The Power of an A+ Voice
The day after I won the Taekwondo tournament, I walked into school.
"Yena."
"Yes."
"Hajun."
"Yes."
Every time a name was called, heads turned toward us.
"Hey, look."
"Yena's left-handed!"
The kids' eyes followed every single action I took.
'I wasn't like this in the old days.'
Of course, it hadn't been that long since those days, but still.
'I'm a little homesick for the early part of this year.'
Before Daegu-haeng came out, I wasn't all that famous.
It made sense. Piano is a minor discipline to begin with, so unless you win at some internationally recognized competition, normal people won't even notice you.
On top of that, these kids were third-graders. If I'd brought home some international award, they probably wouldn't have known about it anyway. Third-graders usually don't care much about piano.
But Daegu-haeng changed everything.
Even third-graders watch famous movies.
That's how it went. When the news that the child actor who appeared in Daegu-haeng was me, and Hajun was my childhood friend, we became celebrities at Hyeongryeong Elementary.
'Things are looking pretty good now.'
Back when the two lives were still new, seeing so many people staring at me used to make my chest tighten, but that was in the past.
'I've just grown stronger.'
By now I was a little tougher than before.
"Yena, can I get your signature...?"
"Sure. What's your name?"
"We're in the same class..."
"Oh... I know who you are, of course. It's Lee Ha-yul, right?"
"Kang Ji-yoo here..."
"I was joking."
"Really?"
"Yup."
'Ah, I should memorize names.'
Because I hadn't come to school much this year, I hadn't learned all the classmates' names yet.
"Alright. All done."
"Thank you!"
From now on I really should remember them.
'I can't treat others the way I've been treated.'
What I always got.
'Who... what was your name again...?'
'Lee Baek-ho...'
'Ah. Sorry, Baek-ho!'
The boy who sat in the same seat with me the whole middle school, even in third year, made my mental health a little shaky.
I started going through the names of everyone in our class.
"Lee Tae-seok, Hwang Ji-ho, Kim Ha-neul..."
#1
"I'm so bored..."
By now it was November. The year was winding down.
Normally this was when I would be busy, but I wasn't this time.
'No movie reviews to write...'
I'd gone to see a few recent films, but none of them were to my taste.
'Why are there so many movies that go deep?'
I just wanted something light and easy to watch.
'Well, I'm sure a movie I'll like will come out eventually.'
I decided to just wait. It had to be coming someday.
'Since I'm steadily uploading review videos, it doesn't matter.'
My subscriptions had already reached six million because I kept posting videos reviewing the anime I loved.
[6.23 million.]
'I still need ten million.'
I was still hungry for more. I'd started YouTube with the goal of reaching the absolute top.
'Well, chances will come eventually.'
Right now, with nothing major happening, I didn't have any need to update the raccoon YouTube either.
"Want to sing something?"
I brought up my status window.
[Name: Lee Yena (Lee Baek-ho)]
Level: 10 Title: Reincarnated Delphoi Priestess Appearance: S+ Singing: A- Gaming: B Piano: EX Dancing: B Editing: A Chatter: A- Cooking: C Acting: B+ Taekwondo: EX Trait: Infinite Potential Points: 3
My singing skill at A- put me at a professional level among pros.
'Hmm...'
I clicked my tongue. I still didn't have any ability points to add.
'Next year I can get one.'
Ability points could only be obtained by clearing this year's mission, which gave one point once a year.
'I wanted to add songwriting...'
No choice.
I had no choice but to start with covers.
'A lot of people start with covers anyway.'
Most musicians don't begin by creating their own songs. They start by covering songs from artists they love.
I would do the same.
'Hmm... I think exposing my identity is fine.'
By the time I became a twenty-million-viewer child actor, the truth was already out. If I exaggerated a little, the whole country knew my name.
'There's no point in hiding anymore.'
If I didn't like fame, I wouldn't have entered the piano competition. Now I was ready to enjoy it.
'More than anything, I have to promote myself.'
As I said earlier, even though it's the end of 2016, Korean YouTube is already rivaling the late 2018 scene from my previous life.
At this stage of a heavily red ocean, uploading just a cover would get buried.
I needed something that set me apart. The fact that I'd appeared in a twenty-million-viewer movie, for example.
I opened a new YouTube channel.
[Lee Yena Who Sings.]
I went straight for my real name. After all, I was going to show my face while doing covers.
"Great. Then shall I flex my equipment?"
I searched the internet and bought every piece of gear I would need for singing.
