Chapter 105: I Don't Want to Be Famous!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 105: I Don't Want to Be Famous!
“Master, Master! Over here! Over here!”
As I was heading out for lunch after my performance, a familiar grayish-white head caught my eye, waving frantically in my direction.
It was Aoi Takahara. She was wearing a hat pressed low over her head, a pair of denim shorts that showed off her thighs, and a casual orange-ish t-shirt.
As I walked toward her, I noticed her bouncing with excitement like a puppy, and then I spotted Yuseoha. Wait, where did she go?
I looked around, only to find my "hopeless pervert mom" (self-proclaimed) trying to hide behind my back. I couldn't help but feel exasperated.
“Your performance was amazing! Wow, you’re on a completely different level from the other kids! I don’t know much about music, but even I could tell the difference!”
Hindel had insisted on coming despite having business in the Empire, but I talked her out of it, so she said she’d send Marika.
Then Marika, who had a schedule in some place called the Kingdom of Balak under the sea, insisted on coming, but I talked her out of it too, so she said she’d send the Pet Trio.
Among the Pet Trio, Goldie and Darkie—oops, slip of the tongue—the Dark Elf slave also had some schedule but wanted to come. I stopped them as well, which is why Aoi ended up coming all by herself. She suddenly grabbed me by the armpits and hoisted me into the air.
“Huh? And who might this young lady be?”
Aoi hadn't quite shed her delinquent habits and had picked me up without a second thought. Yuseoha, flustered by the sight, didn't know what to do. I simply frowned and glared at Aoi.
“She’s not just some 'lady,' she’s Seoha Noona. She’s Mom’s friend! And my violin teacher!”
“Ah… my apologies. If you’re a friend of the Police Executive, you must be a friend of the Chairwoman. I’m Aoi Takahara. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Aoi set me down and gave a polite bow.
Yuseoha fumbled through her bag, pulled out a notebook and pen, and wrote: 'Hello.'
“Oh, are you perhaps unable to speak?”
Yuseoha shook her head and briefly showed her a note that read: 'Charm, racial trait.'
“Ah, I see. You’re of the Siren lineage. Thank you for being so considerate.”
Aoi didn't seem to suspect a thing, unaware that Yuseoha was actually a total idiot-pushover Pink Bitch who chattered away just fine in front of me without ever managing to land a single Charm.
“Oh, Master, Master. There’s this song I re~ally love. Could you play it just once for me?”
“I’d probably need to practice it first.”
“No, no. It’s not a hard song. It’s really popular….”
When I heard the title of the song Aoi wanted, I realized it was one I had played a few times during practice. It occurred to me then that Yuseoha had trained me to be able to play almost any common song.
“I might make a few mistakes, but I’ll play it for you right now. Then we go eat.”
“Thank you! I’ll buy you an extra serving of pork cutlet!”
She acted like I was someone who would die if I didn't eat pork cutlet. Still, two servings of pork cutlet without the rice was a fair show of sincerity. Since Grasha doesn't really like meat, I haven't gone out to eat at a meat joint with Mom much lately.
As I took the violin out of its case, passersby began to stop one by one. I didn't know why they were stopping to watch, but playing one song for the sake of pork cutlet wasn't a big deal.
Whitey crouched down in front of me to listen, and Yuseoha crouched beside her, looking up at me.
Since the competition was over, it wasn't hard to pull off a piece by mixing in the techniques Yuseoha had taught me.
I relaxed my body, followed the notes slowly, and moved the bow as if I were walking along a remembered melody. I drew the lines as if thickly painting over a hazy mental image.
The melody began to spread softly, and with a bit of technique, I expanded the volume of those lines into planes, filling the surrounding space.
The rhythm I had set in motion slowly returned to me, eventually converging into a single point as the song ended.
“Ta-da! How was it?”
“Whoa! That was the best! The best!”
Whitey clapped like a maniac, and Yuseoha nodded as if to say I did a good job. But as I tried to put the violin away, I noticed people pointing their cameras at me.
Some looked like they were live-streaming, talking into their phones while filming both me and themselves. I wanted to tell them they were violating my portrait rights, but since I had a bit of an attention-seeker streak, I ended up playing a few more songs.
More and more people began to gather, and just as I was getting into the groove of the performance, my stomach began to scream for calories, forcing me to stop.
“Master, is the performance over?”
“I’m hungry!”
“Well, can’t be helped. Let’s go eat then! How about playing for the others sometime? I think Youfei or the Big Sister would love it.”
“Too much work!”
“I guess so.” Whitey gave a bitter smile and gave me a piggyback ride to a famous pork cutlet place. It was only after I set a new record by devouring three patties that I finally felt like myself again.
“Yuseoha-nim, what rank do you think our Master will get?”
