The Reincarnated Idol Hard Carries an Indie Band - Chapter 99

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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’s Hard Carry in an Indie Band
Chapter 99
“You said you’d get Music Chart 1st Place.”
Kim Ji Hu shifted his gaze from his phone to me as he spoke.
“You said it right before the audition. That the next goal was Music Chart 1st Place.”
“You remembered?”
“Because it was the most absurd thing you’ve ever said.”
At that point, our song was sitting at a midrange position on the charts.
If buzz carries it, amateur singers or those from small companies often score around that ranking.
But 1st Place.
No, the top few positions require a fandom.
A very solid, massive fandom at that.
Chart 1st Place is where you have to break through all of them.
There was no way a bunch of indie kids who’d only just turned twenty with no agency behind us could pull that off.
I’d said it, but it was exactly the kind of absurd statement Kim Ji Hu was calling it out as.
“But looking at it now, I think it might actually be possible.”
When Kim Ji Hu says something like that, the odds are high.
He’s not the type to say something without any basis.
“Wait, Music Chart 1st? Us?”
Heo Jun Sung, who had been sprawled out on the couch, shot upright.
“So we get to eat the lemon chart 1st place thing or whatever?”
“We’ll see when it happens.”
“Oh… You really are a blooming flower!”
“Why does he keep saying weird stuff like that?”
The album hadn’t been released yet.
You can’t know what hand you’re dealt until you flip it open.
But you can infer the possibilities from the hands revealed so far.
Just as Kim Ji Hu had predicted, our hand was probably going to be the strongest one.
* * *
For an indie band like us to dominate the upper reaches of the charts, we need various strategies.
The most crucial among them is the Empty House Strategy.
Releasing an album during a time when mega artists aren’t making comebacks.
The timing for our mini album release is late January.
Though unintentional, winter through spring is actually the perfect window for the Empty House Strategy.
Summer has the summer song festival, and around autumn the year-end awards season brings artists grinding their teeth for a comeback.
Of course, such predictions don’t always pan out.
“Cancel that.”
Kim Ji Hu muttered while rifling through his phone.
“Cancel what?”
“The bit about being able to get 1st Place.”
“Why?”
“I was checking to see if there’s a major idol doing a comeback at the same time as us, and there is one.”
“Yeah, I know. I saw it.”
“What’s with that unlucky response?”
Here I am getting told off by the unluckiest person on our team, Kim Ji Hu. What kind of life have I been living?
“So you know and still think we can get 1st Place?”
“Hey, if we miss the goal, does it really matter that much?”
This is why smart kids shouldn’t get so fixated on their targets.
We don’t need to obsess over Chart 1st Place itself.
Of course, it’d be nice if we did.
It sounds good, and we could confidently tell people we’re a 1st Place artist.
But what if we don’t make it?
Does Oktop fall apart if we don’t hit 1st Place?
Music is truly beautiful only when you enjoy it for what it is.
“Well, it’s not a problem if we don’t hit 1st Place, but now that the stakes are higher, I guess I got caught up in the anticipation too.”
“You’re hoping too, Kim Ji Hu?”
“I’m human too.”
Doesn’t seem like it.
“But don’t worry too much. No matter what major artist shows up, we’re going to hit 1st Place.”
“That’s some confidence.”
I can’t say it with absolute certainty.
I’d never released music in this genre at this time of year before.
Even if Oktop’s momentum is strong right now and I know the future, there’s no way to know everything like this.
The track and music video have already been handed over to the distributor.
Everything else is in the hands of fate.
* * *
The mini album release date.
Monday, January 21st at 6 PM sharp—our mini album dropped.
-TeenSprits
The album released under this name contained a total of six tracks.
-OKTOP – TeenSprits
01. The Greatest
02. Oceans (title.)
03. Riot (title.)
04. Young Generation
05. Energy
06. To Oktop
The double titles were tracks 2 and 3 respectively.
At the moment of release, two music videos went live on streaming sites and Oktop’s official YouTube channel.
The 1st title track, “Oceans.”
The same ocean backdrop that had appeared in the teaser and in Oktop’s first YouTube vlog.
The song was as mainstream as “Rendezvous” had been, filled with the scent of youth.
Less than five minutes after the song dropped, comments began flooding the “Oceans” music video at a terrifying rate.
-Cruise is good, Awaken is good, whatever they say, I love Oktop’s youth too much.
