The Ability Evolves
"This… what is this? Oppa, I think I just got hit with one of those scam deposits. A mule account—something like that…"
"…I sent that. Just now."
My sister stared at the balance, then jolted so hard she nearly dropped the phone. Her hands shook as her eyes darted back and forth between me and the screen.
"…Oppa, you're not about to die, are you? Did somebody scam you? Did something happen at work?"
"……"
Why do the older one and the little one react exactly the same?
I spend money on my family, and the first thing out of either of them is whether I'm about to die.
…Which just means I've done nothing but work, and never really taken care of them.
She had no idea what I was thinking. She was completely serious.
"Oppa, no. You can't start thinking like that. If something's wrong, tell me. If we talk it through, there's got to be a way…"
"…It's nothing like that, so stop worrying. I just got a pretty big bonus recently."
"Does that even make sense? Why would you tell a lie that obvious?"
I'd hoped to mumble my way past it, but she'd already decided on her own that I was having dark thoughts, and she kept picking at every word.
…Right. She has a job too. Of course a lie won't work.
I hadn't wanted to tell her. At this rate, though, I didn't have a choice. I let out a sigh.
"Haa… Jisu. This stays with you. Something I invested in hit big."
"Invested…?? Stocks?????!?!!!!??!!!"
That only made it worse. She was looking at me now like she was about to cry.
Damn. She's thinking about Dad.
She had reason to. The moment our household started to come apart was the moment our father lost every last won he had in the stock market. Of course she was scared.
"Don't worry. I already took the profit. There's no way I can lose it now."
"…Are you sure you're okay?"
She was still watching me with uneasy eyes. I answered with nothing but certainty.
"Yeah. I'm never going to lose money in the market again."
Not so long as my ability stayed with me.
"So you made money in stocks… and you paid Grandma's hospital bills, and Mom's surgery, all of it?"
"That's right. So stop worrying, and use that money to do whatever you want."
She went quiet for a long while, head bowed, before she spoke.
"No, Oppa. No matter how I look at it, fifty million won is way too much. Take all of it back."
"…Think of it as spending money. If there's clothes you've been wanting, buy them. Get a new bass… try the things you've wanted to try, just once."
"But… this is still money you earned…"
She was refusing with everything she had, so I tried another angle.
"All right. Then don't think of it as me handing you pocket money. Think of it as me making an investment."
"An… investment?"
"Yeah. This is an investment."
She looked thrown, like she'd just heard something she had no way to expect.
"What are you talking about, Oppa?"
"You're in a band. You're trying to put out an album, aren't you?"
"Uh… yeah? We were getting ready, but we ran out of money and it all fell through…"
"I want to invest in your band, Jisu. Enough that an album can actually come out."
The sudden offer left her stammering, but even then I could see her eyes change.
"Ha… but…"
The weight of it was written all over her; she was about to refuse. I hurried on before she could.
"Only—if I can, I'd like to hear your music tomorrow before I decide. Would that be all right?"
At that, her whole attitude shifted.
"You'll listen, and then decide?"
"Of course."
I looked her straight in the eye.
"What I'm doing isn't a donation. It's an investment. That's only natural."
"Oppa…"
"Like you said, I can't just hand money over because you're my little sister. But I can look at your band's future and decide whether to invest. That, I can think about."
She turned it over for the briefest moment, then nodded.
"…Okay. I'll tell the others to come to the practice room tomorrow."
"Good. I'll see you once and make the call. So what genre are you, anyway?"
I asked, but I already had a fair guess.
Rock? Looking at the clothes, it's got to be rock. Punk… something like that?
I don't know music well, but I know enough. White face paint, a guitar used to smash everything in sight—that's punk, isn't it? You show up and it's a pack of skinny long-haired guys chain-smoking in a corner…
Then my sister's eyes lit up.
"Oppa. Have you ever heard of K-popcore?"
"…???"
What kind of mishmash name is that?
Whatever she was doing—was it even a real thing?
The next day, the scene in front of me was nothing like the one I'd pictured.
