Moderately Fast (2)

The Streamer Gallery forum was burning up over the massive rookie.

Choi Seola, his first viewer, felt proud of the expected results, but she frowned as she saw his clips spreading indiscriminately.

"Saebyeok shouldn't be reading comments like these..."

A voice echoed in her head, telling her that she was the only hero who could rescue him from being objectified by his voice alone.

Were Tweety viewers normal girls?

There were countless streamers who had been stripped bare and forced to quit by them.

On top of that, drama channels were already exporting his clips to YouTube. Technically, that was all potential revenue, and she paced around, frustrated by the waste.

After monitoring the situation for a long time, she made up her mind.

"As of today, I'm dedicating my life to Saebyeok!"

She revisited his barren channel page and began drafting a long email.

After revising it three times, she pressed send with a trembling heart.

She detailed why a manager was necessary for his broadcasts, his future direction, and whether he had plans for YouTube or other external activities.

If he allowed it, she even planned to manage his fan cafe.

"His voice is seriously so good... I bet he's handsome, too."

Having spent her youth fangirling to the point of getting scolded by her parents, her sharp intuition was tingling.

"What should my fan nickname be..."

Choi Seola wasn't the only woman getting ahead of herself and dreaming sweet dreams.

Other women were sharing his clips with friends, comparing his singing to the original songs, and marveling at his talent.

Naturally, streamers who were highly sensitive to trends didn't miss this massive bait, and the impatient ones were already sending emails for collaborations.

All of this happened while Saebyeok was fast asleep.

After returning from his usual morning jog, Saebyeok was quite surprised to see the pile of emails waiting for him.

It had only been a two-hour broadcast, and he had only sung a few songs. How could there be such an explosive reaction?

"Let's see what they say."

"Fuck!"

He deleted it at the speed of light.

Just how starved were the women in this world?

Most of the emails were filled with all kinds of creepy, dark desires.

"A collab stream, huh..."

He also saw a few emails regarding collaborations.

Among them, one stood out: Harang, a major music streamer whom he had often watched himself.

He had already been thinking that collaborating with a streamer who focused on instruments or singing wouldn't be a bad idea, so it caught his interest.

"So just voice is fine?"

SyncRoom was an ensemble program developed by Yamaha.

Since it drastically reduced latency, he had looked into it with interest before, and he was already familiar with audio interfaces and DAWs.

Collaborating with other musicians was always a fun and inspiring process, so he sent a reply.

"I can just wait for a response on that one, and next..."

Mango Smoothie was his precious first viewer, so she was deeply engraved in his memory.

Her lively tone of voice was just like her username, showing she was a self-proclaimed social butterfly.

"A manager... I do need one. If what she says is true, she probably knows more about streaming than I do. Should I ask her?"

He sent a reply accepting her as manager and left his JustCord info to discuss the details tonight.

Checking all the emails took quite a bit of time.

While preparing a simple brunch, Saebyeok thought about Ed's songs.

For the time being, it was impossible to record with the level of quality he used to satisfy himself, which was his biggest concern lately.

Hiring session musicians was a problem, and finding a studio was also a problem.

Putting the cost aside, the biggest hurdle was the restriction that his identity must not be exposed.

Even if he did expose himself, 'Saebyeok' had to come before his identity as 'Ed'.

As a result, he had to handle the production all by himself.

Although there was no instrument he couldn't play, there were many instruments where he fell short compared to professional session players. The biggest issue among them was the 'drums', which could be called the heart of music.

"Should I get an electronic drum kit? Oh, fuck!"

While he was lost in thought for a moment, the toast burned completely.

"Well... hesitating only delays delivery. Let's settle for an electronic drum kit for now."

After finishing his simple meal, he finally ordered an electronic drum set.

It was a relief that he had filled most of the living room with a soundproof booth.

There was another area he was putting effort into.

It was separating the vocal tones of 'Ed' and 'Saebyeok'.

Producing different voices wasn't difficult for him, but giving them distinct characteristics was a different story.

"Should I just go with an old vocal cord and a young vocal cord?"

Saebyeok definitely had a beautiful, clean voice, and it had never been abused by smoking or drinking.

To play the music from his past life, it felt a bit too much like a model student.

A model student's music!

Was that... even possible?

He barely managed to snap out of his self-rationalization.

Fortunately, his first album was alternative rock.

"I have to protect the rock spirit of a real man!"

Now that he had a plan, he decided to train.

He ran his DAW and stood in front of the microphone.

The closest music... I should do something by the Nirvana hyungs.

Having chosen the song, he strapped on his Fender Stratocaster and smacked his lips.

"It's a shame I don't have a Jaguar."

One of his hobbies in his past life was using the exact same props as the artists he respected.

