The Reincarnated Idol Hard Carries an Indie Band - Chapter 85

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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 Reincarnated Idol Carries the Indie Band
Chapter 85
Thursday night at 11 p.m., when Who’s The Real aired.
Today was the day that final chapter would be revealed to the world.
All the audience members had taken their seats, and the production crew was wrapped in tension as they awaited standby.
It wasn’t just the venue.
Countless devoted viewers gathered in front of their televisions despite the late hour to watch the final chapter of Who’s The Real.
Dampa was conducting a live-watch content stream.
Other YouTubers were also conducting the same content for live view counts.
With countless people watching, the host Yu Hwan confirmed the standby signal and spoke to the camera.
“Good evening. I’m Yu Hwan, your host for Find the Real Band — Who’s The Real.”
“Wooooow!!!”
“You’re so handsome!”
“Ah, thank you. We’ve now reached the final stage, which will be broadcast live.”
Yu Hwan explained the broadcast introduction and the voting method.
Audience voting and real-time text voting were to take place.
The ratio was 30 percent audience, 70 percent text.
He announced that voting would begin once all three finalist teams had finished their performances.
“I’m quite nervous myself. Before meeting the contestants who must be even more nervous than I am, I’d like to hear from our producers.”
At Yu Hwan’s words, the producers appeared on the monitor.
The first to take the microphone was Shin Myung Chul of Bullyang Onion.
“All three teams have shown such impressive performances so far that we’re looking forward to what’s to come. Regardless of the outcome, I hope to see stages without regret.”
The audience responded to his brief, concise remarks with applause and cheers.
Next, Park Chul Hwan continued with his own statement.
“It’s been so long since I’ve seen so many people who love bands gather like this and pour out their passion. I’m truly grateful. I offer my respect to all three teams here today, and to all the rockers in the world who came before and will come after.”
Other judges then expressed their anticipation before the first performance, and the opening stage began shortly after.
* * *
“Number three on standby, number three switch, cue! Jimmy’s in… Hold.”
While the first team’s impressive performance was underway, the Control Room was a war zone.
PD Lee Jong Myung issued constant camera direction changes to the video director.
Thanks to his experience, the broadcast was sending out a flawless performance across the nation.
The first team’s performance wrapped up successfully.
“Okay, good work. Main hold and stand by.”
The monitor filled with a bust shot of host Yu Hwan.
PD Lee Jong Myung waited for the next transition and took a moment to collect his thoughts.
‘That Cha Seo Ha… he’s not planning to do something strange, is he…?’
He turned over in his mind the conversation he’d had with Cha Seo Ha in the PD Room before the broadcast started.
“Everyone will know once today’s broadcast ends. What the real truth is.”
After saying such a thing, that Cha Seo Ha had merely claimed he meant a “truthful performance.”
But PD Lee Jong Myung couldn’t shake an uncomfortable feeling.
Even after learning that Lee Do Young and Lee Do Hyun were brothers, he hadn’t monitored them closely.
They were just high schoolers, after all.
If they did pull some stunt, he could always edit it out in post-production.
But this was a live broadcast.
Lee Jong Myung was deeply worried about what those kids might pull off on air.
“I’m losing it…”
“Is something wrong?”
Kim Da Young, the writer standing beside him, heard his muttering and asked.
“No, it’s nothing. Da Young, can I see the Oktop lyrics?”
“Oh, sure.”
Writer Kim Da Young handed over Oktop’s lyric sheet.
The content of Oktop’s final stage lyrics was all about commemoration and longing.
That was all.
‘What could happen with kids that age?’
The cold gleam in Cha Seo Ha’s eyes kept nagging at him, but PD Lee Jong Myung pushed aside his intrusive thoughts and decided to focus on the broadcast for now.
Having wandering thoughts during a live broadcast was unacceptable.
* * *
After the previous team finished, I climbed onto the stage to tune the instruments.
Checking the small monitor installed on stage, an advertisement was playing now.
With all preparations complete, we waited only for the standby signal.
Lee Do Young looked at me.
“Let’s do this right. Lee Do Young.”
“Yeah. This is really it now.”
“Right, everyone’s worked hard.”
The guys who had finished tuning wore expressions filled with resolve.
It had taken such a long time.
We who discovered the past misdeeds that PD Lee Jong Myung had committed and dreamed of revenge.
That moment of vengeance was now within arm’s reach.
Today we become the perfect Trojan Horse, and we will destroy PD Lee Jong Myung’s fortress.
By now, PD Lee Jong Myung is probably thinking about us.
He must be bothered by our earlier conversation.
I wanted to check his expression right now.
But that’s something I’ll learn after the broadcast ends.