Yuseoha, who was wiping the corner of my mouth, held up a single index finger at Aoi’s question.
“Whoa, that’s amazing! Cool, so cool! Isn't our Master a violin genius?”
“Right? He’s incredible!”
Whitey nodded vigorously. I glared at Yuseoha. The Pink Bitch mom avoided my gaze. She was supposed to be the one praising me, saying 'Good boy, you did so well.' Seeing her act like a shy loner while saying everything she wanted to say was infuriating, so I poked her in the side.
“Seoha Noona, Seoha Noona. She says I have talent. Right? Right?”
Yuseoha avoided my eyes until the very end, refusing to say a word.
What a mean woman.
***
I don't know how much Mom bragged at the police headquarters about me winning the grand prize at the competition, but while I was playing house with Grasha and the brats, police sisters kept coming by to praise me, making it impossible to play properly.
Just as my rebellious streak was about to peak thanks to all the sisters and aunties constantly stroking my head, Morian mentioned that we had to film the movie. I immediately set an appointment, escaping to another world to avoid hearing things like 'the Police Executive’s son' or 'Ame’s son.'
“Our Yong-hwan is here! Our pretty, cute, lovable Yong-hwan is finally here! Now we can finish this movie—our lone male and its other tragic protagonist, Yong-hwan!”
If it weren't for the movie director who seemed crazily obsessed with me, it might have been twice as pleasant. However, this person liked the 'me' in the movie more than the actual me, so it wasn't too bothersome.
I wasn't sure if the movie was a motif, a rip-off, a plagiarism, or if they had bought the rights to a film that was popular in the Peninsula of the Northeast Asia Governorate, but the adults must have handled it, so as a service professional, I just had to do what I was told.
Looking at how similar it was to something I knew, it felt more like a movie from the North American Governorate than the Northeast Asian one, but whatever.
I wasn't sure if I was the protagonist or just a meat dildo, but the content was important since I was appearing in it. To put it simply, I was the prince of a small, peripheral kingdom, and the story was about my bodyguard—a Royal Knight who was a borderline Swordmaster with a hidden past.
It wasn't a kidnapping for ransom, nor was I being taken as a tribute or for the 'log' trade. It was a chaotic massacre by a Swordmaster Sister trying to rescue a prince who had vanished when a Gate to a colony opened.
In a tiny kingdom that was a mere speck on the map and held a royal title in name only, their pleas for help were ignored by the Empire, which claimed to be too busy. So, an Elf Swordmaster took up her blade for the prince she had cared for and eventually come to adore, slaughtering the barbaric colonial mafia armed with modern firearms to find him.
Looking at the script, there were all sorts of weird things like hacking satellites to fire beam cannons or atmospheric reentry, but it was so absurd I just glossed over it.
I could accept those as an attempt at sci-fi, but I seriously wanted to ask how someone with a sword could take down rifles, anti-tank guns, or tanks. Yet, no one seemed to object to such nonsense, and it looked like most of the filming was already finished.
The director gave me a few strawberry-flavored candies, asking if I’d do a sequel or another project with her. Since they weren't peach-flavored, I kicked her out, saying I’d think about it.
More importantly.
“Is this the boy we’re filming with? I see why the director was stalling.”
A sister with a white bob cut, red eyes, and a suitably large chest was showing interest in me. Given her pointed ears and captivating looks, she seemed to be an elf.
There were so many species with pointed ears in this neighborhood that it was hard to tell if someone was an Inferior Species or a human.
“Nice to meet you. You can call me Luinal Noona.”
She was a sister with an impressive chest. However, seeing her light movements and how she moved without making a single click-clack sound despite wearing heels, it seemed this Elf Sister had probably killed a few people in her time.
“Hello, Luinal Noona. I’m Jeong Yong-hwan!”
“What a polite child! Whose kid is he to be this cute and well-mannered?”
Luinal Noona patted and stroked my head while looking at the director.
“He’s the child the CEO brought… who was it again? Someone famous. Someone famous among elves.”
“Is there only one or two famous people? Our race’s strength is that even if our numbers are small, our abilities are certain.”
It was annoying to see an Elf Sister acting all high and mighty despite being an Inferior Species, but the director chimed in, agreeing with her.
“I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere… where was it?”
Luinal started trying to flirt with me. This was the exhausting part of being handsome. Honestly, these kinds of moves were so common now that it was hard to even play along.
“Ah, right. I remember now. You’re the star of this video, right?”
Luinal pulled out her phone and played a video. It showed me playing the violin in front of Yuseoha and Whitey.
“Eh?”
It was me playing. The view count shown below the video was insane. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions…?
“You’re good at the violin too? That’s amazing!”
The elf sister with the white bob, red eyes, and impressive chest crouched down and stroked my head. It seemed I had become a celebrity without even knowing it.