Chapter 63: ...I'll Do It For You.
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 63: ...I'll Do It For You.
[...Were we supposed to do something?]
Did she not remember?
She must have been half-asleep, I thought, so I explained it again to confirm.
[Ah. We promised to go to karaoke together later.]
I was worried she might have something scheduled during the day.
I knew she had a collab stream at night, so I was planning to head back before then, but...
[Aha! Right! Sounds good!]
The way her words were broken up, with the pitch going up and down, sounded similar to her streaming voice.
What was this?
[What time do you need to be home by?]
I asked about the schedule I already knew about.
[Um... around 7? I think that should be fine.]
[So we have time for dinner too, right?]
[Yeah, since we're meeting near my place.]
[Okay. Then... should we meet around 3?]
It was the perfect amount of time to hit the karaoke place and then grab an early dinner.
[Yep.]
[Alright. See you later then.]
After hanging up, I fixed my eyes back on my computer monitor.
"Hmm."
The window open on my screen was a music streaming site.
To be honest, I'd only agreed to go because Doah said she'd come with me. I'd rarely ever been to karaoke with anyone.
I'd been dragged along with a big group before, but I don't think I'd ever gone with just one other person, or by myself.
I only had one song I'd ever practiced.
After going with a group a few times, I'd noticed there was this strange pressure for everyone to sing one song during the first round.
After that, the people who actually liked to sing would take over, and I could just awkwardly shake a tambourine until it was time to leave...
But this time was different.
How should we split the time...
If I had it my way, I'd just hand Doah 20,000 won and ask her to sing the whole time.
But I also knew I couldn't do that.
This wasn't a fan meeting with Luka-tan; it was a date with my girlfriend.
I guess I'd have to sing a little...
I scrolled down the popular charts, but there were barely any songs I knew.
When I played them, they sounded vaguely familiar, but there was no way I could practice them enough to sing them at karaoke now.
Unfortunately, I was tone-deaf.
I had absolutely no talent for singing.
Having given up on learning the latest hits, I started digging through songs from about five to ten years ago.
Back before I got completely absorbed in subculture.
Maybe I could manage the songs that used to play in the car when my parents drove me around?
As I hummed the lyrics, memories from my childhood came flooding back.
Music was such a strange medium.
Just listening to a song was enough to paint a perfect picture and make you think, 'Ah, that's right, that's what happened back then.'
When a song we'd all sung together on my elementary school field trip came on, I was suddenly little Han Taemin again.
"Is this too old-fashioned?"
Still, I felt like I could manage these, so I jotted down the titles in my phone's notepad.
There's only a two-year age gap between Doah and me, so she should know these songs, right?
I felt like I'd be a little hurt if she didn't.
I only felt relieved after I'd picked about ten songs, and then I just waited quietly for 3 o'clock to meet her.
Kim Doah. Age 21.
Master of solo trips to the coin karaoke.
I had more than enough songs I always sang, but today was different.
It was the day I was going to karaoke with my first-ever boyfriend.
Scrolling all the way down my playlist, I felt a headache coming on.
What kind of music does Oppa like?
Does he like calm ballads?
Or maybe girl idol songs?
Judging by his stream chats, he seems like a total otaku. Would he actually like it if I sang an anime song?
Since we were meeting in front of my building, I waited until there were exactly five minutes left before slipping on my sneakers.
I decided to dress as comfortably as possible.
It reminded me of the disaster at the DVD room last time.
No point in trying to dress up all pretty only to catch a cold again.
You only need to put in the effort when it counts.
I figured there was no point in getting overly dressed up just to go to a coin karaoke.
After one last check in the mirror to fix my hair, I pushed the front door open.
As I went down the stairs, I saw Taemin Oppa waiting for me, leaning against the wall with his head tilted down.
He was so focused on his phone that even after I pushed open the glass door, he still didn't look my way.
"What are you watching?"
Curious, I crept closer to try and peek at his screen.
"Whoa! What the—!"
He seemed genuinely startled, scrambling back a few steps and shoving his phone into his pocket.
"Geez, when did you get here?"
"I just came out?"
"You should've said something."
"Huh? That's why I just called out to you."
What was he watching that made him jump like that?
"So, what were you looking at?"
"It was nothing."
"Doesn't that make you have to tell me even more?"
Several possibilities flashed through my mind.
The most likely one was, of course...
"...Were you watching Luka?"
"Ah. Yeah."
A strange poutiness welled up inside me.
I mean, I am Luka.
"Then you should film me singing today."