Objectively, it cost quite a bit, but compared to the money I was earning from Bitcoin and YouTube, it was nothing.
I set up all the equipment.
Before singing, I spent two points to raise my singing to A+. Now I was a singer people with professional skills could compete with.
Of course, since there were others at the same A+ level, I decided to practice and upload anyway.
'Perfect. Let's try it.'
Since I'd just moved and soundproofed every room, it didn't matter when I sang.
I didn't have to worry about disturbing the neighbors anymore.
'Well, what should I sing...?'
I spent a long time deciding what to start with.
But I soon made up my mind. I would cover the song I had been listening to the most lately.
'Alright. Let's go with this.'
After deciding to cover the song I was into, I started practicing.
It was easy. Because my singing was already A+, the more I sang, the better I felt my skills growing. After about two weeks of practice.
I finished a cover video that was good enough to upload.
I edited it, then immediately posted it to YouTube.
Day one.
No reactions. But I didn't feel anxious. I was sure it would blow up. The lack of reactions just meant people hadn't discovered my videos yet.
Day two.
Reactions slowly began to trickle in. Koreans who saw my face on the thumbnail searched and left comments on the cover.
-Is this Yena...?
└Yeah
└Whoa, she sings so well?
└I'm wondering the same thing lol
-Yena... you shouldn't do this here. With looks and acting skills like yours, you should stop there. Singing as well as you do... how are ordinary people supposed to survive?
└Lol real talk, singing is already OP
People told their friends about the unbelievable fact, and by the time a week had passed since I uploaded the cover,
I had reached one hundred thousand subscribers.
"....?"
An article came out too.
[20 Million Child Actor Yena Takes on Singing!]
[Yena is the child actress who played Ha-neul in the summer hit Daegu-haeng. Thanks to her incredible acting, Daegu-haeng became a huge success. Director Hong Jun-seok, who used a photo of Yena crying on the poster, still gets called a 'genius move' by people. That shows how much potential this actress has, and people were expecting more great performances from her. But Yena broke all expectations in the most pleasant way. She came to us with singing, a genre we never saw coming. I turned on the video expecting nothing. I figured a ten-year-old couldn't sing that well. I was wrong. Yena smashed my expectations. It's not just that she's young. If you line up every singer who makes a living off music, it's hard to find anyone better than Yena. If you want to confirm she's not bluffing, go watch the cover video. Yena's YouTube channel has now passed one hundred thousand subscribers. This author is requesting a new cover immediately to celebrate the milestone.]
[Lee Su-ryeong, reporter.]
'That's the same reporter I met before.'
She watches every single move I make and writes articles the second something happens.
Unlike other reporters, she only gives clear facts, which is why I like her.
'I didn't expect this to blow up so fast.'
More precisely, I didn't think it would blow up this fast.
Because my singing was A+, I figured it would eventually take off, but I expected it to take months, or at least a year.
'I guess I underestimated my own potential.'
I really did undervalue my own talent.
-Of course they put filters in, right?
└Obviously. Who even posts unfiltered videos these days lol
-It must be filters. No ten-year-old could sing like that lol
'These kids?'
Of course filters were added. But that was the minimum correction that had to happen after editing, during the upload process.
Trying to scam me with that? I couldn't stand it.
I started a live right away.
-?
-Oh, live!
-What are you doing?
When people were full of questions, I didn't say a word and just played the video.
♪
I waited for the intro to play, then entered at the exact moment.
[Waking up to silent dreams,]
(Turning my eyes to the quiet dreams inside,)
-?
-What is this? Singing?
People didn't understand what was going on at first. But the music carried a power that words couldn't.
[Chasing echoes in the breeze.]
(Chasing the echoes in the wind.)
As the song continued.
-???
-Ah
People started enjoying it.
[Time slips by, but I still try,]
(Time keeps slipping, but I still)
-Good
-She's really good
[Time slips by, but I still try,]
(Trying to find the truth in your eyes.)
When she hit the high note, the crowd erupted.
-Whoa lol
-You can't do live shows?
-We're proving it with our skills, lol
When the song ended, the live comment section was exploding.
-Take Yena to Congress!
└Why Congress lol
-Yena! Yena! Yena!
-I can't breathe....
-I won't comment again saying I can't do lives
└Lives that make even scammers admit it
-Legend...!
I smiled brightly while watching the comments.
About five minutes.
Five minutes later, I spoke.
"Then shall we move on to the next song?"
Watching everyone lose their minds again, I laughed.
***