Chapter 43
As the audience stirred, Nova lowered his microphone and swallowed.
...That much.
He had thought there were no emotions behind that expressionless face.
But now, tears were running down it.
He made Little K’s song with his whole heart.
Before he knew it, the tip of Nova’s nose began to sting.
Aella covered her mouth with both hands.
...Shotgun.
The man who became a completely different person whenever he put on sunglasses.
She felt as though she understood the reason for that gap a little now.
He was simply someone who loved music.
In the VIP section, Big Joe’s jaw tightened.
...Yeah, Shotgun.
The Asian man who had cried in front of his brother’s grave was crying again now.
Big Joe slowly closed his eyes.
Ma bro, I really was right to leave it to that guy. Shotgun was the only one who could have completed this song. Maybe those twenty unfinished years... were all for this moment.
Mama Rose pressed a handkerchief to the corners of her eyes.
He really is... such a kind boy.
To cry like that for Kiki, someone he had never even met.
She had promised herself she would not cry for Kiki.
But in the end, Mama Rose could not hold back her tears.
The song ended.
The final piano note slowly dissolved into the air.
Silence.
Then—
“WHEN I WAKE UP!”
“Shotgun! You’re fucking insane!”
“LITTLE K FOREVER!”
The venue exploded. The floor shook. Thousands of people stomped their feet at once. Cheers poured out as though they would bring the whole building down. The applause would not stop.
Then—
A silhouette holding a microphone walked out from backstage.
“OHHHHHH!”
“It’s Cabin!”
“The legend! The legend is here!”
Cabin raised one hand and calmed the audience, then walked over to Shotgun.
“Well, well, well...”
Then he placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Looks like this damn genius got emotional in the middle of playing because he started thinking about Little K.”
The audience stirred.
“When I first met this guy—”
Cabin adjusted his grip on the microphone.
“He had a face with absolutely no emotion in it. Blank expression, sunglasses, and no way to tell what the hell he was thinking.”
Cabin shook his head.
“But that was all on the outside. Put him in front of music, and he gets this damn honest.”
He squeezed Shotgun’s shoulder once more.
“Real recognize real. This guy is the legend who’ll follow after me.”
The entire floor erupted.
“Cabin acknowledged him!”
“The legend himself acknowledged him!”
“A legend just chose the next legend!”
“We’re watching history right now!”
A Black man ripped off his shirt and spun it over his head while bare-chested.
Cabin raised a hand and quieted the audience again.
“But do you people know just how crazy this guy is about music?”
The audience perked up their ears.
“Just Drive alone made enough money for him to buy a new car and still have plenty left over. That song hit number four on Billboard.”
“Drive on the top!”
Someone shouted.
Laughter spread.
“But do you know what this crazy bastard still drives?”
Cabin paused for effect.
“A 2009 Honda Civic.”
The audience reacted in horror.
“WHAT THE FUCK?!”
“You’re kidding!”
“2009?! That car is older than me!”
“Nah, nah, nah, no way!”
“After making that much money?!”
Cabin shrugged.
“He makes money and doesn’t even think about changing cars. His head is full of nothing but music. As long as the thing still moves, that’s enough for him.”
Of course, Park Geon was actually in a position where he could not replace it even if he wanted to.
He had only recently revealed to his family that he was Shotgun. Before that, if they had asked where he got the money for a new car, he would have had no answer.
And he was simply frugal.
“He really is insane about music.”
“On God, if I sell even one demo, the first thing I’m buying is a chain.”
“That’s a real artist. Respect. Seriously, respect.”
“Shotgun! Shotgun! Shotgun!”
As the crowd chanted—
“So.”
Cabin adjusted his grip on the microphone and continued.
“I’m thinking of buying this guy a car.”
The audience roared.
“WHAAAAT?!”
“Cabin’s buying him a car!”
“The legend himself?!”
Cabin suddenly shouted toward the VIP section.
Big Joe sat there with his arms crossed.
“Yo, Big Joe! You mind if I buy your artist a car?”
Big Joe opened his mouth and answered.
But he had no microphone, and he was too far away.
There was no way anyone could hear him.
“What the hell is he saying?”
Cabin frowned.
Then he pulled out his phone.
“Yo, B! Pick up the phone! Pick up!”
Ring, ring—
Big Joe in the VIP section raised his phone to his ear.
Cabin switched to speakerphone and held it against the microphone.
Big Joe’s voice rang throughout the venue.
—What kind of car are you buying him?
“Maybe... Benz?”
