The Reincarnated Idol Hard Carries an Indie Band - Chapter 35

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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 the Indie Band
35
We returned to the Waiting Room after the stage ended.
“Wow, those lights were scorching.”
“Right, it was so blinding I could barely see the stage.”
“Can I take off my makeup now?”
“This is exhausting… When can we go home?”
The band came back thrumming with energy and noise after finishing their stage perfectly.
“There’s still a lot to go. We can’t leave until the Music Broadcast is completely over.”
“Wow, that’s rough. Should we grab some sleep…?”
Music Broadcasts traditionally finished with announcing that week’s number-one winner.
For that announcement, all teams who participated that day had to go up on stage for what they called Full Participation.
Today, due to the strike, they’d exceptionally skipped the number-one voting, but the Full Participation was still happening, I’d heard.
The band, worn down by exhaustion, looked thoroughly frustrated, but there was nothing to be done about it.
A short while later, they huddled together in a corner and fell asleep.
If things had gone normally, what kind of abuse would we take once this stage aired?
How much more famous would we become because of it?
What should our next move be? — that’s the kind of thing we usually discussed, but we’d been up and moving since such an early hour today.
“You should get some rest too, Seo Ha.”
“Yes, I’ll sleep if I get drowsy later.”
I was trying to kill time scrolling through my phone when the Waiting Room door opened.
The person who entered was Jo Hyun-woo.
“Hello, sir.”
“We already greeted each other earlier. Sit down. Hey, you all performed really well.”
Jo Hyun-woo lowered his voice as he looked at his sleeping bandmates.
“Thank you. We still have a lot to improve on.”
“Improve? You were amazing.”
Jo Hyun-woo spoke with eyes gleaming.
Actually, it was more like he was smacking his lips as he spoke.
It gave me an odd feeling, but I decided to accept it as high praise.
“Let’s work on some tracks together later. Nothing too serious.”
“Wow, that would be an incredible honor.”
I meant it sincerely.
In my previous life, he’d walked a different path genre-wise than I had.
But Jo Hyun-woo’s reputation and achievements were something any musician would look up to.
“Well, if you need any help with broadcasts, just let me know.”
“Thank you, sir.”
He seemed like he wanted to say something more, but Jo Hyun-woo patted my shoulder a few times and headed toward Jo Hyun-seop.
I moved to the corner to give them space.
The thought that I could finally rest made my body feel heavy and loose.
The two of them were whispering to each other, so I couldn’t hear them properly.
Probably something about taking us out somewhere sometime.
I wanted to hear more, but sleep was creeping in, and my eyes were starting to close.
* * *
While Ocktop slept, the two middle-aged men discussed their impressions of the stage.
The remarkable performance Ocktop had shown was more than enough to warm the hearts of these two adults who’d grown callous with age.
It was something only the young could do.
Cold weather or blazing sun, rain or snow — they’d kept consistent at Banwol Park.
Through genuine musicianship, they’d appeared on a Variety Show.
Add luck to the mix, and they’d ended up on a Music Broadcast without even a company backing them.
Though these two men didn’t know it wasn’t luck at all.
And without stopping there, they’d pulled off a Live Performance — something notoriously difficult to execute on a Music Broadcast.
Even the stage itself had been excellent.
Ocktop’s journey showed the terrifying power of youth unmistakably.
And the finale was <Rendezvous>, a song celebrating youth itself.
Jo Hyun-seop and Jo Hyun-woo couldn’t help but recall their own young days through this remarkable narrative.
Those reckless days when they pushed forward on sheer audacity alone.
They were grateful to Ocktop for making them remember those forgotten years, and tucked away in a small corner of their hearts were both longing and bittersweetness.
As the two men continued to reminisce and share their thoughts, the conversation stretched on until it reached this point.
“Hyun-woo, if you get a good chance, push the Ocktop kids toward some broadcast appearances, would you? They’re putting in real effort.”
“But when you mentioned working on tracks, their eyes lit up. They didn’t seem interested in broadcasts at all.”
“Well, that kid’s like that.”
“Oh, are they picky about broadcasts?”
“Pretty heavily. And I can’t figure out their standards either. We’ve had several program offers come in, and they rejected all of them. This Music Broadcast is the only one they came on.”
“That’s odd.”
Most bands would reject a Music Broadcast and appear on other shows instead.
Ocktop’s moves were genuinely unique.
“Geniuses always do what they want, right?”
“I suppose.”
After seeing the stage Ocktop put on today, who could call them anything but genius?
There’d been issues before the performance even started, and they improvised their way through beautifully.
Every single member — the instrumentalists and the vocalist — showed excellent skill.
For Jo Hyun-woo, the only real data he had on Ocktop was this one stage.
Just a single moment, but enough to captivate the eyes of a veteran like him.
What kind of performance would these kids show in the future?
An unexpected genius newcomer had appeared, and Jo Hyun-woo could already feel anticipation welling up.
* * *
Only after all the Music Broadcast schedules were done and I’d wiped off Kim Ji-hu’s makeup — he’d been complaining all day — could we finally leave.
Jo Hyun-seop dropped each of us off at our homes before heading back to his own.
I really should buy him a nice car once I start making real money.
The moment I got home, before I could even shower or change clothes, I had to sit through my grandmother’s heartfelt grandson fanboying.
My grandmother had pre-recorded K-Countdown at my suggestion.
Her grandson sings well and has good looks and writes good songs and shows well on camera and is kind and athletic with a fit body and is cool and….
It was nice to hear for about an hour, but once it went past two hours, it got a little rough.
Only after my grandmother fell asleep could I finally get ready for bed.
Two big plans were finally finished.
Appearing on Moon Ga-young’s Variety Show and the Music Broadcast.
