Hooking the Band
In the car on his way home that evening, Suhyeon pulled out his phone and searched for the TV program Problematic Human.
"What the hell is this? Isn't a broadcast program supposed to be riddles, shapes, and number puzzles?"
Suhyeon confirmed that Problematic Human was nothing like he'd expected and let out a sigh, muttering under his breath.
"Sigh... Riddles still trip me up sometimes since I'm not fully adapted to this world yet, but anyone who's even skimmed through the Comprehensive Array Formations or the Illustrated Mechanisms could solve shape and number problems like these. No prep needed at all..."
Suhyeon wiped any interest in Problematic Human clean from his mind.
Soon after arriving home, he set his phone on the living room sofa and took a thorough shower. Then he returned to the living room, sat cross-legged on the floor, and after a moment of deep breathing, began to focus his mind with half-closed eyes, observing his body inwardly.
In that state, he gradually lengthened and slowed his breaths. It was the basic Qi Circulation Breathing technique practiced by all renowned sects and schools in his previous life.
Performing this twice a day—morning and evening—cleansed the body's internals, paving the way to learn the secret neigong methods passed down in each sect. Long years of experience had taught that skipping these foundational steps and jumping straight to advanced secret techniques drastically raised the risk of qi deviation, making it a long-standing taboo.
About thirty minutes into the breathing exercise, Suhyeon opened his eyes.
"Haa... This is stifling. Almost three months in, and I'm still stuck on the first stage."
Suhyeon briefly recalled his previous life.
In my past life, it took 28 days for Body Purification to awaken and cleanse the internal organs, 30 days for Meridian Washing to awaken and cleanse the meridians, and 33 days for Acupoint Activation to awaken and vitalize the acupoints. All told, three months to wrap up the preparatory stages... But this body? It's taking ages just for the first step of Body Purification.
His voice dripped with irritation as he spat it out.
"I need at least Meridian Washing done before I can attempt Microcosmic Orbit... This world's qi is just too thin. Formations don't work right, neigong doesn't either. When the hell am I going to circulate the Jeon family's Wisdom Void Infinite Heart Method?"
Frustrated, Suhyeon snatched his phone from the sofa and dove into a portal site to search.
Hmm. No matter how I think about it, this has to be the cause. Humanity numbered under a billion in my past life, but now Earth's population is over seven billion...
"With the human population exploding, the natural qi has thinned out accordingly. To push past peak and into the Transformation Realm, we'd probably need around six billion people to die off... But the parallel universe theory from modern science? Too much matches the history I know to buy into that. Sigh. Even my brain can't puzzle out a clear answer. For now, I'll take it slow and handle the urgent stuff first."
Suhyeon played the music files his manager had sent before heading home. They were tracks from the British BBG members' old band days back in the UK.
After listening twice, he organized his thoughts.
Hm. Not bad, but the flaws jump out clearly. Time to bait the kids... To thrive in entertainment from here on, I need to bond with my own members first.
"Gotta read scripts, study modern science, medicine, compare my past-life foreign languages to today's versions, catch up on current events and trivia, check out new music... So much to learn and do—I'm thrilled. Haha!"
If anyone else heard him, they'd curse him out, but Suhyeon headed to his study laughing.
With no special schedules for two days, he'd holed up at home practicing Qi Circulation Breathing and studying. But when he got word that the BBG members were wrapping their individual schedules and gathering together today, he headed to the YK Building early that morning.
In the BBG practice room, everyone except him was already there. It was like the 38th parallel had been drawn down the middle: the British members on one side, the trainee originals on the other, keeping their distance.
Each stared at their phones—listening to music, texting, gaming, minding their own business.
As Suhyeon entered, the trainee members he was somewhat close to, Gyeongbin and Seongbin, raised hands in casual greeting. But the British trio barely glanced at him like he was yesterday's chicken before returning to their own worlds.
The friction between members is no joke. If I want to thrive going forward, I need to fix this now... To catch a snake, strike the head.
Suhyeon zeroed in on Marvin, the de facto leader of the Brits. With his baby-faced, cute look, Marvin leaned against the practice room wall, knees up, earphones in, lost in music.
Suhyeon approached, sat cross-legged right in front of him, and stared piercingly at Marvin's face.
With Suhyeon silently plopping down and staring, Marvin scowled in annoyance.
"What? I don't wanna be disturbed right now."
Whoa? This guy's supposed to speak Korean well from this body's memories, but English? He doesn't wanna mix words with me, huh... But I'm not backing off that easy.
"Hey lad, what are you listening to?"
Marvin's eyes widened slightly in surprise at the English reply, glancing at Suhyeon. Suhyeon beamed innocently with a grin.
There's a good Korean proverb: You can't spit on a smiling face. Spot on. Sure, a bad mood might lead to a knife at the throat... but spitting? Nah.
Marvin pondered briefly, then silently pulled out one earbud and handed it over without a word.
Suhyeon nodded gratefully and popped it in.
This punk... doesn't wanna talk, huh. Hm? No lyrics? Soundtrack?
After listening a bit, Suhyeon spoke up.
"Wow, this music... this is unexpected..."
Marvin smirked smugly at Suhyeon's surprised reaction.
"You think you know music? Why're you suddenly all up on me today?"
"Haha, speaking Korean now, huh? Marvin... you suddenly wanna trip to India?"
Marvin flinched visibly.
"...You. What the hell?"
"I figured a Brit like you would be on Beatles, Coldplay, Adele... but Stevie Wonder from the States? Total curveball."
Marvin's eyes went wide at Suhyeon's bluntness.
"...How do you even know this is Stevie Wonder?"
"Haha, you'd have to be an idiot not to recognize it. It's from Stevie Wonder's 1979 album Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants—track four, Voyage to India, right? Marvin, you wanna visit India sometime?"
Dude... I've been cramming the top 100 albums I missed in the hospital, plus era- and genre-specific essentials for two straight days. My eardrums are about to burst.
"Ugh..."
Seeing Marvin reduced to groans without a comeback, Suhyeon grinned again.
"Or... Marvin, you must be stressed out lately. Bingeing New Age music? I'm the leader here—tell me if something's up. I'll listen anytime."
Marvin shot him a look of utter disbelief at the leaderly, consoling tone.
Atmosphere's decent enough now...
Suhyeon ignored the glare and pressed on.
"I've been checking out you British guys' old band tracks—you, Kevin, Robin—these past few days."
"You actually listened to that?"
"Yeah. And one thought hit me while listening. Might piss you off, though... you won't get mad if I say it, right?"
"Sigh. What the hell's with you today? Just spit it out."
"As a fellow musician, here's the thing... I spotted a weakness."
Suhyeon sensed the other members, who'd been watching curiously as the talk stayed on music without blows, now perking up and tuning in.
"Hmm. Too direct might rub wrong... Marvin, know the most-performed piano concerto in the world?"
"...Classics aren't my strong suit. No clue."
"Really? The most-performed one is Rakh—"
A voice cut in from the side.
"Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2."
Suhyeon turned to see Robin, the old band's keyboardist, eyeing them with curious interest.
Oho. Figures the keys guy would bite.
In Suhyeon's eyes, Robin dangled like a fish thrashing on a hook.
Gotcha too... Perfect!