—That won’t do.
“Huh?”
Big Joe grinned.
—I’ll add my own money. Change it to another B.
Cabin froze.
Cars beginning with the letter B flashed through his mind.
Then his eyes widened.
“...Bentley?!”
(Translator’s Note:Bentley — A British luxury automobile manufacturer founded by W. O. Bentley in 1919. The marque is associated with high-end grand touring cars, luxury craftsmanship, and motorsport heritage.)
The moment Cabin shouted into the microphone, the venue exploded all over again.
“A Bentley?! A real Bentley?!”
“Half from the legend and half from the Crips boss?!”
“How many countries did that Asian guy save in his past life?!”
“On my mama, I’ll finish a Little K song too! Somebody buy me a Bentley!”
One man grabbed the collar of the person beside him and shook him.
“Did you hear that?! Did you hear that?!”
“Let go, asshole! I heard it too!”
Onstage—
The actual person receiving the car remained exactly the same.
Sunglasses.
Blank expression.
“...Look at him. Look at that face.”
“He’s getting a free Bentley and not even one eyebrow moved.”
“That’s the composure of a real big shot.”
Of course, Park Geon’s thoughts were somewhere else entirely.
...How much is Bentley insurance again?
And where was he supposed to park it?
What was he going to tell his parents?
Honestly, Park Geon wanted to refuse.
As politely and respectfully as possible.
But...
...Big Joe added his own money.
What would happen if he refused a gift that a Crips OG had personally contributed money toward?
That would be the same as kicking away someone’s goodwill right in front of them.
...Guess I have to take it.
The conclusion always led him to the same place.
First, survive.
With that thought, he nodded once.
Seeing it, Cabin raised the microphone with satisfaction.
“It’s settled! This genius is getting a Bentley!”
Waaaaaaah!
The cheers turned the venue upside down once more.
A few hours after the performance ended—
American concerts, especially hip-hop shows, were extremely permissive about audiences recording on their phones.
As a result, the internet quickly became flooded with videos of When I Wake Up.
—Did you see the fancam? Holy shit.
└The moment the intro started with Little K’s voice, I got chills all over.
└All the people crying in the audience got caught on video lol. How could anyone watch that and not cry?
└I’ve already replayed the fancam ten times. I can’t get any work done.
—But was Shotgun really crying while playing?
└The guy whose trademark is having no expression had tears dripping from under his sunglasses.
└Probably because it was Little K’s song. He couldn’t have completed that track in the first place if he hadn’t put real emotion into it.
└Then Cabin himself walked out and straight-up called him “the legend who’ll follow after me.”
└It was the moment one legend pointed to the next legend. We watched history happen in real time.
—So did Cabin actually come back? He personally showed up at the end of the stage.
└No idea if that counts as a comeback, but Cabin isn’t someone who casually shows his face at just anybody’s performance. Showing up at all was an endorsement.
—Why did Aella suddenly appear there? Never saw that coming.
└She came because it was Shotgun’s song. The song itself convinced her.
└Did you hear Aella’s live tone? She sang with that expression like she was mourning someone. I had no words.
—Did you hear Cabin say he’d buy Shotgun a Bentley?
└Then the Crips boss added money and upgraded it to a Bentley lol. The scale is insane.
└What’s even funnier is that Shotgun currently drives a 2009 Honda Civic.
└?????? A producer with a Billboard number four hit drives an ’09 Civic???
└What the hell does he spend his money on? Guess his head is really filled with nothing but music.
└The song is called Drive, but the guy himself drives around in a Civic lol.
└That’s a real artist. Look how little he cares about cars.
—This video has completely taken over the algorithm. Even a friend who knows nothing about hip-hop messaged me saying they saw it.
└It’s kind of crazy that even generations who don’t know Little K are searching his name now.
└Once you understand what the “dream of waking up” line means and watch it again, it destroys you.
—Someone who was actually there, please tell us more.
└When the lights went out and only the piano was playing, the whole venue was so quiet you couldn’t hear a single breath. The video doesn’t capture it.
└I’ll brag for the rest of my life that I was there.
—So when the hell is the studio version coming out? Please hurry.
└Making us hear it live once and then nothing else is just cruel.
└Damn, I’m so jealous...
In the end, everyone’s opinion became unified around one question.
—So when is When I Wake Up being released?
The Bentley’s engine started smoothly.
Park Geon sat in the driver’s seat wearing a suit and adjusted his tie once in the rearview mirror.
Today was the day he would give his first report at Morrison & Reed as a legal trainee.