After finishing two massive events that an Indie Band couldn’t normally pull off, I was completely drained.
But I still couldn’t fall asleep.
I wanted to know right then and there how much abuse we were taking.
So, should I start the thrilling comment section opening right now?
* * *
After the Music Broadcast ended, stage videos from all the performers began getting uploaded to YouTube one by one.
Fortunately, Ocktop’s stage video was also released.
While the view counts and comments were lower than other teams, they were pretty solid for a new band.
-I came back after seeing a broadcast where there were kids doing Live Performance so hard
-What the heck Ocktop went on a Music Broadcast???? Please appear on other shows too we’re starving for content ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-Oh my god finally their Music Broadcast debut!!
-What about the Aggressive Marketing controversy?
└Wait why is that a controversy?
└They pushed the Viral marketing pretty cunningly
└But they disclosed being idols anyway, so isn’t that fine?
-Aren’t they an idol band anyway lolololol
-Holy shit their Live Performance is insanely good?
-All the members are visually stunning
└Well-distributed across different preferences
└??? : Didn’t know what you’d like so we prepared for everything
└The management company has good instincts… I thought they only managed actors, but they’re raising such an incredible idol band….
└TM should seriously dive into the idol business now if they wanted to
-I came back after seeing them on YouTube while waiting for our favorite group. Found some kids with an amazing future ahead. Their music is genuinely beautiful^^
-Wait, don’t Live Performers usually use a Handheld Microphone? They did the Live Performance so well with that mic
└I heard the broadcast station was on strike starting this week. So maybe they ended up not using that on accident
└Oh a strike?
└Yeah so several teams that were supposed to perform had to cancel
└Ah so that’s why our kids too…ㅠㅠ
-I mean, no choreography and they still pulled off the stage, that’s impossible
└Right right!!! Insane genius newcomers in the house!!!!
└Wait? I went back after reading comments and you’re actually right… it was so natural I didn’t even notice what was special
└Insane right… wow such sharp observation though?
The YouTube comments were overwhelmingly positive.
And within that overwhelming positivity, there were definitely people who wanted to muddy the waters.
-I seriously don’t get why idols are pretending to be a band
└Wait but they sing well and play well and look good, so why are you bashing them?
└You’re just jealous ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└Even doing everything well is a problem, a real problem
└Band history has such depth and meaningful origins, and it’s not a genre that should be approached this commercially without roots. Learn who Ocktop is before you fangirl
└ㅅㅂWhat even is “roots”? Isn’t good music enough?
└The failed people from the underground are just so proud they make up weird rules like this
└Well they don’t make money so they have to cling to pride at least
└Keep caring about roots~~ Ocktop will make money~~~
└The type to insult first is always the same. They just want to seem like they’re deeply knowledgeable about music, acting all obsessed about standards and roots….
And ironic though it was, Ocktop’s supporters started indiscriminately attacking the Band Scene fans — the very roots of Ocktop.
And in the opposite corner, a completely different battle was unfolding.
How chaotic was the Band Scene community right now?
Or maybe they hated us so much they didn’t even want to engage?
Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.
-Wow Kang Min actually went on a Music Broadcast
└They’re idols anyway, what’s there to argue about
-But they said at Band Slam they weren’t idols… was that a lie?
└So cowardly. Just admit it instead of backpedaling
└I’m so disappointed. I personally thought they were Band Scene prospects that everyone would bash, but they turned out to be…
-Aggressive Marketing and pretending not to be idols… there’s nothing genuine about any of this
└Kang Min, how did you end up like this….
-Kang Min come back, stop doing this
└Someone file a missing person report for Kang Min
-Saw that trending on YouTube and came back, and what’s infuriating is they’re still good at it….
└Right they’re so good it’s annoying
-There are so many people fangirling over Ocktop already
└And now if you write a negative comment they swarm you and attack
└Ignoring authenticity and spouting nonsense
└This is why band concept idols get so much hate
└They deserve it too. Is that loving bands? That’s loving idols imitating bands
└And meanwhile they’re like “we’re the real deal” ㅇㅈㄹ
-These types all have the same trajectory… drop a catchy band song single to appeal to the masses, then release a full album claiming to be authentic? So much posturing about roots, when the album quality turns out total garbage
└ㅇㅈ Yeah they all do this
└Let’s see when the album drops ㅅㅂ how good it really is
Wow, pretty vicious.
On YouTube, Ocktop was getting considerable support.
The Band Scene, unhappy with that tide, was in chaos.
The ratio of negative to positive comments was something like 98 to 2.
The important thing was that we’d been seen, whether they were cursing us or whatever.
“So, how are you guys feeling?”
“What do you mean? Same as last time.”
“Yeah, things seem to be going according to plan, so I’m pretty happy about it.”
I was relieved to see the band’s expressions weren’t dark.
Should we call it here for now?
Now we need to release an album to reveal our true identity.
I thought this much should be enough….
“So, where are we going to take more heat next?”
“Huh? More?”
My thoughts stuttered at Heo Jun-sung’s words.
“Yeah, I think it’d be good if we took some more heat.”
“Yeah, if we’re going to flip the board anyway, we should do it as solidly as possible, right?”
“Count me in!”
These guys really have endless ambition.
It’s actually getting a little scary.
Is this what high school audacity feels like?
It wouldn’t have been so easy if we were an idol group.
You really do have to respect the boldness of an indie group.
Either way, I’m having fun so it’s all good.
“So you want to take even more heat?”
“Of course!”
“Alright, let’s get working on the album. I’ll bring some work your way too.”
Watching the band cheer at my words, I started thinking fast.
Right, didn’t he say to let him know if we needed any help with broadcasts?

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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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