Chapter 124
Chapter 124
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 125
Chapter Title: Thanks, My Muse
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Olivia Snow was lost in deep thought on the chartered flight heading to Dubai.
Her world tour would continue from Korea to Dubai, then on to Europe.
"What are you thinking about so intently?"
Jessie placed a warm Americano laced with whiskey in front of her and asked.
Whenever she had to endure a flight longer than ten hours, she usually had a light drink and passed the time sleeping.
"Ah, thanks."
Olivia Snow took a sip of the whiskey-spiked coffee Jessie handed her.
"No, seriously, what are you thinking about?"
At those words, Olivia Snow paused.
"That song."
"Oh, you mean the one Yuin gave you? It was pretty good when I listened to it."
Olivia Snow's eyebrow twitched at Jessie's words.
"Pretty good?"
Jessie flinched.
"Well, I mean... it was good, right?"
Olivia Snow corrected her.
"It's not just good—it's really good. That song is insane."
The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced it was an insane track.
How could someone take the chords she composed and turn them into something like that?
Upon closer reflection, it was just a hair's breadth away. So why hadn't she thought to make a song like that herself?
"And remember the other one we listened to? The one inspired by that bacon-making cut...?"
"Samgyeopsal?"
"Yeah, that. How does someone get inspired by food like that to make music? Should I try it too?"
"Hmm... Well, maybe it's just the whimsy of a kid that age? It only seems special because it's the whimsy of a genius."
"Genius... Yeah, a genius. That kid is a real genius."
It was the first time Jessie had seen Olivia Snow sincerely call someone else a genius.
Olivia never saw anyone else as a genius above her own level, even if she complimented them.
But this time was different.
She was treating Olivia Snow—someone above even herself—as a genius.
"Ah... What do I do, Jessie? I can't stop thinking about that song."
Jessie, reminded of Yeonwoo, started humming the song he'd made, which lingered in her ears.
"It'd be perfect if I sang it."
"Yeah, it would."
That was something even Jessie agreed on.
"If you sweet-talk him nicely, maybe he'll give it to you?"
"He told me to make a song like that on my own."
"Well, still, if you put in the effort, who knows? He might give it to you or at least offer some advice."
"You think? Yeah, you can't get anything without trying."
With that thought, Olivia Snow resolved to try next time.
"Oh, SNS."
Wait.
She realized she hadn't posted about her last day in Korea on social media.
She took the time to edit the photos she'd carefully taken, uploaded them diligently, finished her coffee, and went to sleep.
Hoping she could return to Korea once the world tour ended.
* * *
"Yesterday felt like a dream."
As soon as they got in the car, Jiyeong murmured blankly, and Jihoon chuckled.
"Who would've thought I'd end up eating meat and drinking soju with a top American singer while I'm alive?"
The night before, when Olivia Snow had shown up out of the blue looking for Yeonwoo.
After Yeonwoo, who had been eating meat and discussing music with Olivia Snow, went to bed, the adults ended up drinking with her.
It wasn't that the family had insisted; Olivia Snow had fallen so hard for the samgyeopsal that she stayed glued to her seat, devouring more meat.
Who could have guessed that a tall, model-thin woman would pack away that much meat and alcohol?
Thanks to that, they had to wait until Jihoon's buzz fully wore off, delaying their departure.
"At this rate, we might have to rest a day in Samcheok."
Yeonwoo was shocked by those words.
"Samcheok... I've never even thought about what to eat there...!"
Samcheok.
Where was that?
What should he eat?
Lost in thought, Yeonwoo hurriedly turned on his tablet and started searching for Samcheok food.
But his face soon fell.
"What's wrong?"
"There's nothing that looks tasty...!"
Of course, Samcheok had its share of local delicacies.
Things like mulgomtang or sansae dishes popular along the East Coast.
But no kid would want to eat those.
Not even Yeonwoo, picky eater or not.
"Yeah, no local foods that kids would actually like."
Seeing Yeonwoo's crestfallen look, Jiyeong, who had been searching for Samcheok local foods on her phone, said regretfully.
"Then how about we skip the local specialties and just find a popular local restaurant?"
"Yeah..."
As Yeonwoo replied glumly, Jiyeong frantically scoured portal sites.
"Auntie, for restaurants, look for ones with lots of visitor reviews, not just blog reviews."
"Why?"
"Someone said before that tons of blog reviews usually mean they paid for them."
"Oh, got it. But Auntie verifies them differently."
"How?"
"If you search the restaurant name on SNS, you get tons of honest reviews."
"SNS...!"
Yeonwoo didn't have an SNS account yet. Jiyeong had discouraged it, worried he'd get hooked even more than on YouTube and do nothing else, and Yeonwoo had agreed.
"Auntie, let me see too."
"Okay, here... Huh?"
"What's up, Auntie?"
"I follow Olivia Snow."
"Yeah."
"She posted about you."
"Me?"
Yeonwoo took his aunt's smartphone and checked.