“...”
As he drove down the road, he lowered the window.
The Los Angeles breeze flowed into the car.
Palm trees passed beyond the window.
...Please stop staring. You’re making me uncomfortable.
The light turned red, and the car stopped.
The driver in the next lane glanced repeatedly at the Bentley.
This really is a bit much, isn’t it?
Until recently, he had owned a 2009 Civic.
Then, overnight, he had become the owner of a Bentley.
Ha... no matter how I think about it, this is too much. It’s way too burdensome, and the insurance costs are ridiculous.
But if he had said, “I won’t accept it,” right there, he would have become the villain who ruined the entire mood.
Still, honestly...
Part of him had always wanted to drive a car like this at least once.
The problem began now.
What are the people at the firm going to think when they see this car? Some of them are definitely going to resent it.
For reference, the Civic had been scrapped the very next day.
More precisely, Big Joe had helped him scrap it.
He had said he knew a place...
Basically, I was forced to scrap it.
Damn.
Maybe he should have just taken a taxi or used public transportation today.
He had driven out without thinking it through.
A second-year law student working as a legal trainee arriving in a Bentley.
Even Park Geon understood how bizarre that looked.
And if someone asked how he had paid for it, he could hardly answer, “DJ Cabin and a Crips boss split the cost and bought it for me.”
That was right.
All of these problems existed because the people at Morrison & Reed did not know that Park Geon was Shotgun.
All they knew was a legal trainee with deer-like eyes.
And on a trainee’s salary, he could not even afford one of the Bentley’s tires.
...I’ll park in the farthest corner of the underground garage. No, maybe I should park a block away and walk in.
Then he suddenly remembered the stage.
The thousands of people beyond his sunglasses.
The night Cabin had even called him “the legend who’ll follow after me.”
And now—
He was wearing a tie, carrying a briefcase, and heading to give his first report.
...Am I really the same person?
He had only taken off one pair of sunglasses, yet the entire world had flipped upside down.
At some point, the light had turned green.
Vroooom—
He stepped on the accelerator.
Morrison & Reed, thirty-second-floor conference room.
Park Geon distributed copies of his report one by one.
A legal trainee with a neatly tied necktie and deer-like eyes.
The expressionless man in sunglasses who had made thousands cry onstage was nowhere to be found.
He was even wearing a soft smile.
“I’ll begin the first report on the LK Records matter.”
Laura Chen accepted the report and adjusted her glasses as she turned the first page.
“One song, Drive, reached number four on Billboard and won two BET Awards. The streaming revenue generated from that alone is already this much...”
The senior partner pointed at the revenue page.
Normally, a partner would never personally attend a trainee’s first report.
But somewhere along the way, the LK Records matter had become something the firm could no longer ignore.
“And most importantly, the distribution agreement with Epic Music.”
The partner’s voice gained weight.
“A label founded less than a year ago managed to secure a contract with a major distributor. Is something like this even normally possible?”
A strange silence settled over the conference room.
Beyond the glass door, several junior attorneys were once again craning their necks to peek inside.
“That trainee is really handling the entire LK matter by himself, right?”
“I heard he handled everything from the incorporation to the Epic distribution contract.”
“...A second-year law student?”
“I told you, he’s a monster.”
Park Geon pointed to the next page.
“As for the distribution agreement, I believe we only need to revise the master-ownership clause one more time.”
“...Right.”
Laura shook her head in disbelief, and the partner set down his pen.
“I’ll be honest. When you first brought this label to us, I thought it would collapse within six months.”
“...”
“But now it’s the fastest-growing client in our firm. What the hell is happening over there?”
Neither of them had any idea that more than half of that “something” was sitting at the table with them.
“...They have one very good producer.”
“That Shotgun guy?”
Laura snapped her fingers.
“Who the hell is he, anyway? Have you actually met him while working with the label?”
...Ten minutes ago.
He had looked at himself in the mirror while straightening his clothes before coming into the conference room.
“Well... I’ve seen him a few times, but I don’t know him well.”
Park Geon quietly took a sip of water.
The partner nodded with satisfaction.
“Anyway, good work.”
“Thank you.”
The report ended like that.
After leaving the conference room, Park Geon stood by the window at the end of the hallway.
He loosened his tie slightly.
...Come to think of it.
The song was scheduled for release today.
He had been so busy all day that he had not checked the results even once.
By now... has it been released?
He opened a streaming app.
The chart page appeared.
And then—
“...!”
Park Geon’s eyes widened.