(E/N: April fools! This is the real chapter! haha hope you guys like my little prank there~)

  However, grabbing on to that ray of hope in the darkness wasn’t easy.

  ‘How am I supposed to keep calm at a time like this?’


  KangYoon told her to keep calm, but it wasn’t as easy as that. The audience was murmuring amongst themselves, while the guitar in her hands was no longer usable. She wanted to run away from the stage right now.

  A voice started coming from the earset again just in time-

  First, put down the guitar.

  Kim JiMin put the guitar down carefully-

  Look to your right, there should be ChanGyu’s electric guitar. Pick that up.

  “What?”


  Kim JiMin blurted out in surprise. The audience’s murmuring got louder. Kim JiMin’s heart fluttered even more as she had to focus on both the reactions of the audience and the voice from her earphone.

  However, the voice told her otherwise-

  Don’t mind the audience. Close your eyes. Focus on my voice. Don’t answer me either.

  The order was very simple.

  It calmed her down like magic. As KangYoon had ordered, Kim JiMin put down her guitar and picked up ChanGyu’s electric guitar. However, there were three different volume knobs on it and she didn’t know which one to adjust.

  As though he had known that, the voice continued.

  – Lift the one at the very back, just slightly.

  Kim JiMin adjusted the key. When she did, a clean, acoustic guitar sound flowed out. The whispers in the audience also died down when she played the note.

  – Good, well done. Set the volume to around half. There’s a mic in front of ChanGyu’s seat, right? Put that mic on the stand. I’ll adjust the sound for you.

  She didn’t have any time to answer. She readied herself as quickly as she could. Although she wasn’t used to the strings of the electric guitar, which were slightly softer than acoustic guitars, that wasn’t the problem right now.

  The audience watched Kim JiMin in curiosity. A panicked young girl trying to get herself out of this predicament was both funny and curious. This was also only possible because the audience was open-minded.

  When Kim JiMin set up the electric guitar and put the mic on the stand, the broadcasting room became busy again. Kim JiMin’s voice was unique and it was difficult to adjust the setting for her voice. Moreover, she was using a different mic now, so there were differences in the output of her voice through the speaker. They had to recall the previous settings and do it completely anew-

  Start again.

  As soon as the preparations were ready, she resumed singing.

  “In my heart – your heart is the light of love –”


  Kim JiMin strained her voice a lot due to nervousness and veins could be seen on her neck. When she exerted power on top of learning the SLS vocal method, the gauge on the mixer was going beyond the yellow zone and into the red. She was desperate now. Although this mistake wasn’t intentional on her side, she wanted to make up for it. She closed her eyes as she didn’t have the courage to face the audience.

  The unfamiliar clean tone of the electric guitar and the unsuitable mic was completely different from her imagination of her first stage. The outcome of the stage she prepared so much for was very cruel.

  Like that, her first-ever stage was completed.

  People applauded and cheered. They applauded her for her attempts to make up for that unintentional mistake.

  Although she exited the stage amidst the cheers of the audience, her shoulders drooped regardless.

  “Well done.”


  “……”


  Lee HyunAh met her in front of the waiting room and hugged her. However, her stiff expression did not relax.

  Lee HyunAh and White Moonlight went back up on stage again.

  – Are you ready to jump again!

  – Yeaaaaaa!

  In the waiting room.

  As Kim JiMin sat there, blank-minded, she heard Lee HyunAh’s singing voice. Although she thought that this was normal for her usually, she found Lee HyunAh very great right now. She panicked due to a single snapped string, but Lee HyunAh had managed to jump around on stage even when water was sprayed on the audience.

  Kim JiMin buried her head in her knees. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became at herself.

  “Haa….”


  “What’s the sighing about?”


  She then heard a familiar voice. She raised her head to see that it was KangYoon.

  “Sir….”


  “I knew you’d be like this, burying your head in your knees, dejected.”


  “……”


  Kim JiMin did not reply to that.

  This was her first stage, she had prepared so much for it, only for it to end up like this. She had a hard time looking straight at KangYoon.

  KangYoon pulled a chair to sit in front of her. However, he did not speak.

  Time passed and White Moonlight’s performance continued.

  Kim JiMin asked carefully after all that time.