[Liv_snow.World
(Photo of Olivia Snow singing passionately)
(Concert venue photo)
(Photo with Yeonwoo)
(Photo of toasting with soju with Yeonwoo's family)
thanks korea, thanks my muse
#world_tour #in_korea #YUIN]
After seeing Olivia Snow's SNS post, Yeonwoo looked at his aunt and asked.
"Auntie, where are the comments?"
"That speech bubble button there."
"Ah."
Olivia Snow posting the photo didn't faze him; what caught Yeonwoo's interest were the comments.
"Ah... They're in English."
Unfortunately, most were in English.
But Yeonwoo diligently searched through the countless comments for ones mentioning his nickname and slowly translated them.
-OMG, what's this cute kid?
-So incredibly cute
-Is this kid Yuin? Way cuter and more beautiful than in the videos
-I want a kid like that too
-Why did Snow meet this kid?
-No way, my muse is Yuin?
-Snow calling him her muse? Shocking
-Not just some random praise
-His music at that age is insane
-Everyone, check out Yuin's music. Besides the song he gave KIM BEOM-SHIN, go to his label's YouTube channel for his performances and compositions :D
-I love this kid!
Yeonwoo smiled contentedly at the comments.
"What, you said you didn't like Olivia Snow, but you're happy to be on her SNS?"
"Of course, Auntie. Look at her follower count. This'll boost our YouTube subscribers, right? Good for the company, good for me, good for Wakana too."
"Such a T..."
Getting excited over subscriber growth rather than fame.
Her own nephew, but what a weirdo.
"Anyway, Auntie, hurry and find a restaurant!"
"Ah, yeah. Okay, let me look."
Putting aside the fact that his face was now known, Yeonwoo's family sped toward Samcheok.
After staying a day in Samcheok midway, their next stop was Pohang.
In Pohang, Yeonwoo ate the list he craved—Pohang-style hware and king crab—and even discovered a new world with gwamegi before heading to Busan.
Their East Sea coastal tour was essentially over.
They planned to stay nearly two weeks in Busan, straddling the South and East Seas.
Using Busan as a base, Yeonwoo's family would explore the surrounding areas.
Part of it was because constantly changing accommodations was tiring.
"Himari's 20th anniversary concert proposed a joint performance and solo stage; we can't miss that."
Uesugi Himari's debut 20th anniversary concert was set for her hometown, Fukuoka.
Her milestone show would be at Fukuoka PayPay Dome, home of the powerhouse Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks baseball team. Yeonwoo was slated to perform "Mama" with Himari there, followed by his solo stage.
Naturally, rehearsals were needed, so they'd join two weeks later. Instead of going home, the family decided to stay in Busan before taking a ferry from there to Fukuoka.
The reason was simple.
"Yeonwoo wants to ride a boat, so this works out perfectly."
It was because Yeonwoo wanted to try a boat, which he'd never ridden before.
"Ah, I wanna go to Japan with you guys."
But Jiyeong had to head back to Seoul in a few days, let alone Japan.
Yeonwoo was on break, but their label SSHIN wasn't shut down.
Even during this trip, despite endlessly insisting Yeonwoo was resting, song and production requests kept pouring in, with proposals flooding their email—not just one or two.
They came from Korea, Japan, and even the US, so they couldn't be ignored outright.
Jiyeong planned to return to Seoul, review all proposals, cut what she could on her own, and gather ones worth showing Yeonwoo to suggest.
Under JOP's lead, Chae Hayeon's nationwide tour was also scheduled.
With multiple No. 1s in Korea and popularity surging in Japan, concert requests for her couldn't be ignored, so they'd do a nationwide small-theater tour.
JOP was handling most of it, but SSHIN couldn't just sit idle.
Before sending Jiyeong home first, the family went out for nakgopsae together.
"Don't you ever get tired of nakgopsae?"
"Nope, it's always fresh."
During their days in Busan, what captivated Yeonwoo most wasn't yangdaechang, komjang-eo, milmyeon, or dwaeji gukbap.
It was nakgopsae.
The spicy sauce blending with the savory flavors of intestines and daechang fat, plus the chewy texture of octopus—it ranked among Yeonwoo's top foods on this nationwide trip.
"You're really something."
"Why? Every time I eat it, trying different styles keeps it fresh. Yesterday we had udon noodles in it, right? Today we'll add jjolmyeon noodles, then fried rice. With seaweed powder. And the day before at that other place, it tasted totally different?"
"Yeah, each restaurant has its own twist."
Still, for their last meal before Jiyeong left on this trip, it would've been nice to go somewhere fancy.
Jiyeong ate her nakgopsae with a tinge of regret.
It was delicious, though.
"By the way, Yeonwoo, what song are you doing for your solo stage in Japan?"
"Jazz."
"...It's Himari's concert; isn't that obvious?"
Yeonwoo added to her words.
"Orchestra."
"Jazz... orchestra?"
"Yeah."
Classical might try to block him from the outside, but jazz loved him no matter what.
Thanks to his great grandmother and the great Himari.
So Yeonwoo planned to milk it for all it was worth at this concert.