The Reincarnated Idol Hard Carries an Indie Band - Chapter 96

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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 Former Idol Does Hard Carry for the Indie Band
Chapter 96
The final act of today’s performance was Ogtop.
After Destruction’s set ended, Ogtop was the only team remaining, but they didn’t take the stage yet.
Because this wasn’t the final slot—not yet.
The ones who appeared on stage were Kang Min, Choi Woo Young, Im Hyun Taek, Dampa, and Im Min Joo.
“Wow, wow!!!”
“What! That insane lineup!”
“Wow, I can’t believe I’m seeing this in person!”
The Session Battle—the biggest talking point of the midseason arc of Who’s The Real.
The confrontation between Kang Min and Im Hyun Taek had been sensational television.
That episode had recorded the show’s highest viewership spike.
And Kang Min’s Freestyle Performance from that legendary stage had become the talk of the town once more.
Currently, that video had accumulated five million views.
The musicians on stage intended to recreate that legendary performance.
Im Min Joo, who had been separately invited, wasn’t an official guest artist for today’s show but was participating as a session musician.
While tuning was underway, Im Hyun Taek grabbed the microphone and began his banter.
“Hey, make sure you actually do it right today.”
He was speaking to Kang Min.
“Come on, don’t worry. Just focus on your own singing.”
The two exchanged words like these while grinning brightly.
The audience, recognizing this as a scripted bit, began laughing along.
One exchange was enough to show that these two were no longer on bad terms.
Im Hyun Taek, being the serious type, had planned to keep the joke brief.
That is, until Dampa jumped in.
“Hey, come on! Why are you giving the kid such a hard time?”
“Huh?”
Choi Woo Young couldn’t stay quiet through this either.
“Geez… what you’re doing to this high schooler is really…”
“No, wait, that’s not—!”
A ripple of laughter spread through the audience.
“Sniff, sniff…”
“Min’s crying!”
Kang Min dropped his head and began to mime weeping.
“Hey, hey! What are you talking about? Like he’d actually cry over that?”
Of course, the audience wasn’t about to let this slide either.
“Booooo!”
“Why are you making the kid cry! Booooo!”
“Come on! That’s mean! Mean!”
Three hundred and fifty voices erupted in jeers, and Im Hyun Taek stepped back from the microphone with an exasperated laugh.
Im Min Joo found the whole situation hilarious and giggled to himself, while Dampa and Choi Woo Young deliberately gave thumbs-down gestures as they booed.
“Hey! Just play already! You’re all corrupting the show with your agitation!”
The jeering died down, and Im Hyun Taek continued.
“Are you the Broadcasting Station?”
“Waaaaaaah!!!”
“Whooooosh!”
“Insane! That was sick!”
“Yeah!! Im Hyun Taek!”
“Im Hyun Taek! Im Hyun Taek! Im Hyun Taek!”
In an instant, the jeers transformed into cheers.
“Okay, okay, that’s enough! Looks like we’re ready, so let’s get started.”
“Yesssss!”
* * *
The session unit stage concluded on a warm, lively note.
Starting with the performance they’d done on broadcast, they delivered two cover songs in succession.
And now, the true final act of the day was beginning: Ogtop’s set.
“Yeah, yeah! The main character enters!”
“Waaaaaaah!”
As the members tuned their instruments, Cha Seo Ha took the stage, twirling the microphone in the air.
“I mean, everyone up there was really good, right?”
“Yesssss!”
“But you know what? The people who’ve been to Finals probably play better, don’t they?”
“Kyaaaaaah!”
“Waaaaaaah!!!!”
The audience went wild at Cha Seo Ha’s cocky remark.
“Well, you’ll see for yourselves soon enough. Shall we get started?”
His bandmates nodded in readiness, and Kang Min shouted into the air.
“Ogtop! Let’s go!!”
All the instruments kicked in at once, and the opening song was one of Ogtop’s most energetic tracks.

