Chapter 123
Chapter 123
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 124
Chapter Title: Electronic Blues Over the Grill
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Yeonwoo really started composing right there on the spot.
Wearing red headphones that symbolized the leader of the Power Rangers, he busily tapped away at the MIDI keyboard.
In the midst of that, Yeonwoo's father diligently grilled meat, while Grandmother sat next to Yeonwoo, stuffing meat or wraps into his mouth whenever it stopped moving.
What is that?
Emperor-level composing or something?
Olivia Snow, sitting across from him with her arms crossed, glared fiercely at Yeonwoo as she thought to herself.
A song made so casually in an environment like this was bound to be terrible.
She felt thoroughly dismissed.
From the moment she'd resolved to become a singer in this industry—hauling her songs around in search of a label to nurture her—up to now, she'd never faced this kind of disregard.
She believed no one could dismiss her songs lightly because they were good, but in truth, the reason she hadn't been ignored back when she was unknown was largely due to her stunning looks.
Yeonwoo's stunning looks played a similar role.
Of course, Yeonwoo had the handicap of being a child, and since he'd started his activities while hiding his identity, no one gave him any biases or special treatment.
'Cute, though.'
But in his current dynamic with Olivia Snow, those looks were making a difference.
She refused to share a table with anyone who didn't understand music when it came to music, and when it came to appearances or fashion, she was a textbook looks supremacist who docked points from anyone unattractive or poorly dressed, regardless of personality or talent.
Right now, though, that was working in Yeonwoo's favor, holding back her anger and making her wait.
In the midst of it all, as Yeonwoo busily played the keyboard, he occasionally glanced somewhere.
What was he looking at?
Was it a habit that popped up when he was thinking?
Olivia Snow's sharp powers of observation(?) led her to the wrong conclusion.
Yeonwoo was looking at Olivia Snow's clone.
'As expected, it's not his composing skills.'
Olivia Snow's clone simply watched Yeonwoo compose with interest, without any intervention whatsoever.
If it had been a field she excelled in, she wouldn't have just stood by like this.
Ah, this wasn't the time.
Yeonwoo cut off his interest in Snow's clone and focused on composing.
With each bar, each section of the song he built, a blue fairy was born—and similarly, a yellow fairy appeared.
As he worked on it like that, Yeonwoo occasionally glanced at Olivia Snow.
A blue fairy did emerge at moments when the song matched her, but even more yellow fairies were born, radiating light.
Yeonwoo could feel it anew.
He wasn't sure about her composing or producing skills, but no matter what anyone said, she was a star.
After all, she was emitting a dazzling yellow glow more intensely than anyone else he'd seen so far.
'Hm?'
But looking closely, her clone was the same.
Before he knew it, it was emitting more yellow light than the blue it had started with.
It was different from Shuji's fairy, which had been purely yellow from birth, spewing only yellow light.
He still couldn't quite understand it, but the song's rough draft was already complete.
Yeonwoo listened to it all the way through once, then took off his headphones and said,
"I'm done!"
"What? Already?"
"Yeah."
Yeonwoo nodded and held out the headphones.
"Listen."
It was probably just short English for brevity, but it sounded like a command, making Olivia Snow hesitate for a moment.
"What are you doing? Hurry up! The bet—aren't we doing it?"
"Ah, fine, I get it."
Remembering the bet, Olivia Snow put on the headphones.
*Just try making it bad.*
She was someone who could analyze music more coldly than anyone else. (Except her own music, that is, when it came to others'.)
Once Olivia Snow had the headphones on and seemed ready to listen, Yeonwoo hit play.
The moment the music started, a raucous electronic sound blared out.
Her face immediately twisted in displeasure.
Olivia Snow's music was always rooted in blues, whether the hue was deep or light.
It might create bright or dark atmospheres, but the foundation was always strongly lyrical.
And now this kid was shoving electronic music at her?
She wanted to rip off the headphones and declare, *This isn't my style.*
But as the song progressed, she couldn't bring herself to do it.
'Blues...?'
The song, which she'd dismissed as just another electronic track amid the messy(?) machine noises, was actually exuding a thick blues scent when listened to properly.
If she had to pin a genre on it, electronic blues?
It wasn't shredding her identity—it was like saying, *You've sucked all the juice out of blues, so how about twisting the genre a bit now?*
Moreover, listening closely, the base chords were cleverly twisted versions of the ones she typically used as her foundation.
'This song...'
It was showing her the future.
It felt like it was guiding her down the path she should take—the evolutionary step from her current compositions.
If she didn't settle for the status quo, she'd eventually sing something completely new. But for now, she couldn't ignore her existing fans, nor could she stay stuck singing the exact same style forever. So let's evolve gradually.
This song was for that intermediate stage.
It was as if it were saying exactly that.
Once the song ended and she took off the headphones, she stared at Yeonwoo for a moment, about to speak.
But Yeonwoo beat her to it.
"What you were thinking. Spot on."
"How do you know what I was going to say?"
Yeonwoo started to say something, then seemed at a loss for words, letting out a deep sigh before turning to his dad and saying something.
"He says he made this thinking that if you, with a one-in-ten-million chance, decide to seek and find a new path, you'd probably start your change with a song like this."
"Ridiculous."
That's what she said, but Olivia Snow's expression told a different story.
Like she'd found some kind of answer?
"What the hell? Why does she look like she finally took a dump after being constipated for days?"
...Jiyeong described Olivia Snow's expression that way.