"Hello, sir!!!"
"Hey… relax, all of you. Relax."
"No, sir!!!"
What? This is the complete opposite of what I expected.
The rock-band image in my head shattered on the spot.
Where are the long-haired guys? The busted guitars? The cigarette smoke?
The practice room sat in a rundown commercial building, but the inside, unlike the outside, was clean and neatly kept. The men lined up in front of me looked almost wholesome.
When I caught a glimpse yesterday they were all buried in long padded coats, so I couldn't tell. Not what I thought at all.
They wore sharp black suits, hair neatly set. And the gear wasn't the old, battered guitars I'd imagined—it was banks of gleaming machines.
"What's that?"
I pointed at a huge piece of equipment and asked my sister.
"Oh, that's our core instrument. A synthesizer. Think of it as an electronic music device."
Beside the keyboard sat a machine that looked complicated at a glance, and a laptop besides. I'd always assumed a band was just guitar, bass, and drums. This was a genuine shock.
"Hello. I'm Kwon Hyuk, leader and vocalist of the band Synthnake."
"Say hi, Oppa. This is our leader."
"Nice to meet you."
"This is Jimin. He plays drums."
"Nice to meet you. You're really investing in our band?"
He stuck his hand out with easy confidence. I took it.
"Yes. It's my sister's band, but I need to see it objectively and decide it's actually worth investing in."
"Hahaha! Is that so? Well, investing's a personal choice. I invest too. Crypto."
"Ah… yes. I'll be in your care."
After that she introduced the guitarist and the keyboardist. I got through the greetings, then watched my sister step up onto the little stage.
I'd only been waiting a moment when the lights in the practice room snapped off. I was still wrong-footed by the sudden dark when—
Flash!
Spotlights dropped from above and caught the four of them, each in their own beam. What startled me wasn't the lights.
My sister was a vocalist?
She was standing at the mic with her bass in her hands.
A brief silence. Then the music started.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
A simple drumbeat repeated and filled the room. Under it, the bass laid down a low line, and my sister opened her mouth, voice kept low.
Put your little finger up and down
Swear you won't tell
English lyrics?
She half-spoke the words, and her pronunciation was clear. Even as she sang, her hands never stopped working the bass.
Look, no matter how much we grow taller
The line carried on, and a low electronic tone slipped in to fill the empty space in the sound, tightening the air until it felt like something was about to break loose.
Would you wait some more
Slow down for next life
The instant her part ended, she met the eyes of the leader who had introduced himself as Kwon Hyuk and gave him a small nod.
The next second the guitar came in, and everything she had built tore open at once. A ripping growl slammed straight into my ears.
Stay away from all the imperfections!!!
That was when I looked around at the rest of them.
The guitarist played like a man possessed, staking everything on it, his right hand moving so fast I couldn't see it. The keyboardist was working a mess of intimidating machines and having the time of his life doing it. And in the middle of all of it, my sister—bouncing as she sang—looked happier than any version of her I had ever seen.
Then, from up on that stage, her eyes met mine.
…!!!
The moment I saw that happy smile, something warm ran down my spine—nothing like the usual chill. The feeling poured into my heart, and my pulse kicked hard.
This… this is—!
I knew it on instinct. I had just gained some new ability.
From my sister's smile came a fierce certainty, the exact opposite of that cold sense that something ought to be avoided. This would succeed. My ability was telling me to invest, here, now.
I didn't even notice when it ended. Her playing was simply over.
…This is insane. This works. This hits, one hundred percent.
That was my honest reaction. And it was the first investment my ability—which had spent my whole life telling me only what to avoid—had ever chosen for me.
I had never even imagined a thing like this. K-pop fused with metal. The violent growl and my sister's bright voice locked together, and the harmony was nothing short of perfect.
The set ended. Every light in the practice room came back on. A short silence broke, and a voice found me.
"…How was it?"
"…What did you think?"
Four pairs of eyes fixed on me.
"How was it, you ask…?"
I raised my thumb.
"The best. Truly."