“Oktop, please stand by! One minute until broadcast!”
With the production crew’s guidance on stage, I understood that everything was truly about to begin.
Now I can only hope that this stage will release the grudge of the deceased and bring harmony back to Lee Do Young’s family.
“Ten seconds!”
Now it really begins.
* * *
The main camera captured Cha Seo Ha’s face in soft focus.
Slowly, the focus sharpens.
The angle pulls back.
The roar of the audience was captured in the audio.
And information about the song appeared at the bottom of the screen.
Oktop – Reunion
Lyrics: Cha Seo Ha, Lee Do Young
Composition: Cha Seo Ha, Park Chul Hwan, DOE
Arrangement: Park Chul Hwan, DOE, Kim Ji Hu, Kang Min
The intro flowed out.
Emo-core rock with a gentle atmosphere.
The melody was beautiful, yet the rhythm breathed with life.
The camera passed over each performer’s face once.
After passing over the faces of the audience eager for the song to begin, Cha Seo Ha started singing.
Dusty instruments brought out
I sing remembering you
A heavy sigh caught in the first line
Now blooms from my fingertips
Rather than singing, Cha Seo Ha delivered the words with a calm, narrational voice to the world.
And a large screen hung behind the Oktop members.
On that screen, Lee Do Young’s memories were being drawn.
A photograph from childhood, taken together with his older brother.
Photos remembering his brother.
A scene of him remembering his brother in the Columbarium was also shown.
And at the same time, the camera captured Lee Do Young.
Very blatantly.
Because of that, despite it being very early in the song, the viewers and audience perfectly understood the song’s intent.
The Oktop members were angry at such direction, but they held back for perfect timing and focused on their performance.
How much it must have hurt
You are gone
But your music remains in this world
I will always remember
As the song approached the chorus, an uplifting atmosphere began to settle in, and passionate emotion started mixing gradually into Cha Seo Ha’s voice.
The audience held their mouths shut, enduring sadness so overwhelming it was almost unbearable.
“Ah…”
“Oh…”
Only brief sighs repeated.
They had to bear the sadness while feeling the desolate emotion that Oktop poured out.
And then the chorus began.
Can you hear it
Your song
I’ve grown like this
I miss you so much
A chorus sung in a beautiful, refined tone.
Though the lyrics were sad, they were delivered so plainly without excessive technique that many audience members couldn’t help but break down and cry.
* * *
Dampa and the viewers watching the live broadcast.
Dampa, who had been watching with high energy moments before, was now appreciating the stage with a serious expression.
The viewers too were seriously appreciating Oktop’s heartfelt performance.
-Damn, this is so sad ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-A sensibility track in the finals is cheating ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-These guys are good at this too, range is really wide
-Lee Do Young’s brother is Lee Do Hyun?????
-Is he famous?
-Lee Do Young is so pitiful ㅠㅠ
-So good…. Please release this as a song soon
After checking the comments, Dampa paused his stage appreciation and explained to one viewer.
“Oh, that person is Lee Do Hyun. I saw him a couple of times back in the day running around the scene. He was a really skilled bass player. I didn’t know he was Lee Do Young’s older brother.”
Back in the distant past when Dampa was part of the scene, his active period overlapped with Lee Do Hyun’s.
They weren’t close, but they’d exchanged greetings here and there.
It was about the same level of connection he’d had with Kang Min before the broadcast appearance.
“But I heard that one day he made an extreme choice. When he was on an audition program back then, because of some incident he got hit with malicious comments…”
As he was talking, Dampa suddenly trailed off in thought.
“Wait, hold on… The PD back then was…”
He suddenly swallowed his words.
Now that he thought about it, that was also a band audition back then.
And that program and Who’s The Real had similar formats.
‘No way…’
A bad thought crossed Dampa’s mind.
Suddenly, goosebumps erupted all over his body.
From what he remembered, Lee Do Hyun had interrupted someone else’s turn, disrupted their ensemble, and received poor public sentiment because of it.
But was that really true?
What if it had been intentional editing?
Then why is Oktop even here?
Dampa hadn’t had the luxury of such thoughts while appearing on the program.
Appearing on an audition program meant cutting back on sleep time, cutting back on eating time.
-Why’d he suddenly go quiet?
-This guy suddenly froze, what’s up?
-Is he sick?
-What is it? Suddenly just focused hard on the song?
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Guy suddenly broke down ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Is he not feeling well?
-Hey, what’s going on? Not broadcasting?
-Hyung, what’s wrong?
“Oh, ah, sorry. Just had a sudden thought that crossed my mind…”
Dampa felt uneasy, but he arrived at the conclusion that nothing could possibly be happening.
Oktop were still just high school students, after all.

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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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