The Reincarnated Idol Hard Carries an Indie Band - Chapter 28

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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 Carries an Indie Band
Episode 28
“I got a broadcast appearance request. It’s another entertainment show shoot.”
“An entertainment show?”
“And they’d like you to appear in it too, Seo-ha.”
“What kind of show?”
“A busking program.”
Ah, work just got so much easier.
“Just Cha Seo-ha? What about me? What about Okdap? Don’t you want us? The guitarist isn’t necessary?”
“Hey, Heo Jun-sung, keep it down. This isn’t a school broadcast.”
“So what? I’m just curious.”
“I’m sorry, I wish we could all go together too, but the request only came for Seo-ha. There’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Hah, the world really should pay closer attention to this body’s guitar work. It’s a national loss.”
“…Anyway, what do you think, Seo-ha?”
“Let’s have a meeting at least. Go ahead and tell me the details.”
“Yeah, great!”
Just as our friends wanted, Okdap’s next plan was the same as before—”go on broadcast and take heat for it.”
But I was preparing a different plan.
And the person I absolutely needed for that plan was a PD at K-Net.
Logically speaking, a high school student making contact with a broadcast company’s PD wasn’t easy.
So while I was thinking through various routes, Moon Ga-young kindly brought the work to me.
That PD was trying to cast me through Moon Ga-young, after all.
Come to think of it, when an ordinary person just catches their fifteen minutes, that’s when appearance fees are cheapest—so how many PDs out there try to milk that opportunity?
Work was rolling forward far too smoothly.
* * *
What was the title again?
Busker Every Day, something like that.
Anyway, there’s no way I’m actually appearing in this show.
I’ll just politely decline somehow.
But I do have business with the PD.
That’s why I came to this meeting willingly.
“Hello. I’m Park Yun-chan, the PD.”
“Hello, sir. I’m Cha Seo-ha.”
The production team, Moon Ga-young, and I gathered in a meeting room in the K-Net Building.
“Wow, looking at you two like this, your on-screen chemistry looks great.”
Park Yun-chan studied the two of us with a distant gaze, clicking his tongue appreciatively.
He seemed quite pleased.
Then the basic program explanation began.
A music entertainment show that rounded up several celebrities and used busking as the basic format.
But…
That’s all the explanation there was?
So the detailed concept hadn’t been finalized yet.
But they’re casting people first?
Of course this would bomb.
Busker Every Day Season 1 would crash spectacularly.
In the future, busking-format programs would be wildly successful, but at this point there were none.
This guy was probably the first to try it.
It wasn’t just a matter of the unfamiliar format meeting with indifference before quietly ending.
They’d rent out places on cruise ships, five-star hotels, even go overseas and formally borrow locations.
They’d stage performances there under the concept of “luxury busking.”
What kind of busking was that?
The image of foreigners in formal wear gasping in admiration was pretty, sure, but it could never match busking’s true spirit.
Ultimately the program itself got hammered with criticism, and Season 1 ended.
“To be honest, the detailed concept is still in development. I’m working hard on it, but… I heard you’re busking regularly these days, Cha Seo-ha.”
“Yes, I do it every week.”
“You seem to really love this culture. From your perspective, if there were a busking entertainment show, what kind of image do you think would look good?”
It’s common for producers to ask for advice.
Still, for a first-time meeting with a high school student—this guy must be pretty desperate.
“Feel free to speak freely.”
I need to use this person and plant a good impression.
So…
I should give him the answer.
“Well, I think you should keep the busking format but add something to it.”
“Add something? Like what?”
“Simplicity.”
“Wait, let me record this.”
Park Yun-chan switched on a recorder.
That’s strange—in my memory this guy seemed kind of authoritarian, but maybe I was wrong.
Anyway, I continued my explanation.
“First, obviously you’d have busking in natural settings like Yeouido Hangang Park or university campuses. Hongdae would be good too, for legitimacy.”
“Yes. And?”
“And I think adding a touch of everyday life would work well. Like when the cast is preparing for the next busking session, they cook meals together—that kind of mundane stuff.”
“Ooh, yes! Simplicity!”
Park Yun-chan gave a meaningful look to the junior writer sitting beside him, and the junior writer started erasing something.
Looks like he just deleted that whole “luxury” concept.
That’s how I fed the PD answer after answer.
“…Essentially showing the everyday lives of street musicians preparing performances. The buskers’ every day.”
“Oh, Busker Every Day… you know, we could actually use that as the title?”
They didn’t even have a title yet? This is killing me.
“Wow, but this is really excellent in so many ways?”