"Eating and she's being all... gross."
Jihoon grumbled, but even he could see it.
"Like it or not?"
Yeonwoo asked Olivia Snow as if that wasn't the important part.
"Um..."
Unable to spit it out, Olivia Snow hesitated with a groan.
"It looks like she loves it."
Jessie answered for her.
"Jessie...!!"
"Am I wrong? I haven't heard the song, but just from your face, I can tell how much you like it."
Olivia Snow glared at Jessie, then eventually nodded heavily.
"Yeah... I lost."
Olivia Snow looked glum.
"Tell me what you want. I'll grant anything."
At those words, Yeonwoo seemed to think for a moment before saying,
"Don't need a wish right now."
"What if I don't keep my promise later?"
Yeonwoo replied firmly.
"Someone who can't even do that."
"......!!"
Those words shook Olivia Snow to her core. A true stroke of genius.
Her pride wouldn't let her break a promise after hearing that.
"Fine. I always keep my promises thoroughly. Whenever you want to make a wish, just tell me. I'll grant one thing, like a genie from a lamp."
Yeonwoo nodded at that. Watching him, Olivia Snow hesitated for a moment before cautiously saying,
"But this song... you're giving it to me, right?"
Yeonwoo gave her an incredulous look.
"Why would I? For you?"
"You didn't make it for me?"
"Nope. The bet. Just the bet."
With that, Yeonwoo snatched the headphones away from her as if afraid she'd take them, and packed up the gear.
"No, wait..."
As Olivia Snow panicked watching the equipment vanish in an instant, Yeonwoo said something to Jihoon.
"He says don't get any lingering attachments."
"Huh? To that song?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"He says the moment you take the song Yeonwoo just made, you'll never escape him for the rest of your life."
"Never escape...?"
"Meaning you'll become dependent."
"No way I'd—never gonna hap—"
She had no idea how many times her words had failed her today.
Thinking about it, it made sense.
Olivia Snow tried to play it cool, but ever since hearing Yeonwoo's song, she'd fallen for it completely.
The chorus kept looping in her head, and all she could think was that she wanted it—wanted to sing it.
"Hmph, I don't need it."
Olivia Snow said that and stood up.
"You're leaving?"
Jiyeong, who hadn't dared speak to Olivia Snow alone until now because she was so intimidating, finally piped up.
Olivia Snow looked at Jiyeong and said,
"Business is done. Gotta go, right?"
"Since you're here, have some of this before you go."
At Jiyeong's words, Olivia Snow belatedly scanned her surroundings.
Right, this family was in the middle of a barbecue party.
But she wasn't much for outdoor barbecues like this.
More precisely, she didn't like food grilled on a grate like that.
As a child, after they'd been evicted from their rundown rental in the slums due to extreme poverty, she'd spent quite a while living in a trailer park (also called a caravan park—a slum where people live in camping trailers).
Back then, with no burner or gas stove, they'd scavenged a barbecue grill and cooked on that for a long time.
Of course, "cooking" meant cheap cheeseburgers, church handout pizzas, or grilling food others had thrown away.
Anyway, just seeing a grill brought back those days, so she never touched food like that.
"I'm fine..."
She started to refuse, but Jessie approached and whispered softly,
"You want the song, don't you? Then you gotta play nice. Sit down, pretend to eat, and get friendly with this family."
Olivia Snow paused, then cautiously sat down next to Yeonwoo.
"Guess I'll try a little."
Yeonwoo moved the packed gear even farther away, as if determined not to give up the song, and sat beside her, saying,
"This is good."
At his words, she looked at the freshly grilled meat placed in front of her.
"What cut is this?"
"In America, they make bacon from this part."
Jihoon answered for Yeonwoo.
Her expression froze for a moment.
Bacon.
If she had to name the food she'd eaten most during her trailer park days, it'd hands-down be bacon.
She'd collected bacon from low-quality or half-eaten burgers that people discarded.
Amid these unwelcome memories bubbling up, Yeonwoo patted her shoulder.
"...What?"
"Eat it like this."
Yeonwoo placed the meat on a lettuce leaf, added garlic, green onion slivers, sliced chili, ssamjang, and radish wraps, making a perfect ssam.
Olivia Snow hurriedly copied him exactly.
In the meantime, Yeonwoo shoved his ssam into his mouth.
Good lord... was this kid's mouth a fourth-dimensional pocket or something?
The huge wrap disappeared in one bite.
It would've looked gross on an adult, but with his cheeks puffed out, Yeonwoo was utterly adorable.
"Tasty. Eat."
Having demolished the ssam in one go, Yeonwoo urged her on with a cute gesture.
The reluctant Olivia Snow took a tentative bite—only for Yeonwoo's command to ring out.
"One bite! That's how it's tasty!"
Olivia Snow crammed the ssam into her mouth like she was eating bitter medicine and started chewing.
But...
"It's good?"
Yeonwoo nodded as if it were obvious, then suddenly pulled out a tablet and opened a piano app.
"......?"
As Olivia Snow looked on puzzled, a fantastical performance flowed from Yeonwoo's fingers.
"Nice playing. What's that song?"
"Made it just now. Title's 'Pork Belly'."
"Pawwk... Belly?"
"Yeah. Got another song. Wanna hear?"
"What's it?"
"This one's Dakgalbi."
"Dahk... Galbee?"
...Olivia Snow had no idea yet that Yeonwoo's food symphony, which had begun with ramen, was still going strong.