  “… I’m so sorry. You gave me this opportunity because you had faith in me.”


  “No, things like this can happen.”


  “I wanted to do better….”


  Her hands trembled. She could still imagine the scene where the audience was fumbled by the sudden snapping of her guitar string. Although she managed to do something about it, it was still quite thrilling nonetheless.

  KangYoon calmly spoke.

  “How long has it been since you replaced the string?”


  “I switched it out yesterday.”


  “If it still snapped, then that wasn’t your fault. It was just misfortune. There are many cases like that in the professional field. Even bass strings snap, not to mention acoustic ones.”


  “…But the fact that it still snapped….”


  “What you did up there was excellent for the first time. Although there was the recording, you were practically playing solo. Your guitar string still snapped despite that. Can you do anything about it? Instead, you only took one minute to get the other instrument setup and start playing again. Your song wasn’t bad either.”


  “……”


  Kim JiMin relaxed a little at KangYoon’s praises. However, his words didn’t end there.

  “I’m saying this because you’re still a trainee. If you’re a professional, you should never take more than a minute to clean up your mistake. In fact, even 30 seconds is long for the audience. Bear that in mind, okay?”


  “Yes.”


  “You’ve experienced something big even though this was your first time performing. There are many proper musicians who can’t do this on stage. Well done, you’ve worked hard.”


  KangYoon patted on Kim JiMin’s shoulders before standing up. Feeling his warmth, Kim JiMin felt that her stiff heart was melting. She didn’t know that the words ‘well done’ could be so calming until today.

  KangYoon spoke as she relaxed a little.

  “Now then. Let’s get ready for your debut.”


  “Yes!”


  Kim JiMin shouted cheerfully.

  ***

  A new nightclub-style concert hall opened up in Hongdae.

  This became a hot topic for the indie bands around. Especially on the opening day, the bands that visited White Moonlight’s performance couldn’t hide their surprise at the facilities and the equipment.

  After the opening ceremony, the indie bands that performed thereafter that day never stopped praising it. The thing they liked the most was the acoustics. As bands were sensitive to sound, they were very picky about the acoustics of a venue, and this place was the perfect place out of all venues around.

  Monday.

  Vocalist Gong SeungHye of the band Wish woke up late in the afternoon and headed to a cafe in Hongdae. A man wearing a hat was waiting for her.

  The two drank coffee and talked about the newly opened place, Lunas.

  “The facilities are definitely good. Is the rent really that cheap with those facilities?”


  Son JiWon, a vocalist of the band Train City, had doubts about that place. The rent was the most suspicious one. But this venue had cheaper rent than all the other places.

  “Yeah, it’s a lot cheaper than the other places.”


  “That’s awesome. The sound too, there’s no difference between listening from the front and from the back. They would have invested a lot in that place. Who’s the guy that’s running the place? Is he swimming in money?”


  “He owns an entertainment company. You know, the one Lee HyunAh went to.”


  “Oh, The Formidables, you mean?”


  Lee HyunAh was famous throughout Hongdae. She wasn’t called the Hongdae Goddess for no reason after all. It was also understandable that The Formidables, now White Moonlight, was the first to perform at the opening ceremony.

  The cheaper rent excited Son JiWon. However, he talked about something else.

  “Wait, is this because of that? I ran into SangTae-hyung a white ago and he told me that Spot Hall was fully booked for October when he went there.”


  “What’s that? That’s strange. There’s no way it’s already fully booked.”


  “It doesn’t end there. He tried other places as well. Derace, Greenlight, and all the other places told him that October was fully booked. Us indie bands should perform at least twice a month…. This is a big deal. He had no choice but to go to Lunas again.”


  This was rather strange. There was no way those places were already fully booked. Indie bands had their own network and would usually schedule amongst themselves before booking. This was because they knew that competition would only end in losses.

  “Are they scheming?”


  “No way. Isn’t that against the law?”


  “How would anyone find out if they act like that?”


  Gong SeungHye stood up feeling ominous. Her intuition told her that something fishy was at play here.

  ***

  Lunas was very empty during weekdays… or not.

  Lee HyunJi was currently having a headache due to the waves of female fans.

  ‘Sedy, I swear I’ll….’