Of course it is—this is the format you’d steal later for Season 2 and score huge with.
This is the answer I’m handing you.
He’s reacting so well, maybe because I’m pulling forward a concept he’d have come up with on his own in the future.
I’m glad I dropped my original plan and came here.
“Simplicity—why didn’t I think of this?”
“Well, it’s really the foundation of busking, isn’t it? Rather than cramming in all kinds of other elements, it cuts production costs and looks better, right?”
“Ha ha! You’re an interesting kid. You ever think about getting into broadcast production?”
“I’m just grateful for the kind words.”
The mood had gotten quite warm.
Moon Ga-young had been quiet the whole time.
She must be wondering what kind of situation this is.
“Well, Cha Seo-ha, I can’t promise right now that I’ll use this immediately, but I think I probably will? Is there anything you’d want, apart from appearance fees? I feel like I owe you something if this show does well. I’m really grateful.”
“Ha ha, well then, if the broadcast union goes on a general strike and there’s suddenly an opening in the music show lineup, just call me as a fill-in sometime.”
“…I’m sorry?”
“Oh, I’m just joking.”
“Oh, aha ha! You’re quite the joker!”
Except I’m not.
* * *
Busker Every Day was Park Yun-chan’s first entertainment show.
He was originally the director of K-Counter, a music program on K-Net.
Even while producing music broadcasts, he’d never stopped dreaming of becoming an entertainment producer, and Busker Every Day was the start of that.
That’s why I wanted to make contact with Park Yun-chan.
Just as I’d hinted to him, Okdap’s next plan is a music broadcast appearance.
Is there an easier way to solidify an idol image than that?
If Okdap appeared on a music broadcast, the general public might not know—but the band scene would definitely take way more shots at us than now.
That’s 100 percent guaranteed.
A few days later, I told Park Yun-chan I would decline appearing in the busking entertainment show.
Of course I was as polite as possible, thinking ahead.
I used being a test-prep student and family opposition being too severe as my excuses.
Park Yun-chan said he was disappointed, but there was nothing he could do.
Still, at least we wrapped up the conversation well.
Now there’s quite a lot of time before I execute the next plan.
A few months from now, I’ll get a call from Park Yun-chan.
Until then, Okdap just keeps doing what we’ve been doing, passing the time.
“Wow, it’s really freezing today?”
“Hey, are we seriously busking today? Should we skip for a day?”
“We didn’t even announce anything.”
“Sigh…”
The January cold bit into your bones.
They say consistency never betrays you, but this was pushing it—the weather was just too harsh.
I figured I’d look at today’s busking crowd numbers and maybe we should take a break until the weather warmed up.
Like Jun-sung said, it was cold, and in weather like this I felt bad making audiences stand around.
“I guess busking in really cold weather just isn’t practical?”
“Yeah, obviously. What kind of busking in weather like this?”
Watching all these guys shiver, I felt kind of guilty.
Should we rest on days like today?
But back when I was an idol, I performed at outdoor events even in scorching sun, even under cold wave warnings.
I performed in the rain, performed in the snow.
And these guys are even healthier and younger than I was then.
Yeah, thinking about it more, resting doesn’t seem right.
“No, I think we should keep going.”
“Hey! Cha Seo-ha!”
“That’s… harsh.”
“Seo-ha doesn’t seem human.”
“That’s cruel…”
“Okay, let’s decide based on the audience. If people actually want to see us, are you still saying no?”
“…”
Nobody in this world watches a performance they don’t want to see.
So if there’s nobody, we rest until the weather breaks.
We pushed through the cold to reach Banwol Park.
“See? You’re still going to say no?”
People were clustered around the stage where we always performed.
Far fewer than usual, though.
But they were there.
“We’re getting so much hate lately and people still came to support us—and you’re still going to say no?”
Honestly, I felt incredibly grateful.
I wonder how the guys feel.
“Damn…”
“Huh? Damn?”
Should be grateful, not damn.
“Damn! People came all the way out in this cold to see me? This is insane! The blood of a first-rate guitarist is boiling! Mwa ha ha ha!”
Looking at it, Jun-sung might actually be worse than Min…
“I’m so grateful. Even in the cold, I think I can keep going!”
Do-young’s predictable as always.
“This is why I brought hand warmers.”
Kim Ji-hoo, meticulous as ever.
Kang Min, on the other hand…
“Hey, are you crying?”
“Sniff… Arigatou… Minna! Hontoni arigatou!”
Ugh, disgusting, you lunatic—just go home.
We were fine without drums anyway.

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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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