He had even tried playing the guitar left-handed, like Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and Tony Iommi.

Sometimes, if he could obtain instruments filled with their passion, he wouldn't hesitate to bid at auctions, and collectors captivated by his musicality would even hand them over for free.

Though that was something he could never see again.

Will I be able to get them again?

They say once your standards go up, it's hard to bring them down, and that was exactly his situation.

"Focus, focus!"

Perhaps because his practice was paying off, a smile spread across his face at the familiar comfort.

After successfully finishing the song, he hesitated slightly.

This was because he also had to sing during his broadcasts.

Vocal cords were muscles that couldn't be recklessly abused, and he could easily get nodules.

Yet, vocal cords were a part of the body that couldn't be trained without using them. Was there no choice?

"Just one more song."

His choice was Linkin Park's "In The End."

It was the title track of their debut album, which had reached number two on the Billboard charts.

While singing the first verse, Saebyeok felt a strange sensation.

Come to think of it, Chester Bennington, the vocalist of Linkin Park, had also ended his life by suicide.

To think that the vocalists of both bands he had chosen without much thought were deceased.

And now, Ed would be included in that list as well.

"I wonder if my albums sold more... haha."

Perhaps the completion of an artist came from an unexpected death.

Since there were quite a few such cases in reality, he couldn't help but feel a bitter sensation in a corner of his heart.

"Well... if I start assigning meaning to everything, there'll be no end to it."

As he continued singing the second verse, Saebyeok felt that his voice suited this song very well.

Was it because his voice had a high synchronicity with Chester Bennington's voice as he remembered it?

Or was it because of his own original voice, which was gradually fading away? Even he couldn't answer.

Choi Seola (Mango Smoothie) swallowed hard as the promised time approached.

Who was it that said a woman's combat power comes from her foundation?

She slathered makeup onto her face.

What if he asks to do a video call!

Having fully equipped herself in her battle gear, she was looking for water to quench her thirst when a notification sounded.

"He's here...!"

Saebyeok immediately turned on his voice chat.

"Hello? Can you hear me?"

Choi Seola's heart pounded wildly at his voice echoing from the headphones she was already wearing.

After unmuting her microphone, she took a deep breath.

"Can you hear me?"

"Y-Yes, I can hear you loud and clear!"

Having blurted that out before she could stop herself, she began to ramble incoherently.

"Ah, my name is Choi Seola, I'm 24 years old, and I live in..."

"Ahaha! Hold on a second. You don't need to tell me where you live."

"I-I'm sorry. I'm just so nervous..."

"No, it's fine. It happens. Would you like to go grab a glass of water?"

"Yes, yes! Actually, I have a water bottle right next to me. Just a moment!"

Saebyeok smiled at Choi Seola's youthful voice.

Even though they couldn't see each other's faces, she was this nervous just from a voice call.

It brought back old memories.

The flustered expressions of his fans, and how incredibly happy they would look just from him holding their hands—those pure moments.

Because of his fans, he was able to exist, and he was always grateful for that.

Even if the form was different now, he spoke to yet another fan.

"Shall we decide on the details then?"

"Yes! Actually, I prepared some simple materials. I'll attach the file here, so could you take a look?"

Admiring her preparedness in even writing up a PowerPoint presentation, he examined the details.

"Wow... I'm touched. Shall we look at it together?"

"Ye-Yes! If there's anything you want to change, I'll apply it right away!"

A chuckle escaped him at the contrast between her cute, bubbly voice and the aggressive, bold font she had used.

Right, this is a gender-reversed world...

The phrasing was so rigid it reminded him of the U.S. Navy, but the content was solid.

It mainly focused on management direction and coordination.

"Mango Smoothie... No, can I call you Seola-ssi?"

"Yes! I'd be very grateful if you did!"

"Ahaha! No ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠need to be grateful for that. About the song requests... do we really have to charge money to sing them?"

This was one of the parts Choi Seola had agonized over the most.

"If you accept all song requests, Saebyeok-nim, your throat won't hold up. It's also a problem if the amount is too small."

"Hmm... isn't 100,000 won per song a bit too much?"

"Since you've entrusted me with being your manager, please follow my decision on this matter!"

She was surprisingly firm.

"Alright, let's go with that for now. Also, the rules for banning people here seem a bit too strict..."

She burned with fighting spirit toward Saebyeok, who was worried about the one area she refused to compromise on.

"Those toxic trolls only ruin the broadcast. They won't help you in the long run if you want to stream for a long time!"

Saebyeok was being overwhelmed by her, wondering where her previous shyness had gone.

Why does she keep reminding me of Christine...?

Saebyeok truly wondered why the women who got close to him always ended up becoming so fierce.