  As she was receiving visitors at the entrance, fans who brought a whole carrier case of luggage were very hard to handle. The venue was not wide enough, there were a lot of people, and luggage wasn’t welcome. Although they had prepared seats beforehand, only some of the entrants could sit and many participated in the fan meeting standing up.

  Despite that, the fan meeting was very smooth. Fans from around the country had gathered and were happy just listening to his voice. Sedy showed off a few tricks and sang a couple of songs.

  After around an hour, the fans left like the tide.

  “Phew….”


  KangYoon was sweating when he saw that the venue was so full. Since Lee JunYeol ended up singing, he had to set up the mixer as well. Although he set up the mixer perfectly, the process was hard.

  After Lee JunYeol took some photos and gave hugs to a few remaining fans, he invaded the broadcasting room.

  “Hyung!”


  “Thanks for your work.”


  KangYoon met him without much excitement. It was not the case for Lee JunYeol though as he hugged KangYoon violently.

  “You’re freaking me out here.”


  “No way. What’s there to hide between the two of us?”


  Lee JunYeol only let KangYoon go after patting on KangYoon’s wide back.

  “It’s been a long time.”


  “You tell me. I think this is the first time we met since you came back from the States. Am I only worth that much?”


  “Haha, sorry about that.”


  KangYoon made an awkward smile. Lee JunYeol still understood him since KangYoon was running his own business now. Then, he looked around the broadcasting room in curiosity.

  “Wow, I should set up something like this too at my company. I’m jealous.”


  “Do it only if you need to.”


  “Well, YOLO.”


  “…Looks like you’ll only get yourself together once you marry someone.”


  KangYoon told off the immature Lee JunYeol. Though, that didn’t make him dejected at all. The two then went out of the broadcasting room. Lee JunYeol’s fans had very good manners and there wasn’t much trash to be seen at all.

  “Your fans are clean.”


  “They’re my fans. Of course, they’re clean.”


  “And here I thought they’re little girls who only know how to scream.”


  “Those girls are starting to become ahjummas now….”


  KangYoon patted Lee JunYeol’s shoulders to console him. When he did, Lee JunYeol smirked.

  “Heh, I’m fine since there’s still a super old car in front of me. Why don’t you go first?”


  “…Damn you.”


  (T/N: Sedy is implying KangYoon is older and should marry first.)

  KangYoon put Lee JunYeol in a headlock.

  After some chit chat, Lee JunYeol asked KangYoon in a serious voice.

  “Hyung. I’ll be releasing a digital single soon.”


  “Really? When?”


  “It’ll take a while. The production is almost over and all that’s left is to release it. The fan meeting today was for that as well.”


  “Oh yeah. I guess that’s why.”


  KangYoon understood where he was coming from. Although there were other methods like advertising through TV, satisfying the fans was very important as well. After all, they were the biggest source of purchasing power.

  “But there’s something that’s not finished yet. Bro, do you think I can get someone to do some featuring?”


  “Featuring? A guy or a girl?”


  “A girl. I want one that has an appealing voice.”


  KangYoon thought about it for a moment before speaking again.

  “Does the voice need to be powerful?”


  “That doesn’t matter. It’s good to have some, but we can do without it.”


  “Does it need to be someone from my company?”


  “No, not really… it’s fine if she’s someone from yours. I know that you’ll find the best girl for me regardless of the company.”


  “……”


  KangYoon shook his head when Lee JunYeol flattered him.

  “Sheesh, okay, then. But I think I need to listen to the song to make a decision.”


  “Here.”


  “You were clearly aiming for this, weren’t you?”


  When Lee JunYeol giggled saying that it was obvious, KangYoon took the USB drive off his hand.

  “Here are the lyrics.”


  “…Sheesh, the lyrics are so like you as well.”


  KangYoon frowned while looking at the lyrics written on a piece of note in illegible handwriting. Despite that, Lee JunYeol didn’t back down and just waved his hand.

  “Then please take care of it. I have another schedule after this and I need to go now.”


  “Okay, be safe.”


  “I’ll buy you a drink next time. Cya.”


  Lee JunYeol left Lunas while KangYoon shifted his eyes to the messy notes.

  “Do I need to call a cryptography team or something?”


  KangYoon sighed lightly while looking at these… ‘lyrics’.