-This is Rendezvous 2, no matter what anyone says.
-The visuals are nice? Was the editing and sound mixing from the vlog intentional?
└They couldn’t do that in the music video, lol
-This is only the third time they’ve released music, but I think Oktop’s identity will always be youth, no matter how many years they perform.
-I’m a 50-year-old dad… I keep thinking of my childhood… Always rooting for you young people….
-There’s heart in Oktop’s music.
-Other world-class artists become myths. But Oktop is my fairytale.
-My ears were so tired from nowadays rappers and idols who just dance, but listening to proper youth rock like this really feels like my ears are being cleansed.
└For real, these guys are a healing genre.
└That’s why you have to stick to your genre.
-Oktop’s youth songs are cheating.
-That part at the end with the chorus singalong and the kids splashing in the water—the direction is insane.
└Honestly, that part is so good.
└Paradise.
-Ugh, I want to go back to those days too.
The youthful music Oktop delivered had exceptional communicative power compared to other tracks.
It had to.
Young people understood that their youth was their weapon, and they’d poured it into art.
It was a song that was hard to fail with.
But the flow of this mini album was different.
Even if “Oceans” was Oktop’s identity and the song that suited them best, most of the buildup they’d accumulated so far was for track 3, “Riot.”
The music video began with the exterior of a two-story house.
Birdsong and the sound of passing cars were naturally layered in.
This was a scene from the teaser.
And the title, displayed in large font.
-Riot
When the “Riot” music video teaser was released, audiences both domestic and international were brimming with curiosity.
And that curiosity was answered immediately.
After about five seconds of the building exterior, the music came flowing in.
A desolate, unidentifiable sound.
A synth bell-like tone produced a mysterious melody.
Then a massive drum and heavy bass burst through, instantly completing the tense, gripping music.
On screen appeared Moon Ga Young, dressed in minimal makeup and comfortable sleeveless shirt with cotton pants.
A getup completely at odds with the music.
The music video’s tone was dark and subdued throughout.
Though not outright horror in its direction.
The word “emptiness” suited the atmosphere perfectly.
She didn’t even glance at the camera, just reached for the water on the table and set it back down.
She noticed a newspaper beside her, got bored quickly, crumpled it, and tossed it in the trash.
Then, making an uncomfortable face, she suddenly brightened and ran toward the TV, playing with a small figurine on the shelf.
Meanwhile, Heo Jun Sung, who had been standing expressionless behind the couch, appeared briefly before vanishing.
She put the figurine back in place, touched it gently, then went to the couch where Heo Jun Sung had been, picked up a guitar, and sang.
At that moment, Lee Do Young appeared, standing near the fireplace on the adjacent wall.
Lee Do Young, expressionless.
A music video whose point was impossible to discern.
She then set down the guitar and suddenly rushed upstairs.
In the process, Cha Seo Ha, standing in the middle of the staircase, briefly appeared before disappearing.
Once upstairs, Kang Min came into view, standing in front of a door.
Now Moon Ga Young was dancing more cheerfully.
The music remained intense and desolate, but Moon Ga Young’s presence somehow felt bright.
She then opened the door where Kang Min had been standing and went inside.
In the corner of that room stood Kim Ji Hu.
Moon Ga Young got into bed and began to sleep.
A close-up of Moon Ga Young’s face.
Less than three seconds after closing her eyes, she stretched and yawned, then woke up.
The song was reaching its end, and Moon Ga Young rose from her spot.
Looking out the window, the sun was setting.
She slowly got out of bed and walked out of the room.
She went downstairs to the couch again.
And behind that couch stood all five members of Oktop.
She dropped onto the couch and looked directly at the camera for the first time.
Her gaze was like the one that had appeared in the teaser.
And like the gaze that had closed out episode 1 of “The Weight of a Brick.”
And so the “Riot” music video came to an end, slowly darkening.
Until the very end, this video never made clear what it was trying to convey.
Just intense, desolate music.
The daily life of a girl with an image that contradicted it.
And boys standing around for no apparent reason.
What registered instinctively was that sense of information and an inexplicably hollow, desolate atmosphere.
That was all.
Despite being such an obscure work, perhaps because of Moon Ga Young’s appearance, the music video was racking up more views than “Oceans” from the moment of release.
And the comments were similarly in far greater volume.
But the volume of comments wasn’t what mattered.
There was something more special.

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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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