Yeah. This should work, right?
I grabbed his hand and looked directly into his dark, black eyes.
"Not Luka."
Not her.
"Film Doah singing."
Film the real me singing.
My ears felt hot.
Ah. Still, maybe using the third person was a bit much.
Someone who hated aegyo or cringey stuff would've definitely reacted coldly, but my opponent was a 12-month subscriber.
He should be able to handle cringe!
I was waiting awkwardly for his response when he spoke.
"...In that case, could you possibly..."
The tips of his fingers twitched.
"Could you also sing that anime OST you sang for a bit last week?"
...What did I do last week?
I searched my memory and, thinking it might be that one, I asked him.
"...The Aiming for Idol OST?"
"Yeah. I really wanted to hear the full version..."
Even though he was the one who asked, he seemed embarrassed and looked down at the floor.
Seriously? I offered to sing for him, and out of all the songs in the world, he picks that one.
Ugh... really...
It was a song full of all sorts of cringey Japanese words like moe, kyun, and heart.
It was a song I found so hard to sing that I only hummed it, even with my stream avatar up.
I felt like if I sang that song all the way through, I would lose something precious as a human being.
"Ah. I guess it’s a bit much, huh...? Sorry."
"...I'll do it."
Because I figured that's what dating was.
Because I figured it meant overlooking a lot of things in the name of it being 'special.'
"...But."
No matter how I thought about it, I just couldn't do it for free.
"If you change your messenger profile picture to one of me."
"My messenger?"
"Yes."
I thought it was a fair condition.
"It's not impossible. You want me to do that?"
It wasn't something I'd wanted from the very beginning of our relationship.
This thought had only started after Jihee sunbae showed up.
I felt like I needed to put my stamp on him.
A clear stamp declaring that Taemin Oppa was Kim Doah's boyfriend.
News that we were dating had probably spread all over school anyway.
Since it had come to this, I wanted to officially declare that he was my man.
Oppa was a very popular guy, after all.
What if other girls tried to contact him again or...
"...You can't?"
This time, it was my turn to be hesitant.
I was also worried that asking for something like this would make me seem like a clingy, obsessive girlfriend.
"Hmm..."
Oppa stroked his chin with his thumb and forefinger, then finally nodded.
"Then add one more song request to the deal."
All I could think was that he had a very peculiar way of thinking.
The coin karaoke was, surprisingly, in the opposite direction of the bus stop on the main road.
It's usually more convenient for businesses to be concentrated in one area. I wondered how this place ended up all by itself out here.
"Oppa, have you been here before?"
Doah exchanged a bill at the change machine and pressed a handful of 1,000-won bills into my hand.
"No."
"I guess you don’t come to coin karaoke often?"
"Ah. I'm not a huge fan of singing."
"Oh... really...?"
Doah looked at me sheepishly, as if she felt bad for bringing me here.
I shook my head to show her it was fine.
"No, no. I came to watch you sing, you know?"
"Still, it's a little weird if I'm the only one singing."
"I'll sing too."
I even made a list at home.
"Really? You're not forcing yourself?"
"Yeah. So just relax and have fun."
The two of us entered a room at the very end of the hall.
Doah, who had sat down on the inner side of the booth, stopped me as I was about to sit opposite her and patted the seat next to her.
"Sit here."
"Isn't it a little cramped?"
"I like it better this way."
The space was just enough for our shoulders to touch.
The scent of Doah's shampoo suddenly hit me.
"...Should I go first?"
Doah asked, looking up at me while holding the remote.
"Whatever you're comfortable with. I can go first too."
"Ah, in that case, can you sing first while I pick a photo for your profile picture?"
"Sure. Okay."
I took the remote, queued up one of my usuals, and started to sing.
"Ahem... ahem...!"
The sound echoed.
Ah, why was I so nervous about this?
After successfully getting through my first song, I glanced at the seat next to me.
Doah was looking back and forth between two photos that looked exactly the same.
"...You're not going to sing?"
"Can you sing just one more?"
"Ah. Okay."
Her voice was so serious that I sang another song.
I practiced this one at home. It should be okay, right?
I was curious about her reaction, so I kept glancing over, but Doah's eyes were glued to her phone.
She didn't show any sign of moving.
And so, my second song came to an end.
"You ready now?"
"No. I... this..."
Frowning, Doah took a short, deep breath and showed me her phone screen.
"Which one do you think came out cuter?"
They both look exactly the same. Can't you just sing already?
"...The first one?"
I was in desperate need of an angry Pink Army emote.