After that, BandSlam continued in an excellent atmosphere.
Several bands were far inferior to Oktatop in terms of skill.
But some displayed the seasoning and depth that Oktatop didn’t yet possess.
There was one band that radiated sheer attitude over musicianship—in a certain sense, they far surpassed Oktatop.
With such diverse bands taking the stage, BandSlam maintained its momentum and offered a good string of performances.
One regret: far too many audience members left right after Oktatop’s set.
They’d come with the specific purpose of seeing Oktatop, not as fans of the Band Scene itself.
Of course, they had no concept of a culture where staying through the entire show was a matter of courtesy.
And there was no malice in their actions.
But someone was bound to resent such behavior.
The final act of Part One was the band Destruction.
As the instruments were being tuned, the vocalist Im Hyun-taek began his introduction.
“This is our fourth time at BandSlam, and I think this is the first time I’ve seen so many people.”
“Whoooaa!”
The audience answered with cheers.
“But I’m a little sad—compared to the opening, it seems some people have left because they’re busy.”
The audience gazed at him with shining eyes, regardless of what he was saying.
That’s what it meant to own a stage.
“Oktatop? I think they were the ones performing at the beginning—looks like they have a lot of fans. Seems like a lot of people follow idol trainees, huh?”
The audience began murmuring at those words.
“Wait, Idol Trainees?”
“You didn’t know? They were even on broadcast.”
“No wonder they looked so good.”
“Oh, an idol band? Hmm….”
“Whoa, then they’re gonna debut soon!”
“But why would idols be here?”
All manner of reactions erupted.
“Well, since they’re so good-looking, everyone please support Oktatop’s idol debut!”
“Yeah!”
Im Hyun-taek himself didn’t know why he’d said such a thing.
But one thing was certain: now that he’d thrown it out there, it felt right.
How dare pop musicians set foot on this sacred Band Scene.
Unforgivable.
This niche genre had to remain serious music forever.
That was my belief, my wish.
I couldn’t tolerate foreign corruption seeping into paradise.
I’d been grinding in this scene for over a decade with sincerity.
Meanwhile, Oktatop was thoroughly trained, carefully molded—a visual band through and through.
Musicality, fame…
Setting all that aside, I’ll be honest—it just stung.
It felt like all the effort I’d poured in was being negated.
Anyway, no matter what anyone said, there was nothing wrong with what I just said.
“So here’s our first song!”

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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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