The three hundred fifty people gathered here knew this song well.
At the familiar intro, they all began swaying their upper bodies madly back and forth, riding the rhythm.
“Come on! More! More!!”
Cha Seo Ha sprinted across the stage, belting out his lungs and drawing the crowd’s energy.
The audience, seeing him like that, screamed even louder and threw themselves deeper into the rhythm.
“Hey! Stop, that’s enough!”
In the middle of it all, Cha Seo Ha suddenly halted the performance.
“Aaaaa!!”
“Why are you stopping!!”
“What gives! Why!”
Cha Seo Ha looked out at the audience with a look of disappointment.
“Is that all you can do? Can’t you jump any higher?”
He looked genuinely annoyed.
Of course, the audience knew this was part of the show and answered with cheers, while Ogtop’s members acknowledged the response with sharp instrumental stabs.
“Seriously, get your act together, you hear me? If you paid for a ticket, you better have a real good time! Right?!”
“Waaaaaaah!”
Was this really the kind of composure a high school student was capable of showing?
The audience was captivated by the young star’s stage presence and roared with approval.
“Good, let’s go again!”
Kang Min struck the Crash Cymbal four times with all his might, and the song restarted.
“Let’s go!!!”
Cha Seo Ha belted a shout into the microphone with everything he had.
A volume that seemed like it might tear the speakers apart.
The audience, feeling goosebumps rise across their entire bodies at that sound, poured out twice the energy they’d shown moments before.
“Okay! That’s good!”
This time, Cha Seo Ha’s expression was satisfied.
He ran over to Heo Jun Sung, placed a hand on his shoulder, and thrashed his head about like a maniac.
Heo Jun Sung, utterly thrilled by this, began to lose himself and go wild just like old times.
Kim Ji Hu caught sight of this and shook his head from the back, but—
Once he confirmed the audience’s energy matched his bandmates’, he just laughed it off.
Lee Do Young, witnessing the energy Cha Seo Ha and Heo Jun Sung were giving off, broke into a warm smile.
To keep up with those two, he had to match their level of intensity.
Lee Do Young moved to the front of the stage, placed his foot on the Monitor Speaker, and began to play.
His expression was still that of a well-behaved honor student, but beneath it lay an infinite ease—and from that ease, a subtle arrogance radiated outward.
Without a word exchanged, Ogtop synchronized their energy levels.
Kang Min was overwhelmed by an uncontrollable sense of satisfaction at their perfect unity.
As the intro—bursting with such raw romance—faded away, Ogtop’s true performance began in earnest.
* * *
“Waaaaaaah!!”
After three songs in a row, the crowd wouldn’t stop cheering.
And I savored it for a long moment.
“Phew…”
It’s always such a thrilling moment.
Even as the song ended, Kang Min kept pounding the cymbal in time with the cheers.
I stood at the far edge of the front of the stage, perfectly still.
“Waaaaaaah!!!”
“Shh.”
I brought my index finger to my lips, and the three hundred fifty voices stopped instantly.
“Right now, there are three hundred fifty people in this venue. And our tickets sold out in just one minute.”
The audience answered with another roar of approval.
“Is that because Ogtop is so great, or because of the amazing guest musicians who blessed us tonight? I don’t think so.”
My voice carried through the microphone into the profound silence.
“A band boom is coming. It’s the fruit of our senior musicians’ labor—those who never stopped running through this rough scene until now.”
“Wooaaaaaaah!”
“Do Hyun, who left only his music behind; Maruru Band, who won recently; Jo Hyun Woo Band and Boolryang Yangpa. They cleared the path with blood and sweat, and now we’re finishing what they started.”
A wasteland of a scene that so many had walked through.
In the audience’s eyes, I could see the long time they’d shared with these pioneers passing like a vision.
As a brief silence settled over the venue, I adjusted the microphone and smiled.
Now it was time to light the fire.
“Of course, Ogtop doesn’t plan to do this alone. That wouldn’t be any fun, would it?”
Light excitement and anticipation swelled from the audience.
I glanced back at the waiting room door, then shouted with absolute conviction.
“All of you here, and the wonderful colleagues who filled this stage today—together, we’ll lead this scene forward!”
Applause rippled through the audience.
But I wasn’t satisfied.
“You’re clapping…?”
The audience looked at me with confused expressions as I asked that.
“If you get it, you gotta scream!!!!”
“Waaaaaaah!!!”
The audience cheered with broad smiles.
“Okay! Let’s really do this! Everyone come out!!”
Our band started playing, and at the same moment, the waiting room door swung open.
Dampa rushed out at the front, Guitar in hand.
Behind him came Im Hyun Taek, running with the Microphone.
Jo Seong Hoon and Choi Woo Young.
All of them poured onto the stage with their instruments and howling shouts.
The bright lights dimmed, and brilliant stage lighting took their place.
The true beginning of the festival.
* * *
The 2018 Band Slam achieved the best results in its history.
Because Ogtop’s After-Party Performance from the day before had absolutely lit things on fire.
Traditionally, ticketing had been conducted only through on-site registration.
But contrary to expectations, there had never been a shortage of seats.
This year, however, over a hundred people had to go home because there weren’t enough seats.
And those who did attend the performance displayed a satisfaction never seen before.
After the Who’s The Real broadcast, the live music culture had definitely come alive.
Indie Bands almost never made Profit from their own shows.
But after the broadcast, most bands that held their own performances secured a generous audience and turned a Profit.
The Finals competitor songs released by Who’s The Real didn’t chart particularly high, but they all made it onto the charts.
And Ogtop’s songs, which had fallen off the charts, were being rediscovered and given new attention.
It was a good trend, but the crucial point was that the Band Scene boom hadn’t even truly begun yet.

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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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